the nations of the earth shall worship before himc." " Then shall there be but one King over all the earth d;" and "all the kingdoms of the world be the kingdom of the Lord, and of his Christ e."]
This point, the future conversion of the whole Gentile world, being generally known and admitted, I forbear to enlarge upon it ; and proceed to mark, what is less known and less considered,
II. Its connexion with, and dependence on, the con- version of the Jews —
The latter part of our text, like the former, may be regarded as having had a partial accomplishment in the days of the Apostles, through whose ministry vast multitudes were converted to the faith of Christ : for, as the Apostles were Jews, and as the Gentile converts, seeing, by the miracles which they wrought, that God was with them, freely and unreservedly submitted to their word ; it might be said, that, in embracing the Gospel, they " took hold of the skirt of him that was a Jew." But we have already shewn that the whole prophecy relates to a future period, even to that period when all, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be united under one Head, and form one glo- rious Church, under the true David, the Lord Jesus Christf. Then shall the Jews, zvho reaped the first- fruits among the Gentiles, be employed to gather in the whole harvest ; and, to an extent that has never been seen before, shall ten men, out of all the languages of the nations, lay hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew ; saying, " We will go with you ; for we have heard that God is with you."
To these words different interpretations have been given. Some suppose " the Jew" here spoken of, is the Gospel, as revealed by the Apostles, who were Jews : others understand the word as designating Christians generally, who are sometimes called "Jews." Others think that Christ himself is spoken of under this name. But I understand it as relating literally to the Jewish nation ; and as declaring, that
c Ps. lxxii. 8 — 11. and Ixxxvi. 9. d Zech. xiv. 9.
e Rev. xi. 15. f Hos. iii. 5.