Tzemach, has become altogether a proper | LI: "both expressions suit to the Branch Christ name. "Behold I will bring forth my servant and to His body the church." HOFMANN's explaTzemach, (Branclı)," Zech. iii. 8. And vi. 12: nation (Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 503 sq.): “What Jeho"Behold the man whose name is Tzemach, and vah causes to grow and the land brings forth, the he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall Prophet opposes to the thousands of human probuild the temple of the LORD." If we agree with ductions with which the previously rebuked luxexpositors that refer the Tzemach of Jer. and ury decked itself, especially in the case of woZech. (which in them, beyond all doubt, means men," seems to me to construe the idea of Tzethe Messiah), to our passage as its original source, mach of Jehovah too narrowly, and too little in still the conclusion must not be countenanced its distinction from "Fruit of the land," as well that the word is to be taken in the same meaning as too much with reference to iii. 16 sqq. in our passage as in Jer. and Zech. For in our Therefore, the entire products, both of the passage a condition, habitus, is evidently described, spiritual and the corporal life shall be such that not a personality. "Fruit of the land" stands as the rescued ones of Israel shall be highly honored correlative of "Branch of Jehovah." This is so and glorified thereby. That which has its immediate source of life in Jehovah Himself, which is the fruit of His Spirit (Gal. v. 22) must redound to the honor of those in whom it makes its appearance (comp. Rom. ii. 7 sqq.). We read elsewhere (Chap. xxviii. 5) that Jehovah Himself "shall be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of His people." Both amount to the same thing. For where Jehovah is, there He is with His life and with His power; and where He lives and works, there He makes glory. Moreover the fruits of the earth, where the LORD alone becomes the principle of spiritual life, must themselves become glorious and, as it were, the cause of a glory like Paradise. All, in fact, will become new: body and soul, nature and history, heaven and earth. general and comprehensive an expression, that it is impossible to understand by it any single fruit, even though it were the noblest. The passages xi. 1, 10; liii. 2, do not contradict this. For just in those passages the Messiah is designated, not as the fruit of the land, (or of the earth), in general, but a shoot out of the root of Jesse. "Fruit of the land" in the general and indefinite form of its expression, can only signify the products of the land in general (not of the earth, for, according to the context, only Israel is spoken of). Thus what grows of Jehovah and what grows of the land stand in antithesis; spiritual and corporal fruits, the products of the heavenly and of the earthly life. But what are the products of the heavenly, spiritual, divine life? This, it seems to me, Isa. himself tells us lxi. 11: "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before the nations." Thus, "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise" Phil. iv. 8 (and may not Paul have had Isa. Ixi. 11 in the his mind?) that is Tzemach of Jehovah. That is the divine fruit with which the fruit of the land stands in contrast, viz.: all corporal life that the land produces in all the kingdoms of nature. Therefore Tzemach of Jehovah comprehends the entire sphere of the free, conscious, personal life, all that is product of "the breath of life" (Gen. ii. 7); whereas "fruit of the land" designates the entire impersonal, corporal life, all that is " production of the earth" (Gen. i. 12). If this is the meaning of Tzemach of Jehovah in our passage, then this general notion may easily condense and, so to speak, crystallize to the conception of a definite personality. Thus, for instance, the idea of the seed of the woman (Gen. iii. 15) proceeding originally from a conception general and indefinite, gradually, in the consciousness of believing Israel, condensed to the notion of a definite personality. According to this I cannot agree with those that understand Tzemach of Jehovah of the Messiah only (as many Jewish and Christian expositors), or of the Church alone (so JEROME: nomen Christianum), or of the people of Israel alone (thus KNOBEL, who confounds never means anything (הָאֲדָמָה or) פרי הארץ else than the products of the ground. The expression is found often in the Pentateuch (Gen. iv. 3; Lev. xxv. 19; Num. xiii. 20, 26), most frequently in Deut. (i. 25; vii. 13; xxvi. 2, 10; xxviii. 