of his promise ; and then, when the Israelites them- selves were almost reduced to despair, he brought them out with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. Thus also will he act yet once more towards that chosen people. They are now dispersed almost beyond the hope of conversion to God. But there is a period when they shall as universally, and perhaps too as suddenly, commit themselves to the govern- ment of Christ, as ever they did to the direction of Moses ; nor is it improbable that they will yet again inhabit that very land, from which they have been driven for their iniquities.
To elucidate this subject we shall consider,
I. The event foretold in this prophecy —
The whole of the Gospel dispensation is often called " the latter days :" but here the expression refers to what is called by many, the Millennium, or the time when all the kingdoms of the world shall be converted to Christ. In that day,
The Jews shall universally return to God through Christ—
[When the ten ti'ibes revolted from the house of David under Jeroboam, they established idolatry in opposition to the worship of the true God, and set up kings of their own in opposition to those who sat on the throne of David. But in about two hundred and fifty years they were carried captive to Assyria ; and from that time to the present hour they have had no king or governor of their own ; and have been deprived of all opportunities of worshipping God, either according to the Mosaic ritual, or according to their own idolatrous super- stitions3. However they are not wholly and finally abandoned of their God : for, when his Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh, they shall take the lead in turning unto Godb, and shall voluntarily appoint the Lord Jesus Christ as their head c. This blessed truth is abundantly confirmed in Scripture*1: and the accomplishment of it will display in a most stupendous manner the unsearchable riches of God's wisdom and goodness6.]
a
ver. 4. The " Teraphim" seem to have been images to which they resorted for the purposes of divination. b Zech. viii. 23. e Hos. i. 11.
d Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. and xxxvii. 21, 22, 24. e Rom. xi. 33.