for example, ver. 15, compared with 21: (3.) The design of the prophet; which was to show to the distressed and distrustful king, that, in this extremity of his affairs, there was no reason to despair, and that the country should not be subdued. This, they suppose, the prophet declares by a significant name, to show that Judæa was not abandoned, but that, according to the signification of the word IMMANUEL, God was on its side; and he adds a promise that, within so many years as usually elapse between the birth of a child and its early attainments of knowledge and conversation, the two monarchs who were so formidable to the Jews would be driven from their thrones. No person, they say, could conceive the hope of speedy deliverance, from the prophecy of a Messiah to be born of a virgin seven hundred years after.-The apprehension was not for the extermination of the royal family, but for the ruin of the nation. The assurance of the Messiah was satisfactory against the former apprehension: but it was no security against the latter, the evil really in question. The kingdom both could have been ruined, and in fact was so, long before the birth of the Messiah. These interpreters add, that another of the prophet's children, by having a significant name, was a figure of the near destruction of the same two kingdoms, those of Israel and Syria; ch. viii. 3; and that he therefore justly declared that his children were for signs; viii. 18. Faber's Notes on the German transl. of Harmer's Observations. Isenbiehl's New Essay on the Prophecy of Immanuel, 1778. But Professor Isenbiehl does not admit the symbolical sense."-Döderlein's Version and Notes on Isaiah; Altorf, 1780, pp. 30-33.

"I cannot pass over the late Essay, &c. of Prof. Isenbiehl of Mentz, in which that learned writer labours hard to prove that this prophecy has no reference to the miraculous birth of the Messiah, and that the citation of it by Matthew is nothing but an accommodation, or a comparison of two similar events. The learning, diligence, and impartiality of this gentleman are entitled to honour: and I sincerely lament the cruel persecution which he has suffered, in chains and a dungeon, for his sentiments on this question of theological criticism.-But to his hypothesis, I can by no means assent. The allegation of this passage by Matthew appears to me to be very different from an accommodation, or comparison of similar events. The mode of citation which the Evangelist uses (i. 22, All this came to pass, IN ORDER THAT the word might be fulfilled,'—&c.) is manifestly a formula for an argument, not for a comparison; and is extremely different from the other mode often used by the sacred writers of the N. T. (for example, ii. 17, 'Then was fulfilled the

word') which, and similar phrases, I acknowledge to have been frequently used when only an accommodation is intended.—Though, on account of the allegation by Matthew, I conceive that this prophecy of Isaiah respects the nativity of the Messiah from a virgin, yet I regard this sense as belonging to the words of the prophet, not literally, but TYPICALLY. Those who explain it in this application literally, are reduced to constructions extremely forced, and to which the whole context is repugnant. It is clear that the prophet promises a sign to be very shortly given, from which Ahaz was to know that his deliverance would very shortly take place. Such was not the promise of the Messiah, to be born of a virgin above seven hundred years after. The solutions which have been devised for answering this objection, are extremely improbable, and manifestly wrest the prophet's words.—I think, then, the weight of evidence to be in favour of those who interpret the passage thus: that the prophet pointed out some virgin who was present and well known to all the persons addressed; that he predicted that she should, in a miraculous manner, bring forth a son, for a confirmation of the promise given; and that this miracle, while it immediately respected the times of the prophet, was a TYPE of the birth of Christ of the Virgin Mary. As the brazen serpent was a type of the crucifixion of Christ, and Jonah of his being three days in the grave; is it incredible that God should have been pleased thus to prefigure his miraculous birth ?-"-Dathii Prophetæ Majores; Halæ, 1785, pp. 22-25.

Note [E], page 360.

"As the expression, God is with us, was employed by the Hebrews to signify his benignant regard and delivering aid, (see chap. xliii. 2; Ps. xlvi. 8, 12; lxxxix. 25; Jer. i. 8; Joshua i. 5;) so the name Immanuel appears to have been given to the promised child for the purpose of presignifying the deliverance of the Jewish people from their troubles and difficulties, and their being defended from all their enemies. That this should be accomplished by one who would be born of a virgin, who would be also really GoD, dwelling and acting among men by assuming their nature, and who would therefore be actually Immanuel, Aεáv0рwñоç, God-man, is further manifest from the circumstance that, in a following part of this same section of prophecy, (ch. ix. 5,) this future child is, among other epithets, called the Mighty God. Lactantius therefore very properly says, ' By this name, Immanuel, the prophet declared that God would come to men in the flesh for Immanuel signifies God with us, because, on account

of his being born of a virgin, men would have to declare that God was with them on earth and in mortal flesh.' Div. Instit. iv. 12. Jerome also justly gives this paraphrase: Therefore that child who shall be born of a virgin, O family of David, is now by you called Immanuel, that is, God with us; because, by the very fact of being delivered from the two invading enemies, thou wilt have a proof that God is present with thee.'

