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SECT. XIX.

IMMANUEL.

66

Is. vii. 14.

"Nevertheless, the Lord himself will give you

a sign: Behold! The young virgin has conceived; and she "shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Immanu-El. [God with us.]"*

THIS passage is adduced in the Gospel of Matthew, as having been fulfilled in the formation of the human body of Christ, out of the established course of nature: but, to discover the mode of fulfilment, and the principle on which the correspondence is founded between the prophetic declaration and the circumstances of the Saviour's birth, is attended with considerable difficulty. It seems to be as clear as words can make it, that the son promised was born within a year after the giving of the prediction; that his being so born, at the assigned period, was the " sign" or pledge, that the political deliverance announced to Ahaz should certainly take place; and that such deliverance would arrive, before this child should have reached the age in which children are commonly able to discriminate the kinds of food.

*See Note [A] at the end of this Section.

When it is contended that this is a DIRECT prophecy of the Messiah, the question arises, How an event, which would not happen till more than seven hundred years had elapsed, could be a sign, pledge, or assurance, of another event which was to take place within two, or at the utmost three, years?--This appears to be not merely a difficulty, but a plain, palpable, and insuperable objection. The most plausible solution that has been attempted, so far as I can learn, is this: that, since the promise of the Messiah in the fulness of time to be born, included an assurance of the preservation of the Jewish nation and the royal house of David, till that time; that promise was, by inference, a sign of deliverance from the present Syrian invasion.* But it is obvious that—

1. It is not likely that the prospect of an event so remote, and in which the irreligious mind of Ahaz could not feel a proper interest, could be to him a pledge of security under a present and most terrifying danger. "His heart, and the heart of his people were agitated, as the trees of the forest are agitated by the wind." It is more probable that such a man as Ahaz would give credit to the word of the prophet in relation to the immediate deliverance, than that he would confide in the promise of an event immensely remote from his time, and little congruous with his habits of mind.

See Note [B] at the end of this Section. + V. 2.

2. In fact, the nation of Judah and the royal family were, after this time, repeatedly subjected to successful invasion, and to every calamity short of absolute extermination. Had Ahaz, therefore, concluded that he and his country were safe from the imminent ruin, because his line would certainly be preserved till the coming of the Messiah, he would have drawn an unwarrantable conclusion.

3. The terms of the prediction seem to define its application to circumstances existing at the time, or speedily to exist. The demonstrative term, "The virgin," naturally points out some young female, known to the parties addressed, and probably present on the occasion. It is also as clearly declared, that the child, when born, should be nourished with the preparation then commonly given to infants in that country, till he should become capable of distinguishing correctly between the bad and the good sorts of food; but that, before that time, the country of the invaders should itself be ruined and deserted.* Some, indeed, understand this part of the passage as expressing the sentiment, that the

* V. 15, 16. It is worthy of observation, that there is a special reason for mentioning the apparently trivial circumstance of the particular food on which the infant was to be nourished, cream sweetened with honey. Those articles being the produce, the one of the meadows, and the other of the mountainous parts, of Judea, the assurance that an uninterrupted supply of them should be obtained, implied that Jerusalem would not be blockaded, and that a free communication would be kept up with the country.

deliverance of the country would be effected within an equal period to that which would, in the eighth century afterwards, elapse from the birth of the Messiah to his attaining the discretion of childhood. But this gloss appears so far-fetched, so evidently made to serve the hypothesis, and so manifestly weak, that one would regret to see any good cause burdened with such an argument.

On the other hand, the words of the evangelical historian are such as do not comport with the mere application of a passage in the way of resemblance or accommodation. "All this took

place in order that [the declaration] might be completed which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold the virgin shall be pregnant, and shall bring forth a son; and they shall call his name Emmanuel."* This passage

comes under the class of prophetic testimonies which had a primary, but inferior and partial, reference to some proximate person or event; but had another and a DESIGNED reference to some remoter circumstance which, when it occurred, would be the real FULFILMENT, answering every feature and FILLING UP the entire extent, of the original delineation.

Upon this principle of "a springing and germinant accomplishment," it appears to me that the semblance of opposition between the two passages

* Matt. i. 22, 23. The authenticity of the portion from which this is cited, will be considered in its place.

may be removed, and the difficulties rationally explained.

1. I conceive that the divine declaration was calculated for two classes of persons, and therefore intended to comprize two very different objects. The first class consisted of Ahaz and his family, together with those among the Jews whose minds regarded only temporal enjoyments, and whose wishes rose no higher than to a political deliverance. The other was the class of pious persons, who knew the value of spiritual blessings, and who regarded the promises and the providence of God with an especial view to the consolation and redemption of Israel by the Messiah.

To the former description of persons, the birth of a male child, at the close of the usual period of gestation reckoned from the giving of the prediction, and born of the person distinctly pointed out, would be a manifest proof of divine omniscience and agency, and would be a sufficient SIGN to ensure their reliance on the accomplishment of the rest of the prediction within the specified time.

The other class, aided by their knowledge of divine truth and grace so far as then made known by revelation, might attach to the proximate design of the expressions, a reference to their most exalted hopes, and an assurance that God would

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