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"all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that then "the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have "compassion upon thee, and will return and gather "thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God "hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out "unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will "the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will "He fetch thee; and the Lord thy God will bring "thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and "thou shalt possess it, and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.'

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Joshua, before his death, testified that up to that

time "not one thing hath failed of all the good things Josh. xxiii. "which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all 14, 15. are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath "failed thereof." And he then declared that even as all these good things had come upon the people, "so "shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until "he have destroyed you from off this good land which "the Lord your God hath given you." This the people refused to believe, as they, not being able to discern God's purpose towards themselves, trusted that they, in their own strength, could serve and please them. Joshua, however, knew better.

13-17.

Moses, before his death, blessed the several tribes of Israel, and, even as Jacob had done before him, so also did he pronounce the chiefest blessings upon the house of Joseph, saying: "Blessed of the Lord be his land, Deut. xxxiii. "for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and "for the deep that croucheth beneath, and for the "precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for "the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the "chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the "precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and "for the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush; "let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated "from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his

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Deut, xxxiii.

25-29.

Deut. xxxii. 43.

Psalms cxxx.

7, 8.

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"bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns; "with them he shall push the people together to the "ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousand of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh." Thus did Moses pronounce blessings upon Joseph, and at the end of the blessings upon the other tribes, he summed up by exclaiming, Thy shoes shall be "iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength "be. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, "who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. Thy eternal God is thy "refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and "he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and "shall say, 'Destroy them.' Israel then shall dwell "in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop "down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like "unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of "thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! "And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; " and thou shalt tread upon their high places."

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Thus have we briefly reviewed the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as revealed by Himself to them, and the same as communicated by God's command through Moses, and afterwards by Joshua to the children of Israel. Well might Moses thus wind up his song, saying, "Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people; "for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will "render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be " merciful unto his land, and to his people." And well, also, might David take up the theme, and sing, "Let "Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption, and he "shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities."

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The leading points to be gathered from the foregoing promises are as follows:

The chosen people of God will always enjoy His protection and favour, for though He may punish certain generations on account of their sins, yet will He

turn again and be gracious to their posterity. Not one tittle or one jot of God's promises shall fall to the ground. The descendants of His people shall constitute many nations and be of countless number; they shall be blessed in all temporal as well as spiritual blessings; they shall be scattered all over the earth, but in course of time they shall return again and take possession of their inheritance, even all the land of Canaan; they shall subdue the nations and be victorious over their enemies; and in them shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

CHAPTER V.

ISRAEL AND JUDAH-PART III. THE PROPHECIES.

Before entering into an examination of the prophecies concerning Israel and Judah, it is necessary, with a view to a full understanding of them, to consider the circumstances and conditions under which they were written. It is generally supposed that the prophets wrote between the years 856 and 397 before Christ. Some of the earlier of them lived during the existence of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and from their writings it is manifest that they were sent to warn the people of the certain consequences of their idolatry and sins against God, and also to declare to them His set purpose with regard to their future destinies. After the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, prophets still continued to live in Judah, warning the people, and specially drawing attention to the fall of Israel, in the hope that her fate might lead Judah to repentance. The terrible judgments that were declared against Judah were repeatedly proclaimed in her cities until Malachi, who prophecied up to about 140 years after the return of the Jews from Babylon.

Some of the prophets prophecied of Christ, and foretold also the fates of some of the heathen nations; but the principal part of their writings relate exclusively to the destinies, past, present, and future, of God's chosen people; and, read side by side with the Pentateuch, they will be found to contain promises, threats, and predictions similar in every respect to what had before been declared to the Israelites by God, by the mouth of Moses. But in the prophetic writings these are all given more in detail, and with more special

reference to times, distinguishing-as Moses had not done-between the two houses of Israel and Judah, and stating what should hereafter befall each of them respectively.

Although to a mere casual reader the above facts must appear quite clear, yet by a curious coincidence students of theology and of the Bible appear to have completely mystified themselves with the writings of the prophetic books, and to have sought some hidden meaning in words which, for their simplicity and distinctness, a child could hardly fail to comprehend. The correct reading of many portions of prophecy was thus missed by the authorised translators of the Bible, by whom the headings of the several chapters were compiled, and the divisions of the chapters themselves have often been made more in an empyrical than in a rational manner, thus clearly showing how little the sense of the writings was understood. From these headings it is clear that the distinction between Israel, Judah and Jacob, was not comprehended, and the term "Jew" is at all times applied to them all promiscuously, which certainly could not have happened had the real meaning of the prophecies been more fully understood, and their words accepted in a literal instead of in a typical sense; but, even in the latter case, the headings fail to convey any definite or comprehensible meaning, and tend more to confuse than to assist the inquiring reader.

By means of these headings to the chapters not only has careful study been prevented, but decided errors have, in some cases, been enunciated, which have been followed most carefully by commentators on the Bible in all subsequent times; and thus the true and simple meaning of many portions of Scripture have been obscured, and their purposes misrepresented.

One very general error has been to confound the promises to Israel with prophecies concerning the Church of Christ, by bestowing a typical meaning to words, which is not justified by the context. The

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