xvii. 12–14 belongs to the time of Hezekiah, when Israel was threatened by the invasion of Sennacherib. In chap. xvii. 1– 11, in which, at first, the overthrow of Damascus and the kingdom of the ten tribes appears as still future, the Prophet thus transfers himself back to the stand point of an earlier time. To this result we are also led by the chronological arrangement of the whole collection. The Prophet, stepping back in spirit to the beginning of the complication, surveys the whole of the calamity and salvation which arise to Israel from the relation to Asshur and the whole world's power represented by Asshur-a relation into which it had been led by Damascus-and takes a view of the punishment which it receives by its sins, by its having become worldly, and of the Divine mercy which sends deliverance and salvation.

The threatening goes as far as chap. xvii. 11. The rod of chastisement is, in the first instance, in the hand of Asshur; but he, as has been already mentioned, represents the world's power in general. With this, the promise connects itself. The oppressors of the people of God are annihilated, chap. xvii. 12—14. All the nations of the earth, especially Ethiopia, which was, no less than Israel, threatened by Asshur (comp. chap. xxxvii. 9), and to which Egypt at that time occupied the position of a subordinate ally, perceive with astonishment the catastrophe by which God brings about the destruction of His enemies, chap. xviii. 1-3. Or, to state it more exactly: Messengers who, from the scene of the great deeds of the Lord, hasten in ships, first, over the Mediterranean, then, in boats up the Nile, bring the intelligence of the catastrophe which has taken place to Cush, the land of the rustling of the wings, thus named from the rustling of the wings of the royal eagle of the world's power, which, being in birth equal to Asshur, has there its seat, vers. 1 and 2; comp. chap. viii. 8. All the inhabitants of the earth shall look with astonishment at the catastrophe which is taking place, ver. 3, where the Prophet who, in vers. 1 and 2, had described the catastrophe as having already taken place, steps back to the stand-point of reality. In vers. 4-6, we have the graphic description of the catastrophe. At the close, we have, in ver. 7, the words which impart to the prophecy importance for our purpose.

"In that time shall be brought, as a present unto the Lord

of hosts, the people far stretched and shorn, and from the people terrible since it (has been) and onward, and from the people of law-law and trampling down, whose land streams divide, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion."

מן

.עם ממשך

The expression "shall be brought as a present" (the word occurs, besides in this passage, only in Ps.lxviii. 30; lxxvi. 12) points back to the fundamental passage in Ps. lxviii. 30, where David says, "Because of thy temple over Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee." As outwardly, so spiritually too, the sanctuary lies over Jerusalem. The sanctuary of God over Jerusalem is the emblem of His protecting power, of His saving mercy watching over Jerusalem; so that, "because of thy temple over Jerusalem they bring," &c., is equivalent to: On account of thy glorious manifestation as the God of Jerusalem. Cush is in that Psalm, immediately afterwards, expressly mentioned by the side of Egypt, which, at the Prophet's time, was closely connected with it. "Princes shall come out of Egypt, Cush makes her hands to hasten towards God."-According to Gesenius, and other interpreters, the from the second clause is to be supplied before Toy. But this is both hard and unnecessary. It is quite in order that, first the offering of persons, and, afterwards, the offering of their gifts should be mentioned. Parallel is chap. xlv. 14: "The labour of Egypt and the merchandize of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine;" the difference is only this, that there first the goods are mentioned, and then the men. In chap. lxvi. 20, we likewise meet men who are brought for an offering. The designations of the people who here appear as the type of the whole Gentile world to be converted at some future period, and who have been chosen for this honour in consequence of the historical circumstances which existed at the time of the Prophet, are taken from ver. 2. Gesenius is wrong in remarking in reference to them: "All these epithets have for their purpose to designate that distant people as a powerful and terrible one." As Gesenius himself was obliged to remark in reference to the last words "Whose land streams divide:" "This is a designation of a striking peculiarity of the country, not of the people,”—the purpose of the

epithets can generally be this only, to characterise the people according to their different prominent peculiarities.

