The day cometh to the Lord, not only because he brings it to pass, but also, and more especially, because it is the day on which he is glorified. Every other day has come rather to men, this belongs to the Lord alone. In the same way is the day of the overthrow of Gog represented in Ezek. xxxix. 13 as “the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God." Again, in Is. ii. 12, a day is said to come to the Lord above everything high and exalted; and according to ver. 17, "the Lord alone is exalted in that day." The glorification of the Lord is the result of the overthrow of the heathen. The defeat of the nation of God, which is not mentioned till afterwards, comes into consideration only so far as it is the necessary condition of this overthrow. No doubt the sufferings of the people of God presuppose their sinfulness, and therefore serve to glorify God, whose omnipotence and righteousness are displayed in their punishment (compare 1 Pet. iv. 16, 17). But it is not in this light that it is referred to, either in this passage or in chap. xii. 1-9.-Thy spoil: the prophet addresses Jerusalem, the seat of the kingdom of God in his day, since it was under the image of this city that the kingdom was present to his inward view. The impossibility of adhering strictly to the letter of this announcement is apparent from its figurative character throughout, which no one can deny, and especially from the fact that all the nations of the earth could not possibly gather together to attack the city of Jerusalem, or come every year to celebrate the feast of tabernacles after their defeat. According to ver. 2, the spoil of Jerusalem must be the spoil, which is taken from it (compare Is. xxxiii. 4). The passive side is presented here, the active in ver. 14.

Ver. 2. "And I gather all the Gentiles to Jerusalem to war, and the city is taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city goeth forth into captivity, and the residue of the people is not cut off from the city."

The assembling of the heathen against Jerusalem, which is here ascribed to God, is traced to Satan in Rev. xx. 8. But if even evil is subservient to God, and becomes one of the means by which his plans are carried out; if Satan, who is introduced on that account in Job among the angels of God, is still his servant, though an unwilling one, just as Asshur is called

the rod of fury in his hand, and Nebuchadnezzar his servant; if he cannot touch a hair of the heads of the members of the Church of God, the constant object of his attacks, without permission from God (compare chap. iii.); it is evident that the discrepancy is only in appearance. There is a parallel in Ezek. xxxix. 2 sqq., where the Lord is represented as bringing Gog from the farthest north to the mountains of Israel, that he may destroy him there. The expression," the houses are rifled, the women ravished,” is taken from Is. xiii. 16. When that which properly belongs to Babylon reaches Zion, the divine re-action cannot long be delayed. In the declaration," and the remnant of the nation is not cut off from the city," a contrast is evidently intended to the former judgment on Jerusalem, which the Chaldeans had been the instruments employed in executing. In that case the advantages enjoyed by those who were left behind, on the occasion of the first transportation, over those who were carried away into captivity, was only an apparent one; a respite was all that was granted them. Now the advantages will be solid and lasting. Even in the expression which he employs, the prophet points to the passages relating to the former exile. Thus in Jer. xxix. 16-18 we find, "for thus saith the Lord to the king, that sitteth upon the throne of David, and to all the people, that dwell in this city, to your brethren, that have not gone forth with you as captives, behold I send upon them the sword, and hunger and pestilence, and scatter them into all the kingdoms of the earth;" and again in 2 Kings xxv. 11, “and the remnant of the nation, that was left in the city, Nebuzaradan led into captivity." This contrast, which presupposes that no curse rests upon Jerusalem, but that it is under the protection of the mercy of God, is entirely set aside by many of the Church fathers, who imagine that the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is alluded to here (e.g., Theodoret and Jerome). What follows shows still more clearly that it is with the true Church of God, and not with the base sediment, that we have here to do.

Ver. 3. "And the Lord goeth forth, and fighteth against those heathen as in his day of conflict, and the day of the battle."

The connexion between this verse and the preceding one may be explained by referring to Is. xxvi. 20, 21: "Rise up, my

