Chapter 17

knows but He himself, to intimate the immeasurable glory of His nature. That which is here, in the first instance, said of a single attribute of the King, applies, at the same time, to all others, holds true of His whole nature; the King is a Wonder as a Counsellor, because His whole person is wonderful. A proof, both of the connection of the two words, and against the weakening of the sense, is afforded by the parallel passage, chap. xxviii. 29, where it is said of the Most High God [Hebrew: hplia ech], "He shows himself wonderful in His counsel."--The second name is [Hebrew: al gbvr] "God-Hero." Besides the ability of giving good counsel, a good government requires also [Hebrew: gbvrh] strength, heroic power: comp. chap. xi. 2, according to which the spirit of counsel and strength rest upon the Messiah. What may not be expected from a King who not only, like a David in a higher degree, possesses the greatest _human measure_ of heroic strength, but who is also a _God-Hero_, and a _Hero-God_, so that with His appearance there _disappears_ completely the contrast of the invisible Head of the people of God, and of His visible substitute,--a contrast which so often manifested itself, to the great grief of the covenant-people? The God-Hero forms the contrast to a human hero whose heroic might is, after all, always _limited_, [Hebrew: al gbvr] can signify God-Hero only, a Hero who is infinitely exalted above all human heroes [Pg 88] by the circumstance that He is _God_. To the attempts at weakening the import of the name, chap. x. 21, where [Hebrew: al gbvr] is said of the Most High, appears a very inconvenient obstacle,--a parallel passage which does not occur by chance, but where [Hebrew: war iwvb] stands with an intentional reference to chap. vii.: "The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob, unto the Hero-God," who is furnished with invincible strength for His people; comp. Ps. xxiv. 8: "The Lord strong and a hero, the Lord a hero of war." The older Rationalistic exposition endeavoured to set aside the deity of the Messiah by the explanation: "strong hero." So also did _Gesenius_. This explanation, against which chap. x. 21 should have warned, has been for ever set aside by the remark of _Hitzig_: "Commonly, in opposition to all the _usus loquendi_, the word is translated by: _strong hero_. But [Hebrew: al] is always, even in passages such as Gen. xxxi. 29, "God," and in all those passages which are adduced to prove that it means "_princeps_," "_potens_," the forms are to be derived not from [Hebrew: al], but from [Hebrew: ail], which properly means 'ram,'then 'leader,''prince.'" By this explanation, especially the passage Ezek. xxxii. 21, which had formerly been appealed to in support of the translation "strong hero," is set aside; for the [Hebrew: ali gbvriM] of that passage are "rams of heroes." Rationalistic interpreters now differ in their attempts at getting rid of the troublesome fact. _Hitzig_ says, "Strong God"--he erroneously views [Hebrew: gbvr], which always means "hero," as an adjective--"the future deliverer is called by the oriental not strictly separating the Divine and human, and He is called so by way of exaggeration, in so far as He possesses divine qualities." A like opinion is expressed by _Knobel_: "Strong God the Messiah is called, because in the wars with the Gentiles He will prove himself as a hero equipped with divine strength." The expression proves a divine nature as little as when in Ps. lxxxii. 1-6, comp. John x. 34, 35, kings are, in general, called [Hebrew: alhiM], "gods, _Like_ God, to be compared to Him, a worthy representative of Him, and hence, likewise, called God." It is true that there is one [Hebrew: al gbvr] only, and that, according to chap. x. 21, the Messiah cannot be [Hebrew: al gbvr] beside the Most High God, excepting _by partaking in his nature_. Such a participation in the nature, not His being merely filled with the power of [Pg 89] God, is absolutely required to explain the expression. It is true that in the Law of Moses all those who have to command or to judge, all those to whom, for some reason or other, respect or reverence is due, are consecrated as the representatives of God on earth; _e.g._, a court of justice is of God, and he who appears before it appears before God. But the name _Elohim_ is there given _in general only to the judicial court_, which represents God--to the _office_, not to the single individuals who are invested with it. In Ps. lxxxii. 1, the name _Elohim_ in the expression: "He judgeth among the gods" is given to the single, judging individual; comp. also ver. 6; but this passage forms an isolated exception. To explain, from it, the passage before us is inadmissible, even from chap. x. 21, where [Hebrew: al gbvr] stands in its fullest sense. It must not be overlooked that that passage in Ps. lxxxii. belongs to higher poetry; that the author himself there mitigates in ver. 6, in the parallel member, the strength of the expression: "I have said ye are _Elohim_, and sons of the Most High ye all;" and, finally, that there _Elohim_ is used as the most vague and general name of God, while here _El_, a personal name, is used. _Hendewerk_, _Ewald_, and others, finally, explain "_God's hero_," _i.e._, "a divine hero, who, like an invincible God, fights and conquers." But in opposition to this view, it has been remarked by _Meier_ that then necessarily the words ought to run, [Hebrew: gbvr al]. It is farther obvious that by this explanation the [Hebrew: gbvr al] here is, in a manner not to be admitted, disconnected and severed from those passages where it occurs as an attribute of the Most High God; comp. besides chap. x. 21; Deut. x. 17; Jer. xxxii. 18.

The third name is _Father of eternity_. That admits of a double explanation. Several interpreters refer to the Arabic _usus loquendi_, according to which he is called the father of a thing who possesses it; _e.g._, Father of mercy, _i.e._, the merciful one. This _usus loquendi_, according to the supposition formerly very current, occurs in Hebrew very frequently, especially in proper names, _e.g._, [Hebrew: Tvb abi]. "Father of goodness," _i.e._, the good one. According to this view. Father of eternity would be equivalent to Eternal one. According to the opinion of others. Father of eternity is _he who will ever be a Father_, _an affectionate provider_, comp. chap. xxii. 21, where Eliakim [Pg 90] is called "_Father_ to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;" Job xxix. 16; Ps. lxviii. 6. _Luther_, too, thus explains: "Who at all times feeds His Kingdom and Church, in whom there is a fatherly love without end." The _latter_ view is to be preferred unconditionally. Against the former view is the circumstance that all the other names stand in direct reference to the salvation of the covenant-people, while, in the mere eternity, this reference would not distinctly enough appear. And it has farther been rightly remarked by _Ewald_, that that _usus loquendi_ in Arabic always belongs to the artificial, often to jocular discourse. Whether it occur in Hebrew at all is still a matter of controversy; _Ewald_, § 27, denies that it occurs in proper names also. On the other hand, the paternal love, the rich kindness and mercy, exceedingly well suit the first two names which indicate unfathomable _wisdom_, and divine _heroic strength_. The rationalistic interpreters labour very hard to _weaken_ the idea of _eternity_. But the "Provider for life" agrees very ill with the _Wonder-Counsellor_, and the _God-hero_. The absolute eternity of the Messiah's dominion is, on the foundation of 2 Sam. vii., most emphatically declared in other passages also (comp. vol. i., p. 132, 133), and meets us here again immediately in the following verse. The name Ever-Father, too, leads us to _divine Majesty_, comp. chap. xlv. 17: "Israel is saved by the Lord with an _everlasting_ salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded in all _eternity_" chap. lvii. 15, where God is called [Hebrew: wkN ed] "the ever dwelling;" farther, Ps. lxviii. 6: "A _Father_ of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows is God in His holy habitation," where the providence of God for the _personae miserabiles_ is praised with a special reference to that which He does for His poor people.--_Hitzig's_ explanation: "Father of prey," does not suit the prophetic style, and has, in general, no analogy from Hebrew to adduce in its favour. The circumstance that, in the verse immediately following, the eternity of the government is mentioned, shows that [Hebrew: ed] must be taken in its ordinary signification "eternity."

The fourth name, _Prince of peace_, stands purposely at the end, and is to be considered as strongly emphatic. War, hostile oppression, the distress of the servitude which threatens the people of God,--these are the things which, in the first instance, [Pg 91] have directed the Prophet's eye to the Messiah. The name points back to Solomon who typified Christ's dominion of peace, and who himself, in the Song of Solomon, transfers his name to Christ (comp. my Comment. S. 1 ff.); then to the Shiloh, Gen. xlix. 10 (comp. vol. i, 84, 85). We should misunderstand the name were we to infer from it that, in the Messianic time, all war should cease. Were such to be the case, why is it that, immediately before, the Redeemer is designated as _God-Hero_? Peace is the aim; it is offered to all the nations in Christ; but those who reject it, who rise up against His Kingdom, He throws down, as the God-Hero, with a powerful hand, and _obtains by force_ peace for His people. But war, as far as it takes place, is carried on in a form different from that which existed under the Old dispensation. According to Micah v. 9 (10), ff., the Lord makes His people outwardly defenceless, before they become in Christ world-conquering; comp. vol. i., p. 515. According to chap. xi. 4, Christ smiteth the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slayeth the wicked.

