_The time of favour_ may be either the time when God shows His delight in, and favour to His Servant, and, in Him, to the Church, _q. d._, of delight in thee, mercy for thee,--in which case chap. lx. 10 would be parallel: "In my _wrath_ I smote thee, and in my favour have I had mercy on thee;" or, "in the time of favour," may be equivalent to: "at the agreeable, acceptable time" (LXX., which Paul follows in 2 Cor. vi. 1, 2, καιρῷ δεκτῷ, Vulg. _tempore placito_); in contrast to a preceding unacceptable time, in which the Lord seemed to have forsaken His Servant, in which it appeared as if He had laboured in vain, and spent His strength for nought and vanity. Acceptable is the time to all parties, not only to the Servant of God, but also to those who are to be redeemed through Him; and not less to God, to whom it is a joy to pour out upon His Servant the rivers of His salvation. The Preterites in ver. 8 must be viewed as prophetic Preterites. Concerning "Covenant of the people," compare remarks on chap. xlii. 6. The idea of the people is more closely defined and qualified by ver. 6 and 7. The souls who have been cut off from their people, because they have broken the covenant of the Lord, and despised His Servant, are justly passed by. But since עם can here be understood of the better portion of the people only, of the invisible Church in the midst of the visible, the Servant of God cannot be the better portion of the people.--In the words: "That thou mayest raise up the land, divide desolate heritages," the bestowal of salvation is described under the image of the restoration of a devastated country. In ver. 9, the misery of the Congregation of God is described under the image of pining away in a dark prison; comp. remarks on chap. xlii. 7. With the second half of the verse, there begins a more general description of the glorious salvation which the Lord will giant to His people; and the person of the Mediator [Pg 247] steps into the back-ground, in order afterwards to come forth more prominently. The _ways_ and _bare hills_ have come into consideration as places which, in themselves, are completely barren, and which the wonderful grace of God can alone cause to bud and flourish. CHAPTER L. 4-11.