MESSIANIC PROPHECIES
IN
HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
BY
FRANZ DELITZSCH.
TRANSLATED BY
SAMUEL IVES CURTISS,
PROFESSOR IN CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.
1891.
Copyright, 1891, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
TO
THE MEMORY OF
MY BELOVED AND ONLY DAUGHTER
PAULINE,
WHO ENTERED INTO REST
THREE DAYS AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF
MY REVERED FRIEND AND TEACHER
PROF. FRANZ DELITZSCH, D.D
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
THIS little volume is a fitting crown to the exegetical
studies of Dr. Delitzsch. From various points of
view it is likely to be of unusual interest, not only to
those who have been accustomed to peruse his works,
but also to others.
The proofs of the original were read by the
lamented author as he was confined to his bed by his
last illness, weak in body, but clear in mind. The
preface which he dictated five days before his
departure was his final literary work. The last
printed sheet was laid on his bed the day before he
died.
Already the original has received high praise from
appreciative scholars. It is hoped that the transla-
tion may be found not unworthy of this legacy to the
cause of Jewish missions by a revered teacher and
friend.
SAMUEL IVES CURTISS.
CHICAGO, Feb. 2nd, 1891.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
As in the summer of 1887 I delivered my Lectures
on the Messianic Prophecies, perhaps for the last
time, as I had reason to believe, I sought to put the
product, of my long scientific investigation into as
brief, attractive, and suggestive a form as possible. At
the same time the wish inspired me to leave as a
legacy: to the Institutum Judaicum the compendium
of a Concordia, fidei; to our missionaries a Vade
mecum.
Thus arose this little book—a late sheaf from
old and new grain. May God own the old as not
obsolete, the new as not obsolescent!
FRANZ DEL1TZSCH.
LEIPZIG, Feb. 26, 1890.
CONTENTS.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
INTRODUCTION.
SECT. PAGE
1. The Twofold Character of the Problem expressed by the
Name, 9
2. The Historical Significance of that which is apparently
isolated, 10
3. The Indispensableness of Literary and Historical Criticism, 12
4. The Reasonableness of the Supernatural, 12
5. The Redemption a Logical Necessity, 14
6. Messianic Prophecy with and without mention of the
Messiah, 15
7. Messianic Prophecies in the Narrowest Signification, 16
8. The New Testament Glorification of the Conception of the
Messiah, 18
9. Messianic Prophecies in a Broader Signification, 21
10. Historical Sketch of the Subject, 22
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL
SUCCESSION.
CHAPTER I.
THE DIVINE WORD CONCERNING THE FUTURE SALVATION BEFORE
THE TIME OF THE PROPHETS.
1. Justification of the Beginning in Gen. iii., 31
2. Beginning and Object of the Theophanies, 33
3. The Primitive Promise, 34
4. The Primitive Promise in the Light of Fulfilment, 36
ix
x CONTENTS.
SECT. PAGE
5. Finest Effects and Verifications of the Primitive Promise, 39
6. The Expected Comforter, 42
7. The Promise of the Blessing of the Nations in the Seed
of the Patriarchs, 43
CHAPTER II.
THE PROPHETIC BENEDICTIONS OF THE DYING PATRIARCHS.
8. Jacob's artful Procurement of the Blessing of the
First-Born, 47
9. The Designation of Judah as the Royal and Messianic
Tribe, 50
CHAPTER III.
THE PREDICTIONS OF THE MOSAIC PERIOD CONCERNING THE
FUTURE SALVATION.
10. The Promise of a Prophet after Moses, and like him, 59
11. The Prophecy of Balaam concerning the Star and the
Sceptre out of Israel, 65
12. Course and Goal of the History of Salvation after Moses'
great Memorial Song, 69
CHAPTER IV.
THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF THE TIME OF JOSHUA AND
OF THE JUDGES.
13. Yahweh and His Anointed in the Thanksgiving Song of
Hannah, 74
14. The divinely-anointed One in the Threatening Prophecy
concerning the House of Eli, 76
CHAPTER V.
PROPHECY AND CHOKMA IN THE AGE OF DAVID AND SOLOMON.
15. The Transition of the Kingdom from Benjamin to Judah, 80
16. David's View of Himself after his anointing, 82
xi
CONTENTS. xi
SECT. PAGE
17. The Binding of the Promise to the House of David, 85
18. The Separation of the Image of the Messiah from the
Person of David, 89
19. David's Testamentary Words, 94
20. Messianic Desires and Hopes of Solomon, 97
21. Prophecy and Chokma, 99
22. The Goël and the Mediating Angel in the Book of Job, 102
CHAPTER VI.
PROPHECY AND CHOKMA IN THE FIRST EPOCHS OF THE DIVISION
OF THE KINGDOM.
23. The Prophets after the Division of the Kingdom until the
Reign of Jehoshaphat and the Dynasty of Omri, 106
24. The Metaphysical Conception of Wisdom in the Intro-
duction to the Book of Proverbs, 108
25. The Epithalamium, Ps. xlv., 112
CHAPTER VII.
THE MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN THE PROPHETIC LITERATURE
FROM JORAM TO HEZEKIAH.
26. The Relation of the three oldest Prophetic Writings to
the Messianic Idea, 116
27. The View of Hosea, the Ephraimitic Prophet of the Final
Period, 126
28. Isaiah's Fundamental Ideas in their Original Form, 135
29. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies, Isa, vii., ix., xi., 138
I. Immanuel, the Son of the Virgin, 138
30. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies, Isa. vii., ix., xi., 143
II. The Beginning of a new Period with the new Heir
of the Davidic Throne, 143
31. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies, Isa. vii., ix., xi., 147
III. Characteristics of the Second David and of his
Government, 147
32. The Son of God in Psalm ii., 152
33. The Messianic Elements in the Addresses of Isaiah, xiv.
24–xxxix., 156
34. The Elements of Progress in Micah's Messianic Proclama-
tion, 160
xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROPHECY FROM THE TIME OF HEZEKIAH UNTIL THE CATASTROPHE.
SECT. PAGE
35. The Domain of Nahum's and Zephaniah's Vision, 168
26. Habakkuk's Solution of Faith, and Faith's Object, 171
37. Mediately Messianic Elements in Jeremiah's Announce-
ment until the carrying away of Jehoiachin, 176
38. Immediate Messianic Elements in Jeremiah's Prophecies
under Zedekiah until after the Destruction of Jerusalem, 180
CHAPTER IX.
PROPHECY IN THE BABYLONIAN EXILE.
39. The Messiah in Ezekiel, 188
40. The Prince in Ezekiel's Future State, 193
41. The Metamorphosis of the Messianic Ideal in Isa. xl.–lxvi., 197
42. The Servant of Yahweh in Deutero-Isaiah, 201
43. The Mediator of Salvation as Prophet, Priest, and King in
one Person, 203
44. The Great Finale, Isa. xxiv.–.xxvii., 206
CHAPTER X.
THE PROPHECY OF THE PERIOD OF THE RESTORATION.
45. Post-Exilic Prophecy in view of the New Temple, 210
46. The Two Christological Pairs of Prophecy in Deutero-
Zechariah, 214
I. The First Prophetic Pair in Chaps. ix.–xi., 214
47. The Two Christological Pairs of Prophecy in Deutero-
Zechariah, 219
II. The Second Prophetic Pair in Chaps. xii.–xiv., 219
48. Concluding Prophecies of New Testament Contents in
Malachi, 223
49. The Antichrist in the Book of Daniel, 228
50. Christ in the Book of Daniel, 230
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
IT is undeniable, and is universally recognised, that
in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, One
divinely anointed, a Messiah, who is to go forth from
Israel, is promised and hoped for, who makes His
people victorious and powerful, and who from them
extends His dominion to a world dominion. The Jews
still look for this Messiah Christianity—and to a
certain extent also Islam—sees the promise fulfilled in
Jesus. This Jesus is regarded by us Christians as the
promised Christ, i.e. the Messiah. Christianity is the
1 Sadly morbid exceptions to this Christian recognition of
Jesus as the Christ are made in Konynenburg's investigations
concerning the nature of the Old Testament prophecies respecting
the Messiah, who entirely denies the existence of Messianic
prophecies, which have been fulfilled, or are to be fulfilled,1 since
he considers 'the expectation which the Jews entertain of an ideal
King as a product of moral perversity: also by Lord Amberly,
who declares that the rejection of Jesus as Messiah is fully
justifiable, since it is an astonishing assumption on the part of
Gentile Christians, that they are more competent than the Jews
themselves to give an opinion, as to what the name of the Messiah
signifies and requires.2
_______________________________________________________________
1Konynenburg, Untersuchungüber die Natur der Alttestamentl. Weissa-
gungen auf den Messias aus don Holländischen übersetzt, Lugen 1759,
395ff
2An Analysis of Religious Belief, London 1876, vol. i. p. 388 f.
2 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
same as the religion of the Messiah, the religion
which has the Christ, who appeared in Jesus, as its
principle and centre.
Hence the name Christianity indicates that it
claims to be the religion which is being prepared in
the history and word and writing of the Old Testa-
ment. Even when we call it the New Testament
religion, we thus recognise that it is the religion of a
covenant which has taken the place of the old, but not
without having the old as a first step, and not without
standing in connection with it as the fruit with the
tree, the child with the mother.
Hence Christianity in the Old Testament is in the
process of development. With the same propriety we
can say: Christ, through the Old Testament, is in the
act of coming. Is is true that the man Jesus has a
temporal beginning, beyond which His existence as a
man does not extend. But in this fact, that He
appeared in the fulness of time, God's counsel was
fulfilled and since Jesus is certainly the man who
above all others had God dwelling in Himself, the
approach of God, who proposes to reveal Himself and
perfect the work of salvation through Him, is at the
same time an approach of Jesus. His coming in the
Old Testament is therefore something more than
merely ideal.
These are views which Christians hold in common
—indisputable propositions which, from a Christian
standpoint, express a historical fact without pre-
supposing any closer dogmatic statements. We em-
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 3
phasize this intentionally, in order to attract as far as
possible the circle of those to whose sympathy we
appeal for the following investigations. How much
we should rejoice, if we could also secure the sym-
pathy of those belonging to the Jewish confession who
are seeking after the truth. It is indeed worth the
while for such to see how Christianity justifies itself as
the religion if fulfilled prophecy; and this all the
more, since the self-testimony of Christianity, in the
present condition of the investigation of the Scriptures,
and in view of the restless sifting and decomposition
of almost everything which has hitherto been accepted,
must be more thoroughly revised, more exact, more
many-sided, in many respects different, from that
which was usual in earlier centuries, and which has
been handed down even to the later missionary
literature.
It is a delightful theme, a joyful work, in which we
propose to be absorbed.1 The Lord is in the process
of coming in the Old Testament, in drawing near, in
proclaiming is appearance, and we design to transport
ourselves into this Old Testament period, and follow
the steps of the One who is coming, pursue the traces
of the One who is drawing near, seek out the shadows
which He casts upon the way of His Old Testament
1 This view, indeed, was not held by Schleiermacher, who,
in his second Sendschreiben to Lücke, Theologische Studien u.
Kritiken, Hamburg 1829, vol. ii. p. 497, says: "I can never
consider this effort to prove Christ out of the Old Testament
prophecies a joyful work, and am sorry that so many worthy
men torment themselves with it."
4 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
history, and especially seek to understand the intima-
tions of prophecy respecting Him.
The old theology made scarcely any distinction
between the time of His coming and His entrance into
the actual domain of history. The historical mode of
view is a charism, granted to the Church in the period
after the Reformation. We have reason to rejoice on
this account. The Old Testament may be compared
to the starry night, and the New Testament to the
sunny day, or, as we may also say, the New Testament
period, in its beginning, is related to the Old Testa-
ment as the coming of spring to winter. The spring
in the kingdom of God suffered itself to be long waited
for; and when at length spring days seemed to
announce the end of the darkness and coldness of
winter, the winter soon made its presence felt again.
Then, however, when the Lord appeared, it became
spring. He was indeed predicted as the embodiment
of spring. Would, then, that in the following inter-
pretations of Old Testament prophetic images there
might also be fewer traces of the winter of life in
which I stand, than of the spring-like freshness, of the
living power, of the pentecostal nature of the subject
of which I treat!
We live in an age, in which the Christian view of
the world, through which the antique heathen view
was overcome, threatens on its side to be overcome by
the modern view of the world, which recognises no
system of the world except that which is in accord-
ance with natural laws, and no free miraculous
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 5
interference of God in it. Christian truth, as it is
attested in the Holy Scriptures, will also outlast this
crisis. But since it must maintain its position
against ever new antagonistic principles of advanc-
ing civilisation, culture, and science, it will be itself
drawn into the process of development; for it stands
indeed as firm as a rock which is not shaken by any
dashing of the waves, yet not motionless as a rock,
but it is living, and therefore, as regards the kind of
life, is ever supplementing itself anew. It cannot be
otherwise; since in Christ, as the apostle says, lie
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
hence the history of Christianity must be the history
of the constant raising of these treasures. Chris-
tianity remains the same in its essence, but it is all
the while more occupied with the depth of its essence,
and ever coins new forms of thought and expression.
Even in the age of Darwinism, and of his great dis-
coveries in natural science, it will retain its unfading
and inexhaustible power of life.
There is a crisis in the domain of the Bible, and
especially in that of the Old Testament, in which the
evening of my life falls. This crisis repels me on
account of the joy of its advocates in destruction, on
account of their boundless negations and their un-
spiritual profanity; but also this crisis, as so many
crises since the time of the apostles, will become a
lever for progressive knowledge, and it is therefore
incumbent [upon us] to recognise the elements of
truth which are in the chaos, and to gather them
6 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
out; for as the primitive creation began with chaos,
so in the realm of knowledge, and especially of
spiritual life from epoch to epoch, that which is new
goes forth from the chaos of the old. It is indeed
not the business of an individual to complete this
work of sifting and of refining and of reorganization.
Nevertheless, we take part in it, although with a small
degree of strength.
It is a depressing observation that Judaism has
strong support in modern Christian theology, and
that its literature is like an arsenal, out of which
Judaism can secure weapons for its attack on Chris-
tianity. Nevertheless, in the midst of the present
confusion we can be comforted with the consideration
that this resource does not suffice for the maintenance
of Judaism. For whether one takes with reference to
Christianity the unitarian or trinitarian, the rational-
istic or supernaturalistic standpoint, it is established
that Christianity, as contra-distinguished from Judaism,
is the religion of consummated morality, and that
Jesus is the great holy divine man whose appearance
halves the world's history. Christianity and the
person of its founder are more to us than this, but
we rejoice nevertheless in this firm position, which
can bid defiance to all the attacks of Judaism, and
in whose defence all who bear the name of Christ
stand together. For every Christian as such, however
he may understand the relation of the divine and
the human in the person of Jesus, recognises in
Jesus the end of Old Testament development, and
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 7
in Christianity the completion of the religion of
Israel.
We must admit that the treatment of our subject
will vary, according as the one who treats it answers
the question which Jesus once raised: "What think ye
of Christ; whose son is He?" For the understanding of
the process of becoming is dependent upon the concep-
tion of the goal; the understanding of the Old Testa-
ment process of becoming is dependent upon the truthful
valuation of the person of Jesus. It is indeed just in
this respect that we Christians are distinguished from
the Jews: we do not expect any other; Judaism
also does not really expect any other. Its hope of a
Messiah, since the rejection of Jesus, the Christ of
God, has sunk to a fantastic image of worldly patriot-
ism, which as no power to warm the heart. We
consider Jesus, on the contrary, as the end of the
law, the goal of prophecy, the summit of Old Testa-
ment history, and with respect to the mystery of His
twofold existence and work as mediator, we hold to
His utterances respecting Himself, and to the testi-
mony of His apostles; for a Christianity torn loose
from these authorities, and otherwise understood, is
only a scientific abstraction, an arbitrary excerpt
according to a self-made pattern, an artificial pro-
duct according to the demands of the spirit of the
age. We are, so far as we are concerned, persuaded
that gospels and epistles harmonize most intimately.
We are certain of this that in all essential points
they admit of a reciprocal control. In the preparation
8 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
for the New Testament in the Old, however, we are
concerned with such essential points, the recognition
of which is dawning, and which sometimes also breaks
through like lightning. The noble ones in Beroea
subjected even the word of the apostle to the test
according to the Holy Scriptures which they had in
their hands. We too shall see whether prophecy and
the apostolic word reciprocally correspond and pro-
mote each other, so, indeed, that the Old Testament
word of prophecy in relation to the New Testament
dawn is only as the apostle says (2 Pet. i. 19): like
"a lamp shining in a dark place."
INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. The Twofold Character of the Problem expressed by
the Name.
IN all Intellectual productions much depends upon
finding the right name; for the name designates
the goal, and indicates at the same time the way by
which it is proposed to reach it. A suitable desig-
nation in itself would be: History of the Preparation
for the Appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testa-
ment Consciousness; but the exegetical side of our
problem does of in this way find the desired expres-
sion. Nor de we say "Old Testament Christology,"
because this designation leads us to expect a system-
atic rather than a historical and exegetical treatment.
We therefore choose the title: "Messianic Prophecies
in Historical succession," because it affords expression
both to the exegetical and historical side of the prob-
lem. It is true that our doctrinal material does not
consist merely in predictions in the strict sense of the
term, but the promises and hopes which have reference
to the future salvation may be included under the
conception of prophecy, for the promises of God are
indeed pledged predictions, and the hope is estab-
9
10 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
lished upon such sure prospects. The designation
"Messianic" also appears to be too narrow, for in the
domain of our theme are all such predictions which
speak of the future salvation, without mentioning a
human mediator by the side of the God of salvation.
But in a wider sense we may nevertheless, as we shall
see, call all those predictions Messianic which refer to
the completion of the divine work of salvation, and of
the divine kingdom in the Messianic age.
§ 2. The Historical Significance of that which is
apparently isolated.
But can we from the passages of Scripture which
lie before us form a history of the Messianic expecta-
tion of Israel with respect to a future salvation?
These passages of Scripture are, indeed, like isolated
points without connecting lines, and they are testi-
monies, not of the people, but of individuals among
the people, so that we are not able to determine their
effect upon the belief and hope of the mass. This
doubt must be considered, but disappears on a further
investigation of the subject. All progress in civili-
sation in the human race is accomplished through
individuals, whose new discoveries and attainments
become new impulses for the advancing dominion of
man over the world of nature, and for their advancing
spiritual culture. This is also true of religious pro-
gress; in every place where this takes a new turn, it
has been men who were far beyond their age within
INTRODUCTION. 11
whom this new turn has been accomplished. All
religions which deserve this name, as express repre-
sentations of Deity, and the right mode of worshipping
Him, are to be traced back to single individuals who
have founded them or transformed them. That which
has finally become common property was first a pos-
session of individuals; but it will never be common
of property to the extent, that it will penetrate all the
members of the people, or of the religious society in
complete purity and original power. We need not
be surprised if the Christological development, which
goes through the Old Testament, is like a path of
light, which consists of rays of light proceeding from
single points of light. Moses, David, Isaiah—these
are, above all others, the three whose profound natures,
filled by the Spirit, were the source of the light of the
Old Testament religion. We know, indeed, and if we
did not know it, we must presuppose it, that the vital
cognitions which went out from them were adopted
only by the kernel of the people in consciousness and
life. The condition of the mass was like a dark
cloud which was irradiated by the light of revelation,
but was not absorbed by it. But this is not prejudicial
to the historical character and the execution of our
task. We shall describe the gradual rising of the
light as we represent the Christological development,
whose essence is not conditional through a successful
result; for as the true light appeared the darkness did
not comprehend it.
12 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 3. The Indispensableness of Literary and Historical
Criticism.
Those great personalities of the history of revelation
have no other way of being known to us than in the
Old Testament Scriptures. The knowledge of them is
mediated, partly through writings which relate con-
cerning them, partly through writings which go back
to them. In the former case we must raise the
question, to what period the accounts belong, and
whether they are credible; in the latter case, whether
the works in question are authentic, that is, really
have those persons as authors to whom they are
ascribed. The course of development of the Christo-
logical views cannot therefore be mediated without the
co-working of literary criticism and historical criticism,
and all critical questions even here give way in signi-
ficance in comparison with the Pentateuchal question,
which in all directions is the fundamental and chief
question of the Old Testament. We shall not avoid
the influence of modern criticism in unwarranted self-
confidence or in childish fear—we shall also use
criticism, but without employing the grounds of decision
which are now common, and which from principle deny
objective reality to everything that is supernatural, and
especially to the spiritual miracle of prophecy.
§ 4. The Reasonableness of the Supernatural.
While we recognise the supernatural factor in the
INTRODUCTION. 13
Old Testament history of redemption and in the
history of the recognition of redemption, we proceed
from the presupposition that the supernatural would
be subject to the suspicion of that which is mythical
and purely subjective if it merely belonged to the
past and had no present. There is not only a king-
dom of nature in which the natural laws of the system
of the world have sway, but also a kingdom of free-
dom, that is) the reciprocal working of God and of the
free creatures, in which a moral system of the world,
which interferes in the course of nature and makes it
serviceable to itself, has sway. The ultimate goal of
this divinely-ordained reciprocal relation can be in-
ferred. If a difference exists between the absolute
God and all other beings as His creatures, the history
of finite personal beings can have no other true and
final goal than an ever deeper entrance into a living
communion with God. A continuance in this way is,
however, not possible without an actual interchange
between God and these His creatures. Man must
direct words and deeds to God which He understands;
and, on the other hand, God must make Himself known
to men in disclosures and acts which he distinguishes
in the midst of the course of the laws of nature as
the free inworking of the absolute God. The divine
necessity of this reciprocal relation follows with
necessity from the universal impulse of mankind to
prayer; and the reality of this reciprocal relation is
proved to every man who stands in living relation to
God, through his experiences in prayer, and through
14 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the admonishing, warning, comforting voices of God,
which he perceives in himself.
§ 5. The Redemption a Logical Necessity.
But man is caught in the toils of sin; not only
individuals of the race, but also the race as a species,
has incurred the penalty of sin and death, and has
been driven from their moral duty of a continual
approach to God into alienation from Him. If,
nevertheless, mankind is to attain the end of their
creation, it cannot take place without their being
released from the labyrinth of their lost condition
through sin, and without their being brought again
into the path which leads to the goal of their creation.
The work of salvation concerns mankind, and is
designed for every individual, so that all who wish to
be saved can be. The conclusion is not mathematically
certain that this is to be the course of human history,
for God is absolutely free, and He is under no law
except His own will. But nevertheless it is logically
necessary for us, that the final end for which God
has created man can in no way be frustrated. He
is indeed the omniscient One. As such He has
foreseen that man would fall through sin from his
vocation. We must therefore suppose, that if He had
not determined to raise man again from his fall, He
would not have created him at all. These are thoughts
whose logical necessity is apparent, but which would
not come into our minds if we did not know from the
15 INTRODUCTION.
Holy Scriptures, as the record of the will and way of
God, that God the Creator is also God the Redeemer,
who, on account of His decree before the foundation
of the world, nevertheless brings human history, in
spite of sin, to its culmination.
§ 6. Messianic Prophecy with and without mention of
the Messiah.
The religion of revelation is the religion of redemp-
tion, planned by God the Creator from eternity. The
Old Testament religion is the religion of the redemption
a believed and hoped for as future, and the New Testa-
ment religion is the religion of the redemption which
was fundamentally consummated by the Mediator who
s appeared, in the fulness of time. Faith is, in both
Testaments, faith in God the Creator and Redeemer.
The recognition of human mediation, through which
God accomplishes the redemption, came only gradually
about by means of an intricate process of development.
But that the redemption is to be mediated in a human
way is even in itself to be presupposed. God's help
in behalf of the multitude of men is ever to make
individuals, or one an instrument for many, as appears
in the fact that God elected a people from the midst
of the peoples, as a mediator, in attestation of Himself,
and of the redemption of mankind from the labyrinth
of idolatry. It must be admitted that this national-
izing of the religion obstructed and endangered the
recognition of the universal and spiritual character of
16 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the work of redemption. The opposition in which
Judaism until the present day remains to Jesus the
Christ, actually proves how great a danger this un-
avoidable nationalizing brought with it. But the
history of the Messianic prophecies, which we shall
describe, is designed to show, that in spite of appear-
ances to the contrary, the Saviour who has gone forth
out of Israel in the person of Jesus is the end of
Old Testament leadings, and the fulfilment of the
deepest pre-Christian hopes and longings.
§ 7. Messianic Prophecies in the Narrowest
Signification.
The high priest is called an anointed one in the
Pentateuchal Torah, because he, and only he, not the
other priests, was set apart for his office by anointing
—that is, through the pouring of oil upon the head
(Lev. viii. 12, cf. v. 30). The expression Haywim.Aha NheKoha,
Lev. iv. 3 [the anointed priest], signifies the same as
lOdGAha NheKoha [the great priest]. The post-Biblical lan-
guage (perhaps also even in Dan. ix. 26, if Onias III.
is there intended, after whose removal, 171 B.C., Antio-
chus Epiphanes plundered the temple) also calls him
simply HaywimA, as when, in Horayoth 8a, there is a dis-
crimination between dyHiyA, xyWinA, HaywimA, private man,
prince, and high priest. But outside of the Torah it
is the king of Israel who is called the anointed,
and indeed the anointed of Yahweh, e.g. Saul, 1 Sam.
xii. 3; David, Ps. xviii. 51, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1; Zedekiah,
17 INTRODUCTION.
Lam. iv. 20; also Cyrus is honoured in Isa. xlv. 1
with the title of an anointed one of Yahweh, because
Yahweh has brought about his elevation as king, and
has chosen him as His instrument. For HwamA signifies
not only to anoint (i.e. to pour oil upon, or to apply
oil in some other way), but has, aside from the external
ceremonial completion of the anointing, the further
meaning of anointing through word and deed (1 Kings
xix. 16; Ps. cv. 15). In the time of the Judges, in
which there was no united government of the entire
people, it was a divinely-anointed king to whom hope
and promise were directed; and when in the time of
the Kings the kingdom went counter to its divinely-
determined end (as, for example, in the time of Ahaz),
promise and hope were directed all the more earnestly
to a divinely-given righteous and victorious king.
Messianic prophecies in the narrowest signification are
accordingly such prophecies, as connect the hope of
salvation and the glory of the people of God with a
future king, who, proceeding from Israel, subjects the
world to himself. This ideal king—that is, the one
who completely actualizes the theocratic idea is as
such hv,h;ya HaywimA; but this is not yet the distinguishing
characteristic name in the Old Testament. It is, for
example, questionable whether in Hab. iii. 14, j~H,ywim;
refers to the present king or to the great One of the
future; and in general there is no Old Testament
passage in which HaywimA indicates the future One with
eschatological exclusiveness (not even Dan. ix. 25,
where, as it appears, dyginA HaywimA is intended of the
18 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
priestly king of the future).1 This only can be cer-
tainly held, that even the congregation of the exilic
period understood by the divinely-anointed One in
Ps. cxxxii. and Ps. ii. the King of the final period.
§ 8. The New Testament Glorification, of the Conception
of the Messiah.
First, in the doctrinal language of post-Biblical
Judaism the future One is called, almost with the
significance of a proper name, HaywimA, Greek Messi<aj,2
after the Aramaic form of the name Haywim;, or with the
post-positive article xHAywim;. Although the royal dignity
is involved in HaywimA when this word is used as a noun,
the Targums and the literature of the Talmudical
period prefer the designation hHAywim; hKAl;ma, Heb. j`l,m,
HaywimA.ha (when both are blended together like a proper
name, as in tOxbAc; hv,h;ya j`l,m,, Zech. xiv. 16 f.); but some-
times simply HaywimA, Aramaic Haywim;, is found.3 In the
1 Luther translates Dan. ix. 25: "Until Christ the Prince,"
and also ver. 26 "And after sixty-two weeks Christ will be
destroyed."—This is the only place in the Old Testament where
he has used the name of Christ.
2 De Lagarde holds that M<essi<aj is the Greek form of Haywi.mi,
a trans-Jordanic Arabic nominal form like ryfiWe, for ryfiWi. It is,
however, the Greek form of xHAywim;; the H remaining unexpressed
between the two long vowels as in mida = xdAyHim; Neh. vii. 54,
and Mesi/aj or Messi<aj was written like ]Abesalw<m or ]Abessalw<m,
since through duplication greater stability was given to the short
vowel.
3 See e.g. Lev. rabba c. xiv.: "The Spirit of God brooded over
the waters Hywmh jlm lw Hvr hz.” And without the article
Pesachim 54a, according to which Hywm lw vmw belong to the
INTRODUCTION. 19
so-called Psalms of Solomon, which were written in
Hebrew about the year 48,—the year of the battle of
Pharsalias, —and which have been preserved for us in
a Greek translation which is to some extent difficult
to understand, the future One is called (xvii. 36,
xviii. 8) Xristo>j ku<rioj (as in Luke ii. 11; Hebrew
NOdxAhA HaywimA). Even in the Septuagint Xristo<j is the
translation of the Hebrew HaywimA. While, however, the
New Testament designation of Jesus is coextensive
with the Hebrew and Jewish HaywimA, philologically, it
is not really; for, since the name Xristo<j becomes
the name of Jesus, it gives to the personality of Jesus
its Old Testament stamp, not, however, without at the
same time receiving a new stamp from Him. The name
Xristo<j receives a wider, deeper, more exalted meaning.
It experiences in the light of the Saviour a metamor-
phosis (glorification). The royal idea which it expresses
is not removed, but it is relieved of its one-sidedness.
It indicates the Son of God and the Son of man, who,
as the reward of His priestly self-sacrifice, receives the
royal crown instead of the crown of thorns, and as the
risen and exalted One rules the world, hence in a
manner worthy of God, at whose right hand He sits.
Remark 1.—Within the course of the evangelical
history the Lord is called ]Ihsou?j. First after God
seven things which preceded the Creation. And Sanhedrin 93b,
says Simeon, called Bar-Cochba: Haywim; xnAxE. Targ. jer. to Gen.
xlix. 11 may serve as a proof passage for xHywm xklm, which
occurs frequently in the Targums: "How beautiful is xklm
xHywm, who shall one day rise from the house of Judah!"
20 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
raised Him from the dead, and, as is said in Acts ii. 36,
made Him both Lord and Christ, He receives in addition
to the proper name ]Ihsou?j as the designation of honour,
which has likewise become a proper name, Xristo<j.
Within the Gospels, however, except in John i. 17,
xvii. 3, this double designation occurs only in Matt.
i. 1, 18 (but here with the article prefixed tou? ]Ihsou?
Xristou?; Mark i. 1. Aside from John xvii. 3 the
evangelists write this double designation over the
gates of their Gospels like a summary or emblem of
the entire following history, with a similar signification
as when the Torah prefixes the double designation hv,h;ya
Myhilox: to Gen. ii.—iii. Both names express everything.
In the name Jesus the idea of salvation predominates;
in the name Christ, that of glory. We can say: the
course in the Old Testament leads from Christ to
Jesus, the course in the New Testament from Jesus
to Christ.
Remark 2.—In spite of the one-sidedness of the
royal image the royal dominion still remains one side
in the image of the future One; and far from denying
the royal dignity of His Messiahship, Jesus answers
the question of Pilate (Mark xv. 2): su> le<geij, and
over His cross stands: o[ basileu>j tw?n ]Ioudai<wn (Mark
xv. 26), which the Jews would have liked to have
changed, because He was not the King of the Jews, but
said that He was (John xix. 21 f. Observe that this
is the Gospel of John). But the kingdom which lies
at the end of His course, while it embraces the world,
is nevertheless not a worldly kingdom. He will one
day be King of the Jews, and will again raise up the
kingdom of Israel, but not before the Jewish people
have subjected themselves to His sceptre in penitence
INTRODUCTION. 21
and faith. As Yahweh became the King of Israel at
Sinai when they accepted the law with the words hW,fEna
fmAW;niv;, —we will perform and be obedient, —so Jesus
will become King of Israel when, worshipping Him,
they render Him homage; but even then He will not
be a king in an external, earthly, narrow, and national
way, as unspiritual natural pride dreams; for the
kingdom of God in Christ is a basilei<a tw?n ou]ranw?n,
that is, of heavenly origin and heavenly nature.
§ 9. Messianic Prophecies in a Broader Signification.
Even in the Old Testament the royal image of the
future Anointed One is proved to be one-sided and
inadequate, since it is neither coextensive with the
need of salvation, nor exhausts the expectation of
salvation. But not this alone. Since the idea of the
God-man is first announced in single rays of light, the
Mediator of salvation, in general, does not yet stand
in the centre of Old Testament faith, but the comple-
tion of the kingdom of God appears mostly as the
work of the God of salvation Himself with the reces-
sion of human mediation. But we also classify these
prophecies under the general conception of Messianic,
because, indeed in the history of fulfilment it is God
in Christ who from Israel works out and secures for
mankind the highest spiritual blessings. Our prayer
to Christ is prayer to God revealed in the flesh.
Therefore, from a historical point of view, we regard the
prophecies concerning the ultimate salvation, which are
even silent concerning the Messiah, as Christological.
22 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 10. Historical Sketch of the Subject.
The New Testament references to Old Testament
prophecies are limited, rather accidentally than
designedly, by the occasions afforded in the Gospel
history and the apostolic trains of thought. Hence
it has come to pass, that many Messianic passages of
prime importance have remained unnoticed, e.g. Isa.
ix. 5, 6; Jer. 5, 6; Zech. vi. 12, 13. A richer
and, to a certain extent, more systematic discussion of
the predictions and representations concerning Christ
in the Old Testament begins with the Epistle of
Barnabas (71-120 A.D.), which is related to the
Epistle to the Hebrews, but which stands far below
it, and in Justin's Dialogue with Trypho (d. about
163 A.D.). This is, to a certain extent, a missionary
document, the only one of the ancient Church, which
breathes a spirit of love that seeks the lost, of
which we can discover but little in the First Book
of Cyprian's Testimonia adversus Judaeos1 (d. 258),
and in the Altercatio Simonis Judaei et Theophili
Christiani.2 Justin is in so far inferior to his Jewish
opponent, that he is acquainted with the Old Testa-
ment only through the secondary source of the
Septuagint. On the other hand, Origen (d. 254),
who, in his Eighth Book, written against Celsus
1 See W. Faber in Saat auf Hoffnung, Erlangen 1887, vol.
xxiv. pp. 26-29.
2 See Gebhardt-Harnack's Texten und Untersuchungen, Leipzig,
i. 3.
INTRODUCTION. 23
(about 247), contends against the heathen and Jewish
misrepresentations of the person of Christ and of
Christianity, is acquainted with Hebrew, but his inter-
pretation of the Scriptures suffers from his effort at
that arbitrary allegorization in which the Alexandrian
school is the successor of Philo. Nevertheless, the
historical method of the Antiochian school brought
about a reaction, which even referred direct Messianic
prophecies like Micah v. 1 to Zerubbabel and in
general to objects before Christ, and only, with refer-
ence to the result of their higher fulfilment, to Christ.
Theodore of Antioch (d. 428), bishop of Mopsuestia,
did this in a rash and offensive way. It was not
taken into account by the ancient Church, down to the
time of the Middle Ages, that there is in the Old
Testament a preparation for the salvation in Christ
through a connected and progressive history.1 Nor
was it taken into account in the time of the Reforma-
tion, when the predominantly anti-Judaistic, apologetic
interest of the ancient Church was replaced by one
which was predominantly dogmatic, and a spiritualistic
interpretation took the place of an allegorical, which
removed the national elements of the old prophecy by
means of a symbolical or a mystical interpretation.
First, Spener (d. 1705) and his school made way for
a better understanding of the prophecies, while, with
reference to Rom. xi. 25, 26, he recognised that which
is relatively authorized in the national form of the Old
1 In this connection special attention is called to Abelard's
(d. 1142) Dialogus inter Philosophum, Judaeum et Christianum.
24 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Testament prophecy. John Albert Bengel (d. 1752)
and Christian Augustus Crusius (d. 1775) began to
modify the stiff idea of inspiration, since they regarded
the prophets not only as passive, but also at the same
time as active instruments, and placed their range of
view under the law of perspective. With Cocceius
(d. 1669) began the method of treating the Old Testa-
ment in periods. But they were not able to divide
this history into periods according to its internal
development, in which chance and plan, freedom and
necessity interpenetrate. When then rationalism, for
which the way had been prepared by the Arminian
Grotius (d. 1645), and Spinoza in his Tractatus theo-
logico politicus (1670), and which was founded by
Semler (d. 1791), degraded Jesus to a teacher of
religion and morals, the Messianic prophecies of the
Old Testament became almost entirely without an
object, until the gradual unfolding of the idea of the
Messiah was recognised in them, and, as there was a
return from a merely nominal Christianity to that estab-
lished by documents, the gradual subjective prepara-
tion of the essential salvation was acknowledged. This
revolution was established by Hengstenberg's (d. 1869)
Christologie des Alters Testaments (in three volumes,
Berlin 1829-1835, second edition 1854-1857), which
formed a new epoch in the treatment of the subject,
followed in a spirit of freer criticism by Tholuck's
(d. 1877) work, Die Propheten und ihre eissagungen,
Gotha 1860, and by Gustav Baur in his Geschichte der
alttestamentlichen Weissagung, Theil 1, 1861. The
INTRODUCTION. 25
proper mean between conservatism and progress was
taken by Oehler (d. 1872) in his articles "Messias"
and "Weissagung" in the first edition of Herzog's
Real-Encyklopädie, vols. ix., Stuttgart 1858, and xvii.,
Gotha 1863, and in his Theology of the Old Testament,1
which appeared after his death. The same praise is
clue to Orelli's work, The Old Testament Prophecy of the
Completion of the Kingdom of God,2 and to Briggs'
Messianic Prophecy.3 We should be guilty of inex-
cusable ingratitude if we were to make no mention of
Hofmann's (d. 1877) work, which still remains unique,
entitled Weissagung und Erfüllung, in two parts,
Nördlingen 1841-1844. This treatise is a com-
panion piece to Hengstenberg's Christology. The Old
Testament account is here reconstructed historically
and exegetically in a masterly way as an organic
whole, developed in word and deed until the time of
Christ, with which the history of the fulfilment, as the
other half, reaching to the end of the present dis-
pensation, is joined together. Many views of truth
which have come into the modern scriptural theology
have sprung from this original work, whose main fault
is the straining of the type at expense of the prophecy.
In his conception of the prophecies concerning Israel's
future Hofmann's standpoint is realistic. He leaves
the conception of Israel in the national estimation of
it, without understanding by it the Church gathered
out of Israel and the heathen, nevertheless in such
1 First edition, Tubingen, 1873-74; second edition, 1882-85.
2 Edinburgh. 3 Edinburgh 1886.
26 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
a way as to exclude the restoration of all which
cannot be harmonized with the Christian denational-
izing of the religion and the doing away with the law.
Also Bertheau in his lengthy article, "Die alttesta-
mentliche Weissagung von Israel's Reichsherrlichkeit
in seinem Lande," in the fourth volume of the
Jahrbücher für deutsche Theologie, Gotha 1859, seeks
to separate the present idea of the fulfilment from the
particular national form. In like manner Riehm (d.
1888) in his work, Die Messianische Weissagung, Gotha
1875, which fails to do justice to the words of
prophecy with reference to the conversion of Israel.
The rationalistic standpoint, in which the historical
method is carried out, is represented by Stähelin's
work, Die Messianisehen Weissagungen, Berlin 1847;
Anger's lectures, published after his death (d. 1866),
edited by Krenkel, Ueber die Geschichte der Hessian-
ischen Idee, Berlin 1873; Hitzig (d. 1875) in his
Vorlesungen über biblische Theologie und Messianischen
Weissagung des Alters Testaments, Karlsruhe, 1880,
issued by Kneucher; and Kuenen's work, The Prophets
and Prophecy in Israel, London 1877, which is dis-
tinguished more for its learning and sharp apprehen-
sion of the subject than for originality and genius,
which, on principle, dismisses all that is supernatural
as unhistorical, and regards ethical monotheism as the
kernel of prophecy. Duhm's Die Theologie der Pro-
pheten, Bonn 1875, is peculiar in this respect, that
he sets out with the proposition that the Old Testa-
ment literary prophets belong to an earlier age than
INTRODUCTION. 27
the Mosaic law, and that in the writing of every prophet
there is a special system of teaching, by means of which
he hinders or helps the progress to greater freedom in
religious things. In opposition to this rationalistic
standpoint Edward König in his work, Den Offenbar-
ungsbegriff des Alten Testaments, Leipzig 1882, defends
the supernatural character of Old Testament prophecy.
