CHAP. I. AND II.

The prophet begins with the words: "Hear, all ye people, hearken, O earth and the fulness thereof, and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place, and cometh down, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains are melted under Him, and the valleys are cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters poured down a steep place. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel." Vers. 2-5.

This majestic exordium has been misunderstood in various ways: First, by those who, like Hitzig, would understand by the people, צמים in ver. 2, the tribes of Israel. We shall show, when commenting on Zech. xi. 10, that this is altogether inadmissible. But in the present case especially, this interpretation must be rejected; partly on account of the reference to the words of the elder Micah, and partly on account of the parallel terms, "O earth and the fulness thereof," which, according to the constant usus loquendi, lead us far beyond the narrow limits of Palestine. On the other hand, they who by the צמים rightly understand the nations of the whole earth, are mistaken in this, that they consider them as mere witnesses, whom the Lord calls up against His unthankful people, instead of considering them as the very same against whom the Lord bears witness; and that they come into consideration from this point of view, clearly appears from the words, "The Lord be witness against you." As regards צד with ב following, compare, e.g., Mal. iii. 5.—Another mistake is committed in the definition of the way and manner of the divine witness. The greater number of interpreters suppose it to be the subsequent admonitory, reproving, and threatening discourse of the prophet. Thus, e.g., Michaelis, who explains: "Do not despise and lightly esteem such a witness, who by me earnestly and publicly testifies to you His will." But in opposition to this view, it appears from ver. 3, that here, as well as in Mal. iii. 5, "And I will come near to you in judgment, and I am a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those that swear to a lie," the witness is a real one,—that it consists in the actual attestation of the guilt by the punishment, viz., by the divine judgment described in vers. 3, 4. The words, "The Lord cometh forth out of His place, and cometh down," there correspond to, "From His holy temple,"—from which it is evident, at the same time, that by the temple, the heavenly temple must be understood.

We have thus, in vers. 2-4, before us the description of a sublime theophany, not for a partial judgment upon Judah, but for a judgment upon the whole world, the people of which are called upon to gather around their judge—whom the prophet beholds as already approaching, descending from His glorious habitation in heaven, accompanied by the insignia of His power, the precursors of the judgment—and silently to wait for His judicial and penal sentence.^[1]

But how is it to be explained that with the words, "For the transgression of Jacob is all this," etc., there is a sudden transition to the judgments upon Israel, yea, that the prophet goes on as if Israel alone had been spoken of? Only from the relation in which these two judgments stand to one another. For they are perfectly one in substance. They are separated only by space, time, and unessential circumstances; so that we may say that the general judgment appears in every partial judgment upon Israel. In order to give expression to the thought, that it is the judge of the world who is to judge Israel, the prophets not unfrequently represent the Lord appearing to judge the whole world; and in Israel, the Microcosmos, it was indeed judged. We have a perfectly analogous case, e.g., in Is. chap. ii.-iv. It is only by means of a very forced explanation, that it can be denied that after the prophet has, by a few bold touches, from ii. 6-9, described the moral debasement of the Covenant-people, and marked out pride as its last source, the last judgment upon the whole earth forms the subject of discourse. In that judgment there will be a most clear revelation of the vanity of all which is created—a vanity which, in the present course of the world, is so frequently concealed—and that the Lord alone is exalted, and that those who now shut their eyes will then be compelled to acknowledge these truths. That Isaiah has this general judgment in view, is too clearly proved by the sublimity of the whole description, by the express mention of the whole earth, e.g., ii. 19, and by not limiting, in the individualized description in ver. 12 sqq., the high and lofty which is to be brought low to Judah alone, but by extending it to the whole world. But in iii. 1 ff. the prophet suddenly passes over to the typical, penal judgment upon Judah; and the כי, at the commencement, shows that he does not consider this subject as one altogether new, but as being substantially identical with the preceding subject. This reminds us forcibly of the mode in which, in the prophecies of our Lord, the references to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the last judgment, are connected with one another. In the "burden of Babylon" in chap. xiii. likewise, the judgment of the Lord upon the whole earth is first described. Nor is it only on the territory of prophecy that this close connection of the general judgment with the inferior judgments upon the Covenant-people appears. In Ps. lxxxii. 8, e.g., after the unrighteousness prevailing among the Covenant-people has been described, the Lord is called upon to come to judge, not them alone, but the whole earth; compare my Commentary on Ps. vii. 8, lvi. 8, lix. 6.

The prophet thus passes over, in ver. 5, from the general manifestation of divine justice to its special manifestation among the Covenant-people, and mentions here, as the most prominent points upon which it will be inflicted, Samaria and Jerusalem, the two capitals, from which the apostasy from the Lord spread over the rest of the country. He mentions Samaria first, and then, in vers. 6, 7, he describes its destruction which was brought about by the Assyrians, before he makes mention of that of Jerusalem, because the apostasy took place first in Samaria, and hence the punishment also was hastened on. The latter circumstance, which is merely a consequence of the former, is in an one-sided manner made prominent by the greater number of interpreters, who therein follow the example of Jerome. It was at the same time, however, probably the intention of the prophet to be done with Samaria, in order that he might be at liberty to take up exclusively the case of Judah and Jerusalem—the main objects of his prophetic ministry.

