commentary is furnished by chap. xxiii.
5: "I raise unto David a righteous Sprout." The circumstance, that it
is not the Sprout of David, but David, that is spoken of here, is
explained from a reference to the words which the ten tribes spoke at
their rebellion, 1 Kings xii. 16: "We have no portion in David, neither
have we inheritance in the Son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel." To
the person of the Messiah the Prophet reverts once more towards the
close also: "And their glorious one shall be out of themselves, and
their governor shall proceed from the midst of them (compare Mic. v. 1,
2, [2, 3]), and I cause him to draw near, and he approacheth unto me;
for who is surety for his heart to approach unto me, saith the Lord?"
God himself receives the King of the Future into the closest communion
with Him,--"I and the Father are one"--a communion which no one can
usurp by his own power, and which, in the case of the former kings,
even in that of David, was frequently disturbed by their sinful
weakness.]

[Footnote 2: _Hofmann_ (_Weiss. u. Erf._ 1 S. 138) assigns to the
phrase the meaning: "to make an arrangement." But decisive against this
is not only the derivation, (comp. _Gesenius Thesaurus_), but the
circumstance also, that it is almost exclusively and quite manifestly
used of a relation resting on reciprocity, of the making of a covenant
in the ordinary sense; and that the few instances where there is
apparently a reference to one party, form an exception only to the
rule.]

[Footnote 3: Even the most recent interpreters, who take [Hebrew: bel]
_ sensu malo_, still greatly differ,--a proof that this interpretation
has a very insufficient foundation on which to rest. _Gesenius_, _De
Wette_, _Bleek_ (on Heb. viii. 9), retain the explanation by
_fastidire_, _rejicere_; _Maurer_ translates: _dominarer_, _domini
partes sustinerem_, contrasting tyrannical dominion with a relation of
love; _Ewald_: "Seeing that I am her master and protector;" _Hitzig_:
"And I got possession of her." All these interpretations are opposed by
the _usus loquendi_, according to which [Hebrew: bel] has only the two
significations: "to possess," and "to take for a wife," the latter
being the ordinary and prevailing one.]

[Footnote 4: Not less than these, _Hitzig_ too has allowed himself to
be carried away by the appearance. He says: "Then, indeed, the office
of religious instructors must cease."]

[Footnote 5: According to _Krafft_ (_sur To