s as necessarily as
judgment does upon the sinners. In the midst of the deepest abasement
of the people of God, God raises from out of the midst of them the
Saviour by whom they are raised to the highest glory, chap. iv. 2. They
are installed into the dignity of the saints of God, after the penitent
ones have been renewed by His Spirit, and the [Pg 11] obstinate sinners
have been exterminated by His judgment, ver. 3, 4. God's gracious
presence affords them protection from their enemies, and from all
tribulation and danger, ver. 5, 6.

The first part, in which Isaiah follows Micah (comp. the arguments in
proof of originality in Micah, Vol. i., p. 413 ff.), has already been
expounded on a former occasion. We have here only to answer the
question, why it is that the Prophet opens his discourse with a
proclamation of salvation borrowed from Micah? His object certainly was
to render the minds of the people susceptible of the subsequent
admonition and reproof, by placing at the head a promise which had
already become familiar and precious to the people. The position which
the Messianic proclamation occupies in Isaiah is altogether
misunderstood if, with _Kleinert_ and _Ewald_, we assume that the
passage does not, in Isaiah, belong to the real substance of the
prophecy; that it is merely placed in front as a kind of text, the
abuse and misinterpretation of which the Prophet meets in that which
follows, so that the sense would be: the blessed time promised by
former prophets will come _indeed_, but _only_ after severe, rigorous
judgments upon all who had forsaken Jehovah. It is especially ver. 5
which militates against this interpretation, where, in the words: "Come
ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord,"[1] the prophet gives an
_express declaration_ as to the object of the description which he has
placed in front, and expresses himself in regard to it in perfect
harmony [Pg 12] with Heb. iv. 1: [Greek: phobethomen oun mepote
kataleipomenes epangelias ... doke tis ex humon husterekenai.] This
shows, that after the manner of an evangelical preacher, and in
conformity with his name, he wishes to allure to repentance by pointing
to the great salvation of the future;--that the [Greek: engike he
basileia ton ouranon] of the first part serves as a foundation to the
[Greek: metanoeite oun] of the second.

The threatening of punishment contained in the second part is destitute
of any particular reference. It bears a general cha