23. In that day, There shall be an highway out of Egypt to Assyria, And the Egyptian shall come' into Assyria, And Egypt shall serve with Assyria. 24. In that day, Shall Israel be a third, Together with Egypt and with Assyria; A blessing in the midst of the earth, 25. Saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, And Assyria the work of my hands, Like most unaccomplished prophecies, much here remains to be explained by the event; but we seem to gather, that in the promised reign of Messiah, peculiar blessings are destined for the countries of Assyria and Egypt. The land of Israel has still the honour of the divine" inheritance:" but these two nations are to be considered next to it in honour; and, as it should seem, are to be eminent as instruments in communicating blessings to the rest of the world. 1 "The terms of the prophecy are such as cannot be naturally expounded of any thing less than the general tribulation of the last ages, and the succeeding prosperity of the church in the end of the world."-BP. HORSLEY. SECTION IX. Remarks on Chapter xxiii. Verse 18. In pursuit of our inquiry, a similar notice is demanded of the close of the prophecy respecting Tyre, in the twentythird chapter: 18. But her merchandise and her gain shall be holy to Jehovah, It shall not be treasured nor laid up: For her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before For food in abundance, and for durable' clothing. One cannot but feel a disappointment when this is explained merely of the establishment of a Christian church among the remnant of the population of Tyre, after her great commerce had been long lost. Especially as we have seen it already marked in prophecy, that at a future period, when Zion shall appear in the character of the bride of the glorified Messiah, "The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift." We may, indeed, be held in suspense, whether to understand this of Tyre literally, or of some future daughter of commerce, that shall then appear as her antitype. But, as in the last prophecy, to Assyria and to Egypt, literally and territorially, were 1 pry, vel diu duraturus, et (v. Alb. Schultens), vel nobilis, tamen nitoris integri, et illibati e nobilis.) • Psalm xlv. assigned a most honourable relation to the future reign of the King of Zion, why should the literal Tyre be excluded from the blessings of that kingdom? SECTION X. Remarks on the Twenty-fourth and Three following Chapters. We next come to a prophecy, contained in the twentyfourth and three following chapters, which will demand our more fixed attention. This prophecy might justly be entitled "the burden of the whole earth, in prospect of the immediate approach of Messiah's kingdom.” That many eminent commentators, both Jewish and Christian, have viewed the prophecy in this light, may be seen in Vitringa's Exposition. The oracle commences with a description of an universal and indiscriminate destruction of the inhabitants of the world. The world, we may remark, in this connexion, generally signifies, in the prophetical writings, that part of the human race with which the church of God is concerned the nations among whom they are mingled-in whose temporal interests they are involved-among whom they are exposed to temptation and corruption, if not to hatred and persecution. 1. BEHOLD, Jehovah emptieth the earth, and rinseth it out; And he turneth it upside down, and poureth out its inhabit ants! 2. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest; As with the servant, so with his master; As with the maid, so with her mistress; As with the borrower, so with the lender; As with the user of money, so with the receiver of interest from him. 3. The earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled, For Jehovah hath pronounced this word.' 4. Drooping, fading 'is' the earth! Languishing, fading is the earth! The exalted people of the earth have languished, 5. And the earth is profaned beneath its inhabitants! For they have transgressed the law, annulled the decree, 6. Therefore a curse hath consumed the earth, And its inhabitants have suffered the punishment of their Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth have been burned, * These last verses plainly reveal, that it is an apostate people who are the object of punishment—a people to whom have been committed the oracles of God. Now, we have already learned, that this was to become the character of the great European enemy of the last days: so that by "the earth," and "the world," we may well understand the nations of the civilized world, once Christian, but since apostate. In the sixth, and five following verses, the world to be destroyed is described as a luxurious and rejoicing world, indulging to excess in intoxicating liquors : "This very word." * Deut. xxxii. 28, &c. Numbers, xxiv. 24. 7. The juice of the grape hath become vapid, the vine hath languished, All the merry-hearted sigh within themselves. 8. The joyful sound of the tabor hath ceased, The noise of them that rejoice is no more, The joyful sound of the harp hath ceased. 9. They no longer drink wine with a song. Strong drink is become bitter to its drinkers. 10. The concourse' is broken up in the void city, Every house is closed from entrance. 11. The calling for wine in the streets, -All joy is passed away, The mirth of the land is gone! 12. Desolation is left in the city, And the gate is broken down with destruction. We shall recollect, that we have met before with this prophecy of the character of the last times.* It may be granted, indeed, that the character here portrayed would have suited many a nation of former times, whose iniquities provoked the avenging providence of the Almighty; but never were the arts of human enjoyment, and the inventions of luxury, so widely diffused, as under the security of modern civilization. The invention and prodigious consumption of spirituous liquors, has certainly formed an epocha in the moral history of the world: and these intemperate indulgencies, it may be, will increase, to the greater and greater neglect of religion and its institutions. But, according to the universal voice of prophecy, a remnant of all shall be saved. 13. Surely thus shall it be in the midst of the earth: * Chap. v. |