with

people, enter thy chambers and shut thy doors behind thee. Wait but a little while, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the wickedness of the inhabitants of the earth against him.", with ? of the person, always means to fight against any one (compare the remarks on ver. 14). The rendering adopted in the Septuagint καὶ ἐξελεύσεται κύριος καὶ παρατάξεται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν EKЄívois tended to confirm Theodoret and Cyril in their mistaken idea that the prophecy referred to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. The former observes, πаратážeтаι dè, οὐκ Ἰουδαίων ὑπερμαχῶν, ἀλλὰ κατ ̓ ἐκείνων στρατηγών.—“ 48 the day of his conflict," is equivalent to, "as in his day of conflict;" and to this is appended "in the day of the battle." We may explain this as meaning, either "as he is accustomed to do," or "as he has done." Those who adopt the former explanation refer the words to all the conflicts, in which the Lord has engaged on behalf of his people (compare, for example, Josh. x. 10; Judges iv. 15—23; 1 Sam. vii. 10). Others, again, are of opinion, that there is a special reference to the Lord's conflict with the Egyptians. Thus Jerome, who follows the Chaldee, says, "he now goes forth and makes war, as in the day of battle, when he overwhelmed Pharoah in the Red Sea, and fought for the people of Israel." The latter interpretation is to be preferred. The judgment of the Lord upon the Egyptians is expressly called a conflict, a battle in Ex. xiv. 14 and 15, 3 sqq.; and the deliverance from Egypt towers so high above all the rest, that it is spoken of as the deliverance par excellence; whilst subsequent ones are compared to it, to indicate their greatness, without any further description to single them out from the mass of the rest (compare Is. xi. 11, "then will the Lord stretch out his hand the second time"). The only means referred to here, as those which the Lord employs in his conflict, are an earthquake, and putrefaction which destroys the foe. Ezekiel is more minute in his description (see chap. xxxviii.).

Ver. 4. And his feet stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives is split in two, from east to west, a valley very great, and the half of the mountain removes towards the north, and the half towards the south."

The reason why the Lord is represented here as standing upon the Mount of Olives, is explained in the clause which follows, "which is before Jerusalem on the east." Regarded as a mere geographical notice, these words would have been quite superfluous, so far as the contemporaries of the prophet were concerned, who had the Mount of Olives constantly before their eyes. The situation of the mountain is evidently mentioned, to show that it was this which induced the Lord to select it as his standing-place. The Mount of Olives stood before and above Jerusalem. It afforded the most uninterrupted view of the whole city. From this mountain, therefore, the Lord directs the attack upon the enemies in the city, and adopts the necessary measures to save his own people. He, at whose presence the mountains flow away, prepares for them a way of escape, that they may not be involved in the judgment inflicted upon the ungodly heathen. That the division of the mountain is to be regarded as effected by an earthquake, is apparently implied in ver. 5. An earthquake is also mentioned in Is. xxix. 6, as one of the punishments with which the Lord will visit the enemies of Zion, "thou shalt be visited of the Lord of Hosts, with thunder, and with earthquake, and with great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire." But the passage, which the prophet appears to have most distinctly before his mind, is Ezek. xxxviii. 19, 20: "In that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. And the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things, that creep upon the earth, and all men that are upon the earth, tremble before me, and the mountains are destroyed, and the hills fall, and every wall will fall to the ground." (On the earthquake as a symbol of the omnipotence of God to destroy, see the remarks on Haggai ii. 6, and my commentary on the Book of Revelation, vol. i. p. 275). The earthquake which threatens destruction to the foe, is the signal to the believers to fly; for they are afraid of being destroyed by the judgment of God along with the heathen, in the midst of whom they are living. In like manner the prophet had previously urged the members of the covenant-nation, who still tarried in Babylon, to fly with all speed, that they might not be exposed to the judgments, which were about to fall upon

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her (chap. ii. 6, 7). Jeremiah also had done the same thing in chap. li. 6, " Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul, that ye be not cut off for her iniquity; for it is the time of vengeance for the Lord; he renders to her the recompense."-Now, whilst the wish for flight is thus excited in the minds of the believers, the Lord opens a way for it by means of the same earthquake, which brings destruction to the foe. In a case like this, where there was real danger in delay, to any one desirous of escaping from Jerusalem by means of a rapid flight, the Mount of Olives, which terminated the valley of Jehoshaphat, and which David, when he fled, was obliged to climb (2 Sam. xv. 30), presented an obstacle of no little importance. But this was removed, when the Lord divided the mountain. The flying multitude of believers poured through the extended valley of Jehoshaphat, and as soon as they were beyond the range of the divine judgments, the latter poured down with violence and without cessation upon the enemies of God, as they had formerly done upon Sodom, when Lot reached Zoar. It is very obvious that the whole account is figurative, and that the fundamental idea, the rescue of believers and the destruction of their enemies, is clothed in drapery borrowed from the local circumstances of Jerusalem.-With reference to the manner in which the mountain is divided, several of the commentators, particularly Theodoret and Cyril, who were led astray by the false.rendering of the Septuagint, and also Jerome, have fallen into considerable errors. They erroneously imagine that a fourfold division takes place. But the prophet merely speaks of a simple division of the mountain, in which, according to his description, the mountain is divided in two; and, almost in the same manner as when the Jordan was divided, the one half moves towards the north, the other half towards the south, thus opening a broad valley from east to west, from Jerusalem to the Jordan.- is correctly explained by Marck as follows: "not on this side, or that side, or merely at the extremity, nor into more parts than two, but in the middle, into two equal parts." The words "towards the east and towards the west" do not show the direction in which the two halves fall back, but the direction of the split; the mountain is divided across, not lengthways. The in