[Ver. 2.] "Therefore will He give them up until the time that she who is hearing hath brought forth; and then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the sons of Israel."
The description of what the Messiah is to bestow upon the Covenant-people begins in this verse, and is carried on through the whole chapter. By לכן the close connection of v. 1 with vi. 9-14 is indicated. Michaelis remarks: "Because this is the counsel of God, first to afflict Zion, on account of her sins, and, afterwards only, to restore her through the Messiah to be born at Bethlehem." In chap. iv. 9-14, it is implied that the giving up will not terminate before His birth; in v. 1, that it will come to an end with His birth. The whole time described in iv. 9-14 is a time of affliction, of giving up Israel to the world's power in a threefold form of its manifestation. In iv. 14, however, the affliction has reached its highest point, and the lucid interval, mentioned in vers. 12, 13, has fully expired. It is only when we look back to v. 1 alone, that the "therefore" with which our verse opens is not explained, inasmuch as there it is said only, that with the Messiah deliverance and salvation would come, but not that the affliction would continue until He should come.—נתן is similarly used in 2 Chron. xxx. 7: "And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren who trespassed against the Lord God of your fathers; therefore He gave them up to desolation (ויתנם לשמה), as you see." With respect to the words, "Until the time that she who is bearing hath brought forth," there is an essential difference of opinion as to the explanation of the main point. One class of interpreters—comprehending Eusebius and Cyril, and by far the greatest number of the ancient Christian expositors; and among the more recent, Rosenmüller, Ewald, Hitzig, Maurer, and Caspari—understand by "her who is bearing," the mother of the Messiah. Another class understands thereby the Congregation of Israel. The latter, however, differ from each other as to the signification and import of the figure of the birth. Some—Abendana, Calvin, and Justi—suppose the tertium comparationis to be the joy following upon the pain. Others—Theodoret, Tarnovius ("until Israel, like a fruitful mother, has brought forth a numerous progeny"), Vitringa (in his Commentary on Revel. S. 534)—suppose it to be the great increase. Let us first decide between these two modifications of that view which refers the words to the Congregation of Israel. The former—the joy following after the pain—appears to be inadmissible for this single reason, that among the very numerous passages of the Old Testament where the image of a birth is employed, there does not occur even one, in which the joy following after the pain is made prominent, as is the case in the well-known passage in the New Testament. On the contrary,
, in all the passages which come into consideration on this point, it is rather the pain accompanying the birth which is considered. Thus Mic. iv. 10; Is. xxvi. 17; Jer. iv. 31: "For I hear a voice as of a woman in travail, anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first-born child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, she groaneth, spreadeth her hands: Woe to me, for my soul is wearied, through them that kill;" xxx. 6, xlix. 24; Hos. xiii. 13. To consider the pain alone, however, as the tertium comparationis, is inadmissible, because, in that case, we would obtain the absurd meaning: the suffering shall continue until the suffering cometh. It is likewise impossible to understand the bringing forth as the highest degree of affliction,—so that the sense would be: the Lord will give them up until the distress reaches its highest point,—because this meaning could apply only in the event of the lower degrees, the pains before the birth, being also mentioned. They who hold and defend the second modification of this view, can indeed refer to, and quote, a large number of parallel passages—almost all of them from the second part of Isaiah—where this image occurs with a similar signification. Thus, e.g.. Is. liv. 1: "Shout for joy, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into shouting and exult, thou that didst not travail; for more numerous are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married wife, saith the Lord;" xlix. 21, 22, lxvi. 7-9. But we must nevertheless prefer to this explanation, that which refers the words to the mother of the Messiah, for the following reasons. 