CHAPTER XXIII.

THE BURDEN UPON TYRE.

In the view of Sennacherib's invasion, the eyes of the Prophet are

opened, so that he beholds the future destinies of the nations within

his horizon. It is under these circumstances that it is revealed to him

that Tyre also, which, not long before, had successfully resisted the

attack of Asshur, and had imagined herself to be invincible, would not,

for any length of time, be able to resist the attack of the Asiatic

world's power.

The threatening goes on to ver. 14; it is, in ver. 13, concentrated in

the words: "Behold the land of the Chaldeans, this people which was

not, which Asshur assigns to the beasts of the wilderness,--they set up

their watch-towers, they arouse her palaces, they bring them to ruin."

The correct explanation of this verse has been given by _Delitzsch_ in

his Commentary on Habakkuk, S. xxi. Before the capture of Tyre could be

assigned to the Chaldeans, it was necessary to point out that they

should overthrow Asshur, the representative of the world's power in the

time of the Prophet. The Chaldeans, a people which, up to that time,

were not reckoned in the list of the kingdoms of the world, destroy, in

some future period, the Assyrian power, and shall then inflict upon

Tyre that destruction which Asshur intended in vain to bring upon it.

[Pg 147]

Upon the threatening there follows the promise. Ver. 15. "_And it shall

come to pass in that day, and Tyre is forgotten seventy years like the

days of one king. After the end of seventy years, it shall be unto Tyre

according to the song of the harlot._ Ver. 16. _Take the harp, go about

the city, forgotten harlot, make sweet melody, sing many songs, that

thou mayest be remembered._ Ver. 17. _And it shall come to pass, after

the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she returneth

to her hire of whoredom, and whoreth with all the kingdoms of the earth

upon the surface of the earth._ Ver. 18. _And her gain and hire of

whoredom shall be holy unto the Lord; not is it treasured and laid up,

but to those who sit before the Lord its gain shall be, that they may

eat and be satisfied, and for durable clothing._"

On the "70 years, like the days of one king," _Michaelis_ very

pertinently remarks: "Not of one individual, but of one reign or

empire, _i.e._ as long as the Babylonian empire shall last, which,

after 70 years, was destroyed by Cyrus." The necessary qualification

follows from ver. 13. According to that verse, the one king can be the

king of the Chaldeans only. Parallel are the 70 years which, in Jer.

xxv. 11, 12, are assigned to the Chaldean empire: "And these nations

serve the king of Babylon 70 years. And it shall come to pass, when the

70 years are accomplished, I will visit upon the king of Babylon, and

upon that nation, saith the Lord, their iniquity." In the Commentary on

Rev. ii. 1, p. 75, 200, it was proved that, in Scripture, kings are

frequently _ideal_ persons; not individuals, but personifications of

their kingdoms. _Gesenius'_ objection, that the time of the Babylonish

dynasty, from the pretended destruction of Tyre to the destruction of

Babylon, did not last 70 years, vanishes by the remark that the Prophet

says "like the days;" that, hence, it is expressly intimated that the

70 years here, differently from what is the case in Jeremiah, are to be

considered as a _round_ designation of the time. From a comparison of

Jeremiah we learn that the Chaldean dominion will last 70 years _in

all_. Into which point of that period the destruction of Tyre is to

fall, Isaiah does not disclose. It is quite proper that in reference to

Tyre the announcement should not be so definite, in point of

chronology, as in reference to Judah. That the capture of [Pg 148] Tyre

by the Chaldeans, which is here announced, really took place, has been

more thoroughly established in my book: _De rebus Tyriorum_; and

afterwards by _Drechsler_ in his Commentary on Isaiah, and by

_Hävernick_ in his Commentary on Ezekiel.

After the end of the 70 years. Tyre is to resume her trade of whoring,

and is to carry it on to a wide extent, and with great success. "By the

image of whoredom"--so we remarked in commenting upon Rev. xiv. 8--"in

some passages of the Old Testament, that selfishness is designated

which clothes itself in the garb of love, and, under its appearance,

seeks the gratification of its own desires. In Is. xxiii. 15 ff., Tyre

is, on account of her mercantile connections, called a whore, and the

profit from trade is designated as the reward of whoredom. The point of

comparison is the endeavour to please, to feign love for the sake of

gain." Under the dominion of the Persians, Tyre again began to

flourish.

Tyre's reward of whoredom is consecrated to the Lord, and the bodily

wants of His servants are provided from it,--quite in agreement with

the words of the Apostle: [Greek: ei hêmeis humin ta pneumatika

espeiramen, mega, ei êmeis humôn ta sarkika therisomen]; 1 Cor. ix. 11.

Converted Tyre offers, in these gifts, its thanks for the noble gift

which it received from the sanctuary.

_Vitringa_, who remarks that the Prophet was fully aware of "the great

interval of time that would intervene betwixt the restoration of Tyre,

and her dedication of herself, with her gains, to the Lord," is right,

while _Drechsler_, who is of opinion that the doings of consecrated

Tyre also are represented under the image of whoring, is wrong. Whoring

designates a sinful conversation which is irreconcilable with

conversion to the Lord. It does not designate trade, as such, but trade

as it is earned on by those who, with unrenewed hearts, serve the god

Mammon. We have here before us two stages, strictly separated. _First_,

she resumes her old whorings; _then_, she consecrates her gain to the

Lord. The severe catastrophe intervening, the new capture of Tyre, as

it took place by Alexander, is not yet beheld by Isaiah. The

announcement of it was reserved for the post-exilic Prophet Zechariah,

chap. ix. 3.

The announcement of the future conversion of Tyre received, [Pg 149] in

the time of Christ, a symbolical representation as it were, in the

Canaanitish woman. _Vitringa_ says: "The first fruits of this grace

were received by that wise Canaanitish woman, who had been taught, as

if she had been in the school of Christ, to ask for divine grace; whom

Matth. xv. 22, calls a woman of Canaan, Mark vii. 26, a Syrophenician;

but who was no doubt a Tyrian, inasmuch as she obtained mercy from

Christ the Lord himself, while He sojourned in the territory of Tyre

and Sidon. Paul found at Tyre a congregation of disciples of Christ

already in existence, Acts xxi. 3 ff." At a subsequent period, there

existed at Tyre a flourishing and wealthy church. _Eusebius_ and

_Jerome_ describe to us, from their own experience, the fulfilment of

this prophecy.

CHAPTERS XXIV.-XXVII.

Upon the ten single "burdens" as they were called forth by the

threatening Assyrian catastrophe, there follows here a comprehensive

description of the judgments of God upon His people, and upon the

world's power hostile to His Kingdom, The characteristic feature in it

is, that the Prophet abstains from all details.

The prophecy begins in chap. xxiv. 1-13, with the threatening of the

judgment upon Judah, The fact that Judah is here spoken of, not alone,

it is true, but together with his companions in suffering, with all the

other nations crushed like him by the world's power in its various

phases (verse 4 most clearly shows that it is not Judah alone which is

spoken of; comp. the same comprehensive mode of representation in Jer.

xxv.; Hab. ii. 6), appears from ver. 5: "For they transgressed the

_laws_, violated the _ordinances_, broke the everlasting _covenant_,"

where there can exist only a collateral reference to the Gentile world;

from ver. 13, where the continuing gleaning is characteristic of the

covenant-people (comp. xvii. 6); but especially from ver. 23, where,

after the time of punishment, the Lord reigneth on Mount Zion.

The judgment upon Judah bears a comprehensive character. [Pg 150] As

the single phases of the world's power, by which the sins of the people

of God are visited, there had been mentioned in the cycle of the

_burdens_, Asshur in chap. xiv. 25; Babylon in chap. xiii., xiv., xxi.,

(the circumstance that the first _burden_ of the first half of the

_burdens_, and likewise the first _burden_ of the second half of the

_burdens_--the ten _burdens_ being thus divided into twice five--is

directed against Babylon, shows that specially heavy judgments were to

be inflicted by Babel); Elam in chap. xxii. 6 (comp. remarks on chap.

xi. 11). Here the idea of judgment upon the covenant-people is viewed

_per se_, and irrespective of the particular forms of its realisation.

In vers. 14, 15, there is a sudden transition from the threatening to

the promise: "They (the remnant left according to ver. 13) shall lift

their voice, they shall shout for the majesty of the Lord, they shall

cry aloud from the sea,"--from the sea into which they were driven away

by the storm of the judgments of the Lord. To the "sea" here,

correspond the "islands of the sea," in ver. 15; compare the mention of

the islands in chap. xi. 11. Ver. 15. "Therefore, in the light praise

ye the Lord, in the isles of the sea the name of the Lord God of

Israel." The words are addressed to the elect in the time of salvation.

The Plural [Hebrew: ariM] denotes the _fulness_ of light or salvation,

comp. chap. xxvi. 19; [Hebrew: b] is, in both instances, used in a

local sense. The light is the spiritual territory; the isles of the

sea, the natural.

Ver. 16 returns to the threatening: "From the uttermost parts of the

earth we hear songs: Glory to the righteous! And I say: Misery to me,

misery to me, woe to me! the treacherous are treacherous, and very

treacherous are the treacherous." The song of praise of the redeemed,

which is heard coming forth from a far distant future, is suppressed by

the same affliction which is immediately impending, by the look to the

rod of chastisement by the world's power with its treachery, its policy

feigning love and concealing hatred, with which the Lord is to visit

His people, and the floods of which, like a new flood, are, according

to ver. 15, to overflow the whole earth. Compare the very similar

transition from triumphant hope to lamentation over the misery of the

future more immediately at hand, in Hab. iii. 16.

