corners of the world from the persecution of the emperor Adrian."* And when God shall bring the seed of Israel from the east, and gather them from the west; shall say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back, these Jews in the south of Arabia, as well as in the south of Abyssinia, will fly as clouds and as doves to their windows.†

And the friendly interest which the Dedanites, or Seba, will be excited to take on the occasion, in connexion with the two other powers noted, time will disclose. It is remarkable that these three powers are so repeatedly found in this connexion in the prophecies, as aiding the people of God in Palestine, after their return thither.

This Dedan, or Seba, most probably is the people meant by the Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon, in Dan. xi, 41, who are to escape out of the hands of the infidel Power, in his first expedition into the east. The ancient nations under these names have long since been extinct, or been swallowed up among the Arabian tribes. When these names therefore are said to escape out of the hands of Antichrist, in his first excursion into the east, in distinction from the Ethiopians in the northwest of Arabia, who shall be at his steps; they must mean the people of Arabia Felix, and those in the east of Arabia. And why are they expressly excepted from the conquests of Antichrist, in his first expedition, unless to indicate, that they are to be of some note in opposition to him in his subsequent operations? The name of Edom is in prophecy mystically applied to the greatest enemies of the Church. Christ, in the battle of the great day, is said to come from Edom with died garments. The Edom here is Antichrist. But when it is applied to some people in Arabia, who shall escape the domination of Antichrist, it is not thus mystically, but is more literally applied: And it may denote a people there, whom God will excite to aid his cause in the re-establishment of

* Morse's Geo. p. 578. + Isa. lx, 8. + Dan. xi, 43. § Isa. lxiii, 1.

the Jews in Palestine. And probably this Edom, and Moab, and chief of the children of Ammon, and Dedan, and Seba denote the same power.*

*The agency of the naval power in this coalition, in the return of the Jews to the land of their fathers, we find predicted in Isa. xviii, as well as in other passages. I will quote this chapter with some small variations from our translation, but which are according to Bp. Lowth, in his Isaiah, or other able transla

tors.

"Ho land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of "Ethiopia: 2 That sendeth messengers on the sea in vessels of "bulrushes, on the face of the waters. Go ye swift sailors, to "a nation scattered, and with their hair plucked off; to a people "remarkable from the beginning and hitherto; a nation of line, "line;" (or, "the people looking for, and expecting one to "come;" so some Jews in the east have translated the passage;) "and trodden under foot; whose lands the rivers have "spoiled. 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, when the stand"ard is lifted up on the mountains, behold ye; and when the "trumpet is sounded, hear ye. 4 For thus hath the Lord said "to me, I will take my rest, and will regard my fixed habita"tion, like the clear heat after rain, and like a cloud of dew in "the days of harvest. 5. Surely before the vintage, when the "bud is perfect, and the blossom is becoming a swelled grape, "he shall cut off the shoots with the pruning hooks, and shall "cut down and take away the branches. 6 They shall be left "together to the rapacious fowls of the mountains, and to the "wild beasts of the earth; and the fowls shall summer upon "them; and the beasts shall winter upon them. 7 At that time "shall the present be brought unto the Lord of hosts, of a peo"ple scattered, and with their hair plucked off; of a people re"markable from the beginning and hitherto; the people looking "for and expecting one to come; who are trodden under foot; "whose lands the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name "of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion."

Paraphrased thus:

1 Ho nation, darkening with thy sails, or thou great maritime power of the last days, when this address shall become applicable; thou land beheld in vision as though in a line with Ethiopia, (or the Sheba, who shall aid my people) but away beyond her rivers; how far, and in what particular direction, the event shall unfold: 2 Thou land, whose embassadors and missionaries are conveyed by sea to distant climes seemingly with as great facility as that nation, beyond which thou art in vision beheld, used to navigate its rivers in light vessels made of the rind of Papyrus: Come thou naval power; I have a business for thee to perform. Thy art and power in navigation shall now be found

won, the

The prophet proceeds. Therefore son of man, prophy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord, in the day hen my people dwell safely, shalt thou not know it? hou wilt hear of their defenceless state, and wilt at

> answer a new and important purpose. Go ye swift seamen; ollect my ancient people: That people, who have long been cattered over the face of the earth; who have long been insult. d and abused: That people, whose history has been so remark. ble from ancient date: That people long looking for and execting another Messiah, beside Jesus of Nazareth; but in vain: Who have been trodden under foot among the nations: Whose ncient inheritance in Palestine the mystic rivers of invading Sations, (the Romans, Saracens, Turks, Egyptians, and Ottomans in turn) have overflown and ravaged. But the Ottoman Euphrates being dried up, and the way for the return of my peo ple being prepared, go ye now, and aid their return. Thus it is predicted, Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring my sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord (Isa. Ix, 9.) 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, now behold the standard of salvation, which I am about to erect! Hear ye the great trumpet, which shall now be blown. (Isa. xxvii, 13) 4 For thus saith the Lord, I am going to regard and renew my ancient resting place; I will again have a fixed habitation in Canaan, as I have declared by the prophets; especially in Zech. i, 16; Therefore thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it. And viii, 3, Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusa lem. This event shall be as life from the dead to the Gentiles: Therefore ye nations behold. I will now be to mine heritage like the genial heat of the sun after rain, and like the cooling dew after the sultry heat of harvest; as I have repeatedly predicted, Israel shall be as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by the clear shining after rain. (2 Sam. xxiii, 4.) I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily; and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. (Hos. xiv, 5.) 5 But, connected with the introduction of this event, is a scene which awaits mine enemies, as I have always given notice, in the many predictions which relate to that period; ruin to mine enemies, and salvation to my cause! The seventh vial, the vintage of wrath, must be fulfilled. And at the time of the return of the house of Israel, this event will be even at the doors. As in the natural vineyard, when the blossom is succeeded by the swelled pulp, which soon arrives to the size of the grape, indicating that the vintage is near; so at the time of the return of the Jews, wickedness will have blossomed, pride will have budded: The sour grapes will have obtained their bigness; and the time for casting the vine of

