ts.
They grant "that other prophets also sometimes, in the Spirit, transfer
themselves into later times, especially into the idealistic times of
the Messiah," and draw their arguments from the circumstance only, that
the latter again came back to their personal stand point, whilst our
Prophet continues cleaving to the later time. Now it is true, and must
be conceded, that this mode of representation is here employed to an
extent greater than it is anywhere else in the Old Testament. But, in
matters of this kind, measuring by the ell is quite out of place. In
other respects also, the second part of Isaiah stands out as quite
unique. There is, in the whole Old Testament, no other continuous
prophecy which has so absolutely and pre-eminently proceeded from _cura
posteritatis_. If [Pg 175] it be acknowledged that the prophesying
activity of Isaiah falls into two great divisions,--the one--the
results of which are contained in the first 39 chapters--chiefly,
pre-eminently indeed, destined for the Present; the other,--which lies
before us in the second part, belonging to the evening of the Prophet's
life--forming a prophetical legacy, and hence, therefore, never
delivered in public, but only committed to writing;--then we shall find
it quite natural that the Prophet, writing, as he did, chiefly for the
Future, should here also take his stand in the Future, to a larger
extent than he has elsewhere done.

That it is in this manner only that this fact is to be accounted for,
appears from the circumstance that, although our Prophet so extensively
and frequently represents the Past as Present, yet he passes over, in
numerous passages, from the _ideal_ into the _real_ Present.[2] We find
a number of references which do not at all suit the condition of things
after the exile, but necessarily require the age of Isaiah, or, at
least, the time before the exile. If Isaiah be the author, these
passages are easily accounted for. It is true that, in the Spirit, he
had transferred himself into the time of the Babylonish exile; and this
time had become Present to him. But it would surely be suspicious to
us, if the real Present had not sometimes prevailed, and attracted the
eye of the Prophet. It is just thus, however, that we find it. The
Prophet frequently steps out of his ideal view and position, and refers
to conditions and circumstances of his time. _Now_, he has before his
eyes the condition of the unhappy people in the Babylonish exil