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doms of Israel and Judah. "Samaria," the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and their boasted splendour, is to become "a fading flower." To Jerusalem men's eyes are to be directed. But, however we may consider Hezekiah's kingdom as typical of Messiah's, it is to HIS reign alone that the ultimate force of the fourth verse must apply:

4. In that day,

Shall Jehovah Sabaoth be for a splendid crown,

And for a glorious diadem to the remnant of his people:
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment,
And for strength to them that beat back the battle to the
gate.

But, ere this shall happen, the great corruption of those that compose this remnant, whose latter end is to be so glorious, is clearly foretold.-The drunkenness of the sixth and seventh verses, I should conceive, is symbolical of the intoxication of false doctrine and vain delusions. The rejection of the Gospel by the proud and scornful Pharisee is next portrayed; and obscurely also, as the apostle teaches us, the gift of tongues at the day of Pentecost. The consequence of this rejection of the divine instructions at the first advent, when "the precious corner stone" is laid "for a foundation in Zion," next follows. The "overflowing scourge," the storm and inundation, is to sweep away this" refuge of lies," &c. All this was clearly fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.-God, whom they despised, who "taught man wisdom," would accomplish this.

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This will form a connective view of the twenty-eighth chapter. The opening of the twenty-ninth will a little

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delay us, as it sets before us an era when Jerusalem shall be close pressed in siege, with all the usual apparatus of assailants. This cannot be interpreted of the Assyrian king, for he "was not to shoot an arrow there, nor come against it with forts and towers;" and notwithstanding the language of the prophet is so similar to that of our Lord, when he foretells the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, it cannot refer to that siege, because the event is totally different: and the same objections will apply to the taking of the city by the Babylonians. We must, therefore, refer it to that future attack upon the city, which we know is to be made by the last enemy: it affords accordingly a prophecy respecting the era of the second advent.

1. АH! altar of God, altar of God, the city which David chose for an habitation,'

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And there shall be grief and sorrow;

Yet shall it be to me as the altar of God:

3. And I will encamp, as in a circle, against thee;

And I will form a mound against thee,

And I will erect forts against thee:

1 See Simon. "Besieged," Sept. Vulg. Bishops Lowth and Horsley. "Resided."-STOCK.

2 "Focum altaris appellari, non sensu leonis Dei; uti Int. passim volunt: sød ignis Dei est enim, compositum nomen ex

, ignis et 8, Deus, comparavi, fateor, subinde vocem », ari, cum

Latino Ara, de cujus etymo Latinorum doctissimi ambegerent."VITRINGA.

", Focus Dei, ex Arab. 8, profocus, (à rad. “” æstuavit, exarsit) et Deus, quo nomine vocatur altare holocaustorum,Ezek. xliii. 15, 16, et urbs Hierosolyma, Jer. xxix. 1, 2," &c. &c. -SIMON.

4. And thou shalt be brought low; from the earth shalt thou

speak,

And from the dust shalt thou utter thy words.

And thy voice shall come like a necromancer's from the earth,

And thy speech shall be muttered from the dust.

"Altar of God," I select as the most probable interpretation of Ariel, the title here given to Jerusalem. The address with which the prophecy opens, may be meant to denote the unmeaning formality of those who were engaged in the external rites of the religious festivals. Hence the sore punishment that awaited "a hypocritical people.” Yet still the Lord would not entirely forsake "the place which he had chosen to fix his name there." He would still esteem it as the " altar of God," the consecrated spot where the typical sacrifices were offered from year to year the destined spot, where, once for all, "the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world," was to be offered. The last verses we quoted, I conceive to be a description of the extreme despair of the inhabitants of the city in its last siege. But the enemy are disappointed in the moment of victory, and overwhelmed in everlasting confusion.

5. But the multitude of thy foes shall become as small dust, And the multitude of the terrible as flitting chaff;

And it shall be suddenly, in an instant.

6. From Jehovah Sabaoth shalt THOU be visited

With thunder, and earthquake, and a mighty voice;
With storms, and tempest, and flame of devouring fire:

7. And as a dream, a vision of the night, shall the multitude become,

All the nations that are fighting against the altar of God,
And all the armies, and all the forts, and them that besiege

her.

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8. As the hungry man' dreameth, and lo, he eateth;

But he awaketh, and his appetite is unsatisfied:

And as the thirsty 'man' dreameth, and lo, he drinketh;
But he awaketh, and lo, he is faint, and his appetite craveth:
So shall it be with all the multitude of the nations,

That set themselves in array against Mount Zion.

It appears, however, from what follows, that the remnant in the prophet's age left in Jerusalem, as well as that remnant that should appear there at the first advent, *— and, probably, their successors also in the possession of the kingdom among the Gentiles,-besotted in their symbolical intoxication, would understand none of these things [ver. 9]. Prophecy would be lost to them, [10, 11, 12]; the truths of revelation rejected as foolish and unjust by their perverse wisdom, [13, 14, 15, 16]. The consequence would be, "that which was now a desert, would become a fruitful field, and the reverse. Or, to quit the figure, the poor and illiterate shall change conditions with the great ones and wise of this world, with respect to happiness, when the Gospel shall be promulgated."+

17. Is there not yet a very little while,

And Lebanon shall be turned into a campaign, "

And the campaign be counted a forest:

1

18. And the deaf shall hear in that day the words of the book, And out of obscurity and darkness the eyes of the blind

shall see.

* Compare ver. 13 with xxviii. 7, &c.

1 Or "into a Carmel."-BP. STOCK.

+ Bp. Stock.

This I believe to be a prediction of Gospel illumination, when on Israel's rejection the Gentile nations were called to the knowledge of Christ. But from a comparison of other prophecies, I conceive, a still more glorious period is here also predicted for the church of God, in connexion with the fall of the apostate, and with Israel's restoration:

19. And again shall the meek increase their joy in Jehovah, And the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel;

20. When the man of violence' hath perished, and the scorner is consumed,

And those that were forward in iniquity are cut off.

21. Those who caused man to err in the word,

Who laid snares for him that reproveth in the gate,

And for a thing of nought subverted the righteous.

22. Wherefore thus hath Jehovah, the God of the house of Jacob, said,

He who redeemed Abraham.

Now, Jacob shall not be ashamed;

And now, his countenance shall not be pale.

23. Surely, when he seeth his children, the work of my hands, In the midst of him shall they sanctify my name.

They shall even sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
And the Elohim of Israel shall be their dread:

24. And they who erred in spirit shall receive understanding,
And they that muttered shall receive instruction.

1 The Septuagint has here avoμos, the very word used by St. Paul, in his prophecy of the last days, 2 Thess. ii. 8: "And then shall that wicked be revealed,whom

the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."

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