CHAPTER XLIX.

THE ALPHA AND OMEGA TURNS TO “ THE ISLES.”

THE called and sent One of Yahweh turns to “the isles ” and “ peoples ” afar off from Judah ; as Moses long before had intimated in his prophetic song of witnesses “ Listen, 0 isles unto me ; and hearken, ye peoples from far ; Yahweh hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft ; in his quiver hath he hid me, and said unto me, Thou art my servant O ISRAEL, in whom I will be glorified.”

Some would have us take this of the national “ servant ; ” a noted Jewish historian among them. To such it is sufficient to point out that this “ Servant ” was to bring the apostate national “ servant ” back to God, and to be “ abhorred ” of that same national servant in the process. No, it is an individual “ Israel,” a true Prince of God who is here before us, namely, J e s u s o f N a z a r e t h . The features and attributes of his commission are all in harmony with the prophecy. Yahweh calls him from nativity. Isaiah had previously (vii. 14) spoken of that nativity : “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The promise of “ the seed of the woman ” who should bruise the serpent’s head was an earlier “ calling.” The birth of Isaac was a parabolic heralding of the same thing ; and the allusions to “ the Son of Yahweh’s handmaid ” in the psalms (lxxxvi. 16) was only in harmony with the covenant with David : “ I will be his Father, and he shall be my son.”

The “ mention of his name ” revealed a manifestation of God I Immanuel. “ I am he,” “ I a m t h e F i r s t O n e , ” was shewn in Israel when Jesus appeared. " He hath that sent me hath seen

598 THE MINISTRY OF THE PROPHETS. [ISA. XLIX.

the Father ” was his own declaration on the subject and was supported by convincing works.

" H e hath made my mouth like a sharp sword,” was illustrated in Jesus even on the testimony of his enemies, who averred that “ never man spake like this man.” And he himself always most scrupulously insisted that his words were not his own, but the Father’s who sent him. It was “ God’s words ” that he claimed to have been sent to speak, and that he did speak with such power. The “ mouth like a sharp sword ” is memorialised in the Apocalyptic visions (ch. i. 16) : “ Out of his mouth goeth a sharp two-edged sword,” with which he fights against apostate professors (ch. ii. 12, 16) ; and at last against the nations in open war (ch. xix. 15). In the days of his flesh he denounced the leaders of the people and prophesied the doom of Jerusalem, which came to pass in the same generation.

It was all the purpose of Yahweh and accomplished by His power. The expressions, “ hidden in the shadow of his hand,” and “made a polished shaft in his quiver,” are strikingly illustrative of this same doctrine, and as strikingly out of harmony with Trinitarian speculation that endows the Son with co-equality with the Father who called and made him thus ; and glorified him as His Servant Israel.

It is a wonderful revelation that God should raise up a Man who should embody in his own person all the attributes and excellences of all the holy men of old. Such is the case in Christ Jesus. And here it is Israel whose name he bears. And how gloriously ! Was there ever such wrestling for a blessing as is brought to a climax in Gethsemane and on the cross. We know a little of what passed between Jacob and the angel when the name of Israel was bestowed in token of the blessing promised We know nothing of what passed between Jesus and the angel (perhaps the same angel) in the garden of Gethsemane. But the strife, though not physical like Jacob’s, was, nevertheless, a “ resisting unto blood striving against sin,” even at that stage, for it produced an agony and bloody sweat. But so glorious was the triumph that on the third day after the crucifixion the doctrinal import of the name Israel was perfectly illustrated in

Jesus, for he was raised from the dead and glorified, and made a " Prince of God ” for ever.

But the prophetic word foretold the dreadful prelude to this glory, for Yahweh’s Servant speaks beforehand of apparent labour in vain : " Then said I, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain ; yet surely my judgment is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God ” (v. 4). We are very familiar with the fulfilment of this foretold apparent failure in the history of Jesus ; and with the sublime confidence with which he considered the end saying, “ I know that the Father’s commandment is life everlasting.” The spirit of Christ is illustrated in the body of Christ. Where are the “ Israelites indeed,” labouring in vain and spending their strength apparently for nought ? Wherever they are their policy and confidence is the same as their Master’s. Through the prophets beforehand, and through his exemplification of the word ir the days of his flesh, they have learnt that the Father’s commandment is life everlasting, and are content to labour and wait.

