blessing: fear not; let your hands be strong. 14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not; 15. So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear ye not-20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities. 21. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord*, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. 22. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. 23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It shall come to pass in those days, that ten men out of all the languages of the nations shall take hold, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying we will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you. COMMENTARY. This prophecy must, I think, be referred to the yet future restoration of God's ancient people, and not merely to the return of Judah from the Babylonian captivity. The following considerations lead me to adopt such an opinion. A restoration from 1 * Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord.] "A prophecy "of the gentiles coming into the Church." Mr. Lowth in loc. the the east and the west, which was yet future, is promised; the Jews had already returned from Babylon, which was only in the north-east. The restoration both of the house of Judah and the house of Israel is predicted: Judah alone returned from Babylon, with the exception of a few stragglers belonging to the other ten tribes. Judah and Israel are conjointly to cease to be a curse among the nations they are still, even in the present day, a proverb and a by-word. Finally there is to be a great influx of mighty and strong nations to Jerusalem, there to worship the Lord, and to seek his face; they are to acknowledge, that God of a truth dwelleth with the Jews; and so eager are they to be to court an intimate communication with the house of Jacob, that even ten men of all nations and languages shall lay hold of the skirt of a single Jew this prophecy has never yet been accomplished, for it is absurd to suppose it accomplished in the few gentile proselytes made occasionally before the days of the first advent; and, if it be not yet accomplished, we must look for its completion in the days of the second advent, agreeably to many other predictions to which this is exactly parallel *. Such then being the case, we may see the reason why it should appear so marvellous in the eyes of the people. They had only just been brought See Isaiah ii. 1-5. lxvi. 12, 19-24, and Micah iv, 1, 2, 3. back back from Babylon, and they are presented with a prophecy relative to some yet future restoration both of Judah and Israel. They do not seem to have considered, that a prediction of this nature involved necessarily a prediction of some yet future dispersion. Hence it was marvellous in their eyes; but should it for that reason be likewise marvellous in the eyes of the Lord of hosts? Their second dispersion by the Romans has now long since taken place and from the past we may anticipate, as equally certain, their future restoration along with the house of Israel, both from the west-country and from the east-country, PROPHECY XXXIX, The instrumentality of Judah in the overthrow of Antichrist-The restoration of Joseph-His office of converting the Gentiles-The fate of Egypt and Assyria. Zechariah x. 3. Mine anger is kindled against - the shepherds, and I will punish the goats: for the Lord of hosts visiteth his flock the house of Judah, and maketh them as his goodly horse in the battle. 4. Out of him shall go forth a corner, out of him a nail, out of him the bow of battle, out of him all that draw near together. 5. And they they shall be as mighty men*, which tread down in the mire of the streets in a battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them; and the riders on horses shall be confounded. 6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph †, and I will bring them again to place them: for I will have mercy upon them; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them. 7. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord. 8. I will hiss for them, and gather them: for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase, as they have increased. 9. And I will sow them among the people, and they shall remember me in far countries; for they shall live with their children, and shall 10. I will bring them also out of the land : return. • They shall be as mighty men.] "This may be understood— "of the victories, which the Jews should obtain over their "enemies in the latter times. See chap. xii. 6, to which the "following part of the chapter seems to relate." Mr. Lowth in loc. + Judah-Joseph.] "This promise is probably to be under"stood of the general restoration of the Jewish nation upon their "conversion, a subject often treated of by the prophets in the "Old Testament, where Judah and Israel are spoken of as "equal sharers in this blessing." Mr. Lowth in loc. They of Ephraim.] "Ephraim is equivalent here to the ten "tribes, as the house of Joseph is, ver. 6." Mr. Lowth in lọc...... of of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and it shall not suffice for them. 11. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves of the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away. 12. And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord. COMMENTARY. Zechariah opens this prophecy with the same imagery that Ezekiel had used before him. The anger of God is kindled against the shepherds or governors who had so long troubled his people Israel: and he threatens to punish the goats, or those apostate Jews who had joined the party of Antichrist; while he promises in general to visit his flock, and to make them as the goodly horse in the battle. For this purpose he will bring it to pass, that, at the time when the infidel confederacy is overthrown, Judah shall take an active part in the destruction of his enemies. Out of him shall go forth a corner, or a chief commander §; out of him Ezek. xxxiv. "A community is often expressed by an edifice or building; " and the corresponding parts expressed by the same name, "Hence, |