The different expositions of this erse are worth noticing. The general idea is apparent, namely, that the Servant of God meets with a violent death as the termination of his sufferings for the sins of the people. Hengstenberg renders the first clause: "From oppression and from judgment he was taken, and his generation who can think it out." Lowth has it: "By an oppressive judgment he was taken off, and his manner of life who would declare?" Nordheimer translates it: "For the sake of oppression and condemnation he was seized, and who considered his race?" The Septuagint reads: "In his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation?" In this passage it is a matter of some difficulty to decide upon the meaning of it. Our version has it generation, in which sense it is generally used. Gesenius translates it here by zeitgenossen, cotemporaries. Lowth, to sustain his translation of it, manner of life, quotes from the Mishna and Gemara of Babylon, where it is said that before any one among the Jews was punished for a capital crime, it was proclaimed, "Whoever knows anything about this man's innocence, let him come and make it known." Some have thought that by 17, his posterity, the number of his spiritual descendants was meant. Others that the humanity of the Messiah and his miraculous conception were referred to. We think the whole clause may be freely rendered: For the sake of a judicial condemnation he was seized, and who considered his manner of life? for the transgression of my people the stroke ,מִפָּשַׁע עַמִּי נֶגַע לָמוֹ was upon him. in consists of the preposition and the plural suffix, though it is sometimes employed as a singular; so it is here renered in the Syriac version also by Jerome. Hengstenberg concedes that it has a plural meaning, but renders the whole clause so as to save it from a rationalistic interpretation: "For the transgression of my people whose the punishment;" that is, upon whom the punishment would have fallen. The Septuagint reads as though from a MS. which had b instead of in, and there the passage reads, For the transgression of my people he was led to death. This is the reading adopted by Lowth and many others. The only argument by which it is defended is, that Origen so quoted' the passage in controversy with a Jew, and from that it is inferred that this was the reading of the Hebrew text in his day, which is not a necessary conclusion. We prefer to translate the passage as it is in our version. Enough passages to prove the use of in in the singular might be cited. 9. He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. is here used either impersonally, as we often find the Hebrew verb, or a subject, as, may be supplied. Hengstenberg says the meaning of the passage is: "Men fixed for him the ignominious grave with criminals; by the providence of God he received the honorable grave with the rich, and that for the sake of his innocent suffering." We learn from Josephus that criminals were not only ignominiously executed, but an honorable burial was not allowed them. Thus in Antiq., b. iv, ch. 8, sec. 6, we read: "He who has blasphemed God shall, after having been stoned, be hung up for a day, and be buried quietly and ignominiously." Maimonides also says: "Those who have been executed in accordance with the decree of the court are not buried in the graves of their ancestors; but there are two graves appointed for them: one for the stoned and burned, the other for the beheaded and strangled." The different expositions of this verse require notice. Lowth translates the first clause: "And his grave was appointed with the wicked; This reading views 7, which our version renders in his death, as a plural noun with the pronominal suffix. Whereas our version considers it composed of the preposition, with the noun and the suffix. Gesenius considers it as the plural of , a sepulchral mound, like the Greek βωμός. Gesenius makes to mean the ungodly, and thus the clause forms a more perfect parallelism than either Lowth's translation or our version. Martini translates it: "They prepared for him a sepulcher with the wicked, a sepulchral mound with the violent." Hengstenberg gives it: "And they gave him his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death." But he considers in his death equivalent to "after he had died;" and to sustain his view quotes 1 Kings xiii, 31: "In my death you shall bury me in the sepulcher." should be rendered although, and not because, as in our version. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XII.-7 As the copula and suffix are both wanting in, it is hardly in accordance with the Hebrew idiom to translate the first clause as our version has it. Gesenius in his translation makes it: "It pleased Jehovah to grievously wound him." Hengstenberg says: "The Lord was pleased painfully to crush him." Our version renders is N, "when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin." Now i can be made either in the third singular feminine, or in second singular masculine of the imperfect. If we make it third singular feminine the clause would read, "when his soul hath given restitution," which answers better to the context. Our Lord says, in John X, 12: ¿ ποιμην ὁ καλος τὴν ψυχὴν ἁυτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπερ τῶν προβάτων; and in Matt. xx, 28, δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν—expressions which seem to have this very passage in view. He shall see his seed. here refers to the followers of the Messiah. Thus, in Matt. ix, 2, Christ addresses the paralytic by TÉKVOV; and in John xiii, 33, his disciples as TEKvía. The apostles counted those who had been converted through their ministry as their spiritual children. "The thought," says Hengstenberg, "is this: That in the sacrificial death of the servant of God there will be an animating power; that just thereby he will found his Church." He shall prolong his days, is to be taken, not as referring directly to long life, but to that life which is imparted to his spiritual children. "Because I live," says Christ, "ye shall live also." The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. En in the last clause corresponds to 7 in the first. As it pleased the Lord to bruise him for the salvation of sinners, so it is his pleasure that sinners should be justified through his vicarious sufferings, and this salvation shall go on successfully under his dominion. 11. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. The in denotes the cause, and the passage may be rendered, On account of the suffering of his soul, he shall see, he shall be satisfied. There is an ellipsis of the object after the verbs, which may be readily supplied. is here used very much as dià in Heb. ii, 9: "We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, διὰ τὸ πάθημα τοῦ θανάτου, on account of his sufering death."* See Stuart's Commentary on Hebrews, in loco. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. iny means by their knowledge of him, the suffix i being an objective genitive. For he shall bear their iniquities. Dy is rather to be rendered by the punishment due to their iniquities. 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and, he shall divide the spoil with the strong: because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. The expression Gesenius translates by "I will assign him a portion among the great." Hengstenberg renders it: "I will give him a portion in the many." Lowth's is nearly the same: "I will distribute to him the many for his portion." This first clause has reference to the ultimate triumph of the servant of God. Because he hath poured out his soul unto death, the Hiphil. The expression implies that he gave himself up voluntarily to death. And he was numbered with transgressors. In Luke xxii, 37, our Lord, referring to this passage, says: "This that is written must yet be accomplished in me: And he was reckoned among the transgressors." And in Matt. xxvi, 56, after reproaching those who came to seize him, for coming with swords and staves, he says: “But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." And he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Here Christ is represented as the offering for sin, and as interceding for transgressors not by prayer alone, but also by his atoning sacrifice. "His vicarious suffering," says Hengstenberg, "is pointed out as the ground of his intercession." What was foreshadowed under the old dispensation by the high priest, who went in with blood to make intercession for the sins of the people, was fulfilled in Christ. In Heb. ix, 24-26, Christ is represented as having entered heaven to appear before God for us, to remove the punishment due to our sins by the sacrifice of himself. So in Rom, viii, 34, it is said: "It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." |