hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I contend with you face to face. Like as I contended with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I contend with you, saith the Lord Jehovah. And I will cause you to pass under the rod (the shepherd rod or staff of the Lord), and I will bring you into the bond (or discipline) of the covenant. And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me. And I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah" (ver. 34-38).

Here the state of dispersion and exile, which was soon to be consummated, and which was of necessity a state of subjection and trouble, corresponds to the period of affliction in Egypt; on which account also the region of exile is in the last verse called "the country of their sojourn," the very common designation of Egypt in the Pentateuch (Exod. xii. 40; Lev. xix. 33, 34; Deut. xxvi. 5; Ps. cv. 23, etc.). And between the calling out of the people from this Egyptian-like condition, between the termination of their sojourn in the enemies' land, and their entrance into their own land, lies now, just as of old, a temporary abode in the wilderness, where the Lord enters into very close and special dealing with them, refines them as in the fire, purges out from among them the rebels, who, though delivered from the land of exile, are not suffered to come into the land of blessing, and so prepares the people for fulfilling aright their covenant-obligations. Now, what precisely is to be understood by this wilderness? The prophet expressly distinguishes it from the "wilderness of the land of Egypt," in which of old the people had been thus dealt with by God; so that we are not to think of an actual return to the desert that lay between Egypt and Canaan. He further calls it "the wilderness of the peoples," or nations, which many, and still some of the latest interpreters

By a strange misapprehension of this part of the description, Hävernick supposes here a reference to the sojournings of the patriarchs in the land of Canaan, and considers the land of exile to be called "the country of their sojourn," by a bitter irony. A very forced and unnatural idea. Egypt, in such a connection as this, was manifestly the historical place of the people's sojourn.

(most recently, Hitzig), understand of the desert, that lies between Babylon and Judea, on account of its being frequented by wandering tribes ;-as if the wilderness on the other side, between Judea and Egypt, were not equally, and even more frequented by such! The correct view is given by Hengstenberg, in his Christology, on Hosea ii. 16, where God's future dealings with his people are presented under the very same image of a re-enacting of the scenes of the wilderness: "I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, stands in direct reference to, I will bring you out from the nations. Hence it appears, that the peoples, to whom the Israelites were brought, could be no other than those out of the midst of whom they were to be led forth. In the earlier leading of the Israelites, the two spiritual conditions also outwardly existed; the first belonged to Egypt, the second to the desert. But it is not to be so in the above predicted repetition of this leading. At the commencement of the second condition, the Israelites are only spiritually led forth out of the midst of the people, among whom outwardly they still remain. The desert is in the second Egypt itself. The residence in the desert is repeated only as to its essential, not its accidental outward form. Hence we acquire the important result, that the leading of God predicted here, is not limited to one place." So far from that, it was to be looked for on as extensive a scale as the dispersion itself; this was to bring them into the wilderness of the nations, and while they were there, no matter, whether locally in Babylon or in Egypt, on the banks of the Chebar, or in the cities of Greece or Rome,-the Lord was to meet with them for the purpose of judgment, separation, and cleansing.

But such being the case-the wilderness in this new aspect of Jehovah's dealings, being, as to its outward position, identified with the new Egypt out of which they were to be delivered, it would evidently be to put an entirely false construction upon such a prediction, to surround it on every side with local and definite landmarks, as if all now must have the same outward and ostensible realisation as of old. The prophet has guarded against this error by throwing the wilderness and Egypt, as it were, together; so that it would be impossible to mark precisely where the one ended and the other began. And as thus a certain degree of indefiniteness was made to inhere in the pre

