Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
Ver. 11. Searching what, &c.] ερευνωντες, with greatest sagacity and industry, as hunters seek for game, and as men seek for gold in the very mines of the earth.
The sufferings of Christ, &c.] Macarius was utterly out in saying that the prophets knew that Christ should be born for man's redemption, but that they knew nothing of his death and sufferings. Isaiah writes of them more like an evangelist than a prophet, and is therefore called the "evangelical prophet."