1. If the words were to be referred to the Congregation of Israel, we should expect the Article before יולדה. For the Congregation of Israel is substantially mentioned in what immediately precedes; she is only a personification of those who are to be given up. 2. It is true that, frequently, the personification is not consistently carried out; but the circumstance that here, in the same sentence, the children of Israel are spoken of in the plural ("He will give them up"), and that no trace of a personification is found in what follows, but that, on the contrary, the children of Israel are mentioned expressly, makes the pretended personification appear in rather an abrupt manner, so that such an assumption would be admissible in a case of necessity only. 3. If referred to the Congregation of Israel, the relation of the Messiah to that great event, and epoch, is not intimated by a single word. Of Him ver. 1 speaks, and of Him vers. 3-5. How then can it be that in ver. 2 there should all at once be a transition to the general Messianic representation? 4. The suffix in אחיו, which refers to the Messiah, requires that He should be indirectly mentioned in what precedes; and such is the case, only when the יולדה is she who is to bring forth the Ruler announced in ver. 1. 5. It appears from the reference to Gen. xxxv., which we have already pointed out and proved, that the prophet has in view one who is to bring forth in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, which had in ancient times already become remarkable by a birth, is in future to be ennobled by another birth, infinitely more important. 6. The comparison of Is. vii. 14, where likewise the mother of the Messiah is mentioned; compare the remarks on that passage. 7, and lastly—The evident reference of "Until the time that she who is bearing hath brought forth" to "From thee shall come forth," suggests the mother of the Messiah. That she is designated as "she who brings forth," may be explained from the circumstance that she comes into view here in a relation which is altogether one-sided, viz., only as regards the one event of the birth of the Messiah.—Among the blessings which the Messiah is to confer upon the Congregation of the Lord, there is first of all viewed the fundamental blessing, the condition of all others, viz., the change which He is to effect in the disposition of the Covenant-people. It is this which, above and before everything else, needs to be changed, if Israel is not any more to be given up; for Israel which is so only by name and in appearance, is the legitimate prey of the world.—By the Brethren of the Messiah, the members of the Old Covenant-people, His brethren according to the flesh, can alone be understood. There is no Old Testament analogy for referring the expression to the Gentiles. We are led to the reference to Israel by the connection with the first member of the verse. The brethren are such as have become the Messiah's brethren by the circumstance that He has been born of the Bethlehemitish woman "who is to bring forth" (Caspari). We are led to it, further, by v. 1, according to which, the Messiah is to be Ruler in Israel; and, still further, by the fundamental passage in Ps. xxii. 23: "I will declare Thy name unto my brethren," where, according to the address in ver. 24, the brethren are all the descendants of Israel, among whom a great awakening is to be produced.—The construction of שוב with על may be explained by the remark of Ewald: "על stands in its primary local signification with verbs also, when the thing moves to another thing, and remains upon it." Of a material return the verb שוב with על is thus used in Prov. xxvi. 11, Eccles. i. 6;—of a spiritual return, 2 Chron. xxx. 9: בשובכם על יהוה "when ye return to the Lord," properly, "upon the Lord;" and Mal. iii. 24 (iv. 6): "And he makes return the hearts of the fathers to the sons, על בנים,"—which latter passage has a striking resemblance to the one under review. In the latter signification שוב must be taken here also.—By the "sons of Israel," here, as ordinarily, the whole of the Covenant-people are signified, and that by its highest and holiest name. From this holy communion, the wicked—the souls which, according to the expression of the Lord, are cut off from their people—are separated and dissevered; compare my commentary on Ps. lxxiii. 1. The whole description of the prevailing corruption, and especially vii. 1, 2, show us to what an extent this separation existed at the time of the prophet. But, by the Saviour, this separation is to be abolished, and the lost and wandering are to be brought back to the communion of the church,—a work which, according to Rom. xi., will be perfected in the future only.[1]
Ver. 3. "And He stands and feeds in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; and they dwell, for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth."