4, 11, 18, &c.). Beside these only in Jer. vii. 20, and Ps. cv. 35. But all this splendor and glory shall exist only for "the escaped of Israel." This is the conception so frequent in Isa., which he elsewhere designates as remnant," "him that remaineth," "residue," (,, ^ni), comp. ver. 3; vi. 13; x. 20-22; xi. 11, 16; xxviii. 5; xxxvii. 31 sq.; xlvi. 3), and which expresses that, not all Israel, but only the remnant left after the judging and sisting shall partake of the salvation. T: T: Ver. 3 says expressly, that the glory of which V. 2 speaks shall depend on inward purity and spotlessness, on that light that is said to be the garment of God (Ps. civ. 2). This verse, therefore, contains the more particular definition of v. 2. "The left over" ( comp. xxxvii. 31) and “the remaining over" ( comp. vii. 22, and DELITZSCH, in loc.) in Zion and Jerusalem (vid. ii. 3) shall be called holy, i. e., not only be so, but be recognized and called such. This holiness, which becomes God's house. Ps. xciii. 5, is, any way, to be construed objectively as well as subjectively. It includes the sacer and the sanctus. But these holy men of God are His elect in reference to whom He has made the counsel of His love documentary by entering their names in the book of life. life" calls to mind Psalm 1xix. 29, D'P OF To be written to the living" or "to the with "let them not be written with the right"y), or of Christ and the church (thus ZWING-eous," or Jer. xxii. 30, where it is said: “write self-determination in men we cannot here investi and fire over the individual dwellings of Mount Zion and over the whole assembly of the holy nation for their protection. TT. Ver. 5 therefore introduces a complementary idea of what precedes. (again in Isaiah only xviii. 4) is sedes, habitatio parata, stabilita. It is used almost exclusively of the divine indwelling. For with the exception of Ps. civ. 5, where the Dai? (foundations) of the earth are named (which any way are a divine work too), stands only for the earthly (Exod. xv. 17, &c.) or the heavenly (1 K. viii. 39, 43, 49, One is tempted, etc.) dwelling-place of God. therefore, to understand here of the temple as God's dwelling place. But then the would be incomprehensible. Or if this be translated "whole," then there must be an article. We must, therefore, understand by it all the dwellings that were found on Mount Zion (comp. ii. 2, 3, naming of the city Jerusalem a potiori). The whole of these have become holy dwellings of God, too, inasmuch as their inhabitants are themselves scions of God (ver. 2). this many childless." This book of life is not that in which are written those destined to earthly life (1 Sam. xxv. 29, Ps. cxxxix. 16), but that wherein stand written those appointed to everlasting life. What sort of a book that may be, and how the entry in it comports with free gate. This book is first named Exod. xxxii. 32, 33. Later Isa. in this place, and Ps. Ixix. 29; lxxxvii. 4-6; Dan. xii. 1 mention it. In the N. Test. we read of it Luke x. 20; Phil. iv. 3; Rev. iii. 5; xiii. 8; xvii. 8; xx. 12, 15; xxi. 27. Some, not without propriety, have reminded, in connection with x. 19; Ezek. xiii. 9; Exod. xxx. 12, etc., of the genealogical registers or roll of citizens, in so far as those inscribed for life are at once citizens of the kingdom of God and of the city of God (Gal. v. 26; Heb. xii. 22; Rev. xxi. 2). When the Lord shall have washed.