THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS.
(Concluded.)
From The Voice of Israel.
“So many of the prophecies of the Old Testament do evidently refer to the reduction of the Jews into their own land as the people of the Messiah, that I can by no means doubt of the certainty of that event.”—Doddridge’s Comment on Romans 11: 12, Note a.
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In our former article on this subject, a prophetical passage occurs, respecting the application of which to the restoration of the Jewish people, doubts may exist in the minds of some of our readers. We refer to Isaiah 49: 8; and, in order to remove scruples regarding our views of that text, we shall here give Bishop Horsley’s note on the words, which is as follows: —
“The mention of people here (am) in the singular, clearly proves that the land * to be restored is the land of Canaan; and that the latter part of this, and the whole following verse, contain a promise of restoration to the natural Israelites. For the distinction between am (people) in the singular and amim (peoples) in the plural, the one denoting the single people of the Jews, the other all the peoples of the earth promiscuously, is I believe, without a single exception.”
Attention to this peculiarity of the prophetic language will frequently enable the student of prophecy to apprehend the scope and meaning of passages in the Hebrew prophets, which would otherwise appear obscure and perplexed.
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* (In place of the common rendering, “to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages,” as in the common translation, the Bishop translated the original thus, “to restore the land, and give possession of the desolate heritages.”)
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We shall now proceed to take a general view of the testimony of the other prophets. In Ezekiel 20: 40-42, it is written,
“For in mine holy mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.”
That this prophecy refers to the final restoration of Israel, is clear from the 35th, 38th, and 40th verses. Again, chapter 28: 25-26:
“Thus saith the Lord God; when I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.”
Nothing of this has Israel yet enjoyed, nor will enjoy, until the time here spoken of is come—namely, when the Lord shall have executed judgment upon all those that that despise them: for be it observed, Israel’s enemies are not to be won, not to become Israel’s friends; the time will never arise when Israel shall dwell among the nations in peace and security. Let Israel’s sons attend diligently to the voice of their prophets, and not suffer themselves to be deluded by false expectations.
In chapter 34 of this same prophet, the present condition of the Jewish people is set forth under the expressive image of a flock of sheep which has been scattered over the face of the whole earth, and become a prey to every beast of the field; and the Lord presents himself as their owner, gathering his sheep, which have been thus dispersed, constituting them one flock, leading them to their fold, providing for them rich pasture over the mountains of Israel, and setting over them a great and good Shepherd, under whose wise government and watchful care they shall greatly prosper, and no more be a prey to their enemies.
“Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country; I will feed them in good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: then shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. . . . And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hands of those that serve themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid,”—verses11-14, 23-25, 27-28.
And in chapter 36, the mountains of Israel, which are about to receive the Lord’s people, are thus addressed:
“Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken; ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: and I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more.”
It is truly astonishing that any who are acquainted with Jewish history, and reflect on the condition in which this people existed from the period of its return from Babylon until they were utterly ruined by the Romans, can for a moment entertain the idea, that these and other similar prophecies received their accomplishment in that event, and in the state of things which followed. A Jewish writer, referring to the state of the people subsequently to the restoration from Babylon, observes, “Who can peruse the wonderful details of Ezra and Nehemiah, respecting the condition of the people, and their accounts of the imperfect organization of the second state, and regard such times as an example, either of Jewish excellence, or of religious perfection? Tracing the course of history from that period to their final dispersion, it is one unmitigated account of cruel warfare, wicked luxury, and lawless depravity. The immense revolutions produced from time to time by foreign invasion, and domestic feuds—the vicious morals of the people, and the abandoned spirit of their rulers—added to which, the return of but a few after the edicts of the enlargement, and the subsequent emigration, are, certainly, no state of things to be regarded as the unsullied medium of historical and literary transmission, or traditional faithfulness, or of legislative or judicial purity.”
In chapter 37: 1-14, we find a remarkable vision relating to the whole house of Israel; who are represented to the prophet under the striking image of “a valley full of dry bones,” expressive of their condition as having been for a long period politically dead. He is instructed to prophesy, and say unto them,
“O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these dry bones; behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe, upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.”
This vision contains a strong assurance of the restoration of the whole house of Israel to a state of civil and political existence in their own land, after a long period of dispersion and degradation.
In verses 16th and 17th of the same chapter, the Lord thus addresses the prophet.
“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and the children of Israel his companions (i.e. those of the ten tribes associated with Judah and Benjamin): then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions. And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.”
These two sticks were, by a miracle, to become one in the prophet’s hand, to typify that miraculous interposition by which the future union of Judah and Israel into one kingdom shall be effected. Verses 21-22,
“Thus saith the Lord God; behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided 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 transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: and so they shall be my people, and will be their God.”—Verses 23-24.
An eminent critical writer observes, “It is in vain to look for purity of religious worship answerable to this prophecy among the Jews returned from the Babylonish captivity. It is said, indeed, that after the return from Babylon, the Jews scrupulously avoided idolatry, and have continued untainted with it to this day; but generally as this is asserted by all commentators one after another, it is not true. Among the restored Jews, there was indeed no public idolatry patronised by the government, as there had been before the captivity, particularly in the reign of Ahaz. But from the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, to the last moments of the Jewish polity, there was a numerous faction, which in everything affected the Greek manners; and this hellenising party were idolaters to a man.”
Let us now turn to the first chapter of Hosea, where the Lord reveals his purpose respecting Israel; and declares unto the prophet, that he will reject and disown them, because of their transgressions.
“I will cause to cease the kingdom of Israel. . . . I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but will utterly take them away. . . . Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.”
That this rejection of Israel, however, is not final, but only for a season, is obvious from what immediately follows in verses 10th and 11th.
