ויתן is intentionally without a definite Subject, q.d.: it was given to Him, Ewald § 273a. The acting subject could not be at all more distinctly marked out, because there was a double subject. Men fixed for Him the ignominious grave with criminals; by the providence of God, He received the honourable grave with a rich, and that for the sake of His innocent sufferings, as a prelude to the greater glorification which, as a reward, was to be bestowed upon Him, as an example of what is said in ver. 12: "He shall divide spoil with the strong." The wicked who are buried apart from others, can be the real criminals only, the transgressors in ver. 12. Criminals received, among the Jews, an ignominious burial. Thus Josephus, Arch. iv. 8, § 6, says: "He who has blasphemed God shall, after having been stoned, be hung up for a day, and be buried quietly and without honour." Maimonides (see Iken on this passage in the Biblia Hagana ii. 2) says: "Those who have been executed by the court of justice are not by any means buried in the graves of their ancestors; but there are two graves appointed for them by the court of justice,--one for the stoned and burnt; the other for the decapitated and strangled." Just as the Prophet had, in the preceding verse, said that the Servant of God would die a violent death like a criminal, so he says here, that they had also fixed for Him a grave in common with executed criminals. And with a rich (they gave Him His grave) in His death: they gave Him His grave, first with the wicked; but, indeed, He received it with a rich, since God's providence was watching over the dead body of His Servant. ויתן, in so far as it refers to the first clause, receives its limitation by the second. Before their fulfilment, the words had the character of a holy riddle; but the fulfilment has solved this riddle. The designation of Joseph of Arimathea as ἄνθρωπος πλούσιος in Matt. xxvi. 57, is equivalent to an express quotation. Although it was by a special divine providence that the Singular was chosen, yet we may suppose that, in the first instance, the rich man here is contrasted with the wicked men, and is an ideal person, the personified idea of the species. In His death is, in point of fact, equivalent to: "after He had died;" but, notwithstanding, there is no necessity for giving to the ב the signification "after." Death rather denotes the condition of death; in death is contrasted with: in life. Altogether in the same manner we find in Lev. xi. 31: "Whosoever doth touch them in their death," for, "after they have died." Farther--1 Kings xiii. 31: "In my death you shall bury me in the sepulchre." The Plural מותים "the deaths," "conditions of death," cannot be adduced as a proof that the subject of the prophecy must be a collective person; for, in that case, rather the Plural of the suffix would be required (Ps. lxxviii. 64 is a rare exception); and in Ezek. xxviii. 8, 10, death is likewise spoken of in the Plural. The Plural is formed after the analogy of חיים, for which reason it commends itself to explain ארץ חיים in the preceding verse, "land of life," instead of "land of the living." But the Plural can here the less occasion any difficulty, that it is not dying which is spoken of, but the continuing condition of death.--Because He had done no violence, &c. על very frequently denotes the cause upon which the effect depends, e.g., in 1 Kings xvi. 7; Ps. xliv. 23, lxix. 8; Jer. xv. 15; Job xxxiv. 6. The whole following clause is treated as a noun. Ordinarily, it is explained: Although, &c. But this use of על is quite isolated; it occurs only in two passages of the Book of Job, in x. 7 and xxxiv. 6. The former explanation is found in the Alexand. version: ὅτι ἀνομίαν οὐκ ἐποίησε. The innocence is designated negatively, and in an external manner (חמס and מרמה are gross sins). The reason of this is in the intention of His enemies, which is expressed in the preceding words, to give Him His grave with the wicked. Since He had not acted like them, God took care that He did not receive their ignominious burial, but an honourable one. In reference to the passage under consideration, it is said in 1 Pet. ii. 22: ὃς ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησε οὐδὲ εὑρέθε δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ. Instead of "violence," Peter intentionally employs "sin."--Hofmann has advanced the following arguments against the explanation which we have given. 1. "By what is this contrast (which, according to our explanation, is contained in the words: They gave Him His grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death) to be recognized in the text? There remains no trace of a contrast, unless it be contained in רשעים and עשיר. Are these really two ideas so contradictory, that they alone are sufficient to bring into contrariety two clauses which have altogether the appearance of being intended for the same purpose?" But in this argument, Hofmann overlooks the circumstance, that the wicked are specially criminals--for they alone had a peculiar grave--and that it is not the general relation of the wicked and rich to one another which comes into consideration, but especially the relation in which they stand to one another as regards the burial. If this be kept in view, it is at once evident that the contrariety is expressed with sufficient clearness. From Isa. xxii. 16; Job xxi. 32; Matt. xxvii. 