In ver. 21, ff. the promise breaks forth anew. Ver. 21: [Pg 151] "_And

it shall come to pass in that day: the Lord shall visit the host of the

height in the height, and the kings of the earth upon the earth._ Ver.

22. _And they are all of them gathered together as prisoners in the

pit, and are shut up in the prison, and after many days they are

visited._ Ver. 23. _And the moon blusheth, and the sun is ashamed, for

the Lord of hosts reigneth on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before

His ancients is glory._"

In ver. 21 the destruction of the world's power is announced. The

"kings of the earth" form the explanation of the "host of the height."

It is very common to represent rulers under the image of stars; compare

Numb. xxiv. 17; Rev. vi. 13, viii. 10; Is. xiv. 12, xxxiv. 4, 5,

compared with ver. 12. [Hebrew: mrvM] is used in reference to the great

ones of the earth in ver. 4, and in chap. xxvi. 5, also. The

explanation by evil heavenly powers has no Old Testament analogies in

its favour.--In ver. 22, the words: "And after many days they are

visited," intimates that the time will appear very long to Zion, until

the visitation takes place. "Many days," or "a long time," viz., after

the beginning of their raging, which was to continue for a series of

centuries, until Christ at length spoke: "Be of good cheer, I have

overcome the world." The visitation consists in their being gathered

together.--In ver. 23, the words: "The Lord reigneth," contain an

allusion to the formula used in proclaiming the accession of earthly

kings to the throne, and point to an impending new and glorious

manifestation of the government of the Lord,--as it were, a new

accession to the throne; compare remarks on Ps. xciii. 1; Rev. xix. 6.

The "ancients" are the _ideal_ representatives of the Church; compare

remarks on Rev. iv. 4. Before them is glory, inasmuch as the Lord

imparts to them of His glory.

In chap. xxv. 1-5, the Lord is praised on account of the glorious

redemption bestowed upon His people. "For thou hast made"--it is said

in ver. 2--"of a city a heap, of a firm city a ruin, the palace of

strangers to be no city; it shall not be built in eternity." The city,

palace (we must think of such an one as comes up to a city, as is even

now the case with the palaces of the princes in India) bear an ideal

character, and represent the whole fashion of the world, the whole

world's power; comp. ver. 12, chaps. xxvi. 5, xxvii. 10. _Gesenius_ [Pg

152] speaks of "the strange conjectures of interpreters who have

guessed all possible cities." But he himself has lost himself in the

sphere of strange conjectures and guesses, by remarking: "The city

whose destruction is here spoken of can be none other than Babylon."

The circumstance that Babylon is not mentioned at all in the whole

prophecy in chaps. xxiv.-xxvii. shows plainly enough that a special

reference to Babylon cannot here be entertained; and the less so, that

it would be against the character of our prophecy, which abstains from

all details.

While in vers. 1-5 the discourse was laudatory and glorifying, and

addressed to the Lord, in vers. 6-8 the Lord is spoken of:

Ver. 6. "_And in this mountain the Lord of hosts maketh unto all people

a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full

of marrow, of lees well-refined._ Ver 7. _And destroyeth in the

mountain the surface of the vail covering all the nations, and the

covering cast upon all the nations._ Ver. 8. _And destroyeth death for

ever, and the Lord Jehovah wipeth away the tears from off all faces,

and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from of all the earth;

for the Lord hath spoken._"

"In this mountain," ver. 6, where He enters upon His government (chap.

xxiv. 23), and dwells in the midst of His people in a manner formerly

unheard of.--"Unto all people," comp. chap. ii. 2 ff. The verse under

consideration forms the foundation for the words of Christ in Matthew

viii. 2: [Greek: legô de humin hoti polloi apo anatolôn kai dusmôn

hêxousi kai anaklithêsontai meta Abraam kai Isaak kai Iakôb en tê

basileia tôn ouranôn]; comp. xxii. 1 ff.; Luke xxii. 30. In ver. 7,

"the surface of the vail" is the vail itself, inasmuch as it lies over

it. The "covering" here comes into consideration as a sign of mourning,

comp. 2 Sam. xv. 30: "And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet,

weeping, and his head covered, and so also all the people with him."

The explanation is given in ver. 8, where the [Hebrew: ble] is

intentionally resumed. We cannot, therefore, agree with _Drechsler_ who

explains the being "covered," by "dullness and deadness in reference to

spiritual things."--The first part of ver. 8 is again resumed in Rev.

vii. 17, xxi. 4. As death entered into the world by sin (Gen. ii. 17;

Rom. v. 12), [Pg 153] so it ceases when sin is completely overcome;

compare 1 Cor. xv. 54, where our passage is expressly quoted. Besides

death, _tears_ also are mentioned, inasmuch as they flow with special

bitterness in the case of bereavements by death.--The Lord removes the

rebuke of His people when all their hopes, which formerly were mocked

and laughed at, are fulfilled, and when, out of the midst of them,

salvation for the whole world rises.

With the people of God in their exaltation, Moab is, in vers. 9-12,

contrasted in its weakness and humiliation, and in its vain attempts to

withdraw from the supremacy of the God of Israel. Moab comes here into

consideration, only as the representative of all the kingdoms hostile

to God, and obstinately persevering in their opposition to His Kingdom;

just as Edom in chap. xxxiv., lxiii. The representative character of

Moab was recognized by _Gesenius_ also, who thus determines the sense:

"Whilst Jehovah's protecting hand rests upon Zion, His enemies

helplessly perish." It is intentionally that Moab is mentioned, and not

Asshur or Babel, because, in its case, the representative character

could not so easily be mistaken or overlooked.--Ver. 12 returns to the

world's power in general.

In chap. xxvi., the rejoicing and shouting for the salvation are

continued. A characteristic Messianic feature is contained in ver. 19

only, in which, as in chap. xxv. 8, the ceasing of death and the

resurrection of the righteous appear as taking place in the Messianic

time.

Ver. 19. "_Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and

sing, ye that dwell in dust! For a dew of light is thy dew, and thou

makest fall to the earth the giants._"

The saints are raised from the earth; the giants are sunk into the

earth. The [Hebrew: rpaiM] "giants" are identical with the [Hebrew:

iwbi tbl] in ver. 18. There it was said in reference to the time of

wrath: "We have not wrought any deliverance in the land, neither have

the inhabitants of the world fallen;" compare vers. 9 and 21; Numb.

xiv. 32. Parallel is the announcement of the defeat of the world's

power in ver. 14. [Hebrew: rpaiM], it is true, is there used of the

dead; but the signification of the word remains the same: The bodiless

spirits were called _giants_, because they were objects of terror to

the living; comp. remarks on Ps. lxxxviii. 11. The word is, in ver. 14,

used [Pg 154] with a certain irony.--"Light" is equivalent to

"salvation." The Plural signifies the fulness of light or salvation.

The complete fulfilment which the words, "Thy dead shall live," will

find in the resurrection of the body, affords a guarantee for the

fulfilment of the previous stages.

In chap. xxvii., it is especially ver. 1 which attracts our attention:

"_In that day the Lord with His sword, hard, great, and strong, shall

visit the leviathan, the tortuous serpent, and killeth the dragon that

is in the sea._"

We have here three designations of one and the same monster.

_Gesenius_, on the other hand, rightly brings forward the accumulation

of the attributes of the sword: With the three epithets applied to the

sword, the three epithets of the monster to be killed by it pertinently

correspond. The leviathan, the dragon, is, as it were, the king of the

sea-animals, compare remarks on Ps. lxxiv. 13, 14. In the spiritual sea

of the world, its natural antitype is the conquering world's power;

comp. remarks on Rev. xii. 3. But that which is meant is the whole

world's power, according to all its phases, which is here viewed as a

whole; comp. ver. 13, where it is designated by Asshur and Egypt. The

special reference to Babylon rests, here also, on a mere fancy.

* * * * * * * * * *

After the single discourses out of the Assyrian time, from chap.

vii-xxvii., there follows in chap. xxviii.-xxxiii. the sum and

substance of those not fully communicated. Even the uncommonly large

extent of the section suggests to us such a comprehensive character.

And so likewise does the fact that the same thoughts are constantly

recurring, as is the case in several of the minor prophets also, _e.g._

Hosea. But what is most decisive is, that in chap. xxviii. 1-4 Samaria

appears as not yet destroyed. Considering that the chronological

principle pervades the whole collection, this going back can be

accounted for only by the circumstance that we have here a

comprehensive representation. And we are the more led to this opinion

that, in other passages of the same section, Jerusalem is represented

as being threatened immediately. In this section, it is especially the

passage in chap. xxviii. 16 [Pg 155] which attracts our attention;

since, in the New Testament, it is referred to Christ.

