Ver. 8: "_I the Lord, that is my name, and my honour I will not give to another, nor my glory to idols._ Ver. 9. _The former_ (things), _behold, they came to pass, and new_ (things) _do I declare; before they spring forth, I cause you to hear._"
We have here the solemn close and exhortation. At the close of chap. xli. it had been pointed out, how the prediction of the _Conqueror from the East_ serves for the glory of Jehovah, [Pg 225] who thereby proves himself to be the only true God. Here the zeal of God for His glory is indicated as the reason which has brought forth the prediction of the _Servant of God_ and His glorious work,--a prediction which cannot be accounted for from natural causes. It is thus the object of the prophecy which is here, in the first instance, stated. It is intended to manifest the true God as such, as a God who is zealously bent on His glory. But the same attribute of God which called forth the prophecy, calls forth also the events prophesied, viz., the appearance of the Servant of God, and the victory over the idols accomplished thereby, the bringing forth of the law of God over the whole earth through Him, and the full realization of the covenant with Israel. The thought is this:--that a God who does not manifest and prove himself as such, who is contented with the honour granted to Him without His interference, cannot be a God; that the true God must of necessity be filled with the desire of absolute, exclusive dominion, and cannot but manifest and prove this desire. From this thought, the prophecy and that which it promises flow with a like necessity.--According to _Stier_, ראשנות, "the former (things)" means "the redemption of the exiled by Cyrus," which in chaps. xli. xlviii. forms the historico-typical foreground, whose coming is here anticipated by the Prophet. But the parallel passages, chaps. xli. 22, xliii. 9, xlviii. 3, are conclusive against this view; for, according to these passages, it is only the former already fulfilled predictions of the Prophet and his colleagues, from the beginnings of the people, which can be designated by "the former (things)." By "the new (things)" therefore, is to be understood the aggregate of the events which are predicted in the second part, to which belongs the prophecy of the Servant of God which immediately precedes, and which the Prophet has here as pre-eminently in view (_Michaelis_: _et nova, imprimis de Messia_), as, in the parallel passage chap. xli. 22, the announcement of the conqueror from the East. Both of these verses seem to round off our prophecy, by indicating that such disclosures regarding the Future are not by any means intended to serve for the gratification of idle curiosity, but to advance the same object to which the events prophesied are also subservient, viz., the promotion of God's glory. The [Pg 226] modern view of Prophetism is irreconcileable with the verses under consideration, which evidently shew, that the prophets themselves were filled with a different consciousness of their mission and position And in like manner it follows from them, that there is no reason to put, by means of a forced interpretation, the prophecy within the horizon of the Prophet's time, seeing that the Prophet himself shows himself to be thoroughly penetrated by its altogether supernatural character.