57, it appears that the rich man, and the honourable grave, are closely connected with each other. Hence, it must have been by an opposite activity that to the Servant of God a grave was assigned with the wicked, and with a rich. 2. "To be rich is not in itself a sin which deserved an ignominious burial, far less received it, but on the other hand, to find his grave with a rich man is not an indemnification to the just for the disgrace of having died the death of a criminal." But the fact that the first Evangelist reports it so minutely (Matt. xxvii. 57-61) clearly enough shows the importance of the circumstance; comp. also how John, in chap. xix. 33 ff., points out the circumstance that Christ's legs were not broken, as were those of the malefactors. In the little, the great is prepared and prefigured. And although the burial with a rich man is, in itself, of no small importance when viewed as the first point where the exaltation began--in the connection with the preceding and following verses, we cannot but look upon it as being symbolically significant and important. And how could it be otherwise, since the burial of the Servant of God with a rich man implies that the rich man himself has been gained for Him? It has, farther, been objected that Christ was not buried with Joseph, but in his grave only, but in an ideal point of view with has its full right. Comp. chap. xiv. 19, where it is said to the king of Babylon: "But thou art cast out of thy grave," although, bodily, he had not yet been in the grave; but he had a right to come like his ancestors; he had, in an ideal point of view, taken his place there.--Beck says: "The orthodox expositors are strongly embarrassed with these words." That is indeed a remarkable interchange of positions. Embarrassment!--that is the sign of everything which unscriptural exegesis advances on this verse. It is concentrated in the עשיר. The most varied conjectures and freaks are here so many symptoms of helpless embarrassment. According to the opinion of several interpreters, the rich man here stands in the sense of the ungodly. In this, even Luther (marginal note: "rich man, one who in his doings founds himself on riches," i.e., an ungodly man), and Calvin had preceded them. The assertion that the rich, can simply stand for the wicked, can neither be proved from Job xxvii. 19 (for there, according to the context, the rich is equivalent to "he who is wicked, notwithstanding his riches"), nor from the word of the Lord in Matt. xix. 23: δυσκόλως πλούσιος εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. For that which, on a special occasion, the Lord here says of the rich, applies to the poor also. Poverty, not less than wealth, is encompassed with obstacles to conversion, which can be removed only by the omnipotence of divine grace. According to Matt. xiii. 22, the word is not only choked by the deceitfulness of riches, but is as much so by care also, the dangers of which are particularly set forth by our Lord in Matt. vi. 25 ff. In Prov. xxx. 8, 9 it is said: "Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full and deny thee, and say: Where is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." The dangers of riches are more frequently pointed out in Scripture than those of poverty; but this fact is accounted for by the circumstance, that riches are surrounded with a glittering appearance, and that it is therefore necessary to warn those who are apt to choose them for their highest good. Stier rightly calls to mind the promise of earthly blessings to those who fear God. But the circumstance must not be overlooked that the rich comes here into consideration, chiefly as to his burial. The Prophet would then not only proceed from the idea that all rich people are wicked, but also would simply suppose that all the rich receive an ignominious burial. But of that, the parable of the rich man in Luke xvi. 22, knows nothing: ἀπέθανε δὲ καὶ ὁ πλούσιος καὶ ἐτάφη, according to his riches; it is in hell only that he receives his reward. In opposition to Gesenius, Hitzig remarks: "That transition of the signification is a fable." Following the example of Martini he derives עשיר from the Arabic. But in opposition to that, Gesenius again remarks in the Thesaurus: "Sed haud minoribus difficultatibus laborat ea ratio, qua improbitatis significatum voluerunt Martinius et Hitzigius, collata nimirum radice עשר "caespitavit." Tum enim haec radix nullam prorsum cum verbo עשר necessitudinem habet, ita ut עשיר h. l. απ. λεγ. esset; tum caespitandi vis nusquam ad peccatum, licet ad fortunam adversam, translata est." If, with words of such frequent occurrence, it were allowable to search in the dialects, the business of the expounder would be a very ungrateful one. Nor does the form, which is commonly passive, favour this interpretation. According to Beck, עשיר is another form for עריץ. Others would change the reading. Ewald proposes עשיק; Böttcher, עשי רע. Against all those conjectures, moreover, the circumstance militates, that, according to them, the verse would still belong to the humiliation of the Servant of God; whereas the description of the glorification had already begun in the preceding verse. For בְמותיו "in His death," Gesenius and others propose to read בָמותיו, to which they assign the signification "His tomb-hill." But, altogether apart from this arbitrary change of the vowels, there is opposed to this conjecture the circumstance, that במה never occurs of the grave. According to Gesenius, במות, in Ezek. xliii. means "tombs;" but the common signification "high places," must be retained there also. In a spiritual point of view the sanctuaries of the Lord had become "high places."

