rotius_ was
the first who professed it, but in such a manner that he assumed a
higher reference to Christ. ("The Prophet returns to praise Hezekiah in
words under which the higher praises of Christ are concealed.") He was
followed by _Dathe_. The exclusive reference to Hezekiah was maintained
by _Hermann v. d._ [Pg 98] _Hardt_, in a treatise published in 1695,
which, however, was confiscated; then, by a number of interpreters at
the commencement of the age of Rationalism, at the head of whom was
_Bahrdt_. Among the expositors of the last decade, this interpretation
is held by _Hendewerk_ alone.

The reasons for the Messianic interpretation, and against making
Hezekiah the subject of the prophecy, are, among others, the
following:--

1. _The comparison of the parallel passages._ The Messiah is here
represented under the figure of a shoot or sprout. This has become so
common, as a designation of the Messiah, that the name "Sprout" has
almost become a proper name of the Messiah; compare the remarks on
chap. iv. 2. A striking resemblance to ver. 1 is presented by chap.
lviii. 2, where the Messiah, to express His lowliness at the beginning
of His course, is, in the same manner as here, compared to a feeble and
tender twig. Ps. lxxii. and the prophecies in chap. ii., iv., vii.,
ix., and Mic. v., present so many agreements and coincidences with the
prophecy under consideration, that they must necessarily be referred to
one and the same subject. The reception of the Gentile nations into the
Kingdom of God, the holiness of its members, the cessation of all
hostilities, are features which constantly recur in the Messianic
prophecies.

2. There are features interwoven with the prophecy which lead to a more
than human dignity of its subject. Even this circumstance is of
importance here, that the _whole earth_ appears as the sphere of His
dominion. Still more distinctly is the human sphere overstepped by the
announcement that, under His government, _sin_, yea, even all
destruction in the outward nature is to cease, and the earth is to
return to the happy condition in which it was before the fall.
According to ver. 4, He slays the wicked in the whole earth by His mere
word,--a thing which elsewhere is said of _God_ only; and according to
ver. 10, the heathen shall render Him religious reverence.

3. A _future_ scion of David is here promised. For [Hebrew: vica] in
ver. 1 must be taken as a _praeteritum propheticum_, as is eviden