properly, "drawn out," "stretched," Prov. xiii. 12, corresponds to the "men of extension or stature," in chap. xlv. 14. High stature appears, in classical writers also, as a characteristic sign of the Ethiopians.—On “closely shorn" compare chap. 1. 6, where is used of the plucking out of the hair of the beard." To the people fearful since it and onward,” equivalent to: which all along, and throughout its whole existence, has been terrible; compare Nah. ii. 9, and the expression : "from this day and forward," 1 Sam. xviii. 9. For everywhere one people only is spoken of, comp. ver. 1, according to which Egypt cannot be thought of."law-law" is explained from chap. xxviii. 10, 13, where it stands beside and designates the mass of rules, ordinances, and statutes. This is characteristic of the Egyptians, and likewise of the Ethiopians, who bear so close an intellectual resemblance to them. With regard to the connection of the verse with what precedes, Gesenius remarks: "The consequence of such great deeds of Jehovah will be, that the distant, powerful people of the Ethiopians shall present pious offerings to Jehovah,”—more correctly, "present themselves and their possessions to Jehovah.” -A prelude to the fulfilment Isaiah beheld with his own eyes. It is said in 2 Chron. xxxii. 33: "And many (in consequence of the manifestation of the glory of God in the defeat of Asshur before Jerusalem) brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem." Yet, we must not limit ourselves to that. The real fulfilment can be sought for only at a later time, as certainly as that which the Prophet announces about the destruction of the world's power exceeds, by far, that isolated defeat of Asshur, which can be regarded as a prelude only to the real fulfilment; and as certainly as he announces the destruction of Asshur generally, and, under his image, of the world's power. "He who delights in having pointed out the fulfilment of such prophecies in the later history"-Gesenius remarks-" may find it in Acts viii. 26 ff., and still more, in the circumstance that Abyssinia is, up to this day, the only larger Christian State of the East."-In consequence of the glorious manifestation of the Lord in His kingdom, and of the conquering power which, in Christ, He displayed in

His relation to the world's power, there once existed in Ethiopia a flourishing Christian Church; and on the ground of this passage before us, we look at its ruins which have been left up to this day, with the hope that the Lord will, at some future time, rebuild it.

CHAPTER XIX.

The burden of Egypt begins with the words: "Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt are moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt melteth in the midst of it." The clouds with which, or accompanied by which, the Lord comes, are, in the Old and New Testament writings, symbolical indications and representations of judgment; comp. my remarks on Rev. i. 7; and besides the passages quoted there, compare in addition Jer. iv. 13, Rev. xiv. 14. But what judgment is here spoken of? According to Gesenius and other interpreters, the calamity is the victory of Psammeticus over the twelve princes, with which physical calamities are to be joined. But against this view, ver. 11 alone is conclusive, inasmuch as, according to this verse, Pharaoh, at the time when this calamity breaks in upon Egypt, is the ruler of the whole land: "How say ye unto Pharaoh : I am the Son of the wise, a (spiritual) son of the kings of ancient times," who are celebrated for their wisdom. In vers. 2, according to which, in Egypt, kingdom fights against kingdom, we cannot, therefore, think of independent kingdoms; but following the way of the LXX., vóμos ètì vóμov, of provinces only. Farther,-According to Gesenius, the fierce lord and cruel king in ver. 4 is assumed to be Psammeticus. But against this the plural alone is decisive. Ezek. xxx. 12—according to which, outward enemies, the, are the cause of the drying up of the Nile, of the ceasing of wealth and prosperity-militates against the assumption of a calamity independent of the political one. The circumstance, that the prophecy under consideration, belongs to the series of the burdens, and was written in the view of Asshur's advance, leaves us no room to doubt that the Lord is coming to judgment in the oppression by the Asiatic world's power. To this may be added the analogy of the pro

phecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel against Egypt, which are evidently to be considered as a resumption of the prophecy under consideration, and as an announcement that its realization is constantly going on. They do not know any other calamity than being given up to the Asiatic world's power. Compare e.g. Jer. xlvi. 25, 26: "And behold, I visit Pharaoh and Egypt, and their gods and their kings, Pharaoh and them that trust in him. And I deliver them into the hand of those that seek their soul, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon." After what we have remarked, the discord among the Egyptians in ver. 2, can be considered as the consequence and concomitant of the real and main calamity only: Where God is not in the midst, there, commonly, internal discord is wont to follow upon severe outward affliction, inasmuch as one always imputes to the other the cause of matters going on so badly. And what is said of the drying up of the Nile, we shall thus likewise be obliged to consider as a consequence of the hostile oppression. Waters are, in Scripture, the ordinary image of prosperity; compare remarks on Rev. xvii. 1, 8, 40; xvi. 4. Here the Nile specially is chosen as the symbol of prosperity, inasmuch as upon it the woe and weal of Egypt chiefly depended. In consequence of the hostile invasion which consumes all the strength of the land, the Nile of its prosperity dries up; "its very foundations are destroyed, all who carry on craft are afflicted."

The scope of the prophecy is this: The Lord comes to judgment upon Egypt (through Asshur and those who follow in his tracks), ver. 1. Instead of uniting all the strength against the common enemy, there arises, by the curse of God, discord and dissolution, ver. 2. Egypt falls into a helpless state of distress, ver. 3. "And I give over Egypt into the hand of hard rule, and a fierce king (Jonathan: potens, sc. Nebuchadnezzar) shall rule over them, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts," ver. 4. The fierce king is the king of Asshur, the Asiatic kingdom; compare the mention of Asshur in vers. 23-25; LXX. Baoiλeîs σκληροί. OKλnpoi. For, the fact that the unity is merely an ideal one, is most distinctly and intentionally pointed at by the ceding. The prosperity of the land is destroyed, ver. 5-10. The much boasted Egyptian wisdom can as little avert the ruin of the country as it did formerly, in ancient times; its bearers

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