forms the contrast not to _all_ (_Stier_: "Because He cannot, overturning all laws, save all by coercion, or arbitrary will,"--a limitation which would in this context be out of place), but to _few_: The one, the many, Rom. v. 15.--"And He shall bear their iniquities;" the iniquities and their punishment, as a heavy burden which the Servant of God lifts off from those who are groaning under their weight, and takes upon himself _Jerome_ says: "And He himself shall bear the iniquities which they could not bear, and by the weight of which they were borne down." _Calvin_ expresses himself thus: "A wonderful change indeed! Christ justifies men by giving them His righteousness, and in exchange. He takes upon Him their sins, that He may expiate them." In opposition to those who translate: "He _bore_ their iniquities," (the Future might, in that case, he accounted for from the Prophet's viewing the whole transaction as present), even _Gesenius_ has remarked that the preceding and subsequent Futures all refer to the state of glorification. Even the parallelism with יצדיק shows that we must translate as the LXX. do: καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτω̂ν αὐτὸς ἀνοίσει. Moreover, the subject of discourse in the whole verse is not the _acquiring_ of the righteousness, which was done in the state of humiliation, but the _communication_ of it, as the subjective condition of which the knowledge of the Servant of God was mentioned in the preceding clause. [Pg 307] In the case of every one who, after the exaltation of the Servant of God, fulfils this condition, He takes upon Himself their sins, _i.e._, He causes His vicarious suffering to be imputed to them, and grants them pardon. The expression: "He shall bear their iniquities" is, in point of fact, identical with: "He shall _justify_ them." The Servant of God has borne the sin once for all; by the power of His substitution, effected by the shedding of His blood, He takes upon himself the sins of every individual who _knows_ Him. The "taking away" is implied in וסבל in so far only, as it is done by _bearing_. It was only because he was misled by his rationalistic tendencies, that _Gesenius_ explains: "And He lightens the burden of their sins, _i.e._, by His doctrine He shall correct them, and thereby procure to them pardon." By such an explanation he contradicts himself, inasmuch as, in ver. 4, he referred the bearing of the diseases and pains to the vicarious satisfaction. It cannot, in any way, be said of the Teacher, that he takes upon himself iniquities. Ver. 12. "_Therefore will I give Him a portion in the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors, and He beareth the sin of many, and for the transgressors He shall make intercession._"