Ver. 10. "And the Lord was pleased painfully to crush Him: when His soul hath given restitution, He shall see seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper through His hand."

And the Lord was pleased--This pleasure of the Lord is not such an one as proceeds from caprice. The ground on which it rests has already been minutely exhibited in what precedes. By the vicarious influence of this suffering, peace is to be acquired for mankind; and since this object is based upon the divine nature, upon God's mercy, the choice of the means also, by which alone it could be attained (for, without a violation of the divine character, sin could not remain unpunished), must be traced to the divine character. Here the ground on which the pleasure rests is stated in the words immediately following,--a connection which is clearly indicated by the obvious relation in which the חפץ יהוה of the close stands to יהוה חפץ of the beginning; so that the sense is: It was the pleasure, &c., and this for the purpose that, after having made an offering for sin, He should see seed, &c. Hence the pleasure of the Lord has this in view:--that the will of the Lord should be realized, His Servant glorified, and the salvation of mankind promoted. Painfully to crush Him. חלה "to be sick," "to suffer pains." In this sense the Niphal occurs in Amos vi. 6, and the participle נחלה in the signification "painful," "grievous," in Nah. iii. 19; Jer. xiv. 17, and other passages, In Hiphil it means: "to make painful," Mic. vi. 13. The common explanation, "The Lord was pleased to crush Him, He has made Him sick," has this against it, that Copula and Suffix are wanting in החלי, and that the word would come in unconnected, and in a very disagreeable manner. And then the passage in Micah, which we have quoted, decides against it.--When His soul hath given restitution. There cannot be any doubt that, in a formal point of view, it is the soul which gives restitution. Knobel's explanation: "His soul gives itself," is not countenanced by the usus loquendi; שים is not a reflective verb. As little can we suppose with Hofmann that תשים is the second person, and an address to Jehovah. In opposition to this view, there is not only the circumstance that Jehovah is spoken of before and afterwards, but, in a material point of view, the circumstance also, that offerings for sin, and, generally, all sacrifices, were never offered up by God, but always to God. The fact also, that according to the sequel, the Servant of God receives the reward for His meritorious work, proves that it is He who offers up the sacrifice. But, on the other hand, it is, in point of fact, the soul only which can be the offering, the restitution; for it could scarcely be imagined that, just here, that should be omitted on which everything mainly depends. It is sufficiently evident, from what precedes, who it is that offers the restitution; what the restitution was, it was necessary distinctly to point out. Farther--In the case of sacrifices, it is just the soul upon which every thing depends; so that if the soul be mentioned in a context which treats of sacrifices, it is, a priori, probable that it will be the object offered up. In Lev. xvii. 11, it is said: "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I give it to you upon the altar, to atone for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul," viz., by the soul "per animam, vi animae in eo sanguine constantis" (Gussetius).[8] The soul, when thus considered as the passive object, is here therefore in a high degree in its proper place; and there can the less be any doubt of its occurring here in this sense, that it occurs twice more in vers. 11 and 12, of the natural psychical life of the Servant of God, which was given up to suffering and death. But, on the other hand, if the soul be considered as the active object, it stands here at all events rather idle,--a circumstance which is sufficiently apparent from the supposition of several interpreters, that נפש "soul," stands here simply for the personal pronoun,--"His soul," for "He," a usus loquendi which occurs in Arabic, but not in Hebrew. And, strictly speaking, the offering of the sacrifice does not belong to the soul, but to the spirit of the Servant of God, compare Heb. ix. 14, according to which passage, Christ διὰ πνεύματος αἰωνίου ἑαυτὸν προσήνεγκεν ἄμωμον τῷ θεῷ; and on the subject of the difference between soul and spirit, compare my Commentary on Ps. iv. p. lxxxvii. But how will it now be possible to reconcile and harmonize our two results, that, in a formal point of view, the soul is that which offers up, and, in a material point of view, that which is offered up? By the hypothesis that, in a rhetorical way of speaking, that is here assigned to the soul as an action which, in point of fact, is done upon it. All that is necessary is to translate: "If His soul puts or gives a trespass-offering;" for, "to put," stands here, as it does so