“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the children of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
It is here declared, that in the land of Judea, where this prophecy was delivered, and where the execution of the sentence took place, —there, in that very place, they, the natural Israel, to whom it was said, “Ye are not my people,” shall be called “children of the living God.” And since they are to be acknowledged again as the children of the living God, in the same place where this sentence was pronounced and executed, the prophecy clearly promises their restoration to their own land. Moreover, this prophecy cannot be accommodated to the return from Babylon; for the number of those who returned were not, as has been already observed, so much as one hundredth part of the whole Jewish race; so little were they to be compared with the sands of the sea.
In chapter 3, it is written,
“The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without Teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the lord and his goodness in the latter days.”—Verses 4-5.
And to encourage them to confide in his promise of restoration, the Lord, in chapter 6, puts words in their mouth expressive of his purpose of favor towards them;
“Come, let us return unto the lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight” (i.e. his presence). —
Verses 1-2.
The Lord who has departed will return, and again exhibit the tokens of his presence among his people.
Again, the Lord by the prophet Amos, after uttering his judgments against his people Israel, shuts up all, with these words;
“And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”—Chapter 9: 14-15.
In reading the prophets, it is peculiarly interesting to observe how all the Lord’s threatenings against his people are immediately followed by promises of mercy, and restoration to his special favour. Further, in Micah 2: 12, the Lord declares,
“I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.”
The restoration of Israel is here predicted under the image of a shepherd gathering together his flock, and bringing them into the fold. And the gathering is not a partial gathering; for it is expressly said,
“I will surely assemble all of thee.”
And in chapter 4,
“In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halteth a remnant, and her that was cast off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from thenceforth, even for ever.”—Verses 6-7.
The language of the prophet Zephaniah is to the same effect. In chapter 3, the Lord thus addresses his people:
“Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he has cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. . . . Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was cast out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.”—Verses 14-15, 19-20.
None will surely say that anything like this has ever yet happened in the history of this people, but just the reverse. The time, however, is approaching when this promise shall be accomplished in all its amplitude.
Moreover, the prophets who prophesied after the return from Babylon, testify in like manner, to this great and glorious event. In Zechariah 8 we read,
“Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth, and in righteousness. It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come many people, and the inhabitants of many cities, and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of Hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people, and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, in those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”—Verses 7-8, 20-23.
We would here ask those who refer this and like prophetical predictions to events already past, when it was that many people and strong nations, formed such resolutions as are here mentioned? and when the universally despised Jews were thus esteemed and honoured? To say that these promises have had their accomplishment in the past history of the Jewish people, is to say that the prophets described things comparatively small under the greatest images; and this being once granted, what assurance have we that the magnificent promises to the faithful will ever take effect in the extent of the terms in which they are conveyed? That all the great and precious promises which the Lord hath made unto his ancient people, will receive a visible and literal accomplishment, we have no ground to doubt; for He hath declared,
“Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.”—Jeremiah 32: 42.
A little while, and it shall be said,
“Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord their God spake concerning them; all are come to pass unto them, not one thing hath failed thereof.”
Before concluding this article, we must further observe, that the restoration of the Jews to their own land, is not to be brought about by the common operations of Providence, but by special Divine interposition. This is evident from the many passages of prophecy where the Lord appropriates this work unto himself. Every reader of Scripture must have observed how very frequently it is declared that the Lord will do this; —“the Lord thy God will gather thee”—“the Lord will bring thee into the land”—“Behold, I will bring them from the north country”—“Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen.” In other passages the Lord is represented as being personally present with them:
“The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rereward.”—Isaiah 52: 12.
Again in Ezekiel 34: 11,
“Behold, I, even I (rather, Behold, here am I): I will both search my sheep and seek them out.”
It is spoken of as a work which will afford an extraordinary display of the Lord’s power. It is ascribed to his hand, his right hand, his mighty hand, and his out-stretched arm (Isaiah 11: 11; Ezekiel 20: 34,) expressions signifying an extraordinary exhibition of Divine power, as may be seen by referring to Exodus 15: 6, 12: Deuteronomy 5: 15. The effects of God’s power on this occasion are spoken of (Micah 7: 15-17):
“According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things: the nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.”
What the marvellous things here referred to are, may be seen by turning to Psalm 78: 12-16. The same marvellous display of God’s power, in the day when He shall restore His people, is likewise mentioned in Isaiah 41: 18-20:
“I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and the box-tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together: that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.”
See also chapter 42: 19-20. “These,” says Bishop Horsley, “are images of God’s power displayed miraculously, in effects out of the course of nature, and out of the reach of human power and human policy. They are images of such effects of God’s power, or they have no meaning. And I cannot but think it would be a matter of just wonderment, if such images were applied to events, for the compassing of which no miraculous means were employed.” This manifestation of God’s power in the final restoration of Israel is implied in Jeremiah 16: 14-15. And it forms a part of the subject-matter of that triumphant song provided against this great occasion: Psalm 98.
“O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. . . . He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”
Arise, O Lord, and do as thou hast spoken, that we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that we may glory with thine inheritance.
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THE RETALIATION. —The noblest revenge we can take upon our enemies is to do them a kindness; for, to return malice for malice, and injury for injury, will afford but a temporary gratification to our evil passions, and our enemies only will be rendered the more bitter against us. But, to take the first opportunity of showing them how superior we are to them, by doing them a kindness, or by rendering them a service, the sting of reproach will enter deeply into their souls; and, while unto us it will be a noble retaliation, our triumph will not unfrequently be rendered complete, not only by blotting out the malice that had otherwise stood against us, but by bringing repentant hearts to offer themselves at the shrine of friendship.
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Men dare not, as bad as they are, appear open enemies to virtue; when, therefore, they persecute virtue, they pretend to think it counterfeit or else lay some crime to its charge.
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