A sketch of the history of the interpretation of Old
Testament prophecy is given by Tholuck in his Das
Alte Testament im Neuen, in the Supplement to his
commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, and especi-
ally in the sixth edition, 1868; also in Oehler's article,
entitled "Weissagung," in the first edition of Herzog's
Real-Encyklopädie; and its progress since Bengel is given
in Delitzsch's work, Die biblisch-prophetisehe Theologie,
ihre Fortbildung durch Chr. A. Crusius und irhe neueste
Entwickelung seit der Christologie Hengstenberg's, Berlin
1845. Many materials bearing upon the subject
are afforded in Diestel's (d. 1879) Gesehichte des Alten
Testaments in der christlichen Kirche, Jena 1869.
Remark.—The representation of the course of de-
velopment in prophecy will differ according as the
supernatural factor of the history is recognised or not
recognised by the writer as specifically different, and
yet at the same time as historical, and Christianity as
only the religion of perfect morality, or as the religion
of redemption. But also aside from this, the representa-
tion will differ according to the position of the writer
with reference to the results of modern literary his-
torical criticism, and the new construction of the Old
Testament history which is based upon it.
28 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
It is a postulate of our consciousness, that human
history is engaged in a movement toward a definite
end. This movement, far from being absolutely
in a straight line, takes place under all kinds of
deviations and retrogressons, and the valuation of
that which is new is wont to be different, not only on
the part of contemporaries, but also on the part of
those who come later, since it does not treat of the
things of nature, but rather of those of the spiritual
life. Nevertheless there arises, in spite of all these
devious ways, and notwithstanding the uncertainty of
judgment, the demand for actual progress. And in view
of the revolution which has taken place in the domain
of Biblical investigation, the question is justified, what
permanent religious advantage is to proceed from it.
All recognition of the truth is of a religious char-
acter, so far as God Himself is the truth, and the
endless background of the recognition of all religious
truth. Biblical questions, however, are immediately
religious. I shall not presume to determine in ad-
vance that which in the year 2000 will be considered
pure gold, which will have endured the smelting fire
of criticism, and will have been won by means of it;
but one thing we know, that the Holy Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments will be and will remain
the document of the revelation of the one true
God. And since the Old Testament religion is a pre-
paration and a preliminary step for the New, we shall
not take any offence if in the Old Testament Scrip-.
tures, which have the character of an effort to attain
perfection, much appears more imperfect than before.
MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL
SUCCESSION.
CHAPTER 1.
THE DIVINE WORD CONCERNING THE FUTURE SALVATION
BEFORE THE TIME OF THE PROPHETS.
§ 1. Justification of the Beginning in Genesis iii.
IF the historical succession, in which we propose to
treat the Messianic prophecies, were to be under-
stood as a succession in literary history, we should
only be justified in beginning with Gen. iii., if we
considered the so-called Jehovistic book, from which
the history of Paradise is drawn, the oldest Old Testa-
ment historical book. But this is not our opinion.
We consider it a very old historical source, older than
modern criticism concedes, but not the oldest. Never-
theless we are justified in beginning with Gen. iii.
For the narrative concerning the primitive condition
and fall of man was not invented by the narrator, but
was an old "sage" found by him, which he communi-
cates to us in a form in which, stripped of its heathen
mythological accessories, it has sustained the criticism
of the Spirit of revelation. We may therefore begin
where the documentary sacred history begins, since it
contributes not a little to its recommendation, that
although recorded by an Israelitish pen, it begins, not
31
32 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
with a nation, but with mankind. The Biblical primi-
tive history is the history of mankind, and does not
have the peculiar national and mythological colours of
the primitive traditions outside of Israel. But does
not the narrative in Gen. ii., iii. sound mythical? If
we understand by myth (mythus) the investiture, not
only of universal thoughts, but also of definite realities
in symbolical dress, we may nevertheless regard the
history of Paradise as a myth, so far only as we hold
fast the following as realities:—(1) that there was a
demoniacal evil one, before evil had taken possession
of man; (2) that this demoniacal evil one was the
power of temptation before which man fell; (3) that
God after mankind had fallen punished them, but at
the same time opened a way of salvation, by which
they could again secure communion with God; (4)
that He placed before them in prospect the victory
over that power of temptation through which they had
lost the communion with God in Paradise.
Remark. —Also in the Babylonian " sage " the
serpent is Tiamat (Tihâmat), the source of all evil,
the personified MOhT;. This expresses a profound
thought, since the essence of evil is the falling back
into the natural elements, out of which the world in
mankind is raised to the image of God. The serpent
is called aibu (the enemy, byexo), kat ] ]ec; it is called
sêru=mahhu (rabbu), like o[ dra<kwn o[ me<gaj in the
New Testament Apocalypse. It seduces mankind to
sin, since it seeks to sustain itself in its authority.
It is also said of it, that it destroyed the grove of
BEGINNING AND OBJECT OF THEOPHANIES. 33
life.1 Much here is uncertain. In comparison, the
Iranian "sage" is far clearer, according to which the
serpent is the first creation of Ahriman, who himself
is both represented and called a serpent. The serpent
disturbs the peace, destroys paradise, and casts down
Yima, the ruler of the golden age, that is, the first
man. We have here reminiscences, which are worthy
of attention, respecting the origin of evil, although in
a mythical garb.
§ 2. Beginning and Object of the Theophanies.
Between us and God there is now a wall of separa-
tion. God has become far from us, and is concealed,
as it were, behind an impenetrable veil. The "sagen"
of the [different] peoples testify in many ways, that at
the beginning of human history God was immediately
near to man, and had intercourse with him, and that
our present distance from God is a loss. It follows
from our present nature that we cannot make any
representation to ourselves of that original intercourse
of God with men. Even in Gen. ii. iii. we are not
raised above this inability of representing it. The
narrative retains a mysterious background, but it has
a transparent deep meaning. After the fall, which
destroyed the union of God and man„ man perceives
the steps of God, who is drawing near, and flees from
Him. He comes indeed as a Judge who is to be feared,
1 See Friedrich Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 87 ff.; and Assyrische
Lesestücke, p. 95: Texte zur Weltschöpfung und zur Auflehnung
and Bekämpfung der Schlange Tiamat.
34 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
not, however, to destroy for the sake of punishing, but
through bitter chastisement to win back the lost.
And in a significant manner the one who appears is
called Yahweh-Elohim. God, as Creator of the entire
creation and as its Finisher (Vollender), that is, as the
Power which finally fills it completely with glory
(1 Cor. xv. 28), is called Myhlox<; and God as Redeemer,
that is, as Mediator of this completion (Vollendung)
through sin and wrath, is throughout called hv,h;ya.1 His
audible steps after the fall are His first steps toward
the goal of the revelation in the flesh (1 Tim. iii. 16),
which is the restoration and completion of the imma-
nence of divine love in the world.
§ 3. The Primitive Promise.
Thus presenting Himself, God announces their
sentence to the serpent, to the woman, and to Adam—
to these three together, as concerned in their solidarity.
The serpent, and in it the spiritual being, whose
mask it became, or if we understand the account
mythically, whose image it is, are cursed on account of
the temptation which proceeded from them, which
plunged mankind into sin and death. The earth is
1 [This is a liberty which we are compelled to take. Most of
the Hebrew words in the German text are unpointed. Prof.
Delitzsch, however, never pronounced hvhy, Jehovah, which he
considered a philological monstrosity. But, as in the trans-
literation which he has given of the name, he could only
recommend his students to say Yahweh, or to follow the example
of the Jews in reading Adhonai.]—C.
THE PRIMITIVE PROMISE. 35
cursed on Adam's account, while the natural world,
after its destiny as a means of blessing to mankind
has been thwarted, is turned into an instrument of
wrath against them. Adam himself, however, is not
cursed, but in the midst of the curse on the tempter
the hope of a victory in the contest with the power of
evil rises upon mankind. The verdict pronounced
upon the serpent, after it has been humbled to a worm
in the dust, is (iii. 15): "And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed." The woman, as the one first seduced,
and the serpent, who served the seducer as an instru-
ment, are here representatives of their entire race.
The divine retribution places, that is, establishes,
between the race of serpents and of men a relation of
internal and actual enmity. And who will conquer in
this war, which is enacted as a law of the further
history?" He shall crush thee on the head, and thou
shalt crush him on the heel." In no Semitic idiom
does JUw have the signification of JxaWA, to snap, or look
eagerly for something and never is or indeed any
verb indicating a hostile disposition, construed with a
double accusative. This construction with the accusa-
tive of the person, and the part which is affected, is
peculiar to verbs which indicate a violent meeting, e.g.
hKAhi, to smite; HcarA, to murder. Hence JUw, which is
repeated, neither has the first nor the second time the
meaning of lying in wait (Septuagint, threi?n; Jerome,
insidiari). The verb JUW is used by the Targum for
xKADi, to crush; NhaFA, to grind to powder; qHWA to pulverize.
36 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
It has the meaning which is there presupposed also in
Job ix. 17 (on the contrary, neither the meaning
inhiare nor conterere is suited to Ps. cxxxix. 11), and
the signification of the root Jw (Jk), terere, to grind, is
confirmed through an extensive tribe of Semitic words,
according to which among the old [versions] the trans-
lation is given by the Samaritan and Syriac. Only
when we translate it: "He (the Seed of the woman)
shall crush thee on the head" (suntri<yei, Rom. xvi.
20), does the sentence include the definite promise of
victory over the serpent, which, because it suffers the
deadly tread, seeks to defend itself, and sinking under
the treader is mortally wounded (Gen. xlix. 17).
§ 4. The Primitive Promise in the Light of Fulfilment.
It is the entire decree of redemption which is
epitomized in this original word of promise, so far as
we only maintain that the serpent as a seducer is
intended, and that the curse, which falls upon it, has
a background with reference to the author of the
seduction. The malignant bite of the serpent in the
heel of men, which they retaliate in the midst of their
defeat by treading on its head, is only a natural picture
of that which ever constitutes the most central purport
of history—namely, the conflict of mankind with
Satan, and with all who are e]k tou? diabo<lou (ponhrou?);
for, after the power of grace has entered mankind by
means of the promise, they are placed, through the fall,
in the attitude of a second decision for themselves,
PRIMITIVE PROMISE IN LIGHT OF FULFILMENT. 37
which will result in such a way, that many of the seed
of the woman who had the promise, separate themselves,
and take a position on the side of the serpent. The
promise indeed has reference to mankind as a race, for
the word xUh refers to hw.Axi fraz,. Nevertheless, since the
promise of victory refers to that serpent from whom
the seduction went forth, hence to the victory over the
one seducer (o[ o@fij o[ a]rxai?oj), we may consequently
infer that the seed of the woman will culminate in
One in whom the opposition will be strained to the
utmost; and the suffering in the struggle with the
seducer will rise to the highest pitch, and the victory
will end for ever in complete conquest. This primitive
promise is also intended to be coextensive with the
fulfilment; for Christ, the son of Mary, is the seed of
the woman, geno<menoj e]k gunaiko<j (Gal. iv. 4), in a won-
derfully unique way. Hence the new humanity, which
has its head in Him, and which, through Him, stands
in the relation of children to God, is indeed born of
a woman, but in so far as it overcomes Satan is not
begotten by man. This authority is not a work of
nature, but a spiritual gift (John i. 12 f.). The entire
history and order of salvation are unfolded in this
protevangelium. Like a sphinx, it crouches at the
entrance of sacred history. Later in the period of
Israelitish Prophecy and Chokma, the solution of this
riddle of the sphinx begins to dawn; and it is only
solved by Him through whom and in whom that has
been revealed towards which this primitive prophecy
was aimed.
38 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Remark 1.—But how is it consistent with the divine
order of salvation that the meaning of the protevan-
gelium, and in general of the history of the fall, should
be first recognised so late, and should be first fully
and completely disclosed through the New Testament
revelation? It can only be explained on the supposi-
tion that the faith which brought salvation in the Old
Testament was a faith in God the Redeemer. The
deeper the Israelite felt the curse and the burden of
sin, and was attacked on every side by sufferings and
miseries, and was anxious on account of the darkness
of death and of the next world, the more ardently he
longed for redemption from sin and death, and espe-
cially from this evil world; and the faith in which he
found rest was faith in God the Redeemer according to
His promise. He longed for the visible revelation of
the supramundane God—His coming down from heaven
to earth; but that He would complete the work of
redemption, through a man in whom He dwelt as the
angel of the Mosaic redemption; that was an appre-
hension which was developed only gradually, and first
became fully clear to faith in the face of Jesus Christ.1
Remark 2.—The Alexandrian Book of Wisdom ii. 24
says that through the envy of the devil death came
into the world. Also in the Palestinian Jewish litera-
ture such gleams of light are found—Christian per-
ceptions before Christ—which Judaism first gave up in
opposition to Christianity; for (1) as the designation
1 One of the most precious utterances of Bengel's is the follow-
ing thesis: "Gradatim Deus in patefaciendi regni sui mysteriis
progreditur sive res ipsae spectentur sive tempora. Opertum
tenetur initio quod deinde apertum cernitur. Quod quavis aetate
datur, id sancte debuit amplecti, non plus sumere, non minus
accipere."
FIRST VERIFICATIONS OF PRIMITIVE PROMISE. 39
of the first man with Nvmdqh Mdx (o[ prw?toj a@nqrwpoj
]Ada<m, 1 Cor. xv. 45) is old Jewish, so also is the
designation of the serpent which led man astray with
Nvmdqh wHn ( [O o@fij o[ a]rxai?oj, Rev. xii. 9, xx. 2);
(2) the Palestinian Targum testifies that in Gen. iii. 15
there is promised a healing of the bite in the heel from
the serpent, which is to take place "at the end of the
days, in the days of King Messiah." In the Palestinian
Midrash to Genesis 1 we read: "The things which God
created perfect since man sinned have become corrupt
(vlqlqtn), and do not return to their proper condition
until the son of Perez (i.e. according to Gen. xxxviii.
29, Ruth iv. 18 ff., the Messiah out of the tribe of
Judah) comes." According to this the Messiah is
Saviour and Restorer, as the apostolic word says of
Jesus (1 John iii. 8), that He has appeared, i!na lu<s^
ta> e@rga tou? diabo<lou.
§ 5. First Effects and Verifications of the Primitive
Promise.
A first echo of the divine word, received in faith
concerning the victory of mankind, is the name hUAHa
(Septuagint, zwh<), which Adam gives his wife; for
as the narrator explains (iii. 20b) the meaning and
propriety of this name—she became "the mother of
all living;" that, is, in spite of death, the mother of
each individual of the race, which is destined to live,
to whom the victory over the power of the evil one
is promised, and hence as mother of the Seed of
the woman who is to crush the head of the serpent.
1 Bereshith rabba xii.
40 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
We consider as a second echo the language of Eve
when she became mother for the first time. Although
this cannot possibly be understood as an expression of
the belief that her first-born was the incarnate Yahweh,
—for the terms of the primitive promise do not give
any occasion for such an expression, —but must rather
indicate that, with Yahweh as helper and giver, she
has brought forth a man-child, which she has received
as her own, nevertheless her exclamation stands related
to iii. 15, since she designated God with the name of
Yahweh, and in any case as the God of the promised
salvation, for this Hebrew name of God belongs to
the later period of the origin of the peoples. Through
the marvel of this first birth she is placed in a joyful
amazement, which is powerfully increased, because that
thus the promise of the victory of the Seed of the
woman appeared to be realized. But her first-born
was the murderer of his brother; Cain was e]k tou?
ponhrou? (1 John iii. 12), he took his position on the side
of the seed of the serpent. The religious congregation
which was formed at the time of Enosh, the son of Seth,
could already name one of their members as a martyr.
When it is said, iv. 26, that at that time men began
to call on and to call out the name of Yahweh,—that
is, to pray together to God as Yahweh, and publicly to
recognise Him as such,—this, too, stands in connection
with iii. 15, for this historical notice is designed to
indicate that men at that time joined a congregation
which worshipped the God of the promised salvation.
But if mankind is ever to be free from the bondage of
FIRST VERIFICATIONS OF PRIMITIVE PROMISE. 41
sin, as is promised in iii. 15, they must likewise be
free from the curse of death. The end of Enoch's
life, the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth, shows
that man, if he had proved true in the probation of
free will, could have gone over into another stadium of
existence without death and corruption. Death is,
indeed, since the fall a law of nature; but God, who
has enacted this law of nature, can also make it in-
operative when He will through the exertion of His
almighty power. The translation of Enoch, as well
as of Elijah, is a prophecy in act of the future end of
death (Isa. xxv. 8; 1 Cor. xv. 54). The primitive
promise includes this end of death in itself, for the
crushing of the serpent is the disarming of him "who
has the power of death " (Heb. ii. 14).
Remark 1.—The impression that txe in hv,h;ya-tx,,
iv. 1b, indicates the definite object, as vi. 10, xxvi. 34,
is so strong that the Jerusalem Targum translates: "I
have gotten a man, the Angel of Yahweh." But this
interpretation cannot be maintained, for the reason
that the Angel of Yahweh first enters into history and
consciousness after the time of the patriarchs.
Remark 2.—Enoch announced, according to Jude,
ver. 14, the parousia of the Lord in judgment. It is
indeed in itself probable that Enoch, since he walked
with God, —a commendation which only Noah shares
with him, vi. 9,—also knew about the ways of God;
but his prophecy, which Jude quotes, belongs to the
"sage" (Haggada), and serves the author of the Epistle
a didactic purpose. That it refers to the coming of
the Lord in judgment, although the history of mankind
42 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
had not begun so very long ago, is strange in itself.
Not long after the beginning of the Church, the
parousia of Christ as judge was longed and hoped for.
The corruption through sin was so great at all times,
that the believers longed that God, through a judicial
interference, might help the Seed of the woman to a
victory over the seed of the serpent.
§ 6. The Expected Comforter.
While in Lamech, the seventh from Adam within
the Cainitic line, the worldly tendency of this line
rises to blasphemous arrogance, there appears in Enosh,
Enoch, and Lamech, the third, seventh, and ninth of
the Sethitic line, an indigenous tendency toward the
God of the promised salvation. Lamech, the Sethite,
when his first son was born, hoped that in him, the
tenth from Adam, the period of the curse would come
to a comforting conclusion. This is evident from his
elevated words when he says (v. 29): "This one shall
comfort us for our work and for the toil of our hands
[according to the signification of the Hebrew word:
comforting, to make one free from painful work],
because of the ground [i.e. that which the ground
renders necessary] which Yahweh hath cursed." In
this hope he calls him Noah, i.e. breathing out, rest
(connected with MHena, to comfort, by causing to breathe
out). The comfort which he expects from God through
him is not comfort in words, but the comfort of an act
of salvation. This comfort was also fulfilled through
him, although not fully and in entirety, but in a way
THE EXPECTED COMFORTER. 43
preparatory to the completion. The rainbow after the
flood was a comfort, the blessing of which extended
from that time on until the end. It pledged mankind,
after the wrathful visitation in judgment, of their
continuance, and of the dawn of a better time, in
which, instead of wrath, a blessing predominates, a
time of favour, patience, and long-suffering of God
(Acts xvii. 30, xiv. 17; Rom. iii. 26). Noah is the
first mediator of the sacred history, a mediator of
comfort. Comfort (nechama) is one of the pregnant
words in which all that is hoped from the God of
salvation is combined. Yahweh, as Redeemer of His
people, is called their Comforter, Isa. xlix. 13, 9.
And the Servant of Yahweh, the Mediator of salvation,
explains it as His calling to comfort all that mourn,
Isa. lxi. 2. Noah is a forerunner of this great Com-
forter, in whom all who labour and are heavy laden
find rest to their souls.
Remark.— Comforter, MHenam;, is an old synagogical
designation for the Messiah; compare Schoettgen, De
Messia, Dresdae 1742, p. 18. Jesus Himself is called
para<klhtoj, Comforter, for His promise, "He shall
send you a@llon para<klhton" (John xiv. 16), presup-
poses that Christ Himself is para<klhtoj (Fyliq;raP;=MHenam;).
§ 7. The Promise of the Blessing of the Nations in
the Seed of the Patriarchs.
In Gen. ix. 24-27 we read how Noah in spirit
penetrated the moral and fundamental character, and
44 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
consequently the future, of the three groups of peoples
springing from Canaan, Shem, and Japheth; and how
he awards to Canaan the curse of servitude, to Japheth
far-reaching political power, and to Shem a central
religious significance which also draws Japheth to
him. The God of salvation is the God of Shem;
Shem is therefore for himself and the nations a bearer
of the revelation of this God. According to this it
is a Shemite whom God, after Noah, entrusts with
the second epoch-making mediatorship. Abraham
is chosen out of the midst of the nations to become
a mediator of the revelation of salvation, and the
promise of the salvation of the entire race is con-
nected with him and his seed as centre, and starting-
point: "And all the kindreds of the earth shall bless
themselves in thee and in thy seed." This promise
is made three times to Abraham (xii. 3, xviii. 18, xxii.
18), and once each to Isaac and Jacob (xxvi. 4, xxviii.
14). It is given three times with Ukr;b;niv; (xii. 3,
xviii. 18, xxviii. 14), and twice Ukr;BAt;hiv; (xxii.
18, xxvi. 4). It is questionable whether it should be
translated as a passive: "they shall be blessed," or
as a reflexive: "they shall bless themselves." The
Niphal j`rab;ni occurs only in this promise, but the
Hithpael, wherever it occurs, e.g. Jer. iv. 2, has a
reflexive signification. Nevertheless, the Septuagint
(Acts iii. 25; Gal. iii. 8) translate all of the five
passages with a passive e]neuloghqh<sontai. Since a
longing desire for salvation, according to God's plan
of salvation, is always accompanied with actual attain-
THE BLESSING OF THE NATIONS. 45
ment, the sense remains essentially the same, whether
we translate passively or reflexively. The promise
makes Abraham and his seed possessors of a divine
blessing, which is to become the end of the desire
of all nations, and at the same time also their posses-
sion.1 Israel is the seed of Abraham (Isa. xli. 9), as
the people who mediate salvation (Isa. xix. 24; Zech.
viii. 13); but this mediation of salvation comes to
its final completion in Christ, the one descendant of
Abraham, in whom the seed of Abraham, according
to his calling as mediator of a blessing, finds its
consummation.
Remark.—The inference of Paul from the singular
j~fEr;ziB; (Gal. iii. 16) has indeed a rabbinical character;1
but the thought is perfectly correct, that the singular
j~fEr;zeb;U includes that which a plural would precisely
exclude, namely, that the seed of Abraham, which is
the means of a blessing, is a unity which will finally
be concentrated in One; for fraz, can be just as well
used of one (Gen. iv. 25) as of many. The poet of
Ps. lxxii. begins in ver. 16 with the same idea: The
promise of the blessing upon the peoples will be
1 The Targum translates: "They shall be blessed through
thee, through thy children, on account of thy merit, and of
theirs" (tvkz). The Jewish doctrine of the merit of works casts
its shadow into the understanding of the Scripture.
2 In like manner the Mishna, Sanhedrin iv. 5, where it is
remarked on ymeD;, Gen. iv. 10, "he does not say j~yHixA MDa, but
j~yHixA ymeD;: that is, his blood and the blood of his posterity,"
vytvfrz (plural of frz); cf. Abraham Geiger's article, "tOy.fir;za,
xtAyAfEr;za, spe<rmata,” in the Zeitschrift der morgenländ. Gesellschaft,
Leipzig 1858, pp. 307-309.
46 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
fulfilled in King Messiah, whose name continues and
buds forever. In this One the mediatorship of the
blessing of the people of Abraham attains its con-
summation, nevertheless without its then having an
end, since the blessing which is effected by One, and
which going out from Him has extended over the
nations of the earth, has not been secured without
the co-operation of Israel, through the apostle from
Israel. But since the One appeared, the mediatorship
of salvation through Israel is conditioned in this way:
that, first, it must be blessed by Him whose blessing,
first of all, pertains to those who are children of the
prophets and of the covenant (Acts iii. 25 f.).
CHAPTER II.
THE PROPHETIC BENEDICTIONS OF THE DYING PATRIARCHS.
§ 8. Jacob's artful Procurement of the Blessing of the
First-Born.
CICERO says:1 Appropinquante morte [animus]
multo est divinior. It is an experimental fact
that precisely through the approach of the night of
death the most intense effulgence flashes through the
human spirit, which has sprung from the being of
God; and it is in connection with this psychological
natural phenomenon that the patriarchs just before
their death become seers, and utter testamentary words
of a prophetic character concerning their children.
Their blessings are not merely wishes, whose effect
is coextensive with the granting of the prayer of
faith, but they are at the same time predictions, which
proceed from the divinely-mediated view into the
future, as it has been decreed. Of such a sort is
the blessing of the first-born, which Isaac utters
regarding his second son, since Divine Providence
frustrated that which his natural will intended. It
arose from the divine promise which had already gone
1 De Divinatione, lib. i. § 63.
47
48 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
forth, which Isaac had grasped in faith (Heb. xi. 20),
and had further unfolded in the spirit of prophecy.
This blessing of the first-born consists of four parts
(xxvii. 27-29). It promises the one whom it con-
cerns: (1) The possession of the land of Canaan
under the divine benediction (vers. 27b, 28):
See, the smell of my son
Is as the smell of a field which
Yahweh hath blessed.
And God will give thee of the dew of heaven,
And of the fat fields of the earth,
And plenty of corn and must.
(2) The subjection of the nations, and indeed without
limitation, in such general terms, that the limitation to
the nations of Canaan, perhaps including the neigh-
bouring countries, is contrary to the words of the
text (ver. 29a):
Peoples shall serve thee,
And nations bow down to thee.
(3) The primacy over his brothers, that is, the tribes
of Israel, and over those blood relations who were
outside the posterity of the line of promise (ver. 29b):
Be Lord over thy brethren,
And thy mother's sons shall bow down to thee.
(4) So high a position in redemptive history, that
blessings and curses are conditioned by the attitude
which men take to him who has received the blessing
(ver. 29c):
Cursed be every one that curseth thee,
And blessed be every one that blesseth thee.
PROPHETIC BENEDICTIONS OF PATRIARCHS. 49
When Esau, weeping bitterly, also begs for a bless-
ing, he has for him, too, some promises, but of such a
sort that they bring a dimness into the pure light of
the blessing of Jacob, which is deserved through
his artifice; but Isaac cannot recall any of the
promises made to Jacob, for he knows that God has
spoken through him, and that, against his own will,
he has become God's instrument. It is the blessing of
Abraham that Isaac, as if passing by himself, lays upon
Jacob, for he promises him the possession of Canaan
(cf. xii. 7) and victorious power (cf. xxii. 17); also the
addition: "I will bless those that bless thee, and him
that curseth thee will I curse," was already spoken to
Abraham (xii. 3). The blessing and the curse of men
are to be determined by the relation which they take
to the one who has been blessed by God,—a deter-
mination which must have a deep moral ground, since
the God of revelation is the holy One, who, as such,
neither gives the preference in a partizan way nor
promotes worldly pride of rank. Whoever blesses the
patriarchs evinces thereby—as, for example, the bless-
ing of Abram through Melchisedek shows (xiv. 19)
his belief in God, whose confessors they are. The
salvation, which is finally to find its complete historical
representation in the person of Jesus the Christ, has
now, according to the measure of its stage of prepara-
tion, the patriarchs, His ancestors, as possessors and
bearers.
50 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 9. The Designation of Judah as Royal and
Messianic Tribe.
After the three patriarchs had been enlarged from
Jacob to twelve heads of tribes, the question arises,
from which of the twelve tribes the promised salvation
shall go forth. Jacob's prophetic blessing (Gen. xlix.)
answers this question. Reuben, through his incest
with Bilhah, had forfeited the right of primogeniture.
It could not be transmitted to Simeon and Levi, on
account of their outrage on the inhabitants of Shechem.
Hence Jacob, in view of his near death, transfers the
double inheritance (the hrAkoB;, in the narrower meaning
of an inheritance), which is connected with the right
of primogeniture, to Joseph, his favourite son, but
primacy and the world-position in the history of
salvation, to Judah, his fourth son (1 Chron. v. 1 f.).
Jacob promises him the leadership of the tribes of
his people as an inalienable right, won through his
lion-like courage, until, on his coming to Shiloh,
his dominion of the tribes should be enlarged to a
dominion over the world:
8 Judah thee, thee shall thy brethren praise!
Thy hand is on the necks of thine enemies,
The sons of thy father shall bow down to thee.
9 Judah is a young lion,
From the prey, my son, thou art gone up:
He lies down, he couches as a lion, and as a lioness,
Who dares to wake him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the leader's staff from between his feet,
Until he comes to Shiloh;
And to him will be the obedience of the peoples.
JUDAH AS ROYAL AND MESSIANIC TRIBE. 51
We understand hloywi xboyA in the sense which it has
elsewhere hlowi xOB signifies to come to Shiloh (Josh.
xviii. 9; 1 Sam. iv. 12), as hlowi xybihe signifies to bring to
Shiloh (Judg. xxi. 12; 1 Sam. i. 24); also, after j`lahA
and HlawA, hlowi, is used to indicate the place whither. It
is also certain that hloywi is not a proper name, since, in
vers. 11, 12, Judah is the subject, who, after he has
fought his way through, rejoices in prosperous, happy
peace in a land richly blessed with wine and milk, so
that Judah also in ver. 10 must be the subject, with-
out the interposition of another. And that which
Jacob promised Judah actually came to pass. For as
Israel, at whose head was the tribe of Judah, pitched
the tent of the testimony in Shiloh, between Shechem
and Bethel, hence in the heart of Canaan, the land, as
is said in Josh. xviii. 1, was subdued before them: the
conquest had made progress in a direction which, with
persistent, similar energy, bore in itself the pledge of
completion. But, furthermore, Judah really became
the royal tribe in Israel, which, in David and Solomon,
had command, not over the tribes of Israel alone, but
also over the neighbouring peoples. The weakening
and the breaking through of the power and perman-
ence of the kingdom of Judah are relatively unim-
portant elements for the prophet. But since the
Chaldean catastrophe made an end of the Davidic
kingdom,—which arose in Zerubbabel after the exile
only in a shadowy way and for a short time, —the
fulfilment of the blessing concerning Judah would
certainly lack its crown if the divinely-anointed One,
52 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
to whom the Lord (Ps. ii. 8) gives the heathen for
His inheritance, and the ends of the earth for His
possession, had not arisen out of Judah. But it is
evident, says the Epistle to the Hebrews (vii. 14), that
our Lord sprang from Judah; and the Apocalypse,
since it calls Him the Lion from the tribe of Judah
(v. 5), points back to this blessing of Jacob. Hence
the prediction concerning Judah remains Messianic,
even when we understand Shiloh as the name of a
place. Since Jacob names the tribe of Judah as the
royal tribe of Israel, the preliminary history of the
Messiah has advanced so far, that now Judah is
chosen as the place for the appearance of the future
One.
Remark 1.—When hloywi is understood as indicating a
place, only the rendering preferred by Hitzig need be
considered in connection with the one given above:
"so long as they come to Shiloh," that is, from the
standpoint of the speaker forever, since (according to
this interpretation) he does not know any other central
place of worship. But this supposition is contrary to
history (Ps. lxxviii. 60 ff.), the generalizing of the
subject of xboyA disturbs [the connection], the explana-
tion of yKi dfa through "as long as" (equivalent to
rw,xE dfa) is contrary to the dominant idiom, which
knows yKi dfa, only in the signification of donec or adeo
ut (Gen, xxvi. 13; 2 Sam. xxiii. 10; 2 Chron. xxvi.
15), and this expedient in order to arrive at [the
meaning] "forever" is unnecessary, since [the expres-
sion] "until that" frequently indicates (e.g. Gen. xxviii.
15) a climax and a culmination, beyond which that
EXPLANATIONS OF SHILOH. 53
which is said does not cease, but continues, or even,
as in the preceding case, is heightened. It is surprising
that none of the ancient translators and intrepreters
thought of hloywi as the city of Shiloh. This interpreta-
tion of the word first became current after Herder,
who adopted it from W. G. Teller (1766). But we
have a similar example in Lamech's Song of the
Sword (Gen. iv. 23 f.). The significance of the
blasphemous praise of the iron weapon was first
perceived by Herder and Hamann.
Remark 2. —The ancient translators, who pre-
suppose the reading hlw (without y, as in the Samaritan
Pentateuch), take this hlw, in the sense of Ol.w, and
understand it either of a fact: "until that come which
belongs to him" (to Judah), ta> a]pokei<mena au]t&?
(Septuagint, Theodotion), namely, the dominion over
the world; or personally: "until he comes, to whom it
(the sceptre or the rule) belongs, &$ a]pokeitai (Aquila,
Symmachus, Onkelos, second Jerusalem Targum,
Syrian). Perhaps Ezekiel (Ezek. xxi. 32) presupposes
this interpretation of hlw, since he names the future
ideal king FpAw;mi.ha Ol rw,xE in the Septuagint FpAw;mi.ha is
omitted, as it; is simply rendered &$ kaqh<kei. But the
following reasons may be urged against the meaning
which has been incorporated with the word, as the
one originally intended:--1. The abbreviation w for
rw,xE is foreign to the prose style of ancient Hebrew;
there are only two uncertain references in support
of it: (1) the combination of particles Mna.waB; (Gen.
vi. 3, provided this reading is to be preferred to the
dominant one MnA.waB;; (2) the name of the Levite lxewAymi
(Ex. vi. 22, provided it signifies, like its synonym lxekAymi,
"who is like God?"). 2. Although the writing hBo
54 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
occurs once for OB (Jer. xvii. 24), hlo is never found
for Ol. Moreover, the Massoretic reading hloywi excludes
the supposition that w is equivalent to rw,xE. In the
Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b, it is read thus: for the pupils
of Rabbi Shila (xlyw) remark in honour of their teacher,
that hloywi which sounds similarly is the name of the
Messiah. We do not know how they interpreted it.1
It is a proof of the power of fashion even in
exegesis, that several of the most recent exegetes have
again taken up hlw, as equivalent to Ol.w,, which was
heretofore considered as worthy of mention only as
a matter of history. Driver and Briggs interpret
according to the Septuagint: "until his own [that
which belongs to Judah] shall come;" von Orelli:
"until he [Judah] come into his own [the land of his
inheritance],—an explanation which has not hitherto
been set forth, by any one, according to which hlowi is
equivalent to Ol-rw,xE-lx,; Wellhausen expunges and
translates: "until he come to whom the obedience
of the people belongs." Stade2 goes still further than
Wellhausen, as he expunges the entire tenth verse as
a post-exilic addition; Kautzsch and Socin translate
Olv;, but under the impression of this modern confusion
treat hloywi as untranslatable. And so it goes: the best
and truest has the fortune gradually to become old, and
people hasten after that which is new, until this also
becomes old and they return to the old. The old
[interpretation], which will ever reappear, is in the
1 See G. H. Dalman, Der leidende and der sterbende Messias der
Synagoge, 1888, p. 37. The word vlyw occurs in the Talmudic
proverb as the name of a man: xmltwm xnHvyv xFH wlyw, Shilo
has sinned and Johana must suffer for it.
2 Geschichte Israels, Leipzig, 1887, vol. i. p. 160.
EXPLANATIONS OF SHILOH. 55
present case the understanding of hloywi xboyA in Josh.
xviii. 9, and in other places where it occurs, in a
geographical signification.
The name of the place (hloywi, Olywi), defectively
written hlowi (Olwi), is formed from lUw, hlAwA, to hang
down in a flabby way, to be unstrung, to rest, and
hence, as the gentile yniOlywi shows, contracted from
NOlywi; it indicates stretching out, relaxation, recrea-
tion, rest,—certainly a fitting name of a place, and
one which recommends itself. The form has the
character of a proper name, as the name of a man,
hmolow;, and the name of a place, hloGi, Josh. x v. 51; also
Prov. xxvii. 20, is the indication of Hades as a
proper name, hence it cannot be translated, as Kurtz
maintains, as an appelative: until he (Judah) comes
to rest. We might rather consider hloywi like hmolow;,
as the name of a person, so that the Messiah can be
called the bodily hvAl;wa (Ps. cxxii. 7), as the One in
Himself full of rest, and as the One producing rest
from Himself. This view commends itself not a little,
and we could consider the prediction as a prediction
concerning Solomon,—like the Samaritan translator of
the Pentateuch into Arabic,—and beyond Solomon of
his antitype. But vers. 11, 12 contradict this view,
for in them Judah is the subject; the images apper-
tain to the tribe which comes to Shiloh, and which
rests from conflict in peace, not to the person of a
single prince of peace.
Remark 3. — The polemic against the Jews has
carried on a traditional misuse, which extends back
to Justin's Dialogue with Trypho. According to this
prophecy the subjugation of the Jewish people under
heathen dominion is regarded as a preliminary sign of
56 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the coming of the Messiah; and the conclusion is
drawn that since the people is in exile (rWA Nyxev; j`l,m, Nyxe,
"without a prince and without a king," Hos. iii. 4),
the Messiah must have come long since. This
explanation of the prophecy is even for this reason
inadmissible, because the prediction in this blessing,
that Judah should at length lose dominion, would
bring a gloom for which there would be no occasion.
Isaac Troki, in his hnvmx qvzH, i. 14, is quite right,
where he contends against this interpretation with its
consequences. He is quite right when he maintains
that yKi dfa does not indicate that when the given
turning-point shall come Judah shall lose the
dominion, but that then Judah's dominion shall be
extended to world dominion (the so-called llkb dfv df,
see. Levy, Neuhebraisches Wörterbuch, iii, 619b); and
also because this interpretation is in contradiction
with the Christian faith, since Jesus sprung from
Judah, and is called the King of the Jews; and also
after He came the sceptre remained with the tribe of
Judah. But we do not agree with him in giving
qHeqm; a personal interpretation, as in Deut. xxxiii. 21,
as referring to the legislators, to those who handle the
law, the chiefs of the people, which involves our
understanding vylAg;ra NyBemi in the indecent signification
of Deut. xxviii. 57; nor do we agree with him
when he combines hloywi with hyAl;wi in the same
passage of Deuteronomy, and, according to the
Targum of Onkelos on this passage, understands
xHAnAB; rfez; of the youngest, that is, of the final Son
of Judah, while hyAl;wi has also through the Mishna,
Talmud, and Syriac, rather the assured signification
of after-birth (secundinae). But in the main point
EXPLANATIONS OF SHILOH. 57
he is quite right, that according to the prophecy
concerning Shiloh the kingdom of God from Judah,
through the Messiah, will overcome all the kingdoms
of this world, hence that the dominion of Judah
without diminution will become extended to world
dominion.
Remark 4.—Kurtz rejects the personal interpretation
of hloywi for this reason, because the promise of a king,
and, indeed, of one ruling the world, hence of the
Messiah, here at the end of the patriarchal period is
an anachronism. And, indeed, although along with
the prediction concerning the blessing of the people in
the seed of the patriarchs the prediction is connected,
that the patriarchs shall be tribal ancestors of many
peoples, and kings of peoples (Gen. xvii. 6, 16,
xxxv. 11), the preliminary conditions for the future
image of a king of Israel are not yet in exist-
ence: the tribes of Israel are only first in process of
becoming a people; the theocratic relation of God
begins first with the legislation, and the patriarchal
house is not yet involved in wars, which press for a
demand for one leadership. It is true that the promise
respecting Judah has a royal sound; for Fb,we is the
usual designation of honour for a king, but it does not
have to do with a person, but with a tribe, and in such
a way that from the standpoint of the further develop-
ment, and especially of the fulfilment, one is the goal.