When Yahweh formed Jesus from the womb to bring Jacob again to him ; and those of Jacob to whom Jesus spoke refused him ; there immediately remained, not a gathering but a scattering, as he sorrowfully declared. And so it came to pass in the Roman overthrow under Titus. But though Israel nationally was not gathered, Israel, God’s personal servant—that is, Jesus—was made glorious before Yahweh, and strong for ever with the divine nature, for he was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God. Yet though he was thus personally removed from the earth, his interest and work in Israel as Yahweh’s Servant was increased and not diminished. The vastness of the Universe is no barrier to the Spirit as to mortals ; and Jesus left behind him a body of “ Israelites indeed ” to carry on the divine purpose which he supervised invisibly from heaven. This was prophetically defined in the words following :—

“ He (Yahweh) said, It is a light thing (or, too small a thing) that thou shouldest be my Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the dispersed of Israel : I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth ” (v. 6).

In passing, it is to be insisted on, that God’s order be respected : “ to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.” If Gentiles are to be saved, they must become Jews in the way the New Testament provides. But seeing that Jesus was removed from the scene of his labours, and that the leaders of Israel had cast out his name as evil, how was he to be a light to the Gentiles ? He had been “ a great light ” in Galilee, as Isaiah had declared (ch. ix.), and in all Israel besides ; but now, what should happen ? The commission of Christ to his disciples and the life and work of the apostles, is the answer. No sooner was he raised and glorified, than, on the day of Pentecost, his name was proclaimed to Jews in Jerusalem for the remission of sins. And in a few years' time, by express revelation from heaven, Peter introduced his Name among the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, and God signified His approval of the work by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven (Acts x.).

Paul and Barnabas some time afterwards illustiated the prophecy in their preaching at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts xiii.). Paul had addressed the Jews in the Synagogue concerning Christ, and how God had so far fulfilled the covenant with David that He had raised Jesus from the dead. And he had warned the Jews of the consequences of despising the word of Christ ; which nevertheless they did. But the Gentiles besought Paul to speak to them, which he did, thereby moving the Jews to jealousy and making them contradict and blaspheme. Then Paul declared that Isaiah had foretold such a crisis, and “ seeing ye put the word of God from you,” said he, “ and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.”

The interest of this apostolic quotation of the prophecy lies in no small degree in the manner in which they couple themselves with Christ personal, as the “ light ” in question. It is only in accordance with the true facts of the case, and his own express declaration, “ Ye are the light of the world.”

And his exhortation in the sermon on the mount finds illustration and re-echoing in the faithful labours of the apostles. They “ could not be hid ” ; they did not hide the light or put it under a bushel, but sounded forth the word of Christ even on pain of death. The apostles are dead and gone ; but wherever the word of God in the prophets, in Jesus and the apostles is understood and proclaimed and obeyed, there is “ the light of the world ” to this day, though not openly attested by the Spirit of God. It is for the latter-day brethren of the prophets to measure themselves by the word they ministered.

But the Light of the Gentiles and of the world was to be “ despised ” and abhorred of the nation, even a servant of rulers, though at last kings would fall down before him. Even if Jesus be not the Messiah, as the Jews say, does Israel look for such a Messiah at all ? Alas, no ; these are times of “ gross darkness,” in which Jew and Gentile are for the most part alike blind and deaf to “ the words of the book.” In Jesus we see just such an experience as the prophet delineates here, in addition to all the other features revealed for the identification of Messiah.

