After the single discourses out of the Assyrian time, from chap. vii.-xxvii., there follows in chap. xxviii.-xxxiii. the sum and substance of those not fully communicated. Even the uncommonly large extent of the section suggests to us such a comprehensive character. And so likewise does the fact that the same thoughts are constantly recurring, as is the case in several of the minor prophets also, _e.g._ Hosea. But what is most decisive is, that in chap. xxviii. 1-4 Samaria appears as not yet destroyed. Considering that the chronological principle pervades the whole collection, this going back can be accounted for only by the circumstance that we have here a comprehensive representation. And we are the more led to this opinion that, in other passages of the same section, Jerusalem is represented as being threatened immediately. In this section, it is especially the passage in chap. xxviii. 16 [Pg 155] which attracts our attention; since, in the New Testament, it is referred to Christ. "_Behold I have laid for a foundation in Zion a stone, a tried_ (stone), _a precious corner stone of perfect foundation; he that believeth need not make haste_," viz., for an escape or refuge for himself, Ps. lv. 9. In opposition to false hopes, this stone is pointed to as the only true foundation, and all are threatened with unavoidable destruction who do not make it their foundation. The stone is the Kingdom of God, the Church; compare Zech. iii. 9, where the Kingdom of God likewise appears under the image of the stone. But since the Kingdom of God (which, in chap. viii. 16, had been represented under the image of the quietly flowing waters of Siloah) is, for all eternity, closely connected with the house of David which centres in Christ, _that which, in the first instance, is said of the kingdom of God refers, at the same time, to its head and centre_. Parallel is Is. xiv. 32; "The Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people trust in it." The האמין here corresponds with the חסה with ב there. The difference is, that there Zion itself is the object of confidence, while here it is the stone which is in Zion. _There_, Zion is the _spiritual_ Zion; not the mountain as an assemblage of stones, nor the outward temple as such, but Zion in so far as it is a sanctuary, the seat of the presence of the Lord. The Lord--such is the sense--has founded His Kingdom among us; and the circumstance that we are citizens of the Kingdom gives us security, enables us to be calm even in the midst of the greatest danger. _Here_, on the contrary, Zion is the outward Zion, and the Kingdom of God is the Church as distinguished from it. The Zion here corresponds to the holy mountains in Ps. lxxxvii. 1, where, in a similar manner, a distinction is drawn between the material and spiritual Zion: "His foundation is in the holy mountains," on which I remarked in my Commentary: "The foundation of Zion took place spiritually by its being chosen to be the seat of the sanctuary.