nations [Pg 215] of those who, beaten
down by sufferings, feel themselves to be poor and miserable. These the
weary and heavy laden, the Servant of God will not drive to despair by
severity, but comfort and refresh by tender love. His conduct towards
them is that of a Saviour. As a bent reed, [Hebrew: qnh rcvC], Pharaoh
appears on account of his broken power, in chap. xxxvi. 6, and in chap.
lviii. 6, the [Hebrew: rcvciM] are the oppressed. The fact, that the
_wick_ dimly burning and near to being extinguished is an image of
exhausted strength, is shown by chap. xliii. 17, where, in reference to
the Egyptians carried away by the judgment, it is said: "They are
extinct, they are quenched like a wick." In the parallel passages which
treat of the Servant of God, the _weary_ in chap. l. 4, and the
_broken-hearted_ in chap. lxi. 1, correspond to it. Elsewhere, too, the
wretched appear as objects of the loving providence of the Saviour.
Thus, in chap. xi. 4: "And He judges in righteousness the low;" in Ps.
lxxii. 4: "He shall judge the poor of the people; He shall save the
children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor;" and in
vers. 12-14: "For He delivereth the needy when he crieth, and the
miserable, and him that hath no deliverer. From oppression and violence
He delivereth their soul, and precious is their blood in His sight."
Just as, in the passage before us, the bringing forth of right appears
as a consequence of the loving providence for the bent reed, and the
dimly burning wick, so in that Psalm, the great fact: "And all the
kings worship Him, and all the nations serve Him," is traced back to
the tender love with which He cares for and helps the poor and needy.
In the Sermon on the Mount, the beatitude of the [Greek: ptochoi],
Matt. v. 3, of the [Greek: penthountes], ver. 4, and in Matt. xi. 28,
the invitation of the [Greek: kopiontes kai pephortismenoi], exactly
correspond. The wicked and ungodly, upon whom the judgments of God have
been inflicted, are not included, because they are not wretched in the
full sense; for they harden themselves against the suffering, or seek
to divert themselves in it; they do not take it fully to heart. The
[Greek: to pneumati], "in their consciousness," which in Matthew is
added to the simple [Greek: ptochoi], which alone we find in Luke, must
be understood as a matter of course. He only is poor in the full sense,
who feels and takes to heart his poverty. According to an