The threat of Micah 3:12 has been fulfilled. Mount Zion, the glory of the nation on account of its situation, its buildings, its history, and its religious associations (Psalm 48.; 122., etc.), has become as a forest, or as desolate heaps of ruins. But while the prophet gazes through the tears which patriotism and piety bring to his eyes, as in some dissolving view a new vision unfolds itself before him. Instead of a ploughed field and a ruinous mound, he sees an exceeding high mountain, a glorious city, and countless multitudes flocking towards it. It is the new Mount Zion.

I. ITS ELEVATION. There were other hills or mountains that already were or soon would be of note among men, such as the "high places" of a corrupt worship in Judaea and Samaria, the huge artificial hill of Babylon sacred to Belus, the acropolis of Athens, the seven hills of Rome. But this Mount Zion was founded on the summits of the world's loftiest heights, and towered above them all. Thus the mountain is seen to be spiritual and the elevation figurative. It is a vision of "the latter days," of the days of the Messiah, when the new kingdom of God is set up. Because it is "the mountain of the house of the Lord," it is thus exalted. Illustrate from Ezekiel's vision of the "very high mountain" (Ezekiel 40:2), and the sublime conclusion of it, "Jehovah-Shammah" (Ezekiel 48:35; and of. 1 Timothy 3:15). "This mountain of the Church of Christ transcends all laws, schools, doctrines, religions, synagogues, and philosophies, which seemed to rise among men like mountain tops" (Corn. a Lapide, in Pusey). It is "a city set on a hill."

II. ITS CONGREGATION. The prophet sees a stream of worshippers ascending that hill; not an unfamiliar sight in the old days of the literal Zion. But much earnestness is needed to scale this lofty mountain. And it is a miracle of grace that not only the chosen people of God, but "the peoples" of the world lying in wickedness, should be attracted by a Church so lofty and so pure. For, as the prophet watches, he sees strange companies gathering, of varied colours, costumes, and languages - Ethiopians, Chinese from the land of Sinim, and pale-faced strangers from the western isles of Europe. Contrast the mountain-like tower of Babel, man's scheme of unity, issuing in dispersion, and this Mount Zion, God's way of union, attracting a congregation from all kindreds and peoples and tongues (Isaiah 55:8, 9). The prophet hears their language as they encourage one another," Come ye," etc. They thus confess:

1. Their ignorance. "He shall teach us of his ways" - a comprehensive term (Psalm 25:4, 8, 9).

2. Their dissatisfaction. Their old paths had been "broad;" "destruction and misery had been in them. Henceforth they desire to walk in other "paths," in God's way of holiness.

3. Their confidence; that the God of Jacob alone was both able and willing to supply their need. The prophet foresaw what Christ still more clearly predicted (Matthew 8:11, 12), and what we are seeing in these days of missionary enterprise.

III. ITS EMANATIONS. As light and heat stream from the sun, and fragrance from the flowers, so from this new Mount Zion, this city of God, there stream forth the very blessings which the nations need - truth, light, life. It is a Divine power that first draws this congregation towards the Church of Christ (John 6:44, 45). And the blessings they need and receive are summed up in two terms.

1. "The Law. They receive it as a rule of life, as an ideal of daily conduct. It goes forth as a stream of blessing which can turn the wastes of heathen life into a paradise. But more than law is needed:

2. The Word of the Lord. This is a more comprehensive term. It includes the revelation of his will, his mercy and grace, the word of the truth of the gospel." This goes forth with all the attractiveness of a message of mercy (Luke 24:47, etc.), but also with all the authority of a law (Acts 17:30; 1 John 3:23). The preaching of the cross proves itself the power of God. This word of the Lord has free course and is glorified. No wonder that such blessings follow as are described in the following verses. - E.S.P.

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, etc. "The last days" is an expression frequently used in the Old Testament. It points to the future, beginning with the Christian dispensation and running on to its close. It means the times of the Messiah. The patriarchal times had passed away, the Mosaic epoch was on the wane, and would soon vanish. The times of the Messiah, or "the last days," would succeed, and run on to the end of time. This prophecy, with scarcely any variation, is found in Isaiah 2. Whether Isaiah borrowed it from Micah, or Micah from Isaiah, or both from some older prophecy, does not appear. One thing seems certain, that the prophecy has never yet been fulfilled in the history of the world, and that its accomplishment must be in some distant period - "the last days." It enables us to make certain remarks concerning the true religion of the gospel age.

