1847.]

Passages from Isaiah.

355

of the people from the calamities they were to suffer, and particularly from the predicted captivity; in connection with which are frequent notices, and even extended representations, of the greater and spiritual deliverance, which Christ was, in due time, to effect for the world; a deliverance, of which all former deliverances were a shadow. The kingdom and glory of the Messiah caught the prophet's vision; and sublimer strains the world does not contain, than this prophetic and seraphic writer presents.

Survey, now, some of the passages from Isaiah, usually adduced in the argument before us, and see what construction it is most reasonable to put upon them. "The Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land." He adds, that “strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob; and the people shall rule over their oppressors," (14:1-3). Is it most natural to look, for the fulfilment of this promise, to some event now, in these latter ages of the world? or to deliverance from the captivity then about to take place, of which the prophet so frequently spake, and of which his mind was so full? The earlier event, unquestionably, is the one to be preferred, unless there be some special reasons for understanding it of the remoter. This is a grand rule in the interpretation of prophecy: Let it apply to the earlier event, when the earlier event constitutes a proper fulfilment. And subsequent expressions show that that earlier event was, indeed, the one intended. "It shall come to pass, in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers," (vs. 3-5). A large part of the chapter is occupied with a triumphal song over Babylon's fallen king; by whose fall the captive people obtained deliverance. This, then-deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, was what the prophet promised. If there was any further blessing couched in his language, it was a spiritual blessing relating to the Messiah's times; of which all former deliverances may be considered, in a sense, as figures.

Another passage is the following: "It shall come to pass in that day, that ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come, which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt,

and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem," (27: 12, 13). "These verses," says one," predict the restoration of the Jews after the captivity; and under that event, their recovery from their present dispersion," (Scott, in loc.). But why the latter? Why make the passage refer thus to two events? The former restoration was manifestly the thing in the prophet's mind. And there is no evidence that he looked any farther than that particular event. If any one pleases to make that event illustrative of a great principle, running through all God's dealings with his people, that he will deliver them from their afflictions when they cry unto him, and also a shadow of the spiritual deliverances that were to come in the Messiah's time; there is probably no objection to such a view of the case. It is probably the true view. But why should two literal restorations be attributed to the same promise, when the promise itself gives no notice of but one? The general law is, that, where one event is a shadow of another or type of an other, the latter is spiritual, owes its superiority to the former, its richness, its glory, to the spirituality of its character. But let the passage, in its literal import, stand to its original event.

So in other places, glowing descriptions of this event are given, mingled sometimes with expressions that will bear a future application, and sometimes giving no indication of looking beyond the former event. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. A high way shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away," (35: 1, 8, 10). Beautiful language this, to be accommodated to any turning to the Lord, or deliverance which he may effect for his people! Yet, in its original design, intended simply to describe restoration from the Babylonish captivity. The whole chapter, of which this forms a part, is a most vivid description of that restoration.

The latter part of the book of Isaiah, particularly, abounds with passages of this sort: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins,” (40: 1, 2). Why look beyond the restoration, which, when the language was uttered, was just about to take place? True, the language is capable of being accommodated to any case, and to all

1847.]

The Restoration from Babylonish Captivity.

357

cases, where calamities have been suffered, and there is about to be a return of the Divine favor. And it contains a most sweet promise to all of this description. The Jews of the present time may appropriate it, spiritually, when the veil is taken from their hearts, and they believe in Him, whom their fathers crucified. They shall be comforted, and pardoned, and blessed. But the strict application of the passage is, to the restoration from Babylon, and nothing more, in its literal acceptation. In accordance with which, it immediately follows: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high-way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it," (vs. 3-5). The mandate is given, to prepare the way for the return of God's chosen to their own land. He himself would appear, and lead them on; and the world should adore the power and grace that effected for them the signal deliverance. This is the thing which filled the prophet's vision. Again: "Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.”—“That saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof; that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers; that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid," (44: 23, 26-28). This is manifestly the restoration near the prophet's time, Cyrus, the chief instrument of that restoration, being expressly named. That, then, is the event to which the prophet's language belongs. So again: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!-Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem," (52: 7, 9). The literal restoration from the Chaldean captivity, is the thing intended. To make it apply to a restoration. of the Jews now in our time, or subsequently, a literal restoration to the literal Jerusalem,-is altogether losing sight of what

filled the prophet's mind,-of an event then just before him,-or it is doubling his vision, of which the narrative itself gives no evidence.

It were not possible in the space allotted us, to adduce all the passages from this one prophet Isaiah, relating to this subject. He gives assurance to the people, that "a remnant shall return" (10:21); that "the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to remove the remnant of his people" (11: 11); referring to the first time, or the deliverance from Egypt; as it is expressly said, “like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt" (v. 16); that God has "chosen them, and not cast them away" (41: 9); that they shall "go forth of Babylon, and flee from the Chaldeans, with the voice of singing, saying, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob" (48: 20); that they shall "build the old waste places, and raise up the foundations of many generations" (59: 12); that "they shall build the old wastes, and raise up the former desolations, and repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations," (61: 4). Which is it most natural to suppose,—that this relates to the restoration just about to take place when the prophet wrote,-that it was uttered for the encouragement of the people then, at his own time? or that it was spoken of some far future restoration, under another economy of things, overlooking what was then immediately to occur? Can it admit of reasonable doubt, that the prophet had in view the restoration from Babylon, and the reëstablishment of the nation there, in the promised land? And these are specimens of passages with which the book of this prophet abounds, and which are to be interpreted in the same manner.

There are passages in this prophet, of another description, which are to be noticed in connection with the subject before us. The prophet, as has been already said, frequently looks forward to the Messiah's times. He sings: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this," (9: 6, 7). He sings: "There shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.— With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with

1847.1

The Person and Reign of the Messiah.

359

equity for the meek of the earth.-There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious," (11: 1, 4, 10). In these times, "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid.-They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain" (saith God); "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,” (vs. 6,9). He sings: "Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment," (32: 1).

Besides passages of this character, relating somewhat particularly to the person of the Messiah, there are others which describe more especially the glory of his reign; a subject to which even those now repeated also have reference. These passages, as was natural, sometimes borrow their form of expression, their figures, their illustrations, from the former dispensation-the dispensation existing when they were uttered. This was altogether to be expected. The error committed in relation to these passages is, that they have been interpreted as predicting the restora tion of the ancient economy; whereas they only predict, as we trust it will be made to appear, under language borrowed from that economy, the universal prevalence of the true religion in the earth. The arrangements of the ancient economy, the services then rendered, were the dress in which religion then appeared,-the form in which it presented itself to the world. What more natural than that, in describing its future glory, even though external changes were to take place, yet the language should have been derived from the economy, with its services, then existing?

Survey now a moment some of the passages in question. "It shall come to pass in the last days," says this prophet, "that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord," (2: 2—5).

more.

What does this mean? that Judaism is to be reëstablished at