[Pg 157]
The "King" is the Messiah. This appears from the reference to the Song of Solomon i. 16, where the bride says to the bridegroom, the heavenly Solomon, "Behold thou art _fair_, my beloved" (comp. Ps. xlv. 3;) and from the words immediately following: "they shall see the land that is far off." The wide extension of the Kingdom of G.o.d is indissolubly connected with the appearance of the Messiah. Those who refer the prophecy to Hezekiah refer "the land that is far off" (literally: "the land of distances") to "a land stretching far out," in ant.i.thesis to the siege when the people of Jerusalem were limited to its area, since the whole country was occupied by the a.s.syrians. But the pa.s.sage, chap.
xxvi. 15: "Thou increasest the nation, O G.o.d, thou art glorified, thou removest all the boundaries of the land," is conclusive against this explanation. Comparing this pa.s.sage, as also chap. lx. 4; Zech. x. 9, _Michaelis_ correctly explains: "The land of distances is the Kingdom of Christ most widely propagated." In chap. viii. 9, likewise, the Gentile countries are designated by the "distances of the earth."
_Farther_--Hezekiah could not be designated simply by ??? without the article. It is only by the utmost violence that the whole announcement can be limited to the events under Hezekiah, which everywhere form the foreground only. We might rather, with _Vitringa_, think of Jehovah, with a comparison of ver. 22: "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us," and of Ps.
xlviii. 3, where he is called ??? ??. To Jehovah, the pa.s.sage, chap.
x.x.x. 20, 21 also refers,--a pa.s.sage which has been so often misunderstood: "And the Lord giveth you bread of adversity, and water of affliction, and not does thy teacher conceal himself any more, and thine eyes see thy Teacher. And thine ears hear a voice behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; do not turn to the right hand, nor to the left." The affliction prepares for the coming of the heavenly teacher; by it the eyes of the people have been opened, so that they are able to behold His glorious form. But although we should understand Jehovah by "the King in His beauty," we must, at all events, think of His glorious manifestation in Christ Jesus, who said, He who sees me sees the Father, and in whom the fulness of the G.o.dhead dwells bodily; and it was indeed in Christ that G.o.d, [Pg 158] in the truest manner, revealed and manifested himself as the Teacher of His people.
The close of the whole of the first part of Isaiah is, in chaps.
x.x.xiv., x.x.xv. formed by a comprehensive announcement, _on the one hand_, of the judgments upon the G.o.d-hating world, here individualized by Edom, that hereditary enemy of Israel, who was so much the more fitted for this representation that his enmity was the most obstinate of all, and remained the same throughout all the phases of Israel"s oppression by the great kingdoms of the world (he always appears as he who helped to bring misery upon his brethren); and, _on the other hand_, of the mercy and salvation which should be bestowed upon the Church trampled upon by the world.
On chap. x.x.xiv. 4;, 5, where the heaven is that of the princes, the whole order of rulers and magistrates; the stars, the single princes and n.o.bles, compare my remarks on Rev. vi. 13.
The description of the salvation in store for the Church, in chap.
x.x.xv., is pre-eminently Messianic, although the lower blessings also are included which preceded the appearance of Christ. The description contains features so characteristic, that we must necessarily submit it to a closer examination.
Ver. 1. "_The wilderness and dry land shall be glad for it, and the desert shall rejoice and sprout like the bulb._"
The wilderness is Zion--the Church to be devastated by the world.--"For it,"--_i.e._ for the judgment upon the world, as it was described in chap. x.x.xiv. with which the changed fate of the Church is indissolubly connected.
Ver. 2. "_It shall sprout, and rejoice with joy and shouting. The glory of Lebanon is given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our G.o.d._"
"The glory of Lebanon," &c. is a glory like unto that of Lebanon. The real condition of the glory of Zion, or the Church, is brought before us in the subsequent verses only; it consists in the Lords glory being manifested in it. The majestic, wooded Lebanon, and fruitful Carmel, are contrasted with one another; the latter is put together with the lovely fruitful plain of Sharon, rich in flowers; compare remarks on Song of Sol. vii. 6. _Michaelis_ says: "The Lebanon excels among the forests; the Carmel among the fruitful hills; the [Pg 159] Sharon among the lovely fields or valleys."--To "see the glory of the Lord, the excellency _of G.o.d_" means to behold Him in the revelation of the full glory of His nature. Prophecy would have fed the minds of the people with vain hopes, if G.o.d had revealed himself in any other way than in Christ, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the G.o.dhead bodily (Col.
ii. 9), and who, along with His own glory, revealed, at the same time, that of the Father; for it was the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, John i. 14; ii. 11.
