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The vision of the

A. M. cir. 3417.

B. C. cir. 587.

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

CHAP. XXXVII.

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two sticks united.

A. M. cir. 3417.

B. C. cir. 587.

OL. XLVIII. 2. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman.,

cir. annum 30.

then take another stick, and write | more with their idols, nor with
upon it, For Joseph, the stick of
Ephraim, and for all the house
of Israel his companions:
17 And a join them one to another into one
stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall
speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show
us what thou meanest by these?

their detestable things, nor with
any of their transgressions: but
I will save them out of all their
dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and
will cleanse them: so shall they be my people,
and I will be their God.

24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shep herd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph,
which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes
of Israel his fellows, and will put them with
him, even with the stick of Judah, and make
them one stick, and they shall be one in mine
hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall David shall be their prince for ever.
be in thine hand "before their eyes.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob, my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant

21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

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See ver. 22, 24.-r Chap. xii. 9; xxiv. 19.—s Zech. x. 6. Ver. 16, 17.-————————u Chap. xii. 3.- — Chap. xxxvi. 24.————w Isa. xi. 13; Jer. iii. 18; 1. 4; Hos. i, 11.———— Chap. xxxiv. 23, 24; John x. 16.- -y Chap. xxxvi. 25. Ch. xxxvi. 28, 29.- - Isa. | xl. 11; Jer. xxiii. 5; xxx. 9; chap. xxxiv. 23, 24; Hosea iii. 5; Luke i. 32. Ver. 22; John x. 16.

whole tribe ever returned to that kingdom. Common sufferings in their captivity became the means of reviving a kinder feeling; and to encourage this, God promises that he will reunite them, and restore them to their own land; and that there shall no more be any divisions or feuds among them. To represent this in such a way as would make it a subject of thought, reflection, and inquiry, the prophet is ordered to take the two sticks mentioned above, to write on them the distinguishing names of the divided kingdoms, and then by a notch, dovetail, glue, or some such method, to unite them both before the people. He did so; and on their inquiry, showed them the full meaning of this symbolical action.

Verse 19. The stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim] Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes, was an Ephraimite. Joseph represents the ten tribes in general they were in the hand of Ephraim, that is, under the government of Jeroboam.

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26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my i sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

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27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

28 m And the heathen shall know that I the

LORD do n sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever

more. 1

eChap. xxxvi. 27.— -d Chap. xxxvi. 28.- e Isa. lx. 21; Joel iii. 20; Amos ix. 15.- Ver. 24; John xii. 34.- - Psa. lxxxix. 3; Isa. lv. 3; Jer. xxxii. 40; chap. xxxiv. 25.h Chap. xxxvi. 10, 37.2 Cor. vi. 16.- k Lev. xxvi. 11, 12; chap. xliii. 7; John i. 14. Chap. xi. 20; xiv. 11; xxxvi. 28. Chap. xxxvi. 23.- Chap. xx. 12.

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And one king shall be king to them all] Politically speaking, they never had a king from that day to this; and the grand junction and government spoken of here must refer to another time-to that in which they shall be brought into the Christian Church with the fulness of the Gentiles; when JESUS, the King of kings and Lord of lords, shall rule over all.

Verse 24. And David my servant shall be King] That this refers to Jesus Christ, see proved, chap. xxxiv. 23.

Verse 25. The land that I have given unto Jacob my servant] Jacob means here the twelve tribes; and the land given to them was the whole land of Palestine; consequently, the promise states that, when they return, they are to possess the whole of the Promised Land.

Verse 26. Covenant of peace] See this explained chap. xxxiv. 25.

Verse 27. My tabernacle] Jesus Christ, the true Verse 22. I will make them one nation] There was tabernacle, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godno distinction after the return from Babylon.

head bodily.