I. THE TRUE RELIGION OF THE GOSPEL AGE WILL BECOME A GREAT POWER, "The mountain of the house of the Lord." Referring particularly to the temple that was built on Mount Moriah, and called the mountain of the Lord's house. The temple was the greatest thing in the religion of the Jews; it was the "mountain" in their scenery. The true religion is to become a mountain. The little stone will become a mountain, and fill the whole earth. In truth, the true religion, where it exists, is the biggest thing. In the individual soul it is the largest thing. It is the dominant power, it is the mountain in the scenery of a good man's experience. Let all men possess it, and then it will be to the whole world what it is to the individual. In sooth, true religion is either everything or nothing; supremacy is its essence the supreme thought, the supreme love, the supreme aim. Two things are here stated about this mountain.

1. It is to become established. How is it to be established? By civil authority, legislative enactments? Our foolish forefathers have thought so, and many of the dolts of this generation think so too. But this to the last point is unphilosophic and absurd. The weakness of religion in Christendom today may be ascribed to the futile attempts of unwise and ambitious men to establish it by law. You may as well endeavour to govern the planetary universe by the ten commandments as to establish religion by civil laws.

2. It is to become conspicuous. "In the top of the mountains." It will be seen from afar - the most elevated power of the world. It will be the chief thing in the markets, professions, and governments of the world, high up on the top of all.

II. THE TRUE RELIGION OF THE GOSPEL AGE WILL BECOME UNIVERSALLY ATTRACTIVE. "And people shall flow unto it." "This is a figurative expression, denoting that they shall be converted to the true religion. It indicates that they shall come in multitudes, like the flowing of a mighty river. The idea of the flowing of the nation is of the movement of many people towards an object like a broad stream on the tides of the ocean, and is one that is very grand and sublime" (Barnes). In this period the social element will be brought into lull play in connection with true religion. Men will stimulate each other to inquire after truth. "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord."

1. They will study its laws in order to obey them. "He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." In those good times that are coming, men will study God's ways, and not man's theories, and study these ways, not as a matter of intellectual speculation, but in order to obey them, to walk in his ways. Religion in those days will be practical; it will be the law of every one's life, the great regulative force of society.

2. They will study its laws at the fountainhead. "For the Law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Jerusalem was the fountainhead of Christianity. Christ commanded his disciples to tarry at Jerusalem until they should be endued with power from on high. There also he commanded that the first sermon should be preached, a sermon concerning repentance and remission of sins; and there Peter opened his commission in his wonderful Pentecostal discourse. In those days men will go for religious instruction, not to patristic, puritanic, Anglican, or any other theological school, but to the fountainhead, to Jerusalem, where it is fresh and pure, most potent in spiritual stimulation and suggestion. Men in these days have gone far away from the theology of Jerusalem. In that theology there are none of those miserable dogmas that are now preached, but facts concerning a Person, and that Person none other than the Son of man and the Son of God.

III. THE TRUE RELIGION OF THE GOSPEL AGE WILL BECOME POWERFUL TO TERMINATE ALL WARS.

1. Here is the destruction of war. "Beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." The arts of war destroyed, in their stead will flourish the arts of peace. The sword and spear, what ills of immeasurable enormity they have inflicted upon the race! Implements of hell, instruments by which all the infernal passions of the human heart have been excited and gratified. War is antichrist.

2. Here is the establishment of peace. "Shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree." The words, "sit under his vine," are taken from 1 Kings 4:25, etc. Most incredible must this prediction have been to the men of Micah's time; but it will be accomplished, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. If he has spoken it and it does not come to pass, it must be for one of three reasons:

(1) Insincerity; which cannot be entertained.

(2) Change of purpose; which is equally inadmissible.

(3) Unexpected difficulties; which is an absurdity when applied to Omniscience. - D.T.

