Chapter 39

children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor;" and in vers. 12-14: "For He delivereth the needy when he crieth, and the miserable, and him that hath no deliverer. From oppression and violence He delivereth their soul, and precious is their blood in His sight." Just as, in the passage before us, the bringing forth of right appears as a consequence of the loving providence for the bent reed, and the dimly burning wick, so in that Psalm, the great fact: "And all the kings worship Him, and all the nations serve Him," is traced back to the tender love with which He cares for and helps the poor and needy. In the Sermon on the Mount, the beatitude of the [Greek: ptôchoi], Matt. v. 3, of the [Greek: penthountes], ver. 4, and in Matt. xi. 28, the invitation of the [Greek: kopiôntes kai pephortismenoi], exactly correspond. The wicked and ungodly, upon whom the judgments of God have been inflicted, are not included, because they are not wretched in the full sense; for they harden themselves against the suffering, or seek to divert themselves in it; they do not take it fully to heart. The [Greek: tô pneumati], "in their consciousness," which in Matthew is added to the simple [Greek: ptôchoi], which alone we find in Luke, must be understood as a matter of course. He only is poor in the full sense, who feels and takes to heart his poverty. According to an interpretation widely spread, repenting sinners are designated [Pg 216] by the bent reed, and dimly burning wick. Thus Luther writes: "That means that the wounded conscience, those who are terrified at the sight of their sins, the weak in life and faith are not cast away by Him, are not oppressed and condemned, but that He cares for them, tends and nurses them, makes them whole and embraces them with love." But repenting sinners do not here come into consideration _per se_, but only as one species of the wretched, inasmuch as, according to Luther's expression, truly to feel sin is a torment beyond all torments.--The last words: "In truth shall He bring forth right" again take up the close of ver. 1, after the means have been stated, in the intervening words, by which He is to bring about the result. The [Hebrew: lamt] must not be translated: "For truth" (LXX: [Greek: eis alêtheian]); for there is a thorough difference between [Hebrew: l] and [Hebrew: al]; the former does not, like the latter, designate the motion towards some object, but is rather, here also, a preposition signifying "belonging to;" hence [Hebrew: lamt] means "belonging to truth," "in a true manner," "in truth." By every other mode of dealing, right would be established _in appearance_ and _outwardly_ only. Matthew renders it: [Greek: heôs an ekbalê eis nikos tên krisin], "until He has led right to victory." By the addition of [Greek: heôs] he intimates, that the last words state the result which is brought about by the conduct of the Servant of God described in the preceding words. [Greek: Eis nikos] is a free translation of [Hebrew: lamt]; [Greek: krisis] is "right," as in chap. xxiii. 23.--How objectionable and untenable all the non-Messianic explanations are, appears very clearly in this verse. If Israel were the Servant of God, then the _Gentile world_ must be represented by the bent reed and dimly burning wick. But in that case, we must have recourse to such arbitrary interpretations as, _e.g._, that given by _Köster_: "The weak faith and imperfect knowledge of the Gentiles." No weak faith, no imperfect knowledge, however, is spoken of; but the Servant of God appears as a Saviour of the poor and afflicted, of those broken by sufferings. Those who, by the Servant of God, understand the better portion of the people, or the prophetic order, speak of "the meek spirit of the mode of teaching, which does not by any means altogether crush the sinner already brought low, but, in a gentle, affectionate manner, raises him up," (_Umbreit_); or say with _Knobel_: "These poor and afflicted He does not [Pg 217] humble still more by hard, depressing _words_, but _speaks_ to them in a comforting and encouraging way, raising them up and strengthening them." But in this explanation everything is, without reason, drawn into the territory of speech, while Matthew rightly sees, in the healing of the sick by Christ, a confirmation by deeds of the prophecy before us. In chap. lxi., also, the Servant of God does not only bring glad tidings, but _creates_, at the same time, the blessings announced. According to chap. lxi. 3, He gives to them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, garment of praise for a weak ([Hebrew: khh]) spirit. Verse 6 of the chapter before us most clearly indicates how little we are allowed to limit ourselves to mere speaking; for, according to that verse, the Servant of God is himself the covenant of the people, and the light of the Gentiles, and according to ver. 7, He opens the eyes of the blind, &c.

