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give them up to be led away captive by their enemies, till the time when the daughter of Zion shall travail, and bring forth a whole nation at once; or till that mystic birth of the restored Jewish people shall take place, which the prophet had already announced *. Then shall the remnant of Christ's brethren according to the flesh return unto the children of Israel, and form with them only one nation. Their once rejected Redeemer shall be their king. He shall feed his flock in the strength of the Lord. And such shall be the increase of the Church in the happy age of the Millennium, that he shall be great unto the ends of the earth, and all people shall flow unto his holy mountain.

Messiah however will be revealed, not only to be peace unto his people, but likewise to be a terror unto his enemies. When the mystic Assyrian, the Antichristian head of the Roman Babylon, shall enter into the land of Palestine; when he shall tread down its palaces, and plant the curtains of his tents between the seas in the glorious holy mountain then will the Lord suddenly go forth in his anger, and deliver his chosen from the hand of their oppressors; then shall the wilful king come to his end, and none shall be able to help him. The tyrant of Babylon, that shook whole kingdoms, and that made the world as a wilderness, shall in his turn feel the avenging arm of

Compare Micah iv. 10. with v. 3.
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God. For the Lord will surely break the Assyrian in his land, and upon the mountains of Israel tread him under foot; so that his yoke shall depart from off the sons of Jacob, and his burden from off their shoulders *

It appears both from the present prophecy, and from others which are parallel to it, that, although the overthrow of the Antichristian faction will be chiefly miraculous, yet it will partly be effected by the instrumentality of the Jews themselves. The daughter of Zion is to thresh and beat in pieces the nations that are assembled against her and the remnant of Jacob is to be in the midst of the peoples as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; treading down and tearing in pieces, so that none can deliver t.

Who are meant by the seven shepherds and the eight anointed men, that are represented as going forth to fight the battles of Israel, and to waste with the sword the land of the figurative Assyrian, it is impossible now to determine with any degree

* Compare Isaiah xiv. 6, 16, 17, 25, and Comment. on Prophecy V.

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"The former verse (Micah v. 7.) described the benefits, "which the converted Jews should bring to those Gentiles that were disposed to embrace the Gospel this (ver. 8.) instructs "us, how terrible adversaries they will prove to such as per"sist in their enmity to them and to the truth. Comp. Obad. 18, 19. Zech. xii. 6." Mr. Lowth in loc.

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of precision, and therefore it would be a vain waste of time to indulge in the fruitlessness of conjecture the accomplishment of the prophecy itself can alone explain this part of it.

It is worthy of observation, that the remnant of Jacob are not only to be in the midst of the nations as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; but they are likewise to be in the midst of many people as the dew from the Lord, as showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. This accords with those prophecies which declare, that the converted Israelites will be greatly instrumental in spreading the light of the Gospel through distant nations, and that they will be made as it were the seed of the millennian church. Dew from the Lord, and showers upon the grass, typify the graces and doctrines of the Holy Spirit. Hence I think, that the diffusing of the remnant of Jacob (after their restoration and conversion,

"That remnant," says Mr. Lowth, "shall be the instru"ments of converting those Gentiles among whom they live; and thereupon may fitly be represented by the dews and "rains, which come down from heaven, and are the means of "making the earth fruitful."

+ "Rain, if not immoderate, and dew, and living water, for "the graces and doctrines of the Spirit; and the defect of ruin, "for spiritual barrenness" (Sir Isaac Newton's Observ. on Dan. p. 19.). "A church is made a wilderness and a parched land, "when the living waters of the Spirit are withheld." Bp. Horsley's Hosea, p. 5.

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be it observed) in the midst of many people, likedew and gentle showers, must mean precisely the same as the promise, that they should be sown among the nations that is to say, they should be the seed of the church; they should diffuse to the very ends of the earth the graces and doctrines of the Holy Spirit. Yet, as the dew and showers tarry not for man, nor wait for the sons of men; so will not the Spirit of God always strive with man, nor wait for his acquiescence beyond a certain limited period. In the morning of the great day of the Millennium, the converted Israelites are as dew and gentle rain among the people. As the day advances towards noon, the dew and the rain are gradually dried up; and the watered vineyard of the Lord is reduced within narrower limits. In the evening, as we are taught by Ezekiel and St. John, the daring confederacy of Gog and Magog makes its appearance.

The concluding verses teach us, that, during the happy period of the Millennium, and after the Lord had executed his vengeance upon the nations, all wars and tumults should cease. Every fortified city and every strong hold should be destroyed t;

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* See Bp. Horsley's Hosea, p. 9, and my own commentary on Prophecy XXVII. XXXII. and XXXIX. in the present work.

+ The meaning of the passage, according to Mr. Lowth, is, "I will afford deliverance to my people, not in the ordinary

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the land of Israel should be a land of unwalled villages; the people should dwell without walls, and having neither gates nor bars; and the Lord should cut the spear in sunder, and burn the chariot in the fire*: With this freedom from war there should likewise be a freedom from all idolatry, and from every superstitious practice that is an abomination to God. The vanities, that have so long bewildered erring mortals, should then be abolished; and true religion alone should flourish.

PROPHECY XXXV.

Lamentation of the dispersed church-A promise of her restoration and the overthrow of Antichrist.

Micah vii. 1. ZION. Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintaget: there is no cluster to eat my soul desireth the first ripe fruit.-8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord

way of second causes, but immediately by myself; so that they shall not need to trust in the strength of their forces, "or of their garrisons."

* Compare Ezek. xxxviii. 11. and Psalm xlvi. 9.

+ The grape gleanings of the vintage.] Compare Isaiah xxiv. 13. and xvii. 6.

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