of, viz., the salvation which is to be brought
through Christ. What that is which constitutes the substance of this
salvation, we learn from chap. liii. It is the redemption and
reconciliation by the Servant of God. Yet we must not, after the manner
of several ancient interpreters, limit ourselves to the "evangelical
righteousness." On the contrary, the whole fulness of the salvation in
Christ is comprehended in it; and according to vers. 4 and 5, this
includes the dominion over the world by the Kingdom of God,--its
dominion over the Gentile world, and the investiture of its members
with the full liberty and glory of the children of God.

Ver. 2. "_Wherefore do ye weigh money for that which is not bread, and
your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken, hearken unto me,
and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness._"

From ver. 3, we see that it is not the Prophet, but the Lord who
speaks. "That which is not bread," and "that which satisfieth not," is
something which outwardly has the appearance of good and nutritious
food, and to obtain which the hungry ones therefore strive, and exert
themselves with all their might, but which afterwards shows itself to
be food in appearance only, and which has not the power of satisfying.
"That which is not bread," is, in the first instance, the imagined
salvation which they sought to obtain from idols for much money. This
appears from the intentional literal reference to chap. xlvi. 6, where
the Prophet reproves the folly of those who, in the face of the living
God, "lavish gold out of the bag, and _weigh silver_ in the balance,
and hire a goldsmith, [Pg 346] that he make it a god, work also and
fall down." With perfect justice _Stier_ remarks: "Notwithstanding the
connection with, and allusion to, the circumstances of that time, the
word of the Prophet is to be understood in a general, spiritual way, as
a melancholy, bitter lamentation over the general misery, and man's
deep-rooted perverseness in running with effort and exertion, after
that which is pernicious to the soul, and in serving some Baal better
than Jehovah." "Fatness" occurs as a figurative designation of the
glorious gifts of God, in Ps. xxxvi. 9 also.

Ver. 3. "_Incline your ears and come unto me, hear and your soul shall
live, and I will grant to you an everlasting covenant, the constant
mercies of David._"

The introductory words allude, in a graceful manner, to two Messianic