the New Testament.

In its form as given in the Septuagint translation (öτ πδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη ἡμῖν, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐγενήθη ἐπὶ τοῦ ὤμου αὐτοῦ, καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος· ἄξω γὰρ εἰρήνην ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ ὑγίειαν αὐτῷ) it could not he applied by the New Testa ment writers. The ordinary text of the Septuagint offers as the name of the Messiah only pɛɣáλys Boudñs ärredos as the translation of 7. Another rendering is that of the Codex Alexandrinus, which translates with loyopòs ἐξουσιαστής, and has retained the ἄγγελος from the received text as the designation of the one giving the name. But from the prophecy in chap. XI are derived in the New Testament: (1) the designation of Christ as ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς καὶ ἀλη devós in the Revelation, whereas the Amen (ó dμnv) is to he compared with "the faithful God" ( Is. LXV, 16), and is attested by Jesus' formula of asseveration ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν which in the fourth Gospel is ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν; (2) ń píça Savɛíò (Rev. V, 5; XXII, 16); (3) the metaphor of the staff of his mouth 'which is embodied in Rev. I, 16, compare 2 Thess. II, 8; (4) from the expression concerning the sevenfold Spirit which rests upon the Son of David have arisen the έntà пνɛúμaтa (Rev. I, 4) which appear as seven lamps before God's throne (IV, 5), and as the seven eyes of the Lamb (V, 6).

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The King in Zion as the Son of God.

The anonymous second psalm, which harmonizes in spirit and circumstances with Is. VII-XII is a companion-piece to Is. IX, 5. The poet living at a time when the throne of David totters, is here, for the comfort of himself and his contemporaries, transported into the future, where the nations of the world rise together against the Lord and His Anointed, but without being able to effect anything against God's immovable order. The One who is seated on Zion says in ver. 7 of this dramatically arranged psalm:

"I will make proclamation concerning a decree, Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." We can translate either as "begotten" (reyévvyná se, LXX) or as "born" (Texov, Aquila). A supernatural exertion of power is here intended, through which God has transferred him to the divine glory. The phrase "this day" is equivalent to the suspov of the New Covenant, and is according to Acts XIII, 33, compare Rom. I, 4 the resurrection day (dies regalis), for the resurrection was the translation of Christ from the life in the form of a servant to the life of glory. The poet calls to the earthly potentates "Kiss the Son". The indeterminate form (ver. 12) indicates him as a son in a unique manner. From this psalm has arisen the figure

of the shepherd of the nations with an iron sceptre (Rev. XIX, 15; XII, 5), and the name of the Son of God as a designation of the Christ has here received, on the basis of the promise in 2 Sam. VII, an enduring stamp.

Remark. The words are not to be translated otherwise than "kiss the son" (osculamini filium) as appears from the following considerations: (1) Jehovah has just solemnly declared that the anointed is His Son; (2) the word p indicates an act of homage (1 Sam. X, 1); the kissing of the feet is in the old Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions uncommonly frequent as indicating homage; (3) other translations are linguistically impossible. The old Latin version (Itala) and the Vulgate, that is, the revised edition of the Itala by Jerome translate the phrase: apprehendite disciplinam. The translation in the. Psalterium Romanum, which became a portion of the Missal, and in the Psalterium Gallicanum, which became a part of the Breviary and of the Vulgate, is the same. Hitzig's rendering is similar: “Fügt euch der Pflicht". In order to justify this translation we would need to read, which however neither signifies disciplina, nor Pflicht, but merely purity. Jerome in his independent translation from the original renders the words by adorate pure, but there is no authority in the Old Testament for this adverbial meaning of as pure, nor does p signify adorare. Hence Hupfeld translates the words: " Füget euch aufrichtig", but granting that the Kal can have this signification "to submit oneself (sich fügen)", yet it is impossible that the Piel p should have this meaning, since it signifies only to press mouth upon mouth, hence to kiss.

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The Messianic Element in Isaiah's Book upon the Nations.

In the Isaianic cycle of predictions respecting the nations XIII-XXIII), prophecies from the Assyrian period threatening judgments against the nations are intermingled in a systematic way with those from the Babylonian period, the genuineness of which is disputed as well as that of the second half of the oracle concerning Egypt ( XIX, 16 etc.). If we take this cycle of predictions as the production of one Spirit, without entering into any critical analysis, we shall find the following fundamental thoughts, which here have a manifold expression:

(1) Assyria goes to pieces in its attack upon Zion, for Jehovah's city and land when they hold fast to Him are unconquerable.

(2) Babylon's fall will be the restoration of Israel, for the salvation and glory which are promised the people of God are fulfilled in spite of the exile and of all divine chastisements.

(3) The peoples which have freed themselves from the Davidic dominion, and in general the nations which are now hostile to Israel will be subject to the God of Israel.

In the passage, where the prophet proclaims the resuscitation of the house of David he gives intimations of the future king (XVI, 5), whose emblem is the winged serpent ( XIV, 29), but the Messianic prophecies take a lower flight after the death of Ahaz (XIV, 28). On the other hand the view of the entrance of the nations into Jehovah's kingdom reaches a higher point. The Ethiopians are to be brought as a consecrated offering to God who is throned upon Zion (XVIII, 7). The two great powers, which now contend for the dominion of the world, and by which Israel is alternately abused and enslaved, Egypt and Assyria, shall unite with Israel in the service of the God of revelation. The Old Testament prophecy does its utmost in XIX, 24-25. In the truly humane words of Solomon (1 Kings VIII, 43) Israel always remains in distinction from other peoples the people of God, but here the name of God's people has lost its exclusiveness, and in spite of the national dress, which even in this passage prophecy has not put off, it raises itself above the narrow boundaries which separate it from other peoples, and presents the prospect of the time when the barriers which exist between the nations and the people of the revealed religion shall be broken down.