diction in one respect, the same might also to some extent be looked for in others; the more especially as we see indications of it at the very outset. According to the representation of the prophet, the new Egypt-state of bondage and affliction is the exile into other countries; and yet how plainly did such a state begin before the exile was actually consummated! It did not take place all at once, as the descent of old into Egypt, but by many successive strokes, and fresh removals. Even before some of the later deportations, the remnant that still existed in the land of Canaan, enfeebled and sore broken as it was, crippled in its resources and overridden by the might of heathen powers, had become in a manner subject to the yoke of Egypt. And if, in point of fact, Egypt did thus begin in Canaan, and the wilderness was to begin, while they still continued to reside in the countries of their dispersion, might not this wilderness-condition (i. e. the period of trial, discipline, and purification) be prolonged also beyond the outward sojourn in the nations, and extend into Canaan again? It is not precise boundaries the prophet seeks to determine, but rather successive spiritual conditions on the part of the people, and corresponding methods of dealing on the part of God. Hence, as Calvin justly remarks, they might even be in exile, though in the land of Judea itself; and in reality God did come anew to plead with them after he had led them back thither from the Babylonish exile. The writings of the three last prophets, but especially those of Malachi, conclusively show, that as the Egypt-state began before they left Canaan, so the wilderness-state, to a large extent, continued even after the return. The separation between the precious and the vile was still far from being complete, and the bond of the covenant was never more than imperfectly entered into. Canaan could not, therefore, properly be to them what it is described in the word of promise; for in spirit they had not properly emerged from the wilderness, and God could not be present with the full bestowal of his gifts and blessings. Nay, as if scarcely anything in these respects had yet been done, Malachi, after severe but comparatively ineffectual reproofs against the prevailing evils, hands over the returned remnant of the children of the covenant generally to the searching ministry of the Baptist, and the personal dealings of the Lord himself, who were still to find them as in the wilderness, and were to

effect, in another manner than hitherto, the still needed separation between sin and holiness among the people.

But Ezekiel, in the passage before us, does not go into detail. He merely sketches the general outline. The children of Israel, he virtually says, by reason of their sinful craving after heathenish pollutions, must have the old things in their history revived again, only with such variations in outward form as the altered circumstances of the time might require. They are already sinking anew into the bondage and affliction of Egypt, out of which they shall in process of time be brought, that they may be sifted, and purged, and prepared for the heritage of Jacob, by earnest pleadings and sharp discipline, such as belonged of old to the period of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness. Then shall they reach the state of peace and rest which they desire, and then shall they be in a condition for attaining to the blessed end of their calling. Therefore, on the ground of this fixed determination of God, and in the prospect of this coming good, the prophet addresses himself to the present generation: “As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, Go ye, serve ye every one his idols (do so, if you have a mind, I am prepared to expect no better from you); but afterwards, surely ye will hearken unto me, and ye will not pollute my holy name with your gifts and your idols. For (this is the reason why they should not do so-the Lord will accomplish his gracious purpose) in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel (high, because holy, spiritually, not outwardly pre-eminent, see chap. xvii. 23), there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things," etc. (ver. 39-44).

Thus the perfected condition to which matters were to be brought, takes also to the prophet's view the form of a revival of the old ;--the regenerated people, the pure and acceptable worship, the glorious inheritance of blessing, presented themselves as the return, and more than the return of the best in the past— it was to be the full realisation of what had never yet been found but in part. How far, however, similar qualifications to those connected with the other points in the prediction were to have place here, could only be determined by the event. But since such a compass was given in the earlier part to the wilderness,

there can be no reason, from the nature of the prophecy, why a like enlargement might not also be given to the land and mountain and people of the latter part. By the new and better state of things introduced through the gospel, Mount Zion has risen to a nobler elevation than of old, and Canaan has burst its ancient bounds, and the elect people have spread themselves far and wide in the earth. Wherever there is a true believer in Christ, there also is a genuine member of the house of Israel, a pure worshipper coming to Mount Zion, a free-born citizen, who feeds on the heritage of Jacob his father; for they who are Christ's are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. But other and more fitting opportunities will occur for considering how far the promised good to Israel is to be understood as merging in the good of the Christian church. See especially at chap. xxxiv., and at the beginning of chap. xl., where the principles of interpretation applicable to such prophecies are more fully discussed.

CHAPTER XX. 45-49, XXI.

THE VISION OF THE LORD'S FIRE AND SWORD.

THE five concluding verses in chap. xx., as already noticed, should evidently have been connected with chap. xxi,; and are justly regarded by interpreters, as a kind of general introduction to what follows, or a brief delineation under one aspect of what is afterwards more fully and explicitly described under another. The leading import of the vision is plain enough; but it is written throughout in a style so singularly abrupt, and in some parts so utterly enigmatical, that it may certainly be considered, as a whole, one of the darkest portions of Ezekiel's writings. Even Horsley, who was not scrupulous in forcing a way, where none naturally presented itself, has here simply left a record of his inability to proceed, in the brief note, "The difficulties of this passage are to me insuperable." For once, at least, his ready resort to a change in the text, proved insufficient to bring the necessary relief. Various emendations of the text