-Ver. 4. It seems to me that the contents of ver. 4 show decidedly that it is no premis to ver. 5, but is to be regarded as specification of the time and conditions in reference to vers. 2 and 3. For only the purifying an 1 sifting judgments of God, that cleanse away all filth, bring it about that any holy, divine life still remains in Jerusalem. The filth of the daughter of Zion is not only her moral degrada-"every dwelling," and declares that the sign of tion, but all that appears as fruit of it and means Jehovah shall hover over both the dwellings of for furthering it; thus the entire apparatus of individual families and over the assembled total luxury discoursed of in iii. 16 sqq. Though out-of the nation. Every single house, as well as the wardly showy and splendid, regarded from the house of Jacob as a whole, shall be God's holy Prophet's point of view it was only vile filth. The tabernacle, as formerly the typical Tabernacle blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem (comp. i. 15; ix. 4; was alone. Even before the passage of the Red xxvi. 21; xxxiii. 15) proceeds from the innocent Sea, the pillar of cloud and fire went before the blood shed by the injustice and tyranny of the Israelites (Exod. xiii. 21 sq.). It stood as a powerful (i. 15 sqq.). Concerning Zion and Jerusa- protection between the armies of Israel and lem, see ii. 3. This cleansing shall be brought Egypt (Exod. xiv. 19 sq). But when the Taberabout by a spiritual force that is analogous to that nacle was completed, the pillar of cloud and fire force of nature that purifies, viz., the wind. Like rested over it (Exod. xl. 34 sqq.). that rushes over the earth and bears away all impure vapors, so shall God let loose His judgments over Israel, destroy the wicked and drive to repentance those in whom the Spirit of God finds still a point of contact, thus spiritually purify the nation. I do not think, therefore, that here is to be translated "spirit." The context evidently demands the meaning "wind." In xxx. 28, also is the breath of God, as one sees from the connection with the lips and tongue (ver. 27). Comp. xli. 16, “the wind shall carry them away." MEIER translates our passage "breath of wrath." In the kindred passage xxviii. 6, however, the meaning "spirit" seems to predominate. Whether is kindred to that ya that means "to burn, to kindle" (see ver. 5; xl. 16; xliv. 15; 2 Chr. iv. 20; xiii. 11) is doubtful. Our is, like vi. 13, used in the sense of "to cast off, cut away, brush off," in which sense the word often occurs in Deut. in reference to exterminating the scabby sheep out of the holy theocratic congregation (Deut. xiii. 6; xvii. 7; xix. 19; xxvi. 13 sq., comp. Num. xxiv. 22, &c.) The word therefore involves the notion of a sifting. After the purification is accomplished by judgment and sifting, measures shall be taken against further corruption in that the LORD shall hover with the 'pillar of smoke "Assemblies," is evidently in contrast with In the Pentateuch the expression y, smoke, is is put in here in such a way that one does not never used for this wonderful phenomenon. It know whether to join it to cloud, or to shining, etc. According to the accents the former smoke is not seen by night. But why then is should be done. Moreover it may be urged that T placed after D? Some consider the concloud; for an ordinary vapor cloud it was not. struction a hendiadys: cloud and smoke smoke This may be correct. But from the nature of things smoke belongs to fire. For there is no fire without smoke, nor smoke without fire. Like HENGSTENBERG, therefore, I refer¡, and the cloud at night be most plainly visible, for then smoke to what follows. Precisely as smoke would the smoke was seen mounting out of the fire and illuminated by it. For upon all glory, etc.-If the Prophet, as has been shown, regards every single house as God's holy tabernacle, then he can call it glorious too, like in Exod. xl. 34 sq., that which filled the dwelling of the sanctuary is called the glory of Jehovah. Comp. on ver. 13. This glory of Jehovah in the pillar of cloud and fire served on the one hand for Israel's protection-viz., standing between them and the Egyptians,--on the other for a guide in the desert. The sanctified Israel of the last time will not need a guide, for they will in the world against God's sanctuary be extinno more wander. They are to be firmly founded guished? Is it not conceivable that both in the on the holy mountain. But they will still need world of men and of devils hostile powers may protection. For if even the majority of the na-exist, inclined to and capable of doing harm? tions flow to them, shall then at once all enmity (Rev. xx. 7 sqq.) 2. The bad fruits of the present in the light of the glorious divine fruit of the last time. CHAP. V. 1-30. 