He makes the transition to this in ver. 8, by means of the words: "On that account I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a mourning like the ostriches." "On that account"—i.e., on account of the judgment upon Judah, to be announced in the subsequent verses. It is commonly supposed that the prophet here speaks in his own person; thus, e.g., Rosenmüller: "The prophet mourns in a bitter lamentation for the number and magnitude of the calamities impending over the Israelitish people." But the correct view rather is, that the prophet, when, in his inward vision, he sees the divine judgments not remaining and stopping at Samaria, but poured out like a desolating torrent over Judah and Jerusalem, suddenly sinks his own consciousness in that of his suffering people. We have thus here before us an imperfect symbolical action, similar to that more finished one which occurs in Is. xx. 3, 4, and which can be explained only by a deeper insight into the nature of prophecy, according to which the dramatic character is inseparable from it. The transition from the mere description of what is present in the inward vision only, to the prophet's own action, is, according to this view, very easy. If we confine ourselves to the passage before us, the following arguments are in favour of our view. 1. The predicates שילל and ערום cannot be explained upon the supposition that the prophet describes only his own painful feelings on account of the condition of his people. Even if ערום stood alone, the explanation by "naked," in the sense of "deprived of the usual and decent dress, and, on the contrary, clothed in dirt and rags," would be destitute of all proof and authority. No instance whatsoever is found of the outward habit of a mourner being designated as nakedness. But it is still more arbitrary thus to deal with שילל, whether it be explained by "deprived of his mental faculties on account of the unbounded grief of his soul,"—as is done by several Jewish expositors (who, in the explanation of this passage, would have done much better, had they followed the Chaldee, in whom the correct view is found; only that he, giving up the figurative representation, substitutes the third person for the first, paraphrasing it thus: "On that account they shall wail and howl, they shall go stripped and naked," etc.),—or by "badly clothed," as is done by the greater number of Christian expositors. The signification "robbed," "plundered," is the only established one; compare שולל in Job xii. 17-19. The parallel passages, in which nakedness appears as the characteristic feature of the captives taken in war, show how little we are entitled to depart from the most obvious signification, in these two words. Thus we find immediately afterwards, in ver. 11: "Pass ye away, ye inhabitants of Saphir, having your shame naked;" on which Michaelis remarks: "With naked bodies, as is the case with those who are led into captivity after having been stripped of their clothes." Thus Is. xx. 3, 4: "And the Lord said. Like as My servant Isaiah walketh naked and barefoot three years, for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the prisoners of Egypt, and the prisoners of Ethiopia, young men and old men, naked and barefoot;" compare Is. xlvii. 3.—2. The term התפלשתי, in ver. 10, is in favour of the supposition, that the prophet here appears as the representative of the future condition of his people. The Imperat. fem. התפלשי of the marginal reading is evidently, as is commonly the case, only the result of the embarrassment of the Mazorets. The reading of the text can be pointed as the first person of the Preterite only; for the view of Rosenmüller, who takes it as the second person of the Preterite, which here is to have an optative signification, is, grammatically, inadmissible. Rückert's explanation, "In the house of dust (zu Staubheim), I have strewed dust upon me," is quite correct. But if here we must suppose that the prophet suddenly passes over from the address to his unfortunate people, to himself as their representative, why should not this supposition be the natural one in ver. 8 also?

The correctness of the view which we have given is further strengthened, if we compare the similar lamentations of the prophets in other passages, in all of which the same results will be found. In Jer. xlviii. 31, e.g., "Therefore will I howl over Moab, and cry out over all Moab, over the men of Kir-heres shall he groan," the "he" in the last clause sufficiently shows how the "I" in the two preceding clauses, is to be understood,—especially if Is. xvi. 7, "Therefore Moab howleth over Moab," be compared. But if this interpretation be correct in Jeremiah, it must certainly be correct in Is. xv. 5 also: "My heart crieth out over Moab,"—a passage which Jeremiah had in view; and this so much the more, that in Is. xvi. 9-11—where a similar lamentation for Moab occurs: "Therefore do I bewail as for Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh.... Therefore my bowels sound like a harp for Moab, mine inward parts for Kirhareseth"—it is quite unsuitable to think of a lamentation of the prophet, which is expressive of his own grief. This was seen by the Chaldee, who renders "my bowels" by "bowels of the Moabites,"—a view the correctness of which has been strikingly demonstrated by Vitringa: "Although," he says, "the emotion of compassion be by no means unsuitable in the prophet, yet no one will be readily convinced that the prophet was so much concerned for the vines of Sibmah and Jazer, and for the crops of the summer-fruits of a nation hostile and opposed to the people of God, that it should have been for him a cause for lamentation and wailing." In Is. xxi., in the prophecy against Babylon, and in the lamentation in vers. 3, 4, "Therefore are my loins filled with pain, pangs take hold upon me as the pangs of a woman that travaileth, etc., the night of my pleasure has been turned into terror," it is clearly shown in what sense such lamentations are to be understood. By "the night of pleasure," we can, especially by a comparison of Jeremiah, understand only the night of the capture of Babylon, in which the whole city was given up to drunkenness and riot. But it is impossible that the prophet should say that this night—the precursor of the long-desired day for Israel—had been turned for him into terror. Either the whole lamentation is without any meaning, or the prophet speaks in the name of Babylon, and that, not of the Babylon of the present, but of the Babylon of the future. This must be granted, even by those who assert that this portion was composed at a later period; so that, even from this quarter, the soundness of our view cannot be assailed.

In ver. 9, the prophet returns to quiet description, from the symbolical action to which he had been carried away by his emotions. The subject of this description he states in the words: "It cometh unto Judah; it cometh unto the gate of my people, unto Jerusalem." By individualizing, he endeavours to give a lively view of the thought, and to impress it. He begins with an allusion to the lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Sam. i. 17 ff., which is so much the more significant, that in this impending catastrophe, Israel also was to lose his king (compare iv. 9), and that in it David was to experience the fate of Saul. He then indicates the stations by which the hostile army advances towards Jerusalem, and describes how, from thence, it spreads over the whole country, even to its southern boundary, and carries away the inhabitants into exile. But, in doing so, he always chooses places, whose names might, in some way, be brought into connection with what they were now suffering; so that the whole passage forms a chain of paronomasias. These, however, are not by any means idle plays. They have, throughout, a practical design. The threatening is thereby to be, as it were, localized. The thought of a divine judgment could not but be called forth in every one who should think of one of the places mentioned. Jerusalem is first spoken of in ver. 9 as the centre of the life of Judah: "The gate of my people," etc., being tantamount to "the city or metropolis of it." Then, it appears a second time in ver. 12, in the middle between five Judean places preceding and five following it,—the number ten, which is the symbolical signification of completeness, indicating that the judgment is to be altogether comprehensive. The five places mentioned after Jerusalem are all of them situated to the south of it. That the five places, the mention of which precedes that of Jerusalem, are all to be sought to the north of it, and that, hence, the judgment advances from the north in geographical order, as is the case in Is. x. 28 ff. also, is evident from the fact that Beth-Leaphrah, which is identical with Ophrah, is situated in the territory of Benjamin, and that Beth-Haezel, which is identical with Azal in Zech. xiv. 5, was situated in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Hence, we cannot suppose that Zaanan here is identical with Zenan, which is situated in the south of Jerusalem, Josh. xv. 37, nor Saphir with Samir.

