Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

Matthew. XII. 20, 21. 447
Lad not at all expected of the Messiah, inasmuch, as, in their vain
mind, they imagined that he would appear in noisy splendour, and
tumultuous glory; so this verse expresses his condescending affability,
ministering to the necessities of the suffering and feeble. The
expressions, KdXajxo^ avvreTpififievog, a crushed reed, and Xivog rv(p6~
l^n'og, smoking flax, are natural figures of the broken, perishing life;
it is represented as the business of the Messiah again to strengthen
and excite it. The last words from Isaiah xlii. 3 : t:2s;a x'sii ni^sV,
he shall bring forth judgment unto triitk, which the LXX. renders
Eig dh'iQtiav t^^oiaei Kpioiv, Matthew has i^endered with a deviation
twf dv tiifidXzi ri'jv Kpioiv elg vlKog, which latter expression would
rather suggest n:?:^, (Comp. 2 Sam. ii. 26.) We may suppose that
the Evangelist had another reading before him, or, that the words
elg vlKog are explanatory of elg dXvfieiav; for the canyiug out of the
"••'•
Kptaig to the d)j]Oeia is indeed the victoiy.
Ver. 21.—Matthew has omitted the first words of Isaiah xlii. 4,
thinking them less adapted to his purpose ; but he quotes the con-
cluding words ''^rj-'? t-^^x 'tr^'.riV, the isles shall icait for his law,
which he renders : rw GvofiaTi tdvrj eATriovoi, in his name shall the
nations trust; and this agrees verhatim with the LXX. We can-
not but notice here the exact agreement with the LXX, in opposition
to the Hebrew text, when looldng at the former deviation ; and
this can hardly be otherwise explained than by a different reading.
For the very word '.rin-.n^ must have appeared to Matthew very suit-
able for his purpose. As regards the Messianic explanation of this
whole passage, it has lately been defended by Umhreit, in his beautiful
treatise on the servant of God {Heidclherger Studien imd
Kritiken, B. I. H. 2.) This intelligent expositor has very correctly
understood the idea of the suffering and victorious innocence, and
of the moral power of the servant of God, who is no other than the
Lord and King Jehovah ; only he appears to overlook the identity
of the servant of God in the various passages. The difficulty of
referring the various, and apparently contradictoiy, attributes to
one individual, disappears when we suppose the idea of a multi-
plicity being represented by a unity. The various expositions of
this difficult passage concerning the servant of God (from Isaiah
xl. to Ixvi.) according to which, either the whole nation of the pious
or the prophets in the nation, are thereby understood, arc not in
strict contradiction to the Bible or Messianic exposition, inasmuch
as aU this is implied in the idea of the Messiah. The Messiah re-
presents the ideal of the true Israel, whilst the pious and the pro-
phets represent it as it actually existed.