and tho destruction of the flrstborn of the occurred only to disbeliever3 in revelatiJln. Egyptians (see Expoeitor, vol. vi. p. 131, etc.). The LXX., mistaking the text, gives, c:., Ver. 11.-As if the o.bove comparisons K0"11'f'TbJ ~o~voJ Iv 1rE6{c,, iK.KcnrToufvov, "8.8 were not strong enough, the prophet pre- mourning for a. pomegranate cut off in the een ts a new one, rererring te an historical plain." event, which occasioned a nniversRI mourn- Ver. 12.-The land. Not Jeru33lem only, ing in Jerusalem. As the mourning of (at) but the whole country. Every family ape.rt. B:ade.drimmon in the va.lley of Megiddon. The mourning should e:stend to every indi- This is generally supposed te refer to the vidual of every family (comp. Ezek. xxiv. death of King Josiah of a wound received 23). David . . . Na.than. First the royal at Megiddo, in the battle with Pharaoh- family is mentioned generally, to show that Nacho (B.O. 609),anrl te the ne.tiona.l lamenta- no one, however, high in station, is exempted tion ma.de for him and long observed on the from this mourning; and then a. pa.rticular anniversary of the co.le.mity (see 2 Kings bra.nob is named to individualize the lamen- xxiii. 29; 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-25). This tation. Ne.than is that son of David from universe.I and perennial mourning is e. figure whom descended Zerubba.bel (1 Chron. iii. 5; of the continue.lremembre.nce of the death of Luke iii. 27, 31). Their wives a.pa.rt. In Christ in the Cburob. There is o. difficulty private life the females of a. household about the identification of Hada.drimmon. dwelt in apartments separate from the St. Jerome says it was e. place in the Plain males, and in public functions the sexes of Megiddo, near J ezreel, and 1..--uown in his were equally kept distinct (see Exo<l. xv. day by the no.me of Maximie.nopolis. This 20; Judg. xi. 34; 1 Sam. xviii. 6; 2 Sam. is supposed to be Rummaneh, seven miles vi. 5). north-west of Jezreel, on the southern edge Ver. 13.-Levi . . . Shimei A.s before, of the Plain of Esdre.elon. But the identi- the priestly family is first mentioned gene- fication is far from certain. The Assyrian rally, and then individualized by naming no.me given to the place may, e.s Lowe Shimei, the son of Gershon, and grandson suggests, be a confirmation of the post- of Levi, of whom was the family of the exilie.n origin of the propheoy. The site of Shimeites (Numb. iii. 17, 18,21). The LXX. Megiddo also is undetermined, though gives, "the tribe of Simeon," instead of Conder suggests Mujedda, e. ruined city "the family of Shimei." But there is no about three miles south of Bethehee.u. The reason for singling out this tribe. In one opinion that the name He.de.drimmon is that sense, this prophecy began to be fulfilled of a Syrian or Phcenician god, whose rit~s when a great company or priests were con- were celebrated e.s those of Adonis (" the verted by tbe preaching of the apostles weeping for Ta.mmuz" of Ezek. viii. 14), (Acts vi. 7). is prepO&terous; and the idea. that the pro- Ver. 14.-The families that remain. All phet would thus refer te the worship of e.n the families that ho.ve no\ been mentioned abominable idol ie one that could have already.
HOMILETICS. Vars. 1-4.-.A wonderful triege. "The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel. saith the Lord," etc. These three concluding chapters seem to refer to one principal topic (" the burden of the Lord for Israel," ver. 1) a.nd to one principal time (see the thirteen-times repeated expression, "in that day"). The general preface or introduc- tion to the special succession of wonders which they announce to us is contained in ver. 1, setting forth, as it does, the wonder-working nature of the God who foretells them, in regard (1) to all above (the" heaven"); (2) all beneath (the "earth"); and (3) all within (the" spirit of man"). See somewhat similar preface to a somewhat similar announcement of wonderful doings in Rev. xxi. 6. After this introduction, in vers. 2-4, we have described to us, as the opening wonder of all, a certain future wonderful "siege." In which description we may notir.o three principal things, viz. (1) the many enemies of the city besieged ; (2) its one Defender; and (3) its complete defence. I. 1TB MANY ENEMIEI!. Herein, evidently, is to be one leading peculiarity of this "siege " of J eruse.lem. It is not only to be e. complete investment, "all the people" being "round a.bout" (ver. 2; see also Luke xix. 43), but it is also to be an invest- ment by an exceedingly large assemblage of "peoples . . . gathered together" from all parts of the world. Considering, indeed, the frequent use in these verses (some six. times in all) of the expressions "all" and "every," and the apparent definiteness of comprehension of the lBnguage in the end of ver, 3, we seem justified in believing that 138 THE BOOK OF ZECHiARIAH. [01i. xn. 1-14.