to David and his seed, comp. Ps. xxi. 5: "He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it to him, even length of days for ever and ever;" 1 Sam. vii. 13: "I will establish the throne of His kingdom for ever, comp. ver. 16; Ps. lxxxix. 5, cxxxii. 12,—a promise which found its final fulfilment in Christ. But the long life here must not be viewed as isolated, but must be understood in close connection both with what precedes and what follows. It is the life of the Servant of God in communion with His seed, in carrying out the will of God. never means "business," but always “pleasure;" and this signification, which occurs in chap. xliv. 28 also, is here the less to be given up, that the here, at the close, evidently refers to the at the beginning. By this reference, the reason is stated why it was the pleasure of the Lord to crush Him. According to vers. 11 and 12, it is the pleasure of God that sinners should be justified through Him, on the foundation of His vicarious suffering; according to chap. xlii. and xlix., that Israel should be redeemed, and the Gentiles saved. While the pleasure of the Lord is prospering through His hand, He, at the same time, sees seed.

מן

חפץ.

חפץ

In vers. 11 and 12, we have the closing words of the Lord. Ver. 11. "On account of the suffering of His soul He seeth, He is satisfied; by His knowledge He, the Righteous One, my Servant, shall justify the many, and He shall bear their iniquities.” The in by is "on account of." In ver. 10, to which the discourse of the Lord is, in the first instance, connected, the suffering likewise appears as the cause of the glorification. The Vulgate translates: "Pro eo quod laboravit anima ejus;" the LXX. rather feebly: ἀπὸ τοῦ πόνου τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ. With the object is omitted, and that purposely, in order that the words of God may be immediately connected with ver. 10. We must supply: the fruits and rewards of His sufferings announced there (just as, in a manner quite similar, in chap. xlix. 7, "they shall see," refers to the preceding verse), specially that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper through His hand,—which, in the sequel, is enlarged upon. The words: "He is satisfied,” point out that the blissful consequences of the atoning suffering will take place in the highest fulness. must, according to the accents, be connected with the subsequent words. The knowledge does not belong to the Servant of God, in so far as it

dwells in Him, but as it concerns Him, is directed to Him; just as the ȧyáπη Tоû coû in Luke xi. 42, and in other passages, does not mean the love which dwells in God, but the love which has God for its object. "By His knowledge" is thus equivalent to: by their knowing Him, getting acquainted with Him. This knowledge of the Servant of God according to His principal work, as it was described in what precedes, viz., His mediatorial office, or faith, is the subjective condition of justification. As the efficient cause of it, the vicarious suffering of the Servant of God was represented in the preceding context. It is just this, which is subjectively appropriated by the knowledge of the Servant of God, and which must be conceived of as essential and living. Thus J. H. Michaelis says: Per scientiam sui (Clericus: Cognitione sui), non qua ipse cognoscit, sed qua vera fide et fiducia ipse tanquam propitiator cognoscitur. The explanation: "By His knowledge (in the sense of understanding) or wisdom," gives a sense unsuitable to the context. In the whole prophecy, the Servant of God does not appear as a Teacher, but as a Redeemer; and the relalation of

shows that here, too, He is considered הצדיק to צדיק

as such. To supply, as is done by some interpreters: "in which (knowledge) He perceived the only possible means of redemption and reconciliation, and gave practical effect to this knowledge," is, after all, too unnatural; the discourse would in that case be so incomplete that we should have been shut up to conjectures. Others translate: "By His doctrine;" but y never means "doctrine." The explanation: "By His full, absolute knowledge of the divine counsel" (Hävernick), or, "by the absolute knowledge of God" (Umbreit), puts into the simple word, which only means "knowledge," more than is implied in it. According to the parallelism with the subsequent words: "He shall bear their iniquities," and according to the context (for, in the whole section, the Servant of God is not described as a Teacher, but as a Priest, as He who, in order to expiate our sin, has offered himself up as a sacrifice), must not be translated "to convert," but to "justify." In favour of this translation is also the construction with, which is to be accounted for from a modification of the signification: "to bring righteousness." But it is specially the position of which is decisive in favour of it. It is for the justification only that the personal

צדיק

righteousness of the Servant of God has that significant meaning

which is, in this manner, assigned to it.

Moreover, in the usus

In it, the verb is

loquendi, the meaning to justify only occurs. used, chap. v. 23, 1. 8; and there is no reason for deviating from it in the only passage which can be adduced in favour of the signification" to convert," viz., Dan. xii. 3: "And the wise, , shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and justify many as the stars, for ever and ever. In this passage, that is applied to believers which, in chap. liii., was ascribed to Christ. Even a certain strangeness in the style makes us suppose such a transference; and the fact, that Daniel had our passage specially in view, cannot be doubted, if we compare the