frequently, in the sense of "to give," compare Ezek. xx. 28, where it is used in this sense in reference to sacrifice. But, in point of fact, this is equivalent to: "If it is made a trespass-offering," or, "If He, the Servant of God, offers it as a trespass-offering." It is analogous to this when, in Job xiv. 22, the soul of the deceased laments; and a cognate mode of representation prevails in Rev. vi. 9, where, to the souls of the slain, life is assigned for the sole purpose of their giving utterance to that which was the result of the thought regarding them, in combination with the circumstances of the time. To a certain degree analogous is also chap. lx. 7, where it is said of the sacrificial animals: "They ascend, for my pleasure, mine altar." The fact that it is in reality the soul which is offered up, is confirmed also by the remarkable reference to the passage before us in the discourses of our Lord. Our Lord says in John x. 12: ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός· ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν χυχὴν αὑτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων. Ver. 15: καὶ τὴν χυχήν μου τίθημι ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων. Vers. 17, 18: διὰ τοῦτο ὁ πατὴρ με ἀγαπᾷ, ὅτι ἐγὼ τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν μου ἵνα πάλιν λάβω αὐτήν. Οὐδεὶς αἴρει αὐτὴν ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ τίθημι αὐτὴν ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ· ἐξουσίαν ἔχω θεῖναι αὐτήν, καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν. In John xv. 13: μείζονα ταύτης ἀγάπην οὐδεὶς ἔχει ἵνα τὶς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ θῇ ὑπὲρ φίλων αὑτοῦ. The expression: "To put one's soul for some one," does not, independently and by itself, occur anywhere else in the New Testament; in John xiii. 37, 38, Peter takes the word out of the mouth of the Saviour, and in 1 John iii. 16, it is used in reference to those declarations of our Lord. The expression is nowhere met with in any profane writers, nor in the Hellenistic usus loquendi. The following reasons prove that it refers to the Old Testament, and especially to the passage under consideration. 1. Its Hebraizing character. De Wette and Lücke erroneously take θεῖναι in the sense of laying down; but that is too negative. It is evident that the Hebraism "to put," instead of "to give," has been transferred into Greek, as is proved by the synonymous δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὑτοῦ in Mark x. 45; Matt. xx. 28.--2. The fact that the same uncommon expression occurs not fewer than five times in the same discourse of Christ, and that so intentionally and emphatically, is explicable only when it was thereby intended to point to an important fundamental passage of the Old Testament.--3. In the discourses of our Lord, the expression is, no less than in the passage before us, used of His sacrificial death.--If, then, it be established that those passages in which our Lord speaks of a putting of His soul, refer to the passage under consideration, this must be acknowledged of those also in which He speaks of a giving of His soul, as in Matt. xx. 28: δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὑτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν, where the λύτρον clearly points to the אשם here. In all those utterances, the Saviour simply has reduced the words to what they signify, just as, in quoting the passage Zech. xiii. 7, in Matt. xxvi. 31, He likewise drops the rhetorical figure, the address to the sword. He himself appears simply as He who offers up; the soul is that which is offered up.--אשם is, in Numb. v. 5, called that of which some one has unjustly robbed another, and which he is bound to repay to him. An essential feature of sin is the robbing of God which is thereby committed, the debt thereby incurred, which implies the necessity of recompence. All sin-offerings are, in the Mosaic economy, at the same time debt-offerings; and this feature is very intentionally and emphatically pointed out in them. If, besides the sin-offerings, there is still established a kind of trespass-offerings, the אשם, for sins in which the idea of incurring a debt comes out with special prominence, this is done only with the view, that this feature, thus brought forward by itself and independently, may be so much the more deeply impressed, in order that, in the other sin-offerings too, it may be the more clearly perceived. Compare the investigation on the sin-offerings and trespass-offerings in my work on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch, ii. p. 174 ff. But the sin- and trespass-offerings of the Old Testament typically point to a true spiritual sin- and trespass-offering; and their chief object was to awaken in the people of God the consciousness of the necessity of substitution (compare my Book: Die Opfer der Heil. Schrift, Berlin 1852). This antetypical sacrifice will be offered up by the true High-Priest. For the sins of the human race which without compensation, cannot be forgiven, He furnishes the restitution which could not be paid by the sinners, and thereby works out the justification of the sinner before God.