2 Reg. XXV. 18-21. Nihil illis divitise suae profuerunt, quibus re- dimi se posse speraverant. Eo quod iniquitatem non fecerit, neque
DIGRESSION CONCERNING GROTIUS ON ISAIAH LIII. 477
dolus fuerit in ore ejus. Quanquam nihil aliud dixerat qnam quod Deus ei mandaverat ;" — " ' And he shall give the wicked for his grave (or burial), and the rich for his death/ They would have slain him, as we read Jer. xxvi. But God gave them that were very powerful, indeed, but wicked, even the priests that designed bis death, up to death by the Chaldeans, 2 Kings xxv. 18-21. Their riches, Avhereby they hoped to redeem themselves, profited them nothing. ' Because he had done,' etc. Although he had not said any thing but what God commanded him."
It is confessed that the first words are full of difficulty, and various are the interpretations of them, which the reader may consult in expositors. It is not my work at present to comment on the text, but to consider its accommodation by Grotius. The most simple sense of the words to me seems to be, that Christ, being cut off from the land of the living, had his sepulchre among wicked men, being taken down from the cross as a malefactor, and yet was buried in the grave of a rich man, — by Joseph of Arimathea in his own grave; the consent of which interpretation with the text is dis- covered by Forsterus and Mercerus, names of sufficient authority in all Hebrew literature. The sense that Grotius fixes on is, that " God delivered Jeremiah from death, and gave others to be slain in his stead, who had contrived his death." But, —
1. Of deliverance from death here is no mention; yea, he who is spoken of was ^""C"-*?, " in mortibus ejus," in his deaths, or under death and its power. So that it is not, " Others shall die for him," but, " He being dead, under the power of death, his grave, or burial, or sepulchre, shall be so disposed of"
2. There is not any word spoken of putting others to death, but of giving or placing his grave with the wicked. Nor were those men- tioned in 2 Kings xxv. 18-21, that Avere slain by the king of Babel, as it doth any way appear, of the peculiar enemies of Jeremiah, the chief of them, Seraiah, being probably he to whom Jeremiah gave his prophecy against Babylon, who is said to be a " quiet prince," Jer. li. 59-64.
3. It is well that it is granted i\i^i pro is as much as vice, "for one, in one's stead ;" which the learned annotator's friends will scarce allow.
4. The application of these words, " He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" (which are used to express the absolutely perfect innoceucy of the Son of God), to any man, who as a man is or was a liar, is little less than blasphemy; and to restrain them to the prophet's message from God is devoid of all pretence or plea.
Verse 10, " Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offeriug for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."
478 VINDICI^ EVANGELIC^.
" Tamen Deo visum est eum conterere et infirmare ; id est, at- tenuare fame, illuvie, squalore. Verba activa apud Hebraeos saepe permittendi habent significatum. Causa sequitur cur id Deus per- miserit, Si posuerit pro delicto animam suam, videhit semen lo7ig- cBvum. Verteris recte, ' ut cum semetipsum subjecerit poenis, videat semen, diuque vivat/ Hebrseis poena etiam injuste irrogata 2^^ dicitur, quia infligitur si non sonti, certe quasi sonti : sic ^^^ sumi apparet, Gen. xxxi. 39 ; Zach. xiv. 1 9. Vixit diu Jeremias in Egypto ;" — " ' Yet it seemed good to God to bruise and weaken him ;' that is, to weaken him, and bring him down by hunger, filth, etc. Active verbs among the Hebrews have often the signification of permitting. The reason follows why God suffered this, ' If he make his soul,' etc. You shall rightly read it, ' that when he hath submitted himself to punishment, then he may see his seed and live long.' Amongst the Hebrews punishment, [even though] unjustly inflicted, is called ^^^, because it is inflicted on him that is guilty,^ or supposed so: so it is evident that ^l?0 is taken. Gen. xxxi. 39 ; Zech. xiv. 19. Jere- miah lived long in Egypt."
The words and sense are both briefly to be considered. 1. J*??0, " voluit," — " The Lord would bruise him." " Delectatus est," Jun. "It pleased the Lord," say we. The Greek renders this word (BouXsrai, properly, although in the following words it utterly departs from the original. The word is not only " velle," but " voluntatem seu com- placentiam habere," — to take delight to do the thing, and in the doing of it, which we will to be done, Num. xiv. 8 ; Judges xiii. 23. Our translation refers it to the purpose and good pleasure of God ; so is the word used Jonah i. 14, and in sundry other jitlaces. The noun of the same signification is used again in this verse, }*?'!!', and is translated " The pleasure:" " The pleasure of the Lord shall pros- per,"— that is, the thing which pleases him, and which he hath pur- posed to do. The purpose and pleasure of the Lord in giving Christ up to death, Acts ii. 23, and iv. 27, 28, is doubtless that which the prophet here intends; which also, as to the execution of it, is farther expressed Zech. xiii. 7.