little was to be feared from the present ones; and especially if
Israel should and must rise from even the [Pg 136] deepest abasement,
how should God not then deliver them from the lower distress and need?
But just because weak faith does not like to draw such _inferences_,
the Prophet at the close expressly adverts to the present affliction,
and gives to the weak faith a distinct and sure word of God, by which
it may support itself, and take encouragement in that affliction.

The points of connection must not be overlooked which the prophecy
in chap. xi. offers for the prophecy before us. We already met there
the total decay of the royal house of David, the carrying away of
Judah into exile, and their dispersion into all lands. It is on this
foundation that the prophecy before us takes its stand: it points
to the power by which these conditions are to be brought about.
Farther--There, as well as here, the conditions of the future are not
expressly _announced_ as such, but _supposed_: the Prophet takes his
stand in the future. There, as well as here, the Prophet draws
consolation in the sufferings of the present from a salvation to be
bestowed in a far distant future only.

From the very outset, the Prophet announces an impending carrying away
of the people, and, at the same time, that, even in this distress, the
Lord would have compassion upon His people, comp. _e.g._ chaps. v., vi.
From the very outset, the Prophet clearly saw that it was not by the
Assyrians that this carrying away would be effected. This much we
consider to be fully proved by history. The progress which the prophecy
before us offers, when compared with those former ones, consists in
this circumstance only, that the Prophet here expressly mentions the
names of the future destroyers. And in reference to this circumstance
we may remark, that, according to the testimony of history, as early as
at that time, the plan of the foundation of an independent power was
strongly entertained and fostered at Babylon, as is clearly enough
evidenced by the embassy of the viceroy of Babylon to Hezekiah.

In chap. xxiii. 13--the prophecy against Tyre, which is acknowledged to
be genuine by the greater number of rationalistic interpreters--the
Prophet shows the clearest insight into the future universal dominion
of Chaldea, which forms the point of issue for the prophecy before us.
With perfect clearness this insight meets us in chap. xxxix. also, on
which even _Gese