In this verse we are told what the Saviour shall do for awakened and, thus, inwardly united Israel. "He stands," has here not the signification of "He abides," but belongs merely to the graphic description of the habit of the shepherd; compare Is. lxi. 5: "And strangers stand and feed your flocks." The shepherd stands, leaning upon his staff, and overlooks the flock. The connection of "He feeds" with "in the strength of the Lord," we cannot better express than Calvin has done in the words: "The word 'to feed' expresses what Christ will be towards His people, i.e., towards the flock committed to Him. He does not exercise dominion in the Church like a formidable tyrant who keeps down his subjects through terror, but He is a Shepherd, and treats His sheep with all the gentleness which they can desire. But, inasmuch as we are surrounded on all sides by enemies, the prophet adds: 'He shall feed in the strength,' etc.; i.e., as much power as there is in God, so much protection there will be in Christ, when it is necessary to defend and protect His Church against enemies. We may learn, then, from this, that we may expect as much of salvation from Christ as there is strength in God." The great King is so closely united to God, that the whole fulness of divine power and majesty belongs to Him. Such attributes are never given to any earthly king. Such a king has, indeed, strength in the Lord, Is. xlv. 24; "The Lord giveth strength to His king, and exalteth the horn of His anointed," 1 Sam. ii. 10; but the whole strength and majesty of God are not his possession. The passage in Is. ix. 5 (6) is parallel,—where the Messiah is called אל גבור, God-hero.—The "name of God" points to the rich fulness in deeds, by which He has manifested the glory of His nature. The Messiah will be the brightness and image of this His glory,—a glory which is manifested by acts, and not a glory which is inactive and concealed. "They dwell" forms a contrast to the disquietude and scattering, and we are, therefore, not at liberty to supply "safely" before it. The last words are deprived of their meaning and significance by explanations such as that of Dathe: "His name shall attain to great renown and celebrity." The ground of the present rest and safety of the Congregation of the Lord rather is this,—that her Head has now extended His dominion beyond the narrow limits of Palestine, over the whole earth; compare iv. 3.—2 Sam. vii. 9 cannot here be compared, as there the name of the Lord is not spoken of as it is here. That the "being great" here implies real dominion (Maurer: auctoritate et potentia valebit), which alone can afford a pledge for the dwelling in safety, is shown also by the fundamental passages Ps. ii. 8, lxxii. 8; compare Zech. ix. 10. In Luke i. 32 the passage before us is referred to. The "now" does not by any means form a contrast with a former condition of the Messiah, but with the former condition of the Congregation when she did not enjoy so powerful a Ruler.
Ver. 4. "And this (man) is peace. When Asshur comes into our land, and when he treads in our palaces, we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men. Ver. 5. And they feed the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates; and He protects from Asshur when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our borders."
"And this man (He whose glory has just been described) is peace,"—He bestows that which we have so much needed, and longed for with so much anxiety in these troublous times before His appearing. In a similar manner, and with reference to the passage before us, it is said in Ephes. ii. 14: αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, compare also Judges vi. 24: "And Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-Peace, יהוה שלום." Abandoning this explanation, which is so natural, Jonathan, Grotius, Rosenmüller, and Winer explain: "And there will be peace to us,"—an interpretation, however, which is inadmissible even on philological grounds, זה is nowhere used, either as Adverb, loci =
"here," or as Adverb, temp. = "then." As regards the latter, such passages as Gen. xxxi. 41—"These are to me twenty years," instead of, "twenty years have now elapsed"—are, of course, not at all to the purpose. But of such a kind are almost all the examples quoted by Nolde. In Esther ii. 13 בזה is used. The verb הציל in ver. 5 is likewise in favour of understanding זה personally; compare also Zech. ix. 10: "And He shall speak peace unto the nations."—There can scarcely be any doubt that the words allude to the name of Solomon, and that the Messiah is represented in them as the Antitype of Solomon. Upon this point there is the less room for doubt, because even Solomon himself called the Messiah by his name in the Song of Solomon; and in Is. ix. 5 (6) also, He is, with an evident allusion to the name of Solomon, called the Prince of Peace.