Meanwhile, obedient to the divine command, some powerful maritime nation of faithful worshippers will go forth as swift messengers to the scattered of Judah. Unconquered by Antichrist because servants of the living God, they will suddenly launch their fleets, and will bring an offering unto the holy mountain, even the long-afflicted daughter of the dispersion. From beyond the Cushèan streams of the Nile, from the western isles of the Gentiles, will their navy rapidly come upon the wings of the wind. Then shall the daughter of Judah be no more afraid: for, although the Lord will restore her during a period of great tribulation, and will punish such of her children as rejoice in their pride and have stayed themselves upon the arm of Antichrist rather than upon the arm of God; yet will he leave in the midst of her a humble and contrite people who shall trust in his holy name. Then will he be her king, so that she shall behold evil no more. Then will he undo all that afflict her, and give her praise and renown in every land where she hath been put to shame. Then will he bring her back from all the ends of the earth, and restore her captivity before her eyes.

PRO

PROPHECY XXXVII.

The various dispersions of Israel by four kingdoms of the Gentiles-The final restoration and prosperity of the Jews-The miraculous overthrow of Antichrist.

Zechariah i. 12. The angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? 13. And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words-16. Thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem

18. Then lifted I up my mine eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns. 19. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns, which scatter Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 20. And the Lord shewed me four artificers. 21. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, Those are the horns which scatter Judah, so that no man should lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles which the horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

lift

up

ii. 1. I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. 3. And behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, 4. And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall inhabit towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle within her *. 5. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about her, and will be for glory in the midst of her. 6. Ho, Ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of heaven †, saith the Lord. 7. Ho Zion, be thou delivered, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. 8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me

* Jerusalem shall inhabit.] "Jerusalem is here personified "under the symbol of a woman, by which cities and countries 66 are often figuratively represented-Under this character, Je "rusalem may be understood to occupy or inhabit, not only "the houses within her walls, but the open villages round "about, on account of her enlarged population." Dr. Blay. ney's Trans. of Zechar, in loc.

+ I have spread you abroad as the four winds of heaven.] "As I have scattered you and your brethren of the ten tribes "all the world over, so in due time I will gather you from $6 your several dispersions, of which your present restoration from Babylon shall be an earnest." Mr. Lowth in loc.

unto

unto the nations which. spoiled you: for he, that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. 9. For behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. 10. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. 11. And many nations shall be joined unto the Lord in that day, and shall be my people : and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 12. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. 13. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

COMMENTARY.

This prophecy was delivered at the latter end of the second year of Darius Hystaspis, not long before the time that he granted a fresh edict in confirmation of that already granted by Cyrus. About seventeen years had now elapsed, since the people had begun to return from Babylon: and Zechariah

→ The Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land.] "God shall give visible tokens, that the land of Judèa and its "inhabitants are his peculiar people-This may perhaps be mere fully verified at the general restoration of that nation." Mr. Lowth in loc.

encourages them in the erection of the second temple, which had been interrupted during the reign of the Magian Artaxerxes, by declaring that it should assuredly be built in Jerusalem. But, from adverting to their particular captivity at Babylon, he immediately passes to a general view of all the captivities and persecutions both of Israel and Judah. He beholds four horns, which the interpreting angel informs him denote four kingdoms of the Gentiles, that scatter and afflict Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. To know what four kingdoms are here intended, we must consult history. Now the Assyrians led away captive the ten tribes. The Babylonians afterwards carried away the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The SyroMacedonians most cruelly persecuted them, and Antiochus Epiphanes in particular wreaked his vengeance on Jerusalem; insomuch that, in the reigns of the two first Ptolemies, many of the Jews, as we learn from Josephus, were slaves in Egypt. Lastly, the Romans utterly dissolved the Jewish polity, and scattered them over the face of the whole earth. These then seem to be the four kingdoms, which scatter Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem: for so the prophet, with reference to their several afflictions, most accurately distinguishes into three divisions the sons of Jacobt. As for

the

Ant. Jud. Lib. xii. C. 1, 2. The our great empires, as they are usually called, cannot, as it appears to me, be intended by the four horns; because