-where this image occurs with a similar signification.
Thus, _e.g._. Is. liv. 1: "Shout for joy, O barren, thou that didst
not bear; break forth into shouting and exult, thou that didst not
travail; for more numerous are the sons of the desolate than the sons
of the married wife, saith the Lord;" xlix. 21, 22, lxvi. 7-9. But we
must nevertheless prefer [Pg 515] to this explanation, that which
refers the words to the mother of the Messiah, for the following
reasons. 1. If the words were to be referred to the Congregation of
Israel, we should expect the Article before [Hebrew: ivldh]. For the
Congregation of Israel is substantially mentioned in what immediately
precedes; she is only a personification of those who are to be given
up. 2. It is true that, frequently, the personification is not
consistently carried out; but the circumstance that here, in the same
sentence, the children of Israel are spoken of in the plural ("He will
give _them_ up"), and that no trace of a personification is found in
what follows, but that, on the contrary, the children of Israel are
mentioned expressly, makes the pretended personification appear in
rather an abrupt manner, so that such an assumption would be admissible
in a case of necessity only. 3. If referred to the Congregation of
Israel, the relation of the Messiah to that great event, and epoch, is
not intimated by a single word. Of Him ver. 1 speaks, and of Him vers.
3-5. How then can it be that in ver. 2 there should all at once be a
transition to the general Messianic representation? 4. The suffix in
[Hebrew: aHiv], which refers to the Messiah, requires that He should be
indirectly mentioned in what precedes; and such is the case, only when
the [Hebrew: ivldh] is she who is to bring forth the Ruler announced in
ver. 1. 5. It appears from the reference to Gen. xxxv., which we have
already pointed out and proved, that the prophet has in view one who is
to bring forth in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, which had in ancient times
already become remarkable by a birth, is in future to be ennobled by
another birth, infinitely more important. 6. The comparison of Is. vii.
14, where likewise the mother of the Messiah is mentioned; compare
the remarks on that passage. 7, and lastly--The evident reference of
"Until the time that she who is bearing hath brought forth" to "From
thee shall come forth," suggests the mother of the Messiah. That
she is designated as "she who brings forth," may be explained from