and this is the name wherewith she* shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness. These two verses are nearly word for word the same as in the twenty-third chapter, fifth and sixth verses, and were there explained. The rest of this chapter seems to relate principally to the eternal priesthood of Christ, called of God an High Priest, and made an High Priest for ever, after the

* In the parallel passage, Chap. xxiii. 6, the word is He, and so the sense seems to require here; but in all the English Bibles I have seen, (except the Great, and the Geneva Bible) it is She. In the LXX, Castalio's Latin, and the French versions, the pronoun being understood and not expressed, it may be rendered either He or She, according as the antecedent is supposed to be Christ or Jerusalem. However Piscator's Latin translation refers it directly to Christ, "hoc autem est nomen quo vocabit quisque illum." But Grotius and Junius translate it She, and suppose it to relate in this place to Jerusalem, and in the xxiiid chapter to the people; but in both Grotius agrees with the learned Jew Kimchi, that the Messiah is meant in the most sublime sense of the prophecy. Diodati's Italian version renders it She and refers it to justification through Christ, in the christian church. The vulgate has the masculine pronoun, hoc est nomen quod vocabunt illum.” It is surely difficult to understand in what sense Jerusalem could be called, the Lord our Righteousness.

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order of Melchisedeck *; and to his everlasting kingdom, and to the covenant which God had made with David his servant, which should not be broken. But there is great probability that this part of the prophecy is not yet completed.

This is the last place in which Jeremiah directly foretels the Messiah; the rest of this book is chiefly historical, excepting those parts of it which relate to the fate of the royal family, the return of the Jews from their captivity, and the destruction of their enemies. But these, however interesting, do not relate to the present argu

CHAPTER X.

The Prophecies of Ezekiel.

NEXT to Jeremiah, and during the latter part of his life contemporary with him, Ezekiel began to prophecy. But however similar their lot in many respects, their local situation was widely different; for Jeremiah was carried away captive by his own people, among those who fled south-west into Egypt, and Ezekiel was sen tby the Babylonians, north-east, to the banks of the river Chebar in Mesopotamia, which falls into the Euphrates about 200 miles north of Babylon,

The subject of Ezekiel's prophecies has little direct reference to the promised Redeemer, and even that obscurely. The first place in which there is any immediate allusion to him, is in the xxxivth chapter.

In the beginning of this chapter, the prophet had been reproving the negligence of the Shepherds of the flock of Israel; (i. e. the governors of the people) and after promising, that the people should be restored and live in comfort in their own land, he proceeds, in the 23d and following verses, to foretel the coming of the good shepherd who was to spring from David. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and servant David a prince among them. I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, &c.

my

Now this chapter is very nearly similar to the first part of the xxiiid of Jeremiah, which has already been explained, and therefore seems to relate to the same person and events. Nor have I any doubt that it actually does so, though there is certainly a considerable difference in the manner in which this person is mentioned in the two prophecies. In Jeremiah he is a righteous branch (a title wholly appropri

ated

ated to Christ) to be raised unto David, a just King, and the Lord our Righteousness; terms applicable to Christ only. In Ezekiel he is a shepherd, my servant David, a prince; a description which may be used concerning any sovereign sprung from David. For these reasons Grotius thinks, and Primate Newcome in some measure agrees with him, that Zerubbabel is the person here meant in the primary sense, though Christ of whom Zerubbabel is supposed to be a type and figure*, is also pointed out in a more remote sense. If it relates at all to Zerubbabel, which I confess I see no reason to believe, who certainly was descended from David, it foretels the return of the Jews to their own land, under his guidance, and their redemption from captivity. If Christ be meant, as I think he is, it foretels a more

* Figuram gerens Christi satis manifestam. Grot. in locum.

+ "Qui locus de solo Christo intelligi potest."-" Ipsi Hebræi ut R. David Kimchi, hunc locum intelligunt de Messia." Du Hamel, notæ in Vulg. in locum.

Junius, W. Lowth, and Wells, are also of this opinion. distant

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