32 nations. Not for your fakes do I this, faith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and con33 founded for your own ways, O house of Ifrael. Thus faith the Lord God, In the day that I have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you

to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be build34 ed. And the defolate land shall be tilled, whereas 35 it lay defolate in the fight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was defolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are 36 inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you, shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the 37 Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus faith the Lord God, I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them, I will increase 38 them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her folemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

The Prophet having thus described the Restoration of Judah and Ifrael, in words so plain and clear, that none but a professed commentator (one would think) could have possibly mistaken them, proceeds, in the next chapter, by a vision of dry bones reviving, to shew, that however unpromifing the state of Ifrael might seem, when dispersed throughout all lands, yet that God would most certainly effect the re-union of the tribes which he here foretold.

Chap. xxxvii. 1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord,

and

and set me down in the midst of the valley which was 2 full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about, and behold, there were very many in 3 the open valley, and lo they were very dry. And he faid unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. 4 Again he said unto me, Prophesie upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word 5 of the Lord. Thus faith the Lord God unto these bone's, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into 6 you, and ye shall live. And I will lay finews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you; and ye shall 7 know that I am the Lord. So I prophefied as I was commanded; and as I prophefied, there was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came toge8 ther, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the finews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath 9 in them. Then faid he unto me, Prophefie unto the wind [or breath] and say to the wind (or breath] thus faith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they 10 may live. So I prophefied as he commanded me, and

the breath came into them, and they lived and stood II upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, these bones are the whoLE house of Ifrael: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts. 12 Therefore, prophecy and say unto them, Thus faith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your 13 graves, and bring you into the land of Ifrael. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought 14 you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, faith the Lord. 15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Ifrael his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Jofeph, the stick of Ephraim, 17 and for all the house of Ifrael his companions. And join them one to another into one stick, and 18 they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these ? 19 Say unto them, Thus faith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Ifrael his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they 20 shall be one stick in my hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest, shall be in thine hand before 21 their eyes. And say unto them, Thus faith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Ifrael from among the heathen whither they be gone, and will gather them on every fide, and bring them into 22 their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Ifrael, and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided

23 into two kingdoms any more at all: Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their tranfgreffions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have finned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, 25 and I will be their God. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my fervant, wherein

3

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

26 David shall be their prince for ever. 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 27 sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be 28 their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do fanctify Ifrael, when my fanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

That this chapter is not to be taken in an allegorical sense, or applied to the Gentile churches, is evident from ver. 21 and 22. For how can the churches of the Gentiles or Christians in general, become one nation in the land upon the mountains of Ifrael? Does not the stick of Judab and the stick of Jofeph, &c. which are to become One, evidently mean the two kingdoms of Judab and Ifrael which had been divided? These are the true and literal children of Ifrael, which are to be taken from among the heathen, and not any allegorical offspring, as some commentators suppose, in order to obscure some of the most clear and plain passages of the scripture Prophecies. If then a literal restoration of Ifrael be here intended, it is plain that the Prophecy is not yet fulfilled, from ver. 25. where it is said, that after the Restoration here spoken of, they shall dwell in the land of their forefathers, they and their children, dren, and their children's children for ever. But this we cannot suppose to be verified by any former return, as they have since been dispersed among all nations.

The Prophecy is therefore yet to be fulfilled, though not without some powerful opposition, which shall be unsuccessfully made against it, by some great and populous nations in the latter days; which is the subject of the two following

a Joel C.2.3. chapters.

San C.12. V.1.

Chap. xxxviii. 1. And the word of the Lord came 2 unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Me3 shech and Tubal, and prophecy against him *; And say, Thus faith the Lord God, Behold, I am againft thee,

* The several nations who are here prophefied againft, are, according to the learned Mr. JOSEPH MEDE, these that follow:

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• To Meshech we allot Cappadocia, the inhabitants of which were once called Meschini, Mofchi, Mossyni, and Mofynæcis