that even as regards the [Hebrew: ngid], the second David, the prince
of the _people_, is not only placed on a level with the first David,
but is elevate d above him. For the dominion by force which David
exercised over some heathen nations, [Hebrew: ngid] was the less
appropriate designation, inasmuch as it designates the ruler as the
chief of his people.

Ver. 5. "_Behold, thou shall call a nation that thou knowest not, and
nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy
God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for He adorneth thee._"

The words here are addressed to the true Israel, to the exclusion of
those souls who are cut off from among their people, compare Ps.
lxxiii. 1, where Israel and those that are of a clean heart go hand in
hand,--and, in substance, they also were addressed in vers. 1 and 2.
For the thirsty ones, who are there called upon to partake of the
blessings so liberally offered by the Lord, are just the members of the
Church. In connection with that glorification of David, the Church
shall invite nations from a great distance, who were hitherto unknown
to it, to its communion; and those nations who hitherto scarcely knew
by name the Church of God shall joyfully and willingly comply with the
invitation; comp. chap. ii. 2. This great change proceeds from the
Lord, the Almighty and Holy One, who, as the protector and Covenant-God
of His Church, has resolved to glorify it; for _He adorneth thee_. This
glorification consists, according to chap. iv. 2, in the appearance of
[Pg 350] Christ, the immediate consequence of which is the conversion
of the heathen world.

We must now review that exposition by which Rationalism has endeavoured
to deprive our passage of its Messianic import,--an attempt in which
_Grotius_ led the way. _Gesenius_, whom _Hitzig_, _Maurer_, _Ewald_,
and _Knobel_ follow, translates in vers. 3 and 4: "That I may make with
you an everlasting covenant, may show to you constant mercies, as once
to David. Behold, I have made him a ruler of the nations, a prince and
lawgiver of the nations," and refers both of the verses to the first
David. In ver. 5, then, the mercy is to follow which, in some future
time, God will bestow upon the whole people, as gloriously as once upon
the single David. But this explanation proves itself to be, in every
aspect, untenable.[1]

We are the less entitled to put "mercies _like_ David's" instead of
"the mercies of David," that these