The question still arises, In what event did the threatening of punishment, contained in chap. i., find its fulfilment? Theodoret, Cyril, Tarnovius, Marckius, Jahn, and others, refer it to the Assyrian invasion. Jerome referred it to the Babylonish captivity: "The same sin," he says, "yea, the same punishment of sin which shall overturn Samaria, is to extend to Judah, yea, even unto the gates of my city of Jerusalem. For, as Samaria was overturned by the Assyrians, so Judah and Jerusalem shall be overturned by the Chaldeans." This opinion was adopted by Michaelis and others.

At first sight, it would appear as if the circumstance, that the judgment upon Judah is brought into immediate connection with that upon Israel, favoured the first view. But this argument loses its weight when we remark, that the events appear to the prophet in inward vision, and, therefore, quite irrespective of their relation in time; that the continuity of the punitive judgment upon Israel and Judah only, points out distinctly the truth, that both proceed from the same cause, viz., the relation of divine justice to the sin of the Covenant-people. It is this truth alone which forms the essence and soul of the prophetic threatenings; and with reference to that, the difference in point of time, which is merely accidental, is altogether kept out of view. Another argument in favour of the Assyrian invasion might be derived from the expression, "to Jerusalem," in ver. 9, inasmuch as the Chaldean invasion visited Jerusalem itself. But, because the calamity was not by any means to stop at Judah, but to overflow even it, it is shown by the preceding expression, "unto Judah," that עַד (compare on this word, Dissertations on the Genuineness of Daniel, p. 55 seq.) must, in both cases, be explained from a tacit antithesis with the expectation, that the judgment would either stop at the boundary of Judah, or, although this should not be the case, would at least spare the metropolis. The prophet contents himself with representing that this opinion was erroneous. Although this passage itself asserts nothing upon the point as to whether Jerusalem itself is to be thought of as the object of the divine punishment, or whether it will be spared, the following reasons show that the former will be the case. Even ver. 5 does not admit of our expecting anything else. Jerusalem is there marked out as the chief seat and source of corruption in the kingdom of Judah, just as is Samaria in the kingdom of Israel. The declaration which is there made forms the foundation of the subsequent threatening. How is it possible, then, that, while in the kingdom of Israel it is concentrated upon Samaria, in the kingdom of Judah the seducer should be altogether passed over, and punishment announced to the seduced only? That such is not the intention of the prophet, is clearly seen from ver. 12: "For evil cometh down from the Lord upon the gate of Jerusalem." The כי alone is sufficient to prevent our limiting the sense of these words, so that they mean only that evil will come no farther than to the gate of Jerusalem, and will stop there. The Particula causalis proves that they are the ground of the declaration in ver. 11, and that the mourning will not cease at Beth-Haezel, "the house of stopping;" compare the remarks on Zech. xiv. 5. But, altogether apart from this connection, the words themselves furnish a proof. They contain a verbal reference to the description of the judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrha, Gen. xix. 24. Jerusalem is marked out by them as a second Sodom (compare Is. i. 10), upon which the divine judgments would discharge themselves. As a second mark of this extension to Jerusalem, the carrying away of the people into captivity is added (compare vers. 11, 15, 16), which, in the promise in chap. ii. 12, 13, is supposed to have taken place. It is not Israel alone, but the whole Covenant-people, who are in a state of dispersion, and are gathered from it by the Lord.

Now, both of these marks are not applicable to the Assyrian invasion; and if once we suppose the divine illumination of the prophet, it cannot be regarded as the real object of his threatenings. This, too, is equally inadmissible, if we consider the matter from a merely human point of view. The predictions of the prophets with regard to Assyria are, from the very outset, rather encouraging. It is true that they are to be, in the hand of the Lord, a rod of chastisement for His people, but these are never to be altogether given up to them for destruction. By an immediate divine interference, their plan of capturing Jerusalem is frustrated. Thus the matter is constantly represented in Isaiah; thus also in Hosea i. 7. We can, moreover, adduce proofs from Micah himself, that his spiritual eye was not pre-eminently, or exclusively, directed to the Assyrians. In the prophecy from chap. iii. to v., where he describes the judgment upon Judah in a manner altogether similar to that in which he mentions it here, he passes over the Assyrians altogether in silence. Babylon is, in iv. 10, mentioned as the place to which Judah is to be led into captivity.

Yet here, as well as everywhere else in the threatenings and promises of the prophets, we must beware, lest, in referring them to some particular historical event, we lose sight of the animating idea. If this, on the other hand, be rightly understood, it will be seen that a particular historical event may indeed be pre-eminently referred to, but that it can never exhaust the prophecy. Although, therefore, the main reference here be to the destruction by the Chaldeans, we must not on that account exclude anything in which the same law of retaliation was manifested, either before, as in the invasion of the Syrians and Assyrians; or afterwards, as in the destruction by the Romans. The prophet himself points, in iv. 11-14 (iv. 11-v. 1), to two other phases of the divine judgment which are to follow upon that by the Chaldeans.

After the prophet has thus hitherto described the impending divine judgment in great general outlines, he passes on, in chap. ii., to chastise particular vices, which, however, must always be at the same time, yea, prominently, considered as indications of the wholly depraved condition of the nation, and of the punishments to follow upon it. One feature upon which he here chiefly dwells, and which must, therefore, have been a peculiarly prominent manifestation of the sinful corruption, consists in the acts of injustice and oppression committed by the great, the description of which presents striking resemblances to that in Is. v. 8 ff. The prophet interrupts this description only in order to rebuke the false prophets, who reproved him for the severity of his discourses, and asserted that they were unworthy of the merciful God. Such severity, answered the prophet, was true mildness, because it alone could be the means of warding off the approaching punitive judgment; that his God did not punish from want of forbearance—from want of mercy; but that the fault was altogether that of the transgressors, who drew down upon themselves, by force. His judgments.^[2]

The prophecy closes with the promise in vers. 12, 13. It is introduced quite abruptly, in order to place it in more striking contrast with the threatening; just as, in iv. 1, there is a similar abrupt and unconnected contrast between the promise and the threatening.^[3] It is only brief; far more so than in the subsequent discourses, and far less detailed than it is in them. The prophet desires first of all to terrify sinners from their security; and for this reason, he causes only a very feeble glimmering of hope to fall upon the dark future.

Ver. 12. "I will assemble, surely I will assemble, O Jacob, thee wholly: I will gather the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together as the sheep of Bozrah; as a flock on their pasture, they shall make a noise by reason of men. Ver. 13. The breaker goeth up before them; they break through, pass through the gate and go out, and their King marches before them, and the Lord is on the head of them."

