Messiah, he must represent some person or He thinks only how to get personal advan- powe1· lhnt oxisted subsequent to Christ's tage from the flock (comp. Ezek. xxxiv, death. Mnny consider thBt he symbolizes 2-8). TeBr their claws (hoof•) in pieces, the Rom11ns; but these people could not be as some say, by making them traverse deemerl to oxeroise pnstoml care over the rough places, and not caring where be led Isrnelitcs, nor could their neglect of this them; but as such travelling would not (ver.17) be attributed to them as a sin; nor, specially injure sheep, and as the immediate again, did their destruction follow upon the context is concerned with their treatment overthrnw of the Je,vish polity (ver. 18). BB food, it is better to see here a picture Others see here a prediction of the coming of a greedy Bnd voracious man who tears of antichrist; but the character of "shep- asunder the very hoofs to suck out all the herd" does not suit his attributes BB given nourishment he can find, or one who muti- elsewhere; at any rate, this cannot be the lates the fattest of his flock, that they may primBry reference of the symbol, though all not stray, and that he may always have a evil powers that oppose the Uhurch of Christ dainty morsel at hand. are in some sense images and anticipations Ver. 17.-Woe to the idol-shepherd ! of antic!Jrist. The genuine reference here rBther, u:oe to the worthlesa shepherd! lite- is to the native chiefs and rulers (" in the rally, shepherd of vanity, or nothingness, as land") who arose in the later times of the Job xiii. 4, "physicians of no value." The nation-monsters like Herod, false Christs LXX., recognizing that no special shepherd and false prophets (Matt. xxiv. 5, 11, 12, is signified, renders, ~n ol ,ro,µ.alvon,s Ta 24; Mark xiii. 22), hirelings who made µ.d.'Ta1a," Alas for those who tend vanities!" merchandise of the flock, teachers who came St. Jerome, expounding the verse of anti- in their own name (John v. 43), and deceived christ," 0 pastor, et idolum ! " That leBveth the people to their destruotion. Which the :fiock. Th us Christ speaks of the hire- shall not visit those that be cut off; or, ling (John x.12). The sworlishall be upon those that are perishing. This foolish shep- his arm, etc. The punishment denounced herd shall perform none of the offices of a is in accordance with the neglect of the good shepherd ; he will not care for and shepherd's duties. The sword represents tend those that are in danger of death ( J er. the instrument of punishment, whatever it xxiii. 2). The young one; rather, those that be; the right eye, the severity of the retri- are scattered; Septuagint, 'TO <rTKopmrrµ.lvov: bution (1 Sam. xi. 2). The arm that ought Vulgate, dispersum (Matt. xviii. 12). That to have defended the flock shall be withered. that is broken. Bruised, or with limb up as by catalepsy; the eye that should frBctured. Feed thBt that standeth still ; have watched for their safety shall be literally, that standeth; i.e. is sound and blinded. This is the judgment on the healthy. This shepherd attended neither foolish shepherd. Ewe.Id thinks that the to the diseased nor to the healthy sheep. passage eh. xiii. 7-9 is out of place there, Septuagint, 'TO ~>..OK>..71pov, "that which is and belonged originally to the end of the whole." He shall eat the flesh of the fat. present chapter.
HOMILETIOS. Vers. 1-6.-...4.final warning. "Open thy doors, 0 Lebanon," etc. The prophet, after having forotold (eh. x. 6-12) the great future and fin11,l glory of the literal Isrnel, seems here, as it were, to" hark back" to a previous and very different scene, viz.-as most commentators, both Jewish and Christian, believe-to that which should happen in those evil days when Jerusalem should be destroyed. We noted a. very similar transition at the beginning of eh. ix. (comp. also Luke xvii. 24, 25; x.ix. 11, etc.; 2 Thess. ii. 3). In the present case the destruction predicted seems to be of a threefold description. It was to be a destruction of the nation by being a destruction (1) of their palaces ; (2) of their princes; and (3) of the people at large. I. OF THESE PALACES OR OONBPlCUOUS PUBLIC BUILJlINGS, in which they came after- wards to glory so much (Matt. xxiv. 1; Mark xiii. I; Luke xxi. 5). 'l.'o this interpre- tation of vers. 1, 2 we seem pointed by the peculiar word " doors;" as also by the fact thBt the" doors" of the Jewish temple, and almost all its inner linings as well, a.re said to have been made of cypress ("fir") and cedar (see 1 Kings v. 8, 10); and, if so, we way notice : 1. How thorough is the nature of the coming destruction. What the "fire" can "devour" will be utterly destroyed in that way. ·what the fire cannot oievour will "come down," or be levelled. Even if the stones remain, that is, the buildings will perish (see Matt. xxiv. 2, end). Also: 2. How wide its extent. .dll 122 THE BOOK OF ~ECII.A.RIAR. (on, :xr. 1-17.