dangerous is Asshur, i.e., the whole world's power first represented by Asshur. For the King of Asshur is, so to say, an ideal person to the Prophet. The different phases of the world's powers are intimated as early as chap. viii. 9, where the Prophet addresses the "nations," and "all the far-off countries ;" and, at a later period, he received disclosures regarding all the single phases of the world's power which began its course with Asshur. With this the Prophet had only threatened in chap. vii.; here, however, he is preeminently employed with it, exhorting, comforting, promising, so that thus the two sections form one whole in two divisions. His main object is to induce his people, in the impending oppression by the world's power, to direct their eyes steadily to their heavenly Redeemer, who, in due time, will bring peace instead of strife, salvation and prosperity instead of misery, dominion instead of oppression. As in chap. vii. 14, the picture of Immanuel is placed before the eyes of the people desponding on account of Aram and Ephraim, so here the care, anxiety, and fear in the view of Asshur are overcome by pointing to the declaration: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." It is of great importance for the right understanding of the Messianic announcement in chap. viii. 23, ix. 6, that the historical circumstances of the whole section, and its tendency be clearly understood. As, in general, the Messianic announcement under the Old Testament bears a one-sided character, so, for the present occasion, those aspects only of the picture of the Saviour were required which were fitted effectually to meet the despondency of the people in the view, and under the pressure of the world's power. After these preliminary remarks, we must enter still more in detail upon the arrangement and construction of the section before us. The Prophet receives, first, the commission to write down, like a judicial document, the announcement of the speedy destruction of the present enemies, and to get it confirmed by trust-worthy witnesses, chap. viii. 1, 2. He then, farther, receives the commission to give, to a son that would be born to him about the same time, a name expressive of the speedy destruction of the enemies, vers. 3, 4. Thus far the announcement of the deliverance from Aram and Ephraim. There then follows, from vers. 5-8, an announcement of the misery which is to be inflicted by Asshur, of whom Ahaz and the unbelieving portion of the people expected nothing but deliverance. Up to this, there is a recapitulation only, and a confirmation of chap. vii. But this misery is not to last for ever, is not to end in destruction. In vers. 9, 10, the Prophet addresses exultingly the hostile nations, and announces to them, what had already been gently hinted at at the close of ver. 8, that their attempts to put an end to the covenantpeople would be vain, and would lead to their own destruction. The splendour of Asshur must fade before the bright image of Immanuel, which calls to the people: "Be ye of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Calvin strikingly remarks : "The Prophet may be conceived of, as it were, standing on a watchtower, whence he beholds the defeat of the people, and the victorious Assyrians insolently exulting. But by the name and view of Christ he recovers himself, forgets all the evils as if he had suffered nothing, and, freed from all misery, he rises against the enemies whom the Lord would immediately destroy." The Prophet then interrupts the announcement of deliverance, and exhibits the subjective conditions upon which the bestowal of deliverance, or rather the partaking in it, depends, along with the announcement of the fearful misery which would befal them in case these conditions were not complied with. But, so he continues in vers. 11-16, he who is to partake of the deliverance which the Lord has destined for His people, must in firm faith expect it from Him, and thereby inwardly separate himself from the unbelieving mass, who, at every appearance of danger, tremble and give up all for lost. He who stands as ill as that mass in the trial inflicted by the Lord; he to whom the danger becomes an occasion for manifesting the unbelief of his heart;-he indeed will perish in it. At the close, the prophet is emphatically admonished to impress this great and important truth upon the minds of the susceptible ones. In ver. 17: " And I waited upon the Lord," &c., the Prophet reports what effect was produced upon him by this revelation from the Lord,-thereby teaching indirectly what effect it ought to produce upon all. In ver. 18, the Prophet directs the desponding people to the example of himself who, according to ver. 17, is joyful in his faith, and to the names of his sons which announced deliverance. Deliverance and comfort are to be sought from the God of Israel only. Vain, therefore, --this he brings out, vers. 19-22-are all other means by which people without faith seek to procure help to themselves. They should return to God's holy Law which, in Deut. xviii. 