xxiv. 16, where, in reference to the Messianic time, it is said: "From

the uttermost part of the earth do we hear songs of praise: beauty ( [Hebrew: cbi]) to the righteous." By the appearance of Christ, the covenant-people, hitherto despised, were placed in the centre of the world's history; by it the Lord took away the rebuke of His people from off all the earth, chap. xxv. 8. There is evidently in these words a reference to the preceding threatening of punishment, especially to chap. iii. 18: "In that day the Lord will take away the ornament," &c.: But _Drechsler_ is wrong in fixing and expressing this reference thus: "Instead of farther running after strange things, Israel will find its glory and ornament in Him who is the long promised seed of Abrahamitic descent." For it is not the position which Israel takes that is spoken of, but that which is granted to them. The antithesis is between the false glory which God takes away, and the true glory which He gives. The Lord cannot, by any possibility, for any length of time, appear merely _taking away_; He takes those seeming blessings, only in order to be able to give the true ones. Every taking away is a prophecy of giving.--"_To the escaped of Israel_," who, according to the idea of a people of God, and according to [Pg 17] the promise of the Law (comp. Deut. xxx. 1, ff.) can never be wanting, as little as it is possible that the salvation should be partaken of by the whole _mass_ of the people; sifting judgments must necessarily go before and along with it. True prophetism everywhere knows of salvation for a remnant only. On [Hebrew: pliTh], which does not mean "deliverance," so that the abstract would thus here stand for the concrete, but "that which has escaped," comp. remarks on Joel iii. 5, Vol. 1, p. 338.

All which now remains is to examine those explanations of this verse which differ from the Messianic interpretation. 1. Following the interpretation of _Grotius_ and others, _Gesenius_, in his Commentary, understands by the Sprout of the Lord the new growth of the people after their various defeats. His explanation is: "Then the sprout of Jehovah will be splendid and glorious, and the fruit of the land excellent and beautiful for the escaped of Israel." _Fruit of the land_ he takes in its literal sense, and understands it to mean the product of the land. The same view is held by _Knobel_: "_He becomes for beauty and glory_, _i.e._, the people, having reformed, prosper and form a splendid, glorious state." And _Maurer_ in his Dictionary says: "The Sprout of Jehovah seems to be the morally improved remnant, the new, sanctified increase of the people." But in opposition to such a view there is, _first_, the circumstance, that according to it the [Hebrew: l] before [Hebrew: lcbi] and [Hebrew: lkbvr] must be understood differently from what it is in [Hebrew: lgavN], and [Hebrew: ltpart] which immediately follow and exactly correspond with them. There are, _secondly_, the parallel passages chap. xxviii. 5, xxiv. 16, according to which [Hebrew: cbi] "beauty" is conferred upon the escaped, but they themselves do not become beauty. _Finally_--It is always most natural to suppose that [Hebrew: cmH ihvh] and [Hebrew: pri harC] correspond with one another, and denote the same subject which is here described after his various aspects only. For in the same manner as [Hebrew: cmH] and [Hebrew: pri] go hand in hand, both being taken from the territory of botany, so [Hebrew: ihvh] and [Hebrew: harC] also stand in a contrast which is not to be mistaken. 2. _Hitzig_, _Ewald_, _Meier_, and others not only refer "the fruit of the land," but also the "Sprout of Jehovah" to that which Jehovah makes to sprout forth.[2] It is true that, in the prophetic [Pg 18] announcements, among the blessings of the future the rich produce of the land is also mentioned (comp. chap.