THE AUTHENTICITY AND MESSIANIC INTERPRETATION OF THE
/ PEOPHECIES OF ISAIAH VINDICATED IN A COURSE OE SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE
THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
BY THE
EEV.
E.
PAYNE *SMITH,
M.A.,
SUB LIBRARIAN OF THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY, AND SELECT PREACHER. -
JOHN HENRY
and
JAMES PARKER.
1862.
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PREFACE. rpHE
following course of Sermons originated in
having been appointed to preach the annual
-*-
my dis-
course upon the Jewish Interpretation of Prophecy in
1858
;
and shortly afterwards as Select Preacher
I continued the subject, only with a wider applicaso
tion,
as to
include
German
as
well as Jewish
In preparing them for the press the
neology.
sermon necessarily has been opening part
now forming
recast, the
first
matter in the
the Introduction, while to
complete the subject I have appended Sermon n.,
which was never delivered.
I
have
also
restored
several passages omitted for fear of too great length,
and
for
forward names
have
put
straight-
instead of the periphrases
usual in
sake
the
of clearness
the pulpit.
Any
one acquainted with German
ture will see
how
greatly I
Havernick,
Hengstenberg,
and
others, not to
am
litera-
indebted to Drechsler,
Eeinke,
Eiickert,
Stier,
mention the chief neologian com-
mentators, Gesenius, Hitzig, and Knobel, and names so well
known
and E. Meier.
to every student of
Hebrew
as
Ewald
I have also read with great advan-
tage Dr. Alexander's "Commentary," and the translation
and learned notes of Dr. Henderson. Oxford,
January, 1862.
a2
V <
-^
INTRODUCTION. TN
estimating the strength of the evidence offered
by prophecy to the mission of our Lord, cessary to remember that it is cumulative.
it is
ne-
Its force
does not depend upon any single passage, however clear
and
but upon the combined
distinct,
numerous passages, spoken by a multitude
effect of
of writers,
at great intervals of time and under very different
circumstances, yet all uniting in one great and har-
monious whole. tament,
its
Like the doctrines of the
manner
is
entirely unartificial
here a line and there a
rangement; there
is
line,
:
New it is
Tes-
given
without method or ar-
no appearance of plan, or fore-
thought, or contrivance
;
and yet there
is
no contra-
no irreconcileable divergency of statements,
diction,
no portions which undeniably are at variance with the
rest.
To many, perhaps, used
as a whole, this fact is it
if
remarkable
His Holy
tion of that
if
Spirit
may
to read their Bible
not seem remarkable
the Bible be the
Word
;
nor
of God,
and
watched over the gradual forma-
book which was
to
be the revelation of
God's will to mankind; but upon any other supposition it is incapable of explanation.
If the Bible be an ordinary book, the result of unaided human reason,
and
to
Koran,
be classed with the Yedas, the Avesta, and the it is
of writings
an inexplicable
fact that,
made up
which extend over a period of
as it is
fifteen
hun-
INTRODUCTION.
Ti
dred years, there should be throughout an unmis-
main
takeable convergency towards one It is the character of the religions
conclusion.
which men invent,
that they begin purely and end in corruption. start
They
with the earnest endeavour to reform the wrong
doings of their times, but no sooner has success at-
tended them, than the
them
means of ministering
as
On
signs.
tures
it
and unscrupulous use
selfish
to their
own
evil de-
the contrary, in the Old Testament Scrip-
always a growing light
is
;
a progress in
knowledge, in morality, in holiness, and a gradual preparation for what final
stances
believe to be God's best and
No
makes them deviate from whether the
It matters nothing
in the desert, or the ful
we
revelation to mankind.
empire;
busy
change of circum-
their settled course.
Israelites
be nomads
citizens of Solomon's peace-
the anarchy of the judges, the almost
total conquest of the nation
by the
Philistines,
the
wars of David, the luxurious repose of his successor, the subsequent gradual declension of the realm, the
apostacy of
its
their exile
and
monarchs, the debasement of the people, restoration,
—
all
these things and the
like fail in corrupting the morality or lowering the spiritual insight of this long series of
But with
all
this
knowledge of the each had his
Jewish writers.
they had no conscious purpose or final
own
tendencies of their works:
present business, and addressed
himself to the immediate wants and needs of his days.
Moses was intent upon forming
nomad
hordes, debased
led out of
Egypt
;
by a long
into a
nation the
subjection,
whom
ho
but the forms of worship which he
VU
INTRODUCTION. established all looked forward to
and typified that
by which an atonement was made the world, and from time to time he
future sacrifice
for
the sins of
re-
cords promises and gives utterance to prophecies which
mark out the whole
outline of the Messiah's office.
In time these hordes become a powerful nation, and the worship celebrated of old in the wilderness in a tent
now
is
God with
offered unto
of a magnificent ritual
;
and
their
two great kings,
David and Solomon, write choral odes service
:
for the
years of persecution and suffering, and
words pass on beyond his own sorrows, and
of the Passion of our
Lord
he
in heaven
is
speaking of
and earth
is
tell
us
the other describes a king
;
ruling in the plenitude of power, and as feel that
temple
the one pours forth the troubled griefs of
many anxious his
the splendour
all
Him
unto
given, and
we
whom
who
read
all
we
power
has received
the Gentiles for His inheritance and the utmost parts
But soon the kingdom is divided, and its glories fade away. Each reign sees a deeper degradation settling upon the realm of the earth for His possession.
the national faith
is
corrupted,
general wickedness
pre vails, and the Assyrians appear as God's appointed
instruments of punishment. Isaiah
is
In the hour of distress
commissioned to warn and rebuke them
but he has also words of consolation
:
and
these, in-
tended for present use, are so overruled that future generations call
him the Prophet
therefore the
same
same
but the danger
is
not
sins are still persisted in,
and
hosts of Sennacherib perish, averted, for the
The
of the Gospel.
effects follow
;
and another prophet
vm
INTRODUCTION.
admonish them, and words again are spoken
arises to
accomplished only in the nativity at Nazareth. And again the fortunes of the people change, and centuries follow of a heroic but
hopeless struggle, the comwhich was inaugurated by the voice of several prophets. With the changed circumstances of
mencement
much
the nation, different
of
for in
;
of the outward form of prophecy
was
every age prophecy reflected the cur-
rent feelings and national fortunes of the times. for instance, of the later prophets
cuting righteousness and judgment
sank into obscurity during the
None,
speak of a king exe;
the royal house
nor could the merits of Zerubbabel, though affectionately recorded
by
exile,
his countrymen,
of David
win back the throne for the lineage and therefore the prophets of the restora-
:
draw their images, not from the kingly majesty which had ceased to exist, but from the tion
priesthood,
round which gathered.
no note
all
that
in the nation
had
And yet,
is
notwithstanding so great a change, struck which jars with the declarations of
previous prophets, nor fitly
was noble
belong
to
is
Him who
there a is
word which does not
our Prophet, Priest, and
Xing.
To many
has seemed as if this character of prophecy were a weakness and defect; just as in the New Testament they complain that no it
exact state-
ment of
doctrines
is
given, but only pregnant words
dropped here and there, and great principles enunciated, not with the pomp of eloquence, but simply and as it were by chance, and as occasion called
forth.
They wonder,
therefore, that in
them
prophecy no
1X
INTRODUCTION. Sibylline books
the
first to
were given
from
to the Jews, claiming
be the declarers of future events
;
that no
exact and definite narrative was written of Messiah's birth and
and death and resurrection, but
life,
only-
which combine, indeed, into a marvellously complete representation of His coming and attributes, but of which many are capable of some words casually
let fall,
But
lower application. gifts of
God
has alwa)
r
God's
For the verse,
s
gifts
so
it is
are scattered bountifully, but so that
gather them and adapt them
to
and man's labour and negligent,
idle
His goodness
is
may
man
to his use.
are, for us, inseparable.
for the unwilling
hidden away.
may starve though God clothe the bounty, so
The
ever in this world.
As
and per-
the indolent
fields
with His
the infidel perish for lack of
know-
ledge though Scripture contain everything necessary for
his mental use.
however,
we
Of the manner
are not judges.
our thoughts
;
and probably nothing
this as the lurking fancy of
As
prove upon God's work. ings with
us,
of God's gifts,
His thoughts are not as
men
so clearly
shews
that they could im-
regards His moral deal-
and the manner in which good and
evil
are ever found in near proximity and strange union
in this world, that
it
is
in
them no uncommon thought,
had the power been confided unto them they
would not have made our
And
similarly in
particulars
it
is
Holy
state so full of difficulties.
when in so many from what we might have
Scripture,
different
expected, instead of remembering that our business
is
to take the facts of our case as they are, and labour to
bring onr lives into conformity with God's laws, they
INTRODUCTION.
and give way
either brood over their difficulties
discontent, or parade
them
as proofs that
God has not
and kindly by the works of His hands.
dealt wisely
Viewed, however, in a truer
method
in the prophecies,
want of combined with their real light,
this
unity, proves that in this, as in all His works,
has done
all
things well.
phecies, if anything
mind
so
many
made through
conviction
to
the
agreement and con-
entire
vergence to a single point of so rations,
God
For, in reading the pro-
could bring
would be the
it
to
many
various decla-
so long a succession of ages
different writers,
by and under such perpetually
varying circumstances of time and place.
For, un-
methodical as they are, and spoken not for the conscious
purpose of revealing future things, but for the present
guidance of God's people in the various emergencies
which
befell
them, they possess in themselves a unity
of the highest kind.
All tend in the same direction,
only as they advance they grow more
more
distinct,
which went
up the
definite;
constantly
clear,
before, but never contradicting it
outline,
but never going beyond
mencing with the general promise of a
who
it
filling
:
;
com-
deliverer,
should be emphatically the woman's seed, but
gradually, as time
His
more
adding to that
office,
went
on, revealing
the family of which
He
His nature and
should spring, the
town where He should be born, the time of His advent, the manner of His teaching, the nature of nis doctrines, His rejection by the Jews, 1 1 is passion, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His glory, and the founding of His Church. And what, in
INTRODUCTION.
answer
sum
to this full
XI
of prophecy,
tially true, that several of these
the
is
also the
own
of his
own
thought of his glory
That David
Solomon
troubles,
The prophets themselves,
?
par-
prophecies had also
a passing reference to some other event ?
had
fact,
pro-
bably, did not understand the full purport of their
They knew
words.
promise made to their
of the
and the coming of the Messiah was a certainty
nation,
deeply impressed upon their minds
;
—
for it
would be
absurd to doubt that in the schools of the prophets
they were trained from their youth to the constant study of their holy books, and that each additional declaration of their seers
No
earnest meditation.
he
was the subject of deep and less St.
Peter
tells us,
and search diligently
says, that they did enquire
into the
meaning of that which the Holy
was
them did
in
to the
signify,
where
Spirit
especially with
time when Christ should
which
reference
and the glory
surfer,
But though the mission of their and the promises made to it, were ever present
that should follow. nation,
in their memories,
prophet was
still
summoned
it
is
probable that as each
to his office
upon the pressure
ever of some present emergency, he was not conscious at the time of the extent to
have a higher application. borne along by an
which
He
irresistible
his
words might
felt himself,
influence,
indeed,
and was
conscious that what he spake came from God-;
subsequently, as he recalled his words to
and
mind, he
must have known that much that he had spoken referred really to the Messiah's advent
he would altogether have been unable
;
but probably to distinguish
INTRODUCTION.
Xll
between what was temporary and what eternal, or to tell what mysteries of redemption lay concealed under the veil of allusions to contemporaneous events.
was with them
It
When
of Christ.
went unresisting
Isaac
he did not himself
fice,
was shadowing
who were
as with others
forth.
types
to the sacri-
know
the mystery which he
When
the ministering priests
led the victim to the altar, but few probably
saw in
the rites of their temple service the indications of
But w hen we 7
better things.
ment
of type and prophecy with the Gospel dispen-
sation,
when we read
the undoubting appeals of our
Lord and His Apostles to
Moses in the law
how
find the close agree-
full
and
to the prophetic books,
as testifying of
the Old Testament
is
Him, and perceive
of passages
and things
which naturally and of themselves suggest Christ to us,
so
we may
well be content to rest our faith upon
broad a foundation, even though
for controversial
minds
may
force of individual passages
For though the
be weakened,
the great fact remains unaccounted is
For surely, so wonderful !
for,
still
that through-
a general assent and subservience of the
Old Testament
tained to
be possible
to suggest specious objections
against special prophecies in detail.
out there
it
to the doctrines of the
if
the hand of
God had
New. not been there,
an agreement could not have been
Among
so
many
at-
authors, with such va-
rious purposes before them, and under such vast dif-
ferences of outward circumstance and mental develop-
ment, there must have occurred, but for the Spirit's presence, irreconcilable contradictions.
Some
able
man
xin
INTRODUCTION.
would have arisen national literature.
to
stamp a new impress upon the
The
erratic
hand
of genius
have snapped the thread of ancient founded new schools and modes
would and
tradition,
of thought.
Their
views of the promised deliverer at one period would
have been in direct antagonism with those
at
Statements would have been made so
other.
totally-
opposite that one side or other must have been
Human
an-
false.
passions would have stained the portraiture of
Messiah's person, and selfish purposes have debased the representation of His kingdom.
men
Even
individual
are often at variance with themselves, and give
utterance at different times to views strangely inconsistent with one another.
But there
variance in the
words of prophecy.
works of God,
has
but it
also,
like
declares its
it
all
its
all
the
try our faith
its difficulties, to
His works, in
no such
is
Like
broad outlines
Almighty author, and proclaims His
goodness and His glory.
Ear
different
would be
its
character were
to bring forward passages of
it
possible
Holy Writ which took
a different and irreconcilable view of the Messiah's office
from that contained in the rest of Scripture
or if there
were predictions referring
advent plainly unfulfilled dictions contrary to
what
;
to
His
first
or worse than this, pre-
really happened.
Did even
any prophet describe Messiah's attributes in a
dif-
ferent spirit from the rest, taking a different view
of man's needs, if
we had
and
to
to
and of God's purposes of mercy;
balance between opposing prophecies,
weigh counter-statements, and could not em-
INTRODUCTION.
XIV
brace them
each finds
in one
all
its
harmonious whole, wherein
natural and proper place; were aught
would the evidence
of this the case, then no longer
what
of the Old Testament be
sure voice
which
The Jewish
declaring
they might
Scriptures still
be, as
" the more
is,
upon the Mount of
Peter heard
St.
Transfiguration,
now
more sure even than the
of prophecy,"
word
it
might
many
Sonship.
eternal
Christ's still
have a value
think they merely
an interesting national literature, of
much
are,
historical
worth, as shewing what preceded Christianity
;
they would no longer
satis-
offer to
our reasons a
but
factory proof of Christianity being a revelation from
God, with claims therefore upon our obedience, and authority to declare to us the truths upon which our eternal state depends.
As
the Old Testament gradually prepares for
it is,
and leads on unto the Christian dispensation without Christianity
it
becomes
other religions,
it
does not claim to be
Its central
pectation,
which
of
it is
truth
which
it
is
while diffi-
For, unlike
final,
looks onwards to the coming of something fect.
of
itself full
culties incapable of a satisfactory solution.
;
but ever
more per-
a promise, a hope, an ex-
seeks the
ever disappointed.
chapter of the Gospels that
we
It
fulfilment, is
not
till
and in the
first
read the words, "All
was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet." Till then, whatever form the records of the Jewish people took,
this
their laws, their histories, their lyric odes, their pro-
phecies
;
whatever circumstances called their writers
XV
INTRODUCTION. equally in the hour of triumph
forth,
darkness of calamity,
they turned, and
it
was
all alike in
still
and
the
in
to the future that
every age were animated
with the same firm conviction of the coming of a
Hope was
Saviour. it
were the
ever their guiding
mother bending over her new-born
first
had gotten
to
who dwelt
in vision
be her lord
only then to cease of the
come
man whom
and calling him her Cain, the
child,
;
upon Judah's
when
she
or the dying patriarch,
;
destined
glory,
the Shiloh, the great scion
whose the sceptre
race,
whether
star,
or their legislator,
really was,
who bade them
should
in his last
discourse look for the appearance of another prophet like
unto himself
:
ever, in all cases, it
which was their comfort and last utterance of
shall
was a promise even to the
their joy,
prophecy, " The Lord
whom
suddenly come to His temple."
ligion of the
It
ye seek
was a
re-
the present types
future, having for
only and enigmas, veiled meanings and symbolic acts
but far away in the dim distance This heritage Judaism bright pictures
prophets
it
itself
had
it
of national glory set
has never seen
fulfilled.
but a preparatory religion, educating perfect state of things.
complish
its
earth, for it it
In
itself it
mission of blessing
had
in
it
its
heritage.
never attained to
all
forth
Plainly
men
;
the
by the it
for a
was more
could never ac-
the nations of the
no completeness, no perfection
did but point onwards, and wait for the coming
of a better hope.
And
then would the veil be raised,
and the secret lessons and hidden meanings of The words of rites and ceremonies be disclosed.
its its
INTRODUCTION.
xv i
prophets would gain their true
significance
their
;
temple worship and solemn sacrifices would be seen in their real meaning as types of the Saviour of man-
kind
and what had been before but a
*
and a
partial manifestation of
God's
will,
local religion
would become
the religion of the world, destined in God's time to gather unto
nations and tongues, and to diffuse
it all
everywhere the pure light of Christian truth. In every way Judaism carried in
marks
its
very bosom the
For being purely
of its temporary character.
could only exist under certain political cir-
local, it
cumstances, which nothing but a special providence Its enactments all suppose a limited
could maintain. territory,
an agricultural population, great equality in
social condition,
and an absence of intercourse, whether
commercial or otherwise, with alien nations a community was
:
but such
under
sure, sooner or later, to fall
the dominion of the great empires in whose very path-
way
was
it
set, or to
degenerate into an exhausted
and motionless stagnation. element
of. life
in
it
—one
There was, indeed, one
alone
—which kept
it
from
sinking into the fixity of type which otherwise must
have been the inevitable
lot of a
and that element was prophecy. implies two evils, future
— one
struction.
As
But prophecy
itself
of the past, and one of the
of the past, insufficiency
:
people so situated
;
of the future, de-
regards the past, the existence of the
prophet implies that the amount of truth hitherto
given
is
insufficient
it
not incomplete merely,
—
for all
man must be incomplete, since necesmust be limited by the powers of the re-
truth given to sarily
;
INTRODUCTION. cipient, is to
—but
For the
insufficient.
xvii office of the
prophet
develope and unfold that which the earlier reve-
lation
had not declared with
man's
necessities.
clearness for
sufficient
Thus, for example, the faint indi-
and
cations in the law of the immortality of the soul,
of a future state of rewards and punishments, were
gradually developed into the more fixed and definite
But such a change
doctrines of the prophetic books.
in doctrines of such vital importance
could not but
What had
lead to a dangerous confusion of ideas.
reference in the law of Moses to temporal sanctions
would naturally be interpreted deeper knowledge of the time.
in accordance with the
Accordingly,
that the declaration contained in the fourth
ment, that God children,
visits the sins of the fathers
— an undeniable
we
upon the
fact as regards the general
course of His moral government of the world, applied its
by the people to
judged.
And
:
and therefore Ezekiel was
reveal in God's
more exact account
of the
name
a truer and
law whereby men
as the existence of the prophet
authority, that
is,
—was
to the guilt of sin instead of
temporal consequences
commissioned
find
command-
who speaks
in
will
— a living
God's name
plied insufficiency in the past, so did
it
be
—im-
imply de-
For such an institution could
struction in the future.
belong only to a temporary and preparatory religion.
When is
full,
the measure of truth according to man's needs
when, in other words, revelation has reached
that stage at which
God
has given whatever
sary for man's salvation,
is
neces-
then the living authority,
with power to develope and to decree, must pass away.
b
INTRODUCTION.
XV111
For the business of a living infallible authority is not to remove difficulties, but to render the means of salvation
For the removal
sufficient.
of
difficulties
would render impossible the great purpose,
we
can understand
namely,
Faith by
of the present state of things,
it,
Without
man's probation. be
faith could not
therefore
as far as
and
tried,
and which
had never overcome, would be no its
very nature presupposes
the moral nature of faith
—
faith.
difficulties
;
for
virtue, so to speak
its
consists in the very fact that
our
difficulties
a faith untried,
it is
associated with an
refuse to allow
mere
intellectual doubts to interfere with the spiritual
wants
effort of
we
the will, whereby
we now must choose, between belief and unbelief; but that we have to make this choice, and that in making it we have to of the soul.
Had we
should
perfect knowledge,
escape from the necessity of choosing, as we
and overcome
face
For of
it is
difficulties,
need surprise no one.
but another form of a necessity the existence
which we
all
acknowledge, that, namely, of choos-
ing between good and
evil.
choice resolves itself into
And
in
most cases the
the same one
effort.
chooses moral good by choosing religion.
a virtuous
life,
Man
To choose
apart from the motives, and influences,
and hopes of the Christian covenant, may be the act of a philosopher; rare occurrence,
wisdom
to
seek
but, happily,
and
to
first
ordinary
the
such persons are of
men
kingdom
it is
of
the truest
God and His
righteousness, in the certain conviction that
He
will
enable His people to live to His glory, and to their
own
present peace and future happiness.
INTRODUCTION.
xix
It follows, therefore, that the existence of a living
only under a temporary
infallible authority is possible
As long
state of things.
sum
as the
of revealed truth
the wants of the soul in
is insufficient for
probation, so long the prophet
is
needed
of
its state
to explain
and unfold from time
to time truths as yet but par-
And
with each increase of knowledge
tially declared.
there was a corresponding progress in the minds of
the better portion of God's people of old, and the need
was
felt of
more truth and greater illumination
and
;
so fresh stages were reached, and withal there was the
more eager and vehement longing is
the Desire of
all nations,
for
His advent who
and who, as we believe,
has given to mankind sufficient knowledge and motives powerful
enough
supply
all their
needs in this
Ilis dispensation, therefore, will
present world.
no end until the is
to
final
the truth which
He
consummation of
nor
all things,
has revealed capable of increase.
It
may
its
wonderful adaptability to
be better explained and better understood all
to the varying progress of the
times and- states, and
human
intellect,
expect no
fresh truths, nor can
to that faith
which was once
There
using the
gift,
may be but the
may
we can
manifest itself more and more clearly; but
saints.
have
any addition be made
for all delivered
unto the
way
a difference in our
gift is in itself sufficient,
of
and
will remain unchanged.
These considerations
may
possibly
also
enable us to understand the nature of what
b2
serve is
to
termed
XX
INTRODUCTION.
We
the double sense of prophecy.
have seen that
the mission of the prophet was to unfold and explain
way of God's dealings with mankind, ever adding the sum and clearness of that which went before,
the to
but generally doing so in an unmethodical manner,
above,
passage referred to
like Ezekicl in the
and seldom,
directly
new
revealing
truths,
but content
rather with practical exhortations and warnings fitted for the
emergency which had summoned him
dertake his
office.
We
lation.
Now
un-
have further seen that the
Jewish dispensation was in
and a preparation only
to
its
very nature temporary,
for a
and
better
final
reve-
such a dispensation must more or less
foreshew the nature of that state of things to which it
was
itself subservient.
If the Jewish covenant
was
intended to prepare for and lead on unto the Christian, its traits
sential agree
and lineaments must
with that which was
in everything es-
own
its
perfection.
The people of God could not have been educated and fitted by Judaism for Christianity unless there existed between the two.
a close relation and resemblance
Whatever
in the law
was
for a
mere temporary pur-
pose would of course perish with the using, but in
main outlines
it
prefigured the Gospel, and therefore
would simply be developed and merged perfect form of the
he puts away
all
its
latter,
—
childish things,
finds his perfection in, the
into the
just as the child,
man.
more
though
really one with,
is
And
this is
and
what we
mean when we speak
of the Jewish as being a type of
the Christian Church,
— that there
is
a certain parity
and resemblance between the two, arising from their
XXI
INTRODUCTION.
being in their inner essence the one revelation of
man
God's will to
in the several stages of its up-
In the Christian Church we have the per-
growth.
fection of that
which previously was in a
gress, starting
with the prediction given to the
and culminating in the teaching of
state of pro-
woman
Isaiah, but still
incomplete and a promise only until Messiah came.
Now in
whatever belonged
its state of
belonged to
to the
Jewish Church merely
growth, exists no longer inner essence
its real
:
remains, only
In the preparatory
perfected and completed in Christ.
stage prophecy was a necessity
but whatever
;
still
there was to be an
advance in truth, and the authoritative revelation of this
growing truth was prophecy.
It
did actually exist in more
isted in various
ways
ways than one
for the typical act,
by
ferred to
:
;
it
St. Paul, virtually
such as those re-
was a prophecy
symbolical ritual was a prophecy isted in a race of
might have ex-
;
but chiefly
men commissioned
;
it
the ex-
speak from
to
Men may and
time to time in the name of Jehovah.
do find fault with the manner in which prophecy actually existed
But
so
:
they would have arranged
it
would they have created the world
and improved upon
all
God's works,
the power been confided to
them
man
full
For the mind hend God, nor understand the reason
judgment.
and
this,
tery
when .Moses would have
perhaps,
is
is,
had
such as they
of their ignorance, their narrow faculties, of
differently,
— that
still
and they had remained in
are now,
differently.
possession
and limited
cannot compre-
the lesson taught us
seen God.
of
His
acts
:
by the mysIt is
but as
INTRODUCTION.
XX11
from a
cleft in a
rock that
man
can see his Maker,
and even there God covers him with His hand, so Man canthat at most he sees but His hinder parts. view God's dealings from the front; he cannot understand the causes of His acts; to do at most he can unso he must exist as a pure spirit not, therefore,
;
derstand only facts, and with these alone he
Now God
petent to deal.
is
com-
apparently so ordered
it
that the prophets existed chiefly for the use of the
Jewish Church.
Many
of
them did
entirely so exist,
for of twelve prophets mentioned in the Scriptures as
living between the times of
Solomon and those of
Uzziah, not one has left any prophecy on record, al-
though among them was Elijah, the very representative of the prophetic race.
But while
seemed thus bounded by the
necessities of the
Church,
—
necessities occasioned
of the revelation hitherto given
who
prophets
their mission
by the it,
Jewish
insufficiency
— there were
other
had also the further office of setting
forth the chief facts
and doctrines of the Messiah's
They probably did not themselves fully understand all they said. They knew, of course,
kingdom.
when they appealed
to the promise of a
Messiah as
the surest guarantee of Israel's safety, what was the
primary import of their words, but they probably did not
know with how
fraught,
full a
and that they
moaning those words were
would combine
into so exact
a representation of the Saviour, that His Apostles in
times to come would appeal to their writings as offer-
ing the most convincing proof that Jesus of Nazareth
was the
Christ, the Messiah,
and the Christian Church
INTRODUCTION. in all ages rely
xxui
as " the
upon them
more sure word
of prophecy."
But even these words had to
often a passing reference
some event in Jewish history
for, as
we have
just shewn, the
figured the Church now. essential resemblance
and naturally
:
so,
Church of old pre-
There was a necessary and
between them which made
it
not unsuitable that what primarily was spoken of the
And
one should also travel onwards to the other.
besides, the mission of the prophet was, in the main, to his contemporaries
law of the
Spirit's
;
and
seems ever to be the
it
much
operations, as
in
His ex-
traordinary inspiration of the prophets of old, and of the Evangelists and writers of the New Testament,
His ordinary guidance of men now, to interfere little as possible with the free agency of the indi-
as in as
vidual.
The law seems the same
as that
whereby
God's providence directs His people. They cannot see His hand, but must judge and act for themselves, and yet
when they
look back, they can see
led them, and shaped their course as
welfare of their souls.
guided by the
Spirit's
how He has
was best
for the
Similarly the prophets were
and that influence them to know and feel
influence,
was powerful enough for that what they spoke was not often
their own, but
His
just as the Apostles also often claim to speak as. from And yet the influence was not such as to the Lord. ;
interfere
with their
prophets alone of
free-will
men would
'
for
had
it
done
so,
the
not have had a proba-
and therefore would have been capable neither of reward nor of punishment. We find, however, that
tion,
INTRODUCTION.
xxiv
the interference with them was the very least possible.
Like Jonah, they might try
from bearing
to escape
the message, and repine because
it
brought them no
Like Balaam, they might endeavour to make
honour.
means of advancing
their worldly for-
God's
gifts the
tunes,
and bring upon themselves condemnation.
the
man
of
God from Judah, they might
bring upon themselves death.
And
own
amount
style,
of
think
He
all
and
are left in
:
The Holy Ghost
knowledge and experience.
did not teach
disobey,
own natural gifts they have each their own way of thinking, their own
possession of their their
Like
them
ought.
many
scientific truths, as
Had He
have been instructed in
done all
so,
absurdly
they should equally
the various branches of
knowledge in which human progress
chiefly consists,
known imperknown thousands of years
only not as these truths are at present
but as they will be
fectly,
hence, should the world last so long
:
with the unfor-
tunate result that the Bible therefore
would have
been unintelligible as long as knowledge was imperfect
and in progress only, and consequently
men
at
all
made man
times.
bation, required that
power
creation,
and subjected him
which
to a pro-
even inspiration should not over-
his will, nor interfere with the conditions of his
being ; for
it is
an impossibility for one law of God to
contradict another, to
But the law of
a free agent,
to all
or for one part of
be at variance with the
His dealings
rest.
The prophets then spoke and acted in accordance with their own individual characters and knowledge, and that of the times in which they
lived.
Their
INTRODUCTION.
XXV
words, also, were addressed to their •contemporaries,
and were generally occasioned by some present event. Bnt with all this the wonder is, that so frequently it is
impossible to explain their words of any occurrence
They
in Jewish history.
often start with an allusion
to
something at the time, but seem entirely to forget
it,
and leave
it
Even
behind as they proceed.
in the
seventh chapter of Isaiah, where everything seems to require that the prophecy should in
its
primary appli-
some contemporaneous fact, it is marvellous how impossible it is to do so, and how inextricable is the mesh of difficulties in which men cation be confined to
involve themselves in the attempt to find any other satisfactory interpretation than that
the Messiah.
So, also,
modern commentators
when one
to discover
which
refers it to
reads the efforts of
some person
whom
to
they can apply the ninth and fifty-third chapters of the same prophet;
when one
observes the constant
changing and shifting of the argument, how one person must do service here, and another there, in the parts of the same prophecy; with what ingenuity little
points are
facts
of
moment
made are
to bear a
heavy
dismissed with
strain,
while
contemptuous
with what confidence the most dubious facts of profane history, and the most groundless traditions, are treated as certain verities, while the narrative of silence
;
the Bible are forced
is
dismissed as inaccurate,
upon one's
at the conclusion, not
—
as these things
attention, one gradually arrives
merely that the
Word
of
God
has nothing to fear from such an ordeal, but that this
double sense of prophecy
is
something much
less
than
INTRODUCTION.
XXvi
people generally imagine. this, that
It is scarcely
more than
the occasion of the prophecy was given
by
some contemporaneous event, which event was speedily forgotten, and had no farther influence upon the prophet's words.
Very many
of the prophecies do not belong to the
Messiah, but have reference solely to the temporal fortunes of the Jewish people, and the nations round
and their use now
is
confined to illustrating the great
laws of morality and providence, while they also prove the reality of prophecy
by the agreement of the preOf these, however, I
dictions with recorded facts.
am
not
now
speaking, but of such as belong to Christ
]Sow some of these have a twofold
and His Church.
application, for they belong first of all to the
Jewish
Church, but in fuller measure to the Christian.
And
among them some apparently apply to the Jewish nation, we must remember that to the minds of the if
prophets the nation was identical with the Church. It
ought to have been so
:
the very idea of the theo-
cracy was the complete identification of Church and State,
and the prophets often regard the nation in
ideal rather than in its real character. also prophecies
which
refer simply to our Lord,
which no straightforward wise
;
or, at all
its
But there arc and
criticism can interpret other-
events, the balance of evidence
is
so
entirely in favour of their Messianic interpretation
that any other interpretation can only serve to en-
tangle
the
expositor in a labyrinth
There arc many of (he
of difficulties.
difficulties for all in the exposition
Old Testament, many hard questions which
XXVU
INTRODUCTION.
may
serve to exercise our patience and try our faith
but the hardest of
I believe,
all tasks,
would be
to read
and not find there a sufficient preparation for and
it,
proof of the Gospel dispensation,
Now
these considerations upon the general nature
of the proof to be deduced from prophecy in favour of
Christianity
must be borne
in
mind
of each particular prophecy; for
in the examination it
not upon the
is
argument
particular prophecy that the Christian
is
staked, but upon the agreement and convergency of all
prophecy, and the manner in which
statements
doubt
all
many
of the prophecies
had a
slight
schoolmaster to bring
fit
them
Jew
men
first
law,
and passing
Church was
we
read,
unto Christ;"
it
was was
and then of the Gentile,
for receiving the Gospel;
therefore, local
and naturally,
and temporary occurrences were made
by the providence
men
The
type of the Christian.
an education of the to
No
some contemporaneous event, but even
reference to
"a
isolated
their completion in Christ.
find
that was possible only because the Jewish itself a
its
of
God
in eternal truths;
the means of instructing
and prophecies, which took
their origin in events immediately about to happen,
hurried irresistibly onward of Messiah's reign.
till
So was
they reached the glories it
with our Lord.
An
apparently casual remark in praise of the buildings of the temple led
spake of the
Him
Soman
to foretell their ruin
;
but as
He
armies encircling Jerusalem, His
words soon gathered a deeper meaning, and passed onwards
to the
dread visitations at
all
times of God's
INTRODUCTION.
XXViii
and
justice,
and greatest manifesta-
chiefly to its last
And
tion at the final day of account. Isaiah's prophecy of the
Immanuel.
so
From
unworthy occupant
servation of Ahaz, the
was
with
the pre-
of David's
and the overthrow of Judah's enemies, in
throne,
a time so short that a child then to be born as yet too evil,
it
young
would be
distinguish between good and
to
the Spirit's influence so controlled his words that
they passed on to the Virgin's Child, the Immanuel
who him
is
God and Man
all
and
;
finally,
leaving far behind
thought of the impending danger, he told of
the light that should shine in Zebulon and Naphthali,
which were no parts of Ahaz's kingdom, and of " the Son, on
name
whose shoulder
is
the government, and whose
"Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the
is
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
If
it is
phecy
itself,
prophet's
mind the nature
necessary to bear in equally so
is it to
understand rightly the
As we have
office.
of pro-
already seen, he was
the living infallible authority, rendered necessary in the Jewish dispensation
by the
insufficiency of the
and therefore his business lay
light already given,
rather with the present than with the future, and
not so
much
to
foretell
as
a diviner, whose profession
teach.
to
it
was
He was
was not
to search out future
events, but one commissioned to speak authoritatively in another's name.
man
*He was the
7rpo(prjTrj9,
the spokes-
of another, another's mouthpiece; just as
was the prophet of Moses'; and a
Exod.
vii.
1.
Aaron
in his highest dig-
INTRODUCTION. nity he was one It
who spoke
xxix
for God,
God's spokesman.
simply a mistake to regard prediction as syno-
is
nymous with prophecy,
or even as the chief portion
of the prophet's duties.
Whether the language be
Hebrew, or Greek, prophecy
and not
influence,
who
or Latin, the ancient
all refer to
words
for
a state of mind, an emotion, an
The prophet
to prescience.
is
one
taken out of himself and carried away by an
is
influence from another, although not deprived of the
power of
resisting this influence
did not cease
b .
His
free
agency
prophets could and did refuse obedience
;
but when once they had surrendered themselves to the Spirit, their words ceased to be their
own
c ,
nor
did they necessarily understand their purport.
Hebrew
the verb "to prophesy"
active conjugation: of the
is
In
never used in any
numerous modes used by
that language to express the conditions of the verb,
it
word in question, the simple the sense of "to prophesy," and the re-
applies two only to the passive, in
flective passive, in the sense of " to act the prophet,"
" to behave like a prophet d passive conjugations solely,
was controlled by another
;
;" it
and by the use of these shews that the prophet
that he spake not his
own
words, but was the bearer of a message, the authority of which depended not
him
in
upon the speaker, but upon Similarly in Greek the
whose name he spake. (
prophet's proper designation
nected with
mence b
fiaivo/uLai,
of the impulse
1 Cor. xiv. 32.
c
is
word con-
fxavrig, a
and descriptive of the vehe-
which urged him
!Nurnb. xxii. 38.
d 1
to give his
Sam.
xyiii. 10.
INTRODUCTION.
XXX
So in Latin,
utterance.
a passive verb, vaticinor,
it is
of
which Cicero says
is
the same thing as to be beside oneself
very term
vaticinari et insanirc, to
Saul,
"An
evil spirit
">artt»Nj
this
came
and he prophesied," or rather, "behaved It means,
a prophet in the house."
mad,"
and by
the Chaldee paraphrast explains
insanivit,
the passage in 1 Sam. xviii. 10,
upon
:
prophesy
and his
acts
he says, "he was
resembled those of
who had surrendered themselves
like
to
men
the prophetic
impulse.
Yet probably
was but seldom that
it
came upon the true prophet.
this fervour
was possibly more
It
by pretenders to prophecy, than really felt by the true seer. The contemptuous language of the common peoj)le, which confounded profrequently paraded
phecy and madness, though with
us, for
madness
is
less
contemptuous than
viewed with a
sort of respect
in the East, yet leads us to suspect that there were
many, half deceivers half
self-deceived, who, like the
dervishes now, indulged in violent gesticulations and
grotesque bodily contortions, until they had worked
themselves into a temporary frenzy, during which
they gave utterance to unconnected words, which the superstition of the people regarded as prophetic,
which from their very vagueness were
and
easily capable
of being dragged into agreement with future events.
In the true prophet there seems to have been this.
We
find
Balaam indeed
but his eyes were open.
"What it
did this
mad
The
little
of
falling into a trance,
captains said unto Jehu,
fellow
say unto thee?"
was probably the abruptness of
but
his entry, his curt
INTRODUCTION. sharp words, his sudden
We
find the
acts,
which
flight,
xxxi
which
them.
our cold Northern manners seem strange,
to
but in their general bearing there
Elijah
the people
gathers
usually great
is
When Nathan
calmness and dignity.
when
startled
prophets often performing symbolical
to
rebukes David, Carmel,
when
Isaiah foretells the destruction of the Assyrian host,
when Jeremiah
writes his warnings in a roll for the
self-willed king, all is majesty,
of
and the noble repose
minds supported by the divine strength.
was often fervour
less there
them at the terrific import came from God often in ;
;
Doubt-
their hearts burnt within
of
words which they knew
their visions, like St. Paul,
they could not have told whether they were in the
body
or out of the body,
natural eyes, or the
whether they saw with their
mind
aloue,
endued with new
powers, held converse with the things of a higher
world
:
but we find no instances of the prophet losing
his free agency, and, degraded beneath the dignity of
man, becoming the mere instrument' of a compulsion
They claim in their writings a but we find nothing of the fury
from without.
divine
authority,
of the
Pythoness and the rage of the Sibyl.
These are
the marks of the false prophet; the notes of God's
works are majesty and repose.
The main of morality
office of
and
the prophet was to be a teacher
religion.
The motives and
of the Jewish law were not
hearts of
men
to a holy
of the prophets of the law, but
were
life,
sufficient to
sanctions
bend the
and therefore the schools
instituted, not
by any enactment
by some prophet probably,
or course
xxxn
INTRODUCTION.
of prophets, for the training of those
who
them-
felt
Among men with higher powers, God rested in an extraordi-
selves called to be preachers of righteousness.
them from time to time rose and on
whom
nary manner
the Spirit of
but often centuries passed by without
:
any one of them claiming
to
be inspired of Jehovah, or
being reputed by the people as such.
many
And
times
when
reign,
and such as was that wonderful
who
there were
them also
prophets, as in David's series of
men
time struggled with the growing
for so long a
idolatry of the
then came
kingdom
of the ten tribes,
a final opportunity of repentance.
and gave
There were
then numerous pretenders to prophecy, but
seems
to
have been no
them from the true predicted victory to
difficult
it
matter to distinguish
when four hundred prophets Ahab and Jehoshaphat, the latter
;
for
plainly put no faith in their words, but enquired
whe-
ther there were not one prophet of Jehovah besides.
Even
the idolatrous
Ahab acknowledged
in Micaiah,
the son of Imlah, something higher than in his
loud-tongued seers
;
own
and though the prediction of his
death did not prevent him from entering the battle, yet he sought to escape what he probably inevitable
by
a disguise.
But
it
felt
was
was only during the
rapid decline of Judah that written prophecy became frequent.
The prophets seem from the
first to
have
kept records of the lives of the kings, and the habits of authorship thus acquired
ruling providence of
God
were used by the over-
to prepare the people for the
substitution of Christ's spiritual reign in the place of
that temporal
kingdom which was
fast fading
away.
XXXU1
INTRODUCTION.
the full outline of Messiah's advent had
And when
been given, and the people restored to their land after the Babylonian exile, prophecy became silent.
Enough
for the present
wants of the people had been
bestowed, and the provision for reading the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms in their synagogues on the
Sabbath-day kept ever before their eyes the moral Their idolatrous ten-
lessons of their former seers.
God had become
dencies had ceased: their faith in
So
firm and unwavering.
far
prophets had accomplished their moral teaching
the teaching of the
its
But with
purpose.
had ever been combined another
where the teaching had been only moral it Nathan and Gad, Ahijah and had passed away. Shemaiah, Elijah and Elisha, appear only in the element
records
;
of Jewish
who had truths
remain.
history;
the further
office
of the Christian
but there were others great
of declaring the
covenant, and their works
They may have
thought
of
chiefly
the
earthly Jerusalem, but their words belonged to the
Christian Church. of present needs, eternal purposes
of old,
we
;
that
feel
literature that
They may have thought chiefly but God was using them for His and when we read the Prophets
we
it
is
not
are studying,
an extinct national
we
things that belong merely to the past still
speaks to us
oracles, the
sess
ence;
;
\6yia
still
;
they are the lively, the £a>i>Ta,
an authority over they
among God by them
are not
tell
of truth. us,
still
still
They claim
us of our dangers,
still
our
pos-
obedi-
and of our
safety; of our sins, and of the atonement c
living
wrought
INTRODUCTION.
xxxiv
them; of our alienation from God, and of Him who is the Immanuel, the God-man, God of God, and yet very man, that He might be the Mediator,
for
and heal the breach
who could
reconcile us to God,
which
had made between the Creator and the
sin
creature.
ERRATUM. Page 179,
line 1,
for Hurie!, read HusieL
CONTENTS. SERMON L— Isaiah
vii.
i
4
.
SERMON Isaiah
vii.
I.'
14.
" Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a call
f\F
son,
and shall
His name Immanuel."
the prophecies of Isaiah none has excited greater attention,
more frequently been the chosen
or
than that contained
battle-field of hostile criticism,
in the seventh, eighth, and
And
ninth chapters.
first
seven verses of the
naturally so
;
for
it
contains
in itself all the most remarkable features of Jewish
prophecy,
—
its
strength, and also
to be its weakness.
It
was spoken upon the occasion
of an urgent impending danger
and primary bearings events
:
by the forward by the deny that it
it
;
in its general aspect
seems to refer to present
it
and nevertheless,
affirmed
what many consider
its
Messianic character
is
Apostles, and ever prominently put
Even
Christian Church.
those
who
refers to Christ, nevertheless assert that
has moulded Christian doctrine
;
and that when we
profess our belief in the great article of the Apostles'
Creed, that the Saviour was born of the Virgin Mary,
we
are affirming a tenet
which owes
its
existence to
a mistaken application of the words of the text \ a Preached upon the occasion of the annual sermon upon the Jewish Interpretation of Prophecy. b Gesenius, Einleitung zum Com. uber Jes., p. 40.
B
SERMON
2,
I.
no slight matter
It is evident, therefore, that
stake
for if the virgin's child is a son of
;
a son of Isaiah,
—
if
the child
Hezekiah, or Mahershalal,
who
is
is
at
Ahaz, or
given unto us
—what the Church
is
loses is
not merely the confirmation of prophecy to the Mes-
but the doctrines connected with His
siah's advent,
But
being the Virgin-born.
these are no less than
His immaculate conception, and the sinlessness of His
human human
And
nature.
as the absolute purity of the
nature was essential to
Lord ceases
vine; our
to
its
union with the
di-
be the one Mediator between
God and man, and becomes man only a great, and wise, but merely human prophet. He is an Immanuel, not as being Himself God and man, inseparably united in one person, but only as being one by whom God has helped man; an Immanuel only in an inferior ;
sense, as a sign of God's providential presence
His people.
It is the
the fifty-third
chapter.
with
same in the interpretation of If Jeremiah
is
the object
there of the affectionate threnody of his follower Baruch,
we
not simply the testimony of prophecy that but the doctrine of the Atonement. In no
it is
lose,
part of the pitiation
more
New
made
Testament
for sin
is
by the
the nature of the prosacrifice
on the cross
clearly stated than in Isaiah's
words and if it be proved that that chapter does not refer to our Lord, and that the Apostles were mistaken in apply-
Him, the
ing
it
the
earliest ages
to
belief of all Christian
to the present
;
men from
day in the
efficacy
of our Saviour's death ceases to have a foundation.
The Christian
Scriptures are
convicted of error in
EXAMINATION OF THE PROPHECIES NECESSARY. their
tian
God
most
vital point
Church cease to
man.
lievers in
With
it
so
to
;
and both the Jewish and Chris-
be the bearers of a message from
Kevelation
is
but a mistake, and be-
are the victims of a baseless superstition.
much
at issue, it is essential that these
No man
can
upon doctrines which
will
questions should be fully examined. afford to stake his faith
not admit of the fullest enquiry. side
we
3
And when
on every
who
hear the confident assertions of those
consider that modern criticism has proved the weakness of the foundations upon which their faith for eighteen centuries,
sary to examine these questions
were
it
men have
becomes neces-
it
anew
for ourselves
only because repeated assertion
is
fluence our belief to a certain extent until
examine what proof quiry should be scrupulousness. serious thing
;
it
has to
offer.
made on both
built
sure to in-
we
carefully
But such an en-
sides
with care and
To tamper with men's belief is a and between the unbinding of the old
fastenings and the tying of the new, the faith of a
whole generation
may be
rudely shaken,
if
the dis-
putants are more eager to unloose than to bind, to destroy than to build up.
and with
final convictions let
care,
and only
after
Whatever are men's true them honestly express, but an earnest and conscientious
examination into the reasons of their
belief, lest
they
be found, not the planters of truth, but the subverters of other men's faith.
For here, perhaps, there
is
an error in our current
views against which we ought
to guard.
In our
dis-
putes with Borne, owing to the necessity of protect-
b2
SEEMON
4
I.
ing our position, our theologians have been apt to
speak chiefly of the "right" of private judgment;
and those who have taken less controversial ground have described it as a " duty." Truly it is neither one nor the other, but a necessity Eaise a
man by
of thought,
and
choose.
education to but the slightest degree
and he begins
to judge,
but necessarily.
foolishly,
men must
:
—ignorantly
It
is
often
a part of his
But the choice is like that which every man must make between good and evil to choose is the most momentous duty of life, and of free-will.
heritage
its
consequences,
believe, affect the soul
Just, then, as
nently. so will
we
many men
right to do so
;
many men
choose mental
choose moral
evil.
evil,
They have no they must
not a duty to do so
it is
perma-
;
answer before God, and in a measure before man, for
what they choose
choose wrongly that
men
;
to believe, as well as for
But
they choose to do.
it is
and, in fact,
certain that it is
what
many
will
no more wonderful
arrive at different conclusions than that they
arrive at different standards of morality:
any one endeavours views, he
is
but when
to persuade others to adopt his
incurring a further responsibility; and
nothing but repeated examination, and the firmest conviction of the truth of his conclusions, can justify
any one tianity,
in subverting the
which
if it
no revealed truth
to
bulwarks of that Chris-
be not true, then has God given
man.
Let, then, the prophecies of Isaiah be carefully ex-
amined
:
they are of too great importance, too closely
connected with Christianity, for us to be able to con-
OCCASION OF THE FROPHECY.
with indefinite
ourselves
tent
They
them.
are too
much
5
opinions
concerning
part and parcel of Chris-
tianity for us to hold the one
and give up the
other,
or be indifferent about their right interpretation. to fear the result of the is
are
most stringent examination
acknowledge that the foundations of our
to
already sapped;
whereas
did really speak as they were
Ghost,
we may
And
if
holy
men
of
faith
old
moved by the Holy
feel quite sure that the
more search-
ing the enquiry into their words, the more satisfactory will be the result.
The prophecy, then, from which my text is taken was spoken upon the occasion of the threatened attack upon Jerusalem by the combined forces of Eezin King of Syria, and Pekah King of Israel. Spoken then, but committed to writing long afterwards
:
for it is
more than one occasion the prophecies of Isaiah were delivered extemporaneously, and sub-
plain that on
sequently written
upon the
.
The advance
of the two kings
capital naturally excited great terror there
for already
Pekah, unaided by any
ally,
had defeated
Ahaz, and slain of Judah 120,000 valiant men, and carried 200,000
And
women and
children into captivity.
when, following up his successes, he
and
to Jerusalem,
after a
laid siege
temporary failure formed
a powerful confederacy for her utter ruin, " the heart of the house of
David was moved, and the heart of
his people as the trees of the
the wind."
wood
are
moved with
In this emergency, Isaiah, though c
Cf. Gresenius, Einleitung, p. 35.
still
SER3I0N
6
I.
but a very young man, was commissioned to encourage Aliaz by a series of prophecies, in which, as they were
we
subsequently committed to writing,
three
find
most important statements concerning our Lord that
first,
He
Immanuel;
name
:
the
was to be the Yirgin-born, and His and
Zebulon
that
second,
the
Naphthali should be the chief seat of His earthly sojourn to
;
and
He
lastly, that
His
claims, as
attributes,
be Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Common
sense requires that a series of connected
prophecies should be taken together their true explanation,
;
for
whatever
is
must be equally applicable
it
But we believe that none but the
to all parts alike.
Christian interpretation does adequately represent their
combined meaning ages,
who were
;
the
while to the Jews of the middle first
objectors to their Messianic
application, they thus occasioned
whom
For they had no one to
Immanuel but they
felt
Isaiah's
son;
no
little difficulty.
they could refer the
and
at the
same time
the impossibility of his being the Child on
whose shoulder
is
the government, and
who
is
the
Prince of Peace, and therefore they applied the latter part of the prophecy to the youthful Hezekiah.
obscured as
is
the unity of this series of
But prophecies by
the division of our version into chapters and verses,
nowhere more unhappy than in the book of Isaiah, it is generally acknowledged by modern commentators and we may therefore regard it as a conceded fact, that these predictions, spoken in rapid succession
the approach
of Pckah's
host,
upon
were subsequently
MEANING OF THE WORD moulded by
Isaiah's
pen
'
ALMAHY
7
into one consistent
whole
and consequently, the true interpretation must embrace every portion of the prophecy.
In the opening prediction the main strength Jewish attack
is
word rendered in u Behold, a virgin shall conceive.''
directed against the
our version virgin '
They cannot deny '
of the
:'
that
its
most natural meaning
rendered
virgin,' or that it is so
irapOevos
is
—by the
Seventy interpreters, in whose work we have the unbiassed views of the Jews upon their Scriptures, com-
mitted to writing while their language was
still
a
living tongue, and before their opposition to Christi-
anity had
made them anxious
of their prophetic books.
made
at a time prior
vision of the
and by twice
Hebrew as many
It
by
is
to
weaken the testimony
a translation, moreover,
several centuries to the di-
text into
its
component words,
centuries anterior to the inven-
by which the down the meaning of the Old
tion of that artificial system of vowels
Masorites have tied
Testament to the traditions of the Jewish schools of Tiberias and Sora.
Septuagint
is
The
authority, therefore, of the
not to be lightly disregarded.
But on
the other hand, as early as the time of Justin Martyr the Jews rejected this
interpretation,
and Trypho
it need mean nothing more than veavis, and affirms that Hezekiah was the young woman,' a Hezekiah being at that time, according child meant
argues that 1
;
to the
From
chronology of the Scriptures, ten years old.
this ground, then, the obvious facts of chronology
at once drove the Jews,
David Kiinchi says, "
and their famous commentator
The young woman may be the
8
SERMON
I.
wife of Ahaz, or she
may be
the wife of Isaiah
but
;
the Immanuel cannot be Hezekiah."
In the
however, written by the Jews with
treatises,
the express purpose of impugning Christianity, the subject
is
entered upon at greater length, and espe-
which they give the vaunting
cially in those to
of Nizzachon, or Victory, regarding
them
as
title
unanswer-
able confutations of the truth of Christianity.
But
as
nowhere so ably given as in
the Jewish argument is Eabbi Isak ben Abraham's " Pillar of the Truth," a wwk justly considered as their most masterly apology for their refusal to accept the Christian faith,
diffused
among them by
and widely
continual reprints, I cannot
do better than confine myself to his statements.
After
an examination then of the word Almah, Eabbi Isak concludes that
it
does not necessarily signify a virgin,
may mean any young woman. And then he asks, What sign would the birth of Jesus be to Ahaz, terri-
but
by the present league between Samaria and Damascus ? What encouragement would it give him to know that five hundred years afterwards a child would fied
be born contrary to the usual course of nature
wanted some present assurance him.
and
this
He
God gave
For, 1st, in the mention of the threescore and
five years,
within which Ephraim should be broken,
Isaiah recalled to the king's
Amos
predictions of
which would
fall
and, 2nd, he gave phetess,
a
;
?
male
i.
mind the well-known 17,
the fulfilment of
in the third year of Ahaz' reign
him a present sign;
Isaiah's wife, child,
5,
vii.
for the pro-
should immediately conceive
who would bear
three
names,
—
for
JEWISH TREATISES AGAINST CHRISTIANITY.
9
the Jews Immanuel, conveying thereby a pledge of
God's constant presence among them
;
for
Samaria
Mahershalal, and for the king of Syria Hashbaz, implying, in both cases, the speedy overthrow of those
As
two powers.
proof of this identification of Isaiah's
son with the Immanuel, he adduces the parallel verses, " Before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings," as following immediately in chap.
upon the mention
vii.
"Before the child father,
my
and
of the
Immanuel
have knowledge
shall
;
and
My
to cry,
mother, the riches of Damascus and
the spoil of Samaria shall be taken
away
before the chap.
king of Assyria," similarly following in
viii.
upon the mention of Mahershalal: thus limiting the whole scope of the prophecy to the narrow bounds of Israel's political fortunes,
and giving no higher import
to the name Immanuel than to that of Shear-Jashub,
Isaiah's other son.
But as already the great Jewish commentator David Kimchi had rejected this interpretation, and shewn that this was too narrow a sense for the terms of the for how, he asks, would Isaiah venture to prophecy,
—
say of his
wings
shall
own fill
son,
" and the stretching out of his
the breadth of thy land,
—Isak endeavours
to
shew that
Immanuel,"
this passage
need mean
no more than that Judoea was the native country of
Immanuel.
He
thinks, moreover, that Isaiah possibly
might not have known
at first
who was
signified
by
the Almah, the destined mother of the child; and thus accounts for the variation of phrase in the eighth
SEKMON
IO
I.
chapter, " I
went unto the prophetess." Still dubious whether the diversity of names may not imply
also
a diversity of persons, he suggests that his mother
him Immanuel, and his father MaherFurther, pressed by the difficulty that there
may have shalal.
called
was nothing wonderful, no
second son, he answers, that every birth
and that
this birth
was
having a
sign, in Isaiah
a miracle,
is
to be connected with the de-
liverance of Jerusalem from the confederate kings
and moreover, the child was not
to be nourished
upon
the ordinary food of infants, but was to eat butter and
honey, whence his early
ev(j)via,
his precocity in re-
jecting evil even in his cradle, and choosing the good.
That
even would be the natural consequence of
this
such unusual diet he infers from the words of Isaiah "
Whom
God
shall
He make
to
teach knowledge
?
understand doctrine?
,
whom shall Them that are and
weaned from the milk, and drawn from the
As
d
breasts."
name Immanuel and human natures
to the Christian assertion, that the
refers to the
union of the divine
in one person, he says, that
Hebrew language use of some
title
in Yeho-shafat, Isaiah, that
that
name
and the
miah
c
form
its
it
the idiom of the
is
proper names by the
of the Godhead, either prefixed, as
'God
judge;' or added on, as in
is
Yesa-yah,
Yirm-yah,
is,
other
is,
to
God
'
'
God
shall save
shall cast
down
Jeremiah,
or with the
of deity, El, as in Samuel, Zuriel, Ezechiel,
like.
So even Jerusalem
is
" Jehovah our righteousness."
d
:'
;'
Isa. xxviii. 9.
*
styled in JereFinally, he ob-
Jor. xxxiii. 16.
SHIFTING OF THE ARGUMENT. the son of
jects, that
Mary never was
I I
called
Immanuel,
but Yeshua, Jesus.
But when he
end of the prophecy,
arrives at the
Babbi Isak changes his ground; the son there
is
Hezekiah, as
the use of the past tense,
given
for
he argues that
proved, he thinks, by
is
— " a son
born," " a child
is
and Hezekiah was then nine or ten years
;"
Nor, he thinks, are those magnificent words, so differently translated
day,
—
by the
is
old.
—words
scholars of the present
which Isaiah contrasts the noise and tumult
in
and blood-stained garments of the
battles of earthly
warriors with the battles of the Lord, too grand for the description of the silent visit of the fiery angel to
the
camp
of the Assyrians,
whereby
in the stillness of
one night a mighty host was gathered to the dead.
But even here a
difficulty
meets him,
for the sixth
verse of the ninth chapter cannot possibly apply to
Hezekiah
the Prophet would not venture to call a
;
boy ten years old "the mighty God, the Father of eternity :" and therefore Babbi Isak accuses Jerome of corrupting the text; as if the very value of Jerome's
version did not consist in his adhering so faithfully to the traditions of his
however,
Jewish teachers.
Apparently,
he considers the Masoretic points to be
as old as Jerome,
and proposes
to alter
them
as to allow of the verse being translated thus,
who
is
Mighty God, who Hezekiah's the
and
Wonderful,
name
difficulty
is
is
the
Counsellor,
so far
— " He
even
the
the Everlasting Father, shall call
the Prince of Peace."
not
escaped
equally refuses to be tied
;
down
for
the
But even
so
next verse
to Hezekiah.
For
SERMON
12
I.
could Isaiah truly say of him, "
how
Of the
increase
—words both occurring — be no end, upon " there previous verse
government and peace"
of his in the
shall
the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even
The
for ever.
zeal of the
Lord
For the chequered reign
of Hosts will perform this."
of Hezekiah these words are far too large
and there-
;
fore Isak sees in it a promise of the restoration of the
temporal kingdom to the descendants of David as soon as the present calamities of the
away
;
Jews
shall
have passed
and Messiah, a temporal king, having defeated
their enemies, shall restore
them
to their country,
and
found there an earthly realm, upon the throne of which, after his death of his race
—
for
he
—
Messiah
for
to die
is
—
shall see a literal seed
gloriously, but after the
manner
—kings
shall reign
of earthly kingdoms,
for ever. JSTow,
hearing
if it
this to
interpretation
have
of easy refutation,
the
first,
that
seem
its
weak
it
arises solely
points,
many upon
to
and
to
be capable
from two things
Eabbi Isak was a believer in prophecy
the second, that he did endeavour to
make
his inter-
pretation embrace all the parts of the prediction.
other respects his features
upon which modern
say that the
probably
argument suggests
Almah was
whom
critics rely.
the
main
They,
too,
Isaiah's wife, a second wife
he was just about to marry, or some
young woman standing by
how
all
In
;
but when they arc asked
the Prophet could say of her child, that " the
spreading of the wings
of Assyria
shall
cover the
VIEWS OF MODERN
CRITICS.
Immanuel," they
fulness of the breadth of thy land,
answer, that
it
mere poetry
is
not be strictly construed
such passages must
:
the word
:
1
Immanuel
led the
Prophet to the general thought of God's providence protecting the land; and
we need
not conclude that
he was thinking of any particular person whatsoever f
.
Equally, in the ninth chapter, they say that the child there described
Hezekiah
is
;
but when the
difficulty
stated, that the titles in the sixth verse,
is
and the
prediction of an unending reign of peace in the seventh,
cannot apply to Hezekiah, they answer, that prognostication is an idea incorrectly attached to that of pro-
Isaiah hoped that the reign of Hezekiah would
phecy.
be an era of splendour and general prosperity, but he
was mistaken
;
and the
less forcible translation,
titles,
which are capable of a
amount only
to the expression
of a hope, that the youthful prince would prove to be
a wise, brave, and peaceful sovereign.
"that
this ideal," says Gesenius
in Hezekiah
him
no proof that
is
it
g ,
In a word,
"was not
realized
was not intended
for
for the actual facts constantly fall short of the
:
ideal expectations of the prophets."
Both tie
however, agree in the endeavour to
schools,
down
the meaning to the narrowest possible limit
but as the
Jew
being
fulfilled,
shifts
by
grants the necessity of every prophecy
he
is
often reduced to the most puerile
who
denies
the supernatural element of prophecy, escapes.
This
the
and f
difficulties
Jew indeed spiritual,
Cf. Meier,
which the
rationalist,
grants, but as he rejects the larger
and Christian
Der Prop.
Jes., p. 106.
sense, every expression 8
Com. uber
Jes., p. 362.
SERMON
14
must be
of the Prophet
The
cation.
by
ox does not
Eabbi Isak's interpretation, that
to
and cruel tempers
of violent
of those
influence
the
fulfilled in its literal signifi-
lion eating straw like the
mean, according
men
I.
be softened
shall
which the
better hopes
Messiah has brought with Him, but that the physical conformation of that animal shall undergo a recon-
The
struction. xlvii. is
vision of the holy waters in Ezekiel
not understood of the outpouring of grace
upon the barren the very course shall take.
ing of the
soil of is
And
the soul, but so literally, that
mapped out which the two streams
in the vision of Zechariah, the cleav-
Mount
of Olives does not suggest the di-
viding of the Jewish people into those those
who
reject the
new
of physical convulsions,
who
covenant, but
accept and
explained
is
whereby an actual
formed in the centre of that
hill.
And
fissure is
similarly,
the rest of the imagery which the prophets use to
suggest those things which the heart of
never been able to conceive,
are, as a
man hath
general rule,
understood by the Jews in their simple and
literal
sense.
But
puerile as are such interpretations, they are
not more so than the assumption that the butter and
honey literally signified the child should feed
;
upon which the young
diet
they are even less puerile than the
use of the text quoted to prove the extraordinary result
which might be expected
nourishment.
to follow
But the main weakness
upon such
of the expo-
sition consists in its constant shifting of ground.
the young child
is
Isaiah's son
;
and then
it is
Now Heze-
CHARACTER OF PROPHECY. kiah:
make
to
it
alteration
violent
1
even him, tkcre must be a
suit
of the
Masorctic. text,
not of Jerome, but of Jewish hands, made turies
tke work,
many
cen-
subsequent to Jerome's time, but embodying
the traditions of scrupulously honest Jewish schools.
And even
so, his
text will not suit his purpose, but
while a part belongs to Hezekiah, the rest must be referred to a Messiah, of
whose character he can form
no higher conception than that he warrior,
who
To
shall
be a successful
found a kingdom, and entail
male of his djmasty
the heirs
shall
it
upon
for ever.
upon the particular examination of the Jewish arguments one by one would suit rather the enter
patient investigation of a sarily
commentary than the neces-
narrow limits of a public discourse.
enough
to
there
an allusion in Isaiah's words
is
remark, that even were
then to be born, tian
argument.
it
it
It
may be
the case that
to some child means by no invalidates the ChrisFor while the prophets supposed
themselves to be speaking of things present, the fer-
vour of inspiration often carried them onwards into future times
:
and just as
some landscape seen from
in
a distant point the various parts approach one another and blend together, but as
we
find
them separated by
we
intervals
travel
onwards
more or
less re-
mote, so in the pictures on which the mental eye of
the
rapt
seer
gazed,
events
withdrawn from
one
another by periods more or less distant often group
themselves together, and are
phet in
by the Prothe same one Hebrew tense which expresses
an act as just accomplished.
all
described
SERMON
1
I.