with which the prophecy ישכיל of Daniel with the משכילים

צדיק

must

A

under consideration opens (chap. lii. 13), and Daniel's: "justify many," with the passage before us. The justification, which in its full sense belongs to Christ the Head only, is by Daniel ascribed to the "wise," because they are the instruments through whom many attain justification; Calvin: Quia causa sunt ministerialis justitiae et salutis multorum. Hävernick refers, for a comparison, to 1 Tim. iv. 16: "For, in doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee." not be immediately connected with ; for, in that case, it ought to have stood after it, and been qualified by the article. On the contrary, stands first, because it stands by itself and substantively: "The righteous One, My Servant." similar construction occurs, Jer. iii., vii. 10: "And she does not turn unto me, the treacherous one,, her sister Judah. By thus making prominent, and connecting it immediately with, it is intended to point out the close connection in which the righteousness of the Servant of God, who, although altogether innocent and sinless, ver. 9, yet suffered the punishment of sin, stands with the justification to be bestowed by Him. Maurer thus pertinently expresses this: "To many, for righteous is my Servant, shall He procure righteousness." By these words thus the, in chap. lii. 15, is explained; and the seal of the divine confirmation is impressed upon that which, in vers. 4-6, the believing Church had said, especially upon the words : "By His wounds we are healed," ver. 5. The "many" points back to chap. liii. 15, and forms the contrast not to all (Stier:

VOL. II.

и

not bear, and by the weight of Calvin expresses himself thus: Christ justifies men by giving exchange, He takes upon Him

יצריק

"Because He cannot, overturning all laws, save all by coercion, or arbitrary will,”—a limitation which would in this context, be out of place), but to few: The one, the many, Rom. v. 15.-" And He shall bear their iniquities;" the iniquities and their punishment, as a heavy burden which the Servant of God lifts off from those who are groaning under their weight, and takes upon himself. Jerome says: "And He himself shall bear the iniquities which they could which they were borne down." "A wonderful change indeed! them His righteousness, and in their sins, that He may expiate them." In opposition to those who translate "He bore their iniquities," (the Future might, in that case, he accounted for from the Prophet's viewing the whole transaction as present), even Gesenius has remarked that the preceding and subsequent Futures all refer to the state of glorification. Even the parallelism with p shows that we must translate as the LXX. do : καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν αὐτὸς ἀνοίσει. Moreover, the subject of discourse in the whole verse is not the acquiring of the righteousness, which was done in the state of humiliation, but the communication of it, as the subjective condition of which the knowledge of the Servant of God was mentioned in the preceding clause. In the case of every one who, after the exaltation of the Servant of God, fulfils this condition, He takes upon Himself their sins, i. e., He causes His vicarious suffering to be imputed to them, and grants them pardon. The expression: "He shall bear their iniquities" is, in point of fact, identical with: "He shall justify them." The Servant of God has borne the sin once for all; by the power of His substitution, effected by the shedding of His blood, He takes upon himself the sins of every individual who knows Him. The "taking away" is implied in in so far only, as it is done by bearing. It was only because he was misled by his rationalistic tendencies, that Gesenius explains: "And He lightens the burden of their sins, i. e., by His doctrine He shall correct them, and thereby procure to them pardon." By such an explanation he contradicts himself, inasmuch as, in ver. 4, he referred the bearing of the diseases and pains to the vicarious satisfaction. It cannot, in any way, be said of the Teacher, that he takes upon himself iniquities.

Ver. 12. "Therefore will I give Him a portion in the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors, and He beareth the sin of many, and for the transgressors He shall make intercession."

רבים

ב with חלק But

p

The first words are thus explained by many interpreters: "Therefore I will give Him mighty ones for His portion, and strong ones He shall divide as a spoil." cannot mean simply "to allot," (although, indeed, this explanation is given by the LXX.; διὰ τουτὸ αὐτὸς κληρονομήσει TOMλOús; Vulg.: ideo dispertiam ei plurimos); it only signifies "to give a portion in," Job xxxix. 17. From the comparison with in ver. 11 and at the close of this verse, as well as from the reference to the many nations in the sketch, ver. 15, it is evident that here, too, cannot mean "mighty ones," but "many." Even elsewhere, the signification "great ones," mighty ones," appears oftentimes to be only forced upon. In Job xxxv. 9, the "many" are the many evil-doers; and in Job. xxxii. 9, the utterance: "Not the many are wise," is explained from the circumstance, that the view given by Job's friends was that of the great mass. The fact that the in the second clause is not the sign of the Accusative, but a Preposition, is probable even from the circumstance, that the former commonly stands before qualified nouns only; and, farther from the corresponding; "with the transgressors." But what is conclusive is, that the phrase always means "to divide spoil," never "to distribute as spoil," and that the phrase p DNN "to divide spoil with the proud" occurs in Pro. xvi. 19. The reason of the use of this expression lies in the reference to ordinary victors and conquerors of the world, especially to Cyrus. By His sufferings and death, the Servant of God shall secure to himself the same successes as they do by sword and bow. Although participating in the government of the world, and dividing spoil are here ascribed to the Servant of God, yet the participation in worldly triumphs is not spoken of. On the contrary, behind the equality which has given rise to the secular-looking expression (the thought is merely this, that through Christ and His sacrificial death, the Kingdom of God enters into the rank of worldconquering powers), a contrast lies concealed,―as appears, 1. From

את גאים