his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever," chap. i. 2-4. It will appear from the remaining part of the investigation, that the apostle did not quote the words, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated," as a direct, but as an indirect proof of God's sovereignty. The desolate state of the Edomites formed no part of the ancient prophecy, but was a collateral proof of the fulfilment of the prophecy; and as the distinction marked out in the prophecy originated in the sovereign will of God, so the desolate condition of the Edomites may be considered as an indirect proof of God's sovereignty towards the descendants of Jacob, and a direct proof of his justice against the wicked nation of Edom. This view is confirmed by a reference to Deut. ii. 5. where God gives commandment to the Israelites concerning the Edomites-" Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot-breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession." It was because of the wickedness of Esau's posterity that the above recited calamities were inflictedThey shall call them the border of wickedness." The Jews, in the days of Malachi, were not strangers to the wickedness of the Edomites; for Joel had

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formerly denounced the divine vengeance against them, for their cruel conduct towards their brethren, in the time of king Amaziah. The prophecy of Joel runs as follows; " Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land," chap. iii. 19. Amaziah himself seems to have been the first instrument which the Divine Being employed in inflicting the threatened punishment; for it is recorded of him, (2 Kings xiv. 7.) that "he slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Jokthiel unto this day." But the Edomites seem not to have learned wisdom from the divine visitation; for the Psalmist, who had been depicting the forlorn and destitute condition of the captive Jews in Babylon, (Ps. cxxxvii.) makes his complaint to Jehovah in these words; "Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof," ver. 7. The prophet Jeremiah, also, who doubtless had in view the same events, prophesied concerning the Edomites thus; "Edom shall be a desolation; every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof," chap. xlix. 17. The prophet Obadiah is still more explicit; "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away his forces, and foreigners

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entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction;”—“ as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy reward shall return upon thine own head,” ver. 10-16. Now, as Malachi prophesied about two hundred years after the time of Jeremiah and Obadiah, it is reasonable to conclude, that the desolate state in which he declares the Edomites to be, was the accomplishment of the divine threatenings, as denounced by the abovementioned prophets, on account of their cruel conduct towards Judah in the day of their adversity. Again, the reiterated threatening by Malachi contained in these words; "They shall build, but I will throw down,” was, at subsequent periods, amply fulfilled. We are informed, that about A. M. 3840, Judas Maccabeus terribly harassed them, put about forty thousand of them to the sword, and miserably sacked their capital. We learn also that about A. M. 3874, Johannes Hircanus entirely subdued them, and obliged them to incorporate with the Jewish nation. We are informed that a handful of them escaped from the destruction of Jerusalem, from which time their existence as a people has perished from the earth.

From the foregoing investigation we conclude, that the design which God had in making the following declaration, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I

hated, and laid his mountains and heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness," was to assure his desponding people that he had still a fatherly regard for them, on account of the promises which he had made to their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Likewise, the apostle Paul seems to have quoted them, in order to shew, that the descendants of Jacob were, agreeably to the original prophecy, the peculiar people of God, by reason of their being descended from Jacob, who, although the younger, obtained, according to the divine purpose, the rights which naturally belonged to the first-born.

From what has been advanced, we infer, that the scope of the apostle's argument is to shew, that as God, in his sovereign wisdom, made choice of Isaac in preference to Ishmael, and Jacob in preference to Esau, for the purpose of constituting them the ancestors of the promised Messiah, on whose account peculiar privileges were conferred on the nation springing from Isaac and Jacob; so, it was also agreeable to the same system of divine procedure to mark a spiritual distinction even among that people who were literally the people of God, which distinction was grounded on the personal qualifications of those interested in it. Hence it follows, according to the language of the apostle, "they are not all Israel that are of Israel."

The apostle having proved, as above, that the distinction of a natural and spiritual Israel originated in the same sovereignty that made a distinction be

tween Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and Esau, supposes an objection to be urged, on the ground of the divine rectitude, seeing that the Jews were descendants of Jacob and Isaac, and yet they as a body, according to the apostle's doctrine, came short of justifying righteousness. "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion," ver. 14, 15. On recurring to the events in Moses' day, we find that while Moses was on the mount with God, the Israelites made a "molten calf" for the purpose of paying it divine homage. When the Lord made known this circumstance to Moses, he added, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation." Exod. xxxii. 9,10. Moses then intercedes for the people, and prevails; for, we are informed, that "the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people," ver. 14. Yet we find that the Lord had purposed, because of their rebellion," not to go up with the people" to the promised land, but to appoint his angel to be their guide, saying to Moses," I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people; lest I consume thee in the way." Exod. xxxiii. 3. After further intercession, Moses obtains a promise that God's merciful and protecting presence should go with them,