antecedent; compare the words: "And the Spirit of the Lord rests
upon [Pg 211] Him," in chap. xi. 2; lxi. 1; Matt. iii. 16; John iii.
34. The three passages in Isaiah which speak of the communication of
the Spirit to Christ are inseparably connected with one another, and,
on the whole Old Testament territory, there is no passage exactly
parallel to them. The Hiphel of [Hebrew: ica] must not be explained by
"to announce," as some interpreters do; for in this signification it
nowhere occurs; and according to what follows, and the parallel
passages, the Servant of God does not by any means establish right by
the mere announcement, but by His holy disposition. But as little can
we explain [Hebrew: hvcia] by "to lead out," in contrast to the
circumstance that, under the Old Testament, right was limited to a
single nation. For in the parallel passage, chap. li. 4: "Hearken unto
me, my people, and give ear unto me, O my congregation, for law shalt
proceed from me, and I will set my right for the light of the nations,"
[Hebrew: ica] does not mean to go _out_, but to go _forth_, _i.e._, to
proceed. In the same way, in Hab. i. 4: "And not does right go forth
for ever," _i.e._, it never comes forth, is never established, comp.
Vol. i., p. 442, 443. Hence [Hebrew: hvcia] here can mean only "to
bring to light," "to bring forth." [Hebrew: mwpT] is, by several
interpreters, taken in the signification, "religion;" but it is just
ver. 4, by which they support their view, which shows that the ordinary
signification "right," must be retained here. For in that verse,
_right_ stands in parallelism with _law_, by which right is
established; comp. chap. li. 4. Before God's Kingdom was, by the
Servant of God, extended to the Gentile nations, there existed among
them, notwithstanding all the excellence of outward legal arrangements,
a condition without right in the higher sense. Right, in its essence,
has its root in God, as may be seen from the Ten Commandments, which
everywhere go back to God, and in all of which Luther, in his
exposition of the ten commandments, rightly repeats: "We shall fear and
love God." Where, therefore, the living God is not known, there can be
no right. The commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,"
_e.g._, has any meaning only where the eye is open for the divine image
which the neighbour bears, and for the redemption of which he is a
fellow-partaker. The commandment: "Honour thy father and thy mother"
w