Volume Ii Part 14 (2/2)

people feel an abhorrence. ??? is used of the Jewish people in Is. i. 4 also. _Hofmann_ is of opinion that it ought to have the article, if it were to refer to the Jewish people. But no one a.s.serts a direct reference to them; it designates, in itself, the ma.s.s only, in contrast to single individuals, just as ?? in Ps. xxii. The abhorrence is felt by the ma.s.ses--is popular. The fact that it is among Israel that the Servant of G.o.d meets this general abhorrence, is not implied in the word itself, but is suggested by the whole context. While ??? and ??? designate the generality of this hatred, ????? points to the highest places of it. Of heathen rulers this word occurs in chap. xiv.

5; of native rulers, in chap. lii. 5; xxviii. 14. The heathen rulers can here come into consideration, in so far only as they are the instruments of the native ones; comp. John xix. 10: ???e? a?t? ?

????t?? ??? ?? ?a?e??; ??? ??da? ?t? ????s?a? ??? sta???sa? se ?a?

????s?a? ??? ?p???sa? se The _servant of rulers_ forms the contrast to the servant of the Lord. But in the words: ”Kings shall see,” &c., it is described how the original dignity finally breaks forth powerfully, and reacts against the momentary humiliation. It was especially at the crucifixion that Christ presented himself as ”He that was despised by every one, as the abhorrence of the people, as the servant of rulers.”

The historical commentary on these words we have in Matt. xxii. 39 ff.: ?? de pa?ap??e??e??? ??asf???? a?t?? ?.t.?. ????? d? ?a? ??

????e?e?? ?pa????te? et? t?? ??aat??? ?a? p?es?t???? ??e???

?????? ?s?se? ?.t.?. t? d? a?t? ?a? ?? ??sta? ?? s?sta??????te? a?t?

??e?d???? a?t??.--After ???? ”they shall see,” the object must be supplied from ver. 6, viz., the brilliant turn which, under the Lord's direction. His destiny shall take,--His being const.i.tuted the light and salvation of the Gentiles. The kings who sit on their thrones rise up; the n.o.bles who stand around the throne prostrate themselves. The Servant of G.o.d is the concentration of Israel, ver. 3. Hence His glorification is, at the close, once more traced back to the _Holy One of Israel_; and that so much the rather, because the glorification which is bestowed upon Him is bestowed upon Him for the benefit of the Congregation, whom He elevates along with himself out of the condition of deep abas.e.m.e.nt; comp. vers. 8 and 9. The verse before us forms the germ of that which, in chap. lii. 13, is carried out and expanded.

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Ver. 8. ”_Thus saith the Lord: In the time of favour have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for the Covenant of the people, that thou mayest raise up the land, divide desolate heritages._ Ver. 9. _That thou mayest say to the prisoners: Go forth; to them that are in darkness: Come to light; they shall feed in the ways, and on all bare hills shall be their pasture._”

_The time of favour_ may be either the time when G.o.d shows His delight in, and favour to His Servant, and, in Him, to the Church, _q. d._, of delight in thee, mercy for thee,--in which case chap. lx. 10 would be parallel: ”In my _wrath_ I smote thee, and in my favour have I had mercy on thee;” or, ”in the time of favour,” may be equivalent to: ”at the agreeable, acceptable time” (LXX., which Paul follows in 2 Cor. vi.

1, 2, ?a??? de?t?, Vulg. _tempore placito_); in contrast to a preceding unacceptable time, in which the Lord seemed to have forsaken His Servant, in which it appeared as if He had laboured in vain, and spent His strength for nought and vanity. Acceptable is the time to all parties, not only to the Servant of G.o.d, but also to those who are to be redeemed through Him; and not less to G.o.d, to whom it is a joy to pour out upon His Servant the rivers of His salvation. The Preterites in ver. 8 must be viewed as prophetic Preterites. Concerning ”Covenant of the people,” compare remarks on chap. xlii. 6. The idea of the people is more closely defined and qualified by ver. 6 and 7. The souls who have been cut off from their people, because they have broken the covenant of the Lord, and despised His Servant, are justly pa.s.sed by.

But since ?? can here be understood of the better portion of the people only, of the invisible Church in the midst of the visible, the Servant of G.o.d cannot be the better portion of the people.--In the words: ”That thou mayest raise up the land, divide desolate heritages,” the bestowal of salvation is described under the image of the restoration of a devastated country. In ver. 9, the misery of the Congregation of G.o.d is described under the image of pining away in a dark prison; comp.

remarks on chap. xlii. 7. With the second half of the verse, there begins a more general description of the glorious salvation which the Lord will giant to His people; and the person of the Mediator [Pg 247]

steps into the back-ground, in order afterwards to come forth more prominently. The _ways_ and _bare hills_ have come into consideration as places which, in themselves, are completely barren, and which the wonderful grace of G.o.d can alone cause to bud and flourish.

