The King-Messiah thus brought on the scene is then described in regard
to His character (v. 2), the nature of His rule (vs. 3-5), the universal
harmony and peace which He will diffuse through nature (vs. 6-9), and
the gathering of all mankind under His dominion. There is much in the
prophetic ideal of the Messiah which finds no place in this prophecy.
The gentler aspects of His reign are not here, nor the deeper
characteristics of His 'spirit,' nor the chiefest blessings in His gift.
The suffering Messiah is not yet the theme of the prophet.

The main point as to the character of the Messiah which this prophecy
sets forth is that, whatever He was to be, He was to be by reason of the
resting on Him of the Spirit of Jehovah. The directness, fulness, and
continuousness of His inspiration are emphatically proclaimed in that
word 'shall rest,' which can scarcely fail to recall John's witness, 'I
have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode
upon Him.' The humanity on which the Divine Spirit uninterruptedly
abides, ungrieved and unrestrained, must be free from the stains which
so often drive that heavenly visitant from our breasts. The
white-breasted Dove of God cannot brood over foulness. There has never
been but one manhood capable of receiving and retaining the whole
fulness of the Spirit of God.

The gifts of that Spirit, which become qualities of the Messiah in whom
He dwells, are arranged (if we may use so cold a word) in three pairs;
so that, if we include the introductory designation, we have a sevenfold
characterisation of the Spirit, recalling the seven lamps before the
throne and the seven eyes of the Lamb in the Apocalypse, and symbolising
by the number the completeness and sacredness of that inspiration. The
resulting character of the Messiah is a fair picture of one who realises