THE SHEPHERD-KING 351
Himself being the chief corner-stone ; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God througJi the Spirit? 1
I must not tarry here to point out the difference between the " corner-stone " and the " head-stone of the corner," to which there are also many allusions in the Hebrew Scriptures, and of the important truths which are set forth under the figures in reference to Israel s past and future attitude to their Messiah, having elsewhere fully entered into these subjects." 2
I proceed therefore to the second designation of the Messiah in this passage.
II. The Nail in the Sure Place
The word 1JV, yathed, translated here " nail " (rendered in the Septuagint Trao-o-aXo?), is used first of a tent-pin, or stake, which is driven into the ground and to which the tent is fastened ; 3 and, secondly, of the strong peg inside the Oriental tent, or which is built into the wall of the Eastern building, on which is hung most of its valuable furniture. 4
The primary allusion is to Isa. xxii., where we read : " A nd tJie key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, and he shall open and none shall shut ; and he shall shut and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place ; and he shall be for a throne of glory to his fathers house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the vessel of cups even to all the vessels of flagons." 5
Now this prophecy in Isaiah, though uttered primarily of a son of David namely, Eliakim merges into the Son
1 Eph. ii. 19-22.
2 See "The Conclusion of the Hallel, a Prophetic Drama of the End of the Age," in The Ancient Scriptures and the Modern Jew.
3 Ex. xxvii. 19, xxxv. 18 ; Isa. xxii. 22, 23.
4 Ezek. xv. 3.
6 Isa. xxii. 22-24 (R.V.).