--To the trespass-offering here, all those passages of the New Testament point, in which Christ is spoken of as the sacrifice for our sins, especially 2 Cor. v. 21, where the apostle says that God made Christ to be ἁμαρτρία for us, that in Him we might be made righteous before God; Rom. viii. 3, according to which God sent Christ περὶ ἁμαρτρίας, as a sin-offering; Rom. iii. 25, where Christ is called ἱλαστήριον, propitiation; 1 John ii. 2: καὶ αὐτὸς ἱλασμός ἐστι περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, iv. 10; Heb. ix. 14.--The אִם at the beginning must not be explained by "as" a signification, which it never has; it has its ordinary signification "when," and the Future is to be understood as a real Future: the offering of the trespass-offering is the condition of His seeing, &c., and, according to the context, indeed, the absolutely necessary condition. The translation: "Even if" could proceed from one only who had not understood this context. It is not death in general, but sacrificial death, which is specially spoken of; and to such a death, which is a necessary foundation of the glorification, and especially the foundation of "He shall see seed," "when" only is suitable, and not "even if."--In the words: "He shall see seed, prolong His days," that is, in a higher sense, promised to this Servant of God, which, under the Old Testament, was considered as a distinguished divine blessing. The spiritual interpretation has the less difficulty, that it must necessarily be granted in the case of אשם, immediately preceding. Just in the same relation in which the sin-offering of the Servant of God stands to the sin-offering of the bullocks and goats, does His posterity, the length of His days, stand to the ordinary posterity and length of days. The seed of the Servant of God, identical with His generation, in ver. 8, are just those for whom, according to the words immediately preceding, He offers His soul as a trespass-offering--the many who, according to ver. 12, are assigned to Him as His portion; who, according to chap. lii. 15, are to be sprinkled by Him; who, according to ver. 11, are to be justified by Him; they whose sins He has taken upon Him (ver. 5), and for whom He intercedes before God, ver. 12. Even in the Old Testament, the word "children" is frequently used in a spiritual sense. In Gen. vi. 2, believers appear as the children of God. The Israelites are not unfrequently designated as sons of Jehovah. Those prophets who were endowed with specially rich gifts, were surrounded by a crowd of sons of the prophets. The wise man, too, looks upon his disciples as his spiritual sons, Prov. iv. 20, xix. 27; Eccles. xii. 12. In the New Testament, the Lord addresses the man sick of the palsy by τέκνον. Matt. ix. 2; and with special emphasis. His apostles as little children, τεκνία ἔτι μικρὸν μεθʼ ὑμῶν εἰμι, John xiii. 33; and the Apostles, too, consider those who have been awakened by their ministry as their spiritual children, 1 Cor. iv. 17; 1 Tim. i. 2; 1 Pet. v. 13. The thought is this--that in the sacrificial death of the Servant of God there will be an animating power; that, just thereby, He will found His Church. The words: "He shall prolong His days," allude, as it appears, to the promise which was given to David and his seed, comp. Ps. xxi 5: "He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it to him, even length of days for ever and ever;" 1 Sam. vii. 13: "I will establish the throne of His kingdom for ever," comp. ver. 16; Ps. lxxxix. 5, cxxxii. 12,--a promise which found its final fulfilment in Christ. But the long life here must not be viewed as isolated, but must be understood in close connection both with what precedes and what follows. It is the life of the Servant of God in communion with His seed, in carrying out the will of God. חפץ never means "business," but always "pleasure;" and this signification, which occurs in chap. xliv. 28 also, is here the less to be given up, that the חפץ here, at the close, evidently refers to the חפץ at the beginning. By this reference, the reason is stated why it was the pleasure of the Lord to crush Him. According to vers. 11 and 12, it is the pleasure of God that sinners should be justified through Him, on the foundation of His vicarious suffering; according to chap. xlii. and xlix., that Israel should be redeemed, and the Gentiles saved. While the pleasure of the Lord is prospering through His hand, he, at the same time, sees seed.

In vers. 11 and 12, we have the closing words of the Lord.

Ver. 11. "On account of the sufferings of His soul He seeth, He is satisfied; by His knowledge He, the Righteous One, my Servant, shall justify the many, and He shall bear their iniquities."

