Bookshelf/ Vol.I / Vol. IV. Part VI. Contents. Chapter I. 1. 2. 3. II. 1. 2. 3. III. 1. 2. 3. IV. 1. 2. V. 1. 2. Appendix I. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. II. 1a. 1b. 2a. 2b. 2c. 3. 4. III 1. 2a. 2b.

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§ 3 - THE CRISIS INTRODUCTORY TO THE JEWISH RESTORATION, AND BLESSEDNESS OF THE CONSUMMATION, AS DESCRIBED BY CERTAIN OTHER PROPHETS.

Of predictions of this kind by other prophets the most circumstantial and illustrative are, perhaps, those by the four prophets Isaiah, Joel, Ezekiel, Zechariah: the two first dating before the Babylonish Captivity, the third during its continuance, the fourth after the Jews’ return from it. There is here this advantage, that comparatively little of one kind of ambiguity attaches to them that attaches to much in Daniel’s closing prophecy. They are at least in respect of grammar for the most part comparatively clear and simple. I will cite them in the chronological order of their delivery.

1. Isaiah xxiv., xxv. -xxiv. 17. “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. 18: And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. 19: The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. 20: The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. 21: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. 22: And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. 23: Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. xxv. 1: O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.  2: For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.  3: Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee. 4: For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 5: Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. 6: And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7: And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. 8: He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9: And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” ^[1]

Also Chap. xxxiv., xxxv. - “1: Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.  2: For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.  3: Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4: And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. 5: For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. 6: The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. 7: And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. 8: For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. 9: And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. 10: It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. 11: But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. 12: They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. 13: And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. 14: The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15: There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. 16: Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. 17: And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.”

“xxxv. 1. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 2: It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. 3: Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4: Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.  5: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6: Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.  7: And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.  8: And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. 9: No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: 10: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away”

Also Chap. lxvi. 6. “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me?  and where is the place of my rest? 2: For all those things hath mine hand made, and those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. 3: He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol.  Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. 4: I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. 5: Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. 6: A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies. 7: Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.  8: Who hath heard such a thing?  who hath seen such things?  Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?  or shall a nation be born at once?  for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9: Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?  saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb?  saith thy God.  10: Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:  11: That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12: For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 13: As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14: And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. 15: For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16: For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. 17: They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD. 18: For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19: And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. 20: And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. 21: And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD. 22: For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23: And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. 24: And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”

2. Joel ii. 30. - And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. 32: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.” ^[2]

Joel iii. 1. ““For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2: I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. 3: And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. 4: Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?  will ye render me a recompence?  and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; 5: Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 6: The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 7: Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: 8: And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9: Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 11: Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 12: Let the heathen be awakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13: Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14: Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.  15: The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 16: The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.  17: So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.  18: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. 19: Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20: But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21: For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.”

3. Ezekiel xxxviii., xxxix. ^[3] - “1. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2: Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, [or rather, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; ^[4] ] and prophesy against him, 3: And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal;] 4: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: 6: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.  7: Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. 8: After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.  9: Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.  10: Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: 11: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, 12: To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. 13: Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil?  hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey?  to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? 14: Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? 15: And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: 16: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. 17: Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? 18: And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. 19: For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20: So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 21: And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother. 22: And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 23: Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

xxxix. “1. “Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 2: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: 3: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. 4: Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. 5: Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. 6: And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 7: So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.  8: Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken. 9: And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:  10: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.  11: And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. 12: And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. 13: Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD. 14: And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. 15: And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. 16: And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah.  Thus shall they cleanse the land. 17: And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. 18: Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19: And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20: Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD. 21: And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. 22: So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward. 23: And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. 24: According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. 25: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; 26: After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. 27: When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; 28: Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which cause them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. 29: Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.”

4. Zechariah xii. - xiv. “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2: Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.  3: And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4: In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.  5: And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.  6: In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7: The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8: In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. 9: And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10: And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11: In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12: And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13: The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14: All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.”

xiii. 1. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 2: And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.”

xiv. 2. “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  3: Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.  4: And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5: And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 6: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 7: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. 8: And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. 9: And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”

In summing up and comparing these several prophecies, the first conclusion that we are I think irresistibly led to respecting them, is that one and all refer to the same great crisis of the consummation: - that which is to be marked by the apostate nations’ last conflict against God’s cause and people; and to end in the Jubilean blessedness of a regenerated world. As to particulars, we must turn to each prophet separately.

1. And, 1st, in Isaiah’s various prophecies, besides the general repeated notices of the gathering against God’s people and destruction of the Gentile nations, just as in the Apocalyptic war of Armageddon, we have to mark that it is especially on Edom that one grand part of the curse is described as falling; whether the literal Edom, or some enemy of Christ figuratively designated under the name: also that that judgment is to one by fire and by the sword; not without a tremendous earthquake accompanying: the fire being that which is to go up for ever; and the desolation of whatsoever of the territory is not destroyed by the fire and smoke and sulphur to be a perpetual desolation, the land being habitable only by wild beasts, like that of the ancient Babylon at the present day: - also that there is to be attendant on this some mighty revolution, involving the dissolution of all the then ruling powers; much like that of the old Roman Pagan religion and empire, as figured in the vision of the sixth Apocalyptic Seal. Once more there will be marked what is said of the glory of the divine revelation immediately after following, and the Lord Jehovah’s reigning thenceforth in Zion before his ancients gloriously; together with some such resurrection of the dead synchronically, as to constitute a swallowing up of death in victory: the creation of a new heaven and new earth following; whereof they that participate will go forth and look on the carcasses of them that have fallen, whose worm dieth not, nor is their fire quenched, and who are to be an abhorring unto all flesh. - As to the real intent of the Edom mentioned, it can scarce be supposed different from that meant by Bozrah (which was Edom’s capital) in the parallel prophecy in Isaiah lxiii. 1-6, where we read;  “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?  this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?  I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 2: Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? 3: I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4: For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. 5: And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. 6: And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth”; where its destruction is spoken of under the figure of a winepress-treading by the conquering Messiah. And both the Apocalyptic evidence of the subjects of the final winepress-treading by Christ being specially the apostate nations allied with the Roman Antichrist, and the uniform testimony of Jewish opinion as to the Edom of Isaiah’s prophecy meaning Rome, unite to fix us in that view of it. Whether the Zion meant be the literal Jewish Zion, or figuratively the Christian Church, is another question. But the two views of it are in no wise antagonistic, and may well be both included. For, in case of the Jews’ conversion and restoration to their father-land, - a fact clearly declared, I think, in Is. xi. 11, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3: And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5: And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7: And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8: And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.  9: They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. 10: And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.  11: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.  12: And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 13: The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 14: But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. 15: And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. 16: And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt,” - and elsewhere, - the earthly Zion would be the metropolis of the millennial Christian Church.