Ver. 6 (7.) "_To the increase of the government and to the peace, there is no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, so that he establisheth it, and supporteth it by justice and righteousness, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this._"

There is no reason for connecting this verse with the preceding one; in which case the sense would be: "For the increase of government and for peace without end." _For_ chap. ii. 7; Nah. ii. 10; Job. xvi. 3--in which [Hebrew: l] with [Hebrew: qC] occurs in the very same sense--clearly show that the [Hebrew: l] in [Hebrew: lwlvM] and [Hebrew: lmrbh] may very well be understood as a mere sign of the Dative. And the objection that the following [Hebrew: lhkiN], &c. would, in that case, be unsuitable, is removed if it be explained: so that He establisheth, &c., or: by His establishing, &c.; comp. _Ewald_, _Lehrbuch der Hebr. Sprache_ § 280 d. The words designate the basis on which the increase of government and the peace rest. The Kingdom of God will, through the Redeemer, acquire an ever increasing _extent_, and, along with it, perfect _peace_ shall be enjoyed by the world. For it is not by rude force that this kingdom is to be founded and established, as is the case with worldly kingdoms, in which increase of [Pg 92] government and peace, far from being always connected, are, on the contrary, irreconcilable opponents, but by _justice_ and _righteousness_. Parallel is Ps. lxvii. In vers. 11-15 of that Psalm, the Psalmist just points to that "by which all nations and kings are induced to do homage to that king; it is just that which, in the whole Psalm, appears as the root of everything else, viz., the absolute justice of the king." _Decrease_ of government and _war_ without end were, meanwhile, in prospect, and they were so, because those who were sitting on the throne of David did not support his kingdom by justice and righteousness. But the Psalmist intimates to the trembling minds that such is not the end of the ways of God with His people; that at last the idea of the Kingdom of God will be realized. From the fundamental passage, Ps. lxxii. 8-11, and parallel passages, such as chap. ii. 2, 4; Mic. v. 3 (4); Zech. ix. 10, it is obvious that, as regards the endless increase of the government, the Prophet thinks of all the nations of the earth. On the _peace_ without end, comp. Ps. lxxii. 7; chap. ii. 4; Mic. v. 4 (5), and the words: "He speaketh peace unto the heathen," Zech. ix. 10. The [Hebrew: l] designates the substratum on which the increase of dominion and the peace manifest themselves; the dominion of the Davidic family and its kingdom gain infinitely in extent, and in the same degree peace also increases. In these words the Prophet gives an intimation that the Messiah will proceed from David's family, comp. chap. xi. 1 where he designates Him as the twig of Jesse.--[Hebrew: hkiN] "to confirm," "to establish," used of throne and kingdom, 1 Sam. xiii. 13, comp. 14; 1 Kings ii. 12, comp. ver. 24, and farther, chap. xvi. 5.--The words: "from henceforth even for ever" do not, as _Umbreit_ supposes, refer to every thing in this verse, but to the words immediately preceding. That the words must be understood in their full sense, we have already proved in our remarks on the fundamental passage, 2 Sam. vii. 13: "And I will establish the throne of His kingdom for ever;" see Vol. i. p. 131. _Michaelis_ says: "So that that promise to David shall never fail." The [Hebrew: eth] does not refer to the _actual_, but to the _ideal_ present, to the first appearance of the Redeemer, to the words: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government is upon His shoulder."--This great change is brought about [Pg 93] by the _zeal_ of the Lord who raises this glorious King to His people; comp. John iii. 16. The zeal in itself is only _energy_; the sphere of its exercise is, in every instance, determined by the context. In Exod. xv. 5; Deut. iv. 24; Nah. i. 2, the zeal is the energy of wrath. In the passage before us, as in the Song of Solomon viii. 6, and in chap.