sudden and bold*:" Jeremiah possesses less of the sublime, and is for the most part lax and diffuse in his mode of writing t. :: It is generally maintained, that the twelve first chapters of this prophet were composed in the reign of Josiah and they afford, I think, a sufficient degree of internal evidence to warrant the opinion, that they all constitute jointly one continued prediction. Jeremiah's natural style has led him to expand through twelve chapters, what Isaiah would probably have condensed into one or two: and he has perpetually departed from his main subject to bewail the sins of his people, or to introduce what may be termed episodical prophecies §. Yet, true to his original point, he repeatedly, and as it were anxiously, recurs to some tremendous invasion of Palestine from the north. The most compact part of the prediction, if I may so speak, is contained in the 3d and 4th chapters; and this, I apprehend, will lead us to a right understanding of the whole. Jeremiah foretells, in the 3d chapter, that, as the house of Israel had been led away captive in consequence Bp. of St. Asaph's letter on Isaiah xviii. p. 78. 66 Jeremias, quanquam nec elegantia nec sublimitate 56. caret, tamen utraque cedit Isaia-In sensibus quidem aliquanto minus est elatus, in sententiis plerumque laxior es "solutior." Lowth de sacra poesi. Heb. Præl. xxi. 66 See Gray's Key, p. 378. § Thus, in chap. v. ver. 15-18, the desolation of Judah by the Romans is predicted. of of her spiritual fornication, so likewise should * "The reunion of Israel and Judah, and their joint parti- into one; and should be brought back out of the land of the north into the land of the inheritance of their fathers. It appears to me sufficiently evident, that the whole of this is an unfulfilled prophecy. It nearly altogether treats of the general restoration of Israel, as contradistinguished from the partial restoration of Judah. The house of Israel however has not yet returned: we have not yet beheld her lost children gathered, by some divine interposition, individually, one out of a city, and two out of a family the days are not yet arrived, when she hath received pastors according to the heart of the Lord: she hath not yet so returned unto the land of her inheritance, as there to have ceased to venerate the ark of the covenant and the ceremonial law: the nations have not yet been gathered unto Jerusalem; neither have they as yet ceased to walk after the imagination of their evil heart: Judah and Israel have not yet coalesced into one people. The only time, when this prophecy might be conceived to have been accomplished, was at the period of the restoration from Babylon, when several individuals of the ten tribes returned with and were mingled with the tribe of Judah: but (independent of such an interpretation being little better than a mere quibble), if we 'consider the general tenor of it, we shall be convinced that it is impossible to refer its completion to that era. ~~ During the time which elapsed be tween tween the restoration from Babylon and the first advent of our Lord, we cannot allow the Jews to have been uniformly fed by faithful pastors; neither had they ceased to venerate the ceremonial law; neither were all nations gathered unto Jerusalem; nor had they ceased to walk after the imagination of their evil heart. Hence it is plain, that the prophecy was not then accomplished; and, if it were not then accomplished, we must look for its completion to some yet future period. With this restoration however of Israel and Judah, which has never yet taken place, the prophet immediately connects some tremendous invasion of Palestine from the north. He mentions it in his first chapter, previously to his entering more immediately upon his main subject: he next, in his fourth chapter, unites it with his main subject: and he afterwards seems never to lose sight of it, for in the subsequent parts of his prediction he refers to it no less than three different times. What then are we to understand by this invasion from the north? It might be thought, from the circumstance of Jeremiah's elsewhere joining the families of the north with Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon*, that this northern invasion meant that of the Babylonians: but the general tenor of the prophecy will scarcely warrant such an opinion. Nebuchadnezzar might indeed pour into Palestine from his northern provinces of Syria and Samaria, although his empire itself lay almost directly east of Jerusalem: but no invasion of his, from whatever quarter it might proceed, can have any relation to one, which Jeremiah immediately connects with the yet future restoration of Israel and Judah. The same remark applies with double force to the expedition of Titus against Jerusalem. He himself came, not from the north, but from the west and with him he brought only a small body of troops; for the main army, of which he took the command, was already quartered in Palestine and the neighbouring provinces *. Do we find then any mention made, in other collateral prophecies, of a furious attack about to be made upon Palestine from the region of the north, at the period of the restoration of Judah? If we do, we may reasonably conclude, that Jeremiah, treating as he does of the same period, means likewise the same northern attack. Joel, predicting the restoration of the Jews, declares, that at the time when they are brought back to their own land they shall be violently assailed by a confederacy of many nations; but that God will remove far from them the northern tyrant, and drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east-sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost seat. This northern *Tacit. Hist. L. v. C. 1. † Joel ii. 20. tyrant |