14, ff. commands to seek disclosures as regards the future, and comfort from His servants the Prophets only, and which itself abounds in comfort and promise. If such be not done, misery without any deliverance, despair without any comfort, are the unavoidable consequences. From ver. 23, the Prophet continues the interrupted announcement of deliverance. That which, in the preceding verses, he had threatened in the case of apostacy from God's Word, and of unbelief, viz. darkness, i. e., the absence of deliverance, will, as the Prophet, according to vers. 21, 22, foresees, really befal them in future, as the people will not fulfil the conditions held forth in vers. 16 and 20, as they will not speak : "To the Law and to the testimony," as they will not in faith lay hold of the promise, and trust in the Lord. The calamity having, in the preceding verses, been represented as darkness, the deliverance which, by the grace of the Lord, is to be bestowed upon the people (for the Lord indeed chastises His people on account of their unbelief, but does not give them up to death), is now represented as a great light which dispels the darkness. It shines most clearly just where the darkness had been greatest,-in that part of the country which, being outwardly and inwardly given up to heathenism, seemed scarcely still to belong to the land of the Lord, viz., the country lying around the lake of Gennesareth. The people are filled with joy on account of the deliverance granted to them by the Lord, their deliverance from the yoke of their oppressors, from the bondage of the world which now comes to an end. As the bestower of such deliverance, the Prophet beholds a divine child who, having obtained dominion, will exercise it with the skill of the God-man; who will, with fatherly love, in all eternity care for His people and create peace to them; who will, at the same time, infinitely extend His dominion, the kingdom of David, not by means of the force of arms, but by means of right and righteousness, the exercise of which will attract the nations to Him; so that with the increase of dominion, the increase of peace goes hand in hand. The guarantee that these glorious results shall really take place is the zeal of the Lord, and it is this to which the Prophet points at the close. Chap. viii. 23 (ix. 1). "For not is darkness to the land, to which is distress; in the former time he has brought disgrace upon the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and in the after-time he brings it to honour, the region on the sea, the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles." כי stands in its ordinary signification, "for." Allow not yourselves to be turned away by anything from trusting in the God of Israel; hold fast by His word alone, and by His servants,--such was the fundamental thought of the whole preceding section. It meets us last in ver. 20, in the exhortation: "To the Law and to the testimony!" in so far as this is rich in consolation and promise. The Prophet, after having, in the preceding verses, described the misery which will befal those who do not follow this exhortation, supports and establishes it by referring to the help of the Lord already alluded to in vers. 9 and 10, and to the light of His grace which He will cause to shine into the darkness of the people,—a darkness produced by their unbelief and apostacy; and this light shall be brightest where this darkness was greatest. All the attempts at connecting this with the verse immediately preceding, instead of referring it to the main contents of the preceding section, have proved futile. can neither mean "nevertheless," nor "yea ;" and the strange assertion that it is almost without any meaning at all cannot derive any support froin Isaiah xv. 1: "The burden of Moab, for in the night the city of Moab is laid waste;" for only in that case is without any meaning at all, if be falsely interpreted.-Ver. 22, where "darkness of distress" is equivalent to "darkness which consists in distress" (compare also: "behold trouble and darkness" in the same verse), shows that pare substantially of the same meaning. Our verse forms an antithesis to ver. 22; the latter verse described the darkness brought on by the guilt of the people; the verse under consideration describes, in contrast to it, the removal of it called forth by the grace of the Lord.- may either be connected with the noun, or it may be explained: not is darkness. It cannot be objected מעוף צוקה the phrase מועף and אחרון כ -.ץאר has ever כעת to the latter view that, in that case, should rather have stood; while the analogy of the phrase: "Not didst thou increase the joy," in chap. ix. 2 (3), seems to be in favour of it. Here we have the negative, the ceasing of darkness; in chap. ix 1 (2) the positive, the appearance of light. The suffix. in refers, just as the suffix. in in ver. 21, to the omitted The iny is, by many interpreters, asserted to stand in the signification of: "Just as the former time has brought disgrace," &c. But as it cannot be proved that the meaning, "just as ;" and as, on the other hand, y frequently occurs in the signification, "at the time" (compare my remarks on Numb. xxiii. 13 in my work on Balaam), we shall be obliged to take, here too, the as a temporal particle, and to supply, as the subject, Jehovah, who always stands before the Prophet's mind, and is often not mentioned when the matter itself excludes another subject. Moreover, it is especially in favour of this view that, in vers. 3 (4), the Lord himself is expressly addressed.-As regards either may be supplied, and this is simplest and most natural-or it may be taken as an Accusative, "for the whole after-time."means properly "to make light," then " to make contemptible," "to cover with disgrace," and properly then, "to make heavy," then, "to honour,"-a signification which indeed is peculiar to Piel, but in which the Hiphil, too, occurs in Jer. xxx. 19; the two verbs thus form an antithesis. The locale in (the word does not occur in Isaiah with the paragog.) shews that a certain modification of the verbal notion must be assumed "to bring disgrace and honour." thus would mean "towards the land." The scene of the disgrace and honour, which at first was designated in general only, is afterwards extended. First, the land of Zebulun and Naphtali only is mentioned, because it was upon it that the disgrace had pre-eminently fallen, and it was, therefore, pre-eminently to be brought to honour; then, the whole territory along the sea on both sides of it.— can, in this context which serves for a more definite qualification, mean the sea of Gennesareth only (Numb. xxxiv. 11, and other passages), just as, in Matt. iv. 13, the designation of Capernaum as πapabaXaooía receives its definite meaning from the context. הקל : ה דרך |