I have opened your graves, O my people, and 14. And I live, and I will place you in your own land: then shall ye know, that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. 15. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 16. And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions. Then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions* 17. And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 18. And, when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? 19. Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, Judah, and the children of Israel his companions-Joseph, and all the house of Isracl his companions.] This remarkable expression might alone prove, that the restoration of the house of Israel, so often predicted by the prophets, did not take place, to the degree that it ever will take place, at the return from the Babylonian captivity. Judah is here mentioned, with the children of Israel his companions; or Levi, Benjamin, and such individuals of the ten tribes as followed him from Babylon: while Joseph is separately mentioned, as having all the house of Israel for his companions; or the great body of the ten tribes. After the destruction of Antichrist, Judah so circumstanced, and Joseph so circumstanced, are to coalesce into one people. and and the tribes of Israel, his fellows, and will put them upon him with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 20. And the sticks, whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions but I will save them out of all their dwelling places wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 24. And David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd: and they shall walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children, and their children's children, for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26. And I will make a covenant of peace with them: it shall be an everlasting cove nant nant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28. And the nations shall know, that I the Lord do sanctify Israel *, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. xxxviii. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, son of man, set thy face against Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Mesech, and Tubal †, and prophesy against him: 3. And say, * The nations shall know, that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.] "The conversion of the Jewish nation, and their being restored << to their former state of favour and acceptance with God, will "be a work of Providence taken notice of by the heathens them"selves, who shall join themselves to the Jews, as the church "of God and temple of truth. See Chap. xxxvi. 23." Mr. Lowth in loc. + Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Mesech, and Tubal.] So the LXX. Apxorta Pws, Meσox, xα beλ. Our translation takes us to be a common name, and thence reads chief prince, which is a manifest tautology: whereas w is the name of a people, like Mesech, and Tubal. The Russians and Muscovites seem to be colonies of Rosh and Mesech or (as the name may be pronounced) Mosch; but I know not, that we have any reason for supposing that they are here intended (See Bochart. Geog. Sacr. L. iii. C. 12, 13. or Well's Geography of the Old Testament. Vol. i. p. 78.) We may infer from Daniel, that we ought to look for the confederacy of Gog and Magog within the ancient territories of the three first beasts: there ac cordingly say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Mesech, and Tubal. 4. And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, with them; all of them with shield and helmet; 6. Gomer and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands; and many people with thee. 7. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. 8. After many days thou shalt be visited in the end of years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and gathered out of many peoples, against the mountains of Israel, which have been perpetually for a desolation: yet it is brought forth out of the nations, and they are dwelling in confident security all of them. 9. Thou shalt ascend, and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and many people with thee. 10. Thus cordingly we find the original settlements of all the nations enumerated by Ezekiel. But let us forbear to speculate on this obscure subject, further than we have the express warrant of Scripture. See Abp. Newcome's Ezek. in loc. 2 saith saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought. 11. And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages: I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell in confident security, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates; 12. To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the once desolate places that are now inhabited, upon the people gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. 13. Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish* with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? * The merchants of Tarshish.] I know not who can be here intended except the great maritime nation of faithful worshippers, which had so vigorously opposed the tyranny of Antichrist, and which had been so instrumental in bringing back the converted division of Judah. It is pleasing to behold them, at the end of the Millennium, still preserving their ancient character, and refusing to cast in their lot with Gog and Magog, as they had heretofore refused to do with Edom. Faithful to their old principles and their old alliance, they ask, in astonishment at this new impiety, "Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou << gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver "and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" VOL. II. F 14. There |