Ver. 3. "_Strengthen ye the slack hands, and confirm ye the tottering knees._" The words are addressed to all the members of the people of G.o.d; they are to strengthen and confirm _one another_ by pointing to the future revelation of the glory of the Lord.
Ver. 4. "_Say to them that are of a fearful heart: Be strong, fear not; behold, your G.o.d will come for vengeance, for a gift of G.o.d: He will come and save you._"
"To them that are of a fearful heart,"--literally of a "hasty heart,"
who allow themselves to be carried away by the Present, and are unmindful of the _respice finem_.--??? and ???? are Accusatives, used in the same manner as in verbs of motion, to designate the object of the motion.--On ????, "gift," comp. remarks on Ps. vii. 5. "The gift of G.o.d" forms a contrast to the poor gifts, such as men offer. He comes for vengeance upon His enemies, and for bestowing the most glorious divine gifts upon His people. The words: "He will come and save you,"
are an explanation of "the gift of G.o.d." It is in Christ that the words: "He will come and save you," found their true fulfilment,--a fulfilment to which every lower blessing pointed, and which is still going on, and constantly advancing.--That which, in the subsequent verses, is said of the concomitant circ.u.mstances of this salvation, is by far too high to admit of the fulfilment being sought in any other than Christ. All these forced explanations, such as: "In their joy they feel _as if_ they were healed" (_k.n.o.bel_, after the example of _Gesenius_), only serve to show this more clearly. They are overthrown even by the parallel announcement of the impending resurrection of the dead in chap. xxv. 8; xxvi. 19.
[Pg 160]
Ver. 5. "_Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped._"
The blind and deaf are the individualizing designations of the wretched; in Luke xiv. 13-21, the blind are named along with the poor, lame, and maimed as an individualizing designation of the whole genus of _personae miserabiles_; comp. John v. 3. But this individualizing designation must be carefully distinguished from the image. The blind and deaf are mentioned as the most perspicuous _species_ in the _genus_; but they themselves are, in the first instance, meant, and that which has been said must, in the first instance, be fulfilled upon them. _Farther_--as blind and deaf are, without farther remark and qualification, spoken of, we shall, in the first instance, be obliged to think of the bodily blind and deaf, inasmuch as they, according to the common _usus loquendi_, are thus designated. But a collateral reference to the _spiritually_ blind and deaf must so much the rather be a.s.sumed, that they, too, form a portion of the genus here represented by the blind and deaf; and the more so that it is just Isaiah who so frequently speaks of spiritual blindness and deafness; comp. chap. xxix. 18: "And in that day (in the time of the future salvation, when the Lord of the Church shall have put to shame the pusillanimity and timidity of His people), the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind see out of obscurity and darkness;"
xlii. 18: "Hear ye deaf, and look ye blind and see;" xliii. 8: "Bring forth the blind people, that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears;"
lvi. 10; vi. 10; Matth. xv. 14; John ix. 39; Ephes. i. 18; 2 Pet. i. 9.
Spiritual blindness and deafness are specially seen in the relation of the people to the leadings of the Church, and to the promises of Scripture. The blind cannot understand the complicated ways of G.o.d; the deaf have, especially in the time of misery, no ear for His promises.
Besides the natural and spiritual blindness, Scripture knows of still a third; it designates as blind those who cannot see the way of salvation, the helpless and drooping; compare my Commentary on Ps.
cxlvi. 8; Zeph. i. 17; Isa. xlii. 7. Now, it is blindness and deafness of every kind which, along with all other misery, shall find a remedy at the time of salvation.--If we ask for the fulfilment, our eye is, in the first instance, attracted by Matt. [Pg 161] xi. 5, where, with an evident reference to the pa.s.sage before us, the Lord gives to the question of John: "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another," the matter-of-fact answer, that the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the lame walk: comp. Matth. xv. 31: ?ste t???