But though despised and abhorred of the nation, he was to be heard and helped of God (v. 8). And here again apostolic quotation of the prophecy (2 Cor. vi. 2) identifies the body of Christ with Jesus himself in the application of the promise to the Corinthian believers. We beseech you as workers together with Christ, says Paul, “ that ye receive not the grace of God in vain, (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee : behold now is the accepted time ; behold now is the day of salvation).” And will it be presumption to bring the “ now ” down to the twentieth century ? Not where the same faith and hope and obedience exists. The only difference is that the hand of God is hidden ; there is no open expression of His mind in approval or otherwise of any man’s work. But that the hope of Israel is current in the earth is demonstrable, and the consequent privilege and responsibility of its holders is demonstrable likewise.

But the despised and abhorred Servant of Yahweh was preserved that he might be given “ for a covenant of the people. ’ ’

Again, if Jesus be not he, where is he who hath been, or shall be “ given for a covenant ” ? Does Israel look for such a One ? What is a covenant ? Every Jew knows (as its very name, beri th, imports) that it involves the killing and eating of sacrificial animals. How was the Servant of Yahweh to be killed and eaten ? And it is not a chance expression, “ given for a covenant.” We saw it before in ch. xlii. 6. And Daniel and Zechariah speak of the covenant and ” the blood of the covenant.” What, then, does Israel look for ? They know not what.

But we listen to Jesus and all the prophecies are appropriated by him. Instituting the memorial cup before crucifixion we hear him say, “ This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Appropriating the type of the manna, and exhibiting himself as “the bread of life,”we hear him declare at the Synagogue in Capernaum that “ Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you ” (John vi. 53). In the mouth of any other, such a proclamation would only have provoked ridicule ; but here there was power. Here Yahweh, according to the ancient promise, heard, helped, and preserved the Speaker, who, then and there, declared that it was “ the Father’s will ” that he wa= doing and would triumphantly accomplish “ at the last day.” And no man could afford to ridicule a Speaker who had just fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes. Without doubt Jesus is “ the Mediator of the New Covenant.”

But while this, though denied by the Jews, is universally admitted by “ Christendom,” it is by no means so universally admitted that Jesus will hereafter do al l the things that are here assigned to the Covenanted One. “ I will preserve thee,” saith Yahweh, “ and give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth (or, “ raise up the Land.”—R.V.), to cause to inherit the desolate heritages ; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves.” These things are always associated with the giving of Messiah for a covenant. In the similar prophecy of ch. xlii., he is to bring forth the prisoners, to set judgment in thp earth, and make the isles wait for his law. In Daniel’s propnecies he is to awake

ISA. XLIX.j THE ALPHA AND OMEGA TURNS TO “ THE ISLES." 603

the sleepers in dust, avenge the Holy Land and Nation, and pour upon the desolator the judgments determined. In Zechariah’s prophecy he is to bring forth his prisoners by the blood of his Covenant, to raise up Zion’s sons against the sons of Greece, cut off the enemies of Ephraim and Judah, and speak peace at last to the nations. All this is foreign to the theology of Christendom, which has relegated him to the skies and regards not the terms of the everlasting Covenant.

It all hangs on the promise of God to the fathers at the first. A resurrection from the dead to everlasting inheritance of the land of their sojournings was what God caused them to hope for. And it is this that is before us in prospect in Isaiah’s prophecy. There are, of course, no " desolate heritages ” in heaven.

The prisoners “ in darkness ” are the dead, called by the Spirit in a previous prophecy “ my dead body ” (xxvi. 19). Jesus himself was made to “ go forth ” out of prison and “ show himself ” when he came forth from Joseph’s tomb and appeared to the disciples. He had previously made Lazarus come forth and show himself on the hillside at Bethany, and had at that time claimed the attributes of the Coming One in declaring himself to be “ the Resurrection and the Life.” And so potent was the testimony thus illustrated that many believed, and the rulers could only seek to put Lazarus to death again. The prison is a common Scriptural figure for the grave. Hezekiah speaks of “ the gates of Sheol.” And Jesus reproduces the figure in the expression, “ the gates of hades,” and the promise that they shall not prevail against his ecclesia. Both in doctrine and practical illustration there is no misunderstanding the meaning of the prophetic word in this place.

