[Footnote 8: Thus _Bähr_, _Symbolik_, ii. S. 207, says: It is not the material elements of the blood which make it a means of expiation, but it is the נפש which is connected with it, which is in it, whose instrument and bearer it is, which gives to it atoning power. The נפש is thus the centre around which, in the last instance, everything moves. This is especially confirmed by the circumstance, that the object of the expiation to be effected by the נפש in the sacrificial blood, is, according to this passage, the נפש of him who offers up the sacrifice.] [Pg 311] I. HISTORY OF THE INTERPRETATION. A. WITH THE JEWS. 1. There cannot be any doubt that, in those earlier times, when the Jews were still more firmly attached to the tradition of their Fathers,--when the carnal disposition had not yet become so entirely prevalent among them,--and when controversy with the Christians had not made them so narrow-minded in their Exegesis, the Messianic explanation was pretty generally received, at least by the better portion of the people. This is admitted even by those later interpreters who pervert the prophecy, _e.g._, _Abenezra_, _Jarchi_, _Abarbanel_, _Moses Nachmanides_. _Gesenius_ also says: "It was only the later Jews who abandoned this interpretation,--no doubt, in consequence of their controversies with the Christians." We shall here collect, from the existing Jewish writings, the principal passages in which this interpretation occurs. The whole translation of the Chaldee Paraphrast, _Jonathan_, notwithstanding the many perversions in which he indulges, refers the prophecy to Christ. He paraphrases the very first clause: הא יצלח עבדי משיהא "behold my Servant Messiah shall prosper." The _Medrash Tanchuma_, an old commentary on the Pentateuch (ed. Cracov. f. 53, c. 3, l. 7), remarks on the words: הֵנִּה יַשְֹכִּיל עַבְדִּי (ed. Cracov. f. 53, c. 3, l. 7): המשיח ירום וגבה ונשא מאוד ורים מן אברהם ונשא ממשה וגדה מן מלאכי השרת זה מלך ("this is the King Messiah who is high and lifted up, and very exalted, more exalted than Abraham, elevated above Moses, higher than the ministering angels"). This passage is remarkable for this reason also, that it contains the doctrine of the exaltation of the Messiah above all created beings, and even above the angels themselves, and, hence, the doctrine of His divinity,--a doctrine contested by the later Jews. Still more remarkable is a passage from the very old book _Pesikta_, cited in the treatise _Abkath Rokhel_ (אבקת רוכל, printed separately at Venice in 1597, and reprinted in _Hulsii Theologia Judaica_, where [Pg 312] this passage occurs p. 309): "When God created His world He stretched out His hand under the throne of His glory, and brought forth the soul of the Messiah. He said to Him: 'Wilt thou heal and redeem my sons after 6000 years?' He answered Him: 'I will.' Then God said to Him: 'Wilt thou then also bear the