punitive power of Christ directed against his enemies. "By the circumstance, that the sword goes out of the mouth of Christ, that destructive power is attributed to His mere word, He appears as partaking of divine omnipotence. For it belongs to God to slay by the words of His mouth, Hos. vi. 5." The same applies to chap. ii. 16. On Rev. xix. 15: "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations," we remarked: "the sharp sword is not that of a teaching king, [Pg 235] but that of omnipotence which speaks and it is done, and slayeth by the breath of the lips. How Christ casts down His enemies by the word of His mouth is seen, in a prophetical instance, John xviii. 6; Acts ix. 4, 5." With the sword, Christ appears even where He does not mean to destroy, but to bring salvation; for, even in those who are to be blessed, hostile powers are to be overcome. The image, however, is here, in the fundamental passage, occasioned by the comparison of the Servant of God with the conqueror from the East, whose sword, according to chap. xli. 2, the Lord makes as dust, and his bow as the driven stubble. Where the mere _word_ serves as a sword, the effect must be much more powerful. The conquering power throwing down every opposing power, which, in the first clause, is assigned to the mouth, is, in the third clause ("And He hath made _me_ a sharpened arrow"), attributed to the whole person. He, of whom it was already said in Ps. xlv. 6: "Thine arrows are sharp, people fall under thee, they enter into the heart of the king's enemies," is himself to be esteemed as a sharp arrow. Ver. 3. "_And He said unto me: Thou art my Servant, O Israel, in whom I glorify myself._"