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up in treasure; though, in the last day, as we have reflected before, it appears that a future generation of natural Israelites will, in a very conspicuous manner, be owned as the seed, and "salvation" a second time "be of the Jews."

34. Is not THIS laid up with me,

And sealed up among my treasures?

It follows, that the Lord will at last avenge his own elect:

35. To me belongeth vengeance, I will repay;
In due time their foot shall slip.

Surely the day of their calamity is near,
And their destinies are hastening!

36. Jehovah will judge the cause of his people,
And will have compassion on his servants,

When he seeth that their strength is gone,
And none retained or left.*

This clearly forebodes, that at the season of this final intervention of divine power, the cause of God will be reduced to the last extremity. This awful fact will meet our view in subsequent prophecies.

37. When it is said, Where are their Elohim,

Their Founder in whom they trusted?

38. Who hath eaten the fat of their sacrifices,
And hath drank the wine of their libations?

Let them arise, and let them help you;
Let them be your protection.

I think with bishop Horsley, that these verses contain the taunts of the enemies of God and of his people, to which the following is a reply:

"And none is left immured, or at large."-HORSLEY,

39. Behold now that I, I am HE,

And there are' no Elohim with me:

It is I that kill and that make alive;

I wound, and it is I that heal,

And there is none that delivereth out of my hand.

The awful oath of the great Jehovah is next introduced, to declare his irreversible decree respecting the final overthrow of the enemy before described :

40. Surely, I lift up my hand to the heavens, "As I live for ever,

And say:

41. "I have sharpened the blade of my sword,
"That my hand may execute judgment;

"I will render vengeance to mine enemies,
"I will requite them that hate me;

42." I will drench mine arrows in blood,
sword shall devour flesh;

"And my

"The blood of the slain and of the captive,

"The hairy head of the enemy."

This complete destruction of the adversary by the sword of God himself, cannot, I think, be referred to a different catastrophe from that of the judgment to be executed upon the ungodly, when, according to Enoch's prophecy, "the Lord shall come with his Holy Myriads."+-This can be nothing else than the avenging sword of Job's Redeemer. The tremendous oath with which this declaration of vengeance is introduced is much to be remarked; as we shall notice, in other Scriptures, the same form of denouncing "the judgment of the great day of the battle of Almighty God," as we find it termed hereafter.

• See Parkhurst.

† Jude, v. 14.

Job, xix. 23, &c.

We are next to notice the conclusion of this prophetic

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43. Shout for joy, ye nations, with his people,

When he shall have avenged the blood of his servants,

When he shall have rendered vengeance to his adversaries,
And shall have absolved his land and his people.

Here we gather that the consequence of this signal vengeance upon the wicked and idolatrous adversary, will be the restoration or re-establishment of his people Israel; for, "his people," as opposed to the nations, must necessarily mean them. Again, they are said to be absolved"covered," as to their sin; an atonement is accepted on their behalf, as well as their land. This must refer to the same people and country that were described in the former part of the song, as suffering the chastisement of God. Both the people, therefore, and the country, we discover are to be restored from their present desolate state, no doubt, as we shall see hereafter, to be the subject and the scene of future wonders. The nations of the earth also, it seems, are to share in the blessedness of his people; they are not merely, as on a former occasion, to be called on their apostacy, to "move them to jealousy;" but, they are to be blessed, and the nations are to be blessed with them and who can forbear to see in this the complete fulfilment of the promise to Abraham: “In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed?"

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SECTION III.

The Introduction to the Blessing of the Twelve Tribes.

THE introduction to the blessing of the tribes by Moses before his death will next demand our attention. The passage, I admit, is involved in some obscurity; but we have the opinion of two great critics of modern times, that it relates not to the then condition of the twelve tribes, but to the general extension of the blessing over the whole race of mankind at a future era. I shall transcribe the translation of bishop Horsley, referring to his sermons and " Biblical Criticism" for its corroboration. 2. Jehovah came from Sinai; †

His uprising was from Seir:

He displayed his glory from Mount Paran,

And from the midst of the myriads came forth the Holy One,t On his right hand streams of fire.

3. O loving Father of the peoples! All the saints are in thy hand;

They are seated at thy feet,

And have received of thy doctrine;

4. To us he prescribed a law,

Jacob is the inheritance of the Preacher.

5. He shall be king in Jeshurun,

When the chiefs of the peoples shall gather themselves. together,

In union with the tribes of Israel.

at Sinai." There we saw the God of Israel.

"Jehovah came from Sinai❞—or "

came forth visibly

At" Seir"

Houbigant and Bishop Horsley.

+ Deut. xxxiii. 2.

Or with Dr. Kennicott," And he came from Meribah-Kadesh."

also, and at "Mount Paran" "his glorious light shone forth before our eyes,"-" above the brightness of the sun*." And the Jehovah spoken of, the God of Israel, whom Moses and the elders saw, is described, as "the Holy One with his myriads." A fiery stream issues forth from before him, the usual denunciation of vengeance to the enemies of God! He is addressed, if we retain bishop Horsley's translation, as the loving father, not of one nation only, but of "the peoples." All the saints are in

his hand, that is, all the sanctified or consecrated objects of redemption, which is equivalent to "the woman and her seed,”—“ Abraham and his seed," of former prophecies. These are all placed by God the Father in the hand of the Son: "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me." And he is their teacher; "they sit," as disciples, at his feet. That is, the elect of God in all nations, and in all ages of the world, are contemplated as gathered together in one under the great Redeemer, their head.

In subserviency to this great work he now comes forth from his invisible glory to prescribe a law to the church of Israel, which is to be a shadow of good things to come. This nation is henceforth to be his particular inheritance on earth; they are to be the depositaries of future revelations, and through their instrumentality he means to act upon the rest of mankind." The inheritance of the

"The subject of the poetical description, in this stanza, is the appearance of the Shechinah. Of this we have no particular description; and therefore we know only, in general, that it was light. But is it not probable that it was distinguished from other lights by many peculiarities in its appearance, besides its degree of brightness? Is it improbable, that what the first idolators substituted for it, the sun, actually bore some faint resemblance of it? That the Shechinah, therefore, was a mass of unparalleled splendour, shooting out long rays in all directions,” &c.-BIB. CRITICISMS.

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