Promises of the

A. M. cir. 3417.
B. C. cir. 587.
Ol. XLVIII. 2.
Tarquinii Prisci,
R. Roman.,
cir. annum 30.

CHAP. X.

a

6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.

7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.

8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; or I have redeemed them: and they shall ncrease as they have increased.

9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far coun

Jer. iii. 18. Ezek. xxxvii. 21. i. 9.- Ps. civ. 15. Ch. ix. 15. lix. 19. Ezek. xxxvi. 37.- - Hos. ii. 23.

ogether." Perhaps all this is spoken of the Messiah. Verse 5. They shall be as mighty men] The Macca

ecs and their successors.

Riders on horses] The Macedonians, who opposed he Maccabees, and had much cavalry; whereas the ews had none, and even few weapons of war; yet hey overcame these horsemen.

Verse 6. I will strengthen the house of Judah] I oubt whether the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth erses are not to be understood of the future inathering of the Jews in the times of the gospel. See er. iii. 14; xxiii. 6; Hosea i. 2; vi. 11. Verse 7. Ephraim shall be like a mighty man] This ibe was always distinguished for its valour. Verse 8. I will hiss for them] px eshrekah, "I ill shriek for them;" call them with such a shrill rong voice, that they shall hear me, and find that it the voice of their redemption.

restoration of the Jews.

A. M. cir. 3417.
B. C. cir. 587.
Ol. XLVIII. 2.
Tarquinii Prisci,
R. Roman.,
cir. annum 30.

tries; and they shall live with
their children, and turn again.
10 I will bring them again
also out of the land of Egypt,
and gather them out of Assyria; and I will
bring them into the land of Gilead and Leba-
non; and place shall not be found for
them.

11 And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and " the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.

וח

D

12 And I will strengthen them in the LORD: and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD.

will collect them from every place of their dispersion. When the great call comes, no one soul of them shall be left behind.

Verse 11. And he shall pass through the sea] Here is an allusion to the passage of the Red Sea, on their coming out of Egypt, and to their crossing Jordan, when they went into the promised land; the waves or waters of both were dried up, thrown from side to side, till all the people passed safely through. When they shall return from the various countries in which they now sojourn, God will work, if necessary, similar miracles to those which he formerly worked for their forefathers; and the people shall be glad to let them go, however much they may be profited by their operations in the state. Those that oppose, as Assyria and Egypt formerly did, shall be brought down, and their sceptre broken.

Verse 12. I will strengthen them in the Lord] I, the God of Israel, will strengthen them in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah; and thus indeed the Chaidee: I will strengthen them"ɔ bemeymra dayai, in or by the WORD of Jehovah, the same personal Word which we so often meet with in the Chaldee paraphrases or Targum.

Verse 9. I will sow them among the people] Wherever ey have been dispersed, my voice in the preaching the gospel shall reach them. And they shall reember me, and they and their children shall turn ain to the Lord, through Messiah their King. Verse 10. Out of the land of Egypt] I will bring em out of all the countries where they have been They shall walk up and down in his name] In the spersed, and bring them back to their own land; name of the Messiah. Saith the Lord-GoD speaks d they shall be so numerous that they shall scarcely here, not of himself, but concerning his Christ. The ad there, in all its length and breadth, a sufficiency Jews shall have complete liberty; they shall appear room. If all the Jews that are now scattered over every where as a part of the flock of Christ, and no e face of the earth were gathered together, they difference be made between them and the converted uld make a mighty nation. And God will gather Gentiles. They shall be all one fold under one Shepem together. As a wonderful providence has pre-herd and Bishop of all souls. ved them in every place, so a wondrous providence

The disobedient threatened

ZECHARIAH.

CHAPTER XI.

with destruction.

The commencement of this chapter relates to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity, probably by the Babylonians; at least in the first instance, as the fourth vers speaks of the people thus threatened as the prophet's charge, 1-6. The prophet thes gives an account of the manner in which he discharged his office, and the little value that was put on his labours. And this he does by symbolical actions, a common mode of instruction with the ancient prophets, 7-14. After the prophet, on account of the unsuc cessfulness of his labours, had broken the two crooks which were the true badges of his pastoral office (to denote the annulling of God's covenant with them, and their consequent divisions and dispersions), he is directed to take instruments calculated to hurt and destroy, perhaps an iron crook, scrip, and stones, to express by these symbols the judgments which God was about to inflict on them by wicked rulers and guides, who should first destroy the flock, and in the end be destroyed themselves, 15-17. Let us now view this prophecy is another light, as we are authorized to do by Scripture (Matt. xxvii. 7). In this view the prophet, in the person of the Messiah, sets forth the ungrateful returns made to him the Jews, when he undertook the office of a shepherd in guiding and governing them; they rejected him, and valued him and his labours at the mean and contemptible price thirty pieces of silver, the paltry sum for which Judas betrayed him. Upon which threatens to destroy their city and temple; and to give them up to the hands of suci guides and governors as should have no regard to their welfare.