CHAPTER L. 4-11.

The Servant of G.o.d here also appears as speaking. In ver. 4, He intimates His vocation: G.o.d has bestowed upon Him the gift of comforting those who are weary and heavy laden. He then at once turns to His real subject,--the sufferings which, in fulfilment of this vocation he has to endure. The Lord has inwardly manifested to Him that, in the exercise of His office. He shall experience severe trials; and willingly has He borne all these sufferings, all the ignominy and shame, ver. 5, 6. With this willingness and fort.i.tude He is inspired by His firm confidence in the Lord, who, he certainly knows, will help Him and destroy His enemies, ver. 7-9. The conclusion, in ver. 10 and 11, forms the prophetic announcement of the different fates of the two opposing parties among the people. At the foundation of this lies the foresight of heavy afflictions which, after the appearance of the Servant of G.o.d, will be laid upon the covenant-people. That portion of the people who are devoted to the Servant of G.o.d, are told to hope in the midst of the misery, and may hope; their sorrows shall be turned into joy. But the unG.o.dly who, without regarding the Lord, and without hearkening to His Servant, would help themselves, will bring destruction upon themselves by their self-willed doings, and shall be visited by the avenging hand of the Servant of G.o.d.

An intimation of the lowliness of Christ at His first appearance occurs as early as in chap. xi. 1. In chap. xlii. 4, the words: ”He shall not fail nor run away,” intimate that the Servant of G.o.d has to struggle with great obstacles and difficulties in the exercise of His calling.

According to chap. xlix. 4, He will labour in vain among the great ma.s.s of the covenant-people, [Pg 248] and spend his strength for nought and vanity. In ver. 7, it is expressly intimated that severe sufferings shall be inflicted upon Him by the people. That which was there alluded to, is here _carried out and expanded_. But the suffering of the Servant of G.o.d is here described from that aspect only which is common to Christ with His members. It is first in chap. liii. that its vicarious power is pointed out. The Servant of G.o.d comes here before us in His deepest humiliation. Even in the description of His vocation in ver. 4, the most una.s.suming aspect, the prophetic office only, is brought forward. It is only quite at the close that a gentle intimation is given of the glory concealed behind the lowliness: He there appears as the judge of those who have rejected Him.

In the Messianic explanation of this Section, the Lord himself has gone before His Church. We read in Luke xviii. 31, 32, pa?a?a?? d? t???

d?de?a e?pe p??? a?t??? ?d?? ??aa???e? e?? ?e??s???a ?a?

te?es??seta? p??ta t? ?e??a??a d?? t?? p??f?t?? t? ??? t?? ?????p??

pa?ad???seta? ??? t??? ???es? ?a? ?pa????seta? ?a? ???s??seta? ?a?

?pt?s??seta? ?a? ast???sa?te? ?p??te???s?? a?t??. There cannot be any doubt that the Lord here distinctly refers to ver. 6 of the prophecy under consideration. There is, at all events, no other pa.s.sage in the whole of the Old Testament, except that before us, in which there is any mention made of being spat upon. But in other respects, too, the reference is visible: ”I gave my back to the smiters (ast???sa?te?, LXX. e?? ast??a?), and my cheeks to those plucking (?pa????seta?--the plucking of the beard, an act of degrading wantonness), my face I hid not from shame (???s??seta?) and spitting.” _Bengel_ draws attention to the fact of how highly Christ, in the pa.s.sage quoted, placed the prophecy of the Old Testament: ”Jesus most highly valued that which was written. The word of G.o.d which is contained in Scripture is the rule for all which is to happen, even for that which is to happen in eternal life.” If, in respect of the high estimation of prophecy, our age were to follow in the steps of Jesus, it would also most readily agree with Him as regards the subject of the prophecy before us. This alone is the cause of the aberration from Him, that people confined and shut up the prophet within the horizon of his time, and then imagined that he could not know anything of the suffering of Christ. It was altogether different in the [Pg 249] ancient Christian Church. In it, the Messianic interpretation prevailed throughout; and _Grotius_, who in a lower sense would refer the prophecy to Isaiah, and, in a higher sense only, to Christ, met with general opposition, even on the part of _Clericus_.

