SECT. 29, 30.] MESSIAH VINDICATED. 203
the words to Ezra and Nehemiah upon the return from the captivity, on what grounds he doth not declare. Abarbanel having, as is his manner always, repeated the various expositions and opinions of others, adds at last, ndbx» mnpa pty mwp Sy oms wee ons — “ Others expound the words of the Messiah our righteousness: Let him be speedily revealed!” But they may also do well to con- sider, that the person here promised to be the beauty and glory of the church, by whom the remnant of Israel, which are “ written in the book of life,” shall be saved, is the “ Branch of the Lorp” and the “fruit of the earth: which better expresseth his two natures in. one person than that he should be for a while a barren branch, and afterwards bear fruit in the destruction of Gog and Magog; which is their gloss on the words.
The illustrious prophecies concerning the name of the Messiah, Immanuel, and his being born of a virgin, chap. vii. viil., must be handled apart afterwards and vindicated from the exceptions of the Jews, and are therefore here omitted.
30. Isa. ix. 6, “ And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsel- lor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Targ., smb nyy sedan oop jo maw “pnsy;—“ And his name is called of old.” dup jo is the same with 072, Micah v. 1. Targ., postpdn; that is, as in the next words, “from everlasting,” “from the days of eternity:” for although 7p } be frequently used for ‘25n, “ from before the face,” or “ sight,’ as the words of the Targumist are here vulgarly translated, (as in the translation in the Polyglott Bibles, “A facie admirabilis consilii Deus,”’—which is blamed by Cartwright in his Mellificium for not putting “Deus” in the geni- tive case as well as “admirabilis,’ which indeed were rational if Dp jo were necessarily “a facie,’)—yet it is also used absolutely with reference unto time, and so there is no need that the following words should be regulated thereby. So is it twice used: as Prov. viii. 22, N11 DIP j),—“ And before his works” that were wrought, that is, from eternity; and verse 23, wpdy pop jo), —“ And before the world.” And-in that sense is potp>n always used; as Isa. xxiii. 7; Ps. Ixxviii. 2; Isa. xlvi. 10. And thus the words will yield a better sense than “ A facie admirabilis consilii Deus,” or that which they are cast into by Seb. Munster, “ Mirificantis consilium Deo fortissimo qui manet in secula ;” for there is no need, as we have seen, that the words should be cast into the genitive case by otp jo. And although the Targumist rendereth /'2, the participle, “counsellor,” by the substantive nyy, “counsel,” yet this hinders not but that it may express one of his names: “ Wonderful, Counsel, God;” or, “ Miri- ficans consilium Deus;” or, “ The God of wonderful counsel.” One, from some of the Jews, takes another way to pervert these words. “ Consiliarius, Deus fortis, imo,” saith he, “ Consultator Dei fortis ;
204 PROMISES OF THE [EXERC. Ix.
z.é., Qui in omnibus negotiis consilia a Deo poscet, per prophetas sci- licet:” whereby this clear and honourable testimony given unto the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ is weakened and impaired.
Again, the Targumist renders SIP, “be called,” by “pns), in a passive sense; which obviates the principal exception of the modern Jews, who interpret it actively, that it may be referred to God, the wonderful Counsellor, who shall call him “The Prince of Peace.” But as this is contrary to the Targum, so also to the use of the word in like cases: for this declaration of the name of the child promised -answers the proclamation made of the name of God, Exod. xxxiv. 6, where 87?" is well rendered by ours, “and proclaimed,” or, “and there was proclaimed ;” the name following sounded in his ears: where the Vulgar Latin, translating the word actively, and applying it unto Moses, (“Stetit Moses cum eo invocans nomen Domini, quo trans- eunte coram eo ait, Dominator Domine Deus,”—“ Moses stood with him, calling on the name of the Lord, who passing by, he said, O mighty Ruler, Lord God,”) both corrupts the proper sense of the words and gives us that which is directly untrue; for not Moses, but God himself, gave out and proclaimed that name, as it is said expressly that he would do, chap. xxxiii. 19, and as Moses himself afterwards pleaded that he had done, Num. xiv. 17, 18. But this by the way, to obviate the Judaical sophism mentioned, that would make all the names in the text, unless it be “ The Prince of Peace,” to precede the verb, and that to be actively understood.
31. It follows in the Targum, 30) xodwt xmwo xrndyd pp N33 ‘mma sady. The words are variously rendered. Some refer 72) to xnbs that goes before; so expressing them by “Deus fortis,” or “fortissimus,”—“ The mighty God.” Others, as the translation in the Biblia Regia and Londini, refer to the words following, xnbyd pvp, and render it by “vir,” “the man:” “Vir permanens in eternum ;”—“ The man abiding for ever.” But it doth not seem that this sense will hold; for although x12) do signify “a man,” the same with the Hebrew 733, yet 8723 is not so used, but only for “fortis” or “fortissimus.” 33, the word used in the original, is applied to God and men, but here it seems to be joined with °&, and to signify, as by us translated, “The mighty God,” which the Targumist endeavoured also to express; and so by n»o>y> n%p, “ per- manens in secula,” “abiding for ever,” he rendereth W 28, “The Father of eternity,” significantly enough. Also, Nmw is joined by some with xobwi, and rendered “Messia Pacis,” for pibaby “The Prince of Peace;” but this connection of the words those that follow will not well bear, wherefore they place the name Messiah absolutely, and render the following words, “ Whose peace shall be multiplied unto us in his days.” :