So, then, the prophecy with
cerned rises from the local
temporary to the eternal
to.
;
which we are now con-
the universal
;
from the
from the fortunes of the
carnal Israel to the Christian Church
;
from the pre-
servation of Jerusalem from the arms of
Pekah
to
the deliverance of the world from sin and Satan.
That the prophecy was not
finally fulfilled in con-
we may,
I think, infer from the
temporaneous events
consideration that plainly
long after
was committed
it
to writing
temporary use had passed away.
its
the seventh, eighth, and
first
For
seven verses of the ninth
chapters contain, as I have remarked before, a series of prophecies and prophetic acts, all referring to the
same event
and of which, probably, some record was
;
kept at the time
:
but the form in which they have
come down to us is evidently the work of a later period, and probably belongs to that time when Isaiah was led by the
Spirit of
prophecies into one book. collect
them,
we may
God
to collect his scattered
That Isaiah did himself so
conclude from the probability of
the case, from his habits as an author early existence in writing, as
made
of
is
them by other prophets,
as
h ,
and from their
shewn by the use by Jeremiah, who
in his forty-eighth chapter repeatedly alludes to the
Moab contained in Isaiah xv., xvi. and we have the express testimony of the title
oracle against
in addition,
:
prefixed to the
probable
first
conjecture,
later years in
in fact, no im-
chapter.
It
that the
Prophet occupied his
is,
forming into one volume the records
of the earlier outpourings of his spirit, and that he 11
Cf. 2
Chron. xxvi. 22, xxxii. 32.
DATE OF THE PROPHECY.
J
7
not only then wrote that earnest warning and expostulation with the people
but also that
by which they
are
now
prefaced,
which commences
series of prophecies
with the fortieth chapter, and in which, unstirred by the political events which had previously agitated his
mind, with his fervour softened by the weight of years, but in the full clearness
many
and calm repose of
in-
he pourtrays the Messiah's sufferings
tellectual vigour,
and death, and the founding of His universal Church. In the present prophecy, were we even to lay but slight stress
narrative
is cast,
an instance, as if
upon the
—"
historic form in which the whole and of which the opening words are
came
It
to pass in the days of
Ahaz were now no more,
the plain allusions in
—no one can
mistake
events which occurred
For there can be no reason-
after that king's death.
able doubt that " the
to
it
Ahaz,"
light affliction of the land
first
of Zebulon" refers to the campaign of Tiglath-Pileser,
while "the more grievous Gentiles"
is
the
which happened
affliction in Galilee of
desolating
the
inroad of Shalmaneser,
in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign.
Now as Ahaz reigned sixteen years, and the assault upon Jerusalem by Pekah took place soon after he mounted the throne, the record of the prophecy in its
to
present form
is
at least
twenty years subsequent
the circumstances which gave
And
from
this, I think,
the purpose for which
it
rise to
we may
was
it.
fairly conclude that
finally
admitted into that
written series of Isaiah's prophecies which was to form part of God's holy
Word, was not
so
much
the record-
ing of a past event, as the leading on the minds of c
I
SERMON
8
I.
the Jews to that which was the centre of their national hopes,
— the
promise, I mean,
who
of a Deliverer
should be emphatically the woman's Seed.
The same
conclusion would equally follow from the prophecy of trouble chapter,
was not
and
which occupies the eighth
distress
and which,
to the best
historically
of our knowledge,
the
in
fulfilled
relations
tween Ahaz and the King of Assyria scarcely imagine Isaiah recording
and we can
;
at a period
it
be-
when
those relations had entirely passed away, except for
the sake of a more true, because a more spiritual interpretation,
times
the
when men
description
misery of the
of the
are hard bestead because they have
no Saviour.
But leaving now these general considerations, we will proceed to shew that the Immanuel was the Messiah, and was so intended by the Prophet, from the direct consideration
was spoken
at a
of the prophecy
time of danger,
itself.
when
For
it
a powerful
confederacy was in arms to overthrow the house of
David, and to put the son of Tabeal upon the Jewish throne;
and Ahaz,
young and
still
of an irresolute
character, instead of trusting to the promises
God
to his house, followed a policy
than the confederacy
For rejecting the primary
itself.
principles of the Theocratic government,
the promise
of special
intervention
danger, he turned to the It
is
remarkable with
phets always
made by
more dangerous
King
how
which had
in the time
of
of Assyria for help.
true a foresight the pro-
dissuaded from foreign
intervention;
ISAIAH MEETS THE KING AT THE CONDUIT.
1
what an enlightened judgment they bade the
with,
people look neither to Egypt, nor Babylon, nor As-
but remain apart from the leagues and con-
syria,
federacies of those troubled times
and conquest
how
befell,
and when invasion
;
wisely they counselled sub-
mission, until the appointed times of restoration came.
And
never was counsel wiser than the policy of Isaiah
here
;
long as the border states of Samaria and
for so
Damascus
existed, they separated the
rugged
hills of
Juda?a from the great military empires upon the Tigris
and Euphrates
:
and while with these neighbouring
states it could cope, its fall to
was
certain
when
it
had
contend with Nineveh and Babylon.
To
resist the
King's weak policy Isaiah was ordered
with him
to take
very name,
'
his elder son, Shear- Jashub,
a remnant shall return,'
Judah could never utterly
Ahaz the
perish,
—
—whose
was a sign that and announce to
certainty of the immediate overthrow of his
enemies.
Now mark meet him.
the place where Isaiah
It
was
on the north-eastern
officers
;
commanded
at the conduit of the
to
upper pool
where army the prospect of
side, therefore, of Jerusalem,
alone the walls gave a besieging success
is
and Ahaz had probably gone there with his to inspect the walls,
and take measures
for
protecting the supply of water, a matter of primary
importance in the impending siege.
And
again
:
it
reservoir, at the
where
the
was
at the
end of the conduit,
causeway leading
to the
at the
open space
inhabitants of Jerusalem washed their
clothes; or, as the Authorized Version renders
c2
it,
"in
SERMON
20 the highway of the
I.
It was therefore King and his officers, would be heard by a crowd of
fuller's field."
a busy place, n.nd besides the
the words of ±saiah
common
people.
The reason
of his seeking this
busy place plainly
was, that King, and princes, and citizens might
hear his words, and be encouraged to look unto
all
God
They saw God's Prophet standing in the midst, assuring them that, imminent as seemed the danger, it should pass away almost within the year and that, not by human policy, but by God's intervention, so that their duty was to have faith in Him and not look to the King of Assyria. But the Prophet's words met with only a cold reMore ready to listen to the suggestions of ception. for deliverance.
his fears than to the
words of divine encouragement,
commanded by God again to address him, in a manner which would more decisively put his temper of mind to the proof. " Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God ask it either And Ahaz said, in the depth, or in the height above. the
King turns away
;
and Isaiah
is
;
I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.
he
said,
Hear ye now,
house of David
;
And
Is it a
small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary
my God
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
also ?
bear a son, and shall
call
His name Immanuol."
Now
the King's refusal was plainly dictated by his unwillingness to change his course.
a sign, and a
obeyed the Prophet's counsels.
were foregone
Had he
asked for
ign been given him, he must have
;
But
his conclusions
he had sent his embassy
to Tiglath-
NO SIGNS GIVEN TO THE UNWILLING. Pileser with presents
and weak men
;
most
are, of all,
Now
of changing their minds.
afraid
21
men
to
like
Ahaz God gives no sign in the ordinary sense it is not the manner of God's dealings to force the unwilling The gift to man of free-will to a hypocritical assent. ;
man
implies, as a necessary condition, that every
be
the free exercise of
left to
it
shall
and consequently
;
that no one shall be placed under such circumstances that
his
become involuntary.
and obedience
faith
" God's people must be willing in the day of His
power."
]STo
was a veiled
it
sign,
afterwards would be present
it
therefore gave
him a
centuries
till
For the
understood.
clearly
to
the law of God's
which not
merely suggested a
the impending future
violating
When God
moral government. sign,
wrought
miracle, therefore, could be
convince Ahaz without
within which
limit,
danger would pass away
:
for
the
spake of the Godhead and the Manhood
it
united in One, born of a pure virgin for the salvation of man.
Similarly our Lord both refused and gave a sign to
Eefused
the Jews.
in the sense in
it
sumptuously asked
it,
as a
present
should force their assent; but gave sign,
which they premiracle, i:
-.em
which
His own
His death and resurrection, yet even that am-
biguously
Jonah." of Israel, all ages,
described
And just so
as
" the
sign
as Isaiah's sign
our Lord's sign
is
of
the Prophet
was he very hope that on which, in
the faith of the Church has chiefly rested
for that death
was the atonement by wLlch
sin is for-
given, and that resurrection the proof of the Saviour's
SERMON
22
T.
and of the future resurrection of His saints. Isaiah therefore appealed to was not a miracle
victory,
What to
compel a reluctant submission
words would find no echo or
meaning upon
in the unbeliever his
:
they would
;
But
his ear.
without force
fall
besides the
King there
was a would be many standing there in whom living power, and in whose minds the Prophet's words faith
would
at once call
coming
Israel
had
Him, for whose long languished. They would
up the thought so
of
remember
that their nation did not exist without a
cause, but
had a mission
that mission
was accomplished,
chastisement,
but
remnant
be
in
them
shall all
and that
perform; and that until
to
might come and always
" a
They would remember
that
never left."
trial
destruction
:
the nations of the earth were to be blessed,
for this
summoned from
Abraham had been
promise' sake
and his posterity formed
his kindred,
into a separate people; that for
David had been
it
taken from the sheepfold, and set upon the throne,
and the promise confined
And
this
all knew was that of the coming of who should emphatically be the woman's
promise
a Deliverer, seed,
born of his family.
to one
and bruise the serpent's head.
In the Hebrew the sign
is
not so indefinitely ex-
pressed as in the English version
for
;
gin, but the virgin " shall conceive
it is
not a vir-
and bear a son
;"
and though the Messiah was to be a descendant of Abra-
ham, and of David's lineage, conviction of the Jewish
woman's all
seed.
It
was
mind
this
still
that
which
Jewish maidens with hope
;
it
it
was the
He was
filled
was
to
settled
be the
the hearts of
this
which made
THE WOMAN
S
SEED.
23
Jephthah's daughter weep upon the mountains, and not the fear of the sacrificer's knife
Jeremiah appealed when he ated a
new thing on
And
pass a man." at
said,
the earth,
similarly
was
it
;
to this that
" The Lord hath cre-
A woman
shall
com-
Micah connects the birth
Ephratah with the woman's seed
Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be
— " But
:
thou,
among
little
the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that
is
to
be ruler in Israel; whose
goings forth have been from of
old,
from everlasting.
Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth
remnant of
:
then the
his brethren shall return unto the chil-
dren of Israel."
These are plain passages, of which few can doubt the application
meaning
but Jewish interpreters find the same
:
in expressions
vain, unless
we were
where we should look
equally impressed as they were
with the national view.
Thus, for instance, in Jacob's
blessing of the tribes, they render
Shiloh come,"
for it in
Shiloh
— "until
—by "until the woman's offspring come,"
connecting the root with the word used in Deut. xxviii. 57,
and there rendered "young one," but more liteand probably used to signify the
rally in the margin,
TrjXvyeros,
or
'
dearest child,' towards
theless the mother's eye
would be
evil
whom
never-
under the
fear-
ful pressure of long-continued famine.
And
always,
when dangers
pressed them most, the
house of Judah clung most closely to the promise of the
Messiah
pealed.
;
There
and
may
to
it.
therefore,
Isaiah
be, perhaps, in his
now
ap-
words some
SERMON
24
slight degree of ambiguity,
meaning,
for
I.
some
slight veiling of his
such was usually the case with the an-
swers of the prophets as to their outer form, yet so as only to arouse the curiosity of the people to penetrate into their inner
imagination there
meaning
:
for to the Oriental
a singular pleasure in reading the
is
dark saying and divining
its
Here,
interpretation.
however, the Prophet was alluding to a hope deeply fixed in the popular mind,
and few probably would
miss the intended inference, that until Messiah came, in vain
would Samaria and Damascus be confederate For so long as that promise
together.
filled
the
breadth of Immanuel's land, though temporary troubles
might
visit
them, yet their national existence was
sure to remain unbroken.
The belief that the Almah might mean a married woman, the wife of Isaiah, the mother of Shear- Jashub, or a second wife, is a folly now abandoned by the most competent Hebrew scholars in Germany itself, in spite of the natural influence there of Gesenius, their great
lexicographer and philologist. of
whose
critics
Ewald has
Nay, even at Tubingen, said
that
"the learned
Tubingen have justly aroused in
follies of
countries a dislike of
German knowledge,"
all
foreign
— even
there,
their chief Hebraist acknowledges that not only does
Almah never mean but
a married
signifies a virgin
modesty relation, ties of
;
woman, however young,
with reference to her purity and
while Bethulah describes her in her as
still
civil
severed and removed from the du-
the family, and dwelling in seclusion, iv rols
TrapOzvtoaiv.
JEWISH EXPECTATION OF MESSIAH'S ADVENT. It is
2
then of a pure virgin that the Prophet speaks
and, carried
away by the fervour
of inspiration, he sees
Messiah's birth as already present,— "Behold, the vir-
The very word twice occurs in a manner elsewhere in Scripture of Hagar when she fled from Abraham's house and of Tamar k The gin has conceived."
—
similar
i,
.
passage, therefore, cannot be applied to Mahershalal, as the tenses used in the historical parts of the eighth
chapter shew, but must be interpreted according to that
grammatical
established
throughout
all
the events
not of the
which
rule
the prophetical books, and
prevails
by which
immediate but only of the
distant future, are described as already past.
And what
hopes would not be called up to the
minds of the Jews by the prospect of the speedy coming of their national deliverer Christians were
!
As
supported under grievous
the expectation of the immediate return in glory, and as the this
the
early
trials
by
of Christ
Apostles themselves shared in
expectation, even while teaching patience,
and
reminding the faithful that " a thousand years with
God
are but as one day," so
of old.
In
all
was
it
with God's people
their troubles, the promise of the
man's Seed came nearer and nearer
day they seemed
to catch signs of
to
wo-
them, and each
His approach.
And
probably in none was this expectation more fervent
than in the prophets
;
and while they knew that God
had kept the times and the seasons in His own hand, they yet themselves not merely longed for the times of refreshing for their nation, but nourished the in1
Gen. xvi. 11.
k
Gen. xxxviii. 24.
SERMON
26
I.
tense hope that those times were near at hand.
was
It
hope which knit the Jews together at Babylon,
this
and kept them a were
distinct people, while the ten tribes
among
lost
were removed.
the nations into whose lands they
And
here also
strength of mind, in faith in reliance, to
kings
;
sellors
it
gave them the
God and with
firm
self-
meet and bide the storm of the confederate
while the hearts of the
King and
his coun-
were bowed as the trees of the wood bow be-
fore the wind,
by the arms
And
and could think of no rescue except
of Assyria.
seeing thus the Messiah's birth
present, the Prophet
uses
it
to
as
already
express a
definite
length of time within which the league of the con-
kings would be broken;
federate cation
of
this
and
the
verifi-
promise within the allotted period
King and people that the counsel given by the Prophet came from God. would be a
sufficient sign to
In thus employing its
final
purpose,
it
for a
Isaiah
temporary as well as
for
was acting according
to
the established usages of prophecy, to the very times
by which, down
of the Apostles, and in the
New
Testament equally with the Old, events present or immediately future form the foreground, behind which lies
the permanent but equally certain interpretation.
And
in this passage
any one who has read the great Church well knows the use
writers of the primitive
which
they
have
made
of
this
prophecy;
how,
unencumbered with any thought of Ahaz, they enlarge upon the signs of Christ's victory over sin and death, which began while He still lay swaddled in
MEANING OF THE
'
BUTTER AND HONEY.'
the manger of Bethlehem; give the
name
how even
to
Him
of the riches of Damascus, of the heathen world, "
—the
Magi the
first-fruits
first-fruits,
that
is,
who were brought unto God
by the teaching of the heaven, and whose master was a star."
school-
which the Prophet uses here that which he afterwards employs in
tense, therefore,
the same as
is
they
of Mahershalal, as the speedy spoiler
of Satan's house, and see in the
The
27
the magnificent words with which he closes the vision, " Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given ;" as he could not but
have known that no son of
his could possibly be the
Immanuel, the owner of the
and
Holy Land, titles,
so equally
must he have
felt
that those
" the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father," be-
longed not to the pale glories of Hezekiah's chequered reign, but to the style of
Him
"to Whose light the
Gentiles shall come, and kings to the brightness of
His rising." In the verse which remains to be examined before
we
can be said to have fairly met the
the passage,
manner
we have
difficulties of
again another instance of the
in which the Prophet interweaves the present
with the remote future.
We
have seen that to his
enraptured gaze the Virgin has already conceived that the Child
is
already born, and the term of His
undeveloped years fixed as the limit within which
Damascus
shall
be broken.
In a similar manner,
but in more enigmatic language, Isaiah connects the
punishment
of
Ahaz with the Immanuel' s
birth.
SERMON
28
"Butter and honey to refuse the evil,
I.
be
shall
that he
eat,
may know
and choose the good." Now, taking
only the general sense of the prophecy, without delaying at present to consider which of the two trans-
modern times is the true know," or, "until He shall
lations generally adopted in
— "when one,
know
He
shall
to refuse the evil,"
a period of desolation.
—
may
I
By some
say, that it signifies
confusion, probably,
with the phrase, " a land flowing with milk and honey," the Prophet's words have been taken to imply the
Judah
restoration of prosperity to
And
nify exactly the reverse.
they really sig-
:
so in the remaining
portion of the chapter, in which Isaiah foretels the
punishment of Ahaz
for seeking the
aid of Assyria
in violation of the principles of the Theocratic govern-
ment, they are used as the symbol of extreme desolation.
For, in the terms of the prophecy, the armies
of Assyria are to waste the land cease,
till
agriculture shall
and the scattered remnants of the population
revert to a
nomad
life;
the hill in happier times a
vineyard whereon grew a thousand vines, each valued at a piece of silver, shall
become a covert
" with arrows and bows shall the animals lodged
among
men go
its
few
shall
game
thither" to hunt
matted foliage; while
the few people left shall depend their cattle
for
upon the milk of
and the honey of the wild bees
:
and
so
be their number, that in the undisputed
enjoyment of the pasture, the
man who
" shall possess
but a young cow, and two sheep, for the abundance of the milk that they shall give, fur butter
and honey
shall eat butter
— not corn-bread and wine —
shall
DESOLATION OF THE LAND. every one eat that ture of a settler's
in the land."
is left
life
country, surrounded
in
some
It is the pic-
but unreclaimed
fertile
by the rank luxuriance
rich in the produce of his herds,
with which the
29
of nature,
and in the game
neighbouring woods supply him
but where society does not exist, without without
civilization,
of hope,
it
may
and without
be, to
him who
when
city,
but miserable and forlorn to one
him the decaying tent
is
may be
relics of
:
full
looks forward to the
time
his cabin
tillage,
political life
the site of a populous
who
sees
around
former greatness, and whose
pitched amidst the
ruins
of his
country's
prosperity.
Now,
as a matter of fact, the invasions of Tiglath-
Pileser did not reduce the land to this last stage of
desolation; a desolation so complete, that the meta-
phor used by the Prophet
is
probably the strongest
ever penned by any writer, " For the Lord shall shave
with a hired razor, namely, by them beyond the
by the king feet;" the
of Assyria, the head,
last,
that
is
to say,
river,
and the hair of the
and most worthless,
and most out-of-the-way remains of the past prosperity of Judah.
Even the
far
more disastrous cam-
paigns of Nebuchadnezzar, which did reduce the land to abject misery, scarcely reach to the
utter wasting depicted here phet's words
deliverance of
ance of the
:
so that plainly the Pro-
have a higher reference.
Ahaz becomes
human
extreme and For as the
to his gaze the deliver-
race, as the sign of a local event
becomes the sign given to the world in the incarnation of the Son of God, so the sin of
Ahaz
typifies
SERMON
30
human
the sin of the
I.
In the consequences of
race.
that sin, even Messiah Himself
must share
;
He,
too,
human woe, justice of God in-
partakes of the vinegar and the gall, of
and of the punishment which the flicts
upon
am
I
sin.
aware that the Fathers give a different inter-
pretation of the passage, and that they regard
a proof only of the
human
it
as
nature of the Messiah,
who, in Jerome's words, " was no phantom," but in very deed a
and who, as such, " was fed upon
child,
children's food."
But
butter and honey are not the
food of children, and signify here the punishment in-
upon unrepented
flicted
sin.
This punishment the
Immanuel,
as Israel's representative, bears
and honey
He
shall eat,"
—
shall
:
— "Butter
become "a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief."
And ing
this is to continue
how to
refuse the evil
up
to the
time of His know-
and choose the good, 'wyib
;
He
be a suffering Messiah, " wounded for our transgressions," but at length " the government
not always shall
shall
be placed upon His shoulder, and of the increase
of His government and
peace there shall be no
its
end, upon the throne of David, and to order justice
it,
and
to establish
it
from henceforth even
In conclusion, there
is
upon
his
kingdom,
with judgment and with
for ever."
yet one consideration which
may
serve to
confirm the preceding interpretation;
and
this is the
form and arrangement of the prophecy.
For
it is
plain even to a cursory reader that the four-
teenth, fifteenth,
and sixteenth verses of the seventh
CONCLUSION.
chapter form a summary, as
each part of which
is
it
3
were, of the whole,
afterwards more fully developed,
only with the order so far changed, that the Immanuel's
form the summit and crowning-point, where
glories
the Prophet extols
" Wonderful,
as the Child,
Mighty God."
the
Counsellor,
Him
To draw out
this
parallel is unnecessary, as it requires only a perusal
of the passage to perceive observe, that
to
the
it
two
;
only
may
it
be as well
concluding verses of the
eighth chapter belong to and must be taken with the
seven verses of the ninth.
first
them,
we
shall find in
If
so
we
read
them the misery described
in
the seventh chapter under the image of the desolation of
Judah generalized and
picture of
men
We have
spiritualized.
the
"and behold
looking upon the earth,
trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and accu-
mulated darkness," as Louth renders darkness driven, close pressed together
it
walk onward for the
Sun
;
;
or rather,
but as they
in this darkness they see a great light of Righteousness
in misery, because of sin,
upon a world
arises
and brings
it
healing upon
His wings.
And phecy
thus, then, both the examination of the pro-
as a whole,
and
also the
more exact considera-
tion of its several parts, confirm the translation of the
Septuagint, that the sign of Israel's deliverance
the birth of a virgin's child.
To
sole possible interpretation, both because St.
has impressed upon
it
was
Christians this is the
Matthew
the stamp of his authority, and
because otherwise the taint of impurity would have
SERMON
3*
I.
attached itself to the person of our Lord
1
,
and
He
would have been, not an Immanuel, God and man, man of the substance of His mother, and God, because " the Holy Ghost came upon her, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her,"— but man only. Not, therefore, without reason have both Jewish controversialists,
and the
weaken the if
rationalists of later times, tried to
force of the Prophet's testimony, because
the miraculous conception of our Lord could be dis-
proved, the whole
aspect
of the Christian
religion
would be changed, and the Eedeemer become a pattern merely for our example, but no longer God manifest in the
the merits of whose death are
flesh,
a sufficient satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. But, as ever
is
found to be the
Christ survives every attack
men
shift their
array fresh
ground of
difficulties,
former times;
and
exploded
fallacies,
upon
in every age
it:
objection,
and marshal in
or restate the
and when
their objections
case, the religion of
difficulties
of
a few years have passed,
difficulties
are looked
upon
as
and people wonder how they could
have been held by men of sense, and others frightened at their sound.
Holy Scripture
And is
searched, the
will the basis be found
and though
more
closely
more sure and
certain
ever, I believe, the
upon which our
for a time specious
faith is built
arguments
may
ruffle
the surface of the deep current of belief, they will serve finally only to illustrate and establish the truth
they were meant to overthrow. 1
Lev.
xii. 2.
SEEMON Isaiah
II.
ix. 6.
" Unto us a CJiild is born, unto us a Son is given : and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name Counsellor, The MigJity God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace!'
shall be called Wonderful,
rpHE
consideration of the prophecy of the
would be incomplete without a of the passage with which
same
difficulty
closer examination
concludes than was possi-
it
ble in the previous discourse.
the
Immanuel
There
is not,
however,
here as in the defence of the
Messianic interpretation of the earlier portion of the
prophecy
:
for
modern commentators have there ex-
shew and Ahaz' son
erted their utmost powers in the endeavour to that the
Immanuel was
Isaiah's or
;
have imagined the circumstances to be so favourable to
their efforts as to
ensure them an easy victory.
Here, on the contrary, there
is
a very general consent
on their part to the belief that the Messiah person
whom
is
the
the magnificent words of the Prophet
describe; and even those who, like Gesenius, argue that they refer to Hezekiah, yet acknowledge
there are grouped round
which
belonged to
that the idea in
first
him hopes and
Messiah alone.
that
aspirations
It is in the
Talmud
appears that Hezekiah was the son
whose birth the Prophet saw the advent of an era D
SER1T0N
34
II.
of glory for the Jewish people
but the reason of this
;
manner in which the Jews are so true to
application of the text, so unlike the
generally the traditions of
the national conviction that the prophets in passages spoke of the Messiah,
similar
all
to us confirmatory
is
rather than the contrary of the belief that our Lord
the object of Isaiah's words. in the phrase
For their
"The mighty God."
is
difficulty lay
They had har-
dened themselves into the settled belief that Messiah
was
be a national hero, their Cyrus, and Alexander,
to
who
command
should
battles,
their
win
armies,
for
them
found for them an empire, and establish their
supremacy over the hated heathen
he was to be
;
a man, whose sons should reign in his stead: and therefore the title, " The Mighty God," contradicted their
expectations,
and in enmity
interpretation they sought for
whom
the Christian
to
some other person
they might apply the words.
It is
to
evident,
whereby modern comsignify nothing, had not
therefore, that the translation
make
mentators suggested
this
itself to
title
For these
them.
tell us,
that ac-
cording to the idiom of the Hebrew language the words
may mean
only
'
a Godlike hero
themselves translated
it
'
a strong
;'
whereas the Jews
God a and were not ,'
aware in their expositions of the possibility of render-
To the Christian this phrase the strongest proof that the Prophet was speaking Christ for in Him only has God become incarnate the flesh and as he reads the titles whereby the
ing is
of in
it
in
any other way.
;
:
dignity of the child a
is
Ben
shadowed
Sira,
f.
40, ed.
forth,
Amst.
he thinks with
BUNSEN
VERSION OE THE TEXT.
S
35
reverence upon the mystery of the Godhead united
with the manhood, whereby Jesus of Nazareth was able to be the Prince of Peace, the Eeconciler of lost
man
unto a just though merciful God.
Those commentators who, on the contrary, consider that Hezekiah was the child signified
by the Prophet,
generally rest their argument upon the possibility of
manner
less forcible
than that which seems to be their natural
signification.
translating Isaiah's words in a
They tell us that they need mean nothing more than " Wonder-Counsellor, Godlike Hero, Booty-distributor, Prince of Peace b ," and that consequently they were
but the courtly flattery of the Prophet to the youthful
who being then
Prince,
ten years old, already shewed
the promise of that submissiveness to the prophetic school,
which made him in
after years the very pat-
It does not strike
tern of a theocratic king.
that these titles so understood that
become an absurdity
a contradiction for the prince of peace,
it is
fights neither for safety nor for conquest, to
a
mighty
hero,
them
and the divider of
spoil.
who
be also
War,
in
" For the boot of the
his days, is absolutely to cease.
greaved warrior arming for the battle-cry, and the gar-
ment
rolled in blood, shall be for burning
of fire."
The
tranquillity of the times shall be
men
so unbroken, that
of the peace of his tell
— "for
government there
us that
it is
Bunsen,
who
JBibehverJc.
d2
of the increase
shall be
a military hero
over them, a giant champion, b
for fuel so deep,
burn their armour and
shall
military accoutrements, as useless,
and yet they
and
no end
who
;"
rules
enriches his fol-
SERMON
3« lowers by the
II.
gathered by successful inroads
spoil
upon the neighbouring states In the youthful Hezekiah there were no traces of nothing in the boy which could sugthis character gest the hope of his ever commanding an army in !
;
but rather the marks of a gentle and
battle,
more ready
tionate disposition,
pious and confiding, but with
and irresolution of
him much
less in
to follow
much
his father Ahaz. to love,
but
little
affec-
than to lead,
of the weakness
There was doubtof that strength,
and firmness, and determination which would have justified
such
even a
flatterer at court in addressing to
him
titles as these.
The
translation of Gesenius differs considerably
from
—
Bunsen given above, and is as follows " Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty Hero, the eternal
that of
:
Father, the Prince of Peace :" but he considers that
by the words, "the
eternal Father," nothing
more
is
meant than "the constant, unremitting benefactor of the people." tified
hero,
"a
In what way Hezekiah could have jus-
the expectation that he would prove a mighty
he does not say
;
for
he himself describes him as
pious prince, devoted to the interests of the theo-
cracy,
and probably brought up under
its
influence."
As such he
suggested hopes not destined to be fulfilled or rather, perhaps, he adds, " the Messianic time was
a sort of golden age, upon which the prophets were
wont
to dilate in poetic terms,
and which they ever
regarded as immediately about to be established, and not unfrcqucntly, therefore, took some living person as the centre round
whom
they hung their predictions.
THE PROPHECY INAPPLICABLE TO HEZEKIAH.
But even
so,
the character of the young prince must
already have been sufficiently developed in those
Prophet to have known
climates for the
what were
37
its
chief traits
;
nor can
full
well
we imagine
that
whose words ever
so powerful a writer,
warm
exactly
so
convey his meaning, would apply to him epithets altogether contrary to his real disposition.
Nor must we
forget that the final revision of the
prophecy took place at least twenty years
Hezekiah had long
sat
later,
when
upon the throne, and when the
inroads of Shalmaneser upon the northern provinces,
and the threatening aspect of Assyria, made that his reign would not be one of peace
;
it
evident
and that he
did not himself possess the qualities which would
him der
for military enterprises in the field. if
fit
What won-
under such circumstances, with so deep a gloom
settling
round Jerusalem, with the face of things so
threatening, and
men everywhere
so
hard bestead,
the Prophet turned to the hope of Israel, the promise
which was
so
often their
who
Messiah's coming,
support in trouble, even
should be in very deed their
" Mighty God."
But leaving these general
considerations,
we may
remark, that the terms of the prophecy in no respect
belong to Hezekiah
:
for, first, it is difficult to
believe
"Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given," of one who was then fast arriving Hezekiah' s age at the invasion of Pekah at maturity. that the Prophet could say
is
variously estimated at from ten to thirteen years
at eight years old
we read
of Josiah, that " he
began
SERMON
38
God
to seek after the
of his father
twelfth year "he began
lem from
idolatry."
II.
David ;" and
in his
purge Judah and Jerusa-
to
Manasseh, at twelve years
old,
equally determinately set himself upon working evil.
At twelve
years old Hezekiah would have been
share in the labours of government,
the age of puberty and marriage
been
fitting for Isaiah to
terms of rejoicing
fit
;
it is
fit
to
in the East
nor would
it
have
use of him at such an age
only for his birth.
And, next, the countries referred vinces of Hezekiah's kingdom.
w hose rising the Prophet speaks, T
to
were not pro-
The great light, of is not for Judah and
Jerusalem, but for Zabulon and Naphthali,
—regions
over which Hezekiah exerted no influence.
Had he
been thinking of Hezekiah he would have spoken of
where the King's reign had brought some
places
small measure of prosperity:
instead of this,
Galilee of the Gentiles, the border land
and heathen lived in such
it
is
where Jew
close contact that the
name
was a mark of contempt for the Jew of the holy city, and where the invading hordes of As-
of Galilsean
syria
had made the danger
so great that the inhabi-
had the shadow of death ever resting upon them. know of no possibility whereby Hezekiah could
tants
We
have benefited the distant region beyond Jordan it
was there that Messiah taught
He
sea of Tiberias
on
its
coast
He
were offended
at
;
by the way
spake His parables
;
:
but
of that
in the cities
dwelt; and the people of Jerusalem it,
and
said,
"Search and look:
for
out of Galilee ariscth no prophet."
Again, the description of the kingdom which this
HERDERS child
reign over
shall
Hezekiah. full well
knew
cannot
39
-
possibly
belong
to
kingdom of peace; but Isaiah was but slight chance of The chief part of the previous
a
It is
OPINION.
that there
peace for his nation.
portion of the prophecy consists of a most emphatic
denunciation of the evils which would be the sure
consequence of Ahaz' having tempted the arms of
And
Assyria towards their borders.
which precede the
text,
in the verses
he mentions the comparatively
slight affliction of Tiglath-Pilcser's invasion,
and the
heavier calamity brought upon the country by Shal-
maneser.
The more wasting inroads
his full purpose to
subdue
the land,
of Sennacherib,
were public
facts
which Isaiah could not but have known. And yet he says, " Of the increase of his government and of its peace there shall be no end
augmenting peace
which God
judgment
for
shall
it
be a constantly
an ever-growing and eternal
;
shall
:"
establish
rule,
with righteousness and
Such terms Isaiah could not
ever.
possibly have applied to Hezekiah, even as the expression of nattering hopes in his less
at a time
when
the
younger years
land was
;
much
wasted by the
perpetual inroads of Assyria, and Hezekiah had shewed
none of the to
qualities
which would have enabled him
cope with the troubles of his time, except
it
be
that chief one, of an unwavering trust in God.
And
again
:
as
Herder remarks c " We have here no ,
birthday ode, in praise of Hezekiah, or Hezekiah's son,
but the tale of a king,
who
and blessings which belonged c
Ebr. Po.,
ii.
bears
all
the names
to the race of David, 437.
SERMON
40
II.
with
shall bring
and whose coming
it
the promised
For in connection with
golden age of happiness."
prophecy must be taken, both such passages as that in the second chapter concerning " the establish-
this
ing of the house of the Lord upon the top of the
we read of the Lord for them that
mountains," and that in the fourth, where
"the beauty of the branch of are escaped of Israel;" and also Psalms such as the seventy- second, in which the reign of the Messiah is described as one of extended and eternal peace.
For
no exposition can be so unsatisfactory as that which ignores the ideas, and hopes, and feelings of the times
when
the prophets lived;
and
it
is
only by thus
by taking them as fragments disjointed from the main stream of Jewish thought, that isolating passages,
it
is
imagine that
possible to
titles
such as these
meant nothing more than the hope of a successful None -can doubt that the Jews did look forreign.
ward
to
an era of great glory
;
they regarded them-
selves truly as God's chosen people,
who might be
punished for a time, but were sure finally to receive the rich inheritance Gcsenius,
if
you
will,
of
His favour.
Call
it,
with
an ideal golden age, a mistake,
a vain expectation; but the fact remains, that the prophets fostered and strengthened this expectation
deny,
:
why must
and granting
meaning ?
believe in a coming golden age
had
the people
which no one can
the words of Isaiah be here unnatu-
rally forced to lose their
their nation
this,
among
:
The prophets did
they did believe that
the promise of a peculiar
phatic blessedness
;
and that
and em-
this glorious era
would
HEZEKIAH NO TYPE OE CHRIST.
4
be inaugurated by the advent of a great national hero
and
if so, to
:
what do these words more naturally apply
than to these national hopes
And
?
possibly
meaning would never have been doubted, had
it
tlieir
been
we were
simply a Jewish literature whose remains
studying, which ended with the Jews, and the hopes of
which had been rudely crushed with disappointment,
were really crushed
as they
for those
Another interpretation
Christ.
who
rejected
sought, because
is
Christians attach to the words a higher and spiritual
meaning
:
embracing
meaning not confined
a
to
mankind, and whereby
all
one nation, but it is
no Jewish
king, but a universal Saviour, sprung from the lineage of Jewish kings,
who
is
"the Mighty God, the Ever-
lasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
We
cannot even grant that the Prophet unites
Hezekiah and the Messiah here in one general out-
The
line.
prophets, doubtless, did often start from
some present thing.
unto child
If,
us, ;
here,
future, is a very different
is
the child
who
is
born
he must also be the Immanuel, the Virgin's
:
forbids.
He
was on the verge of
the Almah's child was
discern good and evil old.
and the
Hezekiah
but his age
maturity
two
subject, but that they confused the
together, the present
;
not yet able
to
was not yet two or three years
But we demand more.
If Hezekiah and the
Prince of Peace are the same, Hezekiah must be a
type of Christ
;
the prophecy must be true of
him
in
a lower sense, because he shadowed out what Christ
was
in a higher sense
;
for it is only
where persons or
things stand thus related that the double sense of
SERMON
42 prophecy
is
II.
A prophecy
admissible.
may
be partially
true of the Jewish Church, and wholly true of the Christian Church, because the one was the type and outline of the other
and similarly a prophecy might
;
in a partial sense belong to Hezekiah if he
But
type of the Messiah.
more than they wish
:
would be granting
this
nor does
it
were a
seem
to
be the case
that Hezekiah did typify Christ.
modern
Generally, however, commentators of the school reject the view taken
by Gesenius,
that the
Prophet mingled with his present subject the hopes
They would ever
of an ideal future.
down he
and
to the present,
uses,
tie
him
tightly
'affirm that the tense
and which speaks of each
act as just per-
formed, prevents our looking to the future at
But
the fulfilment.
this is
which all for
an erroneous view of the
language of the prophets; and the very name given to
them
in Scripture
may
understanding of their
and their writings
help us to a more correct
office.
visions,
They
— " The
are called seers,
vision of Isaiah the
Events therefore passed before their
son of Anioz."
mental eye, and they describe them as such ple facts without the idea of time.
A
;
as sim-
spectacle of-
fered to the eye does not carry the notion of time
with
it
:
or the future, sories,
may represent the past", the present, and we may know this from its acces-
a picture
by the inference
the sight as such.
of the judgment, but not
Similarly the visions of the pro-
phets are without time
:
seventy weeks of Daniel, of the vision,
—
by
it is itself
if it
time
is
revealed, as in the
becomes
itself
the object
the idea impressed upon the
PROPHECY NOT CHRONOLOGICAL. mind, and not an accompaniment of
time
43
But where
it.
not itself the thing revealed, the facts of reve-
is
lation are not described as in the pages of history,
as they are
and follow upon, and
connected with,
grow out of one another but are narrated as facts merely, which had been disclosed to the prophets, but which future ages must arrange in their proper ;
place, as one
And
by one they
are fulfilled.
this accounts for the fact
remarked by Lowth,
that the temporal are constantly united with the spideliverances
ritual
chapter
d ,
the
fall
of the people.
next
So, in the
of Assyria suddenly gives
the description of Messiah's reign.
way
to
So, in the last
twenty-seven chapters, the deliverance of Judah from exile alternates with that of the world from sin
So with our Lord
Satan.
:.
the judgment of
upon Jerusalem, and the escape
of the
Church, give place to the picture of the
and
God
Christian last
judg-
ment, with His people standiug at His right hand.
The
tenses, therefore, in this present
follow the general rule of all prophecy
them anything and
fully
child
is
special
weighed; but born"
—
is
and peculiar, if
prophecy must :
if
let it
in
—" a
declared in the sense which pro-
uses, the tense descriptive
mediate past,
it is
but folly to adduce
it
of the imas a proof
must have been speaking of Hezekiah,
because his birth
The
is
be marked
the birth of the child
phecy always
that Isaiah
there
had already taken
place.
terms, then, of the prophecy are not in themd
Isa. x. 33, 34.
SERMON
44
II.
solves such as point to Hezekiah.
son meant by the Prophet,
If he were the permust we not only affirm,
with Gesenius, that Isaiah's hopes ended in disap-
we
pointment, but
could not account for his making
Galilee the scene of the happiness he foretels, for his ascribing military qualities to
The external grounds
prince.
nor
so peaceful a
therefore
fail,
which
might have given a colourable excuse
for applying
force to the translation of the titles with
which Isaiah
invests the
new-born
A forced
child.
and unnatural
translation is always unsatisfactory, but especially so
when
der,' "
made only to support a theory. The words "They shall call His name 'a "Wonthe verb being put impersonally "one shall
call ;"
and the abstract noun, wonder,'
it is
literally signify,
'
for the concrete,
should be dinary,
next
—
in
'
sbs, being
Him
something marvellous, extraor-
And
beyond the common order of nature.
He
is
used
wonderful,' and implying that there
a Counsellor,
V^J
wonderful in counsel
word which some
a
have imited with the former, as
if it
signified
'
one
but, as Gesenius remarks, this
:'
conjunction "is in direct opposition to the usual character of similar enumerations."
one of the highest duties of government find the counsellor So, for instance,
aloud
?
and the king in
Micah
iv.
9,
"
And
here
it fitly
;
and we even
close juxtaposition.
"Why
Is there no king in thee ?
perished ?"
marks
Really, counsel
dost thou cry
Is thy counsellor
describes
Him
whom
in
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom, and
who
the Teacher and Ruler of His Church as well as
Redeemer.
Thus
far,
however, there
is
but
is its
little
RENDERING OF dispute:
it
the next
is
" Mighty God,"
taken together
bs
-fiiaa
45
which has roused the
title
For
of controversialists.
zeal
EL GIBBOR.'
'
Isaiah
Him
calls
and that the words are
;
we have
to
a
be
the unbiassed judgment, as
shewn by the accentuation, of the Masorites,*or rather of the Jewish tradition which they faithfully repre-
Now
sent.
in the
it is
remarkable that this very e
next chapter
( Shear-Jashub),
senius here,
title
shall
occurs
return
even the remnant of Jacob, to the
How
Mighty God."
" The remnant
:
"They
absurd
is
the rendering of Ge-
shall return to the strong hero f !"
But not more so than his reasoning for he remarks, " One might very well here, in conformity with most ancient versions, render it by the Mighty God,' but ;
'
better to take
it is
it
in both places in the
same way s ."
In other words, the place where the meaning
must bend
tain,
men have thrown
is cer-
on the interpretation of which
to one
doubts
Still
!
Gesenius does not
here obstinately keep to his former view, but frankly
" The
says,
nified the
title "1^33
Messiah;
bs above, in here
argument even there
his fact,
that the
in the
word
for
Hebrew language
is
God,
D*ia
God
bs, is occasionally
in an inferior sense.
instance, in Ezek. xxxi. 11, b*^ "
chap. ix. 6, sig-
means Jehovah:" and nothing more than the
it
Nebuchadnezzar
used
So, for is
called
of the heathen," rendered in our ver-
sion " the Mighty
One
the appellation
evident,
is
:"
but the
satire contained in
and the implied contrast
between the heathen who could worship a man, and the e
Jew who worshipped Isa. x. 21.
f
the
Thes. sub
God ^33.
of heaven. b
Ad
Besides,
cap. x. 21.
SERMON
46
II.
Nebuchadnezzar did claim divine homage from his subjects, and the image which he set up in the plains of
Dura was most probably
xxxii. 21, in similar
his own.
So also in Ezek.
mockery the dead kings of the
heathen nations are spoken of as D"nSaa
"»bw,
gods," calling in derision from the grave to
"mighty the King
Egypt as he descends to join their company. The language of Isaiah is not, however, to be judged of by that of Ezekiel, but by his own use of words for it would be difficult to find two writers more unlike one another in style than these two prophets. of
And
the
fact,
therefore,
that
Isaiah undoubtedly applies this
made both Ewald and numerous German
title to
chapter
Jehovah, has
and even Knobel, trans-
Hitzig,
way who
late it in the ordinary
the next
in
;
critics
say nothing of the
to
consistently defend the
Messianic interpretation.
Even Gesenius For
if in
is
scarcely really opposed to us.
the one chapter the
title
belongs to Messiah,
and in the other to Jehovah, we may well does
it
How
happen that God and the Messiah both share
this title?
they have in
but evaded
:
What is this "mighty heroship" which common ? The difficulty is not removed, it is
but shifted a
once, with Hitzig, that
it is
strength of
we
at
little.
Better say at
an Oriental exaggeration
or with Knobel, that Messiah
thus
ask,
is so
called because the
God would be with him in least know where we are but ;
his
wars;
these
weak
attempts at lessening the meaning only betray an unwillingness openly to profess a disbelief in the exist-
ence of anything supernatural in the Jewish Scrip-
RENDERING OF 'THE EVERLASTING FATHER.' Assert that the Bible
tures.
the consideration of
away
:
we must
been given, a reality
—whether
The
ground.
who
beyond a
is
labour thrown
whether a revelation has
inspiration,
two
whatever
be, is
have no common
parties
he would Livy or Herodotus
denies a revelation can have no interest
meaning of
faint curiosity in discussing the
isolated passages in a for if the
it
believer in revelation neither can nor
will treat the Bible as
while he
an ordinary book, and
various parts
its
first settle
until then the
;
is
47
work
destitute of authority
meaning which he disputes
correct, it does
is
shewn
to
be
but add one to the numerous mistakes
and errors which he thinks he has already detected.
The value
who
of interpretation lies with those
ac-
knowledge the authority of the Scriptures, and are anxious therefore to
know
their true meaning.
Another translation has been offered by Ewald, who, while he grants that bw means God, thinks that
may mean
a " hero-God;"
"1122
bs
who
reveals Himself as a
shewn that the idiom
of the
in that case require b« lias
back
a
warrior.
;
God
of armies,
But Meier has
Hebrew language would and thus we are driven
rendering of the ancient versions, and
to the
of the Jews themselves
:
a translation which would
naturally suggest itself to every reader at
and which only an elaborate
criticism,
first
sight,
bent upon the
all
ancient landmarks, would venture
title,
" Father of Eternity," though gene-
overthrow of to dispute.
The next
rally accepted, has nevertheless
a similar attack.
been the object of
For the word which
is
rendered
SERMON
48 1
eternity,'
Holy
and
Scripture,
used in places beyond number in
so
is
is
II.
of similar form with a very rare
noun, thrice found there, and which means 'booty.' therefore, Abravanel, in
The Spanish Jew,
his po-
lemical writings against Christianity, suggested that
the words might be rendered
even
so,
Father of booty
'
an idiom had to be appealed
occurrence in Hebrew, though not bic,
by which Father' '
Thus " Father
of
is
but
;'
of unusual
to,
uncommon
in Ara-
used in the sense of possessor.
mercy" means " the merciful
so " Father of eternity" would
and
;"
" the eternal,"
mean
and " Father of booty" the " booty-owner."
In this
strange perversion of ingenuity Abravanel has found
but few followers. Gesenius,
who
contemptuously rejected by
denies even that this idiom
Hebrew, but adopted by Hitzig, and,
in
previously seen, a
It is
title
by Bunsen.
absolutely unbefitting
Peace."
True,
He
He
:
by delivering men from Satan his
weaker neighbours, that
admissible
as
we have
For the Messiah is
spoils the strong
only a military conqueror,
is
:
it
is
" the Prince of
man
but this
of his goods, title
suggests
who wastes the lands of he may enrich his soldiers
with the prizes of rapine and pillage.
In our Lord the whole passage finds a natural and
He came
adequate fulfilment. stead for
want of a Saviour:
at Nazareth,
at
men hard
unto
His birthplace was
in the tribe of Zabulon
;
His dwelling
Capernaum, in the tribe of ETaphthali.
sea of Galilee
He wrought
His parables upon
its
be-
Pound
the
His miracles, and taught
shores.
In the depth of the
CHRIST THE PRINCE OF TEACE.
came
spiritual degradation of the people lie
and immortality to
life
men
light
to teach a
;
49 to bring
pure morality
them with heavenly desires to give them motives strong enough to enable them to live purely, soberly, and righteously, in a world full of temptations. To His birth all Christian to raise
to a holy life
to
;
fill
;
nations turn, as to the advent of the one true hope of
the world
:
God
if
did not then visit His people, there
has been no revelation given
man, and man of the
shadow
;
God has not spoken
to
dwells in darkness and in the land
still
of death
for
;
he has nothing
left to
help
him, except the dim and uncertain light of natural religion.
But
the Son of
if
what
incarnate in the flesh, lieving that holy
men
of
God
did then become
difficulty is there in be-
God were
inspired of old
by
the Holy Ghost, to give from time to time indications of the approach of so miraculous an event ?
commenced an
birth
men, who refuse salvation then
joy
;
but
to
era of peace,
submit
wrought
for the soul
;
to the
— not
that
for worldly
terms of the great
God has not
whose
At
increased their
have been forgiven,
sins
and which has been reconciled, by the Saviour's work, to
God.
It
is
the soul the yoke of whose burden
Christ has broken, the staff laid
the rod of Satan
its
oppressor.
upon
Were
it,
its
shoulder,
however, the
case that Christian principles exerted their proper influence states
upon men,
— did they regulate
the conduct of
one toward another, then would wars cease. the injustice which
For wars spring out of
injustice
the law curbs between
man and man,
states too powerful for the
:
is
punished in
law by the scourge of war.
SERMON
50
II.
The time may yet come when
now
ence states as
it
Christianity shall influ-
influences individuals
this full
and
and peace
—
to a
golden age of happiness
and worthily therefore did he conclude
:
his prophecy with the titles of ;
flesh
who
for fuel of fire.
development of Christian principles the
Prophet looked forward,
man
and then
equipment of the warrior, and his garments
shall the
rolled in blood, be for burning
To
;
Him who
God and
is
in very truth a Miracle, in that in the
is
He was
God,
also the invisible
hath seen nor can see
:
who
is
the divine Eeason, the Word,
made, and without
whom
which was made
who
:"
" the
whom
no
Wisdom
by whom
all
man
of God,"
things were
a was not any thing made the Mighty God,
is
God, God of one substance with the Father
:
God who
of is
the Everlasting Father, one with the Father, Himself eternal,
and the giver
to others of everlasting life
who broke down the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile, who filled up the impassable gulf between God and man by being a Mediator, one with God, by right of His divinity, one with man by sharing our human nature. who,
lastly, is
the Prince of Peace,
—
Lastly, " of the increase of His government, and of peace, there shall be no end,
and upon
his
its
upon the throne of David
kingdom, to order
it,
and
to establish it
with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever."
at
Hezekiah did not
sit
most he had but the two tribes
his
was no eternal kingdom
;
on David's throne; left for
there
Eehoboam
;
was no increasing
peace in his troubled times, but ever increasing danger.
"The
throne of David" means wide- spread dominion;
CONCLUSION. the
Jew saw
in
it
5'
the type of universal empire
;
and
such shall in due time be the kingdom of Christ. For, quoting this prophecy, the angel Gabriel said to
"Thou shalt bring forth a Son, His name Jesus. He shall be great,
the Blessed Virgin,
and shalt and
shall
call
be called the Son of the Highest
Lord God father
shall give
David
:
and
He
unto
Him
:
and the
the throne of His
shall reign over the
house of
Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be
no end."
e2
SERMON Isaiah
III.
xi. 1, 2.
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grotv out of his roots : and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him!'
" There shall
T1HE
prophecy of which this verse
is
the central
point stands in close parallelism with that of the
Immanuel.
The same
anxieties are pressing
upon the
Prophet's mind, and he looks to the same hope for consolation. it
For once again danger
was the confederate hosts
advancing to besiege the city
;
Then
at hand.
is
of Samaria
now
and Damascus it
Assyria,
is
which, in opposition to the divine warning, the weak
Ahaz had invited enemy worse than
to his rescue,
those
and found in
who had then
it
an
threatened his
And ever in the time of danger there was but one solace to which the house of David could look for
ruin.
security and confidence;
and that was the certainty
that from their line a deliverer would spring, in all
the promises of
be accomplished,
God spoken
to
whom
His people would
—from the promise made
to
Eve, as
she stood trembling and abashed to receive her sentence,
to the last
" of the throne."
words of David's consolation, that
fruit of his
body God would
set
upon
his
PUNISHMENT OF AHAZ.
In Jerusalem different
:
itself
and submissive
the circumstances were very-
King was now
for the
$3
full of faith in
to the counsels of the
Prophet
;
God,
whereas
then Ahaz, wavering and irresolute, and eagerly catching at the hope of any earthly deliverance, was yet obstinate in his disobedience
God's commands
:
And
ask a sign."
and refusal
— "Ask thee a
sign."
to listen to
" I will not
therefore the Prophet, even while
commissioned to assure him of the ultimate safety of his
kingdom, nevertheless clearly
ment which
his realm
rate persistence in a
must
set before
him the punish-
bear, because of his obdu-
wrong and
irreligious policy.
He
reminded him therefore that Jerusalem could not perish; that there was a peculiar promise especially with his house,
bound up with it, and
which ensured
special protection of God's providence.
woman's seed had been limited
prediction of the
to the descendants of
of David, and no
Abraham, and then
word
all this
He eat,"
tivated
to the family
Most High could fail. conceive and bear a son."
he coupled the sore wasting which
should desolate his kingdom. shall
first
of the
" Behold, the virgin shall
But with
for it the
The general
—the products
For " butter and honey of a land wild
and uncul-
and instead of the numerous population and
;
careful tillage,
which had covered, the most barren
rocks with terraces on which grew vines of so choice
a
that " a thousand vines were valued at a thou-
sort,
sand silverlings," the people should be too few for the labours of husbandry
doned
;
and the land,
yield the
means
;
the fields everywhere aban-
left to
a state of nature, should
of subsistence to a
few wanderers, so
SERMON
54
III.
number that from the abundance of grass the man who had a young cow and two sheep should scanty in
have milk in plenty,
him
the pasture
;
—there being none
and honey without
to share
with
from the
stint,
numerous swarms of wild bees which, undisturbed by man, plied their busy labours amidst
solitudes,
where
thronging multitudes had once pursued the active duties of
life.
But even
in her humiliation the land bore a
The hope
existence.
charmed
of the world's deliverance
was
bound up with her narrow fortunes; and therefore, sit in darkness, she must see a great light and though for a time she dwell in the land of the shadow of death, yet must the sunlight arise upon
though she
her
for
:
unto her a child must be born, whose names
are the titles of Omnipotence, and " of whose govern-
ment there
As
be no end."
shall
I then shewed, the date of this prophecy in its
present form
is
many
embodied in
historical event first
years later than the principal it.
For
Isaiah, in the
verse of the ninth chapter, alludes to occurrences
long subsequent probable that
came
:
it
and there
was
is
much which makes
years after Hezekiah
was
finally published to the
to the throne that it
people of Jerusalem in the shape in which sent read
it,
it
several
and in which the sign given
to
we
at pre-
Ahaz and
the birth of Mahershalal are detailed in an historical narrative,
from which the Prophet
ficent prediction of the
~Nor
is this at
rises to his
magni-
Messiah as " the Mighty God."
variance with the ordinary method of
God's dealings with mankind, whereby to those
who
FAITH OF HEZEKIAH. have, more
even their at
given, while from those
is
little is
to
to
understand
Hezekiah the prophecy plain
repeated,
:
;
a sign
is
but to the pious its
meaning
still
remains,
and
and though the warning
;
not,
be no sign, except to those who were
waiting for the consolation of Israel
made
who have
To Ahaz God gave
taken away.
most a sign obscure and hard
which seemed
is
55
though the land which has withdrawn God's shelter must bear
its
itself
from
punishment, yet are such
sad thoughts alleviated by the assurance that in His
due time Messiah
shall
be revealed, and that of His
peace there shall be no end.
At
the time of the present prophecy danger again
The Assyrian king, elate with and his messengers, conquest, is gathering his hosts as they stand upon the city's walls, taunt the weakness
threatened Jerusalem.
;
of Hezekiah with offers of horses
thereon.
But the King
if
he can
set riders
looks not abroad for help
he
:
spreads the letter before the Lord, and sends to Isaiah to
word
of reproach
Prophet's lips
:
There
him.
intercede for
;
is,
therefore,
now no
no thought of blame escapes the
his business
is
simply to reassure the
hearts of both King* and people, sinking at the great-
ness of their danger, and to convey to
them the
cer-
tainty of their escape.
This also accounts for the striking difference of
which Isaiah in the two prophecies exIn both alike it is the presses the same great truth. Messiah's birth, the Messiah's kingdom, of which he
manner
in
speaks
but in the
:
first
himself, his kingdom,
prophecy Ahaz was untrue
and
his
God
;
to
and therefore the
SERMON
56
III.
Prophet's words are those of rebuke and indignation, of wrath to the
Even when he comes there restoration, when he sets before
and punishment.
promise of
them the
certainty of Messiah's advent, and of their
preservation as the
necessary consequence,
he
describes these their national hopes with a vigour
still
and
intenseness commensurate with the energy of his pre-
vious threatenings.
phecy,
all
is
But
here, in this present pro-
and therefore the greater
consolation,
evenness of style and the closer minuteness of description as
he enumerates the
spiritual qualities of
the Euler, the change in the characters of the ruled,
and the universality of the Messiah's kingdom.
The prophecy commences
at the fifth verse of the
tenth chapter, in which Isaiah apostrophizes Assyria as the rod of God's anger commissioned to punish
such nations as by their conduct had exposed themselves to the divine wrath
;
and the remaining verses
of that chapter describe the boasting language of its
king, elate with the ease and rapidity of his victories,
vain of his personal prowess and military
skill,
and
ignorant that he was but an instrument in the hands of the Almighty,
and that
in
due time punishment
would with equal certainty overtake
The Assyrian empire must mish had
fallen,
God would tail
visit
fall,
own
his
as Calno
sins.
and Carche-
but even before then the justice of Sennacherib himself.
In minute de-
the Prophet next describes his march upon Jeru-
salem,
enumerating one by one the various places
through which he would pass, choosing
for
him, not
march of Sennacherib's army.
57
the ordinary beaten route by which peaceful travellers
would have journeyed from the but one
frontier to the capital,
and easy of defence, had Hezekiah
difficult,
been as able a general in the pious and believing
field as
he was good and
but the suddenness of the in-
:
road and the bold tactics of Sennacherib paralyzed his efforts
:
— "They are
claims the Prophet;
gone over the passage," ex-
they have threaded the
defile
between Micmash and Geba, where a few hardy men might have disputed their way. Too narrow for carriages,
they have
left their
baggage behind, and press
on unencumbered, and are now
close at hand.
They
are within sight of the holy city, and Sennacherib in
triumph shakes his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the
Very
hill of
different opinions
route here described actual road taken
suppose that
is
it
imagination only.
hold that
;
Jerusalem.
have been held as to the
some thinking that
was the
by the invading army, while others an ideal march, the work of the Those of the modern school who
was the actual route
it
it
of the Assyrian
army, would wish us therefore to believe that the
prophecy must have been written
had taken place that tory,
a :
for it is a
after the invasion
canon of their criticism,
whenever a prophecy agrees with the no other proof
after the facts
xxx vii.
is
theory;
but
is
required that
had occurred.
The
it
facts of his-
was written
narrative in chap.
indeed totally irreconcileable with
we may
dismiss
its
consideration:
the essence of the present prophecy does not 8
Hitzig, in he.
this
lie
for
in
SERMON
58 its historical
but in
reference to Hezekiah and Sennacherib,
application to onr Lord.
its
From
III.
the Prophet
his narrative of the invasion,
by an easy transition, to the future time. the last two verses of the tenth chapter he had
passes over,
For in
abruptly concluded his description of the proud king's
triumphal progress with his sudden and terrible down-
Like some mighty cedar, he
fall.
"For,
hour of his pride.
lo
!
in the very
is felled
the Lord, Jehovah of
hosts, lops the branches of this mighty tree with ter-
violence,
rific
and the
tall
growing
down, and the high trees brought low cut
down the
yea,
:
He
shall
thickets of this forest, the multitudes of
with
this Assyrian host,
who
that mighty angel
with death."
hewn
trees shall be
iron,
and
this
Lebanon by
in one night smote their
And from
this,
by a natural
rendered plain immediately that
we
camp
antithesis,
read the eleventh
chapter in connection with the tenth, he proceeds to
Messiah's advent:
foretell
forth from
— "But
a rod shall spring
hewn-down trunk
the
of Jesse,
and a
sucker from his roots shall bring forth fruit."
Now springs
from the root of a cedar no sucker ever ;
when once
the axe has laid
it
low, no tree of
that species can live on any longer in a
from ever. its
its
own
Its
roots
work
is
over; and as
ruins they find the
which can never again of this world.
Great
men
derived
life
and similarly Assyria
:
falls
search
for
among
records of a past greatness
find a place amidst the things
cities,
Baghdad and Mosul, may
yet rise upon the banks of the Tigris, but in their streets the
same lofty-featured race
is
no more seen,
PROPHECY AGAINST SAMARIA.
59
whose lineaments are sculptured on the remains of Nineveh.
and
will
with the Davidic line
It is not so
have a place throughout
all
;
it
has
ages in the pre-
sent fortunes of the world: for "like the terebinth-
and the oak, though they be cut down, yet
tree
there substance in
them
;"
—there
is
in them, according
meaning of the word, that which
to the literal
make them stand up " a new stemV In earthly kingdom of David will pass away place
must
is
will
a word, the ;
but in
its
dominion of Messiah,
arise the spiritual
David's Son.
Before,
however,
we
proceed to the more exact
consideration of the text,
it
may be
useful to say
a few words concerning the shorter prediction, placed
between the two great prophecies of the Immanuel
and the rod of
Jesse,
and occupying part of the ninth,
and four verses of the tenth, chapter. against the
kingdom
of Samaria,
and
It
was spoken
is
remarkable
for the regularity of its form, as it consists of four
odes, of equal length,
and each ending with the
re-
"For all this his anger is not turned away, but hand is stretched out still." Of these odes, the
frain,
his first
rebukes the pride of Samaria
;
the second, her ob-
duracy under punishment; the third, her anarchy;
and the
fourth, the injustice of her princes,
who under
cover of those lawless times had perverted judgment,
"taking away the right of the poor, to make widows their prey,
and
easy to settle
;
to rob the fatherless."
for
when b
Its date is
in the first ode Samaria is
Isa. vi. 13.
SERMON
60
represented as saying,
but
we
will build with
are cut down, but
we
III.
"The bricks are fallen down, hewn stones the sycomores :
will change
them
into cedars,"
Isaiah certainly refers to the invasion of Tiglath-Pi-
For he
leser in B.C. 740.
no serious injury
inflicted
upon the land the buildings indeed which had been commenced must be abandoned under the temporary :
pressure of his presence, and would
fall
into ruin
the sycomores which stood in the line of his army's
march would be cut down
by his ill commence
success,
for fuel
;
but, encouraged
they would, upon his
retreat, re-
their labours with greater boldness, and in
fancied security would plant their lands with choicer trees.
On
the other hand, the anarchy described in the
third ode, and the lawlessness in the fourth, refer to
crown by Hosea
for the
And
some period during the nine
as this turbulence
after
must
years' struggle
he had murdered Pekah.
had reached
its
height, and
produced general misery, so that "they snatched on the right hand, and were hungry
hand, and were not satisfied,"
;
and
we may
ate
on the
left
conclude that
the prophecy was written two or three years prior to Ilosea's finally
gaming the mastery
The arrangement, is
chronological
Samaria was
Pekah
;
:
still
in B.C. 730.
therefore, of the three prophecies
the
first
referring to the time
when
a powerful military despotism under
the second, a warning to her in the years of
anarchy which followed that monarch's murder; the .third,
a consolation to Jerusalem in her alarm at the
impending invasion of Sennacherib, and, therefore,
JERUSALEM TYPE OF THE CHURCH.
6
subsequent by at least ten years to the death of
and
Hosea,
the
destruction
Samaria by Shal-
of
maneser.
And now all
prophecy
ance
to turn to the import of the prophecy,
same character impressed upon
find the
;
it
we
which marks
immediate and temporal deliver-
for the
used only as the occasion from which the
is
Prophet
rises to future
and
spiritual blessings.
As he
advances on his way, he casts behind him the local interests
in
its
and narrow fortunes of the nation considered
mere
he
political aspect, that
may
the more
boldly reach onwards to the earth-wide salvation bound
up with the existence not only her
own
history
Church in the world and Babylon were
:
For Jerusalem has
of Israel. ;
she
the type also of the
is
and her struggles with Assyria
to her
what
struggle with sin and Satan.
to the
And
Church
is
just as hers
the
was
but a chequered history, with evil more frequently
triumphant than good, and with her promises of happiness never fulfilled in the sense in which the people
expected them, so
is it
with the Church.
called to be God's peculiar people special providence,
of
God
of the
:
Israel
was
was protected by a
;
and ruled by the
direct
government
but her own highest ambition was to be one
kingdoms of the world.
