Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

the fire and the torch that should devour all the people round about; and, consequently, they err greatly who apply this Prophecy to the destruction of Jerufalem by the Romans. And this will appear farther from the 9th verse, And it shall come to pass in that day, (the time here spoken of from the beginning of the chapter) that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Add to this, that in the same day, it is faid ver. 6. And Jerufalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerufalem. All which being confidered, it is certain that this Prophecy cannot relate to the aforesaid destruction of Jerufalem, but is yet to be fulfilled.

In ver. 10. instead of me, it ought to have been rendered HIM whom they have pierced: For this appears very evidently to be the true reading from what follows in the very fame verse, and they shall mourn for HIM, &c. and shall be in bitterness for bim, &c. And what farther confirms this, or rather puts it out of all dispute, is the quotation of it by St. John xix. 37. And again another Scripture faith, they shall look on HIM whom they have pierced. From the context in this Prophecy of Zechariah, and also from its parallel, Rev. i. 7. And every eye shall see him, they also which pierced him, &c. it is evident this prediction is to be fulfilled at the second coming of Chrift.

LI.

ZECH. XIV. 10. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon, fouth of Jerufa

G2

lem:

lem: it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place: from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower 11 of Hananeel, unto the king's wine presses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction: but Jerufalem shall be fafely in16 habited. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came againft Jerufalem, shall even go up from year to year, to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep 17 the feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be, that who so will not come up, of all the families of the earth unto Jerufalem, to worship the King, the Lord of 18 Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to 19 keep the feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and of all nations, that come not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles.

(

From the 11th verse it appears, that the inhabiting of Jerufalem here spoken of is yet future; because it is faid, there shall be no more deftruction of it.

The reason why the Feast of Tabernacles is fo often here mentioned as a feast to be kept after the return of Ifrael, and that feast only, seems to me to be, because, as that feast was in memory of the children's of Ifrael dwelling in tents or tabernacles in the wilderness; so they may, perhaps, upon their return, keep a feast in memory of their long abode in captivity, far from their own houses or cities, which may be figuratively called dwelling dwelling in tents or tabernacles, and in the wilderness. For the ends of all these feasts among the Ifraelites were (as the judicious Mr. Mede observes) partly for remembrance of things past, and partly for types and figures of things to come.

XXXXXXX

XX

MALACHI is allowed by all to be the last of the Jewish prophets; but at what time he prophecied is uncertain. The most probable opinion is, that it was about 397 years before Chrift.

LII.

MALACHI iii. 1. Behold I will fend my mefsenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple: even the messenger of the covenant 2 whom ye delight in.-But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like ful3 lers foap. And he shall fit as a refiner and purifier of filver: and he shall purify the fons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer 4 unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerufalem be pleafant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in II former years. And I will rebuke the devourer for your fakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, faith the Lord of hofts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delightsome land, faith the Lord of hofts.

[blocks in formation]

: grow up as

Chap. iv. 1. For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, faith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor 2 branch. But unto you that fear my name, shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and * 3 calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that I shall do this, faith the 5 Lord of Hosts. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dread6 ful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Mal. iii. 1. is quoted, Matt. xi. 10. Mark i. 2. and Luke vii. 27. in all which quotations it is, Bebold I Send my messengers before THY face which shall prepare тнY way before THEE. Our present reading in Malachi, or that of the Evangelifts, therefore must be a false one. But it is highly improbable that all these Evangelists should make the same mistake, and if not, they certainly copied from more authentic and genuine copies of the Old Testament, than any which we can pretend to. For which reason (I think) we may safely affirm, the New-Testament reading to be the true one.

* Or multiply.

4

It is said also, Luke i. 76. And thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, &c. And again, Luke i. 16. And many of the children of Ifrael shall be turn to the Lord THEIR God; and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Here the words, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, seem to be quoted from Mal. iv. 6. The 5th verse of Malachi iv. Behold I will fend you Elijah the Prophet, before the great and terrible day of the Lord, most probably relates to the fame person, as appears from Matt. xvii. 10-13. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and Said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things: But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they lifted: likewise shall also the fon of man fuffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Agreeable to which are also the words of our Lord, Matt. xi. 14. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias which was to come. And yet John Baptift, when the Jews fent priests and Levites to ask him who he was, denies himself to be Elias, John i. 21. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias ? And he faith, I am not.

How to reconcile these words of John the Baptist with those of our Saviour would have. been

G4

« AnteriorContinuar »