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of the earth were to be blessed. Abraham, of whom this seed was to be born, was chosen of God, but not for his own righteousness."† When Rebekah conceived, she inquired of the Lord and was thus instructed: two nations are in thy womb; in other words, the heads or founders of two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels ;‡ that is to say, two nations shall spring from these two children, differing in their disposition, manners, course of life, and country. These circumstances will keep them separate from each other. The elder shall serve the younger;§ not, indeed, meaning in his own person, but in after time it shall happen to his posterity. St. Paul explains this to have been ordained of God, even before the children were born, neither of them having done any good or evil, God choosing out of the two, the one that should most perfectly promote His Own purpose. We have not time to dwell upon the history of the patriarchs; but this origin of the Israelites is too important a matter of revelation to be overlooked, when we are reviewing God's dispensation of national mercies and deliverances, and national visitations for the punishment of national apostacy.

Of God's people Israel, however, it must be observed, that their whole policy, both civil and ecclesiastical, was expressly formed according to His revealed will. The ordinances of religion and the moral laws were all defined. God commanded a sanctuary to be made for Himself, that He might dwell with them. For this sanctuary, very particular directions were given. It was to be reverenced, not for its own sake, but

for the

* Gen. iii. 15; xxii. 18. + Compare Rom. iv. 3, 11, with x. 3,

and Phil. iii. 9.

Gen. xxv. 23. § Idem.

|| Rom. x. 11.

Exod. xxv. 8.

sake of Him that commanded it to be reverenced: insomuch, that no man might approach it without an awful sense of God's presence. An Ark* was also made by God's command, in which were deposited the two tables with the ten commandments written thereon, with the finger of God.† There the Lord declared to Moses, I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee.+

Wherever the Ark was, there was the place of public worship, there were the signs and the manifestations of God's presence, and there were the means of communion with God. Throughout the journeyings of this people Israel in the wilderness under Moses, the cloud that moved before the Ark was their guide and their shield by day, as the Pillar of fire was the Light directing their march by night. When the Ark went forward, Moses said: Rise up, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered: let them that hate Thee, flee before Thee; and when it rested, he said: Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.§ After the death of Moses, it was of equal value to the people under Joshua.||

David also was well aware of its value. He had witnessed the calamities that had befallen Saul, when the Ark had been neglected. He knew that inquiry of the Word of the Lord had not been made at the Ark, according to the ordinances of God, and he knew, that all the House of Israel had in consequence lamented after the Lord.** He knew, moreover, that the prosperity and well-being of the whole nation over which he was anointed King, and which, as their king, he was commanded to feed, tt i. e., to instruct in the

* Exod. xxv. 10.

Exod. xxv. 22.

T1 Chron. xiii. 3.

+ Comp. Deut. ix. 10, with x. 5.

§ Numb. x. 35, 36.

** 1 Sam. vii. 2.

|| Josh. iii. 3. †† 2 Sam. v. 2.

way of holiness, depended entirely upon their keeping the commandments of the Lord their God. Wherefore he made the bringing up of the Ark to Jerusalem a national concern. He sent for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, and after consulting with the captains of thousands, and hundreds, and every leader, he caused the Ark to be moved, with the consent of all the congregation, towards the restingplace provided for it in Zion. As Moses had done before, so David said: Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before Him.t

In the same manner, after depositing the Ark in the Temple, which he had built, Solomon at the conclusion of his prayer adds the ancient words: Arise, O Lord God into Thy resting-place, Thou and the Ark of thy strength.‡ He said, moreover: blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according to all that He hath promised... The Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers. . . that He may incline our hearts unto Him; to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments which He commanded our fathers.§ The Lord heard this prayer of Solomon, and so blessed the land, that when the Queen of Sheba came to see him in all his glory, she said: Behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me, for thou exceedest the fame that I heard. Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants... Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee to set thee on His throne, to be King for the Lord thy God, because the Lord loved Israel for ever. Therefore made He thee King to do judgment and justice.||

11,

25. + Psalm lxviii. 2 Chron. vi. 41. || 2 Chron. ix. 6-8.

* 1 Chron. xiii. 1; xv.
§ 1 Kings viii. 56-58.

But this Kingdom of Israel is fallen! Their house is left unto them desolate! The Jews to this day are a spectacle to the world, a by-word and a proverb among all nations.* Why hath the Lord done thus unto their great city? Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God.† The outcast condition of the Jews, indeed, according to the sure word of prophecy, stands before the nations of the Earth, a living testimony of the truth of all that is written for our learning; and with this for our example, together with the fall of empires that have corrupted Christianity or apostatized from the faith of Christ, we ought to take warning. For thinkest thou this O man, that judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?§

The misrule of Solomon's son, which was a visitation for the sin of idolatry in which his father involved the nation in his old age, provoked the rebellion of Jeroboam.|| This, which is as the sin of Witchcraft, in its turn, produced idolatry. His revolt caused the kingdom to be rent in pieces, and lest the division of the people should be healed by their going up to do sacrifice in the House of the Lord at Jerusalem,** the leader of the separatists, under the frivolous pretence of sparing them a long journey to the Temple worship at Jerusalem,†† contrived a different form of worship, in support of which, he made priests of the lowest of the people: whosoever would, he consecrated him to the office of the priest, and it became sin in Israel.‡‡

* Deut. xxviii. 37. Jer. xxiv. 9.

1 Kings ix. 8. Jer. xxii. 8, 9.

§ Rom. ii. 3.

+ Deut. xxix. 24. See Note A. at the end. ¶ 1 Sam. xv. 23. ‡‡ Verse 31.

1 Kings xi. 31; xii. 12, &c.

** 1 Kings xii. 27. †† 1 Kings xii. 28. xiii. 33. xii. 30. xiii. 34.

God sent unto them prophets to warn them of the peril of idolatry. These they counted enemies, neither would their kings enquire of them, because they prophesied not good concerning them but evil.* Preferring the counsel of false prophets who encouraged them to do what seemed good to them in their own sight, they pursued their own way to destruction.† But God is

Judge. He putteth down one and setteth up another. Although He had chosen Israel, He was not unmindful of the Gentiles. Wherefore when He sent His prophets to His own people rising up early and speaking, but they would not hear, and calling but they would not answer,§ He forewarned them of nations that should rise and come upon them to punish and eventually destroy them.

Amongst the rest, the Roman empire occupies a position in the pages of prophecy and history, the most prominent and to us the most interesting. It is connected with the downfal of Jerusalem, and the extension of Christianity, together with its subsequent corruption of which we are the living witnesses. Eight hundred years before its existence, Moses describes its character as a nation of fierce countenance, swift as an eagle. Daniel enumerates many particulars of the Roman empire, he describes its strength together with its crafty policy. It was to be mighty, but not by its own power. T

Upon the dismemberment of the Macedonian empire, it derived nourishment and strength, as well from its colonies and provinces in Greece, Asia, Syria, and Egypt, which fell one after another under its dominion, as from its allies which it made tributary, and from "the feuds and divisions of its enemies of which it was always on the

1 Kings xxii. 8. § Jer. vii. 13.

+ See Note B. at the end.
| Deut. xxviii. 49, 50.

Psalm lxxv. 7.

¶ Daniel viii. 24.

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