y of the Messiah's dominion is,
on the foundation of 2 Sam. vii., most emphatically declared in other
passages also (comp. vol. i., p. 132, 133), and meets us here again
immediately in the following verse. The name Ever-Father, too, leads us
to _divine Majesty_, comp. chap. xlv. 17: "Israel is saved by the Lord
with an _everlasting_ salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded
in all _eternity_" chap. lvii. 15, where God is called [Hebrew:
wkN ed] "the ever dwelling;" farther, Ps. lxviii. 6: "A _Father_ of
the fatherless, and a judge of the widows is God in His holy
habitation," where the providence of God for the _personae miserabiles_
is praised with a special reference to that which He does for His poor
people.--_Hitzig's_ explanation: "Father of prey," does not suit the
prophetic style, and has, in general, no analogy from Hebrew to adduce
in its favour. The circumstance that, in the verse immediately
following, the eternity of the government is mentioned, shows that
[Hebrew: ed] must be taken in its ordinary signification "eternity."

The fourth name, _Prince of peace_, stands purposely at the end, and is
to be considered as strongly emphatic. War, hostile oppression, the
distress of the servitude which threatens the people of God,--these are
the things which, in the first instance, [Pg 91] have directed the
Prophet's eye to the Messiah. The name points back to Solomon who
typified Christ's dominion of peace, and who himself, in the Song of
Solomon, transfers his name to Christ (comp. my Comment. S. 1 ff.);
then to the Shiloh, Gen. xlix. 10 (comp. vol. i, 84, 85). We should
misunderstand the name were we to infer from it that, in the Messianic
time, all war should cease. Were such to be the case, why is it that,
immediately before, the Redeemer is designated as _God-Hero_? Peace is
the aim; it is offered to all the nations in Christ; but those who
reject it, who rise up against His Kingdom, He throws down, as the
God-Hero, with a powerful hand, and _obtains by force_ peace for His
people. But war, as far as it takes place, is carried on in a form
different from that which existed under the Old dispensation. According
to Micah v. 9 (10), ff., the Lord makes His people outwardly
defenceless, before they become in Christ world-conquering; comp. vol.
i., p. 515. According to chap. xi. 4, Christ smiteth the earth with the
rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slayeth the
wicked.

Ver. 6 (7.) "_To t