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SECTION IX.

Remarks on Parts of the Sixteenth, Twentieth, and Twentyfirst Chapters.

THE close of the sixteenth chapter must not be omitted in our review. The metaphorical language of the prophecy represents three sisters, of which Jerusalem is one, Sodom her elder sister, and Samaria her younger. They are all faithless and lewd; but an enormity is pointed out in the case of Jerusalem, that rendered her worse than the abominated Sodom. What is remarkable in this prediction is, that a restoration of Sodom as well as of Jerusalem and Samaria is foretold. Whether, however, we are to understand Sodom literally, or as a symbol of the worst of the heathen nations, will admit of some doubt.

60. "Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then shalt thou remember thy ways and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger, and I will give them unto thee for daughters; but not by thy covenant. And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah. That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee, for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah."

The leading facts of Israel's dispersion and final restoration are predicted also in the parable of the trees,

in the end of the following chapter. In the twentieth chapter, again, the same events are foretold, and in the description of the restoration, a circumstance that has often presented itself to us in former prophecies, again appears, the miraculous guiding of Israel in the desert, like as at the exodus from Egypt.

34. "And I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries whither you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arm, and with fury poured forth and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face, like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, saith the Lord Jehovah."

Admitting the integrity of the text, which the paraphrastic translation of the Septuagint can hardly render doubtful, I should say that the expression " the wilderness of the land of Egypt," that is, the wilderness through which Israel passed when they came up out of the land of Egypt, explains the former expression, "the wilderness of the peoples," the wilderness, or those parts of the wilderness, through which Israel will pass when it is gathered out of all peoples whither God has scattered them. The prophecy proceeds:

1

37. "And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against

1 "The wilderness of the peoples," "the desert between Judea and Babylon, through which ye shall pass into captivity," says Bp. Newcombe. But Houbigant,

with more penetration, “Nondum

scitur quodnam sit desertum populorum, quia prænuntiat propheta ultimam statum Judæorum." HORSLEY,

me: and I will bring them out of the country where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. *

ye

39. As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord Jehovah; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye no more my holy name with your gifts, and with your idols. For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offering, and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. 41. I will accept you with sweet savour, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather ye from the countries whither ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the nations, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers: and there shall ye remember your ways and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight, for all your evils that ye have committed; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, Oh ye house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah. 45. Moreover, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face towards the south, and drop thy word towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field; and say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of Jehovah; thus saith the Lord Jehovah ; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming fire shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be

1

* Compare Psalm lxviii.; Hosea, ii. 14, &c.; Jer. xxxi. 2.

land,

"That the natural Israel, finally restored to' its' proper not the mystical Israel in all parts of the earth, is the subject of these

promises, appears evidently from the close of the forty-first verse."

- HORSLEY.

burned therein, and all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it it shall not be quenched. Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?

What is here predicted concerning the destruction in the southern forest, we shall read hereafter without a parable; and the reader will anticipate from former prophecies, that the last grand mortal foe is here designated. He proceeds towards the south, and returns from thence to his destruction.

The address of the Spirit of Prophecy to Zedekiah, the last prince of the house of David, who reigned with regal authority in Jerusalem, will come next to be transcribed.

CHAPTER XXI.

This

26. "Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: shall not be the same,' or, this is not it,' or, it shall not be thus.' Exalt the low and abase the high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more till HE come whose right it is, and I will give it him."

HE

Literally,."A thing' inverted, inverted, inverted, will I make it. Moreover, this shall be no more, till He come whose right it is, and I will give it him."

The first part of this prophecy has been remarkably fulfilled in the reverse of fortune that happened to the royal house of David. No one of that race after Zedekiah wore the crown and the diadem; and though, for a short period after the return from the captivity, the office of chief governor, without the regal dignity, was conceded to a prince of the house of David, yet still the decreed fate of this house-to "overturn" and "invert"-pursued it, insomuch, that in the days of the first advent we

find the representative of the royal house a carpenter in the obscure village of Nazareth: and he, who according to the flesh was the son of David, was born not the heir of the kingdom, but the son of poor parents. In order to give him the throne of his father David, "the low" must be "exalted," and "the high" "debased."

SECTION X.

Remarks on the Thirty-fourth and two following Chapters.

IN the thirty-fourth chapter, under the metaphor of a shepherd gathering his flock, we have a clear prediction both of the restoration of Israel, and of their final happy establishment in the land of Canaan, to be disturbed no

more.

11. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold I, even I, will both search for my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day and I will gather them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitable places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord Jehovah.

In this prophecy, we meet again with the prediction that all Israel are not gathered as final objects of mercy,

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