The מן in מעמל is "on account of." In ver. 10, to which the discourse of the Lord is, in the first instance, connected, the suffering likewise appears as the cause of the glorification. The Vulgate translates: "Pro eo quod laboravit anima ejus;" the LXX. rather feebly:  ἀπὸ του̂ πόνου τη̂ς ψυχη̂ς αὐτου̂. With יראה the object is omitted, and that purposely, in order that the words of God may be immediately connected with ver. 10. We must supply: the fruits and rewards of His sufferings announced there (just as, in a manner quite similar, in chap. xlix. 7, "they shall see," refers to the preceding verse), specially that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper through His hand,--which, in the sequel, is enlarged upon. The words: "He is satisfied," point out that the blissful consequences of the atoning suffering will take place in the highest fulness. בדעתו must, according to the accents, be connected with the subsequent words. The knowledge does not belong to the Servant of God, in so far as it dwells in Him, but as it concerns Him; just as the ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ in Luke xi. 42, and in other passages does not mean the love which dwells in God, but the love which has God for its object. "By His knowledge" is thus equivalent to: by their knowing Him, getting acquainted with Him, This knowledge of the Servant of God according to His principal work, as it was described in what precedes, viz., mediatorial office, or faith, is the subjective condition of justification. As the efficient cause of it, the vicarious suffering of the Servant of God was represented in the preceding context. It is just this, which is subjectively appropriated by the knowledge of the Servant of God, and which must be conceived of as essential and living. Thus J. H. Michaelis says: Per scientiam sui (Clericus: Cognitione sui), non qua ipse cognoscit, sed qua vera fide et fiducia ipse tanquam propitiator cognoscitur. The explanation: "By His knowledge (in the sense of understanding) or wisdom," gives a sense unsuitable to the context. In the whole prophecy, the Servant of God does not appear as a Teacher, but as a Redeemer; and the relation of צדיק to הצדיק shows that here, too, He is considered as such. To supply, as is done by some interpreters: "in which (knowledge) He perceived the only possible means of redemption and reconciliation, and gave practical effect to this knowledge," is, after all, too unnatural; the discourse would in that case be so incomplete that we should have been shut up to conjectures. Others translate: "By His doctrine;" but דעת never means "doctrine." The explanation: "By His full, absolute knowledge of the divine counsel" (Hävernick), or, "by the absolute knowledge of God" (Umbreit), puts into the simple word, which only means "knowledge," more than is implied in it. According to the parallelism with the subsequent words: "He shall bear their iniquities." and according to the context (for, in the whole section, the Servant of God is not described as a Teacher, but as a Priest, as He who, in order to expiate our sin, has offered himself up as a sacrifice), הצדיק must not be translated "to convert," but to "justify." In favour of this translation is also the construction with ל, which is to be accounted for from a modification of the signification: "to bring righteousness." But it is specially the position of צדיק which is decisive in favour of it. It is for the justification only that the personal righteousness of the Servant of God has that significant meaning which is, in this manner, assigned to it. Moreover, in the usus loquendi, the meaning to justify only occurs. In it, the verb is used, chap. v. 23, l. 8; and there is no reason for deviating from it in the only passage which can be adduced in favour of the signification "to convert," viz., Dan. xii. 3: "And the wise, משכילים, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and justify many as the stars, for ever and ever." In this passage, that is applied to believers which, in chap. liii., was ascribed to Christ. Even a certain strangeness in the style makes us suppose such a transference; and the fact, that Daniel had our passage specially in view, cannot be doubted, if we compare the משכילים of Daniel with the ישכיל with which the prophecy under consideration opens (chap, lii, 13), and Daniel's: "justify many," with the passage before us. The justification, which in its full sense belongs to Christ the Head only, is by Daniel ascribed to the "wise," because they are the instruments through whom many attain justification; Calvin: Quia causa sunt ministerialis justitiae et salutis multorum. Hävernick refers, for a comparison, to 1 Tim. iv. 16: "For, in doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee." עדיק must not be immediately connected with עבדי; for, in that case, it ought to have stood after it, and been qualified by the article. On the contrary, עדיק stands first, because it stands by itself and substantively: "The righteous One, My Servant." A similar construction occurs, Jer. iii., vii. 10: "And she does not turn unto me, the treacherous one, בגירה, her sister Judah." By thus making צדיק prominent, and connecting it immediately with הצדיק, it is intended to point out the close connection in which the righteousness of the Servant of God, who, although altogether innocent and sinless, ver. 9, yet suffered the punishment of sin, stands with the justification to be bestowed by Him. Maurer thus pertinently expresses this: "To many, for righteous is my Servant, shall He procure righteousness." By these words thus the יזה, in chap. lii. 15, is explained; and the seal of the divine confirmation is impressed upon that which, in vers. 4-6, the believing Church had said, especially upon the words: "By His wounds we are healed," ver. 5. The "many" points back to chap. liii. 15, and forms the contrast not to all (Stier: "Because He cannot, overturning all laws, save all by coercion, or arbitrary will,"--a limitation which would in this context be out of place), but to few: The one, the many, Rom. v. 15.