And
therefore
her
existence was a troubled one, with an occasional hour of triumph, but
more frequently trodden under
foot
by those very nations whose character she aped. And so is it with the Church she also has times when the :
faith of her sons shines purely
and brightly, and the
SERMON
62 blessing of
God
trusts only in
III.
manifestly rests npon her, because she
But too
Him.
often, like
much
of old, her external aspect too
the world
her
:
the same objects of desire are sought
her motives are
;
men
her prototype
resembles that of
much
too
those
by
of worldly
is
not that marked difference between the
history of the
Church and the history of a temporal
there
;
kingdom, which the essential difference between them
might lead us
Yet she
to expect.
too, like the tere-
binth-tree and the oak, if cut down, has her substance
and her mission must
in her,
last
unto the world's
end: but she has her "treasure in earthen vessels;"
though of God's building, yet men are the instru-
ments by which she works. In the prophecies we have an example of the manner in which the ministers of the Church of old acted
toward those who by virtue of the
had been admitted
whom
he
human
;
thus
we
find Isaiah ever placing
sees
them untrue
occupied with worldly schemes
policy
;
to foretell the
and people the higher objects of
He
their existence.
much
For the
and guide, and teach those among
And
lived.
before both king
mission
into covenant with God.
the prophet was not so
office of
future, as to warn,
rite of circumcision
to their divine ;
busied about
wavering between Assyria and Egypt
seeking their safety in alliances with earthly powers.
From
be found elsewhere.
them away. Their safety is to They have been placed by God
on earth
purpose
all this
he
calls
for a special
well as an actual existence
they
fulfil this
;
;
they have a moral as
and as long therefore as
purpose, so long they are secure.
They
OFFICE OF THE PROPHETS.
may
6$
bo cast down, but cannot be destroyed
;
may
be
perplexed, but not in despair. It is this thought
which animates the opening words
of the prophecy, in which Isaiah addresses Assyria as
the rod of God's anger.
For thus he
at once
marks
the difference between the two kingdoms.
The one
has a definite place in the divine economy
the other
is
used but for a temporary object.
therefore, its
it
may triumph
own, no settled
final
;
but
it
;
For the moment, has no mission of
purpose in the world, and
hems it around. But Jerusalem, however unworthy, was the actual centre therefore no special providence
of the world's history
;
and in
spite of her feebleness,
in spite of her comparative insignificance, she
must
the far mightier kingdoms of Nineveh and
outlive
Babylon, and Persia, and Macedon, and Antioch
;
for
upon her existence depended the accomplishment of God's unchanging counsels.
The immediate
object of the prophets, therefore,
the moral edification of the people. to
them
was
They pointed out
their covenant relation with
God, and their
high calling in the world, in order that they might live worthily of their vocation. really
been
Earthly hopes had not
set before them, but spiritual
God's especial people, in
;
whom He would
they were bless all
the nations of the earth, and as such, justice, and
mercy, and truth ought to be the daily practice of their lives.
But
in keeping ever in
tive feature of Israel's existence,
unlike
all
view
this distinc-
by which they were
other nations, the exhortations of the pro-
phets naturally pointed onward to the day
when the
SERMON
64
III.
promise made to them would be
fulfilled
and, "
;
moved
by the Holy Ghost," they from time to time added such particulars as made the nature of the promised
At
Deliverer stand forth in distincter outline.
first
He
was "the woman's seed," "the Shiloh," only, and by the His person and attributes remained untold :
prophets His
life
and death, His
are so clearly described, that
and dignity,
office
among the many
ploded theories of recent times there
ex-
one which
is
endeavours to account for the historical character of the Gospels by saying that these supposed facts grew
out of the ideas impressed upon the national mind by the writings of the prophets.
But
in opposition to this, a class of objectors, from
Grotius downwards, have argued that the connexion of the prophecies with Christianity
is
unreal
that as
;
they started with things present, so must their
ment be sought
for in
fulfil-
contemporary events.
They
regard Hezekiah, therefore, as the rod of Jesse, and find in his reign that era of peace,
not hurt nor destroy in
But
it is
when "they
God's holy mountain."
all
not in this prophecy only that
we
find Isaiah
looking for his consolation in things future usual character of
all
his
Like a true
patriot,
is
it is
the
great
the advent of
he was, doubtless,
anxious for the welfare of his country
much
;
The
prophecies.
thought ever present in his mind the Messiah.
shall
;
he had too
influence in Hezekiah's counsels to be indif-
monarch who trusted him but the Messiah's coming, and the founding
ferent to the fortunes of a so well
of
:
His kingdom, was ever the
real
burden of his
tale.
Christ's
Say
was an
it
Church of the still
kingdom within
us.
6$
a fancied golden age,
ideal time,
a
which he looked forward
future, to
forward he did look.
ISTay,
Judah never did answer
more
;
the kingdom of
to his hopes;
never did
it
equal his ideal of the theocratic government.
were powerful
in Hezekiah's reign there
Even
factions at
court which finally triumphed over Isaiah's influence
and in
spite of Sennacherib's defeat, the general aspect
of his time
is
one of disaster.
comfort him in the present
There was
little
read the description of Messiah's kingdom eleventh chapter, must
own
to
and even we, when we
;
that
the
in great part
is
it
in
The wolf does not yet lie down The Prophet may accurately describe the tendencies of Christianity may describe what the world would be, were Christian principles acted upon but they are not generally acted upon and possibly unfulfilled
even now.
with the lamb.
;
;
the description never will be fulfilled in the actual history of the world, nor
belongs to the inner heart, to
by the power
rage,
was intended
so to be,
of the individual.
life
but
In his
may cease may begin
of grace, evil principles
and Christ's kingdom of peace
here upon earth, to be perfected and
made
eternal in
heaven.
At the commencement,
therefore, of the prophecy,
Assyria and Sennacherib, Judrea and Hezekiah, have
a real place
;
but Isaiah rapidly turns from them to
the future, and his words belong
present actors, but are for
The overthrow
all
no more to the
times and
of Sennacherib's army,
all
and the de-
liverance of Jerusalem, are really foretold
F
persons.
;
but soon
66
SERMON
III.
they fade away into the background, and are symbols at
most of the victory begun on Calvary and consum-
mated on the morning of the Eesurrection
a victory
:
enacted over again in each era of the world whenever influences hostile to pure religion are overcome, and
in the believer's
the mastery.
as step
life
by
step the Spirit gains
It follows, therefore, that the connection
between the parts of a prophecy not. a
matter of chronology
effect.
;
it is
is
not one of time,
is
the order of cause and
Years, nay, cycles of history
may
pass
away
before the full effects of the sacrifice of Christ be ac-
complished,
—
before, that is to say, the eleventh chap-
ter of Isaiah be completely fulfilled
tion
is
not
made thereby
less real.
contains the tree, which yet its
development, so
:
may
but the connec-
For as the seed
require centuries for
the effect contained in the cause,
is
though cycles of centuries may scarce
suffice for its
progress to perfection.
In none, perhaps, of Isaiah's prophecies exemplified than in the present. chapter
is
mainly
is
this better
For while the tenth
historical, it serves
but as an intro-
duction to the spiritual predictions of the eleventh, in
which the
historical
element disappears.
In describ-
ing, in the historical portion, the pride of the Assyrian
king, Isaiah narrates the conquests of his ancestors in order.
Starting from the strong fortress of Circcsium
on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, and the usual place where the
Eoman
armies crossed that river in
their centuries of struggle with the Parthians,
them advance
to
we
see
Calno upon the Tigris, the future
Ctcsiphon and chief seat of the Parthian
empire.
CONQUESTS OF SENNACHERIB.
Master thus of these two
rivers,
67
they spread their
conquests along the Euphrates to the north-east, and
descending the Orontes, take possession of Arpad, the
very memory of which has perished, and of Hamath, which, under the the
capital
of
name
of Epiphania,
was subsequently
And
northern Syria.
having thus
the deserts, which form the eastern protec-
skirted
tion of Palestine, they
ward; and
first
now bend
their course south-
Damascus, and next Samaria,
fall
beneath their arms. Jerusalem alone remains unsubdued; but Sennacherib advances to complete the conquests of his fore-
Nor does he doubt
fathers.
"he
will gather her
up
of an easy victory
cries
to judge parallel
And
as eggs that are left."
as he advances, the Prophet vividly
by the
and anguish of the
marks
villages
for
:
his route
on his way
by them, his army must have advanced in
columns from north to south, through a very
difficult country,
but where, probably, he would find
more abundant supplies than in the beaten solated, apparently,
by previous
route, de-
He
inroads.
with no opposition; even in the narrow
meets
defile
of
Michmash no measures have been taken to check his advance. But when the goal is in sight, when he waves his hand in exultation, a terrible overthrow not by human means, but by the intervention of God overtakes him. God Himself hews down the stately
—
cedar-tree.
But torical
away,
in the eleventh
element
and twelfth chapters the
disappears.
Hezekiah
has
his-
passed
and in his stead "a Eod has sprung forth
f2
SERMON
68
III.
from the hewn-down stem of Jesse." the Spirit rests without measure of peace
;
at
His bidding the
;
Upon Him
His kingdom
is
one
animals of prey-
fierce
change their nature, and dwell in harmony with their
The struggle between nature and
former victims.
man, the struggle between knowledge and ignorance, between vice and earth
is full
virtue, has ceased
of the
;
and the whole
knowledge of the Lord.
His empire confined
to the
Jews
;
Nor
is
but " the root of
Jesse stands also as an ensign to the people, and to
it
do the Gentiles seek, and His rest has become gloJudah, meanwhile, has been visited by evils
rious."
greater than even the most desponding had foreboded in Hezekiah's time; for the
doom spoken by Moses
has overtaken her, and her children have been " scattered
among
all people,
But for her
even unto the other." fold restoration
the
first
finally,
:
from the one end of the earth
for, first,
also there is a two-
a remnant
is
gathered, at
outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost
God assembles
;
and,
as well the outcasts of Israel as
the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth; and as the reconciliation will be then complete,
when
of earth with
God
the Jews everywhere are
converted to the faith in Christ, and with them the fulness
of the Gentiles has
come
in,
both Jew and
Gentile join in the same psalm of praise,
Lord,
who hath done
u Unto the
excellent things;" and, "
With
joy draw the living waters of the Spirit from the same wells of salvation." It
is,
therefore,
now no
longer the narrow conflict
between Judaea and the Assyrian King which occupies
BIRTH OF CHRIST CONTRARY TO NATURE.
mind
the Prophet's
;
it is
69
the eternal conflict, old as
man, yet ever new, ever recurring, between good and For this battle the ensign is set up and not evil. ;
the
Jew
only,
but
all
themselves beneath Jesse Himself: all
mankind, are summoned
men unto Me."
Christians see
good and
evil,
That ensign
it.
— "For
I, if
I be
And
the Eoot of
is
draw
lifted up, shall
But the Prophet saw
we
as
it
not as an abstract conflict between
it,
but as a personal struggle between
Christ and Satan, between the serpent
Eve and
range
to
who tempted
the Immanuel.
coming forth of
ever the
Deliverer
this
spoken of as something contrary to nature.
Immanuel,
He
here, as u a
is
As
described as the Virgin's Child
Eod which grows
out from a
;
is
the
and
hewn-down
The house of David must be shorn of all its honours; it must have returned to the same state of tree."
private citizenship in which Jesse lived
nity
;
its
royal dig-
must have passed away, the national hopes have
ceased to centre in
and
it,
its last
with indifference, when from promised Sceptre shall
arise,
its
remains be regarded decaying stem the
beneath whose sway the
spiritual Israel shall dwell safely.
In the seventeenth chapter of Ezekiel a prophecy occurs,
which very
this place.
upon
God has
just denounced there punishment
Israel for looking for deliverance to
with punishment therefore 11
closely resembles that of Isaiah in
Egypt
ever mingled mercy.
is
;
but
Ezekiel
concludes his prophecy with the promise,
1 will also take of the highest branch of the high
cedar,
and
will set
it
;
I will crop off from the top of
SEEMON
70
III.
young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent. In the mountain and it shall of the height of Israel will I plant it
his
:
bring forth boughs, and bear
And
cedar.
that I
the
all
in
of the field
trees
tree,
how
remarkable
tiring
know tree,
Now
to flourish."
it
the same general character prevails It is always some-
the Messianic prophecies.
all
shall
have dried up the green
and have made the dry tree
tree,
and be a goodly
the Lord have brought down the high
have exalted the low
is
fruit,
beyond the power of nature
;
no power of nature
make a cutting from a cedar-tree take root and grow and God Himself calls attention to the fact " I have made the dry tree to flourish." But God does what nature could not do; and similarly the Sceptre springs from David's house, when it is in its deepest decay " God hath brought down the high
could
:
;.
:
tree,
—
hath exalted the low tree."
That the word rendered rod in our Authorized Version does signify a sceptre,
use in the cognate dialects. a
word that
it
is
found but once besides in the whole
of Scripture, in Prov. xiv. 3, is
a rod of pride
it is
we may conclude from its In Hebrew it is so rare
— " In the mouth
of constant occurrence, as the
which the
staff,
the aKyjirTpov,
sheich, or elder, carries in his hand,
which, in old time, was ever the
In the Peschito version the his
of fools
but in the other Semitic dialects
:"
servant,
as
the
mark
staff
emblem
which Elisha gave
that he
mission entrusted to him, has this c
2 Kings
iv. 29.
and
of power.
had a prophetic title
c ;
and long
DERIVATION OF THE WORD RENDERED
ROD.'
'
7
was the name given to the crozier carried by the patriarchs and bishops in the Nestorian afterwards
it
Church.*.
And, accordingly, the Chaldee paraphrast
understands by it here the kingly office, and translates, " king shall come forth from among the
A
sons of Jesse, and Messiah shall
grow up from among
his sons' sons."
The
word
root of the
not found anywhere in
is
Hebrew, and the derivation given by Gesenius e might seem
to militate against this interpretation.
But the
philological views of Gesenius have been the subject
among Oriental scholars in Germany; and in this, as in many other places, he has been shewn to have misunderstood the sources to which he went for information. For the Arabic word which he rightly gives as the root, is said by him to mean 'to bend,' 'be pliant;' really it means 'to be But in most languages the erect,' to be raised up.' words expressive of vegetable growth come from roots of general animadversion
'
of this meaning.
comes
nl ?y,
'
So in Hebrew, from nbs^
foliage
so in Latin,
;'
from
to ascend,'
'
salio, saltus ;
in English, the spring is that season of the year
so
when
From the root, then, to be erect,' comes the Hebrew word for sapling, the robust young growth which men choose for their vegetation
staves
is
most
from
again,
and,
;
active.
'
its
second signification of the verb, like a
young shoot
And d
voce iton.
0., f
iii.
to bend,'
'
be
pliant,'
f .
this rod, or staff,
Assem., B.
toughness comes the '
pt.
Fiirst,
ii.
comes forth from a hewn- down 83. 7.
'
In
his Thesaurus, sub
Concord. Bill., sub voce.
SERMON
72,
stem
;
—
such
for
III.
thp signification of the word
is
excepting the Septuagint version,
;
and,
exactly
its force is
preserved in the other Greek translations, which render
it
by
down.'
Kop/jto9,
'
also,
It,
a log of wood,' from Keipco,
is
a
word
of rare occurrence, being
found but twice elsewhere in Holy Scripture in Job xiv. 8, where
it is
water, will
bud and put
in
the
forth
— "their
in Isaiah xl. 24,
at the
yet,
boughs
first,
scent of
and, secondly,
;
stock shall not take root
The passage
earth."
:
used of a stock or stem of a
which
tree lying in the dust,
to cut
'
in Job
is
in remark-
able conformity with the etymological signification of
the word
for
;
we
are expressly told there that
the trunk of a cut-down tree tree, if it
be cut down, that
:
— " There
is
wax
" yet through the scent of water
boughs
away."
like a plant.
There
may; give
it
it
will bud,
and bring
dieth and wasteth
a plain antithesis between the
is
man
Though
in the dust,' "©23)
'
But man
ing of a tree and the cutting
death; the
hope of a
old in the earth, and the stock
thereof die in the ground," (really,
forth
will never return
fell-
of a
man by
to life,
the tree
down
water, and both the roots which remain
in the earth will send forth suckers,
and the trunk
lying in the dust will put forth buds, which, fed its
decay,
So
is
sprout again, and
it Avill
that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
the root thereof
it
may grow up
into
also, in Isaiah xl. 24,
mighty
by
trees.
the Prophet
is
speaking of
the certain destruction which shall overtake the rulers of the earth,
whose
trust is in idols
;
and, in describing
the hopelessness of their condition, he uses strong and
BY 'STEM' A FELLED TREE SIGNIFIED. emphatic terms
:
— " Yea, they
yea, they shall not be
sown
%
be planted
their stock shall
Their
state, that is to
beyond recovery: they are not young
is
planted
the
in
and grow
soil,
which may take
they are felled
;
which, even
if
a
man
;
yea,
:
not take root in the earth." say,
shall not
73
logs,
trunks
root
trees
there,
hewn down,
were to plant them, could not
take root.
And
here, also, the context requires that the
should retain
exact meaning.
its
For in the
word
latter half
of the verse " the staff of Jesse" is described as a " sucker which, growing out of his roots shall bring forth
in the passage already
Just, then, as
fruit."
quoted from Job, the trunk and roots of the hewn-
down it
tree are distinguished from one another, so is
When
here.
and
the destroyer has passed over both,
their glory is
and better hope still
gone, the
visits
them.
of a
new
To suppose the
tree
spring-time
standing, while the sucker brings forth fruit,
against reason. tree remains ?
while
it is
What value has the sucker while the What possibility has it of growing
shaded, and the nourishment of the roots
drawn away by the thick branches of the parent stock to maturity,
be gone
;
is
and bring forth
it is
by
can find room for
its its
and wide-spread
foliage ?
For the sucker to grow fruit,
the old tree must
decay alone that the development.
And
accordance with the established rules of
new
tree
this is in
Hebrew
pa-
rallelism: each sentence must present the same idea,
but each must illustrate and define the other. idea
here
is
that
of
life
The
springing out of death,
SERMON
74
III.
strength from weakness, vigour from decay.
It
the upspringing of a plant out of a dry ground
;
growth of a bough cut from the cedar
;
it
is
is
the
God
accomplishing His purposes by means in themselves
unequal
And
to the task.
the fact
prophecy.
At
is
in remarkable agreement with the
the carrying
away
into
Babylon the
lineage of David lost their royal crown and dignity in the future troubles of the nation no hearts turned to
them
for
The
encouragement.
kings of Antioch wished to wring it
went back "When the Greek
priests
as the rulers of the rebuilt Jerusalem.
money from
the Jews,
was the high-priesthood which they proposed each
year to
sell to
the highest bidder:
when Epiphanes
wished to establish heathenism at Jerusalem, round the family of the old priest
at
Modin
it
was
that the
nation rallied; and the high-priesthood, with sovereign power, was the reward of the bravery of his sons.
Meanwhile, the family of David became peasants and handicraftsmen
:
they were forgotten
;
no one thought
them; any pretensions on their part would have met only with ridicule. But the word of prophecy remained firm. It was written, "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof:" and in the terms of
of
Isaiah's prediction,
Jesse
the Messiah
From shall
hewn-down trunk
the
come
forth,
and upon the
ruins of his temporal dominion that spiritual shall
be established which shall
In agreement with is
not David's
this it
name which
is
of
kingdom
last for ever.
must be
noticed, that
it
mentioned, but Jesse's
PARALLEL BETWEEN DAVID AND CHRIST. a fact the
more remarkable, inasmuch
the prophecy
name tor,
is
is
quoted in the
Testament David's
g ."
is
called " the
But the use
Eoot and Offspring of
of Jesse's
name
exactly agrees
with the whole purport of the prophecy. is
When
a tree
down its glory departs and so by the loss of kingdom David's family returned to the civil con-
cut
the
where
substituted for that of his less glorious ances-
and our Lord
David
New
as twice
75
dition
;
which they held in
Jesse's time.
It is
not
from a family of rank and dignity that Messiah
is
born, but from one following the ordinary occupations of trade and agriculture
;
from one
that,
ing held a lofty station, has fallen back to
after havits
origi-
The Bethlehem-Ephratah which once boasted that a race of monarchs had gone forth from her fields, has become again the least among the thousands of Judah, when from her decay the Scion nal meanness.
springs forth
who
shall rule
God's people
Israel.
The phrase, moreover, suggests a parallel between David and our Lord. As nothing was apparently more improbable than that the son of the husbandman of Bethlehem would raise Israel from its state of abject weakness to the height of power and dominion, so equally unlikely was it that the son of a carpenter, born in the same town, and of the same lineage, would deliver mankind from their thraldom unto Satan, and admit them into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. But such, nevertheless, was the case. From Jesse, and from Bethlehem, two sceptres
did arise,
—the
one of earthly power and temg
Cf. ver. 10.
SERMON
j6
III.
pofal sovereignty, in David; the other of divine
and
spiritual empire, in Christ.
Everything, in
combines to shew that Heze-
fact,
For the
kiah cannot be the sceptre here described.
same conclusion
which we have arrived by the con-
at
sideration of the etymological
rendered
stem,' follows also
'
commencement
the
end of the tenth. to a
mighty
the
Lord,
with
meaning
from the comparison of
is
there compared
which the Prophet
says, " Behold,
Jehovah of Hosts,
terror,
word
of the eleventh chapter with the
For the Assyrian
tree, of
of the
and the
tall
shall
lop
growing trees
the bough
be
shall
hewn
—
But there shall come forth a rod a sceptre from the hewn-down trunk of Jesse." Plainly, both royal lineages must fall the axe which now hews down the haughty Sennacherib will, in its time, also level the house of David with the dust. But the one
down.
.
.
.
—
:
will perish
reignty
;
throue."
;
the other will yet again attain to sove-
for " of David's line shall
Or more
one
fully, in the later
sit
upon
his
words of Jere-
miah, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto shall reign
David a righteous branch, and a king
and prosper, whose name
shall be,
Jehovah
our Righteousness."
The
prediction
that
"He
shall
prosper"
is,
in
Isaiah's prophecy, contained in the last word, " shall
bring forth fruit"
—" a
The Authorized Version indeed
bring forth fruit." renders
it
sucker out of his roots shall
" shall grow," but there
word ever having
this
bringing forth fruit
is
meaning
;
is
no proof of the
while the sense of
of frequent occurrence, and
is
THE ROD OF JESSE NOT THE VIRGIN. that required
by
its
etymology.
77
Moreover, the laws
Hebrew parallelism demand that the idea stated in first member shall be rendered more definite and
of
the
precise in the
repetition
second.
It does
not permit a mere
each portion must contribute something
:
towards the accuracy and exactness of the thought.
And
so then here there
is
an advance in the second
portion of the Prophet's words. springs forth from a
we
In the
hewn-down trunk
;"
learn that no untimely fate awaits
unto perfection, and brings forth
first,
" a rod
in the second, it
it
:
grows
The " root out
fruit.
of a dry ground, with no form or comeliness, with no
beauty that men should desire Him," is confessed as a " Prophet, mighty in deed and word, before God
and
all
the people."
The same laws of parallelism forbid our adopting the opinion held by several of the Fathers, that the rod of Jesse was the Virgin Mary, while the Scion
from his roots
is
our Lord.
prevalent view, but Tertullian,
It
was not indeed the
was held by
it
Ambrose, and some
Justin, Jerome,
others,
and probably
arose from the simple fact of there being two nouns,
each of which they supposed must refer to ferent person.
So before there had been the
and the Immanuel
;
of
is
in each
member
view, each time with rod, then,
may
also add,
Almah
woman and
her seed.
of a parallelism the thing spoken
the same in both
The
dif-
and in the prediction with which
prophecy begins there was the
But
a
:
it
is
twice presented to the
some distinguishing quality.
and the sucker are the same
;
but
we
that titles similar to these are often
SERMON
78
III.
He
given to our Lord, but never to the "Virgin. the Branch, (na|,
Isa.
iv.
2
Zech.
;
Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15); the Eoot, liii.
2); the Sucker,
Eod and
here, the
(flgfy
Isa.
12
vi.
8,
;
xi. 10,
2); and similarly
liii.
Scion, (~>£h,
iii.
(wip, Isa.
is
Nor
")23).
there in
is
the passage itself any reason for supposing the Virgin to
be meant
rally
;
been gene-
so that this interpretation has
abandoned in modern times.
This latter word, however, natser,
l
must not
scion,'
be passed over without a more careful consideration.
For there can present in
He came filled
St.
be, I think,
at Nazareth, that
Nazarene
h ."
rejects
it,
He
shall
'He
quotation
shall
how
could have written
with Nazarite
;
a
it.
man
be
be called a
He
himself
but for a reason so mistaken, that
scarcely credible
ful-
" The learned Jews
taken from this place."
is
"And
said,
a very old opinion; for
is
this passage says,
consider that the
Nazarene,'
It
was
it
might be
it
which was spoken by the prophets,
called a
g,
doubt that
Matthew's mind when he
and dwelt
Jerome upon
a
little
of St. Jerome's
it
is
judgment
For he confounds Nazarene
and adds, that Nazarite
and Natser, Nazareth, with
spelt
with
His own words,
ts.
therefore, disprove his conclusion;
is
and yet he must
have been well aware that NafapaiG? is the Greek for Nazarene, whereas the word for Nazarite in the Septuagint
is
Nagqpeuos and Na&palos.
word occurs again
in Acts xxiv. 5,
St.
Matthew's
where the Chris-
tians are called the sect tcdv Nafapalcov, certainly not
of Nazaritcs,
but of Nazarenes. h
Mutt.
ii.
23.
So
far,
moreover,
'
natser' not used by other prophets.
He
from our Lord being a Nazarite, trasted with
A
John the Baptist
plainly traced in
the minds of
many
tation in St.
Matthew's Gospel, which
were
incredible,
Hebrew
of the commentators
Greek
also
would be
is sufficient to
men who
and thought in another tongue.
enable them
habitually spoke
For because the
has some connection with the
it
so translated in
It really has none.
Jeremiah and Zechariah,
The word used by
but
name given
to our
St.
Matthew saw
in this
Lord a covert indication that His
would be Nazareth.
Even more absurd
is
the idea that the passage
means that our Lord should be ought
word Nat-
has not the most remote connexion with
it
the question whether or not
birthplace
(rras).
these prophets
illustrates the general idea attached to the zer,
belief
rendered Branch in the Authorized Version,
they conclude that
word
this quo-
by them, under the
patiently endured
to understand the idiom of
is
upon
not for the general ignorance of
it
that a knowledge of
word
actually con-
is
in this very particular.
may be
confusion, moreover,
79
to allow himself to
No man
despised.
suppose that
St.
Matthew
unmeaning
was capable of writing anything so "our Lord went and dwelt at Nazareth, that be
as that
it
might
which was spoken by the prophets, He be called one despised." Why at Nazareth more
fulfilled
shall
than at any other town of Galilee
?
We
whatsoever to the discredit of Nazareth a single that
word
we know
said against
it
in
Its
:
there
is
not
any book ever written
of up to the time
brought up there.
know nothing
when our Lord was
name rather leads us
to the idea
SERMON
80 that
it
III.
was superior to most parts of Galilee
says that calls it
for
Jerome
"Flos Galikere;" and again, he
signifies
it
"Urbs
;
Nathanael's question,
florida."
"Can
any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" amounts nothing more than that
With
place.
it
was a
to
small, out-of-the-way
the prophecies before him, that Messiah
should be born of the line of David, and at Bethlehem,
where David was, how utterly improbable must
it
have seemed that the Deliverer should come forth from
away amid the mountains of Zebulon. On the other hand, the name of the place in Hebrew was not Nazareth, but Natser the very word which St. Matthew uses. Nazareth is a Chaldee form a village far
—
:
but that educated Jews even in
St.
Jerome's days
called the place Natser follows from his saying that
the
of the village signified " the Flower of Ga-
name
lilee ;"
the Septuagint, avOos
e'/c
up out
flower shall go left to
may
the rendering, I
inference
;
Talmud our Lord
is
tt]
pifas
of its root.'
we have styled
avafirjcreTaL,
But we
positive proof
Ben
cations of the
'
a
are not
for in the
:
Natser, a son, an in-
And again, in the very Ariich, we read among the
habitant, of Nazareth.
Hebrew Lexicon,
by
add, of this passage
word Natser that
it
ancient signifi-
means " the ac-
cursed Nazarene."
Even the form
of the
dialectic peculiarities.
many
is
owing
to
The fondness of the people in sound o made them
districts of Palestine for the
substitute
it for
all familiar
into
Greek adjective
almost every other vowel.
We
arc
with the change of Nebuchadnezzar's name
Ncbuchodnosor, in the Apocrypha.
Similarly,
NATUEE OF OLD TESTAMENT TESTIMONY.
8
the words used by our Lord, Talitha cumi, in regions
more
to the East
name Tabitha in the
were pronounced Tolitho cum.
Apocrypha
;
which
by the way, with
is identical,
name Zebi, or Hirsch, borne by Jews in Germany in the present day. the
Christian
a
is still
is
If
St.
so
many
of the
So in Syriac, a
Matthew, the
first
retained, but the e has given place to omega,
be called it
In
called Notsroyo.
— Nafapcuos shall
The
in the Acts, is the feminine of Tobias
'He
K\rj0r)
shall
— a Nazarcne.'
be'
— not
He
'
be objected that this
ing of Isaiah's prophecy,
not the primary mean-
is
we
answer,
that the
first,
Evangelist probably only meant that there was an allusion
words is
to
our Lord's birthplace in the Prophet's
and the
;
fact bears
him
out.
In any way,
a thing worthy of observation, that the
given to the Messiah, in
itself
title
it
here
an uncommon word,
was the actual name of the village where He was brought up. The ordinary word would have been mas, which Isaiah does use a few chapters before, and
Why
which alone occurs in Jeremiah and Zechariah. does Isaiah here use another
And
?
that one so sug-
Matthew deduces the manner of Scripture
gestive of the inference which St.
from
it ?
But, secondly,
it
is
to appeal to these covert allusions.
It claims that the
Old Testament not only directly bears witness to Christ, and Christian doctrine, but that it is full of analogies which would escape an inattentive reader.
I need refer only to one, to the use which
makes
of the
name
of 1
Hagar
1 .
Gal. iv. 24.
But
St.
Paul
for so great
an
82
SERMON
III.
modern commentator would hesitate in accepting Sarah's handmaid as a type of Mount Sinai, and of the law given thereon. But the New Testaauthority, a
ment
of similar applications of narratives
is full
sayings in the Old, to the doctrines of Christianity that St.
Matthew does not stand
other teachers of the
new
and ;
so
alone, but, like the
covenant, claims the prin-
ciple of this fulness of Scriptural interpretation.
Again,
list
But
this
St.
Matthew does not
to the prophets gene-
may have been
because the Evange-
was not quoting the exact words of Scripture, but
only alluding to all
that
any one prophet, but
refer to rally.
objected
is
it
the words
it
in
;
and he may have considered that
which the Messiah
is
called
a
or rod, or branch, or sucker indirectly pointed
root,
to the
same
fact of our
Lord being brought up
place which bore this name.
Many
nificant fact.
But
I
may add
at a
a sig-
ancient testimonies affirm that
Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, whatever by Hebrew may there be meant. Now in every OriSt.
ental dialect
the allusion would be
would doubt
for a
moment
to this passage in Isaiah
plural
is
and
it
plain;
no one
Matthew
referred
is
found that the
of as rare occurrence in the Oriental versions,
as the singular
New
;
that St.
Testament.
is
in the
The
Greek manuscripts of the
Peschito, the Curetonian Syriac,
the Hharkleian Syriac, the JEthiopic,
the prophet."
Does not
all
read " by
this suggest the idea, that
the Greek scribes, not being able to understand the reference,
not
knowing what prophet was meant, plural, as if the Evan-
changed the singular into the
KINGDOM OF THE MESSIAH. had had no
gelist himself
quotation
From
meaning
definite
in his
?
the person of the Messiah the Prophet pro-
ceeds to describe His kingdom.
my
83
It does not belong to
subject to enter at any length upon this portion
of the prophecy
enough
:
to say, that the Spirit rests
upon Him " without measure," and fills Him with every " The spirit of wisdom and high and ennobling gift :
—
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
and of the
of knowledge,
spirit
The Prophet does not intend here
fear of the Lord." to
enumerate
the
all
qualities of our Lord, but confines himself to such as
by
are required
and not
a ruler.
It is the Messiah as King,
and Prophet, who
as Priest
by these princely
attributes;
and,
is
distinguished
accordingly, the
Prophet next describes His rule as one of impartial justice
poor,
:
— " With
and reprove
of the earth
righteousness
He
judge the
(or decide) with equity for the
and
;
shall
He
shall smite the earth
meek
with the
rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall slay the wicked."
just rule,
He
And
He
as the result of this
shall finally establish a universal
empire
of innocence and peace, in which " the wolf shall dwell
with the lamb, and the leopard kid
;
the calf
together
;
also,
and a
The beauty
and the young
little
lie
lion,
down with
the
and the fatling
child shall lead them."
of the Prophet's imagery infinitely sur-
passes the corresponding passages in which the poets of Greece
and Rome have described the happiness of
the golden age
;
but
it
must be remembered that g 2
it is
SERMON
84
III.
The view
imagery, and as such to be understood.
Hengstenberg and
others,
who
of
imagine that the nature
of the animal creation will be changed, and the world
return to a primeval state of perfection, to reason as to be scarcely sides, it
so contrary
is
And, be-
worth refuting.
depends upon two
false
hypotheses
:
the
first
animals in the era of paradise
false in fact, that the
did not prey upon one another; the second false in
upon one another
theory, that the animals preying
was
inconsistent with the declaration of God, that all
men who imagine
day,
that
are, in the present
There
His works were very good.
it is
a discovery of
modern
times that the death of the brute creation was indeof
Adam
this truth to geology.
But
pendent of the
sides,
fall
we owe much be-
they think that
:
in this, as in
modern times have done nothing more than
re-
produce, from a different quarter, old-fashioned truths.
We
owe
of death resting
;
and the value of
this proof consists in its
upon the evidence of
who had fore
extreme antiquity
to geology a proof of the
to
:
but the Fathers
meet the Manichsean heresy, and there-
were obliged
subjects,
facts
most
to consider that
the nature of
came
evil,
difficult of all
to the
same con-
clusion from reasonings, and proved that physical death
was not an evil, was no defect in creation and that Adam had seen death, and knew what it was in others, ;
before
God
said to
him
that,
mandment, "dying, he should ject I shall revert hereafter
now with sage,
;
if
he broke the com-
die."
and
But
to this sub-
shall content
myself
saying that the old exposition of this pas-
by such Fathers
as Theodore t,
is
the best,
INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY LIMITED.
85
" That by the tame and savage animals the Prophet de-
men.
scribes the differing dispositions of
For the wolf
signifies a disposition
given to rapine, while the lamb
gentle and mild
the leopard symbolizes cnnning,
is
while the kid
is
;
simple and
pride, the bull boldness, while the calf
And
timid.
men
of
accordingly
generals
prefects,
artizans, domestics,
are
see,"
lion
is
humble and
is
he adds, "
all
ranks
dwelling together in the Church; for em-
perors and
same sacred
at the
we
the
guileless;
and common
and even beggars, table, all
soldiers,
share equally
all
hear the same words, and
washed in the same baptismal laver."
A
more complete fulfilment may be reserved
future times
;
but,
as I have
remarked
connection of the facts of a prophecy time, but of cause
and
Christ the prophecy
And
effect.
was
before,
is
for
the
not one of
in the death of
virtually fulfilled, because
a motive was then revealed sufficiently powerful to
subdue
all
the evil passions, and stubborn self-will,
and perversity of men.
The
final destruction of evil
requires only the complete establishment of Christian principles
at present they
:
influence; an
number
influence
of persons,
one even of them.
have but a very limited
reaching to but a limited
and more or
less partial in
"We believe that
at
time the influence of Christianity will be very greater than
it is
now, and
its
every
some future
extent universal
:
much " For
the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea."
world sent,
is
to
But even
then,
if
the
be a state of probation, evil must be pre-
and be
sufficiently prevalent
and powerful
to
SERMON
86
make
III.
If
the trial of the Christian's faith a reality.
the world cease to be a state of probation, an order
new will have been established, that even the wisest man can say nothing worthy of credit concerning it. Practically, we are concerned with things as they are at present and we know that now Christ's kingdom is not universal. Catholic in theory, the Church ever has been a limited commuof things so entirely
;
nion
;
limited in
its
geographical extent, and, what
far worse, limited in the
is
very partial influence which
Christianity has exerted over the mass of professing
may be very greatly extended heathen countries may be won for the Cross of Christ at home much may be done to remove the ignorance, the immorality, and the many physical causes which now neutralize the efforts of But
Christians.
this influence
:
;
the Christian minister.
The
relations
between the
may
large employers of labour and their work-people
be based upon something higher than mere commercial considerations
;
for their labourers, in
and
chastity,
parishes.
may build dwellings which health may be possible, landlords
instead of removing
Even
Christian nations
them from
may
their
learn to regu-
by the law of justice, instead of the The possibility of all these, and many
late their actions
law of might.
more such
things, is contained in the death of Christ.
The cause
is
but
we hope
there,
though the
effect
be
still
delayed
that the effect will in due time come.
And though we must
still
repeat St. Paul's words,
that " the whole creation groaneth together, and travaileth together until
now," yet may
this misery,
and
^NO IMMEDIATE PROSPECT OF A BETTER ERA.
and unrest,
turbulence,
gradually be lessened, and
instead of the ceaseless toil,
and the
be in
87
struggle,
the
human
fierce passions of
never-ending there may-
life,
a content and peacefulness which shall pre-
it
figure the better rest of heaven.
In the case of many individuals
many
a
man whose own
it is
even so now
heart has been the scene of
the wild struggle of contending lusts, has so
power of
Christ, that a deep peace
ness have
made
him full "The kingdom of Grod
his Saviour's
He And
the
felt
and tranquil happi-
words
to
of
meaning, where
says,
within you."
probably these words contain a
principle
which ought never
to
is
be forgotten in the
consideration of the prophecies concerning the esta-
blishment of the Messiah's universal empire of peace. Their best fulfilment as
is
in the individual conscience,
men, one by one, yield themselves to Christ's
spirit,
and are formed
after
His likeness
:
and any
by the multiplication of these individual cases. And in them it is a fulfilment gradually growing more complete in life, general fulfilment
is
impossible, except
but perfected only when their probation
is
over,
and
they are called away to enter into the joy of their Lord.
I have but one
that granting
more remark
that
to offer
;
and that
there will be a more
is,
adequate
fulfilment of the prophecy in the establishment of a
better era
upon earth than
exists at present, the terms
of the prediction preclude us from believing that will bo immediate.
For,
first,
Christianity
is
it
to be
SERMON
88
III.
— "The earth shall
commensurate with the whole world, be
full of
the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters
cover the sea."
And, secondly, there
The
second ingathering of the Jews.
is to
be the
ingather-
first
ing took place at the founding of Christianity the Jews everywhere were
its
for
;
and
recipients,
first
the heathen converts gathered themselves round, and
The
adopted the forms of the Jewish synagogue.
— " from Assyria
second ingathering,
from Pathros and Cush and Elam
and Hamath, and from the
which
Paul
St.
tells
of the Gentiles has
us
in
and from Shinar
;
isles of
the sea,"
happen
is to
come
and Egypt, and
k ;
—
that
is
after the fulness
an ingathering into the
own
Christian Church, and not a restoration to their land,
which would place them upon a
from their brethren, against the
first
who
different footing
did not harden themselves
who
preaching of the Gospel, and
therefore were everywhere
merged
into the Christian
community.
"We
infer the probability of this
great event not
taking place until the last ages of the world from St.
Paul
having connected this prophecy with the
1
destruction of Antichrist. shall that
Wicked be
For when he
revealed,
whom
says, "
Then
the Lord shall
consume with the breath of His mouth, and
shall
destroy with the brightness of His coming," he
is
quoting the fourth verse of this chapter of Isaiah.
It
was, in
fact,
from the Chaldee paraphrast that
took his application of the passage
;
for
Horn. xi. 25.
'
Paul
by the Wicked
the Chaldee does not understand collectively k
St.
2 Thcss.
ii.
all 8.
wicked
CONCLUSION.
89
men, but the arch-enemy of the Jewish race, who in the latter days shall slay Messiah ben Joseph. His version
as follows
is
:
— " He
shall
smite the guilty
upon the earth with the word of His mouth, and with the speech of His lips shall he cause to die the wicked Armillus,
'
'
—the waster
of the people, epr)ix6\aos.
long the Church of Christ
we know
not, for
as one day
;
but
may
How
yet wait for this event
with God a thousand years are but
it is
evident that
we
now
are living
under that part of the prophecy which speaks of the root of Jesse as being set tiles
;
up
as an ensign to the
and our business therefore
by missionary
Gentiles
is
enterprize,
Gen-
to gather in the
and
so spread the
boundaries of the Saviour's kingdom, and prepare for the day
of greater things
pleased to vouchsafe
it.
endeavour ourselves to established in
and our
our
lusts being
subdued
own
whenever God may be
But above all, we should have the kingdom of Christ hearts,
that
our conscience
no more at variance, but the
to the spirit,
we may
ourselves enjoy that
peace and innocence of which the Prophet
when artful,
all
that
is
wild and
flesh
fierce,
speaks,
and cunning and
and proud and violent in us may have
its
nature changed, and no longer resist those heavenly qualities
which are the blessed
fruits of the Spirit.
SEBMON Isaiah " Comfort ye, comfort ye
rpHE
last
IV.
xl. i.
My people,
sat t/t
your God."
twenty- seven chapters of the book of
Isaiah form a distinct prophecy, with several re-
markable points of difference earlier series of his writings.
it
and the
In them some
historical
between
event had ever roused the Prophet to address words of warning and counsel to his countrymen collecting
them
into one book, he
;
and upon
appended as a
fit-
ting conclusion the historical narratives of the siege of Jerusalem
and recovery, king.
In
by Sennacherib, of Hezekiah's sickness and of the embassy of the Babylonian
this,
inspired pen,
the last and greatest record of his
we have one
connected whole, occupied
entirely with the events of future time, but divided
by the occurrence portions
:
of
of the
which the
same
refrain into three equal
first treats
of the certain over-
throw of heathenism by the one true God, the sign and trophy of which should be the deliverance of Israel from Babylon by the arms of Cyrus; in the second
we have
Israel's return
homewards, and the rebuild-
ing of Jerusalem, to be the scene of the victory over sin
and the deliverance of
all
mankind from
spiritual
bondage, wrought no longer by the arms of an earthly conqueror, but
by the
sufferings of Jehovah's servant
STATE OF JI7D2EA HOPELESS.
while in the third
we have
9
the fruits of the victory in
the founding of Christ's universal kingdom, the sanctions of
which
consist not in temporal promises, but in
the gift of pardon, science,
— and
—whereby men have
peace of con-
the presence of the Spirit,
they can lead a holy
In
life.
message of consolation, both
—whereby
general aspect
its
directly,
and
it is
contrast between the helpless idols of the heathen
the one true God.
And
if,
as
we
a
also in the
and
believe, this is the
work of Isaiah's old age, never did nation stand more in need of comfort; for already that long series of disasters had commenced which
last
and
final
ended in the Babylonian
Hitherto the Prophet
exile.
had ever had some present
solace to offer them.
When
Samaria and Damascus girt Jerusalem about with arms, he could foretell the speedy dissolution of the league,
and that within a few years both nations
"When Sennacherib was marching ambassadors mocking their weakness
should be broken.
onwards, and his
upon
their very walls,
he was commissioned
to declare
that the invader should shoot no arrow into the city,
nor cast up a
down
mound
against
it
;
for
God would hew
the lofty tree with violence, and lay the high-
growing
trees in the dust.
But
in both cases
it
was
but a temporary respite, and Isaiah was commanded himself to bear the evil tidings to Hezekiah, that the treasures
of Jerusalem
Babylon, and
The piety
its
must be carried captive
noblest youth serve there as menials.
of individual kings
might delay the
mity, but the evil was too deeply
from God
to
too general
among
set,
cala-
the apostacy
the Jews, for escape to
SERMON
92
IV.
Each year the hand
be possible.
of Assyria pressed
more heavily upon them; and when Assyria
was but
fell,
it
make way for a more powerful military The last century of Jewish independence
to
empire.
was a time
of growing misery, with but temporary
alleviations; ever increasing troops of
marauders de-
vastated more and more the country, and culture almost cease
;
made
agri-
the population was thinned and
the national independence over-
led into captivity;
thrown, and their only chance of quiet was in becomIt is indeed un-
ing tributaries to a foreign power. certain whether Isaiah lived to see
away
into
Babylon,
troubles thickening
upon the
captive
sure end
all
Manasseh carried
but he certainly saw
and knew
land,
the presages of his time pointed.
fore he spake
by the
Spirit these
to
what
There-
words of comfort, in
which, in brief and general terms, he foretold the resto-
countrymen from
ration of his
ing of their ruined
ment
cities
captivity, the rebuild-
and temple, and the
establish-
between them and God.
of a better covenant
For the consolation offered them
is
chiefly spiritual.
The temporal glories of the nation have passed away. Never again shall king sit on David's throne, clad in the same magnificence of earthly rule. The images of the Prophet are no longer drawn from regal grandeur is
it
now
a servant of
whom
he speaks;
— coming
in such obscurity, that none shall hear His voice in
the streets
He
;
in such gentleness, that the bruised reed
will not break
;
with so
little
and beauty, that none who see It
is
"a man
of earthly splendour
Him
shall desire
Him.
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;"
LAST
W0EK
Him
and yet in
God's people
OF ISAIAH
there
is
OLD AGE.
93
trne comfort and solace for
Him
Prophet weaves aronnd
for the
:
S
such a web of Christian mysteries, and truths, and
"no
might Jerome of old
that well
doctrines,
say, that
longer ought he to be called a prophet, but an
evangelist
;
of Christ
teries
he
for so clearly does
mys-
set forth the
and His Church, that he seems
to
be not so much foretelling the future, as narrating the history of the past." It is to this latter portion of Isaiah's prophecies that
Jerome's words belong
;
for
it
is
now no
longer Je-
rusalem and the temporal fortunes of the house of
David which occupy the foremost place phet's mind,
but, as
behind him, his eye
and he
is
in the Pro-
though the world had closed fixed
upon the
distant future,
sees there the sufferings of the
Messiah and
the establishment of His universal empire. this time local circumstances
to his view. rally
Up
to
had always been present
Starting from political events, and gene-
from some impending calamity, he had raised
by reminding them a Saviour bound up with their naBut now the Prophet has reached
the drooping spirits of the people of the promise of tional existence.
human
the limit of the age ordinarily allotted to
life,
worn with years, he has withdrawn from the affairs of State, and is no longer, as of old, the trusted counsellor to whom, in all the trying emergencies of his time, the King The looks for advice, for support, for consolation. and activity and the cares of life have both ceased and his eye
is
dim
for the things of
time
:
;
whether we consider, as many
do, that this final pro-
SERMON
94
IV.
phecy was written in Manasseh's time a and that the Prophet had lived to witness the overthrow of that ,
picture of the Theocratic government which
been the labour of his
life
others b , that Hezekiah
still alive,
was
whose deposition from his
establish
to
had
but that Shebna c
,
Isaiah prophesies,
office
and the substitution of Eliakim in ercising over the
it
or with
;
was exKing an in-
his place,
pious but irresolute
and that therefore
fluence hostile to better things,
Isaiah no longer took part in the affairs of govern-
ment,
now
—however
this
may
be,
it
certain that he
is
takes a wider range, and in more spiritual terms
describes the relations between the believing people
Jew
of God, whether
or Gentile,
and their Saviour.
This difference, however, between these two portions of Isaiah's prophecies has led critics" in
modern times
many
of the " higher
to dispute the authenticity
of these last twenty-seven chapters, and to suppose
that they were written at Babylon towards the close
Now
of the captivity.
if this
view were confined
such as deny the fact of prophecy,
any
clear prediction of
proof pened, tion.
it
would be superfluous
Discussion
is
and argue that
an event must be taken as
that that event
sufficient
to
to
had
already hap-
examine the ques-
only possible where there
is
some
common ground and the question to be debated with those who hold this theory is, whether God did ever speak to men by the prophets in a manner distinct ;
a
155. c
Kleincrt,
De
Authentia Orac. b
Jes., capp. xl.
Hiivemick,
—
lxvi., pp.
MnL,
ii.
151.
Meier, Gesch. der nat. Poet. Lit. der Heartier, p. 315.
118
THEORY OF A BABYLONIAN ISAIAH. from that in which religion
He
95
speaks to our hearts by natural
and our own emotions
whether, in short,
;
men have any time spoken not of themselves, but as they
there be any such thing as revelation, and at
were moved directly by the Holy Ghost. theory
is
not merely held by such as say that the oc-
currence, for instance, of the ficient
But the
name
of Cyrus
is
suf-
proof that these chapters were written after
the capture of Babylon
;
it
is
adopted also by
many
who, though the habits of thought by which they are surrounded allow them to deal
Holy
Scripture than
have
set
is
happily usual
it
seemed likely
or
"the
meets us commonly in their theo-
And though many
of the most able
Germany have combated the arguments
writers of
upon which their
time, indeed,
"the Babylonian Isaiah,"
still
logical literature.
full
become the current view abroad
to
of
title
pseudo-Isaiah,"
with
us, yet
as a fairly probable
At one
deduction of internal criticism.
and the
among
themselves to the examination with
honesty of purpose, and hold
it
less reverently
it
rests,
unsoundness,
and conclusively demonstrated
still
it
even
is
now
sufficiently
prevalent, and so often paraded as one of the grandest discoveries of
modern
days, that
it
would be
unsatis-
factory to proceed to the consideration of the contents
of these chapters without
which oblige me Isaiah, as
it
still
first
some reasons
Book of not made up of the
to believe that the
at present stands, is
works of various authors, but tion of one
stating
is
the genuine produc-
and the same writer.
The controversy
is,
in fact, a reproduction,
upon
SEEMON
96
IV.
theological ground, of the battle long so fiercely
waged
respecting the authorship of the noblest of the Grecian
poems.
But the contest
is
carried on under by no
means
For Homer lived long before
equal circumstances.
the age of written compositions
;
and we have
torical proof of the collection of his rhapsodies
his-
having
been the work of a time separated by many centuries from the period in which he flourished. moreover,
history, scurity,
—
is
was
so that there
to stand in the
way
of external evidence
little
new
of the
theories.
the contrary, belonged to a class of in the arts of writing,
His whole
involved in the greatest ob-
men
Isaiah,
on
well versed
and was himself the author of book of prophecies. There
several histories besides his
existed, moreover, a peculiar institution in the schools
of the prophets, fitted to ensure the preservation of the
works of their leading men.
We
find, too,
subsequent
prophets quoting or alluding to Isaiah's words
;
and in
one of the Apocryphal books, but nevertheless a work of considerable authority,
we
find an enumeration of the
contents of his prophecies, in which these later chapters are exactly described.
We
know, moreover, that at
the return from Babylon the custody of the sacred
books was entrusted to careful and competent hands,
and that one of the chief labours of the Great Synagogue consisted in the formation of the sacred canon, which, in
its
threefold division of the
and the Prophets, was read on
all
Law, the Psalms, solemn occasions,
and in course of time every sabbath-day in their synagogues.
We know that
the influence of the prophetic
writings was such as entirely to change the character
SIMILARITY OF THE TWO ISAIAHS. of the people, and that this change
commenced during
The external
the Babylonian exile.
97
evidence, there-
for the genuineness of Isaiah's writings
fore,
strong,
very-
is
and could be overcome only by internal
evi-
dence of the most convincing kind.
The imitative character, however, of the human mind made it certain that the Homeric controversy would have its counterpart on holy ground, and cerbook of Scripture could so
tainly in one respect no
justly claim
the right
of being the object of this
attack as Isaiah's prophecies.
For in them Hebrew
literature reached its highest excellence
we
so that
:
had
no personal interest in the Prophet's words, even
did they not speak to us of our highest hopes, they
would
still
demand our
attention from the beauty of
the language and the grandeur of the thoughts
;
to
say nothing of the influence which they exercised
upon the minds of the
weaned from
idolatry,
people,
and
filled
whom
they entirely
with an ardent long-
ing for the day of their deliverer's approach.
To
believe in
two Isaiahs springing from the same
people in so short a period of time, requires, to say the least,
But when we
no ordinary amount of credulity.
find that their genius takes so entirely the tion
;
that they are both so equally
same
direc-
imbued with the
same theocratic maxims of government
;
that both have
for their centre so completely the same one thought
upon the same images, use the same words, and attain to the same perfectness of
that both alike dwell
language
;
you
the defects, are the same, the same love of
will,
that the beauties of style in both, or, if
H
SERMON
98
same fondness
the
antithesis,
IV.
playing upon words; above
first,
in beauty' ,
—to
dulity
is
1
more
;
it
and
per-
superior, if possible, to
him
requires more than
cre-
believe this
thing
a
and
that the second, the
summing up and
imitator, is so thoroughly the
fection of the
for paronomasia,
all,
absolutely
so than that there could
incredible,
—even
have been a race of
Homers, each offering his patchwork contribution, but
all
combining in one harmonious and consistent
whole.
Had
these prophecies been written at the close of
the Babylonian exile,
how
could the author have es-
caped that debasing influence upon the national ture which everywhere else
we
litera-
see so strongly exer-
cised.
Already the later prophecies of Jeremiah are
full of
Chaldeeisms; in Ezekiel the whole purity of
the tongue
gone
is
to Jerusalem,
:
and when the people returned
we know
that they could not even un-
derstand the language of their ancient poets and seers.
"Was his
it
likely that at such a time, one
words
who
intended
for the present consolation of his country-
men, would write them in a language which required an interpreter, and with no trace of the idioms in daily use around later
him
?
Psalms composed
It is true, that
Babylon are written in a
at
style of the utmost beauty
some of the
;
but even in them Chaldee
words and modes of spelling are by no means
But even were Davidic age,
rare.
their language as pure as that of the
we must remember
poetic imitation d
is
comparatively a
that the faculty of
common
Gcsenius, Einleitung, p. 17.
one.
Nor,
THE LATER ISAIAH NO IMITATOR. again,
is
surprising that the prophets
it
99
who wrote
Haggai, Zechariah, and
after the return to Jerusalem,
Malachi, should have imitated, with a certain degree of success, their predecessors in ancient days, and writ-
ten more purely than the prophets during the captivity.
For naturally, with their restoration the national literature revived also of patriotism prompted
of their ability,
all
them
that
to their country
and every feeling
;
to produce, to the
was glorious in
utmost
their nation
previously to the exile, and especially the language
But
of their sacred books.
that the second Isaiah,
surrounded from his birth with the strange medley of words and phrases which was spoken at Babylon,
should have escaped
influence,
its
and been able to
write with ease and freedom in a dialect, not merely peculiar to Jerusalem, but in its purity confined there to
men
of the highest caste, is a thing
His position
belief.
too
great,
his
thought too
is
preoccupation with
entire, for
which exceeds
too independent, his
him
to
one
is
engrossing
have trammelled him-
self with the difficulties of imitation.
who
genius
Men
imitate
"When the thought they study the manner of saying it.
are clever, but not great.
valueless,
There
is
weakness
no trace in the :
and even
later Isaiah of
such mental
he had stooped
if
to imitate,
numerous indications must certainly have remained of the strain to which he
had subjected
and have proved beyond doubt the
his genius,
falseness of his
claims.
We
must
not, however,
imagine that the theologians
of the "higher criticism" have any unanimity
h2
among
SERMON
100
IV.
themselves in their views, or that they content themselves with rejecting the last twenty-seven chapters
On
of Isaiah's prophecies. in his
own way
to use the
the contrary, each applies
the same disintegrating process, until,
words of one of them
e
name
the
,
of Isaiah
serves only to grace a prophetic anthology, consisting
mostly of but fugitive pieces, with but three composi-
among them
tions
really written
by
of
any length, and of these but one
Isaiah, while the rest are the con-
tributions of nameless
genuine writings of Isaiah, says another one
roll of
parchment
some of the more
ment
;
The
and forgotten authors. f ,
did not
while to compensate for
recent critics g
,
fill
this,
pressed by the argu-
that the state of things referred to incidentally
in the last twenty-seven chapters
was not that which
existed during the Babylonian exile, but that of the
have generously
later years of Hezekiah's reign,
stored to the true Isaiah
stood in the
way
all
those
of their theory
;
re-
passages which
and
not to
lastly,
multiply unnecessarily these instances, Ewald
h
labours
ingeniously to prove that not Babylon but Egypt was
the country in which these prophecies were written,
grounding his theory upon the
facts that
Egypt and
Ethiopia are frequently spoken of with interest allusions are
made
to their
customs;
;
that
and that the
people of Pelusium are mentioned under their local
name e f
e
h
of Sinim.
Moicr, Oeschichte der Poet. nat. Lit. der Ilehraer, p. 318.
Eichhora, JTebr. Proph., Augusti, Mnl., § 206 Ibid ii. 409. ,
;
iv.
120.
Ewald, Lie Proph.
des alt. Bund.,
ii.
460.
ATTACK ON EARLIER PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH.
One thing we must indeed
10
grant, that if the last
twenty-seven chapters are not genuine,
their
im-
pngners are at
much
also
least consistent in rejecting
in the earlier portion of Isaiah's writings.
the
thirteenth
chapter,
and the
first
Certainly
twenty-three
verses of the fourteenth, are open to exactly the same
The Prophet's point
attack.
of view, as Gesenius
and
Hitzig argue, belongs to the very end of the Babylo-
when the Medes were The enemy of Judsea in
nian exile,
march.
Nineveh
;
and Babylon, a subject
into independence,
What
could the Prophet,
Medes, a people one year
(b.c.
Isaiah's time
state, just
who
was
struggling
was earnestly seeking the
of Hezekiah to strengthen its tion.
already upon their
alliance
own dangerous posithey ask, know of the
attained to independence only
714) before the date usually assigned
to this prophecy,
any such warlike
and who had given
little
promise of
qualities as to justify the expecta-
tion that they
would ever be a match
The Arabians,
in like manner, are
for
Assyria?
mentioned by no
writer until long after Hezekiah's time.
These argu-
ments are quite as strong as any adduced against the authenticity of Isaiah's final prophecy, and ration be denied,
it
is
if inspi-
utterly inconceivable that he
should thus have predicted events so unlikely, so uncalled for
by the
state of things in his days,
and yet
so minutely fulfilled.
But grant inspiration, and the whole objection disappears. The point of view in one moved by the Holy Ghost is not the actual present, but the state of things into which he
is
removed.
He
is
not indeed
J
SERMON
02
carried entirely out of his
are impressed
work of his
upon
IV.
own
his mind,
time, but distant events
and become the ground-
So here, the present time
predictions.
absolutely put away, for there
much
is
to connect the
prophecy with the date usually assigned to first place,
it
was during
not
is
In the
it.
As-
Isaiah's days that the
syrians transplanted the Chaldreans from the deserts
them
to dwell in cities, intending to use
for their
own
protection against the native inhabitants of Babylon.
The
policy did
not prove successful, although the
Chaldees always remained distinct from the Babylonians; and possibly Isaiah saw in
it
a confession of
At
weakness on the part of the Ninevite kings. events, he notices
and couples with
in his prophecy against Tyre,
it
there the unexpected, yet most
it
nomad
true prediction, that these transplanted
would be the conquerors of Tyre !
syrian founded
for
it
:
tribes
— "Behold the land
was not
this people
of the Chaldceans
ness
all
them that dwell
till
the As-
in the wilder-
they set up the towers thereof, they raised up
:
the palaces thereof: and he brought
it
to ruin:"
the Chaldee land brought Tyre to ruin. It
is
true that the
Medes
attained to
ence under Deioces in Isaiah's time
;
independ-
but a century
before they had been a powerful people, and actually
helped in overthrowing Nineveh
had planted captive difficulty in
well
known
;
Israelites in
and
as Shalmaneser
Media, there
is
no
supposing that their growing power was at
The rapid manner transmitted from mouth
Jerusalem.
which
political events arc
mouth
in countries without regular
in to
means of convey-
BABYLON THE PLACE OF EXILE. ing news,
is
too well
known
103
As
to surprise us.
for
the Arabs, whether the word signifies 'inhabitant of
the desert,' or 'inhabitant of the west,' there
is
no
unknown to Isaiah may have brought these unchanging
reason for supposing the appellation possibly events then
desert races into temporary notoriety
;
for
Herodotus
Sennacherib as king of the Arabians and
describes
Assyrians
l ;
and Jehoram and Uzziah had both carried
The important
on wars with them.
fact is that Isaiah
did foretell that Judsea should be punished
by
Assyria, the only dangerous
enemy
;
but not
in his days,
but by Babylon, where the Assyrians had placed an alien race to check the native inhabitants
fresh from their tents, with their vigour city
life,
;
but these,
untamed by
were just establishing their independence,
and seeking the friendship and
Yet he denounces them
alliance
as the tyrants
of Judaea.
and oppressors
of his country, and predicts their overthrow
by the
Medes, a race even then partly subject to Assyria,
and partly
but
free,
whom
one able
man was
trans-
forming from a number of distinct and turbulent tribes into a powerful
pening to but no
human
events. of
foresight could have guessed the great
to happen from these remote Yet Isaiah was not the only prophet who them Micah, his contemporary, in a chapter, :
several verses of Isaiah,
Events were hap-
which were
results
knew
monarchy.
Isaiah's attention to these countries,
call
which apparently are quoted from
was equally well aware that Babylon was the Jews would be carried captive k And
place where the 1
Herod,
ii.
.
141.
k
Micah
iv. 10.
SERMON
104
IV.
as Jeremiah in his fiftieth chapter has quoted
and
imitated Isaiah's words, the prophecy must have been older than his times, and consequently the predictions
in
it
— one
of which, as
dan's ambassadors
we know,
upon the
clared to Ilezekiah
Isaiah publicly de-
visit of
— are inexplicable,
Merodach-Balaif
inspiration be
denied.
This prophecy, therefore, to
is
no source of weakness
the argument respecting the last twenty-seven
chapters of the book.
cursory glance
"higher
at
critics"
it
On may
the contrary, serve
to
shew that the
encounter very serious
their attempt to assign
to
it
even this
difficulties in
an unknown pen, in
which says that it was by "Isaiah the son of Amoz." We may therefore, to our main subject, and consider
direct contradiction to its title,
written return,
next the argument which they endeavour
to
deduce
from a certain difference of style compared with the earlier prophecies.
It
there
must be granted, then, that in these is
a difference of style, but
derstand in what difference as
would
arise
it
is
clearly un-
just such a
from their being written at
a later period of the Prophet's indefinite subject.
we must
For
consists.
it
later chapters
life,
and upon a more
It is not inconsistent
even with
the existence of very considerable similarities of style, as Gesenius himself grants
; '
and in
fact the points of
resemblance are more real and important, than the contrary.
For the difference consists in their being
written in a broader and more even and more flowing 1
Mnl,
p. 16.
STYLE OF THE LATER ISAIAH. current of thought
1
05
there are no longer the sharp
:
sudden contrasts, the abrupt transitions of Isaiah's earlier writings. There is less haste, less turns, the
vehemence,
greater
longer dwelling
fulness,
But
the same idea.
this is exactly
upon
what we should
expect in the writings of an old man, whose years
were passed.
of activity
So,
too,
of the
subject:
always before there was a local event, which gave rise to
the prophecy; there was also an immediate
They were words spoken in times of emergency, when the Prophet's own mind was stirred and agitated, and when he wished to influence and sway the minds of both king and people, and make them adopt a definite course of policy. But purpose to be effected.
in this final prophecy, all this admixture of temporary
motives and feelings deed, from
is
swept away.
things in Hezekiah's
reign,
troubles of the realm.
and
to
But those
are, in-
until Jerusalem
The
was
in captivity,
the
deejDening
troubles were not
They must go on
destined to be of short duration.
ashes.
There
time to time allusions to the state of
and the temple in
consolation, therefore,
is
given in general
terms, such as would support the people under present trials
by the prospect
of a happiness yet to come, but
they are not encouraged to look for any immediate It is not themselves,
deliverance.
and
nation,
which
shall once again
the troubled waters.
