All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased. Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable, for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

Hence we learn, that their sins render it utterly impossible that they should be converted and healed, as a nation, consistent with the justice of God, before the appointed end. Ver. 16. Therefore all they that devoured thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

During this season of trouble, the captives of Satan shall be devoured with the sword and with fire. Those nations which have spoiled and preyed upon the Israelites shall be the spoil and prey of one another, except such from among them as shall be led captive by Christ.

Ver. 17. For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. See also Ezek. xxxvi. 2-7, 23, 24.

CHAPTER VII.

THE RESTORATION AND CONVERSION OF THE JEWS.

(Continued.)

In the following remarkable prophecy, we have an express declaration of a second display of Almighty power in behalf of the scattered tribes of Judah, of whom a remnant shall be saved, while destruction rages throughout the countries which they inhabit; viz., Assyria, Egypt, or Lower Egypt, and Pathros, which latter is understood to be Upper Egypt, Cush, i. e., his descendants in Arabia, a part of Persia, Chaldea, Syria, and the islands of the Mediter

ranean.

Isaiah XI. 11-16. 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 a Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and

"In order as it were, that we may not mistake the restoration here predicted for the restoration from the literal Babylon, Isaiah carefully teaches us, that the Lord shall put forth his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people; and that, not merely from Assyria and other eastern_regions, but likewise from the isles of the west, or the maritime regions of Europe. He moreover teaches us that Ephraim and Judah shall both be restored; that their former enmity shall be done away; and that thenceforth they shall jointly form only one nation. The tongue of the Egyptian sea, or the widely overflowing Nile, is to be dried up: and the river of Assyria, or the great river Euphrates, is to be smitten in the seven streams, so that the ancient people of the Lord may pass over it dryshod. In the symbolical language of prophecy, rivers denote bodies politic: whence the drying up of rivers signifies the overthrow of those bodies politic which they typify. Accordingly in the parallel passage of Zechariah, this exhaustion of the mystical Nile and Euphrates is so explained."-Faber's View of the Prophecies. c Gen. x. 22;

a Ezek. xi. 14. Dan. viii. 2.

b Gen. x. 6, 7.

from

e

Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of

the sea. 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. The g 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. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west; they shall spoil them (Heb. the children) of the east together: they shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. 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. And there shall be a 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.

The "root of Jesse," the Redeemer, (ver. 10,) is the "ensign," whose proffered salvation has at length attracted "the outcasts of Israel," and He shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. "The Philistines," perhaps, a nation, or nations, whose sea-coasts are in some portion of " the west," will unite with them in effecting an entire change from the then political condition of "the children of the east," and in promoting their conversion; who, in this sense, become their spiritual spoil; and whether we regard the prophecy as relating to the spiritual, or actual land of Edom and Moab,—or, by the Ammon of antiquity, some other country,-it appears certain, that the Israelites will become the instruments of effecting such a revolution as shall lead to the eventual extermination of wicked governments and people, and wholly unite the remnants of these nations in obedience to the true worship of God.

d Gen. x. 10. e Gen. x. 9; Jer. xLix. 23. xxvII. 6; Dan. xi. 18. 8 Isai. vII. 1—6.

f Ezek.

The preponderating evidence afforded by other Scriptures for the spiritual interpretation of the 15th verse,* would lead us to imagine, that "the tongue of the Egyptian sea" must symbolize the prominent opposition which will be presented by the remnants of the Papal and other antichristian factions to the destined re-establishment of Israel; whose doctrines and dominion both, will therefore be utterly subverted.

With "his mighty wind,"—his Holy Spirit,-will he smite the nations generally, we would say, with the arrows of conviction, or by the mutual destruction of the opponents of his Gospel; and remove every possible hinderance to the communication of the truth. Facility will be now given to the people of God for their return; but the incorrigible enemies of revelation, remaining irreconciled, may still be supposed to assail their progress, though in vain, "like as it was in the day that Israel came up out of the land of Egypt," hemmed in, if not fiercely pursued, by the fruitless persecution of those who are consigned to destruction.

"The dead hope of Israel revived," represented "by the resurrection of dry bones," may here be appropriately considered:

Ezekiel xxxvii. 1-25. The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD, &c., to ver. 10. "It was in Tophet, or the valley of Hinnom, that the

*Isa. L1. 10. Zec. x. 11.

temple of Moloch was erected. The idol was of brass, hollow within, with its arms extended, and stooping a little forward. They lighted a great fire within the statue, and another before it. They put upon its arms the child they intended to sacrifice, which soon fell into the fire at the foot of the statue, while they stifled the cries of the victim by the noise of drums, and other instruments. It is also said that a constant fire used to be kept there, for burning the carcases, and other filthiness that were brought thither from the city."*

By this revolting symbol was the prophet commanded to represent the condition of the Jewish people during the Christian dispensation, than which none could more fully depict their abject and miserable condition. The “ very dry bones" foreshow the long continuance of this spiritual death; and their exposure in the "open valley," or champaign, the full manifestation of this spiritual death throughout the world, and their alienation from the Christian church, or "mountain of the Lord's house." Indeed, so wide. has been their separation from the truth, that we are sometimes ready to exclaim, “Can these bones live?" But, by the providential direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit, He will prepare them to fulfil his will, by an anxious determination to return to their former possessions; while their conversion is most aptly expressed by the "noise and shaking" of the bones, &c., and its entire, or general completion, by the breathing of "the four winds" upon them. Although but a remnant shall be left, yet will they form "an exceedingly great army," or multitude.

Ver. 11. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, a Our bones are