ffi. l:i: HIS RESTORATION OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY TO THEM. "And they shall dwell; securely therein ; yea, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards," etc. (ver. 26). "As we have seen that the prophecies a,,crainst the heathen reached, not merely to the particular nations, but to the world-power which they represented; 11.9 the same predictions are directed against Tyre by Ezekiel, against Babylon by Isaiah, and against the Apocalyptic Babylon by St. John; so this prophecy reaches far beyond a mere temporal restoration. It points to times of more permanent security, when from all nations and kingdoms the Church of Christ, the Israel of God, shall be gathered in, when the power of the world shall be for ever broken, and the kingdom of Christ shall be established for ever" (' Speaker's Commentary'). Two blessings are particularly mentioned by the prophet. 1. Safety. "They shall dwell securely." Israel was not free from enemies and molestations after their return from captivity. Delivered from idolatry, yet their evil hearts broke out.into other forms of sin; and distresses followed transgressions. Christian bclicvera are not exempted from either enemies or trials. Yet we may say that" believers always dwell safely under the Divine protection, and may be quiet from the fear of evil." For "if God is for us, who is against us? . . . In all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us" (Rom. viii. 31, 37; Heb. xiii. 6; 1 Pet. iii. 13). 2. Prosperity. "They shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and dwell securely." These operations denote the return of prosperity to the people. And it is certain that at times they flourished considerably in their condition and circumstances. There is evidence of this in the sumptuous houses which they built for themselves (cf. Hag. i. 4). In thus dealing with his people also the Lord would " be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations." But the text points onward to blessings yet in store for the Israel of God. Seasons of unprecedented power and prosperity await the Church in the future, when men everywhere shall know and acknowledge the Lord God. "All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord" (Numb. xiv. 21). "In the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth," etc. (Phil. ii. 10, 11). And in the heavenly Canaan shall be enjoyed the complete triumph, and the undisturbed peace, and the deep, eternal joy. "And the temple again shall be bnilt, And filled ea it wo.s of yore ; And the burden be lift from the heart of the world, And the nations all adore ; Prayers to the throne of heaven Morning and eve she.II rise, And unto, and not of the uimb Shall be the sacrifice." (P. J. Bailey.) W.J.
EXPOSITION. Herodotus ii. 160, who invaded Ethiopia, and CHAPTER XXIX. died in B.o. 588, leaving the throne to his Ver. 1.-In the tenth year, etc. The son Uah-pre.het, the Pharaoh Hophra of precision with which the dates of the several Jer. xliv. 30, tbe Apries of Herod., ii. 161, portions of the prophecy age.inst Egypt are 'fhe Greek historian tella us that he att11oked given, here and in ver. 17; eh. xxx. 20; xxxi. Tyre and Zidon, foiled in an enterprise I ; x.u:ii 1, 7, chows that each was called age.inst Cyrene, and was deposed by Amasis forth by the political events of the time, and (u.o. 569). Zedekiah and his counsellors, has to be stndied in connection with them. following in the steps of Hev.eki ah (Isa. It will be well, therefore, to begin with a :xxx.) and Jehoiakim (Jer. :xlvi.), had brief BUrvey of the relations which existed courted hie alliance against the Ohaldeans. at this period between Judah, Egypt, and As Ezekiel had prophesied (eh. xvii. 11-18), Babylon. After the gTee.t defeat of Pharaoh- they found that they were once more leaning Necho by Nebuchadnezzar e.t Carchemish on a broken reed. We have now come to (B.c. 604), on which Jeremiah (xlvi.) B.c. 589, when Jerusalem was actuo.ll_y be- dwells fully, he was succeeded in s.o. 594 sieged, but was still dreaming of being by hill l!OD Peammetik II., the Psammis of relieved by e.n Egyptian army, OH, xxix. 1-21.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 125