"_Behold I have laid for a foundation in Zion a stone, a tried_

(stone), _a precious corner stone of perfect foundation; he that

believeth need not make haste_," viz., for an escape or refuge for

himself, Ps. lv. 9. In opposition to false hopes, this stone is pointed

to as the only true foundation, and all are threatened with unavoidable

destruction who do not make it their foundation. The stone is the

Kingdom of God, the Church; compare Zech. iii. 9, where the Kingdom of

God likewise appears under the image of the stone. But since the

Kingdom of God (which, in chap. viii. 16, had been represented under

the image of the quietly flowing waters of Siloah) is, for all

eternity, closely connected with the house of David which centres in

Christ, _that which, in the first instance, is said of the kingdom of

God refers, at the same time, to its head and centre_. Parallel is Is.

xiv. 32; "The Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people trust

in it." The [Hebrew: hamiN] here corresponds with the [Hebrew: Hsh]

with [Hebrew: b] there. The difference is, that there Zion itself is

the object of confidence, while here it is the stone which is in Zion.

_There_, Zion is the _spiritual_ Zion; not the mountain as an

assemblage of stones, nor the outward temple as such, but Zion in so

far as it is a sanctuary, the seat of the presence of the Lord. The

Lord--such is the sense--has founded His Kingdom among us; and the

circumstance that we are citizens of the Kingdom gives us security,

enables us to be calm even in the midst of the greatest danger. _Here_,

on the contrary, Zion is the outward Zion, and the Kingdom of God is

the Church as distinguished from it. The Zion here corresponds to the

holy mountains in Ps. lxxxvii. 1, where, in a similar manner, a

distinction is drawn between the material and spiritual Zion: "His

foundation is in the holy mountains," on which I remarked in my

Commentary: "The foundation of Zion took place spiritually by its being

chosen to be the seat of the sanctuary. It was then only that the

place, already existing, received its spiritual foundation." The stone

laid by God as a foundation in Zion, in the passage under

consideration, is, in substance, identical with the "tent that He

placed among men," in Ps. lxxviii. 60. "In substance the sanctuary was

erected by God alone, who, by [Pg 156] fulfilling His promise, 'I dwell

in the midst of them,'breathed the living soul into the body, and

caused His name to dwell there." In Ezek. xi. the substance of the

sanctuary, the Shechinah, withdraws into heaven.--Our passage, farther,

touches very closely upon chap. viii. 14: "And He (the Lord) becomes a

sanctuary and a stone of offence, and a rock of stumbling to both the

houses of Israel, and a snare and a trap to the inhabitants of

Jerusalem." The stone _here_ is the Church; _there_ it is the Lord

himself, according to His relation to Israel, the Lord who has become

manifest in His Church. Another point of contact is offered by Ps.

cxviii. 22: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the

corner-stone." In that passage, too, the stone is the Kingdom and

people of God: "The people of God whom the kingdoms of the world

despised, have, by the working of God, then been raised to the dignity

of the world-ruling people."

A simple quotation of the passage before us is found in Rom. x. 11:

[Greek: legei gar hê graphê. pas ho pisteuôn ep'autô ou

kataischunthêsetai.] In chap. ix. ver. 3, we have chap. viii. 14, and

the passage under consideration blended in a remarkable manner: [Greek:

idou tithêmi en Siôn lithon prokommatos kai petran skandalou. kai pas

ho pisteuôn ep'autô ou kataischunthêsetai], and from the remarks

already offered, the right to this blending is evident. Peter, in 1

Pet. ii. 6, 7, adds to these two passages, that in Ps. cxviii. 22:

[Greek: dioti periechei en tê graphê: idou tithêmi en Siôn lithon

akrogôniaion, eklekton, entimon, kai ho pisteuôn ep'autô ou mê

kataischunthê. humin houn hê timê tois pisteuousin. apeithousi de

lithon hon apedokimasan hoi oikodomountes, houtos egenêthê eis kephalên

gônias, kai lithos proskommatos kai petra skandalou], on which _Bengel_

remarks: "Peter quotes, in ver. 6 and 7, three passages, the first from

Isaiah, the second from the Psalms, the third again from Isaiah. To the

third he alludes in ver. 8, but to the second and first, in ver. 4,

having, even then already both of them in his mind." Matth. xxi. 42-44

refers only to Ps. cxviii. and to Is. viii. 14, 15. to the latter

passage in ver. 44; Acts iv. has Ps. cxviii. only in view.

The second Messianic passage of the section which is of importance for

our purpose, is chap. xxxiii. 17.

"_Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall see the land

that is far off._"

[Pg 157]

The "King" is the Messiah. This appears from the reference to the Song

of Solomon i. 16, where the bride says to the bridegroom, the heavenly

Solomon, "Behold thou art _fair_, my beloved" (comp. Ps. xlv. 3;) and

from the words immediately following: "they shall see the land that is

far off." The wide extension of the Kingdom of God is indissolubly

connected with the appearance of the Messiah. Those who refer the

prophecy to Hezekiah refer "the land that is far off" (literally: "the

land of distances") to "a land stretching far out," in antithesis to

the siege when the people of Jerusalem were limited to its area, since

the whole country was occupied by the Assyrians. But the passage, chap.

xxvi. 15: "Thou increasest the nation, O God, thou art glorified, thou

removest all the boundaries of the land," is conclusive against this

explanation. Comparing this passage, as also chap. lx. 4; Zech. x. 9,

_Michaelis_ correctly explains: "The land of distances is the Kingdom

of Christ most widely propagated." In chap. viii. 9, likewise, the

Gentile countries are designated by the "distances of the earth."

_Farther_--Hezekiah could not be designated simply by [Hebrew: mlK]

without the article. It is only by the utmost violence that the whole

announcement can be limited to the events under Hezekiah, which

everywhere form the foreground only. We might rather, with _Vitringa_,

think of Jehovah, with a comparison of ver. 22: "For the Lord is our

judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save

us," and of Ps. xlviii. 3, where he is called [Hebrew: mlK rb]. To

Jehovah, the passage, chap. xxx. 20, 21 also refers,--a passage which

has been so often misunderstood: "And the Lord giveth you bread of

adversity, and water of affliction, and not does thy teacher conceal

himself any more, and thine eyes see thy Teacher. And thine ears hear a

voice behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; do not turn

to the right hand, nor to the left." The affliction prepares for the

coming of the heavenly teacher; by it the eyes of the people have been

opened, so that they are able to behold His glorious form. But although

we should understand Jehovah by "the King in His beauty," we must, at

all events, think of His glorious manifestation in Christ Jesus, who

said, He who sees me sees the Father, and in whom the fulness of the

Godhead dwells bodily; and it was indeed in Christ that God, [Pg 158]

in the truest manner, revealed and manifested himself as the Teacher of

His people.

The close of the whole of the first part of Isaiah is, in chaps.

xxxiv., xxxv. formed by a comprehensive announcement, _on the one

hand_, of the judgments upon the God-hating world, here individualized

by Edom, that hereditary enemy of Israel, who was so much the more

fitted for this representation that his enmity was the most obstinate

of all, and remained the same throughout all the phases of Israel's

oppression by the great kingdoms of the world (he always appears as he

who helped to bring misery upon his brethren); and, _on the other

hand_, of the mercy and salvation which should be bestowed upon the

Church trampled upon by the world.

On chap. xxxiv. 4;, 5, where the heaven is that of the princes, the

whole order of rulers and magistrates; the stars, the single princes

and nobles, compare my remarks on Rev. vi. 13.

The description of the salvation in store for the Church, in chap.

xxxv., is pre-eminently Messianic, although the lower blessings also

are included which preceded the appearance of Christ. The description

contains features so characteristic, that we must necessarily submit it

to a closer examination.

Ver. 1. "_The wilderness and dry land shall be glad for it, and the

desert shall rejoice and sprout like the bulb._"

The wilderness is Zion--the Church to be devastated by the world.--"For

it,"--_i.e._ for the judgment upon the world, as it was described in

chap. xxxiv. with which the changed fate of the Church is indissolubly

connected.

Ver. 2. "_It shall sprout, and rejoice with joy and shouting. The glory

of Lebanon is given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They

shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God._"

"The glory of Lebanon," &c. is a glory like unto that of Lebanon. The

real condition of the glory of Zion, or the Church, is brought before

us in the subsequent verses only; it consists in the Lords glory being

manifested in it. The majestic, wooded Lebanon, and fruitful Carmel,

are contrasted with one another; the latter is put together with the

lovely fruitful plain of Sharon, rich in flowers; compare remarks on

Song of Sol. vii. 6. _Michaelis_ says: "The Lebanon excels among the

forests; the Carmel among the fruitful hills; the [Pg 159] Sharon among

the lovely fields or valleys."--To "see the glory of the Lord, the

excellency _of God_" means to behold Him in the revelation of the full

glory of His nature. Prophecy would have fed the minds of the people

with vain hopes, if God had revealed himself in any other way than in

Christ, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His

person, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col.

ii. 9), and who, along with His own glory, revealed, at the same time,

that of the Father; for it was the glory as of the only-begotten of the

Father, John i. 14; ii. 11.

Ver. 3. "_Strengthen ye the slack hands, and confirm ye the tottering

knees._" The words are addressed to all the members of the people of

God; they are to strengthen and confirm _one another_ by pointing to

the future revelation of the glory of the Lord.

