We have here the reason why the tyranny is broken: _for_ the enemies of the Kingdom of God shall entirely and for ever be rendered incapable of carrying on warfare. If the noisy war-shoes, and their blood-stained garments are to be burned, they themselves must, of course, have been previously destroyed. But, if that be the case, then all war and tyranny are come to an end, "for the dead do not live, and the shades do not rise," chap. xxvi. 14. The parallel passages, Ps. xlvi. 10, and Ezek. xxxix. 9, 10, do not permit us to doubt that the burning of the war-shoes and of the bloody garments come into consideration here as a consequence of the destruction of [Pg 85] the conquerors. Nor can we, according to these passages, entertain, for a moment, the idea of _Meier_, that those bloody garments belong to _Israel_. Vers. 5 (6). "_For unto us a child is horn, unto us a son is given, and the government is upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonder-Counsellor, God-Hero, Ever-Father, Prince of Peace._" The Prophet had hitherto spoken only of the salvation which is to spread from Galilee over the rest of the country; it is first here that its author, in all His sublime glory, comes before him; and, having come to him, the prophecy rises to exalted feelings of joy. In chap. vii. 14, the Prophet beholds the Saviour as being already born; hence the Preterites ילד and נתן. If any one should imagine that from the use of these Preterites he were entitled to infer that the subject of the prophecy must, at that time, already have been born, he must also, on account of the Preterites in vers. 1 (2) suppose that the announced salvation had at that time been already bestowed upon Israel,--which no interpreter does. _Hitzig_ correctly remarks: "Because He is still _future_, the Prophet in His first appearance, beholds Him as a child, and as the son of another." _Whose_ son He is we are not told; but it is supposed to be already known. Ever since the revelation in 2 Sam. vii., the Messiah could be conceived of as the Son of David only; compare the words: "Upon the throne of David" in vers. 6 (7), and chap. xi. 1, lv. 3. As the Son of God the Saviour appears as early as in Ps. ii.; and it is to that Psalm that the "God-Hero" alludes, and connects itself. Alluding to the passage before us, we read in John iii. 16: οὕτω γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον ("The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this,") vers. 6 [7], ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν.--When grown up, the Son has the government upon His shoulder. The Prophet contrasts Christ with the _world's power_, which threatened destruction to the people of God. This, then, refers to the _Kingly office_ of Christ, and the state of glory. Parallel is the declaration of Christ in Matt. xxviii. 18, ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία. The Lord has also, in John xviii. 37, confirmed the truth that He is _King_; and it is upon the ground of His own declaration that Pilate designates Him upon the cross as a King.