10.
It is _further_ shown by the connection with what precedes, where great
calamity, and the devastation of their whole country had been predicted
to Israel,--and by the mention of the vine and fig-tree, which are
characteristic of the land of Israel. The words, "For the mouth of the
Lord," etc., point out the pledge, which the person of Him who promises
affords for the fulfilment of the promise, which appears incredible.

Ver. 5. "_For all the nations shall walk, every one in the name of
their God; and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever
and ever._"

The causal particle [Hebrew: ki] states the ground of the fact that the
Lord of hosts has spoken this, and given the promise of the final
safety of Israel, and of his enjoying peace after the strife, in
consequence of God's exercising dominion from Zion over the whole
heathen world; while this peace after the strife is then more fully
described in vers. 6, 7. The lot of every people corresponds to the
nature of their God. And now, how [Pg 451] could it be otherwise, than
that all other nations should be humbled, because their gods are idols,
while Israel, on the other hand, is exalted and endowed with
everlasting salvation and prosperity, because his God is the only true
God? Is. xlv. 16, 17 is parallel: "They shall be ashamed, and also
confounded, all of them; they shall go to confusion, the makers of
idols. Israel is saved by the Lord, with an everlasting salvation; ye
shall not be ashamed nor confounded in all eternity."--"The name of the
Lord" is the complex whole of His excellency which is revealed, and
proved by deeds; compare Prov. xviii. 10: "The name of the Lord is a
strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is exalted." Inasmuch
as the name of the Lord is to manifest itself in His dealings with His
people, it represents itself as the way in which they are to walk: the
prayer of the Psalmist in Ps. xxv. 5, that the Lord would lead him in
His _truth_, forms a parallel to this; and so does also what he says in
ver. 9 of the same Psalm, that "He guides the meek in _judgment_." But
exactly corresponding is Zech. x. 12: "And I strengthen them in the
Lord, and _in His name shall they walk_" = in the path of His name, so
that the latter manifests itself in His dealings with them; compare the
remarks on that passage. In favour of our exposition, moreover, is the
comparison of the passage Is. ii. 5, the evidently requisite harmony of
which with