The remark, that almost all the features of this description are borrowed from the deliverance out of Egypt, will throw much light upon the whole description. In the midst of oppression and misery, Israel, while there, increased by means of the blessing of the Lord, hidden under the cross, to greater and greater numbers; compare Exod. i. 12. When the time of deliverance had arrived, the Lord, who had for a long time concealed Himself, manifested Himself again as their God. First, the people were gathered together, and then, the Lord went before them,—in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night: Exod. xiii. 21. He led them out of Egypt, the house of bondage: Exod. xx. 2. So it is here also. Ver. 12 describes the increase and gathering, and ver. 13 the deliverance. In both passages, Israel's misery is represented under the figure of an abode in the house of bondage, or in prison, the gates of which the Lord opens—the walls of which He breaks down. In this allusion to, and connection with, the former deliverance, Micah agrees with his contemporaries, Hosea and Isaiah. The deeper reason of this lies in the typical import of the former deliverance, which forms a prophecy by deeds of all future deliverances, and contains within itself completely their germ and pledge; compare Hosea ii. 1, 2 (i. 10, 11); Is. xi. 11 ff.: "And the Lord shall stretch forth His hand a second time to redeem the remnant of His people.... And He sets up an ensign for the nations, and gathers together the dispersed of Israel, and assembles the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.... And the Lord smites with a curse the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and shakes His hand over the river, in the violence of His wind, and smites it to seven rivers, so that one may wade through in shoes. And there shall be a highway to the remnant of His people, ... like as it was to Israel in the day when he came up out of the land of Egypt." This reference to the typical deliverance clearly shows, that in the description we have carefully to separate between the thought and the language in which it is clothed.

Ver. 12. The Infin. absol., which in both the clauses precedes the tempus finitum, expresses the emphasis which is to be placed on the gathering, as opposed to the carrying away, and the scattering formerly announced; for the latter, according to the view of man, and apart from God's mercy and omnipotence, did not seem to admit of any favourable turn. By "Jacob" and "Israel," several interpreters understand Judah alone; others, the ten tribes alone; others, both together. The last view is alone the correct one. This appears from i. 5, where, by Jacob and Israel, the whole nation is designated. The promise in the passage before us stands closely related to the threatening uttered there. All Israel shall be given up to destruction on account of their sins; all Israel shall be saved by the grace of God. This assumption is confirmed by a comparison of the parallel passages in Hosea and Isaiah, where the whole is designated by the two parts, Judah and Israel. Micah does not notice this division, because that visible separation, which even in the present was overbalanced by an invisible unity, shall disappear altogether in that future, when there shall be only one flock, as there is only one Shepherd. The expression, "remnant of Israel," in the second clause, which corresponds to, "O Jacob, thee wholly," in the first, indicates, that the fulfilment of the promise, so far from doing away with the threatening, rather rests on its preceding realization. The Congregation of God, purified by the divine judgments, shall be wholly gathered. Divine mercy has in itself no limits; and those which in the present are assigned to it by the objects of mercy, shall then be removed.—The words, "I will bring them together," etc., indicate equally the faithfulness of the great Shepherd, who gathers His dispersed flock from all parts of the world, and the unexpected and wonderful increase of the flock; compare Jer. xxiii. 3: "And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and lead them back to their pasture-ground, and they are fruitful and increase;" and xxxi. 10: "He that scattereth Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock."—Bozrah we consider to be the name of a capital of the Idumeans in Auranitis, four days' journey from Damascus. The great wealth of this town in flocks appears from Is. xxxiv. 6 (although a slaughter of men is spoken of in that passage, yet evidently the wealth of Bozrah in natural flocks is there supposed), and can with perfect ease be accounted for from its situation. For, in its neighbourhood, there begins the immeasurable plain of Arabia, which, on one side, continues without interruption as far as Dshof, into the heart of Arabia, while, towards the North, it extends to Bagdad, under the name of El Hamad. Its length and breadth are calculated to amount to eight days' journey. It contains many shrubs and blooming plants; compare Burkhardt and Ritter.^[4] Several interpreters consider בצרה to be an appellative, and assign to it the signification "sheepfold," "cote." But there is no reason whatsoever in favour of such a meaning of Bozrah, while there is this argument against it, that the probable signification of בצרה as the name of a town is "locus munitus" = מִבְצָר or בִּצָּרוֹן. It can hardly be supposed that the word should at the same time have had the significations of "fortress" and "fold." It is, moreover, more in harmony with the prophetical character to particularize, than to use a general term. As is shown, however, by the last member (with which, according to the accents, the words, "As a flock on their pasture," must be connected), the point of comparison is not the assembling and gathering, but the multitude, the crowd,—As the sheep of Bozrah" being thus tantamount to, "So that in multitude they are like the sheep of Bozrah." הַדָּבְרוֹ, from דֹּבֶר, is, contrary to the general rule, doubly qualified, both by the article and by the suffix. This has been accounted for on the ground that the little suffix had gradually lost its power. But it is perhaps more natural to suppose that the article sometimes lost its power, and coalesced with the noun. The frequent use of the Status emphaticus in undefined nouns, in the Syriac language (compare Hofmann, Gram. Syr., p. 290), presents an analogy in favour of this opinion.—The last words graphically describe the noise produced by a numerous, closely compacted flock. The plur. of the Fem. refers to the sheep.—מן denotes the causa efficiens. They make a noise; and this noise proceeds from the numerous assembled people. The same connection of figure and thing occurs in Ezek. xxxiv. 31: "And ye (ואתן) are My flock, the flock of My pasture are ye men;" compare Ezek. xxxvi. 38.

