immense bird of prey,
Asshur, comprehends the whole land. In the words: "Thy land, O
Immanuel," the prophecy of the wonderful Child, in chap. viii. 23-ix. 6
(ix. 1-7), is already prepared. The land in which Immanuel is to be
born, which belongs to Him, cannot remain continually the property of
heathen enemies. Every destruction is, at the same time, a prophecy of
the restoration. A look to the wonderful Child, and despair must flee.
Behind the clouds, the sun is shining. Every attempt to assign the
Immanuel to the lower sphere, must by this passage be rendered futile.
For how, in that case, could Canaan be called _His_ land? The
signification "native country" which [Hebrew: arC], it is true,
sometimes receives by the context, does not suit here. For the passage
just points out the contrast of reality and idea, that the world's
power takes possession of the land which _belongs_ to Immanuel, and
hence prepares for the announcement contained in that which follows,
viz., that this contrast shall be done away with, and that this shall
be done as soon as the legitimate proprietor comes into His kingdom.
Farther,--Decisive in favour of the Messianic explanation is also the
passage Mic. v. 1, 2, (2, 3), where, in correspondence to _virgin_
here, we have, _she who is bearing_. The latter, indeed, is not
expressly called a virgin; but it follows, as a matter of course, that
she be so, as she is to bear the Hero of Divine origin ("_of
eternity_"), who, hence, cannot have been begotten by any mortal. Both
of the prophecies mutually illustrate one another. "Micah designates
the Divine origin of the Promised One; Isaiah, the miraculous
circumstances of His birth" (_Rosenmueller_) Just as Isaiah holds up the
birth of Immanuel as the pledge that the covenant-people would not
perish in their present catastrophe; just as he points to the shining
form of Immanuel, announcing the victory over the [Pg 50] world, in
order to comfort them in the impending severe oppression by the world's
power (viii. 8);--so Micah makes the oppression by the world's power
continue only until the time that she who is bearing brings forth. As
Micah, in v. 1 (2), contrasts the divine dignity and nature with the
birth in time, so, in Isaiah, Immanuel, He in whom God will most truly
be with His people, is born by a virgin.

The arguments which the Jews, and, following their example, the
rationalistic interpreters, especially _Gesenius_, and with them
_Olshausen_