Their Redeemer is strong. — The word for “Redeemer” (Goël) includes, as elsewhere (Numbers 35:12; Ruth 4:1; Ruth 4:8; Job 19:25), the thought of “the next of kin,” with whom the right of redemption (in the technical sense) rested, and to whom belonged the duty of pleading for and avenging his kinsman when oppressed. It is interesting to note, in connection with the obvious allusion to Proverbs 16:18, that here, with the exception of the name of “the Lord of hosts is his name,” we have an actual citation from Proverbs 23:11.
That he may give rest to the land. — Better, to the earth, in its widest extent, as implying that the whole earth had groaned under the oppression of Babylon. “The land,” if we retain that rendering, would be, of course, “the land of Israel.” Some versions, however (e.g., the Vulg.), and some commentators (e.g., Ewald), give the verbs the sense of “set in motion,” i.e., “trouble,” and so make the parallelism of the two clauses one of resemblance and not of contrast.