The wonders of Micah's vision (vers. 1 and 2) are not yet at an end. He sees a succession of the most improbable and incredible events, as the nations return from their pilgrimage to the new Mount Zion to their distant capitals and homesteads. With those distant and "strong" heathen nations there are associations of horror and dread in the minds of the Hebrews, especially of the godly among them. Illustrate this from what we know through Hebrew prophets and historians of the Gentile nations near and afar off; e.g. border wars and frequent invasions of the Philistines (2 Chronicles 21:16, 17), Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, and others (Psalm 83.; and cf. the impressive messages of judgment in Amos 1. and 2.). Egypt, at one time their oppressor or invader (2 Chronicles 12.), later on their untrustworthy ally, always the home of degrading idolatries (Isaiah 19; Isaiah 30:1-7). Assyria, the seat of a relentless despotism, the captors of their northern brethren, casting its war cloud over Hezekiah's kingdom (Nahum 3.). Beyond these were the mountaineers of Media, the barbarous tribes of the far north, "Meshech and Tubal," and the sons of Greece in the distant west. The gloomy vision of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 32) graphically describes how the sword and bloodshed are bound up with the histories of these and other nations. All these are seen welcoming a new King, who "shall reign in righteousness," new legislation and new customs. The strangest of all these new customs is that "the peoples that delight in war" are seen changing their weapons into instruments of peace, and enjoying a tranquillity equal to that of the palmy days of Solomon. The mystery is explained by the fact that the word of the Lord had gone forth from Jerusalem. We learn -

I. THE GOSPEL OF GOD PREPARES FOR THE REIGN OF GOD.

1. It reveals God's love. It thus comes as a revelation, startling, almost incredible to heathens, in whose minds lust not love, hatred not mercy, are bound up with their thoughts of God. That central verse of the New Testament (John 3:16), a "miniature Bible," as Martin Luther called it, applied by the Spirit of God, has broken many a rocky heathen heart, and opened the way for the blessings that God's love has prepared for sinful souls (1 John 4:19).

2. It inspires men's hope. Those who were once living "having no hope, and without God in the world," find that all things are become new. All the most bright and buoyant emotions, love, hope, joy, are called forth by the gospel of God. The brightest visions of a golden age in the future which heathen poets have sung about are seen to be possible under the reign of a righteous and merciful God. They are "saved by hope."

3. It awakens men's consciences. An educational process ensues. The dormant conscience is awakened; the blind conscience sees the light of truth; the blunt conscience is made sensitive and tender. Thus gradually things which were tolerated in the individual or the community are branded as unchristian, or even infamous. Illustrate from 1 Corinthians 5. and 6. In those whose spiritual education is most advanced, every thought is brought "into captivity to the obedience of Christ." Thus gradually the average standard of morality is raised first in the Church and then in the nation, and the gospel of God is seen to have prepared the way for the reign of God.

II. THE REIGN OF GOD WILL BE A REIGN OF PEACE. War is a terrible defiance of God and of his authority, and yet it is one of the most popular forms of wickedness. The press, the clubs, "the forces," often make it hard even for a government calling itself Christian to resist the gusts of popular passion which sweep nations into war. Even as late as 1882 we were told that on board the ironclads off Alexandria the countenances of the officers fell as the sight of a flag of truce made it possible that after all their new guns might not be tested by a bombardment. Yet even this unclean spirit will be exorcised by the power of the gospel of Christ, which has already been at work in many ways; e.g. "the truce of God" in the Middle Ages, providing for the suspension of hostilities during Advent, Lent, and other seasons; the sparing of the lives of prisoners; the care and kindness shown towards the wounded; the power of the public opinion, even of a minority, to restrain governments from hastily rushing into war; the introduction of arbitration, in which the British Government set so honourable an example at Geneva in 1872. In such cases it may be said that God, through the judgments of upright men, is called to "judge between many peoples," and "reprove" even strong nations when they wronged their neighbours. Thus gradually war will be banished, even as duelling and other abominations have been. "Fraternity" will be one of the watchwords of the future, and war will be regarded as fratricide. Lucian says of Christians, "Their first Lawgiver persuaded them that they are all brethren." Christianity is working towards the restoration of that ideal. Then Solomon's days shall be reproduced in more than their ancient glory. New princes of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts at the court of the Prince of Peace, whose subjects shall "dwell safely, and be quiet from fear of evil." The glorious visions of Psalm 72.; Isaiah 60., etc., shall be fulfilled, "for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it." Learn:

1. That the only hope of true national righteousness is in the reign of Christ.

2. That the Christian who witnesses for unpopular truths is the noblest among patriots.

3. That the sanctification of individual souls through the power of the gospel is the surest method of securing the ultimate and universal reign of Christ on earth. ? E.S.P.