Ver. 13. The whole verse must be explained by the figure of a prison, which lies at the foundation. The people of God are shut up in it, but are now delivered by God's powerful hand. By the "breaker," many interpreters understand the Lord Himself. But if we consider, that in a double clause, at the end of the verse, the Lord is mentioned as the leader of the expedition if we look to the type of the deliverance from Egypt, where Moses, as the breaker, marches in front of Israel; and if, further, we look to the parallel passage in Hosea, where, with an evident allusion to that type, the children of Israel and of Judah appoint themselves one head; we shall rather be disposed to understand by the "breaker" the dux et antesignanus raised up by God. With the raising up and equipping of such a leader every divine deliverance commences; and that which, in the inferior deliverance, the typical leaders, Moses and Zerubbabel, were, Christ was in the highest and last deliverance. To Him the "breaker" has been referred by several Jewish interpreters (compare Schöttgen, Horæ ii. p. 212); and if we compare chap. v., where that which is here indicated by general outlines only is further expanded and detailed, we shall have to urge against this interpretation this objection only, viz., that it excludes the typical breakers,—that, in the place of the ideal person of the breaker, which presents itself to the internal vision of the prophet, it puts the individual in whom this idea is most fully realized.—The words ויעברו שער are, by several interpreters, referred to the forcing and entering of hostile gates. Thus Michaelis, whom Rosenmüller follows: "No gate shall be so fortified as to prevent them from forcing it." But this interpretation destroys the whole figure, and violates the type of the deliverance from Egypt which lies at the foundation. For the gate through which they break is certainly the gate of the prison.—The three verbs—"They break through, they pass through, they go out"—graphically describe their progress, which is not to be stopped by any human power.—The last words open up the view to the highest leader of the expedition; compare besides, Exod. xiii. 21; Is. lii. 12: "For ye shall not go out in trembling, nor shall ye go out by flight. For the Lord goeth before you, and the God of Israel closeth your rear;" Is. xl. 11; Ps. lxxx. 3. In the exodus from Egypt, a visible symbol of the presence of God marched before the host, besides Moses, the breaker. On the return from Babylon, the Angel of the Lord was visible to the eye of faith only, as formerly when Abraham's servant journeyed to Mesopotamia, Gen. xxiv. 7. At the last and highest deliverance, the breaker was at once the King and God of the people.

As this prophecy has no limitation at all in itself, we are fully entitled to refer it to the whole sum of the deliverances and salvation which are destined for the Covenant-people; and to seek for its fulfilment in every event, either past or future, in the same degree as the fundamental idea—God's mercy upon His people—is manifested in it. Every limitation to any particular event is evidently inadmissible; but, most of all, a limitation to the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, which, especially with regard to Israel, can be considered as only a faint prelude of the fulfilment. They, however, have come nearest to the truth who assume an exclusive reference to Christ,—provided they acknowledge, that the conversion of the first fruits of Israel, at the time when Christ appeared in His humiliation, is not the end of His dealings with this people.

CHAP. III.-V.

The discourse opens with new reproofs and threatenings. It is first, in vers. 1-4, directed against the rapacious great, who in ver. 2 are described as murderers of men (compare Sirach xxxi. 21: "He who taketh from his neighbour his livelihood, killeth him"), and in ver. 3, as eaters of men, because they turn to their own advantage the necessaries of life of which they have robbed the poor. The discourse then passes over to the false prophets, vers. 5-7. Their character is described as hypocritical, weak, and selfish, and is incidentally contrasted with the character of the true prophet, as represented by himself, whose strength is always renewed by the Spirit of the Lord, and who, in this strength, serves only truth and righteousness, and holds up their sins to the people deluded by the false prophets, ver. 8. This the prophet continues to do in vers. 9-12. The three orders of divinely called rulers, upon whom the life or death of the Congregation was depending,—the princes, the priests, and the prophets (compare remarks on Zech. x. 1),—have become so degenerate, that they are not at all concerned for the glory of God, but only for their own interest. And while they have thus inwardly apostatized from Jehovah, they are strengthened in their false security by the promises which God has given to His people, and which they, altogether overlooking the fact that these are conditional, referred, in hypocritical blindness, to themselves. But God will, in a fearful manner, punish them for this apostasy, and frighten them from their security. The Congregation of the Lord, which has been desecrated inwardly, shall be so outwardly also. Zion shall become a corn-field; Jerusalem, the city of God, shall sink into rubbish and ruins; the Temple-hill shall again become what it was previous to its being the residence of God, viz., a thickly wooded hill, which shall then appear in all its natural lowness, and be considered as insignificant when compared with the neighbouring mountains.—In the whole section, the twelve verses of which are equally divided into three portions of four verses each, the prophet views chiefly the great, and the civil rulers. The false prophets, whom he takes up in the second of these subdivisions (vers. 5-8), come under consideration as their helpers only. In the third subdivision, the discourse is again directed to the great alone, in vers. 9, 10. The two other orders are added to them in vers. 11, 12 only; and the charges raised against them refer to their relation to the great. The priests are not by any means reproved because they made teaching a profession, from which they derived their livelihood, but because, for bribes, they interpreted the law in a manner favourable to the rapacious lusts of the great, and thereby, no less than the false prophets, assisted them in their wickedness.—The charge raised in ver. 10 against the great,—Building up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity,"—has been frequently misunderstood. The words must not be explained from Hab. ii. 12, but from Ps. li. 20, where David prays to the Lord, "Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem," which he had destroyed by his blood, ver. 16. The word "building" is used ironically by Micah, and is tantamount to: "Ye who are destroying Jerusalem by blood and iniquity (compare ver. 12: 'For your sakes Zion shall be ploughed as a field'), instead of building it up by righteousness." Righteousness builds up, because it draws down God's blessing and protection; but unrighteousness destroys, because it calls down the curse of God.

The unfaithfulness of the Covenant-people can nevertheless not make void the faithfulness of God. The prophet, therefore, passes suddenly from threatening to promise. Calvin thus expresses the relation of these two: "But I must now come to the little remnant. Hitherto I have spoken about the judgment of God, which is near at hand, upon the king's councillors, upon the priests and prophets, upon the whole people in short, because they are all wicked and ungodly, because the whole body is pervaded by contempt of God, and by desperate obstinacy. Let them receive, then, that which they all have deserved. But I now gather the children of God apart, for to them too I have a message to deliver."

The intimate relation of the first part of the promise to the preceding threatening has been already demonstrated, p. 420. The Mount of Zion, which forms the subject of vers. 1-7, shall, in future, not only be restored to its former dignity, but it shall be exalted above all the mountains of the earth. The kingdom of God, which is represented by it, shall, by the glory imparted to it by a new revelation of the Lord (compare ver. 7: "And the Lord shall be King over them on Mount Zion"), outshine all the kingdoms of the world, and exercise an attractive power upon their citizens; so that they flow to Zion, there to receive the commands of the Lord, vers. 1, 2. By the sway which the Lord exercises from Zion, peace shall have its dwelling in the heathen world, ver. 3, and, consequently, the Congregation of the Lord ceases to be a prey to injury from the world's power, ver. 4^a. How incredible soever it may appear, this promise shall surely be fulfilled; for omnipotent faithfulness has given it, ver. 4^b, and has given it indeed for this very purpose; for it is altogether natural, and to be expected, that the glory of the Lord should in all eternity display itself in His dealings with His people, ver. 5. In vers. 6, 7, the promise receives a new impetus, by which it connects itself with ver. 4^a. In that time of mercy, the Lord will put an end to all the misery of His people.