—All which follows after these words, to the end of ver. 5, is only a particularizing expansion of the words: "And this (man) is peace." Interpreters have almost all agreed, that Asshur, the most dangerous enemy of the Covenant-people at the time of the prophet, stands here as a type of the enemies of the Covenant-people. Even L. Baur has translated: "And though another Asshur," etc., with a reference to the passage in Virgil to which allusion had already been made by Castalio: "Alter erit tum Tiphys et altera quæ vehat Argo delectos heroas." That the prophet, however, was fully conscious of his here using Asshur typically, appears from iv. 9, 10. For, according to these verses, the first of the three catastrophes which preceded the birth of the Messiah, proceeds from a new phase of the world's power, viz., from the Babylonian empire, the rising of which implies the overthrow of the Assyrian. But the figurative element in the representation goes still farther. From ver. 9 ff.—according to which the Lord makes His people outwardly defenceless, before they become, in Christ, the conquerors of the world—it is obvious that the spiritual struggle against the world's power is here represented under the image of the outward struggle, carried on with the sword. One might be tempted to confine the thought of the passage to this: "The Messiah affords to His people the same protection and security as would a large number of brave princes with their hosts," inasmuch as the bestowal of these was, under the Old Testament, the ordinary means by which the Lord delivered His people. If, however, the spiritual character of the struggle only be maintained, there is no sufficient reason for considering the seven and more shepherds and the princes as mere imagery, because, in the kingdom of Christ also, the cause of the kingdom of God is carried on by human instruments, whom He furnishes with His own strength. The words, "This (man) is peace," and "He protects," in ver. 5, show indeed with sufficient distinctness, that, in the main, Christ is the only Saviour,—the shepherds, His instruments only,—and their world-conquering power, a derived one only. The apparent contradiction of the passage before us to iv. 1-3, vii. 12—according to which the heathen nations shall, in the time of the Messiah, spontaneously press towards the kingdom of God—is removed by the remark, that we have here before us two different streams which may as well flow together in prophecy as they do in history. The zeal with which the nations press towards the kingdom is, in part, greatly called forth by the fact, that, in attacking the kingdom of Christ, they have experienced its world-conquering power. The circumstance that the words, "This (man) is peace," stand at the beginning, proves that the main idea is the security of the kingdom of God against all hostile attacks. For the like reason it is, towards the end, resumed in the words, "And He protects," etc. But this affords no reason for saying, with Caspari: "It forms part of the defence, it is indeed its consummation, that the war is carried into Asshur." In the first hemistich of ver. 5, it is intimated rather, that, in the time of the Messiah, the positions of the world and of the people of God are changed,—that the latter becomes world-conquering; and for this reason, every thought of their own insecurity must so much the rather disappear. "The land of Nimrod" is, according to Gen. x. 11, Asshur. The "gates" are those of the cities and fortresses, corresponding with, "When he treads in our palaces," in ver. 4. It weakens the sense to think of the gates of the country, as such, i.e., the borders. The attack, on the contrary, is directed against, and strikes the real centre of the seat of the world's power, just as, formerly, the stroke was always directed against Zion.
With regard to the remaining part of the chapter, we content ourselves with a mere statement of the contents. The Congregation of the Lord shall, at that time, not only be lovely and refreshing, ver. 6 (7), (this is the constant signification of the image of the dew, compare Ps. cx. 3, cxxxiii. 3, lxxii. 6; the relative pronoun אשר must be referred to the grass, mentioned immediately before; that which the dew descending from heaven is to the grass, Israel will, in his heavenly mission, be to the heathen world), but at the same time fearful and irresistible, vers. 7, 8 (8, 9); the latter of these qualities shall show itself not only as a curse in the case of obstinate despisers, but also as a blessing in the case of those who are estranged from the kingdom of God, through ignorance only. Resuming then the last words of ver. 8 (9), "All thine enemies shall be cut off," the prophet declares that before this word shall be fulfilled, the destructive activity of the Lord will be manifested in Israel itself. He will cut off by His judgments, and by the catastrophes described in iv. 9-14, everything in which, in the present, they placed a carnal confidence, everything by which they became externally strong and powerful (Caspari: "A cutting off, in the first instance, of all wherewith elsewhere enemies are commonly cut off"), and so likewise all idolatry, to which the Chaldean catastrophe already put a violent end. It is only of such a termination by force, and not of a purely inward effect of the "gentle power of the Spirit then poured out upon them," that the words here, as well as in reference to the horses, etc., permit us to think. The two kinds of objects of false confidence are then, in conclusion, in ver. 13 (14) once more summed up,—when the cities, just as in ver. 10 (11), come into view as fortresses only. If thus the path be cleared and prepared for the Lord, He will, on behalf of His people, execute vengeance upon the heathen world.