Mark who closely follow him, report henceforth,
until the last journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, exclusively facts which
happened in Galilee, and in Peraea, which likewise was mentioned by
Isaiah._ The circumstance that this fact, which is so obvious, was not
perceived, has called forth a number of miserable conjectures, and has
even led some interpreters to assail the credibility of the Gospel. To
Matthew, who wished to show that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah
promised in the Old Testament, the interest must, in the view of the
prophecy under consideration, be necessarily concentrated upon Galilee;
and Mark and Luke followed him in this, perceiving that it was not
becoming to them to open up a path altogether new. This was reserved to
the second Apostle from among the Evangelists.

Ver. 2 (3). "_Thou multipliest the nation to which thou didst not
increase the joy; they joy before thee like the joy in harvest, and as
they rejoice when they divide the spoil._"

The Prophet beholds the joy of the Messianic time as present; he
beholds the covenant-people numerous, free from all misery, and full of
joy; full of delight he turns to the Lord, and praises Him for what He
has done to His people.--One [Pg 81] of the privileges of the people of
God is the increase which at all times takes place after they are
sifted and thinned by judgments. Thus, _e.g._, it happened at the time
after their return from the captivity, comp. Ps. cvii. 38, 39: "And He
blesseth them, and they are multiplied greatly, and He suffereth not
their cattle to decrease. They who were minished and brought low
through affliction, oppression, and sorrow." But this increase took
place most gloriously at the time of Christ, when a numerous multitude
of adopted sons from among the Gentiles were received into the Church
of God, and thus the promise to Abraham: "I will make of thee a great
nation" ([Hebrew: gvi] as in the passage before us, and not [Hebrew:
eM]), received its final fulfilment. From the arguments which we
advanced in Vol. i. on Hosea ii. 1, it appears that the increase which
the Church received by the reception of the Gentiles is, according
to the biblical view, to be considered as an increase of the people
of Israel. The fundamental thought of Ps. lxxxvii. is: Zion the
birth-place of the nations; by the new birth the Gentiles are received
in Israel. The manner in which the Gentiles show their anxiety to be
received in Israel is described by Isaiah