which Levi requires, how does he know but that this evidence would have been resisted in the same way as many of his nation resist that which supports the Mosaic revelation? Nay, how does he know but that he himself is now resisting that evidence which God hath seen fit to give of the mission of him who is the true Messiah? CHAP. IV. THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES TESTIFY THAT THE MESSIAH WAS TO SUFFER; AND THE PROPHECIES OF A SUFFERING ISAIAH liii. Who hath believed our report? ' and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? • For he shall grow up before him as a tender 'plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he ' hath no form nor comeliness; and when we 'shall see him, there is no beauty that we ' should desire him. He is despised and re'jected of men; a man of sorrows, and ac' quainted with grief; and we hid as it were our 'faces from him: he was despised, and we ' esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our 'griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did ' esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and 'afflicted. But he was wounded for our trans 6 gressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; ' the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; ' and with his stripes we are healed. All we, ' like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned 6 every one to his own way; and the Lord hath ' laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was ' oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened 'not his mouth. He was taken from prison, ' and from judgment, and who shall declare his ' generation? for he was cut off out of the land 'of the living; for the transgression of my 6 people was he stricken. And he made his ' grave with the wicked, and with the rich, in ' his death; because he had done no violence, ' neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet 'it pleased the Lord to bruise him: he hath 6 put him to grief: when thou shalt make his ' soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, 'he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of 6 'the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall 'see of the travail of his soul, and shall be ' satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous 'servant justify many; for he shall bear ' their iniquities. Therefore will I divide unto 'him (a portion) with the great, and he shall 'divide the spoil with the strong; because he 'hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he 'bare the sin of many, and made intercession ' for the transgressors.' The point at issue, between Jews and Christians, with respect to the foregoing prophecy, is, what person is spoken of. The modern Jews allege, that the Jewish nation is here personified; and their sufferings during their long and dreadful captivity are thus foretold. The Christians, on the contrary, apply this passage to the sufferings and death of Jesus. I shall therefore inquire, first, how far the features of character possessed by the person who is the subject of this prophecy, are to be found in the Jewish nation; and, secondly, whether all these features of character did not shine forth conspicuously in the life, and sufferings, and death of Jesus. The person here described, is styled the righteous servant of God. (ver. 11.) Righteousness, therefore, forms a prominent feature of his character. How far this feature of character belongs to the children of Israel, at any period of their history, we may learn from the Hebrew Scriptures, and the writings of David Levi. When they were about to inherit the land of Canaan, Moses, in the name of the Lord, thus addresses them: - Speak not thou in thine ' heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast 'them out before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess the land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from 'before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for 'the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go ' to possess the land; but for the wickedness of ' these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he 6 6 |