--"And He shall bear their iniquities;" the iniquities and their punishment, as a heavy burden which the Servant of God lifts off from those who are groaning under their weight, and takes upon himself Jerome says: "And He himself shall bear the iniquities which they could not bear, and by the weight of which they were borne down." Calvin expresses himself thus: "A wonderful change indeed! Christ justifies men by giving them His righteousness, and in exchange. He takes upon Him their sins, that He may expiate them." In opposition to those who translate: "He bore their iniquities," (the Future might, in that case, he accounted for from the Prophet's viewing the whole transaction as present), even Gesenius has remarked that the preceding and subsequent Futures all refer to the state of glorification. Even the parallelism with יצדיק shows that we must translate as the LXX. do: καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτω̂ν αὐτὸς ἀνοίσει. Moreover, the subject of discourse in the whole verse is not the acquiring of the righteousness, which was done in the state of humiliation, but the communication of it, as the subjective condition of which the knowledge of the Servant of God was mentioned in the preceding clause. In the case of every one who, after the exaltation of the Servant of God, fulfils this condition, He takes upon Himself their sins, i.e., He causes His vicarious suffering to be imputed to them, and grants them pardon. The expression: "He shall bear their iniquities" is, in point of fact, identical with: "He shall justify them." The Servant of God has borne the sin once for all; by the power of His substitution, effected by the shedding of His blood, He takes upon himself the sins of every individual who knows Him. The "taking away" is implied in וסבל in so far only, as it is done by bearing. It was only because he was misled by his rationalistic tendencies, that Gesenius explains: "And He lightens the burden of their sins, i.e., by His doctrine He shall correct them, and thereby procure to them pardon." By such an explanation he contradicts himself, inasmuch as, in ver. 4, he referred the bearing of the diseases and pains to the vicarious satisfaction. It cannot, in any way, be said of the Teacher, that he takes upon himself iniquities.

Ver. 12. "Therefore will I give Him a portion in the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors, and He beareth the sin of many, and for the transgressors He shall make intercession."

The first words are thus explained by many interpreters: "Therefore I will give Him mighty ones for His portion, and strong ones He shall divide as a spoil." But חלק with ב cannot mean simply "to allot," (although, indeed, this explanation is given by the LXX.;  διὰ του̂το αὐτὸς κληρονομήσει πολλοὺς; Vulg.: ideo dispertiam ei plurimos); it only signifies "to give a portion in," Job xxxix. 17. From the comparison with רבים in ver. 11 and at the close of this verse, as well as from the reference to the many nations in the sketch, ver. 15, it is evident that רבים here, too, cannot mean "mighty ones," but "many." Even elsewhere, the signification "great ones," "mighty ones," appears oftentimes to be only forced upon רבים. In Job xxxv. 9, the "many" are the many evil-doers; and in Job xxxii. 9, the utterance: "Not the many are wise," is explained from the circumstance, that the view given by Job's friends was that of the great mass. The fact that the את in the second clause is not the sign of the Accusative, but a Preposition, is probable even from the circumstance, that the former את commonly stands before qualified nouns only; and, farther from the corresponding; "with the transgressors." But what is conclusive is, that the phrase חלק שלל always means "to divide spoil," never "to distribute as spoil," and that the phrase חלק שלל את גאים "to divide spoil with the proud" occurs in Prov. xvi. 19. The reason of the use of this expression lies in the reference to ordinary victors and conquerors of the world, especially to Cyrus. By His sufferings and death, the Servant of God shall secure to himself the same successes as they do by sword and bow. Although participating in the government of the world, and dividing spoil are here ascribed to the Servant of God, yet the participation in worldly triumphs is not spoken of On the contrary, behind the equality which has given rise to the secular-looking expression (the thought is merely this, that through Christ and His sacrificial death, the Kingdom of God enters into the rank of world-conquering powers), a contrast lies concealed,--as appears, 1. From what is stated, in the preceding verses, about the manner in which the Servant of God has attained to this glory. Worldly triumphs are not acquired by the deepest humiliation, by sufferings and death voluntarily undergone for the salvation of mankind. 