The prisoners of hope being liberated, they come forth to green pastures and springs of waters on the high places of Yahweh’s mountains ; never more to be troubled with hunger and thirst, nor the scorching heat of the sun and the glare of the desert sand (v. 10). Almost every word of this prophecy seems to have been taken up by Jesus or the apostles in some place of their teaching. “ I am the bread of life,” said he ; “ he that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth

on me shall never thirst ’’ (John vi. 35). And the language of the Apocalypse in the vision of the white-robed palm-bearers (Rev. vii. 16, 17) reproduces the language of the prophet almost verbatim.

“ The way ” of these victors is said to lie on the mountains of Israel: “I will make all my mountains a way, and myhighways shall be exalted.” Jesus himself speaks of “ the way ot the Kings of the East ” (Rev. xvi. 12), which he represents as being “ prepared ” by the “ drying up of the Great River Euphrates,” that is the decline of the Turkish power that now holds these mountains under its dominion. Isaiah and all the prophets agree in representing that dominion over the mountains of the Lord, that is of Israel, passes into the hands of Christ and the saints in a time of trouble and war such as earth has not yet seen. As to “ the way ” after “ the war of the great day of God Almighty,” Isaiah has spoken of it already in chapter xxxv., and what was then said on that place need not be repeated here.

“ The way ” being prepared, there is a great gathering from all quarters : “ Behold these shall come from far ; and lo, these from the north and from the west ; and these from the land of Sinim ” (v. 12). The gathering to take place is first that of the saints, and then Israel after the flesh. Both the children of promise and the children of the flesh are before us in the prophecy ; and both will be gathered from all parts of the earth though at different times and upon different principles. In the verse quoted, some obscurity attaches to " the land of Sinim.” The Septuagint version rendered it “ the land of the Persians,” and this, together with the fact that the name Sin, for China, has come through from the Arabs, has led to the belief that probably China is meant by Isaiah. But it cannot yet be conclusively determined The context necessitates that the land should be either east or south. If it be permissible to venture a suggestion as to the south, it would be Sinai, where the law was given by Moses, and where, according to Psalm Ixviii. 16-17, Jesus will yet be revealed with his liberated prisoners. The objection to this would be that “ Sinim ” appears to be spoken of as a people ; and this

would favour the eastern idea. As a matter of fact, one of the most interesting features of the Jewish movement of the latter- days is the bringing to light and development of remnants of Jewish peoples in China. Wherever they may be—the saints and the Jews—above ground or below, they are not finally lost. God will gather them, as He has so long declared.

Though exhorted to sing and rejoice in prospect of the promised comfort and restoration divinely promised (Isa. xlix. 13), Zion cannot rise to the occasion ; but is depicted as still mourning her apparent forsaking by Yahweh, and being forgotten by her Lord Upon this, the strongest bonds of affection known to humanity are introduced by God to reassure her. “ Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands ; thy walls are continually before me.”

The city, of course, stands for the true “ citizens of Zion ” as well as for Jerusalem topographically. It is all for the sake of Christ and his brethren He said that Jerusalem should see him again and acclaim him as the Blessed of the Lord. And he promised his disciples that at that time they should occupy thrones over the restored tribes of Israel. Here we get a glimpse of the “ children of Zion ” with whom she is to clothe herself as with an ornament, and bind them on as bridal array. This beautiful figure is common to the prophets and the New Testament scriptures. Jeremiah’s girdle (ch. xiii.) was a symbol of “ the whole house of Israel ” which God had by a figure girt upon Himself. Paul considered the faithful brethren to be his hope and joy and crown of glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming (1 Thess. ii. 19). And Paul in this connection, as in all others, only enunciated the mind of Christ. The apocalyptic figures of the “ clothing ” of the symbolic Son of Man are not exhausted in the signification of his personal excellence and righteousness and immortality. He is not to be alone, but to “be clothed with a cloud ” of witnesses of whom the world was not worthy (Rev. i. 13 : x 1 ; Heb. xii. 1).

Further, he will clothe himself with the regathered and purified nation, which will no longer be typified bv a marred girdle buried by the Euphrates in the Kingdom of Babylon ; for they will have been caused to “ cleave unto Yahweh ” in deed and truth ; “ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith Yahweh : for I will forgive their iniquityand I will remember their sin no more ” (Jer. xxxi. 34).

