[203] Thus Ewald supposed ch. lii. 13-liii. to be an elegy upon some martyr in the persecutions under Manasseh. Professor Briggs, as we have noticed before, claims to have discovered that all the passages in the Servant are parts of a trimeter poem, older than the rest of the prophecy, which he finds to be in hexameters. See p. 315.
[204] I may quote Dillmann's opinion on this last point: "Andererseits sind nicht blos die Grundgedanken und auch einzelne Wendungen wie 52, 13-15. 53, 7. 11. 12 durch 42, 1 ff. 49, 1 ff. 50, 3 ff. so wohl vorbereitet und so sehr in Übereinstimmung damit, dass an eine fast unveränderte Herübernahme des Abschnitts aus einer verlornen Schrift (_Ew._) nicht gedacht werden kann, sondern derselbe doch wesentlich als Werk des Vrf. angesehen werden muss" (_Commentary_ 4th ed., 1890, p. 453).
[205] This verb best gives the force of the Hebrew, which means both _to deal prudently_ and to _prosper_ or succeed. See p. 346.
[206] Vulgate finely: "extolletur, sublimis erit et valde elatus."
[207] "The term rendered 'startle' has created unnecessary difficulty to some writers. The word means to 'cause to spring or leap;' when applied to fluids, to spirt or sprinkle them. The fluid spirted is put in the _accusative_, and it is spirted _upon_ the person. In the present passage the person, 'many nations,' _is_ in the _accusative_, and it is simply treason against the Hebrew language to render 'sprinkle.' The interpreter who will so translate will 'do anything.'"--A. B. Davidson, _Expositor_, 2nd series, viii., 443. The LXX. has θαυμασονται εθνη πολλα. The Peschitto and Vulgate render _sprinkle_.
[208] And not _our report_, or _something we caused to be heard_, as in the English Version,--מועהש is the passive participle of מעש, to hear, and not of השמיע, to cause to hear. The speakers are now the penitent people of God who had been preached to, and not the prophets who had preached.
[209] _Tender shoot._ Masculine participle, meaning _sucker_, or _suckling_. Dr. John Hunter (_Christian Treasury_) suggests succulent plant, such as grow in the desert. But in Job viii. 16; xiv. 7; xv. 30, the feminine form is used of any tender shoot of a tree, and the feminine plural in Ezek. xvii. 22 of the same. The LXX. read παιδιον, _infant_. _Before Him_, i.e. Jehovah. Cheyne, following Ewald, reads _before us_. So Giesebrecht.
[210] _Took for his burden._ _Loaded_ himself with them. The same grievous word which God uses of Himself in ch. xlvi. See p. 180.
[211] There is more than _afflicted_ (Authorised Version) in this word. There is the sense of being _humbled_, punished for his own sake.
[212] The possessive pronoun has been put to the end of the lines, where it stands in the original, producing a greater emphasis and even a sense of rhyme.
[213] לנוכ Kūllanū so rendered instead of "all of us," in order to be assonant with the close of the verse, as the original is, which closes with kullam.
[214] That is, by a form of law that was tyranny, a judicial crime.
[215] Cut off violently, prematurely, unnaturally.
[216] See p. 368.
[217] The verbs, hitherto in the perfect in this verse, now change to the imperfect; a sign that they express the purpose of God. _Cf._ Dillmann, _in loco_.
[218] _From the travail of his soul shall he see, and by his knowledge be satisfied._ Taking דעתוב with שבעי instead of with יצדיק. This reading suggested itself to me some years ago. Since then I have found it only in Prof. Briggs's translation, _Messianic Prophecy_, p. 359. It is supported by the frequent parallel in which we find _seeing_ and _knowing_ in Hebrew.
[219] Some translate _many_, _i.e._, the many to whom he brings righteousness, as if he were a victor with a great host behind him.