Ver. 4. "_He shall not fail nor run away until He shall have founded right in the earth, and for His law the isles shall wait._"

On: "He shall not fail," properly, "He shall not become dim," comp. Deut. xxxiv. 7, where it is said of Moses, the servant of God: "His eye had not become dim, nor had his strength fled." The [Hebrew: la irvC] "He shall not run away" (properly, "He shall not _run_") is qualified and fixed by the parallelism with [Hebrew: la ikhh] "He shall not fail." [Hebrew: rvC] in other passages also, several times receives, by the context, the qualified signification "to run away," "to take to flight," "to flee;" comp. Judges viii. 21; Jer. xlix. 19. The words: "He shall not fail nor run away" imply that, in the carrying out of His vocation, the Servant of God shall meet with powerful _obstacles_, with obstinate _enemies_, and shall have to endure severe sufferings. That which is here merely hinted at, is carried out and detailed in chap. xlix., l., liii. How near He was to failing and running away (David, too, was obliged to say: "Oh! that I had wings like a dove, then would I fly away and be at rest") is seen from His utterance in Matt. xvii. 17: [Greek: ô genea apistos kai diestrammenê, heôs pote esomi meth' humôn; heôs pote anexomai humôn.]--According to the current opinion, [Hebrew: irvC] is here assumed to be the Future of [Hebrew: rcC], for [Hebrew: irC], and that in the appropriate signification: "He shall not be broken." (Thus it was probably [Pg 218] viewed by the Chaldean Paraphrast who renders [Hebrew: la ilai] _non laborabit_; by the LXX., who translate [Greek: ou thrauthsêsetai], while _Aquila_ and _Symmachus_, according to the account of _Jerome_, render, _non curret_, thus following the derivation from [Hebrew: rvC]). As [Hebrew: ikhh] points back to [Hebrew: khh] in the preceding verse, so, in that case [Hebrew: irvC] would point back to [Hebrew: rcvC] "He shall not break that which is bent, nor quench that which is dimly burning; but neither shall He himself be broken or quenched." But this explanation is opposed by the circumstance, that we must make up our minds to admit a double anomaly. The territories of the two verbs [Hebrew: rcC] and [Hebrew: rvC] are everywhere else kept distinct, and the former everywhere else means "to break," and not "to be broken." In the only passage, Eccl. xii. 6, brought forward in support of this irregularity, [Hebrew: rvC] "to run," "to flee away," being in parallelism with [Hebrew: nrHq] "to be removed," is quite appropriate; just as in the second clause of that verse [Hebrew: rvC] "to be crushed," is in parallelism with [Hebrew: nwbr] "to be broken."--[Hebrew: aiiM] are, in the _usus loquendi_ of Isaiah, not so much the real islands, as rather the islands in the sea of the world, the countries and kingdoms; compare remarks on Rev. vi. 14, and Ps. xcvii. 1 (second Edition). The _law_ for which the islands wait is not so much a ready-made code of laws, as the single decisions of the living Lawgiver, which the Gentiles, with anxious desire, shall receive as their rule in all circumstances, after they have spontaneously submitted to the dominion of the Servant of God, having been attracted by His loving dispensations. Several unphilologically translate: "for His _doctrine_," which does not even give a good sense, for it is not the doctrine which is waited for; its value is known only after it has been preached. The Servant of God appears here as the spiritual Ruler of the nations; and this He becomes by being, in the fullest sense, the Servant of God, so that His will is not different from the will of God, nor [Hebrew: tvrh] from that of God, just as, in a lower territory, even Asaph speaks the bold word: "Hear, my people, my law." "The singer comes forth as one who has full authority, the 'Seer' and 'Prophet' utter _laws_ which leave no alternative between Salvation and destruction." Parallel is chap. ii. 3, 4, where the nations go up to Zion, in order there to seek laws for the regulation of their practical conduct, and according to which the Lord _judges_ among the nations, and the law goes forth [Pg 219] out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The difference is this only,--that, in that passage, the matter is traced back immediately to God, while here, the Servant of God is mentioned as the Mediator between Him and the Gentiles. But we must keep in mind that, for chap. ii. also, the parallel passages in chap. iv., ix., xi., furnish the supplement. We must, farther, compare also chap. li. 5: "My righteousness is near, my salvation goes forth, _mine arms shall judge the nations_, the isles shall wait for me, and on mine arm shall they hope." The _judging_ in that passage does not mean divine punitive judgments; but it is rather thereby intimated that all the nations shall recognise the Lord as their King, to whose government they willingly submit, and with whom they seek the decision of their disputes. Matthew purposely changes it into: "And in _His name_ shall the Gentiles trust." The desire for the commands of the Lord is an effect of the love of His _name_, _i.e._, of Him who is glorified by His deeds. For the name is the product of deeds,--here especially of those designated in ver. 2 and 3. The commands are desired and longed for, only because the person is beloved on account of His deeds. Matthew has only distinctly brought out that which, in the original text, is intimated by the connection with the preceding verses. In consequence of this, His quiet, just, and merciful dispensation, the isles shall wait for His law.

