the "wise," because they are
the instruments through whom many attain justification; _Calvin_: _Quia
causa sunt ministerialis justitiae et salutis multorum._ _Haevernick_
refers, for a comparison, to 1 Tim. iv. 16: "For, in doing this, thou
shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee." [Hebrew: ediq] must
not be immediately connected with [Hebrew: ebdi]; for, in that case, it
ought to have stood after it, and been qualified [Pg 306] by the
article. On the contrary, [Hebrew: ediq] stands first, because it
stands by itself and substantively: "The righteous One, My Servant." A
similar construction occurs, Jer. iii., vii. 10: "And she does not turn
unto me, the treacherous one, [Hebrew: bgirh], her sister Judah." By
thus making [Hebrew: cdiq] prominent, and connecting it immediately
with [Hebrew: hcdiq], it is intended to point out the close connection
in which the righteousness of the Servant of God, who, although
altogether innocent and sinless, ver. 9, yet suffered the punishment of
sin, stands with the justification to be bestowed by Him. _Maurer_ thus
pertinently expresses this: "To many, for righteous is my Servant,
shall He procure righteousness." By these words thus the [Hebrew: izh],
in chap. lii. 15, is explained; and the seal of the divine confirmation
is impressed upon that which, in vers. 4-6, the believing Church had
said, especially upon the words: "By His wounds we are healed," ver. 5.
The "many" points back to chap. liii. 15, and forms the contrast not to
_all_ (_Stier_: "Because He cannot, overturning all laws, save all by
coercion, or arbitrary will,"--a limitation which would in this context
be out of place), but to _few_: The one, the many, Rom. v. 15.--"And He
shall bear their iniquities;" the iniquities and their punishment, as a
heavy burden which the Servant of God lifts off from those who are
groaning under their weight, and takes upon himself _Jerome_ says: "And
He himself shall bear the iniquities which they could not bear, and by
the weight of which they were borne down." _Calvin_ expresses himself
thus: "A wonderful change indeed! Christ justifies men by giving them
His righteousness, and in exchange. He takes upon Him their sins, that
He may expiate them." In opposition to those who translate: "He _bore_
their iniquities," (the Future might, in that case, he accounted for
from the Prophet's viewing the whole transaction as present), even
_Gesenius_ has remarked that the preceding and subsequ