gabenus_ (in iv. _Evang._ t.
1, p. 61, ed. Mat.). But the supposition is here forced upon us--a
supposition which, in another case also (compare remarks on Zech. ix.
9, 10), we must acknowledge to be well-founded--that the Fathers,
having in their controversies with the Jews sometimes met a reference
to Zerubbabel, forced it upon the Jews, even when the latter themselves
refused it. And there can be the less difficulty in admitting this
supposition, as the apparently fourfold testimony may be easily reduced
to a single one,, viz., to that of _Chrysostom_. If these statements
had any truth in them, some traces, at least, of this interpretation
must be found among the Jews themselves. This, however, is not
the case. All the Jewish interpreters adhere to the Messianic
interpretation, and in this they are headed by the Chaldee, who
paraphrases the words [Hebrew: mmK li ica] in this way: [Hebrew: mnK
qdmi ipq mwiHa], _i.e._, From thee Messiah shall go out before me.

2. A twofold method has been tried to remove the first ground of
objection mentioned above. In ancient times, they gave their full sense
to the words, "Of (or from) the days of eternity," but substituted the
name of the Messiah for His person. This we meet with as early as in
the Chaldee, who says: [Hebrew: dwmih amir mlqdmiN mivmi elma], _i.e._,
"Whose name is said (or called) from the days of old, from the days of
eternity." Thus also the _Pirke R. Elieser_, ch. iii., where, with a
reference to the passage before us, the name of the Messiah is
mentioned among the seven things created before the world existed,
viz., along with the Law, Hell, Paradise, the Throne of Glory, the
Temple, Repentance; compare _Schoettgen_ ii. S. 213. According to
_Eisenmenger_ i. S. 317, the same, with some change, is found in the
Talmud, _Tract. Pesachim_, fol. 54, col. i., and _Nedarim_ f. 39, c. 2.
We cannot, in that explanation by the Chaldee, understand "name" in its
emphatic signification, in which it often occurs in Scripture, viz., as
an expression and image of the substance,--a signification in which the
"name" of the Messiah would be equivalent to "the glory of the
Messiah," or to "the Messiah [Pg 493] in His glory." This is evident
from the [Hebrew: amir], _i.e._, "said" or "spoken," of the Chaldee,
which does not allow of our thinking of the creation of a substance;
and not less from the consideration, that if this signification of
"name" were assumed, the aim and object