CHAP. XII.

Ver. 5. "And righteousness is the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins."

Righteousness and faithfulness are in a similar manner connected in 1 Sam. xxvi. 13 (? Prov. xii. 17). Faithfulness is trustworthiness. The point of comparison with the girdle is the closeness of the union; comp. Ps. cix. 19; Jer. xiii. 1, 2, 11.

In ver. 6, the Prophet passes from thepersonof the glorious King to a description of His Kingdom. With regard to ver. 6-8, the question arises, whether the description is to be understood figuratively or literally; whether the Prophet intends to describe the cessation of all hostility among men, or whether he expected that, in the Messianic time, even among the irrational creation, all hostility and destruction, every thing pernicious was to cease. Most of the ancient interpreters are attached to the former view. ThusTheodoretsays: "In a figurative manner, under the image of domesticated and wild animals, the Prophet taught the change of the habits of men." He refers every thing to the union, within the Christian Church, of those who, in their natural condition, lived far separated from one another, and in hostility the one to the other.Jeromeconsiders the opposite view as even a species of heresy. He says: "The Jews and the Judaizers among ourselves maintain that all this shall be fulfilled according to the letter; that in the light of Christ who, they believe, shall come at the end of the days, all beasts shall be reduced to tameness, so that the wolf, giving up its former ferocity, shall dwell with the lamb, &c." Upon the whole, he states the sense in the same manner asTheodoret, from whom he sometimes differs in the allegorical explanation of the details only. In a similar mannerLutheralso explains it, who,e.g., on ver. 6, "the wolf shall dwell with the lambs, etc." remarks: "But these are allegories by which the Prophet intimates that the tyrants, the self-righteous and powerful ones in the world, shall be converted, and be received into the Church."Calvinsays: "By these images, the Prophet indicates that, among the people of Christ there will be no disposition for injuring one another, nor any ferocity or inhumanity." The circumstance that the use of animal symbolism is widely spread throughout Scripture is in favour of this interpretation. One may,e.g.compare Ps. xxii., where the enemies of the righteous are represented under the image of dogs, lions, bulls, and unicorns;Jer. v. 6, where, by lion, wolf, and leopard, the kingdoms of the world which are destructive to the people of God are designated; the four beasts in Dan. vii.; but especially Is. xxxv. 9: "There (on the way of salvation which the Lord shall, in the future, open up for His people) shall not be a lion, nor shall any ravenous beast go up thereon,"--where the ravenous beasts are the representatives of the world's power, hostile to the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, the literal interpretation, defended by several Jewish expositors, maintains an undeniable preference. In favour of it are the following arguments: 1. The circumstance that it is impossible to carry through, in the details, the figurative interpretation; and it is by this that our passage is distinguished from all the other passages in which the wild, cruel, and destructive tendencies in the human sphere appear under the images of their representatives in the animal world. The supposition that "we have here before us only a poetical enlargement of the thought that all evil shall cease" (Hendewerk,Knobel), removes the boundaries which separate prophecy from poetry. 2. The parallelism with the condition of the creation before the fall, as it is described to us by Holy Scripture. It is certainly not without reason that, in the account of the creation, so much emphasis is laid on the circumstance that all which was created wasgood. This implies a condition of the irrational creation different from what it is now; for in its present state it gives us a faithful copy of the first fall, inasmuch as every heinous vice has its symbols and representatives in the animal kingdom. According to Gen. ii. 19, 20, the animals recognize in Adam their lord and king, peaceably gather around him, and receive their names from him. According to Gen. i. 30, grass only was assigned to animals for their food; the whole animal world bore the image of the innocence and peace of the first man, and was not yet pervaded by the law of mutual destruction. Where there was not a Cain, neither was there a lion. The serpent has not yet its disgusting and horrible figure, and fearlessly men have intercourse with it; comp. Vol. i. p. 15, 16. But the influence of sin pervaded and penetrated the whole nature, and covered it with a curse (comp. Gen. iii. 17-19); so that it not only bears evidence to the existence of God, but also to the existence of sin.Now, as it is by sin that outward discord, and contention, and destructionarosein the irrational creature, so we may also expect that, when the cause has been removed, the effect too will disappear; that, with the cessation of the discord and enmity among men, which, according to ver. 9, the Prophet expected of the Messianic time, discord and enmity in the animal world will cease also. In the individual features, the Prophet seems even distinctly to refer to the history of the creation; compare ver. 7: "The lion shall eat straw like the ox," with Gen. i. 30; ver. 8: "the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp," with Gen. iii. 15. 3. The comparison of other passages of Scripture, according to which likewise the reflection of the evil in the irrational creation shall cease, after the evil has been removed from the rational creation; compare chap. lxv. 25, lxvi, 22; Matt. xix. 28, where the Lord speaks of theπαλιγγενεσία, the return of the whole earthly creation to its original condition; but especially Rom. viii. 19 ff.--that classical passage of the New Testament which is really parallel to the passage before us. 4. A subordinate argument is still offered by the parallel descriptions of heathen writers. From the passages collected byClericus,Lowth, andGesenius, we quote a few only. In the description of the golden age,Virgilsays,Ecl.iv. 21 sqq.; v. 60:Occidet et serpens et fallax herba veneni occidet.--Nec magnos metuent armenta leones.--Nec lupus insidias pecori.Horat. Epod.xiv. 53:Nec vespertinus circumgemit ursus ovile nec intumescit alta viperis humus.--Theocrit. Idyll.xxiv. 84. Utterances such as these show how unnatural the present condition of the earth is. They are, however, not so much to be regarded as the remains of some outward tradition (against such a supposition it is decisive that they occur chiefly withpoets), but rather as utterances of an indestructible longing in man, which, being so deeply rooted in human nature, contains in itself the guarantee of being gratified at some future period. But, with all this, we must do justice to the objection drawn from the evident parallelism of passages such as chap. xxxv. 9, and to another objection advanced byVitringa, that it is strange that there is so much spoken of animals, and so little of men. This we shall do by remarking that, in the description of the glorious effects which the government of Christ shall produce on the earth, the Prophet at once proceeds to the utmost limit ofthem; and that the removal of hostility and destruction from the irrational creation implies that all that will be removed which, in the rational creation, proceeds from the principle of hatred, inasmuch as it is certain that the former is only a reflection of the latter, and that the Prophet speaks with a distinct reference to this supposition which he afterwards, in ver. 9, distinctly expresses. Hence, to a certain degree, a double sense takes place; and, in the main,J. H. Michaelishas hit the right by comparing, first, Gen. i. and Rom. viii., and then continuing: "Parabolically, however, by the wild beasts, wild and cruel nations are understood, which are to be converted to Christ; or violent men who, by the Spirit of Christ, are rendered meek and gentle, just as Paul, from a wolf, was changed into a lamb." We are the less permitted to lose sight of the reference to the lions and bears on the spiritual territory, that ver. 6 is, in the first instance, connected with vers. 4 and 5, in which the all-powerful sway of Christ's justice on earth is described, of which the consequences must, in the first instance, appear in thehuman territory; and, farther, that the point from which the prophecy started, is the raging of the wolf and bear of the world's power against the poor defenceless flock of the Lord.