Even
the
but their Church
emerge from among prophecy of their
by Cyrus is couched in enigmatical language, and more to illustrate the certain victory of
restoration
the one
God
over polytheism than as a merely Jewish
SERMON
106
When
occurrence.
sake of Jerusalem
IV.
Sennacherib
was
it
fell,
but henceforward
:
it
for the
only as
is
they represent true religion that the Jews possess
As
God's favour.
siah's
triumphs or
it
their fortunes rise or
fall.
is
oppressed,
And beyond
so
the Mes-
is
kingdom, in which Jew and Gentile share on
And
equal terms.
markable point of
is
most
the
re-
For in describing the
difference.
national Deliverer,
upon His more
here perhaps
the Prophet
no
glorious attributes.
longer
He
dwells
no longer
pourtrays a golden age of happiness and prosperity the hopes of his nation he crushes with ruthless
all
hand.
It
of war;
not a conqueror, surrounded by the
is
is
it
the servant of Jehovah whose humili-
ation he reveals, and that
by bearing in His
And
ment. subject.
He
own person
His people
shall save
their guilt
and punish-
naturally, his style adapts itself to his
He was
revealing the inmost mysteries of
redemption, and consequently his manner
and
pomp
is
subdued
tranquil.
There
is
therefore no antecedent improbability in
the view that our present book of Isaiah contains the
genuine works of one and the same author.
Eemove
that great stumbling-block of the " higher criticism,"
the fact of prediction, and everything its
authenticity.
that
it
But
was written
the rejection
if
in favour of
a prediction verified proves
after the event,
of these
is
we
cannot stop at
twenty-seven chapters.
The
conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, of Tyre
by the Chaldceans, of Babylon by the Modes, quite as startling predictions
as the
summoning
are
of
QUOTATIONS FROM LATTER PORTION OF ISAIAH,
Cyrus by name
them
also,
too closely
must
reject
The supernatural element
is
bound up with the whole of the Bible
us to be able to eliminate
beyond nature,
it is
We
and with them the Prophet Micah, and, in
the prophets.
all
fact,
to restore the Jews.
107
all falls
for
If one part falls because
it.
with
it.
Besides these general considerations there are also special arguments, derived partly
partly from internal criticism, tial
from external, and
which claim an impar-
examination.
I have already alluded to the important testimony of the son of Sirach,
who
in his list of Jewish worthies
says of Hezekiah, " that in his days Isaiah saw by an
what should come to pass at the and he comforted them that mourned in Sion m ." excellent spirit
last,
As
these latter words plainly refer to the last twenty-
seven chapters,
we
thus learn that the Jews, two
hundred years and more before our Lord's
birth,
regarded the oneness of the authorship as an undisputed
The
fact.
falsification
so long before as
appeared.
But we
must therefore have taken place for all traces
of
to
it
have
dis-
find proofs of the existence of this
very portion of the book beginning with contemporary
Nahum
times.
quotes
it "
;
Habakkuk
copies from
it
his description of the unprofitableness of idol worship
°,
Zephaniah his description of the desolation of Nine-
veh
15
;
Jeremiah in no
m Ecclus. xlviii. 24. Isa.
li.
19.
Isa. xlvii. 8.
°
Hab.
less n
ii.
than six places seems to
Nahumi.
15, Isa.
18, 19, Isa. xliv. 9, 10.
lii.
7; Nahumiii. p
Zeph.
ii.
7,
15,
SERMON
Io8
have had these
mind q
IV.
chapters
last
of Isaiah before
his
there are traces even in Ezekiel of a similar
:
knowledge
r .
Now
such as
these passages are just
would have been the natural
result of these twenty-
known
seven chapters of Isaiah being well
to
the
other prophets; and there are instances of the same
kind proving their familiarity with the earlier portion.
Probably in the schools of the prophets the works of their
most famous seers were the object of continual
study,
till
their
minds became imbued with them, and
almost unintentionally they reproduced the thoughts of those
who had gone
before.
We
may justly, more-
over, attribute to these chapters the great
change in
the national feeling towards idolatry which so marks the people after their return from exile, and which, as it
took place during their abode at Babylon, must have
been based upon some work of admitted authority.
"We can therefore suggest no period when the writings of the false Isaiah could have been assigned to the
There never was such ignorance or such in-
true.
difference regarding the prophets as
would have made
such a confusion possible, and however ingenious
be the arguments of these
critics,
may
who think they can
by subjective evidence what was written by the one and what by the other, they are met on every select
side
by unanswerable
difficulties.
Another external testimony of importance in the edict of Cyrus, in which he says, q
lvi.
Jcr. v. 25, Isa. lix. 2
9; Jer.
xiii.
18, Isa. xlvii.
1.
;
Jer. xii. 1, Isa. lvii.
16, Isa. lix. 9; r
Ezek.
1
;
Jcr. xiv. 7, Isa. lix.
is
found
"The Lord
Jer. xii. 9, Isa.
12; Jer.
xxiii. 10, 41, Isa. lvii. 7
—
9.
xlviii.
MENTION OF CYRUS.
God at
of
heaven hath charged
Jerusalem which
is
me
Him
to build
Judah s ."
in
I09 a house
In these words, as
Josephus informs us*, he was referring to Isaiah's prediction, "
and
That saith of Cyrus,
perform
shall
Jerusalem,
Thou
Thy foundation
my
all
shalt
shall
He
be built;
be laid."
and
Now,
shepherd,
saying to
to the temple,
if this
had been uttered by a prophet living the captivity,
my
is
pleasure, even
prediction
end of
at the
could scarcely have had any weight
it
in influencing that monarch's decisions
:
for
what
so
natural as that an oppressed people, living in exile in
an enemy's land, should turn with hope
whom
their oppressors
to those
with
were at war, and give utter-
ance to the expectation that they would restore them
country?
to their
The prophecy must have had the
weight of time to give
it
importance.
political
It
must already have been of admitted and notorious authority
among
the exiles themselves before
it
could
have commanded the obedience of a stranger.
It
probably even had contributed to the success of his
arms
;
and the devotion of the Jews
to his cause, con-
may
sequent upon their knowledge of his mission,
have been the reason which made him so evidently regard them with favour.
But
it
is
this very
mention of Cyrus, we are
told,
which forms the great argument against the authenticity of these
chapters.
not authentic, the
prophecy
writer assumes that he tant times, and 8
Ezra
i.
makes 2.
It
is it
certainly shews that if is
a
forgery
foretelling
;
for the
an event of
dis-
the very proof of the supel
Antiq.,
xi. 1.
SERMON
IIO riority of the true
God
predict things future.
IV.
that
to idols It
He
could thus
no accident, therefore,
is
that the Jerusalem Isaiah and the Babylonian Isaiah
became confused by the carelessness of for in spite of his genius falsely
and mental
later times;
gifts,
the latter
assumed the character of the former, and stands
convicted of a manifest fraud. cient to prove the charge.
But the proof
For,
is insuffi-
we have
first,
a simi-
lar
prophecy in the case of Josiah foretold by name
as
the destroyer of Jeroboam's altar, and possibly
with an allusion to the meaning of his name Jehovah
found ; whereas Jeroboam could found nothing:
shall
God's works alone remain sure. is
in
And, secondly, there
the prophecy nothing more
the predictions referred to above,
exjDlicit
than in
—that Babylon was
the destined place of Judsea's exile, that the
would destroy Babylon, &c. in Cyrus but the name.
He
ideal of a great conqueror
before
whom
There
is
sweeps before us as the
summoned from
He
does not appear, as in the writings
of his contemporaries, as Cyrus the Persian.
And
as
an appellative, and
many
signifies
monarchs bore the name generally,
known
the
The name Sun-king.
of the Eastern dynasties regarded
to Isaiah
;
them-
and the Persian
selves as descended from the sun,
well
the East,
the gates of brass and bars of iron are
broken asunder.
itself is
Medes
nothing definite
it
must have been
for the expeditions of the
Assy-
rian kings, and their constant deportation of races,
had
greatly increased the general knowledge of those times, especially as regarded Central Asia.
and Persians even
There were Medes
in Sennacherib's army,
and from
KNOWLEDGE OF PROPHETS this
LIMITED.
Ill
time more than one Persian word occurs in the
The proper name of Cyrus, we
prophetic writings.
was Agradates; and the "remarkable
are told,
dent," as one of these
critics calls it
u ,
or, as
we
acci-
call
the miracle, the act of an overruling Providence, that the appellative should have
name
become the proper
of the particular Persian king
As, however, he
prophecy.
who
gaze, there is nothing of that exact
knowledge which
would have been natural in the days of the All
indistinct
is
of Cyrus,
and general.
It is
exile.
and no more.
much
the same
knowledge of the Medes and Persians in the
as his
And
this,
we
the law of prophecy, that
God
did
thirteenth and twenty-first chapters.
must remember,
is
not give the prophets knowledge beyond their
They were commissioned
times.
events, but they state of idea
And
the
fulfilled
seen by the prophetic
is
The Prophet knows the name
it,
is,
to
own
declare certain
were not removed from the general
and thought current in their own days.
so here, if
any one would compare Isaiah's
ac-
count of Central Asia with that of Ezekiel, he would find that the
knowledge of each
own
It
East,
times.
"from the
name he
bore,
is,
is
in proportion to his
some mighty hero from the of the sun," that sun whose
then,
rising
whose path of victory Isaiah
in wonderful accordance with the event, but riddles
which the event must
solve.
traces still
in
But when they
were solved, and the method of the capture of Babylon gave an unexpected meaning to what before seemed but beautiful imagery, u
— "that
saith to the deep,
Hitzig, p. 468.
Be
SERMON
112 dry
and I
;
will dry
him the two-leaved shut,"
—
it is
up thy gates,
IV.
rivers," " to
and the gates
open before shall not
no wonder that the monarch
felt
be
that the
prophecy was divine, and willingly obeyed the com-
mand
" to rebuild the ruins of Jerusalem, and to lay
again the foundations of the temple."
But
us next proceed to some points of internal
let
And
criticism.
first
we may
notice that the Prophet
always describes himself as being "the
declare
first to
these things ;" as telling things new, unheard before.
But how could
this
be true of one who followed, in-
stead of preceding, the more definite predictions of
Jeremiah
How too
?
by name, speak
of
could he, it
when mentioning Cyrus
as a thing
marvellous, if
so
already he were threatening Babylon with his arms
He
appeals,
prophecies, to
pass,
moreover, to
— "Behold
of his former
result
the former things have come
and new things do I declare
spring forth I if
the
tell
you of them."
:
before they
What more
natural
he were referring to Sennacherib's overthrow
how under fall of
?
?
But
the exile could he describe the impending
Babylon
as a thing
which had not yet sprung
forth ? of which, that is to say, there tions
?
were no indica-
For the growing strength of Media and Persia
was plain: already Nineveh, the old empire, had fallen before
them, — and
capital
of the
therefore the
great care with which Nebuchadnezzar had fortified
Babylon.
Surely one whose sympathies lay with these
revolted states could not describe their final success as a thing of
which there were
as yet
no appearances.
DESOLATION OF JUD.EA.
In
evident
fact, so
who
is it
I 1
that no one could thus speak
lived under the exile, that one of the ablest of
acknowledges, u that no other expla-
x
these critics
him
nation of this difficulty appears to
possible except
the supposition that the writer assumed the character of an ancient seer:" "
Vix
alia se offert ratio, nisi ut
statuamus, induisse scriptorem, qui sub finem exilii
Babylonici vixerit, vatis alicujus veteris personam."
Again,
if
the
indications
Prophet lived are thus
time
when
the
certain, equally so are those
It is true that the land is in a desolate con-
of place. dition,
of the
but Zion
thoughts
it
;
Jerusalem
is
is
still
still
y
and the walls of
,
Now that the
z
stand
the centre of the Prophet's
inhabited
still .
land was reduced
an extreme state of desolation in Hezekiah's time
to
admits of easy proof.
Though Jerusalem
itself
escaped
from destruction, yet the armies of Sennacherib evidently overran every part of the country, and the
taunt of Eabshakeh was probably but
King could
rated, that the for
two thousand
What
horses.
scription of these ravages given
fire
and
:
desolate,
by the Prophet
it
is
left
desolate, as is
is
cities
it
in a
unchallenged
?
burnt with
in your presence,
overthrown by strangers."
So
the ruin, that " except the Lord of Hosts
us a very small remnant,
as completely overthrown as
hilated as Gomorrah." x
your
your land, strangers devour
extreme
had
is
exagge-
can surpass the de-
chapter the authenticity of which
"Your country
little
scarcely have found riders
Eosenmiiller,
iii.
5, 6.
Nor y I
we
Sodom
should have been ;
as utterly anni-
did Judsea ever recover
Isa. lxi. 3.
z
Ibid. Ixii. 6.
SERMON
IT
prosperity;
its
Josiah's reign,
for
even
IV.
after the
short
respite
Pharaoh Ncchoh could exact of
of
his son
only one talent of gold and a hundred talents of silver
and
to raise this
money according
the land to give the
mandment
:
very small sum "Jehoiakim taxed
of Pharaoh
to the
com-
he exacted the silver and the
:
gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give
No-
unto Pharaoh Nechoh."
it
thing but the most extreme exhaustion can account the
evident
amount.
In the
for
difficulty
earlier
in
raising
so
slight
an
days of Hezekiah, the tribute
he had paid with apparent ease was six times as
much, being thirty talents of gold and three hundred talents of silver. talents of silver
Menahem had
assuming the royal name. that
fore
people, fields,
all
trade
;
We
must conclude there-
had disappeared, and that the
gaining a precarious subsistence from their
were absolutely destitute of money; there was
no trade, no buying and coin
paid Pul a thousand
merely to obtain his consent to his
selling,
and therefore no
and consequently they were unable
to
meet
the slightest taxation. It
is
remarkable
how
rapidly these
troubles are
passed over in the Book of Kings.
It does not even
mention the various" expeditions
of the Assyrians
against Palestine in Manasseh's time, in one of which that
monarch was taken
prisoner,
when hiding among
the thorns outside Jerusalem, and carried captive to
Babylon, where apparently he spent the chief part of his
life
".as a
in
confinement.
Jerusalem was indeed but
booth in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged
JUDiEA UNTILLED FOR city ;"
and
it
TWO YEARS.
needed only some decided action on the
part of the Assyrian king to capture
the strength of
its fortifications
though these were enough security as long as
more than plunder
own
in spite of
it,
and natural position
to give it
temporary
a
Egypt was the main object of
the Assyrian attack, or
Isaiah's
I 1
its
captains sought nothing
for their followers.
We have
even
testimony that the armies of Sennacherib
overran the land for two whole years at their pleasure, before the destroying angel smote lence
:
— " For
this shall
them with
be a sign unto you,
eat this year such as groweth of itself;
Ye
shall
and in the
second year that which springeth of the same the third year sow ye and reap."
pesti-
:
and in
It follows, therefore,
that for two whole years after Isaiah
had prophesied
Sennacherib's final overthrow, without speaking of the
previous campaigns, the Assyrians so completely occu-
pied the land, that
all
cultivation on the part of the
inhabitants was impossible
we have
and of the preceding year
;
the short but decisive testimony of the
Book
of Kings, that " in the fourteenth year of the reign of
Hezekiah, Sennacherib came up against cities of
The ruined
all
the fenced
Judah, and took them."
picture,
therefore,
cities of Judsea,
of Isaiah,
is
of desolation,
drawn
and of the
in these last chapters
not unsuited to Hezekiah's time;
for
even the destruction of Sennacherib gave them but a temporary
respite,
and neither restored the past ravages
of the country, nor gave the people any defence against future incursions.
Under Manasseh these became
so
frequent that even the neighbourhood of Jerusalem
i2
SERMON
Il6
But though
was a waste. Zion must
have
still
IV.
in
existed,
extreme misery, yet
when
" Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
a
;"
Isaiah
"
wrote,
Zion, that
mounlift up
bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high tain
Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings,
;
thy voice with strength
say unto the cities of Judah,
;
GodM"
Behold your
But while the Prophet the land, he
Babylon;
captivity at
of Judah, he says, " into
Egypt
to
describes the desolation of
not historically acquainted with the
is
summing up the troubles people went down aforetime
for
My
sojourn there, and the Assyrian op-
pressed them without cause." captivity in Egypt,
He
thus regards the
and the ravages of the Assy-
rian marauders, as the
two greatest calamities which
had ever yet happened
to
the Jews.
But though
without doubt in each incursion of the Assyrians
numerous captives were carried away,
—
for
human
beings were the most valuable spoil of ancient war,
—
yet Isaiah was not aware of any general deportation of the people to Babylon,
and consequently could not
thus have written at the close of the Babylonian exile.
Moreover,
when
ends of the earth
Isaiah speaks of Chaldea as the ,
it is
incredible that he could at
the very time have been living there himself.
His
constant reference also to Egypt, his account of prosperity,
chandise
how
its
" the labour of Egypt, and the mer-
of ^Ethiopia and of the Sabeans,
men
stature," shall be brought to Jerusalem, as its mart tt
b
Isa. ad. 2.
lxii. 1,
&c.
c
Ibid. xl. 9;
Ibid. xli. 9.
add
xli.
27, xlvi. 13, d
li.
of d ;
17—23,
Ibid. xlv. 14.
JEWS GIVEN UP TO IDOLATRY.
I 1
his selection of these nations especially, as Judah's
ransom 6
—
many
even his choice of
,
for instance,
single words, as,
where he speaks of sending
to
Babylon
f ,
slight as are these indications in themselves, yet
they
combine in leading
all
conclusion that
to the
Jerusalem, and not Babylon, was the place where the
Prophet wrote.
The next argument drawn from the people
is
even more cogent, and
acknowledged by the remarkable
the condition of
has been
its force
fact that it has
com-
pelled the assailants of the prophecy to the extreme supposition, already alluded to, that there are fragments
and remains of true prophecies embedded in these chapters, written, they say, certainly before the exile,
and possibly by the true
Isaiah.
They
up
dition ?
are given
For what
to idolatry.
is
their con-
Those who
are impoverished " choose a tree that will not
out of
it
they carve an image
;"
their
rot,
richer
and
men
" lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance,
and hire a goldsmith
god." — "They remain in the
monuments."
among
How
tombs, so
common
and he maketh
possible there.
a
the graves, they lodge
Babylon
?
These rock-
in Palestine, so peculiar to
a mountainous country, were alike
— "They
it
could they have practised
this in the alluvial plains of
hewn
;
unknown and im-
eat swine's flesh:"
but this
was an Egyptian, and not a Babylonian practice, and is one of the passages upon which Ewald depends for proving that Egypt was the place where the prophecy c
Isa. xliii. 3.
f
Ibid, xliii. 14.
SERMOX
Il8
was
written.
sanctify
IV.
— They have " gardens
also in
which they
and purify themselves; they inflame themunder every green
selves with idols
and slay
tree,
their children in the valleys under the clifts of the
rocks :" and the right punctuation of a word, without
meaning rites
as
at present read, refers to the
it is
unholy
which Manasseh certainly practised; "For thou
wentest," says the Prophet, " unto
Moloch with
oint-
ment, and didst increase thy perfumes."
Now we know
that the immediate result of the
Babylonian captivity was the abolition of idolatry
and that the horror was became the name
How
human Hinnom
of the people at these past
so great that the valley of
sacrifices
for the place
of eternal torment.
then could one who wrote at the end of the
captivity speak of
them
as
still
slaying the children
in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks ?
Where
could they even find these valleys in the vast plains of Babylonia?
where the
country where
stone
is
clifts
of the
rocks in a
unknown? — "Among
smooth stones of the stream
is
thy portion."
where among the sluggish canals of Babylon these commentators find a
wear the stones in is
not a stream
version has
the
;
the
bed of a mountain
Septuagint renders
Besides,
it
both here, and above, where our
'valleys,'
the winter rains
will
stream rapid enough to
muddy bed smooth ?
its
for
the
But
it,
word torrent,
signifies a nullah
—
a (j)apaytj as the
dry in the summer, but during
rushing along as
a violent flood.
In the warm summer months these torrent-beds were places of pleasant resort; and in such a one, in the
MANNER OF PROPHESYING. valley of
I I
9
Hinnom, the wretched people of Jerusalem
offered their children unto Moloch.
There are various other arguments
same conclusion, but they are such
to the
tending
also, all
as require
an examination into words and phrases, and modes of thought and expression too exact and tedious for anything except the patient minuteness of a commentary. I will only say, that the
number
of remarkable
words
and phrases, and ideas and metaphors common to the
two parts of
Isaiah,
and of rare occurrence, or which
not occur elsewhere,
absolutely do
But, omitting these,
belief.
I
shall
is
almost past
content myself
with one more argument drawn from the manner of
Now
prophesying. date as
is
affirmed,
had these chapters been of so late there would, I think, have been
found in them more definite allusions to the state of things then existing, and a more exact adaptation to
the wants of the exiles, than
was
this
we can
knowledge of
at present dis-
their actual circum-
cover.
It
stances
which made Jeremiah the chief
consolation,
the especial prophet, of the captivity, while Isaiah for all times.
Even the Babylonian
is
exile is treated
by him more as a subsidiary point than as the main and the deliverance from it passes on so comsubject pletely into the establishment of Christ's kingdom, ;
that at a certain stage the Prophet loses
from his view. dictions
!
How
blood could word,
how
And how
it
altogether
unnatural are his pre-
entirely are they such as flesh
not have revealed unto truly they are
spiritual I
him
What
!
and
In a eye not
inspired could so have seen the humiliation of the pro-
SERMON
I20
IV.
What human mind would have
raised Messiah ?
ven-
tured to describe their national hero as giving His
back
and His cheeks
to the smiters,
plucked
off
the hair
to
them that
As being more marred
?
in visage
than any man, and His form more than the sons of
men ? As one
stricken, smitten of God,
Both matter, Isaiah
chapters
and
;
style is softer
There
same.
does the language.
For
and
the
gentler,
same fondness
the
is
to the
time as the author of these
really
so
afflicted ?
and manner equally point
then,
of Hezekiah's
though the
and
it
is
still
for alliteration,
carried to an extent
which modern rules of writing
would
is
forbid.
There
word
the same repetition of a
in both parts of a parallelism, constantly avoided in
the Authorized Version by the substitution for one of
them
of a
synonym, because
I
suppose
it
was thought
that the occurrence twice of the same sound would offend
modern
There are the same powerful and
ears.
striking metaphors, as that of unveiling being used for degradation
so
the same absence of symbolic actions,
;
common with
the other prophets;
the same in-
frequency of visions, the same constant use of hymns of praise.
In both
j)arts alike
the prophecies are de-
livered with no introduction, no declaration of " saith the Lord," as in
alike the special Israel," a title
in the
name
of
whole of Scripture
—once
God
is
rest.
" the Holy
which occurs besides only
of these psalms, one
pen,
Jeremiah and the
is
in Ezekiel,
;
Thus
In both
One
of
five times
thrice in the Psalms,
—but
generally ascribed to Isaiah's
and once in Jeremiah, but in
DISAPPOINTMENT OF the
chapter, which in
fifty-first
in
phrase
almost
in the
New
peculiar
"Mine house
— "Thou
be called," that
shall
shalt be called,"
we have
whose name
is
spring
"a
be
shall
and similar arguments, I con-
in the last chapters the genuine
prophecies of that same Isaiah
who spake
kiah's reign, and
is,
people."
all
these, therefore,
clude that
should
though common
thou shalt be "the city of righteousness;"
house of prayer for
From
.
use of a
the
is
g
Testament, of being called something
in the sense of being it: is,
Isaiah,
to
par-
Isaiah's prophecies
both parts alike there
Lastly,
121
many remarkable
upon and imitates
ticulars leans
that
ISAIAIl's HOPES.
who
flourished in Heze-
of the birth of the Child
Wonderful, and of the Sceptre who
from the hewn-down stem of Jesse.
Apparently they were written by him in his later years,
when, purified and ennobled by a
tivity in God's service, cares,
of ac-
life
he had withdrawn from active
and fixed his whole soul in meditation upon the
coming of that Messiah towards whose advent he had Be-
so often guided the thoughts of his countrymen.
hind him was the memory of a
life
of unceasing en-
deavours to implant in the minds of both King and people
a
knowledge of the true God, and of the
method
of
His righteous government upon earth
around him lay the ruin of his hopes.
grew more
desolate
;
any remote
devoured
it
field,
husbandman
strangers searched
in his presence *
daily
ever-increasing troops of marau-
ders destroyed the labours of the tilled
The land
but
;
:
Jahn, ffinl,
it
and the people, ii.
463.
;
if
out,
he
and
in their
SEEMON
122
IV.
human
sought for comfort in
distress,
oblations to devils.
The
sacrifices
warnings of Isaiah evidently had produced but on the minds of either princes or people
effect
and
piety of Hezekiah and the little :
and
probably Manasseh did but bend to a general and long-established feeling
when he
offered his son to
Moloch, and so rendered the apostacy of the nation
Meanwhile, the inevitable day of punish-
complete.
ment drew nearer and
when
foresaw the time
plummet
nearer,
and the Prophet clearly
" the line of Samaria and the
Ahab would be stretched God would wipe it,
of the house of
over Jerusalem, and the wrath of as a
man wipeth
a dish, wiping
it
and turning
it
upside down."
But though the general served the Lord
He
comfort.
:
and
for
them Isaiah had words
had indeed no present hope
no immediate deliverance was possible tell
be
them that the destruction final,
for that
that
it
would yet
:
to suggest
but he could
of Jerusalem
would not
again from
rise
of
its
ruins
from the east a great hero should come, who
would overthrow to their
was thus
state of things
were yet numerous individuals who
hopeless, there
their oppressors, restore the exiles
home, rebuild their
foundations their real
city,
of their temple.
and true
solace.
and lay again the
But beyond
For
it
was
sin
caused
.their misery, as it is the ultimate
misery
;
and
for that a
remedy
is
this lay
which had
cause of
all
provided, not after
human mind would have sugGod's own way, by One who should
the manner which any gested, but in
be " wounded for their transgressions, and bruised
THEEE STAGES OF FINAL DELIVERANCE. for their iniquities
;
and on
J
whom God would
23
lay the
iniquity of us all."
Of
marks out three
this deliverance Isaiah clearly
Of
stages in the course of this his final prophecy.
these, the first consists in the overthrow of heathenism,
whose powerless gods are contrasted with u works, and
who
it?
shall let
the heavens alone,
who
who
Him who
stretcheth out
spreadeth abroad the earth
by Himself;" and whose victory
summoning Cyrus from the
shewn by His
is
east to do His pleasure;
while the powerful kingdoms of "Ethiopia and Egypt,
and the Sabeans, men of
draw near in
stature,
chains,
and mil down before His people, and make supplication unto them, saying, Surely
there
is
none
else,
there
is
God
in
is
r
j
ou,
and
no God."
In the second stage, Israel and her friends and foes alike fall into the
background
God
of the
Jews
single nation
:
;
—"
should be God's
now
The controversy
of the whole world.
between the senseless
it is
:
the healing
is
no longer
heathenism and the true
idols of
the victory
is
no longer that of a
It is a light thing that the
servant, to raise
up the
Messiah tribes
He
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel.
of is
given also as a light to the Gentiles, and to be God's salvation unto the end stage,
therefore,
The second us a Eedeemer " the
of the
discloses to
earth."
;
servant of Jehovah," the perfect pattern of tian virtues, of gentleness
Law had
no place
;
Chris-
and mildness, and meekness
and patience, and suffering the
all
and
;
qualities
He
which under
bears the griefs and
SERMON
124
carries the sorrows of
IV.
His people, and in
find their true happiness,
— so
Him
they
that the "waste places
of Jerusalem break forth into joy and sing together
Jehovah hath comforted His people,
for
He
hath re-
deemed Jerusalem."
The
ment
third and final stage consists in the establish-
of Christ's universal kingdom,
come
tiles
to
of His
double, and tion
His
rising ;"
I
light,
and kings
to the brightness
when
for their
shame they have
they rejoice in their por-
for confusion
everlasting joy
is
upon them."
In this glorious king-
the root of sin has been destroyed, and therefore
sad consequences have also ceased
its
the Gen-
therefore in their land they possess the double
:
dom
"
"when
create
new
new
heavens, and a
:
" For behold
earth; in which
there shall no more be an infant of days, nor an old
man it
There will be in
that hath not filled his days."
no premature decay, nor any other disappointment,
" for none in
it
for trouble."
Children shall be the strength and hap-
shall labour in vain,
nor bring forth
piness of their parents, not their grief and misery.
And, to
in a word, all wrongs, all injuries done
man
shall
have ceased
prophecies, he says, " in all
My
:
for,
They
holy mountain
by man
reverting to his former
shall not hurt nor destroy
;"
for "
God
shall
extend
peace to His Church like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream." Finally, he contrasts in
it
the glories of the
dispensation with the condition of old.
its
new
prototype of
There were then the vicissitudes of fortune
;
the happiness of to-day forgotten in the miseries of
CONCLUSION.
to-morrow.
"For
as the
I will
make
Henceforward there
is
new heavens and
the
shall
any enemies
that
all flesh
25
no fear of change
new
earth which
remain before Me, saith the Lord
and your name remain."
so shall your seed it
1
to fear
shall
for
;
come
"
come
shall
it
:
]Nor has to pass,
Me,
to worship before
saith
the Lord."
Such, then,
is
the
glorious
Isaiah concludes his prophecies
both in
:
and
we
be-
a
so,
doubtless, in God's
this final stage of blessedness will also
Christianity no longer be
its
as
first
if
the Prophet's words,
itself,
if,
two stages have been clearly accomEedeemer has been manifested who, the letter and the spirit, has in them fulfilled
lieve, the
plished,
prospect with which
weak and
own time
be reached, and
feeble, divided in
and but of limited influence over the minds of
followers; but, strong in faith and holiness, the
Church
will find her perfection in that close union
with her Lord of which the Prophet speaks in the grandest terms of metaphor,
— "The
sun shall no
more be her light by day, neither for brightness
moon
unto her
shall
the
shall
be unto her an everlasting
give
shall be her glory."
light
;
light,
for
Jehovah
and her God
SEltMON Isaiah
xlii.
1
Y.
—
4.
My Servant, whom I upJwld ; Mine Elect, in whom My soul delightetli ; I have put My Spirit upon Him He
"Behold
:
judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift ip, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench : He shall bring forth judgment unto
shall bring forth
truth.
have
He set
shall not fail nor be
judgment
in the earth:
discouraged,
and
till
He
the isles shall zuait
for His law."
TN
these words the Prophet briefly sets before us the
character and attributes of that Servant of Jehovah,
whose
office,
humiliation, and triumph form the
subject of the present prophecy.
deavoured to shew
how
main
Already I have en-
conclusive
is
the evidence,
derived both from external and internal sources, in
support of the unbroken tradition, both of the Jewish
and the Christian Church, that Isaiah
is its real
author; and that the so-called Babylonian Isaiah
an unreal
fiction,
is
invented for the purpose of sup-
porting a theory simply of conjecture, and destitute of
work
all solid proof.
But
age, Isaiah,
true to the one great subject of his
still
in this, the final
thoughts, nevertheless sees
of his old
the Messiah, no longer
simply in His relation to the people of Israel, but as the Saviour of
all
mankind.
The
local
and temporary
ArOSTACY OF JUDvEA. fortunes of Jerusalem and her kings
ground; the deliverance now
to
I
fall
27
into the back-
be wrought
is
no
longer the disruption of the league between Samaria
and Damascus
;
it
is
death-fraught night
no longer the pride of the As-
by the destroying angel
syrian host quelled :
in one
the redemption in and
it is
by
the Messiah of the whole world, and the establishment of a
Church which
It is
shall
for in the present there tion.
embrace
all
nations.
something distant to which the Prophet looks
was
little to
give
him
consola-
In the later years of Hezekiah, in spite of the
labours of both
King and Prophet, the people more
and more obstinately gave themselves over
and everything was preparing
for the
to idolatry
day when Ma-
nasseh mounted the throne, and, by offering his children
unto Moloch,
The
complete.
was gone
:
last
made the
hope,
national
therefore,
:
own
apostacy
of deliverance
the bitterness of exile could alone
work
repentance in the nation, and bring them back to
a sense of the true nature of the relation between
them and God. The mass probably of the people, carried away by superficial theories, imagined that they would even find safety in adopting the same gods as their neighbours. They argued, perhaps, that their adherence to the doctrine of there being but one
God exposed them to hatred raised a barrier between them and other kingdoms left them without allies debarred them from adopting measures of public expe;
;
diency because of their being irreconcileable with the
unbending maxims of the theocratic government.
The
times were too dangerous for such overstrained views,
SEEM0N
128
V.
and required a more pliant and supple
But
policy.
the Prophet, and those who, like him, understood the true
purpose of Israel's calling and the real conof cause
nection
and event in
the approaching hour of judgment.
must it
for a
history, foresaw
its
Idolatrous Israel
time cease to exist as a nation, and though
could not perish, for
that purpose
was
God had
a purpose in
unfulfilled, yet it
it,
and
must undergo His
righteous visitation, and be purified and brought to a knowledge of itself
by long years of saddening medi-
tation in an enemy's land. It
was most important,
therefore, that the schools
of the prophets, as representing the spiritual life of
the nation, should be prepared for the events about to
much would depend upon which they took. As a fact we know that
happen, especially as very the course
their influence did greatly increase during the Babylo-
nian exile, and that they returned as the dominant element, while the descendants of David sank to an inferior place.
"We know
also
that,
owing
to
their
increased influence, the nation never again lapsed into idolatry.
And
to this effect the
must greatly have contributed
:
arguments of Isaiah for
never elsewhere
has the powerlessness of idols been shewn by such
unanswerable proofs,
and demonstrated by irony so
keen and penetrating; and from his armoury other prophets, exile,
and the
drew
their
later
Psalms written during the
most polished weapons against the
heathen gods.
By many
it
has been supposed that these twenty-
UNITY OF THE LAST TWENTY-SEVEN CHAPTERS.
1
29
seven chapters form three separate discourses, addressed at different times to the schools of the pro-
phets
and in support of
;
this theory they allege that
they naturally divide into three portions of nearly equal length, each containing nine chapters of our
and with the termination marked by the
version,
" There
currence of the same refrain, saith the
Lord
—there
is
no peace, saith
But the prophecies
the wicked."
is
no peace,
my
God, unto
of Isaiah are gene-
form
rally regular in their external
oc-
and in the pre-
:
sent case the unity of the matter throughout renders it
the more probable view, that
For though there
treatise.
distinct division of subject.
it
one connected
is
an advance, there
is
wards
no
Certain points, indeed,
which hold a prominent place in the
first
section,
and are never mentioned
entirely disappear,
is
after-
but there are other thoughts which as con-
:
stantly recur,
and are never absent from the Prophet's
In each portion, nevertheless, there
miud.
is
always
one subject which occupies a more important place
than the
rest,
and
it
is
bear to one another that the Prophet's argumeut. is chiefly
in the relation
we can
to proclaim the unity of the liar to
them up
the second vant,
office of
section he
the Jewish people
Godhead
we have
— an
office
pecu-
In
the sufferings of Jehovah's Seris
to
be founded, with
message of pardon and reconciliation
whole world than the Jews had
we have
first
to the time of Messiah's advent.
by whom a Church
a fuller
trace the progress of
For in the
occupied with the
which these
to bear.
for the
In the third
the glory of the Israelitic people, which ic
fol-
SERMON
130
V.
lows upon their acceptance of the Messiah's mission,
and their consequent development
But
Church.
three
all
subjects
into the Christian
more
are
or
less
ever present in the Prophet's mind, and run more or less parallel to one another throughout the whole discourse.
In the opening verses of the prophecy plainly set forth
all
:
salem, and cry unto her, that her warfare plished, that her iniquity is pardoned
received of the Lord's hand double for For,
first,
we have
;
advent, a stronger power
gradually recedes
till
it
is
for she all
is
hath
her sins." office.
developed, before which
ceases to be the dominant
The
warfare, therefore, of
accomplished; for her protest
against polytheism has no longer any place. next, there
accom-
from the day of Messiah's is
form of human worship. the Jewish Church
:
is
the consummation of her
Heathenism passes away
it
three are
" Speak ye comfortably to Jeru-
And,
the pardon of iniquity, which Judaism
could not proclaim. For pardon to be possible a better
covenant must be established between virtue of His death on
whom God
of us
is
Lastly, there
all.
God and man, by
laid the. iniquity
a reward infinitely greater
than the punishment which her sins had brought
upon her
:
for
no longer
fortunes of one
she limited to the narrow
people, but, embracing the Gentile
world within her ness for the truth
is
fold,
becomes God's appointed wit-
among
all
nations and in
all
times,
with the promise of her Lord's perpetual presence, and that the gates of hell shall never prevail against her.
There
is,
therefore, a real unity in the Prophet's
STYLE OF ISAIAH subject
we may
for
:
FINAL PROPHECY.
S
describe
taining to
its
own
full'
and
for,
development
the promised Redeemer,
new heavens and new
create"
— God's purposes
to obtain a
was
who was
the coming of
in,
to spring
from the
— that
earth which Jehovah would
mercy unto mankind were
of
wider and more universal fulfilment than
possible
style is
I
finally at-
Jewish race; and in whose new dispensation "
3
as the mission of
it
way
Israel in first preparing the
1
And
under the Mosaic economy.
worthy of
phecy moved him
his
theme
;
his
for as the spirit of pro-
to disclose to the earlier
Church the
inmost mystery of the Gospel, "that Christ must suffer,
and enter
great gifts
into
enable
His glory,"
him
to
so also
embody
did his
language
in
it
own
which stands unequalled in the whole rauge of He-
brew
literature.
for the
God had chosen an instrument
work he had
to accomplish.
fitted
It constantly, in-
deed, recals to our minds the Isaiah of the previous prophecies, but age
and meditation have ripened and
mellowed his judgment.
There are no longer the
harsh contrasts, the abrupt bursts of vehemence, the fierce
play of emotions, which troubled the current of
his thoughts in earlier years. clear
Twice only
and regular flow disturbed:
third chapter,
in the fifty-
first
where in the anguish
their
is
of*
sorrow he
pours forth the same chafed stream of broken sentences which had been usual with
him
of old
;
and
again in the concluding verses of the fifty-sixth chapter,
and the first eleven verses of the fifty-seventh, where
the earnestness of his reproof of the idolatrous tendencies of his countrymen again gives abruptness and
k2
SERMON
I32
ruggedness to his of his words
V.
Everywhere
style.
and the connexion of
plain and clear
;
and we
else the order
his ideas are alike
feel that
we have
them
in
the last utterance of one whose strong and impulsive
down by the
nature had been calmed
ence of an eventful closing years
was
life,
varied experi-
and the mission of whose
to give strength
and consolation
to
who loved God among his nation, by shewing them of how great a hope for all mankind they were the pledge, and that God would therefore certainly those
visit
and redeem His people.
As
the
subjects
of
the Prophet's
discourse
are
throughout simultaneously present in his mind, though each more prominently brought forward in several portion, I propose, in the to follow
first place,
and explain the course of
their
mutual
more
fully the office of Israel in
relation,
and
its
own
briefly
his thoughts in
subsequently to consider
connexion with the
servant of Jehovah described to us in the text.
In the
first
part the Prophet chiefly presses
the Jews the duty of performing that they, under the providence of God, called.
office to
upon which
had been especially
Doubtless every individual and nation and
Church has some appointed duty, some place assigned it
in the divine
economy
;
and
its
wisdom and safety But the
consist in its faithful discharge of its trust.
Jews had been called to their office manner by prophecy and revelation, and, branch of the family of Shem,
it
in an especial as the foremost
chiefly devolved
upon
MOXOTHEISM OF THE ARABS.
them
133
to bear witness to the unity of the
Godhead
a truth which has ever found in the Semitic race
most earnest defenders.
It
was
this truth
;
— its
which the
Arabs victoriously bore, in the seventh century, both to the heathens idolatry.
and to a Church lapsing into a sensuous
was
It
this truth
which gave permanency
work, and earned for them, as a reward, the
to their
possession of some of the fairest portions of the earth.
But with truth there was also the brand of falsehood upon their arms. Like Jehu of old, they wrought a kind of reformation, and had a limited reward; but
was not whole with God, and therefore
their heart their
power has dwindled, and
and they have long ceased
its
springs dried up,
to exercise
any influence
Especially the method in which they pro-
for good.
pagated their one truth was contrary to God's dealings; nal,
for the
and not
weapons of their warfare were
car-
For punishment, God permits
spiritual.
wrong and violence many an evil is swept from the earth by the march of armies, which otherwise would have long cumbered the ground with its slow decay ;
but
it
is
not God's method of planting the
" The Servant of Jehovah does not cry, nor
truth. lift
up,
nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets."
It
was by
saw of the travail and in all ages His
suffering that the Messiah
of His soul, and was satisfied;
work on earth can be
carried on only
tinuance in well-doing violence,
and in the
:
whereas
it
by
patient con-
was by deeds of
spirit of intolerance, that the false
prophet broke the bruised reed of heathen superstition,
and quenched the
faint
embers of
faith still
smoking
SERMON
134
And
in the Eastern Church.
reason
why
was the
possibly this
the possession of that one great truth,
God
that the Lord
minds
V.
is
One God,
in that
for faith
did not prepare their
same One God
as mysteri-
ously manifesting Himself in a Trinity of Persons, as
who
a Father
creates, a
Son who redeems, a Holy
who But though the first-born of the Semitic race, and aided by an ever-growing revelation, the Jew was, Spirit
sanctifies us.
with
nevertheless,
tion of this truth.
world,
difficulty
brought to the convic-
Perhaps in the
when nature seemed
earlier ages of the
to the imaginations of the
people itself an animated power,
it
was
difficult for
the mind to rise to the conception of a spiritual being in
whom
and by
whom
all
things consist.
Certainly
the Jews, though fenced about by a minute and scru-
pulous that till
ritual,
God
is
intended mainly to impress upon them
One, did not really embrace the doctrine
the Babylonian exile had taught them, as
with thorns; and even then
it
did,
were,
was with narrow
gotry and in the spirit of exclusiveness. discipline
it
bi-
The divine
however, at length so deeply imprint
upon them, that through and by them it has become the peculiar heritage of their whole race.
this truth
For when we meet on all sides with the acknowledgment that the Semitic race is the representative of the monotheistic principle, are born so
by
a
we
mere
are not to suppose that they
lusus naturce, that they
a natural disposition to believe in as
it
One God, an
instinct,
were, like that of swallows to migrate.
powers of the human mind and
its
have
The
tendencies seem
FORMATION OF NATIONAL CHARACTER.
is5
everywhere much the same, but they are developed or debased by external circumstances, by the discipline the course of public policy, the truth or
of events,
falseness of the principles current
among
the peo-
the virtues and vices of their leading men, the
ple,
character of their national literature, the conformation of their country, causes.
As
and other moral and physical for good or evil, so a race
combine
tljese
rises or falls in the scale of
The Semitic
humanity.
race had no natural tendency to monotheism
we
find the
Jewish imagination ready
:
certainly
to revel in the
grossest enjoyments of heathen licentiousness
was a race tenacious and
for evil
;
of purpose
and strong
;
but
for
it
good
as likely to be foremost in vice as the
teachers of virtue.
gradually moulded
And it,
God, by a long discipline,
till
it
heartily
doctrine of the unity of His nature report and good report
it
;
has held
embraced the
and through it
evil
firmly to the
present day.
But when Isaiah means attained
wrote, this end had been
the people
;
ness the grossest idolatry
:
still
by no
practised with eager-
and therefore he
sets be-
fore them, in the clearest light, the utter powerless-
ness of idols; with the keenest irony he reproaches
them
that of the
ter's
work, too worthless even to burn, they made
stump of a
tree, unfit for
them a god, whom they must "set up he cannot stand
;
trouble."
the
With
in his place or
and who, though one cry unto him,
yet can he not answer, nor save
out
the carpen-
these he contrasts
him out of his Him who meteth
heavens with a span, and measureth the
SERMON
136
V.
waters with the hollow of His hand, and
merely the God of nature, but
He
of grace.
who
is
not
also of providence
and
appeals to God's works of old, and to the
fulfilment of prophecies publicly declared in for evidence of the reality of
ment
of the world
;
and
he brings forward the
His righteous govern-
as a last
call of
and decisive
My
— "My
pleasure
:
I
who
shepherd,
which he
is
Cyrus shall
is
God's
perform
all
have holden him by the right hand,
subdue nations before him."
to
proof,
Cyrus by name, and the
overthrow of Babylon by his arms. instrument:
His name,
summoned
It is God's
work
and the purpose of
to perform,
does not centre in himself, but in God's people
it
"for Jacob
My
servant's sake,
I have even called thee
and Israel Mine
elect,
by thy name."
So special an instance of the intervention of God's providence in their favour, so long foretold, so clearly fulfilled,
their
and
could
scarcely
fail
strongly impressing
in
He was
minds with the conviction that
reality the
one true God.
The
in deed
verification also of
so remarkable a prediction set the seal of inspiration to all the Prophet's
words; so that
it
was no longer
merely the weight of his arguments which demonstrated the powerlessness of idols, but they heard in
them
also the voice of
Omnipotence. For in their deep-
remnant among many tribes, torn from distant homes to people that vast city, God summons from the east a mighty hero, est humiliation, dwelling as a scanty
the
and surrounds him with the glory of sal
dominion;
mighty
at his presence
fortifications
all
Babylon
and long
-
but univeritself,
accumulated
whose stores
BABYLON REPKESEXTATIVE OF HEATHENISM. bade defiance to his entrance,
all
human
gle
and while the king and nobles are de-
and the mission of
:
that
was equally necessary
must
pieces of
fall to
was
solely for
general transplantation
religious worship,
in a vast
for Cyrus.
itself, if
So vast an em-
the inhabitants had race,
and national associations; but
each nation, removed from
them
without a strug-
and were united by the bonds of
local affections,
and
itself
falls
this conqueror
which had been the policy of the Assyrian
of races,
pire
In
sakes.
kings,
opens a Tray for
efforts,
riding the hopes of the besieger,
their
137
mass of abject
its
own
slaves,
land,
was merged
with no
tie to
together, no chieftain to head their efforts.
hold
Yet
in this one instance Cyrus reverses the general policy
Surely the contrast between their
of all conquerors. fate
and that of Babylon could not but demonstrate
them the conclusion which had deduced from of heathenism,
it.
so long before the
to
Prophet
She represented the strength
and had every element of worldly suc-
The Jews were the people of the one true God, but so weak and few that they must apparently be cess.
trampled out in the collision of two such mighty empires as then struggled for the possession of Asia.
But the
fall
Babylon was the appointed proof of
of
the weakness of
idols
her rapid river,
were
and
in the dust,
sit
thou shalt no more be for they shall
them: they
and therefore her mighty
walls,
her warlike population inured to unable to rescue her. " Come down,
victory,
all
;
virgin daughter of Babylon called,
The lady
of
kingdoms
be ashamed, and also confounded, shall
all of
go to confusion together that are
SERMON
138
makers of
But
idols.
V.
Israel shall be saved in the
Lord with an everlasting
The
salvation."
first act
the conqueror shall be to acknowledge the Lord
and
of heaven, to set the people free,
of
God
to rebuild the
temple of Jerusalem in token of his homage.
The reason portant
office
of Israel's salvation consists in the im-
assigned her in the divine economy.
and by her the Gentiles are
Long
ledge of the truth.
to
disobedient to her mission,
she has been visited by repeated chastisements finally,
In
be called to the know-
;
but
being brought to repentance by so convincing
a proof of the reality of God's government of events,
she will henceforward devote herself to the discharge of her appointed duty sees a glorious era
nation,
:
and thereupon the Prophet
commencing, of triumph
and of holiness and happiness
It is in the third
and
for his
for the world.
last portion that this subject is
most prominently brought forward.
Full of vehement
reproofs against idolatry, setting Israel's sin before its face even
more
directly than in the first part,
describes the consequences their
abandonment of
new
and the blessedness
dispensation,
Gentiles also should be gathered
be lost in the spiritual Israel alike " should be
named
;
in,
as
though
diately follow
when Jew and
the
Gentile
the priests of the Lord, and
this reign of holiness
upon the return from
his prophecies are even
when
and the carnal
clothed with the garments of salvation."
seemed
also
which should follow upon
their idols,
they would enjoy in the
he
now but
To Isaiah it would imme-
exile
:
in reality
partially fulfilled.
JEHOVAH'S SERVANT.
For
1
as a general rule the time of events
vealed unto
what
or
the
re-
though "they searched,
prophets,
what manner of time the
which was in them did
was not
39
Spirit of Christ
They saw every-
signify."
thing as present, like pictures raised up before their Partially, however,
eyes.
it
was
fulfilled
when
the
Jews, upon their return from captivity, heartily em-
braced the doctrine of the unity of the Godhead
more complete was
its
;
far
accomplishment when twelve
Jewish fishermen carried the tidings of salvation to the whole world
;
but
reserved for the time
its
great and final fulfilment
when
is
the sacrifice of Christ shall
not only virtually, but also practically, be the healing of the nations,
now
she
is
and the Church become in
what
—between the
Jew-
in theory.
And between ish
fact
Church as
it
these two parts
was
of old,
and as
it
perfection in the Christian dispensation
attains to its
— stands
the
Messiah, Jehovah's Servant, who, through shame, aud grief,
and
suffering,
wins salvation
for
the whole
In Him, as the Corner-stone, both Churches made one and Israel's repentance from her ido-
world. are
;
latry of old,
and her reconstruction into a Church of
which the members are a royal priesthood and a holy nation, are in is all
Him
and by Him.
accomplished; by her
sins.
To
Him
In
Him her
warfare
she receives the double of
this portion, therefore, the hearts of
believers have ever chiefly turned.
For though the
Prophet speaks in general terms, yet the purport of his teaching is so clear, that " he seems to at the foot of the cross,
and
to
have stood
have been present with
SERMON
140 the Apostles
when they
V.
body of the Lord
laid the
in
the rich man's garden."
Snch then, apparently,
is
the connexion of the Pro-
phet's thoughts in the three several portions of this
prophecy
it
:
remains to consider more fully the main
subject of the
namely, the
part,
first
of the
office
by the Jews, but development, by Christianity, to
as originally represented
Church now, in
its
fuller
proclaim the knowledge of the one God.
In the text
duty
this
uphold."
And
described as mainly de-
whom
constantly, throughout the
whole
:
" Behold
prophecy, but especially in the tions, this Servant of
Now
Jehovah
is
sion than the question,
Who
and second por-
first
repeatedly referred
few subjects have given
hovah?"
My
Servant,
volving upon a person I
is
is
more
rise to
For some have argued that
some
see in
person
—
as it
remained true
discus-
this " Servant of Jeit
whole Jewish people, while others confine
among them
to.
means the it
Israel's
to
to
such
calling
others a single
the prophetic order,
Cyrus, or Hezekiah, or Josiah
;
a few even
imagine that Isaiah was describing himself, while one or two think they have discovered the true
and suggest that
lution in the character of Jeremiah,
Baruch was possibly the author of the
Now,
so-
entire prophecy.
eagerly as the expositors of the "higher
criti-
cism" embrace and defend one or other of these views, they really are
all
borrowed from the writings of the
Jewish apologists in the middle ages.
The Jews
at
that time, in their controversies with Christians, were
MULTITUDE OF JEWISH THEORIES.
141
by the exactness with which the proIsaiah were fulfilled in our Lord they had
pressed hard phecies of
:
indeed a difficulty with which the theologians of the
modern school are not
troubled, namely, that all their
own authorities, their paraphrasts and great teachers down to the ninth century, had uniformly applied the prophecy to the Messiah they saw also many of their leading men falling away and joining the Christians, ;
unable to
argument, that
resist the
the words of
if
Isaiah did apply to the Messiah, that Messiah
be Jesus of Nazareth to invent
minds of
;
and therefore they were obliged
some theory plausible enough
their people.
The multitude was
plainly shews that no one
was no one
must
in
sufficiently
to satisfy the
of their theories
satisfactory.
accord
There
with the whole
course of the prophecy, or sufficiently free from objections, to
content
them
cessful in destroying the cessors,
originated
of refutation
at
a
the
They were schemes, belief,
conviction.
hypotheses
new hand
of his
explanation
prede-
equally sure
of the next interpreter.
therefore, suggested for the sole
purpose of evading a
genuine
and each expositor, suc-
;
difficulty,
and not matters of
the honest product of conscientious
In the works of the moderns even their
schemes are strangely distorted. Bunsen, for instance, in his "
God
in History," quotes Saadia, " the great
Eector of the Academy at Sura," as the authority for his theory, that
the
man
Jeremiah was the servant of Jehovah,
of sorrows,
who
bore our sin
;
apparently not
being aware that Saadia Gaon's
own
that the " servant of Jehovah"
was Cyrus, " God's
final
view was
SERMON
142,
V.
anointed," and " His shepherd."
"We may, however, the mere upgrowth of po-
dismiss these theories as
lemic necessity, and content ourselves with the fact that the Messianic interpretation has the consistent
testimony in of the
favour both of the Jewish and also
its
For the former,
Church.
Christian
may
it
quote the Chaldee paraphrast, who renders the opening words, " Behold, My Servant, the Mes-
suffice to
and
siah ;"
for the latter,
St.
Matthew's direct appli-
The
cation of the passage to our Lord.
also,
title
irah Oeov, given to the Saviour on several occasions
New
in the
Testament, was probably taken from the
"Servant of Jehovah;"
Septuagint version of the and, chief of
all,
the attesting voice at His baptism
and on the mount of Transfiguration plainly the words of the
But though
first
this
verse of
it
is
— "Yet now
arise
espe-
and His
elect
Jacob My servant; and Israel, I have chosen ;" " For Jacob My servant's
whom
hear,
a
and
sake,
Israel
servant, Jacob
Mine
elect
whom
very chapter from which servant
vant
may
and Jacob are often
find that Israel
directly addressed as Jehovah's servant
My
only one
the
yet the question
exhausts the Prophet's meaning?
when we
cially
text.
interpretation
possible for Christians,
whether
my
refers to
is
blind as he that a
My is
have chosen
my
text
lb. xli. 8;
is
;"
Israel, art
and in the
taken, Jehovah's
is blind,
perfect,
?
ser-
who
is
and blind as Jehovah's b
add xliv.
My
but
messenger that I sent
Isa. xliv. 1. e
"Thou,
;"
even blamed, — " Who
or deaf, as
?
I
b
lb. xlv. 4.
2, 21, xlviii. 12, 20.
MEANING OF " SERVANT."
Now
servant ?"
the true interpretation must embrace
we
every portion of the prophecy, and best arrive at of the it,
that
it
by considering what
We
title itself.
may
name given
the
it is
143
shall perhaps
the meaning
is
notice then, concerning
Moses
to
in the postscript
book of Deuteronomy* and in the commencement of the book of Joshua, where we read, " The Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, Moses, My servant, is dead." It is also given by God to David, in the message sent him respecting his purpose to build a temple, "Go and tell My servant David e ." And 1
to the
,
—
again, to the prophets;
as for instance, to Isaiah,
My
" The Lord said, Like as
seven times in Jeremiah
In these and
generally. of honour,
it is
and
execution of
signifies
all
similar cases
—His minister
a title
it is
God
one appointed by
His purposes,
mean one who has
servant Isaiah ;" and
applied to the prophets
;
it
to obey, but implies a
for the
does not
privilege,
a favour, the being selected for a post of high dignity
:
and
this
sense
is
confirmed by the requi re-
ments of the law of parallelism; find in the other
member
for
we constantly
of the distich
some such
honourable title as "My elect," "My chosen one," " the seed of Abraham My friend." Now the people of Israel were thus selected
by God
to
occupy a post
among the nations of the world they were appointed by God as His ministers, His represen-
of high honour
tatives, to
perform a special and ennobling duty
were called
had
to
to render d
;
be His servants
;
5.
they
and the service they
was the salvation of the world,
Chap, xxxiv.
;
*
2 Sam.
—
for,
vii. 5.
in
SEBMON
144
V.
the words of our Saviour, " Salvation
of the Jews,"
is
inasmuch as "to them pertained the adoption, and the
and the covenants, and the giving of the law,
glory,
and the temple service, and the promises the fathers
who
came,
;
;
and of them as concerning the
is
over
all,
God
theirs
were
flesh Christ
Amen."
blessed for ever.
But the ministry to which the Jews were appointed was really and truly executed by God's " holy servant Jesus ." They were, in a measure, set for the salvation of the world by them all nations of the earth were f
;
blessed
but only because their mission led on
;
was rendered complete the
And
Christ.
in,
to,
and
therefore in
portion of the prophecy, Isaiah, being chiefly
first
occupied with the Church's mission, speaks of times as
it
some-
belongs to the body, and sometimes as
it
it
belongs to the head. Their functions are indeed distinct in their relation to one another, but combine in their relation to the external world.
God's truth to the world
;
The Jews proclaimed
they taught
it
and announced the coming of a Saviour Saviour
:
His nature, but in that
deeper mysteries of God's nature were
still
revealed, and the promises of the earlier dispensation fulfilled.-
There
is
nothing therefore surprising in the God's servant
fact that the title of
this first part to the Messiah,
Jewish Church office.
But
;
for the
work
not confined in
shared by the
which the Prophet
of atonement, the title
sively confined to our
Church has no
is
Jewish Church shared in His
in the second part, in
describes the
is
but
share. f
Lord
;
The servant Tvais,
Acts
is
exclu-
because in this work His
iv. 30.
of Jehovah
is
now
VICARIOUS SUFFERINGS OF THE JEWS. distinguished from the Jews
them
as necessary for as
heathen; but this work
my
shouldest be
sacrifice
;
as the remotest
It is a light thing that
mayest be
Thee
My
The work
Thou
Servant to raise up the tribes of
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel also give
is
they must
not confined to them, and
is
the promise, — "
45
His special work
as for the Gentiles
much be saved by His
therefore
for
;
1
:
for a light to the Gentiles, that
I will
Thou
salvation unto the end of the earth."
therefore of the
siah's special office,
and in
it
Atonement
is
the Mes-
His Church does not share;
and con sequent ry, in the second portion of the prophecy, no single instance occurs of the
title
" Servant
of Jehovah" being applied to any but to Christ.
But
in proclaiming the knowledge of God, and in reconciling the world to the Father by bearing the good
tidings of salvation to the whole creation, the is
Church
the appointed instrument for completing the Saviour's
mission.
text
is
And
in performing this duty, a part of the
directly fulfilled in the body,
virtually fulfilled in the
Jehovah," we
Head:
for
which was only
"the servant of
read, " shall bring forth judgment unto
the Gentiles."
The Jewish voured
phecy
controversialists
to adapt
even the second portion of the pro-
to their theory, that the
servant of Jehovah," to the calamities
have indeed endea-
by
Jewish nation
is
"the
ascribing a vicarious virtue
which, from the time of the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem, they have
had
to endure.
For they
argue, that as being the chosen nation, the depositaries of the truth,
they are the best, the noblest of the L
SERMON
146 people of the earth
body of mankind
V.
the heart, as
;
it
were, of the one
and as the heart bears
:
rows of the body, so must Israel
But when, by
of the whole world.
all
the sor-
suffer for the sins
their mediation,
atonement has been made, they expect that they
an
shall
be rewarded by the exclusive enjoyment of that era
which Isaiah
of glory
But can
it
finally describes
this interpretation is
g .
but an afterthought
nor
:
invalidate the testimony of their ancient writers,
who with one consent refer the whole prophecy to the Messiah. Even in later times, Abravanel says that "they are smitten with blindness who deny that Jehovah's servant
consideration will Individual,
the Messiah."
is
shew that the idea
was present throughout
For there
mind.
And
an attentive
of a Person, an to the Prophet's
a constant parallel maintained
is
between the return from Babylon and the return from
Egypt first
;
and Moses
therefore, the great leader of their
deliverance, is ever present to Isaiah's view as
The words seem ever the prototype of the Messiah. sounding in his ear, " The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me." "Was then Moses the meekest of
men ?
lift
so the Servant of
shall not cry,
nor
up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets."
Was Moses say, "
And is
Jehovah "
Who
on his
first
appearance rejected? Did they
thee a prince and a judge over us ?"
made As for this man, Moses, we wot not what
again, "
become of him;"
so Isaiah complains,
believed our report?" b
"He
is
"Who
despised and
Chisuk Emima, upon Isaiah
lii. liii.
hath
rejected
PARALLEL BETWEEN MOSES AND CHRIST.
The very title we have seen, he was the of men."
is
taken from Moses
first to
whom it was
1
47
for as
:
applied
"Moses, Jehovah's servant."
But the return from Babylon is far more triumphant than the exodus from Egypt. Moses led the Israelites only into a pastoral country, "flowing with milk and
honey," a land of grass and flowers restores the exiles to a land in
;
but the Messiah
which dwelleth
holi-
ness; full of spiritual blessings, where sin does not exist,
and where, consequently, no voice of weeping
is
heard, nor the voice of crying; none hurt there or
destroy
deemed ings in
for the people are all righteous,
;
of the Lord. it
Even
the greatest natural bless-
;
the light of the sun
forgotten in the thought of the spiritual light
a similar contrast
On
leaders.
:
God thy
glory."
between the two
exists
both the Spirit
mediators of a covenant
which
"for Jehovah shall be unto
shines in men's hearts;
thee an everlasting light, and thy
And
re-
are not worthy of being mentioned in com-
parison with God's better gifts is
— the
rests,
and both are the
both are legislators,
who by
the institutions which they found, form a people for
God's service
;
but the institutions of the one are tem-
One prepares
porary, of the other eternal.
other accomplishes God's of
God
;
the
one forms the people
in their national character, the other in their
spiritual.
of
work
for,
The
Abraham
Gentiles.
office of
the one
after the flesh
Lastly, the
work
;
is
confined to the seed
the other includes the of
Moses may
the Servant of Jehovah " shall not set judgment in the earth."
l2
fail, till
fail;
but
lie have
SERMON
148
V.
Throughout, then, Isaiah had a Person in his mind,
whom
even Him,
Moses, in his high
office as
representative on earth, had shadowed forth
;
type and antetype are associated in the words,
he remembered the days of saying, "Where
old,
God's
and both
— " Then
Moses, and his people,
he that brought them up out of the
is
sea with the Shepherd of his flock ? where
put his Holy Spirit within him
?
is
he that
That led them by
the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing
the water before them, to ing
make himself an
everlast-
name ?"
The two Churches the Jews,
therefore, the typical
and the Christian Church,
persons of their founders
;
and
as
Church of
appear in the
Moses was
especially
the servant of Jehovah under the preparatory dispensation, so in the
And whenever self, it is
and
is
new
the
dispensation
title is
it is
the Messiah.
applied to the Church her-
because she shares in the Redeemer's
office,
His representative by reason of His presence
with her according to His promise,
"Lo
I
am
you always, even unto the end of the world." But if to any it seem a difficulty that so high a should in the
first
to the Church,
is
prise us.
title
portion of the prophecy be applied
whereas in the second
the Church's Head, sense
with
we must remember
it
is
limited to
that this double
of too ordinary occurrence in Scripture to sur-
And
especially
it
is
Isaiah's habit to start
from some lower application of his theme, and omit entirely from his
view when he
it
rises to those sacred
mysteries which he was especially commissioned to
GOD
PLEASURE IN THE JEWS.
S
reveal.
Even the
shall the
Lord your God
prediction of Moses,
49
— " A Prophet
up unto you
raise
me," has a lower application
1
like unto
to other manifestations
of the prophetic spirit, besides its final fulfilment in
our Lord, as any one will see
which follow
:
for the Spirit rests not
upon Him, nor does He speak
by His own omniscience
by the prophets
new
;
as
He
is
but mediately
of the old,
So also
covenant.
reads the verses
In Christ, prophecy reaches
it.
est culmination
who
its
high-
by measure
inspired,
He also
but
spake
and the evangelists of the
St.
Paul's argument to the
Galatians, that the promised seed of
Abraham,
as not
being many, but one, was Christ personally, does not exclude the equally true interpretation, that in another sense the Jewish nation was Abraham's seed.
For the
literal Israel
mises, and its
own
had
its
own
share in the pro-
part to perform in blessing all the
mankind; and the spiritual Israel, the blessed company of all believing people, has its part now, and must carry on the Messiah's work of re-
families of
demption.