Gog, and the land of Magog,

EZEKIEL.

enemies of God's people.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

The sublime prophecy contained in this and the following chapter relates to Israel's victory over Gog, and is very obscure. It begins with representing a prodigious armament of many nations combined together, under the conduct of Gog, with the intention of overwhelming the Jews, after having been for some time resettled in their land subsequent to their return from the Babylonish captivity, 1–9. These enemies are farther represented as making themselves sure of the spoil, 10-13. But in this critical conjuncture when Israel, to all human appearance, was about to be swallowed up by her enemies, God most graciously appears, to execute by terrible judgments the vengeance threatened against these formidable adversaries of his people, 14-16. The prophet, in terms borrowed from human passions, describes, with awful emphasis, the fury of Jehovah as coming up to his face; and the effects of it so dreadful, as to make all the animate and inanimate creation tremble, and even to convulse with terror the whole frame of nature, 17-23

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NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVIII. Verse 2. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog] This is allowed to be the most difficult prophecy in the Old Testament. It is difficult to us, because we know not the king nor people intended by it but I am satisfied they were well known by these names in the time that the prophet wrote.

I have already remarked in the introduction to this book that there are but two opinions on this subject that appear to be at all probable: 1. That which makes Goo Cambyses, king of Persia; and, 2. That which makes him ANTIOCHUS EPIPHANES, king of Syria. And between these two (for one or other is supposed to be the person intended) men are much divided.

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hOr, Phut, chap. xxvii. 10; xxx. 5.- Gen. x. 2. Ch. xxvii. 14. Like Isa. viii. 9, 10; Jer. xlvi 3, 4, 14; li. 12. m Gen. xlix. I; Deut. iv. 30; ver. 16.- Isa. xxix. 6. concludes, after examining all previous opinions, that Antiochus Epiphanes, the great enemy of the Israelites, is alone intended here; and that Gog, which signifies covered, is an allusion to the well-known character of Antiochus, whom historians describe as an artful, cunning, and dissembling man. See Dan. viii. 23, 25; xi. 23, 27, 32. Magog he supposes to mean the country of Syria. Of this opinion the following quotation from Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. v., c. 23, seems a proof; who, speaking of Cœle-Syria, says: Cœle habet Apamiam Marsyia amne divisam a Nazarinorum Tetrarchia. Bambycem quam alio nomine Hierapolis vocatur, Syris vero Magog. "Cole-Syria has Apamia separated from the tetrarchy of the Nazarenes by the river Marsyia; and Bambyce, otherwise called Hierapolis; but by the Syrians, MAGOG.”

Calmet, one of the most judicious commentators that ever wrote on the Bible, declares for Cambyses; and supports his opinion, in opposition to all others, by many I shall at present examine the text by this latter arguments.

Mr. Mede supposes the Americans are meant, who were originally colonies of the Scythians, who were descendants of Magog, son of Japheth. Houbigant declares for the Scythians, whose neighbours were the people of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, that is the Russians, Muscovites, and Tybareni or Cappadocians. Several eminent critics espouse this opinion. Rabbi David Kimchi says the Christians and Turks are meant and of later opinions there are several, founded in the ocean of conjecture. Calmet says expressly, that Goo is Cambyses, king of Persia, who on his return from the land of Egypt, died in Judea. The Rev. David Martin, pastor of the Waloòn church at Utrecht,

opinion.

Chief prince of Meshech and Tubal] These probably mean the auxiliary forces, over whom Antiochus was supreme; they were the Muscovites and Cappadocians. Verse 4. I will turn thee back] Thy enterprise shall fail. Verse 5. Persia] That a part of this country was tributary to Antiochus, see 1 Macc. iii. 31.

Ethiopia, and Libya] That these were auxiliaries of Antiochus is evident from Dan. xi. 43: "The Libyans and Ethiopians shall be at his steps."

Verse 6. Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah] The Cimmerians and Turcomanians, and other northern nations.-Calmet.

Verse 8. In the latter years thou shalt come] This

Judgments threatened against

B. C. cir. 587.

Tarquinii Prisci,
R. Roman.,

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CHAP. XXXVIII.

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the enemies of God's people

people of Israel 'dwelleth safely,
shalt thou not know it?

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

A. M. cir. 3417. land that is brought back from unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord A. M. cir. 3417. OI. XLVIII. 2. the sword, and is gathered out GOD; In that day when my of many people, against the cir. annum 30. mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

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13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? 14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say "Ver. 12; chap. xxxiv. 13.- - Chap. xxxvi. 1, 4, 8.- -PJer. xxiii. 6; chap. xxviii. 26; xxxiv. 25, 28; ver. 11.- -q Isa. xxviii. 2. Jer. iv. 13; ver. 16. Or, conceive a mischievous purpose. Jer. xlix. 31. Ver. 8.- Or, confidently. Heb. To spoil the spoil, and to prey the prey; ehap. xxix. 19. Chap. xxxvi. 34, 35-y Ver, 8.- Heb.navel; Judg. ix. 37.