1 a. THE BAD FRUITS OF THE PRESENT SHOWN IN THE PARABLE CHAPTER V. 1-7. Now will I sing to my well-beloved A song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved hath a vineyard In a very fruitful hill : 2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, And planted it with the choicest vine, And built a tower in the midst of it, And also made a winepress therein: And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, And it brought forth wild grapes. 3 And now, O, inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, That I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, 5 And now go to; I will tell you What I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; 6 And I will lay it waste: It shall not be pruned, nor digged; But there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain upon it, 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah 'his pleasant plant: And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; For righteousness, but behold a cry. auf Gutthat und siehe da: Blutthat! Und auf Gerechtigkeit, und siehe da: Schlechtigkeit. [The commentstor's license in translating with reference to the sound and sense combined may be imitated in English thus: He waited for equity, and lo, iniquity: For right and lo, riot.—TR.] TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL. Ver. 1. Attention has often been called to the artistic, | Dag. forte, is rythmical structure of ver. 1: to The first clause דודי corresponds לידידי to ; שִׁירַת מְסוּכָה Lam. ii. 6) and) שף (Mich. corresponds vii. 4; Prov. xv. 19). The word occurs only here in The verb joined with the noun occurs of joyful song in Isaiah in two other places, xxvi. 1; xlii. 10. may גָדֵר of the verse concludes with ; the second begins with, and the third word is again "77. ¡ rhymes to Dp, and the last three words of the verse end with 1:. Moreover the rythm continues into the 2d-rendum;" xliv. 15, comp. xl. 16; 1. 11.— in the sense ver.; for the three verbs that begin it, resemble one "to tear down" only here. Beside this in liv. 3, in the another in formation and ending. sense "to break out, extend oneself abroad." signify the low wall of a vineyard as well as the high wall of a city: comp. Jer. xlix. 3; Num. xxii. 24. In Isaiah the word does not again occur. Hedge and wall might be combined in such a way that the hedge surrounded the foot of the wall so as also to protect it. Yet perhaps the double enclosure is not to be pressed literally, but, may be construed rhetorically, since no actual vineyard is meant. conculcatio: vii. 25; 10, 6; xxviii. 18.-Giving up His vineyard, the Lord abandons it to desolation. .after it (Exod הזאת always has the pronoun שירה xv. 1; Num. xxi. 17; Deut. xxxi. 19, 21, 22, 30; xxxii. 44; 2 Sam. xxii. 1; Ps. xviii. 1); only in Isaiah, who beside here uses it xxiii. 15, is it determined by only a noun following in the genitive. TT (the closely bound, beloved, friend) used by Isaiah only here. Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 12; Jer. xi. 15; coll. xii. 7; Ps. lx. 7; cxxvii. 2. 717, kindred to 7'T, is originally an abstract noun = זי Ver. 6. T appears to correspond to the ex amor, caritas (comp. Song of S. v. 9) especially in the pression y often used, by Jer. especially, but TT TT vii. 19. The verb does not occur in Hebrew. Yet plural (love deeds, fondling, Song of S. i. 2; iv. 4, etc.; Ezek. xvi. 8; Prov. vii. 18, etc.). Then 1 stands for the which does not occur in Isaiah. n is a. Aey. Accordperson beloved (compare the words Liebschaft, Bekannt-ing to its meaning and derivation it is one with schaft, acquaintance, ¡y Ruth, iii. 2) and signifies both the beloved generally (Song of S. ii. 3, etc.), and a the meaning "abscindere" is established from the diabeloved and near relation (Lev. x. 4; 1 Sam. x. 16, etc.). lects. From that develops the close-cut-off, exThat it here means the beloved generally appears from its connection with TT. This word, too, does not again actly measured out, as the name of a fluid measure, occur in Isaiah. indicates the object after verbis de(comp. ver. 10), and vastatio and abscissum, condi: Gen. xx. 13; Lev. xiv. 54; Ps. iii. 3; xxii. 31; will, of course, no more be pruned ( in this sense præruptum.