But
it
has been argued that prophecies cannot
really belong to the
Jewish Church, which speak in
such unqualified terms of God's love and pleasure in her.
But such
understanding.
objections are founded
The
sins
upon a mis-
and shortcomings of
Israel
were many, both as a Church and as a nation; but within her was contained whatever there was of faith
upon the
earth.
Not
of virtue, for the heathens, not
having the law, were often a law unto themselves; but of that holiness which springs out of a knowledge
SERMON
150
v.
of God, they alone were capable, because they alone
possessed a revelation, which
So
ground.
far,
is faith's sole
objective
then, no terms could be too high;
none of which they were not worthy.
But these
terms must not be applied without discrimination to
members of the Jewish Church for they belonged to them only so far as they were in practice what all were in theory. And similarly as the words pass on to the Christian Church. Of God's the individual
;
love and boundless pleasure in
it
in the most unqualified terms
but
love only so far as
ditional,
it
can claim this
attains to that holiness in
it
the prophets saw
;
the prophets speak
it
God's
arrayed.
gifts
which
are con-
and depend upon man's acceptance of them
and though His promises
fail
not, yet the extent to
which they are enjoyed, both by the whole Church and by
its
individual
members, depends upon the
strength of their faith, and their actual advance in
But always, whatever there is of faith upon Church and even
holiness.
earth, is within the borders of the
"when
the righteous
to heart,"
and doubt and
in the worst times of history, perish,
and no
man
layeth
it
;
unbelief are alone visible in the outward course of events,
God
doubtless has a remnant, to
whom
the
words of His Prophets apply, just as in rebellious and schismatical
Israel
there were seven thousand
had not bowed the knee
A text
We
few remarks upon the passage chosen
may
who
to Baal.
for
my
serve to confirm the foregoing conclusions.
read there that the Servant of Jehovah shall bring
THE CHURCH A TEACHER OF MORALITY.
judgment
forth
The Messiah's king-
to the Gentiles.
dom, therefore,
is
15
not one of war and violence, but of
upon the golden law of loving our neighbour as ourselves. But this justice is the gift of God to His people and accordingly the
justice; the justice founded
;
Psalmist claims
it
as the
old
in
"God
gave them His judgThe great principle of the world is an " en-
time of the Jews, that
ments."
lightened self-interest litigation,
quence
privilege
especial
:
and
it is
of others,
;"
and as
interests
must
clash,
and war, are the necessary conse-
strife,
only in that equal regard for the rights
which
is
taught
men by
God's nature and of His revealed siah's reign of peace is possible.
the knowledge of
will, that
We
the Mes-
see, then, in
the
Prophet's words the Messiah as the teacher of justice in its noblest
and Christian form,
as
it
makes men
careful of the rights of others as of their this office the
great
Church
office is also to
is also
joined with
own
Him
as
and in
:
;
for its
teach mankind morality, as
it is
Of old the Jewish Church received the ten commandments and the moral law as summed up in those two great principles in which all
based-
duty
upon
is
religion.
God with
contained, of loving
all
our hearts,
and our neighbour as ourselves, and with the possession of
them
them she was
to others.
also the appointed witness of
And now this
the Christian Church, only
it
duty has devolved upon has the fuller light of
the Messiah's explanation of God's
and
also higher motives,
wherewith
commandments;
to encourage
inasmuch as Christ has now "brought mortality to light through the Gospel."
life
men,
and im-
SERMON
152
And truth
next, to
is
we have
manner
the
"
he propagated.
V.
He
in
which God's
shall not cry,
nor
lift
up, nor cause His voice to he heard in the streets." It
is
the
bearance viour
way :
of gentleness, of long-suffering
and
for-
and such was the example which the Sa-
And now,
set.
in extending
His kingdom, His
Church must use the same methods all force, all it must not proselytize men by violence is forbidden :
;
arms, nor spread religion at the sword's point. sole
weapons must be the holy
lives of its
Its
members,
the example of earnest continuance in well-doing, and
mercy and love towards others. Even in seeking their good its efforts must be quiet and unostentafor so its Master would not have His very tious of
;
miracles noised abroad, and
around
Him He
the crowds thronged
And
withdrew into the wilderness.
the reason of this requires, not
when
is
plain,
namely, that Christianity
an outward conformity, but an inward
conviction, the result of a change in the conscience of
the individual.
A
man
cannot be made a Christian
by the command of his rulers he does not even become one by being carried along for the moment upon the stream of a popular movement, or by the :
temporary pressure of enthusiasm.
may be removed by works by human instruments culties
or influence
by
within the soul. that
still
External
these means; :
but no
itself suffices for the
for
diffi-
God
human power
necessary change
There must be also the speaking of
small voice, in which Elijah of old recog-
nised the presence of God.
The propagators
of Christianity
must be
gentle,
MANNER OF PROPAGATING TRUTH. even in uprooting what
therefore,
we
1
evil;
is
next
for
read that the bruised reed of heathenism
is
53
not to
All but separated from God, with the
be broken. spiritual life
decayed, the moral feelings
the conscience polluted by
confused,
and uncertain of even
sin,
the main truths of man's position, nevertheless there still
are threads
And
which bind even the heathen
these are not to be severed.
they hold
is
to be strengthened,
guided into more truth.
So
St.
to God.
"Whatever truth
and they must be Paul at Athens did
not attack the popular belief, but seized upon whatever in
more mind
it
was true
to lead
spiritual views. suffers a
before
it
them on unto higher and
For even in quitting error the
The new
rough shock.
faith is long
strikes its roots as deeply as the old ones,
which were knotted together by a thousand
associa-
tions.
And
restless
and uncertain, and often changing with pain-
constantly therefore
ful fickleness
And
creed
see converts long
from creed to creed, as
and suspicion ought sisted.
we
often
to be
the
if
every doubt
welcomed instead of
re-
overthrow even of a false
simply produces the negation of
belief,
and
a spirit of general scepticism, instead of implanting
a better tirely all
faith.
God has nowhere
without witness that
it
may be
built
Himself
so en-
can be right to destroy
that a people hold, that so
ruins
left
up a new
upon a foundation of belief.
Bather must
Christians seek to strengthen whatever others hold of truth, to
remove their ignorance,
conscience, develope their moral
to enlighten their
feelings,
and gradually
guide them into a better knowledge of their
state.
SERMON
154
And
so also of those
whose wick
Y.
who have had
the light, but
ready to go out, the Messiah will not
is
what was once strong and bright, ready to perish of exhaustion. Such persons may be entirely lost by the words of vehement quench
It is the picture of
it.
The glimmering wick can only be fanned into a flame by the gentlest care and so must they be won back by kindness into those paths of holiness in which their lamps will once again be brightly trimmed and burning. reproof or contempt.
:
And
similarly of all
who
worldly trouble, and in the
He who came
to seek
will encourage the rant,
are in grief and sorrow
first
in
emotions of repentance
and save that which was
weak
;
lost,
in faith, will teach the igno-
up the oppressed, bind up the brokenAnd in imitating His example, His Church,
raise
hearted.
in the next place, " will bring forth
judgment unto
truth," or rather, according to the truth, in a true
and proper manner.
For by the use of righteous
means, by influencing men's consciences by the holy
example of
its
members, and convincing the minds
and reasons of those
whom
it
wins into the
fold, it is
not merely building upon the one foundation, Christ,
but building also that which will endure,
work
a
wdiich has the seal of the Spirit set to the labours
of men. bers,
And
equally upon her
own nominal mem-
the persuasion of the devout and earnest lives
of her true sons will have
more influence than any
attempts to produce a mere external conformity.
And
while thus using no force, the victory of Je-
hovah's Servant
is sure,
— "He
shall not
fail,
nor be
CONCLUSION.
He
155
judgment in the earth, and the remotest lands wait for His law." Throughdiscouraged,
till
have
set
out, the Messiah's victory is
fering
and
;
so
won by
His Church, in
patience and suf-
and
spite of difficulties,
discouragements, and dangers, must persevere in office
it
;
must not cease
its
work
it
;
must not be
—
discouraged, or rather, bruised like the reed
same word it
must
used in both places
is
for the
on the contrary,
steadily labour in its mission, assured that
finally it will
win the heathen
has received
its
and
for its inheritance,
the uttermost parts of the earth for it
:
its
its
For
possession.
commission from God, and
He
will
prosper His work.
And
thus, then, in that office of the servant of Je-
hovah, which in this
but
is
Paul
part was the subject of the
—the —the Messiah
Prophet's thoughts, witness for God,
first
office,
joined with His Church.
tells us, is
fillcth all in all
His ;
fulness,
namely, of bearing
does not stand alone,
For the Church,
St.
—the fulness of Him that
and therefore
it
shares in His mis-
work only excepted which is Christ's special and peculiar office. Of old, accordingly, the Jewish Church was the appointed witness to. God's unity now the Christian Church proclaims the Father's love who made us, the Son's sacrifice who redeemed us, the Holy Ghost's indwelling, who sanctifies us. And sion, that
this,
we
shall hereafter find,
is
the subject of the
third portion of the prophecy, in which Isaiah describes the
and the
development of Judaism into Christianity,
final
and glorious triumph of Christian priu-
SERMON
156 ciples.
And
V.
though, for the present, that triumph be
delayed, though Christianity be
and
limited in extent
still
partial in influence, yet the days will
come when
the Prophet's words shall be fully accomplished. Israel
had long
He
to wait for their
Messiah
would come immediately
exile
:
but they had
through; and
still
;
they had hoped
after the return
centuries of suffering to pass
when He came,
was not
it
expected, but in a better and more
And
as they
spiritual
had
way.
so of all the promises of the prophets, the ac-
complishment finally
we
from
may seem
they will be
slow to man's eagerness, but
fulfilled in
a better manner than
could dare hope, and then will Christ's people
" possess the double
them."
:
everlasting joy shall be
upon
SERMON Isaiah "Behold,
My
13.
lii.
Servant shall deal prudently ;
alted
TN
VI.
and extolled, and
He
shall be ex-
be very Jiigh"
the verses immediately preceding the text, the
Prophet
sets
before us the image of a
The times
and triumphant march. are fulfilled
her Deliverer has
;
glorious
of Judah's exile
appeared
and she
;
hand the cup of His awake, and put on her
that had drunk at the Lord's
now commanded
fury, is
strength
;
and prepare inspiriting
for her
now
;
free,
homeward journey.
words the Prophet
circumstances slavery
to
to clothe herself in her beautiful garments,
:
tells
In the most
her of her changed
he bids her shake
off
dust
the
who was
exhorts her to arise as became one
and seat herself upon her throne
the bands of her neck, for no longer
daughter of Zion.
It is a
is
;
of
and loose
she the captive
time when her thoughts
naturally turn back to the most glorious period of .
when with mighty hand and outarm stretched God brought His people out of Egypt and in reminding her of His mighty works then
her existence,
wrought
in her behalf, the Prophet gives her the as-
surance that her deliverance from her present bondage shall be equally complete
and
glorious.
And
now, by
a sudden change of scene, he places us in Jerusalem.
SERMON
158 All there
excitement
is
VI.
the remnant
;
have heard that the exiles are on their way they expect their appearance
the land
left in
;
hourly
and watchmen upon
;
At
every height are looking for their approach. length, far off city,
upon the
hills
which encircle the holy
a herald appears, announcing their arrival
as they see him, they exclaim, "
the mountains are the feet of tidings, that
How
him
publisheth peace;
beautiful
Thy God
reign eth;"
that bringeth
lift
gether
:
good
that saith
;
In the universal joy at
"The watch-
the meeting of those so long separated,
men
upon
that bringeth good
tidings of good, that publisheth salvation
unto Zion,
and
;
up the voice; with the voice they sing they see eye to eye"
for
to-
— the remnant — "now
left in
the land see face to face the returning exiles that the Lord hath brought again Zion."
Again and
again the Prophet exhorts them to rejoice, for " Je-
hovah hath comforted His people Jerusalem
;
hath redeemed
hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes
;
of all the nations
and caused
;
all
to see the salvation of Judah's
the ends of the earth
And
God."
finally,
reverting to the exiles, changing the scene once more
from Jerusalem to
commence
their
Babylon,
march
:
he bids the captives
— " Depart
ye,
go ye out
from thence, touch no unclean thing, go ye out of the midst of her
God
flight
be ye clean, that bear the vessels
For ye
of the Lord.
go by
;
:
for
shall not
Jehovah
go out with haste, nor
will go before
you
;
and the
of Israel will be your rereward."
It is at the
end of
this magnificent description of
Judah's deliverance from Babylon and restoration to
FORM OF THE PROPHECY.
l
59
her land, that Jehovah Himself in person addresses
His people
:
and again the words are the same
— "Behold My Servant
phecy,
!"
panied by a deeper mystery. second chapter, tleness
as
have been spoken in the course of the pro-
so often
He should not He would not
bruised reed
smoking
Before, in the forty-
we had Messiah's meekness and gen-
that "
;
but they are accom-
strive nor cry
that the
;
break, nor quench the
In the forty-ninth chapter we had
flax."
the declaration, that "in
Him God would
be glo-
no longer in one people only, but through-
rified,"
world
out the
:
My
shouldest be
" It
is
a light
up the
tribes of
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel also give
Thee
may est be
My
Thou
thing that
servant to raise
I will
:
for a light to the Gentiles, that
Thou
salvation unto the end of the earth."
Already, therefore, the voice of
God has
described the
Messiah's character, and the universality of His re-
demption
;
and now
He
reveals the
manner
of that
heavenly plan whereby His Servant became His vation.
He
suffering;
tells
the mystery of a Messiah saving
a mystery
which
to the
sal-
by
Jew has proved
a stumbling-block, and to the Greek foolishness, but
which
St.
called,
Paul affirms
to be,
"unto them which are
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
God, and the wisdom of God."
As
regards the form of the prophecy, the last three
verses
of the fifty-second chapter are the words of
Jehovah Himself: and in them we have a summary, so to speak, of the longer explanation given
by the
160
SERMON
Prophet in the ter
VI.
ten verses of the
first
chap-
fifty -third
and then, once again, Jehovah speaks, and with
:
His own mouth completes the prophecy by declaring Messiah's triumph:
His
and
soul,
shall
My
— " He
shall
be
righteous
shall see of the travail of
satisfied
by His knowledge
He He
the spoil with the strong; because out His soul unto death, and
made In
;
He
and
;
He
for
Therefore will I divide
a portion with the great, and
the transgressors
many
Servant justify
shall bear their iniquities.
Him
:
shall divide
hath poured
He was numbered
with
bare the sin of many, and
intercession for the transgressors." all
three parts alike,
words of the Almighty
;
—whether
or as step
phet follows the Messiah in
all
by
step the Pro-
the details of His
humble birth
of suffering, from His
in the opening
to
life
His ignomini-
ous death, and in the reference which follows to His Resurrection, lastly,
when " He
when once
again,
shall prolong
His days
;"
or
Jehovah in His own person
speaks of " Messiah's pouring out His soul unto death,
and bearing the
sin of
one only mystery,
is
before Christ's people
many
:"
—throughout,
one,
and
consistently and uniformly set ;
and this I know not whether
can be more exactly described than in the Apostle's words, " that though He were a Son, yet learned He it
obedience by the things which
He
suffered
;
and being
made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." " For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom arc all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
HUMILIATION OF JEHOVAH'S SERVANT.
how
Consider, then,
prophecy
this
is
l6l
introduced.
It follows upon a triumphant description of Israel's
deliverance
spoken in the hour of a great
is
it
;
All the previous degradation of
national rejoicing.
the holy people,
—
God
and God
this is past,
all
double for joy
exile, their slavery, their
hope-
they sat beside the waters of Babylon and
strelsy,
wept,
— their
when, unable to find solace even in min-
less misery,
At
all their sins.
in person
speaks.
moment of bids them
this
He
whom He
Servant
their Deliverer, at the
giving them the
is
general look at
had
es-
pecially chosen to be the instrument of their restora-
He
is
One
moreover,
is
to
tion.
whom
in
His soul delighteth
and kings, awe-struck and astonished, are abashed before Him.
by
who,
;
exalted with threefold honours,
be
Yet
to
stand
at this time of joy, side
side with words expressive of the highest glory
of this Servant, there
is
the strange and unexpected
announcement of His humiliation and contempt and
rejection,
;
a tale of suffering
of scourges
ing, of prison and a malefactor's death.
there
is
word
scarcely a
and wound-
Throughout
of joyful import
;
that roll spread before another prophet, "it
but, like is
written
within and without with lamentations, and mourning,
and woe."
For, step
by
step,
the Deliverer passes
through every form of humiliation, and contempt,
man of sorrows" whom we smitten of God, and afflicted ;" "stricken, see; one
and "
pain.
He is Him ;"
It
is
despised,
He is slaughter;" "He "
" the
and men hide their faces from led is
speechless
as
a
lamb
to
the
cut off by an unrighteous judg-
M
I
SERMON
62 "
merit;"
whom
He
the grave"
in
lies
VI.
speaketh the Prophet
this ?
— "is
dead." Of When, and where,
did the leaders of the returned from Babylon thus
Where
suffer?
is
the
record that Zerubbabel,
or
Jesus the son of Josedek, or Ezra, or Nehemiah met
with so sad a
must we not apply
Or, plainly,
fate ?
these words to a more spiritual deliverance, and say
" These
with the
Chaldee
spoken of
King Messiah ;" and with Philip the Dea-
paraphrast,
con,
" begin with this
unto
men
things
are
same Scripture, and preach
Jesus ?"
To the modern critics this has been a difficulty. Denying inspiration, it follows, according to their theory, that the prophets, as
must adhere this idea
mere poets and preachers,
to the national idea of the
was that
of a successful conqueror
introduce a golden age of happiness.
them should
Messiah
;
and
who would
That one of
contradict the national idea, should de-
scribe a suffering Messiah, one
who was no
no hero, but a meek and lowly
conqueror,
sufferer, the
example
of patient endurance unto death, plainly, in uninspired
men, was an impossibility.
And
therefore they argue
that "the Messianic interpretation for the
is
quite untenable
whole of the rest of the Old Testament
;
is ig-
norant of a suffering Messiah, such as was this Servant of
Jehovah
it
describes
;
for in all confessedly Messianic passages
Him
as a theocratic king, distinguished
both by spiritual qualities, and also more especially
by power and good
No
fortune,
by honour and
other kind, therefore, of Messiah can come.
glory.
For
the prophets, as the originators and fosterers of the
A SUFFERING MESSIAH.
meant
idea of a Messiah,
for the comfort
it
people
couragement of the
them
have missed
end
this
give
and they would
;
much
they had so
if
63
and en-
misfortune, to
in
joyful hope and confidence
entirely
1
as hinted at the Messiah being a Person distinguished
by contempt
only,
Rather
and suffering and poverty.
they would have produced just the contrary feeling,
among
especially
resignation and meekness
The plainly
principle
by no means inclined
a people
V
upon which
argument depends
this
that the prophets were not
is,
to
moved by God
to declare the
way
ject in their
words than
to rouse the patriotism of
Upon
the believer in revelation,
of salvation,
their countrymen.
who
and had no other ob-
sees in the prophets a higher use than the
mere
encouragement of the nation, the passage has just the contrary effect place, at the
;
for
coming in
end of a song of
so unlooked-for a
him and sorrow was
joy, it convinces
that such a description of suffering
by God to lead men to that Saviour who died their sins, and in whom the Prophet's words had
inspired for
an exact
fulfilment.
The
idea of a suffering Messiah
would probably never have suggested to
any one
;
certainly not to one
comfort the people. ficulty,
To the Jews
itself naturally
whose object was it
was always a
which they sought in various ways
to
to
dif-
evade
even the Chaldee Paraphrast, while referring the passage to the Messiah, yet so alters the sense as to rescue His person from the humiliation
And
yet
when a
Christ came, Knobel,
it
was
JEinl., in Jes. lii. 13.
M
2
as
it
describes.
a suffering
SERMON
164
Modern
Messiah.
VI.
evade this
critics seek, indeed, to
we
argument, and say that the representation which
have of Christ in the Gospels was suggested by this prophecy
but even
:
so,
remains inexplicable
it
But
the idea of a suffering Messiah arose.
no means true that it
certainly
else it
prediction, of the
serpent's head, there
by
is
:
worked out as
so fully
is
ever a part of the Mes-
is
sianic idea throughout the first
it is
this idea is peculiar to Isaiah
nowhere
in this prophecy, but
the
how
Even
Old Testament.
in
woman's Seed bruising the
the idea of a painful struggle,
and of a victory which leaves the mark of sufferiug
And
upon the conqueror. this idea
was
so
repugnant
so
it
always.
is
to
if
the Jews, that the
to
Apostles themselves, after our Lord's sations with
But
many
conver-
them concerning His Passion, yet needed
be rebuked for their slowness of heart in believing
what the prophets had spoken, we may the inference, that
it
was
of no
human
draw
safely origin,
and
that Isaiah in this place checked the current of his
joyous emotions to give utterance to these words of
was controlled by an influence
sorrow, because he too powerful for
him
to resist.
For his words must have been very contemporaries to understand did not
know
fully
;
probably he himself
what they meant
:
read them, must, like the Ethiopian often
But
wondered, in their
and asked,
due time their
difficult for his
and those who eunuch, have
Of whom he spake ? meaning became plain
and from that day Isaiah has been the Prophet most read and
meditated
upon.
It
was not
so
before
THE RETURN FROM CAPTIVITY. the
Incarnation
Jeremiah was the
;
times
of previous
but Isaiah
:
great
the
is
1
65
prophet
especial
gift
Jewish Church to Christian men; for the
of the
Saviour's
office, and*
the whole plan of man's redemp-
tion in all its chief features, so clearly as therefore,
in
his
which
St.
nowhere pourtrayed
is
prophecies.
It
was the book,
Ambrose bade the youthful Au-
gustine study upon his conversion
the faith of believers in
;
it
has confirmed
ages of the Church
all
and
;
doubtless will remain the sure proof of the inspiration of the prophets, and the best explanation of the virtue of Christ's sacrifice
Church
upon the
cross, as
long as the
shall last.
There
is also
a second point to be noticed of some
importance with respect to the place where this description
at the
of the Messiah's
sufferings
occurs.
It
end of the narrative of the triumphant return
of the exiles from Babylon.
If,
therefore,
we
reject
the Messianic interpretation,
we
wander here and
there,
and
select at our fancy
sage or hero unto
whom
to
ther
is
King
are not at liberty to "
some
apply the prophecy.
Nei-
Josiah, nor Jeremiah the Prophet, nor the
King Zedekiah lived after the return from Babylon. If Baruch wrote these chapters as a threnody children of
in honour of his beloved master, difficulty
exiles
how he
could describe
back from captivity
must adhere
!
it is
an inexplicable
him
as leading the
Either, therefore,
to the literal interpretation,
we
—and in that
case Zerubbabel, Jesus the son of Josedek, Ezra,
hemiah, and Cyrus are the sole characters from
Ne-
whom
1
66
SERMON
to select the
" Servant
VI.
of Jehovah ;"
or,
with the
Jewish Church from times long antecedent to the
Church through-
birth of our Lord, and the Christian
out
whole existence, we must adopt the
its
interpretation,
spiritual
and see in the return from Babylon
a type of the deliverance of mankind from captivity to Satan, and in Jehovah's Servant " the Lord's Christ."
To abandon the spiritual interpretation, and expound the Bible as an ordinary book, is to Christians an impossibility.
It
might indeed do away with much
diversity of opinion, and save
men and
the Bible were not a law to our consciences,
connected with
discussed as matters
give
it
might indeed
of archaeological
generally would have
interest,
interest
little
be
still
but
in them.
debate every word and sentence in a law, and its
phrases every possible meaning, because their
interests are affected is
For
debate.
do not debate about what they do not value, if
questions
men Men
men much
by
it
and
;
as long as the Bible
a law, affecting us in every action of our lives, so
long
men
will scrutinize every word,
possible sense, correct
and
troversies are a proof of
and
so long as
men
and give
incorrect.
life,
it
every
But such con-
of earnestness, of reality
value the Bible, every possible
opinion will be held concerning every doctrine contained, or apparently contained, in
value,
and controversy will be
it.
Take away
its
The old fulfilled, that where clean. A Church with no at
an end.
saying of the Proverbs will be there are no oxen, the crib
is
commission from God, no authority, no revealed truth, no inspired Word, would be doubtless a very peaceful
PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION.
Church, would
stir
no heart-burnings
up
110
controversies,
make no
ene-
do no good, and be powerless even for
evil.
She would be
foot of
But, as I
friends,
only, as salt that
fit
vour, to be cast out to the
under
and occasion
but she "would influence no minds,
;
awake no sympathies, gain no mies,
had
lost its sa-
and trampled
dunghill,
men.
said, Christians are
not at liberty to deny
the spiritual interpretation of the Old Testament
the
67
I
New
Testament
everywhere.
It
authorizes
is its
for
;
interpretation
this
principle that the facts of the
Old Testament happened unto the Jews
for ensamples,
and are written
They
mere
facts
for
our admonition.
are not
of history, but lessons, teaching sometimes
moral truths, but more frequently the mysteries of the Gospel.
With what
Paul
us that he would not have us ignorant that
tell
the passage of the
boldness of application does St.
Eed Sea was
a type of Christian
baptism, and that the water from the smitten rock signified the blood flowing
from Christ's side
!
And
again, that Sarah represented the Christian Church,
and Hagar that of the Jews. profess obedience to the
must concede the
New
As long
therefore as
Testament, so long
principle, that the facts
we we
and doc-
trines and prophecies of the Old Testament are not to
be confined to the Jews, and their primary sense, but find their only true
and adequate fulfilment in the
Christian Church, and in It
is
Him who
is its
Head.
therefore an integral part of Christian interpre-
tation to ascribe a twofold character to the old.
She had her
historical
Church
of
and national existence,
1
SERMON
68
with her own
fates
VI.
and fortunes
;
and she was
also the
type of that dispensation in which the truths given to her
under a
of old her deliverance from
and
Egypt
just as
typified the de-
mankind from the bondage
liverance of
And
veil are seen face to face.
of corruption,
their admission into the glorious liberty
sons of
God
;
so this
of the
triumphant march of the exiles
from Babylon, bearing with pure and holy hands the of the Lord,
vessels
when Ezra
was but
faintly accomplished
led from thence scarcely fifty thousand
This messenger upon the mountains, publish-
souls.
ing a gospel of peace, the good tidings of salvation,
was but
in
shadow
fulfilled in the
herald
who
told the
poverty-stricken remnant at Jerusalem that their brethren,
footsore
and weary with their way, were
turning, saddened by fast and mourning, to
weep
they laid the foundations of their house of God. equally the troubled fortunes 'of the city, its
re-
as
And
—nobly
as
heroic people century after century battled, and
battled finally in vain, for
its
freedom,
— form no
satis-
which
filled
factory conclusion to the bright pictures
the Prophet's mind.
As
at first they built their wall
with the weapons of war in the one hand, while the other plied the implements of peace their lot
polity
was a
struggle, an effort,
till
;
so to the last
their nation
and
were quenched in blood.
In past history, therefore, no adequate fulfilment can
be found, and either we have in the Old Testament the gorgeous phantasies of poetry and the exaggerations
of Oriental trope
and metaphor, or
it
offers
unto us the sober and steady light of that word of
THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPES SPIRITUAL. prophecy, appealed to by proof of the
And
if
mission
Saviour's
noblest poetry,
than miracle
itself.
it is
true,
outward form, in the guise of the
word by word and sentence thorough and complete fulfilment do,
still
sentence, find a
in our Lord,
69
Peter as a more sure
the Prophet's words, couched often,
as regards their
by
St.
1
He
and in that dispensation of which
the Mediator, well
may
is
our faith rest upon them in
calm and unswerving confidence
and, as
;
we
read of
the temporal deliverances of that chosen race of old,
whose fortunes prefigured the
trials
and
difficulties,
and onward progress both of the Chris-
and
victories
tian
Church and of the individual soul of each Chris-
tian, well
may we
elevate our hearts to the thought of
a better deliverance
when the
;
soul shall be for ever
redeemed from the bondage of corruption shall cast off
from
which had bowed itself free
it
its
when
it
neck the bonds of those sins
down
in degradation, and, shaking
from the dust of earth, shall put on the
garments of holiness, and have heavenly Jerusalem, spiritual
;
of which
its
citizenship in that
the
Messiah
is
the
King.
The Jew, untaught by long chastisement, for a temporal deliverance
;
still,
still
looks
as he reads the bright
pictures of future glory in the prophetic records, he
dreams of a return to the land of promise, and of an earthly kingdom, the shall far
exceed the
The Christian
pomp and
magnificence of which
splendour of Solomon's reign.
thinks, or ought to think, of a deliver-
ance not of the body, but of the soul the power of
evil,
;
a victory over
over our inborn corruption, and
SERMON
170 which, though
won
in this world, shall attain to its
reward only in the world
full
Among
VI.
to
come.
the prophecies which prove that Jesus of
Nazareth was the Messiah, the present holds the most important place. For the peculiar feature of the Christian dispensation
that
is,
its
He was
Messiah, though
very God, yet humbled Himself; not merely to man's
but to be lowly among men, and despised, and
estate,
finally to die, that
He might
ing in their stead
:
and
it
save His people by sufferis
only after thus pour-
ing out His soul unto death that
He
attains to
His
triumph, by rising from the dead and being exalted to God's right
hand
as a Prince
Now,
and a Saviour.
while there are numerous passages, especially in the Psalms, which bear witness to this mystery, is
none where
as
by Isaiah
there
is
so expressly
it is
still
and minutely
in the present prophecy
set forth
and naturally
;
a constant reference to Isaiah's words, some-
times directly and sometimes indirectly, in passages of the
Lord's
there
Passion.
New
Testament which treat of our
To convince His
necessity of His suffering, so slow in learning,
those
all
—
a truth
of the
disciples
which they were
— our Lord Himself on more than
one occasion appealed in general terms to the prophetic
record
:
— " The Son of man goeth
Him;" " Behold, we go up
as
it is
to Jerusalem,
and
written of all
things
that are written in the prophets concerning the Son of
man
shall be
and thus
it
accomplished;"
behoved Christ
"Thus
to suffer."
it is
It
written,
was
however, until they had been taught by His
not,
own
IMPORTANCE OF THIS PROPHECY.
mou tli,
in that
walk
to
171
Emmaus, the meaning Holy Ghost had
prophetic declarations, and the
of the
subse-
quently opened their minds to understand the Scripthey were able to receive the plain mean-
tures, that
ing of what the prophets had said
;
but thenceforward
they ever prominently and directly taught, as the very centre of the faith, the great truth revealed in this chapter, that the Messiah is a Saviour, because
bare our sins in His
Appealed
own body on
the tree."
to thus constantly in the
and subsequently by
all
"He
New
Testament,
the Fathers of the Christian
Church, this prophecy of Isaiah holds the foremost place
among
the Old Testament proofs of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah
for
:
the Gospel scheme of salvation rests upon His Passion. If,
therefore,
it
could be proved, either that Isaiah
was
not speaking here of the Messiah, or that his words
we have no
are not adequately fulfilled in our Lord, clearer or stronger testimony to appeal to
which our
faith could rest
dence.
is
It
;
none upon
with such assured confi-
not indeed true that the argument from
prophecy depends upon any single passage passage be taken from us,
we have
;
still, if
this
lost the strongest
bulwark and defence of the argument from prophecy as a whole.
As was
to
be expected, therefore, in a matter of so
great importance, various attempts have been invalidate its cogency.
For,
first
of
all,
made
to
the Jews,
urged by the plain application of Isaiah's words to our Lord, and compelled to own that the Old Testament did contain the doctrine of a suffering Messiah, have
SERMON
IJ2 endeavoured
to find
VI.
some explanation, which might
serve at least to satisfy the minds of their ple.
And now
own
peo-
that their writers no longer hold an
important place in the ranks of literature, yet, in the
modern
restlessness of
criticism,
most of the schemes
which they originated have been reproduced tian authors, and supported
by arguments
by Chris-
sufficiently
specious to merit some attention, though based for the
most part upon suppositions only. I propose therefore to-day, in the rest of this dis-
course, to give a slight sketch of the history of the
Jewish interpretation of this prophecy, in the belief that
it
will conduce to the right understanding both
of the Gospel narrative,
and
also of the
meaning of
the Prophet's words.
The Jewish interpretation, then, of Holy Scripture naturally divides itself tinct eras
:
in the first of
Messianic exposition
two Messiahs
;
which we
this passage of
into three disfind the simple
in the second the doctrine of
;
while the third
offers
us a host of dis-
cordant theories, the object of which was not so to find the true
cover some it
meaning of the prophecy,
way of
by Christian
as to dis-
obviating the arguments drawn from
writers.
views held in the
much
first
Of
these three periods, the
and second are of native
origin,
and unquestionably honest in their intention; while those of the third were the result merely of controversial necessities. I.
In the
first
and most ancient school of Jewish
interpretation, their expositors held consistently that
THE CHALDEE PARAPHRASE.
1
73
the Servant of Jehovah in Isaiah's prophecy was the
As
Messiah, the son of David.
acknowledged
this is
even by the teachers of the third school,
will not be
it
necessary to enter upon any formal proof; for they
seek to evade
not by denying the
its force,
fact,
but by
saying with Abravanel, "that the Chaldee Paraphrast
and the wise men of old gave not the genuine and simple interpretation, but one mystical and secondary."
A fact
of greater importance to observe
is,
that while
their ancient doctors teach that these prophecies do refer to Messiah,
they carefully explain away every
word which implies the notion
of any pain or grief, or
suffering or humiliation, or contempt attaching itself to
Him.
In the Targum, for instance, or Chaldee
Paraphrase
while
of Jonathan,
speaks of glory and honour siah,
every contrary word
Jewish nation.
Messiah
Israel
made
" Behold," he says,
shall prosper
;
He
and strong exceedingly
is
claimed for the Mes-
is is
every word which
"whose
to
apply to the
"My
Servant the
shall be high,
:"
but
it
is
and great,
the people
aspect, as they long for
of
His coming,
dark among the nations, and their glory inferior to
that of the sons of men."
"The
chapter:
pray for
Similarly in the fifty-third
holy generation, the elect of Israel,
Israel's sins,
and
for their sake Judah's ini-
though we, the Jewish people, bruised, smitten from before God, and
quities are forgiven:
be regarded as afflicted."
The exact period tation first lon,
we
at
became current
cannot
tell
;
method
of interpre-
after the return
from Baby-
which
this
but as the Paraphrase in question
SERMON
174 is
referred
by
the chief authorities to a period
all
somewhat antecedent to clearly
VI.
birth of our Lord,
the
shews what was the prevailing doctrine con-
cerning the Messiah at that time.
And
was the case we gather
that such
from the
also incidentally
The Jews believed
and glorious Deliverer, a great
solely in a triumphant
national hero.
New
the people answered Him,
He
We
Man must
Son of Man?"
should
die,
have heard out of the
law, that the Messiah abideth for ever
Thou, The Son of
For when
Testament.
Christ spake, " signifying what death
this
it
be
Similarly,
and how sayest
:
lifted
up
when He
Who
?
is
revealed to
His apostles the approaching mystery of His Passion, " Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him."
His Passion commenced, though
too, the first act of
He
When, them
in
the broken bread and the poured-out wine, they
all
had immediately before foreshewn
Him and
forsook
were
still
fled
entirely set
restoration.
And
;
it
because their expectations
upon the hope
of a temporal
when, therefore, the
conversing upon their
to
disciples
way to Emmaus, though
were
tidings
had been brought them of His resurrection, yet were their conclusions so
obstinately foregone, that they
could talk only of their disappointment that
He who would
had been
it
:
"
We
trusted
have redeemed
Israel."
To minds
us,
when we
full of
the
read the
New
many psalms and
describe a suffering Messiah,
derstand
how
people, but also
it
Testament, with our
it
prophecies which
seems
difficult to
un-
was that not only the mass of the
men
like the apostles,
were
so offended
JEWISH IDEA OF tHE MESSIAH. at the
1
75
thought of a suffering Christ, so obstinately
bent upon the expectation of an immediate restora-
But when we
tion of their national glory.
find that
the received teaching of the synagogue, probably, for
away every
several centuries, had carefully explained
and con-
word indicative of Messiah's humiliation; sider,
moreover,
how
strong an influence those doc-
trines exercise over us in
which we have been brought Especially as this teach-
up, our surprise passes away.
ing had
itself
grown out
mind;
of the national
for
from the time of the Babylonian exile and the complete
abandonment of
an intense pride had
idolatry,
taken possession of the hearts of the whole people
and though of heroic to
in
this
had braced them up
valour,
it
had led them
much from which they stood to God
that every
also
many an to
act
arrogate
the intimate relation
themselves too
covenant.
to
as the people of
His
Thus they had even invented the dogma,
member
was sure of
of their race
salvation.
There were, indeed, one or two sins which could exclude even a
Jew from
Paradise, such, for instance, as
the denial of the existence of a authority of the Mosaic
descendant of
Law
Abraham was
Messiah, therefore,
God
or of the divine this,
every
sure of salvation.
The
but short of
;
was not connected in their minds
with the idea of spiritual blessings
;
His mission was
not to raise mankind from their lost state by nature,
and bring them into
He
spiritual
communion with God
was simply a national chieftain, a warrior king, a conqueror, whose arms would deluge continents with the blood of their enemies, and place their
SERMON
176
VI.
nation npon the highest pinnacle of worldly magnificence.
To uproot
an
so great
error,
and
to substitute spi-
ritual for temporal blessings, the conviction of sin for
mankind
self-righteousness, love to all
an intense and
men
to a
thi&
in the place of a hero
their
had
to
preaching of
it
preachers of Chris-
first
accomplish.
they themselves had found first
It it
was a lesson which
hard to learn, and the
was ever enough
to
bulk of the Jews their stern and determined
But
if
who
enemies and aggrandize their nation,
was the task which the
tianity
in one word, to lead
arms would gratify their deep-set rancour
feats of
against
—
Messiah saving the souls of Jew and Gentile
by His humiliation,
alike
by
selfish patriotism,
in the place of
make the foes.
such was the current state of feeling among
the Jews, and the received teaching of their scribes,
how
utterly without
fallacy, that the life
not matters of
popular mind.
fact,
It
foundation was that exploded
and sufferings of our Lord were but a myth which grew out of the
assumes that the Jews put upon
the Scriptures of the Old Testament the same inter-
we do; and that the teaching of synagogue, when it could but at most feel after
pretation that
truth,
now
was
the the
identical with the teaching of the Church,
that the words of the Psalms and the Prophets
have been
fulfilled.
On
the contrary,
the whole course of Jewish literature,
we know till
that
long after
our Saviour's birth, absolutely ignored the idea of a suffering Messiah, and that the great stumblingblock in the
way
of the
Jews was that our Lord con-
THEORY OF TWO MESSIAHS.
I
Never had
tradicted all their most cherished hopes.
men more
than they had, before they could
to unlearn
take Christ's yoke upon them, and learn of
meek and when " for
and count
lowly in heart,
joy
grief,
it
Him
to
be
worthy of
all
conscience toward God, they endured
suffering wrongfully
called,
77
:
as being even thereunto
because their Messiah also had suffered for
them, and
left
them an example that they should
follow His steps."
II.
But gradually the constant examination of the
prophecies led to the second stage of Jewish interpretation, in
which they taught that there would be two
Messiahs, one the son of David, and the other the
The passage which
son of Joseph.
them
chiefly led
—
to this theory is found in Zech. xii.
10
we
Me whom
read, that
"they
shall look
have pierced, and they
mourneth for
Him,
in that
mourn
and
shall
for
Him,
where they
as one
be in bitterness
as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn
day there
shall
the land shall mourn." is
shall
for his only son,
upon
12,
:
be a great mourning .... and
In both Talmuds
proposed for examination
;
and in the
this passage
earlier, or Je-
rusalem Talmud, written in the third century of our
era,
may
sig-
we
find only the ancient interpretation.
" It
read, " the
mourning over the Messiah, or nify," we But gradually the mourning caused by inbred lust." another interpretation grew up and in the Babylonian ;
Talmud, collected in the seventh century, that this
mourning
of Joseph,
who
is
shall
we
read
"because of Messiah, the son
be slain."
N
And from
this time
SERMON
178
VI.
was the current doctrine that
for several centuries it
there were to be two Messiahs, to the one of
whom
they applied every passage of prophecy expressive of suffering, while to Messiah -the son of David belonged all
such as speak of glory and triumph. proofs which they adduce for this double
The
siahship are but slight
Mes-
they say, for instance, that
:
the sceptre which shall not depart from Judah
is
the
son of David, but that the lawgiver from between his
And
feet is the son of Joseph.
led His people from
again
as
:
Egypt by the hands
of
God
of old
Moses and
Aaron, so shall their deliverance from their present
worse captivity unto Edom,
Roman But
empire,
—by which they mean the
—be the work
possibly this theory
is
of
two Messiahs.
not to be looked upon as
a formal doctrine, but rather as an attempt to reconcile
apparent discrepancies in the prophecies, coupled with the wish to assign some part in their national deliver-
For
ance to the ten tribes. generally prevalent
at this era the belief
among the Jews,
would shortly be restored
tribes
was
that the ten
to their inheritance,
and that their leader would be one sprung from themselves
;
and therefore they called him the son of Jo-
and sometimes the son of Ephraim, not as being
seph,
born of a father of that name, but because the ten tribes are often collectively spoken of
as Joseph, or Ephraim.
There
reference whatsoever to the
Lord
;
it
is
in
by the prophets it
therefore no
putative father
of our
simply means that he was to be the leader
of the ten tribes his proper
;
and whenever they speak of him by
name they
call
him, sometimes Nehemiah
MESSIAH-BEN-JOSEPH. the son of Huriel, and sometimes
1
Menachem
79
the son
Ammiel.
of
Messiah the Son of Joseph, therefore,
and restorer of the ten all
tribes
and
;
to
is
the hero
him they
apply-
those sorrows and humiliations which their national
made them indignantly
pride
of Messiah-ben-David.
reject
They
from the character
describe the son of Jo-
seph, therefore, in terms expressive of the most abject
misery, wandering from place to place as a mendicant, squalid and in want, and struck even with leprosy
an idea which they take from
word
Isa,
liii.
where the
4,
translated in our version " stricken"
is
by many
rendered "leprous;" as, for instance, in the Latin Vulgate, " JSos putavimus Eum quasi leprosum." And another part of this chapter serves as the groundwork for the further notion, that
at the gates of
he
shall sit as a
Eome, and there bind up the
beggar sores of
a crowd of lepers congregated round him.
But
after a period of
time passed thus in misery,
him as war with
a few of the dispersed of the ten tribes adopt their leader,
the
and
at their
Eoman Empire,
Julian, in
head he begins a
slays its king, spoils the palace of
which he finds the sacred vessels plundered
from the temple, and returns in triumph to Jerusalem.
Thence he next marches
to take
vengeance upon the
heathen, and puts to death the Gentile inhabitants of all
the towns in Palestine, from
Damascus
to Ascalon,
and by
this deed strikes terror into all the earth. These labours are called by the Jews the " sorrows of
Messiah," and the greatest soon follows christ,
an ante-messiah
arises,
n2
:
for
an ante-
named Armillus,
(the
I
0O
SERMON
meaning
which
of
VI.
have already explained,) who
title I
by
the prophecies of Ezekiel
fulfils
hosts of are at
Gog and Magog
to battle
;
stirring
up the
and though they
defeated with great slaughter, yet finally
first
they prevail, and put Messiah-ben-Joseph with his
army
to the sword,
and as they march onward from
the battle-field towards Jerusalem, the fearful mourn-
ing takes place of which Zechariah speaks.
It is a
time of terrible misery, and the destruction of every
Jew seems
inevitable
;
but at
height the trumpet
its
of the Archangel Michael sounds,
and
at its first blast,
Messiah-ben-David and Elijah appear, Armillus, and slay both
And
incredible slaughter.
sounds, and
him and
who defeat army with an
his
quickly the trumpet again
the dead Israelites arise to take part
all
in their national restoration,
and among them Messiah-
ben- Joseph: and at the third blast, the dispersed of the ten tribes assemble, and the era of Jewish universal empire begins.
Upon no point are the Jews much more at variance among themselves than upon the nature of this resurrection,
and the duration of the period which must it and the general resurrection.
intervene between
Among many
conflicting theories,
most generally received
is,
that
it
perhaps the one
will be reserved as
a special privilege for the more holy and upright
mem-
bers of their race, such as are worthy to share in the glories of so great a
negligent will
triumph
still lie
resurrection, in
;
while the careless and
in their graves
till
which some of the more
the general
liberal of their
expositors permit even the Gentiles to share.
THIRD STAGE OF JEWISH INTERPRETATION.
1
8
I
Such then were the figments with which the Jews solaced themselves during the long centuries of their bitter degradation,
when everywhere they were
mark
for scorn,
tian
and Mohammedan
the
and contumely, and wrong, from Chrisalike.
But whether these
notions were originally put forth seriously, or were
not rather intended by the older expositors as a sort of allegory,
capable of doubt.
is
In course of time,
however, they were received as authoritative,
and
taught by their chief writers as such, though, their fortunes changed, the outlines of the story
and new developments added
altered,
But these we need not
their needs.
important fact to notice
is,
True
suit
were it
to
the one
:
that the independent study
of their Scriptures did lead
a suffering Messiah.
to
follow
as
them
to the doctrine of
to their national tradition,
they carefully separated every notion of humiliation
from their chief Messiah, David's son
knowledged that the distorted
an
it,
tale of suffering
but they ac-
was there
invented for themselves a
inferior hero,
;
new
sprung from the ten tribes
:
they
Messiah, ;
but in
him they took their ideas from the words of the prophets, and by the main features of his history owned that the low estate of the Messiah, his
describing
sufferings
and death, were truly written in their
prophetic books.
III.
But
in
the tenth and subsequent centuries,
by the arguments of Chriswho shewed them out of their own tian writers, books that their earlier authors had applied to Mes-
finding themselves pressed
—
I
SERMON
82
VI.
siah-ben-David the very passages which they referred to Messiah-ben-Joseph,
and thence drew the conclusion
that the Jewish Scriptures did contain the doctrine of a
Lamb
of God, who,
sins of the world,
—
by dying, should take away the their Eabbies had no other re-
than to seek for some other interpretation.
source
many
Their old theories were proving untenable;
of
minds were quitting their communion was therefore incumbent upon them to pro-
their ablest
and
it
vide some popular explanation of their holy books, sufficiently specious to satisfy the
Hitherto they had
rality.
minds of the gene-
been supported by the
hope of the immediate coming of their hero
;
had fixed date
but he
still
after date for his appearing,
delayed; and
it
was but mortifying
they
be told
to
that their restoration
was thus
because of their
Under such circumstances
faith
sins.
was neither
been before
;
so simple nor so earnest as
and a cold and
known among us as having Jewish name foremost both it
turies of ill-usage to
Jew,
ditions
—and
:
still
who
are
still
in science
and
strong
familiarly
literature,
among them,
But the
—
for cen-
had firmly knit everywhere Jew
they prepared
still
to defend their tra-
but their lessons were no longer addressed to
disciples willing to accept their teaching
mere authority
;
upon
and besides, they were face
They must give
their
to face
with Christians, arguing with them from their books.
had
at this period placed the
there for some centuries.
national feeling was
it
their
sceptical spirit generally
prevailed even in those writers
and maintained
indefinitely deferred
proof, therefore, or the
own sem-
JEWISH THEORIES.
I
83
blance of proof, and their arguments must be sufficiently specious to
make
their people ready
still
to
endure persecution without the secret misgiving that possibly their Messiah had already come.
While, then, in the services of their synagogue this passage of Isaiah its
is still
applied to the Messiah, and
Messianic interpretation
doctrine, they argued
cation of
it,
thus the sole authorized
is
that this
and not the primary meaning.
said, a mystical interpretation,
And
received.
was but a mere
so far there is
appli-
It was,
they
and as such only to be a consent among them :
but what was the genuine and proper interpretation was a question upon which they found it harder to
For some thought that a person was clearly
agree.
meant, and therefore looked for one whose history bore
some resemblance
Uzziah, because of his leprosy his early death
;
Jehovah
;
and selected
;
or Josiah, because of
or the Prophet Jeremiah, or Isaiah
Akibah
or the fabulous martyr,
more show
words
to the Prophet's
while others, with
:
of argument, taught that the
Jewish nation:
signified the
first place, collectively,
received view;
or,
— and
this is
Servant of
either, in
the
the most generally
secondly > as represented by the just
and pious portion among them
;
or,
thirdly,
by the
prophetic order. I
need scarcely enter
views
:
enough
at
any length upon these
no person can be found in not altogether too small and
to say, that
Jewish history who
is
unworthy to be the theme can King Josiah be said a lamb to the slaughter,
of these prophecies. to
IIow
have been brought as
when he
fell in
a battle of his
SEEM0N
184
own seeking? Or what from Babylon
?
Of
share had he in the return
Isaiah
us in supposing that his
simply fabulous
he
we know nothing
life
to
j
ustify
was marked by any espe-
degree of suffering, and the tradition of his death
cial is
VI.
is
for, as
;
he
flees
from King Manasseh,
swallowed by a cedar-tree, and the King com-
mands the cedar-tree to be sawn asunder, and as the workmen obey the command blood flows from the wound. As for the martyr Akibah, he was apparently an
allegorical personage,
ence,
and the question therefore would
whom
answered
notion that
ing^ were
remain un-
As
the Prophet really meant.
critics,
it
still
was Jeremiah, we might well
it
German
the
with no real historical exist-
that
not that
it
it
for the
say,
with
scarcely deserves mention-
has been again put forward
by the author of " God in History," as a most notable discovery first
as
;
but
it
granted, that
seriously
requires so
we can
intended.
Baruch was the author ters of Isaiah
:
many
suppositions to be
scarcely regard the theory
For we must
assume that
of the last twenty-seven chap-
and that though thus commissioned
to
declare the calling of Cyrus, and the restoration from
Babylon, yet that his name was thought unworthy of record, while Obadiah's
name was
preserved, though
he -wrote but a single chapter, and Haggai's and Malachi's,
though neither of them occupied
so distinguished
a place in Jewish history as that of Jeremiah's minister.
"We have further
istence of the
to
assume in Baruch the ex-
same wonderfully balanced powers which
are so remarkable in the true Isaiah. b
llciiikc,
Die mes. Weis.
lei
den Proph.)
Every other ii.
43.
TRADITIONS CONCERNING JEREMIAH.
1
85
own
prophet excels in some one faculty and has his
peculiar turn of genius, Isaiah equals each one separately in his
own master
gift
dinary versatility of power critic best
and the same extraor-
:
granted by Ewald
is
— the — of
upon such subjects
qualified to speak
the author of these last twenty-seven chapters. Surely
commissioned to declare such
a prophet,
great
so
weighty truths, the author of such convincing argu-
ments against
idolatry,
and possessed of such extraor-
dinary powers, would never have been confined by
Jewish tradition to so inferior a place as that which that he survived Jeremiah is,
he and Baruch withdrew others say, to Judeea
d ,
to
Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar Babylon together c or, as ;
and that Jeremiah there lived Certainly
an extreme old age. of his prophecy
but the Jewish tradition
;
that after the conquest of
e
assume
It is further necessary to
he at present holds.
if
are genuine, this
the last four verses
must have been the
upon
case; but perhaps too great uncertainty rests
them
for
much
us to be able to lay
But in opposition
authority.
upon their
stress
Jewish account
to the
resuscitates a tradition recorded
Bunsen
to
by one
or
two
Christian Fathers', that Jeremiah was stoned by the
fully concealing this
and he accuses the Jews of wilnational crime; and Josephus,
who
upon the matter,
Jews
at
is
Tahpanhes
;
entirely silent
being sly
g.
But a
ten centuries after the supposed
supported by the people to Seder Olam Eabba, f
ch. 26.
Tertull. adv. Gnost., c. 8
;
fact,
whom d
is
it
and entirely un-
referred,
Sal. Jarcbi.
Hieron. adv.
dismissed as
mentioned nine or
tradition, first
Joviii.,
e
ch. ii.
and who lii.
37.
31—34. g
Klug.
I
SERMON
86
were by no means disposed
VI.
to hide their national de-
linquencies, deserves very little consideration.
Cer-
who remembers the place which Jeremiah among his countrymen after the return from exile how they believed that he had concealed the ark, and Urim and Thummim, and sacred fire; how
tainly no one
held
;
they thought he was
still
alive,
and would again
how many said even of our Lord that He was Jeremiah; and how he was the " grey-haired prophet appear
;
of their visions, exceeding glorious, and of a wonder-
and excellent
ful
Maccabeus
who summoned Judas
majesty,
to defend his country,
a golden sword,"
and
girt
him with
—no one who remembers these things
can doubt but that,
if
he had been stoned by his country-
men, they would have seen in the misfortunes which befel
them
at the
hand
of the Syrian kings the pun-
ishment of so great a crime, and have explained by to themselves, the
actual state
it,
extreme difference between their
and that which had been predicted by the
prophets.
We
may
dismiss Bunsen's theory, therefore, as built
many aud too improbable conjectures to any one who requires reasonable grounds for what he believes and I have previously shewn that
upon
too
satisfy
:
it is as
entirely contradicted
by
internal as
supported by external evidence. is
Jehovah
Far more important
is
signified
the Jewish
nation.
fairly describe this as the received
position
un-
view who consider that by the servant of
their
even
it is
;
for
whether
it
We may Jewish ex-
be the nation collectively,
or some special portion of
it,
is
a matter simply of
jehovah's servant the church.
and nearly
detail,
tled
npon one
all
i87
their chief writers finally set-
or other of these theories.
It is more-
I think, undeniable, that in the first portion
over,
there are passages in which the servant of Jehovah
does signify primarily the Jewish Church, and fully
and
The question is, explanation exhausts the meaning
finally the Christian
whether
this
Church.
whether the description of Jehovah's servant does it, and describe a person who can
not go far beyond
be no other than our Lord
Especially in the second
?
we may demand, whether
portion
there
a single
is
passage applicable to the people of Israel, or which does not directly contradict this idea
?
It is too or-
dinary a thing for the prophets to begin with some
minor and lower theme, and
and
spiritual
Church
from
rise
us
for
it
to
one vast
be astonished at
to
commencing with the
Isaiah's
office
of the Jewish
to proclaim divine truth to the Gentiles,
ending with
whom
eternal,
all
Him who
and
is
the Truth, the Teacher in
truth centres.
Doubtless the mission of
the Jewish Church was in a measure the same as that of Christ.
many
She was His witness
to the heathen,
and
truths were confided to her keeping, some of
which she was
around her, while
to proclaim to those
others were to be recorded for the future proof of the
Messiah's mission.
In this
worker with Christ and
more
Him,
a sharer in
so is the Christian Church,
described by
Head
way
—
St.
she was a fellow-
His
office
Paul as the body of which
as forming, that
is,
and co-operating with
;
and
still
and therefore she
He
is
is
the
one organic whole with
Him
in
His work.
J
SEEMON
88
We
VI.
have before seen that the Jews themselves
felt
great difficulty in confining the exposition of Jehovah's
servant to their nation
and virtually confessed as
;
much, by the strangeness of
their theory respecting
the virtue of the sufferings which they are at present
They
undergoing.
saw that the sufferings
clearly
described in the fifty-third chapter are vicarious,
had no
alternative, therefore,
and
but to shew that their
nation was bearing the punishment of sins committed
by
who
others,
necessarily
must be the heathen
:
but
nothing but the exigencies of controversy could have
produced such a theory, especially at a time when they were also teaching that the delay in the Mes-
coming was owing
siah's
own
their
to
But
sins.
omitting this, there are passages in which Jehovah's
and
servant
the
Jewish nation are clearly
Thus we
guished.
thou shouldest be
and
of Jacob,
read,
my
"It
is
distin-
a light thing that
up the
servant to raise
tribes
to restore the preserved of Israel
will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles,
thou mayest be h ."
earth
Again,
my He
:
I
that
salvation unto the end of the
womb
was "formed from the
to be Jehovah's servant, to bring Jacob again to
Him
1
He
."
God
fear
for
:
from those who
distinguished even
is
the Prophet
asks, "
Who
is
among
you that feareth Jehovah, that obeyeth the voice of His servant ?" He is even "abhorred of the naj
tion ";" 1
He
is
moreover, for a witness to
"given,
commander
the people, a leader and h
Isa. xlix. 6. K
lb. xlix. 7.
'
to the people j
lb. 5. '
lb.
1.
lb. lv. 4.
10.
V
jehovah's servant not the Jewish nation. All these passages are
clearly irreconcileable
He was
the theory that
His
And
it.
equally
There
a whole.
office as
parts of the Messiah's office which His
Him
with
for instance, that
He makes that He is
He
and
,
r ,
and
is
that
;
Zion
the personal
.
office
of the Messiah
is
gone astray
we have
;
but, above
;
It is not
gone astray
we
" All
:
laid
like sheep
Him
upon
all,
have
own
the iniquity
own
people, have also
broken the law; Jews as well as Gentiles, " are
under sin:" and opposite
fore,
is
merely the Gentiles who have
"all we," God's
;
,
He
turned every one to his
way, and Jehovah hath 1 all ."
q
speaking of
describes His sinlessness, and that
therefore the sole Saviour
Man who
;
In these and many more
9
such particulars the Prophet plainly
of us
for
as,
;
the salvation also of the Gen-
and the whole world
He
Him
worshipped by kings and princes
is
restores Israel
where
are, indeed,
a covenant of the people p ; and after His
humiliation
tiles
11
the de-
death™
suffers a vicarious
intercession for sinners
is
Church shares
but there are others peculiar to
:
with
also the nation, or identical
with any select portion of scription of
189
them stands the One
to
alone was without sin
and there was none
brought salvation unto
"
;
to help
there was none to uphold
:
Him
all
;
Who
looked there-
and wondered that
therefore His ;
and His
own arm
fury, it up-
held Him."
The minor, Isaiah's ra
i
words
Isa.liii.
lb. 7.
therefore,
4— 6. r
to the
and secondary application of
Jewish nation,
n lb. liii. 12.
lb. xlix. 6.
8
°
is
lb. lxii. 1.
lb. xlii. 1, 4, 6.
only possible p *
lb. xlix. 8. lb.
liii. 6.
SERMON
190 at the it
commencement
VI.
Even
of the prophecy.
there
does not militate against the belief that in Christ,
and Christ only, the words of the Prophet find their
For they belonged
complete fulfilment. as
it
shared in Christ's
to Israel only
and prefigured
office,
it.
If the
servants are joined with their Master in doing His
Though they
work, they must not usurp 'His place.
can bear tidings of Him, and carry His salvation to
He
the ends of the earth, yet for
He
make
alone can
agony in the garden favourite disciples lifted up, that
He
;
He withdrew
and upon the
might draw
its
main
of Jewish thought
upon
Such then, in
alone can be the Saviour
At
been the course the undoubt-
first,
many
centuries
but with the obstinate determination
deny His humiliation, and see
Deliverer.
alone was
and the corresponding
prophecies of their Scriptures.
to
He
men unto Him.
all
outlines, has
this
even from His
cross
ing application of them throughout to the Messiah,
In His
satisfaction for sins.
When
this
in
Him
a triumphant
proved beyond the power of
argument, the endeavour was made to separate the prophecies into two portions, and assign ferent persons, to a suffering siah.
away.
In the third and
To the
Christian these
studies them, the
more he
they were explained prophecies
confidence. is
to dif-
and a triumphant Mes-
last era
source of ever-increasing
them
are
the
The more he
convinced that they are
not the mere longings after a national hero
;
that no
merely national literature could have described its expected deliverer as One " whom man despised, whom
CONCLUSION.
the nation abhorred
:"
191
for so strange a
phenomenon
he can find no explanation, save that the " Scripture
was given by phets, viour,
who who
inspiration of
God," and that the pro-
moved by the Holy Ghost, spake who " made Himself an offering for
therefore
of a
Sa-
sin,"
and
sees an ever-increasing seed in those
are adopted to be God's children, and in
hands the pleasure of that Lord who
whose
" willeth not
the death of the sinner, but that he should rather
turn from his
sin,
and be saved,"
shall prosper.
SEEMON Isaiah
He
" Surely
liii.
TIL
4.
hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows : esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and
we did
yet
afflicted"
TTPON
a previous occasion, in addressing you
that portion of Isaiah's final prophecy
contained in the
fifty -second
and
may be
eras
upon the
;
is
fifty-third chapters, its
Jewish
and I then shewed that three
distinct
I gave a slight sketch of the history of interpretation
upon
which
traced in the course of Jewish thought
subject, of
which two were of native
origin,
while the third was scarcely more than an endeavour to discover
to the
the
some theory
sufficiently specious to oppose
arguments of Christian
first
of these stages,
controversialists.
commencing
terior to the birth of our Lord,
In
at a period an-
and continuing until
some time subsequent to the Jerusalem Talmud, there was the unhesitating acknowledgment, that the Servant of Jehovah described in the last twenty-seven chapters of the Book of Isaiah, was the Messiah :
but joined with from
Him
it
was the endeavour
separate
to
every note and mark of suffering
;
so that
in the Chaldee Paraphrase and other ancient authorities
we
find the
most forced and unnatural attempts
EXPECTATIONS OP THE JEWS. to give
some other explanation
to suffer
And
93
words in
to all those
the prophets which shewed that " 3 ."
1
behoved Messiah
it
this theory, that the Messiah
was
merely a triumphant hero, grew out of the setfor from the tled convictions of the national mind time of the return from Babylon they had kept God's to be
;
covenant perfectly in matters external.
Their old ido-
had entirely ceased, and wherever they were dispersed they offered a pure and holy
latrous tendencies
worship to the one true God.
were
still
oppressed
holy city under their rites
many
;
foot,
and
Nevertheless they
the heathen often trampled the
;
profaned their
altars,
and forbade
David
a garrison held the city of
for
years even after the triumphs of Judas Macca-
beus.
It followed, therefore, that the
God which
in old time
same
had punished them
justice of
for lapsing
must now and that the heathen who persecuted them, now that they were true to the covenant, must be overtaken by a vengeance more marked and terrible give them a corresponding
into idolatry,
reward
;
than that of Nineveh and Babylon.
It
was a thing
contrary to every feeling of their minds to suppose that they
by
would be compensated
the Gentiles to
for their sufferings
the abolition of their exclusive privileges; that
who
oppressed them would be admitted
share their covenant on
equal terms
henceforward he was not to be a Jew outwardly, nor circumcision that
by hands.
made
;
and that
who was one in the flesh
Not such thoughts nerved the Maccabees a
Luke xxiv.
46.
SERMON
194 their
to
heroic
VII.
struggle, but
exclusive patriotism
deep, narrow, and
a
the firm conviction that they
;
were the people of the covenant, were fighting God's battles,
and putting His enemies to the sword.
the time had come ship
Him
in spirit
when God's worshippers must worand in truth when the temporal ;
sanctions of the covenant
must be done away, and
spiritual hopes substituted in their place.
of the
But
And many
Jews observed the signs of the times, and
ac-
cepted for a Saviour a suffering Messiah, and bore far
and wide the tidings of His salvation the nation as a whole lesson
when
the
;
:
but not so
nor could they even learn the
Eomans destroyed
their temple,
and
abolished the daily sacrifice, and no Maccabees arose
though their zeal burnt as hotly as
for their defence,
in times of old.
But however natural might be
this expectation of
a triumphant Messiah, to defeat their enemies, and give them the earthly reward which they had earned, it
was nevertheless too thoroughly opposed
to
the
teaching of their sacred books to be able to endure the test of an impartial examination: and therefore in the later, or Babylonian Talmud, traces are found of an attempt to reconcile the statements of the Scriptures with their national convictions
;
and the theory
subsequently was developed, and remained for
some
centuries.
According
current
to this adaptation of
the prophecies, there were to be two Messiahs, one
whom, sprung from the ten tribes, and therefore called the son of Joseph, was to be the first to call of
the Jews to arms
;
but, after a succession of victories,
DOCTRINE OF A SUFFERING MESSIAH.
and the execution of a
1
95
upon all Holy Land, he was finally to be defeated and slain. Thereupon was to follow that mourning at Jerusalem described by the Prophet Zechariah. But this grief would be but of short dufearful
retaliation
Gentiles dwelling in the
ration
;
Messiah-ben-David would appear, whose
for
more successful
strategy, aided
would quickly destroy to
by supernatural power, and enable him
his enemies,
found a universal empire, the
ments of which the Jews were
to
offices
and emolu-
be called even from
their graves to share.