Ver. 1. "And it shall come to pass at the end of the days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be firmly established on the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills, and people flow unto it."

The words, "And it shall come to pass," excite the attention to the great and unexpected turn which things are to take. The expression, באחרית הימים, is explained by many as meaning: "In times to come," "in future." But we have already proved, in our work on Balaam, p. 465 seq., that the right explanation is: "At the end of the days." This is the explanation given by the LXX. also, who commonly render it by ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταισ ἡμέραις; and by the Chaldee Paraphrast, who translates it by בסוף יומיא. The reasons which seem, at first sight, to favour the signification "in future," are invalidated by these two considerations:—first, that it is not at all necessary that the end be just absolutely the last, but only the end of those events which the speaker is reviewing; and, second, that it altogether depends upon the will of the speaker, what extent he is to assign to the beginning and to the end. The expression is used by the prophets in a manner different from that of the Pentateuch. The prophets use it almost exclusively with a reference to the Messianic times,—an usus loquendi which originated in Deut. iv. 30. They divide the whole duration of the kingdom of God into two parts, the beginning and the end,—the state of humiliation, and the state of glorification. The line of demarcation is formed by the birth of the Messiah, according to v. 2 (3): "He will give them up until she who is bearing brings forth."—The mountain of the house of the Lord" is, according to the common usus loquendi, not Moriah, but the whole mountain of Zion, of which Moriah was considered as a part; compare Ps. lxxvi. 3, lxxviii. 68. In ver. 8, the prophet speaks of two parts only, Zion and Jerusalem. In iii. 12, Zion only, as the better part, is first spoken of; and then, in the second clause, Jerusalem and the mountain of the house, the latter corresponding to Zion, are contrasted with each other, or Jerusalem and Mount Zion considered in its highest quality as the temple-mountain.—נכון, "fixed," "firmly established," implies more than, simply, "placed." It shows that the change is not merely momentary, but that the temple-mountain shall be exalted for ever, and that no earthly power shall be able to abase it. It thus goes hand in hand with the declaration in ver. 7: "The Lord shall be king over them from now until eternity." The same word נכון is used in 1 Kings ii. 45 of the immutable firmness of the throne of David: "The throne of David shall be firmly established before the Lord for ever;" compare 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13. The commentary on נכון is given by Dan. ii. 44: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed in all eternity ... it shall break in pieces and destroy all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." That בראש ההרים does not mean, "at the head of the mountains," i.e., standing at the head, as the first among them (as Hitzig and others think), but "on the summit of the mountains" (the ב is used in a similar manner in Judg. ix. 7, compared with 1 Sam. xxvi, 13), is evident from the fact that בראש, in connection with הר, is constantly used of the summit of the mountains, and, hence, cannot be used in a figurative sense, in this connection. The sense can therefore be this only: "Zion, in future, so pre-eminently stands out from among the other mountains, that these serve, as it were, only for its foundation." Now, the elevation of the temple-mountain is considered, by several interpreters, as a physical one. Passages from Jewish commentaries, in which the expectation is expressed that, in the days of the Messiah, Jehovah would bring near Mount Carmel and Tabor, and place Jerusalem on the summit of them, will be found in Galatinus, de Arcanis Catholicæ Veritatis, L. v. c. 3. The literal explanation has, in recent times, been defended by Hofmann and Drechsler. But Caspari, by pointing out the exact correspondence between the words, "The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be firmly established on the top of the mountains," and the words in ver. 2, "The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem," has proved in a very striking manner that the elevation is a moral one. "As 1^b corresponds to 2^a, so does 1^a to 2^b; ver. 1^a is the ground of ver. 1^b; ver. 2^a, by which ver. 1^b is further expanded, is the consequence of 2^b. Hence 2^b must be substantially identical with ver. 1^a; but 2^b speaks of something that points to the moral height of Mount Zion, and states something upon which it is based." To this it may be added, that height, in a moral sense, is often ascribed to the temple-mountain, even with reference to the ante-Messianic time, and that the passage under consideration could be disjoined from these by force only. It is upon such a view of it, indeed, that the use of עלה in reference to the journeys to Jerusalem rests, just as it is here used in ver. 2. We may, moreover, compare Ps. xlviii. 3; Ezek. xvii. 22, 33: "And I plant upon a mountain high and elevated. On the high mountains of Israel I will plant it;" but especially Ps. lxviii. 16: "Mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan, the top of mountains is the mountain of Bashan." Ver. 17. "Why do ye tops of mountains insidiously observe the mountain which God desireth for His residence? Yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever." The mountain of God is, in these verses, an emblem of the kingdoms of the world, which are powerful through God's grace. In ver. 16, the Psalmist declares what the mountain of Bashan is. In ver. 17, he rejects the unfounded claims which it raises on account of its real advantages. Although it be great, yet Mount Zion is infinitely greater, and vain are all its efforts to overturn this relation. This passage, then, leads to another argument against the literal interpretation. We find in it the kingdoms represented under the figure of mountains,^[1]—a mode of representation which is of very frequent occurrence in Scripture; compare my Commentary on Ps. lxv. 7, lxxvi. 5; Rev. viii. 8, xvii. 9. The more difficult it was to separate, according to the Israelitish conception, mountain and kingdom, the more natural it was to find, in the passage before us, expression given to the thought, that the kingdom of God would, in future, be exalted above all the kingdoms of the world. If we take into account the common practice of employing "mountain" in a figurative sense, it is natural to suppose that not the exaltation alone is to be understood figuratively, but that the mountain itself also is to be regarded chiefly in its symbolical signification,—as the symbol of the kingdom of God in Israel; although, in this aspect, we should expect, at least in the beginning of the relation, that the thing itself should still be connected with the symbol; afterwards they may be disjoined without any hesitation. The deep grief which must, of necessity, have been called forth by the announcement in iii. 12, did not regard the mountain as such. It had, for its real object, the condition of the kingdom of God which was prefigured by the condition of the mountain; and it is just this to which the consolation has respect.—But by what means is the exaltation of the temple-mountain to be effected? Cocceius has already directed attention to the circumstance, that it must not be supposed to consist in the flowing of the people unto it; for that is not the cause, but the effect. We find the correct answer in ver. 2: "The law goeth forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem;" and in ver. 7: "And the Lord will be king over them on Mount Zion." The exaltation will, accordingly, be effected by a glorious manifestation of the Lord within His congregation; in consequence of which, Zion becomes the centre of the whole earth. That this manifestation is to take place in Christ, is brought out only subsequently; compare especially, v. 1, 3 (2-4). A parallel passage is also Ezek. xl. 2, where Mount Zion is likewise seen exalted in the Messianic time.

