Zech.ii. saw was, "The Lord, sent by the Lord to inhabit Je8,9,10,rusalem, where he calls the Gentiles, to join them to his people, and to dwell in the midst of them." 11. 12. Haggai says less, but what he says is surprizing. Ez. iii. Whilst the second temple is a building, and the old men, that had seen the first, melt into tears, on comparing the meanness of this latter edifice with the magnificence of the former, the prophet, who sees farther than they, publishes the glory of the second temple, and prefers it to the first. He explains whence this Hag. ii. new house shall proceed; the desire of all nations shall 10. come that Messiah promised two thousand years, and 7,8,9, from the beginning of the world, as the Saviour of the Gentiles, shall appear in this new temple. Peace shall be established there; the whole world shaken shall bear witness to the coming of its Redeemer; there is now but a little while to expect him, and the times appointed for that expectation are in their last period. At length the temple is finished; victims are offered up; but the covetous Jews present defective sacrifices. Malachi, who reproves them for it, is raised to a higher consideration, and upon occasion of the polluted offerings of the Jews, be sees an offering pure, and unpolluted, which shall be presented to God, no Mal. longer as aforetime only in the temple of Jerusalem, but from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same: no longer by the Jews, but by the Gentiles, among whom he prophecies, that the name of God shall be great. 11. Mal.iii. He sees also, like Haggai, the glory of the second temple, and the Messiali honouring it with his presence but be sees, at the same time, that the Messiah is the God, to whom that temple is dedicated. "Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple; even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in behold be shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." God's messengers are angels: but here is a messen ger of a wonderful dignity, a messenger, who hath a temple; a messenger, who is God, and who entereth into the temple as his proper dwelling; a messenger desired by all the people, who cometh to make a new covenant, and who is, for that reason, called the angel of the covenant, or, of the New Testament. 1. iv. 5, It was, therefore, in the second temple, that this Mali. God, the messenger of God, was to appear but an- &. other messenger goes before, and prepares his ways. There we see the Messiah preceded by his harbinger. The character of that forerunner is also showed to the prophet. This is to be a new Elijah, remarkable for his holiness, for his austerity of life, for his authority, and for his zeal. Thus the last prophet of the ancient people pointed out the first prophet, that was to come after him, or that Elijah, the forerunner of the Lord, who was to appear. Till that time God's people had no prophet to expect, the law of Moses was to be sufficient for them, and therefore Malachi concludes with these words: "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which Maliv I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, who shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children," who shall show to these what the others have expected. To this law of Moses, God had joined the prophets, who had spoken in conformity to it; and the history of God's people composed by the same prophets, in which were confirmed, by visible experiences, the promises and threatnings of the law. All was carefully written; all was digested in the order of time: and this was what God left for the instruction of his people, when he made the prophecies to cease. 4,5, 6. V. The of the Such instructions made a great change in the manners of the Israelites. They bad no more need either times of vision, or manifest prediction, or of those unheard second of wonders which God so often wrought for their pre-" servation. The proofs they had got sufficed them: and their incredulity, not only convinced by the event. of things, but likewise so often punished, had at last rendered them tractable. Wherefore, from that time we see them no more return to idolatry, to which they were so strangely inclined. They had sufficiently found the bad effects of rejecting the God of their fathers. They were ever calling to mind Nebuchadnezzar, and their own destruction so often foretold in all its circumstances, and yet sooner come than expected. No less did they adinire their restoration brought about, contrary to all human appearance, in the time, and by the person that had been pointed out to them. Never did they behold the second temple, without remembering why the former had been destroyed, and how this latter had been rebuilt and thus did they confirm themselves in the faith of their scriptures, to which their whole state bore testimony. There were no more false prophets to be seen among them. They had thrown off at once the proZech, pensity they had to believe them, and that which they 4, 5, 6. had to idolatry. Zechariah had foretold by one and xiii. 2,3, the same oracle, that both these things should happen to them. His prophecy received a manifest accomplishment. The false prophets ceased under the second temple: the people, scandalized at their impostures, were no longer in the humour of hearkening to them. The true prophets of God were read over and over, continually they wanted no commentary: and the things which came daily to pass in execution of their prophecies, were too faithful interpreters of Ts, xli. them. 11, 12, 18, 19. 