of the full
glory of His nature. Prophecy would have fed the minds of the people
with vain hopes, if God had revealed himself in any other way than in
Christ, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His
person, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col.
ii. 9), and who, along with His own glory, revealed, at the same time,
that of the Father; for it was the glory as of the only-begotten of the
Father, John i. 14; ii. 11.

Ver. 3. "_Strengthen ye the slack hands, and confirm ye the tottering
knees._" The words are addressed to all the members of the people of
God; they are to strengthen and confirm _one another_ by pointing to
the future revelation of the glory of the Lord.

Ver. 4. "_Say to them that are of a fearful heart: Be strong, fear not;
behold, your God will come for vengeance, for a gift of God: He will
come and save you._"

"To them that are of a fearful heart,"--literally of a "hasty heart,"
who allow themselves to be carried away by the Present, and are
unmindful of the _respice finem_.--[Hebrew: mqM] and [Hebrew: gmvl] are
Accusatives, used in the same manner as in verbs of motion, to
designate the object of the motion.--On [Hebrew: gmvl], "gift," comp.
remarks on Ps. vii. 5. "The gift of God" forms a contrast to the poor
gifts, such as men offer. He comes for vengeance upon His enemies, and
for bestowing the most glorious divine gifts upon His people. The
words: "He will come and save you," are an explanation of "the gift of
God." It is in Christ that the words: "He will come and save you,"
found their true fulfilment,--a fulfilment to which every lower
blessing pointed, and which is still going on, and constantly
advancing.--That which, in the subsequent verses, is said of the
concomitant circumstances of this salvation, is by far too high to
admit of the fulfilment being sought in any other than Christ. All
these forced explanations, such as: "In their joy they feel _as if_
they were healed" (_Knobel_, after the example of _Gesenius_), only
serve to show this more clearly. They are overthrown even by the
parallel announcement of the impending resurrection of the dead in
chap. xxv. 8; xxvi. 19.

[Pg 160]

Ver. 5. "_Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of
the deaf shall be unstopped._"

The blind and deaf are the individualizing designations of the
wretched; in Luke xiv. 13-21, the blind are named along with the poor,
lame, and maimed as an indivi