covenant of Levi were about to commence. Not unsimilarly, also, as to Lev. xxvi.

Upon this branch of the subject, I will add but one observation, viz., that there are good reasons for thinking Holy Scripture has ever carefully limited the promise of Israel's full possession of Canaan to Messiah's times. I ground this remark upon the terms of the oath to Abraham, where the gift of Canaan, the perpetual blessing, and the promise of Messiah, are inseparably connected, as three articles of one covenant; upon the song of Moses, where the triumph of Israel over his enemies is carefully identified with the land (Deut. xxxii. 43), and also limited to Messiah's times, the latter days, upon the increasingly explicit declarations of the prophets, some of which are fully treated of in this volume, and upon the declaration of Zecharias, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Luke i. 67), where He directly explains all the declarations concerning Israel, "by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began," with the saving of literal Israel from national enemies, and their establishment as a peaceful, holy nation, in their own land, in connexion with the coming of Messiah, whose way John was to prepare. And all this is distinctly associated with "The oath which He sware to our father Abraham." But of this I shall speak in a concluding chapter.

[V.] The preceding arguments being fairly weighed, I submit the conclusion-That the reasons adduced by Horsley and Faber for believing in a conversion of Israel previous to restoration were unsound; that the passages frequently referred to in the books of Deuteronomy, Hosea, &c., and supposed to make that restoration conditional upon certain previous repentance, do not describe such a state of mind as implies the acceptance of Christianity, or conversion; that the books of Moses rather favour the expectation that Israel would be restored unconverted; and that such restoration will be effected prior to conversion, in vindication of the Abrahamic covenant; and now I add that Micah, speaking in the name of Jerusalem, distinctly foretels God's return to Israel in acknowledgment of the Abrahamic covenant. "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I

will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her; now shall she be trodden down as the mire in the streets. In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate, because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings."

"Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel ; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things."

"The nations shall see, and be confounded at, all their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth; they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old." (Micah vii. 8-20.)

CHAPTER X.

66 MULTITUDES, MULTITUDES, IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION."JOEL III. 14.

WE venture to claim Joel's entire prophecy as a prediction of events to be accomplished after a coming restoration of the Jews. As this is not completely in accordance with the views of many commentators (though not altogether without support from some), there is the more need that our reasons for doing so should be carefully explained.

There is no certainty as to the time when Joel prophesied; but it seems clear that, as Hosea was appointed a prophet especially for the ten, so Joel exercised that sacred office for Judah and Benjamin, the two. Upon the unity of his book little need be premised, since it would be hard to find any good reason for doubting it; but this unity will prove (unless I mistake) a valuable element in any effort to understand its contents. Calvin says the chapters" have been absurdly and foolishly divided." The opinion of such a man is always valuable; but, in fact, the style of the whole prophecy, and the close and rapid succession of its various predictions, seem at once to convey the idea that the book was delivered by the prophet at one time, and in reference to one order or series of events, apart from any notions we may entertain as to the duration of the time to be occupied in its fulfilment. This close connexion, or unity of the book, is intimated by the occasional repetition of the same, or similar, figures or modes of speech. Thus, in chap. i., "Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, into the house of the Lord your God; and cry unto the Lord, Alas! for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come." (Vers. 14, 15.) And at chap. ii. 1: "The day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong," &c., &c. "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly." (Ver. 15, &c., &c.) A careful examination of the whole, with a view of connecting such

predictions as these, will show that, whatever period of time may be comprehended in it, the prophecy is unbroken, and entirely one, indicating a connected course of events present predictively to Joel's mind throughout it. It is for us to inquire whether such events are yet future, or otherwise.

Upon the first chapter little need be said. It contains a vivid description of the wasting and desolation of the Holy Land by the agency of locusts, and other noxious insects :-"That which the palmerworm hath left, hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left, the cankerworm hath eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left, hath the caterpillar eaten." (Ver. 4.) The description of this desolated condition of the country is continued throughout the chapter, and may, perhaps, indicate to us the desolated condition of Palestine during the dispersion of these last days. Having thus opened the subject, he proceeds to predict an invasion of the land by that which locusts typified, viz., an army of men; a prediction contained in chap. ii. 1-11. It has been much disputed whether this chap. ii. 1-11 is a prediction of the eruption of real locusts, or of a mighty army of men typified by them. Those who wish to see the argument fully considered, and the authorities referred to, can consult Mr. Faber's "Rest. of Israel,” vol. ii., pp. 181–188, or Henderson's "Min. Proph.," p. 94. My reasons for considering it a description of a human host will abundantly appear in the course of the chapter, meanwhile I assign but one (from Dr. Henderson), which seems absolutely conclusive :-"The term The Northern, Northlander, or (as Coverdale renders it) Him of the North, is of prime importance in the interpretation of the prophecy. ..... That, however, which determines the question is the addition of the patronymic to 15, indicating that the north was not merely the quarter whence the subject of discourse came, but that its native country lay to the north of Palestine; just as The Temanite means the Southern, or he who dwells to the right of Palestine (looking eastward): a native Egyptian." ("Minor Proph.," p. 109.) Mark here the literal inspiration of Hebrew Scripture; that little ` determines an important sense of Joel's prophecy. Scott, indeed, quotes Bishop Newcome, on chap. ii., 7-9 :-" The particles of similitude here, and in the fourth and fifth verses, shew that real locusts are described." But I see nothing in this: for surely it is a very common and legitimate way of speaking to say that persons we are alluding to

"They shall run like

act like the best of their kind we can conceive. mighty men;" let the emphasis be laid on mighty. Take, again, the following :-"Ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." (Ps. lxxxii. 7.) According to Newcome's reasoning, those who are here to die are not men, because the particle of similitude is used. I shall, at present, conclude that Joel prophesies of an army of real men; other reasons for this will appear in time; meanwhile it is our business to inquire, of what army Joel is here speaking? Locusts cannot be intended, because locusts were not natives of the north.

[1] Several commentators have applied this prophecy to the invading army of Sennacherib, others to that of the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar: but, for the following reasons, it appears doubtful whether it can be applied chiefly, if at all, to either.

מִן־הַעוֹלָם "there hath not been ever the

.דוֹר וָדוֹר

[1.] For Joel, in ver. 2, speaking of the strength, not of the number, of the army describes it as a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like” from an indefinite time previously; "A seculo-ab omni memoriâ" (Drusius)" neither shall be any more like it, even to the years of many generations' "Generationis et generationis; ætatis et ætatis ; i., Multorum seculorum; nunquam ultrà." (Vatablus.) But it may fairly be doubted whether the Israelites themselves, and especially the men of Judah (to whom Joel spake), when under David, and even the Jews and Israelites, under separate kings, had not, before the times of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, formed armies which were equal, or even superior, to the Assyrian and Babylonian under these monarchs; if so, Joel's description, "there hath not been ever the like," can hardly be considered verified as to armies which invaded Palestine so soon after as those. And the other expression, 7977 717, must be held utterly inapplicable in either case; for, 1. From the time of Sennacherib to the overthrow of the united Assyrian and Babylonian powers by Cyrus the Great was but 172 years; and, 2. From the time of Nebuchadnezzar's taking Jerusalem to the same, only 49 years; neither of which periods of 172 years and 49

, עַד שְׁנֵי דּוֹר וָדוֹר respectively seem competent to meet the expression

to the years of many generations; or multorum seculorum, according