Ver. 6. "And the wolf dwelleth with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf, and, the lion and the fatling together, and a little child leads them."

Ver. 7. "The cow and bear go to the pasture; their young ones lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." (The going to pasture of the bear corresponds with the lion's eating straw [comp. Gen. i. 30], and we are not allowed to supply the "together" in the first clause.)

Ver. 8. "And the sucking child playeth on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child putteth his hand into the den of the basilisk."

The change in the irrational creation described in the preceding verses is a consequence of the removal of sin in the rational creation; this removal the Prophet now proceeds to describe.

Ver. 9. "They shall not do evil, and shall not sin in all my holy mountain, for the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters covering the sea."

The subject are the dwellers in the Holy Mountain. The Holy Mountain can, according to theusus loquendi, be Mount Zion only, and not, as was last maintained byHofmann, the whole land of Canaan, which is never designated in that manner; comp. chap. xxvii. 13, and my Commentary on Ps. lxxviii. 54. The second part of the verse, connected with the first by means offor, agrees with the first only in the event that Mount Zion is viewed as the spiritual dwelling place of the inhabitants of the earth, just as, under the Old Testament dispensation, it was theidealdwelling place of all the Israelites, even of those who outwardly had not their residence at Jerusalem; on the spiritual dwelling of the servants of the Lord with Him in the temple, compare remarks on Ps. xxvii. 4, xxxvi. 9, lxv. 5, lxxxiv. 3, and other passages. In chap. ii. 2-4, lxvi. 23, the Holy Mountain, too, appears as the centre of the whole earth in the Messianic time. From chap. xix. 20, 21, where, in the midst of converted Egypt, an altar is built, and sacrifices are offered up, it appears that it is this in anidealsense only, that under its image theChurchis meant. The designation, "my Holy Mountain," intimates that the state of things hitherto, when unholiness prevailed in the Kingdom of the Holy God, is an unnatural one; that at some future period theideanecessarily must manifest its power and right in opposition to thereality.--In the second clause, the ground and fountain of this sinlessness is stated. In Zion, in the Church of God, there will then be no more any sins; for the earth is then full of the knowledge of the Lord, by which the sins are done away with. The general outpouring of the Holy Ghost forms one of the characteristics of the Messianic time; and theconsequenceof this outpouring is, according to ver. 2, the knowledge of the Lord,--so that the clause may be thus paraphrased: For, in consequence of the Spirit poured out, in the first instance, upon Him, the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord; comp. chap. xxxii. 15: "Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high;"liv. 13; Joel iii. 1; ii. 28; Jer. xxxi. 34, Thatהארץis here not the "land," or "country," but the "earth" is sufficiently evident from the antithesis of thesea: as theseais full of water, so theearthis full of the knowledge of the Lord. To thisreason it may still be added that in vers. 6-8 changes are spoken of, which concern the whole territory of the earthly creation, theπαλιγγενεσίαof the whole earth. As the relation of these changes to that which is stated here is that of cause and effect, here, too, the whole earth can only be thought ofFinally,--The following verse too supposes the spreading of salvation over the whole earth. The entire relation of the first section to the second and third makes it obvious that byהארץthe whole earth is to be understood. The passage under consideration is alluded to in Hab. ii. 14: "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters covering the sea." In that passage, the enforced knowledge of the Divine glory which manifests itself in punitive justice, forms the subject of discourse; but that enforced knowledge forms the necessary condition of the knowledge which is voluntary and saving.

Ver. 10. "And it shall come to pass in that day, the root of Jesse which standeth for an ensign to the people, it shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest is glory."

The words, "and it shall come to pass," introduce a new section; so that the interval in the Hebrew manuscripts is here quite in its place. With ver. 11 again, a new section begins. In ver. 1-9 we have the appearance of the Messiah in relation to the whole earth; then, in the second section, the way in which he becomes a centre to the wholeGentile world; and in ver. 11 ff., what He grants to theold covenant-people, for whom the Prophet was, in the first instance, prophesying, and whose future he therefore describes more in detail. Why His relation to the Gentile world isfirst spoken ofappears from ver. 12; the Gentiles gathered to the Lord are the medium of His salvation to the old covenant-people.--Therootdesignates here (and likewise in chap. liii. 2), and in the passages founded upon this, viz., in Rev. v. 5, xxii. 16, theproductof the root, that whereby the root manifests itself, the shoot from the root; just as "seed" so very often occurs for "product of the seed." This appears from a comparison with ver. 1, where, more fully, the Messiah is called a twig from Jesse's roots.Bengelhas already directed attention to the antithesis of the root and ensign, in his Commentary on Rom. xv. 12: "A sweet antithesis: the root is undermost,the ensign rises uppermost; so that even the nations farthest off may behold it."--דרשwithל,אל, andאת, has the signification "to apply to the true God, or some imaginary god, in order to seek protection, help, counsel, advice, disclosures regarding the future;" comp. Is. viii. 19; Deut. xii. 4, 5, and other passages inGesenius' Thesaurus. The Gentiles feel that they cannot do without the Redeemer; they see, at the same time, His riches and their poverty; and this knowledge urges them on toseekHim, that from him they may obtainlight(chap. xlii. 6), that He may communicate to them Hislaw(chap. xlii. 4), that he may teach them of His ways, and that they may walk in His paths (chap. ii. 3), &c. St. Paul, in Rom. xv. 12, following the LXX., hasἐπ αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσι, which, as regards the sense, fully agrees with the original. The beginning of the seeking took place when the representatives of the Gentile world, the Maji from the East, came to Jerusalem, saying: "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and are come to worship Him," Matt. ii. 2. The historical foundation and the type are the homage which, from the Gentile world, was offered to Solomon, 1 Kings x.--מנוחה"resting place," "dwelling place," "habitation;" comp. Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14: "For the Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for Hishabitation. This is myrest(מנוחתי) for ever; here will Idwell, for I have desired it." The glory of the King passes over to His residence to which the Gentile world are flowing together, in order to do homage to Him; Comp. Ps. lxxii. 10: "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts." The comparison of this passage alone is sufficient to refute the absurd interpretation, according to whichעמיםandגויםare referred to the Israelitish tribes,--an interpretation which has been tried with as little success in the fundamental passage (Gen. xlix. 10), according to which theעמיםare to adhere to Shiloh; compare Vol. i. p. 62.