But when, contact
with
in the
West, the Jews came into closer these notions
Christianity,
longer be seriously entertained. at
could
no
Their Messiahs were
most but successful generals, with no higher aim
than the prizes of victorious ambition; and in describing their battles, the Jewish
doctors,
with too
good reason, perhaps, for bitter rancour against their persecutors,
had allowed their imaginations
to revel in
scenes of bloodshed, and pillage, and rapine.
such expositions the minds of their ful people revolted,
to take for their ferer,
and preferred, with the Christians,
Messiah One who was a lowly
and who taught His
tion on heavenly things,
world.
And
Against
own more thoughtsuf-
disciples to set their affec-
and not on the things of
this fifty-third chapter of Isaiah
this
was the
very centre of the Christian doctrine of a Messiah saving by suffering
;
and many Jews, in committing
to writing the reasons of their conversion to Christianity,
acknowledged that
had shaken
it
was
its
perusal which
their faith in their old creed
o2
and teachers.
SERMON
196 It
became necessary,
invent some
new
VII.
for their doctors to
therefore,
interpretation,
which would both ad-
here more closely to the terms of the prophecy than
had been the case with their allegorizing fancies of old,
and
of their
be specious enough to
also
own
their theories
satisfy the
But
hesitating followers.
were not very successful
:
minds
for a time
for, as
the Pro-
phet's words seemed plainly to describe a person, some
thought that Uzziah was meant, because after a reign glory he was
of great
stricken with
leprosy
;
and
the Prophet's word, rendered in our Version simply
" stricken," would naturally suggest to a Jew the thought of this disease, because the substantive derived from the same root in Leviticus for the
which the official
priest's
mark
is
the word repeatedly used
examination of
by the discovery of
or spot,
judgment was lepers.
be decided in his
to
But
as Uzziah's punish-
ment was occasioned by his own sin, and was followed by no restoration, others explained the prophecy of Hezekiah, at the time of his sickness, supposing that the premature
death which threatened him was a
penalty for the sins of the nation, unworthy of so
good a king
;
of Isaiah, " he
but, being restored
by the mediation
prolonged his days
:"
while others
sought in Josiah, and Cyrus, and Isaiah, and* Jeremiah, resemblances which they hoped would justify
them
in claiming for one or other of
of being Jehovah's servant.
were
all
them the honour
But when these
met by unanswerable
difficulties,
theories
they gra-
dually came to the conclusion that the Prophet was
speaking of the whole Jewish people
;
whose present
COUNTEK-THEOKIES. exile
own
not,
is
sins, as
1
97
they argue, the punishment of their
was the
captivity of Babylon, but a vica-
rious bearing of the Gentiles' sins
which the whole world
;
by the merits of
will finally be reconciled to
the Jewish God, and the Gentiles admitted to share the
blessings
of their covenant,
upon an humble and
—though
of course
inferior footing.
These views have in the present day a twofold importance
;
for first it is necessary for us to
know, in
dealing with the Jews, what are the views which they hold.
The
ill-success of Christian missionaries
often be owing to their setting crudely forth their or the popular view of
some Christian
may own
doctrine, with-
out making themselves acquainted with the state of their hearers' minds,
them which sionary's
and the arguments current among
serve to neutralize the force of the mis-
Owing
teaching.
to
some such
that, as a general rule, in the present
makes but a
slight impression
munity possessed the people be
day Christianity
upon any
civilized
of a literature of its own.
Mohammedan,
or
fault it is
com-
Whether
Hindu, or Jew, in
all
cases they have a counter theory, entrenched behind
which they
listen to the missionary's words,
in themselves at
and smile
what they have been taught
to re-
They require for their conversion men like St. Paul, who had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and knew the whole system gard as exploded
and theory of
fallacies.
his opponents
:
and until men will thus
learn the real views of those whose minds they wish to influence, they
must expect
very barren of results.
to find their labours
So then of the Jews, while the
Christian points to their long humiliation as the
fulfil-
SERMON
198
ment
VII.
of the prophecy of Moses,
and a proof that God
has rejected them from being the people of His covenant, they have been taught to believe that their pre-
sent affliction
is
own
not because of their
the redemption of the world,
—
sins,
but
for
no humiliation, but
it is
an honour, of which they alone are worthy for their sorrows are the ransom of mankind and as soon as the ;
:
ransom
complete, then will the proud Christians
is
themselves be witnesses of their triumph, as they are " gathered from the north country, and all countries
whither God has scattered them, to dwell in their land
;"
come
to
and thither "
them
of proselytes;
like a flowing river,"
and
own
shall the glory of the Gentiles
there, finally,
in countless bands
"all flesh shall ap-
pear," at the recurrence of their great festivals, " to
worship before their Jehovah."
But
these views have in the present day an even
made of them by Christian commentators. For it was impossible but that the renown gained by the critical examigreater importance in the use which has been
nation of the annals of ancient Kome, and the reconstruction of its history from the disjointed materials,
must lead
same attempt being made upon JewNor ought we either to wonder or grieve
to the
ish history. at this.
may bo an
It
gage in the
evil to those
task, because
minds which en-
with these Jewish records
mixed up, which had no place in those old Eoman histories; and possibly, in scrutinizing
faith is also
closely the object-matter of faith, the result
may be
a want of veneration in treating of those things which angels,
we
man mind
are told, desire to look into. is
But the hu-
so strangely constituted, that such a re-
CONTROVERSY NOT NECESSARILY AN EVIL. suit
need not necessarily be the
an act of the
will,
case.
Faith
is so
1
99
much
and not of the understanding, that
the errors of the latter do not necessarily very strongly
and orthodoxy of
belief is quite
separable from fervency of devotion.
Certainly the
former;
affect the
writer
whom
have referred
I
to as the resuscitator of
the idea that the Servant of Jehovah was the Prophet
man of deep piety and however deficient we may consider him Jeremiah was a
earnest faith, in soundness
But however
and calmness of judgment.
this
may
mind of man will never be content hopes upon a foundation which it has not
be, certainly the to build its
and though the individual may community must be benefited by the en-
and may not examine suffer,
quiry.
the
For
if
;
our views
—the current views —be
true,
they will finally be only the more firmly established
by a even
close
and searching examination into their merits,
if it
be made by ud friendly hands, and with the
But
hope of proving them to be untenable. views be in part untrue,
—
if,
if
our
as is possibly the case,
there be in every age a certain
amount
of falseness
mingled with the truth in the theories then current, as falseness is contrary to God's nature, to man's,
—we have
no reason to grieve, but rather
the contrary, whenever as
we
and injurious
we
see
men
patiently, even if
think over-boldly, examining into the grounds
and reasons of what we hold.
The arguments,
therefore, invented
by the Jews
for
the purpose of protecting themselves against Christian controversialists, closely
have in the
last
few years been
examined by Christian writers ; but no longer
SERMON
2,00
VII.
for the purpose of refuting them,
finding some scheme
but in the hope of
which may explain away the
consequent upon the denial of the pro-
difficulties
phets being in an especial sense God's messengers,
They have
commissioned to reveal things future.
been
stated, therefore,
been put into a new
with fresh circumstances, have light,
and strengthened with
every argument which the most painstaking research, the minutest philological criticism, and the most exact
examination into discover
:
style,
and manner, and matter could
but the result has not been satisfactory
to
the searchers; for no view has attained to the dignity of a current interpretation.
had
his
more
own
found few followers
theory, but has
successful in
Each enquirer has
shewing the
has
left
up
his own,
he
behind no enduring monument of much pa-
tient industry, perhaps, sal of
which beset
difficulties
his rival's scheme, than in building
and learning
one German commentary
may
;
and
if
the peru-
shake the reader's
faith in the genuineness, for instance, of Isaiah's pro-
phecies, so
much
and the truth of their
inspiration,
on finding
ingenuity and learning arrayed against them,
the perusal of a fifth and sixth only
fills
mind
the
with weariness at finding in them assertions conflicting
at
every possible point,
and the
ceaseless
striving after a barren novelty.
We
may
leave, therefore,
the exact consideration
of the minutise of these theories for those whose busi-
ness
it
is to
make themselves acquainted with what-
ever commentators are doing or have done to elucidate or obscure the
meaning of the divine records
:
our
PROOF FROM INTERNAL EVIDENCE.
201
time to-day will probably be more usefully spent in considering the reasons which justify us in
re-
still
taining the Messianic interpretation.
my
not
It is
stantly both our
intention, however, to
Lord and His Apostles
and generally
prophecy,
shew how con-
the
to
last
refer to this
twenty-seven
chapters of Isaiah, in proof that the " Christ was to
and
suffer
so to enter into
His glory."
Nor
shall I
appeal to the confessedly unanimous consent of the
both of the ancient Jewish and Christian
Fathers,
Church, in identifying the Messiah with the Servant of Jehovah.
but
it
is
Both these arguments have great weight,
the weight of authority; and though pro-
who
bably there are few scholars in this country
would doubt that the authority of the
New
of the divine teachers
Testament in interpreting and explaining
the Jewish Scriptures
is
superior in nature and degree
to every other whatsoever,
that I at present appeal.
still
My
it is
not to authority
object rather
is to
shew
from internal evidence that the terms of the prophecy are exactly fulfilled in our blessed Lord. of
all
In the case
the other interpretations which have
been
brought forward, I have already stated what seem to
me of
unanswerable objections and
making the
facts
difficulties in the
way
and doctrines of the prophecy
agree with the explanation offered
our Lord there are no such
:
in referring
difficulties,
it
to
but the most
complete and entire agreement between the prophecy
and the fulfilment adduced. I.
For
first,
as to the facts of the prophecy.
Servant of Jehovah
is
The
described as being sprung from
SERMON
202
VII.
a family which had fallen from a position of grandeur into humble circumstances. " He shall grow up before
Jehovah as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry Similarly in the eleventh chapter of Isaiah
ground."
told that "
we were
He
should come forth as a rod,
or shoot, from the cut-down trunk of Jesse,
among
a sucker from
Now
his roots."
and as
nothing
is
more certain than that the Jews expected that the Messiah would not only be born of David's kingly line,
but that His entrance into the world would be
pomp and
attended with great
splendour.
But
plainly
the Prophet's words describe a state of the lowest
humiliation
:
for
what stronger picture of languor and
weakness could be given than that of a sucker sprung from the roots of a fallen
tree,
and
this sucker itself
under an Eastern sun scarcely finding in the parched
and dried-up
soil
many
which, then, of the
we
opposing explanations shall
find this first note fulfilled, that the Servant of
Jehovah for his
be by birth and education one unfitted
is to
high
office ?
lectively, the seed of
of
In
the means of nourishment?
any of
It
Abraham, Jehovah's friend
— as
some
who was But
say,
Josiah's
in our
who had
Lord
;
nor
nor of Jeremiah, a priest's
son of that high-priest, Hilkiah,
most active coadjutor in his reforms. it
was
fulfilled.
Of the
race of kings
ruled in splendour at Jerusalem a root
lingered in poverty and obscurity tains of Galilee, earning the
manual
:
their kings; nor of Isaiah, from his early
youth a king's counsellor son,
cannot be said of Israel col-
labour.
Born
among
the
still
moun-
means of subsistence by
in so remote a village, a car-
LITERAL MEANING OF 'TENDER PLANT.' penter's reputed son,
how
ments of education
"
?
having never learned
could
How
?"•
It
the very difficulty which
He
acquire the rudi-
knoweth this man letters, was to His contemporaries
made them
close their eyes
to the evidence even of miracles, that our so
humbly:
mean
:
carpenter's son, brought
such ordinary people as James and
— " and they were offended because of Him."
Yet
this
was the very
fact foretold, that
be a root growing out of a dry ground, is,
up in
without rank, or wealth, or educa-
village,
tion, the brother of
Joses
Lord came
their Messiah, the desire of all nations,
could not be a
an obscure
203
where naturally
He was
to
it
;
should
—growing,
was not possible
be absolutely destitute of
aids to success
He
for it to
all
that
grow.
adventitious
nature and the world were to con-
tribute nothing to His mission; but, in the Prophet's
words elsewhere,
And sage
He was to
perhaps the is
literal
be a marvel, "a wonder
V
meaning of the present pas-
even more striking than the translation would
lead us to expect;
for
though most commentators
agree with our version in taking the word which it renders " tender plant" in a metaphorical sense, as a shoot or sucker, both on account of the parallelism, as
it
answers to "root" in the second clause, and also
on account of the verb "he shall grow up;" yet
else-
where
"an
it is
unweaned
invariably used in child,"
chapter of Isaiah,
and
is so
— "The
upon the hole of the asp." gint renders
it
its literal
sense as
rendered in the eleventh
sucking child shall play Accordingly, the Septua-
here also by 7rai8lov, and the Syriac h
Isa. ix. 6.
SERMON
204
VII.
by "He hath come up as a young child before Him." The Messiah is to submit, therefore, to the infirmities of human nature; though elsewhere He be "the mighty God, the everlasting Father," yet to be a child, weak, frail, helpless,
is
He
also
dependent upon
others for His support.
"We can divine no reason
why
tell
the Prophet should
us that Hezekiah, or
Josiah, or himself, or Jeremiah,
children:
it
were once unweaned
was the greatest mystery ever enacted
upon the earth when an Immanuel, an incarnate God, was born of the virgin.
In a tropical country the Prophet's metaphor would be
far
more suggestive
of weakness than
among
our-
Yegetation there seems entirely to depend upon water ; the driest stock " at the mere scent of selves.
water will bud, and bring forth boughs."
imagery
is
therefore constantly
riance of vegetation in a moist
Oriental
drawn from the luxu-
By such an image
soil.
the Psalmist depicts the greatness to which bad
sometimes attain
:
"I have
men
seen the wicked in great
power, spreading himself abroad like a tree growing in
sap
its c
own
."
It
Prophet's.
mighty
soil, is
and green from the abundance of
The one
tree,
its
a metaphor the exact reverse of the sets
us the idea of a
before
which has never been weakened by grows in
transplantation, but
its
native soil with that
marvellous rankness which makes vegetation in the
East a wonder, wherever water
is
plentiful.
And
so
do the sons of kings grow up, surrounded by splendour and magnificence, undwarfed c
Ps. xxxvii. 35.
by poverty and
CHILDHOOD OF THE MESSIAH. stately cedars,
neglect,
like
meaner
trees.
whom
But not
Isaiah describes
born to rule over the
"the unweanecl child"
so
He
:
as a root in a dry
is
ground, pinched by poverty, uncared
He
neglect and obscurity;
205
is
for,
living in
"like the heath in the
which seeth not the time when good cometh,
desert,
but inhabiteth the parched places of the wilderness, in a salt land,
and not inhabited
was our Lord, dwelling
11
."
Such actually
in a Galila3an village, the off-
spring of an uprooted stock, destitute of
all
vantages of birth, and rank, and wealth
the advan-
;
tages which from their childhood those
the ad-
enjoy
who
dwell in the homes of their ancestors, as " trees in their
own
soil."
And His
bringing up
is like
no form, nor comeliness there
is
"
He
has
no beauty that they should desire Him."
Him
the world's admiration
:
;
birth.
and when men see Him,
:
There was nothing in son
His
as
He grew up
to attract
no marvellous beauty of per-
no striking sprightliness of manner
;
nothing of
which the multitude think so highly of. His thoughtful mother pondered indeed over His sayings, for He let fall from time to time that
show and
words
glitter
significative
of His future calling; but they
were not such words as catch the attention of the idle. Even she, when He entered upon His ministry, was so little prepared for
suaded
Him
from
it,
The
it.
that she
and answers, His
mind impressed them, but not d
dis-
doctors in the temple were
astonished at His understanding
meditative
would have
Jer. xvii. 6.
so the people
SERMON
206
among whom He with kindness
God
well as with as
;
By them He was
lived.
for " ;"
VII.
He grew
regarded
in favour with
men
as
Him
but they did not look upon
having anything extraordinary in His character.
When,
He
therefore,
preached in their synagogue,
they had no patience with
Him;
ill-treat
tween
Him
for
and
Him
—were ready even
to
they could see no difference be-
Joses,
and James and Simon, and
Jude, His brethren.
But the Prophet does not
Him
describe
an object of neglect, the world
is
merely as
not merely careless
about Him, and willing to leave Him in obscurity, " He is despised and it despises and rejects Him.
men,"
rejected of
—
He
or rather,
submitted to be the
most abject of mankind, " the despised among men
Symmachus
i\axL(TTG? avdpcov, as
translates it;
most humble of mankind," as the Syriac
mus hominum," was the very where
to lay
people.
as Jerome.
lowliest,
—
The
lot
which
people."
"the
"novissi-
He
chose
His head, supported by the alms of the
In the Psalms
"a
—
to go about without a place
He
says of Himself,
a worm, and no man:" a thing that estate;
;
;"
reproach of men,
He
is
" I
am
below man's
and despised of the
was, moreover, to be
rows, and acquainted with grief;"
"a man of sorone who bore in
more than common measure the pains and griefs of human life, and that without meeting with ordinary sympathy;
Him He was :
"we
for
hid as
despised,
What metaphor
could
world's aversion to
it
were our faces from
and we esteemed Ilim not."
more
Him?
strongly
Men seem
picture to turn
the
from
METAPHORS NOT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY.
207
Ilim with involuntary abhorrence, and to hide their faces with their hands that they may spare themselves the pain of seeing Him.
For
words sig-
literally the
"As one from whom men hide their faces, was He despised, and we esteemed Him not ;" and nify,
so
as
the word translated "grief," "acquainted with grief," primarily signifies " disease," the whole passage calls
up before us the idea afflicted
of one of those painful objects,
with an incurable malady, who are to be met
with at the gates of most Oriental towns, and from
whom
the traveller turns
away
his eyes with invo-
luntary aversion and disgust.
"We are from too
not, indeed, to take these
literal
words
literally;
an interpretation the Jews drew that
picture of the Messiah sitting amidst a
which
I
have referred to before,
crowd of lepers
Really, the Prophet
is
Eome. above, where
at the gates of
using metaphors, as
he described the Messiah as being a
root.
It is
not
even a necessary inference that our Lord was remarkable for personal uncomeliness
intended,
by the use
:
rather the Prophet
of these forcible images, to
stamp
the idea of a lowly, meek, and patient sufferer upon
our minds.
He
describes the Saviour, therefore, as
submitting to the extremity of bodily humiliation
but by this simile he rather intended us to understand those mental agonies which the Messiah bore, as being
the appointed sacrifice for
sin.
It is a picture of the
utmost sorrow, of the cup of anguish
and may
well, therefore, call
membrance
up
full to
to our
minds the
conflict before
;
re-
when He Him. And
of that struggle in the garden
even shrank from the awful
the brim
SERMON
208 if
VII.
the words of the prophecy are too great and forcible
any hnman and earthly
for
trouble, they the
more
suitably apply to Him, whose humiliation for man's
sake
is
deepened by the contrast with the glory which
He had
as
God from
But the
He
He
yet
"He
is also
opened not His mouth
shearers, so
account of
He
— u the Lamb
of
:
as a
afflicted;
He
lamb
led
before her It is the
as a sheep is
;
life
of ill-treatment ends in an
and in the words there
— of a lamb led
suggested
is
to the altar,
God who taketh away the
sins of the
paraphrased by the Baptist.
it is
is
dumb
and
to us the idea of sacrifice,
world," as
He was
opened not His mouth."
One whose
unresisting death
it
the victim of violence and
was oppressed, and
to the slaughter,
not
of Messiah's sufferings is
narrative
yet complete. cruelty.
before the world began.
And
as
was a good omen that the victim should advance
joyous and unresisting to the
did our Lord
sacrifice, so
stand silent in Pilate's judgment-hall: to Herod
answered never a word;
He
He
refuted no accusations,
explained away no unjust suspicions, did not protest
His innocence. the Governor
:
Such unusual conduct astonished even for " he marvelled greatly."
But His humiliation draws now in
the next verse
we
read that
from prison and from judgment." " prison," there as
is
is little
Ho was
For
or no authority
for
taken
this rendering,
but
;
so often the case, in the margin, a
translation of the original words, "
by
to a close;
"
more
He was
we
find,
faithful
taken away
distress, and judgment." But, as is well known, from the infrcquency of adjectives in the Semitic
the Messiah's condemnation. dialects, various periphrases
have
to
209
be used to ex-
press their force; and thus "by distress and judgment" means, according to our idiom, "by a distressing judgment ;" or, as the original might more exactly
"by oppression and by judgment," it means an "oppressive, an unjust judgment." The
be translated
Servant, therefore, of Jehovah, death,
led unresisting to
is
an unjust sentence,
in obedience to
tence such as tyrants and oppressors pass.
speaketh the Prophet this
have
felt
who had
Many even
?
that the words
could
suffered martyrdom,
fore that Isaiah
and have thought there-
was but a fabulous person
if
it
Of whom Jews
of the
meant one Akiba, or Aquila, who
But
would
sen-
apply only to one
perished in the wars against Eome.
existed,
—a
;
nor even
martyr
this
he had really
be true of him that "he prolonged
But
his days," or fulfilled the rest of the prophecy.
no words could more exactly describe our Lord's condemnation,
when
the very judge protested his victim's
innocence, and publicly washed his hands before the
people as a disavowal of the sentence, which nevertheless
he passed, because to his tyrannical nature
a less evil that one just festival at
man
which he came
it
was
should die than that the
to preside should
be
dis-
turbed by the violence of the mob.
The
right interpretation of the next sentence, "
shall declare his generation?"
puted;
makes
but that which it
is
has been
much
Who dis-
most generally received
an ejaculation of horror on the part of the
Prophet at the greatness of the sin committed by Christ's contemporaries
:
— " Who can describe the men p
2IO
SEEM0N
VII.
of that generation, or their crime, without a parallel in
" For
the world's history ?"
land of the living
!"
It
He
was cut
was the slaughter
Servant which made their wickedness so
than that of other men, when they heir
;
come,
he ours."
let
us
kill
But even
off
from the
of Jehovah's
much
greater
said, " This
is
the
him, and the inheritance shall
of their general wickedness the
historian of their wars bears this remarkable testimony,
—"
I
deem
that
it,
if
the
Romans had delayed
come against these wretches, the
city
to
would have been
swallowed up by an earthquake, or overwhelmed by a deluge, or experienced the same fate as Sodom: for it
bore a more impious generation than those which
e suffered such things ."
The account
of the Messiah's death
followed
is
by
one of those statements, which were necessarily unintelligible until
they were
fulfilled,
and which not un-
frequently occur in the prophetic records
:
— "And they
appointed His burial to be with the wicked, but
with the rich
after
His death." According
He was
to the ordi-
nary treatment of those condemned to death, His body
would have shared the same ignominious of the malefactors
or had
it
between
been surrendered
fate as those
whom He was
crucified;
to the Jews, their
law was
that the body of a blasphemer, after being exposed for several days to public disgrace, should finally
buried in secret.
The courage
of one
man
be
prevented
our Lord's body from meeting with the slightest con-
tumely;
on the contrary, from the moment when
Joseph of Arimathsea went in boldly and begged e
Jos., Bell. Jucl, v. 13. 6.
it
DOCTRINAL STATEMENTS. of the Governor,
and was
love,
it
add that the word rendered
"one gave,"
that
I
was tended with the most reverent man's grave.
laid in the rich
literally signifies
21
is
may-
"he made,"
in our version
"gave," and
I
used impersonally,
"they gave," "they appointed;"
is,
the nominative not being expressed, to shew that ac-
cording to the ordinary course of events His burial
would have been with the wicked, in the common
But the same Providence which watched over His body upon the cross, and ordained
malefactor's grave.
that
"no bone
of
should be broken," ordained also
it
that every earthly
mark
of respect should attend
it
in its burial.
II.
Thus
far there is noticeable a close
and obvious
agreement between the terms of the prophecy and the facts of our Lord's life
and death.
are also
no one but our Lord
doctrinal statements applicable to for the
But there
Prophet in the strongest terms declares the
general sinfulness of man, the complete innocence of
the victim, and that what
ment
we
He
like sheep
have gone astray
own way."
one to his
bore was the punish-
Of men he
of the iniquity of others.
And
;
we have
if this
says, " All
turned every
was true of the
Jews, the people of God's covenant, more true was of the heathen, then, all
had wandered
animals,
sins,
who were
nor
aliens
like sheep,
—from God's ways
all
sins of their
it
from God.
All men,
—the most
roving of
;
not
all into
the same
sinners in the same degree, but all with
own
to
answer
for.
Jehovah's Servant
alone does not share in this general sinfulness, but, on
p2
SEEMON
212
VII. il
the contrary, makes atonement for others.
He but
Surely
hath borne our diseases, and carried our sorrows
we
Him
did esteem
:
leprous, smitten of God, and
afflicted." St.
Matthew quotes
tion, of
this verse in its lower applica-
the healing of the sick by our Lord's miracu-
lous powers:
might be
— "He healed
all
that were sick, that
it
which was spoken by Esaias the
fulfilled
prophet, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our
But
sicknesses."
ment does not
lower and
this
against
militate
secondary
its
fulfil-
higher accom-
plishment in the propitiatory sacrifice which Christ offered for
Among
man's pardon.
of sickness
and
sin
the Jews the ideas
were inseparably connected;
it
was the sin of Adam and with it sickness into the world; and in the which .had brought
death,
prophets, the words expressive of sickness and disease are so constantly used for sin, as almost to cease to be metaphorical.
In the
thought
in
is
present
Lord healed the
New
Testament the same
the words
sick of the palsy,
with which our
— "Thy
sins
be
forgiven thee." "
To bear our
diseases," therefore, is " to bear our
sins ;" or, in other words, to
In the Mosaic a
man bearing
Law
it.
which may serve
meaning
for, first,
and Ithamar, the it
them.
his sin in the sense of being liable to the
especially
hath given
for
the phrase constantly occurs, of
fixed legal punishment for
:
be answerable
you
we
find
priests,
But
there are two places
to explain the Prophet's
Moses saying
to Eleazar
the sons of Aaron,
"God
to bear the iniquity of the congrcga-
SINLESSNESS OF JEHOVAH
make atonement
SERVANT.
S
11
them before the Lord ;" and, secondly, Aaron is "to lay his hands upon the head of the scapegoat, and confess over him all the sins of the children of Israel, and send him away into tion, to
the wilderness
:
f
for
and the goat
Now
their iniquities
g ."
in our Lord.
"We see in
shall bear
upon him
both these types were
Him
fulfilled
both the victim, who,
in His own Person, bears the guilt of His people also the High-Priest,
blood,
all
;
and
who, by the merits of His own
makes atonement
for
them.
But though thus it was the sins of others which " We," says the Prophet, " esteemed smitten of God, and afflicted." The words all imply some such punishment as comes directly from God; and the first is chiefly used of the leprosy, a disease which the Jews regarded as
He bore, yet Him stricken,
no attempt was
so entirely of divine infliction, that
made
ever
to heal
it.
The whole
He who was
plainly shews that
neither be the Jewish nation
passage, moreover,
thus stricken could whole, nor the
as a
prophetic order, as the more worthy portion of those in whose error: they
name
it.
For
Isaiah speaks acknowledge their
had imagined that the great sorrows which
the Servant of Jehovah bore were the results of His
own
sin,
a punishment sent
chastisement of His
own
ill
by God
deserts
;
as the merited
they
now
in the
most unqualified terms protest His innocence, and declare that He was bearing the chastisement due to themselves.
Who
Prophet makes
then are they in whose name the
this confession ?
Or can
it
than his own nation primarily, and then f
Lev. x. 17.
«
be any other all
mankind,
Lev. xvi. 21, 22.
SERMON
214
as they learn to feel their
the Messiah one
who
VII.
own
and
sinfulness,
find in
On
bore their chastisement ?
the
other hand, the Jewish people could not be the Servant of Jehovah
for
;
He
is
acknowledged innocent, but the
Prophet constantly accuses them of wickedness last
twenty-seven chapters are
from the worst
;
indignant de-
full of
Nor, again, could
nunciations of their crimes.
the prophetic order
these
:
for though, doubtless, it
it
was
be
free
could nei-
faults of the nation, still it
ther be pronounced absolutely innocent, like Jehovah's Servant, nor equal to the task of bearing the sins of
The
others. is,
which remains
sole explanation, therefore,
that the confession belongs to those primarily who,
at the preaching of the Apostles, learnt to regard as
Him whom
their Saviour
sequently,
to
all
they had pierced
in every place
and sub-
:
and age who are
brought to acknowledge their sinfulness, and find in Christ
one
by whose sufferings they may procure
peace.
For
so the
through
Prophet proceeds.
for our sins,
and
"
He was
the chastisement of our peace was upon
His
stripes
in these
we have been
pierced
bruised for our iniquities:
healed."
words a reference
to
Him
There
is
;
and by
probably
the crucifixion,
our Lord's side was pierced by the spear
;
when
and as the
word has an intensive meaning, "pierced through and through," it is even in some versions, as in the But the main object of the Syriac, rendered " slain." Prophet rather was to express the intensity of the sufferings for
which the Messiah bore in obtaining pardon
His people's
sins.
He
says, therefore, that
was pierced through and through
for
He
our transgres-
215
Messiah's exaltation.
and bruised, or rather crushed, ground down, In other words, the sufferings of for our iniquities. Christ were not imaginary, or slight, hut real and sions
;
and such as while procuring
intense,
might
tion with God,
for us reconcilia-
also serve to convince us of the
God's sight,
hatefulness of sin in
when
pardon
its
But
could be obtained only by so terrible a penalty. Christ having paid this penalty, has procured
peace with
God
;
we have been
and restored in things
for
us
healed by His stripes,
spiritual to a state of health
and soundness.
But having thus borne the punishment which is
He was to
finally
this
reward
God
is
not guilty, the
of sins, of
Servant of Jehovah
obtain a commensurate reward.
doubly described,
—
in the
first
And
words of
Himself, at the end of the fifty-second chapter,
and more place or as
first
we read, "My servant shall deal prudently;" " shall prosper He shall it may possibly mean, :
be exalted and portion
Thee,
In the
fully again in the fifty-third.
—
as so
extolled,
many have been
astonished
marred was His aspect that
human, and His form that of a man, exaltation,
and be very high.
—
so
when He
shall
because of
was
scarcely
was scarcely they be astonished at His sanctify many nations, and
so abject that
shall
it
In pro-
it
kings shall close their mouths in awe at His presence. For (though they are Gentiles, yet) they shall see things such as neither tradition of old nor their wise men had told them, and shall understand truths such
had never before heard." Surely when in these words the Prophet describes the joy with which
as they
2l6 the
SERMON Gentiles,
VII.
represented by their kings,
as
tidings of Jehovah's
receive the
shall
Servant, he gives
himself the key to the meaning of that triumphant
march of the holy
city,
from Babylon, and return
exiles
which immediately precedes
and explains
to us
herald,
who from
peace.
It
this
prophecy
what are the news brought by that mountain-tops publishes
Judcea's
was no messenger sent forward by Ezra,
but the apostles and preachers of Christianity, the Prophet describes in
feet of
a gospel, that publisheth peace
;
him
Thy God
reigneth less
that bringeth
that bringeth a gos-
pel of good, that publisheth salvation
"We have no
that saith unto
;
!"
an authority than
St.
applying to the calling of the Gentiles the of the
fifty
mouths
-second chapter, — " Kings
Him
at
:
for that
them, they shall see."
whom
these words, — " How beautiful
upon the mountains are the
Zion,
to the
Paul
last
for
words
shall shut their
which had not been told
For in Eom. xv. 21, in speak-
ing of their admission into the Church, he quotes these very words,
they shall
see,
— " To whom He was not spoken
and they that have not heard
And
shall
of
un-
by sprinkling the nations the Prophet means that Messiah shall consecrate, and sanctify, and devote them to God, we conclude from derstand."
that
the fact that sprinkling was the form by which the priests
were hallowed and consecrated
For
we
so
read,
— " Thou
to their office.
shalt take of the blood that
upon the
altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him
is it
:
god's purpose in Messiah's sufferings.
and he
be hallowed, and his garments, and his
shall
and
sons,
217
garments with him
his son's
we
the goat of the sin-offering shall sprinkle of the blood
finger seven times,
read,
upon the
and cleanse
11
it,
."
So, also, of
— "The altar
and hallow
the uncleanness of the children of Israel
V
priest
with his it
from
But thus and make
"to sprinkle many nations" with blood, them the willing servants of Jehovah, consecrated His
service, is
no light
office
not one that
;
prophet, or the Jewish people generally office of
and
whom
who
one
is
:
rather
it is
especially God's High-Priest,
the high-priests of old did but typify
by the merits
and
of His one perfect
oblation and satisfaction, sins of all
we may,
some Jewish king, or
as a trifling matter, apply to
the
to
;
who
sufficient sacrifice,
made an atonement
for the
mankind.
In the tenth verse of the fifty-third chapter the
Prophet in his own person, or rather in the name of the people, reverts to the subject of Messiah's exalta-
"But
tion.
He
smote
it
Him
offering for sin,
Him:
was Jehovah's
will to bruise
unto death.
If
He
His
He make Himself an seed, He shall pro-
shall see
long His days, and Jehovah's pleasure shall prosper in His hand."
It follows, therefore, that the humilia-
tion of Jehovah's Servant
and was necessary counsel;
it
what
He
what
it h
for the
does not
pleasure in His
mean
of the divine plan,
accomplishment of God's that Jehovah had
Servant's sufferings as such,
endured was in
shews us
was part
is,
Exod. xxix. 21.
itself
—
a satisfaction to
that there
any that
Him
was a divine purpose ;
Lev. xvi. 19.
2
SERMON
8
1
VII.
be accomplished in Messiah thus becoming a
to
And
of sorrows."
"man
the next clause explains the na-
— "If He make Himself an In the Authorized Version the verb — " When Thou second person
ture of this purpose,
ing for sin."
is
taken in the
singular,
make His margin we find shalt
received,
As "
the
"
offer-
soul an offering for sin ;" but in the
now more commonly shall make an offering."
the construction
When
His soul
word rendered " soul" means, however, simply
self,"
the sense
He
" If
is,
Himself make an
shall
but most modern commentators consider that the word " Himself" is again to be supplied, and that the right rendering finally is, " If He shall offering for sin :"
Himself make Himself an offering for
which
interpretation,
principles of
Hebrew grammar,
— " Christ gave Himself Upon
this
most in accordance with the
is
exactly what St.
is
Paul says of our Lord in his Epistle
crifice to
And
sin."
for us
to the Ephesians,
an offering and a
sa-
God."
this
—as the same Apostle —Messiah's which
immediately follows
declares to the Philippians
exaltation,
the Prophet describes in three particulars.
His sorrows
shall not
His seed."
Not
be in vain, for
as the
natural descendants,
"He
Jews supposed,
Him
succeeding
crown, the prize of war and battle
;
For,
first,
shall see
in a line of
in
an earthly
but in a Church,
the members of which are adopted into God's family,
and being "led by the
And
Spirit of
God, are made there-
"He
by His
sons."
days."
In these words we have, again, one of the
next,
contradictions of prophecy
:
for
shall
how
prolong His
could one prolong
HUMAN
FACULTIES LIMITED.
219
who was "pierced through and through,"
his days
-cut off from the land of the living;" " whose
was burial
was appointed
was with the
to
rich after
be with the wicked, but who
His death ?"
How
in the
one verse could the Prophet declare that "
it
same
was Je-
hovah's will to smite His Servant unto death," and that nevertheless
But
"
He
Lord these words,
in our
arose from the grave,
days ?"
so apparently impossible,
They proved
proved doubly true.
He
should prolong His
and
true in fact; for
after a short sojourn
on
human body in which He had suffered, and which, human still though transfigured and glorified, is even now united earth ascended into heaven, in that same
with
Him
at God's right
hand
and they proved true
:
for, " lo I am with you always," He says, " even unto the end of the world." And lastly, the
in spirit
;
!
counsel of
God
His hands
:"
that
we
propose
in man's restoration shall "prosper in
prosper, perhaps, not exactly in the
should wish, or that ;
but in the
with God's
and peopled free-will,
it
way which
purpose when
final
human
counsels would
really is in accordance
He
created the world,
with a race of beings endowed with
and subject
to a real probation,
for
the presence of evil is a necessary condition. this purpose sufficient
to
we
are not judges
:
we do
which But of
not possess
knowledge, either of the end or of the means,
be able to form any probable opinion.
shewn
way
thee,
O
man, what
to
do," but
"
God has
He
has not
made thee His
counsellor, nor acquainted thee with
His purposes.
There
is
Scripture necessary for a
everything revealed in Holy life
here of holiness, to God's
220
SERMON
glory,
VII.
and our own salvation
but of the
;
many
cur-
rent opinions respecting the mysteries of our nature
and the unseen world, which we hold
besides,
some
are probable, some barely possible, but few have any certain warrant
a probation
is
going on
why it But we may it,
:
why we
should be so
or
We
Holy Writ.
in
can feel that
should be subject to
difficult,
firmly believe that
it
we is
cannot
tell.
our real
for
and that the counsel of the Almighty in the
good,
incarnation of the Son does " prosper in His hands."
In the two remaining
God
verses,
in person con-
firms the assertion of the Prophet that the Messiah's
" Because of His
sufferings shall not be in vain.
labours shall shall
My
many:
see the reward
by His knowledge
:
Servant, as being the Eighteous One, justify
for
He
many
passage
He
In
shall bear their iniquities."
consider that the expression
knowledge" means that Christ
will justify
their being taught the truth as
it is
attaining to the knowledge of
Him
offices
own
of Prophet,
Priest,
in
in
this
"by His many by
Him, and
so
His various
and King; but the con-
nection of ideas rather seems to require the more ob-
vious meaning, that Christ's
work
of justification is
rendered possible by His having wisely executed the Father's counsels.
It carries
back the mind to the
My
Servant shall deal pru-
opening words, "Behold, dently,"
—
well, that
is,
and wisely; and with
it
sug-
gests the mystery, that our Lord, though free from all
taint
and
possibility
of sin,
yet in His
nature underwent some probation: all
points like as
we
human
"was tempted
in
are;" could be encouraged by
CHRIST
UNIVERSAL EMPIRE.
S
221
Him, He
hope, in that "for the joy set before
en-
dured the cross, despising the shame ;" and was capable of reward, " for God,
Him
Him, and given name."
It
is
also
a to
we
read, hath highly exalted
name which
is
be noticed,
that
above every the
word
"righteous" holds a position contrary to the usual rules of to
Hebrew
mark the
syntax, but which serves very plainly
especial purity
and sinlessness of Jeho-
My Servant," as
Servant," but " the Eighteous One, to
"My righteous
For the words are not
vah's Servant.
signify that
bearing the iniquities of
Messiah's
mankind was only
if
possible
by reason
of His being
"the Eighteous One," one possessed of perfect and spotless innocency.
In the concluding verse, the rewards which Jehovah bestows upon His Servant are described under metaphors taken from war and conquest I give
Him many
for
His portion
the mighty as a prey."
Jew
— " Therefore
and
:
He shall
In these words
promise repeated that the Messiah not for the
:
is
only, but for all
in
He
Church which
due time
shall,
comes
embrace
all
for in the Psalmist's words, "
Christ the heathen
for
Jehovah's Servant
mankind, "to be
most parts of the earth
nations within
St.
no
which
its fold
will give unto
His
His inheritance, and the utfor
His possession."
reason of this universal empire follows, reason which
It is
to found, but one
God
divide
we have the
God's salvation unto the ends of the earth." local
will
And
—the
the
same
Paul gave the Philippians in the cor-
responding passage, in which he explained to them that " Every tongue shall confess Christ's exaltation :
SEEMON
222 that Jesus Christ
is
VII.
Lord," " because
He
laid
Himself
bare unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors,
He
and
made
bare the sin of many, and
interces-
sion for the transgressors." 3g]
In examining
by verse, which it
it is
Holy Writ thus, verse
this portion of
impossible not to feel that the doctrines
contains agree even
facts themselves,
were that
of Christianity.
We
more exactly than the
possible,
may, in
with the truths
even say that
fact,
been accepted by the
Isaiah's
words have, in
Church
as the authoritative explanation of the nature
of our Lord's sacrifice stles themselves,
refer
more
all ages,
upon the Cross
when
;
and the Apo-
treating of its efficacy, ever
or less directly to them.
The prophecy
is
the foundation therefore upon which the doctrine of the
Atonement is built and as it thus becomes the chief and most important of all the prophetic writings, we :
may
well rejoice that
that
it
commends
it is
itself to
clearness of its predictions, referring
them
and by
nation,
most
plain,
by the
and
by the
impossibility of
any king or prophet, or the Jewish
to
their exact fulfilment in Christ only,
quite as
much
ing to
a Saviour
it
also the
the understanding
as
it
does to the conscience by reveal-
who has made atonement
and by the merit of whose obtain pardon and peace.
sacrifice
for sins,
the guilty
may
SERMON Isaiah " Behold,
I
create
former shall not
rpiIE main
lxv. 17.
new heavens and a new
earth
:
and
the
be remembered, nor come into mind."
which Isaiah
topic of
aad concluding portion of is
VIII.
treats in the third
his last great
prophecy
the substitution of the Christian in the place of the
Jewish Church.
In the two previous sections this
truth had been alluded
upon which
it
rests
nate place, while
As
mind.
;
now
to,
and the principles stated
but in them
it
held a subordi-
foremost in the Prophet's
it is
have observed before, the
I
last
twenty-
seven chapters of Isaiah do not follow any strictly regular plan, and though there
is
a progress in them,
and in each section one subject holds a more prominent place than the
velopment of recur.
we
ideas,
rest,
yet there
is
but the same thoughts continually
They grow indeed more
clear
proceed, but they are not treated
way
no regular de-
and
definite as
by the Prophet
of premisses
and their consequences, of
causes and their effects,
but as great and leading
in the
truths,
which he
illustrates
and enforces in a variety
of manners.
Eeally
we may
say that the Prophet throughout
is
occupied with but one great theme; for in this his final
prophecy his mission was to prepare the minds
BBBMOM
224
Till.
of his countrymen for the abolition of their national existence, into a
and the development of their
Church
But
universal.
was the
their covenant, a necessary condition
ment Their
was
made
of the promise office
had been
to
them
to prepare for
country,
fulfil-
of a Messiah.
His coming
bom
be sprung from their kings,
to
Church
local
enlargement of
for this
:
He
in their
brought up in their company, and was
to
found His dispensation upon a broad and spiritual
Judaism was not
interpretation of their law.
destroyed by
Him
on the contrary,
it
;
no
was
of the law
tittle
to
But upon His appearing,
be
all
local
be
was merely prepara-
tory would become obsolete, and pass
thing
to
to fail
and perfected.
fulfilled
that
was
away
;
every-
and temporary, and symbolical, would
cease to have a place in the divine institutions, because its
The
purpose had been accomplished.
existence,
therefore, of their national polity, their possession of
their country, the maintenance of their religious services, their
temple and
city,
and the
longer have a use or meaning.
like,
would no
They had been types
and outlines of the complete and
final revelation of
when
the Messiah came,
God's will to mankind, and
and declared the way of for
them
to
salvation,
it
was impossible
maintain a separate and distinct existence
from that which was really their own
full
growth and
perfection.
The merging therefore of the Jewish into the Christian Church is Isaiah's real subject throughout but ;
in the several sections
three
main arguments.
it
naturally divides itself into
Thus, in the
first
nine chap-
UNITY OF THE GODHEAD. Prophet largely
ters the
being
insists
upon
225
Israel's duty, as
time God's Church, to bear witness to
for the
the unity of the divine nature.
great office in
Its
preparing for Christianity was to testify to there being
but one God, in opposition to the motley deities of the
The Apostles of Christ would reveal
heathen.
deeper mysteries of the divine nature, as fested in a Trinity of Persons
Godhead
of the
is
;
truth.
It
speak,
till
Christ came
all
spiritual
proclaim this
to
truth in abeyance, so
was, indeed, a :
mani-
but the absolute unity
the central truth of
and Israel was required
religion,
it is
still
to
the Jews gave but an un-
willing assent to it; the aesthetic and sensuous rites
had too great a charm
of polytheism tions of
men, over
whom
superior to reason, for trine is
which seemed
only as
by the
He
is
to
nature
them put
still
for the imagina-
exerted a power
heartily to embrace a doc-
God
so far
brought near to
from them.
man
Spirit that they can willingly
tual a truth; religion,
but
it
is
It
in Jesus Christ
endure so
the basis of
spiri-
reasonable
all
and therefore the earnestness with which
upon the Church
day
:
hence
also the justification of the special providence
which
Isaiah pressed
it
in his
watched over the Jews as the depositaries of
and
of
tions
this truth,
which one of the most remarkable exemplifica-
was
to
be the coming deliverance of the exiles
from Babylon by the intervention of Cyrus.
But tivity,
this deliverance of the for the sake of the
existence
it
was but an
was
Jewish nation from cap-
Jewish Church, of whose
for the time a necessary condition,
illustration of the
Q
manner
in
which God
226
SERMON
VIII.
and moral purposes
rules the world for higher
and
;
the Prophet returns to his main purpose in describing
the character and office of that Servant of Jehovah,
by whom God's counsels
in the redemption of
And
kind were to be accomplished.
Him we
in
manhave
the point of junction between the Jewish and the Chris-
Whatever the former possessed
tian Church.
and shadow,
new
coming; at His advent
it
entered
made
to
it
stage, for all the promises
and
fulfilled,
it
abandoned
imperfect
ing,
way
possessed simply as preparing the
it
for the Messiah's
into a
in type
state
for
its
were
former symbolical, wait-
In the
ever.
Isaiah had repeatedly described
section
first
Jehovah's Servant,
but not with that unity of idea which marks this second portion of the prophecy.
had
spoken of
so
with
Israel, the
Him
For sometimes he
that the words best harmonize
Church before the nativity;
other, they belong to the office of the
while at another, they suit
But
Church's Head.
Him
at an-
Church now
who
only
is
the
in the second part the Servant
of Jehovah appears strictly in His personal character,
with not a word which suits either the Jewish or the
Christian Church.
plant,
a
life
a
as
mean
He
root
place, is
the
He
grows up as a tender
out of a dry ground,
man
section the
Him, gogue
Servant of Jehovah there
are,
as in the passage read at
Nazareth
;
;
in
of sorrows, and in His death
bears our sins and carries our griefs.
pressly mentioned:
born in
is
and brought up in obscurity
is
He
In the third
never again ex-
indeed,
allusions
by our Lord
but the Prophet
His
is
to
in the syna-
now
occupied
CHURCH LIABLE TO NO FURTHER CHANGE. with the results of Messiah's of a universal Church, in
sacrifice in the
227
founding
which the blessings bestowed
upon the Jew in promise
only,
are granted in full measure
and type and symbol,
and which
;
therefore, as
not being a mere preparatory Church, nor serving for
a mere temporary purpose, but as the depositary of
God's
final revelation to
to this
man, will be
And
eternal.
Church of Christ belong the metaphors con-
tained in the text,
and a new earth
"Behold, I create new heavens
and the former," the Jewish Church, " shall not be remembered, nor come into mind."
As
:
the Jewish and Christian Churches represent
the same one divine institution in different stages of its
development, they naturally are closely interwoven
in the Prophet's mind,
ments used in also
and thus many of the argu-
this portion of his discourse are
in the first
nine chapters.
found
The circumstances
under which the two dispensations existed were ferent,
As
but their essence was the same.
was incomplete in the Jewish Church, her as
embodying only
perfect,
partial truth,
dif-
revelation
institutions,
were necessarily im-
and of temporary duration.
But
measure of divine truth required by
as the full
man
now
has
been vouchsafed, the Church henceforward assumes, as the Prophet tells us, a its institutions
course,
permanent character, and
knowledge
is
now but
in part
;
because of the infirmity of our nature. it
is
limited
requisite
for
Of
are not liable to further change.
by our powers
;
but that
is
so
Necessarily
but we have
all
truth
our probation, and, however weak and
childish our ideas
may
really be of spiritual things,
q2
SERMON
228 they are
all
that
is
VIII.
possible for us in our present state
and we have no warrant
for expecting that
God
will
ever in this world bestow upon us any further reve-
we can attain to any higher truth, exwe can gain it practically by acting upon
lation, or that
cept so far as
what we already
As
possess.
thus, then, there is a real identity of subject in
the three sections of the prophecy,
we may
not un-
reasonably expect to find the same great truths in-
upon in the
sisted
declared in the chapter,
we
Accordingly, in the forty-third
to
His Church,
— " When
through the waters, I will be with thee
thou passost
walkest through the
fire,
My
sight,
when thou
:
thou shalt not be burned,
neither shall the flame kindle
wast precious in
and through
;
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee
I
fully
read the promise of God's constant love
and kindness
and
more
earlier portions as are
last.
upon
thee.
.
.
Since thou
thou hast been honourable,
But the Jewish Church was
have loved thee."
not thus honourable for her intrinsic merits, she had
been chosen
"had
for a definite
purpose
" God,"
we
read,
created her for His glory, and formed her;"
and just
as the
for their
own
workman shapes
sakes, but for
work
his instruments, not
some further
had fashioned the Jewish Church special
;
use, so
God
to execute a certain
in the fulfilment of the divine counsels.
"This people,"
He
says, " I
they shall shew forth
My
have formed
praise."
Nor
for
Myself;
does the Pro-
phet leave us in doubt of one great purpose of Israel's calling I
:
— " Ye
am God."
are
My
witnesses, saith Jehovah, that
A PURPOSE IN ALL GOD In the
earlier portion of the
duces from his
Formed
premisses
229
prophecy Isaiah de-
lesson
of
consolation.
a special purpose, Israel's national ex-
for
istence stood
upon a
from that of other
different basis
We may
kingdoms.
a
WOEKS.
S
indeed
feel
sure of
all
God's
works that they have a purpose, and that every nation
and people serves some
cannot
allotted use
what that purpose
tell
has completed
its
is.
but often we
;
Even when
a nation
term of existence, and we can view
more frequently from the imagination than the reason that men conclude what
its
history as a whole,
was the exact place
it is
it
held in the divine economy.
There have been nations which have exerted a dominant influence for good or evil upon the course of
human
thought, and have
the world
there
:
may be
But most
place now.
affected the
of
destinies
nations which hold a similar
nations, like
most individuals,
play so inferior a part upon the world's stage, that
they seem to have no higher destiny than to work out in obscurity their
own
probation.
the greatest nations, while they are
And
still
even in
darkly exe-
cuting their mission, their purpose and calling
is
ge-
nerally so indefinite, that their duration and future history
is
The
a matter of the utmost uncertainty.
rapidity of their upgrowth, the exact time of their
culmination, the period of their decay and
fall,
—
all
alike are beyond the reach of human calculation. "Who would have imagined that Grecian history would have ceased with Alexander's conquests, and that from this period
of her
greatest
would no longer have any
extension her fortunes
interest for the world
!
SERMON
230
VIII.
was the case with the Jews. Not only had they a purpose, but that purpose had been Far
different
authoritatively declared
was the guarantee to all
them
revelation, and, as such,
by
Given
of their national existence.
in the promise that in Abraham's seed
first
the nations of the earth should be blessed,
it
had
subsequently been embodied in the institutions both
and religious law; and consequently the Aaronic priesthood and temple service, and with them their nation and polity, had become matters of of their
civil
The
necessity until the promised Seed came.
pro-
phecy, therefore, of Jacob, that " the sceptre should not depart from Judah until Shiloh came," contained a truth which necessarily followed from the relation in which Israel stood to God.
had been its office
would be
set apart
would
last
from
nations
but when
;
And
over.
all
For Shiloh's sake
to this
He
;
till
came,
Isaiah
surest ground
constantly
which befel the people in
By to
appeals,
as
during the
for comfort
His coming its
mission
certainty, that Judaea
must remain an independent nation came,
it
"until
Messiah
affording
many
the
troubles
his days.
separating themselves from the house of David,
which the promise had subsequently been limited
by prophecy, the ten sharing in this
they might
still
tribes cut themselves off
guarantee.
Though
as
from
individuals
enjoy the blessings of the Mosaic
covenant, yet nationally they had reduced themselves to the
same
level as
Edom,
other neighbouring tribes
;
or
Moab, or any of the
and however
closely they
misht imitate at Bethel the sacrifices at Jerusalem,
REJECTION OE THE TEN TRIBES. in God's sight
golden
it
was but idolatry
For
calf.
23
—the worship
as their sacrifices
of a
were not the ap-
pointed symbols of the one true Sacrifice, in due time to
be offered upon the
they were an abomina-
cross,
by the much as the When, then, they were removed from their
tion, just
sacrifices offered
as
heathen. land, there
was no
restoration in store for
them
they
;
maintained no separate existence in the countries
whither they were carried, but were merged among
From
the general population.
the
erroneous
sup-
Jacob possessed an
position, that the descendants of
intrinsic merit independent of the purpose to which
God had
called them,
ten tribes would
people;
still
.have imagined that the
be found somewhere as a distinct
but their enthusiastic enquiries
in discovering them.
Esau by
many
Eeally,
by
have
failed
parity of reason, as
selling his birthright forfeited all share in
the covenant of Abraham, so did the ten
tribes,
by
forsaking the Mosaic law, cut themselves off from the possession of the promises.
They
position of the Edomites, and is
all
fell
that
that so very remarkable a people
traces of their features,
back into the
we can expect
may have
left
and character, and customs, in
the districts to which they were removed.
But
further, this chapter, the forty-third, gives the
first
indications of the truth so fully declared in the
last
nine chapters, that the lineal Israel shall be re-
The Prophet accuses them of having broken They had the covenant between them and Jehovah.
jected.
been weary of God, and neglected even the ceremonial law, and had
made God
to serve
with their sins
:
and
SERMON
232,
was
so great
VIII.
their moral depravity, that the Prophet
elsewhere declares that even the fulfilling on their part
of the
sight
a
Even
.
unity, of is
ritual
law would be hateful in God's
as regards the great truth of God's
which
Israel
was the appointed witness,
plain that they did not hold
was openly and generally surrounding
.the
it
but that idolatry
it,
practised in Jerusalem and
districts,
in
spite
example
of the
Hezekiah to suppress
it.
Even
at court a party daily increasing in influence
was in
and zealous
its
favour,
efforts of
and was supported by the authority of Ma-
upon whose accession
nasseh,
to the throne it gained
the entire preponderance, and succeeded in reversing the whole policy of Hezekiah's reign, and in openly establishing the worship of
Moloch
in Jerusalem.
Joined, therefore, with promises of mercy, also of Israel's
as a
Church
:
doom
;
— " Thy
we read
her doom as a nation, and not first
father hath sinned,
teachers have transgressed against
Me;
and thy
therefore I
have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches."
Her
chiefs,
and teachers, and rulers had been
to the covenant,
and therefore
faithless
that belonged to
temple, her magnificent —her the ministering who were the princes of sanctuary, — profaned become, that com-
her nationally,
glorious
priests
ritual,
her
all
are
sight
:
is,
;
mon, with no special
no sanctity in God's
privileges,
and Jacob, which had once been the inheritor
of the blessing,
because
it
Mis under
a curse, and
had rejected Christ *
Isa.
i.
;
11—15.
and
is
rejected
Israel,
once so
THE JEWISH CHURCH BARREN.
233
highly favoured among nations, must henceforward, in the
words of another prophet, "be removed into
the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be
all
a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in places whither
God
will drive
them
all
V
In the second nine chapters we meet again with
— the
the same subject, nation,
Jews as a and the development of Judaism into the rejection of the
now more
directly con-
nected with the calling of the Gentiles.
Already, in
Christian Church
only
;
the fifty-third chapter, that the Messiah's shall see
His
and
shall
is
we have
work be
the general promise
shall not
"He
His seed;"
soul,
it
"He
be in vain:
shall see of the travail of
"He
satisfied ;"
shall justify
But in the fifty-fourth chapter, in which the Church is summoned to rejoice in her Redeemer's vicFor in adtory, the subject is more fully set forth. many."
dressing her the Prophet distinguishes her two great stages, describing her as she existed
under the Mosaic
economy, as a married wife, but barren
;
while the
Gentiles were as a wife forsaken and desolate, but
upon which the pleasure of God as she is gathered unto
Him
is
about again to
And
in Christ.
ingathering of the Gentiles the Jews are to rejoice. to
It is the barren wife
break forth into singing
destitute of spiritual
life,
so
;
who
is
rest,
in this
summoned commanded
their Church, that
barren of holy men.
is,
so
But
they shall be so no longer; for the apostles of the Lord, and the devout Jews, gathered from every land of the dispersion to Jerusalem at Pentecost, shall so b
Jcr. xxiv. 9.
SERMON
234
VIII.
knowledge of the
earnestly labour in spreading the
truth, that " she shall break forth on the right hand
and on the tiles,
And
left
and her seed
;
shall inherit the
Gen-
and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." thenceforward the Church shall no more be re-
proached for her unfruitfulness
" more are the
for
;
children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah."
Elsewhere, in the last section, the Prophet returns to this metaphor, but there
which
is
called
it is
the Jewish Church
Azubah, the forsaken one;
she was childless,
when
all
for
when
God's mercies to her were
barren of results, her privileges unused, and but few
who
learnt from her law to lead holy lives,
God was
husband estranged from her but when the truth went forth from Jerusalem, and Jewish lips could say as a
:
that "their sound had gone forth into
and
their
all
the earth,
words unto the end of the world," her name
was changed to Hephzibah, one, that is, in whom her husband had pleasure, and her land was called Beulah, married, "for the Lord delighted in her, and her land
was married." In the fifty-fourth chapter she similar terms, as " a spirit,
now
woman
is
spoken of in
forsaken and grieved in
the wife indeed of her husband's youth, but
refused."
When,
to rejoice in the desolate,
it is
therefore, she
numerous
is
called
upon
offspring of the wife once
because there can be no rivalry between
The Gentile world had been indeed as a desolate woman, left, without any special revelation, to the dim obscurity of natural religion,
the two Churches.
ABOLITION OF JUDAISM.
235
and the fading vestiges of tradition; but when heard the summons to faith borne to messengers,
it
was
into
it
by Jewish the Jewish Church that it was it
gathered, and admitted to the participation of privi-
We
which the Jew had long enjoyed.
leges
must
that the Prophet's words are simply meta-
remember
phors, and that while a contrast
is
possible
between
the Jewish Church, the barren wife of God's youth,
and the Gentile world, a woman desolate and forsaken, there
no contrast possible between the two as they
is
become the one Christian Church
;
and the elder
Church, in gathering unto her the desolate Gentile world,
may
new
well rejoice that she thereby gains
life,
and strength, and vigour, and becomes the
tual
mother of a numerous progeny.
spiri-
It is true that in
thus enlarging the bounds of her habitation she must
abandon
all
that
was
tively Jewish in her to a
local,
and temporary, and
law
that she
;
wider and nobler sphere, and
must adapt
cast off
The
prepare the Jewish mind. sacrifices
and
But
stage.
had endeavoured
and
fasts
offerings, the rites
herself
the trammels
and imperfections of a mere preparatory for this the prophets constantly
distinc-
the
festivals,
and observances of
the Mosaic ritual, were more frequently treated
them with
disdain,
to
than with approval.
by
With one
voice they warned the people that God's law did net consist in these things.
It
which they pressed home God's fast
is
that His will
to is
unloose that
men
was to
its
the
moral precepts
conscience
:
that
the bands of wickedness;
should do justly, and love
mercy, and walk humbly with llim.
And
these and
SERMON
236
VIII.
the like lessons they enforced by explaining the spi-
meaning
ritual
of the divine ordinances,
shewing that
the true sacrifices are those of righteousness, and that
God's dwelling the
man who
is
is
not a temple
meek and
of a
made with hands, but
contrite spirit.
These portions of the law are not abrogated:
all
that the prophets valued, and taught the people to value,
possess
He who
eternal as
is
by virtue
it,
gave
of being that
which God of old revealed His holy
and
rite of
our religion
we
all
;
and we
At
Our
faith is the
Jewish
advent, but as the
to full
faith,
to
the most
moral precepts
temporary and
admixture, are the subject of our creeds and
a growing light up
still
same Church
will.
recite its
separated from
its truths,
it
not indeed as
local
articles.
was
it
the time of the Messiah's
mid- day
with every
light,
truth clearly revealed which of old had been veiled
and symbol.
in type
There
derful in the Jewish
for it
;
therefore nothing
won-
Church rejoicing over the multi-
The Jewish nation may
tude of her Gentile sons. grieve
is
had separated
itself
from the Jewish
Church, and had framed the vain conceit of universal empire, and of a vassal world bowing at stead of this,
it
is
the Jewish Church which has em-
braced the Gentiles within
mouth
In-
its feet.
of Jewish fishermen
its
ample
folds.
By
we were summoned
the
to re-
ceive her faith, and accept as our Saviour her Messiah.
The promise which had been the forefathers
siah for
is
consolation of her
the foundation of our hopes.
whose advent she had longed
whom we
worship.
And
is
The Mesthe Christ
everywhere as the Apostles
EVERYTHING ESSENTIAL IN JUDAISM RETAINED.
went with
their message
from land
237
to land, they first
addressed themselves to the Jews, and round the
little
knot of believing Jews the more numerous Gentile
The Jews accepted no new
converts gathered.
creed,
they went not out to join the Gentiles, they did not
abandon their religion their
own
;
but on the contrary, searched
sacred books for
Apostles' words were
so.
the proof whether the
The world,
therefore, classed
Jew and Christian together, and rightly so. For the new converts adopted the habits of the Jews who were their fathers in the faith; they modelled their worship upon the customs and forms of the synagogue the Old Testament, especially in
became the rule of followed the
we
mode
their
life,
its
didactic portions,
and in their deaths they
of Jewish sepulture.
To
this
retain the Jewish habit of asking a blessing
day
upon
our meals, and the custom so long universal of writing " In peace" upon the sepulchres of the dead was bor-
rowed from
their
immemorial
practice.
The great ques-
Church was the extent of subjection the Jewish law; not whether its real and
tion of the early
due
to
deeper truths, but whether also
its
symbolic rites and
burdensome ceremonies, were of eternal obligation.
And when lemnly present
the Church assembled at Jerusalem so-
to debate this
their
in
weighty matter, no Gentile was
conclave.
It
was the Jew who
authoritatively decided that the positive enactments of the law
were binding only until Christ came
the Apostle
who
;
and
laboured most earnestly in separating
what had merely been preparatory from what was eternal and immutable, was " of the stock of Israel, of
SERMON
238
the tribe of Benjamin, a as touching the
VIII.
Hebrew
of the
Hebrews
and
;
law a Pharisee."
In the early Church there was never any doubt
The
about the obligation of keeping the Jewish law.
works of their writers abound with quotations from
it,
and generally from the Old Testament Scriptures,
to
a far greater extent than would be usual with similar
writings in the present day their
own
;
and, to state the case in
words, the law was binding upon
Gentile alike. law, the law
It
Jew and
was the Deuteronomy, the second
made harder and more burdensome
be-
cause of the idolatry practised while Moses was in the
holy mount,
—
it
was
"The
tians to keep.
this
which
was a
it
original law,"
we
sin in Chris-
read,
"was
that
which the Lord God spake before the people made the calf, and worsl^ped idols, and it consisted of ten commandments and judgments. But after they served deserved.
God laid upon them such bonds But beware that thou lay them
thee
the Saviour came chiefly that
idols, justly
:
for
as they
not on
He might
the law, and loose us from the bonds of the
fulfil
second law
c
."
And
ever has the Church retained
that was essential in Judaism. their Scriptures,
We
daily read
still
and make them, with the words of
our Lord and His Apostles, our joint rule of
life
;
psalms each month are recited in our services still
keep one day in seven as our day of
longer
is
it
rest,
a bondage, but has been made,
higher motives of Christianity,
moral and spiritual good; c
all
and
subservient still
do
we
Didascalia Apost. Syr., cd. Lagarde, p.
5.
their ;
we
but no
by the to
our
observe
PURPOSE OF JEWISH INSTITUTIONS.
239
three great festivals, though no longer in honour of earthly deliverances, and of God's goodness in the
natural world, but in grateful remembrance of the chief acts of our redemption
by
Christ.