2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty is spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

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4 Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter.

a Ch. x. 10.

A

A. M. cir. 3417

B.

C. cit. 5 O XLVIIL 2

Tarquinii Prisci R. Roman eir. annum 31.

5 Whose possessors slay them, and 'hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but lo, I will de liver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of the hand I will not deliver them.

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7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter. even you, 10 poor of the flock. And I took c Isai. xxxii. 12.- -d Or, xxix. 19. Hos. xii. 8.-— Heb. make to be found.—a Jer. ii. 3. 1. 7.- - Deut. 4.- Or, verily the poor.——1 Zeph. iii. 12. Matt, ri. 5. Lebanon signifies the temple, because bait

bOr, gallants.

the defenced forest. e Ver. 7.

NOTES ON CHAP. XI.

Verse 1. Open thy doors, O Lebanon] I will give materials principally brought from that place.

Mr. Joseph Mede's note upon this verse:

"That which moveth me more than the rest, is in chap. xi., which contains a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and a description of the wickedness of the inhabitants, for which God would give

them to the sword, and have no more pity upon them.

Verse 2. Howl, fir tree] This seems to point the fall and destruction of all the mighty men. Verse 3. Young lions] Princes and rulers. B shepherds, kings or priests may be intended.

Versc 4. Feed the flock of the slaughter] Th people resemble a flock of sheep fattened for shambles; feed-instruct, this people who are ab to be slaughtered.

Verse 5. Whose possessors] Governors and fas prophets, slay them, by leading them to those the that will bring them to destruction.

It is expounded of the destruction by Titus; but methinks such a prophecy was nothing seasonable for Zachary's time (when the city yet for a great part lay in her ruins, and the temple had not yet recovered hers), nor agrecable to the scope. Zachary's commission, who, together with his colleague Haggai, was sent to encourage the people, lately returned And they that sell them] Give them up to id from captivity, to build their temple, and to instaurate and bless God, strange to tell, that they get their commonwealth. Was this a fit time to foretel advantage by the establishment of this false reg the destruction of both, while they were yet but Verse 6. For I will no more pity] I have a-building? And by Zachary too, who was to en-mined to deliver them into the hands of the C courage them? Would not this better befit the deso- deans.

lation by Nebuchadnezzar?" I really think so. Mr. J. Mede's LXI. Epistle.

See

Verse 7. And I will feed the flock of slaugher showed them what God had revealed to me relat

unto me two staves; the one I
called Beauty, and the other I
called a Bands; and I fed the
flock.

8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul clothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

Or, Binders. b Hos. v. 7. - Heb. was straitened for them.- - Jer. xv. 2. xliii. 11. - Heb. of his fellow, or neighbour. Or, the poor of the flock, &c., certainly knew.

to the evils coming upon the land; and I did this the more especially for the sake of the poor of the flock. Two staves] Two shepherd's crooks. One I called Beauty-that probably by which they marked the sheep; dipping the end into vermillion, or some red liquid. And this was done when they were to mark every tenth sheep, as it came out of the field, when the tithe was to be set apart for the Lord.

The other I called Bands] Probably that with the look or crook at the head of it, by which the sheperd was wont to catch the sheep by the horns or egs when he wished to bring any to hand.

And I fed the flock.] These two rods show the eauty and union of the people, while under God as heir Shepherd. It was the delight of God to see hem in a state of peace and harmony.

Beauty and Bands.

knew that it was the word of
the LORD.

A. M. cir. 3417.
B. C. cir. 587.
Ol. XLVIII 2.
Tarquinii Prisci,

R. Roman., cir. annum 30.

12 And I said unto them, ye think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

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13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even 'Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And the LORD said unto me, "Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. Zeph. iii. 12. Ver. 7. If it be good in your eyes. Matt. xxvi. 15. See Exod. xxi. 32.- Matt. xxvii. 9, 12. —— Ezek. xxxiv. 2, 3, 4.

Or, Binders.

attended to my teaching, saw that this was the word— the design, of God.

Verse 12. If ye think good, give me my price] "Give me my hire." And we find they rated it contemptuously; thirty pieces of silver being the price of a slave, Exod. xxi. 32.

Verse 13. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter] Jehovah calls the price of his prophet his own price; and commands that it should not be accepted, but given to a potter, to foreshadow the

transaction related Matt. xxvii. 7.

"Earthen vessels were useful in the temple; and we may suppose that some Levites were employed within the sacred precincts to furnish them. To these, the humblest of his ministers in the temple, God commands that the degrading price should be cast." This is the substance of the notes on these

Verse 8. Three shepherds also I cut off in one month] two verses, given by Abp. Newcome.
Taking this literally, some think the three shepherds
mean the three Maccabees, Judas, Jonathan, and
simon; others, the three wicked high-priests, Jason,
llcimus, and Menelaus; others, the three last princes
f the Asmoncan race, Alexander, Hyrcanus, and
Antigonus.

