In ver. 5, this manifestation itself is described, with which is connected the fulness of salvation for the covenant-people. The servants of God are to announce the approach of salvation to mourning Jerusalem, in which the covenant-people appears to the Prophet as personified. (Jerusalem does not stand for "the carried away Zionites;" it is an ideal person, the afflicted and bowed down widow sitting on the ground in sackcloth; the distressed and mourning mother of the children partly carried away, and partly killed,--compare chap. iii. 26, where Jerusalem, desolate and emptied, sits upon the ground.) But this salvation can be granted to those only whose hearts are prepared to receive it. Thus the announcement of salvation is preceded by the μετανοεῖτε, by the call to remove all the obstacles which render impassable the path through the desert into the land of promise; which render impossible the transition from misery to salvation; which prevent the Lord from coming to His people in their misery, and leading them out from it. Then, to those who have complied with the exhortation, the manifestation of the glory of the Lord is promised--He comes to them, in a glorious manifestation, in the way which, in the power of His Spirit, they have prepared and opened up to Him--and in, and with it, all the glorious things which, according to ver. 2, the servants of the Lord were to promise regarding the Future. The comfort oftentimes moves in general terms, and consists in pointing to a Future full of salvation and grace. But, in other passages, the announcement of salvation is more individualised, becomes more special. These special announcements [Pg 166] refer to a twofold object, _First_--The Prophet comforts his people by announcing the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity. This deliverance he describes by the most lovely images, frequently taken from the deliverance of the people from Egypt. But it is to be well observed that even those prophecies which pre-eminently refer to the lower object, have something exuberant and overflowing; so that, even after having been fulfilled, they cannot be looked upon as antiquated. He states the name of the ruler, _Koresh_, the king from the rising of the sun, who, sent by the Lord, shall punish the oppressors of Zion, and bring back the people to their land. The _second_ object is the deliverance and salvation by the Servant of God, the Messiah, who, after having passed through humiliation, suffering, and death, and having thereby effected redemption, will remove from the glorified Kingdom of God all the evil occasioned by sin. Of this higher salvation the soul of the Prophet is so full, that the references to it are constantly pressing forward, even where, in the first instance, he has to do with the lower salvation. In the description of the higher salvation, the relation of time is not observed. Now, the Prophet beholds its Author in His