19, 20, 13. xliil. In fact, all their prophets had promised them a prolix. 18,found peace. We still behold with pleasure the beau21. tiful picture which Isaiah and Ezekiel draw of the 12 happy times, that were to succeed the captivity of &c. Ix. Babylon. All the breaches are repaired, the cities &c. Ez. and towns magnificently rebuilt, the people is without Xxxvii.number, the enemies are brought low, and plenty liv. lv. 15, 16, 13, 14. xlvi.27. iv. v. viii. ix. xxvii.' xl, 9. abounds in town and country in both we see joy 11, 12, rest, and, in short, all the fruits of a long peace. God Jer. promises to keep his people in a lasting and perfect tranquillity. They enjoy it under the kings of Persia. So long as that empire stood, the favourable decrees of Cyrus, who was the founder of it, secured the peace of the Jews. Though they were threatened Est. with their final destruction under Ahasuerus, whoever vi he was, God, moved by their tears, turned all at once the king's heart, and took a signal vengeance on Haman their enemy. Except in this juncture, which Jer was soon over, they knew no fear instructed by their 12, 27. prophets to obey the kings, to whom God had subjected them, their fidelity was inviolable. And, so were they ever mildly treated. In consideration of an easy tribute, which they paid to their sovereigns, who were rather their protectors than their masters, they lived according to their own laws: the sacerdotal power was preserved entire the priests conducted the people the public council first established by Moses, enjoyed its full authority, and they exercised Ez. vit. amongst themselves the power of life and death, with- Jos. out any one's interfering with their conduct. So the kings ordered it. The destruction of the empire of Cont 25, 26. Ant. xi. 8. 2 1, 2. Ap. Ap. Id. the Persians made no alteration in their affairs. Alex- Ant.xii. ander respected their temple, admired their prophe- 2 Cont. cies, and augmented their privileges. They had AP somewhat to suffer under his first successors. Ptolemy son of Lagus took Jerusalem by surprize, and carried away from thence into Egypt an hundred thousand captives: but he soon ceased to hate them. He himself made them citizens of Alexandria, the capital of his kingdom; or rather confirmed to them the grant that Alexander had already made them; and finding in all his dominions none more faithful than the Jews, he filled his armies with them, and committed to their trust the most important places. If the Lagidæ had Jos some consideration of them, they were still better xii. 3. treated by the Seleucidæ, under whose empire they Ap.. Ant. 2 Cont Jos. Præf. lib. xii. Cont. i. 12. 13 2. Mac. lived. Seleucus Nicanor, head of that family, settled them in Antioch; and Antiochus Theus, his grandson, having caused them to be received in all the cities of the lesser Asia, we have seen them spread themselves all over Greece, living there after their own law, and enjoying the same privileges with the other citizens, as they did at Alexandria and Antioch. In the mean time their law is turned into Greek Ant. & by the care of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. 2 & 2. The Jewish religion is made known among the GenAp. tiles, the temple of Jerusalem is enriched by the gifts of princes and of people, the Jews live in peace and liberty under the power of the Syrian monarchs, and had hardly ever tasted such a tranquillity under their own kings. This tranquillity seemed to promise an everlasting continuance, bad they not disturbed it by their dissentions. Three hundred years bad they enjoyed this rest so much foretold by their prophets, when ambition and jealousies arising amongst them, had like Mac. to have undone them. Some of the most powerful betrayed their people to flatter the kings; they wantiii. iv. ed to render themselves famous after the manner of 1, &c. 14, 15, the Greeks, and preferred that vain pomp to the solid glory, which the observance of the laws of their ancestors acquired them among their countrymen. They celebrated games like the Gentiles. This novelty dazzled the eyes of the people, and idolatry cloathed with this magnificence appeared lovely to many of the Jews. To these changes were joined disputes for the high-priesthood, which was the chief dignity of the nation. The ambitious devoted themselves to the kings of Syria in order to attain it, and that sacred v. 24. dignity was the price of the flattery of those minions, 3, 10, 11, The jealousies and divisions of individuals, did not 223 fail quickly to cause, as usual, great mischiefs to the Polyb. whole people. Antiochus Illustris, king of Syria, conxxxi.ceived the design of destroying this divided people, cerpet in order to seize upon their wealth. That prince ap ኒ፡ peared now with all the characters Daniel had given Dan. 9, 24, 25. Fib.xxvi. in ex-. |