The scene of this great salvation is so plainly revealed in the Scriptures, that one would suppose it impossible to err concerning it. Yet it is transferred from earth to “ heaven beyond the skies.” Let us, therefore, read again, “ Thy waste and thy desolate places and the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.” How impossible to apply such language to heaven. The land is there in desolation, and Israel’s devourers have never been “ far away ” since the time of the great overthrow and scattering in A.D. 70. What must happen is the redemption of the land from the hand of the enemy, and their overthrow and expulsion-—of which, indeed, the prophet goes on to speak in the same chapter.

When we read in v. 20, “ Thy children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other,” we are reminded strongly of Christ’s own words concerning “ the children of the kingdom.” It was when the centurion manifested such striking faith in God (Matt, viii.) we read that “ Jesus marvelled . . . and said tothem that followed, Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith no not in Israel. And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Here then, are children lost, and children found—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are joined by Romans and other Gentiles of like precious faith ; and the unbelievers, even of Jewish extraction, as well as others, are lost in the day of judgment.

Besides, what a loss of children has Zion suffered in the national sense throughout the centuries of exile. We may truly

ISA. XI.IX.] THE ALPHA AND OMEGA TURNS TO “ THE ISLES." 607

speak of Israel’s history as one long wail of mourning. About the time of William the Conqueror, Ibn Gebirol, a poet among the Spanish Jews, thus voiced the wail of Zion :

“ My exile has already lasted a thousand years, and I am like the howling bird of the desert. Where is the high priestwho will discover to me the end of it all . . . Our years pass on in darkness and misery ; we look for the light, but darkness and humiliation greet us ; slaves rule over us. Till she fell, Babylon held sway over me ; Rome then reduced me to sore straits ; Javan and Persia scattered me far and wide ; and now Ishmael for already four hundred and sixty-one years (from the time of the Hejira), despoils me ’’ (Hist . Jews.—Graetz).

Attentive readers will catch the echo of Isaiah’s words in this pathetic lamentation. Zion has “lost the others,’’ but she is not finally and fatally bereaved. Even her “ lost ten tribes ” will be found, but not as “ Anglo-Israelites ” ! The prophet pictures her sweet surprise at the gathering of a new and happy family : “ Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro ? And who hath brought up these ? Behold, I was left alone : These, Whence are they ? ”

The answer is that God (in Christ) had begotten these. He had “ brought up ” these, not only in the sense of nourishment by the word of life, but, as concerning the immortal children, literally, by resurrection of the dead. And as to whence they come, their Head comes down from heaven, whither He ascended in fulfilment of the prophetic word nearly nineteen hundred years ago ; and they came up from sheol by his resurrection- and-life power. He himself is called “ the first begotten of the dead,” and they are “ his seed,” and are begotten with the word of truth (Jas. i. 18) ; of which operation Onesimus was an example (Philemon 10) ; also the r0rinthian brethren (1 Cor. iv. 15).

The astonishment of Zion at the manifestation of these “ children of the resurrection ” will be in proportion to her hope-lessness and despondency, and the greatness of the deliverance which the Lord Jesus shall have accomplished. The history of Joseph in Egypt is the never failing type of the revelation to be

made to the house of Israel, when the Lord Jesus is discovered to be the Redeemer.

A tremendous reversal in Gentile policy towards the Jews is assured by the following verses (22-23). “ Thus saith the LordGod, Behold I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up mv standard to the people : and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers :

they shall bow down to thee with their facestowards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet : and thou shalt know that I am the Lord : lor they shal l not he ashamed that wait for me.”

“ They that wait for me.” These are the real children of Zion in the highest sense. Most, we might almost say all, of the natural “ children of the kingdom ” of the class of which Jesus spoke do not wait for God. They are lost among the vanities of the Gentiles as they were in the first century, and have been ever since. But there has always been a small remnant that has waited for God in the way of His judgments with great endurance, as in a dark night (Isa. xxvi. 8-9). To them these gracious promises are especially addressed. A great justification awaits them in the eyes of all the world—before men and angels. Where will all the power of the adversary be in that day ? Czars, Kings, and Emperors will have to acknowledge the new order of kings who, having learned to govern themselves according to the will of God, are by Him accounted worthy of “ power over the nations.”

