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.

_If it be assumed that the second part was composed during the exile, then those passages are incomprehensible, in which the Prophet proves that the God of Israel is the true God, from His predicting the appearance of the conqueror from the east, and the deliverance of the people to be wrought by Him in connection with the fulfilment of these predictions._ The supernatural character of this announcement which the Prophet asserts, and which forms the ground of its probative power, took place, only if it proceeded from Isaiah, but not if it was uttered only about the end of the exile, at a time when Cyrus had already entered upon the stage of history. These passages, at all events, admit only the alternative,--either that Isaiah was the real author, or that they were forged at a later period by some deceiver; and this latter alternative is so decidedly opposed to the whole spirit of the second part, that scarcely any one among the opponents will resolve to adopt it. Considering the very great and decisive importance of these passages, we must still allow them to pass in review one by one. In chap. xli. 1-7, the Lord addresses those who are serving idols, summons them triumphantly to defend themselves against the mighty attack which He was just executing against them, and describes the futility of their attempts at so doing. The address to the Gentiles is a mere form; to work upon Israel is the real purpose. To secure them from the allurements of the world's religion, the Prophet points to [Pg 183] the great confusion which the Future will bring upon it. This confusion consists in this:--that the prophecy of the conqueror from the East, as the messenger and instrument of the Lord--a prediction which the Prophet had uttered in the power of the Lord--is fulfilled without the idolators being able to prevent it. The answer on the words in ver. 2: "Who hath raised up from the East him whom righteousness calleth whither he goes, giveth the nations before him, and maketh kings subject to him, maketh his sword like dust, and his bow like driven stubble?" is this: According to the agreement of prophecy and fulfilment, it is none other than the Lord, who is, therefore, the only true God, to whose glory and majesty every deed of His servant Koresh bears witness. The argumentation is unintelligible, as soon as, assuming that it was Isaiah who wrote down the prophecy, it is not admitted that he, losing sight of the _real_ Present, takes his stand-point in an _ideal_ Present, viz., the time of the appearance of the conqueror from the East, by which it becomes possible to him to draw his arguments from the prophecy in connection with the fulfilment. It is altogether absurd, when it is asserted that the second part is spurious, and was composed at a time when Cyrus was already standing before Babylon. It would indeed have required an immense amount of impudence on the part of the Prophet to bring forward, as an unassailable proof of the omniscience and omnipotence of God, an event which every one saw with his bodily eyes. By such argumentation, he would have exposed himself to general _ridicule_.--In chap. xli. 21-29, the discourse is formally addressed to the Gentiles; but in point of fact, the Prophet here, too, has to do with Judah driven into exile, to whom he was called by God to offer the means to remain stedfast under the temptations from the idolators by whom they were surrounded. Before the eyes, and in the hearing of Israel, the Lord convinces the Gentiles of the nothingness of their cause. They are to prove the divinity of their idols by showing forth the announcements of the Future which proceeded from them. But they are not able to comply with this demand. It is only the Lord, the living God, who can do that. Long before the appearance of the conqueror from the North and East, He caused it to be _foretold_, and comforted His Church with the view of the Future. Hence, He alone is [Pg 184] God, and vanity are all those who are put beside Him. It is said in ver. 22: "Let them bring forth and shew to us what shall happen; the former things, what they be, show and we will consider them and know the latter end of them; or the coming (events make us to hear)." _The former things_ are those which are prior on this territory; hence the former prophecies, as the comparison of the parallel passage, chap. xlii 9, clearly shows. The _end_ of prophecy is its fulfilment. [Hebrew: hbavt] "the coming, or future," are the events of the more distant Future. As the Prophet demands from the idols and their servants that only which the true God has already performed by His servants, we have here, on the one hand, a reference to the whole cycle of prophecies formerly fulfilled, as _e.g._, that of the overthrow of the kingdoms of Damascus and Ephraim, and the defeat of Asshur,--and, on the other hand, to the prophecy of the conqueror from the East, &c., contained in the second part. The _former_ prophecies, however, are here mentioned altogether incidentally only; the real demand refers, as is shown by the words: "What shall happen," only to the prophecies in reference to the Future, corresponding to those of our Prophet regarding the conqueror from the East, whose appearance is here represented as belonging altogether to the _Future_, and not to be known by any human ingenuity. In ver. 26: "Who hath declared (such things) from the beginning, that we may know, and long beforehand, that we may say: he is righteous?" the [Hebrew: mraw] "from the beginning" puts insurmountable obstacles in the way of the opponents of the genuineness. If the second part of Isaiah be _spurious_, then the idolaters might put the same scornful question to the God of Israel. The [Hebrew: mraw] denotes just the opposite of a _vaticinium post eventum_.--In chap. xlii. 9: "The former (things), behold, they are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth, I let you hear," the Prophet proves the true divinity of the Lord, from the circumstance that, having already proved himself by prophecies fulfilled, He declares here, in the second part, the future events before they spring forth, before the facts begin to sprout forth from the soil of the Present, and hence could have been known and predicted by human combination. The words, "before they spring forth," become completely enigmatical, if it be denied that Isaiah [Pg 185] wrote the second part; inasmuch as, in that case, it would have in a great part, to do with things which did not belong to the territory of prophetic foresight, but of what was plainly visible.--In chap. xliii. 8-13, the Prophet again proves the nothingness of idolatry, and the sole divinity of the God of Israel, from the great work, declared beforehand by the Lord, of the deliverance of Israel, and of the overthrow of their enemies. He is so deeply convinced of the striking force of this argument, that he ever anew reverts to it. After having called upon the Gentiles to prove the divinity of their idols by true prophecies given by them, he says in ver. 9: "Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified." By the witnesses it is to be proved, by whom, to whom, and at what time the prophecies were given, in order that the Gentiles may not refer to deceitfully forged prophecies, to _vaticinia post eventum_. According to the hypothesis of the spuriousness of the second part, the author pronounced his own condemnation by thus calling for witnesses. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and witness is my Servant whom I have chosen," is said in ver. 10. While the Gentiles are in vain called upon to bring forward witnesses for the divinity of their idols, the true God has, for His witnesses, just those whose services he claimed. The prophecies which lie at the foundation of their testimony, which are to be borne witness to, are those of the second part. The Prophet may safely appeal to the testimony of the whole nation, that they were uttered at a time, when their contents could not be derived from human combination. "The great unknown" (_Ewald_), could not by any possibility have spoken thus.--In chap.