But everything which belonged
the Jews
to
as
a nation, both in their civil institutions and in their
Church establishment, as meaning, has ceased to
many had no higher
it
has no longer any use or
Of
exist.
these enactments
object than to keep the people
from contact with the heathen nations round belonged only to their others
more or
Christ.
The
political
and
social life
less directly typified
object, therefore,
;
many
;
while
the sacrifice of
of these statutes
was
to provide for the existence of the chosen people, to
whose keeping the promise of a Saviour had been enand
trusted,
to
embody
might serve
tions as
to
that promise in such institu-
keep
it
But the essence
their view.
the promise
itself,
ever prominently before of the law consisted in
and those accompanying truths
which are generally necessary for salvation.
This was
the real inheritance of the Jewish Church, and this
we now
possess; only these truths have been
clearly set forth,
more
and their meaning and obligation
more
fully shewn, in the final revelation of the Gospel.
And
if
Church has retained
in matters indifferent the
many Jewish
customs,
their usefulness,
it
has only been because of
and adaptation
to the
wants of a
Christian community.
The Jewish Church, that
now
therefore,
may
in her full development she
barren as of
old,
but
is fruitful
in
men
well rejoice is
no longer
of holy lives,
240
SEEilON VIII.
and in great and constraining
In old time
principles.
there was probably never more than a small portion of the people
whom
—a
remnant, as the prophets
ceremonies
and Juda?a
;
Christianity
is
itself
was but
Even now
the earth's surface.
it
but of limited extent
the nations which profess
of the people
it
to
it
true that
has raised
course of
even the mass
unknown to it is
other
the rule
it
enunciates
feel-
have
modern thought and
Even erroneous views
progress.
;
rank in
and of their most secret
and the principles which the whole
it
to the foremost
numerous individuals
of their daily conduct,
directed
as
but
:
controls with a force
religions, while in
;
—
may be
power, and influence, and civilization
ings
call it
unmeaning a speck upon
the law was more than a round of
of the doctrines of of the vigour
Christianity have retained something
of the parent stock; and while other religions have been content with an external obedience, and with
the practice claimed, and
those
who
of formal still
profess
rites,
claims, the heart, it,
and demands of
that they should submit even
their inmost wills to the pure
and holy
will of God.
But while the Jewish Church has thus its
legitimate development in Christianity,
gion, that
is,
of the Messiah,
— the
the contrary, has ceased to exist.
Jewish
attained to
—the
reli-
polity,
on
Repeatedly, from
the time
when
nationally
had separated themselves from
first
has
Christianity ever
they set up a king, the Jews their Church,
and the breach widened as their rulers more and more refused obedience to the counsels of the
prophets
but they finally and definitely severed themselves
THE BELIEYING JEWS THE CHURCH. from
it
only
when they
24
cast out of their synagogues
who acknowledged that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. As long as the theocracy lasted, Church and State had been with them united and the same all
but the establishment of the royal power did not necessarily involve
Their
elements. as
faithful,
an opposition between the two
government might have been
civil
David and Hezekiah were,
ciples set forth in the
a fact
Law
and the Prophets.
generally was unfaithful
it
to the prin-
;
As
but even after our
Lord's crucifixion their Sanhedrim might have
ex-
amined the proofs of His divine mission, and have
Him
The course they actually took was to reject Christ, and God has But though by rejected them from being a nation. accepted
as their
promised Christ.
this decision they ceased to
be the depositaries of the
divine promises, yet St. Paul denies that
His people.
cast off
God thereby when
For as in Elijah's time,
the ten tribes forsook the Mosaic covenant and their
king established an idolatrous worship, there were seven thousand
who had not bowed
the knee to Baal,
even so, he argues, at the present time also there is " a remnant according to the election of grace." And it
was in
people as
;
this
remnant that God recognised His true it been so numerous
and never, probably, had
when
in every synagogue of the dispersion there
were gathering round those three thousand devout men, who on the word,
all
first
such in every place as were waiting for the
consolation of Israel.
was
Whitsuntide had received the
And
still
for forty years Judaea
the chief seat of the Christian Church, and every -
R
SERMON
242.
where
its
made the
missionaries
house of Israel the
VIII.
sheep of the
lost
of their care
first objects
the nation to
the outward bonds which united
when
Him
so that
who were
never were God's mercies greater to those truly His than
;
were about
be broken, and the
to
Mosaic ritual and national worship about to cease.
To
the
of their national existence
this cessation
prophets had ever looked forward, and endeavoured to prepare the
minds of the people
for its approach.
Even Jacob had warned them that the depart from Judah when Shiloh came.
sceptre
must
What
place
could there be for the Aaronic priesthood, true Priest had entered
and
for sacrifice
upon His
offering,
when
had made the Atonement Messiah's true kingdom
is
Lamb
with the symbolic
the earthly kingdom must also cease
rites,
the
"What room
office ?
the very Paschal
And
?
when
;
for as the
not of this world,
its
con-
tinuance was plainly incompatible with His spiritual
There could not exist at one and the
sovereignty.
same time two kingdoms, one founded on material promises and with temporal sanctions, the other spiritual
and
eternal,
and both be
true.
For a time the
kingdom had a true existence and a rational purpose, as symbolizing and preparing for the spiriearthly
tual
kingdom
in
due time
to
receive and guard the truth
gradually to reveal
and scene
;
and
it
be revealed
;
it
served to
which God was pleased also provided a
for our Lord's ministry.
fit
place
But when the
and enduring kingdom had come, the preparatory must pass away. Even if the Jews had
better
received Christ as a nation, and therefore had not
JEWISH CHURCH MERGED IN THE CHRISTIAN.
had their polity and
institutions
avenging armies of Borne,
swept away by the
must these things have little band of Jews
Just as everywhere the
ceased.
round
still
whom
the Gentile converts gathered, gradually
lost their nationality,
and were merged in those Gentiles
and became one with them, so must temple and fice,
and
243
priest rites
sacri-
and Levite, tribe and lineage, their laws
and ceremonies, everything, in
short, distinct-
ively Jewish, have been absorbed in Christianity, and
The people might have continued, but
disappeared.
they would have been simply a Christian people inhabiting Judoea, with no special privileges, no peculiar
them in their relation to God from a Gentile- Church far away at the ends of the earth. Their high lineage would have given them an especial interest in the eyes of other nations, just as the sight of their city now awakens strong promises, nothing to distinguish
emotions in the heart of every Christian traveller
but
it
is
the
memory
of the
past,
not the actual
present,
which
festation
now of God's glory there, nor are prayers more acceptance when made within the precincts
sure of
stirs his feelings.
There
of its once glorious temple than in the
regions of the globe
watch over
its
;
probably trine, or
it
no mani-
most remote
nor does any special providence
A
fortunes.
be the highest among
is
Christian Israel might
Christian nations in birth, but
would not be foremost in purity of doc-
knowledge, or power, or influence.
Gentiles are not called into an that outer court to which the
banished their proselytes
;
For the
inferior place,
Jews of
— into
old arrogantly
but whatever the seed of
r2
SERMON
244
Abraham
VIII.
possessed in promise or privilege, in that
the Gentiles fully
As
share.
a matter of
fact, this
slow absorption of Judaism did not take place
Jews nationally rejected Christ to
;
the
;
and God saw
fit
remove a danger out of the Church's path by obliteration of the Jewish
the complete
polity
and
Had they continued, they might have drawn away the Christian Church to the same confidence in mere external observances which had made the Jewish Church so barren. They might have priesthood.
given a preponderance to principles and tendencies
from which struggle
to
it
cost the Church, as
And
escape.
it
probably
was, a vigorous it
was even a
greater mercy to the Jews than to the Gentile world for those
who
in every city received the Gospel were
rescued from the vain folly of attempting to combine
Judaism with Christianity it
or
then,
reject
it
while such as rejected
;
now, must surely sometimes
doubt whether a divine religion, which has become
and continues an impossibility, has not had pose fulfilled;
and
if so,
time,
Christ,
pur-
what other fulfilment has
there been but Christianity to
its
And
?
when, from time
any of Jewish lineage do draw near unto
they are obliged to accept the Gospel as a
spiritual religion,
from which
all
the gross and material
elements of their old faith have been purged away.
Even
was God's mercy shewn for He did but remove that which had become obsolete, and which, had it still been permitted to exist, in justice, therefore,
might have proved a stumbling-block in the Church's path,
by causing
it
to retain too
strong an element
JEWISH PROPHECIES FULFILLED IN CHRISTIANITY. of Judaism in
and
its rites
institutions
245
and modes
of thought.
The Jewish Church, jury. lives
She was barren
therefore, has sustained
no
in-
there were but few whose
:
were influenced by the truths of which she was
Though planted upon
the depositary.
a fruitful
The
she had brought forth only wild grapes. of morality
among
hill,
state
the Jews was probably considerably
which prevailed generally among
in advance of that
the heathen, but the books which narrate their history forbid our entertaining a very high idea of their
Upon
moral character.
the advent of the Messiah,
their
Church
shall
be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the
appear in a more glorious aspect " Her stones," we read, " shall be laid in antimony, and her foundations in sapphires ;" " All her children is to
:
peace of her children;"
be established
;"
"
her shall prosper."
"In
No weapon that is formed against And henceforward she is exposed
to no further vicissitudes
her
:
righteousness she shall
no further change awaits
;
for " as the waters of
Noah
shall
no more go
over the earth, so has Jehovah sworn that not be wroth with her, nor rebuke her."
He
will
Prophecies
such as these neither have had, nor can have, any
They
filment in Jewish history.
belong, not to the
national
and carnal portion of Judaism, but
spiritual
element, which
still
developed into the Christian
ful-
exists,
its
but has been
In
Church.
there dwells no Jewish nation in the
to
its
path
Holy Land
to
give even the appearance of a Church resting upon
temporal sanctions.
The "
city of
God"
is
no longer
SEEMON
246
of the earth, earthy, but
VIII.
a spiritual community,
is
governed by laws given by inspiration, guided by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, with
chief
its
Ruler in heaven, with promises which relate to the soul and not to the body, and with requirements to
be
fulfilled
only by a holy
being set upon heaven.
life
and by the
Its truths
bodied in institutions, and
rites,
affections
em-
are indeed
and ceremonies
;
it
has a form of government and material organization,
because these things are indispensable for the adequate discharge of
which
it
its
appointed duties
:
but the ends
proposes to itself are spiritual; the fitting
and preparing man
for a
And
heavenly inheritance.
in labouring for this end,
frames its institutions for the sole use of edifying, that " all things may be it
done decently and in order
body by tered,
joints
;"
and that " the whole
and bands, having nourishment minis-
and knit together, may increase according
to
the increase of God."
Within realization
community the true Jew finds the full of all the most glorious promises of the
this
previous dispensation that dispensation
nay, the careful examination of
:
would be the best preparative
studying the claims of the Gospel
onward unto
Christ.
cease to be a Jew.
;
for it ever
looked
But once admitted, he must The higher development is in-
compatible with the preparatory stage. first
for
Just as at
the Church, so entirely Jewish, abandoned, though
not without a struggle,
its nationality, as
without a meaning; so in
all ages,
a thing
now
in entering into
a spiritual covenant, the carnal Israel parts with all
JEWISH DISTINCTIONS ABOLISHED.
247
The spiritual perfection to which St. Paul had attained was such " that though he had known Christ after the flesh, yet hencematerial and earthly hopes.
its
forth
knew he Him no more." And something
same
spirit
of the
must influence the Jewish convert: he
must not think
any
of retainiug
special promises
and
prerogatives in which the Gentiles do not share, but
must be content
to
" count
all
things but loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ his
Lord."
In old time, several generations must pass before the proselyte was upon an equal footing with the
and
Jew
even into the outer court was posby his submission to a weary round of ceremonies. Even then he held so inferior a place that it was profanation for a Jew to intermarry with his children, and much more with one who was himself But in the fifty-fifth chapter the Prophet a convert. taught them that all these obstructions were to be removed. The blessiugs of their covenant were no his admittance
sible only
longer to be churlishly hoarded up, but " every one
who
thirsted
was
to
come
:
and the
be bestowed without money
wine and milk were
to
and without
And
price."
their waters
to
lest these
metaphorical ex-
them the means
pressions should not be understood, he explained
himself as signifying the means of grace,
whereby men lead a holy
life,
whereby " the soul
and bade "the wicked therefore forsake
his
way, and the unrighteous
man
re-
turn unto the Lord, and
He
lives;"
his thoughts,
will
and
have mercy upon
SERMON
248
him, and to our God, and don."
It is title
enough
VIII.
He
will abundantly par-
His mercy that men
to
and return unto Him.
forsake their sins
Nor was the
Prophet content with declaring these general prinbut in the next chapter made a
ciples,
further
still
advance in distinguishing the two dispensations, by
shewing that tinctions
all
were
personal disabilities and national dis-
to
be done away.
"Let not the son
of the stranger, that hath joined himself to Jehovah,
The Lord hath
speak, saying,
from His people a dry tree
.
.
.
For
My
and within
:
neither let the eunuch say, I
unto them in
I will give
My
and a name better than
—
name, therefore,
a better
than that of the lineal descendants of Abraham
cut
them an everlasting name that
off."
It is
that " with nation,
Him But it
house,
walls, a place
of sons and of daughters :"
will give
me am
utterly separated
:
—" I
shall not
be
the same lesson which St. Peter learnt,
God
is
no respect of persons, but in every
and not among the Jews only, he that feareth
and worketh righteousness
is
accepted with Him."
often as the prophets had declared
it,
nevertheless
needed an express revelation to induce the apostle
to consent to its practical application;
so little in-
fluence do abstract truths exercise over our minds,
when our
prejudices and the daily habits of our lives
are opposed to them.
But the
truths thus clearly taught in the
sections of the prophecy are
much more
rectly declared in the last nine chapters. cal expressions,
to the
which might have
mind an exact idea
first
fully
failed in
and
two di-
Metaphori-
conveying
of the Prophet's meaning, are
NEW COVENANT
BELONGS TO THE GENTILES.
249
there replaced by statements so plain that none could
misunderstand their application that in the
temple nor
new
where we read
as
',
dispensation there shall be neither
sacrifice
and that the
11
,
longer be of Aaron's line
e
Expressly
.
no
priests shall
God
declares,
them that asked not for that He Him and will be found of them that sought Him not and that He will say, Behold Me, behold Me, unto a nation that was not called by His name;" will be " sought of
;
:
He
whereas of Israel
hands
adds, " I have spread out
mercy, " for His servants'
shew them them
will nevertheless
sakes
He
must
visit
will not destroy
them
"I
:
will
the sword, and ye shall
all
But His
all."
justice
number you," He says, " to bow down to the slaughter :"
and while the Gentiles enjoy the blessings and leges of the
new
shall forfeit
them by
their
u Behold, saith the Lord God,
wilful obduracy.
servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry
My
•
ashamed
name
My
behold,
:
heart, but
howl
servants
:
own
My
behold,
but ye shall be thirsty
drink,
servants shall
behold,
privi-
covenant, the Jews, excepting the
believing remnant,
My
God
the day unto a rebellious people."
all
my
shall rejoice,
but ye shall be
servants shall sing for joy of
ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall
for vexation of spirit.
And
My
chosen
unto
for a curse
shall slay thee,
and
call
for the
Lord God
His servants by another name
we have
In these words
ye shall leave your :
f
."
not merely the call of the
Gentiles, but the prediction that they will obey the d
Isa. lxvi. '
1
—
e
3.
Isa. lxv.
1, 2, 8,
12—15.
Ibid. 21.
SERMON
25 O call,
VIII.
and that the Church will mainly consist of them
but that while there
will indeed
:
be a remnant of the
Jews, " a seed which shall inherit Judah's mountains," there will be no full harvest
mass of
for the great
;
the nation will reject the Messiah, and their very
name
and the Church's
title
given her in the Greek city of Antioch will shew
how
therefore will disappear
complete
ment
is
the distinction between her full develop-
in Christ,
were confined It
is
;
and the time when her privileges
to a small province of Palestine.
true that in describing this entire change the
Prophet draws his imagery from what actually existed in his day,
and that he predicts the glorious
ment and ever-widening spread
of Christianity in
terms borrowed from the Mosaic could not well be otherwise
;
for
establish-
ritual.
men
But
this
can only use the
language and ideas of their own times, even when the things signified belong to remote ages, and a very different state of circumstances.
But
as there are various
questions connected with this third section of the pro-
phecy, which would require a longer time for their
proper consideration than would be possible now, I
must defer them to-day
it
will
until
some future opportunity.
have been enough
in shewing that there
is
if
For
I have succeeded
a real unity of subject in
all
three portions of the prophecy, and that the
title
Evangelic Prophet
having
is
due
to Isaiah, not only as
of
set forth the death of our Bedeemcr, and the doctrines which explain His death, but also as having clearly
foretold the nature
Church: that
it
and character of Christ's universal
was
to bo
no mere enlargement of
CONCLUSION.
25
Judaism, but that there was to be a vital change in its entire
theory, so that all that
was
local,
and tem-
porary, and distinctly Jewish should disappear,
and
only the spiritual element remain; and that in this
Church the Gentiles would
so largely predominate as
everywhere to absorb the believing Jews thus reconstituted, and it
would carry
made an
Church,
universal
into all lands the
tion through a crucified
and that
;
tidings of salva-
Eedeemer, and summon men
everywhere, not to earthly privileges, but to participate in that
Himself
heavenly hope which the
condescended to share,
that was set before
when "for
Him, He endured the
spising the shame, and of the throne of God."
is set
Emmanuel
down
the joy
cross, de-
at the right
hand
SEEMON Isaiah " Behold,
I
create
lxv. 17.
new heavens and a new
former shall not
TTPON
be rejnembered, nor
earth
main
I sketched the
and
:
the
come into mind."
upon
occasion, in preaching
a former
verse,
IX.
this
outlines of Isaiah's
teaching with respect to the development of the Jewish
into the Christian Church, as contained in the
two
first
and I
portions of this his final prophecy;
then briefly combated the idea that the Prophet's
and
symbols
figures,
which naturally were taken
from the state of things then existing, must necesor
sarily,
filment. cies
—
would even probably, have a
My
object
was
belong to the
as
embracing,
within her tinction
fold,
Christian
therefore,
Church
both
as Christian,
Jew and
Gentile
upon equal terms, and with retains no right
he can reserve
to
ful-
shew that these prophe-
and disparity removed.
Church the Jew lineage,
to
literal
In the
all
dis-
Christian
by reason
of his
himself no prerogatives;
nor must he so interpret the promises as to exclude Christians from their equal
participation.
not living under a double
dispensation,
Churches, each with culiar
inheritance;
its
but
own in
We
with two
sanctions and
that
its
Church which
the one body of Christ, and in which
are
"he
is
peis
not a
JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY CONTRASTED.
Jew who
one outwardly, neither
is
which
cision
is
outward in the
The reservation Jews has probably
2$$
that circum-
is
flesh."
of certain
special
privileges
for
arisen from the erroneous suppo-
being a contrariety or opposition be-
sition of there
and the Christian Church.
tween the Jewish
Of
course they are capable of being contrasted in the various periods of their existence,
the
Christian
Church
as
was in primitive times mediaeval and modern
it
with that same Church in
though in
times,
nature and in
essence
its
rights,
its
it
—just as we contrast
and
any period been
degree from that which a
still
For line,
to the
Jew
fect
advent of the Messiah.
;
to the Christian
it
has been given
The one looked forward
;
in the later
promise has
it
was from the
unto the per-
first
tide splendour of the Messiah's teaching,
vine words of the Apostles. revelation
is
to
promise
earlier dispensation revelation
faint light, gradually brightening
day
to a
for the other that
In the
fulfilled.
was a
now holds. And naturally may be drawn between the
after the
to be accomplished;
been
the de-
kind or in
different in
truth was given in shadow, and out-
and prophecy
in substance.
is
it
it
broader contrast
Church before and
its
has ever been one and
the same; nor has the truth of which positary at
in
definition,
the noon-
and the
di-
Henceforward no new
be expected; no line of prophets
now exists to declare new truths, or modify Even of the councils of the Church, we affirm
old.
that
they must not decree as an article of the faith anything that cannot be proved by Holy Writ.
Our
SERMON
254 business
is
IX.
simply to understand, to hold
fast,
by the truth once delivered unto the
to profit
and
saints.
But however great may be the contrast between the Jewish Church as being the preparation, and the Christian Church as being the completeness, there is no distinction in their inner essence. They form
God
the one revelation of dispensation
mankind, and the later
but the ripeness, the maturity of the
is
And
earlier.
to
would be
it
as possible for the child
to exist side
by
man's
as for the preparatory
estate,
side with
himself
tinue contemporaneously with
The one grew out other in
its
of the
its
other,
when grown Church
own and
now
con-
to
development. in
is
fact the
mature and lasting stage; and whatever
belonged to the Jew in his covenant relation belongs
to
to the Christian,
to
God
excepting those childish
by reason of riper age he has put away. God's dealings with mankind form one great whole, from the day when He gave to her whose name was
things which
being the mother of us
Life, as
all,
the central promise
of our faith, that her Seed should be the Deliverer, to
the day
when
Virgin's Child
;
that promise
was
fulfilled
in the
and thence ever onward until the
pensation shall close, and
all
dis-
mankind stand before
the throne of the woman's Seed in judgment, to receive according to the deeds done in the body, whe-
ther they were good or whether they were
The
promises, moreover, of Isaiah were
Jewish nation because
—just
as
now
evil.
made
to the
contained the Jewish Church,
it
the Church visible has possession of
the promises because
it
contains the Church invisible.
isaiah's promises general.
255
In theory, indeed, the two were commensurate
;
the
Jewish nation ought to have been identical with the
But
Jewish Church.
know as we
that
many
it
was not
so
;
—just
as
are called, but few chosen.
are not anxious to
make
now we And just
this failure, so to speak,
too prominent, but treat our ordinances as if they in-
variably produced the wished-for
drawing no
effect,
sharp line of distinction between such of the Church's
members as are so only outwardly, and such have made their calling and election sure, but
professing as
treating all alike as her regenerate sons
ing them, indeed, that a
ever warn-
;
must be the
of holiness
life
seal of their acceptance,
but leaving the separation
between the true and the
false to the
above
;
when
encircling all alike,
Church's
fold,
unerring Judge
living, within the
and when dead, uttering over them
the same words of pious hope
just as St. Paul ad-
:
dressed his Epistles to congregations of elect
men, even when about
for sins of the darkest It
was no business of
dye
to :
—
saints
and
rebuke them sharply so
was
with Isaiah.
it
his too exactly to distinguish
between the Israel which was
and that which was truly
so only after the flesh,
so after the
spirit.
He
warns, rebukes, exhorts, comforts, encourages, gives glorious promises to all alike.
equally belong to
working out their
all
;
for
his
words do not
they are each individually
their probation,
individual
But
and in the aggregate of
probation the nation will also be
proved, and attain to
its
doom.
The Prophet does
indeed from time to time foretell the misuse which Israel
would make of
its privileges,
and
its
consequent
SERMON
1$6 rejection tell
but
;
it
IX.
was necessary that he should
so fore-
as not to interfere with their free-will,
it
rather as warning and admonishing
them
and
of the in-
evitable consequences of their misdeeds, than as de-
claring the irrevocable decrees of the Almighty.
man's
For
and therefore his probation, would
free-will,
be an impossibility were either the threatenings or the
promises
of
God
unconditional
and
;
this
the
Church of old was taught
in the prophecy of Jonah,
which contained the great
lesson, that
most
definite predictions,
Nineveh
shall
even after the
"yet forty days, and
be overthrown," the declarations of
the prophets might
men
—that
of their
fail
accomplishment
if
truly repented, and thereby obtained mercy of
the Lord. Isaiah therefore addresses the Jews as God's chosen people, and speaks of
of His love
And
in
;
them
and rightly
attain
still
so, for
describing the
Church should
as
future
being in possession
they were the Church. glory to which the
when her Messiah had come,
and His kingdom been established upon
earth,
he
fitly
took as the groundwork of his description the highest conceivable perfection of that state of things which
then existed, that
is,
Jewish nation was the tre.
of the theocracy, of object,
The chapters which
and Jerusalem the cen-
chiefly contain this descrip-
tion are the sixtieth, the sixty-second, fifth,
is
in the last of
which the
and the sixty-
which we have a picture of what
popularly called the millennial or paradisiacal state
of happiness.
A
to be created, in
new heaven and which "there
a
shall
new
earth are
no more be an
LANGUAGE OF ISAIAH METAPHORICAL. infant of clays, nor an old his clays ;"
man
257
that hath not filled
there will be no premature decay, nor any
other kind of failure or disappointment; "they shall
not build, and another inhabit
and another eat
;
.
.
.
they shall not labour in vain,
nor bring forth for trouble
answer to
they shall not plant,
;
;"
there shall be a speedy
prayer, — "Before they
and while they are yet speaking, I lastly, there shall
I will answer,
call,
and
will hear;"
be a time of general peace,
— "The
wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock,
pent's meat.
My
They
and dust
shall
be the ser-
shall not hurt nor destroy in all
holy mountain, saith the Lord."
Now
if
the Prophet
is
describing in these words the
spiritual blessings of the
Church,
—
if
and
his images
metaphors pourtray that state of things which does partially exist in Christendom, if
and would
fully exist
men's professions of Christianity were sincere, and
their lives in accordance with their professions,
The Messiah's
thing could be easier of explanation.
advent
is
to inaugurate a
new
era, in
be found everything requisite
which there
for the
man's moral and spiritual nature
;
— no-
it is
will
perfection to bring
of
him
communion with God, and subdue in carnal and depraved appetite. But if the
into intimate
him every
Prophet's words are not metaphorical, but to be rally understood, they
long
life
result,
;
convey the promise merely of
of success in trade
not of
and agriculture,
human prudence and
a special providence
;
lite-
as the
industry, but of
and, simultaneously, of a change
in the structural form of that portion of the animal
SERMON
258
which
creation
the ad-
before
disappears
infallibly
vance of agriculture and
IX.
Such an age of
civilization.
material prosperity the Jewish Church certainly never
enjoyed
we
and when we turn
;
that
feel
has been founded upon better pro-
it
The very
mises.
Church,
to the Christian
object of the Gospel
from these earthly
and
desires,
to
is
wean men
who embrace
all
it
are required to regard such things as matters indif-
and rather
ferent,
New
The
be shunned than sought
to
for.
Testament throughout summons Christ's
people to a warfare, to the endurance of tribulation, to the
abandonment of worldly wealth and carnal en-
joyment; and bids them wage an incessant struggle
own
against the inbred corruption of their
nature,
against temptation from without, and faintness
And
lukewarmness from within. mised
is
discipline,
heavenly Father,
to
—and
What
to the soul.
—the loving
better, yet content to
of others?
What
in houses of their trees of their
in heaven,
own
it
Christ's gift of peace
remain and labour
reward
own
to
Christian
building,
planting,
?
when
The promises
not earthly success
have been
for the
men
and eat the
to
good live
fruit of
their citizenship is
and their earnest desire
lay His head
life
because that was far
depart,
to the likeness of that Saviour
are
chastisement of our
reward would long
eager to
St. Paul,
with
and
reward pro-
the
to
be conformed
who had not where of the
New
to
Testament
and bodily enjoyment, but
earthly trial and the subjection of the body, and un-
ceasing labour, and patient soul
is
waiting,
by which the
prepared for heavenly blessedness
;
and in
DANGERS OF A MILLENNIUM. supporting this " find
trial of their faith,"
259
Christian
not in being allowed to combine
their solace,
earthly success with the discipline which for heaven,
here
;
fits
them
but in the foretaste of spiritual joys even
" for the kingdom of heaven
On
men
within you."
is
the contrary, the sanctions of the Jewish Church
mind
were, in the main, temporal; the
was not yet
spiritual
spiritual promises
;
enough
to
of the people
be strongly moved by
and naturally, therefore, the Pro-
was drawn from that which would
phet's language
have been the perfection of the blessings proposed the is
Jew under
to
But there
the terms of his covenant.
every reason to believe that the higher and more
pious class of minds
among
the Jews were able to
penetrate behind the veil, and perceive that spiritual blessings
and privileges were
of earthly and
set forth
carnal enjoyments.
even among the followers of the
under the types
We
false
know
that
Prophet, their
from early times regarded
best commentators have
the material joys of Paradise as types of pure and spiritual pleasures
;
and certainly Christians, having
the express teaching of our Lord and His Apostles,
ought not
" beggarly elements of the
to cling to the
law," nor imagine that temporal prosperity
is
one of
whom
He
chast-
Christ's gifts.
eneth if,
;
if it
If
be the
the Lord loveth,
trial of
our faith which
in a word, Christians are to take
follow Christ,
—a
up
millennial period, as
is
precious
their cross it is
and
popularly
understood, would be a time full of the subtlest dangers for the soul
;
a time enervating and enfeebling,
with nothing to try men's
faith,
s2
and thereby make
it
SERMON
260
exercise their patience, and for-
strong, nothing to
and
bearance,
towards
charity
make them watchful over
nothing to
others,
themselves.
forth no endurance, practise
Christian virtue.
IX.
them
would
It
in no
call
manly and
Piety and religion would be gre-
garious instead of personal, the virtue of the mass,
and not of the individual
there would be no training
;
unhappy
of the man, nothing to prepare those whose
was
lot it
under such a dispensation
to be born
for
a higher and better state of things, but everything to
make them worldly-minded, and
above
to forget
God's great and wonderful
all,
God.
And
gift of free-will,
by which man was made in the image of his Maker, and became capable of good and evil, would be exchanged
no higher in kind, though ex-
for instincts,
upon higher things, than those which now
ercised
serve to guide the inferior creation. It seems,
moreover, plain from the Prophet's
words that he did not intend his language ally understood; for part of
The
metaphorical.
is
be
liter-
confessedly
lion could not eat straw like the
and continue
bullock,
what he says
to
own
to
be a lion; for the change in
necessary to enable him to crop and
his structure
digest a vegetable diet
would destroy in him that
And
differentia
by
were
change possible, nothing would be gained
by
this
A lion
it.
creation
;
by the
it
so transformed
is
a lion.
God has
for its place
so ;
formed
even
would be a defect in
for it is the glory at present of the
world, that
ber of
which he
virtue of
it
as to
fit
animal
each
mem-
and the comparative anatomist
sight of a single bone can tell
what was the
BEASTS OF PREY NOT AN EVIL.
mode
general structure, the habits, and
animal to which
it
belonged,
—
so
l6l
of life of the
wonderful are the
works of God. But a beast of prey condemned to a graminivorous life would be a blot, a defect in creation, and would destroy the harmony and beauty of the Creator's laws.
a matter of fection than
The
fact,
And
no nearer a
we
are now,
again,
we
should be, as
state of paradisiacal per-
but rather the contrary.
beasts of prey existed long before
God prepared when
a paradise for man's abode, and at the very time
He
pronounced
all
His works
to
To suppose upon the false
be good.
that they are an evil, a defect, rests
assumption that the death of an animal
The Manichees
of old said that
it
is
an
evil.
was, and brought
forward the existence of death, and of beasts of prey, as proofs that the Creator of the world
but the Fathers of the Church
evil;
was Himself
who wrote
against this impious sect, denied that either one or
the other marred the perfection their
of Paradise.
And
arguments have been confirmed by the disco-
veries of first life
before
modern
times,
which prove that from the
and death went hand in hand, and that long
Adam was
formed, monstrous animals, with
quaint and uncouth shapes, were busy on land and sea
preying upon one another, and death as active among the members of the lower creation as
But
if
it is
now.
the Prophet's words themselves suggest that
they are to be metaphorically understood, so are there higher considerations which militate against the view that there wilL ever exist before the great day of judg-
ment a
state either of general prosperity or of uni-
262
SERMON
For the great purpose of
versal piety.
Now
this present
seems to be the probation of God's
state of things
people,
IX.
why,
or
how
it
we cannot answer
is,
but certainly the fact seems to be, that probation
where the few have
possible only
the
is
to struggle against
many; our Lord Himself seems
that
tell us,
to
always be small in amount compared with
faith will
the vast mass of lukewarm semi-infidelity which will
surround
it
a ,
and that the few who
live for another
world will be scarcely worthy of mention compared
with the many who are influenced by earthly motives
b
It
.
a
is
why
difficulty
should be
this
so,
thing which seems hard to us, and beyond our
a
understanding
;
but
we may be
sure that
is
it
in
no
respect inconsistent with God's goodness and mercy,
and that
seems hard
it
to us only
because
we
see but
a small part, and not the whole of God's dealings.
"We may then confine ourselves
to the fact
;
and the
teaching of Holy Scripture seems plainly to be, that as for
some
ineffable reason the sufferings of Christ
were necessary, be
it is also necessary that His peo" suffer with Him, that they may
so
now
ple should
c also glorified together ."
smallness of Christ's flock
is
We may
in accordance with the
general law of the Creator's works of the most striking things
add, that the
;
for certainly
upon earth
is
one
the profuse
expenditure everywhere of means to produce a limited It is seen in the incalculable periods during
result.
which its *
this earth existed before
surface
Luke
;
it is
xviii. 8.
man
appeared upon
seen in the formation of so b
Matt.
vii.
14.
c
Rom.
viii.
many 17.
263
DIFFICULTIES.
worlds in our
own
planetary system, the conditions of
which apparently negative the existence upon them On this earth it is most of the higher forms of life. painfully seen in the vast waste, as
it
seems to us in
human life. Of the countless men now alive, how few are placed in such
our ignorance, of
millions
of
circum-
stances as to be capable of attaining even to a low
degree of morality, to say nothing of mental cultivation
and
Even
religion.
respects so highly favoured, into large towns,
own country, in many if men are congregated
in our
coarse forms of infidelity seem of
necessity rapidly to pervade the mass
;
and
dwell in thinly populated villages, the mind
And
mant, and ignorance prevails. extremes,
and
how many
if
they
lies dor-
between these
are the mental doubts, the hard
which perplex our
difficult questions,
faith
;
how
numerous the seductions from the world, and from our own selves, which lower our moral state; how overpowering the influence of the things amidst which
we
make our
live, to
and formal
religion cold
!
All
these, and many such considerations, seem to shew that when the Apostle warned men that "through
much
must enter the kingdom
tribulation they
heaven," he was declaring not a
some
reason,
fact,
but a principle
some wise moral
that there
is
why it And
musing upon these
of
necessity,
so should be.
in
that there should be so believer's
way.
They
difficulties
many
they were almighty
feel that if
they would remove them.
men wonder
stumblingblocks in the
They would have a world
without sin and sorrow, without
without doubts and disputings.
guilt
Of
and shame,
old time this led
SERMON
264
men
Manicheeism
into
IX.
now
;
prompts them only to
it
catch at anything in the Bible which seems to favour
In both cases the root
the notion of a millennium. of the feeling
the same.
is
state of things
It is discontent
He
character as Creator, because
merely the existence of
human
evil,
probation so
own
ignorance,
we should
His
in
has permitted not
but that
really faith in God's goodness,
our
Him
and a protest against
really best for us,
dominant, and
with the
which God has appointed, as being
should be so
it
Had we
difficult.
and a proper sense of
feel sure that
good and
wise purposes really are accomplished by this permitted existence of
evil,
than that
man
surpasses our powers
understand
;
—
His works there
we
cannot penetrate.
ways
there
is
end
in the
is
difficult
can see that in
something which
something which we cannot
;
mean in
I do not
all
we
We
should be easy.
it
God's dealings with
Infinite,
it
mankind that probation should be
better for
pose that
and that
is
revelation only, but in
at the root a
mystery which
But our business
is
not to sup-
can measure and judge the ways of the
but humbly to
bow
before
Him
as
One whose
are not as our ways, neither His thoughts as
our thoughts. ISTor is this
we knew
all
more than right reason requires God's works,
end were before
for if
the beginning and the
us, as well as that small portion of
existence in which our lot
powers were equal to
if
:
is cast,
to the task,
and
if
our mental
we might then be
able
form a judgment upon the question, whether God's
dealings with hereafter
mankind
are wise
and
just.
we may understand His works
;
Probably it
may
be
A MILLENNIUM NO ADEQUATE REWARD. a part of the
265
enjoyment of heaven to
intellectual
He
meditate upon the wisdom and goodness which has displayed
;
but
it
quite certain that
is
cient powers of
now upon His
mind
to
we have
and probably not
neither sufficient materials,
suffi-
form even a probable opinion
purposes in creation
;
and
it is
the office
of faith, as being the evidence of things not seen, to
support us in our doubts, and strengthen us for the task of bearing
all
the bodily and mental trials of
life,
without wavering in our trust and confidence in our
heavenly Father.
We no
fit
can
see,
place
however, that a millennium would be
The absence of make
or time of probation.
temptation, the easy benevolence which had to
no
sacrifices,
the tranquil sleep of unstirred passions,
the piety by instinct, the removal of self-restraint
and
watch and pray
self-discipline, the lest
firm health, the long all
this
is
we
all
necessity for
need no longer
to
entered into temptation, the
life,
the material prosperity,
compatible with physical enjoyment;
it
would be the perfection of our lower animal nature but the soul would not be trained by such things for a spiritual existence, but
would slumber
in an inglorious
benumbing effeminacy. But if it be intended as a reward to follow upon man's probation, it is too little. To reward the body
repose and an enfeebling and
for the struggle of the soul is
fixed
;
to give one,
whose heart
upon heaven, earthly happiness and luxmy,
and mere physical enjoyment, while
his higher nature
pined away in drowsy inactivity,
is to
not worth the striving
Not
after.
give
him
for this
a thing
have we
SERMON
266 been taught fect
IX.
but that "
to pray,
consummation and
bliss,
we may have
our per-
both in body and
soul,
in God's eternal and everlasting glory."
To the true
weaned from the enjoyments
of this world,
Christian,
and with
his affection set
on things above, a millennium
would be but an intermediate purgatory, without purifying use claim,
How
;
and well might the waiting soul exLord, holy and true
long,
over the protracted deferring of
We
may
its
its
?
and grieve
better hopes.
conclude, therefore, that the images of
by the prophets as symbols They took the highest perfec-
earthly prosperity are used of spiritual blessings.
tion of the state of things
which then
existed, in order
to represent truths
which no human language can
adequately convey
and, similarly, the
of the Christian
:
Church are
drawn from the Mosaic course open to them.
set
ritual.
main features
forth under images
Nor was any
They could only use the
guage and the ideas of their own time.
were addressed intelligible
thought.
other
to their contemporaries,
must adapt themselves
lan-
Their words
and
to their
to
be
modes of
Just as Joshua could rationally only use the
current ideas of his
own time
as regards the apparent
motion of the sun, so the prophets could only use the current ideas of their time in religious matters as the
foundation of their discourse, though the superstructure might rise aloft into a higher atmosphere.
When
sceptics find fault with this principle, they do but ex-
pose their
own want
of judgment.
For
why
should
Joshua, for instance, use the language of the nineteenth
century rather than that of any other of the
many
LIMITS OF
HUMAN LANGUAGE.
267
centuries which the world
may
of rapid growth, and
language in the present day
may seem
its
yet last
as deficient in precision,
false in theory, to the
?
For science
and possibly as
wise of the twentieth century,
as that of previous ages seems to scientific
And
if
men were
inspired
left for
men now.
debarred from speaking in
accordance with the ideas of their
language
is
them would be
own
times, the only
that of the last year
of the world's duration, and, consequently, their words
would be
unintelligible
to
all
even then their language would for St.
Paul
tells us,
that
previous ages. fall
short of the truth
when he was caught up
heaven, the things he there heard were apprjra
words which
it
was impossible
And into
prj/jLara,
to utter because there
were no earthly terms capable of conveying notions of
The words of earth cannot go beyond earthly matters. Even for the operations of the mind we are obliged to use terms which originally expressed material objects. And, similarly, in deheavenly things.
scribing spiritual happiness the inspired writers could
only draw their images from earthly blessings, nor
had they any other means of setting forth the nature of the Christian Church than the use of symbols taken from the temple worship then existing at
Jerusalem. it
more
followed
and
When
Christianity came,
spiritualized ideas, :
ideas,
it
brought with
and the words naturally
but the prophets had only Jewish words
and though they did elevate them and give
them a Christian tendency, yet it was possible for them to do so only to a very limited extent. But when we go back to them from Christianity, we must
268
'
SEEMON
IX.
not debase Christian ideas to the Jewish level
must not suppose that
we
;
meaning was that
their full
simple literal sense in which the people of that time
understood them, but must read them by the light of that perfect and final revelation of which they were
the heralds and precursors.
To know what the Prophet himself meant by words, or what was understood by the people of time,
but
is
no
full
gauge or measure of their meaning.
Once grant that " God spake
by the prophets
fathers
d
in time past unto the
," or that
"holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost it
his
useful as the first step to their interpretation,
is
it
his
6
,"
and
becomes a very small matter what the Prophet him-
self
meant, or what the people understood.
Aud
what God meant has been pleased to shew what
tion
?
is,
thankfully accept His
own
if
The ques-
He
in after ages
He
meant,
explanation.
we may
And
this
what is meant by the double sense of proThe Prophet was often thinking of some
elucidates
phecy.
minor event, and his words have a true reference it
:
but they
also
temporary,
local,
pass beyond.
was something
It
which
transient,
to
called forth
the
prophecy, and the Holy Ghost so shaped and moulded it
that
it
would have
its real
fulfilment in
som ethnic;
The words have a true
remote, momentous, eternal.
reference to some occurrence in Jewish or contempo-
raneous history
;
but a
still
truer reference to some-
thing Christian and spiritual. so ;
some prophecies seem d
Heb.
i.
1.
to
Not, indeed, always
have no double meaning •
2 Pet.
i.
21.
DOUBLE SENSE OF PROPHECY. and the higher use of these perhaps
269
to give us
is
some
neutral ground on which to test the reality of predic-
But all the more important prophecies do look onward to something far beyond the Prophet's own Were the Bible a common book, I would grant ideas.
tion.
common book the only question is, what was the author's own meaning ? But if St. Paul spoke the truth when he at
once that this view
irrational
is
said that " all Scripture
—
;
in a
Jewish Scripture
all
given by inspiration of God,"
we may
—was
reasonably ex-
pect to find special elements in what was written
And
under such extraordinary conditions. this is a reason
why
those
who
though
are competent for the
task should carefully examine into the
authenticity
and genuineness of the many separate works contained in the Jewish Scriptures, claiming as they do an ele-
ment which
separates and
all
other books whatsoever,
the
New
Testament,
them
treat
as a
except the writings of
certainly camiot be rational to
it
common book
Men may
disproved.
them from
distinguishes
take,
been
until this claim has
and very
fairly
may
claim
to take, very different views of the nature of inspira-
tion
:
little,
its
but whatever
—
it
it
may
be,
— whether
so far is a special element,
much
or
and must have
due consideration.
The double
sense,
then,
of prophecy
means that
a prediction might have a passing reference to some inferior event, while essentially, port,
not
it
and in
its
looked onward to a larger fulfilment.
mean
full
pur-
It does
that a prophecy can have two equal accom-
plishments.
It can
have but one adequate fulfilment,
270
SERMON
and in
its
IX.
inner essence can refer only to one event.
The Messianic
prophecies, for instance, of Isaiah were
not fulfilled in Jewish history
:
several of
them
started
with a reference to some present occurrence, but no
commentator has ever yet succeeded in producing any person there, or event, or series of events, to which
they can be applied.
And
in like manner, no prophecy
can embrace two parallel events, or two events which
The lower and partial fulfilment is only possible in some fact which itself symbolizes the one main fulfilment. Thus a stand in no relation to one another.
prophecy might have a temporary reference to Josiah,
and a
final reference to
Messiah, provided that Josiah
was, so far as the prophecy required, a type of the
And
Messiah.
so of Jerusalem,
and the Jews.
Some
prophecies belong to them absolutely, just as other prophecies belong to
Edom, and Moab, and Tyre
;
and
these prophecies were fulfilled in their temporal for-
tunes
literally,
—just
as the prophecy of
Agabus, con-
cerning a famine in the days of Claudius Caesar, referred to that famine and nothing else.
lem was
also a type or
But Jerusa-
symbol of the Christian Church,
and such prophecies as referred to her in her representative character, though they
some event in her
history,
and be
might spring out of partially fulfilled in
her temporal fortunes, yet really had their
and
final
which the Jewish dispensation was
But
sole,
true,
fulfilment in that perfect dispensation, to
if this is
what
sense of prophecy,
it
interpreters is
ancillary.
mean by
the double
something entirely opposed
to
any such view as would admit of the Prophet's words
CHRISTIANITY PROGRESSIVE.
having
first
27 I
a spiritual fulfilment in the righteous lives
and pure and holy conversation of Christian people,
and then a material one in a millennium of earthly prosperity.
Just as Isaiah described the rapid spread
and the firm establishment of Christianity under images taken from the temple service, and yet these images
meaning exclusively
refer in their real
and justify no idea of the restoration of the
objects,
Jewish
to Christian
polity, or of the Levitical priesthood,
ish forms of worship,
—
and Jew-
images of earthly pros-
so his
perity, of plentiful supplies of gold, of
men
inhabit-
ing houses built by themselves, and eating the fruit of trees of their
own
planting, of a healthy
and numer-
ous progeny, of immunity from accidents and dangers,
and of human
prolonged
life
tion of trees, all these refer to
Jew
equalled the dura-
like
metaphors really
the far higher and purer blessings
Christianity bestows it.
till it
and the
As they were
which
upon those who heartily embrace
the greatest blessings to which the
aspired, so they symbolize the greatest blessings
which God bestows in of prophecy
is
Christ.
But the double sense
not elastic enough to permit us to sup-
pose that after a spiritual fulfilment they will finally
culminate in an era totally distinct in Christianity, and which will
at
perfect repetition of the earthly
of the Mosaic law,
neither be a
reward. gress holier
fit
nature from
most be only a more
and carnal sanctions
—a retrograde
era,
which would
time for probation, nor an adequate
There may be,
in Christendom, state.
its
—there probably — a pro-
a
is,
tendency to a purer and
There are thousands of earnest men
SERMON
272
labouring in this hope;
IX.
and in proportion as
it
is
and Christian principles obtain a firmer hold
realized,
over the community, and with them Christian practhe predictions of the Prophet will obtain
tice, so far
But
a completer fulfilment.
it
must be separated
no gulf from the present order of things
it
;
by-
must be
we now have. over new realms
the legitimate development of what
The Christian
religion
greater success
may
may
spread
attend, at home, increasing efforts
members of the community within the inthe means of grace the reaction which ever
to bring all
fluence of
;
seems so strangely to disappoint our hopes, the tendencies to evil which seem so wonderfully to grow out of and thwart difficulties
less
than
we
work; and
But
it
new
may retard
for itself,
should have expected the progress of the so at length the better era
can only be in the
realization of
We
our plans for good, and the
all
which each age makes
what we
have nothing
dispensation,
way
of the
at present
to justify us
which
may
begin.
more complete
have in principle.
in expecting a
new
shall supersede Christianity, but,
on the contrary, have every reason
to believe that the
admonitions and warnings, and threatenings and promises of the
New
Testament will continue
plicable to Christian
men
shall appear again for
and
faith
until the
be ap-
day when our Lord
judgment, and probation cease,
and hope be swallowed up in
no part of
my
God has ever from
the
first
culties to stand in the
way
It is
to
certainty.
present subject to discuss
permitted so of
many
why diffi-
His rational creatures
during their probation; but inasmuch as this
is
the
MAN UNABLE method
of
TO UNDERSTAND GOD.
He
His providence, and
273
is all-wise,
that
should so be
it
nial scheme, like so
lence,
would
;
and therefore that
many schemes
practically be found
am
this millen-
human benevo-
of
an
I
mankind
justified in concluding that it is better for
inferior state to
that which exists at present, and fraught with greater
There are many things which
evils.
men
to
endeavour
to
do
:
good
it is
to try to
trouble and sorrow, and poverty and sin is
all
:
good, and in labouring for unselfish ends
But
a pure and holy reward.
vents the fulfilment of
many
good
is
it
for
remove labour
men
reap
a wise Providence preof our efforts
;
in part
perhaps we succeed, but fresh evils break forth where least
we
and perfection
exj)ected them,
as far re-
is
we had never laboured at all. we shall possibly know why this is. At that day when God will be justified in all His words and works, we shall perceive that His wisdom has never failed, and that when in old time the families moved from us
as if
Hereafter
of the earth
were
left to
the light of nature while the
Jew had
a special revelation
tically a
similar state of things exists
neither
up
Jew nor
life,
and
doubtless
or again,
Christian have at
to the light given
seems to be,
;
why
them
:
—
all
when pracnow; while
adequately acted
difficult as
this prodigal
the problem
abundance of human
this limitation of its greatest blessings, yet
we
shall find that it
was incompatible neither
with the wisdom nor goodness of God.
We
measure God's wisdom by human wisdom in a mirror, enigmatically f
1
f ,
we
see as
so as only to guess at the
Cor. xiii. 12.
T
;
too often
SERMON
274
meaning
;
IX.
and then we imagine that these distorted
images are the true representations of heavenly things.
When ideas
studying the
we
Scriptures
which we thereby obtain of God, and of His
and works, are necessarily doubly limited
will first,
limited
;
by the imperfection of human language, and
and thus we often attach
to the
errors,
And
human
utterly inadequate as
Holy
any
Still, if
Scripture,
we
read
or they
;
may be
perhaps to some
ideas, right
we
extent, true as far as
realities above.
may
these
mistakes as to their meaning, the
misunderstanding of what simply confused
:
words of Scripture
notions which do not belong to them.
be absolute
se-
human understanding
condly by the weakness of the
of
the
that
forget
are capable of truth, but fitting representation of the
we keep
to the direct teaching
however inadequate our views may
may be which we may attain
be in themselves, and however childish they
compared with the knowledge
to
in a higher state, they are true to us, the truth suitable to our present imperfections, for our use here
upon
earth,
and absolutely
sufficient
and in proportion
when we
present powers and necessities; but
beyond Scripture, when we go
to
our
travel
to it not for practical
purposes, but to satisfy a vain curiosity,
when we
in-
dulge in rash speculations as to the cause of our being,
and the nature of the Creator's an answer
As
acts,
to difficulties utterly
we
are seeking
beyond our range.
well might the inferior creation endeavour to un-
derstand the acts of man, as for stand God.
Governed by
man
instincts,
to seek to
under-
they can form no
idea of the reason which controls thinking
man
:
and
EIGHT USE OF SCRIPTURE.
we
are as far
and
275
removed from God as they arc from
as unable to
us,
understand His doings.
Our reason was given us to guide us in our earthlycourse and God has seen fit to give light to our reason by means of His inspired Word but if we use ;
:
our reason to pry into mysteries which intended to examine, and
if
not for the words of eternal
we
it
was never
search the Scripture,
but for speculation,
life,
The Bible was given
the result can only be error.
us for our use in the journey of
life,
therefore, to our present powers,
and
and
is
adapted,
to the under-
standings of the many, and not of the few
was
it
:
given for a moral and not for an intellectual purpose,
and
we
it is
only
when used
for its rightful
can hope to be guided by
into truth,
it
God's blessing upon our use of
purpose that
and obtain
And, in accordance
it.
with the general method of God's dealings with
us,
the evidence for the authenticity and inspiration of
God's Word, and that
it
really
is
God's Word,
is suffi-
cient without being overpowering; and, equally, the
great truths which
it
conveys are plain and simple,
while nevertheless they can be misunderstood.
It is
possible both for the frivolous to mistake them,
and
The impious
sect
for the perverse to
of
whom
Bible
I
have spoken before, brought forward the
itself as a
that even in principle
misapply them.
it
proof of their doctrines, and argued
might be traced the work of that
which had ruined
creation.
But
evil
that there
are difficulties in its interpretation, difficulties in its use, difficulties in its evidence,
is
after all but
an
in-
stance of the great law which prevails in all God's
T 2
SEEM0X
276
IX.
dealings with mankind, namely, that
dergo a real probation.
but
We
have
would be only an apparent, and not a
it
choice,
if
two
one of the
making
dence inclines to the one side purposes this
our
roots in,
But
But
is
faith,
even its
if
faith
for all practical
is
proof enough to
must
really strike its
nourishment from, another
not the fact that
let
in
and
;
There
enough.
and draw
to
the balance of "reason and evi-
choice,
this
real
had no arguments
sides
nothing to address to our reasons.
offer,
help
to
we have to unmake a choice
we have
soil.
difficulties to face
mislead any one into the idea that therefore the truth
and certainty of revelation are imperilled;
for
upon
such a supposition, the Manichees of old were justified in asserting that the existence of evil in the world
proved that
it
was not a good God who created
a malignant being.
intended these faith, that it
Rather we should
but
it,
feel that
God
prove and exercise our
difficulties to
might grow strong, and be able
to
remove
even mountains from our path, instead of mouldering away in a state of things unfitted to exercise and train
it.
curity,
For our calling
is
not unto ease and se-
but to endure hardship as the good soldiers
of Jesus Christ
;
and the promise
to us
" keep the word of God's patience,
He
is,
that if
will also
we
keep
us from the hour of temptation, which shall come
upon earth
all
the earth, to try
them
that dwell upon the
g ."
The
then,
consideration, «
Rev.
of this final
Hi. 10.
portion of
CONCLUSIONS.
277
Isaiah's prophecy has led us to several important conclusions.
For we have seen, in the
first place,
that
the Jewish economy was to be developed into the
The two
Christian Church.
institutions are capable
of contrast as existing the one before, and the other after the advent of the
Messiah
;
but in their essence
they are identical, as being the several stages of the
Almighty's one revelation place
we have seen
be restored. offer
mankind.
sacrifice at
Jewish
altars.
And
the reason of
length in the arguments used by
at
For he there denies that God
the Jewish Church. exists,
for
we
call it
Its
the Christian, that
still
attained
it
very name proves the Messianic
is,
Church, the Church whose Messiah has come
God has given
cast off
never was rejected, but
It
only in a more glorious form, as
to its full perfection in Christ. ;
not to
is
Paul in the eleventh chapter of his Epistle to
the Eomans.
it
In the next
Church
Priests of Aaron's line will never again
this is stated St.
to
that the Jewish
but as
;
the Messiah not merely the Jews but
the Gentiles for His inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for His possession, Catholic, universal,
now
as they
has become a Church
and therefore takes
from any one people, as leges
it
if
had of
name not
its
they had exclusive privi-
old,
but from
Him
in
God has made known the way of salvation to alike. As for the Jewish nation, as
and Jew
from the Church,
it
whom
Gentile distinct
can only become entitled to a
by becoming Christian: for Christ the promises of God are, yea, and Amen.
share in God's promises in
Its present rejection has
been occasioned by
its
having
SERMON
278
and thereby withdrawn
rejected the Messiah,
from the Church only be by
may Jews who
in the great
upon
its
to the faith,
body
we know
return
upon
were content
of believers
spiritual
things beside as St.
What
bles-
not
dung
Paul encourages us
;
first
be merged
to
having their
for
the
:
never did reject Christ, but from the
were obedient tion set
it
itself
restoration to God's favour can
acceptance of the Messiah.
its
await
sings
its
;
IX.
affec-
they counted
blessings,
so that they could
win
Christ.
Jews
to believe that the
all
will
nationally return to the Church, and says that their
conversion will be so great a blessing to the Gentiles as to be like life from the dead
but for
:
to
it
be
so,
they must return as a people thirsting after spiritual blessings,
and with a heart as ready to give up
follow Christ, as the apostles and of old.
its
spiritual,
is
object
is
and with
therefore that prosperity.
it
to train the nobler
and better part
To judge by the
past,
;
and
such a state would
all
godliness;
trial of discipline
and
affliction that
it
upon a better world.
by a
life
can have no millennium of earthly
be destructive to
their hopes
dis-
spiritual sanctions
of man's nature for a higher and heavenly
interpose
all to
converts were
"We have further seen that the Christian
pensation that
first
is
in the rough
men But
learn to fix
if
God
is
to
special providence to prevent this mil-
lennial period having its natural effect in corrupting
every better principle of our nature, such a special intervention
is
contrary to
all
His previous dealings
with mankind, and violates our it
free-will.
does to establish a state of things which
And is
this
neither
CRUSHING OF THE GRAPE. earth nor heaven
279
which would neither train men
;
for
a future world, nor be the reward promised by Christ to those
But
who keep
the word of His patience.
before I conclude this series of discourses,
incumbent upon
me briefly
especially in the last
to
it is
examine several passages,
two chapters of this prophecy,
which corroborate the conclusions just mentioned. In the eighth verse, then, of the
we
find the Jewish nation
compared
new
grapes, in
which
new wine
obtained from the grape
and
letting
it
is
the
sixty-fifth chapter,
to a cluster of
Now how
wine.
By
?
the
is
crushing
it,
ferment, by which a separation takes
and the wine
then drawn
off,
and carefully
stored away, while the lees are rejected.
So then the
place,
is
Jewish nation was broken up, and rent in pieces at the coming of Christ, and a fermentation took place in
Him
men's minds, and some received
Saviour, and others rejected
for
their
Him, and house was
vided against house, and father against child;
di-
and
gradually the two elements stood farther and farther apart,
till
finally the
armies of
Eome
scattered the
unbelieving portion of the nation, while the believing portion became the apostles, and bishops, and chiefs of the Christian Church.
And There
is
this to
utter one.
is
exactly what
the Prophet foretells.
be a destruction of the
There
is
cluster, but not an " a blessing in it;" there is in
the Jewish nation that which will be the regeneration of the world; and this blessing, this therefore escape the destruction
new
wine, will
which overtakes the
2 50
SERMON
rest:
— "So
may
not destroy them
IX.
My
will I do for
servants' sakes, that I
And
all.
I will bring forth a
seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of
My mountain."
The
cluster of grapes shall be crushed,
but God will not " destroy
all :"
the wine will remain
a seed shall be delivered, and from that seed shall spring the noble harvest of the Christian Church.
In the thirteenth, fourteenth, and
fifteenth verses,
the believing and unbelieving portions of the nation
my servants shall behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry behold, my servants drink, but ye shall be thirsty behold, my shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed
are sharply contrasted:
" Behold, :
:
:
servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for
sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of
And ye
shall leave
chosen
for the
:
your name
Lord God
contrast
the passage
;
I will only
is
of
their
become a
name.
to the prediction,
name, and not
its
we
and that God will shall
be called no
the event has answered
and the Church does bear " a new
name
called Christians. is
this
read that the very
curse,
And
festation of our Master,
a curse,
upon
the explicit declarations
and that His Church
slay them,
longer by
shall
His
too plain to be misunderstood
call attention to
Jew
my
call
and
I will not dwell
of the fifteenth verse, where
name
for a curse unto
shall slay thee,
people by another name."
spirit.
And
used by
men
of old. Christ, this
For the
after the
mani-
believers were
name, instead of being
as a general
term of
praise.
For when they would extol any one, they conclude their
encomiums by
calling
him a
real Christian;
4
and
THE CHURCH HAS NO TEMPLE. if
201
they would encourage any one, they bid him act as
a Christian is it
a
—do what becomes a of praise
title full
and commendation
These prophecies, however, are the sixty-ninth chapter
new
And
Christian.
we
still
11
thus
."
general
;
but in
find three special characIt is to
have no
temple, no sacrifices, and no lineal priesthood.
Of the
teristics
first
of the
we
read,
dispensation.
— " Thus
My
is
the house that ye build unto
throne, and the earth is
My
the place of
The heaven where
saith the Lord,
is
rest ?"
I
My
footstool
Me? And
am aware
:
where
is
that some of
the "higher critics" assume that these words refer to a purpose of the exiles to build a temple at Babylon
but such an idea tion.
It
is,
;
is
destitute of all historical founda-
in fact,
most improbable, that these words
could have been written during the exile
;
for the
people then were encouraged, rather than the contrary, to cherish the idea of returning to their land,
building their ruined house of God. likely is
it
that any prophet
And
would
so
subsequently to the return from exile,
and
re-
equally un-
have spoken
when Ezra and
Nehemiah, and the prophets of their days, were urging the peoj)le to the vigorous prosecution of the work for it
;
would have been putting a stumbling-block in
the believer's way.
The temple had a
place and pur-
pose in the Jewish economy, just as churches have a place and purpose
now
duty in the
upon
exiles,
;
and
it
was a pious and holy
their return, to restore the
Nor was it aught but a right Jews which led them to venerate the
public worship of God. feeling in the "'
Theodorcli Interp. in Es. lxv. 15.
SERMON
282 temple, and
IX.
made them ready
to sacrifice wealth
and
comfort, in the earnest wish once again to serve their
God
according to the rites of their holy law.
poral matters they were probably far
In tem-
more prosper-
ous at Babylon than they could ever hope to be in Judaea.
It
was a rich and populous country,
for
fit
trade and agriculture, and they had powerful friends
and subsequently Nehemiah;
there, such as Daniel,
most of the people,
too,
had been transplanted from
distant homes, like themselves
made the
feeling
abandon
but a right and noble
:
them content
better portion of
everything for their religion's sake.
to
Neither
then at Babylon, nor after the return, could a prophet
have rightly blamed
in Hezekiah's reign there
An
rebuke.
was
too
good reason
to those
who
for the
had possession of the
idolatrous spirit
and the reproofs addressed in the
people,
But
so praiseworthy a motive.
first
chapter
trode God's courts, prove that they were
no true worshippers, but came attributing some trinsic merit to the place as distinct
the worshipper,
—
from the
in-
faith of
in the spirit, therefore, of idolatry,
and not as men offering unto God a reasonable
service.
They
prized,
cence,
and in the troubles which befel the land hoped
doubtless,
to obtain deliverance
its
splendour
by^oining in
its
and magnifi-
services.
But
they did not purpose to put away the evil of their doings from before God's eyes
do
evil,
fore, as
and learn
to
;
do well.
they did not cease to
They came, there-
heathens might have gone to the magnificent
spectacles of their religion, to please the Deity
outward show, and not
to
worship in
spirit
by an and in
THE CHURCH HAS NO SACRIFICES.
And
truth.
and
therefore the rebuke ;
283
therefore, also,
in these last chapters, the exposition of the true principles of all real religion,
New
with the words of the
accordance
in
spoken in terms singularly
ment, where the Lord
coming when neither on Gerizim nor yet
men
should
any
offer
Testa-
us that "the hour was
tells
Jerusalem
at
especial worship to the Father.
.... For the hour cometh, and now
is,
when
the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in
And,
truth."
salem, that
new
similarly, in describing the
Jeru-
the Christian Church, St. John says,
is,
" I saw no temple therein
God Al-
the Lord
for
:
mighty and the Lamb are the temple of
And,
it."
as if to point to the fulfilment therein of Isaiah's pro-
phecy, he proceeds in his very words,
had no need of the in
it
:
Lamb
for the is
city
sun, neither of the moon, to shine
glory of
God
the light thereof
ment thus
— "And the
1
."
and the
did lighten
it,
And
New
as the
Testa-
reiterates the lessons of the Old, so does
Isaiah speak in terms which seem to have caught their inspiration from the Gospel jects a
house built by
heart for His abode
man who
is
trembleth at
poor,
My
:
;
human "I will
for while
hands, look,"
God thus
He claims He says, "
and of a contrite
spirit,
:
and in the next
to the
and who
is
no tem-
place, sacrifices are abolished in
terms not merely express, but contemptuous. that killeth an ox
is
criflceth a lamb, as if
1
man's
word."
In the Christian Church, therefore, there ple
re-
as if he slew a
he cut
off
man
;
he that
a dog's neck
Rct. xxi. 22, 23; Isa.
lx. 19.
"He
;
sa-
he that
SERMON
284
offereth an oblation, as if
IX.
he offered swine's blood
that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol."
;
he
Words
could not more decisively reject the whole Mosaic ritual;
and yet their
effect is
much
very
ber of expletives inserted
them, and
we seem
to see
by the numby our translators. Omit the Prophet turning away lessened
in undisguised abhorrence from the mention of every
temple offering. So that, plainly, the whole element of
Judaism worship ciples
be expunged from Christianity, and
is to is to
its
be modelled upon entirely different prin-
from those which were embodied in the Levit-
ical service.