For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the Name of the Lord our God forever and ever. It is trite to say, what has been said a thousand times, that man has a religious nature. Albeit the practical recognition of the fact is of immense importance; without it, more than half the history of the world would be inexplicable, all methods for its true improvement would be futile, and man would pass through this world to another without a God or any hope for a future. This verse suggests the wrong and the right development of this nature.

I. THE WRONG DEVELOPMENT. What is that? Idolatry. "All people will walk every one in the name of his god." Polytheism proper is, and generally has been, the most popular religion in the world. Men have gods which they have made, palpable objects which they fashioned after an ideal, and the ideal not unfrequently of the most base and loathsome kind. And they walk after these gods. The mariners in Jonah's vessel, when the storm came on, cried every man unto his god. Whence the cause of polytheism? The one great cause, which comprehends all others, is depravity. Depravity:

1. Involves moral corruption. What are heathen gods, as a rule, but the deification of the lower passions and vices of mankind?

2. Involves carnality. Depraved men are so carnal that they have no idea of real things which have not size and form and tangible properties. Hence they want a god they can see and handle and touch.

3. Involves thoughtlessnss. Polytheism cannot stand reasoning. It is supported by the thoughtless millions through the craft and sophistry of the priests. Every true thought will shatter a heathen deity.

II. THE RIGHT DEVELOPMENT. What is that? Practical monotheism. "We will walk in the Name of the Lord our God forever and ever."

1. This is rational. The one God is the sum total of all moral properties, the Proprietor of all resources, and the Bestower of all the existences and all the blessings therewith. What can be more rational than to walk in his way? In truth, it is the only true rational way in life.

2. This is obligatory. No man is bound to walk in the name of an idol; nay, he is commanded not to do so. But every man is bound to walk in the Name of the Lord - bound on the ground of his supreme excellence, his relations to man, and the obligation springing therefrom.

3. This is blessed. To walk in his Name is to walk through sunny fields abounding with all beauty and fruitfulness. - D.T.

It is the Gentile nations for whom the blessings of "the last days" have just been predicted (vers. 2-4). The new Mount Zion of the Messiah's days will have a magnetic power on "the East and the West" (Matthew 8:11; John 12:32). But Israel, through whom these blessings reach the nations, shall not be excluded from a share in them. Yet the form of the prediction reminds us of the abject condition of God's ancient people and of the gradual extension of the glories of Messiah's reign over them.

I. THEIR ABJECT CONDITION. They are described as:

1. Halting. This was the result of internal infirmity or of injury from without, or of both. The Jewish people at the advent were suffering both from ecclesiastical and moral corruptions, which made them figuratively like the folk at Bethesda, "halt, withered, impotent."

2. "Driven out." Multitudes had been driven out of their heritage in Palestine by the decrees of conquerors or the oppressions of foreign tyrants. Centuries before, Jeremiah had declared, "Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the King of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar King of Babylon hath broken his bones" (Jeremiah 50:17). In subsequent centuries similar captivities or oppressions were endured at the hands of the Ptolemies, the Seleucidae, the Idumeans, and the Romans. Those who remained were as strangers in their own fatherland. And soon a far more fearful catastrophe scattered them from one end of the heavens to the other, after the destruction of their city by the Romans.

"But we must wander witheringly
In other lands to die;
And where our fathers' ashes be
Our own must never lie:
Our temple hath not left a stone,
And Mockery sits on Salem's throne."

(Byron)

3. "Stricken of God, and afflicted." Unfaithful "shepherds" among their own rulers (Ezekiel 34:1-6) or heathen conquerors were the scourges; but "shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?" Devout men recognized this, and uttered such penitential wails as we find in Psalm 44., 74.; Lamentations 1., 2., etc.