?????? ?a??sa? ??p??ta? ??f??? ?a???ta?, ??????? ???e??, ??????
pe??pat???ta? ?a? t?f???? ??p??ta?; xxi. 14; ?a? p??s????? a?t? t?f???
?a? ????? ?? t? ?e?? ?a? ??e??pe?se? a?t???; Mark vii. 37, where after the healing of the deaf and dumb, the people say: ?a??? p??ta pep????e ?a? t??? ??f??? p??e? ????e??, ?a? t??? ??????? ?a?e??. Yet shall we not be able to see, in these facts, the complete fulfilment of the prophecy, in so far as it refers to the healing of the bodily blind and deaf--inasmuch as it promises the healing of all, not of some only--but only a pledge of the complete fulfilment of it; just as Christ"s raising some from the dead only prefigures what He shall do in the end of the days. The complete fulfilment belongs to the time of the resurrection of the just, of which it is said: Whatever is here afflicted, groans, prays, shall then go on brightly and gloriously.
More comprehensive was the fulfilment which the prophecy received, in reference to spiritual blindness and deafness, immediately at the first appearance of Christ, who declared that He had come into the world, that they which see not, might see (John ix. 39). But even here the completion as certainly belongs to the future world, as ??p?e? ??t?
d?" ?s?pt??? ?? a????at?.
Ver. 6. "_Then shall the lame leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall shout; for in the wilderness shall waters be opened, and streams in the desert._"
The _leaping and shouting_ imply that they have obtained deliverance from their bodily defects,--at this deliverance the preceding verse stopped--and proceed from the natural delight at the appearance of this salvation, personal as well as general, of which these are an emanation. On the first words especially. Acts iii. 8 is to be compared, where it is said of the lame man to whom Peter, in the name of Jesus spoke. Arise and walk: ?a? ??a???e??? ?st? ?a? pe??ep?te?, ?a? e?s???e s?? a?t??? e?? t? ?e???, pe??pat?? ?a? ????e??? ?a? a????
t?? ?e??; farther. Acts viii. 7: p????? d? pa?a?e?????? ?a? ?????
??e?ape???sa?; xiv. 8; John v. 9. Of _spiritual_ lameness, Heb. xii. 13 is spoken. It appears especially in dark times of affliction, as _Vitringa_ says: "In the time of wild persecution, and when the Church languishes, [Pg 162] not a few men begin to halt, to vacillate in their views, to suspend their opinions," &c. On the words: "the tongue of the dumb shall shout," compare Matt. xii. 22: t?te p??s?????? a?t?
da?????e???, t?f??? ?a? ??f??? ?a? ??e??pe?se? a?t??, ?ste t?? t?f???
?a? ??f?? ?a? ?a?e?? ?a? ??pe??. _Spiritual_ dumbness is the incapacity for the praise of G.o.d which, in the time when salvation is withheld, so easily creeps in, and which is removed by the bestowal of salvation. The words: "For in the wilderness," &c., state the ground of the leaping and shouting, point to the bestowal of salvation, which forms the cause. The _waters_ are the waters of salvation, compare remarks on chap. xii. 3. The words contain, moreover, an allusion to Exod. xvii. 3 ff.; Numb. xx. 11, where, during the journey through the wilderness, salvation is represented by the bestowal of water. The desert here is an image of misery.
Ver. 7. "_And the scorching heat of the sun becomes a pool, and the thirsty land, springs of water; in the habitation of dragons shall be their couching place, gra.s.s where formerly reeds and rushes._"
"The scorching heat of the sun," stands for "places scorched by the heat" ("parched ground," English version). The pa.s.sage chap. xlix. 10, forbids us to explain it by _mirage_, the appearance of water. The suffix in ???? refers to Zion. Dragons like to make their abode especially in the waterless wilderness. The circ.u.mstance that Zion has there her couching place, supposes that it has been changed into a garden of G.o.d; while, on the contrary, in chap. x.x.xiv. 13, it is said of the world that "it becomes an habitation of dragons." Besides the dry land, the moor-land which bears nothing but barren reeds, shall undergo a change; nourishing _gra.s.s_ is to take its place; ???? has no other signification than this.