Upon
immediately
this abolition of sacrifice follows
the rapid spread of the Christian faith
born at once
"A nation
:
is
" as soon as Zion travailed, she hath
;"
brought forth children;"
"peace comes
to her like
a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream
:
they suck, they are borne upon her
sides,
and
dandled upon her knees." In old time there had never
been but a very small remnant who understood the law spiritually
;
there were probably in
all
ages but
very few who would not have regarded with indignation Isaiah's rejection of sacrifices, or have thought the prophets
right in preferring the moral to
ceremonial part of the law.
But,
in
the
Christianity,
a spiritual religion was revealed, and purity and holiness required of shall see the
all,
as graces without
Lord; and
at the first
which no man
summons
Apostles the world awakened to the
call,
of the
and
far
and wide both Jew and Gentile gathered round them, and were content to give up all that they might follow Christ.
RAPID GROWTH OF THE CHURCH.
But while thus
a Christian nation
born as in
is
not without painful throes to the Church of
a day,
it is
old.
For a separation has
false children,
to
and her true
be made between her
and
:
plished but with pain and fiery
this is not
fire,
and by His sword, and Jehovah's
will
and with His
His anger with
chariots like a whirlwind, to render
and His rebuke with flames of
accom-
"Behold," says
trial.
the Prophet, " Jehovah comes with
fury,
285
For by
fire.
Jehovah plead with
fire,
all flesh
many."
slain shall be
But while the Jewish nation
thus tried and
is
and the great mass of the people, "Jeho-
separated,
vah's slain," rejected from His covenant, others, like
the Apostles, gather into the Church no longer Jews
but people "of
only,
come and ritual
see God's glory ;" not, now, in a splendid
and majestic temple, but in the Gospel covenant It is expressly said that this ingathering
of grace. is
the
work
of " those that escape of
Jews who, when God
them
visited their nation,
;"
that Church which,
withdrew
of the
Jews
when
the
Eoman
to the mountains.
It
of those
were among
the believing few, and not the unbelieving
city,
who
nations and tongues,
all
many
;
of
armies girt the
was not the work
whom the Jews And these, the Apostles
nationally, but of those
cast out of their synagogues.
and Evangelists of the Lord, "bring their brethren for
an offering unto Jehovah out of
horses, and in chariots,
and upon salem." as
and
all nations,
in litters,
swift beasts, to God's holy
upon
and upon mules,
mountain Jeru-
It is the picture of a countless host,
such
no man can number, brought unto Christ, not in
SERMON
286
IX.
— the Prophet's metaunderstood — but won by
a literal pilgrimage to Jerusalem
phors are not to be
literally
those graces
by which the
Apostles "approved themselves as the
ministers of
every moral means, by
God
all
and by the labours, and forbearance, and love
;"
men now.
unfeigned, of Christian
And
the Prophet, upon this, declares the third great
specific difference
The
between the two dispensations.
no longer
be confined to the line of
priesthood
is
Aaron
I will take of them," of the converts gene-
:
—"
to
" for priests and for levites, saith Jehovah."
rally,
I
need scarcely say that the abolition of these three things
mark
—the temple, the
sacrifice,
the Aaronic priest
between the Church of old
essential distinctions
They teach us
and the Church now.
that a spiritual
religion has been substituted in the place of one material
and earthly.
no longer a symbolical worship,
one addressed to the hearts and consciences of
it is
men
It is
;
whose High-Priest
is
not so by virtue of descent
from any earthly lineage, but " without
father,
without
mother, without descent, haviug neither beginning of days, nor end of
life,
but Himself the Son of God,
abideth a priest continually."
upon these subject
:
distinctions;
I bring
the Judaic
it
need not enlarge
I
does not belong to
them forward only
my
as proofs that
element in the Church was absolutely
to pass away.
Thus founded upon better promises, and carnal no longer, but spiritual, the
and in lievers.
it
Church
is
to last for ever,
there shall always be the seed of true be-
"As
the
new
heavens, and the
new
earth,
CONCLUSION.
which I Jehovah There
will
make,
so shall
;
shall
remain before Me, saith
your seed, and your name remain."
always be in the
shall
287
God's
new
shall not
have
Church,
heaven and earth, a chosen people
it
:
name merely to live, but shall ever bring forth children for God's honour and service and to them shall
a
:
that
name belong which Moses
of old promised to the
Israelites of his time as their distinguishing glory, if
they would keep God's covenant, and which St. Peter claims for Christians; " Ye shall be unto Me a king-
dom
of priests, a holy nation
The two
V
verses which remain describe, the one the
worship of Jehovah, though under figures
spiritual
drawn from the Mosaic
ritual
;
the other, the great
vengeance of God ivpon Jerusalem, passing onwards, as in our Lord's last discourse, to the final judgment.
And
thus has the Prophet sketched
features of the Christian
worship,
and
its
its
the great
pure and holy
heavenly hopes
spiritual sanctions, its
fittingly does
whose
Church;
all
:
such a description come from him
especial office
it
was
to set before God's people
of old the true image of their Messiah, coming not in
earthly splendour and the
and lowly
guise, to suffer
pomp and
die for
the Jews both were hard lessons sons
still.
trine of
meek men's sins. To
of war, but in
:
they are hard
les-
For the pride of man revolts from the doc-
an atonement wrought upon a Cross, and his
earthly nature can only be enabled
by God's Holy
Spirit to prize the spiritual sanctions of the Gospel
more than
that material organization necessary for the k
Exorl. xix. 6.
SEEMOX
288
IX.
Church's usefulness and existence here. sons given to the Christian,
Jew speak even more
But the
les-
plainly to the
and while we value and make use of every
help given us to assist our feeble natures, let our higher aim be to worship God " in spirit and in truth :
for the Father seeketh such to worship Him."
NOTES. SERMON
I.
—
Page 3, line 18. Most of these sermons were written before the publication of " Essays and Reviews :" and as the)'-
refer to
anything in
Jewish and German criticism, rather than to
am
this country, I
spared the necessity of re-
ferring to the objections stated there against the usual inter-
pretation of the prophecies. are gathered from
of
them are
my
press
German
As, however, these objections
writers, it will be
treated of in these pages.
found that most
I must, however, ex-
regret that in Dr. Williams's Essay I do not find
we have a right to expect whose knowledge and ability are undoubted. Not to mention his inexact translation of Isaiah ix. 6, we find him that carefulness of statement which
in one
asserting,
(p.
76,)
that
Macedonian words, and
symphonia and psanterion are both
would make it appear as he rested this assertion upon the authority of Bunsen. Now the subject is one so hackneyed among the Germans, his footnote
if
would seem impossible
for any one acquainted with any mistake about it and yet there are no grounds whatsoever for half the statement. The sole place in which the symphonia is mentioned is an extract
that
it
their literature to fall into
;
from Polybius, preserved in the " Deipnosophists" of Athenseus, and which simply mentions that this musical instrument was in use at the court of Antiochus Epiphanes. It is the psanterin,
concerning which Gesenius throws out the
conjecture, that the change psalterion,
Chaldee,)
(Dr. Williams's
of the
n
for
/,
psanterin for
word being neither Greek nor the Macedonians, who, as he
may have come from
candidly remarks, shared this peculiarity of interchanging
and n with the whole Dorian the
name
race.
But the
/
possibility of
of one of these instruments having been introduced
by the Dorians
is
a very different thing from affirming that
u
NOTES.
oqo
they were both of Macedonian origin. The Dorian race had too long been mixed up with the affairs of Asia for any one to have a right to be surprised at finding a Dorian instru-
These "high critics" even tell of music in use there. us that the body-guard of David was partly composed of Dorian mercenaries, and yet it seems that the occurrence of
ment
a form
common
generally
is
to the
Macedonians with the Dorian race it is found was
a proof that the book in which
written after Alexander's conquests of Gesenius
is
itself destitute of
!
Further, the conjecture
foundation
:
for the merest
tyro in Chaldee knows that that dialect constantly interchanges I and n. Even those ignorant of the language are
aware that the Labynetus of Herodotus is the Nabonedus of Berosus and Gesenius himself in his Thesaurus, under Lamed, in discussing this law quotes psanterin among nu:
merous other instances of its prevalence. Man} philologists, moreover, assert that tyaXkw with its derivatives is of Sebut even if we reject this, mitic, and not of Arian origin we are not at liberty to deny the early existence of a very considerable trade between Greece and Asia, and with it r
;
the interchange of numerous words.
From
the Semitic race
Greece even learnt her letters; and if the most ordinary articles of clothing have the same name among both races, what wonder is it if the merchandize with which they supplied one another carried
its
own name with
into very dis-
it
Even war, when introducing new things, inand these names have a troduces their names with them wonderful vitality. Few of us now pass a day without making use of Arabic words brought home, with the articles tant regions.
:
In short, the goods imported would carry their names with them and there is, therefore, no period so ancient as that the occurrence in the Bible of a word possibly of Greek origin need astonish us, provided it was the name of an article not of Syriac manuAs for the symphony, facture, but imported from Greece. Dr. "Williams, as a competent Hebrew scholar, ought to have been aware that all the best authorities in Germany since the time of Gesenius have confessed its Semitic origin, and
they signify, by the Crusaders. into Asia
:
SERMON that the JPtib,
TVpP,
2Q
I.
the written text,
is
right in
spelling it
which the Greeks, who learnt the name of the instrument from the Phoenicians, corrupted into a word which conveyed a meaning to their ear. To imagine any aiphonia,
sensible
man
calling a single instrument a 'concert,'
that instrument a dudelsaek, a 'bagpipe/
is
absurd.
and
Fiirst,
however, Handw&rterbucA, ii. 74, concludes that the word "is probably of Semitic origin a ;" but Meier, who discusses the matter with greater fulness, and whose treatise on the foreign
words in the Bible I would recommend to Dr. Williams' and who, as being one of the most advanced of the
notice,
Tiibingen school, has certainly no leanings towards orthodoxy, has no doubt upon the matter " The word is undoubtedly Semitic ." And yet we are to believe that these :
—
13
names, 'symphony' and 'psanterin,' are of Macedonian origin Again, Dr. Williams affirms that the occurrence of such late forms as fab, )% and )htt, proves that the Chaldee of the book of Daniel must be several centuries later than that of the book of Ezra. Now it is a curious fact that there is no such word as ft at all: it is a creation of the gram-
marians,
like the tip,
the Tityw of our
anti of Sanscrit
tas,
own
grammar, and
To the grammarian, however, it represents the simple form of the Chaldee word Ha?, this,' which is emphatic and as, for some unknown reason, the simple B never occurs, the grammarian invents it by the rules of analogy to round off his system. Disschool days.
'
:
missing, then, this fictitious word
0, I find in Gesenius' Thesaurus an enumeration of thirty places in which TVfl occurs of these, fifteen are in Daniel, fourteen in Ezra, and one in Jeremiah (x. 11). It follows, therefore, that 7121 is no :
form
the late form really
is VH, a word of constant and one cannot help having an uneasy suspicion that Dr. Williams took H for a plural, as he thrusts it between two plurals, and treats it as if it were an exactly parallel case with them. It is much the same as if in Latin any one were to treat illis, is, and his, as
late
;
occurrence in the Targums
a b
" Das
Wort
ist
" Es
mag
:
viell.
semitisch sein."
sicher semitisch."
u2
Wurzelworlerbuch,
p. 719.
NOTES.
292
whom
three datives plural.
I
may add
Williams
is
not answerable for the assertion.
reviewing,
is
that Bunsen,
Dr.
As regards the other two instances, it is true that Daniel's form of the pronominal plural is Chaldaic, while Ezra adheres more closely to the Hebraic dialect. Which is the older form I am not prepared to say. But this difference between the two writers of spelling
is
modern
a
is
a fact of
little
moment.
Fixity
practice, the result of our constant
In the mingled mass of people who
use of printed books.
dwelt at Babylon there can be
little
doubt that considerable
and what wonder if the Jewish scribes who drew up the decrees which Ezra records used the Hebraic form, while Daniel, variations
dialectic
existed
contemporaneously
:
trained in the Chaldee from his youth, followed the native
manner
The interchange
of speaking.
of
m
and n
is
a
very trifling matter for, as Gesenius in his Thesaurus remarks, " Of the liquids, m is most frequently interchanged :
with n
and
;
as being the harsher letter is constantly softened
and the end of no proof that the plural end-
into n, both at the beginning, the middle,
a word."
Finally, there
is
more recent than that in m; such assertions grammarians founded upon a very narrow collection of facts. A wider knowledge dispels these assumptions. In one of these dialects we find both forms existing side by side to this day for we read that "the Samaritan language forms the plural of masculine nouns by adding im to the singular, but this is constantly changed for in, in accordance with the Chaldee and Syriac use c ." This assertion I have had brought under my own ing in n
is
are but the inductions of
:
notice in the case of a very ancient manuscript of the Sa-
maritan Targum.
And,
in short, I believe that the relation
of these two forms of the plural to one another logical,
but dialectic
;
is
not chrono-
that both existed simultaneously, but
in different branches of the Semitic race.
Page
is
the c
—
Amongst the Hebrew Lexicon
7, line 21.
Bodleian
Uhlemann,
Instit.
recent acquisitions of the of
Abraham ben David,
Ling. Sam.,
p.
104.
a
SERMON
293
I.
work of great antiquity, being considerably older than the Lexicon of Jonah ben Gannach, hitherto the most ancient known. Its author apparently is only aware of the existence a fact in most curious contrast with the extreme intricacy of the Masoretic system, which endeavours to represent the sound not of the separate words, but of words combined into sentences, and pronounced with a rising inof three vowels
;
flexion at the end.
I
need scarcely say that such a system Hebrew had ceased to but without it the Hebrew Scriptures
could only have been invented after
be a living language
:
would have been scarcely thority
is
not
final,
it
intelligible
high, yet not so as to exclude the of the Septuagint.
An
;
and though
its
au-
nevertheless deservedly ranks very
more ancient rendering
account of this Lexicon
will,
I trust,
shortly appear in the Journal Asiatique.
—
Page 8, line 7. The oldest Nizzaehon known is supposed, from internal evidence, to be of the date of the twelfth century, and is printed entire in Wagenseil's Ignea Tela Satance. Its argument is as follows " Almali signifies a young woman, and is the wife of Isaiah in due time she is to bear a son, whose name Imraanuel is a promise that God shall be with our arms to deliver us from Pekah and Rezin. His birth shall be followed by the immediate return of prosperity and before to our land, so that he shall eat butter and honey he shall be old enough to distinguish between good and evil, ruin shall have overtaken both the confederate kings. The better to assure them of this deliverance, the child is also called :
—
:
:
Maher-shalal-hash-baz,
i.
'
e.
prey which name is by the words used of him,
haste to the spoil, speed to the
plainly a warlike encouragement.
;'
'
And
Before the child shall have
knowledge to cry, My father, and, My mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the
King
of Assyria,' the sense
is
fixed of the similar
words applied to the Immanuel, and the identity established between him and Mahershalal. As the Prophet's other son, Shear-jashub, also bore a significant name, the Prophet says, '
Behold I and the children
whom
the Lord hath given me, are
NOTES.
294 for signs/ &c."
In the ninth chapter, however, the Nizzachon
considers that " Hezekiah was the child meant,
prophecy was
and that the
the defeat of Sennacherib." The also applied to Josef Kimchi's " "Wars of
fulfilled in
of Nizzachon is the Lord ;" and other instances will be found in "Wolff's Bibtitle
liotheca Heb., vol.
i.,
under Lipman and Matathias
;
and
vol.
p. 661.
iii.
—
Page
The great Jewish controversial work, 8, line 10. Emuna, or " The Pillar of the Truth," was written by Rabbi Isak ben Abraham, and printed for private circulation after his death, by his disciple Josef ben Mardochai Chissuk
Troki, about 1681.
Its
existence was long carefully con-
cealed, but at length it fell into "Wagenseirs
bands in the was travelling in Spain as tutor to Count Abensberg, when in an excursion from Gibraltar to Ceuta, he found large numbers of Jews assembled there from all parts of Africa, at a fair. Mixing freely with them, he so won their gratitude by the information he was able to give them concerning their compatriots in Europe, that they
following way.
He
not only answered his questions about their condition in Africa, but finally
Emuna,
gave him a manuscript copy of the Chissuk Subsequently
as the choicest present in their power.
he heard that the Portuguese Jews possessed a Spanish translation of
many
it
made by one Rabbi
Gabriel, but was unable, after
exertions, to obtain a copy.
Upon
his return
home,
he published
it
that time
has frequently been reprinted by the Jews,
it
Since
in his Ignea Tela Satance, in 1705.
the last edition which I have seen being Leipzig, 1857.
The
preface written
by
Isak's disciple, to
whom
he had
given the book upon his dying bed, affords an apt illustration
humour of the Jews. For he compares his master to his namesake the patriarch Isaac, and saj s that, like him, the Rabbi had two sons, the one, the gentle Jacob, being that part of the work which defends the Jews, while of the frigid
7
the other, the fierce Esau,
New
is
the second part, in which the
Of attacked and Christianity impugned. " himself Isak says, "When I was young, I was much about Testament
is
SERMON
men
the person of princes and inconclusive reasonings.
.
.
of rank, and often heard their
And
.
29^
I.
during
all
my
though
life,
of humble station, I have often argued with bishops, dukes, nobles, men of high and men of low rank, and have always been listened to with civility, because I spake modestly, and used for my proofs the words of the law. And this has in-
me
duced
my
in
ments which
retirement to put together the chief argu-
have used
I
in old time, that
they
may
may
be gathered
still
be
useful to the Jewish cause."
The general character
of his reasonings
from the following specimens. first part,
or "
The Apology
section of the
first
Law," he
for the
the argument from prophecy
—
In the
objects that
in four par-
inconclusive
is
As regards our Lord's genealogy, nothing being
ticulars
:
known
of Mary, an obscure virgin,
1.
fessedly not His father
:
and Joseph being con-
even Joseph's genealogy, he adds,
most uncertain, the two Christian witnesses, Matthew and for Zechariah, ix. 2. As to His work " nations," whereas unto the speak peace He shall 10, foretells,
is
Luke, not agreeing.
:
Jesus says, " Think not that I am come to establish peace upon earth ;" Mai. iv. 6, " He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children," but Jesus says that " He came to set a man at variance with his father;" Psalm lxxii. 11, " Kings shall fall down before Him," but Jesus " came not Messiah's birth 3. The time. to be served, but to serve." is
to
be " in the last days,"
(Isa.
ii.
2
;
Hos.
iii.
5)
during
;
neither of (Ezek. xxxviii. 8) which were true of "the Nazarene." 4. Unfulfilled pro-
the wars of
Gog and Magog,
phecies, such, for instance, as
(Isa.
Iii.
(Zech. xiv. 16). (lb. viii. 23)
Jews iii.
;
all
especially serve
13)
:
that
Messiah will establish
which the Jewish law shall Mosaic feasts be observed, the and 1,) The Jews shall everywhere be venerated, and the idolatry shall cease, (lb. xiii. 2)
one kingdom, (Dan. prevail,
;
44,) in
ii.
;
God
sin, (Deut.
without
xxx. 6
;
Zeph.
universal peace shall follow the destruction of
and Magog, (Ezek. xxxix. change their nature, (Hos. cease, (lb. lxv. 16, 19)
;
9) ii.
;
Gog
beasts of prey even shall
18
;
Isa. xi.
6)
;
grief shall
the Israelites shall possess the gift
NOTES.
296
of prophecy, (Ezek. xxxvii. 26 shall dwell
In filled
among them,
(Joel
his sixth chapter Isak
— 28 iii.
;
Joel
ii.
28)
and God
;
17),
enumerates
many more unfulMount of Olives
prophecies, such as the cleaving of the
;
the bursting forth of two rivers from the sanctuary, with trees
upon
their
ing up of the of
all
men
banks bearing
Red
Sea,
to Jerusalem
(Isa. xlix. 23)
;
;
month
fruit every
and the Euphrates
;
;
the dry-
the annual visit
the universal empire of the Jews,
the general observance of their religious
rites,
the reunion of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and the redivision of Palestine
among
the twelve tribes.
He
also
image in Dan. ii. the miry clay is the Mahommedan empire, and that consequently it must be fused with the Roman before Messiah can come. The largest portion, however, of the work is taken up with the examination of the texts usually brought forward by Christians in controversy with the Jews, and the study of his answers would be of great use to any one who really wished to know the grounds upon which the Jews rest their defence. He argues in it that the law can give life, for the observance of its precepts is meritorious, and the breach of them can be atoned for by repentance. Its sanctions he affirms to have been spiritual, and not temporal only. He asks, On what grounds Christians keep some of its precepts, and reject argues, that in the vision of the
others ? to
Among
those observed he mentions the forbidding
marry within the prohibited degrees, of which he enume-
rates six, viz., mother, step-mother, sister, niece, daughter,
and step-daughter. The 53rd chapter of Isaiah he examines very elaborately, and argues that Israel is the Servant of Jehovah, and that its sufferings in its present Edomitish captivity are vicarious, not being the punishment of its own sins, but for the healing of the Gentiles. The utter rejection of Israel, asserted by Christians from Jer. xvii. 4, &c," is an impossibility, for God's threatenings, equally with
mises, are conditional
;
and
His pro-
besides, Israel has equally abso-
lute promises of a restoration,
and of becoming the universal
religion.
Isak further comments upon the alleged misuse by Chris-
SERMON
I.
297
Thus Rachel's weeping
tians of the prophecies.
Ephraim
for
carried into captivity at the deportation of the ten tribes
is
applied to the slaughter of the Innocents at Bethlehem,
which was in Judah, and therefore
inhabitants were not
its
of Leah.
of Rachel, but
children
Zechariah, the
son of
confounded with the son of Jehoiada, and Abiathar put for Ahimelech. Stephen's speech, Barachiah, (Zech. again, he
says
1, 7,) is
i.
is
with errors, while Paul's
replete
mis-
quotations of Scripture are especially numerous.
Nor
are Christians
own books for they Testament doctrines which it does
more
fair to their
have added to the
New
not contain, as
the Trinity,
(1)
(2)
;
the divinity of the Son,
the worship of images, and (4) the duty of hating Jews while they neglect what it does teach, as (1) the selling of (3)
:
their goods to give to the poor, (3)
(2)
loving their enemies,
the refraining from things strangled.
One
instance of his constructive
method may
suffice, viz.,
his interpretation of Zech. xi. in opposition to Matt, xxvii. 9.
The
staff
Beauty, he says,
Maccabees,
who had no
The three shepherds
flock.
Zechariah, and Malachi,
The
another.
who is
Zerubbabel, and Bands the
cut off in one
who
month
are Haggai,
died within a few days of one
men, Nehemiah, and who are put into the
thirty pieces of silver are the thirty just
flourished after
treasury.
is
right to the throne, but did feed the
[He
reads, therefore, "i-IS for ~)2T\]
the foolish shepherd,
destroys
the
staff
Herod,
who
Bands, while
Agrippa, the idle shepherd, leaves his flock to go to Rome, and so brings upon his nation the invasion of Titus. Like, however, most controversialists, Rabbi Isak
is
more
successful
in stating objections speciously, and finding difficulties, than in constructing a system for himself.
Page is
8, line 24.
—Isak's exposition
of the sixty-five years
rendered impossible by the word T^?,
'
in yet sixty-five
from this time.' The received explanation is that given by Archbishop Usher, who considers that the prophecy was not fulfilled entirely at the
years,'
'
in sixty-five years
deportation of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, but at the in-
NOTES.
298 troduction of
new
when
inhabitants by Esarhaddon,
the land
Grotius would read
altogether ceased to belong to Israel.
six for sixty, " within six and five years,"
i.
e.
within eleven
and adds, " At Hebroei, ut codicum suorura fidem tueantur, hos lxv. annos retro trahunt ad id tempus, quo Amosus contra Syriam et Israelitas vaticinari coepit." years
;
Page 12,
line 15.
— Rabbi Isak does not stand alone in con-
sidering that Messiah will die p. 159, says,
his son,
and
his death
is
" Messiah shall his grandsons
;
for Mairaonides,
die,
and
after
for in Isa. xlii.
;
to follow his victory."
Nor
Porta Mosis,
him shall reign 4 God shews that
are the Jews con-
tent with this, but have busied themselves with calculating
the years of his life. R. Eliezer argues that he will die aged 40, from Ps. xcv. 10 but Ribbi concludes, from Ps. lxxii. 5, that he will live at least three generations. Other calculations are not so moderate, for R. Abimas calculates that the Messiah will reign seven thousand years; for in ;
Isaiah
5
lxii.
it
is
"As the bridegroom rejoiceth God rejoice over thee :" but seven days, and a day of God is
written,
over the bride, so shall thy
a bridegroom rejoices for
Numerous other
a thousand years.
calculations
found in Genebrardi, Hebr. Breve Chron.,
Page
12, line 16.
children from Isa.
—The Jews argue that Messiah liii.
will
be
p. 83, ed. 1572.
10 and Ps. lxxxix. 29
;
shall
have
but in their
uncontroversial works they constantly explain the term seed
we do metaphorically of disciples. So in the Bereshith Rabba, on Eccles. xi. 6, " In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand," R. Akiba says that as
it is
a
command
our old age to thee, or
:
to make disciples both in our youth and " for thou knowest not which God will account
whether both alike
may
be good."
—
Page 14, line 30. Besides the shifting of ground in the same commentator in making Isa. vii. 14 refer to one person, and ch. ix. 6 to another, the variations of interpreters in explaining the former text alone are instructive
:
thus Trypho
SERMON says that the
Almah
299
I.
the mother of Hezekiah
is
that she was either the wife or the daughter of
;
Abravanel
Ahaz
;
Rabbi
&c, a maiden pointed out by &c, Isaiah's wife Hitzig, Isaiah's
Lusitanus, Bauer, Isenbiehl, Isaiah first
;
Abenezra,
It.
Isak,
;
mother; Gesenius, Isaiah's second
wife, Shear- jashub's
upon the death of the first; David Kimchi Salomon and Jarchi, Isaiah's wife, but at the time of the prophecy still a virgin unripe for marriage Eichhorn, an ideal virgin Bunsen's view Meier, the city of Jerusalem. " The Almah," is perhaps worth even quoting at length. he says, "is any young marriageable woman, and here, Isaiah's betrothed. His eldest son was Shear-jashub, his second Immanuel, his third, Mahershalal. The essence of the prediction consisted in the birth of a boy, and not of
wife, married
;
;
a girl d !"
Page
15, line 2.
—The
rupted by Jerome was
makes the Hezekiah.
names
Besides the
have, e contra, 1.
six
first
idea of the text having been cor-
first
—
started refer to
by Salomon
absurdity of this
The Chaldee paraphrase, which
is
last
a child
Him
is
given us, and
He
two
supposition,
as follows:
prophet said to the house of David, Because a babe for us,
who
Jarchi,
God, and the
to
we
— "The is
born
hath taken the law
and His name shall be called from of old Wonderful in Counsel, God-man, Existing for Eternity, Messiah, whose peace shall be multiplied upon us in His days." It will be noticed that the paraphrast renders the words "ii23 b« verbatim by the corresponding Chaldee words Nrns snaa, but the latter word, like vir among the Latins, had come to signify man merely, having lost its original mean-
upon
to
keep
it,
ing of strength. 2. The Peschito, or Syriac version, which was made directly from the Hebrew without the help of the Septuagint, and " Because a child is born to us, and a son is given renders, us, and His government shall be upon His shoulder, and
—
d
Bibelwerk, in
loc.
3OO
NOTES.
His name
is
and Counsellor, God mighty
called "Wonderful
of worlds (or eternity), the Prince of Peace."
Other ancient authorities are
Page
23, line 3.
literally
shall
are,
—The
also entirely
words of
" Nekabah,
the
Gibbor,
the
is
side.
this text, Jer. xxxi. 22,
woman absolutely, man :" of which a de-
female,
compass Geber, the strong one,
rivative,
on the same
El
Gibbor,
fact is often noticeable
among
word used
in Isa. ix. 6,
" the mighty God." Ibid., line 14.
— The
same
the Rabbis, namely, that while they explain away the clear declarations of Scripture, they find
doctrines in
its
trifles.
"to multiply the government and the peace," in Rabbinic Bibles rQ~iD7 is written with the mem closed instead of open and this the Rabbis almost univerR. Besally explain of the Messiah being born of a virgin. being called in from Messiah Zech. rachias infers the same vi. 12 a Branch, because a branch is not produced from And the same conclusion is drawn from Isa. liii. 2, seed. where Messiah is called "a root out of a dry ground,"
Thus
in Isa. ix. 7,
:
and from Ps.
ex.
shall be
children
3,
which R. Berachias
translates, "
Thy
born unto thee, as the dew from the
dawning morn."
A is
different interpretation of the closed
given by R. Tanchumim,
who
says, "
mem
Why is
in Isa. ix. 7
every medial
mem
open, but this closed ? Because the holy and blessed to make Hezekiah the Messiah, and Sennacherib wished God Gog and Magog. But the THH n~rE, the measure of justice, Lord of the world, what means this? David, who said,
spake so
many songs and psalms of praise before Thee, Thou make the Messiah, and wilt Thou make Hezekiah
didst not
whom Thou hast wrought all these signs, who has not spoken a psalm before Thee? And the
the Messiah, for
but
Bathkol,
the voice of God,
secret."
The meaning of
tical style of the
answered,
this,
My
secret
is
my
separated from the enigma-
Jews, seems to be, that
Gog and Magog
are
not to be understood of any definite nation, but of the op-
SERMON posers of
God
generally
;
3 01
I.
and that Hezekiah had
less
claims
even than David to be the Messiah. Galatinus quotes from the "Revealer of Secrets," published in quarto at Niirnberg, 1605, a most extraordinary-
explanation attributed to R. Hakkodesh, in descent from the
Symeon
(as is
By
infant Christ in his arms.
i.e.
R. Jehuda,
supposed)
who
fifth
held the
a transposition of the letters
he makes the words "to multiply the government" mean " the lady Mary." But the author of this work, J. C. Otto, a converted Jew, seems to have intended only to mystify Christians,
Page
and
his
24, line 20.
whole work
is
replete with fictions.
— Ewald's words are taken from his Jahr—
buch der Biblischen Wissensckaft for 1858, p. 71 " Die Tiibingischen gelehrten albernheiten wie sie sich vorziiglich :
auch in bezug auf die Evangelien ausserten und noch aussern, gegen die Deutsche .wissenschaft in Auslande einen sehr erklarlichen widerwillen haben erregt."
Ibid., line 24.
signifying
'
— The word
covered/
'
almah, TVyTS, comes from a root
concealed/ and
is
taken by Hebrew
scholars of the old school as referring to the separation of
maidens from the company of men, and by those of the new school de signis pubertatis e Its occurrence in the masculine is rare it is found nevertheless in 1 Sam. xvii. 56, " whose .
;
and in 1 Sam. xx. 22, where it is boy/ used in the preceding verse but is incorrectly translated 'young man/ the sense being servant, a usage it shares with Trots, puer, gar con, &c, the idiom of all languages employing the term boy, and generally also maid, in the sense of servant. And so Freytag says of this son the stripling equivalent to
is," nbl?,
~13?3,
f
;
very word, " A\i adolescens, turn de servo" The feminine
more common
is
called m2?D,
thus Rebecca in Gen. xxiv. 16 damsel/ but in ver. 43, TV^>V, virgin/ In Exod. ii. 8 Miriam is called an almah. So in Ps. lxviii. 25, the damsels playing with timbrels are ahnahs, the custom of virgins taking part in is
;
'
'
'
Meier, Hebr. WvrzelwSrterluch,
p.
373.
NOTES.
30 2
known. Again, in Cant. i. 3 have, " Therefore do the ahnahs, virgins, love thee ;" and vi. 8, " There are threescore queens, and fourscore con-
religious processions being well
we ib.
cubines,
and ahnahs without number," the
latter
being the
virgins in attendance upon the two previous classes.
The other passage in which it occurs is that on which the Jews depend for their interpretation, viz. Pro v. xxx. 19, " The way of a man with a maid." But even were we to grant in this place the Jewish explanation, which is by no means a certain one, it would not invalidate the general meaning of the word, for it would simply signify one by habit and repute a virgin/ And, in fact, euphemistic appellations are in all ages and countries given by the common modesty of mankind both to the persons guilty of the sin re'
And again, no one doubts ferred to, and to the sin itself. the meaning of virgo, yet Horace speaks of " virgines nuptce," and Virgil apostrophizes Pasiphae, "
Ah
!
virgo infelix."
So, again, of irapOevos, no one doubts
Homer
its
meaning; yet
says, ovt rtKev 'AarvoxVi irapdevos alSoir]
1 ,
—
8
"Auropos 'AfefSao
and he uses the term because her children were irapQkvioi. So Sophocles makes Hercules say of Iole, tols i/xoh 7r\evpols ofiov KAtOelaav, ri]v
•
And
—
EvpvT€tav oicrOa Srjra irapdivov %
similarly in
one denies to mean
Hebrew, the word virgin, is
;
bethulah,
used in Joel
i.
which no
8 for a young
widow.
In general the distinction between the words na'arah, ahnah, and bethulah,
woman whether
as
is
follows:
— na'arah
married or unmarried
;
bethulah
is
is
a young a virgin,
whether young or old ahnah is both young and a virgin h Kimchi, however, in his Liber radicum says that ahnah girl,' and Abulwalid and Saadias simply means na'arah, .
;
'
f
h
II.
Miillcr,
ii.
514
Judenthnmh,
B
p.
636; Galatinus,
Track. 1219.
De
Arcanis, p. 531.
SERMON
303
I.
agree with him but as Jews they do but give the tradition which began in the second century, and which the renegade Aquila first made public in his version, the object of which was to supersede the Septuagint and weaken the argument for Christianity deduced from the prophetic books. His rendering is, 'I&ov veavcs iv yaarpl avWafiftavei /ecu Titcrec :
fj
vlbv koX fcaXeaeis ovo/ia
On
avrov 'E/xfMavovijX.
the other
hand, the sense which they ascribe to the root of the word, that namely of concealing and hiding, plainly points to the old custom of closely guarding unmarried maidens
:
so in
the Greek Anthology they complain, rjntv 8'ouSe
Xsvaativ
aWa
dffiis,
/xeAadpois
KpvirrSfievai fycpepais (ppovriai rrjKS/xffat.
And
among
of a similar custom prevailing
read in Cant.
the Jews
we
iv. 12,
" A garden enclosed
A
is
my
my
sister,
betrothed
spring shut up, a fountain sealed."
I add Jerome's words at length
— " The
usual term in which Isaiah here substitutes almah, which the Jews translate a young woman/ except the Septuagint, which renders it 'the virgin.' The Jews say, moreover, that almah is an ambiguous term, signifying either a young woman, or one living in secret, abscondita, that is, airoKpv^. And so Aquila renders almah, where in Genesis it is applied to Rebecca, not by 'girl' or young woman/ but by abscondita. We say, therefore, that almah not only signifies a virgin, but something more cum i-mTdaet a virgin living concealed, and secret, never exposed to the look of young men, but guarded by the
Hebrew
for virgin is
:
bethulah, for
'
'
;
—
watchful care of her parents." that while bethulah
may
He
then adds the remark,
signify a virgin of
any age, almah
can only signify one just arrived at puberty.
The conclusion text, as
of Meier, to
whom
I
have referred in the
being probably the best Hebi*aist of the Tubingen
— "A married maiden, a
young married which sense Gesenius and others take it, the word nowhere strictly means, though even were an instance found, it would give no more difficulty than the similar use of
school,
woman,
is
as follows:
in
NOTES.
304 irapdkvos, mrgo, nViro.
.
.
.
This latter word, hethulah, signi-
a virgin with respect to her civil position
fies
',
as kept sepa-
from the male members of the famity, and carries with no idea of modesty and bashfulness like the term alma//." His own explanation of the prophecy is marked by his
rate it
usual ability and audacity
the name,
:
— " The centre of the prophecy
God with us/ with
•
a community therefore
;
that
is is,
with the Jewish Church, conscious of God's presence within
The future mother
it.
is
a virgin, and yet with child; so
clearly an impossibility, that every one at once feels that the
language
is
symbolical.
The mother,
therefore, is the ideal
community, the holy city, called now the daughter of Zion and then, again, the virgin, the daughter of Zion, (Is. xxxvii. Elsewhere, again, the virgin, the daughter of Judah,
22.)
(Lam.
i.
15,)
Jerusalem
is
and the virgin of
So, again, in Judith
Israel.
called Bethuliah, 'the Virgin of
God/ imply-
ing the notion that she shall never be violated by the hand
enemy and such is Isaiah's meaning here." Even Meier, however, in ch. ix. 6 sees the promise of a Messiah, but denies that the Immanuel is identical with of the
;
the child " Wonderful."
"a
" There
is,
them
however," he says,
mounts up by step from the immediate to the remoter development. The Immanuel is the sign of God's presence among His distressed people so. much so, that in ch. viii. Immanuel is God Himself present with His people, and therefore their country is 'the breadth of His land.' And finally, by the divine protection out of night and darkness a new light shines, and Messiah with His wondrous attributes is born for certain connection between
;
for Isaiah
step
;
the people." I
may add
own way
most of the German commenalmah means a virgin, though each has his
that, like Meier,
tators grant that
of getting rid of the supernatural element.
Maurer says
it
means a virgin
whom
Thus
the prophet was about
to marry.
Umbreit, the virgin, pointing to some chance maiden among the bystanders— within such a time as the 1
"Es
Proph.
bczeichnet die Jnngfrau Hirer burgerlichen Stellung nach."
Jen., in loc.
^Der
SERMON standing there
virgin
could
3O5
1.
So Bunsen, Die
conceive.
Jungfrau da. Eichhorn, Paulus, &c, an ideal virgin, within the time that an ideal virgin could marry and have a son. Ewald, a virgin, i.e. one neither too young nor too old to marry. Hofmann, a virgin, but in the vocative case; '0 virgin, house of David, as yet unmarried of the Lord, thou
i.e.
shalt see thy promises fulfilled,
and have a
See also
son.'
the note to page 14. 287, says that almah means did bethulah, virgo illibata; and asks, "
Drechsler, Der Proph. Jcs., virgo nubilis,
i.
Why
and
Isaiah call the Messiah's mother almah, and not bethulah
?
rank and of noble and therefore the Saviour did not come in princely guise, but in poverty not as a hero riding on a war-horse, but meek and lowly, upon an ass's foal. Nor did He gather round It
was because
all
that was high in
birth in Judaea had apostatized from God's covenant
;
;
Him
the Pharisees and learned scribes to form His court as
the Priest-king of Jerusalem, but publicans and fishermen.
The world He saved not by death and submission. " the servants of all."
And
Now
life
and conquest, but by
equally His followers must be
it is
in Isaiah that prophecy first
The Deliverer of the realm is the government rests upon the shoulder
new-born
takes this direction.
a
infant,
of a child.
And
that child
is
He
born of an almah.
is
not the voyvl
offspring of the queen, not even the son of a married wife
but of one
God
whom
law and propriety withdraw from this
office.
has chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the mighty, and things which are not to bring to nought things which are. illibata,
but the
Messiah." liv. 4,
" the
It is therefore not the
7V^7'2,
With
the virgo nubilis,
who
nbVQ,
the virgo
brings forth the
this interpretation Drechsler connects Isa.
shame of thy unmarriedness," ~pmb37.
—
Page 26, line 31. According to the Talmud the whole prophecy relating to Mahershalal must be taken spiritually for quoting the words of Isa. viii. 2, it says, " What has Uriah
to do with Zechariah the son of
Barachiah ?"
(Our
version reads Jerebechiah, but the Septuagint, the Peschito,
x
notes.
306
and the Vulgate all read Barachiah, with the Talmud.) " For Uriah/' the Talmud proceeds, " lived in the times of the first
may
temple, as you
read in Jer. xxvi. 20, but Zechariah in Why then does i. 1.
second temple, Zech.
those of the
Isaiah mention
them both together
sure that as the prophecy of Uriah,
?
It is that
who
we may be
spake of the desola-
tion of the holy land, has been fulfilled, so shall also the viii. 4., &c, of its restoration equally be The Talmud, therefore, regards the whole allegorical, and so far contradicts the literal in-
prophecy in Zech. accomplished." account as
terpretation of later times.
Page 28,
wo man
line
10.— " Von Kase und Honig nahrt man sich da, Boden ackerbauend bewirthshaftet, sondern
nicht den
nomadisch lebend von demjenigen sich erhalt was die Heerden,
und was Feld und Wald geben." Drechsler, in loc. whose commentary, among many others, proves that Germany has scholars quite able to contend with the Rationalists upon We may add that the expression in their own ground. }
Exodus, " a land flowing with milk and honey," is a proof that the Israelites were then living a nomad life, whereas the "higher critics" would have us believe that the Pentateuch was written in the days of Solomon, when the people
were
settled in towns,
and agriculture prevailed.
SERMON Page
33, line 18.
interpretation
— Among Dathe,
are
II.
those
who grant
Michaelis,
a Messianic
Doderlein,
Koppe,
Pluschke, Eichhorn, Kuinol, Herder, von der Palm, Rosenmuller, Umbreit, Hengstenberg, Maurer, Hitzig, Ewald,
Of course, many of names immediately suggest that the writers would not
Drechsler, Meier, Knobel, Reinke, &c. these
grant the fulfilment of the prophecy in our Lord. those
who deny
a
Messianic
interpretation
are
Among Grotius,
Hensler, Paulus, Hendewerk, Jahn, Gesenius, and Bunsen.
Page
38,
line
18.
— " Galilee
signifies " the circle of the
of the
nations" properly
heathen," the heathen march, or
SERMON
III.
307
Subsequently the latter word was omitted, and the
border.
We
was simply called "the circle" Galilee.
district
find
it
as early as the days of Joshua, (chap. xx. 7,) but probably
much narrower extent of country than it conour Lord's time, when it included the four tribes of
limited to a tained in
Issachar, Zebulon, Naphthali,
and Asher.
plural in the book of Joshua, (chap.
marches, or borders
Page
48, line 23.
for 13?,
'
—The is
constant striving of the
is
a title of honour,
or of-testimon}^,
of- witness,
may mean
German
by Meier, who
well exemplified here
eternity/ Father of eternity, suggests
'Father/ he adds,
also find the
the sense of " the borders of the Philistines."
;
school after novelty
"We
xiii. 2,) in
*T?,
'
witness.'
and therefore Father'the protector of the
In fact, it is to be borne in mind that it does not follow from a text or a translation having been disputed by
law/
the Germans, that therefore
it is
disputable.
A
reputation for
can be best earned among them by attacking something which everybody else grants. And as each new aspirant after celebrity must find some fresh opportunity of cleverness
it follows that in the long run every and version must be challenged. But it is generally understood among them that these efforts of in-
distinguishing himself, tenet,
and
text,
genuity are not to be too seriously understood.
SERMON Page
64, line 14.
—As
III.
usual, there
is
no
settled interpreta-
among ment of this prophec} but every commentator offers his own Thus, for instance, Koppe argues that the text is novelty. corrupt, and says that chaps, x. 17 23, 28 34, xi., xii., are a forgery, the work of some later seer, and refer to the invasion of the land by the Chaldees under Nebuchadnezzar. tion
1
the chiefs of the neologist school in their treatr
,
—
He
—
leaves Isaiah, however, in possession of chap. x. 5
— 16,
24—27. Vater says that the whole prophecy was written in Manasseh's time, and refers to the deportation to Babylon.
x2
3°8
NOTES.
Jungmann, and some Zerubbabel.
Hezekiah.
On
Jews k explain
of the older
Abenezra,
Grotius,
it
of
it
to
,
Paulus, &c,
apply
the other hand, Beckhaus, Jahn, Gesenius,
Hitzig, and others, defend the authenticity of the whole pro-
phecy apply
Kuinol, Dereser, Jahn, and a multitude of others,
:
it
to our
Lord
;
while Eichhorn, Bauer,
Gesenius, Hitzig, Ewald, Knobel, Bunsen,
&c,
De Wette,
refer
it
to
an
ideal Messiah.
Page 71,
line 8.
— Freytag gives
'
their
j^
meanings of
altus font, as different
cuss
vibravit hastam,
connection.
elatus,
but does not
j^ may
Possibly
and
dis-
have signified
wood of a spear, and hence the sense These two words are of rare occurrence
a spear-handle,' the
of brandishing.
in Arabic, but the adjective is
^J^,
'great/ 'high/ 'noble/
of daily use.
Page
72, line 1.
—The
word
'
2??5>
{arbor succisa, Kimchi,) in Isa. xi. 1,
Cyt?,
'
is
a
hewn-down trunk/
from the same root as
the lopped branches,' in Isa. x. 33, as
Gesenius in his Thesaurus.
In
is
shewn by
this place, as so often is the
case in our Version, the unskilfulness with which the pro-
phecies have been divided into chapters obscures the whole
meaning of the passage.
SERMON Page
91, line 29.
IV.
—The manner in which Isaiah alwa}
T
s re-
gards Babylon, and not Nineveh, as the centre of the heathen world, and foretells that the treasures of Jerusalem must be is as remarkable a fact as his mentioning Cyrus by name as the conqueror of Babylon. There are some very good remarks upon this in Sticr's Jesaias
carried there into captivity,
k
Cf. Theodoret. in xi. 10.
SERMON
IV.
3°9
We
nicht Pseudo-Jesaias, Einleitung, p. xxxvi.
may
add, that
Babylon only became tlie capital in Esarbaddon's time, wards the end of Isaiah's life.
to-
—
Page 93, line 6. Hieron., Prcef. ad Es. ad Paulam. In his Epistle to Panlinus he also says, " Non prophetiani mihi videtur texere Esaias sed evangelium." xviii. 29,
says
much
the same
:
Augustine, Civ. Dei,
— " Esaias ergo inter
ilia,
qua3
iniqua arguit, et justa praecepit, et peccatorum mala futura prsedixit,
etiam de Christo et ecclesia, h.
quam condidit, ita nt a
civitate,
multo plura quam
e.
de Rege et
cseteri
ea,
prophetavit
quibusdam Evangelista quam Propheta potius
di-
ceretur."
—
Page 94, line 3. The proof adduced in favour of Isaiah's having been prolonged into Manasseh's days, is the notice in 2 Chron. xxxii. 32, that Isaiah wrote an account
life
of Hezekiah's
and
life
actions.
—Though
Isaiah had withdrawn from the by no means follows that his mental activity had ceased. Prophecy was, in the truest sense, the national literature, and while it was perpetually in opposition to the civil power, and even to the external rites of the Mosaic ritual, it exercised a constantly growing influence over the mass of the people. And in this influence is to be found the explanation of the fact, that on the return from Babylon it was no longer the descendants of David who exercised the supreme power, but the priests and prophets. Of this written school of prophecy Isaiah was by no means the founder, but he vastly increased its influence and in Ibid,
line 12.
affairs of State, it
;
these last chapters
entrusted to
we
its safe
have, so to speak, his esoteric writings,
keeping, and intended for
its
constant
study.
Page 100,
line
3.
— The
critics
who
dispute the
genuine-
ness of the last twenty-seven chapters arc compelled by their
own arguments
to include also in their
condemnation must
3 JO
NOTES.
of the earlier portion, especially chaps, xv. } xvi.
xxi. 1
;
and xxxvi.
— 10
— xxxix.
An
may
these passages
;
xxiii.
xxiv.
;
— xxvii.
—
— xiv.
23
;
;
able defence of the authenticity of
be seen in Reinke, Die Messianischen
—
556. pp. 483 Ewald contents himself with rejecting
Weissagungen, vol.
;
1
xxxiv,, xxxv.
xiii.
ii.
—
chaps,
xii.
2
—
14,
23; xxi. 1 10 xxiv. xxvii. but to atone for this moderation, he exercises his critical faculties in detecting inter;
:
polations in the last twenty-seven chapters,
and leaves the
Pseudo-Isaiah as bare as the real one.
— Both
Eichhorn and Ewald grant, for inlvii. 21 must have been written before the exile but the form of the prophecy (cf. page 129) renders it an impossibility to remove this passage from its place. Moreover, just the same arguments apply to ch. lxv. Ibid., line 13.
stance, that chaps, lvi. 10
—
;
—
Page 120, line 14. Passages in which Isaiah repeats the same word in both portions of the parallelism are, in the
—
5
first part, xi.
9;
;
xiv.
4
;
xv.
1,
8,
&c.
in the second,
xlii.
xliv. 3; lix. 10.
Page 121,
line 9.
—
Gresenius, in his Thesaurus,
eleven or twelve passages in which '
;
to be
;'
and every one of them
tions of Isaiah.
is
'
to
enumerates
be called' signifies
taken from the two porviii. 3, " Je-
I think, however, that Zech.
rusalem shall be called a city of truth," might fairly be added to the list but this, again, is but an imitation of ;
Isa.
i.
26.
SERMON Page 129,
line 9.
— This
V.
triple division has been, I think,
universally received since the publication of Riickert's work,
Die Propheten parts the
first
tioned in
it
name
iibersetzt
und
erklart, Leipsig,
1831.
Of
these
has most peculiarities, Babylon being men-
four times, the Chaldaoans five, Cyrus twice
besides allusions to him,
and Bel and Ncbo once,
—
by all
SERMON
311
V.
of which entirely disappear in the other two parts.
second part the Prophet
whom
the Messiah, to
referred in chap.
he had only once directly In the third the Messiah is whereas the glory of the Church is
in the first
xlii. 1
only briefly alluded
In the
chiefly occupied with the office of
is
to,
—
9.
lx., which has nothing two portions.
described at large, especially in chap,
corresponding to
Page 141,
line
it
in the other
28.
— This
fancy of Saadia Gaon's comes to
Aben Ezra, who, in his commentary on Isa. Hi. 13, says, " It. Saadia Haggaon understood by the Servant of Jehovah' the Prophet Jeremiah, arguing that the words He shall sprinkle many nations' referred to the outpourings of prophecy by his mouth, and that 'He shall grow up as a tender plant' pointed to the fact that Jeremiah was very young when he entered upon the prophetic office, and that consequently his tone at first is very humble. us at second-hand, through
'
'
So, in chap, xviii. 20, he speaks of himself as 'interceding for the people,'
which
equivalent to
is
So, in chap. xi. 19, he says,
'
I
was
'
bearing their sins
like a
lamb brought
the slaughter,' which was the fulfilment of Isa. lastly, in
chap. xl. 5
gave him
victuals,
we
and
read,
let
'
liii.
7
!
!'
to
And.
The captain of the guard
him go/ which adequately
ac-
complishes the words, 'Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, strong.'
and he
shall divide the spoil
with the
"
Any one who
reads this schoolmaster's own arguments will wonder that no second Jew was ever found to accept his conclusion, and will dismiss him with the same summary contempt as Aben Ezra, or Abravanel, who says, " I see no one verse which can be referred to Jeremiah. How shall he be extolled, and be very high ? When did kings close their mouths in his presence ? How did he bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows ? In short, this explanation is entirely erroneous, and supported by 110 Scriptural authority." cease to
NOTES.
312
SE&MON
VI.
—
Page 163, line 9. Upon the question whether the idea of atonement by suffering is innate in man or not, the reader may consult Kreuzer, Symbolik, ii. 270 Buttmann, MytJios von Heracles; Lassaulx, Linoshkigc. For the Jews it certainly was contained in the theory of sacrifice but when, after the return from exile, their obedience to the law degenerated into mere pride of it, all ideas of a suffering Messiah became hateful to them. Their early prophets and ;
;
psalmists, however, entertained juster views.
Ibid., line 28.
Translation of the Isa. Hi.
Hi. 13.
My
"Behold,
He
14. "
15.
13
—
liii.
Targum of Jonathan. 12.
Servant the Messiah shall prosper:
and great, and strong exceedingly." While the house of Israel long time hoped for Him Their aspect was dark among the nations And their glory inferior to that of the sons of men." shall be high,
" So shall
Kings
He
scatter
many
shall be silent at
nations
;
Him
They
shall lay their hands upon their mouth For that which none had related to them they have seen And what they had not heard they have understood
thoroughly." liii. 1.
""Who hath
And
is it
2.
"
And Lo
!
believed this our message
the strength of the mighty
arm
?
of Jah, to
the righteous shall be magnified before like
whom now
revealed?"
young plants in blossom, and
Him
as a tree that puts
forth its roots beside the streams of waters,
So shall the holy generation be multiplied in the land that
was emptied of it. Its aspect is not a
common
aspect (literally, profane, as
opposed to sacred),
Nor But
its
fear that of (i.e. inspired by)
its
glory shall be the glory of holiness
So that every one that shall see 3. "
Therefore shall
He
be despised,
it
an ordinary person
shall look close at it."
SERMON
VI.
313
But shall abolish the glory of all kingdoms They shall he powerless and distressed.
He
4.
is as
a
man
:
of sorrows, and prepared for sicknesses
And
it
And
our iniquities shall on His account be forgiven
though there was the taking away of the face of His glory from us despised and not esteemed." " Therefore shall He pray for our sins
was
as
;
Though we be regarded
Smitten from before God, and 5. "
And He
:
1
as bruised afflicted."
up the holy house, which was profaned because of our sins was delivered up because of our shall build
;
iniquities
And by His teaching shall peace be multiplied upon us, And when we obey His words our sins shall be forgiven us." 6. "
All
we were
We
had departed each
But the 7.
scattered like sheep to his
Jah was
will of
own way;
to forgive us all our sins for
His
sake." prayed, and was answered;
"He
And He
He was
opened not His mouth again, because
accepted:
He
up the mighty among the Gentiles
shall deliver
a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep that
as
is silent
before her shearer
And
there shall be none before
mouth 8.
to
Him who
"From chastisements and punishment He Him) our captivity And the miracles that shall be wrought who can narrate ? For
He
shall
open his
speak a word."
shall take
away the dominion
shall gather (unto
for us in
His day,
of the Gentiles from
the land of Israel
The
sins
which
My people have
committed, shall overtake
them, (the Gentiles)." 9.
"
He
shall deliver
And the
up the wicked to Gehenna which they had gotten by violence
rich in wealth
unto the death of perdition;
That the workers of 10.
sin
Nor speak treacheries "And it was the will
may
not be established,
in their
mouth."
of Jah to melt in the furnace and
NOTES.
3*4
purify the remnant of His people, to cleanse their soul from sin
They shall see the kingdom of their Messiah They shall have many sons and daughters They shall prolong their days, And those who perform the law of God shall by His good pleasure prosper." 11.
"Prom
the slavery of
My
people shall
He
liberate their
soul
They shall see retribution falling upon their enemies They shall be satisfied with the prey of their kings. In His wisdom shall He justify the just, that He may make many obey His law :
:
And He
shall
pray
for their sins."
12. " Therefore will I divide
Him
and the riches of their
He
the spoil of
fortified
shall divide a prey because
death, and
made the
He
In
this paraphrase it is
nistic to
many
Gentiles,
:
delivered His soul unto
rebellious subject to
And He shall intercede for the sins And for His sake pardon is granted
extreme unfaithfulness
towns
of
His law.
many:
to the rebellious."
important to observe that
its
the result not of views antao-o-
is
any other explanation, but of its embodying the While in common with
current theology of Jonathan's time.
every ancient authority it
carefully separates
it
refers the
Him
from
prophecy
to the Messiah,
every word of humiliation.
The " marring of visage" is applied to the Israelites wasting away in their long expectation of His coming. They it is
who
are " despised and not esteemed," because His glorious
face
is still
withheld.
The
stituted for the singular,
plural
number
wherever there
is
constantly sub-
any epithet of though it applied to the people, and not to the Messiah. Sometimes even it is the temple of Jerusalem, as in ver. 5, which is profaned and delivered up. That He does not open His mouth is because His slightest word is answered the lamb led to slaughter is the Gentile world and it is their yoke which is taken away from the land of Israel; whose enemies are to be delivered up to ruin, while they, purified by chastisement, are to see the kingdom of is
grief or shame, as
:
;
SERMON
VI.
3*5
the Messiah, and enjoy a complete and final triumph. As Targum of Jonathan was written at a time anterior to
the
the birth of our Saviour,
it is
a proof
how carefully
the Jewish
had eliminated from Scripture every expression referring to the humiliation of the Messiah, and explains the difficulty felt by the Apostles and people generally, at reconciling our Lord's low estate and life of sufferdoctors in their teaching
ing with their one-sided interpretation of the prophetic writings.
—
Page 178, line 14. Another proof they deduce from Isa. 20, where the ox is Messiah-ben-Josef, to whom
xxxii.
belongs the prophecy in Deut. xxxiii. 17 while the ass is Messiah-ben-David, to whom belongs Zech. ix. 9. Most of ;
these proofs are from the Bereshith Eabba.
Talmud
the Babylonian
be found in Tract. SukJca,
Page 180,
3.
line
—The
essential a portion of the
The passage in
respecting Messiah-ben-Josef will fol.
52, col. 1.
war of Gog and Magog forms so Jewish system of prophetic inter-
it may be interesting to quote a passage confrom the Jerusalem Talmud, which treating of the Pentateuch, says that the prophecy of Eldad and Medad in the camp was as follows At the very end of days Gog and Magog and their forces shall go up to Jerusalem, but shall fall by the hand of King Messiah and so great shall slaughter, that for seven whole years the children of the be entirely occupied in burning their armour, Israel shall be neither ploughing their land nor pruning their trees during
pretation, that
cerning
it
:
—
:
that time.
Ibid.,
line
23.
—The
founded upon Dan.
some
will rise " to
theory of a twofold resurrection
xii.
2; but though
it
is
is
said there that
shame," yet the Jews affirm that none of life, un-
their race will finally forfeit the gift of everlasting less
by denying,
1.
the Mosaic law, or
the existence of God, 2. the divinity of 3.
The &c, taught that
the doctrine of a resurrection.
older interpreters, like Kimchi, Maimonides,
3
NOTES.
1
the resurrection would take place at intervals
;
the just arising
coming of Messiah, but the mass of the people only at the end of the world. Abravanel and his school make the final judgment follow almost immediately upon Messiah's advent, and make the Gentiles rise as well as the at the first
Jews.
—
Page 182, line 17. The notion that the coming of Messiah was indefinitely delayed because of the sins of the Jews is For in Tract. Sanhcdrin, as old as the Babylonian Talmud. R. Elia, referring to the Jewish tradition that the world was to last 6,000 years, 2,000 without law, 2,000 under the law, and 2,000 under the Messiah, explains the delay in His coming by the unworthiness of the people. In the same way for the same his state is made to depend upon their merits " Tract, says, In Isaiah lx. 22 we read, The coming of Messiah is in its time, and yet God says, I will hasten it. This discrepancy is to be thus understood. If the Jews deserve it, I will hasten it if not, it will be in its time. So Dan. vii. 13 represents Messiah as coming in glory, but Zech. ix. 9 in humility but this means that if the Jews deserve it the Messiah shall come in the clouds of heaven, but otherwise upon an ass." The Talmud then proceeds thus " King Sapor said to Samuel, You say that Messiah will come riding on an ass, I will send Him a bay horse." Shortly afterwards it says, " I asked Elias when Messiah would come ? He answered, Go and ask Him. But where, said I, shall I find Him ? He will sit, said he, at the gate of Rome, among the poor and wretches covered with sores, whose wounds He will bind up one by one." I may add that we lose the full force of Zech. ix. 9 by translating iy$ meek :' it means ;
;
;
:
'
'
poor/
SERMON Page 261,
line 14.
— One of the
IX. earliest writers against the
Manichccs was Titus, Bishop of Bostra, a contemporary of Ephrem Syrus. His work consists of four books, in the first
SERMON
IX.
317
dogmas of Manes,
in
for the existence of
an
of which he considers the philosophical
the second the proofs alleged by
him
evil principle in creation, in the third
he refutes his attacks
upon the Old Testament, and in the fourth his calumnies of the New. In the original Greek only the first two books are extant, and a very small portion of the third, the rest, as given in Gallandii Bib. Vet. Pair., lib. v. pp. 328 345, being
—
A
spurious.
Syriac translation, however, of the whole
w ork r
has been discovered in that famous Nitrian manuscript, justly considered the gem of the whole collection, No. 12,150, containing the " Recognitions" of St. Clement, the "Theophania"
and " The Martyrs of Palestine" of Eusebius, and this treatise of Titus, all now published by the labours of Dr. Lee, Dr. Its date is a.d. 411, being only Cureton, and Dr. Lagarde. forty years subsequent to the probable time of Titus's death in a.d. 371.
a
In
work the
this
the most interesting, and in
it
third book seems to
me by
far
the author shews that the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil contained no noxious quality in
itself,
but was simply a very easy probation, suited
to the undeveloped state of Adam's reason.
Man
is
now, he
argues, capable of a higher probation, and therefore his fall "was not
an unmixed
of
Adam's
from the
evil,
but rather a good, foreseen in God's
"Upon creation no change passed in consequence
counsels.
fall,
first
nor
is
such the meaning of Gen.
iii.
17, but
the earth was fitted to be the place of man's
(§ 18), who was indeed created sinless, but at the same time capable of sinning. Much therefore was provided which would have been useless to Adam had he never sinned, and the command in Gen. i. 28 implies labour, fowling, fishing, hunting, and agriculture, (§ 21). Men err in applying to the whole of creation what is true only of paradise, a special place fitted for Adam and Eve in their state of simplicity, when as yet they could not distinguish good and " Adam's disobedience, therefore, made no change in evil. creation, nor was any new dispensation introduced, but God foreknew man's disobedience, and had from the first prepared for him whatever would be serviceable for his use." He had even fitted him for death (§ 22), and- " death, though
probation
310
NOTES.
it carries with it the idea of punishment, was really a great and wonderful kindness from God to man," (§ 18). In the second book (§ 23, ed. Lagarde) he equally denies that death is an evil, " for what necessarily happens to all is besides, if there were no death, the just man no evil would be eternally labouring to attain unto virtue, without being the better for his pains, and the unjust man would pass an immortality in wicked pleasures both of which things would be monstrous. But the intervention of death both puts a stop to the unrighteous pleasure of the sinner, and For since the perfects the righteous labour of the good. power of sinning is a necessary part of man, as being involved in the power of right-doing, but this power, given to man in order that he might attain to what is honourable and .
.
.
;
men
good, has a tendency in most easier path of sin,
to degenerate into the
whereby virtue becomes the more admir-
able as being coupled with difficulty, death
is
useful to both,
and to the unjust, as being to the one a resjnte from his labours, and to the other a termination to his misdeeds." In the same book, § 39, he argues that " though wild For evil can beasts are objects of fear, they are not evil. exist only where an operation of the reason takes place, but a mere physical instinct is incapable of cither virtue or vice. ... A wild beast therefore is no defect, for it does not possess reason, but a wicked man is an evil, because he deliberately pursues objects of the nature of which he is cognisant." Titus then proceeds at some length to discuss the moral to the just
object of the existence of wild beasts in creation §
(cf.
also
38), considering that they were intended to awaken in
man
fear, his general fault being a
makes him duties.
want of
earnestness,
which
content with earth, and forgetful of his higher
lie also shews
how admirably adapted
these animals
are to their place and use.
These instances
may
suffice to
shew with how much more
vigour the Fathers discussed these questions than
is
usual
now. To say nothing of imaginative accounts of the supposed effects of the Fall upon creation, there are pseudoscientific
men who would have
us believe that the discovery
SERMON
IX.
3*9
of the great antiquity of death, disproves the Mosaic cosmoTitus shews that the world before and after the fall gony. was much the same. It was different to Adam, because he was placed under new relations, but was in itself unchanged. Even he was created capable of dying, and eating the forbidden fruit made no immediate change in his physical state.
"
He
fall down and burst asunder." Lib. he frankly admits that this world is the place of man's probation ; as such it must have its trials and difficulties, and each man's probation must have its termination, iii. §
did not immediately
24.
In
short,
and therefore the existence of death. Probation is even the more honourable in proportion as it is more difficult, and therefore was more honourable after the fall than before, and consequently the fall was not an evil to the human race, nor inconsistent with God's goodness. Paradise was an exceptional state of things, and the probation in it was very simple and easy, but such as it was foreseen Adam would be unequal to.
we
Why man
is
subject to this probation
are not God's counsellors
;
but grant
we cannot
it
tell,
as a fact,
and
for it
solves for us all the supposed difficulties about the existence
of sin,
and
nature we blessings
evil,
and
know
pain,
little
and death.
Even
of their abstract
or nothing, but they are, he argues,
and kindnesses
to
us
as
moral and responsible
beings.
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