And he hath confirmed his words which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem; as it is written in the law of Moses, All this evil hath come upon us," &c. What, therefore, is esteemed perfectly consistent with the character for inspiration of the Old Testament writers, can never be charged as a fault upon St. Matthew.

As to the second charge, several answers have been given, any one of which is sufficient to vindicate the character of St. Matthew. It has been said, that the abbreviations for Jeremiah and Zechariah, Zelov and Igov, are so alike as to be easily mistaken by the copier of the MS. It has been urged that some copies do really read "Zechariah," or, that in the original there was no prophet named, and that this mistake arose from the insertion of a marginal gloss. But Hengstenberg, following a hint thrown out by Grotius, appears to me to give the true answer; and that is, that St. Matthew intentionally ascribed the words of Zechariah to Jeremiah, because he wished to impress upon his readers the fact, that Zechariah's prediction was a reiteration of two fearful prophecies of Jeremiah (Jer. xviii. xix.), and should, like them, be accomplished in the rejection and destruction of the Jewish people. He wished to remind them, that "The field of blood," purchased with the money that testified the fulness of their guilt, was a part of that valley of the son of Hinnom, which their fathers had made a "field of blood" before them, and where Jeremiah had twice, by the symbol of a potter's vessel, announced their coming destruction. The words of the prophet, "Cast it to the potter," were in themselves sufficient to direct the attention of readers acquainted with the prophecies, to those two chapters of Jeremiah; but the manner in which St. Matthew in

troduces his quotation, makes the allusion still more plain. He first relates the purchase of the potter's field, thereby pointing out the locality of Jeremiah's prophecy-then he mentions the fact that it was called "the field of blood," thereby referring to a very similar expression in that prophet; "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter" (Jer. xix. 6.); and then cites the words of Zechariah, as spoken by Jeremiah, in order to make all mistake impossible. St. Matthew had, therefore, a direct purpose in introducing the name of Jeremiah; it was to warn the Jews against the coming judgments. They fondly hoped that, as the chosen people of God, they were safe. St. Matthew points them to the potter's field, and thus reminds them of the calamities which had already come upon them for past sin, less heinous than that of which the potter's field now testified.

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CHAPTER XII.

1. "The burden of the word of the Lord.”— After mentioning the punishments of Israel, and the several desolations of the land, he prophecies concerning the good of Israel, and the punishments of the nations, and says, "Thus saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth;" i. e., He created the heavens and the earth, and the universe is in his hand, to pull down and to throw down, to build and to plant. "Man" is mentioned, as Isaiah says, "I have made the earth, and created man upon it" (xiv. 12): that is to say, And I led Israel captive, and it is in my hand to lead them up from captivity, and to take vengeance on their enemies. The wise man, R. Abraham ben Ezra, of blessed memory, has written, that the words "And formeth the spirit of man within him," are connected with "stretching forth the heavens, and laying the foundations of the earth," because man is a little world, as the heavens and the earth are the great world. As to these words,

-ex יצר we do not find the word ,וְיוֹצֵר רוּחַ אָדָם בְּקִרְבּוֹ

cept of things which have solidity and are perceptible to the senses, which the Spirit, , is not. These words therefore, are spoken in reference to the formation of the organs of the body which receive the power of the Spirit, and these are the marrow and the heart.

is סַף רַעַל-.a cup of trembling

2. "Behold I — similar to D, "a cup of trembling," which he that drinks dies; so all that go up against Jerusalem shall perish and be cut off.

“And also against Judah shall it be in the siege;" that is to say, that Judah will be joined with the enemies

in the siege against Jerusalem. And the meaning of the words "against Judah" is, that the cup of trembling shall be at first upon them, when they come against their will to besiege Jerusalem, and behold this great affliction shall be upon them. The sense of the whole passage is, That when Gog and Magog come against Jerusalem after the redemption, they will go up by the land of Judah, for the desire of their faces will be to come against Jerusalem first, and they will not be anxious first to subdue the whole land of Israel, for they will think, when we have subdued Jerusalem, the whole land will fall before us. But they will go up to Jerusalem by the way of the land of Judah, which is their natural route, and they will take with them the children of Judah against their will to go with them to besiege Jerusalem; and so Jonathan has interpreted.

3. "And it shall come to pass, in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone."

He first compared it to "a cup of trembling;" he now further compares it to a burdensome stone, i. e. all who labour to make war against Jerusalem shall be punished by it, as a great stone which is to them that burden themselves with it a great burden and a heavy weight; and even in raising it from the ground to place it on their shoulders, they cut their hands with it, and many men exhaust their strength, and in moving it cut their hands; thus all the Gentiles of the earth shall be gathered against Jerusalem, and shall be destroyed by the Lord.

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וַיַּעֲמֹס אִישׁ עַל־חֲמֹרוֹ as ,עמס burden,” is from ,מַעֲמָסָה

"And every man loaded his ass" (Gen. xliv. 13.). And again, by p," and lading asses (Nehem. xiii. 15). The word expresses the idea of burden. Jonathan has interpreted it, "I will make Jerusalem a stumblingstone to all nations. All who do violence to it shall assuredly be spoiled.'

4. "In that day I will open my eyes," to keep

them from the smiting which I will bring upon the nations. Although they be amongst them, they and their horses, they shall be delivered from the smiting, but I will smite every horse of the nations with blindness. "Blindness" is mentioned after "madness," for they shall be smitten with these two plagues. Madness applies to the heart, and blindness to the eyes.

5. "And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart;" i. e. when in the midst of their enemies, they shall say that the inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strength and defence to them, for they shall go forth to fight with them in the help of the Lord of hosts, and by them they shall be delivered.

,"strength," is a noun of the same form as hy (unrighteousness), y (humility), np (a lamb), mi (prosperity).

6. "In that day the governors of Judah."-The great men of Judah who are outside I will make like a hearth of fire among the wood, for by the fire which I shall send among the Gentiles is meant the madness and blindness, for it is from the Lord. And they and the children of Judah who are with them shall smite the Gentiles on the right hand and on the left. The meaning of N ¬? is "a coal of fire." It belongs to such words as and

, furnace and oven, for as the wood and the sheaf are ready to be kindled by the fire, so the heathen shall be ready for destruction and consumption by the madness and insanity which the blessed God shall send amongst them; and the governors of Judah shall be in the midst of them like fire to consume them.

"And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem."-For the Gentiles thought to annihilate it from being a city, but it shall be inhabited again in its own place, the place that in this day is called Jerusalem.

7. "The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first.”