entiles. The kings who sit on their thrones rise up;
the nobles who stand around the throne prostrate themselves. The
Servant of God is the concentration of Israel, ver. 3. Hence His
glorification is, at the close, once more traced back to the _Holy One
of Israel_; and that so much the rather, because the glorification
which is bestowed upon Him is bestowed upon Him for the benefit of the
Congregation, whom He elevates along with himself out of the condition
of deep abasement; comp. vers. 8 and 9. The verse before us forms the
germ of that which, in chap. lii. 13, is carried out and expanded.

[Pg 246]

Ver. 8. "_Thus saith the Lord: In the time of favour have I heard thee,
and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve
thee, and give thee for the Covenant of the people, that thou mayest
raise up the land, divide desolate heritages._ Ver. 9. _That thou
mayest say to the prisoners: Go forth; to them that are in darkness:
Come to light; they shall feed in the ways, and on all bare hills shall
be their pasture._"

_The time of favour_ may be either the time when God shows His delight
in, and favour to His Servant, and, in Him, to the Church, _q. d._, of
delight in thee, mercy for thee,--in which case chap. lx. 10 would be
parallel: "In my _wrath_ I smote thee, and in my favour have I had
mercy on thee;" or, "in the time of favour," may be equivalent to: "at
the agreeable, acceptable time" (LXX., which Paul follows in 2 Cor. vi.
1, 2, [Greek: kairo dekto], Vulg. _tempore placito_); in contrast to a
preceding unacceptable time, in which the Lord seemed to have forsaken
His Servant, in which it appeared as if He had laboured in vain, and
spent His strength for nought and vanity. Acceptable is the time to all
parties, not only to the Servant of God, but also to those who are to
be redeemed through Him; and not less to God, to whom it is a joy to
pour out upon His Servant the rivers of His salvation. The Preterites
in ver. 8 must be viewed as prophetic Preterites. Concerning "Covenant
of the people," compare remarks on chap. xlii. 6. The idea of the
people is more closely defined and qualified by ver. 6 and 7. The souls
who have been cut off from their people, because they have broken the
covenant of the Lord, and despised His Servant, are justly passed by.
But since [Hebrew: eM] can here be understood of the better portion of
the people only, of the invisible Church in the midst of the visible,
the Serv