promise was given ; the second is that of adumbration, by means of the Davidical sovereignty, and the fact that it is considerably shorter than either of the others, furnishes a reasonable ground for expecting that the kingdom of David, as fulfilled in Christ (see Luke i. 32), will be far more glorious hereafter, and more lasting. The third period is that of expectation. The most dis tinguished personages in the first period are Abraham and David, who stand respectively first and last in it. The most distin guished personage in the second period is the same David, who is now found standing first. The first name which occurs in
the third period is that of Jechoniah, so called also in 1 Chron. iii. 17, who was bound with chains, to whom no heir was promised of his throne ; nay, further, against whom, as well as against his uncle and father, all other woes were denounced (Jer. xxii. 11, 18, 25), so that, though he was not actually without offspring, yet, as a warning to posterity, he should be written "n^y, child less (Jer. xxii. 28, 30), without, that is to say, an heir to his throne ; and it was with reference to these three kings that the earth was invoked thrice, " O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord" (Ibid. ver. 29). Hence it arises that, when stating the boundary between the second and third fourteens, St Matthew does not name Jechoniah ; but, instead of so doing, mentions the Babylonian Captivity. Much additional weight accrues to this argument from the words of Jeremiah ; for in the time of Moses, midway between Abraham and David, a covenant was made with the people of Israel, which was abrogated about the time of the captivity of Jechoniah. — See Jer. xxix. 1, xxxi. 31 ; Heb. viii. 8, 13. In the times of Abraham and David, Christ was promised ; after the time of David, the Davidical sovereignty, which was overthrown at the Babylonian Captivity, did not last so long as the preceding period, that, namely, between Abraham and David. Then, indeed, it was that a new covenant was pro mised, the author and surety whereof should be Christ. The state, therefore, of the Jewish nation after the Captivity, could not but tend to, and end in the Christ. In the Psalms, and other predictions delivered during the time of the Kings, the sacred writers, as the march of prophecy moved onward, gene rally compared the present with the future ; whereas, after the Babylonian Captivity, they contrasted the one with the other,