Verse 15. V. 14, 15, 16. 1 JEREM. III. 12 to end. Verse 18. V. 14. V. 17. V. 16. The intention then is, in many of the predictions, to describe the events which succeeded their captivity, and to delineate the present and past condition of the Holy land, since the ascension of the Messiah. The families of the kingdoms of the north in their possessions in Europe are addressed. The Crusades are noticed. The mutual slaughter of thousands in those striking occurences. The religious character of those wars, the scourge which they became in their own hands against themselves, the subjection of Jerusalem to their arms for a short period, the present condition of Judæa and its surrounding nations, and the intentions of God for the Jews in their restoration, are principally revealed in this prophetic period. We are only to examine those passages, which serve as ingredient features for the future kingdom of Judæa, or describe the precedent circumstances in that great event. 3 The union of the two houses of Judah and Ephraim, in the kingdoms of Samaria and Jerusalem, is asserted, in connection with the general restoration to Palestine; and the collection of the representatives of all nations at Jerusalem, from religious and political causes, is asserted. But these events have not yet been manifested in Jewish history. The ark of God was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and not restored in form under the roof of the second temple. Still, connected with its removal is associated its being forgotten in religious services and rites, and this was not effected whilst sacrifices were continued at Jerusalem, for these were not abolished until its destruction by the Romans. Nor has Jerusalem been regarded by all the world, as God's throne and fountain of Religious Law, for the Papal power has usurped and still continues to proclaim herself in her city, the mother of Churches, and the throne of God on earth. The return from Babylon, was made Verse 17. by Ezra and Nehemiah from the East, and not as it is here predicted; for their final return shall be, from the north, or Europe, to the south, or Palestine. XVI. 14 to end. V. 18. * 1 In the departure from Babylon, we must always JEREM. remember that only a small number of the people returned. They formed indeed the nucleus of the after Verse 12. nation; and those who remained in Persia, were either absorbed and destroyed with that nation, or they retired into some of those vast and inaccessible countries between Persia and the northern parts of China, over which until this day a veil of mysterious concealment has been spread, and in which we are to seek with the greatest probability for the lost ten tribes.† Ezra, it is said by Josephus, sent copies of the edicts which the Persian kings issued for the restoration of the Jews, into all those places where the ten tribes had been removed, but very few availed themselves of this invitation to return to the land of their forefathers. So that the numbers which came back amounted to about 42,360 persons.‡ * Jerome says "The future restoration of the Israelites is clearly (manifeste) predicted, and mercy after their captivity, which literally and in part was completed by Zorobabel, Joshua, and Ezra. In a spiritualized sense it is more clearly fulfilled and with greater perfection in Christ." He afterwards explains the famous passage of the fishers and hunters -by thinking that the fishers are the Apostles-and hunters angels-or ecclesiastical men. A spiritual interpretation of all these prophecies obscures and weakens the force of Scripture. To be plain and serviceable for Faith and the Church they must be literal. Basnage Hist. des Juifs. L. 6. ‡ It might be said that heads of families alone are mentioned in the We cannot be surprized at this small number, when we reflect that it was entirely a work of strong faith, which could induce men thus to abandon homes, where they had been located, and enjoyed subsistence for seventy or one hundred years, to encounter all the perils of a journey seven hundred miles in length, and endure the privations and insecurity of a new colony, in a land which their bitterest enemies possessed. We have only to read the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, to be convinced of the difficulties and unhappiness in which the returning exiles lived. Nor can we avoid remarking, how extraordinary was God's blessing upon this poor remnant, that at the end of three or four hundred years, they should in the midst of wars and devastations, have been able to increase to such power, as to form a large and potent kingdom, in the Genealogy; and therefore women and children being added, the whole number with Ezra and Nehemiah, must have been about 200,000 persons. (Neh. vii.) This does not appear from the records, because the number of men enumerated in the catalogue is 33,090, and not 42,360. About one in five was therefore married, as children under age are not included in the summary. The law of God in the Scriptures was publicly read in the hearing of men and women, and those of their children who would "hear with understanding." (Ch. viii. 1–5.) If we add for the six or seven thousand married persons, three children to each, we shall have an additional number of 20,000. And the amount in round numbers for the whole company will be about 60,000 persons of all ages, and of both sexes. A large company to undertake such a great journey, and yet a small number to establish and fulfil the restoration of the nation. The servants were a mixed race, and some of them doubtless obtained in the country. The copies of Josephus make the number 4,000, 000. But it is evidently a mis-copy. Ezra ii. 64., Esdras v. 40., Neh. vii. 66., all agree in making the number about 42, 360. Zorobabel---Joshua-Mordecai-and Serebeus are the leaders mentioned by Josephus; their camels were 435, and other beasts of burden 5525; so that the greater portion of the 40,000 must have travelled on foot; and they would be about two if not three months in the journey. V. 15. V. 19. early attacks of the Roman empire upon them. Who but God by a special providence, could thus have secured and protected them? And this was accomplished that they might become the future progenitors of the present Jews in all parts of the world. The prophecy before us is however inapplicable to this return, because they were neither fished for, nor hunted in all lands, nor in the most inaccessible places, as mountains and rocks. Neither did the Gentiles come to them from Verse 16. the ends of the earth with peaceable intentions, to receive religious instruction from the Jewish Church, and confess their idolatry at Jerusalem. The apostolic V. 14. Jews went, it is true, to the Gentile population, and fished and hunted for the salvation of their souls, but these uncircumcised people did not seek after, but on the contrary they persecuted and put them to death. The iniquity of the Jews had been recompensed once in the seventy years' captivity, but the two-fold recompense is only now in accomplishment by their existing dispersion. V. 18. 1 The principal images of restoration in this descrip- JEREM. tion, were in futurity as much before the coming of Christ, as they have been since that period. He came, and becomes in all his divine and sacerdotal fulness, the Lord of lost man's righteousness, in shedding his blood, in fulfilling the law, and in giving his sanctifying spirit to man. Bought thus with a priceless price, the Christian lives by a faith which worketh by love, and feels his strength now, and his peace for hereafter in Him who is the author and finisher of his salvation. To him all nations shall look. The extension of his Verse 5. religion is designed to flood the world with immortal light. He will rule them by his Spirit, and His D XXIII. 1-9. V. 6. Verse 4. V. 3. V. 7. V. 8. V. 6. V. 1. Word shall be the true charter of their laws and liberties. The essential distinction also between the Jewish method of teaching religion, and the Christian, consists, in our system appropriating the entire justification of man to God, as his special work in salvation, by the death and merits of another. The element which constitutes and pervades and forms the soul of Christian teaching, is, in other words, that eternal life becomes a free gift of God to man, in consideration of the meritorious purchase of this salvation by the Redeemer. The essential strength and distinction of Judaism is, to appropriate a large portion of this saving work to man himself, who by his works earns, if not the whole, at least a very great portion of his salvation. When the prophecy is fulfilled, this tenet of modern Judaism will be given up, and God will be acknowledged as the cause of, and in justifying property to be, the sinner's righteousness. This can only be |