Ver. 4. "_Say to them that are of a fearful heart: Be strong, fear not;

behold, your God will come for vengeance, for a gift of God: He will

come and save you._"

"To them that are of a fearful heart,"--literally of a "hasty heart,"

who allow themselves to be carried away by the Present, and are

unmindful of the _respice finem_.--[Hebrew: mqM] and [Hebrew: gmvl] are

Accusatives, used in the same manner as in verbs of motion, to

designate the object of the motion.--On [Hebrew: gmvl], "gift," comp.

remarks on Ps. vii. 5. "The gift of God" forms a contrast to the poor

gifts, such as men offer. He comes for vengeance upon His enemies, and

for bestowing the most glorious divine gifts upon His people. The

words: "He will come and save you," are an explanation of "the gift of

God." It is in Christ that the words: "He will come and save you,"

found their true fulfilment,--a fulfilment to which every lower

blessing pointed, and which is still going on, and constantly

advancing.--That which, in the subsequent verses, is said of the

concomitant circumstances of this salvation, is by far too high to

admit of the fulfilment being sought in any other than Christ. All

these forced explanations, such as: "In their joy they feel _as if_

they were healed" (_Knobel_, after the example of _Gesenius_), only

serve to show this more clearly. They are overthrown even by the

parallel announcement of the impending resurrection of the dead in

chap. xxv. 8; xxvi. 19.

[Pg 160]

Ver. 5. "_Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of

the deaf shall be unstopped._"

The blind and deaf are the individualizing designations of the

wretched; in Luke xiv. 13-21, the blind are named along with the poor,

lame, and maimed as an individualizing designation of the whole genus

of _personae miserabiles_; comp. John v. 3. But this individualizing

designation must be carefully distinguished from the image. The blind

and deaf are mentioned as the most perspicuous _species_ in the

_genus_; but they themselves are, in the first instance, meant, and

that which has been said must, in the first instance, be fulfilled upon

them. _Farther_--as blind and deaf are, without farther remark and

qualification, spoken of, we shall, in the first instance, be obliged

to think of the bodily blind and deaf, inasmuch as they, according to

the common _usus loquendi_, are thus designated. But a collateral

reference to the _spiritually_ blind and deaf must so much the rather

be assumed, that they, too, form a portion of the genus here

represented by the blind and deaf; and the more so that it is just

Isaiah who so frequently speaks of spiritual blindness and deafness;

comp. chap. xxix. 18: "And in that day (in the time of the future

salvation, when the Lord of the Church shall have put to shame the

pusillanimity and timidity of His people), the deaf hear the words of

the book, and the eyes of the blind see out of obscurity and darkness;"

xlii. 18: "Hear ye deaf, and look ye blind and see;" xliii. 8: "Bring

forth the blind people, that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears;"

lvi. 10; vi. 10; Matth. xv. 14; John ix. 39; Ephes. i. 18; 2 Pet. i. 9.

Spiritual blindness and deafness are specially seen in the relation of

the people to the leadings of the Church, and to the promises of

Scripture. The blind cannot understand the complicated ways of God; the

deaf have, especially in the time of misery, no ear for His promises.

Besides the natural and spiritual blindness, Scripture knows of still a

third; it designates as blind those who cannot see the way of

salvation, the helpless and drooping; compare my Commentary on Ps.

cxlvi. 8; Zeph. i. 17; Isa. xlii. 7. Now, it is blindness and deafness

of every kind which, along with all other misery, shall find a remedy

at the time of salvation.--If we ask for the fulfilment, our eye is, in

the first instance, attracted by Matt. [Pg 161] xi. 5, where, with an

evident reference to the passage before us, the Lord gives to the

question of John: "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for

another," the matter-of-fact answer, that the blind receive their

sight, the deaf hear, the lame walk: comp. Matth. xv. 31: [Greek: hôste

tous ochlous thaumasai blepontas kôphous laloutas, kullous hugieis,

chôlous peripatountas kai tuphlous blepontas]; xxi. 14; [Greek: kai

prosêlthon autô tuphloi kai chôloi en tô hierô kai etherapeusen

autous]; Mark vii. 37, where after the healing of the deaf and dumb,

the people say: [Greek: kalôs panta pepoiêke. kai tous kôphous poiei

akouein, kai tous alalous lalein.] Yet shall we not be able to see, in

these facts, the complete fulfilment of the prophecy, in so far as it

refers to the healing of the bodily blind and deaf--inasmuch as it

promises the healing of all, not of some only--but only a pledge of the

complete fulfilment of it; just as Christ's raising some from the dead

only prefigures what He shall do in the end of the days. The complete

fulfilment belongs to the time of the resurrection of the just, of

which it is said: Whatever is here afflicted, groans, prays, shall then

go on brightly and gloriously. More comprehensive was the fulfilment

which the prophecy received, in reference to spiritual blindness and

deafness, immediately at the first appearance of Christ, who declared

that He had come into the world, that they which see not, might see

(John ix. 39). But even here the completion as certainly belongs to the

future world, as [Greek: blepomen arti di'esoptrou hen ainigmati].

Ver. 6. "_Then shall the lame leap as an hart, and the tongue of the

dumb shall shout; for in the wilderness shall waters be opened, and

streams in the desert._"

The _leaping and shouting_ imply that they have obtained deliverance

from their bodily defects,--at this deliverance the preceding verse

stopped--and proceed from the natural delight at the appearance of this

salvation, personal as well as general, of which these are an

emanation. On the first words especially. Acts iii. 8 is to be

compared, where it is said of the lame man to whom Peter, in the name

of Jesus spoke. Arise and walk: [Greek: kai exallomenos estê kai

periepatei, kai eisêlthe sun autois eis to hieron, peripatôn kai

allomenos kai ainôn ton theon]; farther. Acts viii. 7: [Greek: polloi

de paralelumenoi kai chôloi etherapeuthêsan]; xiv. 8; John v. 9. Of

_spiritual_ lameness, Heb. xii. 13 is spoken. It appears especially in

dark times of affliction, as _Vitringa_ says: "In the time of wild

persecution, and when the Church languishes, [Pg 162] not a few men

begin to halt, to vacillate in their views, to suspend their opinions,"

&c. On the words: "the tongue of the dumb shall shout," compare Matt.

xii. 22: [Greek: tote prosênechthê autô daimonzomenos, tuphlos kai

kôphos. kai etherapeusen auton, hôste ton tuphlon kai kôphon kai lalein

kai blepein.] _Spiritual_ dumbness is the incapacity for the praise of

God which, in the time when salvation is withheld, so easily creeps in,

and which is removed by the bestowal of salvation. The words: "For in

the wilderness," &c., state the ground of the leaping and shouting,

point to the bestowal of salvation, which forms the cause. The _waters_

are the waters of salvation, compare remarks on chap. xii. 3. The words

contain, moreover, an allusion to Exod. xvii. 3 ff.; Numb. xx. 11,

where, during the journey through the wilderness, salvation is

represented by the bestowal of water. The desert here is an image of

misery.

Ver. 7. "_And the scorching heat of the sun becomes a pool, and the

thirsty land, springs of water; in the habitation of dragons shall be

their couching place, grass where formerly reeds and rushes._"

"The scorching heat of the sun," stands for "places scorched by the

heat" ("parched ground," English version). The passage chap. xlix. 10,

forbids us to explain it by _mirage_, the appearance of water. The

suffix in [Hebrew: rbch] refers to Zion. Dragons like to make their

abode especially in the waterless wilderness. The circumstance that

Zion has there her couching place, supposes that it has been changed

into a garden of God; while, on the contrary, in chap. xxxiv. 13, it is

said of the world that "it becomes an habitation of dragons." Besides

the dry land, the moor-land which bears nothing but barren reeds, shall

undergo a change; nourishing _grass_ is to take its place; [Hebrew:

Hcir] has no other signification than this.

Ver. 8. "_And a high-way shall be there, and a way, and it shall be

called the holy way; an unclean shall not pass over it; and it shall be

for them, that they may walk on it, that fools also may not err._"

"The way" is the way of salvation which God opens up to His people in

the wilderness of misery; comp. chap. xliii. 19: "I will make a way in

the wilderness, rivers in the desert;" Ps. cvii. 4: "They wandered in

the wilderness, in the desert without ways," where the pathless

wilderness is the image of misery; [Pg 163] Ps. xxv. 4; xxvii. 11,

where the ways of God are the ways of salvation which He reveals to His

people, that they may walk in them. The way is _holy_ (comp. remarks on

chap. iv. 3), because inaccessible to the profane world, to the

_unclean_, who are not allowed to disturb the righteous walking on it;

comp. ver. 9, which shows how entirely out of place is the remark that

"the author, in his national hatred, will not allow any Gentiles to

walk along with the covenant-people." It is only as converted, as

fellows and companions of the saints, that the Gentiles are allowed to

enter on the way, and not as unclean and their enemies. The

circumstance that even the foolish cannot miss the way, indicates the

abundant fulness of the salvation, in consequence of which it is so

easily accessible; and no human effort, skill, or excellence, is

required to attain the possession of it.

Ver. 9. "_No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast go up thereon,

it shall not be found there; and the redeemed walk on it._"

By the lion, the ravenous beast, heathenish wickedness and tyranny, the

world's power pernicious to the Kingdom of God, is designated; comp.

remarks on chap. xi. 7. The Lord declared that the fulfilment had taken

place, when He said: Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Ver. 10. "_And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion,

and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. Joy and gladness they

shall obtain, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away._"

GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CHAPTERS XL.-LXVI.

