h a pitch. How both of these go hand in hand is seen from
Ps. xxii. These interpreters are, farther, wrong in this respect, that
they refer the pretended figurative expression solely to the lowliness
and humility of the Messiah, and not, at the same time, to His
_sufferings_ also. Thus, among the ancient interpreters, it was viewed
by _Jerome_: "The horrid appearance of His form is not thereby
indicated, but that He came in humility and poverty;" and among recent
interpreters by _Martini_: "The sense of the passage does not properly
refer to the deformity of the face, but to the whole external weak,
poor, and humble condition." But, for that, the expression is by far
too strong. Mere lowliness is no object of horror (comp. 1 Cor. i. 23,
according to which it is the _Cross_ which offends the Jews); it does
not produce a deformity of the countenance; it cannot produce the
effect that the Servant of God should, as it were, cease to be a man.
All this suggests an unspeakable _suffering_ of the Servant of God, and
that, moreover, a suffering which, in the first instance, [Pg 268]
manifested itself upon His own holy body. _Farther_--We must also take
into consideration that the _sprinkling_, in ver. 15, has for its
background the shedding of blood, and is the fruit of it, at first
concealed. If any doubt should yet remain, it would be removed by the
subsequent detailed representation of that which is here given in
outline merely. The sole reason of that narrow view is, that
interpreters did not understand the fundamental relation of the section
under consideration to the subsequent section; that they did not
perceive that, here, we have in a complete sketch what there is given
in detail and expansion.--Ver. 15. The verb [Hebrew: nzh] occurs in
very many passages, and signifies in _Hiphil_, everywhere, "to
sprinkle." It is especially set apart and used for the sprinkling with
the blood of atonement, and the water of purification. When "the
anointed priest" had sinned, he took of the blood of the _sacrifice_,
and _sprinkled_ it before the vail of the sanctuary, Lev. iv. 6; comp.
v. 16, 17. The high priest had, every year, on the great day of
atonement, to sprinkle the _blood_ before the Ark of the Covenant, in
order to obtain forgiveness for the people. Lev. xvi. 14, comp. also
vers. 18, 19: "And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it (the altar)
with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the
uncleanness of