As in the protevangel xUh is mankind, and one is the
centre; as in the promise concerning the blessing on
the peoples j~fEr;zaB; is the family of the patriarchs, and
one is the centre: so here hdAUhy; is the tribe, and one
is the centre. If we compare the prophecy concern-
ing Shiloh with the protevangel there appears to be
58 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
rather retrogression than progression, but it is only
apparent. The proclamation of salvation in its begin-
ning was with reference to victory over the evil, and
this beginning is the impelling germ of the following
development until its utmost limit. A blessing on
the nations is the contents of the proclamation of
salvation in its second stage, the development goes
forward from this point, but departing from the all-
comprehensive ideal placed in the beginning, as the
plant, before it attains its ultimate end in the fruit
which is preformed in germ, goes out in root, stem,
and branches. The nationalizing of the proclamation
of salvation is the root through which it is fastened,
and the trunk which is to bear the fruit. With the
blessing of Judah the nationalizing begins, after the
way has already been prepared through the promise
of the blessing of the nations in the seed of the
patriarchs.
CHAPTER III.
THE PREDICTIONS OF THE MOSAIC PERIOD CONCERNING
THE FUTURE SALVATION.
§ 10. The Promise of a Prophet after Moses, and
like him.
THE future mediator of salvation appears later on
as king, who as the chosen of Yahweh reigns
over Israel, and from Israel over the nations. The
prophecy of Shiloh is like the frame, which the later
image of the Messiah fills out. But before we meet
with a proper Messianic prophecy, there is given
because of a special occasion, without connection with
the expectation of an ideal king, the promise of a
prophet like Moses. As the people at the giving of
the Sinaitic law could not bear to hear the voice of
Yahweh, on account of its dreadful nearness, and
accordingly Moses must act as mediator (Deut.
v. 23-28; cf. Ex. xx. 19), Yahweh promised the
people for the future a prophet, who should be
raised from their midst like Moses, and demanded
for him in advance unconditional obedience (Deut.
xviii. 15-19). [This is] an appendix to the history
of the legislation, which is to be inserted after Deut.
59
60 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
v. 28, which is connected with the command not to
make use of idolatrous means of witchcraft (Deut.
xviii. 9-14), and which is completed in the indica-
tion of the signs through which a true is to be dis-
tinguished from a false prophet (Deut. xviii. 20 ff.).
In order that we may not be led to take a position
against the individual and personal interpretation of
the prophet who is promised, through the connection
in which the prophecy concerning the prophet like
Moses stands, we have to consider: (1) Moses is,
according to the view of the Torah, the incomparable
prophet. The true character of his personality in
redemptive history proceeds from his prophetic calling,
from which the legislative is never specially dis-
tinguished. Hence the unique character of the
intimate relation of God with this His servant (Num.
xii. 6-8) is compared with God's usual relations with
the prophets, and he is called, as the one who is
incomparable, by his proper official name xybinA (Deut.
xxxiv. 10; cf. Hos. xii. 14). (2) Moses is, according
to the history as it is given us in the Torah, not
the only prophet of his time. His sister also bears
the designation of prophetess, hxAybin; (Ex. xv. 20).
Miriam and Aaron are conscious that God also speaks
through them as well as through Moses (Num. xii. 2).
The seventy elders, whom Moses appoints as his assist-
ants, have a part of the Spirit of God which rests on
him, and begin to prophesy, and the prophetic ecstasy
seizes others also among the people (Num. xi. 24, 29),
—there were also prophets at that time besides Moses,
THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES. 61
and the Torah presupposes that there always have been,
and always will be prophets (Deut. xiii. 1 ff.). When,
therefore, looking through forty years back to the
first year it is promised (Dent. xviii. 15): "Yahweh
thy God will raise out of the midst of thy brethren a
prophet like me (ynimoKA); unto him shall ye hearken,"
and ver. 18: "a prophet will I raise up to you out
of the midst of thy brethren, like thee the
point of the prediction lies in the (j~OmKA) and j~OmKA.
The sense is not that God will always raise up a
prophet to the people (Rosenmüller semper per futura
tempora), who, like Moses, will be His organ. It is
exactly the emphasis on the continuation which is
lacking. The imperfect MyqiyA (MyqixA) is not an
adequate expression for "always." Moreover, xybinA
cannot be understood as a plural, for the singular is
retained throughout, without being exchanged with
the plural. The prophecy indicates a definite prophet,
it indicates a single person; and the history of the
following period confirms the [view], that the character-
istic marks of the one in contradistinction to the
many, which the concluding section (Deut. xviii. 20 ff.)
presupposes, are involved in the ynimoKA and j~OmKA. For
all the prophets who followed Moses are not mediators
of such a revelation as the Sinaitic; but the divine
revelation which is like the Sinaitic lies for all in the
domain of the future, and their duty consists in repre-
senting the spirit of the Sinaitic divine revelation, and
thus preparing the way for a future divine revelation,
whose mediator is to be the predicted prophet like
62 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Moses! Only so understood is Deut. xviii. 15-19
justified as a part of the prophetic words which are
to be discussed by us in historical succession. If the
prediction only referred to the continuance of pro-
phetic mediation in general, it would be without any
Christological significance, for it would not contain
any indication that the prophetic office after Moses
would culminate in One, who would be greater than
all the preceding. But the use of the singular, as
has been pointed out, shows that not a succession
of prophets is intended, but one prophet, who stands
before the spirit of the speaker; and as the expressions
ynimoKA and j~OmKA demand, such an One, who is not only
a continuation, but also an antitype of the mediator-
ship of Moses. That the future will not be without
prophets is presupposed in the Torah, and not only
especially promised, but it is promised that among
these prophets there will be another Moses. It
remains undetermined whether this other Moses is to
be hoped for in the nearer or more remote future.
The prediction brings that which is separated near
together, and flies away over that which lies between
the now and the coming time, which is separated
perhaps by a gulf of more than a thousand years.
Remark 1.—Our interpretation of this passage gives
again the impression which it makes on us, but we
are not so daring as to attribute to the grounds of
probability in its favour a compulsory power of proof.
The impression which it makes on interpreters like
Hävernick, Hofmann, Gustav Baur, Eduard König,
THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES. 63
von Orelli, Dillmann, and others is just the opposite.
These interpreters contend against the reference to a
single definite prophet, and find only one thought
expressed, that God will raise up a mediator for His
people, such as it now has in Moses, as often as it
needs a mediator of a divine revelation. By the ex-
pression ynimokA xybinA we are not to understand a prophet
who stands on the same plane with Moses; it indicates
only one who is to be an organ of God like him,
since here Moses and the other prophets are not com-
pared as in Deut. xxxiv. 10, but Moses and the
prophets like him as organs of God are compared with
the heathen sorcerers. Hofmann says,1 the singular
is indeed not a collective, but is used with relation to
the single case where the people need a mediator of
the divine revelation. He also understands ynimoKA
(j~OmKA) in connection with j~yh,xAme j~B;r;qi.mi (Mh,yHexE br,q.,mi),
which stands by it, as meaning a prophet who like
Moses is one of the people, which has this in its
favour, since the warning against heathen sorcerers
precedes. Among Jewish interpreters the reference
to prophets after the time of Moses in a general sense
predominates. But Aben Ezra is doubtful, and con-
siders it possible that Joshua is intended. That was
also the view of a part of the Samaritans.2 The
passage is used in the same way in the Assumptio
Mosis, i. 5-7. In Jalkut the view is also maintained,
that Jeremiah may be the. One promised.
Remark; 2.—It is a weighty reason against the
single personal and eschatological interpretation of
xybinA, that we never find in the canonical Scriptures
1 Schriftbeweis, vol. ii. part 1, pp. 138-142.
2 See the citations from Photius in Lightfoot on John iv. 19.
64 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
of the Old Testament an echo of this promise. On
the other hand, if in the pre-Christian and apostolic
age this interpretation was adopted to a considerable
extent, it must yet have had a tradition for it reaching
back we do not know how far. Among the Samaritans,
whose canon consists exclusively of the five books of
Moses, Deut. xviii. 15, 18 was regarded as the only
proper Messianic prophecy. The word of the Sama-
ritan woman, John iv. 25: "I know that Messiah
comes: when He shall come He will declare unto us
all things," shows that the Messiah was represented as
a mediator of salvation. A Samaritan, whose name was
Dositheus,1 who claimed to be the Messiah, maintained
that he was therefore the prophet who was promised
in Deut. xviii. But also in the New Testament
Scriptures this passage is considered as a locus illustris
of eschatological meaning, as a prophecy which has
come to its realization in Jesus Christ. In the
address of Peter, which was made in the porch of
Solomon, the prophet who is predicted by Moses is
compared with the prophets who have prepared the
way for his coming since Samuel (Acts iii. 22-24).
And Stephen, presupposing the meaning of the passage
as referring to Christ, emphasizes Dent. xviii. 15 as one
of the most significant words of Moses (Acts 37).
When Philip says to Nathanael (John i. 45) : " We
have found Him of whom Moses in the law did write,"
there is nothing fitter there, as well as in John v. 46,
than to think of this prophecy of the future prophet.
We are led with probability to conclude that this
interpretation of the passage was not isolated, since
1 Uhlhorn in Herzog and Plitt's Real-Encyklopadie für pro-
testantische Theologie und Kirche, Leipzig 1878, vol. iii. p. 683.
BALAAM'S PROPHECY ABOUT THE STAR. 65
also the expectation of the people in the time of
Christ was directed to a great prophet who was
absolutely called o[ profh<thj (John vi. 14). But
how this prophet was related to the Messiah was not
clear. The people distinguished both (John i. 19-21,
vii. 40-42), although in the face of Jesus Christ the
perception of the oneness of the prophet and of the
Messiah disappeared (Matt. xxi. 9-11).
§ 11. The Prophecy of Balaam concerning the Star and
the Sceptre out of Israel.
It is related in the grandiloquent parasha (section)
of Balak, in Numbers (xxii. 2 and elsewhere), that
Balak, king of the Moabites, when the kingdoms of
Sihon and Og became subject to the military prowess
of Israel, summoned the celebrated Balaam of Pethor,
north-east of Aleppo, in order that he might utter a
curse against the people who were pressing forward
so victoriously; but that, overcome by the Spirit of
Yahweh, in spite of all Balak's efforts, he blessed Israel
and prophesied their glorious future. This is an event
which also, outside of that parasha, is celebrated as an
integral part of the miracles of the Exodus (Deut.
xxiii. 5; Josh. xxiv. 9 f.; Micah vi. 5; Neh. xiii. 2).
We admit that the narrative, as it lies before us, is
combined out of several sources that may be clearly
distinguished, and that the historical element, as it
survived in the "sage," has been reproduced, not with-
out literary co-operation, but without doubting the
fact that the heathen sorcerer, contrary to his natural
66 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
disposition, became a prophet of Yahweh, and that he
received an insight into the future of Israel, whose
significance only has its counterpart in the second
part of the Book of Zechariah and the Book of Daniel.
As Balaam reached Moab, especially the district
above the Arnon, which Sihon, who was now conquered
by Israel, had snatched from the Moabites, Balak shows
him three times a place from which he has a view of
Israel (Num. xxii. 41, xxiii. 14, 28). He brings
great offerings in order, if possible, to secure the com-
pliance of Yahweh; but Balaam must, in spite of
these, bless instead of curse. This takes place in three
predictive utterances, which are joined on to the three-
[fold] setting up [of altars] (Num. xxiii. 7-10, 18-
24, xxiv. 3-9). Finally, giving up signs, he submits
to the will of God, which he now recognises as un-
changeable, and unveils to the king, as he departs from
him, the future in four great predictive utterances:
concerning the great king out of Israel (xxiv. 15-19),
destruction of Amalek (ver. 20), captivity of the
Kenites through Asshur (ver. 21 E), destruction of
the world power out of the west (ver. 33 f., cf. on
MyTiKi dy>ami Myci, 1 Macc. i. 1, viii. 5; Dan. xi. 30). It is
characteristic in connection with the political element
of the older announcement of the Messiah that we
receive the first prophecy of this kind within the course
of Old Testament history from the mouth of a heathen
seer. The fourth of the seven MyliwAm; of Balaam, intro-
duced through ver. 14--"And now, behold I go unto
my people: come, permit thyself to be reminded of
BALAAM'S PROPHECY ABOUT THE STAR. 67
what this people shall do to thy people in the course
of the days "—is as follows:—
15 Utterance of Balaam the son of Beôr,
And utterance of the man with punctured 1 eyes.
16 Utterance of the perceiver of divine words,
And of the knower of the knowledge of the Most High,
Who sees visions of the Almighty,
Sunk down and with eyes unveiled.
17 I see him, though not yet;
I behold him, though not near.
There comes forth a star out of Jacob,
And rises a sceptre out of Israel,
And dashes in pieces the flanks of Moab,
And tears to the ground all the sons of Sheth;2
And Edom shall be a conquest,
Yea Seir, his enemy, shall be a conquest,
And Israel retains the victory.
19 And he rules from Jacob,
And destroys those who have escaped from [hostile] cities."3
1 [German: Aufgestochenen Auges, Latin of the ed. of 1880,
perforatus oculo] —C.
2 Thus we translate with the Septuagint and Jerome, but
without understanding who or what is meant by Sheth (twe). Jer.
xlviii. 45 transforms twe ynaB; into NOxwA yneB; "sons of the tumult
of war;" perhaps he understands twe in the sense of txwe Lam.
iii. 47, from hxAwA, to roar, to make a desolate noise. We
might also choose the reading tWe=txeW;, elevation, pride, which
gives an admirable meaning; for a characteristic trait of Moab is
pride, as that of Edom the hatred of heirs, so that Zunz trans-
lates: "All the sons of boasting." The Pilpel rqrq, according
to post-biblical literature (see Levy, Neuhebräisches Wörterbuch,
iv. p. 391), certainly signifies to rend, to tear down, and this can
also be said of persons in an objective way, just as much as j`pahA,
Prov. xii. 7, and srahA, Ex. xv. 7; Ps. xxviii. 5; Jer. xlii. 10.
3 As in Num. xxiv. 9b, Gen. xxvii. 29 is repeated, and in Num.
xxiii. 24, xxiv. 9a, Gen. xlix. 9, so here 19b reminds us of Gen.
xxii. 17b.
68 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Here first the object of the Old Testament hope is
personified, for star and sceptre are images of a ruler
who, like a star, appears out of Israel, a ruler of earthly
extraction and heavenly splendour. Before the eye of
the seer there stands in the distant future a king who
is to be expected, who subjugates Moab and Edom,
and makes Israel a victorious, powerful people. That
which the last three predictions express concerning
Amalek, Kain (the Kenites), and the world powers of
the East (Asshur) and of the West (ships from the
coast of Kittim), has no connection with this king. It
is not said that the downfall of these peoples and
kingdoms will be mediated through him. Since only
the subjugation of the Moabites and Edomites is
expressly imputed to him, that which is predicted does
not rise beyond that which was accomplished by Saul
(1 Sam. xiv. 47), and more permanently by David
(2 Sam. viii.). Nevertheless the subjugation through
David was only a temporary one; hence Jeremiah, in
chaps. xlviii., xlix., again takes up Balaam's prophetic
words concerning Moab and Edom, and places them in
the future. And that which is said in ver. 19 is
indefinite, and is understood in the Messianic echoes of
Ps. lxxii. 8, Zech. ix. 10, in an absolute sense. But
in order to understand this prophecy as one which is
to have a New Testament fulfilment, we must remove
its kernel, which consists in this, that the Messiah
will subjugate the world through the power of the
Spirit, and, scourging, will subdue those who oppose
Him;—thus understood, the ultimate fulfilment of that
EXODUS XV. AND DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 69
which is prophesied yet belongs to the future. But in
every case where an empire like the old Roman world
empire gives up its national gods, and acknowledges
the God who has revealed Himself in Christ, Christianity
celebrates a victory over the world; and when this
shall once lie at the feet of the Lord and of the Christ
who is enthroned at His right hand, then the dominion
of the Messiah out of Jacob, and the completion of His
punishment on those who contend against Him, will be
ultimately fulfilled spiritually, but not only inwardly,
also externally, but not in a military way.
Remark.—Also in the New Testament the star is a
Messianic emblem and attribute. The Oriental magi
say (Matt. ii. 2) "We have seen His star;" and He
calls himself, Rev. xxii. 16, the radiant morning star."
Rabbi Akiba called that Simeon who placed himself at
the head of the national rising under Hadrian, with
reference to Num. xxiv. 17, as the King Messiah, the
son of the star (xbkvk rb). On the contrary, that which
is said in Rev. xii. 5 concerning the Messiah, who is
born out of Israel, with the iron sceptre, does not refer
immediately to Num. xxiv. 17, but to Ps. ii. 8 f.
§ 12. Course and Goal of the History of Salvation,
after Moses' great Memorial Song.
The two pentateuchal songs, Ex. xv. and Deut.
xxxii., each stand in its way in a closer relation to the
further development of the proclamation of redemption.
When Balaam, before his spiritual eyes discern the
ideal human king of Israel, celebrates God Himself as
70 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the king of this people (Num. xxiii. 21b, xxiv. 7b), this
takes place because of the theocratic relation which
dates from the Sinaitic legislation, for their Yahweh was
king in Jeshurun, as is said in Deut. xxxiii. 5, from
the standpoint of the forty years of the exodus; and
the hymn which rung out in the year of the exodus,
after the deliverance through the Red Sea, closes with
the words, which are to be regarded as a fundamental
part of the song, which was enlarged in the mouths
of the post-Mosaic congregation (Ex. xv. 58), "Yahweh
shall be king for ever and ever." This kingdom of
Yahweh is the presupposition of the Messianic kingdom,
the basis of the kingdom of the promise. And Moses'
testamentary song, although it speaks only concerning
the God of salvation, and not the mediator of salvation,
is nevertheless like a chart of the ways of God, an
outline of the stations of the history of redemption,
into which later disclosures concerning the human
mediation of the redemption are to be introduced.
Summoning heaven and earth as witnesses of his
proclamation, the poet takes his stand in the midst of
the time, when Israel, borne by Yahweh his Creator
on eagle's wings through the wilderness to the
land overflowing with milk and honey, and there
blessed with the richest abundance of temporal benefits,
in fleshly arrogance and contemptuous unthankfulness
rewards his God and Father with apostasy to the idols
of the heathen. At this time this song proclaims to
them the word of God. The word rm,xova ("and he
said") introduces the divine discourse, to which the
EXODUS XV. AND DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 71
mouth of testimony is to be opened. Israel, because
of his apostasy, is to be brought through God's judg-
ments to the brink of destruction. But now, in the
midst of the threatened punishment, there is the
budding comfort, that the honour of Yahweh in respect
to Israel's enemies does not suffer the punishment to
proceed to complete overthrow. He makes use of the
heathen as instruments of punishment against His
people; but after He has shown Himself against them as
a strict judge, and after He has destroyed the apostate
mass, He manifests Himself as a pitier and avenger of
His servants, and the result of Israel's history is finally
this, that God's people, sifted and expiated, again
inhabit their native land, and that all peoples unite in
praising God who has revealed Himself in judgment
and grace.
The shout, Om.fa MyiOg Unynir;ha, admits of two explanations:
"Break forth in rejoicing, peoples, his people," which
is an asyndeton, as there immediately follows
Om.fa OtmAd;fa a similar, although less hard, expression,
—or, "ye peoples cause his people to rejoice." In
the latter case Nynrh has an objective accusative, like
Nn.eri (Ps. li. 16, lix. 17).1 The thought remains the
same, for the rejoicing in both cases has reference
to God, who in the history of Israel shows Himself to
be the living and holy One, who, after He has punished
1 The Targum also wavers: Onkelos and the first Jerusalem
consider vnynrh as transitive; the second Jerusalem—where we
are to read xymmf yhvmdq vslq, not xFf—consider Vmf, like Myvg,
as in the vocative.
72 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
His apostate people, does not proceed to extremes, but
again has compassion on those who finally serve Him,
and avenges the blood of His servants. It is, in
reality, the same conclusion as that which is reached
in chaps. x. and xi. of the Epistle to the Romans:
"God hath shut up all under unbelief, that He might
have mercy upon all." The apostle, too, shows there
how the history of redemption in intricate ways
reaches a glorious result, and concludes with a song of
praise to the all-compassionate God (Rom. xi. 32 ff.).
Modern criticism, indeed, denies that the great song,
Dent. xxxii., was composed by Moses but it contains
nothing which betrays a post-Mosaic origin, for Mh,yxep;xa
(ver. 26a) does not refer to an exiling, but to an
annulling and an abundance of evident connections
with the Book of the Covenant (Ex. xix.-xxiv.), with
the blessing of Moses (Deut. xxxiii.), and with the
Tefilla Moses (Ps. xc.), prevent us from holding that
the testimony of Deut. xxxi. 22 is self-deception, or
deception for a purpose (tendentiöse Täuschung); and
it can be more easily conceived that the legislation is
not indicated in it with a single word—for Uhnen;Oby;
(ver. 10b) does not signify erudivit eum—when the
legislator is the speaker, whose poetic gift is attested
through such highly poetical words as Ex. xvii. 16,
Num. x. 35 f., than when a later poet who has put
himself in the spirit of Moses is the speaker.1
1 See concerning the Song of Moses my Pentateuch-kritischen
Studien, x. Die Entstehung des Deuteronomiums, Zeitschrift für Kirch-
liche Wissenschaft and Kirchliches Leben, Leipzig 1880, pp. 505-508.
EXODUS XV. AND DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 73
Remark 1.—In harmony with its high antiquity,
the song does not exhibit any strophical form. In
four pictures it describes the history of Israel until its
completion: first, Israel's creation and gracious prefer-
ment, vers. 1-14; then Israel's unthankfulness and
apostasy, vers. 15-19; then God's punitive judgments,
vers. 20-34; and, finally, when Israel's foot totters,
and he is near the brink, the revenge and retri-
bution against his enemies and those of his God,
vers. 35-43. It is significant here that the people
which experiences this vengeance, new life, and healing,
is called vydAbAfE, vers. 36a, 43a. In its apostasy it is
called MmAUm vynABA xlo "not his children, a shame to
themselves " (5a, cf. Prov. ix. 7); the turning from
wrath to mercy has reference to the people who are
brought again from their apostasy, and who no longer
serve strange gods, but the God whom they had for-
gotten (vers. 15-18).
Remark 2.—It is indicated that Israel will draw
the heathen to a common worship of their God in the
benedictions of Moses concerning the heathen territory
bordering on the northern tribes of Zebulon and
Issachar, when it is said (Dent. xxxiii. 18 f.): "They
will call peoples to the mountain [the place where
Yahweh is worshipped]; there they will sacrifice sacri-
fices of righteousness." The word Mym.ifa is not to be
understood here as in ver. 3 of the tribes of Israel;
and rha probably does not have another meaning than
in Ex. xv. 17.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF THE TIME OF JOSHUA
AND OF THE JUDGES. —
§ 13. Yahweh and His Anointed in the Thanksgiving
Song of Hannah.
THE great song of Moses really treats of the chang-
ing relation of Israel to his God, without there
being an occasion to mention a divinely-anointed One;
but the Mosaic law of the king (Deut. xvii. 14 ff.)
shows how near the thought of a king was immediately
before the conquest of Canaan. The peoples with
whom Israel had to do were all under a monarchial
form of government.1 The royal rule which the legis-
lation had in view, and for which it had prudently
given rules, became in the time of the Judges an object
of longing and hope. The song, 1 Sam. ii. 1-10, in
which Hannah in Shiloh, as a richly blessed mother,
after long disgrace, praises the Lord, closes with words
which show how the people, during the torn condition
of the popular bond at that time and of heathen
1 See concerning the law of the king, Der Gesetzkodex des Deutero-
nomiums, Zeitschrift für Kirchliche Wissenschaft, u .s.w., Leipzig 1880,
pp. 559-567.
74
YAHWEH'S ANOINTED IN HANNAH'S SONG. 75
degeneration, comforted themselves with the future
prospect of a united royal government
10 Yahweh, His adversaries shall be broken in pieces,
It thunders before Him in heaven
Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth,
And will grant power to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed.
We do not deny the possibility that the song,
without being composed by Hannah, may only have
been assigned to her by a historian; but we deny
decidedly that it does not harmonize with her position
and feelings, and that therefore it could not be com-
posed by her. She sees in her elevation from disgrace
to honour the wonderful power of God, which humbles
the high and exalts the lowly; for that is the manner
of the true poet, to idealize his experiences, that is, to
place them under a universal point of view, and to
behold the great in the small, the whole in the indi-
vidual, the essential in the accidental. And why
should not Hannah, who had borne Samuel under her
heart, the founder of the school of the prophets, who
anointed David the sweet–singer of Israel, not have
possessed the gift of poetry?1 Or are we to think of
1 Klostermann calls this song merely one speaking out of the
soul of Hannah, but not a psalm composed by her. A dictatorial
assumption of that which cannot be proved! This song, like all
old songs, is not strophical; but he forces upon it a form of com-
position in tetrastichs, and concludes from this arbitrary pre-
supposition that the last two lines (ver. 10b) must be a later
addition, after the example of Ps. xxix. 11. Moreover, the song
pleases us in the traditional text far better than in his wild
corrected one, as, e.g., ver. 10: "It is Yahweh who frightens
76 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
David in the mention which is made of the divinely-
anointed one, so that the close of the song expresses a
hope out of David's age assigned to the time of the
Judges, and which therefore excludes Hannah's author-
ship? But the true state of the case is this, that the
anointed of God who is hoped for is neither David nor
an ultimate Messiah alter the conclusion of a long
series of kings; rather there stands before the soul of
the poetess an ideal king whom Yahweh has appointed,
and through whom He brings His cause to victory.
We have to do here with the casting down of the
enemies of Yahweh from one end of the earth to
another, and with the raising up of the Messianic
kingdom, or, as we can say without introducing any-
thing which does not belong there, with the raising
up of the kingdom of God in His Christ, after the
thunder and lightning of divine judgment have made
way for this kingdom. The political use of power,
which concerns the preservation and elevation of the
nation, attain here to an ethical inwardness, which
does not appear in Balaam's prophecy.
§ 14. The divinely-anointed One in the Threatening
Prophecy concerning the House of Eli.
The prophecy in 1 Sam. ii. 27-36 shows how
anxiously the period of the Judges looked after a
away His enemies, He who rides on high in heaven and thunders.
Cf. on vylf in his commentary on Ps. xlii., and in mine. We
cannot decide whether Mfer;ya, is considered active: "He thunders,"
or impersonal: "it thunders."
THE ANOINTED ONE IN THE PROPHECY ABOUT ELI. 77
future king of Israel, in which an unknown wyxi
Myhilox< [man of God] announces to Eli and his
house the loss of all previous high-priestly dignity
and all sorts of punishment without absolutely deny-
ing to the members of this house entrance to the
priestly service. This prophecy in connection with
1 Kings ii. 27, 35 and Ezek. xliv. is a main prop
for the degradation of the Elohistic Torah, or the
so-called Priests' Code, into the post-exilic period,
since it is thought that this prophecy, which is
assigned from the post-Deuteronomic standpoint to
the time of the Judges, deprives the entire Aaronic
original house of Eli of the priestly prerogatives, and
prepares the transition to Zadok, an upstart from an
unknown race. Indeed the prophecy sounds as if
not only the house of Eli, which, as appears from
1 Chron. xxiv. 3, 5, was derived from Ithamar, the
second son of Aaron, but as if his entire priestly
patriarchal house, was to be destroyed. But [the
assumption] that Zadok was not a Levite contradicts
the sense of the Old Testament Scriptures in all their
parts, hence it is emphasized as one of the illegal acts
of Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 31), that he even appointed
priests who were not Levites; and there is not adequate
ground for holding that the genealogical tracing of
Zadok back to Eleazar, the first-born of Aaron, by the
chronicler (1 Chron. v. 30-34, vi. 35-38, xxiv. 3,
cf. xxvii. 17; Ezra vii. f.), is designed to be a
concealment of his obscure origin. The true state
of the case is therefore this, that in ver. 27 the
78 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
patriarchal house of Eli is regarded as the same with
the priestly house of Levi, chosen since the exodus
from Egypt in the person of Aaron, and those descend-
ants of Aaron are excluded from the promise of a
constant official service before God made to the entire
priestly house of Levi, who do not honour the Lord
through their walk, but who dishonour Him. This
concerns, however, the present priestly house of the
line of Ithamar. This line is threatened with deep
degradation and with the transition of the high-
priestly office, whose insignia is the wearing of the
ephod, to a better priest than Eli. This better priest,
according to ver. 34 f., seems to belong to the imme-
diate future; but the prophecy was fulfilled only
gradually, and not in its entire severity.
Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, who, as Saul caused
the priests in Nob to be assassinated, escaped with the
ephod to David, and shared with him the troubles of
the time of persecution (1 Sam. ii. 20 and further), is
the last high priest of the line of Ithamar. He it was
who, for the benefit of Adonijah, had entered into the
conspiracy against Solomon, and was therefore deposed
by Solomon and banished to Anathoth, which, accord-
ing to 1 Kings ii. 27, was regarded as a fulfilment of
the divine word which went forth against the house
of Eli. But, according to 1 Sam. xiv. 3, Ahijah, a
grandson of Eli, still wore the high-priestly ephod in
Shiloh; later according to 1 Sam. xxi. 2, xxii. 9 ff.,
Ahijah's brother, Ahimelech, served in Nob and made
known the divine will, and also that Abiathar, who
THE ANOINTED ONE IN THE PROPHECY ABOUT ELI. 79
escaped from the massacre by Saul, and who along
with Zadok remained true to David in the persecution
of Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 24, xvii. 15), is still named
under Solomon as priest (1 Kings iv. 4) along with
Zadok, although in the second place.
The threatening prediction, therefore, concerning the
house of Eli, has not at all the appearance of a fiction;
it also has in the two difficult passages with NOfmA
(1 Sam. ii. 29a, 32a) the stamp of ancient tradition.1
According to this, we are not to think that it is
Solomon who is intended, when it is said in ver. 35:
"And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall
do according to that which is in my heart and in my
mind; and I will build him a permanent house; and
he shall walk before my anointed (yHiywim;-ynep;li) for
ever." If this is really a divinely-granted glimpse
into the future, we are obliged to recognise its ideal
character without looking at the historical details.
It pertains to a priest after God's heart, and to a king
after God's heart, and to a lasting unbroken co-opera-
tion of both, and contains an actual proof that the
hope of the believers toward the end of the period
of the Judges was directed to a king, to be realized
according to the theocratic idea, to a Messiah (Xristo<j)
of God.
1 It remains ever most probable that in 29a NOfmA is the accu-
sative of relation, and in 32a NOfmA rca signifies the "distress of
the dwelling of God" (cf. yHiUr rca, Job vii. 11. See Keil). The
Septuagint reads in 29a, Nyefom; (a]naidei? o]fqalm&?), which involves
the transmutation of UFfEb;Ti into the contradictory Ffbt, and it
leaves 32a entirely untranslated.
CHAPTER V.
PROPHECY AND CHOKMA IN THE AGE OF DAVID
AND SOLOMON.
§ 15. The Transition of the Kingdom from Benjamin
to Judah.
SAMUEL, the late-born son of Hannah, whom she
dedicated to the service of Yahweh in Shiloh,
is the new founder of the order of the prophets (Acts
iii. 24), and the founder of the kingdom. It is due
to him that the barbarism of the period of the Judges
is followed by the golden age of the history and
literature of Israel. The period of Saul, the king from
the tribe of Benjamin, forms only the transition to it.
His kingdom was only preliminary, and proved itself
to be a failure. His presumptuous action in one of his
last wars decided his dethronement. In that great
utterance (1 Sam. xv. 22 f.) which became the watch-
word of later prophecy and psalmody, Samuel announced
it to him.1 Without associating any more with the
1 It is as follows: "Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt-
offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Yahweh?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the
fat of rains; for rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and wilfulness
is idolatry and teraphim worship."
80
TRANSITION OF KINGDOM FROM BENJAMIN TO JUDAH. 81
king he withdrew to Rama (1 Sam. xv. 34 f.). Thence
he was sent with the anointing horn to the house
of Jesse. There in the seminary of the prophets at
Nayoth flourished under his leadership prophecy and
music (2 Kings iii. 15), the spiritual powers which
should glorify the coming kingdom of promise. There,
in the unapproachable retreat of the Spirit's activity,
the future king concealed himself by the side of
Samuel from the fury of the present one. There
Saul himself also, as in the beginning of his kingdom
(1 Sam. x. 10) so now in its decline, was seized by
the irresistible power of the prophetic Spirit (1 Sam.
xix. 23 f.), whose activity is likewise called xKenat;hi, as
(1 Sam. xviii. 10) the violent ecstatic behaviour into
which the spirit of melancholy and jealousy trans-
ported him. In a case where one who is seized by
the prophetic Spirit is ethically unlike it, as Balaam
and Saul, the strong chain through which the spirit
and flesh are bound needs to be overcome and broken.
Saul was indeed the anointed of Yahweh, and as long
as he lived was considered even by David an inviol-
able person (2 Sam. i. 14). From time to time his—
better self broke through the gloom of the malice and
melancholy with which he was enshrouded. But he
never raised himself to an ideally theocratic concep-
tion of his royal office. This begins first with David,
through whom, since the free agency of Saul and God's
decree were combined (cf. 1 Sam. xiii, 13), the sceptre
passed over to Judah.
82 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 16. David's View of Himself after his Anointing.
After the removal of the Benjaminitish kingdom all
the expectations of salvation, with which the believers
of Israel looked into the future, were centred on the
new kingdom which was in process of development,
and David himself, after receiving the charismatic
chrism, must have appeared to himself all the more
significant for the history of salvation, in proportion
as he was more joyfully conscious of the fullest
devotion to the divine ideal of his royal office. That
which Judah, according to the blessing of Jacob, and
the future king, according to the utterance of Balaam,
should do for their people was indeed so slightly
superhuman that David could well regard himself as
the king predicted and hoped for. But the person of
the theocratic king was even now so significant that
David, through this Messianic view of himself, received
a central and sacred significance which was of import-
ance for the history of the world. That which the
old patriarchal promise says concerning the seed of
Abraham, that those who bless him should be blessed,
and those that curse him should be cursed, David
must now refer to himself. His enemies were con-
sidered by him as the enemies of Yahweh, and the
imprecations which are hurled against them, even if
they have more of an Old than a New Testament
spirit, do not proceed from an egotism which over-
values itself. All his psalms are penetrated with
the consciousness that his destiny and that of his
DAVID'S VIEW OF HIMSELF AFTER HIS ANOINTING. 83
enemies stands, according to the divine decree, in
causal connection with the final result of human
history; and since he places himself in the light of
the Messianic ideal, he is wafted to an ideal height,
where he is raised far above the accidental events of
his life. This is the case in Ps. xvi. 9-11, where
the hopes which he expresses go far beyond the
thought that God this time—perhaps as he lay sick
would not suffer him to die. Viewing himself in
the light of his exalted calling and of his intimate
union with God as God's anointed and beloved (cf.
ver. 10b with iv. 4, Ol dysiHA ‘h hlAp;hi), he expects for
himself an endless life without falling into Hades, a
continuous life with a heavenly perspective, in whose
line without an end death is a vanishing element.
He expects for himself that which was not fulfilled in
him, but in the second David, and first through the
second David was also mediately fulfilled in him.
Speaking hyperbolically concerning himself, he became
a prophet (Acts ii. 29-32).1 The most striking example
of this is in Ps. xxii. Neither in the life of David
nor in the life of any Old Testament man of God
can a situation be found which can make the deep
1 In order properly to justify such explanations we must con-
sider: (1) that the New Testament writings do not strictly
discriminate between type and prophecy, but combine prediction
in deed and word under the general designation of prophecy;
(2) that it considers those things in the Psalms of David which
transcend his actual experiences as predictions concerning the
future Christ; and (3) that it regards the utterance of prophecy,
not only with respect to its contents but also with regard to
words, as the work of the Spirit mediated by man.
84 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
lamentations of this psalm over direct internal and
external sufferings conceivable. Only perhaps what
David experienced, according to 1 Sam. xxiii. 25 f.,
when pursued by Saul, could have given occasion to
this psalm. But it is inconceivable that the distress
in the wilderness of Maon could have corresponded to
the remarkably cruel elements of suffering in this
psalm. In it David speaks of himself as if he were
the crucified Christ, whose rescue from deadly peril,
narrated by himself, and from mouth to mouth, will
be the consolation of all sufferers, and which will
result in the conversion of the heathen, and in the
setting up of the kingdom of God among mankind.
David's and Christ's path through suffering to glory
stand related as type and antitype. But the category
of the type does not suffice for such a psalm as the
twenty-second. In it the typical fact appears to be
hyperbolically magnified beyond itself, and since this
hyperbolical element corresponds exactly with the
passion of Jesus Christ and its consequences, the spirit
of prophecy is the impelling and formative element in
these hyperbolical lamentations and views (1 Pet. i. 11).1
We must not, however, use the twenty - second
Psalm for the history of the progressive Messianic
1 If we presuppose that the speaker in the psalm is the poet,
but that he transports himself into the position and mind of the
suffering righteous man (Hengstenberg), or of the ideal Israel,
the servant of Yahweh (Cheyne), the state of the case is psycho-
logically the same. But if we granted that the poet made some
one else than himself the speaker, the psalm would be without a
parallel.
PROMISE SECURED TO HOUSE OF DAVID. 85
proclamation. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah first
gives us the key to this psalm, which, however, we
may judge regarding the poet, and the time in which
the poet lived and the person of the one described,
remains a spiritual prodigy, and can first be understood
in the light of New Testament fulfilment. For the
history which prophesies in types is the image of God,
before which beginning, middle, and end are alike
eternally present; but the revelation of God, even
that which the types set forth, is defined and measured
pedagogically according to the ever recurring historical
position and stage of its respective period.
17. The Binding of the Promise to the House
of David.
It was not in the time soon after the carrying of
the Ark of the Covenant home to Zion, as might
appear from the connection of the narrative (2 Sam.
vi., vii.), but much later in the period, after the
victorious wars 1 related in chaps. v. and viii., and
before the birth of Solomon (cf. 2 Sam. vii. 12 with
1 Chron. xxii. 9), that David formed the purpose of
building Yahweh a temple, which, as Nathan the
prophet reveals to him, Yahweh declines, but reserves
the execution of the purpose for "his seed after him; "
1 The Ammonitish Syrian war, which lasted three years, can
scarcely be included, for we can hardly suppose, with Kohler,
vol. ii. p. 318 f., that his grievous sin with Bathsheba preceded
the promises in chap. vii. instead of following them.
86 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
he responds, however, with the promise of the ever-
lasting possession of the kingdom, so that even the
sins of the descendants of David, which draw divine
chastisement after them, cannot frustrate the divine
pledge, as was the case with Saul.
According to this, that which Nathan announces to
David extends to the entire course of history which
follows through all futurity. It is true that the
promise that David's seed should build the Lord a
house (1 Chron. xxii. 7-10, xxviii. 10, xxix. 1) was
applied by David to Solomon, and by Solomon to
himself (1 Kings v. 19, viii. 17-20), but is later taken
up by Zechariah (vi. 12) as yet to be fulfilled. The
forty years' reign of Solomon is indeed only a brief
part of the endless duration of the Davidic throne,
indicated by MlAOf dfa (2 Sam. vii. 13). Also the pro-
mise in ver. 14: "I will be to him a father, and he
shall be to me a son," does not apply exclusively to
Solomon, nor in general to this or that ruler from the
house of David, but to the Davidic rulers as such.
But when it is further said that, in case David's
posterity sin, God will chastise them with the stripes
of men, without withdrawing His grace from the house
of David and overthrowing the throne of David, that
would be an assurance which would fall to the ground
if, in spite of the breaking off of the Davidic
royal line with Zedekiah, the throne of David had
not proved to be continuous in the absolute person
of the second David, who stood in a unique relation
of a child to God, and who is introduced into the
PROMISE SECURED TO HOUSE OF DAVID. 87
world as heir of the throne of David his ancestor
(Luke i. 32).
