and easier bargain, he thought, could be struck with the Assyrians; how insatiable soever they might be, they did not ask the heart. How many do even now-a-days rather perish in sin and misery, than be converted!

Ver. 13. "And he said: Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it too little for you to provoke man, that you provoke also my God?"

When Ahaz had before refused to believe in the simple announcement of the Prophet, his sin was more pardonable; for, inasmuch as Isaiah had not proved himself outwardly as a divine ambassador, Ahaz sinned to a certain degree against man only, against the Prophet only, by unjustly suspecting him of a deceitful pretension to a divine revelation. Hence, Isaiah continues mild and gentle. But when Ahaz declined the offered sign, God himself was provoked by him, and his wickedness came evidently to light. It is substantially the same difference as that between the sin against the Son of Man, the Christ coming outwardly and as a man only (Bengel: quo statu conspicuo, quatenus aequo tum loco cum hominibus conversabatur), and the sin against the Holy Ghost who powerfully glorifies Him outwardly and inwardly. It is the antithesis of the relative ignorance of what one is doing, and of the absolute unwillingness which purposely hardens itself to the truth known, or easy to be known. We say relative ignorance; for an element of obduracy and hardening already existed, if he did not believe the Prophet, even without a sign. For the fact that the Prophet was sent by God, and spoke God's word, was testified to all who would hear it, even by the inner voice, just as in every sin against the Son of Man there is always already an element of the sin against the Holy Ghost.-The truth that godlessness is the highest folly is here seen in a very evident manner. The same Ahaz who rejects the offer of the living God, who palpably wishes to reveal to him that He is a living God, sacrifices his son to the dead idol Moloch, who never yet gave the smallest sign of life! In this mirror we may see the condition of human nature. The circumstance that it is not Ahaz, but the house of David that is addressed, indicates that the deed is a deed of the whole house.-The Prophet says, "My God," i.e., the God whose faithful ser

vant I am, and in whom ye hypocrites have no more any share. In ver. 11, the Prophet had still called Him the God of Ahaz.

Ver. 14. "Therefore the Lord himself giveth you a sign: Behold the Virgin is with child, and beareth a Son, and thou callest his name Immanuel.”

Ahaz had refused the proffered sign; the whole depth of his apostacy had become manifest; no farther regard was to be had to him. But it was necessary to strengthen those who feared God, in their confidence in the Lord, and in their hope in Him. For this reason, the Prophet gives a sign, even against the will of Ahaz, by which the announcement of the deliverance from the two kings was confirmed. Your weak, prostrate faith, he says, may erect itself on the certain fact that, in the Son of the Virgin, the Lord will some day be with us in the truest manner, and may perceive therein a guarantee and a pledge of the lower help in the present danger also." Therefore" because ye will not fix upon a sign. Reinke, in the ably written Monograph on this passage, assigns to the signification, "nevertheless," which is not supported by the usus loquendi.—must be translated as a Present; for the pregnancy of the Virgin and birth of Immanuel are present to the Prophet; and the fact cannot serve as a sign, in so far as it manifests itself outwardly, but only in so far as, by being foretold, it is realized as present.- He, i.e., of His own accord, without any co-operation, such as would have taken place if Ahaz had asked the sign.- refers by its form to the house of David; but in determining the sign, it is not the real condition of its representative at that time which is regarded, but as he ought to be. In substance, the sign given to ungodly Ahaz is destined for believers only. "behold" indicates the energy with which the Prophet anticipates the future; in his spirit it becomes to him the immediate present. Thus it was understood as early as by Chrysostom: μόνον γὰρ οὐκ ὁρῶντος ἦν τὰ γινόμενα καὶ φανταζομένου καὶ πολλὴν ἔχοντος ὑπερ τῶν εἰρημένων πληροφορίαν, τῶν γὰρ ἡμετέρων ὀφθαλμῶν ἐκεῖνοι σαφέστερον τὰ μὴ ὁρώμενα ἔβλεπον.—The article in

by cannot refer to the virgin known as the mother of the Saviour; for, besides the passage before us, it is only Micah v. 2 (3) which mentions the mother of the Saviour, and it is our

passage only which speaks of her as a virgin. In harmony with

-might be explained from the circum העלמה the article in הנה

stance that the Virgin is present to the inward perception of the Prophet-equivalent to "the virgin there." But since the use

of the article in the generic sense is so general, it is most natural to understand "the virgin" as forming a contrast to the married or old woman, and hence, in substance, as here equivalent to a virgin. To this view we are led also by the circumstance that, in the parallel passage, Mic. v. 2 (3) "a bearing woman" is used without the article.- is, by old expositors, commonly derived from in the signification "to conceal." virgin, they assume, is called a concealed one, with reference to the customs of the East, where the virgins are obliged to lead a concealed life. Thus it was understood by Jerome also: "Almah is not applied to girls or virgins generally, but is used emphatically of a hidden and concealed virgin, who is never accessible to the looks of males, but who is with great care watched by the parents." But all parties now rightly agree that the word is to be derived from, in the signification, " to grow up." To offer here any arguments in proof would be a work of supererogation, as they are offered by all dictionaries. But with all that, Luther's remark is even now in full force: "If a Jew or a Christian can prove to me that in any passage of Scripture Almah means "a married woman," I will give him a hundred florins, although God alone knows where I may find them." It is true that by is distinguished from, which designates the virgin state as such, and in this signification occurs in Joel i. 8 also where the bride laments over her bridegroom whom she has lost by death. Inviolate chastity is, in itself, not implied in the word.

