s.

Since it is undeniable that this Section is related to the other
prophecies which treat of the Servant of God,--and hence an identity of
subject is necessarily required--those who, in the [Pg 250] Section
under consideration, are compelled to give up their former hypothesis,
themselves bear witness against the correctness of it, at the same
time, also against the soundness of their explanation of the passage
before us. For an explanation which compels to the severance of what is
necessarily connected, cannot be right and true. It is only then that
Exegesis has attained its object, when it has arrived at a subject in
whom all those features, which occur in the single prophecies which are
connected with each other, are found at the same time. _Knobel_, in
saying: "This small unconnected Section, is the only one in the whole
collection, in which the Prophet speaks of himself only, and represents
his suffering's and hopes," has thereby himself pronounced judgment
upon his own interpretation of this Section, and at the same time, of
the other prophecies of the Servant of God.

Moreover, the Prophet would here form rather a strange figure; he would
appear as it were, as if he had been blown in by a snow-storm.
According to _Hofmann_, he describes how he is rewarded for his
activity and zeal in his vocation. But how does this suit the contents
of the second part, which evidently is a whole, the single parts of
which must stand in a close relation to its fundamental idea! _It is
only a person of central importance that is suitable to this context._
It is only when we refer it to Christ, that the expectations are
satisfied which were called forth by the words: Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people. This call is answered only by pointing to the future Saviour
of the world.

One element of truth, indeed, there is in the explanation which makes
the Prophet the subject. It is revealed to him, indeed, that the
Servant of God shall undergo persecution, shame, and ignominy; but he
has the natural substratum for this knowledge in the experience of
himself and his colleagues, comp. Matt. xxiii. 29-37; Heb. xi. 36, 37.
The divine, wherever it enters into the world of sin, as well as the
servant of truth who upholds it in the face of prevailing falsehood,
must undergo struggles, shame, and ignominy. This truth was confirmed
in the case of the prophets as types, in the case of Christ as the
antitype. All that which the prophets had to exp