2. In Joel we have to mark the name of the scene of conflict, viz. the Valley of Jehoshaphat: a figurative name evidently, as no such literal locality was known in ancient Palestine; and which means the valley of God’s judgment. We have to mark also that God’s judgments are here noted under the Apocalyptic figures of the harvest and vintage of the earth: and further that among the subjects of it are specified Tyre, Sidon, Egypt, Edom; the two latter of which are specially singled out as destined to desolation. As to the question about Zion, it seems here to be answered, to the extent of the Jews literally and nationally having a part at least in the deliverance and the restoration. For the gathering of the nations is represented as occurring on “the bringing back of the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem:” a description inapplicable surely to the Christian Church.

3. In Ezekiel the fact seems clearly confirmed of the literal return at this time of the Jewish people. Also the conjecture is suggested by his prediction that the King of the North who is to be prominent in the last great conflict against Messiah, having come up from the North like a tempest-cloud with chariots and horses, may very possibly be the Russian power: the terms Ros, Mesheck, Tubal answering too well to Russ, Moscow, Tobolsk, not to suggest a thought to this effect. Connected with which is the fact that two of the peoples that Daniel hints at as those that would be probably at the last Northern King’s steps, (though the pronominal ambiguity of the passage admits of the alternative exposition referring it to the steps of the Antichrist, in confederacy with the last King of the South, ^[5] ) viz. Ethiopia and Libya, are mentioned here as those that would be allied with the Ros or Gog invading. The scene of great conflict, and of the defeat of the enemy, is said to be the mountains of Israel. And, as to the mode and instruments of destruction, we read that there is to be the judgment of pestilence and of the sword, as well as of hail-stones: also (a new feature this) that they are to perish in part by mutual destruction; much as in the case of Midian before Gideon, where every man’s hand was against his brother. To the field of slaughter the fowls of heaven are called, just as in the Apocalypse: and an awful idea given of the slaughter by the statement that for seven years the restored Jews will be occupied in burying the dead, and burning the spears and arrows of the foe. - Further, there is the remarkable fact foretold of a judgment of fire falling synchronically on Magog and them that dwell carelessly (or confidently) in the isles, i.e. in the coasts of the Mediterranean and Western Europe: also, and finally, that, after looking upon the conflict, the heathen not engaged therein will recognize God’s hand in the judgment, and thenceforward praise and serve him; “God setting froth his glory among the heathen.” ^[6]

4. From Zechariah’s prophecy we infer that the anti-Christian enemies will form the siege of Jerusalem, after its being possest and inhabited by Jews of the national stock, now resettled in their native land and city: and that it will be at first taken by the besiegers, and half of the Jews go into captivity: also that there is to be then some such supernatural interposition as in Apoc. xix. 11; (“The Lord my God shall come, and all his saints with him;”) and that in the destruction of the enemy ensuing there is to be both a mutual slaughter by the swords one of another, and the agency also of pestilence. Further, it would seem that there is to be then a great earthquake accompanying; whence, besides its other effects, there is to result a change in the visible localities of Jerusalem itself and Mount Olivet: and that then, and thenceforth, the times of holiness and happiness are to begin. “The Lord will be King over all the earth, and his name one: and those that are left of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem shall go up continually to keep the feast of tabernacles:” - Jerusalem being thus apparently the center and capital of a Christianized world.

In fine all seems sufficiently to agree with what we have inferred as probable from the Apocalyptic prophecy, and (though with more of uncertainty and doubt) from Daniel’s also; to the effect that there is to be the destruction of some grand anti-Christian confederacy in the mountain-country very probably of Judah, with fearful physical convulsions attending, and the agency of fire and sword, immediately at, or before, the final conversion and restoration of the Jews, and the commencement of the consequent glorious predicted times of universal blessedness. So that, as it seems to me, we shall probably not err in looking for the nearly coincident occurrence of the two grand events following: - viz. 1st, the homeward return of the Jews from their dispersions; in fullness and strength like as when the mighty Euphratean stream , on the willows of whose banks the harps of their earlier captivity were suspended, was each day forced backward by the mightier influence of the tide of the Southern Ocean: ^[7] 2. the gathering, and the destruction, probably in Judæa, of some great anti-Christian as well as anti-Jewish confederacy, including the powers of both the Roman and the Greek apostasies; the spirit of infidelity giving of course its meet assistance to those of antichristian priest-craft and Popery. - Thus, as already before against evangelic doctrine and evangelic missions generally, so now in fine perhaps against the evangelization of the Jews specially, and their restoration to the land of their fathers, it might seem as if there is to be the last and fiercest outbreak of these spirits of evil. ^[8]

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