5.000. Preface
Preface
It is, I can sincerely say, with unfeigned diffidence that I send forth this little work on its mission, for I am deeply conscious of the greatness and sublimity of the theme and of the inadequate way in which I have been able to deal with it. I felt inwardly impelled to write it, and gave gladly devoted to it what days and hours could possibly be spared in a life of strain and pressure on account of many other tasks and responsibilities. But though sensible of the shortcoming and imperfection of my effort, I have the heart assurance that there is a blessing in it, and if the reader receives only a fraction of the spiritual help and enjoyment which the writer found in the course of his meditation and exposition of this truly wonderful Scripture he will be amply rewarded. It has confirmed his faith in the supernatural character of prophecy and made him feel as never before that Holy Scripture has upon it "the stamp of its Divine Author—the mark of heaven—the impress of eternity."
It has, if possible, wrought deeper conviction in his heart that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Christ, the promised Redeemer of Israel—He "of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write"; for it is beyond even the wildest credulity to believe that the resemblance in every feature and minutes detail between prophet portraiture drawn centuries before His advent and the story of His life, and death, and the glorious resurrection as narrated in the Gospels, can be mere accident or fortuitous coincidence. It has also strengthened my hope for the future blessing of the nation from which I have sprung, and for which I have not ceased to yearn with the yearnings of Him who wept over Jerusalem, and even on the Cross prayed for them: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"; for, in the words of Franz Delitzsch, "we must not overlook the fact that this golden passional is also one of the greatest prophecies of the future conversion of the nation which rejected the Servant of God, and allowed the Gentiles to be the first to recognize Him. At last, though very late, it will feel remorse. And when this shall once take place, then, and not till then, will this chapter—which, to use an old epithet, will ever be carnificina Rabbinorum—receive its complete historical fulfillment." As will be seen, the book consists of two parts. In the first part it has been impossible to avoid controversy and criticism in order to clear the ground, and to demonstrate the firm foundation on which the Messianic interpretation of the prophecies concerning the Servant of Jehovah in the Book of Isaiah is based; which in the second part, which is a continuous exposition of the great Scripture which forms the subject of the whole, I have tried as much as possible to avoid controversy and criticism, but to make it spiritually helpful to believers.
There is nothing in these pages which should be too difficult or abstruse for the ordinary intelligent reader who knows no other languages than English; the Hebrew words and phrases where they occur being all transliterated as well as translated. To those, however, who have no interest in the history of interpretation, and do not care to follow Jewish and rationalistic misinterpretation, I would recommend to read the exposition first, or to pass over Chapters II and III of the first part.
David Baron