Upon them that are left, thRt is, the sur- and _genuine repentance. They must re- Vi¥ing captives and exiles, I will aend a cognize not only that they have sinned but faintneu into their heartl,-so Ezek. xxi. 7, that their sufferings have been a pu~ish- " And every heart shall melt, and all hands ment for those sins at God's hand. This ehall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, will work in them humble acquiesoence in and all knees shall be weak as water"- God's doings, and then he will remember ... and the BOlllld of a llhaken (or dri1'ffl) leaf his oovenant with laoob, and also his oove- shall ohue them; ... and they ahall fall, nant with Iaaao, and also his oovenant . . . and ye shall perish among the heathen, with Abraham, and for the sake of the and the land of your enemiea shall eat you oovenant of their anoestora, he will not out up. And they that are left of you shall pine them away, neither will he abhor them, to away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands. destroy them utterly, and to break his oove- This is the concluding threat. It is con- nant with them. Whether JewiBh repent- ditional in its nature, and the condition ance has been or ever will be so full as having been fulfilled, we mny say with re- to obtain this blessing, cannot be decided verence that it has been accomplisheil. now. Perhaps it may be the case that alJ Those of the ten tribes who did not find the blessings promised by Moses and by their way to Babylon, and so became ab- future prophets to repentant and restored sorbed in the body which returned to Jeru- Israel are to find their accomplishment in &alem, have been eaten up by the land of the spiritual Israel, the children of Abraham their enemi.ee, and have pined away in their who is "the father of all them that believe" enemies' land,. Neither they nor their (Rom. iv. 11), seeing that "God is able of descendants are to be found in any part of stones to raise up children unto Abraham" the globe, however much investigation may (Matt. iii. 9). employ itself in searching for them. Tiley Ver. 46.-This is the closing paragraph have been absorbed by the populations of the Book of Leviticus; to which another among which they were scattered. chapter has been added, in the form of an Vere. 40-45.-God's pardon will, even appendix, on the subject or vow■. yet, as nlways, follow upon confession of sin
HOMILETICS. Vere. 3-46.-Promises and threatening,. In this chapter the prophet looks forward, and declares how God would deal with his people; which should be according to the way in which they should act. In 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-21, the chronicler looks back, and shows how God had dealt with them; which had been according to the way in which they had acted. The promises and the threateninge are to the nation, not to individuals; and the prophetical assurance is that national obedience to God shall bring about national happiness and prosperity, and that disobedience shall cause the ruin of the nation. In spite of the rough, wild times of the Judges, and of the apostacy of Saul, the heart of the nation was on the whole loyal to Jehovah till the end of the days of Solomon. And till that time there was an upward growth in the flourishing estate of the people-their wealth, their power, their prosperity, their happiness. In the latter days of Solomon, outwardly glorious as they were, decay and corruption began. King and people were alike affected by the splendid despotism which one wielded and under which the other flourished in material prosperity. In that prosperity they forgot the source of it. The king himself pushed his tolerance for foreign habits into idolatry, "His wives turned away his heart after other gods: and hie heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David hie father, . . . And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel" (1 Kiugs xi. 4-9). Like prince, like people; a general relaxation of moral fibre and religious zeal ensued through- out the kingdom. Its culminating point had been reached, and now there followed the rapid descent and fall which result.eel from disobedience. The first step to ruin was the great schism, from the effects of which neither the northern nor the southern king• dom ever recovered. Then followed the various apostacies and punishments. In the southern kingdom," Rehoboam forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. And it ea.me to pass, that in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak ~ing of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord" (2 Chron. xii,. 1, 2). Jehoram "walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of en. XXVI. 1-46.) TllE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 415