3. And it shall come to pass in that day, That I will render Jerusalem

A burdensome stone to all the nations.

All who burden themselves with it shall be much hurt, Though all the nations of the earth are gathered against her. 4. In that day hath Jehovah said,

I will strike every horse with confusion,

And his rider with madness:

And to the house of Judah I will cause opening of eyes, And every horse of the nations will I smite with blindness.

5. And the leaders of Judah shall say in their hearts,

There is strength to me and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,' In Jehovah Sabaoth, their God.

6. In that day will I make the leaders of Judah

As a furnace of fire to wood,

And as the torch of fire to the sheaf:

And they shall consume on the right hand and on the left,
All the nations that are round about,

And Jerusalem shall yet be inhabited in her place."

7. And Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first,'

So that the glory of the house of David may not be magnified,
Nor the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem above that of
Judah.

All this is still unaccomplished prophecy; but I think former Scriptures throw some light upon it, especially Psalm lxviii., where we gathered, that the Divine Presence would be first manifested to a people which it was leading though the desert, while the last storm should be raging through the Holy Land, and should at length centre its force on Jerusalem.

8. In that day will Jehovah be a Shield over the inhabitants of

Jerusalem,

And he that is feeble' in that day shall be as David,

And the house of David shall be as Elohim

of Jehovah before them.

9. And it shall come to pass in that day,

That I will seek all nations to destroy them,
That are come against Jerusalem:

10. And I will pour upon the house of David,
And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
A spirit of moaning and supplication;

And they shall look on him whom they pierced,

as the angel

And they shall mourn over him as with the mourning over an only child,

And the bitterness for him shall be as the bitterness for a first-born.

This strongly marks the first recognition of “ JESUS whom they crucified," by the rulers and inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the true Messiah.

11. In that day the mourning shall be great in Jerusalem, As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in Megiddo.

Like the mourning for the loss of their king, when all Judah lamented the untimely fate of Josiah, who fell in the plains of Megiddo.

And the land shall mourn, every family apart.

12. The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart, The family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart.

The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart,
The family of the house of Shimei apart, and their wives apart.

1 Or, "he that stumbled," or, had fallen into decay."-BLANEY.

? See Simon in verbo.

All the families that remain,

Every family apart, with their wives apart.

"This mourning of the Jews will take place at the reappearing of their Messiah from heaven, Apoc. i. 7, xx. 4, when the restored descendants of those Jews who slew him shall be touched with the deepest compunction for the guilt of their forefathers." The families here specified seem to mark out the inhabitants of Jerusalem at that era ; and we seem to gather that the royal house of David is not yet extinct among the Jews, and that it will be found among that first remnant that shall be settled at Jerusalem before the troubles of the last days. It is very clear, too, that the Israelites, thus restored to Jerusalem, are not, as to the main body of them, converted to the Christian faith, but are still Jews, and the mistaken followers of Moses. But now is the time of their receiving mercy.

CHAPTER XIII.

1. In that day shall be a fountain
Opened for the house of David,

And for the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
For sin and for uncleanness.

2. And it shall come to pass in that day,

Hath Jehovah Sabaoth said,

I will cut off the names of idols from the earth,

And they shall be no more mentioned:

And the prophets with the unclean spirit
Will I cause to pass out of the earth.

"This prophecy," as Dr. Blaney remarks, "extends to the extirpation of idolatry in general;" and we may

"This

add, of all impostures and delusions of Satan. event will take place when the Jews are converted to the Christian faith." What follows evidently relates to the presumptuous occupation of the prophetical office, by which, in various ways, the church had previously suffered so much.

3. And it shall come to pass when any shall yet prophesy, That his father and mother shall say unto him,

Even his parents, Thou shalt not live,

Because thou hast spoken falsely in the name of Jehovah;
And his father and mother, his own parents,

Shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.

4. And it shall come to pass in that day,

The prophets shall be ashamed, each of his vision, when he prophesieth;

Neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:

5. But he shall say, I am no prophet,

I am a cultivator of the earth,

I have served such a one from my youth.

And one shall say, What are those strokes in thy hand? And he shall say, Those with which I have been marked in the house of my friends.

This clearly predicts that in the time foretold the credulity of mankind shall no more be abused by false prophets and false teachers, and by those who clandestinely or presumptuously assume the ministerial office. "Two ancient customs are clearly alluded to here; that of the idolatrous prophets who sought to engage the attention of their God by cutting themselves, 1 Kings, xviii. 28; the other, that of those who cut themselves as a token of their grief and mourning for their deceased relations and friends, Jer. xvi. 6. It appears also, from

Jer. xlviii. 37, that these cuttings were performed on the hands in particular. Hence the man, when challenged for the scars visible in his hands, would deny them to have proceeded from an idolatrous cause, and pretend that they were wounds which he had given himself for the loss of his friends: so that we have a clear prediction, under metaphors taken from the custom of the times, that all mankind shall at length become ashamed of all imposture, all false religions, and all fanatic inspirations, and, for the honour of God, will no longer " endure those who say they are apostles and are not."

7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
And against the man who is near unto me,'
Hath Jehovah said.

Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered,
And again will I turn my hand against the little ones.
8. And it shall be in all the land, saith Jehovah,
Two parts thereof shall be cut off and die,
But a third shall be left therein.

9. And I will bring that third through the fire,
And I will refine it as silver is refined,

And will prove it as gold is proved.

They shall call upon my name,
And I will answer them.

I will say, This is my people,
And they shall say, "Jehovah is

my

Elohim."

Several commentators are of opinion, that the prophecy resumes in this place, and that it contemplates the Redeemer and his little flock at the first advent: but,

' Dr. Blaney.

2

* Or," Against my friend, and

against the mighty one, my neighbour."