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Among the peoples there shall be, as the shakings of the olive,

As the gleanings when the gathering is finished.

This happy, though small remnant, it is further intimated, will be chiefly found on the coasts and distant settlements of the sea; and on the "ocean stream," even at the very extremities of the habitable globe:

14. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing,

At the exaltation of Jehovah they shout from the sea.'

15. For this, on the streams, they glorify Jehovah;

The name of Jehovah Elohim of Israel on the coasts of the sea. 2

16. From the extremities of the earth we heard songs,

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"Songs of triumph," as Bishop Stock observes, "whose burden was glory to the righteous:"-" by the righteous is probably meant one person, the Messiah, (see Acts, vii. 52,-xxii. 14) whose kingdom the prophet beholds in vision, and joins in the chorus of joy at its approach."3

What follows has been variously rendered and understood. It appears to me in the light of a declaration, made by "the righteous One," lamenting the diminished numbers of the faithful in the last days—that this is symbolically called "the leanness" of the Redeemer's mystical body.

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But he said, My leanness, my leanness!

Ah me, the traitors have deceived!

Ay, most treacherously have the traitors deceived!

He complains of treachery and deception among his professed servants and people. Imposture and apostacy are the causes that have thinned his visible numbers. On this the world is addressed respecting the dangers that await them, and which will bring on the professed church this awful state of things:

17. An alarm,' a snare, and a pit,

'Are prepared' for thee, O inhabitant of the earth!

That is, your deceivers shall use all the various arts of the hunters of wild animals, to catch you in their toils; and will prevail :

18. And it shall be, that he who fleeth from the sound of the alarm,

Shall fall into the pit;

And he that getteth up out of the pit,

Shall be taken in the snare.

The remarkable predictions which follow will hardly be applied to any other overthrow of nations, than that final one, so often mentioned, that prepares the way for Messiah's kingdom:

"A scare-crow."-BISHOP STOCK.

2 We might, perhaps, say, anticipating the revelations of future

prophecies, the alarm, or cause of terror, is persecution; the snare is popery, and its kindred corruptions; the pit is infidelity.

1

18. Surely the fastenings of the lofty sky are unloosed,

And the foundations of the earth are shaken!

19. The earth is much broken,

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We may observe, from Sir Isaac Newton's remarks on the language of prophecy, that" this language is taken from the analogy between the world natural, and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic; accordingly the whole world natural, consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people, or so much of it as is considered in prophecy and the things in that world signify analogous things in this. For the heavens, and the things therein, signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth, and the things thereon, the inferior people," &c.-" Great earthquakes, and the shak

1

Or, "And then the fasten- noise. ings," &c. From,, nec tere, constringere, et firmare no'dum.

2 The imagery here is evidently that of a crazy building, that has been shaken by some violent concussion, and is ready to fall into ruins. Perhaps y may signify to crack, since, like that word, it signifies both to break, and to make a

is, more accurately, to ́slip out of place; ri y, keeps staggering, or nodding. It is impossible to convey the force of these superlatives in our language; they are literally “breaking breaks, staggering staggers, tottering totters," &c. Bishop Stock translates the last line, "shall swing itself like a hammock."

ing of heaven and earth, for the shakings of kingdoms, so as to distract or overthrow them; the creating a new heaven and earth, and passing away of an old one;""for the rise and ruin of the body politic signified thereby."-"The sun is put for the whole species and race of kings in the kingdom, or kingdoms, of the world politic;"—" the moon for the people," [or rather the delegated authorities of the sovereign;] "the stars for subordinate princes and great men, or, in other circumstances, for bishops and rulers of the people of God," &c.

These observations are of great importance, and have accordingly been quoted by most expositors of prophecy. They well explain the language of the passage before us : and its meaning cannot amount to less than the entire dissolution of the whole fabric of human society, and the destruction of every political institution; so that in the world politic a new state of things commences. This is, indeed, literally expressed in the lines which follow:

21. And it shall come to pass in that day,

That Jehovah shall visit on high, the host that is on high;
And the kings of the earth, on the earth:

22. And they shall be collected together, a bundle for the pit, And they shall be shut up in a prison,

And after many days shall they be taken account of.

"The host on high,” if taken in opposition to "the kings of the earth," naturally leads us to think of the evil spirits, the "rulers of the darkness of this world," the devil and his angels; and to couple the prediction with that of the bruising the serpent's head. But why imprisoned in the pit, not immediately receiving the final sentence, but taken account of after many days? Future

prophecies must explain. However, the reign of the King of Saints now commences:

23. And the moon shall be abashed, and the sun ashamed, And Jehovah Sabaoth shall reign in Mount Zion;

And in Jerusalem, and before his elders, shall he be glorified.

Zion and Jerusalem, we again notice, are represented as the seat of his kingdom, His elders are, probably, "the holy myriads" and "saints" of former prophecies. A song of congratulation follows, commencing with our twenty-fifth chapter:

1. JEHOVAH, thou art my Elohim,

I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name;

For thou hast wrought wonderfully!'

Thy determinations of old were firm and true:'

2. For thou hast made the city an heap!

3

The fortified citadel a ruin!

The great dwelling of the strangers is no longer a city;
Never more shall it be rebuilt.

This, no doubt, is the fall of the mystic Babylon, the city before described, symbolizing the seat of empire belonging to the last opposer of the interests of Christ's kingdom. On its fall, the human race seem to be recovered to the dominion of God. The destruction of "the world politic," and the help afforded to the afflicted

1 Illustrative of Exod. xv. 11. 2 , firmitas; certitudo conjungitur cum fœm. x ad insi

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nuendum, "firmitatem omnibus
numeris perfectam."-SIMON.
3 Bishop Stock.

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