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was fulfilled about four hundred years after.-Martin. The expedition of Cambyses against Egypt was about twelve years after the return of the Jews from Babylon.-Calmet.

Verse 9. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm] It is observable that Antiochus is thus spoken of by Daniel, chap. xi. 40: The king of the north-Antiochus, shall come against him (the king of the south is the king of Egypt) like a whirlwind.

Verse 10. Shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought] Antiochus purposed to invade and destroy Egypt as well as Judea; see Dan. xi. 31, 32, 36. This Calmet interprets of Cambyses, his cruelties in Egypt, and his evil design to destroy the Israelites.

Verse 12. To take a spoil—and a prey] When Antiochus took Jerusalem he gave the pillage of it to

15 & 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, and a mighty army:

16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

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17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time, by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would. bring thee against them?

18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.

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19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the

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Chap. xxvii. 22, 23.- Chap. xxvii. 15, 20.- -Chap. xxvii. 12. See chap. x. 3, 5.Isa. iv. 1.—Ver. 8.- Chap. xxxix. 2. Ver. 6.- iVer. 9.- Ver. 8. Exod. xiv. 4; chap. xxxvi. 23; xxxix. 21.- Heb. by the hands. Chap. xxxvi. 5, 6; xxxix. 25.—o Psa. lxxxix. 46. Hag. ii. 6, 7; Rev. xvi. 18.- -Hos. iv. 3.- — Jer. iv. 24; Nah. i. 5, 6.

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his soldiers, and spoiled the temple of its riches, which
were immense. See Joseph. WAR, B. i. c. 1.
Verse 13. Sheba, and Dedan] The Arabians, an-
ciently great plunderers; and Tarshish, the inhabitants
of the famous isle of Tartessus, the most noted mer-
chants of the time. They are here represented as
coming to Antiochus before he undertook the expedi..
tion, and bargaining for the spoils of the Jews. Art
thou come to take a spoil, to carry away silver and
gold, cattle and goods?

Verse 16. When I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog] By the defeat of his troops under Lysias, his general. 1 Mac. iii. 32, 33, &c., and chap. vi. 6.

Verse 17. Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time] This prophecy concerning Antiochus and the Jews was delivered about four hundred years before the events took place.-Martin. Calmet maintains

Prophecy against

A. M. cir. 3417,
Ol. XLVIII. 2.
Tarquinii Prisci,
R. Roman,

B. C. cir. 587.

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steep places shall fall, and every | him, and upon his bands, and upon
wall shall fall to the ground. the many people that are with him,
an overflowing rain, and great
hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

21 And I will call for "a cir. annum 30. sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.

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that Cambyses is spoken of, and refers to ancient prophecies, especially Isa. xiv., xv., xvi. 20, 21.

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A. M. cir. 3417.
B. C. cir. 587.

O. XLVIII. 2.

Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman, cir. annum 30.

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23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes. of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.

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Verse 22. Great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.] These are probably figurative expressions, to signify Verse 21. I will call for a sword against him] that the whole tide of the war should be against him, Meaning Judas Maccabeus, who defeated his army and that his defeat and slaughter should be great. under Lysias, making a horrible carnage.-Mar-Abp. Newcome supposes all the above prophecy retin. Cambyses had no wars in the mountains of mains yet to be fulfilled. Where such eminent scribes >Israel. are divided, who shall decide!

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CHAPTER XXXIX.