In his prayer of thanksgiving (2 Sam. vii. 18-29
and the parallel passage, 1 Chron. xvii. 16, 17)
David sees in the fatherly relation in which God has
placed Himself to his house a deep condescension,
for he says: "Thou hast spoken to the house of Thy
servant in the distant future, and, indeed, as is the
law of men [the mode of dealing commanded], Yahweh,
Almighty," that is, condescending to a relation, as is
the divinely-ordered rule between father and son.1
This deep condescension of God is, at the same time,
David's highest exaltation. This is the turn which
the Chronicler gives to David's words of praise, which
are, according to 1 Chron. xvii. 17, "Thou hast
regarded me according to the rank 2 of a man of
station" (hominis excelsitatis, cf. the syntax of 1 Chron.
xv. 27), i.e. of a man who is honoured with the highest
exaltation (cf. lfA Mqa.hu, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1). In Ps. xviii. 36
David compresses in two words, yniBer;ta j~t;vAn;fa, what he
designs to say through the reciprocal relation of txzov;.
MrAxAhA traOT and hlAfEm.aha MdAxAhA rOtK; ynitayxir;U, that is, Thy
humility (condescension) hath made me great.
Remark.—It appears from the following considera-
1 Joseph Rabinowitsch sees in this MdAxAhA traOT txzov; an indica-
tion of the Messianic Torah, which concerns mankind, in dis-
tinction from the national limited Sinaitic Torah.
2 The word rOT as in Esther signifies row, series, rank, accord-
ing to which the Targum renders rvtk by rdsk. If rvt is taken
as equivalent to rxaTo (cf. xTAyriOT, form, Berachoth 37b), the sense
remains the same.
88 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
tions that Jesus was really the son of David:—(1)
Those who sought help addressed Him as the son of
David (Matt. ix. 27, xv. 22, xx. 30 f.; cf. Luke xviii.
38 f.; Mark x. 47 f.). (2) He was greeted by the
people on His entrance into Jerusalem with "Hosanna
to the son of David" (Matt. xxi. 9); and even by the
children this cry was repeated (xxi. 15), without the
scribes and Pharisees denying His right to this
designation of honour. (3) Even, aside from the two
genealogies, Joseph in Matthew (i. 20) as well as
Luke (i. 27) is indicated as a son of David, i.e. as
springing from the house of David; for His genealogy,
according to Jewish law, was reckoned, not after the
mother, but after the father (hHpwm hyvrq hnyx Mx tHpwm);
in this case after Joseph, since Jesus was his legiti-
timate son, because although not begotten by him, He
was nevertheless born into his marriage relationship.
(4) The apostles indicate Him, according to His human
nature, as sprung from the seed of David (Rom. i. 3;
2 Tim. ii. 8; Rev. iii. 7, v. 5, xxii. 16). With regard
to both genealogies, Luke is not concerned to show
that Mary was a descendant of David, for he does not
mention her name at the head of the genealogy. The
right interpretation of w[j e]nomi<zeto is given by Eusebius
in the passage communicated by Credner:1 There
were among the Jews two kinds of opinions, since the
Messiah on the one hand was derived from the line
of David through Solomon, and on the other hand
from the same line through Nathan, because through
Jeremiah (xxii. 30) the royal succession was denied
to that [line, i.e. of Solomon].2 It is nevertheless
1 Credner, Einleitung in das Neue Testament, p. 68 f.
2 See No. 12 of my Talmudical Studies: "Die zweifache Genea-
IMAGE OF MESSIAH SEPARATED FROM DAVID. 89
possible that Mary also, as daughter of Eli (Luke
iii. 23), was a descendant of David, and that Joseph,
the son of Jacob, was brought up with her at the
same time in the house of Eli, and married her.
§ 18. The Separation of the Image of the Messiah from
the Person of David.
After those great promises had been uttered by
Nathan to David which had the everlasting continu-
ance of his throne, and therefore the inheritance of
the kingdom within his house as their centre, his view
of himself suffered at the same time a depression; for
now he is no longer the chosen one divinely anointed,
but the ancestor of a royal family, the first among an
indefinite number, to whom after him the kingdom of
the promise is to be transmitted. But the case is not
so that in the series of rulers whom the promise has in
prospect one who is pre-eminent above all others, or
who closed the series, was placed before the soul of
David; for that one would carry into execution David's
purpose to build God a temple, does not imply in
itself any pre-eminence over David. On the other
hand we must suppose that David, when he measured
himself by the theocratic ideal, must have indulged
the hope that the government of one of his successors
would succeed in an incomparably higher degree in
realizing this ideal than had been the case with him;
and as when, in the third year of the Ammonitish and
logie des Messias," Zeitschrift für die lutherische Theologie und
Kirche, Leipzig 1860.
90 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Syrian war, in the midst of the conquest of Rabbath
Ammon, which brought the war to a close, as he
found himself on the summit of external glory, he
plunged into the twofold sin of adultery and murder,
which, although he repented and obtained forgiveness,
yet shadowed his life until the end, and brought him
into a wrong position; from that time his Messianic
view of himself must have suffered a tremendous
shock, and his hope have been so much the more
decidedly directed to a son exalted above himself, a
Messiah of God in reality. This conclusion is con-
firmed by Ps. cx. If in this psalm David himself did
not speak of one that was higher, but the people, or, as
von Orelli thinks, a prophet (Nathan) concerning David,
there would be no psalm at all in which the Messiah
would occupy for David the position of a future person.
The New Testament Scriptures, however, presuppose
that David speaks in this psalm of another rather than
of himself, that, as if he had descended from his throne,
he bows himself before the One who is at the same
time his Son and his Lord, and that therefore, so to
speak, the type lays his crown at the feet of the anti-
type; and we know no counter proofs which compel us
to correct 1 the view of the psalm, with which the argu-
1 Jesus argues in this passage e concessis—an example for the
fact that the religious knowledge and practice of the Jewish people
in the beginning of the Christian period is not throughout to be
measured after that in the Midrash and Talmud. For in the
Midrash and Talmud the foolish reference of the psalm to Abra-
ham predominates. Single rays of light indeed appear, as when it
is said that the rod of Jacob, the rod of Judah, the rod of Moses,
IMAGE OF MESSIAH SEPARATED FROM DAVID. 91
mentation of the Lord (Mark xii. 35-37 and parallels)
stands or falls as untrue, or only indirectly true.
The prophecy also raises itself in this psalm upon a
typical foundation; for David also had his throne
upon Zion beside Yahweh, but only so far as the
ark of the covenant was the sacramental sign of the
presence of the supramundane One. Even David
emulated the priests in his care for the sanctuary of
Yahweh and its endowment, but without himself being
a priest or being called one, only as episcopus circa sacra;
and the combat against the enemies of Yahweh and of
the one sitting at His right hand clothes itself in words
and images which remind us of the Ammonitish-
Syrian war which ended with the conquest of Rabbah.
But the two divine utterances, one of which signifi-
cantly begins with 'h Mxun;, and the other, introduced
as most solemnly confirmed by Yahweh, prove that
here we have to do, not only with the expression of
the type which the Spirit had elevated to predictive
words, but with direct immediate prophecy. This may
the rod of Aaron, the rod of the king, are all united in the rod
which will be given to the Messiah, in order that He may con-
quer the peoples of the world. But the reference to Abraham
ever recurs and is amalgamated with the reference to the Messiah,
since it is said, the holy, blessed be His name, will command the
Messiah to sit at His right hand and Abraham at His left. Oba-
diah Sforno comes nearer the truth, for he places the angel of
service, instead of Abraham, on the left side, and gives the entire
psalm a Messianic explanation; but the most celebrated interpre-
ters, as Rashi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, are not willing to know
anything about a Messianic interpretation. Obadiah Sforno,
the Cabbalistic interpreter, stands alone.
92 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
be disputed, but it remains ever fixed, that the one
addressed is a Davidic king placed in the light of the
Messianic ideal, and that the psalm must acquire for
the congregation, as part of their hymn and prayer
book, an eschatological Messianic meaning, and that
only so in the mouth of the pre-Christian congregation
could it have any reasonable sense. The reciprocal
relation in which Zech. vi. 12 f. stands to it proves
that it is to be understood thus, and not otherwise.
The one addressed appears first as ruler at the right
hand of God; his people, who most willingly crowd
around him, in order with him to fight for him, resemble
in numbers and freshness and origin the dew born
from the womb of the dawn of the morning; and
without speaking of military armament, it is said that
he is clothed with holy, that is, with beautiful gar-
ments of divine service (yred;ha, unfolding, from trad;ha,
2 Chron. xx. 21 f.1),—it is a priestly people, and (thus
the transition from ver. 3 is mediated to ver. 4) its
leader is priest and king in one person, to whom
Yahweh has sworn an everlasting priesthood, which is
united with the kingdom after the order of Melchizedek.
Nevertheless this transfiguration of the royal image
does not win its way; the ruler who with God's help
acquires power through bloody war predominates. We
see in this a sign, which is not the only one, that the
psalm, and not the prophecy of Zechariah, is the older
1 The reading yrdhb is protected through e]n tai?j lampro<thsi of
the Septuagint against the reading yrrhb, and rHwm is unassail-
able; it is related to rHw, as jwHm, Isa. xlii. 16, to jwh.
IMAGE OF MESSIAH SEPARATED FROM DAVID. 93
production. Moreover, the warlike utterances in vers.
5, 6 have their parallels in the New Testament pro-
phecy concerning the parousia of Christ in judicial
glory. The colouring in Rev. xix. 11 ff. of that which
Paul says in 2 Thess. ii. 8 does not sound less war-
like. It is the unanimous representation of the New
as well as of the Old Testament, that the kingdom of
God in His Christ will ultimately make its way
through fearful judgments; and the Old Testament
barrier of the psalm does not consist in warlike images,
since these admit of a worthy apprehension of God and
of His Christ, but in this, that what the coregent of
Yahweh performs as priest and that which dis-
tinguishes His people in holy adornment from other
people in worldly weapons, remains veiled in silence.
If we compare ver. 7, where exaltation of the head is
promised to the king as a reward for his work of
victory, which he follows unceasingly, with Heb. xii. 2,
the deep knowledge of the historical fulfilment is
remarkable. But the psalm has an essential part in
the course of development toward this New Testament
goal. The passage, Ps. cx. 1, is the fundamental text
for the expression which so often occurs in the New
Testament kaqi<zein e]k deciw?n tou? qeou? as an indication
of the status exaltationis. No psalm finds in the New
Testament an echo voiced so many times as this.1
Even dio<, Phil. ii. 9, is an echo of NKe-lfa in ver. 7b,
1 But it deserves to be remarked that the thoroughly mistaken
translation of 'fgv MHrm by the Septuagint e]k gastro>j pro> e]wsqo<rou
e]ge<nnhsa se is disregarded by the New Testament writers.
94 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
although that which the Psalmist says, in comparison
with the utterance of the apostle, is simply a prismatic
ray of the future.
§ 19. David's Testamentary Words.
After the promise of Nathan (2 Sam. vii.) it is
established that the Messiah is to be a Son (a descend-
ant) of David. David is the theocratic king, and the
Messiah is the realized ideal of the theocratic king.
We should be compelled to conclude, without express
testimonies from David's moral and religious experience
as accredited by history, that David more and more
recognised how unlike this ideal he was. But aside
from Ps. cx. we have another express testimony for
this in his "last words," 2 Sam. xxiii. 1-7; this
epilogue of his life, which is joined on to Ps. xviii.,
according to the standpoint of an inward relationship.
As in the 110th Psalm, so these testamentary words
indicate their prophetic character even in their begin-
ning, which remind us of the utterances of Balaam
(Num. xxiv. 3 f., 15 f.). Upon his dying bed David
must be more strongly conscious than ever of the
difference between his life and the ideal of the divinely-
anointed One. Once more all the glory with which
God had graciously blessed him comes before his soul.
He feels that he is "the man who was raised up on
high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the singer of
the lovely songs of Israel," and as an instrument of
the inspiring Spirit of God: but he has been this, and
DAVID'S TESTAMENTARY WORDS. 95
now he is to die; he who, in Ps. xvi., felt himself
raised above death and Hades, is brought as a
languishing old man to taste of death. At this point
he turns from his present condition, embraces the
promise, and looks as a prophet into the future of
his seed: "The God of Israel hath spoken, the Rock
of Israel hath discoursed unto me: a ruler of men,
a righteous, a ruler in the fear of God, and as the
light of the dawn, when the sun rises, a cloudless
morning, when from sunshine, from rain, green springs
out of the earth."1 This image of the future (vers.
3b, 4), introduced as a promise of God which can-
not be broken, is nothing else than the image of the
Messiah, which has been entirely released from the
subjectivity of David, and placed before him. "For"
—as in ver. 5 he adds, by way of explanation, the
distinction which lies in this promise—"not merely
so [small] is my house with God,2 but He hath estab-
1 The explanation: "It one rules over men in the fear of God,
he is like," etc.,—so that what is said is set before David as a
model, as Rashi and others maintain, has this, so far as the
syntax is concerned, against it, that ver. 4, which begins with
rvxkv, does not appear as the apodosis of a conditional sentence.
Everything from 3b-4 is a complex subject, an image placed by
God before the eyes of David, to which a future—such an one
will arise, and he will be, etc.—is to be supplied. The Targum
divides the designations in ver. 3b between God and the Future
One in a remarkable way: "He who rules over the children of
men as a righteous judge has said (promised) to set me a King
Messiah, who will finally arise and rule in the fear of the
Lord."
2 We understand Nke-xlo to Job ix. 35, Num. xiii. 33,
Isa. li. 6, as spoken with a gesture of disdain, "not (merely) so."
96 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
lished an everlasting covenant for me, ordered in all
ways, and well assured; for all my salvation, and all
that is desired1 (by me), should He not cause it to
spring?"2 Although he dies, nevertheless the ideal
of the Messiah will be realized within his house. His
sun sets in order to rise all the more gloriously.
While the enemies of the kingdom of promise shall
be burned up as abominable thorns,3 the salvation
promised David will spring up, since it shall have a
1 CpeHA-lkAv; is to be understood after the model of Ex. xv. 2
(trmzv=ytrmzv), as equivalent to ycpH-lkv, and also is to be under-
stood according to 1 Kings v. 23, 24, not as equivalent to vcpH-lkv,
according to Isa. xlviii. 14, cf. liii. 10. The Targum has the right
rendering: ytiUfBA-lkAv;.
2 Since xl yk cannot be established in the sense of annon
(should he not ?), yk is to be considered the emphatic repetition
of the preceding yk and xl (as a question with an interrogative
accent without an interrogative word); equivalent to xlh; cf.
xlh yk, 2 Sam. xix. 23. Welihausen, since he reads xlh ycpH,
removes the difficult yKi.
3 The adjective rnAmu (Septuagint e]cwsme<nh) gives only in the
sense of driven away, equivalent to abominated, a sense which
fits the connection. A conjectural Mxmn lies too far away, rather
rbdm (Cvqk), according to Judg. viii. 7, 16. The meaningless
tb,wAB has been erroneously introduced from ver. 7 into ver. 8
(Wellhausen); for it cannot signify "on the spot" (Keil and
Kimchi), and in this sense it would be without significance [for
the passage]. We might rather translate with annihilation, with
peremptory judgment (Jerome, usque ad nihilum); but tbawA
forms neither in Biblical nor in post-Biblical Hebrew a derivative
tb,w,. Hence [we are to understand] that they [the thorns] are
not seized with the hand, but that they are seized by one armed
with a long-handled spear, in order to take hold of them and to
cast them into the fire.
MESSIANIC DESIRES AND HOPES OF SOLOMON. 97
bodily reality in a scion of his house. This word
Haymic;ya [he shall cause to sprout] becomes later a
favourite expression of Messianic prophecy (Jer.
xxxiii. 15; Ezek. xxix. 21; Ps. cxxxii. 17); and
[sprout], after the way has been prepared through Isa.
iv. 2 and Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15, becomes fully the
name of the Messiah in Zechariah.
§ 20. Messianic Desires and Hopes of Solomon.
But the time when the Messiah as an eschatological
person is contrasted with the untheocratic Davidic
kingdom of the present is still far away. The testa-
mentary words of David do not justify the supposition
that he represents the realization of the Messianic
promise as belonging to the extreme end of a line
of rulers arising from him. We need not be sur-
prised, therefore, when Solomon in the seventy-second
Psalm, which bears in all its peculiar lineaments the
stamp of a Solomonic origin, makes the Messianic
image which God had placed before the soul of his
dying father, since it contains nothing superhuman, as
a precious legacy, his ideal; and that, entering on his
reign, he cherished the wish that in his person the
Messianic idea, and through his government the
Messianic age, might be realized, whether it be that
he utters the wish for himself, or puts it in the mouth
of the people as a petition and hope,
The psalm begins (ver. 1) with a petition made
directly to God, which passes over (vers. 2-8) into the
98 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
form of a wish the wishes then become hopes (vers.
9-15), and these again, in ver. 16 f., wishes. The
expression of the thoughts therefore is predominatingly
optative. The wish (ver. 6): "May He come down
like rain upon meadow grass, as powerful showers upon
the earth,"1 reminds us of 2 Sam. xxiii. 4, where the
effect of the parousia of the Messiah is compared with
the greenness of the earth after a fertilizing warm rain.
The wish: "May He rule from sea to sea, and from
the river to the ends of the earth," sounds like an echo
from Num. xxiv. 19 in Balaam's prophecy. And the
wish, 17b," May they bless themselves in Him, may
all nations call Him blessed," applies the old promise
concerning the blessing of the peoples in the seed of
the patriarchs to the Messiah of Israel. All the
peoples of the world may wish themselves the blessing
of the divinely-chosen and blessed one, hence wonder-
ingly and desirous of salvation they may subject
themselves to Him. The psalm is not directly, but
only indirectly prophetic, since it is wished that in
Solomon may be fulfilled what is predicted and hoped
of the Messiah. These wishes have all to a certain
extent been fulfilled in Solomon, yet so that the
Messianic ideal over against the glory of Solomon pre-
served its transcendent character, in order that it might
1 We do not change Jyzrz, with Cheyne, into Jydry. Pre-
cisely this accumulation of synonyms appears to us to be a
characteristic of the style of Solomon, as it is a characteristic
element of the introductory Proverbs (chaps. i.–ix., see v. 14, 19,
cf. v. 11, vi. 7, vii. 9, viii. 13, 31).
PROPHECY AND CHOKMA. 99
be evident that its proper fulfilment lay in the domain
of the future.
§ 21. Prophecy and Chokma.
The seventy-second Psalm is not directly a prophetic
psalm, nor is a Psalm directly prophetic to be expected
from Solomon. While it is related concerning David,
that with his anointing through Samuel the Spirit of
Yahweh came over him (1 Sam. xvi. 13), the anointing
of Solomon by Zadok appears to be more of a worldly
than of a spiritual circumstance (1 Kings i. 39).
David received in Bethlehem, with the anointing, the
spirit of prophecy, which raised him above the bounds
of his nature, and initiated him into the secrets of the
works and ways of the God of Israel. But Solomon
entreated for himself in Gibeon the insight which
was necessary for him as ruler and judge, and received
the promise of a wise and understanding heart without
a parallel (1 Kings iii. 12). His peculiar gift was
wisdom which looked through the things of this
world, and made itself serviceable, and knew how to
ennoble it through a moral religious apprehension.
As Solomon, according to his name, was the man
of peace (hHAUnm; wyxi, 1 Chron. xxii. 9), that is, of a
luxurious peace, which he enjoyed, which blossomed
from the struggles and distresses of the Davidic age,
there culminated in general with him the wide-hearted,
more cosmopolitan than national tendency of his age,
which entered into competition with the peoples in
100 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
artificial products of the mind, as well as in commercial
undertakings and buildings. The intellectual life took
on under him the character of the gnosis, which sought
to establish the contents of the pistis in a speculative
way. The time of the Chokma began, which is turned
less to revelation on the side of the history of redemp-
tion than to it on the side of a common humanity,
and it sought to lay hold of the universal ideas on
which even then the predisposition of a Yahweh
religion to a world religion was recognisable.
The time of Solomon became the time of the efflor-
escence of the Chokma literature. For the foundation
of the Book of Proverbs, which moves in the checkered
variety of the circumstances of human life, and is
divided into rules of life rooted in the fear of God, is
Solomonic.
The Song of Songs, which celebrates the relation
of that sacred love which is common to men, is not
wanting in internal evidence of Solomon's authorship.
And for the origin of the Book of Job there is no
time better fitted than the age of Solomon and its
Chokma associations, out of which has gone forth the
original book as well as the section of Elam, which
seeks to bring back his boldness to the proper degree
of moderation. The Book of Job, so to speak, is a
poem of religious philosophy, which in the form of a
dramatized history of a righteous man, outside of Israel,
seeks to answer the question concerning the divine,
motive and object in the sufferings of a righteous man,
and, rightly understood, answers it for all time from
SONG OF SONGS. 101
the standpoint of divine love; and in the participation
of those who love God, and who are loved by Him in
securing the ends of the world's history. We emphasize
three passages of this wonderful book (xvii. 3, xix. 23—
27, xxxiii. 23 f.), which show that the Chokma on
its side, as well as prophecy, prepares the way for the
parousia of the God-man, and the transition of the
religion of Israel into Christianity.
Remark—If the Song of Songs were an alle-
gorical poem, it would be a prophetical production.
The Targum paraphrases it as a picture of the
history of Israel from the exodus out of Egypt,
reaching into the Messianic period. For this reason it
is a constituent part of the liturgy of the eighth Pass-
over day. Shulamith is regarded as an image of Israel,
and Solomon as an image of God. All hmlw of the
Song of Songs—according to an ancient saying—are
holy, excepting viii. 11, namely, as a figurative indi-
cation (yvnk) of the God of peace. Naturally the
traditional churchly explanation understood the Solo-
mon of the Song of Songs as an image of Christ, that
is, of the Messiah who appeared in Jesus. But the
allegorical interpretation shows that it cannot be
carried through. The figurative interpretation of all
details falls into a boundless arbitrariness, and loses
itself in scandalous absurdities. Solomon was not a
prophet of the future Messiah, and still less did he
make his own person in an allegorical way the image
of the Messiah. But he was a type of Christ, and
Shulamith of Galilee, Solomon's companion picture,
can be considered as a type of the Church, raised by
Christ out of a lowly condition to a fellowship with
102 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
him in love and glory. In the Syrian Bible the Song
of Songs is called chekmat chekmâtâ, that is, wisdom of
wisdom (Weisheit der Weisheiten). It is a Chokma
book, which, as a part of the canon, is a riddle
challenging acumen. As a Chokma book it has so
far its place, as it has not a contents which is national,
but common to all mankind, and in a pious, clever way
celebrates pure, true sexual love; but it has become a
part of the canon only, as we may assume, because its
prophetic sense is presupposed. It is, however, not
direct prophecy, but a typical shadow which is first
rightly to be understood from the standpoint of the
history of fulfilment of the loving relation, not of God,
but of the God-man to His Church.
§ 22. The God and the Mediating Angel in the Book
of Job.
It is one-sided and misleading when we seek the
preparation for the New Testament in the Old solely
in genuine Messianic prophecy. The progressive
knowledge of God the Redeemer is just as important a
side of the preparation as the progressive knowledge
of the world-wide rule of the second David. This
latter, as we shall see farther on, must be satisfied in
the Old Testament with a radical transformation, in
order to blend with the knowledge of God the
Redeemer in a way corresponding to the divine decree
which is consummated in the New Testament. The
Book of Job has an important part in furthering the
knowledge of salvation on the divine side. The
GOEL AND ANGELUS INTERNUNTIUS IN JOB. 103
friends of Job consider his great sufferings as the
punishment of great sins, and in this way heighten his
inward trial, for he is conscious of his previous state
of grace, although he appears to be a target of the
divine wrath, without knowing in what way he has
brought it upon him. The wise love, according to
which God acts, is turned into sovereign caprice. But
gradually the clouds are broken, and the knowledge
that this God cannot be absolutely arbitrary begins
to dawn upon him.
In xvii. 3 he prays to God that God might deposit
a pledge (xnA hmAyWi), and give security (yniber;fA) to
Himself (j`mA.fi), the God of love to the God of wrath.
It is the fundamental idea of the New Testament
Gospel concerning the reconciliation (katallagh<)
which flashes forth here. God is conceived of as two
kinds of persons: as Judge, who treats Job as worthy
of punishment; and as Surety, who pledges Himself
before the Judge for the innocence of the sufferer, and
at the same time gives bail. And in xix. 23-27 he
presses through to the postulate of faith, that even if
his skin should be completely1 destroyed, and his outer
man should be dissolved in the dust of the grave, yet
the truth would break through the false appearance,
and wrath would give place to love, and God the
1 The signification of "completely" is involved in rHx, and
txz signifies adverbially, "in this manner." The connection
forbids that we should take it together with yrvf, according to
vz rvdh, Ps. xii. 8. The subject of Upq.;ni are the hidden powers of
destruction.
104 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
living one, outlasting everything, would appear for
him the dead, and coming forth out of His hiding-
place, would permit him with the eyes of the other
world to behold Him as his lxeGo, that is, as the
avenger of his blood which is regarded as that of a
criminal, as a ransomer of his honour which has fallen
into disgrace, as a redeemer from the curse which
rested upon him, above all things, from the conscious-
ness of divine wrath, whose decree seemed to have
occasioned his sufferings. As that which he begs in
xvii. 3 appears in 2 Cor. v. 19 as performed through
God in Christ for the whole world so Rom. viii. 34
shows into what a confession of firm confidence
Job's yHA ylixEGo yTif;dayA ynixEva is transformed from the New
Testament standpoint. The human side of this divine
work of redemption is not considered in these bold
words of faith. But in the section of Elihu we see
the preparation for a recognition of a Mediator between
God and man, since from the elevation of man out of
the depth of the guilt of sin, and the condition of
punishment, the following representation is presented
in xxxiii. 23, 24: "If with him [the sinner who
stands on the brink of death and hell] an angel is
present 1 as mediator (Cylm jxlm), one of a thousand
(that is, pre-eminent above a thousand) to announce to
man what is for his advantage. He (God) has com-
passion on him, and says: Let him go free, that he
may not go down into the grave—I have demanded an
1 We understand vylf as in vylf bc.Ani, to stand by any one, Gen.
xviii. 2, xlv. 1, and elsewhere.
GOEL AND ANGELUS INTERNUNTIUS IN JOB. 105
expiatory payment" (rp,Ko, a lu<tron covering sin and
guilt). Here we see in the Book of Job, which is
elsewhere remarkable for its angelology, that the
redemption of man can lily be mediated by means of
a superhuman being. The angelus internuntius is a
preformation of the Redeemer going forth from the
range of the Godhead. The angelic form is the oldest,
which the hope of a mediator of salvation gives (Gen.
xlviii. 16).1 It is taken up again—to remark even
here by way of anticipation—in Mal. iii. 1 (cf. also the
remarkable translation of the Septuagint of Isa. ix. 5).
The tyrbh jxlm of prophecy is the reality of the jxlm
Cylm postulated by the Chokma.
1 Cf. on this passage, Kemmler, Hiob oder Kamp und Sieg im
Leiden, Stuttgart 1876; and Rogge, Das Buch Hiob, der Gemeinde
dargeboten, Erlangen 1877.
CHAPTER VI.
PROPHECY AND CHOKMA IN THE FIRST EPOCHS OF THE
DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM.
§ 23. The Prophets after the Division of the Kingdom
until the Reign of Jehoshaphat and the Dynasty of
Omri.
NATHAN bound the Messianic promise for ever
to the house of David, and Gad, since he
directed David to erect an altar upon the threshing-
floor of Araunah (Chronicler, Organ) the Jebusite,
laid the foundation for the temple upon Moriah
(2 Chron. iii. 1), in which Israel, praying and sacrific-
ing for over a thousand years, honoured God. But we
have no prophetic writings or public addresses, handed
down by tradition, of either of these two prophets, or
of the prophets of the first six or seven decades after
the division of the kingdom, of whom Ahijah, Jedi
(Iddo), Jehu ben Chanani appeared in the kingdom
of Israel, and Shemaiah, Iddo, Azariah ben Oded,
Chanani in the kingdom of Judah. The Books of
Kings and Chronicles make us acquainted with the
interference of these prophets in the history of the
times, and with the words which accompanied their
106
PROPHETS FROM REHOBOAM TO JEHOSHAPHAT. 107
deeds. Their attitude to the Messianic hope is with-
drawn from our knowledge. But granted that their
utterances, although freely reproduced, are still not
without connection with tradition, these prophets appear
in many thoughts and forms of thought connected with
the Messianic hope as forerunners of the later prophets.
The prophetic word of Obadiah (ver. 17) and Joel
(iii. 5) concerning a hFAyleP; [an escaping] of Israel,
which is to participate in salvation, after judgment has
gone forth, was uttered even by Shemaiah under Jero-
boam (2 Chron. xii. 7); and in the prophecy of Hosea
concerning Israel's final repentance and conversion
4 f., v. 15) we seem to have the echo of the pro-
phecy of Azariah under Asa (2 Chron. xv. 31), as
well as of the word of Ahijah the Shilonite, that a
lamp (ryni=rne) shall remain for David (1 Kings xi. 36),
which is a favourite expression for a promise given to
David (1 Kings xv. 4; 2 Kings viii. 19; 2 Chron.
xxi. 7; Ps. cxxxii. 17).
But we do not perceive anything at all which can
be placed in connection with the Messianic hope in
that which the historical books relate concerning the
prophets of the following royal historical epoch, from
Jehoshaphat and Ahab to Amaziah and Jeroboam II.,
namely, the Chronicles, concerning Jehu ben Chanani,
Jahaziel ben Zechariah, Eliezer ben Dodawahu, and
the martyr Zechariah ben Jehoida; and the Book of
Kings, concerning Micaiah ben Imlah (see his address,
1 Kings xxii. 17-23), and concerning the two
gigantic, wonderful prophets Elijah and Elisha.
108 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
In all which these prophets do and say there is no
occasion for a testimony of Messianic significance, not
even in the words which accompany, Elijah's and
Elisha's deeds. Their calling is directed to contend
against heathenism, and in distinction from the pro-
phets of the worship of Baal and Astarte, and of
Yahweh under the form of a steer, to train up pro-
phets of the one supernatural holy God. But it
would be a wrong conclusion from silence if we should
deny the Messianic hope to all these. None of the
prophets of Judah or Israel denounces the division of
the kingdom. All recognise that it stands de jure.
But true religiousness would not be possible in Israel
as in Judah unless there were connected with it the
longing for the removal of the divine decree, and
therefore for a king over the reunited kingdom, for
another David, for the Messiah.
§ 24. The Metaphysical Conception of Wisdom in
the Introduction to the Book of Proverbs.
While the Messianic proclamation of the prophets
appears to have run dry, the extra-national pure reli-
gious enrichment and deepening of the knowledge of
salvation is continued. The Book of Proverbs, which
belongs to this literature, has for its chief parts two
collections of Solomonic proverbs, of which the
younger, as is indicated in xxv. 1, was revised by the
"Men of Hezekiah." There is no more favourable time
for editing the older collection than the period of
CONCEPTION OF WISDOM IN PROVERBS. 109
Jehoshaphat, the king who, more perhaps than any
other, seemed to be concerned for the promotion of
the training of the people upon the ground of true
religiousness (2 Chron. xvii. 7-9).
There follow upon the title and motto of the older
collection of proverbs (i. 1-7) in i. 8–ix., connected
addresses in the form of proverbs, which serve the
hmolow; ylew;mi (the Proverbs of Solomon x. 1) as an
introduction, and, directing themselves especially to
the youth, commend the wisdom which is rooted in
the fear of God. The one who utters the prologue
speaks here as a father to his children, but three times
he introduces Wisdom herself as speaking (i. 20 ff.,
viii. 1 ff., ix. 1-12). He calls her hmAk;HA or tOmk;HA
(i. 20, ix. 1), which is just such an intensive plural as
Myhilox<. She comes forth publicly after the manner
of a street preacher and travelling teacher. She
appears as a person of divine character, for she pro-
mises (i. 23) those who return to her a participation
in her spirit, and it is presupposed (ver. 28) that
prayer is offered to her, and that she causes prayers
to be answered, or even unanswered. The personifica-
tion, in itself considered, can be regarded just as
purely allegorical as that of folly (ix. 13). But the
question ever recurs, What is the conception which
the author has of this Wisdom who gives forth the
spirit from herself, and is to be called upon in prayer?
It appears from her testimony that, in his opinion, she
is more than a personified characteristic, more than a
personified good (viii. 22-31): "Yahweh hath brought
110 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
me forth1 as the firstling of His way [of His activity,
which had its end in a world of creatures], before any
of His works from the beginning. From everlasting I
was established, from the very first, from the primitive
commencement of the earth. When the depths of
water did not exist, I was born, when the fountains
did not exist, laden with water. Before the moun-
tains were settled, before the hills I was born—when
He had not yet worked out the earth and the fields,
and the sum of the particles of dust of the earth.
When He prepared the heaven I was there, when He
measured off a circle about the surface of the depths
of water. When He fastened the heights of ether
above, when the sources of the depths of the waters
broke forth mightily, when He set to the sea its
bounds, that the waters should not transgress His
commands when He measured off the foundations of
the earth, then I was by him as a workman,2 and I
carried on a joyous play daily, gamboling before Him
all the time, gamboling in the world of His earth, and
carrying on my joyous play among the children of
men."
Five thoughts come in this self-testimony of Wisdom
1 The Targum and the Syriac version translate ynixrAB;, which
is inadmissible; for, in the view of the author, the bringing
forth of Wisdom preceded xrb tywxrb (tywxrb hWfm), she is
therefore not even a work of creation.
2 The noun Nvmx forms no feminine, and has therefore, like
artifex, two genders. It is here considered as feminine; but,
since Wisdom is to be thought of as without gender, is not to
be translated as a feminine dhmiourgo<j (cf. nevertheless Wisd.
vii. 21, texni?tij).
CONCEPTION OF WISDOM IN PROVERBS. 111
to pictorial expression: (1) she was born of God before
the creation of the world; (2) she was present as this
came into being; (3) she took on by it a mediating
position, since God in the execution of His thoughts
of creation made use of her mediation; (4) this ser-
vice which she rendered to God, the Creator, was for
her a delightful pleasure; (5) the dearest circle of her
activity, but within the entire creation, was the earth
and the men upon it.
As the Spirit of God is a power which goes forth
from God, which makes alive that which is to be
created, and maintains in life that which is created;
so Wisdom is a power born of God, which makes that
a reality which is to be created in the manner willed
by God, and which helps free creatures, especially men,
to the attainment of the end divinely willed. If we
thought of these powers, ejected from God, as special
divine existences separated from God, we should have
a mythological representation which could not be har-
monized with the unity of God. The true state of the
case should rather be represented, that God, as the
origin of being, discloses the Spirit and the Wisdom
from Himself as special ways of the manifestation of
His being. Spirit and Wisdom are powers originating
in the being of the one God, and surrounded by His
one being. Without finding in it the trinitarian
dogma, we nevertheless ascertain that the Old Testa-
merit Scriptures, since on their first page they dis-
criminate between Mynilox< and Myhilox< HaUr, do not con-
ceive of God as an inflexible monas, and that, since
112 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the hmAk;HA enters as causa media of God's relation to
the world, the one being of God is represented as
threefold. As in the Old Testament history the way
is prepared for the New Testament revelation of God,
since it distinguishes between God and His Spirit and
His Angel, in which His name, that is, the self-revela-
tion of His being, is to be made; so the way is prepared
in the Old Testament Chokma literature, since it dis-
tinguishes between God and His Spirit and His Wisdom.
It is remarkable that the utterances of Wisdom in
Prov. i. and viii. correspond remarkably with the
utterances of Jesus in the Gospel of John. Even the
beginning of John i. 1, e]n a]rx^? h#n o[ lo<goj, is related
in contents to the OKr;Da tywixre yninAqA 'h (Prov. viii. 22).
And when the apostle (Col. i. 16) says of Christ:
pa<nta di ] au]tou? kai< ei]j au]to>n e@ktistai, this can be
transformed, according to Prov. viii. 22-31, into the
utterance that Wisdom, which was the mediatrix of
the creation of the world, and is the ideal goal of the
world's history, has appeared in Him historically and
bodily.
§ 25. The Epithalamium, Ps. xlv.
Our view is now again turned from the moralizing
and dogmatizing Chokma to lyric poetry, which moves
in hopes and wishes; for, as we go farther from the
period of Jehoshaphat's reign, the forty-fifth Psalm
draws our attention to itself, which we hold, for probable
reasons which we have expressed elsewhere,—cf. ver.
9 with 1 Kings xxii. 39; Amos iii. 15,—for an epi-
THE EPITHALAMIUM. 113
thalamium composed on the marriage of Joram, the
son of Jehoshaphat, with Athaliah, the daughter of the
wife of Ahab, sprung from the royal house of Tyre.
Without holding our view as infallible, we consider that
it is sufficiently established, so that we are subject-
ively justified in attributing this psalm to the time of
Jehoshaphat and Joram. But whether the king whom
the poet celebrates was Joram, or perhaps some one
else, it remains permanently established (1) that he
stands before the poet in the light of Messianic exalta-
tion and destiny, and (2) that he did not justify the
wedding wishes and expectations. In three places
the one who is celebrated is raised beyond the bounds
of time into the sphere of the unending. "Thou art
endowed with beauty," says ver. 3, "more than the
children of men. Grace is poured out upon thy lips,
therefore Elohim hath blessed thee for ever " (MlAOfl;).
The beauty and the grace of his appearance make the
impression of an imperishable blessing. And the con-
clusion of ver. 18 is: "I will extol thy name in all
generations, therefore peoples will praise thee for ever
and ever” (df,v; MlAfol;), — the poet, speaking in the
name of the immortal congregation, knows beforehand
that his praise of this king will be spread abroad in
ever wider circles over the entire inhabited world, and
will resound for ever. In ver. 7 he even appears
to address Myhilox<: "Thy throne, Elohim, endures for
ever and ever " (rf,vA MlAOf). The Epistle to the He-
brews (i. 8 f.), at least, proceeds from the under-
standing of this Myhlox< as a vocative, and we may
114 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
correct or explain as we will, ver. 7a is certainly not
an address to God. The three utterances, whether
Solomon or Joram, or whoever else may be this king,
are hyperboles, but which have nothing in common
with the royal apotheoses of courtly Oriental poetry.
The poet cherishes really the transcendent hope that
the young king who is about to be married will realize
the ideal of the theocratic kingdom, and hence the
Messianic idea. The one celebrated nevertheless dis-
appointed these high expectations, and far from being
an object of universal and everlasting praise, he has
disappeared. But, on the other hand, the poet was in
so far not deceived, since he really, as two thousand
years ago, yet sings the praise of the divine King in
this song which still exists. For since this psalm was
received into the hymn-book of the Church, it has
ceased to be a song written for a special occasion. It
is, according to the prophetic word, to be understood as
a song of praise to King Messiah, and for the New
Testament Church, for which, more than for the Old
Testament, all sensuous elements have been transformed
into supersensuous, it is a song of the "marriage of
the Lamb," closely related to the Song of Songs as
mystically understood.
Remark.—As Canticles, antitypically and hence mys-
tically understood, remains out of the range of the Old
Testament progress of the knowledge of salvation, and
could only be taken into account when, in the view of
the poet himself, it was an allegorical picture; so Ps.
xlv., first through the signification which the congrega-
THE EPITHALAMIUM. 115
tion connects with it, which Hermann Schultz in his
Old Testament Theology calls "the second meaning of
Scripture," becomes eschatological and Messianic. The
praise of the poet himself is connected with a king who
belongs to his own time, whom he regards as fulfilling
the Messianic hope, in so far as he appears to him in
his heavenly beauty, his irresistible power, his moral
purity and elevation, the full realization of the close
relation in which David and his seed is placed to God.