The historical section, chap. xxxvi.-xxxix., forms the transition from

the first to the second part of the prophecies of Isaiah. Its close is

formed by the announcement of Judah's being carried away to Babylon, an

announcement which Isaiah uttered to Hezekiah after the impending

danger from the [Pg 164] Assyrians had been successfully warded off, as

had been mentioned in the preceding chapter. In chap. xxxix. 6, 7, it

is said: "Behold days are coming, and all that is in thine house, and

that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be

carried to Babylon, and nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of

thy sons shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace

of the king of Babylon." In this announcement, we have at the same time

the concentration of the rebuking and threatening mission of the

Prophet, and the point from which proceeds the _comforting_ mission

which, in the second part, is pre-eminently attended to. This second

part at once begins with the words: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,"

which stand in closest connection with the preceding announcement of a

great calamity, yea, even necessarily demand this. It is just for this

reason that the historical chapters cannot be a later addition and

interpolation, but must be an original element of the collection

written by the Prophet himself.[1]

The contents of the second part are stated at once, and generally, in

the introductory words, chap. xl. 1, 2: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my

people, saith your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto

her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she receives of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." The

_comfort_ must, accordingly, form the fundamental character of the

second part. But since, for the people of God, there does not exist any

purely external salvation; since, for them, salvation is indissolubly

connected with _repentance_,--_exhortation_ must necessarily go hand

ill hand with the announcement of salvation. This second feature and

element concealed behind the first, is, moreover, expressly brought

forward in what immediately follows, inasmuch as by it the "Comfort ye"

does not receive any addition, [Pg 165] but is only commented upon and

enlarged. The servants of the Lord (the whole chorus of the messengers

of the divine salvation is addressed in vers. 3, 5), complying with His

command, announce the impending salvation, designating it as a

manifestation of the Lord's glory, and exhort to a worthy preparation

for it. Vers. 3 and 4 treat of preparing in the desert a high-way for

the Lord, who is to manifest himself gloriously. The way is prepared

by repentance; the desert symbolizes the condition of bodily and

spiritual misery. It is from this miserable condition that the Lord is

to deliver and redeem His people; but in order that He may perform His

part, they must, previously, have performed theirs. In ver. 5, this

manifestation itself is described, with which is connected the fulness

of salvation for the covenant-people. The servants of God are to

announce the approach of salvation to mourning Jerusalem, in which the

covenant-people appears to the Prophet as personified. (Jerusalem does

not stand for "the carried away Zionites;" it is an ideal person, the

afflicted and bowed down widow sitting on the ground in sackcloth; the

distressed and mourning mother of the children partly carried away, and

partly killed,--compare chap. iii. 26, where Jerusalem, desolate and

emptied, sits upon the ground.) But this salvation can be granted to

those only whose hearts are prepared to receive it. Thus the

announcement of salvation is preceded by the [Greek: metanoeite], by

the call to remove all the obstacles which render impassable the path

through the desert into the land of promise; which render impossible

the transition from misery to salvation; which prevent the Lord from

coming to His people in their misery, and leading them out from it.

Then, to those who have complied with the exhortation, the

manifestation of the glory of the Lord is promised--He comes to them,

in a glorious manifestation, in the way which, in the power of His

Spirit, they have prepared and opened up to Him--and in, and with it,

all the glorious things which, according to ver. 2, the servants of the

Lord were to promise regarding the Future.

The comfort oftentimes moves in general terms, and consists in pointing

to a Future full of salvation and grace. But, in other passages, the

announcement of salvation is more individualised, becomes more special.

These special announcements [Pg 166] refer to a twofold object,

_First_--The Prophet comforts his people by announcing the deliverance

from the Babylonish captivity. This deliverance he describes by the

most lovely images, frequently taken from the deliverance of the people

from Egypt. But it is to be well observed that even those prophecies

which pre-eminently refer to the lower object, have something exuberant

and overflowing; so that, even after having been fulfilled, they cannot

be looked upon as antiquated. He states the name of the ruler,

_Koresh_, the king from the rising of the sun, who, sent by the Lord,

shall punish the oppressors of Zion, and bring back the people to their

land. The _second_ object is the deliverance and salvation by the

Servant of God, the Messiah, who, after having passed through

humiliation, suffering, and death, and having thereby effected

redemption, will remove from the glorified Kingdom of God all the evil

occasioned by sin. Of this higher salvation the soul of the Prophet is

so full, that the references to it are constantly pressing forward,

even where, in the first instance, he has to do with the lower

salvation. In the description of the higher salvation, the relation of

time is not observed. Now, the Prophet beholds its Author in His

humiliation and suffering; then, the most distant Future of the Kingdom

of Christ presents itself to his enraptured eye,--the time in which the

Gentile world, alienated from God, shall have returned to Him; when all

that is opposed to God shall have been destroyed; when inward and

outward peace shall prevail, and all the evil caused by sin shall have

been removed. Elevated above time and space, from the height in which

the Holy Spirit has placed him, he surveys the whole development of the

Messianic Kingdom, from its small beginnings to its glorious end.

While the first part, containing the predictions which the Prophet

uttered for the present generation during the time of his ministry,

consists mainly of single prophecies which, separated by time and

occasion, were first made publicly known singly, and afterwards united

in a collected whole, having been marked out as different prophecies,

either by inscriptions, or in any other distinguishable way,--the

second part, destined as a legacy for posterity, forms a continuous,

collected whole. The fact, first observed by _Fr. Rückert_, that it is

divided into _three sections or books_, is, in the first instance,

indicated by the [Pg 167] circumstance that, at the close of chap.

xlviii. and chap. lvii., the same thought recurs in the same words:

"There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked;" and that the same

thought, viz. the exclusion of the wicked from the promised salvation,

is found also a third time at the close of the whole, although there in

another form. Yet, if nothing else could be advanced in favour of this

tri-partition, we might perhaps be permitted to speak of an accident as

_Knobel_ indeed does. But a closer consideration shows that the three

sections are, inwardly and essentially, distinguished from one another.

Beyond chap. xlviii. 22, there is no farther mention of _Babel_, which

in the first book is mentioned four times (chap. xliii. 14, xlvii. 1,

xlviii. 14, 20); nor of the _Chaldeans_, which occur there five times

(chap. xliii. 14, xlvii. 1, 5, xlviii. 14, 20); nor any farther mention

of _Koresh_, neither of his name (chap. xliv. 28, xlv. 1), nor of his

person, which in chap. xl.-xlviii. is so prominently brought before us

(chap. xli. 2, 25, xlvi. 11, xlviii. 14, 15, _i.e._ immediately at the

_beginning_, after the introduction contained in chap. xl., at the

_close_, and several times in the _middle_); nor of _Bel_ and _Nebo_.

_Farther_--The whole first book is pervaded with the argumentation by

which the God of Israel is proved to be the true God, from His having

foretold the deliverance to be effected by _Koresh_. This argumentation

we meet with in chap. xli., immediately after the introductory chap.

xl., and so still in the last chap. xlviii.; but never again

afterwards. With the end of the first book, this arguing and proving

from prophecy, that the Lord is the true God, as well as the reference

to _Koresh_, the subject of this prophecy, altogether disappear. But,

in like manner, the announcement of a personal Messiah is wanting in

the first book, the sole exception being chap. xlii. 1-9, where, after

the first announcement of the author of the lower salvation, the Author

of the higher salvation is, by way of anticipation, _contrasted_ with

him. To give a more minute and finished description of the Author of

the higher salvation is the object of the _second_ book. In the _third_

book, the person of the Redeemer is spoken of briefly only, is, as it

were, only hinted at, in order to connect this book with the second;

just as, by chap. xlii., the first book is connected with the second.

The third book in so far as it is _promising_, is taken up with the

description of the [Pg 168] _glory of the Kingdom of God_, in that new

stage upon which it enters by the Redeemer,--a glory, the culminating

point of which is the creation of the new heavens and the new earth,

chap. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22. A description of the glory of Zion, like that

in chap. lxii., is not found in the first and second book. In the third

book, however, _reproof and exhortation_ prevail, in contradistinction

to the first and second book, in which the direct _promise_ prevails. A

transition from this, however, to the reproof and exhortation, is made

at the close of the second book. From chap. lv. 1, the preaching of

repentance appears first intermingled with the announcement of

salvation. Up to that the prevailing tendency of the Prophet had been,

throughout, to comfort the godly; but from chap. lv. 1, the other

tendency shows itself by the side of it, that of calling sinners to

repentance, by which alone they can obtain a participation in the

promised salvation. In chap. lvi. 9, lvii. 21, the latter tendency

appears distinctly and exclusively. The second book had commenced with

the announcement of salvation, and thence to the close had advanced to

reproof and threatening. The third book takes the opposite course; and

thus the two principal portions of reproof and threatening border upon

one another. Yet, the reproof and threatening do not go on without

interruption and distinction, so that no _boundary line_ could be

recognized between the two books. At the close of the second book, the

Prophet has preeminently to do with _apostates_, while, at the

beginning of the third, he has to do with _hypocrites_; so that thus

these two portions of reproof supplement one another, and conjointly

form a complete disclosure of the prevailing corruption, according to

its two principal tendencies. But the third book is distinguished from

the second by this circumstance, that in it reproof and threatening are

not limited to the beginning, which corresponds with the close of the

second book. At the close of chap. lix. the Prophet returns to the

announcement of salvation; but with chap. lxiii. 7, a new preaching of

repentance commences, which goes on to the end of chap. lxiv. The

Prophet, in the Spirit, transposes himself into the time when the

visitation has already taken place, and puts into the mouth of the

people the words by which they are, at that time, to supplicate for the

mercy of the Lord. This discourse [Pg 169] implies what has preceded.