The prophet goes on to denounce the Divine judgments against Gog and his army, 1–7; and describes their dreadful slaughter, 8-10, and burial, 11-16, in terms so very lofty and comprehensive, as must certainly denote some very extraordinary interposition of Providence in behalf of the Jews. And to amplify the matter still more, the prophet, with peculiar art and propriety, delays the summoning of all the birds and beasts of prey in nature to feast on the slain, (in allusion to the custom of feasting on the remainder of sacrifices,) till after the greater multitudes are buried; to intimate that even the remainder, and as it were the stragglers of such mighty hosts, would be more than sufficient to satisfy their utmost rapacity, 17-20. The remaining verses contain a prediction of the great blessedness of the people of God in Gospel times, and of the stability of the kingdom of Christ, 21-29. It will be proper to remark that the great northern expedition against the natural Israel, described in this and the preceding chapter, is, from its striking resemblance in the main particulars, put by the writer of the Apocalypse, (chap. xx. 7–10,) for a much more formidable armament of a multitude of nations in the four quarters of the earth against the pure Christian Church, the MYSTICAL Israel; an event still extremely remote, and which it is thought shall immediately precede the destruction of the world by fire, and the general judgment.

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The total defeat of

A. M. cir. 3417.
B. C. cir. 587.

CHAP. XXXIX.

among them that dwell ' careOL. XLVIII. 2. lessly in the isles; and they shall know that I am the

Tarquinii Prisci,
R. Roman.,

cir. annum 30. LORD.

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Gog and his army.

587.

-Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 30.

10 So that they shall take no AB. C. cir. 3877 wood out of the field, neither O1. XLVIII. 2. cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: " and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.

11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea; and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog.

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The auxiliary troops that came to Antiochus from the of lances, javelins, and such like, that they served them borders of the Euxine Sea.-Martin.

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Verse 7. In the midst of my people Israel] This defeat of Gog is to be in Israel and it was there according to this prophecy, that the immense army of Antiochus was so completely defeated.

And I will not let them pollute my holy name any more] See on 1 Macc. i. 11, &c., how Antiochus had profaned the temple, insulted Jehovah and his worship, &c. God permitted that as a scourge to his disobedient people; but now the scourger shall be scourged, and he shall pollute the sanctuary no more.

Verse 9. And shall set on fire—the weapons] The Israelites shall make bonfirès and fuel of the weapons, tents, &c., which the defeated Syrians shall leave behind them, as expressive of the joy which they shall feel for the destruction of their enemies; and to keep up, in their culinary consumption, the memory of this great event.

for four years for fuel. And probably these instruments obtained by the Israelites were used in general for culinary firewood, and might literally have served them for seven years; so that during that time they should take no wood out of the fields, nor out of the forests for the purpose of fuel, ver. 10.

Verse 11. The valley of the passengers on the east of the sea] That is, of Gennesareth, according to the Targum. The valley near this lake or sea is called the Valley of the Passengers, because it was a great road by which the merchants and traders from Syria and other eastern countries went into Egypt; see Gen. xxxvii. 17, 25. See Calmet here.

ley of passengers; for so great was the carnage there, that the way of the passengers shall be stopped by it. See the text.

There shall they bury Gog and all his multitude] Some read, "There shall they bury Gog, that is, all his multitude." Not Gog, or Antiochus himself, for he was not in this battle; but his generals, captains, and soldiers, by whom he was represented. As to HamonThey shall burn them with fire seven years] These geg, we know no valley of this name but here. But may be figurative expressions, after the manner of the we may understand the words thus: the place where Asiatics, whose language abounds with such descrip- this great slaughter was, and where the multitudes of tions. They occur every where in the prophets. As the slain were buried, might be better called Hamonto the number seven, it is only a certain for an indeter-gog, the valley of the multitude of Gog, than the valminate number. But as the slaughter was great, and the bows, arrows, quivers, shields, bucklers, handstaves, and spears were in vast multitudes, it must have taken a long time to gather them up in the different parts of the fields of battle, and the roads in which the Syrians had retreated, throwing away their arms as they proceeded; so there might have been a long time employed in collecting and burning them. And as all seem to have been doomed to the fire, there might have been some found at different intervals and burned, during the seven years here mentioned. Mariana, in his History of Spain, lib. xi., c. 24, says, that after the Spaniards had given that signal overthrow to the Saracens, A. D. 1212, they found such a vast quantity

Verse 12. And seven months] It shall require a long time to bury the dead. This is another figurative expression; which, however, may admit of a good deal of literal meaning. Many of the Syrian soldiers had secreted themselves in different places during the pursuit after the battle, where they died of their wounds, of hunger, and of fatigue; so that they were not all found and buried till seven months after the defeat of the Syrian army. This slow process of burying is dis tinctly related in the three following verses, and extended even to a bone, ver. 15; which, when it was

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