the Messiah.

Ver. 6. "_And in His days Judah is endowed with salvation, and Israel
dwelleth safely; and this is the name whereby they shall call him: The
Lord our righteousness._"

It has already been pointed out that the first words here look back to
David. That which Jeremiah here expresses by several words, Zechariah
expresses more briefly, by calling the Sprout of David [Hebrew: cdiq
vnvwe] "righteous, and protected by God." It makes no difference that,
in that passage, the salvation, the inseparable concomitant of
righteousness, is ascribed to the King, its possessor; while, here, it
is ascribed to the people. For, in that passage, too, it is for his
subjects that salvation is attributed to the King who comes for Zion,
just as he is righteous for Zion also. Israel must here be taken either
in the restricted sense, or in the widest, either as the ten tribes
_alone_, or as the ten tribes along with Judah. It is a favourite
thought of Jeremiah, which recurs in all his Messianic prophecies, that
the ten tribes are to partake in the future prosperity and salvation.
He has a true tenderness for Israel; his bowels roar when he remembers
them, who were already, for so long a time, forsaken and rejected. His
lively hope for Israel is a great testimony of his lively faith. For,
in the case of Israel, the visible state of things afforded still less
ground for hope than in the case of Judah. There is here an allusion to
Deut. xxxiii. 28: ("And He thrusteth out thine enemy from before thee,
and saith: Destroy") "And Israel dwelleth in safety ([Hebrew: viwkN
iwral bTH]), alone, Jacob looketh upon a land of corn and wine, and his
heavens drop dew." There can be the less doubt of the existence of this
allusion, that this expression occurs, besides in Deuteronomy, and
in the verse under consideration, only once more in chap. xxxiii.
16,--that a reference to the majestic close of the blessing of Moses,
which certainly was in the hearts and mouths of all the pious, was very
natural, and that the word [Hebrew: tvwe] has there its analogy in ver.
29: [Pg 417] "Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, a people
saved ([Hebrew: nvwe]) by the Lord, the shield of thy help, thy proud
sword; and thine enemies flatter thee, and thou treadest upon their
high places." This glorious destination of the covenant-people, which,
hitherto, had been so imperfectly only realized (most perfectly
under David, compare 2 Sam. viii. 6, 14), shall,