Ver. 8. "_And a high-way shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the holy way; an unclean shall not pa.s.s over it; and it shall be for them, that they may walk on it, that fools also may not err._"
"The way" is the way of salvation which G.o.d opens up to His people in the wilderness of misery; comp. chap. xliii. 19: "I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert;" Ps. cvii. 4: "They wandered in the wilderness, in the desert without ways," where the pathless wilderness is the image of misery; [Pg 163] Ps. xxv. 4; xxvii. 11, where the ways of G.o.d are the ways of salvation which He reveals to His people, that they may walk in them. The way is _holy_ (comp. remarks on chap. iv. 3), because inaccessible to the profane world, to the _unclean_, who are not allowed to disturb the righteous walking on it; comp. ver. 9, which shows how entirely out of place is the remark that "the author, in his national hatred, will not allow any Gentiles to walk along with the covenant-people." It is only as converted, as fellows and companions of the saints, that the Gentiles are allowed to enter on the way, and not as unclean and their enemies. The circ.u.mstance that even the foolish cannot miss the way, indicates the abundant fulness of the salvation, in consequence of which it is so easily accessible; and no human effort, skill, or excellence, is required to attain the possession of it.
Ver. 9. "_No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast go up thereon, it shall not be found there; and the redeemed walk on it._"
By the lion, the ravenous beast, heathenish wickedness and tyranny, the world"s power pernicious to the Kingdom of G.o.d, is designated; comp.
remarks on chap. xi. 7. The Lord declared that the fulfilment had taken place, when He said: Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Ver. 10. "_And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. Joy and gladness they shall obtain, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away._"
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON CHAPTERS XL.-LXVI.
The historical section, chap. x.x.xvi.-x.x.xix., forms the transition from the first to the second part of the prophecies of Isaiah. Its close is formed by the announcement of Judah"s being carried away to Babylon, an announcement which Isaiah uttered to Hezekiah after the impending danger from the [Pg 164] a.s.syrians had been successfully warded off, as had been mentioned in the preceding chapter. In chap. x.x.xix. 6, 7, it is said: "Behold days are coming, and all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon, and nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." In this announcement, we have at the same time the concentration of the rebuking and threatening mission of the Prophet, and the point from which proceeds the _comforting_ mission which, in the second part, is pre-eminently attended to. This second part at once begins with the words: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,"
which stand in closest connection with the preceding announcement of a great calamity, yea, even necessarily demand this. It is just for this reason that the historical chapters cannot be a later addition and interpolation, but must be an original element of the collection written by the Prophet himself.[1]
The contents of the second part are stated at once, and generally, in the introductory words, chap. xl. 1, 2: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your G.o.d. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she receives of the Lord"s hand double for all her sins." The _comfort_ must, accordingly, form the fundamental character of the second part. But since, for the people of G.o.d, there does not exist any purely external salvation; since, for them, salvation is indissolubly connected with _repentance_,--_exhortation_ must necessarily go hand ill hand with the announcement of salvation. This second feature and element concealed behind the first, is, moreover, expressly brought forward in what immediately follows, inasmuch as by it the "Comfort ye"
does not receive any addition, [Pg 165] but is only commented upon and enlarged. The servants of the Lord (the whole chorus of the messengers of the divine salvation is addressed in vers. 3, 5), complying with His command, announce the impending salvation, designating it as a manifestation of the Lord"s glory, and exhort to a worthy preparation for it. Vers. 3 and 4 treat of preparing in the desert a high-way for the Lord, who is to manifest himself gloriously. The way is prepared by repentance; the desert symbolizes the condition of bodily and spiritual misery. It is from this miserable condition that the Lord is to deliver and redeem His people; but in order that He may perform His part, they must, previously, have performed theirs. In ver. 5, this manifestation itself is described, with which is connected the fulness of salvation for the covenant-people. The servants of G.o.d are to announce the approach of salvation to mourning Jerusalem, in which the covenant-people appears to the Prophet as personified. (Jerusalem does not stand for "the carried away Zionites;" it is an ideal person, the afflicted and bowed down widow sitting on the ground in sackcloth; the distressed and mourning mother of the children partly carried away, and partly killed,--compare chap. iii. 26, where Jerusalem, desolate and emptied, sits upon the ground.) But this salvation can be granted to those only whose hearts are prepared to receive it. Thus the announcement of salvation is preceded by the eta??e?te, by the call to remove all the obstacles which render impa.s.sable the path through the desert into the land of promise; which render impossible the transition from misery to salvation; which prevent the Lord from coming to His people in their misery, and leading them out from it. Then, to those who have complied with the exhortation, the manifestation of the glory of the Lord is promised--He comes to them, in a glorious manifestation, in the way which, in the power of His Spirit, they have prepared and opened up to Him--and in, and with it, all the glorious things which, according to ver. 2, the servants of the Lord were to promise regarding the Future.