In the view of the glorious manifestation of the Lord's mercy and grace

which are there exhibited, the Prophet calls here upon the people to

repent and be converted, in order that they may become partakers of

that mercy. If they, as a people, are anxious to attain that object,

they must repeat what the Prophet here pronounces before them. But that

up to this time has not been done, and hence that has taken place which

is spoken of by St Paul: "The election have obtained it, but the rest

have been blinded." In chap. lxv., which contains the Lord's answer to

this repenting prayer of the people, and is nothing else than an

indirect _paraenesis_, reproof and threatening likewise prevail, and it

is only at the close that the promise appears. The last chapter, too,

begins with reproof and threatening. Rightly have the Church Fathers

called Isaiah the Evangelist among the prophets. This appears also from

the circumstance that the reproof is so thoroughly an appendage of the

promise, that it is only at the _close_, after the whole riches of the

promise have been exhibited, that it expands itself It appears,

farther, also from the circumstance that, even in the last book, the

threatening does not prevail _exclusively_, but that, even there, it is

still interwoven with the most glorious promises which are so

exceedingly fitted to allure sinners to repentance.

In the whole of the second part, the Prophet, _as a rule_, takes his

stand in the time which was announced and foretold in the former

prophecies, and especially, with the greatest clearness and

distinctness, in chap. xxxix., on the threshold of the second

part,--the time when Jerusalem is captured by the Chaldeans, the temple

destroyed, the country desolated, and the people carried away. It is in

this time that he thinks, feels, and acts; it has become present to

him; from it he looks out into the Future, yet in such a manner that he

does not everywhere consistently maintain this ideal stand-point. He

addresses his discourse to the people pining away in captivity and

misery. He comforts them by opening up a view into a better Future, and

exhorts them to remove by repentance the obstacles to the coming

salvation.

Rationalistic Exegesis, everywhere little able to sympathize with, and

enter into existing circumstances and conditions, and always ready to

make its own shadowy, coarse views the rule [Pg 170] and arbiter,

has been little able to enter into, and sympathize with this ideal

stand-point occupied by the Prophet; nor has it had the earnest will to

do so. To its rationalistic tendencies, which took offence at the clear

knowledge of the Future, a welcome pretext was here offered. Thus the

opinion arose, that the second part was not written by Isaiah, but was

the work of some anonymous prophet, living about the end of the

exile,--an opinion which, at the time of the absolute dominion of

Rationalism, has obtained so firm a footing, that it has become all but

an _axiom_, and, by the power of tradition, carries away even such as

would not think of entertaining it, if they were to enter independently

and without prejudice upon the investigation.

The fact which here meets us does not by any means stand isolated. The

prophets did not prophesy in the state of rational reflection, but in

_exstasis_. As even their ordinary name, "seers," indicates, the

objects were presented to them in inward vision. They did not behold

the Future from a distance, but they were rapt into the future. This

inward vision is frequently reflected in their representation. Very

frequently, that appears with them as present which, in reality, was

still future. They depict the Future before the eyes of their hearers

and readers, and thus, as it were, by force, drag them into it out of

the Present, the coercing force of which exerts so pernicious an

influence upon them. Our Prophet expressly intimates this peculiar

manner of the prophetic announcement by making, in chap. xlix. 7, the

Lord say: "First I said to Zion: _Behold there, behold there_," by

which the graphic character of prophecy is precisely expressed, and by

which it is intimated that hearers and readers were led _in rem

praesentem_ by the prophets. Even grammar has long ago acknowledged

this fact, inasmuch as it speaks of _Praeterita prophetica_, _i.e._,

such as denote the _ideal_ Past, in contrast to those which denote the

_real_ Past. Unless we have attained to this view and insight, it is

only by inconsistency that we can escape from _Eichhorn's_ view, that

the prophecies are, for the most part, disguised historical

descriptions,--a view into which even expositors, such as _Ewald_ and

_Hitzig_, frequently relapse. Frequently, the whole of the Future

appears with the prophets in the form of the _Present_. At other times,

they take their stand in the [Pg 171] more immediate Future; and this

becomes to them the _ideal_ Present, from which they direct the eye to

the distant Future. From the rich store of proofs which we can adduce

for our view, we shall here mention only a few.

This mode of representation meets us frequently so early as in the

parting hymn of Moses, Deut. xxxii., which may be considered as the

germ of all prophetism; compare _e.g._ vers. 7 and 8. On the latter

verse, _Clericus_ remarks: "Moses mourns over this in his hymn, as if

it were already past, because he foresees that it will be so, and he,

in the Spirit, transfers himself into those future times, and says that

which then only should be said."

In Isaiah himself, the very first chapter presents a remarkable proof

The Present in chap. i. 5-9 is not a _real_, but an _ideal_ Present. In

the Spirit, the Prophet transfers himself into the time of the calamity

impending upon the apostate people, and, stepping back upon the real

Present, he, in the farther course of the prophecy, predicts this

calamity as future. The reasons for this view have been thoroughly

stated, even to exhaustion, by _Caspari_, in his _Beiträge zur

Einleitung in das Buch Jesaia_. In the second half of ver. 2, the

kingdom appears as flourishing and powerful. To the same result we are

led also by the description of the rich sacrificial worship in vers.

15-19. If, then, we view vers. 5-9 as a description of the Present, we

obtain an irreconcilable contradiction. _Farther_--Everywhere else

Isaiah always connects, with the description of the sin, that of the

punishment following upon it, but never that of the punishment which

has followed it.--In chap. v. 13, in a prophecy from the first time of

his ministry, the _future carrying away_ of the people presents itself

to the Prophet as present. Similarly, in vers. 25, 26, the Praet. and

Fut. with _Vav Conv._ must be understood prophetically; for in chap.

i.-v., the Prophet has, throughout, to do with future calamity. In the

Present, according to ver. 19, the people are yet in a condition of

prosperity and luxury,--as yet, it is the time of _mocking_; it is only

of future calamity that vers. 5 and 6 in the parable speak of, the

threatenings of which are here detailed and expanded.--In the prophecy

against Tyre, chap. xxiii., the Prophet beholds as present the siege by

the Chaldeans impending over the city, and describes [Pg 172] as an

eye-witness the flight of the inhabitants, and the impression which the

intelligence of their calamity makes upon the nations connected with

them. From the more immediate Future, which to him has become present,

he then casts a glance to the more distant. He announces that after 70

years--counting not from the _real_, but from the _ideal_ Present--the

city shall again attain to its ancient greatness. His look then rises

still higher, and he beholds how at length, in the days of Messiah, the

Tyrians shall be received into the communion of the true God.--The

future dispersion and carrying away of the people is anticipated by the

Prophet in the passage, chap. xi. 11, also, which may be considered as

a comprehensive view of the whole second part.--It is true that, in the

second part, as a rule, the misery, and not the salvation, appears as

present; but, not unfrequently, the latter, too, is viewed as present

by the Prophet, and spoken of in Preterites, comp. _e.g._, chap. xl. 2,

xlvi. 1, 2, li. 3, lii. 9, 10, lx. 1. If, then, the Prophet is to be

measured by the ordinary rule, these passages, too, must have been

written at a time when the salvation had already taken place.--In chap.

xlv. 20, the escaped of the nations are those Gentiles who have been

spared in the divine judgments. They are to become wise by the

sufferings of others. The Prophet takes his stand in a time when these

judgments, which were to be inflicted by Cyrus, had already been

completed. Even those who maintain the spuriousness of the second part

must here acknowledge that the Prophet takes his stand in an _ideal_

Present.--In chap. liii. the Prophet takes his stand between the

sufferings and the glorification of the Messiah. The sufferings appear

to him as past; the glorification he represents as future.

Hosea had, in chap. xiii., predicted to Israel great divine judgments,

the desolation of the country, and the carrying away of its inhabitants

by powerful enemies. This punishment and judgment appear in chap. xiv.

