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tioned, and in such terms as appear to imply their being in a distinct state, even after their return from their captivity: **When I have bent Judah for me, [as a bow,] filled the bow with Ephraim," &c. Zech. ix. 13. We stop not to inquire particularly into the meaning of the prophecy, but simply observe, that the one being represented as a bow, while the other is the arrow with which it is filled, intimates a correspondence in the different purposes in which they shall respectively be employed by the Lord. When they are made "one nation," it is to be " on the land, upon the mountains of Israel." It is only then they are to cease being "divided;" and it is then, "they shall be no more two nations." Even when thus united, there is no reason to believe they shall be blended, as those who take an opposite view suppose they already are. If" Judah shall not vex Ephraim," it will not be on account of their distinctions having passed away; but because "Ephraim shall not envy Judah," an expression which is deprived of its meaning by supposing them to have no separate existence. We say nothing here of the future distinction of both kingdoms into their separate tribes. Since such information can only be supplied miraculously, the prophecy of the New Division of the Holy Land, afterwards noticed, (Sect. VI.) supplies us with no information relative to their present state.

SECTION V.

ENLARGEMENT OF THE HOLY LAND.

NOT only is Israel to be restored to the land of Canaan, but they are to receive an extension of their possessions to the whole of the original grant given to Abraham in covenant, and never yet enjoyed: "Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt [the Nile] unto the great river, the river Euphrates." Gen. xv. 18. This promise was renewed, and the boundaries of their inheritance were farther pointed out: "And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea, even unto the sea of the Philistines, [the Mediterranean,] and from the desert unto the river" [Euphrates.]

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Exod. xxiii. 31. And by conjoining these with the following, the boundaries of the promised land, on all its sides, are clearly defined: "Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea, [the Mediterranean,] shall your coast be." Deut. xi. 24. This extent of territory, however, they have never yet possessed. Under the reign of Solomon, the nations occupying the countries adjacent to the then possessions of Israel were indeed tributary; and in this, it has been argued, the promise of God was fulfilled. But this was not Israel's possessing the land. There was no restriction made in the divine grant to their occupying a part only of the specified territory, and the subjection merely of others. On this principle of interpretation, it could not be proved that the Lord had promised them any part of the land for actual possession. Since no such distinction was expressed in the grant, if God's covenant was fulfilled by a part of the promised land having been rendered tributary merely, then certainly might it have been equally fulfilled, had the whole been so also. But Heaven stands pledged to Abraham, that unto his seed shall the whole prescribed territory be "given." Of the inhabitants of the whole land, "from the Red Sea, even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river," the Lord declared, I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and thou shalt [not merely receive tribute from them, but thou shalt'] drive them out before thee." It was Israel's sin, that when they were able, they "did not utterly drive them out" from much of the promised land, as they had been commanded. For this sin they were severely rebuked and chastised. (Judges i. 21-36.) But although that generation criminally deprived themselves of the full enjoyment of the promised blessing, their guilt could neither alienate nor annul the covenant which God sware unto their fathers. The promise shall ultimately be performed, though by the sins of successive generations, it has been long delayed. A literal restoration of Israel must therefore be obtained, that they may occupy the land promised to their fathers, and that the faithfulness of God be not found to fail. This is accordingly promised for future times, and the recovery of it

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is distinctly foretold. "They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them," Is. xi. 14. This is part of a prediction which clearly refers to their future Restoration, (as shown in the preceding Section,) when the Lord "shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth. The envy of Ephraim also shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;" and then upon Mount Zion, "there shall be holiness." It therefore refers to a future time, when the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah, claiming the promised land, "shall spoil them of the east together; they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them."* "Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions; and the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, [the Edomites, or Idumeans,] for the Lord hath spoken it. And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau." Obad. 1721. In order that the house of Jacob may "possess their possessions," including "the Mount of Esau," and the captivity of the Canaanites, "even unto Zarephath;" they shall destroy until "there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau:" nor can the fulfilment of this distinct, but remarkable prediction, be referred back to the time of David or of Solomon, not having been given till hundreds of years after. The destruction it foretells is, besides, very different from receiving "tribute" from the Edomites. Its application to the future Restoration of Israel, is also obvious from its being immediately followed by the Millennium: 66 And the Kingdom shall be the Lord's." ver. 21.

# 66 "They are," says the Rev. Mr. Mason of Wishawtown, "to conquer and possess the Philistines, Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon.... As Israel, when they came up out of Egypt, did subdue and possess the land of Canaan; so the remnant of this people who are left among the Gentiles, when they shall be assembled together, shall conquer and inhabit the land of Promise." (Gentiles' Fulness, p. 125.)

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This forcible possession of the promised land was predicted by Moses in the blessing he pronounced on Israel before his death.. "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and He shall thrust out the enemy before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine: also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places." Deut. xxxiii. 26-29. It is also the very threat which the wicked Balaam prophetically declared to Balak concerning Israel and his people in the latter days." Numb. xxiv. 14-24. The enjoyment of their land, to the extent of the original promise, is accordingly one of the blessings announced to be received by Israel for the Millennial period; and its boundaries are fully marked out in that remarkable prophecy with which the book of Ezekiel concludes: "Thus saith the Lord God, This shall be the border whereby ye shall inherit the land, according to the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions. And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another; concerning the which I lifted up mine hand, to give it, unto your fathers and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side; from the great sea, [the Mediterranean,] the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, (which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath,) Hazar-hatticon, (which is by the coast of Hauran;) and the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath; and this is the north side. And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea, [the Euphrates, sometimes called a 'sea,' from its size;] and this is the east side. And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the

great sea, [the Mediterranean;] and this is the south side southward. The west side also shall be the great sea, [the Mediterranean,] from the [south] border till a man come over against Hamath; this is the west side. So shall ye divide this land unto you, according to the tribes of Israel." Ezek. xlvii. 13-21. This is an extent of territory greatly beyond what Israel has ever yet enjoyed. Their land, as formerly possessed, is even given as one of the marks by which the new boundary on one side is to be ascertained: "from the land of Israel, by Jordan." ver. 18.

SECTION VI.

NEW DIVISION OF THE HOLY LAND.

THE enlargement of Israel's inheritance will necessarily occasion a new division of the land. Accordingly, the divine allotments to the various tribes are distinctly recorded in Ezek. xlviii. This division is altogether different from that made in the days of Joshua, the lots of the tribes being proportioned to the extent of the enlarged inheritance; and distinct specification is made of the relative situations of the whole, all running parallel to each other from west to east. The distinction of tribes having long been lost, it can now be regained only by miraculous information; but it will doubtless be supplied, otherwise, the specification contained in this chapter had never been given. But besides the portions allotted to the Twelve Tribes, nearly in the centre of these a large portion, called the Holy Oblation, is also reserved as an offering unto the Lord: "Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an Oblation unto the Lord, an Holy Portion of the land; the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, [the reed being six cubits long, Ezek. xl. 5, or nearly eleven feet English,] and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about. Of this there shall be for the Sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof. And of this measure

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