But the issue of this last invasion is, as ever, clearly foretold: "The nations roar like the roaring of many waters; But he rebuketh them, and they flee far away. And he driveth them as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, And as the thistle-down before the storm. It is the time of evening, and behold alarm! This is the portion of them that spoil us, The lot of them that plunder us." The following too, I think, will be found applicable to the same occasion:* Lo, the valiant men cried without, The ambassadors for peace wept bitterly, The highways were desolated, the passengers ceased. He brake the covenant, he despised the cities, He regarded not man. Of a truth the land hath faded! Blighted Lebanon is ashamed! Sharon is become like a wilderness, And Bashan and Carmel tremble !" The same issue is again predicted:† "Now will I arise, shall Jehovah say; Now will I lift up myself, now will I be exalted. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble; And the nations shall be like the burnings of lime, Hear, ye afar off, what I have done, And ye that are near acknowledge my power." And thou shalt be brought low, from the earth shalt thou speak, And from the dust shalt thou utter thy words; And thy voice shall come like a necromancer's from the earth, It will readily occur to the reader why Altar-ofGod, which I think is the most probable interpretation of Ariel,* should be an epithet of Jerusalem. Altar-of God may also be an appropriate title of the holy city, in those times and circumstances. The first restored Israelites will certainly begin as soon as possible to restore their temple. But this must be a work of time: the probability is, that like the children of the Babylonian captivity, they will first of all erect an altar for the performance of their ceremonies, before they have strength sufficient to engage in the restoration of the larger structure of the temple itself. As being actually so engaged, they are indeed described, in the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah, when God appears in judgment, and for the final deliverance of the faithful. It is much to be remarked, that the term Ariel, only used of the holy city in this passage, is again used in Ezekiel xliii. 15, and applied to the altar in that future temple to be erected for restored Israel. The unspiritual formality of the restored remnant besieged in this city, seems to be glanced at: their great despair, and the feeble moans of their distress, is described," the hypocrites in Zion are afraid." But mark the result; so unlike the issue of the Babylonian or Roman attacks. * See Vitringa. Compare Gesenius. But the multitude of thy foes shall become as small dust, And it shall be suddenly, in an instant!" The enemy is addressed: "From Jehovah Sabaoth shalt thou be visited With thunder, and earthquake, and a mighty voice, All the nations that are fighting against Altar-of-God, As the hungry man dreameth, and lo, he eateth; And as the thirsty man dreameth, and lo, he drinketh; The other scripture that I would quote is, Zechariah the fourteenth : "Behold, a day cometh to Jehovah, When thy spoil shall be divided within thee; And I will gather all nations, Against Jerusalem to war; And the city shall be taken, and the houses plundered, And a division of the city shall go into captivity, But the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And Jehovah shall go forth, and fight against those nations, And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, Which is opposite to Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be rent, From the midst thereof eastward and westward; So shall there be a very great valley ; And half the mountain shall remove northward, and half southward. And ye shall flee by the valley of the mountains; For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal. And Jehovah my Elohim shall come, * See Archbishop Newcome on the Minor Prophets. Compare Isaiah lxvi. 7, 8, 9. liv. 1, &c. B |