In favour of the Messianic explanation there is the remarkable agreement existing between prophecy and fulfilment, comp. Matt. xxvi.

67, 68: ??te ???pt?sa? e?? t? p??s?p?? ??t?? ?a? ?????f?sa? a?t??, ??

d? ????p?sa? ?????te? p??f?te?s?? ???, ???st?, t?? ?st?? ? pa?sa? se; xxvii. 30: ?a? ?pt?sa?te? e?? a?t?? ??a?? t?? ???a?? ?a? ?t?pt?? e??

t?? ?efa??? a?t??,--an agreement, the significance and importance of which are only enhanced by the circ.u.mstance that one of the most individualizing features of the prophecy, viz., the plucking off of the beard, is not met with in the history of Christ; for it is just thereby that this agreement is proved to be a free and spontaneous one.

_Farther_--The exactness with which, in ver. 10 and 11, the destinies of Israel, after the rejection of Christ, are drawn; and the destruction which the ma.s.s of the people, who did not believe in the Servant of G.o.d, prepared for themselves, by their attempts to help themselves by their own strength, by enkindling the flame of war, whilst those who fear the Lord and listen to the voice of Hs Servant, obtain salvation. _Farther_--Ver. 11, where the Servant of G.o.d ascribes to himself the judgment upon the unbelieving ma.s.s of the people: ”From _my_ hand is this to you,” in harmony with Matt. xxvi. 64 and other pa.s.sages, where the Son of Man appears as executing judgment upon Jerusalem. _Finally_--The parallel pa.s.sages.

Most of the modern interpreters a.s.sume that the Prophet himself, Isaiah, or Pseudo-Isaiah, is the subject of the prophecy. _Jerome_ mentions that this explanation was the prevailing one among the Jews of his time. The explanation which refers it to the better portion of the people, found only one defender, viz., _Paulus_. The explanation which refers it to the _whole_ of the Jewish people, or to the collective body of the prophets, has been entirely abandoned, although it is maintained in reference to the parallel pa.s.sages.

Since it is undeniable that this Section is related to the other prophecies which treat of the Servant of G.o.d,--and hence an ident.i.ty of subject is necessarily required--those who, in the [Pg 250] Section under consideration, are compelled to give up their former hypothesis, themselves bear witness against the correctness of it, at the same time, also against the soundness of their explanation of the pa.s.sage before us. For an explanation which compels to the severance of what is necessarily connected, cannot be right and true. It is only then that Exegesis has attained its object, when it has arrived at a subject in whom all those features, which occur in the single prophecies which are connected with each other, are found at the same time. _k.n.o.bel_, in saying: ”This small unconnected Section, is the only one in the whole collection, in which the Prophet speaks of himself only, and represents his suffering's and hopes,” has thereby himself p.r.o.nounced judgment upon his own interpretation of this Section, and at the same time, of the other prophecies of the Servant of G.o.d.

Moreover, the Prophet would here form rather a strange figure; he would appear as it were, as if he had been blown in by a snow-storm.

According to _Hofmann_, he describes how he is rewarded for his activity and zeal in his vocation. But how does this suit the contents of the second part, which evidently is a whole, the single parts of which must stand in a close relation to its fundamental idea! _It is only a person of central importance that is suitable to this context._ It is only when we refer it to Christ, that the expectations are satisfied which were called forth by the words: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. This call is answered only by pointing to the future Saviour of the world.

One element of truth, indeed, there is in the explanation which makes the Prophet the subject. It is revealed to him, indeed, that the Servant of G.o.d shall undergo persecution, shame, and ignominy; but he has the natural substratum for this knowledge in the experience of himself and his colleagues, comp. Matt. xxiii. 29-37; Heb. xi. 36, 37.

The divine, wherever it enters into the world of sin, as well as the servant of truth who upholds it in the face of prevailing falsehood, must undergo struggles, shame, and ignominy. This truth was confirmed in the case of the prophets as types, in the case of Christ as the ant.i.type. All that which the prophets had to experience in their own cases was a prophecy by deeds of the sufferings of Christ; and we should the less have any difficulty [Pg 251] in admitting their knowledge of this, that it would be rather strange if they were dest.i.tute of such knowledge.

Ver. 4. ”_The Lord Jehovah hath given me a disciples tongue, that I should know to help the weary with a word: He awakeneth morning by morning, wakeneth mine ear, that I may hear as the disciples._”

The greater number of expositors explain a disciple's tongue by: ”A tongue such as instructed people or scholars possess,--an eloquent tongue.” But ???, everywhere else in Isaiah, means ”pupil,” ”disciple,”

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