In ver. 5-7 the Lord addresses His Servant, and promises Him that, by His omnipotence, the great work for which He has called Him, shall be carried out and accomplished, viz., that the covenant relation to Israel shall be fully realized, and the darkness of the Gentile world shall be changed into light.

Ver. 5. "_Thus saith God the Lord, who createth the heavens and stretcheth them out; who spreadeth forth the earth and that which cometh out of it; who giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk thereon._"

The Prophet directs attention to the omnipotence of God, in order to give a firm support to faith in the promise which exceeds all human conception. It is by this that the accumulation of the predicates is to be accounted for. He who fully realizes what a great thing it is to bring an apostate world back to God, to that God who has become a stranger to it, [Pg 220] will surely not explain this accumulation by a "disposition, on the part of the Prophet, to diffuseness."

Ver. 6. "_I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and I will seize thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for the covenant of the people and, for the Light of the Gentiles._"

It is so obvious that [Hebrew: bcdq] must be translated by "in righteousness," that the explanations which disagree with it do not deserve to be even mentioned. The mission of the Servant of God has its root in the divine _righteousness_, which gives to every one his due,--to the covenant-people, salvation. Even apart from the promise, the appearance of Christ rests on the righteousness of God. For it is in opposition to the nature and character of a people of God to be, for any length of time, in misery, and shut up to one corner of the earth. That which is to be accomplished for Israel by the Servant of God, forms, in the sequel, the first subject of discourse. But even that which He affords to the _Gentiles_ is, at the same time, given to Israel, inasmuch as it is one of their prerogatives that salvation for the Gentiles should go forth from them. As, here, the mission of the Servant of God, so, in chap. xlv. 13, the appearance of the lower deliverer appears as the work of divine righteousness: "I have raised him up in righteousness, and all his ways I will make straight." Similarly also in chap. xli. 2: "Who raised up from the East him whom righteousness calls wherever he goes," _i.e._, him, all whose steps are determined by God's righteousness, who, in all his undertakings, is guided by it.--The seizing by the hand, the keeping, &c., are the consequence of His being called, and are equivalent to: just because I have called him, therefore will I, &c. Luther remarks: "Namely, for this reason, that Satan and the world, with all their might and wisdom, will _resist_ thy work." In the words: "For the Covenant of the people, and for the Light of the Gentiles," [Hebrew: eM] and [Hebrew: gviM] form an antithesis. The absence of the article shows that we ought properly to translate: "For a Covenant of a people, for a Light of Gentiles." It is thus, in the first instance, only said that the Servant of God should be the personal covenant for a people; but _what_ people that should be, cannot admit of a moment's doubt. To Israel, as such, the name of the _people_ pre-eminently belongs. Israel, in preference to all others, is called [Hebrew: eM] (compare _Gesenius'_ [Pg 221] Thesaurus _s.v._ [Hebrew: gvi]), because it is only the people of God that is a people in the full sense, connected by an internal unity; the Gentiles are [Hebrew: la eM], _non-people_, according to Deut. xxxii. 