to
the pious godly _party_, in contrast to the ungodly wicked, but rather
that we have before us the foresight of a dark period of sufferings
which, after the appearance of the Servant of God, shall be inflicted
upon the whole people; so that both of the parties,--that devoted to
the Servant of God, and that opposed to Him,--are thereby affected, but
with a different issue. For in ver. 11, it is described how the
ungodly, who likewise walk in darkness, endeavour to light up their
darkness by a fire which they have kindled, but do so to their own
destruction. Behind the exhortation: "Let him trust in the name of the
Lord, and stay upon his God," there is concealed the promise: he _may_
trust, his darkness shall be changed into light, his sorrow into joy.
When the destruction of Jerusalem approached, the cry came to believing
Israel: "Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh," Luke
xxi. 28. In the destruction of apostate Israel, not obeying the Servant
of God, but persecuting His faithful ones, they beheld the beginning of
the victory of the true people of God over the world.

Ver. 11. "_Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that gird sparks,--walk in
the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. From
mine hand is this to you; ye shall lie down in pain._"

The image begun in the preceding verse is continued. The pious walk in
confidence and patience through the lightless darkness, until the Lord
kindles a light to them. Those who do not hear the Lord, who do _not_
obey the voice of His Servant, kindle a fire which is to light up their
darkness; but instead of that, they are consumed by the fire. Thus the
Servant of God, who brings this destruction upon them, obtains His
right upon them.--The _fire_ is often in Scripture the fire of war,
chap. ix. 18; Jer. li. 5; Rev. viii. 7-10. According to several
interpreters (_Hitzig_, _Ewald_, _Knobel_), it is assumed that the
discourse is here not of "self-assistance by rebellion," but "of the
attacks of the wicked upon the godly, and of the destruction, into
which these attacks turn out for their authors." But this view is
opposed by the circumstance that the darkness [Pg 256] is common to
both parties; hence, it must come from some other quarter. The fire
which the wicked kindle is destined to enlighten the darkness in which
they also are, which is especially evident from the words: "Walk in the
_light_ of your fire." They now have a light which enlight