he increase of the government and to the peace, there
is no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, so that he
establisheth it, and supporteth it by justice and righteousness, from
henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform
this._"

There is no reason for connecting this verse with the preceding one;
in which case the sense would be: "For the increase of government and
for peace without end." _For_ chap. ii. 7; Nah. ii. 10; Job. xvi.
3--in which [Hebrew: l] with [Hebrew: qC] occurs in the very same
sense--clearly show that the [Hebrew: l] in [Hebrew: lwlvM] and
[Hebrew: lmrbh] may very well be understood as a mere sign of the
Dative. And the objection that the following [Hebrew: lhkiN], &c.
would, in that case, be unsuitable, is removed if it be explained: so
that He establisheth, &c., or: by His establishing, &c.; comp. _Ewald_,
_Lehrbuch der Hebr. Sprache_ Sec. 280 d. The words designate the basis on
which the increase of government and the peace rest. The Kingdom of God
will, through the Redeemer, acquire an ever increasing _extent_, and,
along with it, perfect _peace_ shall be enjoyed by the world. For it is
not by rude force that this kingdom is to be founded and established,
as is the case with worldly kingdoms, in which increase of [Pg 92]
government and peace, far from being always connected, are, on the
contrary, irreconcilable opponents, but by _justice_ and
_righteousness_. Parallel is Ps. lxvii. In vers. 11-15 of that Psalm,
the Psalmist just points to that "by which all nations and kings are
induced to do homage to that king; it is just that which, in the whole
Psalm, appears as the root of everything else, viz., the absolute
justice of the king." _Decrease_ of government and _war_ without end
were, meanwhile, in prospect, and they were so, because those who were
sitting on the throne of David did not support his kingdom by justice
and righteousness. But the Psalmist intimates to the trembling minds
that such is not the end of the ways of God with His people; that at
last the idea of the Kingdom of God will be realized. From the
fundamental passage, Ps. lxxii. 8-11, and parallel passages, such as
chap. ii. 2, 4; Mic. v. 3 (4); Zech. ix. 10, it is obvious that, as
regards the endless increase of the government, the Prophet thinks of
all the nations of the earth. On the _peace_ without end, comp. Ps.
lxxii. 7; chap. ii. 4; Mic. v. 4 (5), and the words: "He speaketh peace