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and have passed through the gate, and have gone out by it and their king passeth before them, even the Lord at the head of them.

COMMENTARY.

The general restoration of Israel is here predicted, under the image of a shepherd gathering together his flock into the fold: and an oblique intimation is given, which Micah sufficiently explains in the succeeding prophecy, that he should be made in the hand of the Lord an instrument of judgment upon his enemies. He that breaketh down is Jehovah the Messiah; who is represented like a general leading on his troops to the work of destruction.

commentators generally understand the breaker, and their “king that follows, of the same person, viz. the Messiah, as "may be seen in Dr. Pocock upon the place-The words seem "parallel to that expression of Zechariah (Chap. xii. 8.). "As the angel of the Lord before them, or at the head of them. "Some of the Jews indeed, with a little variation, expound their king of the Messiah, and the breaker of his forerunner Elijah, as Dr. Pocock observes." Mr. Lowth in loc. "The Messiah, who is both "their God and their king, shall conduct them as their cap

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Their king-even the Lord.]

"tain and general. Compare Isaiah lii. 12. Hos. i. 11." Mr. Lowth in loc.

PRO

PROPHECY XXXIV.

The glories of the Millennian church-The mystic birth of the Jewish nation-The overthrow of the Antichristian confederacy partly by the instrumentality of the Jews-The advent of Christ-He protects the now converted Jews, and destroys the mystic Assyrian-The instrumentality of the Jews in the conversion of the Gentiles.

Micah iv. 1. And in the futurity of days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and the nations shall flow unto it. 2. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid. 5. Though all people walk every one in the name of his god, yet

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we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. 6. In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out*, and her that I have afflicted: 7. And I will make her that halted a remnant; and her that was cast far off, a strong nation and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from thenceforth even for ever. 8. And thou, O daughter of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

9. Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. 10. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: although now thou goest forth out of the city, and dwellest in the field, and goest to Babylon; yet there shalt thou be delivered, there shall the Lord redeem thee from the hand of thy enemies.

11. And now many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12. But they know not the

* I will gather her that is driven out.] "This relates to the "calling of the Jews from their several dispersións into the "Church." Mr. Lowth in loc.

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+ Her that was cast far off, a strong nation.] “The Jews, "when they return from their several dispersions, shall be "victorious over all their enemies." Mr. Lowth in loc.

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thoughts of the Lord*, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 13. Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and F will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will devote their gain unto the Lord with a curse of utter destruction, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. v. 1. Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: siege he hath laid against us with a rod they have smitten upon the cheek the tribes of Israel †. `

2. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler

* They know not the thoughts of the Lord.] Antichrist and his followers are blindly bent upon accomplishing their own purposes; and thus ignorant of what is foretold respecting them in Scripture, they rush upon their own destruction.. Daniel uses language exactly to the same purpose: "None of “the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”. Dan. xii. 10.

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↑ With a rod they have smitten upon the cheek the tribes of Israel.] So the Lxx, Εν ῥαβδῳ παταξεσιν επι σιαγονα τας φυλας Topanλ: and the Arabic, Fusti percutient genam familiarum Israelis. Both these versions have plainly read waw and not DD. Compare Isaiah ix. 4-xiv. 4, 5, 6—xxx. 31, 32—Ezek. xx. 37. In the Hebrew, the Syriac, and the Arabic, what is the first verse of the fifth chapter of Micah in our version is arranged as the last verse of the fourth chapter, agreeably to the plain import of the context. I have accordingly supposed the paragraph to end with this verse.

in Israel; whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. 3. Therefore will he give them

up * into the hand of their enemies until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return. unto the chil dren of Israel. 4. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

5. And this ruler shall be peace unto us, when the Assyrian shall come into our land †, and when he shall tread down our palaces and we will raise

* Will he give them up.] Having rejected the Messiah, they shall no more be his people, until the time of their mystic birth, namely their restoration and conversion. “God will "give up his people into the hands of their enemies, or leave "them to be exercised with troubles and afflictions, till the "appointed time of their deliverance cometh, which shall be: 66 greater than that from Babylon. This deliverance will be fully completed in the general restoration of the Jewish nation to be expected in the latter ages." Mr. Lowth in loc. + When the Assyrian shall come into our land.] "I take the 66 sense, which Mr. Mede hath given to this passage, to be "most agreeable to the scope and design of the following part "of the chapter. See his Works, p. 796, where he expounds "the place of the general destruction of some remarkable

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enemy or enemies to God and his truth, which should come "to pass before the consummation of all things; an event "foretold in several places of Scripture. This enemy is pro"bably called by the name of the Assyrian by Isaiah (chap. xiv, (6 25.), as well as by Micah here." Mr. Lowth in loc,

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