appears from Schebet Jehuda, where Solomon Virgce quotes this very verse, to prove that their present sufferings proceed not from nature, but from an angry God, more powerful than nature0."
The truth is, that this prophecy received but a very partial accomplishment at that time : for there were but two tribes sent to Babylon ; the other ten were carried captive to Assyria. Now the idea of " provoking them to jealousy by those who were not a people," could have no place in reference to the ten tribes, because Assyria was an empire almost thirteen hundred years before Israel was conquered by themf; and to the other two tribes, provided they were to be carried captive at all, it could make but little difference whether the nation that subdued them was of greater or less antiquity. For the full accomplishment of the prophecy, therefore, we must undoubtedly look to the times subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.
And here is a matter for the consideration of every Jew, that wishes to form a correct judgment of the main point that is at issue between the Jews and Christians.
The miseries inflicted on the Jewish nation by the Romans, both in the siege of Jerusalem and in their subsequent dispersion throughout the world, have been incomparably more grievous than any that ever were inflicted on them by the Chaldeans. I would ask then of the Jew, What has been the cause of this severe chastisement ? What has your nation done to provoke God in so extraordinary a degree ? There must be some particular crime that they have committed : what is it ? God is too righteous, and too merciful, to afflict them without a cause. I ask, Are any of your Rabbis able to assign an adequate reason for these severe judgments ? Your former idolatries were punished in the Babylonish captivity : and you repented of those sins ; insomuch that from the time of your return to your own land, to the destruction of your nation by the Romans, you not
e Sect. 13. f See Prideaux's Connexion.