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And the caskets of perfume, and the amulets;

21. The rings, and the jewels for the face:

The cloaks, and the mufflers;

The shawls, and the scarfs;

The sashes, and the fine tunics,

The turbans, and the long veils :'

24. And instead of perfume, shall there be dust;
And instead of the girded garment, rags:

And instead of the curious head-dress, baldness;
And instead of a zone, a girdle of sackcloth;
And sun-burnt skin, instead of beauty.

25. Thy friends shall fall by the sword,
And thy might in battle:

26. Her gates shall lament and mourn,

And she shall sit desolate on the ground.

1. And seven women shall take hold of one man,* In that day, saying;

We will eat our own bread,

And will wear our own garments;
Only let us be called by thy name,
To take away our reproach. 2

This display of female finery, and luxurious dress, among the prosperous oppressors of the church, is very remarkable; and the sad reverse that follows, in the day of their calamity, is most strikingly described. No doubt, in every revolution which greatly affected the higher orders of society, this pro

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phecy would be seen to have its fulfilment; but, as we shall learn hereafter, there is a time of trouble" yet to come upon the nations, "such as was not since there was a nation upon the earth.”

"A prophetic picture of the great decay of the male population by destructive wars.

* Chap. iv.

In whatever parts of the professing church these dreadful scenes are to be disclosed, it evidently appears to be at the eve of Messiah's appearance; for now our subject bursts upon us with great splendour:

2. In that day,

Shall there be a shoot of Jehovah,

Beauteous and glorious;

Even a sucker from the earth,

Elevated and spreading its boughs,

For the escaped of Israel:

3. And there shall be that which remaineth in Zion,

And that which is left in Jerusalem;

Holy shall it be called,

Every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:

4. When Jehovah hath washed away

This filth of the daughter of Zion;

And when' this blood of Jerusalem
Shall be removed from the midst of her,

By the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

That this branch, or rather shoot of Jehovah, means the Messiah, has been generally allowed. He was "a sucker from the earth," indeed, at his first advent; but the metaphor of the spreading tree, under which Israel takes shelter, relates, I conceive, to the second advent. This glorious event takes not place, we remark, till the guilt of some particular blood is removed from Jerusalem. This is, doubtless, the blood of their crucified Messiah, which the inhabitants of Jerusalem imprecated upon themselves and their children.

When this blood is purged away,

Compare Psalm li.

by the spirit of judgment, and of burning—when all their national sufferings shall be ended, especially those most calamitous ones of the last days; then, it should seem, Jerusalem or Zion will be in some wonderful manner the chosen spot for the visible display of the Divine Majesty :

5. And Jehovah shall create over all the station of Mount Zion, And over the places of her solemn assemblies,

A cloud by day, and a smoke,

And the brightness of a blazing fire by night.
Surely over all shall be the glory.'

6. A protection and a cover shall there be,
For a shade in the day from the heat;

And for a refuge, and for a shelter,
From the storm, and from the rain.

These lines clearly allude to "the pillar of fire that gave light" to the camp of Israel in the desert “ by night," and to "the pillar of cloud, in which the Lord went before them by day." Such a visible token of the Divine Presence, the prophecy seems to say, shall, at the time predicted, become stationary over the holy mountain of Zion. The effect will be, to dispel the darkness of night from that sacred spot; and to cause, that neither the burning heat of the sun, nor inconvenience from the conflicting elements, should any more be felt by its happy inhabitants. Compare Psalm lxviii. 15, 16, 17.

The Shekinah. Compare Deut. xxxiii. 2, &c.

SECTION II.

Remarks on Chapter the Fifth.

THE fifth chapter opens with "the song of the vineyard,” parallel to that part of the song of remembrance, “The Creator, his work is perfect," &c. The vineyard is to bet desolated" I will remove its hedge," &c. ver. 5. We have the suffrage of many commentators, to understand this of the desolation by the Romans, which we now behold. This Scripture is, therefore, written for our admonition, who succeed to Israel's forfeited privileges, "lest we should fall after the same example of unbelief." What follows regards, I conceive, the churches of the Gentiles, as contemplated at the eve of Messiah's second coming. The original of the eighth verse has led me to this conclusion:

8. Alas! for them that join house to house,

And lay field to field,

Until no place be left:

And ye are dwelling alone by yourselves,
In the midst of the earth.

According to the text, a people distinct from those who join house to house, &c. seem to be addressed as those that "dwell alone." This, therefore, is, perhaps, a description of the flourishing state of those nations who

Tertullian, Theodore, Cyril, Jerome, Luther, Brentius, Ecolampadius, Coccejus, Schmidius.-See VITRINGA.

inherit Israel's forfeited privileges; while they are living as strangers and solitary beings in the midst of them, ❝and find no rest for the sole of their feet." The joining of house to house, and laying, or more correctly," the making of field to approach to field," I understand to mean, not the engrossing of houses and lands by individuals, so much as the general extension of building and cultivation. I guess the lengthening streets of modern cities, and the forced cultivation extending itself to every nook of the surrounding country, are the scenes in the view of the prophetic Spirit. But may not the improvements of agriculture, and of the subordinate arts, bid defiance to the want and famine foreboded in the following verses? Alas! who can promise this?—

9. In mine ear hath Jehovah Sabaoth spoken:

Truly many houses shall become desolate,
Great and fair without inhabitant;

10. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
And a homer of seed shall produce an ephah.1

We know who can make a fruitful land barren, for the iniquity of them that dwell therein and the deterioration of seasons, at certain intervals, has been already very alarming to the crowded population of Europe.

A picture of habitual and continual drunkenness, with the luxurious banquetings of a careless people, that have forgotten God, follows:

11. Alas! for them that rising early in the morning follow liquor, And sitting late at even, wine inflames them:

1 A bath is a measure of eight gallons, and an ephah is the tenth part of a homer, or chomer.,

which we render acre, is properly the quantity of land ploughed by a yoke of oxen.

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