him a nail, or the officers next in rank; out of him the bow of battle, or the archers †; out of him

"Hence, as the largest stones or timbers are used in the angles "to bind together and strengthen the sides of the building, "which meet therein as in a common centre; so the angle or corner metaphorically denotes the chief personage in a com"munity, on whom its strength and security principally de"pends. Accordingly we find me, properly corners, rendered "chief in our English version, Judg. xx. 2. 1 Sam. xiv. 38. and "in Isaiah xix. 13. they that are the stay; in the margin, go"vernors; and by Bp. Lowth, chief pillars. Therefore by " here may be understood the commander in chief." Dr. Blayney's Zechariah in loc.

*" is properly a nail or pin used to fasten the timbers "or parts of a building together; and may therefore serve to "denote the officers next in command under the chief, by whose

means the common soldiers are united, kept steady, and in "regular order. Bp. Lowth has two excellent notes on Isaiah "xxii. 23, 24. in which are stated the use and importance of "nails, spikes, or wooden pins, and their application to denote ፡ persons eminent in station and power. Such a nail or pin was "Eliakim to be, the support of his family and friends; and such had Shebua been; but he, it is said, ver. 25, was to "be removed, cut down, and to fall, so as to involve in his "ruin all that depended on him. In one of these notes the "Bishop cites Ezra ix. 8, Grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail "in his holy place. That is, says the Bishop, as the margin of our Bible explains it, a constant and sure abode. But might "it not rather mean, a person of wisdom and authority to conduct "and steady them, and on whom they might lean for support, "after that God had brought them once more to his holy place?" Dr. Blayney in loc.

+ "The bow of battle can only mean the archers in an army.” Dr. Blayney in loc.

all that draw near together*. And the Lord will give them strength to tread down their foes, and to fight as mighty men even as the riders on horseback.

Nor shall Judah alone be restored: God will save likewise the house of Joseph, though he appears to have long entirely forgotten them. He will hiss for them, and gather them: and, after he hath mightily redeemed them, he will sow them among the people, and they shall remember him in far countries. He will make them as it were the seed of his Millennian church: and cause them to be instrumental in spreading the knowledge of his truth, to the uttermost parts of the earth †. He will bring them moreover out of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria. The figurative sea of Egypt shall then be smitten, and the river of Assyria shall be dried up; or, as the prophet himself explains this symbolical imagery, the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall

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In the house or building these words would denote the stones of common use placed contiguous or in close order one by another. "Correspondently in the army must be meant the close embodied “ phalanx, or main body of men of war advancing on together in "regular order to meet the enemy. Accordingly was frequently "signifies to draw nigh towards an enemy for the purpose of "giving him battle, and this both with and without mombos "following it. See Josh. viii. 11.-1 Sam. vii. 10.—xvii. 16, "40.-2 Sam. x. 13.-Jer. xlvi. 3.-Joel iii. 9-14." Blayney in loc.

+ Compare Hosea ii. 23.

Dr.

depart

depart away. Nevertheless, while restoring his ancient people and executing vengeance upon his enemies, God will not forget to be gracious. Though he will smite Egypt, and give it up for a season into the hand of Antichrist; yet he will smite it only to heal it: for " they shall return to "the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and "shall heal them." Assyria shall likewise taste his mercy, after he has gathered his long lost sheep of the house of Israel from out of the midst of her. "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt "and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst "of the land; whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, "saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria "the work of my hands, and Israel mine in"heritance *."

Isaiah xix. 22, 24, 25. Compare Isaiah xi. 15, 16, and xxvii. 12, 13.

PRO

PROPHECY XL.

The miraculous overthrow of the Antichristian confederacy-The conversion of certain Jews in Jerusalem-The preservation and conversion of the third part of the Antichristian confederacy -The previous sacking of Jerusalem by Antichrist-The manifestation of Messiah to destroy Antichrist-The extermination of false religion

The destruction of Antichrist-The prevalence of true religion The nature of the plague, with which the faction of Antichrist will be afflicted-The part, which Judah will act-The final conversion and prosperity of Judah.

Zechariah xii. 1*. The burden of the word of the Lord. Concerning 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 peoples round about,

Chap. xii. 1. Mr. Lowth supposes, like myself, that this prophecy relates to an invasion of Judea at the period of the yet future restoration of the Jews; but he imagines, what I cannot see the least reason for believing, that the invaders will be the Turks. In fact, the Turks will have been overthrown as a nation previous to the restoration of the Jews. This I have already shewn in my Comment. on Prophecy XXV, and in my Dissert. on the 1260 years, Vol. I. p. 388-393. (2d edit.)

VOL. II.

T

even

*

even when they † shall be against Judah, in the siege against Jerusalem. 3. Even in that day will I make Jerusalem a stone of burden unto all the peoples all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, and all the peoples of the earth shall 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 are 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 peoples 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

+ They shall be.] I take the singular verb to relate to the peoples considered collectively as one great body. See in the original Isaiah v. 26-30. This translation and the exposition consequent upon it seem to me to accord better with the context of the prophecy, than those proposed by Dr. Blayney.

* A stone of burden] "Jerusalem is here compared to a "stone of great weight, which, being too heavy for those who "attempt to lift it up or remove it, falls back upon them, and "crushes them to pieces." Dr. Blayney in loc.

The tents of Judah.] "The body of the Jewish nation, that encamp in the open country." Mr. Lowth in loc..

the