But this king marries a king's daughter, and his throne
is eternal only through inheritance (j~yn,BA; 17a). These
are characteristics which do not enrich the image of
the Messiah, but only cloud it; for the Messiah, as is
predicated in the Old Testament, is raised above the
earthly conditions of marriage and of the blessing of
children. His throne is eternal, because it has eternal
duration in Him, and without being inherited outside
of Himself. These characteristics, which are occasioned
by the origin of the song as a marriage poem, demand
for the psalm as a church, and at the same time as a
New Testament hymn, a spiritual metamorphosis. And
in view of these characteristics, the interpretation of
Myhilox<, 17a, as a vocative is improbable, and, presup-
posing the primitive character of the text, is to be
translated, "Thy throne of Elohim (cf. the syntax of
2 Sam. xxii. 33) is for ever and ever," that is, the
throne which thou takest as anointed of God. The
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews cites and uses
the passage according to the Greek text.
CHAPTER VII.
THE MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN THE PROPHETIC LITERATURE
FROM JORAM TO HEZEKIAH.
§ 26. The Relation of the three oldest Prophetic
Writings to the Messianic Idea.
THE greatest oratorical development of the power
of prophecy falls in the period of the world
empires, which is opened by the conflict of Israel
(Ephraim), and then of Judah with Assyria, which
was brought on by the attack on Judah through the
allied kingdoms of Syria and Ephraim. This Syro-
Ephraimitic war arose in the last years of Jotham. The
year of the death of his father Uzziah,—according to
the Biblical records, 755 B.C.,—in which Isaiah was
called, is the boundary of the splendid period of pro-
phetic literature and of its forerunners Obadiah, Joel,
and Amos. Obadiah prophesies under Joram the son
and successor of Jehoshaphat, after the apostasy of
Edom from the Davidic supremacy (2 Kings viii. 22;
2 Chron. xxi. 10), the punishment which is to come
upon Edom; Joel had that apostasy, with which the
slaughter of the Judaeans dwelling in Idumea was con-
nected (iii. 19 ff.), still in fresh remembrance; and his
116
OBADIAH, JOEL, AMOS. 117
book mirrors a time of the well-arranged service of
Yahweh as it existed in the first half of the govern-
ment of Joash (about 850 B.C.), but no longer in the
second. Amos' appearance occurs, according to the
superscription of his book, in the time of Uzziah, two
years before the earthquake, and as the contents of the
book shows, in the time of the last century of Jeroboam
II., the first of Uzziah,—the round of judgments an-
nounced by him begins with Damascus (cf. i. 4 with
2 Kings viii. 12, xiii. 22), and falls then, as in Joel
on Philistia, which was still tributary under Jehoshaphat
(2 Chron. xvii. 11), on Phoenicia and Edom. But
these prophets are still more closely entwined together
through their mutual relationship to the misfortune
under Joram (2 Chron. xxi. 16 f., xxii. 1); the attack
upon Judah through hordes of Philistines and Arabs,
the slaying of all the children of Joram except Ahaziah,
and the carrying away of a great part of the Judaeans,
and especially of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which
were sold partly to the Phoenicians, and partly by
these and the Edomites to the Greeks of Asia Minor
(Obad. ver. 20; Joel iii. 1-8; Amos i. 6-10), afford
a picture, in which the elements are mutually supple-
mentary, of this prelude of the following great exile.
But in order to secure a right picture of the relations
of the most ancient literary prophets—that is, of those
whose writings we possess—to the Messianic idea, and
not a picture which is distorted through a misleading
argumentation e silentio, we must take Obadiah, Joel,
and Amos together. In Obadiah it is MyfiwiOm, victorious
118 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
deliverers, who march from the mountain of Zion to
the mountain of Esau in order to punish a malicious
hereditary enemy (21a); but in Joel it is Yahweh,
who dwells in Zion, who does not suffer the brother's
blood shed by Edom to go unavenged (iv. 21); and in
Amos, who has survived the deep humiliation of Judah
and its king through the proud more powerful northern
kingdom, and the worst in the demolition of the walls
of Jerusalem through Joash, the father and predecessor
of Jeroboam II. (2 Kings xiv. 13), it is the house of
David restored, through which Edom is again sub-
jugated (Amos ix. 11 f.): "On that day I will raise
up the hut of David which is fallen, and wall up its
breaches [of the walls]; and that which is torn down
[of David] I will build up as in the days of old, in
order that they may take possession of the remnant of
Edom, and of all the peoples upon whom my name
has been named1 [as belonging to the kingdom of my
anointed]." This is not an immediate Messianic pro-
phecy, but the raising up again of the house of David
is of like import with the promise of another David,
an antitype of David and Solomon. If the prophecy
were taken more personally, nevertheless it would not
for this reason have a more New Testament character,
1 Instead of MOdx< tyrxw tx, Uwr;yyi Nfml, the Septuagint reads
MrAxA tyrxw Uwr;d;yi Nfml (o!pwj e]kzhth<swsin oi[ kata<loipoi tw?n a]nqrw<-
pwn), without an object. The [reading] to>n ku<rion, which is added
in the Alexandrian MS., probably was taken from Rev. xv. 17.
We see from the previous use of the passage that the Septuagint
was esteemed almost as highly as the primitive text.
OBADIAH, JOEL, AMOS. 119
for the fundamental character of the image of the
Messiah at [this] time is still a righteous dominion.
establishing peace, which rises upon the foundation of
victorious primitive wars, and because it is exercised
in the name of the one true, holy God it also makes
an overpowering impression upon the world outside of
Israel. It is therefore an anachronism, which offends
against the development of the Messianic proclamation,
when some, as Luther, following Jerome, understand
by hqAdAc;li hr,Om, promised in Joel ii. 23, the Messiah as
instructor in righteousness. If the words were to be
translated thus, the prophet must mean himself under
this divinely-given teacher, who instructed the people
in the conduct which was in accordance with salvation
like 2 Chron. vi. 27), through which it can be
free from the destinies under which it now suffers.
We have not here to examine whether it is not rather
intended: "According to the measure [as it must
where the cultivation of the land is blessed] of the
beginning of the early rain," since it lies outside of
the range of our investigation.
For the very reason that the knowledge given pro-
phetically has not yet advanced so far as to connect
with the ideal king of the future the representation of
a teacher who proclaims the way of salvation, we do
not miss the Messiah in the three prophets, but rejoice
all the more in the great New Testament ideas uttered
by them, which, when the true Messiah shall appear, will
take an essential place in the proclamation with which
He stands forth, and in the religion of the Messiah,
120 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
that is, in Christianity, which has Him as its centre. The
aim of the history of the world, according to the closing
words of Obadiah's prophecy, is this, that Yahweh may
have the royal rule (hkAUlm;.ha ‘hl thAy;hAv;), hence the realiza-
tion and completion of the kingdom of God. The con-
ception of the kingdom of God has not yet in Obadiah.
the fulness and depth of meaning which it secured
when Jesus Christ appeared among the people with
the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God;
but when, according to Mark i. 15, He said: "The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come;
repent, and believe on the gospel," He certainly means
that now the time has passed which was determined
according to God's decree for the transition of the
prophecy which was begun by Obadiah concerning the
future kingdom of God, to the gospel which now ap-
pears in reality. And while in Obadiah the breaking
through of the kingdom of God is really prepared by
bloody war and victory, by the extension of the
dominion of the people of God, and by bringing home
those of their own people who have been delivered into
slavery, we hear in Joel of a pouring out of the Spirit
of God upon all flesh, so that that which sounds so
external in Obadiah, is spiritualized to such an extent
by means of a gigantic step forward, that the apostles,
in that which they experience at Pentecost after the
resurrection and ascension of Jesus, see a fulfilment
which corresponds with the prophecy of Joel: "And
it shall come to pass afterwards," says God through the
prophet, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and
OBADIAH, JOEL, AMOS. 121
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old
men shall dream dreams, and your young men see
visions. And also upon the servants and the hand-
maids will I pour out in those days my Spirit."
The bold image of the pouring out of the Spirit
has arisen since the promises pertaining to the imme-
diate future of the pouring out of rain and of the
destruction of grasshoppers are surpassed by the
eschatological promises of the pouring out of the
Spirit and of judgment upon the world, which is
hostile to the people of God. As rain rejuvenates
the natural world, so the Spirit of God works within
man a new life which renders him happy, and which
shows itself without as a power over the world. The
pouring out of this Spirit indicates a gift in a fulness
and strength which has hitherto not been experienced.
Before there were individuals in Israel, especially the
prophets, who stood with God through His Spirit in
near confidential relations; but this spiritual life in
God becomes the future possession of all, without
distinction of sex and age, even of those who do
not belong to the people of Israel by birth, but as
servants through incorporation.
Since this expression rWABA lKA is used especially in
connection with Israel, it might appear that it does
not here indicate the entire human race. But in every
place where rWABA lKA occurs it has an absolute sense.
Sometimes it embraces the animals, e.g. Gen. vi. 13;
1 The LXX. weakens it, since it translates yHUr-tx, j`OPw;x,
partitively e]kxew? a]po> tou? pneu<mato<j mou.
122 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
but especially it indicates the whole, with reference to
its material character, weakness and mortality (Isa.
xl. 5; Zech. ii. 17; Ps. lxv. 3). And that Joel
includes the heathen in the future salvation appears
in that which he further says concerning the judg-
ments which make way for salvation, and concern-
ing those who are to have a part in the salvation
(iii. 3-5): "And I give signs in heaven and upon
earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun
shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood,
before the coming of the day of Yahweh, the great and
terrible. And it shall come to pass that every one
who shall call on the name of Yahweh shall escape:
for upon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be
an escaping, as Yahweh lath said, and among those
who flee whom Yahweh intends to call." From here
there falls upon rWABA lKA a light which confirms the
absoluteness of the conception. The divine word
contained in the writing of Obadiah, hy,h;Ti NOy.ci rhaB;
hFAyleP; “in Mount Zion there shall be an escaping," is
here repeated by Joel as a citation, in order to sup-
plement it by another divine word which is spoken
regarding it. There is to remain, not only one, but
also a twofold hFAyleP; "escaping," one consisting of
those of the people of Israel who in the midst of
judgments turn themselves to the God of salvation
desiring salvation, and one consisting of the MydiyRiW;,
whom Yahweh shall call.1 As the distinction demands,
1 Among the old translators Jerome is the first who has cor-
rectly rendered the words xreqo ‘h rwx MydiyriW.;baU, et in residuis,
OBADIAH, JOEL, AMOS. 123
the mass who are to be saved out of the heathen
world is intended. Those from Israel shall be saved
by calling on a God who has already been revealed to
them; those from the heathen by the call of mercy of
the One revealing Himself to them.
While in this way the conception of rWABA lKA, "all
flesh," on the one side receives the general reference to
the Israelitish people and the people outside of Israel,
it is narrowed on the other, since God's people of the
final period appear as the result of a judicial sifting
process, which reduces the mass of Israel and of the
heathen to a kernel which can withstand the fire.
Amos also testifies to this sifting process (ix. 9):
"For, behold I appoint and will [by means of the
world power executing this appointment] shake the
house of Israel, as one shakes in a sieve, and there
shall not fall a grain to the earth." The chaff is blown
away from the sieve which is shaken against the wind,
and the rubbish and dirt falls through it; but the
wheat remains in the sieve, in order to be planted in
the ground of the land of promise in its time. The
mass of Israel is mingled with the heathen, and
perishes. The fundamental idea of Isaiah, bUwyA rxAw;,
only a remnant, but yet a remnant shall be converted,
which is also a fundamental idea of the Epistle to the
Romans (for, as the apostle, ix. 6, says, they are not
all Israelites who are from Israel), therefore already
finds expression in the three oldest prophetic writings.
quos Dominus vocaverit, according to which Luther and all the
others render, "whom the Lord shall call."
124 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
It is exclusively grace which makes Israel God's
people and insures its continuance. On its natural
side, if the election by grace and the condition of
grace is disregarded, it does not stand before God
higher than the peoples of the world. Amos ix. 7:
"Are ye not to me like the sons of the Cushites,
children of Israel?" is Yahweh's address. "Did I
not bring Israel up out of Egypt, and the Philistines
from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?" Israel, who
has fallen from grace, and has sunk back into his
natural condition, has nothing as an advantage above
the Ethiopians, and in itself, aside from God's wonder-
ful works, which the mass of Israel despises, and God's
purposes of grace, which it renders vain, the exodus
of Israel from Egypt stands on the same plane with
the wanderings of the Philistines from Crete, and the
Aramaeans from the neighbourhood of the river Kura.
These are New Testament thoughts in the midst of
the Old Testament. Worth is not measured by God
according to fleshly origin, but according to the inward
relation to the God of salvation. "There is no differ-
ence," says Paul, Rom. x. 12, "between Jews and
Greeks. There is one Lord of all, rich over all who
call on Him: for [it is the word of Joel's, iii. 5, to
which he appeals] whosoever shall call on the name of
the Lord shall be saved." If we were to think away
the genuine Messianic prophecy of a Christ of God
from the Old Testament, Jesus would even then be
the goal, fulfilment, and conclusion of the Old Testa-
ment, because through Him the New Testament ideas
JONAH. 125
of the Old Testament not only have come into con-
sciousness, but also in the history of the world have
attained a decided domination.
Remark. ,—The Book of Jonah also deserves to be
mentioned here. Even the sending of Jonah to
Nineveh, in order to call to repentance through
threatened judgment, is unique in the Old Testa-
ment; for in every case except this the predictions
of the prophets concerning the nations proceed from
the prophetic watch-tower in the land of Israel. Even
Jesus considered Himself as assigned to the circle of
the people of Israel. Also the apostles before the
ascension of the Lord were limited to this narrow
circle; and as later Peter should enter a heathen house
with the preaching of salvation, he must first be freed
through a heavenly vision from his opposition. Hence
it is not remarkable that Jonah sought to avoid his
mission to Nineveh. There is even a subjective
justification for his being sullen when justice was
visited upon the Ninevites instead of mercy. It was
probably not common envy (as Acts xiii. 45; cf.
1 Thess. ii. 16); but he may have surmised that the
reception of the heathen would result in the loss of
Israel's position as children. But through the feelings
which were occasioned by the kikayon (Ricinus), which
sprang up quickly and withered as quickly, God
brings him the consciousness that also the heathen,
who not less than Israel have Him as their Creator
and Governor, are objects of His pity. Not only
through the Ninevites, but also through the heathen
sailors, He shows that the heathen are in no wise
given up to be lost; that also among them neither
noble humaneness nor, when God the only Holy One
126 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
and His will are revealed, receptivity and obedience
to faith are wanting, that therefore in the heathen
world there is a preparatory activity of grace which is
connected with the testimony of the conscience. That
which Joel testifies in chap. iii., that the heathen are
embraced in the divine decree, this the Book of Jonah
teaches and confirms through facts. We may date it
as we will, we may explain the wonderful preservation
of the prophet for his calling as we will, the remark-
able anticipation of the New Testament in the Old,
and the utterances of Jesus, as Matt. xii. 39-41, show
how fond He was of this book, in which He found pre-
figured His own way leading through the grave to the
heathen.
§ 27. The View of Hosea, the Ephraimitic Prophet
of the Final Period.
Hosea, whose book is properly the Ephraimitic
prophetic book, is connected with Amos the Judaean
prophet, who, following the drawing of the Spirit,
appeared in Bethel, the chief place of jeroboam's
worship. How long after this time his activity
lasted is doubtful; but for us it is of no conse-
quence, for those of his views into the future with
which we are concerned fall at a time when he entered
upon his office. Hosea is, as Ewald describes him,
the prophet of the highly tragical pain of love. Love
contends with wrath until wrath finally disappears in
the triumph of love. It is connected with this, so
to say, mystic and erotic element of Hosea, that the
beginnings of his prophecy are interwoven with two
HOSEA'S VIEW OF THE FINAL PERIOD. 127
marriages, which were commanded him, in order to
represent the present and future of Israel in living
images. Out of the first prophetic marriage spring
three children: Jezreel, who symbolizes the judgment
of destruction, by which the murderous dynasty of Jehu
is visited in the plain of Jezreel; Lo-Ruchâma, whose
name indicates that the period of God's grace for the
house of Israel is past, while, on the contrary, a
wonderful rescue, although not mediated through the
power of arms, impends for the house of Judah; and
Lo-Ammi, according to whose name Israel has ceased
to be God's people, and He may not be Israel's God.
These three children, and the mother of these
children, who was originally a prostitute, attest the
night side of God's relation to His people. But in
chap. ii. this comfortless image of the present is
transformed into an image of the future, rich in hopes,
since out of the dark ground of the name Lo-Ammi
the promise flames forth, that Israel shall be a numerous
people, whom Yahweh recognises again as His people
and His children; and from the name Jezrea the
promise that again from Judah and Israel there will
be one victorious people, under a common head; and
from the name Lo-Ruchâma, the promise that the
members of this people as such, having found mercy,
will mutually welcome each other.
But before the form of the mother clears up, the
dark ground of her moral degradation is disclosed.
This takes place in ii. 4-15, and with NkelA (ver. 16)
the transformation of reproof and threatening into the
128 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
comfort of promise appears; for the reason that now
wrath has been poured forth, not without effect (cf.
ver. 9b), the congregation of Israel receives in the exile
Yahweh's sweet persuasive call, and He accompanies
them to the wilderness, in the passage between the
place of punishment and the land of promise, encourag-
ing those who have become faint through long suf-
fering. From this place the promises begin, which
mount higher and higher. The false gods become so
thoroughly disagreeable to the congregation that it is
dreadful to them to name their names. The entire
natural world enters into a covenant of peace with
them, and between them and Yahweh there arises a
relation of love which has its resemblance in the
melting together of two lives in marriage: "And I
will espouse thee to me for ever; and I will espouse
thee to me in righteousness and justice, and in mercy
and in pity. And I will espouse thee to me in truth,
and thou shalt recognise the Lord."
The dark ground of the congregation, who have
given themselves body and soul to idolatry, and
who, as such, are typified through Gomer, who was
married by the prophet, is now consumed in the
absolute brightness of mid-day. Although a higher
ascent of the promise from this point is impossible
for us, nevertheless it does not rest, but combines
before it closes once more the three prophetic forms
together with which it began (vers. 23-25): "And
it shall come to pass on that day: I will hear, utter-
ance of Yahweh; I will hear the heavens, and these
HOSEA'S VIEW OF THE FINAL PERIOD. 129
shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn,
and the new wine, and the oil; and these shall hear
Jezreel. And I will sow her [a congregation] to me in
the land; and I will have compassion on Lo-Ruchâma,
and I will say to Lo-Ammi: 'Thou art my people;'
and he shall say: 'My God.'"
The universe is pervaded with the feeling of depend-
ence of one creature upon another; one prays, as it
were, to another for the granting of that through
which it needs to be supplemented, and this sup-
plication of all creatures is finally a supplication of
God, who conditions all things which He makes on a
chain of hearing, whose final link is the divine con-
gregation which has been sown in the Holy Land.
That which Hosea says here concerning the blessing
of the natural world, which descends from heaven as
by a ladder, and which speaks of a union of love with
God (unio mystica), touches Rom. viii. 18-23 and Rev.
xix. 6-9, but only from a distance; for all is directed,
not to the human race, but to Israel, and not to the earth,
but to the land of Israel, which he designates with
Jezreel, as though he meant only the land of the king-
dom of Israel. But he means the entire land of pro-
mise; for Israel and Judah, as he prophesies (ii. 2a), will
again be united under one common head. This prophecy
in the mouth of the Ephraimitic prophet is more signi-
ficant than in the mouth of Amos the Jiidaean. Duhm
says:1 "Hosea, so far as we know, is the first who
declares that the continuance of a separate royal house
1 Theologie der Propheten, Bonn 1875, p. 128.
130 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
in Israel is unlawful, or better, is sinful, and who
categorically demands the abandonment of independence
and a return to David." This view of the case is not
correct, for all the prophets recognise that the kingdom
of Israel exists lawfully; they see in the division of
the kingdom a punishment of God which has gone
over the house of David, but which will not last
for ever: the Israel of the final period will again be
one people. But Hosea is indeed the first who gives
this hope definite expression, yet more definitely in
chap. iii. than in ii. 2, where the prophet, who
seems meanwhile to have become a widower, is
directed to marry a woman, whose love for him is
not her first, so that it is to be feared that the old
flame will burn again in her, and threaten the faith-
fulness of marriage. This wise, strict indeed, but
well-meant behaviour of the prophet with this wife
who is inclined to adultery, is designed to serve as an
image of the dealing which Yahweh adopts with His
people, in order to wean them from their infidelity to
Him: "For many days the children of Israel shall sit
without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice
and without statue, and without ephod and teraphim.
Afterward shall the children of Israel convert, and
seek Yahweh their God, and David their king; and
shall come trembling to Yahweh, and to His goodness
at the end of the days." This is not a companion-
piece to Rom. xi. 25 of the same value. For the
Israel of whom Hosea here speaks is Israel in the
narrow sense,—the people of the ten tribes,—to which
HOSEA'S VIEW OF THE FINAL PERIOD. 131
he himself belongs. The "many days" is the incal-
culably long Assyrian exile. The religion of the ten
tribes was a state religion, decreed from above (obenher
decretierte), with the chief places of worship at Bethel
and Dan, where the molten images (hkAse.ma, 2 Kings
xvii. 16), representing Yahweh as a steer stood, and
where sacrifices were made to God in the form of a
steer, which is indicated by Hbaz,; whereas, on the other
hand, hbAce.ma designates the statue of Baal (x. 1 f.), and
MypirAt;U dOpxe (as Judg. xvii. 5) indicate the apparatus
of the oracle, by means of which they sought and
made known the divine will.
As the prophet removes from his wanton wife her
intrigue, so God will remove from His people all the
supports and means of promoting an idolatrous worship,
especially the government of the state, through which
it is seduced to apostasy from the One God, who can-
not be represented by an image. In the midst of an
exile of long duration, under the pressure of foreign
heathenism, and of the condition of punishment into
which it is betrayed by its own heathenism, it will be
seized by a penitent desire after Yahweh its God and
David its king. Those who for centuries have served
kings of many dynasties without a promise, will again
submit themselves to a king of the house which
has the promise of God. Nevertheless MKAl;ma dviDA will
signify more than Reuss says, la dynastic légitime des
Isaïdes, more than the son of David, ruling precisely
at the time when this transformation takes place. It
might indeed be thought that this signification of the
132 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
words would suffice, since Hosea predicts an Assyrian
exile, which makes an end of the ten tribes, but not
at the same time a Babylonian, through which the
Davidic dynasty suffers a breaking off for an incalcul-
ably long time. But he knows that also Judah,
although a wonderful deliverance awaits it in the
time of Assyrian judgment (i. 7), is ripening for a
harvest of punishment (vi. 5), and his prophecy has
reference to the final period (Mymiy.Aha tyriH;xaB;), and a king
who is indicated not only as dviDA fraz,.mi or dviDA tyBemi,
but expressly as dviDA, can only be such an one in
whom David lives again; hence an antitype of David,
hence the Messiah, according to which the Targum
translates "They will be obedient to Messiah, the
Son of David, their king." The prophecy is Messianic,
but its point still remains—the union of Israel with
Judah under a second David; and concerning the
person of this second David it does not say anything
more definite. The connection of the God of Israel
and this king allows us only to conclude that he is
the anointed of God in full reality.
Remark.—There are also typical elements in the
Book of Hosea, but that is not useful material for the
reconstruction of the course of development of Mes-
sianic prophecy; for, first, when the prophetic text is
lighted up by the history of New Testament fulfil-
ment, we shall be surprised by the perception that the
word of the prophet here and there, without his know-
ledge and will, by means of the Spirit of inspiration,
takes on a form in which it corresponds to the facts,
HOSEA'S VIEW OF THE FINAL PERIOD. 133
which are related antitypically to that which was
originally intended by them. When Matthew (ii. 15)
sees in the fact that Egypt should be a place of refuge
for the holy family with the Christ-child, the fulfil-
ment of the word of God in Hos. xi. 1, he certainly
does not fail to recognise that that which is said in
Hosea is in its first reference intended of Israel; but
he does not regard it as a mere accident that as Israel,
God's first-born, so also Jesus, God's only born, was
concealed for a time in Egypt, and from there, through
God's call, returned to the land intended for Him.
Also the prediction of the resurrection of Israel
(vi. 1-3) has a typical form. The time will come
when the call to repentance will re-echo among the
entire people. Israel, in the condition of punishment
in which it finds itself, will recognise the judgment of
its God, and will have confidence in Him who is not
less gracious than just, "for [so they comfort each
other] He who hath torn us will heal us, He who
smote us will also bind us up. He will make us
alive again after two days; on the third day He will
raise us up, and we shall live before Him." The people
now lies as one dead in the grave, but the second day
of his burial will be the turning-point of his new life,
and the third day will be the day of his resurrection.
As in the bringing back of Israel the Unmeyqiy; follows Unye.Hay;,
so in Jesus' breaking through the kingdom of the
dead zwopoi<hsij, resuscitatio, and a]na<stasij (e@gersij),
resurrectio, are to be discriminated. The resuscitation
by means of which spirit and body, released from their
unity, secured an independent life, preceded the going
forth from the grave in a glorified body.
The history of Israel is, in its great essential
134 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
features, an original and copy of the history of Christ.
A resurrection day is to follow the two days of the
death of Israel, of which the second ends in a transi-
tion from death to life. Days of God, not days
measured by the sun, are intended, perhaps the
Assyrian, the Babylonian, and the Roman exile, in
which the Jewish people are still living. Jerome
thought that he was compelled to understand Hos.
xiii. 14 as treating of the resurrection on account of
1 Cor. xv. 54-57: Quod apostolus in resurrectionem
interpretatus est Domini, nos aliter interpretari nec pos-
sumus nec audemus. But the divine words in Hos.
xiii. 14 are not promising, but extremely threatening:
"Out of the hand of Hades should I free them, from
death should I redeem them? [no] where are thy
plagues, death? where thy pestilence, O Hades! Pity
must be hidden before my eyes." Pity is so near to
God, although Israel has so grievously sinned against
Him. But now it must depart, in order that He may
not be seized by it. He summons against Ephraim,
who is hardening itself against Him, Hades and death
with the powers of destruction, over which they have
control: He suffers this people, without checking
them, to fall a prey to Hades and death, so that their
bringing again, so far as such a thing is possible, is to
be the bringing of one who is dead from his death.
Paul does not intend to say by means of 1 Cor. xv.
54 f., to<te genh<setai o[ lo<goj o[ gegramme<noj, that then,
when the last enemy is overcome, the Hoseanic ex-
pression, pou? sou qa<nate ktl. as prophetic word, is to
be fulfilled, but then that will take place which these
words of the Old Testament Scriptures, considered as
pean (cry of triumph), express.
ISAIAH'S FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS. 135
§ 28. Isaiah's Fundamental Ideas in their Original
Form.
The activity of Hosea began toward the end of the
reign of Jeroboam II., whom Uzziah, according to
Biblical chronology, survived about fourteen years.
But in the year that Uzziah died—according to Ussher,
758 B.C.; according to Duncker, Wellhausen, and
others, 740—Isaiah was called, whose book gives us
a deep insight into the gradual development and trans-
formation of his announcement. It is an unhappy
calling with which the prophet, raised to heaven in
chap. vi., returns to earth. The word which he
preaches is to be to his people a savour of death to
death, for the time of divine long-suffering is passed.
The course of the history of Israel proceeds hereafter
through judgment upon judgment in a homeless, distant
country, but a remnant remains which is compared to
the shoot from the root of a tree which was hewn
down. Hitherto there has ruled over Israel the riches
of the divine goodness, without their being led to
repentance, from this time on God's judging, although
not annihilating, but winnowing righteousness. It is
the fundamental ideas of his prophecy which Isaiah
here receives at his call, in view of the time of judg-
ment through the Assyrian people. From the trisagion
of the seraphim he has his favourite designation of God
with lxerAW;yi wOdqA. He prophesies that the worldly
glory of Israel must be dashed in pieces before the true
glory rises on its ruins, connecting with an older pro-
136 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
phetic word as the text of his preaching in chaps. ii.—
iv.; and the appendix (chap. v.), which is developed
out of iii. 14.
In the introductory address (chap. i.) which is pre-
fixed to this first cycle of prophecies (chaps. ii.—vi.) it
appears that the people of that time are not to be
brought back by the way of grace, but only by that
of judgment, which melts away the mass of dross
in order to release the noble metal which endures the
fire.
Here we have the first utterance of the proclama-
tion which is given to the prophet. The world
power which becomes God's instrument of punishment
appears in v. 26 ff. (cf. Deut. xxviii. 49) before his
prophetic eye only, first as a shadowy form without
any firm outline. The judgment of the exile is indi-
cated (vi. 12, cf. v. 13) first merely in general expres-
sions. The salvation for which judgment makes way
does not proceed further in chap. i. than the modest
measure of the return of a better past, as under David,
Solomon, and Jehoshaphat. The remnant which is
called tyrixew; or HFAleP; and which has in Shearyashûb
a living emblem, appears first (vi. 13) only in the
image of a rooted stock which becomes green again.
And the prediction of the time of glory after judgment
(iv. 2), where it is said: "On that day the sprout of
Yahweh will be for ornament and for glory, and the
fruit of the land will be pride and splendour for the
escaped of Israel," is yet so general, so clare-obscure,
so sketchy, that the discussion as to whether 'h Hmac, is
ISAIAH'S FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS. 137
intended personally1 or only as indicating a thing has
not yet been closed, and probably will never arrive at
a universally recognised result. Briggs still maintains
the view, as well as Cheyne and Driver, that the
"sprout of Yahweh" and the "fruit of the land" are
intended of the endowment of the natural surroundings
with an extraordinary beauty and fruitfulness. On
the contrary, von Orelli,2 Bredenkamp, Schultz3 recog-
nise that the expression of the high self-consciousness,
so far as it was warranted at that time, sounds too
grand to have only things of the natural world as its
object. The picture concerning the fall of false glory
contains nothing to which this natural glory (as in
John iv. 18) could, on the other hand, be related.
Nevertheless, it must be admitted that Cr,xAhA yriP;,
which is parallel to hv,h;ya Hmac,, is rather contradictory
to the personal understanding than favourable to it.
Hence by the sprout and fruit we are not to under-
stand points of light, but circles of light,—the divine
gifts and blessings of which the Israel of the future
could boast. But it ever remains established that it
is this circle—of light out of which as its centre, as
God's "unspeakable gift" (a]nekdih<ghtoj dwrea<, 2 Cor.
ix. 14), the Messiah enters into the consciousness of
the prophets.
1 It is thus understood by the Targum, which translates it
y’’ yd xHywm, while the Septuagint adopts an entirely different
text.
2 Der Prophet Jesaia, Erlangen 1887, p. 25.
3 Alttestamentliche Theologie, Göttingen 1889, p. 776.
138 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 29. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies,
Isa. vii., ix., xi.
I. IMMANUEL, THE SON OF THE VIRGIN.
In chaps. vii.-xii. the history of the time takes
on another form. Towards the end of the reign of
Jotham the hostilities had begun which occasioned
the formation of the league between Syria and Ephraim
for the purpose of overthrowing the dynasty of David
(2 Kings xv. 37). Rezin, the king of Damascene
Syria, took possession of the harbour Elath, which
Uzziah had taken from the Edomites (2 Kings xvi. 6;
cf. xiv. 22). The Judaeans, who had settled there,
were carried captive to Damascus (2 Chron. xxviii. 5).
And Ahaz was conquered by Pekah, the king of Israel,
in a fearfully bloody battle, after which the prophet
Oded rescued the numerous Judaean prisoners from
the disgrace of slavery (2 Chron. xxviii. 6-15). The
armies of the allies after they had conquered separ-
ately were now united and prepared for the main
attack on Jerusalem. In the midst of the danger,
which had reached its highest point, Isaiah appeared
with his son Shearyashab before the king, who was at
that time on the west side of the city engaged in
making arrangements with reference to the approach-
ing siege, and promised him God's help, offering Ahaz
any kind of a sign that he might demand. There
is scarcely a Biblical fact to which supernaturalism
could so appeal as to this in order to support its
TRILOGY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. 139
lawful claim against the modern view of the world.
The prophet knows that the God in him is the God
of grace in whose being it lies to prove Himself a
power exalted above nature, and that the God of
grace whom he serves is the God of miraculous power,
who, when the ends of the history of redemption
demand it, can make the laws of nature serviceable
to these ends. But Ahaz does not wish to have any
trial made of the help of Yahweh. He has already
summoned the help of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Asshur,
and with hypocritical pretences rejects the offer of
Isaiah.
This scene is one of the most momentous crises in
the history of Israel. The summoning of the help of
Asshur through Ahaz laid the foundation for that
complication with the world empire which in 722 B. C.
brought destruction to the kingdom of Israel, and in
588 B.C. to the kingdom of Judah, unable to change
the unfortunate beginning of the king; and, on the
other hand, certain of this, that the promise of God
given to the house of David could not be brought to
nought by any human interference contrary to the will
of God, the prophet replies that the Lord Himself will
give them—the king and his house,—a sign contrary
to their own choice (vii. 13-17): "Hear now, house
of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that
ye weary also my God? therefore the Almighty Him-
self will give you a sign: Behold the maiden is with
child, and bears a son, and calls his name Immanuel.
Butter and honey shall he eat at the time when he
140 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
shall understand1 to reject the evil and choose the
good. For before the boy shall understand to reject
the evil and choose the good, the land shall be deso-
late, before whose two kings thou art terribly afraid.
Yahweh will bring upon thee and thy people and thy
father's house days, such as have not been since the
day when Ephraim tore away from Judah, the king of
Asshur."
A nameless maid or virgin—as we have a right to
translate it with the Septuagint, since hmAl;fahA certainly
indicates a young woman who had not yet become a
mother—whom God has chosen and His Spirit has
made present to the prophet, shall bear the One in
whom God will be the help of His people, and whose
continuance will be assured 2 through the judgments
which are in prospect.
The birth of this Immanuel is the tOx [sign] worked
by God, which takes the place of the sign which Ahaz
declined to ask. The meeting of Isaiah with Ahaz
occurred about the year 734 B.C., and it is impossible
1 Not, in order that he may understand (learn) to distinguish
between the good and the evil, so that the desolation of the land
may be the means ordained by God "for the intellectual develop-
ment of Immanuel" (Guthe, Zukunftsbild, p. 40). If that were
the meaning, then tfadalA should be said (cf. e.g. 1. 4, tfdl, not
vtfdl).
2 We can say that Isaiah is the prophet of the tOx, for a
characteristic trait of the prophet is the tOx, the sign, consisting
in predicted facts (vii. 14, xxxvii. 30), or deeds accomplished
at the present time (xxxviii. 22, 7, cf. vii. 11), or symbolical repre-
sentations (xx. 3, viii. 18). He is the prophet who stands security
for the future through wonders in word and deed.
TRILOGY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. 141
that the sign can first have been realized after seven
centuries: the birth of Immanuel is in the view of the
prophet a fact of the immediate future. For he sees
the help which is mediated by Immanuel dawn in the
following directions on every side: (1) Damascene
Syria and the Ephraimitish kingdom are conquered by
Asshur,—externally considered, brought about indeed
through Ahaz’ politics, but an event known before by
God and received into His plan; (2) but then Asshur
turns against the Israel of both kingdoms, and the land
is overflowed by the armies of Asshur and Egypt, the
two great powers who are rivals, and is desolated to
such an extent that it becomes a great pasture, and the
nourishment of the poor thin population is reduced to
milk and honey—at this time of misery, for which
Ahaz is responsible, falls, according to the view of the
prophet, the growth of Immanuel, who, even when he
has outgrown the years of childhood (Deut. i. 39),
must content himself with the monotonous nourish-
ment of the reduced wild country.
Those who think that Immanuel, because he was a
child of the Assyrian time of judgment, could not be
the Messiah, fail to recognise the law of perspective
shortening to which all prophecy, even that concern-
ing Jesus Christ Himself in the Gospels, is subject.
Isaiah lived to see that the expectation of the parousia
of the Messiah in the time of the Assyrian oppression
was not fulfilled; nevertheless he was not ashamed of
his prophecy, and did not withdraw it. For as Asshur
suffered wreck on Jerusalem, he knew that this had
142 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
not occurred without the co-operation of the promised
Immanuel, who was not yet born, to whom, praying
for help (viii. 8), he looks up: "The spreading of
the, pinions of Asshur fill the breadth of thy land,
Immanuel!" The future One, although he has not
yet appeared possessed of a body, leads an ideal life
in the Old Testament history; and as he appeared in
the fulness of the times, the holy land, not indeed
under the foreign dominion of Asshur, but under that
of Rome, was in a condition which went back to the
untheocratic politics of Ahaz as its ultimate cause.1
And he is not born in a palace and wrapped in
purple, not an "alma" of the harem (Cant. vi. 8) of
the Davidic king was his mother, but the betrothed of
a carpenter from the reduced family of David, who
recognised him as his legitimate though not corporeal
son, but as a gift of heaven. The modern theology
sees in it a myth spun out of Isa. vii. 14; we see in
it with the entire Church of God the fulfilment and
unriddling of the Isaianic word of prophecy.
1 In relation to this idea is the representation that according to
liii. 2a he sprouts as "a root out of a dry ground." Even when
he comes into the world he has to suffer the consequences of the
sin of his people, but only with them, so that in this feature of
the portrait of the Messiah by Isaiah there is only to be seen
from far, as George Adam Smith maintains, a beginning of a
representation of a suffering Messiah.
TRILOGY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. 143
§ 30. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies,
Isa. vii., ix., xi.
II. THE BEGINNING OF A NEW PERIOD WITH THE NEW
HEIR OF THE DAVIDIC THRONE.
Isaiah does not say expressly, in chap. vii., what
the son of the virgin, who grows up in the land
which is deeply sunken, through the fault of the house
of David at that time, will do for the people and the
land; only the signification of the name Immanuel
(with us is God) indicates it. In chap. viii. the pre-
diction begun in vii. 17 concerning the oppression of
Asshur is continued. Like the shoreless Euphrates,
Asshur overflows the land of Ephraim and then of
Judah. Praying for help the prophet calls on Im-
manuel, as if exhorting him, that he should hasten his
work of deliverance, which his name indicates. This
view, directed to the future One, and to God, who in
him will be the stay of His people, is immediately
transformed (viii. 9 f.) into the triumphant confidence
of a granted petition. But that which faith anticipates
lies at the time only in the range of the future. The
night must first come on the people who have forgotten
God, but a night upon which there follows a dawn for
those who gather together for the sake of the prophetic
word of God, although only for these; and the parts
of the northern boundary which have received the
severest visitation, and which, for this reason, are
most susceptible to God's gracious interference, are
144 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
first privileged to see the great light which breaks
through the dark shadow of death. Israel, after it
has been blended together to a remnant, and becomes
a numerous people, happy through victory and bless-
ing, free from the yoke of the oppressor, and bloody
war will have an end; "for"—continues the prophet,
referring the glorious period of restoration back to
him with whom and through whom it comes—"a
child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the
government lies upon his shoulder, and they call his
name: Wonderful, Counsellor, Strong God, Eternal
Father, Prince of Peace; of the increase of his
government and peace there shall be no end, to order
it and to establish it upon David's throne and over
his kingdom through judgment and righteousness
from this time forth and for ever: the zeal of Yahweh
of hosts will perform this."
The predicted son of the virgin is now born, and
the prophet, since his ideal life is continued in the
future, greets and celebrates hint as the heir to the
Davidic throne. It is a fivefold name which he bears.
He is, according to vii. 14, a wonderful sign and
a wonderful gift. For this reason, therefore, we do
not combine CfeOy xl,Pe in one name, which would signify,
not one who was a prodigy of a counsellor,— for
which Gen. xvi. 12, Prov. xxi. 20, does not furnish
any similar example,—but would signify one counsel-
ling wonderful things, one counselling wonderfully.