tempt their ruin. And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, a mighty army. Ancient Babylon was called, the land

the earth into the great wine-press of the wrath of God, will be at hand. (Isa. Ixiii, 2—6; Joel iii, 13; Rev. xiv, 8—20.). 6 Soon the branches of this vine shall be scattered upon the mountains of Israel at Armageddon, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the earth, shall feast upon them. (Ezek. xxxix, 4, 17-21, and Rev. xix, 17, 18.) 7 To prepare the way for this event, the present, which I now claim of you, must be brought unto the Lord of hosts, of the people long scattered over the earth, and long insulted and abused; that people, whose history has been so remarkable from ancient date; that people long expecting another Messiah beside Jesus of Nazareth, but in vain; who have been trodden under foot among the nations; whose ancient inheritance in Palestine invading nations have long occupied; the present shall be brought consisting of this people, unto the Lord of hosts to the literal mount Zion.*

The naval power here addressed, being described in relation to the rivers of Ethiopia, both in the first verse of this chapter, and in Zeph. iii, 10, before noted, which rivers may mean the Nile, and, according to Pool, the Red Sea, which lies upon the eastern bound of Ethiopia, and resembles a great river; also the skill of this naval power in navigation being described by the bulrush navigation of the Nile and the shores of the Red Sea, seems to indicate some connexion of this naval power with these Ethiopians (Abyssinians, or people of Sheba) in this service, to which they are called. If the meaning be simply, that this naval power is away somewhere westward of the mouths of the Nile, why are these called the rivers of Ethiopia? Why not called the rivers of Egypt? Perhaps the true solution may be, this power is beheld in vision, in a line with Ethiopia, or Sheba, to denote some connexion between them, in the friendly aid to be afforded to the Jews. This power's being beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, does not decide relative to the particular point of compass, or the distance, at which the power is to be found. It decides only, that it will be in the western hemisphere from Jerusalem: But whether in the west of Europe, or in America, the event will decide.

* Since writing the preceding comment on this chapter I have, for the first time, seen Bp. Horsley's comment upon it, published in Mr. Faber's volume upon the return of the Jews; and am pleased to find my opinion on the great points of this prophecy confirmed by so distinguished an authority. In some particulars his exposition differs from the one which I have given. But in those differences I think my interpretation as well accords with the text; and better with collateral prophecies.

of the north, because most of the Assyrian empire lay in a latitude north of Jerusalem. But France lies in a latitude much farther north, than did the Assyrian empire. It extends almost twenty degrees north of

Other predictions seem to favor this coalition against Gog. Obad. 21; And saviors shall come upon mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. By the mount of Esau here must be meant, that terrible enemy of the Church, prefigured by ancient Edom. (Isa. Ixiii, 1.) The event is to take place when the kingdom becomes the Lord's, or at the introduction of the Millennium. And saviors are then to come to mount Zion, to aid the destruction of the great enemy. Though Christ fights that battle, yet he does not tell us that he will not make use of some human instruments. And this pre

diction hints that he will.

Micah v, 5-9. "For now shall he be great unto the ends of the "earth. And this shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come "into our land, and when he shall tread on our palaces, then we shall "raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. And "they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land "of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from "the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he tread"eth within our borders. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among "the Gentiles, in the midst of many people, as a lion among the "beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; "who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in "pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lift up upon "thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off."

"Some imagine, (says Dr. Gray, Key to the Old Test. p. 465,) that Micah foretells in this prophecy the victories obtained by the leaders of the Medes and Babylonians, who took Nineveh. Oth ers suppose him to speak of the seven Maccabean leaders, with their eight royal successors, from Aristobulus to Antigonus," But the Doctor goes on to give his opinion, that it refers to some higher triumph still future, and refers us to the scene of Ezekiel's Gog for its accomplishment. The prediction might receive a primary and typical accomplishment at the time of the Maccabees. For Antiochus then afflicting the Jews, was a type of Antichrist. But it will probably receive its great fulfilment in the antitype of the wars of Antiochus upon the Jews, or at the time of the last expedition of Antichrist into the east. And if so, it teaches, that God will then make some use of human in struments in the destruction of the Antichristian confederacy against the Jews in Palestine, beside their own swords. I will call for a sword against him. (Ezek. xxxviii, 21.),

*Jer. iv, 6, and xlvi, 20, and iii, 12,