: gbr] and [Hebrew: nqbh] are a designation of the sex; the fact
that the woman brings forth the man (since [Hebrew: gbr] is asserted to
designate _proles mascula_), is something altogether common; but the
important feature is wanting, that the woman is to be a virgin, and the
man, the Son of God. But certainly not a whit better than this
explanation is that which modern interpreters (_Schnurrer_, _Gesenius_,
_Rosenmueller_, _Maurer_), have advanced in its stead: "The woman shall
protect the man, shall perform for him the _munus excubitoris
circumeuntis_." This, surely, is a "_ridiculus_ [Pg 428] _mus_"--an
argument quite unique. We must fully agree with _Schnurrer_, who
remarks: "This, surely, is something new, uncommon, unheard of;" but
not every thing _new_ is, for that reason, suitable for furnishing an
effectual motive for conversion. The sense at which _Ewald_ arrives: "A
woman transforming herself into a man," is surely not worthy of being
entertained at the expense of a change in the reading. The correct view
is the following:--The Prophet founds his exhortation to return to the
Lord upon the most effectual argument possible, viz., upon the fact
that the Lord was to return to them, that the time of wrath was now
over, that they might hasten back into the open arms of God's love.
Without hope of mercy, there cannot be a conversion. The perverse and
desponding heart of man must, by His preventing love, be allured to
come to God. How important and valuable the "new thing" is which the
Lord is to create, the Prophet shows by the terms which he has
selected. It is just the _nomina sexus_ which here are suitable; the
omission of the article also is intentional. The relation is
represented in its general aspect; and thereby the look is more
steadily directed to its fundamental nature and substance. "Woman shall
compass about (Ps. xxxii. 7, 10) man;" the strong will again take the
weak and tender into His intimate communion, under His protection and
loving care. The woman art thou, O Israel, who hitherto hast
sufficiently experienced, what a woman is without the man, how she is a
reed exposed to, and a sport of, all winds. The man is the Lord. How
foolish would it be on thy part, if thou wert to persevere any longer
in thine independence and dissoluteness, and if thou didst refuse to
return into the sweet relation of dependence and unconditional
surrender, which alone, being the only natural relation, can be
productive o