which he has explained at large in the fifth prophecy: "Behold, I will open your graves,

my people: and bring you into the land of Ifrael. And ye fhall know that I (am) the LORD, when I have opened your graves, and caufed you to come up out of your graves, O my people, And shall put my spirit within ye, and ye fhall live, and I shall place you in in your own land:" &c. Whence it is plain, that in these five fundamental principles; and which agree with the first, third, fourth, tenth, and fourteenth principles contained in the prophecies of Isaiah ; Ezekiel has been more large, and explicit, than any of the other prophets. And, befides thofe, he also prophefied, first, of the vengeance which God will take on Edom: and which agrees with the fecond principle of the prophecies of Ifaiah.

Second, the return of the divine presence, and the spirit of prophecy in Israel: and which agrees with the eighth principle of the prophecies of Ifaiah.

Third, that they fhall not go into captivity any more; and that God will circumcife their hearts: and which

agrees with

the

the eleventh principle of the prophecies of Ifaiah.

Fourth, that the great majority of the nations that will then be left, will acknowledge the Unity of God, &c. And which agrees with the twelfth principle of the prophecies of Isaiah. Of these, he prophefied in nearly the fame manner as the other prophets did. But, concerning the enlarged ftate of Jerufalem, the future construction of the holy temple, the heave-offering for the prince, the dedication of the altar in the days of confecration, the divifion of the land into equal portions, the inheritance for the strangers, and the inheritance for the prince; and that every tribe should have a portion in Jerufalem, and a particular gate: of these things, he has spoken in a manner entirely new; as not one of the other prophets ever spoke of them in like manner. Hence, the learned Abarbanal obferves, That because he strengthened the hearts of the children of Ifrael with his prophecies; he was called from the womb, Ezekiel *: that is, the de

clarer of the ftrength of God, and his mighty power, in the FUTURE Redemp

TION.

DISSERTATION VI.

THE

The Prophecy of Hofea.

HE fixth who prophefied concerning the future restoration, happiness, and falvation of the nation, was, Hosea, the son of Beeri, in his first prophecy; which commences Chapter i. verfe 2d, and is continued to the end of the last verse of chapter iii.

Before we proceed to the explanation of this prophecy, I judge it neceffary to enquire, (as the learned Abarbanal has juftly obferved,) into the objections that may be made to the language of the prophecy: First, Wherefore did he fay *, " And children of fornications:" for if thefe were the children that are mentioned hereafter, as ex

* Verse 2.

plained

plained by the generality of the commentators; who obferve that, because their mother had committed whoredom, they of course, were the children of whoredom. But then, the expreffion would not only be redundant, but mifplaced; for he ought first to have faid, "Go take thee a wife of fornications, for the land hath committed great fornications," &c. After which, he fhould have mentioned that the conceived, and bare him a fon : because the command only regarded the taking of the wife; and from whom the children were to proceed. Befides, after that the prophet had taken such a woman for a wife, we are not to account the children which he should beget on her, to be children of fornication; for although their mother had been a whore before the prophet married her; yet, if after that he had taken her, she continued faithful to him; the chil- ́ dren fhe would have by him, would be honeft and legitimate; and not children of fornications.

Second, of the order in which the prophet made use of the different expreffions: for he firft fays, ver. 4. "And I will make the kingdom of the houfe of Ifrael to cease." VOL. III.

G

Then

Then fecondly, in ver. 5. "And it fhall come to pass in that day, that I will break the bow of Ifrael in the valley of Jezreel. And which feems to be exactly the fame, as the former, of making the kingdom of Ifrael to cease. And thirdly, concerning the daughter; ver. 6. "Call her name Loruhamah *, for I will no more have mercy upon the houfe of Ifrael." Now, if he had already announced the punishment of Ifrael, and the ruin of the kingdom by the name of the fon called Jezreel; what neceffity was there for him to call the daughter Lo-ruhamah, as denoting the same thing itself.

Third, what is the import of the name Jezreel, fo often mentioned by the prophet? For first, he fays, (ver. 4.) " And I will vifit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu," And which properly denotes, that God would vifit the blood which Jehu fhed in Jezreel, on his house, by the death of his defcendant Zechariah, and the lofs of the kingdom to the house of Jehu. But the expreffion," And I will break the bow of Ifrael in the valley of Jezreel;" hath no rela

This properly denotes, not pitied.

† 2 King, xv. 10-12.