Behold, Adonai Jehovah cometh against the strong one, Behold, his reward is with him, And his work before him." This judgment on the great adversary, has proved to demonstration that "all flesh is grass." Jehovah's care of the people, whom his presence is conducting through the desert, is then pourtrayed: "As a shepherd shall he assemble his flock, In his arms he shall gather up the lambs, And in his bosom carry them, gently leading the ewes !" The greatness of Israel's Redeemer, is next most magnificently set forth. The sovereignty and wisdom of his eternal counsels: the littleness, also, of his grand opponents, from the idolatrous Isles of the Gentiles, as is afterwards showed: "Lo, the nations are a drop of the bucket, And they are esteemed as the dust on the balance; The "distant coasts," or "the islands," evidently the site of the fourth empire. After an exposure of the unreasonableness of their idolatrous and superstitious worship, "these islands," or "distant coasts," are addressed, and the raising up of the "Just One" "from the east," a passage which has been already quoted, is brought to their attention. The kings and nations subdued before him, I doubt not, are the potentates and armies which the western empire has at this time sent forth to the field of Armageddon. The apostates at home are described as encouraging and hardening themselves in their idolatrous superstition: ver. 5-7. The people who are being conducted by his hand are next addressed: (xli. 8.) "But thou Israel, my servant, Thou Jacob, whom I have chosen, O seed of Abraham my beloved; Thou whom I have led by the hand from the end of the earth, And whom I have called from its extremities; Thou to whom I have said, Thou art my servant, I chose thee, and have not rejected thee; Fear not, for I am with thee, Be not dismayed, for I am thy Elohim. I will strengthen thee, and I will help thee, And I will support thee with the right hand of my righteousness.* Lo, all that snorted at thee shall be ashamed and confounded, They that contend with thee shall come to nothing and perish, Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them. The men that enter the conflict with thee shall be as nothing, And as nought the men that fight against thee. For I, Jehovah, thy Elohim, do hold thee by thy right hand, Fear not, thou worm Jacob, thou mortal Israel, Lo, I have made thee a threshing wain, A new corn-drag, armed with pointed teeth; And thou shalt thresh the hills, and reduce them to dust, * Or "my avenging right hand.” And thou shalt scatter them abroad, and the wind shall carry them away, And the storm shall disperse them. And thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, Thou shalt triumph in the Holy One' of Israel. It should seem from this last passage, and we shall find others indicating the same, that the restored Israelites are themselves employed as an instrument in the hand of God for the destruction of their assembled enemies. And although the final catastrophe in this contest, is from the immediate hand of God, yet it may please him, at the commencement of the inflicted judgments, to strengthen the hand of the feeble for the chastisement of the strong. It is distinctly said in Ezekiel, at the time that Divine vengeance bursts forth upon Gog and his armies: "And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith Jehovah Elohim." But we are immediately occupied with the miraculous passage of the desert. It follows in the prophecy of Isaiah which we are considering, respecting these, at length, triumphant warriors: (xli. 17.) "These are' afflicted and distressed, I, Jehovah, will have pity upon them, I, the Elohim of Jacob, will not forsake them. I will open streams in the high places, G I will turn the desert into pools of water, I will set in the wilderness the fir-tree, So shall they perceive and know, That the hand of Jehovah hath done this, $ I believe there will be a literal fulfilment of this prophecy. We have here developed before us, the new creation of the surface of the earth, with its impending heavens, as it takes place in the deserts of Arabia. This country, so singular in its present situation, is thus prepared for the returning tribes, by him who "maketh all things new." These are "the scenes of plenty," into which "he that rideth through the desert," in the name of him that should come, is leading his liberated "prisoners."" We wonder not, therefore, to read: (Isaiah xliii. 16.) Who made a way in the sea, And a path in the mighty waters, Who led forth the chariot and the horse, The army and the force together: They lay down, they rose no more, They were extinguished, they were quenched like tow," * Psalm lxviii. Referring, as we shall understand, to the passage of the Red Sea, at the first Exodus : "Ye shall not celebrate these former events, Now shall it spring up; will ye not observe it? The wild beasts of the field shall glorify me, The serpents, and the daughters of the doleful song. For I have given waters in the wilderness, And streams in the desert, To give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself, Taught, therefore, to expect such miraculous interpositions of Divine power for their deliverance, which shall so far exceed "the wonders he wrought in Egypt and in the field of Zoan," that it shall in a manner obliterate their remembrance, God's waiting and afflicted people are often led to invoke his promised help, with allusion to what he had done for them at their first Exodus: (Isaiah li. 9, &c.) "Arise, arise, clothe thee with strength, O, arm of Jehovah ! Arise, as in the days of old, In the former ages. That made in the depths of the sea a way, |