Ver. 2. "And many nations go and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways, and that we may walk in His path; for from Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

From the words, "And many nations go," to "paths," we have an expansion of—"People flow unto it." Zech. viii. 20-23 are founded upon, and serve as a commentary on the passage before us. The people go to one another, and send messengers to one another; a powerful commotion pervades the heathen world, which causes them to seek Zion, that had formerly been despised by them. It makes no substantial difference whether the going is to be understood physically or spiritually,—whether the people flow to the literal Mount Zion, or to the Church, which is thereby prefigured. All that is requisite is, that the commencement of their going and flowing must belong to a time in which the symbol and the thing symbolized were still connected,—when the literal Zion was still the seat of the Church. The plurality of nations forms a contrast with the unity, but not with the universality, as is shown by a comparison of the parallel passage in Isaiah, where the "many people" are preceded by the mention of "all the heathens (כל־הגוים, i.e., the whole heathen world) flow unto it," instead of—"People flow unto it," as in Micah. Formerly, one people only went to Zion, in order there to offer to the Lord their worship, and to be taught His ways, Exod. xxiii. 17, xxxiv. 23; Deut. xxxi. 10 sqq.; now, many people flow thither. In the anticipation of this future glory of Mount Zion, which will infinitely outshine that of the present, the sad interval described in iii. 12, during which the mountain of the house is altogether forsaken, may be more easily borne. The connection of הורה with מן, which is rather uncommon, may be most simply explained by viewing the instruction as proceeding from its object. "The ways of the Lord" are the ways in which He would have men to walk,—that mode of life which is well-pleasing to Him. The contrast of it is walking in one's own ways. Is. liii. 6,—regulating of one's life according to the desires of one's own corrupt heart.—The last words, "For from Zion, etc.," are not to be conceived of as spoken by the people, stirring up and encouraging one another, but by the prophet. They state the reason why the people are so anxious to go to Zion; and this accounts also for the circumstance that Zion is so emphatically placed at the beginning. Zion shall, at that time, be the residence of the true God, and proved to be such by glorious revelations; and from it His commands go forth over the whole earth. יצא, "to go out," stands here, as in ver. 1, in the sense of "to go forth." As the sphere for the going forth of the law from Zion is not limited, it must be considered in as wide an extent as possible; in harmony with the preceding words, according to which we must think of "people," "many nations," as being comprehended within this sphere.—We must not overlook the fact that the article is awanting before תורה, and that the law is not more strictly defined as the law of God. It is intended, in the first place, only to indicate that despised and desolate Zion is to be the seat of legislation for the whole earth. The law itself is then more strictly defined as the word of God. Many interpreters understand תורה here as meaning religion in general;^[2] the going forth is explained by them of its spreading itself. From Zion, true religion is to extend over all the nations; and hence it is that to Zion the eyes of all of them are directed. Thus, e.g., Theodoret, who remarks: "This is the preaching of the Gospel, which began at Jerusalem, and from thence, as from its source, flowed over all the earth, offering drink to those who came to it in faith." But תורה never signifies "doctrine," "religion," any more than does משפט: it is always used as meaning "law;" and this sense of it can with the less propriety be departed from here, as the people, according to what precedes, flow to Zion not in order to seek religion in general, but laws for their conduct in life. But even if we were to follow Caspari, and to modify the explanation thus, "The law, which was formerly confined to Zion, and hence to a narrow circle, shall go forth from thence into the wide world,"—weighty objections to it would still remain. If "to go forth" were to be understood as meaning "to spread," the sphere of the going forth would have been more closely determined; as, e.g., in Is. xlii. 1: "He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." In Is. li. 4, "Law shall go out from Me, and My judgment I will make for a light of the people," to go out is tantamount to, to go forth. "Mine arms shall judge the people," in li. 5, is parallel to it. יצא in itself does not mean "to go forth." Further—The circumstance that the law spreads from Zion, does not account sufficiently for the zeal with which the nations flow to Zion. If it goes out, there is then no need for their seeking for it at its home. In Zech. viii. 20-23, also, the thronging of the people to Zion, in order to enter there into a closer relation to the Lord, forms the subject of discourse. Zion, as the place where the Lord of the whole earth issues His orders, as if from His residence (Is. xi. 10), forms an appropriate contrast to "Zion shall be ploughed as a field,"—a suitable parallel to the exaltation of the temple-mountain above all the mountains of the earth, to which the prophet here returns, after having, in the first part of the verse, expanded the thought: "People flow unto it;" and to vers. 7, 8 also, where Zion appears likewise as the seat of dominion.

Ver. 3. "And He judges among many people, and rebukes strong nations, even unto a distance. And they heat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-knives; nation shall not lift up a sword, against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

