Sec. 13). _Ben Sira_ (fol.
40 ed., Amstel. 1679), mentions among the eight names of the Messiah,
the following from the passage before us: Wonderful, Counsellor, El
Gibbor, Prince of Peace. But the late Jewish interpreters found it
objectionable that the Messiah, in opposition to their doctrinal views,
was here described as God; for doctrinal reasons, therefore, they gave
up the received interpretation, and sought to adapt the passage to
Hezekiah. Among these, however, _Rabbi Lipmann_ allows the Messianic
explanation to a certain degree to remain. Acknowledging that the
prophecy could not refer exclusively to Hezekiah, he extends it to all
the successors from the House of David, including the Messiah, by whom
it is to attain its most perfect fulfilment. Among Christian
interpreters, _Grotius_ was the first to abandon the Messianic
explanation. Even _Clericus_ acknowledges that the predicates are
applicable to Hezekiah "_sensu admodum diluto_" only. At the time when
Rationalism had the ascendancy, it became pretty current to explain
them of Hezekiah. _Gesenius_ modified this view by supposing that the
Prophet had connected his Messianic wishes and expectations with
Hezekiah, and [Pg 94] expected their realization by him. At present
this view is nearly abandoned; after _Gesenius_, _Hendewerk_ is the
only one who still endeavours to defend it.

Against the application to Hezekiah even this single argument is
decisive, that a glory is here spoken of, which is to be bestowed
especially upon Galilee which belonged to the kingdom of the ten
tribes. _Farther_--Although the prophecy be considered as a human
foreboding only, how could the Prophet, to whom, everywhere else such a
sharp eye is ascribed, that, from it, they endeavour to explain his
fulfilled prophecies,--how could the Prophet have expected that
Hezekiah, who was at that time a boy of about nine years of age, and
who appeared under such unfavourable circumstances, should realize the
hopes which he here utters in reference to the world's power, should
conquer that power definitively and for ever, should infinitely extend
his kingdom, and establish an everlasting dominion? How could he have
ascribed divine attributes to Hezekiah who, in his human weakness,
stood before him? _Finally_--The undeniable agreement of the prophecy
before us with other Messianic passages, especially with Ps. lxxii. and
Is. xi., where even _Gesenius_ did not venture to maintain the
reference