But the nation also comes in for its avenging, for the Spirit says : “ I will get them praise and fame in every land wherethey have been put to shame ” (Zeph. iii. 19). Imagine the nature of the change in Jew-baiting Russia and Roumania—in proud Catholic Spain, Anti-Semitic France and Germany ! What could be suggested as a sufficient cause to produce it ? Certainly no human solution of the Jewish Question is proposed or put forward as a matter of practical politics that has any such revolutionary design. Indeed a Quarterly Reviewer chaffs Dr. Herzl and the Zionists on this head. He says :

" The unaccustomed meekness of the scheme (Zionism) is perhaps its most surprising feature. Isaiah said, ‘ Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising.’. . . But now contrast with Isaiah and his appeal to racial pride (Not so.—C.C.W.), the apologetic tone of Dr. Herzl in defining the destiny of the race. . . It is worse thansatire, it is treason.”

But this gentleman does not rightly discern the situation, though he writes with the full assurance of unfaith. There is a time for everything. The present phase of Zionism is but the preparation for the later crisis of which Isaiah and all the prophets speak. First the feeble colonies on the mountains of Israel, and then the gatherings of the Kings and “ the war of the great day of God Almighty.” And after that the subjection of the Gentiles to Zion in blessedness and peace.

But even in this chapter of Isaiah the nature of the great crisis is plainly introduced, for, after revealing the picture of humbled Gentiles sustaining and nourishing regenerated Israel in the hands of the saints, the word goes on to indicate how it is to come about. It says :

” Shall the prey be taken from the mighty ? or the lawful captive delivered ? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the might}- shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered : for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine : and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob ” (v. 24-26).

By comparing this with the pictures of the crisis of the latter days given by the other prophets, we are at no loss to identify the “ Mysterious Rightful Tyrant-Captor,” as Rotherham well and faithfully styles him, nor to localise the judgment and understand the issue.

The main features here defined are these : After Yahweh’s Servant has been “ given for a covenant,” and before he is “ set up as a standard or ensign to the peoples,” his people are dis-

covered as the prey of the mighty, who has taken them captive "lawfully,” upon his own principle that ‘‘might is right. Accepting the principle, Yahweh reveals himself as a mightier than he, and triumphantly decides the issue before the eyes of all flesh.

Ezekiel (chs. xxxviii.-xxxix.) reproduces the scene in much greater detail. The “ Mysterious Tyrant-Captor here is “ Gog and all his bands,” that is, Russia and the confederate powers named. The time is “ the latter years. The locality is the mountains of Israel ” (v. 8). The ‘ prey is the defenceless colonies of Jews, the Land of Palestine, and especially the city Jerusalem (v. 11, 12). The divine purpose of the crisis is “that the heathen may know Yahweh ” (v. 16), even many nations (v. 23). And Yahweh’s “presence” is revealed (v. 20), contending in fury with the oppressor. It is especially explained that Ezekiel’s graphic and detailed revelation concerns the powei of whom, saith God, “ I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days [of] the years that I would bring thee against them ” (v. 17).

Zechariah also shows that the invasion is successful to the point of taking Jerusalem, which becomes the prey of the mighty, and a “ lawful captive ” of war according to their reckoning (ch. xiv.). But “ then shall Yahweh go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle ” (in Joshua s time, Josh. x.). The second Joshua (Jesus) stands again upon the Mount of Olives ; the earth shakes at his presence as Ezekiel also testifies. Earthquake, hailstones, “fire and brimstone destroy the oppressor, and, adds the prophet Zechariah, “ the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee (v. 5). Afterwards follows a picture of the purged and purified remnant of the nations going up to Jerusalem from year to year “ to worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the feast of tabernacles ” (v. 16). This is the same picture, or nearly so, as Isaiah presents for the comfort of the children of Zion in this place.