It appears strange to us that here we see ourselves transferred all at once to the sphere of the general description of the Messianic time; for, according to the whole context, and to the contrast with chap. iii., we expect such predictions as will serve especially for the consolation of the daughter of Zion, whose heart had been pierced by the announcement that the mountain of the house should become a wooded hill, and that she herself should be given into the power of the Gentiles. But this difficulty is removed by remarking that this verse only prepares the way for ver. 4, where there is a representation of the advantage which accrues to the daughter of Zion from the spirit of peace, which, through the powerful influence of Zion's God, has become prevalent in the heathen world. It is from failing to perceive the connection of the two verses, that the remark of Hitzig has arisen: "It is very probable that Micah, if he had been the (original) author, would rather have mentioned the change and restoration of Jerusalem, than the change of the arms."—The subject is the Lord. That it was through Christ, who as early as in the Song of Solomon appears as the true Solomon, that the Lord would carry out what is here announced, the prophet could, according to his plan, detail only afterwards. In chap. iv. 1-7, he describes how Zion is glorified by what the Lord does from thence; in ver. 8, by the restoration of the dominion of the Davidic race; and in v. 1 ff., by the appearance of the Messiah. It is especially from v. 3 (4), according to which the Messiah stands and feeds in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God,—and from v. 4 (5), according to which He is the Peace, that we infer with certainty that the judging also shall be done by His mediation. In Isaiah we meet the person of the Messiah in the prophecy of chap. iv., which, along with that in chap. ii., belongs to one discourse, and supplements it. The judging and rebuking (הוכיח with ל, "to rebuke," "to reprove") refer to the strifes among the nations which hitherto could not be allayed, because there was wanting the counterpoise to selfishness which was productive of wrong. But such a counterpoise is now given in the word of God, which, carried home by His Spirit, penetrates deeply into the heart.—Strong nations," who were hitherto most ready to seize the sword. The words, "And they beat," etc., refer to Joel iv. (iii.) 10, where the heathen beat their ploughshares into swords, their pruning-knives into spears; and they do so to the prejudice of the people of God, which the prophet, although apparently he speaks in general terms, has specially in view. By this allusion Micah indicates that, with reference to the disposition of the heathen world, Joel has spoken a word, true, indeed, but giving only a partial view. The words of Justinus in the Dialogus cum Tryphone—For, having learned the fear and worship of God from the Law and Gospel which came to us through the Apostles from Jerusalem, we have fled for refuge to the God of Jacob, and the God of Israel; and we, who formerly were filled with war and murder, and every wickedness, have put away the instruments of war from the whole earth, and have, every one of us, changed the swords into ploughshares, and the spears into agricultural implements, and cultivate the fear of God, justice, brotherly love, faith, hope," etc.,—show that, even soon after the appearance of Christ, it was held that the fulfilment of this prophecy had commenced. But it was acknowledged by the prophet also, that even after the appearance of the salvation, this description would, in the meantime, give only a partial exhibition of the truth; inasmuch as not every one will submit to the judging activity of the Lord, how powerful soever may be the effect of the new principle which entered into the life of the nations; for in v. 4, 5 (5, 6) he speaks of the nations which, in the Messianic time, attack the people of God; in ver. 8 (9), of their adversaries and enemies; and in ver. 14 (15), of such as do not hear. But the imperfect fulfilment is a pledge and guarantee for that which is perfect, as it will take place when, by the last judgment, they have been removed who have obstinately preserved within themselves the spirit of strife and hatred. According to the predictions of the prophets—compare especially Is. xi. 6, 7—peace shall, at some future period, be extended even to the irrational creation, and the strife which has come upon earth by the fall, shall entirely cease from it.

Ver. 4. "And they sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, and none maketh them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it."

This verse contains a description of the happy consequences which the peaceful influence which goes forth from the Lord to the heathen world, shall have upon Israel. For Israel is the subject in ישבו, and the verse does not at all pretend to give a description of "a Solomonic time for all the nations." This is shown by what is stated, in the following verse, as to the ground of this happy change, as well as by a comparison of the fundamental passages. Lev. xxvi. 6: "And I give peace in the land, and ye lie down, and none maketh you afraid;" and 1 Kings v. 5 (iv. 25): "And Judah and Israel dwelt safely every man under his vine and fig-tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon;" and of the parallel passages, Micah v. 4 (5); Zech. iii. 10. It is further shown by the connection with what precedes, where great calamity, and the devastation of their whole country had been predicted to Israel,—and by the mention of the vine and fig-tree, which are characteristic of the land of Israel. The words, "For the mouth of the Lord," etc., point out the pledge, which the person of Him who promises affords for the fulfilment of the promise, which appears incredible.

Ver. 5. "For all the nations shall walk, every one in the name of their God; and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever."

The causal particle כי states the ground of the fact that the Lord of hosts has spoken this, and given the promise of the final safety of Israel, and of his enjoying peace after the strife, in consequence of God's exercising dominion from Zion over the whole heathen world; while this peace after the strife is then more fully described in vers. 6, 7. The lot of every people corresponds to the nature of their God. And now, how could it be otherwise, than that all other nations should be humbled, because their gods are idols, while Israel, on the other hand, is exalted and endowed with everlasting salvation and prosperity, because his God is the only true God? Is. xlv. 16, 17 is parallel: "They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them; they shall go to confusion, the makers of idols. Israel is saved by the Lord, with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded in all eternity."—The name of the Lord" is the complex whole of His excellency which is revealed, and proved by deeds; compare Prov. xviii. 10: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is exalted." Inasmuch as the name of the Lord is to manifest itself in His dealings with His people, it represents itself as the way in which they are to walk: the prayer of the Psalmist in Ps. xxv. 5, that the Lord would lead him in His truth, forms a parallel to this; and so does also what he says in ver. 9 of the same Psalm, that "He guides the meek in judgment." But exactly corresponding is Zech. x. 12: "And I strengthen them in the Lord, and in His name shall they walk" = in the path of His name, so that the latter manifests itself in His dealings with them; compare the remarks on that passage. In favour of our exposition, moreover, is the comparison of the passage Is. ii. 5, the evidently requisite harmony of which with the passage under consideration is obtained, only if the latter be understood as we have explained it. The light, i.e., the salvation of the Lord spoken of there, corresponds with the name of the Lord in the passage under review. Several interpreters explain: "They may walk, they may worship their gods. Although all nations should be idolaters, yet we, inhabitants of Judah, shall faithfully worship Jehovah." Against this explanation Caspari remarks, "An exhortation, or a resolution which implies an exhortation, is here not easily justified, because it would stand in the midst of promises." Moreover, the כי cannot be explained according to this interpretation, as appears with sufficient clearness from the remark of Justi: "This verse does not seem to be so closely connected with the preceding one." The connection is more firmly established by the explanation of Tarnovius, Michaelis, and others: "Surely so brilliant a lot must fall to us; for we are faithful worshippers of the true God, while all other nations walk after their idols." But the objections to tins explanation are: (1) the circumstance that it is rather unusual to found the salvation of the people upon their covenant-faithfulness (of which, from the preceding reproof, we cannot entertain very high notions), instead of founding it upon God's grace and faithfulness, compare vii. 18-20;^[3] (2) the repeated use of the Future, while, according to it, we should have expected the Preterite, at least in the first member; and (3), and most decisive of all, the expression, "For ever and ever;" compare the expression, "From henceforth, even for ever," in ver. 7.