against this supposition are specially the
designation [Hebrew: emi] in ver. 8, and the most forced explanation to
which it compels us, in some verses, especially ver. 2.

The interpretation which considers the godly portion of the people to
be the subject of the prophecy, is overthrown by the fact that,
according to the view of Scripture, even those who, in the ordinary
sense, are righteous, are unable to render a vicarious satisfaction for
others. For such, absolute righteousness is required. But the
"righteous ones" are begotten by sinful seed (Ps. li.), and they have
need daily to pray that God would pardon their secret sins, Ps. xix.
13; they themselves live only by the pardoning mercy of God, and cannot
think of atoning for others, Ps. xxxii. Even for believers, the
captivity is, according to chap. xlii., the merited punishment of their
sins. In that passage, the greatness of the mercy of God is pointed
out, who grants a twofold salvation for sins, while infinite punishment
should be their natural consequence. It is not to a single portion of
the people, but to the whole, that, in the passages formerly quoted,
every share in effecting deliverance and salvation is denied. How
little an absolute righteousness existed in the elect, sufficiently
appears from the fact, that, in the second part, it forms a main object
of the Prophet to oppose their want of courage, their despair and
distrust of God. _Farther_--The ungodly could not by any means consider
the sufferings of the righteous ones as vicarious, because they
themselves suffered as much; and as little could they despise the godly
on account of their sufferings. It is a mere invention, destitute of
every historical foundation, to assert that it was especially the
God-fearing who had to suffer so grievously in the captivity. On the
contrary, their fear of God gained for them the respect of the
Gentiles; and among [Pg 340] their own people also, whose sinful
disposition was broken by the punishment, they occupied an honourable
position. Ezekiel we commonly find surrounded by the elders of the
people, listening to his words; and Daniel, Esther, and Mordecai, Ezra,
and Nehemiah, richly furnished with the goods of this world, enjoyed
high esteem in the Gentile world. The fact that the supporters of this
hypothesis are compelled to have recourse to such an unhistorical
fiction, which has been carried to the extreme, especially by _Knobel_,
sufficiently proves it to be