his pleasure. Enfigns are military banners or ftandards, which, when lifted up, were anciently intended for raising armies, and collecting men together for warlike employments, and to thefe the foldiers were accustomed to refort. To this practice of princes and generals, who, when they wifhed fpeedily to raife an army upon any emergency, ufed to erect a standard on fome hill or rifing ground, the expreffion before us seems plainly to allude. The Lord of hofts, the Prince of the kings of the earth, by this means, was about to affemble quickly a numerous army from a great diftance, to execute the purposes he had in view to accomplifh. And will bifs unto them from the end of the earth. In fcripture, perfons are faid to hifs, as an expreffion of derifion and contempt. The diftreffed state of Jerufalem is in this manner defcribed; All they that pafs by thee, clap their hands at thee; they hifs and wag their head at the daughter of Jerufalem, faying, Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?' This, however, is not the meaning of the word in the verse under confideration. The hiffing here fpoken of, is given as a fign or call to the people to whom it is directed, to march immediately to the work affigned them. The phrase, which is repeatedly ufed by our prophet, probably alludes to the custom of collecting bees into the hive, by means of a fort of hifling noife. It imports, that the God of the whole earth would fpeedily collect, by certain intimations of his pleafure, a vaft army, to execute vengeance upon his perfidious, rebellious people. The fcoffers among them had faid in derifion, Let him make fpeed, and haften his work, that we may fee it: and lo, here their defire is granted. The people who were to perform this fervice, were to march with much hafte and fpeed out of kingdoms very remote from Judea they were to come from far, from the ends of the earth; firft from Chaldea, and afterward

* Lam. ii. 15.

from

from the Roman empire, both of which kingdoms were fituated at a great distance from Canaan. Hezekiah told our prophet, that the meffengers concerning whom he inquired, came from a far country, even from Babylon. And the Romans may as juftly be faid to have come from far, when, with furprifing rapidity, they marched toward Jerufalem, to deftroy it, according to prophecy.- -Hence we learn, that the eternal God is the great Agent, who, fends unto cities and kingdoms all the terrible judgments wherewith they are vifited. Nebuchadnezzar king of Allyria, Titus the Roman emperor, with great armies, went against Jerufalem; but they acted only in obedience to the orders they received from God. In his hand they were only as the rod and staff, wherewith he beat his difobedient people; the axe, wherewith he hewed them; and therefore they might thus have upbraided those whom they punished: At the command of Jehovah, we defolate your country, and burn your city, because you refused to yield obedience to his commands, by which you might have prevented thefe calamities.

27 None shall be weary nor ftumble amongst them: none fhall flumber nor fleep: neither fhall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their fhoes be broken.

Thefe words reprefent the indefatigable diligence, the constant vigilance, and wonderful alacrity, of the armies which God was to march against the Jewish nation. They were not to be weary or faint, through the length of their journey; they were not to ftumble, through the roughnefs of the roads by which they were to pass; neither were they to lofe any time in unneceffary fleep; but, with the utmost readiness and activity, they were to execute the orders of Jehovah.

2 Kings. xx. 14.

Nor

6

Nor was this to be the practice only of fome of the ftouteft of them, but it was to be their conduct in general, with few or no exceptions.Neither fhall the girdle of their loins be loofed. They were to be in a state of continual readiness for actual fervice, and no impediments were to retard their progrefs. Military girdles or belts, girt about the loins, were confidered anciently, among eastern nations, as a part of a foldier's accoutreinents: hence girding, or putting on the girdle, was an expreffion used to denote preparation for war, or for a long journey. Thus we read, that when the • Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to 'put on armour, or every one that girt himself with a girdle *. The girdles of those who are spoken of, were not to be loofed, or laid afide, until the great purposes for which they had been put on were effectuated: they were always to be prepared for action, until they had accomplished the defigns for which they were armed.Nor the latchet of their Jhoes be broken. A very minute circumstance this to be entered into the record of God. It seems intended, to intimate the remarkable speed with which the troops here described, were to advance to the execution of the work affigned them, and that they were to meet with little or no interruption in their progrefs.→ Hereby we are inftructed in the obvious and important truth, That the Lord is the Governor among the nations, and that he hath the abfolute command of all the inhabitants of the earth. He calls them forth at what time, and to what fervices he fees proper to affign them. In the course of his univerfal providence, he conducts armies from their own territories into distant countries, that they may do him fervice, and fpeedily execute righteous vengeance upon tranfgreffors, whofe enormous crimes accelerate divine judg ments, and give speed and fuccefs to the inftruments

2 Kings iii. 21.

employed

employed against them by the King of nations. Let us reverence this mighty God, whofe kingdom ruleth over all. Who fhall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy for all na'tions fhall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifeft.

28 Whofe arrows are fharp, and all their bows bent, their horfes hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

In this verse, the military inftruments of the armies, who were to march into Judea, are described as ready for use; and the astonishing expedition with which they were to advance to the fervice is ftrongly reprefented.The arrow is a fmall weapon made of wood, pointed with iron or flint, and in ancient times was used as an instrument of war. Its name, in the Hebrew language, is derived from a word which fignifies to cut or wound, this being the end for which it is made, and ufed in battle. That they might effectually execute thefe purposes, they are here affirmed to be fharp.And all their bows bent; quite ready for fhooting the arrows they had fharpened, that thereby they might make terrible devaftation. among those whom they attacked.Their horfes hoofs fhall be counted like flint. You know, it is one of the chief properties of a good horfe, to have a hard hoof. The firmnefs and folidity of the hoof muft have been of still more importance to a fine horfe among the ancients, who feem to have been unacquainted with fhoeing horfes, by nailing iron-plates to their hoofs, as practised in modern times. When, therefore, the hoofs of the Babylonian and Roman cavalry are foretold to be hard, and difficult to break, like a flint-ftone, upon which the weather, and the ftones, make no impreflion, the phrase intimates, their

ability and readinefs to perform the long march which they were to make into Judea.--Änd their wheels like a whirlwind. This wind is remarkable for coming very fuddenly, for running with great rapidity in a circular motion, and with fuch violence as to carry every thing before it that lies in the way. The chariots, drawn by the horfes above defcribed, were to resemble a whirlwind, on account of their fudden and unexpected appearance in Judea; for, as the prophet Jeremiah foretold, The fpoiler was fuddenly to come upon them *,' and overthrow them. Like a whirlwind, their motion was to be fwift and rapid: hence the Chaldean horfes are compared, by the prophet Habakkuk, to leopards †, which are exceeding fwift creatures; a circumstance this which was of great confequence to the fuccefs of their enterprise. Alexander, called the Great, being afked, How he conquered the world in fo fhort a time? replied, By not delaying. The wheels of the chariots, like a whirlwind, alfo were to do great execution. Very terrible have been the effects of a tempeft: fhips at fea have foundered, or been dafhed to pieces; ftately buildings have been shattered; the largest trees have been split in pieces, and the strongest houfes have been demolished. In like manner, thofe who invaded Judea, spread, with irrefiftible violence, defolation and ruin wherever they went.This remarkable prediction, with its exact accomplishment, by the Babylonians and Romans, furnishes us with an invincible argument for the unlimited power of God, in the firm belief of which we ought to be eftablished. All times, all nations, and all things, are fubject to his jurifdiction and control, whofe name alone is Jehovah, the Moft High over all the earth. He is exalted far above all gods, potentates, and princes, and fends their troops whitherfoever he pleafes, to execute his purposes, and to punith the fins of his perfidious people.

fer. vi. 26,

+ Hab. i. 8.

29 Their