"It is to be considered that, in the time of Isaiah, and particularly among the Jews, the belief was extensively cherished, and had been indeed received among many other nations of antiquity, that a kind of Divine Hero or King would be born of a spotless virgin, who should redeem men from wickedness, release them from troubles, and deliver them from miseries: in a word, who should restore to the world the happiness of the golden age.' The Hebrews looked for that Divine Sovereign among themselves, to be the son of a virgin of the house of David, and they expected that he would be in an especial manner the Redeemer and Deliverer of his own nation. Those of them who relied upon that ancient and brilliant divine promise, (2 Sam. vii. 16,) on the perpetual duration of the kingdom of David, looked for his appearance whenever they were so heavily oppressed with great public calamities, that they supposed the last or iron age of the world to be certainly near its close. As then total ruin seemed to be impending over the royal race of David and the entire kingdom of Judah, from the confederacy of the kings of Syria and Israel, the prophet encourages their troubled and dejected minds by the hope that this Divine Prince, so ardently longed for, would shortly be born of a virgin, in a miraculous

manner.

"That this expectation existed among the Jews of that age, appears also from Micah (ch. v. 1, 2,) a prophet contemporary with Isaiah; in which passage, after the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem is plainly declared, it is added, 'Therefore he [Jehovah] will give them up, until the time that she who is labouring in birth [i. e. who, they expected, would shortly be so,] shall bring forth." This is a prediction so resembling the one before us, that it is evident that one of them refers to the other, and that they illustrate each other.

"But, it may be objected, Isaiah had promised a sign which

1 Dr. R. refers to the ancient mythological fables of the Indian Buddha, the Fohi or Xaca of China and Thibet, the Astræa and other ideal persons of the Greeks and Romans; and above all, the descriptions of Virgil in his Pollio, so wonderfully coincident with the prophecies of Isaiah, particularly chap. ix. 4—7 ; xi. 1-10; xii. xxxv.

should be a confirmation of the promise before given that the efforts of the kings combined against Judah should be utterly defeated: and what effect to this object could accrue from a new promise of another future thing? In reply to this, I remark, that we often in Scripture find the promise of a less considerable blessing confirmed by the promise of a greater; the sign answering the end of a proof. Thus the divine mission of Moses, before he returned from Arabia into Egypt, was confirmed by this sign, that, after the deliverance of the people of Israel from the Egyptian bondage, they should worship God in that same Mount Horeb: Exod. iii. 12. So a sign was afforded to King Hezekiah, that the attempts of the Assyrians to overthrow the kingdom of Judah, would be frustrated; namely this, that to the second year after the raising of the siege of Jerusalem, the people should be supported by the spontaneous produce of the ground, and in the third year should sow and reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruits. Isa. xxxvii. 30. The design and character of the passage under consideration, is the same as of those. The prophet confirms the promise of a speedy deliverance from the hostile invasion, by another promise, that the great and Divine Deliverer, who was to spring out of the house of David by a miraculous birth, would speedily make his appearance as if he had said, So far shall your now threatening enemies be from effecting any part of their projects, that, on the contrary, ye shall soon behold born among you, the glorious and Divine Deliverer who shall confer upon you safety and liberty, and shall elevate your national interests to such a point of prosperity as they had never before attained."E. F. C. Rosenm. in loc.

For some further considerations on this subject, I beg to refer the reader to the ensuing volume, B. III. chap. i.

SECTION XX.

JEHOVAH, THE OBJECT OF CONFIDENCE AND of REVERENCE.

Is. viii. 13, 14.

13. "To Jehovah of hosts himself pay holy homage,
"Even Him your fear, and Him your dread:

14." And He shall be for a sanctuary,

"And for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of ruin,

"To both the houses of Israel;

"For a snare and for a net,

"To the inhabitant of Jerusalem."1

THE evident design of this passage is to point out the True and Eternal God as the Author of safety and deliverance from imminent danger; that it is the

1 The striking imagery of this passage is derived from the very ancient practice of consecrating massive stones, often used as altars, to the deity. These stones, as afterwards temples and other sacred places, were invested with the right of sanctuary or asylum; affording safety to any one who, pursued by an enemy, or by the vindicator of another who had suffered real or supposed wrong, fled for refuge. This beautifully represents the power and grace of a Divine Saviour, conferring deliverance from sin and all substantial happiness upon those who place their confidence in him. On the other hand, a man fleeing from danger, but disbelieving or disregarding the sacred refuge, might stumble over the very stone which would have afforded him safety; and thus be seriously injured, or even lose his life, either by the severity of the fall on rocky ground, or by being intercepted so as to become an easy prey to the pursuing enemy.

"That the ancient Jews understood this passage of the Messiah, appears from a very clear passage of the Talmud of the Sanhedrim, quoted by Raymund Martini in his Pugio Fidei, ed. Carpzov. p. 343." Rosenm.