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midst of his strength, is beaten down: and, wherever the Almighty lays heavily upon him the rod of correction; there his rescued servants applaud the righteous stroke, and exult with tabrets and with harps. The fiery destruction, that is prepared for him, is like the flames of Tophet. The pile is large: his wretched confederates are its abundant fuel: and it is kindled by the breath of the Lord himself, as by a stream of sulphur

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PROPHECY IX.

The desolation of the mystic Edom-The miracles of Christ at his first and second advent-The restoration of the Jews.

Isaiah xxxiv. 1. Draw near, O ye nations, and hearken; and attend unto me, O ye peoples! Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof; the world, and all that spring from it. 2. For the wrath of the Lord is kindled against all the nations, and his anger against all their armies: he hath devoted them with a curse to utter destruction; he hath

* I doubt whether the punishment of hell be here meant: the excision of the incorrigible faction of Antichrist seems alone to be intended. See Bp. Lowth in loc. who supposes the passage to relate only to the destruction of the Assyrian army, and Bp. Horsley's Letter on Isaiah xviii. P. 97. Note 1.

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given them up to slaughter. 3. And their slain shall be cast out; and from their carcases their stink shall ascend; and the mountains shall melt down with their blood *. 4. And all the host of heaven shall waste away; and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; and all their host shall wither; as the withered leaf falleth from the vine, and as the blighted fruit from the fig-tree. 5. For my sword shall be bathed in the heavens: behold, on Edom it shall descend, even on the people devoted by me with á curse to destruction. 6. The sword of the Lord is glutted with blood; it is pampered with fat, with the blood of lambs and of goats, with the fat of the reins of lambs: for the Lord celebrateth a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7. And the wild-goats shall fall down with them, and the bullocks together with the bulls and their own land shall be drunken with their blood, and their dust shall be enriched with fat. 8. For it is the day of vengeance to the Lord, the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. 9. And her torrents shall be turned into pitch, and her dust into sulphur; and her whole land shall become burning pitch. 10. By day or by night it shall not be extinguished; for ever shall her smoke

* Ver. 2, 3.] "These two verses may very fitly be applied "to the battle of the great day of the Almighty, mentioned "Rev. xvi. 14, 16. compared with xvii. 14. xix. 19.” Mr. Lowth in loc.

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ascend from generation to generation she shall lie desert; to everlasting ages no one shall pass through her: 11. But the pelican and the porcupine shall inherit her; and the owl and the raven shall inhabit there: and he shall stretch over her the line of devastation, and the plummet of emptiness over her scorched plains. 12. No more shall they boast the renown of the kingdom; and all her princes shall utterly fail. 13. And in her palaces shall spring up thorns; the nettle and the bramble in her fortresses: and she shall become an habitation for dragons, a court for the daughters of the ostrich. 14. And the jackals and the mountain-cats shall meet one another; and the satyr shall call to his fellow there also the screech-owl shall pitch, and shall find for herself a place of rest. 15. There shall the night-raven make her nest, and lay her eggs; and she shall hatch them, and gather her young under her shadow: there also shall the vultures be gathered together; every one of them shall join her mate. 16. Consult ye the book of the Lord, and read: not one of these shall be missed; not a female shall lack her mate: for the mouth of the Lord hath given the command; and his spirit itself hath gathered them.. 17. And he hath cast the lot for them; and his hand bath meted out their portion by the line: they shall possess the land for a perpetual inheritance; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

XXXV.

XXXV. 1. The desert, and the waste, shall be glad and the wilderness shall rejoice and flourish. 2. Like the rose shall it beautifully flourish; and the well-watered plain of Jordan shall rejoice: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the beauty of Carmel and of Sharon; these shall behold the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

3. Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm ye the tottering knees. 4. Say ye to the fainthearted: Be ye strong; fear ye not; behold your God! Vengeance will come, the retribution of God: he himself will come, and will deliver you. 5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be unclosed; and the ears of the deaf shall be opened: 6. Then shall the lame bound like the hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing: for in the wilderness shall burst forth waters, and torrents in the desert. 7. And the glowing sand shall become a pool; and the thirsty soil, bubbling springs: and in the haunt of dragons shall spring forth the grass, with the reed, and the bulrush. 8. And a highway shall be there; and it shall be called The way of holiness: no unclean person shall pass through it; but He himself shall be with them, walking in the way, and the foolish shall not err therein. 9. No lion shall be there; nor shall the tyrant of the beasts come up thither: neither shall he be found there; but the redeemed shall walk in it.

10. Yea, the ransomed of the Lord shall return; and they shall come to Zion with triumph; and perpetual gladness shall crown their heads. Joy

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and gladness shall they obtain; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

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COMMENTARY.

"These two chapters," says Bp. Lowth, "make one distinct prophecy; an entire, regular, and "beautiful poem, consisting of two parts: the "first containing a denunciation of divine venge

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ance against the enemies of the people or Church "of God; the second describing the flourishing "state of the Church of God, consequent upon "the execution of these judgments. The event "foretold is represented as of the highest import66 ance, and of universal concern: all nations are "called upon to attend to the declaration of it: " and the wrath of God is denounced against all "the nations; that is, all those that had provoked to anger the defender of the cause of Zion.Among these, Edom is particularly specified. "The principal provocation of Edom was their insulting the Jews in their distress, and joining "against them with their enemies the Chaldèans *.

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Accordingly the Edomites were, together with "the rest of the neighbouring nations, ravaged "and laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar †. The ge

* See Amos i, 11.-Ezek, xxv. 12.-xxxv. 15.-Psalm cxxxvii. 7.

+ See Jerem. xxv. 15-26.-Malachi i. 3, 4.-and see Marsham. Can. Chron. Sæc. xviii. who calls this the age of the devastation of cities.

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