expiration of seventy years, according to the predictions of the prophet respecting it. But the terms in which this is declared almost necessarily lead our minds to a restoration yet future; because it was from Babylon alone that the first deliverance was vouchsafed, whereas the promise relates to a deliverance " out of all countries, whither they have been driven:" and it speaks of their being caused to " dwell safely ; " whereas they experienced but little of peace and safety after their first re- storation : they were grievously harassed, from time to time, by the kings of Syria and Egypt, and their other neighbours, till at last they were subdued, and utterly destroyed, by the Romans : but at their restoration from their present dispersion, they will enjoy a state of peace and prosperity far beyond all that they ever experienced in the most favoured periods of their history: Jerusalem, instead of being defended, as for- merly, against enemies, by ramparts of man's construction, " will be inhabited as a town without walls ; because the Lord will be a wall of fire round about her, and the glory in the midst of herV This is repeatedly and distinctly promised: " Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down ; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken: but there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams ; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby0:" that is, she shall be alike inaccessible to enemies of every description, by reason of the effectual protection afforded her by Jehovah. And in this happy state shall they continue, " planting vineyards, and drinking of the wine thereof; and making gardens, and eating of the fruit of them ; and being so securely planted in their land, as never again to be pulled up, and rooted out of itd."]
2. A renewed acknowledgment of their relation to him —
[During their captivity in Babylon, and still more in their present dispersion, they are like a repudiated wife, whom her husband will no more acknowledge. To apprise them of God's determination to put them away, the Prophet Hosea was instructed to " call his son Lo-ammi;" for, says God, " ye are not my people, and I will not be your Gode." Their connexion with Jehovah being thus dissolved, their enemies have been able to oppress them, and indeed have grievously oppressed them in every nation where they have been scattered. But the time is coming, when God will again shew himself in their
b Zech. ii. 4, 5. c Isai. xxxiii. 20, 21.
d Amos ix. 14, 15. e Hos. i. 8, 9. and ii. 1, 2.