Perhaps three orders may be intended: 1. The riesthood. 2. The dictatorship, including the Scribes, 'harisees, &c. 3. The magistracy, the great sanherin, and the smaller councils. These were all anniilated by the Roman conquest.

Verse 9. I will not feed you] I shall instruct you 10 longer: some of you are appointed to death by amine; others, to be cut off by the sword; and others of you, to such desperation that ye shall detroy one another.

Verse 10. I took my staff-Beauty, and cut it isunder] And thus I showed that I determined no onger to preserve them in their free and glorious

We may look at it in another light, Give me my him my price; that is, Give the money to Judas price? 17 habu sichri, bring my price, or give which you have agreed to give him; for he can neither betray me nor you crucify me, but by my own permission. But if not, forbear; take time to consider this bloody business, and in time forbear. For though I permit you to do it, yet remember that the permission does not necessitate you to do it; and the salvation of the world may be effected without this treachery and murder.

See my notes on this place, Matt. xxvii. 9, where I have examined the evidence for the reading of "Zechariah the prophet," instead of "Jeremiah."

Verse 14. That I might break the brotherhood] I cannot, says Newcome, explain this passage, without supposing that the kingdom of Israel subsisted when the prophet wrote it; and that either the wars between Judah and Israel are referred to (see 2 Kings xvi. 5), or the captivity of the ten tribes, when the brotherly connexion between these kingdoms ceased. Verse 15. The instruments of a foolish shepherd.]

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of the Lord for Israel.

A. M. cir. 3417.

B. C. cir. 5.

Ol. XLVIIL 2 Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman, cir. annum 30.

17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Or, hidden. bOr, bear. c Jer. xxiii. 1. Ezek. xxxiv. 2. John x. 12, 13.—d Ps. x. 5.

Such as a bag without bread, a scrip without measure, and a staff without a hook, &c.; things that were needless or of no use; to point out to the Jewish pastors, who took no care of the flock, but devoured them, or ruled them with force and with cruelty. Verse 16. I will raise up a shepherd in the land] Some wicked king; and Newcome supposes Hoshea may be meant. See 2 Kings xvii. 1, 2, and to such an abominable sovereign the prophecy may well apply.

Verse 17. Woe to the idol shepherd] by roi haelil, "the worthless," or "good for nothing shepherd." The shepherd in name and office, but not performing the work of one. See John x. 11.

The sword shall be upon his arm] Punishment shall be executed upon the wicked Jews, and especially their wicked kings and priests. See ver. 16.

Arm-the secular power; right eye—the eccles tical state.

His arm shall be clean dried up] The secular power shall be broken, and become utterly efficient.

His right eye shall be utterly darkened.] Prophery shall be restrained; and the whole state, ecclesiastica and civil, shall be so completely eclipsed, that name of their functions shall be performed. This m refer to the worthless and wicked governor mentioned in the preceding verse.

There are several things in this chapter that are very obscure, and we can hardly say what opinion is right; nor is it at all clear whether they refer to a ve early or late period of the Jewish history.

CHAPTER XII.

The first part of this chapter, with several passages in chap. xiv., relates to an invasion that shall be made on the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem in the latter ages of the world, some time after the restoration and settlement of the Jews in their own land. It also describes, in very magnificent terms, the signal interposition of God in their favour. From this the prophet proceeds in the latter part of the chapter, 10-14, to describe the spiritual mercies of God in converting his people; and gives a very pathetic and affectis account of the deep sorrow of that people, when brought to a sense of their great sinis crucifying the Messiah, comparing it to the sorrow of a parent for his first-born and only son, or to the lamentations made for Josiah in the valley of Megiddon (2 Chron xxxv. 24, 25). 4 deep retired sorrow, which will render the mourners for a season insensible to all the comforts and enjoyments of the most endearing society.

a Isai. xlii. 5. xliv. 24. xlv. 12, 18. xlviii, 13.- -b Numb. xvi. 22. Eccles. xii. 7. Isai. lvii. 16. Heb. xii. 9. Isai. li. 17, 22, 23.- d Or, slumber, or poison.- e Or, and also

NOTES ON CHAP. XII.
Verse 1. The burden of the word of the Lord]
This is a new prophecy. It is directed both to Israel |
and Judah, though Israel alone is mentioned in this

verse.

Which stretcheth forth the heavens] See on Isai. xlii. 5.

not the same substance with his body. It is a s within HIM.

Verse 2. Jerusalem a cup of trembling] T Babylonians, who captivated and ruined the Jers shall in their turn be ruined.

I incline to think that what is spoken in this chap ter about the Jews and Jerusalem, belongs to the

Formeth the spirit of man within him.] Then it is "glory of the latter times."

CHAP. XII.

f feeble s
day shall be as David; and the
house of David shall be as God,
as the angel of the LORD before