2. From that which the Servant of God, in the state of glory, is to do to those who turn to Him. According to chap. lii. 15, He is to sprinkle them with His blood; and this sprinkling is there expressly stated as the reason of the reverential homage of the Gentile world. He is to justify them and to bear their sins, ver. 11, and to make intercession for them, ver. 12. All that does not apply to a worldly conqueror and ruler.--The merits of the Servant of God are then once more pointed out,--the merits by which He has acquired so exalted and all-important a position to himself, and, at the same time, to the Kingdom of God, of which He is the Head. "Because He hath poured out His soul unto death," ערה in the Niphal, "to be poured out," means in Piel "to pour out," Gen. xxiv. 20, and Ps. cxli. 8, where it is said of the soul: "Do not pour out my soul," just as here the Hiphil is used. The term has been transferred to the soul from the blood, in which is the soul. Gen. ix. 4: "Flesh with its soul (namely with its blood) you shall not eat." Ver. 5: "Your blood in which your souls." נמנה, "He was numbered," is here, according to the context, equivalent to: He caused himself to be numbered; for it is only that which was undergone voluntarily which can be stated as the reason of the reward. This voluntary undergoing, however, is not implied in the word itself, but only in the connection with: "He hath poured out His soul;" for that signifies a voluntary act. The פשעים here, just as the רשעים in ver. 9, are not sinners, but criminals. This appears from the connection in which the being "numbered with the transgressors" stands with the "pouring out of the soul unto death." We can hence think of executed criminals only. The pure, innocent One was not only numbered with sinners, such as all men are, but He was numbered with criminals. It is in this sense also that our Lord understands the words, in His quotation of them in Luke xxii. 37: λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἕτι τοῦτο τὸ γεγραμμένον δεῖ τελεσθῆναι ἐν ἐμοί, τό· καὶ μετὰ ἀνόμων ἐλογίσθη, καὶ γὰρ τὸ περὶ ἐμοῦ τέλος ἔχει; Compare Matt. xxvi. 54, where the Lord strengthens His disciples against the offence of His being taken a prisoner, by saying, with a view to the passage before us: πῶς οὖν πληρωθῶσιν αἱ γραφαὶ, ὅτι οὕτω δεῖ γενέσθαι; ver. 56, where, after having reproached the guards for having numbered Him with criminals: ὡς ἐπὶ λῃστὴν ἐξήλθετε μετὰ μαχαιρῶν καὶ ξύλων συλλαβεῖν με, He says to them: τοῦτο δὲ ὅλον γέγονεν ἵνα πληρωθῶσιν αἱ γραφαὶ τῶν προφητῶν.. Mark, in chap. xv. 28, designates the fact that two robbers were crucified with Christ, as the most perfect fulfilment of our prophecy. It was in this fact that it came out most palpably, that Christ had been made like criminals. The rulers of the people caused two common criminals to be crucified with Him, just that they might declare that they put Him altogether among their number.--"And He beareth the sin of many, and for the transgressors He shall make intercession." By והוא, it is indicated that the subsequent words are no more to be viewed as depending on תחת אשר.--יפגיע must not, as is done by the LXX., be referred to the state of humiliation; for the Future in the preceding verses has reference to the exaltation. The parallel נשא must therefore be viewed as a Praeteritum propheticum. It corresponds with יסבל in ver. 11, and, like it, does not designate something done but once by the Servant of God, but something which He does constantly. The intercession is here brought into close connection with the bearing of the sin, by which Christ represents himself as being the true sin-offering (comp. ver. 10, where He was designated as the true trespass-offering), and hence it is equivalent to: He will make intercession for sinners, by taking upon himself their sin,--of which the thief on the cross was the first instance. This close connection, and the deep meaning suggested by it, are overlooked and lost by those expositors who, in the intercession, think of prayer only. The servant of God, on the contrary, makes intercession, by pleading before God His merit, as the ground of the acceptance of the transgressors, and of the pardon of their sins. This is evident from the connection also in which: "For the transgressors He shall make intercession," stands with: "He was numbered with the transgressors." The vicarious suffering is thereby pointed out as the ground of the intercession. Calvin says: "Under the Old Testament dispensation, the High-priest, who never went in without blood, made intercession for the people. What was there foreshadowed has been fulfilled in Christ. For, in the first place. He offered up the sacrifice of His body, and shed His blood, and thus suffered the punishment due to us. And, in the second place, in order that the expiation might profit us. He undertakes the office of an advocate, and makes intercession for all who, by faith, lay hold of this sacrifice." Comp. Rom. viii. 34: ὃς καὶ ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν; Hebr. ix. 24, according to which passage Christ is entered into the holy places νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ θεοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν; 1 John ii. 1: παράκλητον ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν δίκαιον.


We have hitherto expounded the passage before us without any regard to the difference of the interpretation as to the whole, and have supposed the reference to Christ to be the correct one. But it is still incumbent upon us: I. to give the history of the interpretation; II. to refute the arguments against the Messianic interpretation; III. to state the arguments in favour of it; and IV. to show that the non-Messianic interpretation is untenable.