lii. 15, are to be
sprinkled by Him; who, according to ver. 11, are to be justified by
Him; they whose sins He has taken upon Him (ver. 5), and for whom He
intercedes before God, ver. 12. Even in the Old Testament, the word
"children" is frequently used in a spiritual [Pg 303] sense. In Gen.
vi. 2, believers appear as the children of God. The Israelites are not
unfrequently designated as sons of Jehovah. Those prophets who were
endowed with specially rich gifts, were surrounded by a crowd of _sons_
of the prophets. The wise man, too, looks upon his disciples as his
spiritual sons, Prov. iv. 20, xix. 27; Eccles. xii. 12. In the New
Testament, the Lord addresses the man sick of the palsy by [Greek:
teknon]. Matt. ix. 2; and with special emphasis. His apostles as
_little children_, [Greek: teknia eti mikron meth'humon eimi], John
xiii. 33; and the Apostles, too, consider those who have been awakened
by their ministry as their spiritual children, 1 Cor. iv. 17; 1 Tim. i.
2; 1 Pet. v. 13. _The thought is this--that in the sacrificial death of
the Servant of God there will be an animating power; that, just
thereby, He will found His Church._ The words: "He shall prolong His
days," allude, as it appears, to the promise which was given to David
and his seed, comp. Ps. xxi 5: "He asked life of thee, and thou gavest
it to him, even length of days for ever and ever;" 1 Sam. vii. 13: "I
will establish the throne of His kingdom for ever," comp. ver. 16; Ps.
lxxxix. 5, cxxxii. 12,--a promise which found its final fulfilment in
Christ. But the long life here must not be viewed as _isolated_, but
must be understood in close connection both with what precedes and what
follows. It is the life of the Servant of God in communion with His
seed, in carrying out the will of God. [Hebrew: HpC] never means
"business," but always "pleasure;" and this signification, which occurs
in chap. xliv. 28 also, is here the less to be given up, that the
[Hebrew: HpC] here, at the close, evidently refers to the [Hebrew: HpC]
at the beginning. By this reference, the reason is stated why it was
the _pleasure_ of the Lord to crush Him. According to vers. 11 and 12,
it is the pleasure of God that sinners should be justified through Him,
on the foundation of His vicarious suffering; according to chap. xlii.
and xlix., that Israel should be redeemed, and the Gentiles saved.
While the pleasure of the Lord is prospering through His hand, he, at
the same time, sees