Ver. 11: "And it shall come to pass in that day, the Lord shall continue a second time with His hand to ransom the remnant of His people which has remained from Asshur and from Egypt, from Patros and from Cush, from Elam and from Shinar, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea."

From the Gentiles, the Prophet now turns to Israel. The reception of the Gentiles into the Messianic Kingdom is not by any means to take place at the expense of the old covenant-people; even they shall be brought back again, and shall be received into the Kingdom of God.יוסיףmust be connected withלקנות, comp. 2 Sam. xxiv. 1: "And the Lord continued to kill,"להרג. It is unnecessary and arbitrary to supplyלשלח.ידוis Accusative, "as to His hand," equivalent to "with His hand;" comp. Ps. iii. 5, xvii. 10, 11, 13, 14. Just the hand of God, which here comes into consideration as the instrument ofdoing, is repeatedly mentioned in the account of the deliverance from Egypt; comp. Exod. iii. 20, vii. 4, xiii. 9. The expression: "He shall continue," in general, points out the idea that it is not a new beginning which is here concerned, but the continuation of former acting, by which believing was rendered so much the more easy. The expression, "asecond time," points more distinctly to the type of thedeliverance from Egyptwith which the redemption to be effected by Christ is frequently paralleled; comp. vers. 15, 16; Vol. i. p. 218, 219. "From Asshur," &c., must not be connected withלקנות, but withישאר, comp. v. 16, those who have remained from Asshur, &c.,i.e., those whom Asshur and the other places of punishment, with their hostile influences, have left, who have been preserved in them. The fact that destructive influences may proceed from those nations also which do not properly belong to the number of the kingdoms of the world, is plainly shown by the history of the Jews after Christ. It would be against the accents, both here and in ver. 6, to connect it withלקנות; the words "which shall remain" would, in that case, appear to be redundant; and, farther, it is opposed by Exod. x. 3: "And eats the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail," equivalent to; which the hail has left to you. Similar to this is 2 Chron. xxx. 6, where Hezekiah exhorts the children of Israel: "Turn again unto the Lord.... in order that He may again return to the remnant which has been left to you from the hand of the kings of Asshur." A question here arises, viz., whether the dispersion of Israel which is here described, had already taken place at the time of the Prophet, or whether the Prophet, transferring himself in the Spirit intothe distant future, describes the dispersion which took place at a later period, after the carrying away of the ten tribes into the Assyrian exile had preceded, viz., that which took place when Judah was carried away into the Babylonish exile, and especially after the destruction of Jerusalem. The latter view is the correct one. The whole tenor of the Prophet's words shows that he supposes acomprehensivedispersion of the people. It is true that, at the time when the prophecy was written, the ten tribes had already been carried away into captivity; but the kingdom of Judah, the subjects of which, according to ver. 12, likewise appear as being in the dispersion, had not yet suffered any important desolation. The few inhabitants of Judah who, according to Joel iv. 6, (iii. 6), and Amos i. 6, 9, had been sold as slaves by the Philistines and Phœnicians, and others, who, it may be, in hard times had spontaneously fled from their native country, cannot here come into consideration. Just as here, so by Hosea too, the future carrying away of the inhabitants of Judah is anticipated; comp. vol. i., p. 219, 220. The fundamental passage is in Deut. xxx. 3, 4, where the gathering of Israel is promised "from all the nations whither the Lord thy God has scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out into the utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee." This passage shows with what clearness the future scattering lay before the eyes of the holy men, even at the first beginnings of the people of God. In vers. 11 and 12 we have the summary of the whole of the second part of Isaiah, in which the announcement of Israel's being gathered and brought back is constantly repeated; and it is quite incomprehensible how some grant the genuineness of the prophecy before us, and yet bring forward, against this second part of Isaiah, the argument that the Prophet could notsupposeethe scattering, that it must really have taken place, since he simply announces their being brought back.--As regards the redemption from the scattering, all that which in history is realised in a series of events, is here united in one view. There is no reason for excluding the deliverance under Zerubbabel; for it, too, was already granted for the sake of Christ, whose incarnation the Prophet anticipates in faith; comp. remarks on chaps. vii., ix. This redemption,however, in which those who have been brought back remain servants in the land of the Lord, can be considered as only a prelude to the true one; comp. vol. i., p. 220 f. 448. The true fulfilment began with the appearance of Christ, and is still going on towards its completion, which can take place even without Israel's returning to Canaan, comp. vol. i., p. 222. Asshur opens the list, and occupies the principal place, because it was through him who, under the very eyes of the Prophet, had carried away the ten tribes, that the dispersion began. But the Prophet does not limit himself to that which was obvious,--did not expect, from the Messiah, only the healing of already existing hurts.--With Asshur,Egyptis connected in one pair. Egypt is theAfricanworld's power struggling for dominion with theAsiatic. Its land serves not only as a refuge to those oppressed by the Asiatic world's power (comp. Jer. xlii. ff.), but, in that struggle with the Asiatic power, itself invades and oppresses the land; comp. chap. vii. 18; 2 Kings xxiii. 29 ff.: "In his days Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria." In a similar connection, Asshur and Egypt, the kingdoms on the Euphrates and the Nile, appear in chap. xxvii. 13: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet is blown, and they come, the perishing ones in the land of Asshur, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem;" Micah vii. 12; Jer. ii. 18; Lam. v. 6. As annexed to Egypt, thesecondpair presents itself, representing the uttermostSouth; compare the expression, "from the four comers of the earth," in ver. 12. Pathros, in Jer. xliv. 1, 15, also appears as a dependency of Egypt; and Cush, Ethiopia, was, at the Prophet's time, the ally of Egypt, chap. xxxvii. 9, xviii., xx. 3-6.Geseniusremarks on chap. xx. 4: "Egypt and Ethiopia are, in the oracles of this time, always connected, just as the close political alliance of these two countries requires."--From the uttermost South, the Prophet turns to the uttermost East. "Elam is," asGeseniusin his Commentary on chap. xxi. 2 remarks, "in the pre-exilic writers, used for Persia in general, for which afterwardsפרסbecomes the ordinary name;" and according to Dan. viii. 2, the Persian Metropolis Shushan is situated in Elam. It appears in chap. xxii. 6 as the representative of the world's powerwhich in future will oppress Judah, and we hence expect that it will appear in an Elamitic phase also.--Shinar, the ancient name for Babylon, is that world's power which, according to chaps. xiii., xiv., xxxix., and other passages, is to follow after the Assyrian, and is to carry away Judah into exile. Elam and Madai appear in chap. xxi. 2 as the destroyers of the Babylonian world's power; hence the Elamitic phase of it can follow after the Babylonish only. The geographical arrangement only can be the reason why it is here placed first.--The last of the four pairs of countries is formed by Hamath, representing Syria, (comp. 1 Maccab. xii. 25, according to which passage Jonathan the Maccabee marches into the land of Hamath against the army of Demetrius,) and the islands of the sea, the islands and the countries on the shores of the Mediterranean in the uttermost West. As early as in the prophecy of Balaam, in Numb. xxiv. 24: "And ships come from the side of Chittim and afflict Asshur, and afflict Eber, and he also perisheth," we find the announcement that, at some future time, the Asiatic kingdoms shall be conquered by a power which comes from the West in ships, by European nations--an announcement which was realised in history by the dominion of the Greeks and Romans in Asia.

