Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

of the covenant.-Now God pleaded with their fathers as a nation, and admitted them into covenant as a nation at Sinai.-So it fhall be in their converfion. The fame truth is afferted, Ifa. xxvi. 19. "Thy dead men shall live,-for

[ocr errors]

thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth "fhall caft out the dead." This circumstance is implied in the words of Zechariah, chap. iii. 9. "I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. "

SEC

Ifa. liv. 1. And this is the period fixed for the converfion of the Jews by the Apostle Paul, "until the fulness "of the Gentiles be brought in; and then all Ifrael fhall "be faved;" Rom. xi. 25, 26. So here "then the rem"nant of his brethren fhall return unto (together with) "the children of Ifrael;" that is, the remnant of his brethren. The tribe or kingdom of Judah fhall return to God in the way of faith and repentance, together with the ten tribes, the kingdom of Ifrael. As another mark of the time when he fhould prove a Mediator to Ifrael, and reconcile them to God, it is faid, "When the Af "fyrian fhall come into our land, and when he shall "tread in our palaces;" Micah. v. 5.; that is, when the blafphemous king fhall enter Judea, and fet up his refidence in Jerufalem, he is called the Affyrian: Ifa. x. 5.

(1) Joshua, the High-Prieft, typifies the Jewish nation at the period immediately preceding their conver

on

SECTION V.

The Jews are trained by God in the Defert forty Tears from the Date of their converfion.

AFTER the Jews are converted, they remain forty years in the wilderness of Affyria before

they

fion. His filthy garments reprefent their fins, particularly their blafphemy and infidelity. Satan's accufation fhews the virulence of their enemies, as well as their own deferts. The interference of the angel, called alfo the Lord (Jehovah), fignifies the feafonable interpofition of the Mediator, to prevent their deftruction. And the proteft of the angel to Jofhua, is that pleading of the Mediator with the Jews, at the time he admits them into the bond of the covenant. The time of these proceedings is noted, Zech. iii. 8, 9. Joshua and his fellows are faid to be men wondered at; that is, perfons mentioned as figns and types of other men, and of other times; nameIy, of that period when God fhall bring forth his fervant, the Branch that fhall grow out of the roots of Jesse; Ifa. xi. 1. Yet, not the time in which he fhall first fpring from the root of Jeffe, but the time when God fhall bring him forth; that is, manifeft him to Ifrael. To illuftrate this circumftance more clearly, is the defign of the following verfe: "For behold, the ftone that I have

"laid

they take poffeffion of the land given their fa thers. I have already mentioned fome of the grounds of this conjecture, as, 1. It requires a confiderable

"laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be feven eyes: "Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, faith the "Lord of Hofts;" Zech. iii. 9. This ftone is the fame inentioned Ifa. xxviii. 16. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foun❝dation, aftone, a tried ftone, a precious corner ftone, "a fure foundation." Explained to fignify Chrift, on whom the church, God's fpiritual temple, is built; 1 Pet. ii. 5, 6. But when this stone was firft laid, it was refufed by the builders, though appointed by God to be the head-stone of the corner; Pfal. cxviii. 22. I was "for a ftone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to "both the houfes of Ifrael; for a gin, and for a fnare, "to the inhabitants of Jerufalem;" Ifa. viij. 14. In attempting to remove this foundation-ftone, which God had placed in Zion, it recoiled upon them, " and ground "to powder" their political and religious establishment; Matt. xxi. 44. In that state things remain, but at a future period, on this fame ftone fhall be "feven eyes," as the Lamb of God is reprefented with " feven eyes;" and thefe are faid to fignify "the feven fpirits of God," or in other words, the various and perfect influences of the Spirit of God. So here feven eyes are cut out as hieroglyphicks on the foundation-ftone, to indicate that the Spirit of God, with his liberal and perfect influences, fhall difcover the Saviour to Ifrael. In confequence of this view, the ftone which at firft appeared rough and unpolished,

confiderable time to collect the allies of the beast, 2. I fuppofe the difference

Rev. xvi. 14.-16.

betwixt the two numbers mentioned, Daniel xii. 11, 12. refers to this period. The 1290 refers to the conversion of the Jews, the 1335 to the commencement of the Millennium; betwixt thefe there is a difference of forty-five years, of which forty elapfe during their continuance in the wilderness, and the remaining five after their fettlement in the land before a univerfal peace is established, when the fpirit of prophecy begins to reckon the Millennium. 3. The words of Micah vii. 15. refer to the period which elapfes betwixt their converfion and their settlement in Judea, and explicitly affert a continuance in the wildernefs for forty years; "cording to the days of thy coming out of the "land of Egypt will I fhew unto him mar"vellous

.. ac

unpolished, unworthy of being the foundation of God's temple, fhall now appear to be of exquifite workmanship, worthy of the finger of God. Though Jefus, on his first appearance, feemed to the Jews unworthy of being the Meffiah, on account of his outward meanness, and ignominious death; yet, when revealed to their nation by the Spirit of God, his perfon will appear infinitely glorious, and the way of falvation through him infinitely worthy of the wifdom of God to contrive, and the power of God to execute. At that time God will remove the iniquity of their nation in one day.

"vellous things." 4. I now add, that the expreffions of Ezekiel imply a continued abode in the wilderness where they are converted, for that period. "I will bring you into the wil"derness of the people, and there will I plead "with you face to face. Like as I pleaded "with your fathers in the wilderness of the "land of Egypt, fo will I plead with you;" Ezek. xx. 35, 36. The comparison here may refer not only to the manner of pleading by open vision with the whole nation, but likewife to the time of pleading, which was full forty years. 5. The words of Hofea, chap. xii. 9. fuggefts a continued abode in the wildernefs: "I, that am "the Lord thy God from the Land of Egypt, "will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, "as in the days of the folemn feafts;" Micah vii. 14. 6. The reasons which induced God to continue their fathers in the wilderness forty years, will apply to their pofterity; they are in fact fo applied by the prophets.

One reafon for continuing their fathers in the wilderness was, to teach them an intimate dependence upon God for their temporal fubfiftence, a maxim of practical piety as neceflary as it is difficult for the generality of mankind. Besides, it is one thing to inftruct individuals in this truth, and quite another thing to inculcate it on a whole nation. It was therefore God who fed

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinua »