conscious that Jehovah's own word is on his tongue, he again speaks in his name, and calls the wonderful Messiah my servant, and says of him: in his superior knowledge will he bring righteousness to multitudes. In his wisdom and knowledge are the infinite resources by which Messiah becomes "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom. x, 4. He suffers for sins, the just for the unjust, that he may bring us sinners to God. 1 Pet. iii, 18. Thus he maintains and honors divine justice, while at the same time he secures justification to every sinner that believes in Jesus. Rom. iii, 26. Thus is manifested "the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." Rom. iii, 22. In his exalted state his mediation ever continues, (verse 12,) and as truly as he bore our sorrows, (verse 4,) he will ever bear the sins of many.

Verse 12. And now comes the grand conclusion. Therefore, says Jehovah through his prophet, in view of all the humiliation and suffering of my servant, and the results that follow, I will apportion him a lot with many. I will see that he obtain a reward worthy of a princely conqueror. In leading many sons unto glory he shall share with them an incorruptible inheritance, and the many, having become the sons of God, are also heirs, "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." Rom. viii, 17. It takes nothing away from the glory of the Messiah that others share it with him. Rather, his glory attains perfection only when his own redeemed rise to be with him in his glory. and behold its splendor. John xvii, 24. Nor will the glorified sons of God be unsuitable partners in Messiah's triumph. He himself will recognize them as-fellow conquerors, and say: "To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down on my Father's throne." Rev. iii, 21. Among such will Messiah delight to divide the spoil, as a conqueror among many mighty ones, and they shall all be "kings and priests unto God." Rev. 1, 6; v, 10; xx, 6; xxii, 5. In that day will the great Spoil-divider say: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. xxv, 34. Thus the vision stretches far beyond the millennial age, even into the new heavens and new earth, in which the saints will reign forever with their immortal Lord.

But the burden of this prophecy is the suffering and sacrifice that yield surpassing glory; and the inspired prophet will not close without once more reminding us that all this glory is possible because he bared his soul to death. "For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame." Heb. xii, 2. The words, with sinners he was numbered, are cited by Mark (xv, 28) and Luke, (xxii, 37,) as fulfilled in the fact that Jesus was crucified like a transgressor, and between two criminals. The last two lines express the two profoundest facts of Christ's redeeming work; namely, the one efficacious oblation for sin, once offered, and the eyerlasting intercession. The first "he did once, when he offered up himself." Heb. vii, 27. "Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Heb. ix, 26-28. The second is seen in his unchangeable priesthood, whereby "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Heb. vii, 25. Compare also Rom. v, 10. So, in the exposition of these verses, we see Messiah set forth in the threefold character of Prophet, Priest, and King.

DISQUISITION.

In the foregoing exposition we have made little or no mention of interpretations differing from our own. If we have set forth the true exposition, all others are superseded, and it would be a needless labor to inention other views merely for the sake of refuting them, or saying that we differ from them. But there are three' notable questions involved in this Scripture, which no interpreter has a right to ignore. They have been for centuries the subject of biblical and theological disquisition, and deserve our serious study. The first two are concerning the Servant of Jehovah; who he is, and what the nature of his sufferings. The other is the question of the authorship of this portion of the Book of Isaiah.

I. The first question was long ago put to Philip, the evangelist, by an Ethiopian: "Of whom speaketh the prophet this; of himself, or of some other man?" Acts viii, 34. And we are

told that "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." This we know to have been the exposition of the apostolic age, and universally maintained in the Christian Church for more than fifteen hundred years. This exposition we have set forth above, and shown how the prophet's words have a well-defined and accurate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of men. The most ancient Jewish exposition, also, as Hengstenberg has abundantly shown in his Christology, referred the prophecy to the Messiah. And this exposition, we believe, would never have been abandoned by Judaism but for the fact that in controversy with the Christians it was seen to be otherwise impossible to resist the proof that Jesus was the Christ. Nor does the Messianic view meet opposition outside of Judaism except from those who deny the supernatural element in prophecy. But, having rejected the beautiful and self-consistent Messianic exposition, what do these opposers give us in its stead? There is, first, one class, who understand by Jehovah's servant, not an individual, but a collective body. But these represent at least five different expositions. The most popular is that of the Jewish rabbins Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, according to whom Jehovah's servant is the Jewish people, now scattered abroad among all nations, and exposed to insult and abuse. This view is adopted by many modern Germans, (Rosenmüller, Eichhorn, Hitzig,) who understand, however, the Babylonish exile of the Jews rather than their present dispersion. Besides the numerous difficulties with which this view is beset in explaining particular words and phrases, it is sufficiently refuted by an appeal to this one fact, which all the world knows, that the Jewish people, both in their present dispersion and former exile, suffered for their own, and not for others' sins. And so far from being led like an unresisting sheep to the slaughter, they have been notoriously obstinate and rebellious. Others, however, limit the reference to a portion or class of the Jewish people, as, for example, the pious and more spiritual, (Paulus, Maurer, Ewald, Knobel ;) or the prophets, (De Wette, Winer;) or the priesthood. Eckermann understands the nation in the abstract, as distinguished from its individual members. And the Maccabees have also been adduced as meeting the description of the prophet. Each one of