Ver. 12: "And He setteth up an ensign to the Gentiles and assembleth the exiled of Israel, and gathereth together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

The setting up of the ensign for the Gentiles, around which they are to assemble for the purpose of restoring Israel, took place, in a prelude, under Cyrus; comp. chap. xiv. 2, xlix. 22: "Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the nations, and they bring thy sons on their bosom, and thy daughters are carried upon their shoulders;" where the sons and daughters correspond to the exiled men of Israel, and to the dispersed women of Judah, equivalent to all the exiled and dispersed men and women. As early as in the Song of Solomon, we are taught that in the Messianic time the Gentile nations will take an active part in the restoration of Israel. According to the first part of that Song, the appearance of the heavenly Solomon is connected with the reception of the Gentiles into His Kingdom, and that, through the instrumentality of theold covenant people, as is intimated by the name of the daughters of Jerusalem; comp. my Comment. on Song of Solomon, iii. 9-11. In the second part of that Song we have a description of the reunion of apostate Israel with Christ,--which reunion takes place by the co-operation of the daughters of Jerusalem, the same whom they formerly brought to salvation. According to Is. lxvi. 20, the Gentiles, converted to the Lord in the time of salvation, bring the children of Israel for an offering unto the Lord,--A significant allusion to the passage before us is found in John xi. 52:καὶ οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἔθνους μόνον, ἀλλ’ ἵνα καὶ τὰ τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ διεσκορπισμένα συναγάγῃ εἰς ἕν.It is the same mercy seeking that which is lost that manifests itself in the gathering of apostate Israel, and in the gathering of the Gentiles. What is said of the one furnishes, at the same time, the guarantee for the other.

Ver. 13. "And the envy of Ephraim departeth, and the adversaries of Judah are cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim."

According to the explanatory fourth clause, the "adversaries of Judah" in the second clause, can only be those among Judah who vex Ephraim. At the very beginning of the separation of the two kingdoms, their future reunion had been announced by a prophet; and this must now take place as certainly as Jehovah is God, who had promised to David and his house the eternal dominion over all Israel. The separation had taken place because the house of David had become unfaithful to its vocation. In the Messiah, the promise, to the Davidic race is to be completely realized;and this realization has, for its necessary consequence, theremoval for everof the separation; comp. Ezek. xxxvii. 22. It was apreludeto the fulfilment, that a portion of the subjects of the kingdom of the ten tribes united with Judah in all those times when, in the blessing accompanying the enterprises of a pious son of David, the promise granted to David was, in some measure realized,--as was the case under Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. Even before Christ appeared in the flesh, the announcement here made was all but realized. The exile put an end to the kingdom of the ten tribes, and hence also to the unnatural separation which had been designated as the severest calamity of the past, chap. vii. 17. The other tribesjoined Judah and the restored sanctuary; comp. Acts xxvi. 7; Luke ii. 36. The name of "Jews" passed over to the whole nation; the jealousy disappeared. This blessing was conferred upon the people for Christ's sake, and with a view to His future appearance. In Christ, the bond of union and communion is so firmly formed that no new discord can alienate the hearts from one another.

Ver. 14. "And they fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the West, spoil together the children of the East; Edom and Moab shall be their assault, the children of Ammon their obedience."

As Israel is united internally, so it shall be externally powerful. According to the Song of Solomon vi. 10, the congregation of Israel when, by her renewed connection with the Lord and His heavenly Solomon, she has regained her former strength, is "terrible as an army with banners."--The nations mentioned are those of the Davidic reign. Even before the time of the Prophet, they had been anew conquered by Jehoshaphat, in whom the spirit of David had been revived anew; comp. 2 Chron. xx.; Ps. lxxxiii. A prelude to the fulfilment of the prophecy before us took place at the time of the Maccabees, comp. Vol. i. p. 467, 468. But as regards the fulfilment, we are not entitled to limit ourselves to the names here mentioned. These names are the accidental element in the prophecy; the thought is this: As soon as Israel realizes its destiny, it partakes of God's inviolability, of God's victorious power. The Prophet's sole purpose is to point out the victorious power, to give prominence to the thought that outward prosperity is the necessary consequence of inward holiness.--In the first clause, the image is taken from birds of prey; comp. Hab. i. 8: "They fly as an eagle hastening to eat," which passage refers to the enemies of Israel at the time of wrath. In the time ofgrace, the relation will be just the reverse.--משלח ידoccurs, in a series of passages in Deuteronomy, of that which is taken in hand, undertaken. Edom and Moab are no longer an object ofNoli me tangerefor them.

Ver. 15. "And the Lord destroys the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and waves His hand over the River with the violence of His wind, and smiteth it into seven streams, that one may go through in shoes."

Ver. 16. "And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which was left from Asshur; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."

The miraculous power of the Lord shall remove all obstacles to deliverance. These obstacles are represented by the Euphrates and the Red Sea (the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, equivalent to the point of it), with a reference to the fact that, among the countries, in ver. 11, from which Israel is to be delivered, there had been mentioned,Egypt, between which and the Holy Land was the Red Sea, and Asshur, situated on the other side of Euphrates. To Euphrates, upon which there will be repeated that which, in ancient times, was done in the case of Jordan, the Prophet assigns, in ver. 15, the last place, on account of ver. 16. The highway in that verse is prepared by the turning off of Euphrates, so that we might put: "And thus," at the beginning of the verse. As regards the destroying,החרום, it is the forced devoting to God of that which would not spontaneously serve Him; compare remarks on Mal. iii. 24. Objects of such devoting can properly bepersonsonly, because they only are capable of spontaneous sanctification to God, as well as of wilful desecration. The fact that it is here transferred to the sea may be accounted for by its being personified. The destruction which is inflicted upon the sea is, in it, inflicted upon the enemies of God thereby represented, inasmuch as it opposes the people of God, and thus, as it were, strives against God.--With the violence or terror of His wind,i.e., with His violent, terrible wind. There is in this an allusion to Exod. xiv. 21, according to which the Lord dried up the Red Sea by a violent wind. AgainstDrechsler, who thinks of "God's breathing of anger," first, this reference to Exod. xiv. 21, and farther, the circumstance that theרוחappears as something which the Lord has in His hand, are decisive.--In ver. 16 we need not, after "from Asshur," supply the other nations mentioned in ver. 11, which would be unexampled; but Asshur appears as the representative of all the enemies of God. Similarly in Micah also, Asshur is, with evident intention, used typically; comp. Vol. i. p. 515, 516.

