weight is attached to the circumstance that the Messiah inflicts punishment by His mere word; "the breath of His lips" is equivalent [Pg 118] to "mere words," "mere command;" compare "breath of His mouth," in Ps. xxxiii. 6. _Hitzig's_ explanation, "the angry breath of His lips," does not interpret, but interpolate. In the future Son of David every word is, at the same time, a deed; He speaks and it is done. The same which is here said of the Messiah is, in other passages, attributed to _God_: compare Job xv. 30, where it is said of the wicked: "By the breath of His mouth he shall go away;" Hos. vi. 5: "I have slain them by the word of my mouth." In general, according to the precedent in Gen. i., doing by the mere word is, in Scripture, the characteristic designation of Divine Omnipotence. Parallel is chap. xlix. 2, where Christ says: "And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword," equivalent to: He has endowed me with His Omnipotence, so that my word also exercises destructive effect, just as His. In Rev. i. 16, it is said of Christ: "And out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword,"--to designate the destructive power of His word borne by Omnipotence, the omnipotent punitive power of Christ against enemies, both internal and external. An instance of the manner in which Christ smites by the word of His mouth is offered by Acts v. 3 (where, according to the analogy of the word spoken in the name of God by Elijah, 2 Kings i. 10, 12, and by Elisha, 2 Kings ii. 24, v. 27, the Apostles are to be considered only as His instruments): ἀκούων δὲ Ἁνανίας τοὺς λόγους τούτους πεσὼν ἐξέψυξε, comp. ver. 10; xiii. 11. The Chaldee translates: "And by the word of His lips wicked Armillus shall die." He refers רשע not to the ideal person of the wicked, but to an individual, _Armillus_, (ἐρημόλαος, corresponding to the name of Balaam, compounded of בלע "devouring," "destruction," and עם "people") the formidable, last enemy of the Jews who shall carry on severe wars with them, slay the Messiah ben Joseph, but at length be slain by the Messiah ben David with a mere word, compare _Buxtorf_, _Lex. Chald._ cap. 221-224: _Eisenmenger_, _entdecktes Judenthum_ ii. S. 705 ff. In 2 Thess. ii. 8, in the description of Antichrist's destruction by Christ: ὃν ὁ Κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἀναλώσει τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, there is an intentional and significant allusion to the passage before us, Antichrist there being, like רשע here, an ideal person; for the arguments in proof, see my Comment, on Revelation, vol. ii. Ver. 5. "_And righteousness is the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins._" [Pg 119] Righteousness and faithfulness are in a similar manner connected in 1 Sam. xxvi. 13 (? Prov. xii. 17). Faithfulness is trustworthiness. The point of comparison with the girdle is the closeness of the union; comp. Ps. cix. 19; Jer. xiii. 1, 2, 11.