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MINATIONS united in the Prophecy point out, with equal capacity and conciseness, those widely extended regions, which, at the present day, we denominate collectively, THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.

Since this interpretation of the name of TOBL first enforced itself, I have fallen upon the following remarkable and apposite observation in a work of the late eminent Professor Michaelis, in which he examines the opinions of Bochart upon the subject of the ancient Hebrew Geography. In considering the passage of Ezekiel's Prophecy now under examination, he assumes the three Hebrew names in question as the Greek translators rendered them of old; and he then points out the propriety, or rather the necessity, of applying the last name to Siberia, if the two former are applied to Russia and Moscovy. "I wonder (says he) that those persons "who see the Moscovites in the name of "Moshoch, do not also refer the name of "Tubal to Siberia; whose principal city "Tobolski, more modern indeed, but deriv"ing its name from the primeval river the

"TOBOL, might acquire the sound of Thu "bal: especially since Siberia is, and always 66 was, rich in copper; its inhabitants hav❝ing formerly made use of that metal "instead of iron, as is demonstrated by the 66 copper knives, or blades, which are every "where found in the antient sepulchres of "the country. Yet I do not write this as

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thinking it probable, that the sacred wri"ters should have spoken of the inhabitants "of the country lying on the river TOBOL, "but because it seems to me a great want "of consideration, that TOBOLski should be "overlooked by those who think they discover "Moscow in the name of MESCHECH*.”

III. That learned writer would perhaps have settled his fluctuating opinions upon this, and all the other points connected with

*"Miror tamen, eos qui in Meschech Moscovitas "vident, non et Thubal ad SIBERIAM referre; cujus ❝urbs primaria Tobolska, recentior illa quidem, sed ab "æterno flumine TOBOL nomen habens, posset sono "Thubalem referre: maxime cum Siberia sit fueritque "æris dives, cupro olim etiam pro ferro usa, cultrosque ex cupro faciens, qui in sepulcris antiquis cum

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this important subject, if he had lived to the present eventful time, and had directed his attention to that particular point which must next engage our concern, namely, the Hebrew word immediately preceding the name of Ros, which our translators have rendered chief, and the Greek interpreters, agxovra. In examining this word, we shall discover, that the error of mistaking a proper-name for an appellative-noun, is not the only error which calls for observation and correction in this place. Another material error, which the sentence fully discloses by its internal evidence, subsists in the word immediately preceding; which at present is so interpreted as to make GOGUE the chief or prince, not of Magogue only, but also of the people of Ros, Mosc, and TOBL. This word, in the original, is s, Nasi.

"mortuis conditi passim reperiuntur.

Verum id non

❝ita scribo, ut verisile existimem, scriptores sacros de "accolis fluvii TOBOL loqui, sed quod magnæ incogitan"tiæ videtur, TOBOLskam ab illis prætermitti, qui in "Meschech Moscuam videre sibi videntur."- Spicilegium Geogr. Hebr. Ext. p. 55,

But the sentence, when duly and critically examined, rejects that interpretation altogether; since GoGUE, the individual in question, is described as "of the land," that is, (by a construction common to the Hebrew with the Greek tongue,) "Sovereign of the "land" of Magogue: there is his proper dominion, and there are his subject nations. "Whoever reads Ezekiel, (says Michaelis),

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can hardly entertain a doubt, that GOGUE "is the name of a sovereign, and Magogue "that of his people; -the Prophet speaks "of the former, not as a people, but as AN "EMPEROR*" To the same purpose, is the observation of Vitringa already produced. It is not necessary to the sense, therefore, to suppose, nor is it at all probable, that the same person should be again described, as the sovereign of other countries, (viz. Ros, Mosc, and TOBL,) when he had been already properly distinguished, as the sovereign of

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*"Ezechielem legenti vix dubium videre potest, GoG regis nomen esse, Magog populi;-de illo, non ut de populo sed IMPERATORE loquitur."—Ibid. p. 33.

MAGOGUE. But those three names point to the sequel of the Prophecy, which proceeds to declare, that the Invader should be calamitously overthrown in his invasion:of what country? Of that, namely, which had been mentioned in the opening of the Prophecy, and which is no where else expressed, but only figuratively described, in the sequel.

Now the Prophecy affirms, two several times, that " He shall ascend towards that "land as A CLOUD to cover it." This comparison, of a cloud, seems to be thus repeated, in order to lead our minds to the apprehension of the true signification of that particular word in the title, with which we are at present engaged. That equivocal word (swi, Nasi), which is rendered in the Greek by agxov, in our translation by chief, and in that of Archbishop Newcome by prince, is derived from the Hebrew sw, Nasa; which, as Mr. Parkhurst has justly observed, “is a "most extensive root; " signifying, to stir up, to lift up, to exalt, to ascend, &c.: from

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