Rem. 1. In XIV, 29 Philistia is threatened:

"Rejoice not so entirely, Philistia, because the rod that smote thee is broken, for out of the serpent's root shall go forth a basilisk, and his fruit is a flying serpent [draco volans]." The serpent which is cut off, from which only a stump remains is the decayed house of David. The basilisk is Hezekiah, and the flying serpent is the Messiah, or perhaps in general the Davidic kingdom of the ultimate future.

Rem. 2.

The Moabites, anxious in respect to the invasion from Assyria, appear at the fords of the Arnon and present a petition to the house of David for protection, for which they assign the reason in XVI, 5:

"A throne is established in mercy: and there sits upon it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, One who judges and seeks judgment and is eager for justice." These words without any doubt indicate that the Messianic age has dawned; for grace and truth are the insignia, and, as it were, the Genii of this period.

Rem. 3. The unique passage Is. XIX, 24-25, with which perhaps Ps. XLVII, 10 (The princes of the people are gathered together as a people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the land are God's, He manifests Himself as greatly exalted) may be compared, is as follows:

"In that day shall Israel be the third part with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing

in the midst of the earth [compare Gen. XII, 2. 3], since the Lord of Hosts blesses it, saying: Blessed is my people Egypt, and the work of my hands Assyria, and my inheritance Israel." Egypt and Assyria will be united in Jehovah, and Israel will be the third in the covenant. Israel is then no longer God's only people, creation and inheritance, but Egypt and Assyria stand on equal terms with Israel.

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The Finale of Isaiah's Book upon the Nations.

The conclusion (XXIV—XXVII) of the book respecting the nations belongs no less to the noblest performances of Old Testament prophecy than the passage XIX, 24—25. The form in which the prophecy in XXIV-XXVII clothes itself is both epic and lyric. The prophet utters his predictions mostly in songs from the heart of the redeemed congregation, and the mimetic and musical sound, together with the hymnological formation are the incomparable dress of incomparable thoughts. All that is apparently historical in these chapters is emblematic, and affords as in Zech. IX-XIV only the colors to eschatological pictures. The kingdom of God triumphs over the world-empire and all the world. The church purified through judgment will, as she is holy, be also glorious. The God of Revelation will from that time on be feared by all nations. The dead will arise. Death and sin will cease forever. It is the entire New Testament Apocalypse, which we here have before us, in a compendium. That nothing is ever said in this place concerning the person of the Messiah is explainable from the fact, that the future son of David who is solely set forth as a king is not adapted to be the mediator of such an internal and radical redemption. The one-sided royal image of the Messiah needs to be supplemented, and thereby to be transposed into the sphere of the universally human, spiritual, and divine elements, in order to be conformed to the redemption which is so universal, and so profoundly conceived.

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Isaiah's Prophecy concerning the Precious Corner-Stone.

In Isaiah XXVIII-XXXIII we find ourselves again upon historic ground. Chapters XXVIII-XXXII arose in the first six years of Hezekiah, for chapter XXVIII begins like the book of

Micah with the proclamation of the fall of Samaria.

At that time

the effort was made to restore that which the politics of Ahaz had destroyed, but if Ahaz sought the aid of Assyria in the war against Syria and Ephraim, the attempt was now made to shake off the yoke of Assyria with the help of Egypt. Isaiah follows this projected alliance through all its stages with annihilating criticism, and, since he prophesies the confounding of their self-made hope, he affords in XXVIII, 16 a better ground of confidence:

"Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold it is I, who have laid in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of a well grounded foundation the believer will not flee." The fundamental thought of this group of predictions is that Egypt will not help, but the only pledge that the house and people of David will not go down is the word of Jehovah alone, who is the unshaken supporter and protector of His people, and who exercises an energy which indeed is invisible, but which is recognized and found true by the eye of faith. The adverb "therefore" (75 XXVIII, 16) is aimed just as threateningly as in VII, 14 against the despisers of the help of Jehovah. The stone laid by Him in Zion, which is praised in such high and superlative terms, upon which and through which Zion is firmly established (compare XIV, 32) cannot be any one else than the real son of David. The retrospective perfect is to be explained in accordance with Micah V, 1b. He, the stone, is the emblem of that which in VII-XII is called Immanuel as the refuge of His people. But first the people of God must go down before they arise through Him. In chapter XXXIII when Sennacherib was already raging in Judah and the best of the people with Hezekiah at their head penitently cried to Jehovah for help, reproof and threatening suddenly turn against Assyria, and the prophet calls to the true people of God, to whom the divine promise belongs (XXXIII, 17):

"The king in his beauty shall thine eyes behold, they shall see a

land stretching far away." Is this the same king whom Micah beholds as the counterpart to the one smitten on the cheek, or does the promise refer to Hezekiah? In the presence of this pious king the image of the Messiah does not shine so brightly as in the presence of an Ahaz, but in connection with XXVIII, 16; XI, 1, compare Ps. XLV, 3 (T) it is probable that no less a person than the second David can be intended.