these descriptions is open to particular objections, and they will be seen to refute each other if we take them one by one, and go through the whole passage asking such questions as the following: Did the pious Jews suffer more than others in exile? Did their stripes bring healing to the rest? In what particular sense did the prophets or priests grow up before Jehovah like a root from the dry earth, or lift the sicknesses or bear the sorrows of others? How could the nation be guilty, and its individual members innocent? When were the Maccabees dishonored and despised, and act like lepers hiding their faces. in shame or when and how did they ever take away sin and make intercession for sinners? The attempt to answer these, and many other questions which might be urged, shows the utterly unsatisfactory and conjectural character of the several opinions named.

There is another class of opposers of the Messianic exposition, who seem to see the difficulty of making the striking personal portraiture of the Servant represent a class or collective body, and therefore seek for some other individual, other than Jesus, who may be made to answer the prophet's description. Accordingly, the prophet himself, Uzziah, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Jeremiah have all been taken, by one or another of these interpreters, to be the servant described. But in what sense any one of the persons named sprinkled many nations, or was led as a sheep to the slaughter, or set forth his soul an offering for sin, it is difficult to see. Their utter lack of harmony in fixing on any one individual, and the far-fetched and unnatural interpretation put upon the prophet's words, lead us to think that the only fixed canon of criticism uniformly followed by this class of exegetes is, any body rather than Jesus! The inherent difficulties and indefiniteness of these various views are in noticeable contrast with the clear and wonderful fulfillment of every word and phrase in the Messianic exposition. But alas! a veil is on Israel's heart to-day, (2 Cor. iii, 15,) and we may still ask with the prophet, "Jehovah's arm, on whom is it uncovered?" Only by turning to the Lord Christ is the veil taken away.

II. But having satisfied ourselves that the Messianic exposition is the only true one, another question arises as to the nature of Messiah's sufferings. The question leads to a discussion

of one of the fundamental doctrines of Christian theology, the doctrine of Vicarious Atonement. But a scientific treatment of this Old Testament prophecy requires us to guard against introducing into it the refined definitions and distinctions of a later age. Let us not put into it what is not there, but let us be studious to draw from it what really is there. We will not forget that we are dealing with a lofty poem, in which we may not insist that every word and expression must have a special significance. But we will, also, bear in mind that, all the intense passion of the poet is chastened with a solemn awe, and every strong word and metaphor and simile have been carefully selected; not revealed by flesh and blood. Matt. xvi, 17.

(1.) First, then, the sufferings here portrayed are vicarious. The just suffered for the unjust; the innocent for the guilty. No less than seven times is it said in one form or another that he suffered for the sake of others. Thus, he bore others' sorrows, (verse 4,) he was pierced for others' transgressions, crushed down for others' sins, chastised for others' peace, lacerated with stripes for the healing of others, (verse 5,) cut off for others' transgressions, (verse 8,) and made a curse for them. Manifestly, then, the suffering was vicarious, or substitutional, and verse 9 declares that the sufferer himself was guilty of no violence or wrong. His voluntary sufferings were accepted and reckoned as a substitute for penalty.

(2.) But, further, the sufferings and death were expiatory. They were, like the sin and trespass-offerings with which the Israelitish mind was familiar, piacular and propitiatory, and designed to atone for the guilt and transgressions of many. They appeased the divine wrath that burned against the sinners, and made satisfaction to the demands of righteousness. All this is clearly involved in such language as the following: "If thou set forth his soul an offering for sin," (verse 10,) "their sins he will bear," (verse 11,) "the sin of many he took away," (verse 12.) The only legitimate explanation of these forms of expression is that which finds abundant illustration in the expiatory sacrifices of the Mosaic system. And all this was strikingly fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who himself, as the Apostle Peter observes, "bore our sins in his own body on the tree." 1 Peter ii, 24.

(3.) To this it may be added, though the idea is really in