"the collective person of the ruling portion in the state during the Messianic happy time," is designated. This opinion is the beginning of a return to the Messianic interpretation. But then only could that ideal person be here referred to, if elsewhere in Isaiah too it would come out strongly and decidedly. As this, however, is not the case; as, on the contrary, the Messiah everywhere in Isaiah meets us in shining clearness, it would be arbitrary to give up the _person_ in favour of a _personification_. 4. _Umbreit_ acknowledges that, in the case of צמח יהוה, the Messianic interpretation is the only correct one. "The two subsequent prophecies in chap. ix. and xi.," he says, "are to be considered as a commentary on our short text." But it is characteristic of his compromising manner that by "the fruit of the land" he understands "the consequences of the dominion of the Messiah for the land, the fruits which, in consequence of his appearing, the consecrated soil brings forth,"--thus plainly overlooking the clear [Pg 19] contrast between the Sprout of the Lord, and the fruit of the land, by which evidently the same thing is designated from different aspects. Ver. 3. The Prophet now begins to show, more in detail, in how far the Sprout of the Lord and the fruit of the land would serve for the honour and glory of the Church. The words: "He that was left in Zion and was spared in Jerusalem," take up the idea suggested by the "escaped of Israel" in ver. 2. The double designation is intended to direct attention to the thought that the remnant, and the remnant only, are called to a participation in the glory. _Zion_ and _Jerusalem_, as the centre of the covenant-people, here represent the whole; this is evident from the circumstance that at the close of ver. 2, which is here resumed, the escaped of _Israel_ were spoken of Ever since the sanctuary and the royal palace were founded at Zion, it was in a spiritual point of view, the residence of all Israel, who even personally met there at the high festivals.--Whoever is left in Zion "_shall be called holy_." The fundamental notion of holiness is that of separation. God is holy, inasmuch as He is separated from all that is created and finite, and is elevated above all that is finite; comp. my Commentary on Rev. iv. 8. _Believers_ are holy, because they are separated from the world as regards their moral existence and their destiny. Here only the latter aspect is considered. Holy in a moral sense they were already, inasmuch as it is this which forms the condition of their being spared in the divine judgments. They became holy because they are partakers of the beauty, of the exaltation, and ornament which are to be bestowed upon the escaped by the Sprout of the Lord. The circumstance that they have been installed into the dignity of the saints of God implies that, when the Spirit of the Lord has appeared, the world's power has no longer any dominion over them, but