- -The vineyard abandoned to desolation זי קְיִן Isa. xxvii. 2, etc.- is used only here in the Old Testament of a horn shaped hill. In Ovid mountain spurs are called cornua terræ. In Greek too xépas is so used. Compare the German Schreckhorn, Wetterhorn, etc.—The expression occurs only here. Yet comp. D' xxviii. 1, and the kindred expressions used of the fruitfulness of the soil. p (xxx. 23; Ezek. xxxiv. 14), □`app (Gen. xxvii. 28, 39) D' only here in Isa., otherwise xii. 5) and no more digged in the sense of "to dig" only again vii. 25). Consequently it springs up with thorns and thistles (the construction of with the accusative like xxxiv. 13; Prov. xxiv. 31. The two words and ♫, excepting xxxii. 13, are always joined together by Isa.: vii. 23, 24, 25; ix. 17; x. 17; xxvii. 4. Both words, as one may see TT from the passages cited, signify combustible vegetation of the desert, although nothing as yet has been estab- Ver. 7. uses von occurs again iu Isa. xvii. 10, 11. Isaiah .occurs only here משְׂכָּח--.only here שַׁעֲשׁוּעִים The verb occurs in Hebrew only in the Piel form iii. 17. It is identical with D (Hab. ii 15) ac here and Ixii. 10.—with double accusative comp. Jer. ii. 21; where, beside, the word is borrowed from our passage.—at only here and Jer. ii. 21; Gen. xlix. 11, 7p72; Isa. xvi. 8, D'p: etymology doubtful, some taking the underlying idea, to be without seeds, others the shooting up, others purple color [Zech.cording to a frequent exchange of sound. Not only the Arabic saphacha proves that means effundere, but L8]: comp. LEYRER in HERZOG's R. Encycl. XVII. p. 612. also passages like Job xxx. 7; then the substantive Ver. 3. On "Jerusalem and Judah" comp. at ii. 1. n' that means effusio, inundatio (Job xiv. 19) and efThe expression occurs beside in Isa. viil fusum, i. e., especially the grain that falls out (Lev. xxv. 14; xxii. 21; chap. x. 24 occurs. Except these 5, 11). Of course then means first of all effusio. But for the sake of a play on words, an author may in dulge in such an incomplete expression. The render at conception "sanguinis" of himself. The word p once thinks of passages like iv 4; i. 15, and fills out the only Zech. xii. 7. 8, 10, uses. The more usual expression is "**"; 2 Kings xxiii. 2, especially in Jer. (viii. 1; xi. 2; xiii. 13, etc.), and in 2 Chron. (xx. 15; xxi. 11, 13; xxxii. 26, 33, etc.). T:' cru, is not repeated in Isaiah, he also chooses it for the Ver. 4. On my GESENIUS 132, Rem. 1.- - sake of the play on words. For my own part I have al 2 .1 .Comp קויתי וגו' lowed myself to waive a literal translation in favor of a likeness of sound and to use a word that at least corre Ver. 6. 7012, which some of the MSS. write with sponds to the proper intention of the Prophet. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. sqq., and this joy bespeaking beginning! T 66 זי "in re my friend (77) had a vineyard." From this it becomes plain: 1) that the friend in each case is the same, for the owner of the vineyard is called both 77 and TT; 2) that we must translate '77 in ver. 1" of my friend," for the song shall treat of the vineyard of his friend; 3) what the Prophet would sing is not a song of his own composing, but one that his friend has made of his vineyard, so that "I will sing" is qualified by the following, “ a song of my friend," &c.; 4) from the words "my friend had a vineyard," &c., we know that the song of the friend does not yet begin. For to the end of ver. 2 we have still the words of the Prophet, by which, as it were, he preludes the song of the friend, in order to acquaint the hearer with the facts that the song presupposes. Thus the Prophet gives us one disappointment after the other. Though they are only of a formal kind, still they prepare us for the more earnest and material disappointments that follow. 