21, because they lack the only real tie of unity. But what is still more decisive is the mention of the _Covenant_. The covenant can belong to the covenant-people only, [Greek: hôn hai diathêkai], Rom. ix. 4,--the old, no less than the new one. The covenant with Abraham is an everlasting covenant of absolute exclusiveness, Gen. xvii. 7. The Servant of God is called the personal and embodied Covenant, because in His appearance the covenant made with Israel is to find its full truth; and every thing implied in the very idea of a covenant, all the promises flowing from this idea, are to be in Him, Yea and Amen. The Servant of God is here called the Covenant of Israel, just in the same manner as in Mic. v. 4 (comp. Ephes. ii. 14), it is said of Him: "This (man) is Peace," because in Him, peace, as it were, represents itself personally;--just as in chap. xlix. 6, He is called the _Salvation_ of God, because this salvation becomes personal in Him, the Saviour,--just as in Gen. xvii. 10, 13, circumcision is called a covenant, as being the embodied covenant,--just as in Luke xxii. 20, the cup, the blood of Christ, is called the New Covenant, because in it it has its root. The explanation: Mediator of the covenant, [Greek: diathêkês enguos], is meagre, and weakens the meaning. The circumstance that the Servant of God is, without farther qualification, called the Covenant of the people, shows that He stands in a different relation to the covenant from that of Moses, to whom the name of the _Mediator_ of the covenant does not the less belong than to Him. From Jer. xxxi. 31, we learn which are the blessings and gifts which the Servant of God is to bestow, and by which He represents himself as the personal Covenant. They are concentrated in the closest connection to be established by Him between God and His people: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." It is only in the New Covenant, described in that passage of Jeremiah, that the Old Covenant attains to its truth. The second destination of the Servant of God, which, according to the context, here comes into special consideration, is, to be _the Light of the Gentiles_. By the realization of this destination, an important feature in [Pg 222] the former was, at the same time, realized. For it formed part of the promises of the covenant with Israel that, from the midst of them, salvation for all the families of the earth should go forth, as our Saviour says: [Greek: hê sôtêria ek tôn Ioudaiôn estin.] Light is here, according to the common _usus loquendi_ of Scripture, a figurative designation of _salvation_. In the parallel passage, chap. xlix. 6, light is at once explained by salvation. The designation proceeds upon the supposition that the Gentiles, not less than Israel, (comp. chap. ix. 1 [2]) shall, until the appearance of the Servant of God, sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,--that they are in misery, although, in some instances, it may be a _brilliant_ misery. The following verse farther carries out and declares what is implied in the promise: "Light of the Gentiles." Parallel is chap. lx. 3: "And the heathen walk in thy (Zion's) light"--they become partakers of the salvation which shines for Zion--"and kings in the brightness which riseth to thee."--The supporters of that opinion, which understands Israel by the Servant of God, are in no small difficulty regarding this verse, and cannot even agree as to the means of escape from that difficulty. Several assume that [Hebrew: eM] is used collectively, and refer it to the Gentile nations. But opposed to this explanation is the evident antithesis of [Hebrew: eM] and [Hebrew: gviM]; and it is entirely overthrown by the parallel passage in chap. xlix. Scripture knows nothing of a covenant with the Gentiles. According to the view of the Old, as well as of the New Testament, the Gentiles are received into the communion of the covenant with Israel. Others (_Hitzig_, _Ewald_) explain: "covenant-people, _i.e._, a mediatorial, connecting people, a bond of union between God and the nations." But the passage, chap. xlix. 8, is most decidedly opposed to this. _Farther_--The parallelism with [Hebrew: avr gviM] shows that [Hebrew: brit eM] is the _status constructus_. But _f[oe]dus alicujus_, is, according to the remark of _Gesenius_, _f[oe]dus cum aliquo sancitum_. Thus in Lev.