He confesseth with us that the head of this prophecy and dis- course is in verse 13, chap. lii. The words of that verse are, —
" Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high."
Of the sense of which words, thus he : —
" Fcce intelliget servus mens. Hgec omnia clarissimb sibi revelata cognoscet Jeremias. Exaltabitur et elevabitur, et suhlimis erit valde. In magno honore erit apud ipsos Chaldseos, Jer. xxxix. in fine, et xl.;" — " My servant Jeremiah shall have all these things clearly re-
DIGRESSION CONCERNING GROTIUS ON ISAIAH LIII. 459
vealed to liim, and he shall be in great honour with the Chaldeans/' So he.
1. For the words themselves: ^''^^l, with the Vulgar Latin, he renders " intelliget," " shall understand/' The word signifies rather "prudence" for action with success, than any speculative knowledge by revelation. 1 Sam. xviii. 30, it is used of David behaving himself wisely in the business of his military and civil employment. Its opposite, saith Pagnine, is ''?9j "quod incogitantiam significat in rebus agendis et ignavam levitatem," — " which signifies incogitancy in the management of affairs and idle lightness." Whence the word is usually taken for to "prosper" in affairs; as it is used of our Sa- viour, Jer. xxiii. 5, "A King shall reign" ''''IP''"''!, "and prosper/' Nor can it be otherwise used here, considering the connection of the words wherein it stands, it being the precedent to his being " highly exalted" who is spoken of; which rather follows his "dealing pru- dently" than his " receiving revelations." So that in the very entrance there is a mistake in the sense of the word, and that mistake lies at the bottom of the whole interpretation.
2. I deny that God speaks anywhere in the Scripture of any one besides Jesus Christ in this phrase, without any addition, " My ser- vant," as here, " Behold, my servant." So he speaks of Christ, Isa. xlii. 1, 19, and other places; but not of any other person whatever. It is an expression xut s^o^yjv, and not to be applied to any but to him who was the great servant of the Father in the work of media- tion.
3. Even in respect of revelations, there is no ground why those made to Jeremiah should be spoken of so emphatically, and by way of eminence above others, seemg he came short of the prophet by whom these words are written. Nor can any instance be given of such a prediction used concerning any prophet whatever that was to be raised up in the church of the Jews, but of Christ himself only.
4. The exposition of the close of these words, " He shall be ex- alted and extolled, and be very high"^ (the great exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ in his kingdom, when he was made a prince and a saviour in a most eminent manner, being set forth in various ex- pressions, no one reaching to the glory of it), is unworthy the learned annotator. " He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high ;" — that is, the Chaldeans shall give him " victuals and a reward," Jer. xl. 5 ; and after a while he shall be carried a prisoner into Egypt, and there knocked on the head. Such was the exaltation of the poor prophet ! What resemblance hath all this to the exaltation of Jesus Christ, whom the learned man confesseth to be intended in these words?
• " Eminentioe notioncm quavis formula expressit, quia illius emincntia erit sublimia excellentia." — D. Kimcbi.
460 VINDICI^ EVANGELIC^.
The sense, then, of these words is: Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the servant of the Father, Isa. xUi. 1, 19, Phil. ii. 7, 8, " shall deal pru- dently," and prosper in the business of doing his Father's will, and carrying on the aliairs of his own kingdom, Isa. ix. 7, " and be exalted' far above all principalities and powers, having "a name given him above every name, that at the name of Jesus," etc., Phil. ii. 9, 10.
The next verse is, — •
" As many were astonished at thee ; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men."
Of the accomplishment of this in and upon the Lord Jesus Christ there is no difificulty. The astonishment mentioned is that of men at his low and despicable condition as to outward appearance ; which was such as that he said of himself " he was a worm, and no man," Ps. xxii. 6. His condition was such and his visage such as all that knew any thing of him were astonished to the purpose. The marring of his visage and form, as it may point out all the acts of violence that were done upon his face, by spitting, buffeting, and the like, so it expresses his whole despised, contemned, persecuted estate and condition. But let us attend to our annotator: —
" Modb secunda, modb tertia persona, de Jeremia loquitur, quod frequens Hebr«is. Sicut multi mirati erant hominem tam egregium tam foedfe tractari, detrudi in carcerem, deinde in lacum lutosum, ibique et psedore et cibi inopia contabescere ; sic contra, rebus mutatis, admirationi erit honos ipsi habitus;" — "He speaks of Jeremiah, sometimes in the second, sometimes in the third person; which is fre- quent with the Hebrews. As many wondered that so excellent a person should so vilely be dealt with, be thrust into prison, and then into a miry lake, and there to pine with stink and want of food ; so on the contrary, affairs being changed, the honour afforded him shall be matter of admiration."