whom the nations received the
promise." And when, in our century, men returned to the faith, the
Messianic interpretation also returned. If the Church has Christ at
all, it is impossible that she should fail to find Him here.

_Gesenius_, and those who have followed him, appeal to the
circumstance, that the Messiah could not well be introduced as
speaking, and, least of all, in such a manner, without any introduction
[Pg 228] and preparation. But it is difficult to see how this argument
can be advanced by those who themselves assume that a mere
personification, the collective body of the prophets, or, as _Beck_
expresses it, the Prophet [Greek: kat'exochen] as a general
substantial individual, or even the people, can be introduced as
speaking. The introduction of persons is a necessary result of the
dramatic character of prophetic Speech, comp., _e.g._, chap. xiv.,
where now the king of Babylon, then the inhabitants of the Sheol, and
again Jehovah, are introduced as speaking. The person who is here
introduced as speaking is already known from chap. xlii., where _he is
spoken of_. The prophecy before us stands to that prophecy in the very
same relation as does Ps. ii. 7-9, where the Anointed One suddenly
appears as speaking, to the preceding verses, where He was spoken of
The Messiah is here so distinctly described, as to His nature and
character, that it is impossible not to recognise Him. Who but He
should be the Covenant of the people, the Light of the Gentiles, the
Saviour for all the ends of the earth? The point which was here
concerned was not, first to introduce Him to the knowledge of the
people. His image existed there already in sharp outlines, even from
and since Gen. xlix. 10, where the Peaceful One meets us, in whom Judah
attains to the full height of his destination, and to whom the people
adhere. The circumstance that it is just here that the Messiah appears
as speaking, forms the most appropriate introduction to the second
book, in which He is the principal figure.--It is by a false literal
interpretation only that ver. 8, 9 have been advanced in opposition to
the Messianic interpretation.

The arbitrariness of the non-Messianic interpretation manifests
itself in this also, that its supporters can, up to this day, not
agree as to the subject of the prophecy. 1. According to several
interpreters--_Hitzig_, last of all--the Servant of God is to be
_Israel_, and the idea this, that Israel would, at some f