1 (xiii. 16) as still future; but in ver. 2 (1 ff.) he transfers

himself in spirit to the time when these judgments had already been

inflicted. He anticipates the Future as having already taken place, and

does not by any means exhort his _contemporaries_ to a sincere

repentance, but those upon whom the calamity had already been

inflicted: "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for [Pg 173] thou

hast fallen by thine iniquity." This parallel passage shews especially,

with what right it has been asserted that the addresses to the people

pining away in exile "were out of place in the mouth of Isaiah, who, as

he lived 150 years before, could _prophesy_ only of the exiled"

(_Knobel_).--Micah says in chap. iv. 8 (compare vol. i., p. 449 ff.):

"And thou tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee

it will come, and to thee cometh the former dominion." If the Prophet,

a cotemporary of Isaiah, speaks here of a _former dominion_, and

announces that it shall again come back to the house of David, he

transfers himself from his time, in which the royal family of David

still existed and flourished, into that period of which he had just

before spoken, and during which the dominion of the Davidic dynasty was

to cease. In vers. 9, 10: "Now why dost thou raise a cry! Is there no

king in thee, or is thy counsellor gone? For pangs have seized thee as

a woman in travail," &c., mourning Zion, at the time of the carrying

away of her sons into captivity, stands before the eye of the Prophet,

and is addressed by him. (In commenting upon this passage, we pointed

already to Hosea xiii. 9-11 as an analogous instance of representing as

present the time of the calamity.) The moment of the carrying away into

exile forms to him the Present; the deliverance from it, the Future:

"There shalt thou be delivered, there the Lord thy God shall redeem

thee out of the hand of thine enemies." In chap. vii. 7, Micah

introduces, as speaking, the people already carried away into exile,

and makes them declare both the justice of the divine punishment, and

their confidence in the divine mercy. In the answer of the Lord also,

ver. 11, the city is supposed to be destroyed; for He promises that her

walls shall be rebuilt.--The anticipation of the Future prevails

throughout the whole prophecy of Obadiah also. The song of Habakkuk in

chap. iii. takes its stand in the midst of the anticipated misery. In

the announcement of the invasion of the Chaldeans in chap. i. 6 ff.,

the Future presents itself in the form of the Present. Here, as in the

case of Obadiah, _Hitzig_ and others, overlooking and misunderstanding

this prophetic peculiarity, and considering the _ideal_, to be the

_real_ Present, have been led to fix the age of the Prophet in a manner

notoriously erroneous.--Jeremiah, in chap. iii. 22, 25, [Pg 174]

introduces as speaking the Israel of the Future. In chap. xxx. and

xxxi., he anticipates the future carrying away of Judah. Even in the

Psalms we perceive a faint trace of this prophetic peculiarity. On Ps.

xciii. 1: "The Lord reigneth, He hath clothed himself with majesty,"

&c., we remarked: "The Preterites are to be explained from the

circumstance that the Singer as a _seer_ has the Future before his

eyes. He _beholds_ rejoicingly how the Lord enters upon His Kingdom,

puts on the garment of majesty, and girds himself with the sword of

strength in the face of the proud world." A similar anticipation of

redemption, even before the catastrophe has taken place, we meet with

in Ps. xciv. 1. The situation in the whole Psalm, yea in the whole

cycle to which it belongs, the lyrical echo of the second part of

Isaiah, is not a _real_, but an _ideal_ one. This cycle bears witness

that the singers and seers of Israel were living in the Future, in a

manner which it would be so much the greater folly to measure by our

rule as, for the people of the Old Covenant, the Future had a

significance altogether different from that which it has for the people

of the New Covenant. That which is common to all the Psalms, from

xciii. onward, is the confident expectation of a glorious manifestation

of the Lord, which the Psalmist, following the example of the prophets,

beholds as present. A counterpart is the cycle Ps. cxxxviii.-cxlv., in

which David, stirred up by the promise in 2 Sam. vii., accompanies his

house throughout history.

Several interpreters cannot altogether resist the force of these facts.

They grant "that other prophets also sometimes, in the Spirit, transfer

themselves into later times, especially into the idealistic times of

the Messiah," and draw their arguments from the circumstance only, that

the latter again came back to their personal stand point, whilst our

Prophet continues cleaving to the later time. Now it is true, and must

be conceded, that this mode of representation is here employed to an

extent greater than it is anywhere else in the Old Testament. But, in

matters of this kind, measuring by the ell is quite out of place. In

other respects also, the second part of Isaiah stands out as quite

unique. There is, in the whole Old Testament, no other continuous

prophecy which has so absolutely and pre-eminently proceeded from _cura

posteritatis_. If [Pg 175] it be acknowledged that the prophesying

activity of Isaiah falls into two great divisions,--the one--the

results of which are contained in the first 39 chapters--chiefly,

pre-eminently indeed, destined for the Present; the other,--which lies

before us in the second part, belonging to the evening of the Prophet's

life--forming a prophetical legacy, and hence, therefore, never

delivered in public, but only committed to writing;--then we shall find

it quite natural that the Prophet, writing, as he did, chiefly for the

Future, should here also take his stand in the Future, to a larger

extent than he has elsewhere done.

That it is in this manner only that this fact is to be accounted for,

appears from the circumstance that, although our Prophet so extensively

and frequently represents the Past as Present, yet he passes over, in

numerous passages, from the _ideal_ into the _real_ Present.[2] We find

a number of references which do not at all suit the condition of things

after the exile, but necessarily require the age of Isaiah, or, at

least, the time before the exile. If Isaiah be the author, these

passages are easily accounted for. It is true that, in the Spirit, he

had transferred himself into the time of the Babylonish exile; and this

time had become Present to him. But it would surely be suspicious to

us, if the real Present had not sometimes prevailed, and attracted the

eye of the Prophet. It is just thus, however, that we find it. The

Prophet frequently steps out of his ideal view and position, and refers

to conditions and circumstances of his time. _Now_, he has before his

eyes the condition of the unhappy people in the Babylonish exile;

_then_, the State still existing at his time, but internally deranged

by idolatry and apostacy. This apparent contradiction cannot be

reconciled in any other way than by assuming that Isaiah is the author.

As a rule, the punishment appears as already inflicted; city and

temple as destroyed; the country as devastated; the people as carried

away; compare _e.g._, chap. lxiv. 10, 11. But in a series of passages,

in which the Prophet steps back from the _ideal_, to the _real_

stand-point, _the punishment appears as still future_; _city and temple

as still existing_. In chap. xliii. [Pg 176] 22-28, the Prophet meets

the delusion, as if God had chosen Israel on account of their deserts.

Far from having brought about their deliverance by their own merits,

they, on the contrary, sinned thus against Him, that, to the inward

apostacy, they added the outward also. The greater part of Israel had

left off the worship of the Lord by sacrifices. It is the mercy alone

of the Lord which will deliver them from the misery into which they

have plunged themselves by their sins. But how can the Lord charge the

people in exile for the omission of a service which, according to His

own law, they could offer to Him in their native country only, in the

temple consecrated to Him, but then destroyed? The words specially:

"Put me in remembrance," in ver. 26, "of what I should have forgotten,"

imply that there existed a possibility of acquiring apparent merits,

and that, hence, the view of our opponents who, in vers. 22-24, think

of a compulsory, and hence, guiltless omission of the sacrificial

service during the exile, must be rejected. Vers. 27, 28 also, which

speak of the punishment which Israel deserves, just on account of the

omitted service of the Lord, and which it has found in the way of its

works, prove that this view must be rejected, and that vers. 22-24

contain a reproof. The passage can, hence, have been written only at

the time when the temple was still standing. Of this there can so much

the less be any doubt that, in vers. 27, 28, the exile is expressly

designated as future: "Thy first father (the high-priestly office) hath

sinned, and thy mediators have transgressed against me." (The

sacrificial service was by a disgraceful syncretism profaned even by

those whose office it was to attend to it). "Therefore I _will_ profane

the princes of the sanctuary, and _will_ give Jacob to the curse, and

Israel to reproaches." Even [Hebrew: vaHll] is the common Future, and

to [Hebrew: vatnh] the [Hebrew: h] _optativum_ is added; and hence, we

cannot by any means translate and explain it by: _I gave_.--In chap.

lvi. 9, it is said: "All ye beasts of the field come ye to devour all

the beasts in the forest." This utterance stands in connection with the

[Hebrew: lnqbciv], at the close of the preceding verse. The gathering

of Israel by God the good Shepherd, promised there, must be preceded by

the scattering, by being given up to the world's power--mercy, by

judgment. By the wild beasts are to be understood the Gentiles who

shall be sent by God upon [Pg 177] His people for punishment. This

mission they must first fulfil before they can, according to ver. 8, be

added to, and gathered along with, the gathered ones of Israel. By the

"beasts in the forest," brutalized, degraded, and secularized Israel is

to be understood, comp. Jer. xii. 7-12; Ezek. xxxiv. 5; and my

Commentary on Rev. ii. 1.

The beasts have not yet come; they are yet to come. We can here think

of nothing else than the invasion of the Chaldeans, which the Prophet,

stepping back to the stand-point of his time, beholds here as future;

whilst, in what precedes, from his ideal stand-point, which he had

taken in the Babylonish exile, he had, for the most part, considered it

as past.--In chap. lvi. 10-12, we meet with corrupted rulers of the

people, who are indolent, when everything depends upon warding off the

danger, greedy, luxurious, gormandizing upon what they have stolen. The

people are not under foreign dominion, but have rulers of their own,

who tyrannize over, and impoverish them; comp. Is. chap. v.; Micah,

chap. iii.--In chap. lvii. 1, it is said: "The righteous perisheth and

no man layeth it to heart, and the men of kindness are taken away, no

one considering that, on account of the evil, the righteous is taken

away." The Prophet mentions it as a sign of the people's hardening

that, in the death of the righteous men who were truly bearing on their

hearts the welfare of the whole, they did not recognize a harbinger of

severe divine judgments, from which, according to a divine merciful

decree, these righteous were to be preserved by an early death. "On

account of the evil," _i.e._, in order to withdraw them from the

judgments, which were to be inflicted upon the ungodly people, comp.

