And the fruit of the eBrth. It is Brgued 15; lix. 8). It ie possible, however, that with reoeon thot the two clauses of this the murde1 of infants in se.crifice to Moloch verse are p1uallel, not antithetical, e.nd that may be in the p1ophet's mind. Abaz "burnt BB we unclcrste.ud the one, so must we under- hie children in the fire after the o.bomine.- etancl the other. If, then, the " Branch " is tiona of the hen.then " (2 Chrou. xxviii. 3). the Messiah, so ie "the fruit of the earth " - Manasseh dicl the same (2 Chron. xxxiii. 6); which mr1y well be, since he we.e "the grain and the p1e.ctice was probably widespread of wheat'' which "fell into the ground and among the people long before Iao.io.h's time died, and so brought forth much fruit" (see Ps. cvi. 38; eh. !vii. 5). By the api.rit (John xii. 24). Exoellent and oomely; of burning; or, by a blast of buming; i.e. rather, for majesty and beauty (comp. a fiery blast which al:iall destroy everything Exod. :nvili. 2, 40). Unto the esoaped of (comp. eh. i. 81). Israel; i.e. " to those who sho.ll have sur- Ver. 5. - Upon every dwellillg-place vived the greo.t calnmity, e.nd become citi- (" over the whole habitation," Revised Ver- zens of the restored Jerusalem." Dr. Kay sion). Mr. Cheyne trn.nslatea "upon the well remarks that "the prophecy we.a ade- whole site," and takes the "site" to be quately fulfilled only in those who 'saved especially the temple. Makon seems cer- themselves' from the generation which re- tainly never to be need for anything bnt jected Christ. That remnant wo.s the germ "God's dwelling-place" (Exod. xv. 17; 1 of the Catholic Church, ma.de such by being Kings viii 13, 39, etc.; 2 Chron. vi. 2, 30, incorporated into the true Vine" ('Speaker's etc. ; Ezra ii. 68 ; Pa. xxxiii. 14 ; lx:u:ix. Commentary,' note ad loc.). 14; xcvii. 2; civ. 5; eh. xviii. 4-; Dan. viii. Ver. 8.-He that is left ... he that re- 11). Perhaps, however, ll'llery dwelling• maineth. Equivalent to the "escaped'' of ple.ce of God, i.e. every Christian Church, the preceding verse. Shall be called holy. _is intended. On these, and on all Christian Strikingly fulfilled in the fact that the early e.asemblies, there will rest o. new presence Christians were known as ll,y,01, "holy," or of God-one which he will have "created;'' 1<A71Tol ll.-y,o,, "those cn.lled to be holy," in recalling the.t of the pillar of fire and of the first age (Acts ix. 18, 82, 41 ; xxvi. 10; cloud which rested in the wilderness on Rom. i. 7 ; 1 Cor. i. 2; 2 Cor. i. 1 ; Eph. the Jewish tabernacle (Exod. x:xxiii. 9; xL i. 1; Phil. i. I, etc.). Perhaps, however, 84--38, etc.). A oloud and smoke by day. more is meant than this. The early Chris- The "pillar of the cloud'' is never so.id in tians not only were called, but were "holy." the Pento.teuch to have been one of" smoke;" Even Gibbon places the innocent lives of but Sinai " smoked" when God descended the early Christian&' among the causes of on it (Exod. xix. 18 ; xx. 18), and the the conversion of the Roman empire. Every psalmist speaks of e. " smoke " e.a issuing one the.t is written among the living. A out of God's nostrils (Pa. xviii. 8). In the register of the "living," or " heirs of life," poetry of Iae.ie.h, "smoke," no less than is here BBsumed, as in Exod. x:u:ii. 32 ; Pa. "cloud,'' symbolizes God's presence (see eh. btix. 28; Do.n. xii. 1; Rev. xiii. 8; xxi. 27, vi 4). Upon all the glory shall be e. de- etc. It is a " book," however, out of which fenoe; rather, a.a in the margin, a c<YVering. no.mes mo.y be "blotted " (Rev. iii. 5). Over all the glory of Zion, its purged temple Ver. !.-When the Lord shall he.ve Wllllhed e.nd its purilied assemblies, the presence of BWB7 the filth of the daughters of Zion (see God shall rest like o. canopy, protecting it. ob. iii. 16--24). Sin must not be meraly Ver. 6.-And there shall be, etc.; rather, repented of e.nd pardoned ; it must be put and it (i.e. "the canopy") shall be a taber- away. There could be no Jerusalem, in nacle, or bcn.oer, a shelter from the 8un' s heat which_ 1111 should be '' called holy," until by day, and from storm and rain both by day the moro.l defilement of the daughters of and night. The metaphors need no oxplo. 0
Zion we.a swept o.we.y. Purged the blood nation. of Jerusalem from the midst (comp. eh. i.
HOMILETICS. Vera. ~.-The glories of the restored Church. Three principal glories are here noted by the prophet as belonging to" that day "-the day of judgmcnt upon Judah and Jerusalem for their manifold sins, and of restoration and re-establishment of the mountain of God's Church at the head of the mountains (eh. ii. 2). These are (1) the coruin" of Messiah in person for ornament and glory, for majesty and beauty, to be the ad'iuirntion and delight of his people; (2) the purity and holiness of the persons who constitute the restored Church ; and (3) the continuity of the presence of God with his Church from the time of its re-establishment, and the security consequent upon his 70 THE BOOK OF TH:m PROPH:K'l.' ISAtAB.