There are two names. He is called xl,Pe as a divinely-
TRILOGY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. 145
wrought prodigy1 in person. It is evident that we
must combine this name, as first with vii. 14,
because even here the veil of secrecy lies upon his
birth. He must be a son of David, since he takes the
Davidic throne; and since the family in a genealogical
sense is determined by the father and not by the
mother, he must be the legitimate son of a descendant
of David; but the prophecy says nothing about a
corporeal father. And we are further justified in
combining the name rOKni lxe with the name lxeUnmAfi.
We are to explain this name, not according to Ezek.
xxxii. 21, where MyriOBgi ylexe indicates the mightiest
among the heroes (cf. Ezek. xxxi. 11), but according
to Isa. x. 21, where, as in all other places, it is the
name of God, the Strong One. But for this reason
we do not mean that the Old Testament prophet,
whose image of the Messiah does not yet burst the
frame of the royal image, connected with this name of
the Messiah a metaphysical, or, in any wise, a Nicene
dogmatic signification, only that he regards this king
as God of the strong bodily present: God is in him,
he is God the Strong One, as the Angel of Yahweh is
Yahweh Himself. And we do not explain the name
dfa-ybixE, like Schultz and others, as father of prey;
for 13.7 expresses in such genitive connections, where
they otherwise occur (xlv. 17, cf. lvii. 15; Hab. iii. 6,
cf. Gen. xlix. 26), the attribute of eternity; and the
1 It is also more probable that there are five names—a half
dekas—not four, for the sake of the Biblical symbolism of
numbers.
146 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
prophecy says further that he shall possess the throne
of David for ever, without transmitting it; that in a
righteous and peaceful rule he shall enlarge his
dominion; that, therefore, he shall be an eternal
Father, that is, loving and beloved of a great people.
The names CfeOy, and MOlwA-rWa indicate him also as
ruler; the former, as such an one in whom the people
could have full confidence; the latter, as such an
one whose exalted activity has peace as its object.
It-is significant that the fivefold name, as the three-
fold Aaronitic blessing, ends in MOlwA, of all gifts that
which makes most happy and is most desired.
Although, indeed, this Isaianic image of the Messiah,
in order to have a New Testament value, must be re-
moved from the Old Testament national narrowness (for
the king of the kingdom of heaven is king of Israel,
not in a special sense, but in none other than that in
which he is king of all the nations), nevertheless, the
three Messianic predictions of the Messiah contain
not only ideal, but also historical features, which are
strengthened as essential through the history of fulfil-
ment. The second as well as the first hides the birth of
the future One in mysterious obscurity, and the second
testifies that Galilee shall first behold the Messiah,
according to which it became Jewish tradition that the
Messiah should first be revealed in Galilee, and that.
from Tiberias the time of the redemption of Israel
would dawn.1
1 See Ein Tag in Kapernaum, p. 20.
TRILOGY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. 147
§ 31. The Great Trilogy of Messianic Prophecies,
Isa. vii., ix., xi.
III. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SECOND DAVID AND OF
HIS GOVERNMENT.
The Isaianic addresses in chaps. vii.—xii., as even
the new beginnings which are repeated show (‘h Rm,xoyva,
vii. 3, viii. 1; rBeda 'H JseOyva, in viii. 5; YnAdoxE HlawA rbADA), are
not one whole, from one smelting, and from the same
time. The standpoint of the prophet brings the
invasion of Asshur, announced in vii. 17, nearer and
nearer. In chap. x. he describes prophetically how
the Assyrian army advances continually against Jeru-
salem, spreading terror; and how, like a wood with
lofty branches planted against it, through the terrible
power of the divine manifestation of glory, it is dashed
together to the ground. But while the Lebanon of the
world-power is broken in pieces, the house of David,
which has become like the stump (truncus) of a felled
tree, renews its youth (xi. 1): "And there goes forth
[perfect of result] a twig from the stump of Jesse, and
a shoot from its roots bears fruit."
The prediction here goes back to the birth of the
son and heir of David's throne, celebrated in ix. 5 f.
The twig which springs from the stump of the house
of David, which has sunk down to the lowliness of
its Bethlehemitish origin, is the son of David who is
hoped for, who, with himself and through himself,
raises his people from lowliness to glory. The Lord
acknowledges him and sets him apart, and endows him
148 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
with the entire sevenfold fulness of His Spirit (ver. 2):
"And there sinks down upon him the Spirit of Yahweh,
spirit of wisdom and understanding, spirit of counsel
and of might, spirit of knowledge and of the fear of
Yahweh." The calling for which he is prepared, since
the Spirit of God in the entire richness of its powers
becomes his possession, is the royal one, with its
duties as ruler and judge (vers. 3-5): "And the fear
of Yahweh is perfume to him; and not according to
that which his eyes see does he judge, and not accord-
ing to that which his ears hear [not according to
sensuous appearances, but according to actual facts
and the condition of the heart] does he speak judg-
ment: and he judges with righteousness the poor,
and speaks judgment with equity for the meek of the
land; and smites the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he slays the wicked.
And righteousness is the girdle of his loins, and fidelity
is the girdle of his hips." He is a king according to
God's heart, and of divine power, who is here de-
scribed. "And he smites the earth" (ver. 4b) is a
superhuman feature in the image; but every feature
of redemptive history is wanting. From this king to
one who redeems the earth from the bondage of sin
and the curse of death it is still a long way. But
the history of fulfilment shows that also this prophecy
is a work of the Spirit of God in the laboratory of the
spirit of the prophet. The one described is king, but
not acquirer and communicator of spiritual benefits,
hence more Christ than Jesus. But was not Jesus
TRILOGY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. 149
the designated King of the kingdom of heaven, as He
took upon Himself the baptism of the claim to the
kingdom of heaven?1 And is it not a transposition
of prophecy in history that the Holy Spirit comes
down upon the One ascending from the water in the
form of a dove, that is, in the soft manner and in the
entire fulness of His being, and that then, as He enters
upon His office, not immediately as king, but first as
prophet of the kingdom of heaven, the first words of
His mouth have reference to the poor, the burden
bearers, the meek, hence the Myli.Da and Cr,x,-yven;fa, and
raise these up by means of promises? On the contrary,
the destruction of the final arch-enemy of Christ and
His kingdom, which Paul (2 Thess. 8) predicts with
the words of Isaiah (xi. 4b), is still a fact, which no
comparison of the history with that which is predicted
justifies. The same is true of the prediction of the
future paradisiacal peace of nature, which will accom-
pany, mirror, and complete the peaceful rule of the
second David (xi. 6-9). The prophet establishes this
transformation of the animal world on the fact that
the earth shall then be full of the knowledge of the
God of salvation as the bottom of the sea is over-
flowed with water. The peaceful condition of the
animal world with reference to each other and to
mankind is not therefore limited here, as in Hos. ii. 20,
to Israel and his land, but is extended to the earth
and to mankind; but it can only be understood under
the presupposition that the prophet beholds the glorious
1 German, "Anwartschaft auf das Himmelreich."
150 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
conclusion of the earthly history in connection with
the glorified new earth. The case is different with
xi. 10: "And it shall come to pass on that day that
the root of Jesse, which stands as a banner of the
peoples, after it shall the nations inquire, and his
resting-place [that is, the place where lie dwells and
thrones] is glory." This has been fulfilled to the
extent that, since Christianity has entered into the
world, at least a third of the heathen world has
flocked about the cross of the Christ who has been
glorified through suffering.
Hence, therefore, this great prophecy (xi. 1-10)
may be divided into three parts: (1) That which
awaits a fulfilment, which therefore cannot be con-
trolled; (2) that which is limited to the nation, and
which as political is external, which both requires a
New Testament enlargement and a spiritual deepen-
ing; and (3) that which has been literally fulfilled,
which shows that what has been predicted is the
word of God, even although it is in the form of con-
temporary history.
Remark—In the New Testament only the Gospel
of Matthew refers to the first three Isaianic images of
the Messiah, which (i. 22 f.) designates the miracle of
the birth of Jesus as a fulfilment of Isa. vii. 14. The
miracle is also narrated by Luke; but although more
fully than by Matthew, yet without reference to the
prophetic word of Isaiah. Paul also merely says
(Gal. iv. 4) that God in the fulness of time sent
forth His Son, born of a woman. He does not say
TRILOGY OF MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. 151
born of a virgin, nor do we expect it; the connection
of thought in the passage excludes such a reference as
not to be expected. But that he had the miraculous
nature of the birth in mind appears, nevertheless, to
be implied from a comparison of his words, "His Son,"
"born of a woman," with Luke i. 35. Isaiah's second
Messianic image remains in the New Testament with-
out any application. It is never cited in order to
establish the deity of Christ by means of it. The
Septuagint could not be used for this purpose, for they
translate the Hebrew words lxe CfeOy xl,P, after another
reading by mega<lhj boulh?j a@ggeloj; cf. in connection
with this what we have said in § 22 concerning the
mediating angel in the Book of Job. On the con-
trary, the third image of the Messiah is again mirrored
many fold in the New Testament. Matthew refers in
ii. 23 to Isa. xi. 1 when he says, that thus should be
fulfilled what the prophet had said that the future
Christ should be called a Nazarene, that is, one from
Nazareth, because Joseph settled with the child Jesus
in Nazareth. Even Jerome remarks on Isa. xi. 1 that
cruditi Hebraei have this passage of the Book of Isaiah
in mind concerning the fruitful rc,ne from the root of
Jesse. He certainly does not cite one prophet, but the
prophets. He thinks at the same time of Isa. liii. and
other passages, according to which it is barren land out
of which the future One is to grow, and that he will
appear with an insignificant exterior. He sees the
image of rc,ne embodied in connection with the image
of the shoot from the root (liii. 2) and other prophetic
words which speak of the ignoring and despising of
the future One, since insignificant Nazareth, lying at
a distance from Jerusalem, in despised Galilee, became
152 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the ground upon which Jesus grew, so that in the
mouth of the people He was depreciatingly called
yric;n.Ahaa.1 This is the most probable, nevertheless the
account remains a riddle. From the statement con-
cerning the sevenfold spirit which rests upon the
second David, are taken the seven spirits (e[pta>
pneu<mata) of the Revelation (i. 4), which appear
(iv. 5) as seven torches before God's throne, and as
the seven eyes of the Lamb (v. 6). The prediction
concerning the destruction of the fwArA, (Isa. xi. 4b) is
brought by Paul into the more special connection of
redemptive history (2 Thess. ii. 8), and the figure of
the staff of his mouth is embodied in vision (Rev. i. 16).
The designation of Christ as the true and faithful
witness (Rev. i. 5, iii. 14) is connected with Isa. xi. 5b;
while, on the other hand, the designation o[ ]Amh<n
(Rev. iii. 14) may be compared with NmexA yhelox< (Isa.
lxv. 16), and is occasioned through the Lord's ordinary
formula of assertion, a]mh>n le<gw u[mi?n (NUklA xnAymexA NmexA).
But the name h[ r[i<za Daui<d, which is given Him in
Rev. v. 5, xxii. 16, is the same as ywyi wr,wo (Isa.
xi. 10).
§ 32. The Son of God in Ps. ii.
As Isaiah, praying for help, looks on high to
Immanuel (Isa. viii. 8), in whom Yahweh will be the
support of His people, he immediately receives the
assurance that he is heard; and as he combines with
1 He is also called rcn in Bereshith, rabba. One of the alleged
four apostles also has the same designation in the Talmud.
Although the Talmudists mention a number of Palestinian places,
yet they observe a deep silence with regard to Nazareth.
SON OF GOD IN SECOND PSALM. 153
Asshur all the peoples who storm against God's people,
he pronounces upon them the judgment of being
crushed and broken in pieces, and summons all the
ends of the earth to take warning from this judgment.
The first group of verses (1-5) of the anonymous second
Psalm contains much the same. The poet, who lives
in a time when the throne of David is tottering,
is transported for the comfort of himself and his
contemporaries into the future, where all the nations
of the world shall rebel against Yahweh and His
Christ (OHywm;), but without being able to accomplish
anything against God's immovable order. Yahweh's
address in His anger forms the beginning of the second
group of verses (6-9), and without introduction, as
in a drama, there follows immediately the address of
His Christ. The address of Yahweh begins with ynixEva,
as in Isa. vii. 14 with MT,xav;. The sentence which
continues with "and," since the address storms, is
swallowed up in the contrast: "[Ye rebel against me],
and yet [in the perfection of my power] I have set my
king upon Zion my holy mountain"—the rebellion
against the divine king is therefore rebellion against
God Himself. And now follows the address of the
king, which is designed to proclaim with what words
of highest honour and world-embracing power Yahweh
has chosen and promoted him: "I will make pro-
clamation concerning a decree [it designedly sounds
so circumstantial and official]: Yahweh said to me:
Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask
of me, and I will give thee nations for thy inheritance,
154 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
and the ends of the earth for thy possession. Thou
shalt break them in pieces [the Septuagint, Rev.
xii. 5, xix. 15, without any essential difference in
meaning: feed] with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash
them in pieces as a potter's vessel." The expression
to-day (MOy.h) is certainly not intended of the day of
birth into this earthly existence; for that a father
should say concerning his son on the day of his birth
that he begat him on the same day, is meaningless. It
is true that by j~yTik;li a supersensuous power exalted
above the begetting of the father and the bearing of
the mother is intended; but the expression sounds
human, and is therefore opposed to the meaning which,
regarded with reference to the relation of father and
son, is not true to nature, and therefore would be
contrary to nature. There is therefore intended a
begetting, not in the earthly, but in the royal existence,
as the term "to-day" is understood by Paul (Acts
xiii. 33, cf. Rom. i. 4), since it refers to the dies regalis
of the resurrection; for the resurrection of Jesus, the
Christ, was a transporting from the life in the form of
a servant to the royal life of glorification and exaltation
at the right hand of the Father. The Old Testament
does not indeed distinguish between the birth in the
earthly and the birth in the heavenly existence. But
to a certain extent Isaiah makes the distinction, since
he first celebrates the birth of the royal child (ix. 5 f.),
and later his royal consecration (cf. Acts x. 33) and
royal rule.
The third and last group of verses of the psalm
SON OF GOD IN SECOND PSALM. 155
infers from that which the spirit of prophecy brought
before the poet and seer, earnest warnings for the
rulers of the earth (vers. 10-12): "And now kings,
receive understanding, be admonished, rulers of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice [because
of the happiness of being permitted to be the servant
of such a God] with trembling [in order not to fall
into irreverence, security, and arrogance]. Kiss the
son, lest he [namely, Yahweh, the Father of this son]
be angry and ye perish; for His anger easily burns,—
blessed are those who hide in Him."
The following considerations are in favour of the
translation of rba-Uqw.;na, "kiss the son:" (1) that this
designation of the anointed is fittingly introduced,
after Yahweh has called him yniB;; (2) that the omis-
sion of the article need not surprise us. The word is
used, like lbeTe, MOhT;, NOyl;f,, as a proper name. It is an
Aramaism, such as poetry is fond of (cf. the Aramaism
"I love thee," with which Ps. xviii. begins); here
it is probable, because the expression NP, Nbe Uqw>;na would
not be euphonious; (3) "kissing" as an expression
of allegiance corresponds to an ancient custom, not the
kissing of the mouth, but the kissing of the feet, as
frequently in the Assyrian inscriptions, and on the
part of the woman (Luke vii. 38). Only one thing
could seem to be adduced against the expression "kiss
the son:" not one of the ancient Greek, Latin, or
Syrian translators found this meaning in the words.
Even Aquila, Symmachus, Jerome, who recognise the
meaning of adoration as implied in Uqw.;na, translate rb
156 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
as an adverb: "Kiss with pure feeling" (Jerome:
adorate pure). But all of the attempts to translate rb
differently than in the sense of son do not weigh, for
they are all contrary to the use of the language. It is
to be urged against Hitzig and Hupfeld, who translate
Uqw.;na, "submit yourselves" (the former: "to duty;"
the latter: "sincerely"), that perhaps the Kal of the
verb can signify: "Submit yourselves" (cf. Gen.
xli. 40); but it is impossible that the Piel should have
this signification. Hence Luther's translation, "Kiss
the son," is justified irrefutably. This second psalm
belongs to the most important Christological documents.
It is not only because here the ideal king of the final
period is called HaywimA, also the name of the Messiah
as God's Son secures here, compared with the general
character of the promise (2 Sam. vii.), individual
definiteness. The Midrash to the psalm places Ps.
ii. 7 and Dan. vii. 13 in reciprocal relations. The
self-designations of the Lord with ui[o>j tou? qeou? and
ui[o>j tou? a]nqrw<pou, stand in undeniable relation to
these Old Testament passages, although they do not
have their roots in it, and in the conception which they
present are not to be limited by them.
§ 33. The Messianic Elements in the Addresses of
Isa. xiv. 24–xxxix.
We should be in error if we regarded the three
great Messianic prophecies in chaps. vii.-xii. as a
continuation which belongs to the time of Ahaz, so
ISAIAH XIV. 24-XXXIX. 157
that all three have the unhappy government of Ahaz
as a dark foil; and it would be a false conclusion if
we were to infer from this that Messianic prophecy
is so bound to the law of contrast, that for this reason
during the better reign of Hezekiah it entirely or
almost entirely ceased.
The first Messianic image is from the time of Ahaz,
before help was given by Tiglath-Pileser; the second,
likewise from the time of Ahaz, shortly before the
chastisement of Ephraim (734 B.C.) and of Damascus
(732 B.C.); but the third, as appears from x. 9-11, is
from the time after the fall of Samaria (722 B.C.), and
hence from the beginning of the time of Hezekiah-
later than his sixth year, which, according to Biblical
chronology, was the year of the fall of Samaria.
Messianic prophecy, therefore, describes in the time
from Ahaz to Hezekiah its ecliptic, and reaches its
high-noon under Hezekiah, since at that time the
rising of the kingdom of the Messiah is contrasted
with the setting of the world-empire. If we remem-
ber this, we shall not seek after an explanation of the
fact, that after chap. xi. no Messianic image meets us
which corresponds to the three in greatness; and, on
the other hand, in the case of those passages whose
Messianic meaning is doubtful, we shall not deny a
Messianic sense, under the influence of a preconceived
false opinion.
When, in the prediction against Philistia (Isa. xiv.
29), it is said, that out of the root of the serpent a
basilisk shall go forth, and that the fruit of this shall
158 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
be a flying dragon, we may consider it as possible that
the FpeOfm; JrAWA is an image of the Messiah as a puni-
tive power who is to be feared by Philistia (cf. Isa.
xi. 14).
The probability of a Messianic meaning is still
Greater with regard to the foundation-stone in Zion
(Isa. xxviii. 16). In the passage xxviii., xxix.-xxxii.,
we get a deep view into the time of Hezekiah, which
seeks to restore what the time of Ahaz has destroyed.
But the politics is now still more worldly than theo-
cratic. Ahaz leaned upon Asshur against Syria and
Ephraim, and now they seek to shake off the yoke of
Asshur with the help of Egypt. Isaiah follows this
projected alliance from the time that it is hatched,
through all the stages of its development, with his
annihilating criticism. In chap. xxviii., which is from
the time before the fall of Samaria, he prophesies
that the deceptive hope will be brought to shame, and
places (ver. 16) in contrast with the fleshly ground
of confidence a better one: "For therefore, saith the
Almighty Yahweh: Behold, I am He who lays in
Zion a stone, a stone of preservation, a precious corner-
stone of well-founded foundation—the believer does
not flee," that is, has in this stone foundation firmness
and support. This stone is not Zion, for it is laid in
Zion, and not Yahweh, since He has laid it, but the
Davidic kingdom, enduring for ever, according to the
promise; but not as a foundation in itself, for an irre-
concilable abstraction cannot comfort and encourage;
hence it is connected, in thought, with the person of a
ISAIAH XIV. 24-XXXIX. 159
possessor, but not of the possessor at that time; for
Hezekiah, although he was a pious king, was also
to blame for the danger of destruction which was
threatened by Asshur; but it is connected, in thought,
with a promised possessor,—with a divine Retreat and
Deliverer whom the Lord will present to His people.
This prophecy is therefore a fourth image of the
Messiah; an emblematical image, which is to be
understood according to the three direct personal ones,
and is thus understood in Rom. ix. 33; 1 Pet. ii. 6 f.
On the contrary, it is not the Messiah who is
intended in Isa. xxxii. 1: "Behold, according to
righteousness the king (j`l,m,, without the article) shall
rule, and the commanders, according to justice shall
they command." Likewise xxxiii. 17: "The king
(j`l,m,) in his beauty thine eyes shall behold; shall see
a free land far away." The Messiah is the king who
concludes the history of Israel; but in both these
passages a king who continues the history is intended.
The standpoint of—the prophet is different here from
what it is in xi. 1. There he sees, immediately after
the catastrophe of Asshur, the glory of the Messianic
kingdom arise; but here he speaks from the perception,
which he has secured meanwhile, that the catastrophe
of Asshur which is given him to predict will indeed
be a wonderful revenge and rescue, but yet not the
annihilation of Asshur, and not at all the annihilation
of the world-empire.
But of the same rank with the three, or four, images
of the Messiah, since it is not less of a New Testament
160 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
character, is the future image which forms the con-
clusion of the oracle concerning Egypt (Isa. xix.), the
second half of which we are not compelled by any
sufficient or stringent reasons to regard as the con-
tinuation of the first Isaianic by a later prophet. That
which is said in Isa. xix. 24 f. sounds like Paul. Old
Testament prophecy here does its utmost; for it is not
an incorporation of the heathen who are converted
among the people of God which is here hoped for, but
a brotherly bond between Israel and the nations upon
the basis of equal rights. "In that day Israel shall
be a third part with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in
the midst of the earth, since Yahweh blesses it, say-
ing: Blessed art thou, my people Egypt, and thou, the
work of my hands, Asshur, and thou, mine heir Israel."
In the truly humane words of Solomon (1 Kings viii.
43), Israel still remains, in distinction from the other
peoples, God's people; but here the name of God's
people has lost its exclusiveness, and the spirit of
revelation places in prospect before the religion of
revelation the future abolition of national exclusive-
ness.
§ 34. The Elements of Progress in Micah's Messianic
Proclamation.
Micah began his ministry under Jotham. His book
begins with the threatening of Samaria and Jerusalem.
It is a brief compilation, composed before 722 B.C., of
that which he preached from the time of Jotham until
ISAIAH XIV. 24–XXXIX. 161
about the sixth year of Hezekiah (cf. Jer. xxvi. 18 f.).
If we pass by the doubtful addresses of Isaiah, his
view of the distant future reaches farther than Isaiah's.
The latter prophesies (Isa. xxxix. 5 ff.) that the riches
and the members of the house of David, in the time
after Hezekiah, will migrate to Babylon, and will be
given into the hand of the king of Babylon. He fore-
sees, therefore, the future world-dominion of Babylon,
and the Babylonian exile, beginning with the house of
the king. Micah, however, not only prophesies the
Babylonian exile, but also the deliverance from it
(iv. 10): "Writhe and cast forth [namely, the burden
of the body, with which the burden of sorrow is com-
pared; therefore: give thyself up to thy pain, and let
it have free course], for at length thou must go out
from the fortified city, and encamp upon the field and
come to Babylon—there thou shalt be rescued, there
Yahweh will redeem thee from the hand of thine
enemies."1
We remark, in opposition to those who think that
these prophecies of both prophets, although they
mutually confirm each other, appear to go too far, and
are improbable, that the progress of Micah beyond
Isaiah is evident in other respects; for while Isaiah
(xi. 1) sees the time of Messianic glory and peace
dawn immediately after the crash of Asshur, in view
of the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem, it dawns in
Micah immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem
1 "The reading e]k Babulw?noj of the Septuagint, in iv. 8, is a
gloss which has crept in from this passage.
162 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
through the world-power, for he threatens (iii. 12):
"Therefore on your account Zion shall be thrown down
to a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
and the mountain of the temple wooded heights;" and
thus, after the threatening has reached its utmost depth
and has exhausted itself, it is transformed, since it is
no longer kept back by anything, into promise (iv. 1):
"And it shall come to pass at the end of the days:
that the mountain of Yahweh shall be lifted up to the
summit of the mountains and raised above the hills,
and peoples shall stream unto it." It is this prophecy
which Isaiah, ii. 1-4, prefixes, as a derived text, to
his threatening address concerning the overthrow of
worldly glory, which perhaps also in Micah, as the
abrupt beginning (ver. 5) seems to indicate, is taken
from the prophecy of an older prophet—perhaps Joel
—concerning the final elevation of the mountain of
the house of Yahweh, concerning the migration of the
peoples desiring salvation to it, and concerning the
transformation of the murderous implements of war
into the peaceful implements of agriculture; for the
same reason in Micah and Isaiah: "for from Zion
shall go forth a torah (divine revelation), and a word of
Yahweh from Jerusalem"—in the history of fulfilment,
"the gospel of peace" (Eph. vi. 15). The final period,
into which the prophet further sees, is the time of
the bringing of the diaspora of Israel (Micah iv. 6), the
completion of the dominion of Yahweh (ver. 7), the
restoration of the Davidic kingdom (ver. 8), the rescue
from the Babylon whither the people, powerless against
ISAIAH XIV. 24-XXXIX. 163
its enemies, shall be driven (ver. 9 f.), the visitation of
punishment on the hardened mass of the peoples who
storm the restored Zion (vers. 11-13), ,—the prophet
arranges these events of the final period, not according
to the chronology, but according to his connection of
thought, which is determined through the ethical pur-
pose,—by hTAfa, which is as remarkably frequent in
Micah as in Hosea, he fixes points partly of the farther,
partly of the nearer future. The word hTAfa (ver. 14)
is in the same category with hTAfa (ver. 9)—it fixes a
point of the nearer future, a part of the tribulations
preceding the salvation and the glory: "Now gather
thyself together, daughter of the warlike host [that is,
concentrate thyself for mutual counsel, comfort, pro-
tection, otherwise so fond of war and courageous in
battle]: he [Asshur] threatens us with siege, they
smite with the stick upon the cheek of the ruler of
Israel." Micah prophesies in the time of Assyrian
judgment. According to Isa. x. 24, xxx. 31, smiting
with the stick seems to be characteristic of the
behaviour of Asshur. The king whom they smite
upon the cheek is the opposite of the "king in his
beauty," that is, the One who has passed away beyond
dishonourable treatment (Isa. xxxiii. 17). The destiny
which immediately impends over Israel, is to be shame-
fully, and without rescue, surrendered to the world-
empire.
But the prophet now contrasts with this picture of
humiliation the picture of exaltation, which the second
David, proceeding from Bethlehem, brings to his
164 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
people: "And thou Bethlehem Ephratah, too small to
be reckoned among the districts of Judah,1 out of thee
shall he go forth to me who shall be ruler over
Israel; and his goings forth are from antiquity, from
the days of the primitive time." Why from Beth-
lehem? There is the house of David's family, from
which the divine election of grace brought him forth
(1 Sam. xvi. 1), and made out of the shepherd of sheep
a shepherd of Israel. If the divine ruler is born
there, and not in the royal city Jerusalem, the Davidic
royal house is reduced to its root, and from it renews
its youth (Isa. xi. 1, 10).
"The coming to Babylon" (Micah iv. 10) involves in
itself, indeed, a violent rupture of the Davidic chain of
rulers. But God's power and grace restore the "ancient
rule" (Micah iv. 8), and in a king whose origin, on
the one hand, is a lowly and unnoticeable one, but on
the other hand dates back to the hoary antiquity (cf.
on the expression Micah vii. 14, 20); for he whose
cradle would be insignificant Bethlehem is the king
at whom the divine decree of the promise aimed, ever
since it expressed the royal dominion of the people of
1 The citation (Matt. ii. 5) forsakes the Septuagint, which reads
htArAp;x,, and ypel;xaB; like the traditional text, and translates freely:
"And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah (hdAUhy; Cr,x, MH,l, tyBe),
art by no means the smallest among the princes (yPelu.xaB;) of
Judah"—for the smallness of Bethlehem and the greatness of
its mission are contrasted. It is not improbable that the evan-
gelist in this passage follows an old Targum. The originality of
the two tvyhl is assured through the double tou? ei#nai of the
Septuagint.
ISAIAH XIV. 24—XXXIX. 165
Abraham. From the fact that the future One shall
come from Bethlehem a retrospective conclusion is
drawn: "Therefore he will then give them up, until
the time that she that travaileth hath brought forth,
and the remnant of his brethren together (lfa, with, as
in Gen. xxxii. 12 and elsewhere) with the children of
Israel." The surrender, namely, into the hands of the
world-power (NtaNA, as in 1 Kings xiv. 16) will continue
until the time when one that travails, namely, the
mother of the Messiah, seen by God (hdAleOy, as name-
less as Isaiah's hmAl;fahA), shall have brought forth.
First with his birth comes the redemption, the return
of the exiles of both kingdoms, the time of judgment
of the survivors of his brother, that is, of the Judaean
countrymen of the king (rt,y,, as Zeph. ii. 9; cf. tyrixEw;,
ii. 12), and of those belonging to them from the
brother kingdom of Israel. Isaiah also prophesies in
chap. xi., in connection with the parousia of the
Messiah, the bringing back of the exiles, and the
restoration of the unity of the people; but here in
Micah the connection is more closely determined.
The prophet then says what the king out of Beth-
lehem will do, and he who has a nameless one as
mother, and of whose father there is no mention (vers.
3-5): "And he shall approach and feed in the power
of Yahweh, in the exaltation of the name of Yahweh,
and they shall remain dwelling [in possession of their
dwelling-places], for from henceforth he stands as a
great one there, even unto the ends of the earth [from
henceforth, since he has taken the shepherd's staff, that
166 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
is, the royal sceptre, all the world, willingly or un-
willingly, shall bow before his greatness]. And this
one shall be peace (cf. Eph. ii. 14: "this is our
peace"),—Asshur when it shall press into our land
and tread our palaces, we will engage against it seven
shepherds and eight princes of men. And they feed
the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of
Nimrod at its entrances [which are guarded with
fortifications], and he secures deliverance from Asshur,
in case it presses in, and in case it treads our
boundary."
The seven shepherds and eight princes of men,
without our being able to solve this peculiar problem
further, are his weapons surrounding him like a corona.
The image of the Messiah is kept in a martial form,
and the thought that the King Messiah protects His
people from all hostile powers, gives it its historical
form. Although in Micah iv. 10 Zion and Babylon
already appear contrasted as at opposite poles, he
nevertheless calls the world-empire, as Isaiah, by the
historical name at that time, Asshur (Nimrod's
country). But while Isaiah beholds the Messiah
together with the Assyrian oppressions, and the
beginning of his kingdom with the destruction of
Asshur, for the more extended view of Micah the
parousia of the Messiah is connected with the bringing
again from both exiles, as is also to be seen from ii.
12 f.: "Gather, yea I will gather thee, entirely,
Jacob; collect, yea I will collect the remnant of
Israel, together I will make them like a flock of lambs
ISAIAH XIV. 24-XXXIX. 167
in firm custody, a herd in the midst of their fit
pasture, they [namely, fold and pasture] shall roar on
account of men. The dasher in pieces goes before
them, they break through and go away [break]
through the gate [of the hostile cities, which they held
captive] and go out, and their king goes before them,
and Yahweh at their head." All Jacob is the Israel
of both kingdoms. The breaker through (CrePoha),
their king, is the Messiah, the "One Head" in Hosea
ii. 2, in which also likewise, as here in Micah, King
and Yahweh stand together. Both these march before
the reunited people, Yahweh and His Christ. The
blending of both, as is expressed in the Isaianic names
of the Messiah, lxeUnmA.fi, and rOBGi lxe, remains unexpressed.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROPHECY FROM THE TIME OF HEZEKIAH UNTIL THE
CATASTROPHE.
§ 35. The Domain of Nahum's and Zephaniah's Vision.
ALTHOUGH Isaiah and Micah foresaw in Babylon
the heiress of the Assyrian world-power, never-
theless they are the prophets of the Assyrian period of
judgment. First Nahum and Zephaniah bring the
Assyrian period to a conclusion. Nahum, from Assyrian
Elkosh,l hence one of the Assyrian exiles, prophesies, as
is apparent from i. 9b, 14, after the miraculous rescue
of Jerusalem, whose destruction was threatened by
Assyria (701 B.C.), and before Sennacherib's assassina-
tion in the temple of Nisroch (681 B.C.), hence toward
the end of the government of this king. He predicts
the fall of Nineveh (about 607 B.C.), and beholds in this
the fall of the world-empire simply, and afterwards the
restoration of the unity and glory of entire Israel.
The contents of the work of Zephaniah, who entered
1 There was a Syrian poet, Israel of Elkosh, who died 793
(Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, xxxi. 65).
The place lies on the east bank of the Tigris north of Mosul.
The above reference is incorrect.—C.
168
VISIONS OF NAHUM AND ZEPHANIAH. 169
upon his ministry after the beginning of the purifica-
tion of the worship of Josiah, probably after his
eighteenth year, is varied. He also predicts the judg-
ment upon Nineveh, the metropolis of the world-
empire at that time, but at the same time the judgment
upon Judah and the surrounding peoples. He does
not yet name the Chaldeans as instruments of punish-
ment; but it is the Chaldean period of judgment
which he describes as dies irae dies illa. All which
the prophet has previously said concerning the night
of judgment and the light of salvation, and the transi-
tion from night to light, is compressed in his work to
a mosaic picture. He, as well as Nahum, makes no
mention of the person of the Messiah; but in the
prophecy of the triumph of salvation, and the new
period which dawns for Israel and the nations of the
world, he emulates his predecessors. It is a fearful
picture of the condition of morals in Jerusalem which
he unrolls, because of which he threatens, and in view
of the day of wrath near at hand calls to repentance.
But even in the round of judgments upon the peoples
(chap. ii.), the promise demands a place which con-
cerns the tyrixew;, the remnant (Zeph. ii. 7, 9) who
are preserved in the midst of judgment. A new
Israel goes forth from this melting of the fire of wrath,
and at the same time the conversion of the peoples to
the God of Israel, who has secured for Himself uni-
versal recognition (Zeph. ii. 11): "Terrible is [shows
Himself] Yahweh over them [Moab and Bene-Ammon,
whom the prophet had just threatened, and from whom
170 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
his range of view was in general extended to the
heathen]; for He has caused all the gods of the earth
to disappear [properly, He has made them consumptive],
and each shall pray to Him from his place, all the
islands of the heathen."
In chap. iii. rebuke and threatening are renewed,
but only in order that the intensity of the promise
may break through all the more strongly. Penal
justice is followed by mercy, for which it prepares the
way. When the cup of wrath is drained, love is
poured forth. This turning-point is fixed by zxA iii. 9:
"For then [after judgment has been visited on the
sinful peoples, and the no less sinful people whose
capital is Jerusalem] I will turn to the nations a pure
lip [that is, I will grant to those who previously called
on the idols, and who spoke as idolaters, a purified,
consecrated manner of speech], that they may all call
upon the name of Yahweh, since they serve Him with
one consent." As rzArA (emaciavit), ii. 11, said con-
cerning the heathen gods, is otherwise an exceptional
figure of speech of Zephaniah, so here in iii. 9 (mutabo
populis labium purum) the future conversion of the
heathen is expressed in a significant way which is
peculiar to him. On the other hand, the prophecy
concerning the return of the diaspora of Israel with
the friendly help of the nations is as follows (Zeph.
iii. 10): "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia they
bring my worshippers, the daughter [totality] of my
dispersed, as my offering," exactly as if the prophet,
who is pleased with such mosaic style, had blended
FAITH'S OBJECT IN HABAKKUK. 171
in a miniature that which is prophesied in Isa.
lxvi. 18-20 with the addition of Isa. xviii. 1.
In the description of Israel who are brought back
judicially purified, he emphasizes the humility on
account of which the congregation again prospers.
Israel is blended together in a ldAvA ynifA Mfa, a spiritually
poor people, and brought down from a false height,
who can trust and rejoice in the name of Yahweh;
for, as ver. 15 calls to this new true Israel, "Yahweh
hath removed far away thy judgments, hath cleared
away thine enemies the King of Israel, Yahweh, is
in the midst of thee, thou hast further to fear no mis-
fortune." And then he describes (ver. 17) the loving
relation of Yahweh to this congregation of the future
in bold anthropomorphisms which remind us of the
mystic erotic manner of Hosea: "Yahweh thy God
is in the midst of thee as a helpful hero, He has
blissful joy in thee, shall be dumb in His love [since
it is unspeakable], shall rejoice over thee with shout-
ing." Yahweh appears here to have become like a
man. Beside the King of Israel presented in such a
human way, condescending in such lowliness to men,
there is neither room for, nor need of a human king.
§ 36. Habakkuk's Solution of Faith, and Faith's Object.
Among the Old Testament loci illustres regarding
faith are two in Isaiah (vii. 9, Luther: glaubet ihr
nicht, so bleibet ihr nicht; and xxviii. 16, Luther: wer
glaubt, der feucht nicht). The latter passage belongs
172 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
to the three, which in the New Testament are each
cited three times: Gen. xv. 6; Isa. xxviii. 16; Hab.
ii. 4. Habakkuk is one of the prophets who, as is
said in 2 Kings xxi. 10-15, xxiii. 26 f., xxiv. 2-4,
announces the judgment as henceforth unavoidable.
His lamentation concerning the dominant corruption
(Hab. i. 2-4) agrees with the fearful characteriza-
tion of Manasseh and afterwards of Jehoiakim;
and his connection with the Psalms, especially those
of Asaph (proved in my Commentary, 1843), is to be
explained by 2 Chron. xxix. 30. He prophesies the
invasion of the Chaldeans and the afflictions which
follow in their train, hence before the battle of
Carchemish in the fourth year of Jehoiachin (606 B.C.),
which decided the supremacy of the Chaldeans in
Anterior Asia.
The fundamental thoughts of this book are as
follows:—(1) There are two kingdoms in conflict: the
kingdom of this world, whose ruler is the king of
Chaldea, and the kingdom of God, whose ruler is God's
Anointed; (2) the interference of Yahweh helps God's
Anointed to the victory; (3) this completion of the
work of God in the course of the world's history,
when the time previously determined has come, is
longed for by the believers; (4) it is faith which, in
this conflict of the world against the kingdom of God,
escapes the danger of destruction, and which in the
midst of death participates in life. It is a theodicy,
whose solution of the riddle of the world's history
consists in this, that, although God makes use of the
FAITH'S OBJECT IN HABAKKUK. 173
wicked for the punishment of the wicked, nevertheless
the evil, which is serviceable to Him, finally falls
under His judgments, and the good triumphs. These
fundamental thoughts are expressed in the form of a
dialogue with God. Upon the prophet's question and
complaint concerning the secret sinful action (Hab.
i. 2-4), follows the answer of God announcing judg-
ment through the Chaldeans (Hab. i. 5-11); and upon
the prophet's question and complaint concerning the
cruel dealings of the Chaldeans (Hab. i. 12-17), follows
the answer of God, announcing judgment upon the
Chaldeans (Hab. ii.). The prophet in suspense waits
with inward watchfulness to see what answer he
shall receive, and what answer he shall give to His
question, why the All Holy One can witness so quietly
the proud, godless behaviour of the enemy. The
answer begins with the command to write it, and
exhibit it, in writing which can be easily read (Hab.
ii. 2), and the motive of this command is (ver. 3):
"for the beholding [that which is beheld] is kept back
until the point of time [future fulfilment], and pants
for the end [that is, strives for the expiration of the
time determined until the consummation 1], and shall
not deceive; if it delays, wait for it, for it will come,
yea, it will come, it will not stay away." The
1 In my commentary, Der Prophet Habakkuk, ausgelegt von
Franz Delitzsch, Leipzig 1843, the reasons for the translation:
"It discourses of the end "seemed to me to predominate—one
can be in doubt, but why then this formal expression? I now
prefer anhelat ad finem, as I also translate Ps. xii. 6: "I will
put him in safety, who pants [yearns] for it."
