Messianic announcement which was given to Israel only, and from which the Gentiles were excluded.[4] Upon this sketch, there follows in chap. liii. 1-10, the enlargement. First, in vers. 1-3 that is expounded which, in ver. 14 had been said of the many being _shocked_, and of the _cause_. The commentary upon שממו "they were shocked," is given in ver. 1: a great portion of the Jews do not believe in the salvation which had appeared. The enlargement of: "so marred," &c., is given in vers. 2, 3. The cause of the [Pg 275] unbelief is, that the glory of the Servant of God is concealed behind humiliation, misery, and shame. Chap. liii. 1: "_Who believes that which we hear, and the arm of the Lord, to whom it is revealed?_" The Prophet, whose spiritual eye is just falling upon the large, the enormously large number of unbelievers, overlooks, at the moment, the other aspect, and, in his grief, expresses that which took place in a large _portion_ only, in such a manner as if it were general. Similar representations we elsewhere frequently meet with, _e.g._, Ps. xiv. 3 (compare my Commentary); Jer. v. 1--שמועה is commonly understood in the signification, "message" or "discourse." But in favour of the explanation: "That which is heard by us," _q.d._, "that which we hear," there is, in the first instance, the _usus loquendi_. The word never occurs in any other than its original signification, "that which is heard," and in the signification, "rumour," which is closely connected with the former. In Isa. xxviii. 9, a passage which is most confidently referred to in proof of the signification, _institutio_, _doctrina_, שמועה is that which the Prophet hears from God. The mockers who exclaim: "Whom will he make to understand שמועה?" take, with a sneer, out of his mouth the word upon which chap. xxi. 10: "That which I have heard of the Lord of Hosts, I declare unto you," forms a commentary, Ἀκοή too, by which, in the New Testament, שמועה is rendered, has not at all the signification, "discourse," "preaching." Ἀκοή in Rom. x. 16, 17, is not the preaching, but the hearing, as is shown by the μὴ οὐκ ἤκουσαν in ver. 18. The ἀκοή, according to ver. 17: ἡ δὲ ἀκοὴ διὰ ῥήματος Θεοῦ, is the passive to the active to the word of God. "Who believes our ἀκοή, our hearing," _i.e._, that which we hear, which is made known to us by the Word of God. In a passive sense, ἀκοή stands likewise in the passages Matt. iv. 24, xiv. 1, xxiv. 6, which _Stier_ cites in support of the signification "discourse," "preaching;" it is that which has been heard by some one, "rumour," "report." In Heb. iv. 2 (as also in 1 Thess. ii. 13) λόγος ἀκοῆς, is the word which they heard. That passage: οὐκ ὠφέλησεν ὁ λόγος τῆς ἀκοῆς ἐκείνους, μὴ συγκεκεραμένους τῇ πίστει τοῖς ἀκούσασι, may simply be considered as a paraphrase of our: Who believes that which we hear. A second argument in favour of our explanation: "That which we hear" lies in the relation