dramatic character of the whole section, the change of the person addressed is a circumstance of very little importance; and chap. lix. 21, where the word of God is put into the mouth of Jacob, is parallel in appearance only. Even a priori we could not expect that, in this context, treating, as it does, of the personal Messiah, the whole section, chap. li. 1-lii. 12, should lack all reference to the Messiah. By the words: "I put my word in thy mouth," the Messiah is appointed to be, in the highest sense, the speaker of God; the realization of the divine counsels is committed to Him. For the fact that it is not mere words which are here treated of, but such as are living and powerful, like those which God spoke at the creation, becomes evident by the circumstance that the planting of heaven and earth is attributed to the Servant of God as bearer of His words, a thing which cannot be done by the ordinary word; comp. Is. xl. 4, according to which the Messiah smites the earth with the rod of His mouth, and slays the wicked with the breath of His lips.-I cover thee in the shadow of mine hand, designates the divine protection and providence which are indispensable in order that the Servant of God may fulfil His vocation to be God's speaker. The words form an accessory thought only: I appoint thee my speaker whom, as such, I will keep and protect in order that thou, etc. ;-for that which follows is that which the Servant of God is to perform as His Speaker. By the word of Omnipotence committed to Him, He plants a new heaven, and lays the foundation of a new earth, and invests Zion with the dignity of the people of God.-To plant the heaven and lay the foundation of the earth, is equivalent to founding a new heaven, a new earth; comp. chaps. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22; Rev. xxii. For, as long as the old heaven and the old earth exist, a planting and founding activity cannot take place in reference to heaven and earth. All that is created, in so far as it opposes the Kingdom of God is unfit for being an abode of the glorified Kingdom of God, and must be shaken and broken to pieces, in order that this Kingdom may enter into its natural conditions, and find a worthy abode. The activity of God and His Servant, necessary for this purpose, will most completely take place at the end of days, at the maλyyeveσía announced by the Lord, Matthew xix. 28; compare what is said in chap. xi., in reference

to the entire change of the conditions of the earth. But in a preparatory manner, this activity pervades all history. The heaven, according to the usus loquendi of Scripture, and also of Isaiah, is not only the natural heaven, but also the heaven of princes, the whole order of rulers and magistrates, (comp. my remarks on Rev. vi. 13), whose form and relation to the Kingdom of God underwent a great change, even at the first appearance of Christ.-The saying, according to the preceding: That thou mayest plant, &c., is not to be referred to the mere announcing; but, according to the frequent usus loquendi, it includes the performing also, just as e.g., in ver. 12, the comforting is effected by a discourse in deeds. The distinction between, and separation of word and deed belongs to human weakness. God speaks and it is done; and what holds true of His word, applies also to the word of His Servant, which he has put into His mouth.

CHAPTERS LII. 13-LIII. 12.

This section forms the climax of the prophecies of Isaiah, of prophetism in general, of the whole Old Testament, as appears even from the circumstance that the Lord and His Apostles refer to no part of the Old Testament so frequently and so emphatically as to this,-a section which, according to Luther's demand, every Christian should have committed verbatim. Christ is here, with wonderful clearness, described to us in His highest work-His atoning suffering.

In vers. 13-15, of chap. lii. Jehovah speaks. These verses contain a short summary of what is enlarged upon in chap. liii. The very deepest humiliation of the Servant of God shall be followed by His highest glorification. In consequence of the salvation wrought out and accomplished by Him, the nations of the earth and their kings shall reverently submit to Him. In chap. liii. 1-10, the Prophet utters the sentiments of the elect in Israel. At first, in His humiliation, they had not recognized the Redeemer; but now they acknowledged Him as their Redeemer and Saviour, and saw that He had taken upon Him His sufferings for our salvation, and that they had a vicarious

character. The commencement forms, in ver. 1, the lamentation that so many do not believe in the report of the Servant of God, that so many do not behold the glory of God manifested in Him. In vers. 2 and 3, we have the cause of this fact, viz., the appearance of the Divine, in the form of a Servant-the offence of the cross. In lowliness, without any outward splendour, the Servant of God shall go about. Sufferings, heavier than ever befel any man, shall be inflicted upon Him. In vers. 4-6, the vicarious import of these sufferings is pointed out. The people, seeing His sufferings, and not knowing the cause of them, imagined that they were the well-merited punishment of His own transgressions and iniquities. But the Church, now brought to believe in Him, see that they were wrong in imagining thus. It was not His own transgressions and iniquities which were punished in Him, but ours. His sufferings were voluntarily undergone by Him, and for the salvation of mankind, which else would have been given up to destruction. God himself was anxious to re-unite to himself those who were separated from Him, and who walked in their own ways. To the vicarious import of the sufferings of the Servant of God corresponds, according to ver. 7, His conduct: He suffers quietly and patiently. In vers. 8-10 we have the reward which the Servant of God receives for His passive obedience. God takes Him to himself, and He receives an unspeakably great generation, ver. 8, the ominous burial with the rich, ver, 9, numerous seed and long life, and that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand, ver. 10. In vers. 11 and 12, the Lord again appears as speaking, and confirms that which has been declared by the faithful Church.