The comfort oftentimes moves in general terms, and consists in pointing to a Future full of salvation and grace. But, in other pa.s.sages, the announcement of salvation is more individualised, becomes more special.
These special announcements [Pg 166] refer to a twofold object, _First_--The Prophet comforts his people by announcing the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity. This deliverance he describes by the most lovely images, frequently taken from the deliverance of the people from Egypt. But it is to be well observed that even those prophecies which pre-eminently refer to the lower object, have something exuberant and overflowing; so that, even after having been fulfilled, they cannot be looked upon as antiquated. He states the name of the ruler, _Koresh_, the king from the rising of the sun, who, sent by the Lord, shall punish the oppressors of Zion, and bring back the people to their land. The _second_ object is the deliverance and salvation by the Servant of G.o.d, the Messiah, who, after having pa.s.sed through humiliation, suffering, and death, and having thereby effected redemption, will remove from the glorified Kingdom of G.o.d all the evil occasioned by sin. Of this higher salvation the soul of the Prophet is so full, that the references to it are constantly pressing forward, even where, in the first instance, he has to do with the lower salvation. In the description of the higher salvation, the relation of time is not observed. Now, the Prophet beholds its Author in His humiliation and suffering; then, the most distant Future of the Kingdom of Christ presents itself to his enraptured eye,--the time in which the Gentile world, alienated from G.o.d, shall have returned to Him; when all that is opposed to G.o.d shall have been destroyed; when inward and outward peace shall prevail, and all the evil caused by sin shall have been removed. Elevated above time and s.p.a.ce, from the height in which the Holy Spirit has placed him, he surveys the whole development of the Messianic Kingdom, from its small beginnings to its glorious end.
While the first part, containing the predictions which the Prophet uttered for the present generation during the time of his ministry, consists mainly of single prophecies which, separated by time and occasion, were first made publicly known singly, and afterwards united in a collected whole, having been marked out as different prophecies, either by inscriptions, or in any other distinguishable way,--the second part, destined as a legacy for posterity, forms a continuous, collected whole. The fact, first observed by _Fr. Ruckert_, that it is divided into _three sections or books_, is, in the first instance, indicated by the [Pg 167] circ.u.mstance that, at the close of chap.
xlviii. and chap. lvii., the same thought recurs in the same words: "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked;" and that the same thought, viz. the exclusion of the wicked from the promised salvation, is found also a third time at the close of the whole, although there in another form. Yet, if nothing else could be advanced in favour of this tri-part.i.tion, we might perhaps be permitted to speak of an accident as _k.n.o.bel_ indeed does. But a closer consideration shows that the three sections are, inwardly and essentially, distinguished from one another.
Beyond chap. xlviii. 22, there is no farther mention of _Babel_, which in the first book is mentioned four times (chap. xliii. 14, xlvii. 1, xlviii. 14, 20); nor of the _Chaldeans_, which occur there five times (chap. xliii. 14, xlvii. 1, 5, xlviii. 14, 20); nor any farther mention of _Koresh_, neither of his name (chap. xliv. 28, xlv. 1), nor of his person, which in chap. xl.-xlviii. is so prominently brought before us (chap. xli. 2, 25, xlvi. 11, xlviii. 14, 15, _i.e._ immediately at the _beginning_, after the introduction contained in chap. xl., at the _close_, and several times in the _middle_); nor of _Bel_ and _Nebo_.
_Farther_--The whole first book is pervaded with the argumentation by which the G.o.d of Israel is proved to be the true G.o.d, from His having foretold the deliverance to be effected by _Koresh_. This argumentation we meet with in chap. xli., immediately after the introductory chap.
xl., and so still in the last chap. xlviii.; but never again afterwards. With the end of the first book, this arguing and proving from prophecy, that the Lord is the true G.o.d, as well as the reference to _Koresh_, the subject of this prophecy, altogether disappear. But, in like manner, the announcement of a personal Messiah is wanting in the first book, the sole exception being chap. xlii. 1-9, where, after the first announcement of the author of the lower salvation, the Author of the higher salvation is, by way of antic.i.p.ation, _contrasted_ with him. To give a more minute and finished description of the Author of the higher salvation is the object of the _second_ book. In the _third_ book, the person of the Redeemer is spoken of briefly only, is, as it were, only hinted at, in order to connect this book with the second; just as, by chap. xlii., the first book is connected with the second.