[1]Notwithstanding the arguments which we stated in favour of our proposition, that the original form of the name isנצר.Ebrardwithout even attempting to refute them, assumes, in favour of a far-fetched conjecture, that the name of the place was writtenנזרת(Kritik. d. Ev. GeschichteS. 843, 1st Ed.), and has introduced this opinion even into the text of the new edition ofOlshausen'sCommentary, edited by him. The circumstance that elsewherecommonlythe Hebrewזis, in Greek, rendered byζ,צbyσis, in this case, where the special arguments in favour ofנצרare so strong, of no consequence.

[2]Hofmann(Weissagung und Erfüllung., II. S. 64) was the last who assumed that the Evangelist had generally in view those passages in which the lowliness, contempt, and rejection of Christ are spoken of, and that, in the Old Testament passages in question, theΝαζωραῖοςwas not contained according to the letter, but according to the spirit only. But this is opposed not only by the whole manner of quotation which is given as a literal one, but also by a whole series of analogies: Christ's birthplace in Bethlehem, His stay in Jerusalem, His ministry in Galilee, and especially in Capernaum, His entrance into Jerusalem,--all these are by Matthew traced back to prophetical declarations which have a special reference to these localities. Against the exposition given by us,Hofmannadvances the assertion that neitherנצרnorחטרhave ever attached to them the idea of lowliness, of unassuming appearance. But even if a twig were not of itself something lowly and unassuming in appearance, yet, in the passage before us, that idea is, at all events, implied in the connection with thestumpandroots, as well as by the contrast toיפרה.

[3]The following passage, which we take fromRaim. Martini Pug. Fid.III. 3, 19 p. 685, will fully illustrate that custom: R.Abbasaid: His name isיהוהLord, according to the word in Jerem. xxiii. 6; R.Josua ben Levysaid: "His name is Sprout, according to what is said in Zech. vi. 12. Others say that His name will be Comforter, Son of the strength of God, as is declared in Lam. i. 16. Those from the School of R.Silohsaid: His name will beShiloh, as is written in Gen. xlix. 10: 'Until Shiloh come.' Those from the School of R.Chaninasaid: His name will be the Gracious one, as Jerem. said in chap. xvi. 13. Those from the School of R.Jannaisaid: Jinnon shall be His name, according to Ps. lxxii. 17, &c."

This chapter contains Israel's hymn of thanks after having obtained redemption and deliverance, and is connected with chap. ix. 2 (3), where the Prophet had, in general, mentioned the joy of the elect in the Messianic time. Here he embodies it in words. The hymn, which forms a kind of close, and, to a certain degree, belongs to the whole cycle of the preceding Messianic prophecies, is based upon the hymn of thanksgiving by Israel after having passed through the Red Sea,--that historical fact which contained so strong a guarantee for the future redemption, and is in harmony with chap. xi. 15, 16, where the Prophet had announced a renewal of those wonderful leadings of the Lord. The hymn falls into three stanzas, each consisting of two verses. In ver. 1 and 2, and in ver. 4 and 5, the redeemed ones are introduced speaking; ver. 3 and 5, which likewise form a couple, contain an epilogue of the Prophet on the doublejubilusof the congregation.

Ver. 1. "And in that day thou sayest: I will praise thee, Lord, for thou wast angry with me, and now thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.Ver. 2.Behold, God is my salvation; I trust, and am not afraid; for my strength and song is the Lord, and He became my Saviour."

The words "my strength and my song," are from Exod. xv. 2. The two members of the verse enter into the right relation to one another, and theכיbecomes intelligible, only if we keep in mind that the words at the beginning, "The Lord is my salvation," are an expression of the conviction of the speaker; hence are equivalent to: we acknowledge Him as our God; so that the first part expresses the subjective disposition of the Church; the second, the objective circumstance of the case--that on which that disposition is founded, and from which it grew up.

Ver. 3. "And ye draw water in joy out of the wells of salvation."

During the journey through the wilderness, the bestowal of salvation had been represented under the form of grantingwater. It is to it that we have here an allusion. The spiritual water denotes salvation.

Ver. 4. "And in that day ye say: Praise the Lord, proclaim His name, declare His doings among the nations, make mention that His name is exalted.Ver. 5.Praise the Lord, for He hath done great things; this is known in all the earth."

Ver. 6. "Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in thy midst."

There now follows a cycle of ten prophecies, which, in the inscriptions, have the nameמשא"burden," and in which the Prophet exhibits the disclosures into the destinies of the nations which he had received on the occasion of the threatening Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib. For, from the prophecy against Asshur in chap. xiv. 24, 25, which is contained in the very first burden, it clearly appears that the cycle which, by the equality of the inscriptions, is connected into one well arranged and congenial whole, belongs to this period. This prophecy against Asshur forms one whole with that against Babel, and by it the latter was suggested and called forth. In that prophecy, the defeat of Asshur, which took place in the 14th year of Hezekiah, is announced as future. It is true that the second burden, directed against the Philistines, in chap. xiv. 28-32, seems to suggest another time. Of this burden it is said, in ver. 28, that it was given in the year that king Ahaz died; not in the year in which his death was impending, but in that in which he died, comp. chap. vi. 1. The distressed circumstances of the new king raised the hopes of the Philistines, who, under Ahaz, had rebelled against the Jewish dominion. But the Prophet beholds in the Spirit that, just under this king, the heavenly King of Zion would destroy these hopes, and would thrust down Philistia from its imaginary height. But from the time of the original composition of the prophecy, that of itsrepetitionmust be distinguished. That took place, as is just shewn by the prophecy's being received in the cycle of theburdens, at the time when the invasion of Sennacherib was immediately impending. The Assyrians were the power from theNorth,by whom the threatened destruction would break in upon the Philistines; and the truth of the word should be verified upon them, that prosperity is only the forerunner of the fall. In the view of the fulfilment, Isaiah repeated the prophecy.

From the series of theseburdens, we shall very briefly comment upon those which are of importance for our purpose. First,

This prophecy does not contain any characteristically expressed Messianic element; but it is of no small consequence for bringing out the whole picture of the future, as it was before the mind of the Prophet. It is in it that Babel meets us distinctly and definitely as the threatening world's power of the future, by which Judah is to be carried away into captivity.