Gen. xv. 15; 2 Kings xxii. 20; Is. xxxix. 8. The evil, _i.e._ according

to 2 Kings xxii. 20, the Chaldean catastrophe, appears here as still

future. In chap. lvii. 2: "They enter in peace, they rest in their beds

who have walked before themselves in uprightness," the "peace" forms

the contrast to the awful condition of suffering which the survivors

have to encounter.--In chap. lvii. 9, it is said: "And thou lookest on

the king anointed with oil, and increasest thy perfumes, and sendest

thy messengers far off, sendest them down into hell." The apostacy from

the Lord their God is manifested not only in idolatry, but also in

their not leaving untried any means to [Pg 178] procure for themselves

human helpers, in their courting human aid. The personification of

Israel as a woman, which took place in the preceding verses, is here

continued. She leaves no means untried to heighten her charms; she

makes every effort to please the mighty kings. The king is an ideal

person comprehending a real plurality within himself A parallel

passage, in which the seeking for help among foreign nations is

represented under the same image, is Ezek. xvi. 26 ff., comp. Hos. xii.

2 (1). It occurs also in immediate connexion with seeking help from the

idols, in chap. xxx. 1 ff. The verb [Hebrew: wvr] means always "to

see," "to look at;" and this signification is, here too, quite

appropriate: Israel is _coquetting_ with her lover, the king. The

reproach which the Prophet here raises against the people has no

meaning at all in the time of the exile, when the national independence

was gone. We find ourselves all at once transferred to the time of

Isaiah, who, in chap. xxxi. 1, utters a woe upon them "that go down to

Egypt for help,"--who, in chap. xxx. 4, complains: "His princes are at

Zoar, and his ambassadors come to Hanes,"--who, in chap. vii., exhibits

the dangerous consequences of seeking help from Asshur. The historical

point at issue is brought before us by passages such as 2 Kings xvi. 7:

"And Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, saying: I

am thy servant and thy son; come up and save me out of the hand of the

king of Aram, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise

against me."--In chap. lvii. 11-13, the thought is this: Israel is not

becoming weary of seeking help and salvation from others than God. But

He will soon show that He alone is to be feared, that He alone can

help; that they are nothing against whom, and from whom help is sought.

The words in ver. 11: "Am I not silent, even of old; therefore thou

fearest me not," state the cause of the foolish forgetfulness of God,

and hence form the transition to the subsequent announcement of

judgment. The prophecy is uttered at a time when Israel still enjoyed

the sparing divine forbearance, inasmuch as for time immemorial (since

they were in Egypt), no destructive catastrophe had fallen upon them.

It was in the Babylonish catastrophe only that the Egyptian received

its counterpart. But how does this suit the time of the Babylonish

exile, when the people were groaning under the severe judgments of God,

[Pg 179] and had not experienced His forbearance, but, on the contrary,

for almost 70 years, the full energy of His punitive justice? In ver.

13, it is said: "In thy crying, let thy hosts (thy whole Pantheon so

rich, and yet so miserable) help thee." "In thy crying, _i.e._, when

_thou_, in the judgment to be inflicted upon thee in future, wilt cry

for help." In chap. lxvi. the punishment appears as future; temple and

city as still existing; the Lord as yet enthroned in Zion. So specially

in ver. 6: "A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple,

the voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to His enemies," A

controversy with the hypocrites who presumed upon the temple and their

sacrificial service, in vers. 1, 3, has, at the time of the exile, no

meaning at all, _Gesenius_, indeed, was of opinion that the Prophet

might judge of the worship of God in temples, and of the value of

sacrifices, although they were not offered at that time; but it must be

strongly denied that the Prophet could do so in such a context and

connection. For, the fact that the Prophet has in view a definite class

of men of his time, and that he does not bring forward at random a

_locus communis_ which, at his time, was no longer applicable--a thing

which, moreover, is not by any means his habit--appears from the close

of the verse, and from ver. 4, where divine judgment is threatened to

those men: "Because they choose their own ways, and their soul

delighteth in their abominations: I also will choose their derision,

and will bring their fears upon them." Even in ver. 20: "And they (the

Gentiles who are to be converted to the Lord), shall bring all your

brethren out of all nations for a meat-offering unto the Lord, upon

horses, &c., _just as the children of Israel are bringing_ ([Hebrew:

ibvav], expresses an habitual offering), _the meat-offering in a clean

vessel into the house of the Lord_," the house of God appears as still

standing, the sacrificial service in full operation; the future

spiritual meat-offering of the Gentiles is compared to the bodily

meat-offering which the children of Israel are now offering in the

temple.

_Throughout the whole second part we perceive the people under the, as

yet, unbroken power of idolatry._ It appears everywhere as the

principal tendency of the sinful apostacy among the people; to

counteract it appears to be the chief object of the Prophet. The

controversy with idolatry pervades everything. At the very

commencement, in chap. xl. 18-26, we are met [Pg 180] with a

description of the nothingness of idolatry, and an impressive warning

against it. In the whole series of passages, commencing with chap.

xli.--of which we shall afterwards speak more in detail--the sole Deity

of the God of Israel, and the vanity of the idols are proved from

prophecy in connection with its fulfilment; and this series has for its

supposition the power which, at the time when the prophecy was uttered,

idolatry yet possessed over the minds of men. Chap. xlii. 17 announces

that the future historical development shall bring confusion upon those

"that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images: Ye are our

gods." In chap. xliv. 12-20, the absurdity of idolatry is illustrated

in a brilliant description. We have here before us the real _locus

classicus_ of the whole Scripture in this matter, the main description

of the nothingness of idolatry. The emotion and excitement with which

the Prophet speaks, shew that he has here to do with the principal

enemy to the salvation of his people. According to chap. xlvi. the

idols of Babel shall be overturned and carried away. From this, Israel

may learn the nothingness of idolatry, and the apostates may return to

the Lord. In the hortatory and reproving section, the punishment of

idolatry forms the beginning; in chap. lvii. idolatry is described as

far-spread, manifold, advancing to the greatest horrors. The offering

up of children as sacrifices especially appears as being in vogue; and

it can be proved that this penetrated into Israel, from the

neighbouring nations, at the time of the Prophet (comp. 2 Chron.

xxviii. 3; xxxiii. 6), while, at the time of the exile, there was

scarcely any cause for warning against it,--at least, existing

information does not mention any such sacrifices among the Babylonians

(comp. _Münter_, _die Religion der Babylonier_, S. 72). The people

appear as standing under the dominion of idolatry in chap. lxv. 3: "The

people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face, that

sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon the bricks;" comp.

ver. 7: "Who have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me

upon the hills;" chap. lxvi. 17: "They that sanctify themselves and

purify themselves in the gardens behind one in the midst, who eat

swine's flesh, and the abominations, and mice, shall be consumed

together, saith the Lord." Idolatry is the service of nature, and was,

therefore, chiefly practised [Pg 181] in places where nature presents

herself in all her splendour, as in gardens and on the hills. The

gardens are mentioned in a similar way in chap. i. 29: "Ye shall blush

on account of the _gardens_ that ye have chosen." (On the words which

precede in that verse: "For they shall be ashamed of the _oaks_ which

ye have desired," chap. lvii. 5 offers an exact parallel: "Who inflame

themselves among the _oaks_ under every green tree.") In chap. lxv. 11,

they are denounced who forsake the Lord, forget His holy mountain (on

which, at the time when this was written, the temple must still have

stood), who prepare a table to _Fortune_, and offer drink-offerings to

_Fate_. The second main form of sinful apostacy--hypocrisy and dead

ceremonial service--is only rarely mentioned by the Prophet (in chap.

lvii., lxvi.), while he always anew reverts to idolatry. Now _this

absolutely prevailing regard to idolatry can be accounted for, only if

Isaiah be the author of the second part._ From Solomon, down to the

time of the exile, the disposition to idolatry in Israel was never

thoroughly broken. During Isaiah's ministry, it came to the fullest

display under Ahaz. Under Hezekiah it was kept down, indeed; but with

great difficulty only, as appears from the fact that, under the reign

of Manasseh, who was a king after the heart of the people, it again

broke openly forth; comp. 2 Kings xxi. 1-18; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 1-18; 2

Kings xxi. 6, according to which Manasseh made his own son to pass

through the fire. But it is a tact generally admitted, and proved by

all the books written during and after the exile, that, with the

carrying away into exile, the idolatrous disposition among the people

was greatly shaken. This fact has its cause not only in the deep

impression which misery made upon their minds, but still more in the

circumstance that it was chiefly the godly part of the nation that was

carried away into captivity. The disproportionately large number of

_priests_ among the exiled and those who returned--they constitute the

tenth part of the people--is to be accounted for only on the

supposition, that the heathenish conquerors saw that the real essence

and basis of the people consisted in the faith in the God of Israel,

and were, therefore, above all, anxious to remove the priests as the

main representatives of this principle. If, for this reason, they

carried away the priests, we cannot think otherwise but that, in [Pg

182] the selection of the others also, they looked chiefly to the

theocratic disposition on which the nationality of Israel rested. To

this we are led by Jer. xxiv. also, where those carried away are

designated as the flower of the nation, as the nursery and hope of the

Kingdom of God. Incomprehensible, for the time of the exile, is also

the _strict antithesis_ between the servants of the Lord, and the

servants of the idols--the latter hating, assailing, and persecuting

the former--an antithesis which meets us especially in the last two

chapters; comp. especially chap. lxv. 5 ff. 13-15; lxvi. 16. That such

a state of things existed at the time of the Prophet is, among other

passages, shown by 2 Kings xxi. 16, according to which Manasseh shed

much innocent blood at Jerusalem, and, according to ver. 10, 11,

especially the blood of the prophets, who had borne a powerful

testimony against idolatry.