and cause His righteous severity to go forth only against the wilfully froward and rebellious. For our Lord Jesus is " the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever "; and that which will eternally constitute His chief glory will be, not His power, but His grace, manifested once in His laying down His life a ransom for many and since in His priestly mediatorial rule, whether in heaven or on earth.
" And the counsel of peace shall be between them both"
The expression atsath shalom, " counsel of peace," means not merely " peace," for if that alone were meant, the simple idiom Di- K rprn, vehayah shalom, " there shall be peace between them both," would be used. The word used here signifies a counsel planning or procuring peace for some other than those who counsel.
But who are " the twain " who thus devise peace for man between them?
Some commentators consider that the offices of Priest and King are alluded to, but the phraseology naturally constrains us to think of persons, not of things or abstract offices. The explanation advocated by Hengstenberg, and adopted by Koehler, is a probable and reasonable one namely, that " the reference is to the two offices of Priest and King combined in the Person of Messiah, and that the prophecy speaks of a plan devised by Messiah in His double character, whereby peace and salvation should be secured for the people of God," and on the earth during His reign.
"This fact," observes Dr. Wright, " agrees with the New Testament statements in which the angelic choirs are re presented announcing Peace on earth as one of the results of Christ's birth; and with our Lord's own words, Peace I leave with you My peace I give unto you, the full realisa tion of which is exhibited in the final vision of the Book of Revelation." But I am personally inclined to think that another view, which is held by many scholars, is the right one namely, that " the two " are Jehovah and the Messiah, or " Jesus and the Father."[1] " It is clear, no doubt, that the
- ↑ Pusey.