1. When we read the introduction of this piece | trast, therefore, between the sixfold woe of ver. 8 it sounds like a lovely musical prelude. All sounds like singing. It is as if the Prophet tried every harmonious sound of speech in order to turn the hearts of his hearers to joy. But it happens to us as he says, ver. 7, it happened to God in reference to Israel. Instead of a joyful report we receive a mournful one; instead of happiness, a gloomy prospect of evil is presented. The piece therefore bears the character of bitter irony. This is especially in the beginning carried out even to minuteness. The Prophet makes as if he would sing a joyous song, a song of the vineyard, thus perhaps of wine, a drinking song! It shall be of the vineyard of a boon companion. And then the Prophet describes the situation. It is a good site. For there is no better than on a sunny knoll with a good, fat soil (ver. 1 a). But the owner aided nature as much as possible by art (ver. 2 a.). He had a right therefore to expect a good yield. His hopes were disappointed. Instead of good grapes the vines bore wild grapes (ver. 2). Thus far the Prophet speaks. From this point he lets the owner of the vine speak. One looked to hear of a real vineyard. But what sort of a vineyard is that whose owner accuses it and charges it with guilt! Now, therefore, when the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah are summoned to judge between the vineyard and its lord (ver. 3), in as much as he has faithfully done his best, yet instead of grapes has gathered only wild grapes (ver. 4), it is noticed at once that behind this is concealed something else than the story of a real, natural vineyard. And step by step this becomes plainer. For the lord of the vineyard declares that he will tear away hedge We have already remarked that with "my and wall, and give the vineyard up to be browsed friend had," &c., the song of the friend by no upon and trampled down (ver. 5), yea, that he means begins, as one would expect, and that what will make a ruin of it, he will no more hoe and the Prophet himself says is by no means a song, prune it, but let it grow rank with thorns and but a very earnest presentation of gloomy facts. thistles, and will forbid the heavens to rain on it This is a further disappointment. That, as (v. 6). This last word lifts the mask entirely. It is now seen who is the owner and who the vine- commentators remark, signifies the natural fruityard. And this is now (v. 7) openly declared: Je- fulness in opposition to what is artificial appears hovah is the lord; Israel, summoned to judge to me to lie less in the expression itself than in between the lord and his vineyard, is itself the its relation to ver. 2. The usus loquendi in itself vineyard. The Lord had expected of Israel the is well known: UMBREIT'S translation" on the fruits of righteousness, but only gathered the fruits prominence of a fat spot" is incorrect. fat spot' t" but a feal of unrighteousness. What a contrast between this in itself is not a fruit of the land and that which, according to iv. son, a man, whom the notion "oil" characterizes 2, the land shall one time bear! (comp. Zech. iv. 14). It can only beidea of place. Such is P with which come predicate of a place by connection with an For 2. I will sing-wild grapes. Vers. 1 and 2. Everything in this passage tends to express the idea of disappointment, the contrast between incipient hope and the final, mournful event. stands in apposition. If they were taken as Hence the joyous, one may say the lark-like trill-standing in a genitive relation the meaning would ing commencement. Every harvest is preceded be: horn of a man of oil, of one oiled, of an by a season of hope. Israel too awakened such. anointed man. However, to this naturally fruitHow joyous this was, v. 1 portrays. One must ful spot, the owner had done everything that the not, therefore, be misled by the peculiar joyous art of wine culture could suggest. He had hoed tone of v. 1, to think that here begins an essenti- it, gathered out the stones, and planted it with a ally new and independent piece. For this sound- choice vine. But not only did the owner undercoloring of ver. 1, is intentional, is art. take such labor as was important for the flourishThe address begins with ing of the vines themselves, but also such as were for the protection of the fruit and putting it to One, therefore, expects a 1, a jovial song: but use. Such are the watch tower (vid. Matth. xxi. a (Am. viii. 10), a lament follows. What a con-33) and the wine press (p, the lower wine-press , I will sing. |