174 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Septuagint translates: e]a>n u[sterh<s^ u[po<meinon au]to>n,
o!ti e]rxo<menoj h!cei kai> ou] mh> xroni<s^, and therefore
refers Ol and that which follows, not to that which is
beheld,—the redemption from the servitude through
the world-power,—but to One who is given to be
beheld—the Redeemer from the world-power. Here
it remains questionable whether the Lord or His
Anointed is intended. But the Epistle to the
Hebrews, which freely adopts the passage without
citing it, and transforms the e]rxo<menoj of the Sep-
tuagint, corresponding to the intensive infinitive xBo
into o[ e]rxo<menoj, doubtless thinks of Christ appearing
as judge in glory.
There begins with ver. 4 that which God gives the
prophet to behold, the judgment on the lords of the
world: "Behold, puffed up, not upright is his soul in
him: and the righteous, through his faith shall he live,"
or after another mode of accentuation—Tiphcha with
Ot;nAUmx<B,:—"And the righteous through his faith—
he shall live." We may accentuate this way or that,
the meaning is always, that the righteous in the midst
of judgment escapes death and remains preserved by
means of his own hnAUmx< as righteous, that is, of the
confidence which holds fast on God and His word, by
means of the confidence which builds firmly on the
promise of God in spite of the contradictory present,
by means of the faithfulness which hangs fast on him,
with one word: of the faith which is called hnAUmx<,
firmitas as firma fiducia; faith is therefore indicated
as the fundamental characteristic which makes the
FAITH'S OBJECT IN HABAKKUK. 175
righteous righteous, and by means of which he shall
participate in life.
In Hab. ii. 6 ff. a woe (yOh), in five strophes, put
in the mouth of the mistreated people, announces to
the world conqueror his fall. The prophet means
according to i. 6, the Chaldeans, but as representatives
of the tyrannical idolatrous world-power which works
in vain against the decree of God, "for [as is said,
Hab. ii. 14] the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters that cover the
sea."
There follows in chap. iii. upon the two parts,
consisting of a dialogue, a a psalm written in
the sublimest style,—as Judg. v. and Ps. lxviii.,—
consisting of petitions and contemplations, which are
the lyrical echo of the first and second divine answer.
Here the prophet praises the appearing of Yahweh in
judicial glory, and remembers also His Anointed, not as
a mediator, however, but as an object of the redemption
which is to be accomplished in judgment (ver. 13):
"Thou wentest forth to the help of Thy people, to the
help of Thine Anointed" (Septuagint: tou? sw?sai to>n
xristo<n sou; according to another reading: tou>j xris-
tou<j son). It is indeed questionable whether j~H,ywim;-tx,
should not rather be translated "with Thine Anointed"
(Aquila, Quinta: su>n xrist& sou). Jerome considers
this translation Christian, and the other Judaizing.
But granted that the Messiah is intended in an
eschatological sense, an appeal for the accusative
construction can be made with equal propriety to
176 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
Zech. ix. 9 (where the Messiah is called fwaOn: one
who has become helpful], as for the prepositional to
Ps. cx. 5 (the Almighty at thy right hand). It is
really probable that the prophet means by the divinely-
anointed One, not the king of his time, but of the
final period, for he continues, 13b: "Thou breakest in
pieces the head of the house of the wicked",—the
divinely-anointed One is the antithesis of the world-
ruler, Christ and Antichrist are contrasted.
§ 37. Mediately Messianic Elements in Jeremiah's
Announcement, until the carrying away of Jehoiachin.
Jeremiah, who was called, as he himself relates, in
the thirteenth year of Josiah, is a contemporary of
Zephaniah and Habakkuk, preceding both these in the
time when he was called. The history of his call
(Jer. i.) is in all directions a prognostic of his official
doing and suffering. His calling is directed rather to
tearing down than to building up. In this sad office
one suffering after another as a confessor befalls him;
but notwithstanding the depth and tenderness of his
susceptibility, strong in God, he bids defiance to all
attacks. In his first address (Jer. ii.-iii. 5) hTAfame (Jer.
iii. 4) indicates the religious transformation which
had already begun after the twelfth year of Josiah
(2 Chron. xxxiv. 3); and in the second (Jer. 6-vi.),
vi. 20 presupposes the purification of worship which
was accomplished in the eighteenth year of Josiah.
But the prophet sees behind the glittering restoration
MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN JEREMIAH. 177
the ever dominant corruption of morals, and comforts
himself with the hope of a final, true, and general
conversion, embracing the Israel of both kingdoms,
since he lays in the mouth of those who are convert-
ing the prayer of confession, entreating for mercy
(Jer. iii. 22 f.), as an answer to the divine call to
repentance. It can neither be proved, nor is it con-
ceivable, that Jeremiah could have been opposed to
the restoration of the worship of Yahweh and the
establishment of the sacrificial service at the temple
of Jerusalem, which was designed to prevent idolatrous
degeneration; for as even private worship as a matter
of necessity creates forms of worship, the divine
worship of a congregation cannot exist at all without
express forms of worship. But the prophetic calling
was not especially directed to teaching and shielding
these forms of worship, but to that which was
essentially religious, with which they must be filled
in order not to sink down to deceitful performances,
to dead works. The first discourses of Jeremiah show
that the people of his time, who boasted that they
had the temple, the central seat of Yahweh, in the
midst of them (Jer. vii. 4), were sunken in vices, and
were always still idolatrous, were so corrupt beyond
improvement, that he was not to pray for them. The
reformation of Josiah, whose lever was Deuteronomy,
restored the legal worship, but as we also see from
Zephaniah, without being able to raise the people,
who were deeply corrupted in their morals in all
classes, including the priests and prophets. We must
178 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
take this into account in order to understand that
Jeremiah could have no pleasure in the sacrificial
service (Jer. vi. 20) which had again come into vogue,
and in order not to misunderstand so bold an expres-
sion as vii. 22 f.; in which his antipathy against the
self-deception connected with the opus operatum of
the burnt-offerings and sacrifices went so far that it
seems as if he did not recognise a sacrificial torah
resting upon divine revelation. The appearance is
emphasized, since he says (viii. 8): “How can you
say we are wise, and the torah of Yahweh is with
us? Truly, behold the deceptive styles of the scribes1
is active for deception." This sounds as if directed
against priestly writings, which gave self-made laws
the colour of divine sanction. But that the bringing of
sacrifices in vii. 22 f., viii. 8 is lowered to an arbitrary
institution, and even as displeasing to God, is dis-
proved through the fact that even Jeremiah is not
able to represent the divine service of the final period
without sacrifices (see xxxiii. 18; or if one doubts the
genuineness of this passage, see xvii. 26, xxxiii. 10),
1 Not for the purpose of deception, but to deception, in a
deceptive manner, as rq,W.,la is also used in iii. 23, xxvii. 15;
and hWAfA, without supplying an object, as a conception limited
to itself, 2 Sam. xii. 12; Prov. xiii. 6. Jerome renders it
correctly: vere mendacium operates est (or operatur) stiles mendax
scribarum. Jeremiah could not have had Deuteronomy in mind
on account of the conformity of his language to this book. Nor
can the legislation of the Priests' Code be intended, for could this
have secured such an undisputed public acceptance if so great a
prophet as Jeremiah had uttered his verdict against it?
MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN JEREMIAH. 179
,—sacrifices, indeed, which would not satisfy the letter
of the law, but which are the free symbolical expres-
sion of thankful worship.
All prophets represent, in opposition to the religion
of the letter of the law, the religion of the freedom of
the spirit: but none in such a cutting polemic, how-
ever, as Jeremiah. The most holy in the most holy
place of the temple is the ark of the covenant, the
earthly throne of God in the midst of His people; but
Jeremiah, hoping for a future renewal of Israel, which
shall be more thorough than the present (Jer. iii. 4),
prophesies, at the same time, that there shall be no
more an ark of the covenant (ver. 16): "In those
days—utterance of Yahweh,—they shall no longer
say, 'The ark of the covenant of Yahweh'; and no
thought shall arise concerning it, and ye shall no
more think of it, nor miss it, and it shall not be made
again." And why not? Because, as is said in ver.
17, all Jerusalem shall be the throne of Yahweh.
The prophet is transported into -this Messianic period
without his mentioning here the Messiah. But it is
of importance for the future fulfilment of Messianic
prophecy, that in the threatening of Jechoniah (Jer.
xxii. 24 ff.) the dominant line of Solomon is deprived
of the throne. For so ver. 30 seems to be intended,
since the threatening (ver. 24): "Although Coniah,
son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, wore the seal ring on
my right hand, nevertheless I would tear him off."
Its companion piece is found in a prophecy by Haggai
(ii. 23): "I will take thee and put thee on as a seal
180 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
ring," which pertains to Zerubbabel, to whom, accord-
ing to Luke iii. 31 (cf. Zech. xii. 12), the line of
Nathan belonged.1
§ 38. Immediate Messianic Elements in Jeremiah's
Prophecies under Zedekiah until after the Destruc-
tion of Jerusalem.
We meet the first immediate Messianic prophecy in
the woe upon the shepherds (Jer. xxiii. 1-8), which,
as we may conclude from ver. 3, was after the
deportation of King Jehoiachin to Babylon with ten
thousand of the kernel of the population. The
promise begins with the assurance that God will
awaken shepherds, according to His will, for His people
brought back from banishment, and then proceeds:
"Behold days come—utterance of Yahweh—that I
will raise up for David a righteous sprout (qyDica Hmac,
and he shall rule as a king, and shall deal prudently,
and shall exercise justice and righteousness in the
land; and this is his name with which they shall
name him [Oxr;q;yi likewise with the most universal
subject, like xrAq;yi.va (Isa. ix. 5), and with tiphcha
which excludes the connection, with which Yahweh
shall call him']: Yahweh our righteousness'" (hOAhy;
Unqed;ci). This prediction will be considered in con-
1 See my article, "Die zwiefache Genealogie des Alessias," No.
xii. der Talmudischen Studien, in the Lutherische Zeitschrift,
1860, pp. 460-465, and the admirable explanation by Eusebius of
w[j e]nmi<zeto (Luke iii. 23) in the passage quoted by Credner,
Einleitung, p. 68.
MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN JEREMIAH. 181
nection with its repetition in a later address. In
the tenth year of Zedekiah, as the Chaldeans again lay
before Jerusalem, and Jeremiah was held captive in
the guard-house, falls the purchase of a piece of land,
executed with ceremony, together with the rich pro-
mises, Jer. xxxii., which are continued during this
imprisonment in chap. xxxiii. If we leave xxxiii.
17 ff. out of account,—because this passage, which is
wanting in the Septuagint, is attacked as too cere-
monially legal for Jeremiah,—there remains as the key-
note of the consolations of these two addresses, that God
will turn the captivity of His people, and will restore
to them their land for a free possession and commerce.
In this connection there is repeated here, xxiii. 5 f.,
but with some changes (xxxiii. 14-16): "Behold,
days come,—utterances of Yahweh—that I will per-
form the good word which I have spoken to the house
of Israel, and concerning the house of Judah [intro-
ductory reference to the promise, xxiii. 5 f.]. In
that day and at the same time I will cause to sprout
for David a sprout of righteousness (hqAdAc; Hmac,), and
he shall exercise justice and righteousness in the
land. In the same days Judah shall be redeemed,
and shall inhabit Jerusalem safely; and this is the
name with which they shall call it (Jerusalem):
'Yahweh our righteousness.'" From chap. xxiii.
many interpreters draw the conclusion, because the
promise concerning the awakening of right shepherds
(ver. 4) precedes, that the sprout is intended col-
lectively of an aftergrowth of Davidic rulers who are
182 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
pleasing to God; but here in chap. xxxiii. this view
is without support, the promise is with reference to
one, and the progress from the Hmac, of Isa. iv. 2 to
the shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isa. xi. 1) makes it
unquestionable that the post-Isaianic prophet means
that the Messiah is the second David. Also a
welcome light falls upon the name of the Messiah,
Unqed;ci hOAhy; from the names lxeUGmAfi and rOBGi lxe which
the Messiah has in Isaiah. He is so called in
Isaiah, because the strong victorious God is in
represents Himself in him, makes Himself historically
present in him to His people; and here in Jeremiah he
is called Unqed;ci hOAhy;, because Yahweh, as our righteous-
ness, that is, as the one making righteous, redeeming
from the curse and bondage of sin, dwells in him, is
called like Jerusalem Unqed;ci hOAhy;, because now Yahweh,
as the one making righteous, forgiving sins (Isa„ xxxiii.
24), and renewing morally, has his dwelling in her.
The Messiah is called thus as the personal, and
Jerusalem as the local revelation of the God1 who
1 The Septuagint translates: kai> tou?to to> o!noma au]tou? o{ kale<sei
au]to>n o[ ku<rioj ]Iwsede<k, that is, qdAcAOhy; (see Workman, The Text
of Jeremiah, Edinburgh 1889, p. 239). The translation is absurd;
for we do not expect a real historical nomen proprium, but an
emblematical name. In the proper name Jehozadak: "Yahweh
has or retains justice," the expression is the acknowledgment,
mark, motto of the one that is to be named, and mediately of the
one who is named; on the contrary, Unqed;ci hOAhy; (whether we
translate it "Yahweh is our righteousness," or "Yahweh is our
God"), as the name of the Messiah and as the name of Jeru-
salem demands, an actual characteristic relation to that which the
name expresses.
MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN JEREMIAH. 183
transforms the unrighteous desiring righteousness into
the righteous.
A year later, on the second of Tammuz of the
eleventh year of Zedekiah, after a siege of eighteen
months, Jerusalem became a prey of the invading
Chaldeans. Jeremiah was compelled, in the midst of
the other exiles, and, like them, to wander in fetters
to Kama; but there, on account of a command of
Nebuchadnezzar which had reached him, his fortune
changed—the decision was left to him, he preferred to
remain in the land, and went to Gedaliah, to the son
of his friend, and the one who had rescued his life,
Ahikam (Jer, xxvi. 24), as is related in chap. xxxix.
more briefly, and in chap. xl. more extensively.
In chap. xl. 1 a word of Yahweh received by
Jeremiah, at that time in Rama, is introduced, but
none follows. It is certain that this word of Yahweh
is none other than the one introduced in xxx., xxxi.
with the same formula, consisting in comforting pre-
dictions, written down by the prophet at the special
command of God, among which the lamentation of
Rachel in Ramah because of the departure of her
children, and with reference to their future return,
indicates the place where they were received.
Beginning with hOAhy; rmaxA hKo, one comforting picture
follows another. We emphasize particularly, out of
this floral chain of promises, those of a Messianic, and
expressly of a New Testament, character.
1. The promise is made to the people (Jer. xxx.
21; cf. xxxiii. 20-22), that in the future they shall
184 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
have glorious princes, who are privileged to exercise
priestly functions, who are all overtopped by the one
second David (Jer. xxx. 9): "And they shall serve
Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will
awake for them." It is certainly questionable whether
also in ver. 21 the singular form of the word does not
refer to a second David: "And their prince shall
come from themselves [from the restored people], and
their ruler shall go forth from the midst of them [this
people, since foreign dominion has an end]; and I will
cause him to approach me, and to draw near to me [so
near, namely, as was previously permitted only to the
priests]: for who might otherwise dare to draw near
to me? Utterance of Yahweh." We see from this,
which is also significant for Pentateuch criticism, that
Jeremiah recognises the exclusive right of the priests
to the arrangements of the divine service in the inner
department of the sanctuary, but that he promises to
the Israelitish kings of the period of consummation a
participation in the priestly prerogatives. Since, how-
ever, this stands on a lower plain than the later
prophecy, that the future Zemach shall be king and
priest in one person, probably in the view of the
prophet ryDixa as well as xyWinA in the new legislation of
Ezekiel is to be distinguished from the other David
(MKAl;ma dviDA, 9b), and the expression is not meant exclu-
sively of one.1
2. An allegorical reference to the birth of the
1 Cf. Baudissin, Die Geschichte des Alttestamentlichen Priester-
thums, Leipzig 1889, p. 246.
MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN JEREMIAH. 185
Messiah appears to be contained in xxxi. 22: "How
long wilt thou go hither and thither, thou backsliding
daughter? For Yahweh hath created a new thing in
the land: the woman shall shield the man." By
means of yKi the reason is given for the interrogative
"how long," from an impulse given by God through a
new creation to conversion. The new creation, as is
shown in the choice of the sexual expressions hBAqen;
and rb,G,, consists in a transformation of the relation,
which was otherwise according to nature, of both sexes
to each other. With von Orelli we understand BbeOs
according to Deut. xxxii. 10, Ps. xxxii. 10, but not
so that hbAqen; indicates the naturally weak, helpless
congregation, to which the people is indebted for its
protection and preservation;1 but so that hbAqen;, like the
hmAl;fa of Isaiah and the hdAleOy of Micah, indicates the mother
of the Messiah: A woman shall be a protection, a wall,
a fortress of men, since she shall bear the defender of
Israel. Thus we understand the causal yKi better. In
Micah v. 2 the birth of the one who bears is con-
sidered the turning-point for the conversion of Israel
from the labyrinth of the exile.
3. Jeremiah is the prophet who combines the
future renewal of the covenant in the conception, and
1 If hbAqen; were to be referred to the congregation, it would be
preferable to explain: The woman shall go around the man;
that is, the congregation to whom Yahweh is married, and who
have become untrue to Him, shall surround Him, seeking to win
His love,—the yKi which gives the reason is adapted to this ex-
planation. But for what purpose is the investiture of this hope
(cf. Hos. ii. 9) in such an enigmatical paradox?
186 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the word hwAdAHE tyriB; (Jer. xxxi. 31-34, cf. the Sep-
tuagint, Heb. viii. 8, diaqh<kh kainh<): "Behold days
come—utterance of Yahweh—that I will make with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a
new covenant; not like the covenant which I made
with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the
hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt; which
covenant of mine they have broken, so that I was
displeased against them [yTil;faBA=yTil;HaBA, Zech. xi. 8, if
yTil;faGA should not be read as in xiv. 19, Septuagint;
Heb. viii. 9, ka]gw> h]me<lhsa au]tw?n] — utterance of
Yahweh. For this is the covenant which I will make
with the house of Israel after those days utterance
of Yahweh: I will give my torah within them, and
upon their hearts I will write it; and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. And they shall
not teach any more one his neighbour, and one his
brother, saying: Know Yahweh! For all together
they shall know me, from the least among them even
to the greatest: for I will forgive their guilt, and I
will no more remember their sins." The new covenant
is one held in equal honour with the Sinaitic, and
which stands on the same plane with it. It is not to
be a legal covenant, whose promises are conditioned
through the consideration of rules established by docu-
ments. The foundation of this new covenant will be
the forgiveness of sin as the foundation of the begin-
ning of a new life. In place of the external letters of
the law will be those written in the heart, from which
the will of God shall determine the conduct; and
MESSIANIC ELEMENTS IN JEREMIAH. 187
while heretofore the deeper living knowledge was the
possession of a few, especially of the prophets, it will
then be a common possession, since as Jeremiah had
immediately said before (xxxi. 28 f.), personality shall
be established in its rights, and shall be removed
beyond the consequences of family connection, in
which hitherto it had been bound,—a theme which
Ezekiel, proceeding from the same popular proverb
(chap. xviii.), discusses more fully. The style of these
comforting addresses (Jer. xxx., xxxi.) is in part quite
Deutero-Isaianic. We see in xxx. 8-10 the beginning
of the representation of Israel as hOAhy; db,f,: "And it
shall come to pass in that day—utterance of Yahweh
of hosts: I will break his yoke from off thy neck,
and will tear his bands in pieces, and it [my people]
shall not again be slaves (Udb;fEya) to strangers. And
they shall serve (Udb;fAv;) Yahweh their God, and I will
awake for them David their king. And thou, fear
not, my servant Jacob (bqofEya yDib;fa)." Here, remarks
Hitzig, yDib;fa, is introduced through Udb;fAv;. Further on
in the appendix to the prophecy against Egypt (Jer.
xlvi. 27 f.), which is partially Deutero-Isaianic (cf.
Isa. 1-6), but has partially the characteristics of
Jeremiah, bqofEya db,f, occurs without any such introduc-
tion, just as in Isa. xli. 8, as a complete idea.
CHAPTER IX.
PROPHECY IN THE BABYLONIAN EXILE.
§ 39. The Messiah in Ezekiel.
IN the midst of Jeremiah's activity occurred the
deportation of Jehoiachin which followed the
battle at Carchemish (606 B.C.). Among the ten
thousand who shared the fate of the king was also
Ezekiel, son of Buzi the priest, who, after he had
settled in Tel-Abib, on the Babylonian Chaboras, in
the fifth year of the deportation, was called as prophet.
When he became prophet, he was not false to the
priesthood, whose calling had to do with the handling
of the legal torah. In this respect he stands in sharp
contrast with Jeremiah, who, although he was also a
NheKo (priest), yet had no warm interest in the cere-
monial law. There is no book of any other prophet
which is so pictorial as that of Ezekiel. Heavenly
and earthly things transform themselves for him into
plastic pictures, which he describes even to the
minutest details, with which this is connected, that
the co-operation of the fancy and of the understanding
in the act of prophesying is especially influential with
him. The manner of his call is at once characteristic.
188
THE MESSIAH IN EZEKIEL. 189
The fact that it is God who rules the world in judicial
omnipotence, that names Ezekiel as the prophet of the
judgment upon Jerusalem, is established by a vision
of unparalleled grandeur. While Isaiah, caught up to
heaven, is called by the One enthroned there, who is
surrounded by the seraphim, in Ezekiel it is the One
inhabiting the universe, riding upon the chariot, the
royal waggon borne by the cherubim and ofannim,
who sweeps down to the one who is to be called.
And while in Isaiah the One enthroned is indeed
visible, but covered by a long garment, in Ezekiel the
heavenly charioteer appears in unveiled human form,
which shines from the loins and upwards like chasmal
(amber), and downwards like fire. John the evan-
gelist is so bold as to say that Isaiah beheld the doxa
of the future Christ (xii. 41). If, as is presupposed
in this passage, Yahweh, who granted that His prophet
should behold Him in human form, is identical with
the human [elements] which appeared in Christ, the
Johannean ei#de th>n do<can au]tou? is still more true of
Ezekiel than of Isaiah, for the One who is enthroned
permits himself to be seen as a real man (MdAxA hxer;maK;,
Ezek. i. 26). But these are lights which fall only
upon those preprophetic visions for him who has
recognised the incarnation as the end of the ways of
God. We turn to another significant picture com-
posed by Ezekiel, which is properly Messianic, and
does not first appear from a Christian standpoint in a
Christological light. We mean the prophecy concern-
ing the grape vine and the sprout of the cedar in
190 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
chap. xvii., which, in so far as it has an apocalyptic
character, is received into the composition of the
picture of the future as already past events—the
removal of Jehoiachin and the appointment of Mat-
taniah-Zedekiah, perhaps also Zedekiah's connection
with Egypt. The opening of this view into the future
falls, according to viii. 1 (according to the date of the
second book, viii.-xix.), in the sixth year of the
deportation, hence in the second year of the activity
of the prophet. The grape vine, which, planted by
the Babylonian eagle, perishes because of its treacher-
ous inclination to the Egyptian eagle, is Zedekiah,
and the tender sprout of the Davidic cedar, which,
planted by Yahweh on Zion, grows to a cedar
overtopping and overshadowing the nations, is the
Messiah. The unnoticeable, humble beginning of
the Messianic kingdom, which is indicated in the j`ra
of xvii. 22b reminds us in fact and in form of Isa.
xi. 1, liii. 2; and the growth of the tender sprout
to a glorious cedar, ver. 23, is re-echoed in the parable
of the Lord concerning the grain of mustard seed
(Matt. xiii. 31 f.); also the word of the Lord (Matt.
xxiii. 1 2): "He who exalteth himself shall be abased,"
etc., refers to Ezek. xvii. 24 as the moral of the
allegory.
This principle of the moral world also finds expres-
sion in the threatening prediction against Zedekiah in
chap. xxi., according to the date of the third book
(xx.-xxiii.), from the seventh year after the deporta-
tion, and hence only a few years before the fall of
THE MESSIAH IN EZEKIEL. 191
Jerusalem. In xxi. 23-27 the prophet describes how
the king of Babylon stands at the parting of two ways,
one of which leads to Rabbath Ammon, the other to
Jerusalem, the treacherous (cf. xvii. 5) and yet secure
city, as it thinks, on account of its oath of vassalage.
"And thou"—with these words, xx. 30-32, the pro-
phet turns himself to Zedekiah,—"pierced through
[fulfilled through the putting out of his eyes, Jet
xxxix. 7], blasphemer, prince of Israel, whose day has
come at the time of the guilt of the end [that is, which
demands the final judgment]; thus saith the Almighty,
Yahweh: The mitre shall be removed [tp,n,c;mi.ha, the
head-band which designated the high priest], and the
crown shall be taken away [hrAFAfEhA, the designation
of honour of the king]; it shall not remain: the
lowly shall be exalted, and the high shall be brought
low (cf. xvii. 24). Overthrow, overthrow, overthrow I
bring upon them [upon mitre and crown, high priest-
hood and kingdom]; also they [this twofold dignity
in its degenerate representatives] shall be destroyed
[hyAhA xlo like Isa. xv. 6; Job vi. 21], until he comes
to whom the government [FPAw;mi.ha, as in Hos. v. 1]
belongs, and I give it to him." Whether that which
precedes these closing words is interpreted as we or as
others interpret it, it is more than probable that the
prophet, by vyTitan;U FpAw;mi.ha Ol rw,xE xBo-dfa, alludes to dfa
hlowi xboyA yKi (Gen. xlix. 10), since he explains it in
entirely the same way as Onkelos and the second
Jerusalem Targum, xtAUkl;ma xyhi h.leydid; xHAywim; yteyyeD; dfa.
We are not thereby compelled to regard this as
192 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the original meaning of hlw (Shiloh); but there are
three conclusions we can draw from this old interpre-
tation of Ezekiel of this word in Jacob's blessing of
Judah: (1) that the prophet regards it as a Messianic
prophecy; (2) that he did not have hlyw according to the
Massoretic writing, but hlw, without yodh in his text;
and (3) that, even at a very ancient period, hlw, was
understood in the sense of hl.ow,, equivalent to is
cujus est (scil. regvum), as a designation of the Messiah.
In the predictions against the nations (xxv.-xxxii.),
which can be inserted between the beginning and end
of the fourth book (xxiv., xxxiii. 1-20) as a fifth, a
promise which may be compared with Isa. xix. 23 ff. is
wanting; but this deficit is covered through the con-
clusion of chap. xvi. — the terrible picture of the
moral condition of Jerusalem in comparison with that
of her sisters, Sodom and Gomorrah. This conclusion
agrees essentially with the conclusion of Paul's outline
of the history of redemption (Rom. xi. 32 ff.): the end
of human history is this, that the compassion of God,
surpassing the greatness of the sin, raises all, Sodom,
Samaria, and even Judah, from the pit—a time of
universal grace which rescues all that is to be rescued,
even that which has fallen into Hades. While Jeru-
salem lies in the death struggle, dumbness is inflicted
upon Ezekiel (xxiv. 25 ff.).
The discourses of the sixth book (xxxiii. 21-xxxix.)
begin, as the later information reaches the prophet at
Tel-Abib, that the sufferings of Jerusalem have ended,
and now the string of his tongue is loosed. The second
THE PRINCE IN EZEKIEL. 193
of these addresses (Ezek. xxxiv.) is directed against the
self-seeking, unscrupulous shepherds: Yahweh Himself
will take His own herd (xxxiv. 23 f.) "And I will
appoint over them a shepherd (dHAx, hf,ro), and he shall
feed them; my servant David, he shall feed them, and
he shall be their shepherd. I, Yahweh, will be their God,
and my servant David prince (xyWinA) in their midst:
I, Yahweh, have spoken it." This promise is repeated
(xxxvii. 23b, 24): "I will purify them, and they shall
be my people, and I will be their God. And my ser-
vant David is king (j`l,m,) over them, and they all
[Israel of both kingdoms] have one shepherd, and they
shall walk in my laws, and my statutes shall they
observe and execute."
Hitzig thinks that Ezekiel has the awakening of
David from the dead in prospect; but the meaning of
the promise is nothing else than Hos. iii. 5; Jer. xxx. 9.
A king is intended who is David's antitype, and
this king is not one who, like others, transmits his
throne, for God gives His people in him rHAx, hf,ro, one
instead of many, and hence probably one for ever.
§ 40. The Prince in Ezekiel's Future State.
One for ever? The ease would be different if the
prince (xyWinA), whom Ezekiel embodies with his eccle-
siastical and political ideal of the future, were to be
identified with the "King David" of the promise;
for this prince has children and successors—he is
nothing less than an absolute personality. This torah
194 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
of the future does not recognise a high priest. But
this prince, far from taking the place of the pontifex,
is rather a layman. His relation to the priesthood
and sanctuary is sharply defined; his chief pre-eminence
consists only in his being able to hold sacrificial meals
in the hall of the east door,—the east door, itself,
through which the doxa of Yahweh entered the temple,
remains closed. The sacrificial duties of the prince
are exactly indicated, and such dynastic excesses as
have occurred before are prevented through exact
regulations regarding the prince's possession. The son
of the prince, who is designated as his successor, is also
universal heir. The domain is so great that the prince
can also remember his other sons with gifts, but he is
not allowed to give to others besides his own lawful
heirs of his landed property. Even such presents as
he makes to his servants return in the year of jubilee
to the Crown. Only those are persuaded that this
prince is the Messiah who begin with the prw?ton
yeu?doj that the future temple of Ezekiel is an allegory
of the New Testament Church. This prince has nothing
whatever in common with the Messiah; it is not de-
manded or expressly presupposed that he belongs to
the house of David. If he were the Messiah, then
there would be no Messiah at all—that is, no final
ideal king of absolute significance, and with a calling
reaching beyond the national limitations to mankind.
But he recognises indeed the lofty form of the second
David, also his last prophetic word (Ezek. xx ix. 21),
from the twenty-seventh year of the deportation, the
THE PRINCE IN EZEKIEL. 195
sixteenth after the destruction of Jerusalem: "On that
day I will cause a horn to bud for the house of Israel"
—probably has in view the King Messiah (Ps. cxxxii.
17, cf. Luke i. 69). How does it come about now
that, in the outline of the existence of the congregation
of Israel in the final period, which is clothed in vision,
that noble form has disappeared from his horizon? It
has come about because the Messiah is more than
a temporal reigning prince, because the princely
dignity in the future State is too small for Him. It is
significant that the prophet, while he sketches the
picture of the future State, leaves the Messiah out of
account. When the Jewish people again becomes an
independent State, as is expected by all the prophets,
it must also have a king, must have princes. But that
the Messiah shall be this king is not only an impossible
representation for the New Testament consciousness,
but also, as here appears in Ezekiel, for the Old Testa-
ment. For this reason there is in the prophetic view
of the future an unremoved antinomy which is most
striking in Ezekiel, because he paints everything to
the smallest details. For also in Isaiah (vii.–xi.) the
question is raised, Is the second David a king who first
arises, and dies and makes room for another? We
must answer this question in the negative; and if, there-
fore, a Jewish State in the future should have a king
who traced his ancestry back to David, he would not
be the Messiah, he has more divine than earthly great-
ness, he is a personality of religious, and not merely of
political significance. The exaltation of his person
196 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
and of his calling resists his introduction into an ideal
State which is purely natural, although it may belong
to the final period, like Ezekiel's republic. There is in
no prophet anything which can be compared with these
chapters (Ezek. xl.-xlviii.). Ezekiel is the only prophet
who knows that he is not only called by God to be
prophet, but also at the same time as reformer. We
must know the history of worship, and the history of
the state of the Jewish people more exactly, in order
everywhere to discern against what evil conditions which
had found place his reform was directed. At times
he says himself expressly, as in chap. xliv., when he
limits the service of the sanctuary to the priests of
Zadok, and the Levites who are subordinated to them,
with the exclusion of uncircumcised Israelites, and
(xlv. 8) after the unchangeable measurement of the
land of the prince, he continues: "My princes shall
no longer oppress the people." Whether the new
legislation is intended for the time of the return from
the, exile, or for the final period, we should not ask
at all.
As the development of the last things was con-
temporaneous for the primitive Church with the de
struction of Jerusalem on account of the peculiar
eschatological addresses of the Lord, so the final period
is joined for all prophets with the gathering of Israel
from all lands among which they had been scattered.
In chap. xxxvii. Ezekiel prophesies the bringing
again from the exile under the image of a resurrec-
tion; and in chaps. xxxviii., xxxix., the last attack
MESSIANIC IDEAL IN DEUTERO-ISAIAH 197
of the heathen world, under the leadership of Gog from
the land of Magog, against the entire house of Israel,
which has returned to its native land. The new torah
is designed for this Israel at the end of the exile.
Without denying the authority of the old legislation
for the present, — which, as Ezekiel wrote, had certainly
been codified in the Jehovistic book of history and of
law, if not in the Priests' Code, — he promulgated a
new code, in case that the Israel of both kingdoms,
ashamed of its former offences (Ezek. xliii. 10 f.),
should return from banishment. In the year 536 B.C.
and afterwards, only a small portion of the people had
returned, who rightly did not regard the torah of
Ezekiel as having binding force, since the realization
of its conditions were wanting, and this realization,
notwithstanding all deviations, was preceded by the
foundation of the new covenant upon the basis of the
torah which was built upon the Sinaitic legal covenant,
which excludes every repristination of the shadow of
works; for Christ is the end of the law. But, never-
theless, no interpreter can say how much of the ideal
of Ezekiel will be realized when the kairoi> e]qnw?n,
(Luke xxi. 24) are passed, and Israel shall be restored
to his new land, full of blessing and prosperity.
§ 41. The Metamorphosis of the Messianic Ideal in
Isa. xl.-lxvi.
We now turn from Ezekiel, the prophetic reformer
of the character of the congregation, to the author of
198 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the thrice nine addresses on the exiles (Isa. xl.-xlviii.,
xlix.-lvii., lviii.-lxvi.), who has a higher significance as
reformer, since he is the reformer of the Messianic
ideal. If Isaiah, who was called in the year of
Uzziah's death, were the author of these addresses,
the Babylonian exile would not be his actual, but his
ideal present. In fact, there are weighty grounds for
Isaiah's authorship, which at least two of the later
[critics], Klostermann and Bredenkamp, have allowed
to influence them; the formerhelping himself through
the supposition that an heir of the Isaianic spirit
freely reproduced posthumous prophecies of the master,
which had to do with the Babylonian exile;1 the latter
believing that from the time of that exile the proto-
Isaianic elements, which belong at the beginning of the
web of these Deutero-Isaianic prophecies, may be still
recognised here and there. Leaving these hypotheses
aside, we hold that without a doubt Isaiah participated
essentially in this book of consolation for the exiles.
The author, although not an immediate pupil of Isaiah,
is yet a prophet of his school: he is by birth equal
with the master in spirit and gifts. Not without the
influence of an advance and change in the age, he
even surpasses him, and shows his reciprocal relation
to the Book of Jeremiah, since in many places he
reproduces Jeremianic thoughts with bold independ-
ence in a higher tone, and with an Isaianic stamp.
In many respects we might sooner hold that Jeremiah
1 Zeitschrift für die gesammte lutherische Theologie und Kirche,
Leipzig 1876, pp. 1-60.
MESSIANIC IDEAL IN DEUTERO-ISAIAH. 199
is the one who reproduced [the passage in question];
but the weighty grounds for Isaiah's priority are cast
aside by two preponderating reasons: (1) that if we
hold that Isaiah is the author of xl.-lxvi. we must
maintain a phenomenon which otherwise is without a
parallel in the prophetic literature, for otherwise it is
everywhere peculiar to prophecy that it goes out from
the present, and does not transport itself to the future,
without returning to the ground of its own con-
temporary history; but Isaiah would live and act
here in the exile, and address the exiles through
twenty-seven chapters, without coming back from his
ideal to his actual present. (2) The pedagogical
progress in the recognition and progress of salvation,
divinely ordered, demands the origin of these addresses
under the impulses given by the exile. Zephaniah,
Habakkuk, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel would represent an
incomprehensible retrogression if the author of Isa.
xl.-lxvi. were not younger than Jeremiah, younger
even than Ezekiel, and did not have the last third of
the exile as his historical station. It is indeed all the
more incomprehensible that this great prophet should
have become an anonymous for the congregation who
returned to the Holy Land, of whom he was a con-
temporary, and that his forgotten name was covered
with that of Isaiah; but we must accept these and
other incomprehensible things in order to escape that
which was most incomprehensible of all, that it is one
and the same prophet to whom we are indebted for
the image of the second David in Isa. vii.-xi., and the
200 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
image of the servant of Yahweh in xl.-lvi. Isaiah,
who was called in the year of the death of Uzziah,
although he was not the creator, was nevertheless the
developer of the idea of the Messiah the image of
King Messiah, previously only a shadowy outline,
becomes in chaps. vii.-xi. a picture in rich colours
with three panels. In chaps. xl.-lxvi., on the con-
trary, nothing is said concerning a Messiah a son of
David. It is the people to whom Yahweh offers an
everlasting covenant, since He actualizes the inviolable
promises which were made to David. Only Yahweh
is called everywhere King of Israel (xliv. 6, xliii. 15).
The idea of King Messiah disappears in the idea of the
Messianic people. Israel is designed to be, as the
introduction to the Sinaitic legislation says, a tk,l,m;ma
MynihEKo (Ex. xix. 6). Deutero-Isaiah reaches back to
this idea of Israel as the people of mediation. Cer-
tainly this is connected with the loss which the
Davidic kingdom suffered after Zedekiah. Jeremiah
and Ezekiel, who experienced the catastrophe either
wholly or partially, and had a fresh recollection of it,
vie with each other in promises of another David;
but it was given to the second Isaiah, who was born
in the exile, to look through the redemptive historical
mission of Israel, from the removal of his people into
the heathen world in new great connections, from
which he receives back the idea of the Messiah trans-
figured and enriched, and so to lead the Messianic
proclamation into a new path, within which it moves
among the post-exilic prophets, including David. The
THE SERVANT IN DEUTERO-ISAIAH. 201
ecce-homo-characteristic and the work of the Messiah
are hereafter received into the image of the Messiah.
The idea of the servant of Yahweh is bridge and
ladder to these new means of knowledge.
§ 42. The Servant of Yahweh in Deutero-Isaiah.
Israel is the servant of Yahweh — Israel as the
people whom the call of Abraham had in view, as
the people called to the service of Yahweh, and for the
advancement of the work which has for its object the
salvation of the human race (xli. 8). But the mass is
unequal to this ideal of a people serving the highest
ends of God; it is untrue towards Yahweh, and
incapable of Israel's mediating mission, blind with
seeing eyes, and deaf with hearing ears (xliii. 8), so
that the prophet has to complain (xlii. 19): "Who is
blind, if not my servant, and deaf as my messenger,
whom I send? "Nevertheless there are such who
not only belong externally to the people of redemptive
history, but also really serve the God of salvation in
reverence and confession, in spite of the hostility
which meets them. Such significant words as xliv. 2
refer to them: "Fear not, my servant Jacob, and
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen." Their spiritual
character is indicated (li. 7): "Hearken to me, who
know righteousness, oh people, in whose heart is my
law." But in this inner circle the conception of the
hOAhy; db,f, does not remain; it is still further con-
tracted to an individual centre, to one who is
202 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
called lxerAW;yi (xlix. 3), because he is Israel in highest
potency, the perfect reality of that which Israel is to
be, and the transcendent realization of that which he
is to accomplish. The calling of this servant of God,
in which the idea of Israel as the servant of God
culminates, is addressed first to his own people (xlii. 6,
xlix. 8): "I make thee for a covenant of the people,
for a light of the heathen; "it is therefore not a col-
lective identical with the mass of the people, with the
kernel of the people. The description of him and his
utterances is so individual that the personification
of a plurality is excluded. We are prevented from
thinking of the prophet, the author of these addresses,
because this servant of Yahweh (xlii. 1) is introduced
by God Himself, and is passed before us in an object-
ive way: "Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen,
my elect, with whom my soul is pleased—I have put
my Spirit upon him." The prophet hears this e]n
pneu<mati: that which is described is an ideal form of
the future. Now, when this second, this Babylonian
Isaiah appears, Cyrus has already begun his victorious
course; his casting down of idolatrous peoples makes
way for the work of the servant of Yahweh, whose
victorious power is the word of the Spirit. His
entrance upon his ministry belongs to the tOwdAHE,
which Yahweh announces through the prophets
(xlii. 9). The transition to this view of the ser-
vant of Yahweh as present is formed by xlviii. 16,
where the future One, as with a sudden i}dou> h!kw,
breaks through the secret of his parousia and appears
PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING. 203
upon the theatre of the present: "And now the
Almighty Yahweh hath sent me and His Spirit."
