"Of whom then could he be speaking," said Abishai, looking perplexed. "Not surely of the Messiah, not of the seed of the woman who shall bruise the serpent's head" (Gen. iii. 15). "Wherefore not?" asked Hadassah, "seeing that He Himself must be bruised in the conflict? If it be written, _My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high_, the shadow lies close under the brightness, it is also written, _His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men, and why? because so shall He sprinkle many nations_ (Isa. lii. 13-15), it may be--with His own blood!" "Yours are strange thoughts," muttered the son of Nathan. "They are not my thoughts," replied Hadassah. "Behold, farther on in the roll, what was revealed to the prophet Isaiah? Is the note of triumph sounded here? _He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken_ (Isa. liii. 3-6, 8). Have we not here the Victim, the Substitute, the Sacrifice bound on the altar, bleeding, wounded, dying, and that for sins not His own?" "It cannot be. It is impossible--quite impossible--that when the Messiah comes He should be despised and rejected," exclaimed Abishai, to whom this interpretation of prophecy was as unwelcome as it was new. "When He comes, all Israel shall triumph and rejoice, and welcome their King, the Ruler of the world." Hadassah silently unrolled her parchment until she came to the thirteenth chapter[1] of the prophet Zechariah. "Listen to this, son of Nathan," said she. "_Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts_" (Zech. xiii. 7). "Who is My Fellow?" repeated Abishai, in amazement, for that portion of Scripture had never been brought to his attention before. "Can you have read the sentence correctly? Were that not written in the Word of God, methinks it were rank blasphemy even to think that the Lord of hosts could have an equal." "There is mystery in that word which man cannot fathom," cried Hadassah, "The Divine Essence is One: the foundation of our faith is the most solemn declaration, _Hear, O Israel! the Lord our God_[2] _is One Lord_ (Deut. vi. 4); and yet in that very declaration is conveyed the idea of unity combined with distinction of persons."