The genuineness is incontrovertibly testified by the close; and it is only by a naturalistic tendency that it can be denied. With the announcement of the deliverance from Babel is first, in chap. xiv. 24, 25, connected an announcement of deliverance from Asshur; and then follows in ver. 26 and 27, the close of the whole prophecy from chap. xiii. 1, onward. Vers. 26 and 27, which speak of the whole earth and of all the nations, refer to chap. xiii., where the Prophet had spoken of an universal judgment, comp. ver. 5, 9, 10, &c.; while, in the verses immediately preceding, one single people, the Assyrians only, were spoken of It is thereby rendered impossible to separate chap. xiv. 24, 27 from the whole.

Behind the world's power of the present--the Assyrian--the Prophet beholds a new one springing up--the Babylonish. Those who have asserted that the prophecy against Babel is altogether without foundation as soon as Isaiah is supposed to have composed it, are utterly mistaken. Although the prophecy was by no means destined for the contemporaries only, as prophecy is generally destined for all times of the Church, yet, even for the Prophet's contemporaries, every letter was of consequence. If Israel's principal enemies belonged to the future, how very little was to be feared from the present ones; and especially if Israel should and must rise from even thedeepest abasement, how should God not then deliver them from the lower distress and need? But just because weak faith does not like to draw suchinferences, the Prophet at the close expressly adverts to the present affliction, and gives to the weak faith a distinct and sure word of God, by which it may support itself, and take encouragement in that affliction.

The points of connection must not be overlooked which the prophecy in chap. xi. offers for the prophecy before us. We already met there the total decay of the royal house of David, the carrying away of Judah into exile, and their dispersion into all lands. It is on this foundation that the prophecy before us takes its stand: it points to the power by which these conditions are to be brought about. Farther--There, as well as here, the conditions of the future are not expresslyannouncedas such, butsupposed: the Prophet takes his stand in the future. There, as well as here, the Prophet draws consolation in the sufferings of the present from a salvation to be bestowed in a far distant future only.

From the very outset, the Prophet announces an impending carrying away of the people, and, at the same time, that, even in this distress, the Lord would have compassion upon His people, comp.e.g.chaps. v., vi. From the very outset, the Prophet clearly saw that it was not by the Assyrians that this carrying away would be effected. This much we consider to be fully proved by history. The progress which the prophecy before us offers, when compared with those former ones, consists in this circumstance only, that the Prophet here expressly mentions the names of the future destroyers. And in reference to this circumstance we may remark, that, according to the testimony of history, as early as at that time, the plan of the foundation of an independent power was strongly entertained and fostered at Babylon, as is clearly enough evidenced by the embassy of the viceroy of Babylon to Hezekiah.

In chap. xxiii. 13--the prophecy against Tyre, which is acknowledged to be genuine by the greater number of rationalistic interpreters--the Prophet shows the clearest insight into the future universal dominion of Chaldea, which forms the point of issue for the prophecy before us. With perfect clearness this insight meets us in chap. xxxix. also, on which evenGeseniuscannot avoid remarking: "The prophetic eye ofIsaiah foresaw, even at that time, that, in a political point of view, Babylon would, in a short time, altogether enter into the track of Assyria."

These two chapters form one whole, as, generally, the series of the tenburdensis nowhere interrupted by inserted, heterogeneous, independent portions. Chapter xx. forms an appendix only to chapter xix. In the same manner, the prophecy against Sebna in chap. xxii. 16-25, stands in an internal connection with vers. 1-15; in that which befel him, the destinies of the people were to be typified. That these two chapters belong to one another is clearly proved by the parallelism of chap. xvii. 10, 11, and chap. xviii. 4-6.

The inscription runs: "Burden of Damascus." It is at the commencement of the prophecy that the Syrians of Damascus are spoken of; the threatening soon after turns against Judah and Israel. This is easily accounted for by the consideration that the prophecy refers to a relation where Judah and Israel appear in the retinue of Damascus. It was from Damascus that, in the Syrico-Damascenic war, the whole complication proceeded. Aram induced Israel to join him in the war against Judah, and misled Judah to seek help from Asshur. In a general religious point of view, also, all Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes, as well as Judah, were at that time, as it were, incorporated into Damascus; comp. ver. 10, according to which Israel's guilt consisted in having planted strange vines in his vineyard, with 2 Kings xvi. 10, according to which Ahaz got an altar made at Jerusalem after the pattern of that which he had seen at Damascus. The circumstance that Israel had become like Damascus, was the reason why it was given up to the Gentiles for punishment.

From the comparison of chap. x. 28-34, it appears that chap. xvii. 12-14 belongs to the time of Hezekiah, when Israel was threatened by the invasion of Sennacherib. In chap. xvii. 1-11, in which, at first, the overthrow of Damascus and the kingdom of the ten tribes appears as still future, the Prophetthus transfers himself back to the stand-point of an earlier time. To this result we are also led by the chronological arrangement of the whole collection. The Prophet, stepping back in spirit to the beginning of the complication, surveys the whole of the calamity and salvation which arise to Israel from the relation to Asshur and the whole world's power represented by Asshur--a relation into which it had been led by Damascus--and takes a view of the punishment which it receives by its sins, by its having become worldly, and of the Divine mercy which sends deliverance and salvation.

The threatening goes as far as chap. xvii 11. The rod of chastisement is, in the first instance, in the hand of Asshur; but he, as has been already mentioned, represents the world's power in general. With this, the promise connects itself. The oppressors of the people of God are annihilated, chap. xvii. 12-14. All the nations of the earth, especially Ethiopia, which was, no less than Israel, threatened by Asshur (comp. chap. xxxvii. 9), and to which Egypt at that time occupied the position of a subordinate ally, perceive with astonishment the catastrophe by which God brings about the destruction of His enemies, chap. xviii. 1-3. Or, to state it more exactly: Messengers who, from the scene of the great deeds of the Lord, hasten in ships, first, over the Mediterranean, then, in boats up the Nile, bring the intelligence of the catastrophe which has taken place to Cush, the land of the rustling of the wings--thus named from the rustling of the wings of the royal eagle of the world's power, which, being in birth equal to Asshur, has there its seat, vers. 1 and 2; comp. chap. viii. 8. All the inhabitants of the earth shall look with astonishment at the catastrophe which is taking place, ver. 3, where the Prophet who, in vers. 1 and 2, had described the catastrophe as having already taken place, steps back to the stand-point of reality. In vers. 4-6, we have the graphic description of the catastrophe. At the close, we have, in ver. 7, the words which impart to the prophecy importance for our purpose.

"In that time shall be brought, as a present unto the Lord of hosts, the people far stretched and shorn, and from the people terrible since it(has been)and onward, and from the people of law-law and trampling down, whose land streams divide, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion."

