olong so quiokly thot they seemed to be arrayed itself against God in the attempt at cnrrierl by the wind ; or the wind helped Babel. Septuagint, Iv yfj Ba/3vll.Cdva< (Gen. their flight. A atork; Beptno.gint, f,,,o,,, .., xi. 2, etc.). Shinar, equivalent to S11m,,,r "the hoopoe;" Vulgate, milvi. The Autho- in the Assyrian monuments, denotes Lower rized Version is eerto.inly correct. The or Southern Babylon; Accad, Upper or stork is common onough in Palestine, and Northern Babylon. And it shall be estab- is reckoned among unclean birds in the lished. The house shall be firmly fixed Pontntcuch (Lev. xi. 19; Deut. xiv. 18), for there. Others render," when it is ready." which cause some have thought it is here And set there. The gender shows that the introduced RH bearing the sin-laden ephah. woman is meant, not the house: "And she But its introduction more probably has shall be set there in her own place." Thus reference to it~ migratory habits, the power from the spiritual Zion all wickedness shall and rapidity of its flight, and, as some think, be abolished ( eh. iii. 9) and sent to its own to its skill in constructing its nest. place prepared for the enemies of God and Ver. 11.-To build it (her) an houae. The holiness. DoubtleSB, too, a warning is here LXX. refers the pronoun to the ephah, but conveyed to those Jews who still lingered it seems more natura.l to refer it to a person, in Babylon, that they were dwelling in e. the woman. The feminine gender of the land accursed of God, and were liable to be original would apply to either. She is involved in the fate which pursues ungodli- carriell away from Judma to have a perma- ness. Orelli and some others see in these nent dwelling in a land more suited to her. two visions an analogy to the two goats on Pusey thinks that possibly a temple may the Day of Atonement, of which one was be intended," a great idol-temple, in which sacrificed for the sins of the people, a.nd the god of this world should be worshipped." the other bore away their iniquity to the In the land of Shinar; i.e. the ideal land demona' a.bode, the wilderness (Lev. xvi). of unholiness, where the world-power first
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-4.-The reassertion of the Law. "Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a. flying roll," etc. Most of the distinguishing privileges first given to Israel after leaving Egypt for Cana.an were gradually restored to Israel on its partial restoration to Palestine after the captivity of Babylon. This illustrated, as noted before, as to the altar (Ezra. iii. 3) ; the da.ily sacrifice (Ezra. iii. 5) ; the Feast of 'fabernacles (Ezra. iii. 4); the tabernacle or the temple itself (Ezra iii. 10; vi. 15). This also illustrated, as we have just seen, as to the revival of the Levitical priesthood (eh. iii. 1-5); and also as to the rekindling of that temple" candlestick" which typified the restoration and maintenance of the Jewish Church as a witness for God amongst men (eh. iv. 1-3, 11-14). In the present passage we think we perceive a similar reassertion and, as it were, restoration of that written statement of man's duty and God's will which was given originally on Mount Sinai, on the two tables of stone ; this second proclamation differing from that, however, according to the differences of the exigency and time. This we hope to show by considering the vision before us (1) as to its general nature; and (2) as to its special characteristics. I. lTs GENERAL NATURE. As with the original Decalogue, so we are shown here in vision : 1. A message fo. writing from God ; a message, therefore, like the other, peculiarly deliberate and explicit in its character, and peculiarly permanent in its form (Exod. xxxiv. 1; 2 Cor. iii, 7; see also Isa. viii. 1; Jer. xxxvi. 18; xxx. 2; Luke i. 3, 4; Acts xv. 23, etc.). 2. A message of fudgment; in other words, containing a "curse," or solemn declaration of anger against sin and wrong-doing (Dent. xxvii. 26 ; Jer, xi. 3, 4; Gal. iii, 10). 3, A message of great 1Jreo,dth and extent, being written on a roll of the same dimensions (so it has been noted) as the sanctuary, or temple, and applying, therefore (so it may be intended), to the whole duty of man (see again Gal. iii. 10); 01· else, possibly, showing that this proclamation of God's will, like the former ono, had to do especially with his "house" (1 Pet. iv. 17; Amos iii. 1, 2). 4. A. message, however, of universal applicability, as shown by its "flying" "over the whole earth," or land (comp. Rom. ii. 9, 12-16), 5. A message of a twofold purport or form-the words written on one side of the "roll " referring to a commandment con- tained in the :first table of the Decalogue, and those written on the other to a .com- mandment in the second. On all these points we see there is a more or less marked similarity between those tables of stone and this flying roll. 5'2 THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. Lorr. v. 1-11.