From chap. xlviii. 16 the prophet not only hears
words of God from and to His servant, but the servant
himself takes up the word, xlix. 1 He it is in
whom Yahweh came to His people without finding a
hearing (1. 2); and he, His servant, also himself com-
plains (1. 4-9) that he came to his own, and his own
received him not. It is only questionable who is the
one in lxi. 1 ff.—whether the servant of Yahweh or
the prophet—who rejoices over his calling to preach
the gospel as especially glorious. The decision is here
and elsewhere difficult, because that the address of
the servant of Yahweh loses itself unobserved in the
address of Yahweh or in the address of the prophet,
but yet only in the objective address of the prophet,
whose "I" only once evidently appears in the refrain
of the second paragraph (lvii. 21). In every place
where the servant of Yahweh appears speaking in
immediate self-representation in the field of vision of
the prophet, the appearance of the future One is not
long maintained on this its greatest height,—even in
lxi. 4-9 prophecy and the address of Yahweh are intro-
duced in the midst of the address of the one who is
rejoicing there.
§ 43. The Mediator of Salvation as Prophet, Priest,
and King in one Person.
All forms of the previous representation of re-
demption removed from their isolation are united in
204 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the person of the hOAhy; db,f, (servant of Yahweh), the
prophet like Moses, the King Messiah, the priest after
the order of Melchizedek. Isaiah demands (xii. 4)
the preaching of the great deeds of Yahweh in the
world of nations. In Deutero-Isaiah we see the
execution of this demand brought about through
the servant of Yahweh, who does not rest nor repose
until he has secured the recognition of the religion of
the God of revelation in the heathen world. The
servant of Yahweh is therefore a prophet, and more
than Jonah, whose unique mission only belongs to the
shadow, which the one who is in the process of coming
casts before himself; his apostleship comprises the entire
race. He is also a king who, removed from his humili-
ation, shall shine in a so transcendent royal glory, that
the kings of the earth shall cast themselves at his feet
in mute astonishment (xlix. 7, lii. 15).
He is also a priest; he exercises a priestly expia-
tion after he has offered his own life as MwAxA, that is,
as a propitiatory sacrifice, which atones and makes
amends for the sins of his people. Thus we read in
the great prophecy of the passion (lii. 13—liii.), which
makes such an impression of a definite person, and
not of a personified plurality, that Ewald and others
think that the prophet has here embodied an ancient
martyr-picture into the connection of his address con-
cerning the doings and sufferings of the true Israel.
But the servant of Yahweh suffers, indeed freely, not
only as a noble man can take all kinds of sufferings
upon himself, in order to ward them off from others,
PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING. 205
or also that in this way, through the transference of
sufferings, welfare may arise for others; but the servant
of Yahweh, the guiltless one, loads himself with the
guilt of his people in order to make it possible for
God without injury to His holiness to suffer grace
instead of justice to visit the sinner. Since as an
antitype of the sacrificial animal lie takes upon him-
self the sins of his people, he thus executes God's
decree; it pleased God to crush him, He purposely
allowed him to sink in the deepest woe (liii. 10), for
his purpose was directed to the fruit of his suffering;
He permitted the guilt of us all to storm upon him,
and hence His wrath to go over him, in order to make
in him, His beloved, a justified and sanctified congrega-
tion of His people. No man, according to Ps. xlix. 8 f.,
can give for another a rp,Ko (ransom) in order to release
him from death; in case a man like Moses (Ex. xxxii.
32) or Paul (Rom. ix. 3) should offer himself as
willing to suffer vicariously the death deserved by
the sinner, God would not accept this offer,—only the
absolutely guiltless holy servant of God is capable of
bringing an offering which covers sin and breaks its
power, since in the offering of himself God's own
decree of love is executed as a morally effective deed
of love. If we consider who speaks of himself in
chap. liii. as "we" and "us," this also decides that
the servant of Yahweh cannot be the congregation of
confessors and martyrs in the exile. It is indeed the
Israel of the final period, who in chap. liii. penitently
confesses its sin against the servant of God; and this
206 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
servant, whose innocent shed blood rested hitherto as
a national guilt upon the one making confession, is to
be considered a collective? But even the one who is
unwilling to recognise the Lamb of God, who bears
the sins of the world, in this chapter written as it
were under the cross upon Golgotha, even such an one
must admit that the Deutero-Isaianic prophecy con-
cerning the servant of God is the workshop in which
the New Testament ideal of the Messiah comes to
realization—the model for a new, more spiritual image
of the Messiah, which unites all inalienable elements
of the former in itself. In the mirror of this prophecy
the Messiah beheld Himself. It became His guiding
star upon the way of His calling, and He became its
fulfilment.
§ 44. The Great Finale, Isa. xxiv.—xxvii.
The Deutero - Isaianic prediction concerning the
servant of Yahweh appears to be the ne plus ultra
of New Testament knowledge in the Old Testament;
but in many respects it is surpassed through the
cycle of prophecies, Isa. xxiv.—xxvii., which, according
to the present arrangement of the Book of Isaiah, form
the finale to the oracles concerning the nations (xiii.—
xxiii.). This finale is one of the greatest achievements
of Old Testament prophecy. The language, accumu-
lating paronomasia on paronomasia, is here address
and music at the same time, and the form which the
prophecy takes is at the same time epic and lyric; the
PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING. 207
prophet prophesies mostly in songs taken from the
heart of the redeemed congregation. And this imi-
tative musical sound, this hymnological character, is
only the incomparable form of an incomparable train
of thought. We place this finale after Deutero-
Isaiah, because the state of knowledge which is re-
presented therein goes far beyond the Assyrian
Isaiah, far beyond Jeremiah and Ezekiel, partially
also beyond II. Isaiah. When the prophet (xxvii.
12 f.) represents the diaspora of Israel as returning
from Egypt, there seems to be mirrored in it the form
of the time of Isaiah, in which Egypt and Asshur
were the two great powers (xi. 11). But what is
its then the UhTo tyar;qi (xxiv. 10, cf. xxv. 2, xxvi. 5 f.),
whose fall is the middle point of the judgment against
the world which is hostile to God, and the turning-
point in the redemption of Israel and of the nations?
It appears to be Babylon, but it is not the Babylon
which was conquered by Cyrus. All which apparently
pertains to the history of the times in these chapters
xxiv.-xxvii. is emblematical, and merely supplies the
colours to the eschatological pictures. The cata-
strophe of the metropolis of the world appears in con-
nection with the judgment and destruction of the
world, and with the destruction of the world (xxiv.
19 f.), and with the judgment of the world the
prophet beholds the judgment upon the demoniacal
powers which are active in the world's history (xxiv.
21-23). The redemption of Israel does not merely
consist in an outward restoration, but in an internal
208 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
renewal (xxvi. 1-4). And the conversion of the
heathen is symbolized as a participation in a feast
(xxv. 6): "And Yahweh the Lord prepares for all
peoples upon this mountain (that is, Zion as the centre
of God's redemption) a feast of fat food, a feast of
wine on the lees (that is, which has lain a long while
and is thoroughly fermented), of fat food, rich in
marrow, of wine on the lees thoroughly strained,"
and as an unveiling (xxv. 7): "And He removes
upon this mountain [that is, Zion as the central place
of the accomplishment] the veil which veiled all
peoples, and the covering which rested on all nations."
But still more than this. In the new Jerusalem
Deutero-Isaiah compares the duration of the life of
man with the high age which a tree reaches. He who
dies when he is a hundred years old will be considered
as dying in his youth (lxv. 20-22). In spite, there-
fore, of the long duration of life, death still reigns;
but the author of the finale prophesies (xxv. 8): "He
swallows up (14, of absorption, equivalent to anni-
hilation) death for ever, and the Almighty Yahweh
wipes the tears from every face, and the disgrace of
His people he removes from the entire earth: for
Yahweh hath spoken it." And yet more than that.
While the oppressors of Israel must be destroyed,
without rising to life, the field of corpses of the people
of God will become through heavenly dew a resur-
rection field: the congregation of those who survive
the time of judgment will be supplemented through
those who are raised from the dead (xxvi. 14-19):
PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING. 209
"My dead shall live again, my corpses shall arise;
wake up and rejoice, ye who lie in the dust! For the
dew of the heavenly bodies is thy dew, and the earth
shall bring forth shades." It is the entire New Testa-
ment Apocalypse which we have here before us in
nuce, only that, as also in 1 Cor. xv., the discourse
is exclusively concerning the resurrection to life, and
is also limited to the narrow frame of the prw<th
a]na<stasij (Rev. xx. 5 f.). In general that which is
magnificent in these chapters (xxiv.-xxvii.) is that the
redemption is conceived of as radical, spiritual for
mankind. So that the end of the history of redemp-
tion is bound together with the beginning, which is
written upon the first pages of Genesis.
Who this great prophet was, whether Deutero-
Isaiah or another, and when lie wrote, whether in
the exile or later, can never be satisfactorily ex-
plained. That which is relatively most probable is
the unity of the great anonymous of chaps. xl.-lxvi.
with the great anonymous of chaps. xxiv.-xxvii.
With this view we have arranged the concluding
portion after II. Isaiah of the time of the exile, the
end of which we now pass over.
CHAPTER X.
THE PROPHECY OF THE PERIOD OF THE RESTORATION.
§ 45. Post-Exilic Prophecy in view of the New Temple.
AS after the first year of the sole rule of Cyrus
(537 B.C.) the people gathered together out of their
banishment to their native country, it soon appeared
that prophecy is not only qei?on, but a]nqrw<pinon. The
divine plan of salvation is served, not only through the
far-sightedness winch is rendered possible through the
Spirit, but also through the short-sightedness which is
not removed; for, if prophecy afforded a chronological
knowledge concerning the course of the future, it
would render faith, hope, and effort lame, and would
aid fleshly security. It is not strange therefore that
the prophets of the exile beheld the final glory in
close contact with the end of the exile, and that those
who returned hoped to live long enough to experience
this glory, or at least something of it. But as, in the
year 534 B.C., the foundation of the new temple was
laid there was mingled with the cry of joy loud weep-
ing over the smallness of the present (Ezra iii. 12 f.),
and as under Cambyses the hostility of the Samaritans
put a stop to the building of the temple, the people
came to experience their ever-enduring servile depend-
ence. Nevertheless, the building of the temple was
210
TEMPLE AND POST-EXILIC PROPHECY. 211
continued. Darius Hystaspis approved in 520 B.C.
the continuation. But those who were building the
temple and the city needed such imposing task-masters
as Zerubbabel and Joshua, as Ezra, and later Nehemiah;
above all, such prophetic exhorters as Haggai and
Zechariah.
The four addresses of the writing of Haggai are all
dated after the months and days of the second year of
Darius Hystaspis (520 B.C.) of the year of the resump-
tion of the building of the temple. It was given to
this prophet to announce that the fulfilling of redemp-
tion was connected with the second temple, and the
world rule of the house of David with the family of
Zerubbabel (cf. Jer. xxii. 24, 30): "Yet once more
[is the announcement of God, Hagg. 6-9], it is
only a little while until I will shake the heavens, and
the earth, the sea, and the mainland, and will shake
the nations." From this shaking the temple, as the
celebrated centre of the world, will go forth: "and
the desirable things of all nations shall come, and I
will fill this house with glory, saith Yahweh of hosts."
It is shown that here MyiOGha lKA tDam;H, is not intended
personally of the Messiah, not only from the plural of
the predicate UxBA, but also from the following
establishment of that which is placed in prospect:
"Mine is the silver and mine the gold, utterance of
Yahweh of hosts." Under poor circumstances arises
now a new temple from the ruins of the old; but He,
whose house it is, is the one who possesses all things,
and who has all power, who knows how to provide for
212 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the adornment of His house (cf. Isa. lx. 5-7). But
not only outwardly will this invisible temple be more
glorious than the first, but also historically: "Greater
shall be the final glory of this house than that in the
beginning, saith Yahweh of hosts; and in this place
will I give peace—utterance of Yahweh of hosts."
Although the wealth of redemption is named here
without the mediator of redemption, nevertheless this
promise is not to be thought of without relation to the
Messiah, who in Isa. ix. 5 f. is called the Prince of
peace, whose dominion is directed to peace without
end, and concerning whom Micah says (v. 4) that He
is MOlwA, the incarnate peace. Indirectly therefore
Haggai prophesies the appearance of the Messiah at
the time of the second temple; and since the Herodian
rebuilding of the temple was never considered as a
third house, ywylw tyb, and the temple of Ezekiel
must remain out of consideration as a problematical
ideal of the future, the Jewish people had reason to
expect the Messiah while the post-exilic temple was
still standing, and from its destruction in the year
70 A.D. there was the conclusion for those who were
unprejudiced, that He must have come already.
The appearance of the Messiah at the time of the
second temple was directly prophesied by Zechariah,
who entered upon his ministry only two months later
than Haggai, in the same second year of Darius (520
B.C.). In the first part of the book which bears his
name the Messiah is twice predicted as the future
Zemach (Hmac,), since in chap. iii. as well as in chap.
TEMPLE AND POST-EXILIC PROPHECY. 213
vi. the present of the prophecy itself is stamped as
type of the man of the future. Joshua the high
priest and the priests who are subordinate to him
are called tpeOm ywen;xa, homines prodigii, which is equiva-
lent to porridigii, as such who prepare the way,
represent beforehand, and stand security for the coming
of the future One; "for behold [thus it is established,
iii. 8b] I bring hither my servant Zemach." Two
things impress themselves even here upon us: (1) this
immediate appearance of the Messianic name Hmac, pre-
supposes the preparation which we find in Isa. iv. 2;
Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15; (2) while, according to
Jeremiah, Zemach (Hmac,) signifies sprout, which Yah-
weh causes to sprout to David, hence a Davidic
king, which corresponds here to the idea of the king-
dom of promise, the priestly side of the future One, is
turned forward, for only thus can it be explained that
the priesthood which again receives its office is
indicated as a prefiguration of the future One. The
promise is more extended in vi. 10 ff., where the
prophet is enjoined to place a manifold crown (tOrFAfE)
upon the head of Joshua the high priest,1 prepared
from the silver and gold provided by the exiles. The
words which are directed to Joshua (Zech. vi. 12, 13)
indicate what the manifold crown upon one head
signifies: "Behold a man whose name is Zemach; and
1 The modern improvement of text introduces at this point,
"and upon the head of Zerubbabel," under the supposition that
these words have fallen out from the text. They are rather con-
trary to it.
214 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
from the ground [vyTAH;Tami, from beneath, where he is
at home] he shall spring up, and build the temple of
Yahweh; yea, he shall build the temple of Yahweh;
and he shall receive majesty, and sit and rule upon
his throne: and a treaty of peace shall be between.
them both," namely, between the king and priest,
whose dignity and offices he unites in one person. The
antagonism, the rivalry of both offices, will be recon-
ciled and removed in his person—the king who is
priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. cx.
4). And what kind of a temple is that which he shall
build? This temple, which is distinguished from the
one which is now rising again from the ruins of that of
Solomon; cannot possibly be like this—a building of
stones. It must be the spiritual temple from living
stones (1 Pet. ii. 5) which is intended, in which the
promise given to the seed of David, ymiw;li tyiBa-hn,b;yi xUh
(2 Sam. vii. 1 3), reaches its ultimate goal.
§ 46. The Two Christological Pairs of Prophecy in
Deutero-Zechariah.
I. THE FIRST PROPHETIC PAIR IN CHAPS. IX.-XI.
In the brilliant epoch of Old Testament criticism
which terminates with the departure of Ewald (May
1875), it was considered just as much proved that
Zech. ix.-xiv. belonged to the time before the exile, as
that Isa. xl.-lxvi. belonged to the time of the exile
itself. In fact, the character of this second part of the
Book of Zechariah is so distinguished from the first in
DEUTERO-ZECHARIAH. 215
matter and language, that adequate grounds for unity
of authorship cannot be produced. But it is all the
more certain that the author, if he is also not the
Zechariah the son of Berechiah, cannot be a pre-exilic
prophet, for the Christological images move in the path
in which prophecy was directed by Deutero-Isaiah:
the do<cai at of the future Christ are supplemented through
his preceding paqh<mata (1 Pet. i. 11). The two
xWA.ma out of which this second part consists (ix.-
xi., xii.-xiv.) are similar throughout, of the same
apocalyptic character as Isa. xxiv.-xxvii. That which
is apparently pre-exilic is to be judged in like manner
as that which apparently belongs to the Assyrian
period: the prophet takes from pre-exilic relations
emblematic features for his eschatological pictures-
The first prophetic pair in chaps. treats of the
entrance of the king with the air of a sufferer into
Jerusalem, and concerning the good shepherd who
was re warded with contempt.
1. The prophet begins in chap. ix. with the pre-
diction concerning the judgments which are visited
upon the peoples round about Judah. In the midst
of this judgment Zion-Jerusalem is not only shielded,
but it becomes the seat of a kingdom ruling the world
in peace, ix. 9 "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion,
exult, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy king
comes to thee, righteous, and one whom salvation
befalls, poor and riding upon an ass, and upon a foal,
the young of an ass." The king who enters for the
benefit of Jerusalem, whom it shall greet with jubila-
216 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
tion, is fwaOnv; qyDica a righteous one (cf. Jeremiah's
qyDica Hmac,), and such an one as God has helped out
of affliction and struggle to redemption and victory.
He has gone through a school of suffering, and is
called as fwaOn also ynifA. We see him still as a sufferer;
the humiliation is not yet transformed into pure and
full glory. He does not come mounted on a horse,
for he is a king, not as the kings of this world, but
a king of a gentle heart and peaceful end (ix. 10b):
"He speaks peace to the nations, and his government
reaches from sea to sea, and from the river to the
ends of the earth" (cf. Ps. lxxii. 8).
2. In chap. xi. the prophet receives the command
to take the herd of slaughter of the people of God,
which is slaughtered and slavishly handled by their
own proprietor, under his protection. A time of
anarchy, of despotism, of the love of destruction
enters. With such prospects and under such circum-
stances, the poor flock needs more than ever a shepherd.
The prophet accomplishes the commission. The
symbolical act thus becomes at the same time a
vision, the prophet becomes an image of the future
One. He feeds the flock of slaughter, and likewise
the poor of the flock, devoting to these especially his
care. He feeds them with two rods, one of which is
called grace (Mfano) and the other unity (Mylib;Ho), and
removes from the people three shepherds in one
month. The three shepherds, as we consider most
probable, after the example of Ephrem, Theodoret, and
Cyril], are the three leading orders, since each one is
DEUTERO-ZECHARIAH. 217
put forth as a representative of the class of evil
prophets, priests, and princes. With this interpretation
it is not necessary to understand dHik;xavA of the destruc-
tion of persons; a destruction is meant which deprives
the three kinds of officials of their activity. If the
prophet in this symbolical action is a representative of
the future Christ, we may understand that he, the
prophet, priest, and king in one person, makes room
through the removal of the three kinds of bad
shepherds. But the kindness which he therewith
showed the people was not recognised as it deserved,
so that he was weary of his activity. The rejection of
the shepherd appointed by God is a rejection of
Yahweh Himself, and is avenged in this way, that the
people, who were hitherto shielded by God's favour,
are made a prize for the attack of the nations of the
world. After they compelled him to break the staff
of favour, he seeks to lead them to an announcement,
by which it shall appear whether they will entirely
break off the relation to him as their shepherd or not
(xi. 12): "Then I said to them, If it is pleasing to
you, give me my reward; but if not, let it go. Then
they counted me out as reward thirty pieces of
silver." The thirty pieces of silver are a shamefully
small valuation of his service, which remind us of the
appraisement of a slave (Ex. xxi. 32). "Then
Yahweh said to me, Cast it to the potter: the valuable
price of which I was considered worth on your part.
Then I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them
to the potter in the house of Yahweh." He is to cast
218 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
the trifling piece to the potter, so that it may fall into
the clay which he kneads, in order that it may be soft
and supple, ,—to the potter in the house of Yahweh,
hence in the presence of Yahweh, in order that in this
way he may call the people to account for their
unthankfulness.1 Now the good shepherd breaks the
staff of unity, and internal disruption comes as a
second decree of punishment to the complications with
the world-empire. The pre-exile enmity between the
kingdoms of Judah and Israel is here and further on
only an emblem of a deep rupture which shall divide
the Jewish people into halves, one holding to the
good shepherd and turning the back to him, hence
one that is hostile to Christ, and one that believes in
Christ. The prophet now has further (xi. 15-17) to
put on the garments of a foolish mad shepherd (hf,ro
ylivix<), for such an one will oppress the people; never-
theless the judgment of Yahweh falls upon him:
"Woe to the shepherd of negation [Verneinung, yfiro
lylix<hA, with î as a connective sound] who forsakes
the flock! Sword over his arm, and over his right
1 With the casting [of the thirty pieces of silver] into the clay
of the potter there is easily connected the thought, that the
people, who thus reward the good shepherd, require a transfor-
mation. Thus is to be explained the proof in the history of
fulfilment (Matt. xxvii. 9 f.) that the thirty pieces of silver, the
price of treachery, for the purchase of the potter's field, i.e. of
such an one who dealt in clay, was applied, and at the same time
how the remembrance of the one citing could fall upon Jer.
xviii. 4: "And if the vessel displeased him which he made, he
made it into another vessel, just as it was pleasing to the potter
to do.'
DEUTERO-ZECHARIAH. 219
eye! his arm shall be entirely dried up, and his right
eye entirely extinguished." Both xWA.ma delight in such
shocking pictures. If the good shepherd is the future
Christ, the foolish shepherd, whose character and
ministry stand related to those of a shepherd as "no"
to "yes" (cf. Job xiii. 4), is the Antichrist. The
retrogressive movement of that which is prophesied
is common also to both xw.Ama. The two prophetic
images in chaps. ix. and xi. are a hysteron proteron;
for first the future One consumes himself in work for
his people, and then he is raised from lowliness to a
kingdom which rules the world.
§ 47. The Two Christological Pairs of Prophecy in,
Deutero-Zechariah.
II. THE SECOND PROPHETIC PAIR IN CHAPS. XII.–XIV.
The first xWA.ma began as the sound of judgment on
the nations in Amos, and the second as the judgment
on the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, according
to Joel. We meet in chap. xii., in the universal
battle of the peoples which is described against
Yahwism, Judah itself among the enemies who are
laying siege to Jerusalem. It is exclusively Deutero-
Zechariah in whom the division of Israel against
itself is formed to such an eschatological picture.
Judah makes common cause with the world, which is
hostile to the God of salvation; but in the midst of
the climax of its enmity he comes to his senses, and
does what he can to free Jerusalem, since the light
220 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
which has risen upon him has become a consuming
fire to all who are opposed to it. Judah has passed to
the side of the world, but will be brought around, and
will be still earlier free from the bonds of the hostile
world than Jerusalem itself, which goes forth from
this danger of destruction more firmly and gloriously
than ever: "On that day Yahweh will shield the
inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the one who stumbles
among them on that day shall be as David; and the
house of David as Elohim, as the angel of Yahweh
before them." In xii. 10 ff. the prophet establishes
that which he presupposes (ver. 2), that there will be
a Jerusalem true to God and beloved by God at a
time when Judah finds himself on the side of the
enemy: "And I will pour out upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
spirit of grace and of supplication for grace; and
they shall look to me [the Massoretic reading ylaxe is
confirmed by the LXX., the Targum, the Peshitto, and
Jerome] whom they have pierced, and they shall
lament for him, like the lamentation for the only one,
and shall weep bitterly for him, as one weeps bitterly
for his first-born. In that day the lamentation shall
be great in Jerusalem, like the lamentation in Hadad-
rimmon in the valley of Megiddo [that is, like the
lamentation for Josiah, the best beloved king, 2 Chron.
xxxv. 22-25]. And the land shall wail, all the families
apart; the family of David apart, and their wives
apart; the family of Nathan apart, and their wives
apart [that is, the royal house of the line of Solomon,
DEUTERO-ZECHARIAH. 221
and of the side line of Nathan]; the family of the
house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family
of Shimei apart, and their wives apart [that is, the
house of Levi of the main lines Gershon, Kohath, and
Merari, and the side line of Shimei, Num. iii. 21]; all
the families that remain preserved, every family apart,
and their wives apart."
Since, now, the Spirit from above drives the people
of Jerusalem into the pain of penitence to this extent,
yet in the realization of its guilt of sin it does not need.
to be in despair (xiii. 1): "On that day there shall be
a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness" [that
is, a fountain of living water, which washes away sin
and pollution].
Who is the great pierced One, in whom Yahweh
sees Himself as pierced, as hurt? In spite of the fact
that the New Testament Scriptures explain that Christ
is this pierced One, modern exegesis places a stranger,
concerning whom we know nothing, hence an x in the
place of Christ. But it can only be the llAHom; of Isaiah
(liii. 1)—hence the servant of Yahweh, or, as we could
also say, since the lamentation for him is compared
with the lamentation for Josiah, the king Messiah. The
great national repentance on account of the murder of
him with whom Yahweh was so personally connected,
that he identified Himself with him, has, indeed, its like
exclusively only in the sorrowful repentant confession
with which Israel of the final period (Isa. liii.), ashamed
of its blindness, recognises its national guilt.
222 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
After the prophetic picture of repentance for the
recognised guilt of bloodshed, there now follows, after
the peculiar manner of this Deutero-Zechariah, in the
movement from that which is farther to that which is
nearer, the prophetic image of the shepherd beloved by
God who is smitten by the sword of Yahweh (xiii. 7):
"Sword, rise against my Shepherd, and against the man
of my alliance—utterance of Yahweh of hosts; smite
the Shepherd, so that the sheep may be scattered; and
I will turn my hand to the little ones." If we are
right when we compare the great repentance (Zech. xii.)
with the great confession (Isa. liii.), by the same analogy
we may compare Zech. xiii. 7 with Isa. liii. 10: "It
pleased Yahweh to crush him; he hath caused Him
pain." He willed the end, the reconciliation, and hence
also the means, the vicarious death of His servant.
This is the good shepherd who was paid off with
thirty pieces of silver; this is the One also whom
Yahweh's sword smites, while he yet stands in the
closest fellowship with Him. Sword indicates here in
general, as in Ps. xxii. 11, the instrument of murder.
Yahweh Himself summons the sword, for all the sins
of men unintentionally serve God's plan, and, especially,
in this judicial murder God's decree was subserved.
From the blood-guiltiness there grows up for the
people who were guilty of it misfortune, for which
they were responsible: the death of the shepherd had
as its result the scattering of the flock. But there
are such from whom God's grace does not turn away,
those who are lightly esteemed, and who think little
NEW TESTAMENT IN MALACHI. 223
of themselves, whose feeling is not that of the
mass.
These are the two prophetic pairs of Deutero-
Zechariah, in which the ecce-homo form of the Christ,
which forms the mighty foundation of His royal glory,
comes in striking small pictures to representation.
In the pre-exilic period these prophecies could not
be introduced into the course of development, but
now they are the fruit of the new formation of the
Messianic hope which appears in Isa. xl.–lxvi.
§. 48. Concluding Prophecies of New Testament Contents
in Malachi.
Deutero-Zechariah prophesies concerning the good
shepherd, but the aim of the history of redemption is
expressed in Zech. xiv. 9: "Yahweh one, and His
name one; "but not yet, as afterwards when the Good
Shepherd appeared bodily: "one fold, one shepherd"
(John x. 1 6). When in chap. xiv. he causes all
peoples to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in order to
celebrate there with the people of God the feast of
Tabernacles, this loveliest, most familiar, most joyous,
and best adapted for uniting men in brotherhood
of the Israelitish national festivals, this is not a
plunging into Jewish ceremonial legality, but only a
development of a thought already expressed in the old
prophetic word (Isa. ii. 2 f.; Micah iv. 1 f.), which
also Deutero-Isaiah develops. For him also in chap.
lx. Jerusalem is the point in the east from which the
224 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
sun of the completed kingdom of God arises. Both of
the great prophets, whose image of the Messiah is so
true to the New Testament, do not yet follow out the
removal of the wall of partition between Israel and
the nations to its New Testament consequences. But
if, now, one of the three post-exilic prophets decentral-
izes the worship of Yahweh, so that he also recognises
outside of Jerusalem a worship of Yahweh, which is
well-pleasing. in the presentation of offerings, we must
hold that this prophet, from the standpoint of prophetic
history, is the last of the three; for the knowledge
which he affords goes beyond the prophets of the exile.
But this is true of Malachi, whom we may not even
for this reason place before Ezra, and, indeed, before
444 B.C. (the reading of the law, Neh. viii. 1-12), as is
done on insufficient grounds of Pentateuch criticism
by Reuss, Giesebrecht, and others; but above all we
may not place him before Ezra, because the public
circumstances, with whose censure he has to do, are
the same as those found by Nehemiah in his second
residence in Jerusalem after 412 B.C.; for example,
the immorality of mixed marriages which prevailed
again (Neh. xiii. 23; cf. Mal. ii. 11 f., and with it
Deut. xxiii. 4-6). His reproof in i. 6–ii. 6 is directed
against the priests. Yahweh had no pleasure in the
priests as they were at that time: He was not willing
to accept the meal-offerings which they brought (hHAn;mi,
by synechdoche, embraces the other offerings, i. 11):
"For from the rising of the sun to its going down
my name is great among the heathen, and in all
NEW TESTAMENT IN MALACHI. 225
places incense is burned, and sacrifices are made to
my name, and, indeed [v, epexegeticum], a pure meal-
offering: for great is my name among the heathen,
saith Yahweh of hosts." It is scarcely possible that
the prophet says this concerning the heathen world of
the present; the expression would go much further
over that, which can be accepted as the working of
preparatory grace in the heathen world, namely, as
Deutero-Isaiah (xlii. 4) says: an unconscious waiting
for the torah of the servant of Yahweh, joined with the
feeling of the need of redemption on. It is therefore that
which is future which Malachi expresses as present.
But however we may interpret it, it certainly is in-
volved in the words MOqmA lkAb;U MyiOGBa that the sacri-
ficial torah will cease to be exclusively bound to
Jerusalem. The prophet expresses in Old Testament
form the same which Jesus answered to the question
of the Samaritan woman (John iv. 23). Even this
one prophetic word makes Malachi one of the greatest
prophets. It is at the same time significant that the
sacrifice which the peoples bring Yahweh, with an
aversion to the bloody animal sacrifices, are designated
as hrAOhF; hHAn;mi, that is, as a pure meal-offering (see
Isa. lxvi. 20): that is also a step forward to the
New Testament worship of God "in spirit and in
truth" (e]n pneu<mati kai> a]lhqei<a). Malachi reproves
another cancerous affection of the people from ii. 17
on to the end of this book. Led by the blasphemous .
language of those who miss in the present course of
the world the righteous distribution of happiness and
226 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
misery, he prophesies a day of Yahweh which shall
reveal the difference between the godless and those
who fear God. They ask (ii. 17): "Where is the
God of judgment?" The answer of God through His
prophets is as follows (iii. 1): "Behold, I send my
angel, and he prepares the way before me; and suddenly
shall come to his temple the Lord [NOdxAhA] whom
ye seek [here the distinctive accent rebîa]; and the
angel of the covenant whom ye desire: behold, he
comes, saith Yahweh of hosts." That which follows
is description of the judgment. The Lord, that is,
Yahweh, comes and holds judgment over the degenerate
priesthood [the children of Levi], and the mass of the
people who are sunken in vice; and from this smelting
of judgment a priesthood goes forth that is pleasing to
God, and a congregation of righteous people: those
who fear God, who had previously vanished in the
mass, and who are trodden down, attain dominion.
The angel who prepares the way for the Lord is,
according to ver. 23 f., Elijah the prophet, who ap-
pears as a preacher of repentance to turn the hearts of
the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the
children to their fathers, that is, in order to make up
for the contrast between the present and the better
past, in order that the judgment might not be a work
of annihilation. On the contrary, the mention of the
Angel of the covenant (tyriB;ha j`xal;ma) in ver. 1b remains
isolated; the work of the future appears from ver. 2
forward as a work of Yahweh Himself. This is else-
where true in the prophets, with their deepest, most
NEW TESTAMENT IN MALACHI. 227
Christological words; they are only more or less like
lightning which flashes through the darkness. Every-
thing in chap. iii. is deeply significant. Even the pre-
diction of the angel who precedes the Lord takes on
a form after the words of the torah, which speak of
'h j`xal;ma (Ex. xxiii. 20, xxxiii. 2; cf. the form of the
citation, Matt xi. 10), and not only in form, but also
in fact. tyriB;ha j`xal;ma refers back to the angelophanies
of the patriarchal history, which, according to the
conclusion of the covenant (Gen. xv. with Gen. xvi.),
are related mediately to the actualization of the
promises of the covenant. The word j`xAl;ma signifies
in Mal. ii. 7 a messenger sent by God. tyriB;ha j`xal;ma,
hence a messenger of God, who mediates a new
covenant between God and His people. And since
this mediator of the covenant in the parallel halves
of the verse stands on the same basis with the
Lord Himself, the prophet must think of the Lord as
coming in this tyriB;ha j`xl;ma and the thought suggests
itself that the punitive historical appearance of Yahweh
in His angel finds therein its antitype. The prophet
connects the Lord and this angel of the covenant
so closely together that he ascribes to those who wish
for the coming of God as judge at the same time
the coming of this j`lAl;ma, because the desire for the
one involves in it the unintentional desire for the
other.
228 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
§ 49. The Antichrist in the Book of Daniel.
We now turn for the first time to the Book of Daniel,
since this book, as it lies before us, was only written about
the year 168 B.C., and therefore still found admission,
when the canon, which was divided into Torah, Nebiîn,
and Kethûbim, was already in existence. Daniel, with
his three friends, belongs to the servants of Yahweh
among the exiles who mourned for Zion, and who were
ready to seal their faith with the surrender of their lives.
The historicity of his person is vouched for by Ezekiel,
who mentions him (xiv. 14, 20) as a pre-eminent qyDica,
and (xxviii. 3) as a pre-eminent MkAHA, with a tendency
to the mysterious. But the book which bears his
name does not claim to have been written by him.
As Isa. xl.–lxvi. is a book of comfort for the Babylonian
exiles, the Book of Daniel is a book of comfort for the
confessors and martyrs of the time of the Seleucidae.
It digests traditional Babylonio-Persian histories and
traditional predictions of Daniel as examples of fidelity
in the faith, and promises of delivery from great tribu-
lation. The post-exilic origin of the book is also
favoured through its doctrinal contents. As in the
vision of Zechariah of the four spans (vi. 1-8), the
four world powers, represented through the spotted
strong horses, in the course of the vision are divided
into two, the spotted horses, an image of the empire
of Alexander, joined together through the union of the
Orient and Occident, and the strong horses are an
image of the Roman Empire; so the fourth world-
ANTICHRIST IN DANIEL. 229
empire in the Book of Daniel is the Grecian, behind
which, however, the Roman also appears. The
enigmatic words of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 24) with
reference to a Western world-power find here their
explanation. Even in Deutero-Zechariah (ix. 13), Zion
and Javan, as the kingdom of God and the kingdom
of the world, are contrasted. The Book of Daniel,
however, has the conflict of the Jewish religion against
the heathen Grecian religion as its main object. And
here for the first time there conies to a detailed repre-
sentation what had previously only been hinted at
(Ps. lxviii. 22, cx. 6; Isa. xi. 9; Hab. iii 13; Zech.
xi. 15-17), that the enmity of the world against the
Church and its God should finally be combined in the
person of a single individual, and would extend to
a mortal struggle with the Church. Antiochus Epi-
phanes seeks to do away with the Jewish religion and
the exclusive Jewish nationality at any price. The
utmost tribulation continues for the period of half a
Sabbath, hence three and a half years. But the climax
of the tribulation is the turn to redemption. Thus the
book prophesies, and thus it really came to pass.
Before the conclusion of the year 165 B.C., the temple,
which had been profaned through the bqe<lugma
e]rhmw<sewj, was again consecrated, and Antiochus
atoned for a plundering expedition against Elymais
with his life. The Book of Daniel has in its images
and predictions an apocalyptic character; the predic-
tion of future events goes back to those which are
past, and takes these, in that which is related in a
230 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
prophetic way, as predetermined antecedents; whether
xi. 30 is a pure prediction, fulfilled through the ap-
pearance of the Roman fleet before Alexandria with
the ambassador C. Popilius Laenas, who compelled
Antiochus to vacate Egypt, and [through] the restora-
tion of Ptolemaeus Philornetor, 168 B.C., can remain
undetermined; but the rescue from the persecution
which began at that time, and from the violent trans-
formation of the temple of Yahweh into a temple of
Zeus Olympios (167 B.C.), must be prophecy, since the
book is made without a purpose when that which is
prophesied in xi. 31 is degraded to a prophecy after
the event. The book must have been written before
the liberation of the fearfully persecuted people from
their arch-enemy Antiochus Epiphanes. It does not
know any other antichrist except him; but the pro-
gress of the history has shown that not only Antiochus,
but also Nero, are only forerunners, prototypes of the
final Antichrist.
§ 50. Christ in the Book of Daniel.
Luther, in the vision of the seventy weeks (ix. 25 f.),
translates twice,—and exclusively only these two pass-
ages—HaywimA as Christus: sixty-nine weeks until "Christ
the Prince," and "after sixty weeks Christ shall be
destroyed, and shall be no more." But if, as without
doubt is right, the parousia of Christ the Prince, Heb-
rew dyGnA HaywimA falls in the seventy weeks, the HaywimA
who is destroyed cannot also be the Christ. The con-
CHRIST IN DANIEL. 231
nection dyginA HaywimA is favourable to the view that haywimA
has not the signification of the anointed king, but of
the anointed priest. And since the future view of
Daniel has this in common with every prophetic view
of the future, that with the end of the present time of
tribulation it beholds the final period, nothing is more
probable than that the HaywimA who shall be destroyed is
the high priest Onias III., after whose removal (176 B.C.)
Antiochus plundered the temple and massacred 40,000
Jews; and that dyginA HaywimA, in distinction from haywimA,
the high priest, and dyginA, the world ruler (26b), indi-
cates the one who is HaywimA and dyginA or, as Zechariah
(vi. 13) prophesied, is NheKo and lweOm priest and king in
one person. On the contrary, the stone which breaks
in pieces the image of marble (ii. 44) is referred to the
everlasting kingdom of the final period, and also in
the explanation of the one who, like the Son of man
(wnax< rbaK;), is brought on the clouds of heaven before
the Ancient of Days (that is, God who is eternal, with
reference to the past as well as the future), who gives
him the everlasting rule over the world, only the
NyniOyl;j, yweyDiqa Mfa is thought of, not expressly the one
who as the one who appeared with reference to it
named himself o[ ui[o>j tou? a]nqrw<pou. But in ix. 25
the Messiah appears from the Messianic people as
priestly king. And if this is found disputable, yet it
remained indisputable that even the description of the
future salvation makes the Book of Daniel worthy
to have the last word in the Old Testament canon:
'Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and
232 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES IN HISTORICAL SUCCESSION.
upon thy city to put a stop to crime, to cause sin to
cease, and to atone for evil-doing; and to create an
everlasting righteousness, and to seal [namely, through
fulfilment] vision and prophecy, and to anoint that
which is most holy." Here the aim of Old Testament
hope is spiritually apprehended and expressed with
almost dogmatic clearness.
Please report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at:
ted.hildebrandt@gordon.edu