The third book in so far as it is _promising_, is taken up with the description of the [Pg 168] _glory of the Kingdom of G.o.d_, in that new stage upon which it enters by the Redeemer,--a glory, the culminating point of which is the creation of the new heavens and the new earth, chap. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22. A description of the glory of Zion, like that in chap. lxii., is not found in the first and second book. In the third book, however, _reproof and exhortation_ prevail, in contradistinction to the first and second book, in which the direct _promise_ prevails. A transition from this, however, to the reproof and exhortation, is made at the close of the second book. From chap. lv. 1, the preaching of repentance appears first intermingled with the announcement of salvation. Up to that the prevailing tendency of the Prophet had been, throughout, to comfort the G.o.dly; but from chap. lv. 1, the other tendency shows itself by the side of it, that of calling sinners to repentance, by which alone they can obtain a partic.i.p.ation in the promised salvation. In chap. lvi. 9, lvii. 21, the latter tendency appears distinctly and exclusively. The second book had commenced with the announcement of salvation, and thence to the close had advanced to reproof and threatening. The third book takes the opposite course; and thus the two princ.i.p.al portions of reproof and threatening border upon one another. Yet, the reproof and threatening do not go on without interruption and distinction, so that no _boundary line_ could be recognized between the two books. At the close of the second book, the Prophet has preeminently to do with _apostates_, while, at the beginning of the third, he has to do with _hypocrites_; so that thus these two portions of reproof supplement one another, and conjointly form a complete disclosure of the prevailing corruption, according to its two princ.i.p.al tendencies. But the third book is distinguished from the second by this circ.u.mstance, that in it reproof and threatening are not limited to the beginning, which corresponds with the close of the second book. At the close of chap. lix. the Prophet returns to the announcement of salvation; but with chap. lxiii. 7, a new preaching of repentance commences, which goes on to the end of chap. lxiv. The Prophet, in the Spirit, transposes himself into the time when the visitation has already taken place, and puts into the mouth of the people the words by which they are, at that time, to supplicate for the mercy of the Lord. This discourse [Pg 169] implies what has preceded.
In the view of the glorious manifestation of the Lord"s mercy and grace which are there exhibited, the Prophet calls here upon the people to repent and be converted, in order that they may become partakers of that mercy. If they, as a people, are anxious to attain that object, they must repeat what the Prophet here p.r.o.nounces before them. But that up to this time has not been done, and hence that has taken place which is spoken of by St Paul: "The election have obtained it, but the rest have been blinded." In chap. lxv., which contains the Lord"s answer to this repenting prayer of the people, and is nothing else than an indirect _paraenesis_, reproof and threatening likewise prevail, and it is only at the close that the promise appears. The last chapter, too, begins with reproof and threatening. Rightly have the Church Fathers called Isaiah the Evangelist among the prophets. This appears also from the circ.u.mstance that the reproof is so thoroughly an appendage of the promise, that it is only at the _close_, after the whole riches of the promise have been exhibited, that it expands itself It appears, farther, also from the circ.u.mstance that, even in the last book, the threatening does not prevail _exclusively_, but that, even there, it is still interwoven with the most glorious promises which are so exceedingly fitted to allure sinners to repentance.
In the whole of the second part, the Prophet, _as a rule_, takes his stand in the time which was announced and foretold in the former prophecies, and especially, with the greatest clearness and distinctness, in chap. x.x.xix., on the threshold of the second part,--the time when Jerusalem is captured by the Chaldeans, the temple destroyed, the country desolated, and the people carried away. It is in this time that he thinks, feels, and acts; it has become present to him; from it he looks out into the Future, yet in such a manner that he does not everywhere consistently maintain this ideal stand-point. He addresses his discourse to the people pining away in captivity and misery. He comforts them by opening up a view into a better Future, and exhorts them to remove by repentance the obstacles to the coming salvation.