עלמה But certain it is that

designates an unmarried person in the first years of youth; and if this be the case, unviolated chastity is a matter of course in this context; for if the mother of the Saviour was to be an unmarried person, she could be a virgin only; and, in general, it is inconceivable that the Prophet should have brought forward a relation of impure love. In favour of "an unmarried person" is, in the first instance, the derivation. Being derived from hy, "to grow up," "to become marriageable," by can denote nothing else than puella nubilis. But still more decisive is the

usus loquendi. In Arabic and Syriac the corresponding words are never used of married women; and Jerome remarks, that in the Punic dialect also a virgin proper is called. Besides in the passage before us, the word occurs in Hebrew six times (Gen. xxiv. 43; Exod. ii. 8; Ps. lxviii. 26; Song of Sol. i. 3, vi. 8; Prov. xxx. 19); but in all these passages the word is undeniably used of unmarried persons. In the two passages of the Song of Solomon, the by designate the nations which have not yet attained to an union with the heavenly Solomon, but are destined for this union. In chap. vi. 8, they are, as brides, expressly contrasted with the wives of the first and second class. Marriage forms the boundary; the Almah appears here distinctly as the antithesis to a married woman. It is the passage in Proverbs only which requires a more minute examination, as the opponents have given up all the other passages, and seek in it alone a support for their assertion that may be used of a married woman also. The passage in its connection runs as follows: Ver. 18. "There be three things which are too wonderful for me, and four which I know not. Ver. 19. The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon the rock, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid. Ver. 20. This is the way of an adulteress woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth and saith: I have done no wickedness." According to De Wette, Bertheau, and others, the tertium comparationis for every thing is to lie in this only, that the ways do not leave any trace that could be recognized. But the traceless disappearing is altogether without foundation; there is not one word to indicate it; and it is quite impossible that that on which every thing depends should have been left to conjecture. Farther, -instead of the eagle, every other bird might have been mentioned, and the words "in the air" would be without meaning, as well as the words "in the heart of the sea" mentioned in reference to the ship. But the real point of view is expressly stated in ver. 18. It is the incomprehensible. It is thus only that ver. 20, for which the other verses prepare the way, falls in with the tendency of the whole. In the way of the adulteress, that which is pointed out is not that it cannot be known, but the moral incomprehensibility that she, practising great wickedness which is worthy of death, and will unavoidably

bring destruction upon her, behaves as if there were nothing wrong, as if a permitted enjoyment were the point in question, that she eats the poisoned bread of unchaste enjoyment as if it were ordinary bread; comp. ix. 17, xx. 17 ; Ps. xiv. 4. Four incomprehensible things in the natural territory are made use of to illustrate an incomprehensible thing in the ethical territory. The whole purpose is to point out the mystery of sin. In the case of the eagle, it is the boldness of his flight in which the miraculous consists. The speed and boldness of his flight is elsewhere also very commonly mentioned as the characteristic of the eagle; it is just that which makes him the king of birds. In the case of the serpent, the wonder is that, although wanting feet, it yet moves over the smooth rock which is inaccessible to the proud horse; comp. Amos vi. 12: "Do horses run upon the rock." In the ship, it is the circumstance that she safely passes over the abyss which, as it would appear, could not fail to swallow her up. The way of a man with a maid occupies the last place in order to intimate that, as in the case of the adulteress, denotes the spiritual way.' What is here meant is the relation of the man to the virgin, generally, for if any particular aspect had been regarded, e. g., that of boldness, cunning, or secrecy, it ought to have been pointed at. The way of the man with the maid is the secret of which mention is made as early as in Gen. ii. 24,-the union of the strong with the weak and tender (comp. the parallel passage, Jer. xxxi. 22), the secret attraction which connects with one another the hearts, and at last, the bodies. The end of the way is marriage. It is the young love which specially bears the character of the mysterious; after the relation has been established, it attracts less wonder.— is the femin. of the verbal adj. The fundamental passage Gen. xvi. 11, where the angel of the Lord says to Hagar: "Behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard thy affliction," shows that we must translate: The virgin is with child, and not: becomes with child. The allusion to that passage in Genesis is very significant. In that case, as well as in the one under consideration, salvation is brought into connection with the birth of a child. To the birth of Ishmael, the despairing Hagar is directed as to a security for the divine favor; to the birth of Immanuel,

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