reference to the Future, corresponding to those of our Prophet regarding the conqueror from the East, whose appearance is here represented as belonging altogether to the _Future_, and not to be known by any human ingenuity. In ver. 26: "Who hath declared (such things) from the beginning, that we may know, and long beforehand, that we may say: he is righteous?" the מראש "from the beginning" puts insurmountable obstacles in the way of the opponents of the genuineness. If the second part of Isaiah be _spurious_, then the idolaters might put the same scornful question to the God of Israel. The מראש denotes just the opposite of a _vaticinium post eventum_.--In chap. xlii. 9: "The former (things), behold, they are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth, I let you hear," the Prophet proves the true divinity of the Lord, from the circumstance that, having already proved himself by prophecies fulfilled, He declares here, in the second part, the future events before they spring forth, before the facts begin to sprout forth from the soil of the Present, and hence could have been known and predicted by human combination. The words, "before they spring forth," become completely enigmatical, if it be denied that Isaiah [Pg 185] wrote the second part; inasmuch as, in that case, it would have in a great part, to do with things which did not belong to the territory of prophetic foresight, but of what was plainly visible.--In chap. xliii. 8-13, the Prophet again proves the nothingness of idolatry, and the sole divinity of the God of Israel, from the great work, declared beforehand by the Lord, of the deliverance of Israel, and of the overthrow of their enemies. He is so deeply convinced of the striking force of this argument, that he ever anew reverts to it. After having called upon the Gentiles to prove the divinity of their idols by true prophecies given by them, he says in ver. 9: "Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified." By the witnesses it is to be proved, by whom, to whom, and at what time the prophecies were given, in order that the Gentiles may not refer to deceitfully forged prophecies, to _vaticinia post eventum_. According to the hypothesis of the spuriousness of the second part, the author pronounced his own condemnation by thus calling for witnesses. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and witness is my Servant whom I have chosen," is said in ver. 10. While the Gentiles are in vain called upon to bring forward witnesses for the divinity of their idols, the true God has, for His witnesses, just those whose services he claimed. The prophecies which lie at the foundation of their testimony, which are to be borne witness to, are those of the second part. The Prophet may safely appeal to the testimony of the whole nation, that they were uttered at a time, when their contents could not be derived from human combination. "The great unknown"