lows in chap. liii. 1-10, the enlargement.
First, in vers. 1-3 that is expounded which, in ver. 14 had been said
of the many being _shocked_, and of the _cause_. The commentary upon
[Hebrew: wmmv] "they were shocked," is given in ver. 1: a great portion
of the Jews do not believe in the salvation which had appeared. The
enlargement of: "so marred," &c., is given in vers. 2, 3. The cause of
the [Pg 275] unbelief is, that the glory of the Servant of God is
concealed behind humiliation, misery, and shame.

Chap. liii. 1: "_Who believes that which we hear, and the arm of the
Lord, to whom it is revealed?_"

The Prophet, whose spiritual eye is just falling upon the large, the
enormously large number of unbelievers, overlooks, at the moment, the
other aspect, and, in his grief, expresses that which took place in a
large _portion_ only, in such a manner as if it were general. Similar
representations we elsewhere frequently meet with, _e.g._, Ps. xiv. 3
(compare my Commentary); Jer. v. 1--[Hebrew: wmveh] is commonly
understood in the signification, "message" or "discourse." But in
favour of the explanation: "That which is heard by us," _q.d._, "that
which we hear," there is, in the first instance, the _usus loquendi_.
The word never occurs in any other than its original signification,
"that which is heard," and in the signification, "rumour," which is
closely connected with the former. In Isa. xxviii. 9, a passage which
is most confidently referred to in proof of the signification,
_institutio_, _doctrina_, [Hebrew: wmveh] is that which the Prophet
hears from God. The mockers who exclaim: "Whom will he make to
understand [Hebrew: wmveh]?" take, with a sneer, out of his mouth the
word upon which chap. xxi. 10: "That which I have heard of the Lord of
Hosts, I declare unto you," forms a commentary, [Greek: Akoe] too, by
which, in the New Testament, [Hebrew: wmveh] is rendered, has not at
all the signification, "discourse," "preaching." [Greek: Akoe] in Rom.
x. 16, 17, is not the preaching, but the hearing, as is shown by the
[Greek: me ouk ekousan] in ver. 18. The [Greek: akoe], according to
ver. 17: [Greek: he de akoe dia rhematos Theou], is the passive to the
active to the word of God. "Who believes our [Greek: akoe], our
hearing," _i.e._, that which we hear, which is made known to us by the
Word of God. In a passive sense, [Greek: akoe] stands likewise in the
passages Matt. iv. 24, xiv. 1, xxiv. 6, which _Stier_ cites in suppo