urse, not at all
to the purpose. But of such a kind are almost all the examples quoted
by _Nolde_. In Esther ii. 13 [Hebrew: bzh] is used. The verb [Hebrew:
hcil] in ver. 5 is likewise in favour of understanding [Hebrew: zh]
personally; compare also Zech. ix. 10: "And He shall speak peace unto
the nations."--There can scarcely be any doubt that the words allude to
the name of Solomon, and that the Messiah is represented in them as the
Antitype of Solomon. Upon this point there is the less room for doubt,
because even Solomon himself called the Messiah by his name in the Song
of Solomon; and in Is. ix. 5 (6) also, He is, with an evident allusion
to the name of Solomon, called the Prince of Peace.--All which follows
after these words, to the end of ver. 5, is only a particularizing
expansion of the words: "And this (man) is peace." Interpreters have
almost all agreed, that Asshur, the most dangerous enemy of the
Covenant-people at the time of the prophet, stands here as a type of
the enemies of the Covenant-people. Even _L. Baur_ has translated: "And
though another Asshur," etc., with a reference to the passage in
_Virgil_ to which allusion had already been made by _Castalio_: "_Alter
erit tum Tiphys et altera quae vehat Argo delectos heroas._" That the
prophet, however, was fully conscious of his here using Asshur
typically, appears from iv. 9, 10. For, according to these verses, the
first of the three catastrophes which preceded the birth of the
Messiah, proceeds from a new phase of the world's power, viz., from the
Babylonian empire, the rising of which implies the overthrow of the
Assyrian. But the figurative element in the representation goes still
farther. From ver. 9 ff.--according to which the Lord makes His people
outwardly defenceless, before they become, in Christ, the conquerors of
the world--it is obvious that the spiritual struggle against the
world's power is here represented under the image of the outward
struggle, carried on with the sword. One might be tempted to confine
the thought of the passage to this: "The Messiah affords to His people
the same protection and security as would a large number of brave
princes with their hosts," inasmuch as the bestowal of these was, under
the Old Testament, the ordinary means by which the Lord delivered His
people. If, however, the spiritual character [Pg 520] of the struggle
only be maintained, there is no sufficient reason for considering the
seven and more shepherd