The two verses of the close, together with the exordium, chap. lii. 13-15, occupy five verses-five being the signature of the half and incomplete. The main body, ten verses, is divided into seven, referring to the humiliation and suffering, and three, referring to the exaltation of the Servant of God. The seven are, as usual, again divided into three and four. In the three verses, the suffering of the Servant of God is exhibited; in the four, its cause and vicarious import.

By the "Behold" with which the prophecy opens, the Prophet intimates that we have here before us a vision beheld by

him in the spirit. As the period in which the Prophet beholds the vision, we have to suppose the time between the suffering and the glorification of the Servant of God. The glorification is described chiefly by Futures, the suffering by Preterites; but, from the fact that this stand-point is not strictly adhered to, it is evident that we have to do with a stand-point which is purely ideal. The section forms, in a formal and material point of view, a whole by itself; but, notwithstanding its absolute independence, it must stand in a certain connection with what precedes and what follows. Let us, therefore, now consider the relation in which it stands to the portions surrounding it. Its relation to what goes before is thus strikingly designated by Calvin: "After Isaiah had spoken of the restoration of the Church, he passes over to Christ in whom all things are gathered together. He speaks of the prosperous success of the Church, at a time when it was least to be expected, which calls them back to their King by whom all things are to be restored, and exhorts them to expect Him." The preceding section begins with chap. li. 1. We have already stated the contents up to li. 16. Vers. 17-23 are closely connected with the preceding, in which salvation and mercy were announced to the Church of God. This announcement is here continued in new forms. Chap. lii. 1-6: As the Lord had formerly delivered His people out of the hand of Egypt and Asshur, so, now too, He will deliver them. Zion appears under the image of a woman imprisoned, fettered, lying powerlessly in a miserable garment, on a dirty floor, and is called upon to arise, to strengthen herself, to throw off her bands, to put on festive garments, inasmuch as the time of her deliverance from the misery is at hand. Vers. 7-10: In the last words of ver. 6, the Lord had announced that He was already at hand for the redemption of His Church. This salvation now presents itself vividly to the spiritual eye of the Prophet, and is graphically described by him. He beholds a messenger hastening with the glad tidings to Jerusalem; watchmen, who are standing on the ruins of Jerusalem in longing expectation, discover him at a distance, and exultingly call upon the ruins to shout aloud for joy. "How

1 One needs only to consider passages such as this, to be enabled to distinguish between the ideal and real Present, and to be convinced of

beautiful". —so verse 7 runs-"upon the mountains the feet of the Messenger of joy, that announceth peace, that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion: Thy God reigneth." In Rom. x. 15, the Apostle refers this passage to the preaching of the Gospel. That is more than mere application; it is real explanation. The deliverance from Babylon is only the first faint beginning of the salvation, which the Prophet has here before his eye in its whole extent. As the substance of the salvation, the circumstance that Zion's God reigneth, is intimated. There is, in this, an allusion to the formula which was used in proclaiming the ascension of earthly kings to the throne. Even this allusion shows that the point here in question is not the continuous government of the Lord, but a new, glorious manifestation of His government, as it were a new ascension to the throne. This "the Lord reigneth,” found a faint beginning only of its confirmation and fulfilment in the destruction of Babylon, and the deliverance of Israel; but as to its full import, it is Messianic. In Christ, the Lord has truly assumed the government, and will still more gloriously reign in future. Ver. 8: "The voice of thy watchmen! they lift up the voice, they shout together; for they see eye to eye that the Lord returneth to Zion." The watchmen are ideal persons, representatives of the truth that the Lord is around His people, and that the circumstances of His Church are to Him a constant call to help; or they may be viewed as the holy angels who, as the servants of the watchmen of Israel, form the protecting power for the Church. These watchmen continue to stand even on the destroyed walls; for, even in her misery, the Lord is Zion's God. The anxious waiting eye of the watchmen, and the mercybeaming eye of God returning to Zion meet one another. The returning here is opposed to the forsaking, over which Zion had lamented in chap. xlix. 14. Instead of the concealed presence of the Lord during the misery, which, to the feeling, so easily

the utter futility of the chief argument against the genuineness of the second part, viz., that the Babylonish exile appears as present. "Proceeding from the certainty of deliverance"-so Hitzig remarks- "the Prophet here beholds in spirit that going on, to which, in chap. xl. 9, he exhorts." If the Prophet beholds at all in the spirit, why should he not see in spirit the misery also?