The expression, "shall be brought as a present," (the wordשיoccurs, besides in this passage, only in Ps. lxviii. 30; lxxvi. 12) points back to the fundamental passage in Ps. lxviii. 30, where David says, "Because of thy temple over Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee." As outwardly, so spiritually too, the sanctuary liesoverJerusalem. The sanctuary of God over Jerusalem is the emblem of His protecting power, of His saving mercy watching over Jerusalem; so that, "because of thy temple over Jerusalem they bring," &c., is equivalent to: On account of thy glorious manifestation as the God of Jerusalem. Cush is in that Psalm, immediately afterwards, expressly mentioned by the side of Egypt, which, at the Prophet's time, was closely connected with it. "Princes shall come out of Egypt, Cush makes her hands to hasten towards God."--According toGesenius, and other interpreters, theמןfrom the second clause is to be supplied beforeעם ממשך. But this is both hard and unnecessary. It is quite in order that, first, the offering of persons, and, afterwards, the offering of their gifts should be mentioned. Parallel is chap. xlv. 14: "The labour of Egypt and the merchandize of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine;" the difference is only this, that there first the goods are mentioned, and then the men. In chap. lxvi. 20, we likewise meet men who are brought for an offering. The designations of the people who here appear as the type of the whole Gentile world to be converted at some future period, and who have been chosen for this honour in consequence of the historical circumstances which existed at the time of the Prophet, are taken from ver. 2.Geseniusis wrong in remarking in reference to them: "All these epithets have for their purpose to designate that distant people as a powerful and terrible one." AsGeseniushimself was obliged to remark in reference to the last words, "Whose land streams divide:" "This is a designation of a striking peculiarity of the country, not of the people,"--the purpose of the epithets can generally be this only, to characterise the people according to their different prominent peculiarities.--ממשךproperly "drawn out," "stretched," Prov. xiii. 12, corresponds to theאנשי מדה"men of extension or stature," in chap. xlv. 14. High stature appears, in classical writers also, as a characteristic sign of theEthiopians.--Onמורט"closely shorn," comp. chap. l. 6, whereמרטis used of the plucking out of the hair of the beard.---"To the people fearful since it and onward," equivalent to: which all along, and throughout its whole existence, has been terrible; compareמימי היאNah. ii. 9, and the expression: "from this day and forward," 1 Sam. xviii. 9. For everywhere one people only is spoken of, comp. ver. 1, according to which Egypt cannot be thought of--קו קו"law-law" is explained from chap. xxviii. 10, 13, where it stands besideצו צו, and designates the mass of rules, ordinances, and statutes. This is characteristic of the Egyptians, and likewise of the Ethiopians, who bear so close an intellectual resemblance to them. With regard to the connection of the verse with what precedes,Geseniusremarks: "The consequence of such great deeds of Jehovah will be, that the distant, powerful people of the Ethiopians shall present pious offerings to Jehovah,"--more correctly, "present themselves and their possessions to Jehovah."--A prelude to the fulfilment Isaiah beheld with his own eyes. It is said in 2 Chron. xxxii. 33: "And many (in consequence of the manifestation of the glory of God in the defeat of Asshur before Jerusalem) brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem." Yet, we must not limit ourselves to that. The real fulfilment can be sought for only at a later time, as certainly as that which the Prophet announces about the destruction of the world's power exceeds, by far, that isolated defeat of Asshur, which can be regarded as a prelude only to the real fulfilment; and as certainly as he announces the destruction of Asshur generally, and, under his image, of the world's power. "He who delights in having pointed out the fulfilment of such prophecies in the later history"--Geseniusremarks--"may find it in Acts viii. 26 ff., and still more, in the circumstance that Abyssinia is, up to this day, the only larger Christian State of the East."--In consequence of the glorious manifestation of the Lord in His kingdom, and of the conquering power which, in Christ, He displayed in His relation to the world's power, there once existed in Ethiopia a flourishing Christian Church; and on the ground of this passage before us, we look at its ruins which have been left up to this day, with the hope that the Lord will, at some future time, rebuild it.

The burden of Egypt begins with the words: "Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt are moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt melteth in the midst of it." The clouds with which, or accompanied by which, the Lord comes, are, in the Old and New Testament writings, symbolical indications and representations of judgment; comp. my remarks on Rev. i. 7; and besides the passages quoted there, compare in addition Jer. iv. 13; Rev. xiv. 14. But what judgment is here spoken of? According toGeseniusand other interpreters, the calamity is the victory of Psammeticus over the twelve princes, with which physical calamities are to be joined. But against this view, ver. 11 alone is conclusive, inasmuch as, according to this verse, Pharaoh, at the time when this calamity breaks in upon Egypt, is the ruler of the whole land: "How say ye unto Pharaoh: I am the Son of the wise a (spiritual) son of the kings of ancient times," who are celebrated for their wisdom. In ver. 2, according to which, in Egypt, kingdom fights against kingdom, we cannot, therefore, think of independent kingdom s; but following the way of the LXX.,νόμος ἐπὶ νόμον, of provinces only. Further,--According toGesenius, the fierce lord and cruel king in ver. 4 is assumed to be Psammeticus. But against this the plural alone is decisive. Ezek. xxx. 12--according to which outward enemies, theזרים, are the cause of the drying up of the Nile, of the ceasing of wealth and prosperity--militates against the assumption of a calamity independent of the political one. The circumstance, that the prophecy under consideration belongs to the series of theburdens, and was written in the view of Asshur's advance, leaves us no room to doubt that the Lord is coming to judgment in the oppression by the Asiatic world's power. To this may be added the analogy of the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel against Egypt, which are evidently to be considered as a resumption of the prophecy under consideration, and as an announcement that its realization is constantly going on. They do not know any other calamity than being given up to the Asiatic world's power. Comparee.g.Jer. xlvi. 25, 26: "And behold, I visit Pharaoh and Egypt, and their gods and their kings, Pharaohand them that trust in him. And I deliver them into the hand of those that seek their soul, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon." After what we have remarked, the discord among the Egyptians in ver. 2, can be considered as the consequence and concomitant of the real and main calamity only: Where God is not in the midst, there, commonly, internal discord is wont to follow upon severe outward affliction, inasmuch as one always imputes to the other the cause of matters going on so badly. And what is said of the drying up of the Nile, we shall thus likewise be obliged to consider as a consequence of the hostile oppression. Waters are, in Scripture, the ordinary image of prosperity; compare remarks on Rev. xvii. 1, 8, 40; xvi. 4. Here the Nile specially is chosen as the symbol of prosperity, inasmuch as upon it the woe and weal of Egypt chiefly depended. In consequence of the hostile invasion which consumes all the strength of the land, the Nile of its prosperity dries up; "its very foundations are destroyed, all who carry on craft are afflicted."

