on. It is by this that the accumulation of the predicates is to
be accounted for. He who fully realizes what a great thing it is to
bring an apostate world back to God, to that God who has become a
stranger to it, [Pg 220] will surely not explain this accumulation by a
"disposition, on the part of the Prophet, to diffuseness."

Ver. 6. "_I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and I will
seize thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for the covenant of
the people and, for the Light of the Gentiles._"

It is so obvious that [Hebrew: bcdq] must be translated by "in
righteousness," that the explanations which disagree with it do not
deserve to be even mentioned. The mission of the Servant of God has
its root in the divine _righteousness_, which gives to every one his
due,--to the covenant-people, salvation. Even apart from the promise,
the appearance of Christ rests on the righteousness of God. For it is
in opposition to the nature and character of a people of God to be, for
any length of time, in misery, and shut up to one corner of the earth.
That which is to be accomplished for Israel by the Servant of God,
forms, in the sequel, the first subject of discourse. But even that
which He affords to the _Gentiles_ is, at the same time, given to
Israel, inasmuch as it is one of their prerogatives that salvation for
the Gentiles should go forth from them. As, here, the mission of the
Servant of God, so, in chap. xlv. 13, the appearance of the lower
deliverer appears as the work of divine righteousness: "I have raised
him up in righteousness, and all his ways I will make straight."
Similarly also in chap. xli. 2: "Who raised up from the East him whom
righteousness calls wherever he goes," _i.e._, him, all whose steps are
determined by God's righteousness, who, in all his undertakings, is
guided by it.--The seizing by the hand, the keeping, &c., are the
consequence of His being called, and are equivalent to: just because I
have called him, therefore will I, &c. Luther remarks: "Namely, for
this reason, that Satan and the world, with all their might and wisdom,
will _resist_ thy work." In the words: "For the Covenant of the people,
and for the Light of the Gentiles," [Hebrew: eM] and [Hebrew: gviM]
form an antithesis. The absence of the article shows that we ought
properly to translate: "For a Covenant of a people, for a Light of
Gentiles." It is thus, in the first instance, only said that the
Servant of God should be