strange assertion, that the Messiah is called leprous or the leper, on account of the word smitten, (the original of which is sometimes used of leprosy,) applied to him in liii. 4. “Leper is his name, as it is said, but he bore our sicknesses, and our sorrows he sustained them, and we regarded him smitten, stricken by God, and afflicted."* The book Pesikta represents the Messiah as redeeming mankind, and applies to him the same words. The Midrash Tanchuma, an old commentary on the Pentateuch, explains the first verse of this section of Isaiah, respecting king Messiah, whom it describes as more exalted than Abraham, than Moses, than the ministering angels. The reader may find these and other equally pertinent passages, quoted from ancient Jewish books, in HENGSTENBERG'S CHRISTOLOGY ;† a work worthy of all commendation, for its deep religious tone, its profound learning, and philological accuracy. This section, then, describes the sufferings and exaltation of the promised Messiah. There does not appear to be positive proof that any other idea was intended. If, however, a more comprehensive view of it can be taken, which while it maintains the Messiah to be the direct and primary subject of the prediction, does also disclose in *Bab. Tal. Treatise Sanhedrim, fol. 98, 2. The reader may see the whole context of this remarkable passage quoted in my Essay on John vi. p 86-88. + Vol. I. p. 484-486, Keith's Translation. the back ground as it were, of the picture, some faint delineations of another, less prominent, but still connected with it; such a view would undoubtedly harmonize with several other prophetic representations. Then, the graphical delineation of the great prophet might represent also, though faintly, the character and state of the whole prophetic body; the marked description of the earthly humiliation and celestial dignity of the universal king, might trace out, yet not without some indistinctness, the similar condition of his true Israel, ultimately united to him by a living faith. In such a view, the application to the inferior object must of course be very general. A clear and full developement of the principle of prophetic interpretation here suggested, would extend this introduction to a disproportionate length, and have no necessary connection with. its main purpose. The truth of it can hardly be questioned by the Christian interpreter, though its application requires caution and judgment, combined with competent knowledge of holy Scripture. *The following references may be taken as a specimen of such. 2 Sam. vii. compared with Heb. i. 5; Hosea xi., 1. with Matt. ii. 15; Deut. xviii. 9-22, with Acts iii. 22, 23; and various passages quoted in the New Testament from the last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah, especially Matt. iii. 3, with the parallel places in the other Gospels' and in 1 Pet. i. 24, 25, from Isaiah xl. 3-8. COMMENTARY OF RABBI SOLOMON JARCHI, ON ISAIAH LII. 13-LIII. 13. BEHOLD, my servant: behold, in after times, my servant Jacob shall prosper; (that is,) the righteous among them. 14. As many people were astonished at them, when they saw their state of humiliation, and said to one another, how much more deformed* than man is their appearance! See how dark, (contemptible,) is their form compared with that of other men! -כך יזה'+ 16. So as we see with our own eyes. So now indeed he, his hand shall be great, and he shall put down the horns of the nations who scattered him.t-p. They will shut their mouths through the greatness of their astonishment, for they shall see in him honor such as was not told them of any man.-11h, *Lit., corruption. "Marred." Eng. Trans. "So shall he sprinkle many nations." Eng. Trans. they will understand. LIII. 1. Who hath believed our report? Thus will they say to each other: if we had heard from the mouth of others what we see, it would not have been credible.-And the arm of the Lord: to whom hath it been revealed-up to this time, in greatness and majesty like this? 2. And he shall grow up like a plant before him. Before this people attained such greatness,* they were in a very low condition, and grew up among their trees (as it were,†) like a sucker among suckers of the oaks.-And like a root: (which) grows up from a dry ground.-No form: at the beginning he had neither form nor glory.‡— And when we shall see him, (there is) no beauty that we should desire him: and when we saw him at the beginning, without (beautiful) appearance, how should we desire him? That we should desire him, is expressive of admiration. 3. He was despised and rejected of men. It was the usage of this prophet to speak of all Israel as one man: (as,) fear not, my servant Jacob; and, now hear, my servant Jacob;§ and *Lit., before this greatness came to the people. t I have introduced the expression, as it were, to illustrate what I suppose to be the author's meaning. The passage is not clear. Breithaupt, in his Latin translation of Jarchi, says, that one of the two manuscripts which he collated read from the land, instead of 3, from his trees. "Comeliness." Eng. Trans. מארץ § xliv. 1, 2. also in this place, behold, my servant shall prosper, he speaks of the house of Jacob, and the word expresses prosperity, as—and Daniel prospered in all his ways.*-. Through the greatness of their shame and degradation, they as it were hid their faces from us, they bound up the face by concealing (it,) that we should not see them, as a wounded man hides his face and fears to be looked at. אכן 4. But our griefs he bore: The word is always used in the sense of but. But now we see that his degradation did not come upon him through wrath, but he was chastised with chastisements, in order that all the nations might be atoned for by the chastisements of Israel. Sickness which should have come on us he bore.And we regarded him: we supposed that he was hated by God. 5. But he was not so, but was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him: there came on him the chastisements whereby our peace was attained,† since he was chastised, in order that there might be peace to all the world. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. Now it appears that all the heathen nations have erred. 1. He was entreated through him, and * 1 Sam. xviii. 14. + Lit., the chastisements of the peace which was for us. "Hath laid on him." Eng. Trans. |