The scope of the prophecy is this: The Lord comes to judgment upon Egypt (through Asshur and those who follow in his tracks), ver. 1. Instead of uniting all the strength against the common enemy, there arises, by the curse of God, discord and dissolution, ver. 2. Egypt falls into a helpless state of distress, ver. 3. "And I give over Egypt into the hand of hard rule, and a fierce king (Jonathan:potens, sc. Nebuchadnezzar) shall rule over them, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts," ver. 4. The fierce king is the king of Asshur, the Asiatic kingdom; compare the mention of Asshur in ver. 23-25; LXX.βασιλεῖς σκληροί. For, the fact that the unity is merely anidealone, is most distinctly and intentionally pointed at by theאדניםpreceding. The prosperity of the land is destroyed, ver. 5-10. The much boasted Egyptian wisdom can as little avert the ruin of the country as it did formerly, in ancient times; its bearers stand confounded and ashamed; nothing will thrive and prosper, vers. 11-15. But the misery produces salutary fruits; it brings about the conversion of Egypt to the God of Israel, and, with this conversion, a full participation in all the privileges and blessings of the Kingdom of God shall be connected, ver. 16, and especially vers. 18-25. This close of the prophecy, which for our purpose is of special consequence, we must still submit to a closer examination.

Ver. 18. "In that day shall be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts; city of destruction the one shall be called."

Five, as usual, here comes into consideration as the half often, which number represents the whole; "fivecities," therefore, is equivalent to: a goodly number of cities. On the words: "Who speak the language of Canaan,"Geseniusremarks: "With the spreading of a certain religion resting on certain documents of revelation, ase.g.the Jewish religion, the knowledge of their language, too, must be connected." We must not, of course, limit the thought to this, that Hebrew was learned wherever the religion of Jehovah spread. When viewed more deeply, the language of Canaan is spoken by all those who are converted to the true God. Upon the Greek language,e.g.the character of the language of Canaan has been impressed in the New Testament. That language which, from primeval times, has been developed in the service of the Spirit, imparts its character to the languages of the world, and changes their character in their deepest foundation.--"To swear to the Lord" is to do Him homage; Michaelis:Juramento se Domino obstringent; comp. chap. xlv. 23: "Unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." In the words: "City of destruction,"הרס, one shall be called, there is contained an allusion toקיר הרס, "city of the Sun" (Heliopolis) which was peculiar to one of the chief seats of Egyptian idolatry. It is the celebratedOnorBethshemishof which Jeremiah prophesies in chap. xliii. 13: "And he (Nebuchadnezzar) breaketh the pillars in Beth-shemish, that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt he burneth with fire." This allusion was perceived as early as byJonathan, who thus paraphrases: "Urbs domus solis quae destruetur." By this allusion it is intimated that salvation cannot be bestowed upon the Gentile world in the state in which it is; that punitive justice must prepare the way for salvation: that everywhere the destructive activity of God must precede that which builds up; that the way to the Kingdom of God passes through the fire of tribulation which must consume every thing that is opposed to God; compare that which Micah, even in reference to the covenant-people, says regarding the necessity of taking, before giving can have place, vol. i., p. 517.

Ver. 19. "In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord."

That the altar is to be considered as a "monument" only is a supposition altogether far-fetched, and which can the less find any support in the isolated case, Josh. xxii., that that account clearly enough intimates how decidedly the existence of an altar furnishes a foundation for the supposition that sacrifices are to be offered up there, a supposition intimated by the very name in Hebrew. If it was meant to serve some other purpose, it would have been necessary expressly to state it, or, at least, some other place of sacrifice ought to have been assigned for the sacrifices mentioned in ver. 21. But as it stands, there cannot be any doubt that the altar here and the sacrifices there belong to one another. This passage under consideration is of no little consequence, inasmuch as it shows that, in other passages where a going up of the Gentiles to Jerusalem in the Messianic time is spoken of, as,e.g., chap. lxvi. 23, we must distinguish between the thought and the embodiment. Thepillarat the border bears an inscription by which the land is designated as the property of the Lord, just as it was the custom of the old eastern conquerors, and especially of the Egyptians, to erect such pillars in the conquered territories.

Ver. 20. "And it is for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: When they cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, He shall send them a Saviour and a Deliverer; and he shall deliver them."

Altar and pillar, as a sign and witness of the confession to the Lord, are, at the same time, a guarantee of the deliverance to be granted by Him. According toGesenius, the Prophet speaks "without a definite historical reference, of a saving or protecting angel." But we cannot think of an angel on account of the plain reference to the common formula in the Book of Judges, by which it is intimated that, as far as redemption is concerned, Egypt has been made a partaker of the privileges of the covenant-people. It is just this reference which has given rise to the general expression; but it is Christ who is meant; for the prophets, and especially Isaiah, are not cognizant of any other Saviour for the Gentile worldthan of Him; and it is He who is suggested by the Messianic character of the whole description.

Ver. 21. "And the Lord is known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians know the Lord in that day, and offer sacrifice and oblation, and vow vows unto the Lord, and perform them."

Ver. 22. "And the Lord smiteth the Egyptians so that He healeth them, and they are converted to the Lord, and He shall be entreated by them, and shall heal them."

We have here simply a recapitulation. The prophet describes anew the transition from the state of wrath to that of grace--not, asDrechslerthinks, what they experience in the latter. Upon Egypt is fulfilled what, in Deut. xxxii. 39, has been said in reference to Israel.

Ver. 23. "In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur cometh into Egypt, and Egypt into Asshur, and Egypt serveth with Asshur."

עבדwithאתhas commonly the signification "to serve some one;" here, however,אתis used as a preposition: Egypt serves GodwithAsshur. Yet there is an allusion to the ordinary use ofעבדwithאתin order to direct attention to the wonderful change: First, Egypt serves Asshur, and the powers that follow its footsteps; then, it serveswithAsshur. Here also it becomes manifest that the deliverer in ver. 20 is no ordinary human deliverer; for such an one could help his people only by inflicting injury upon the hostile power.

Ver. 24. "In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth."

The "blessing" is not "that union of people formerly separated," but it isIsraelfrom which the blessing is poured out upon all the other nations; compare the fundamental passage, Gen. xii. 1-3, and the word of the Lord:ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστί, John iv. 22.

Ver. 25. "For the Lord of Hosts blesseth him, saying: Blessed be Egypt my people, and Asshur the work of mine hands, and Israel mine inheritance."

The suffix inברמrefers to every thing mentioned in ver. 24. "Assyria and Egypt are called by epithets which elsewhere are wont to be bestowed upon Israel only."

It is scarcely necessary to point out how gloriously this,prophecy was fulfilled; how, at one time, there existed a flourishing Church in Egypt. Although the candlestick of that Church be now removed from its place ("Satanas in hac gente sevit zizania"--Vitringa), yet we are confident of, and hope for, a future in which this prophecy shall anew powerfully manifest itself The broken power of the Mahommedan delusion opens up the prospect, that the time in which this hope is to be realized is drawing nigh.

Back to Index Next