A

Having thus sufficiently taught us, that we are to understand the rest of his prediction as referring to the restoration, not merely of the Jews from the 70 years captivity, but of both Israel and Judah from the scattering both of the Assyrian horn and the Roman horn, Zechariah next introduces the imagery, so common among the prophets, of measuring Jerusalem. An angel is then charged to tell him, that Jerusalem shall hereafter overflow with men and with cattle; and that the Lord will be a wall of fire around her, and for glory in the midst of her. By this glory I think we can only understand the divine Shechinah; which will be the glory of the Millennian church, as it heretoLevitical church *. At least the

fore was of the

however, so far as the general import of the prophecy is concerned, will be the same; for he supposes the allusion to be to plowmen striking the horns of mischievous oxen with the coulters of their ploughs.

* I cannot but think that Dr. Blayney lowers the sense of this passage in a very unnatural manner, by paraphrasing it to mean nothing more than "I will reside in the midst of her "for the purpose of promoting her glory and prosperity." The glory of the Lord, or the Lord the glory, is frequently used to denote, what I believe it to denote here, the glorious manifestation of the second person of the Trinity. See Psalm xxiv. 7. Isaiah xl. 5. lx. 1, 2. Malachi iv. 2. Ezek. iii. 12. Heb. i. 3. John i. 14. Rom. ix. 4. See Jamieson's Vindication of the doctrine of Scripture. Vol. i. p. 95. Philo Judèus styles the divine Logos the light of the world and the intellectual sun. See, Bryant on the sentiments of Philo Judèus, p. 113, 203. See also Mr. Lowth on Zechar, xiv. 4.

subsequent

subsequent context seems almost to compel us to adopt such an opinion.

Here the Lord raises his voice aloud, and calls to the dispersed of Israel to gather themselves together from the north, and from the four winds of heaven from Assyria, the dominions of the literal Babylon, through which the ten tribes were scattered; and from the West, the dominions of the mystical Babylon, through which in a peculiar manner the two tribes are dispersed. The Lord of hosts that speaks is the Messiah; who, while he solemnly announces his second advent, avows that the Lord of hosts, God the Father, hath sent him, thus bearing an illustrious testimony to his own divinity. After the glory, he declares himself to be sent unto the nations that spoiled his ancient people and now he will shake his hand upon them, and cause them in their turn to become a spoil to those, whom they had made their servants. I have no doubt that the destruction of Antichrist, at the period of the restoration of Judah, is here predicted, in exact harmony with the writings of all the other prophets. After the glory, Christ is sent to take vengeance upon the collected nations. of his enemies. This glory I conceive to be the same, as the glory which Zechariah had already mentioned; for the context seems to require, that,

* See Dr. Eveleigh's very clear and satisfactory sermon on this passage.

$ 3

what

*

what the one glory means, the other should likewise mean. Subsequent then to this glory, that is to say, subsequent to the manifestation of God's glory in the midst of Jerusalem, Messiah will shake his hand over the vassal allies of Antichrist. I know not what inference we can draw from this remark-able passage, especially when viewed in connection with other parallel passages, except the following: that, after the Antichristian faction has succeeded in taking Jerusalem, and when its armies are upon the full march to Megiddo with a view of attacking the dispirited remnant of the Jews and their protectors the maritime power, then will the glory of the Lord appear in the midst of his holy city; and, after it has thus appeared, Messiah will go forth in his strength to tread the wine-press of the mystic Edom. His enemies being thus subdued, the whole

* Dr. Blayney gives quite a different sense to the word after, and explains the whole passage in a manner altogether unlike that which I have adopted. "To send a person after any thing," says he," implies the requisition of his services for that particular purpose. When therefore God is said to have sent the angel "after the glory, he must be understood to have charged him "with the means of bringing it about." The word after sometimes bears such a sense in English, and I will not presume so far to set my knowledge in competition with that of the late learned professor as to assert that is never bears such a sense in Hebrew but this I may safely say, that I do not recollect to have met with the word thus used elsewhere, nor do either Buxtorf or Parkhurst assign to it any such signification. I have adopted in short what appears to myself at least the most natural interpretation of the passage.

body

body of his ancient people shall acknowledge that the Lord of hosts hath sent him. They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, when he cometh, and dwelleth in the midst of them; and the daughter of Zion shall sing, and rejoice in the presence of her incarnate God. Meanwhile, after the destruction of the apostate army, many nations shall be joined unto the Lord of hosts. They shall acknowledge his divine mission, and walk in his courts. They shall be awfully silent before him, when he riseth up out of his holy habitation: and every mouth shall be stopped, when he inherits Judah his portion, and when he chooses Jerusalem again.

PROPHECY XXXVIII.

The general restoration of the Jews, and the conversion of the Gentiles.

Zechariah viii. 2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. 3. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and I dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called, The city of the truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The holy mountain. 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the

streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. 5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. 6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts. 7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold I will save my people from the east-country, and from the west-country*; 8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness-13. And it shall come to pass, that, as ye were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a

* I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country.] "This denotes the general restoration of the "Jewish nation from their several dispersions, an event foretold "by most of the prophets of the Old Testament. The west "country here mentioned hath a particular relation to their "present dispersion, great numbers of them being in these "latter ages settled in the western parts of the world." Mr. Lowth in loc.

+Q house of Judah, and house of Israel.] "The mentioning "both Judah and Israel, which had been so long separated, "shews that both the curse and the blessing here spøken of, in "its ultimate sense, belongs to the whole body of the Jews; "who, as they are a public instance of God's judgments now, "so shall they hereafter be of his blessings: namely, at the "general restoration and conversion of that nation, to which "several promises in this chapter relate." Mr. Lowth in loc, blessing: