vii. 14, the Prophet beholds the Saviour as being already born; hence

the Preterites [Hebrew: ild] and [Hebrew: ntN]. If any one should imagine that from the use of these Preterites he were entitled to infer that the subject of the prophecy must, at that time, already have been born, he must also, on account of the Preterites in vers. 1 (2) suppose that the announced salvation had at that time been already bestowed upon Israel,--which no interpreter does. _Hitzig_ correctly remarks: "Because He is still _future_, the Prophet in His first appearance, beholds Him as a child, and as the son of another." _Whose_ son He is we are not told; but it is supposed to be already known. Ever since the revelation in 2 Sam. vii., the Messiah could be conceived of as the Son of David only; compare the words: "Upon the throne of David" in vers. 6 (7), and chap. xi. 1, lv. 3. As the Son of God the Saviour appears as early as in Ps. ii.; and it is to that Psalm that the "God-Hero" alludes, and connects itself. Alluding to the passage before us, we read in John iii. 16: [Greek: houtô gar êgapêsen ho theos ton kosmon] ("The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this,") vers. 6 [7], [Greek: hôste ton huion autou ton monogenê edôken].--When grown up, the Son has the government upon His shoulder. The Prophet contrasts Christ with the _world's power_, which threatened destruction to the people of God. This, then, refers to the _Kingly office_ of Christ, and the state of glory. Parallel is the declaration of Christ in Matt. xxviii. 18, [Greek: edothê moi pasa exousia]. The Lord has also, in John xviii. 37, confirmed the truth that He is _King_; and it is upon the ground of His own declaration that Pilate designates Him upon the cross as a King. Although His Kingdom is not of [Pg 86] this world, John xviii. 36, it is, just for that very reason, so much the more all-governing. The [Greek: enteuthen] in that passage is contrasted with the words "from heaven" in Dan. ii., by which, in that passage, its absolute superiority over all the kingdoms of the world, and its crushing power are declared to be indissolubly connected.--"_The shoulder_" comes, here also, as in vers. 3 (4), chap. x. 27, into consideration in so far as on it we _bear_; comp. Gen. xlix. 15; Ps. lxxxi. 7. The bearer of an office has it, as it were, on his shoulders.--The Jewish interpreters, despairing of being able, with any appearance of truth, to apply the following attributes to Hezekiah, insist that, with the exception of the last, they denote Him who calls, not Him who is called: the Wonderful, &c., called him Prince of peace. Altogether apart from the consideration that this is in opposition to the accents, the mentioning of so many names of Jehovah is here quite unsuitable; and, in all other passages, the noun put after [Hebrew: wmv qra] designates always him who is called. Modern Exegesis has tried everything with a view to deprive the names of their deep meaning, in order to adapt them to a Messiah in the ordinary Jewish sense, hence, to do that of which the Jews themselves had already despaired. But, in doing so, they have considered the names too much by themselves, overlooking the circumstance that the full and deeper meaning of the individual attributes, as it at first sight presents itself, must, in the connection in which they here occur, be so much the rather held fast. The names are completed in the number _four_,--the mark of that which is complete and finished. _They form two pairs, and every single name is again compounded of two names._ The first name is [Hebrew: pla iveC]. That these two words must be _connected_ with one another (_Theodor._--[Greek: thaumastôs bouleuôn]) appears from the analogy of the other names, especially of [Hebrew: al gbvr] with whom [Hebrew: pla iveC] forms one pair; and then from the circumstance that [Hebrew: iveC] alone would, in this connection, be too indefinite. The words do not stand in the relation of the _Status constructus_, but are connected in the same manner as [Hebrew: pra adM] in Gen. xvi. 12. [Hebrew: iveC] designates the attribute which is here concerned, while [Hebrew: pla] points out the supernatural, superhuman degree in which the King possesses this attribute, and the infinite riches of consolation and help which are to be found in such [Pg 87] a King. As a _Counsellor_, He is a _Wonder_, absolutely elevate d above everything which the earth possesses in excellency of counselling. As [Hebrew: pla] commonly denotes "wonder" in the strictest sense (comp. chap. xxv. 1: "I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name, for thou hast done wonders," Ps. lxxvii. 15: "Thou art the God that doest wonders;" Exod. xv. 11); as it here stands in parallelism with [Hebrew: al] God; as the whole context demands that we should take the words in their full meaning;--we can consider it only as an arbitrary weakening of the sense, that several interpreters explain [Hebrew: pla iveC] "extraordinary Counsellor." Parallel is Judges xiii. 18 where the Angel of the Lord, after having announced the birth of Samson, says: "Why askest thou thus after my name?--it is wonderful," [Hebrew: plai], _i.e._, my whole nature is wonderful, of unfathomable depth, and cannot, therefore, be expressed by any human name. _Farther_--Revel.