II. THEIR RESTORATION. The establishment of the new kingdom of God - Christ's kingdom - on Mount Zion was itself a pledge of the restoration of the Jews and of their participation in its blessings. For it could not be that Christ should reign over the Gentile nations and leave "his own people" (John 1:11) to perish finally in unbelief. This would be opposed both to the ancient promises of God (Isaiah 45:17; Isaiah 59:20, 21, etc.) as well as to the predictions and the heart of Christ (Matthew 23:37-39). Yet there are stages in this process of restoration.

1. The halting ones are restored, but they are only a remnant. (Cf. Micah 5:3, 7, 8.) The immediate effect of the establishment of Christ's kingdom was seen in a great religious revival among the Jews from Pentecost onwards. But all the converts were but a remnant of the nation which, because of its unbelief, was "broken off" (Romans 11:1-5, 17-20). Yet in the fact of the salvation of the few the Apostle Paul sees the pledge of the final salvation of the many.

2. The banished ones shall be made a strong nation. Trace St. Paul's inspired argument in Romans 11. till he arrives at the sublime conclusion in vers. 32-36. The nation's restoration to God will be accompanied by a restoration to their own land (Zechariah 12:10-14; Zechariah 14:8-11, etc.).

3. "The Lord shall reign ever them in Mount Zion. We look for the restoration of Israel to their Saviour and to their land as one of the marvellous evidences of the truth of the prophetic word which God is reserving for the scepticism of these latter days. We need not anticipate a literal and local throne of Christ at Jerusalem. But the Lord Christ, being enthroned in the hearts of his long faithless yet much beloved people, will as truly reign over them in Mount Zion" as though they had his glorified humanity always manifested in their midst. And then his reign shall be "from henceforth, even forever." "I the Lord will hasten it in his time."

"O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice, rejoice: Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!" E.S.P.

In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and bet that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even forever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Whether the subject of these verses is the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity or the gathering of men by Christ into a grand spiritual community, is a question on which there has been considerable discussion among biblical scholars, and therefore should preclude anything like dogmatism on either side. I am disposed, however, to entertain the latter idea, because it seems most in accordance with the previous verses, in which there is an undoubted reference to the gospel age, and because it gives the passage a wide practical application. Delitzsch says, "'In that day' points back to the end of the days. At the time when many nations shall go on pilgrimage to the highly exalted mountain of the Lord, and therefore Zion-Jerusalem will not only be restored but greatly glorified, the Lord will assemble that which limps and is scattered abroad." We shall take the words, then, as illustrating certain facts connected with the moral monarchy of Christ in the world.

I. IT EMBRACES AMONGST ITS SUBJECTS THE MOST WRETCHED AND SCATTERED OF MEN. "In that clay, saith the Lord, will I assemble [gather] her that halteth [that which limpeth], and I will gather her that is driven out [that which was thrust out] and her that [which] I have afflicted; and I will make her that [that which] halted [limps] a remnant, and her that [that which] was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even forever." Christ was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6), and his invitation was to all that are "weary" and "heavy laden." The Church of Christ from the beginning has comprised those who were the most afflicted, the most scattered, and the most distressed of mankind. It has been and is the grand asylum for the tried and the sorrowful and those who are counted "the offscouring of all things" (1 Corinthians 4:13).

1. Christ's moral monarchy knows nothing of favouritism. It does not treat men according to their physical condition, social status, or temporal circumstances. It has respect to souls. It is as much interested in the soul of the pauper as in that of the prince, the soul of the slave as in that of the sovereign. Human monarchies have ever been taken up with man in his material relations. The more wealthy and influential a man is, the more favours will worldly kings bestow; the indigent and the homeless are only regarded as beasts of burden. Not so with Christ as the Monarch. Every soul to him is a matter of profound practical interest.

2. Christ's moral monarchy is remedial in its design. It brings all the miserable together in order to rid them of their sorrows. By working into human souls right principles of action and expelling wrong ones, it indirectly, though most efficiently, heals all the temporary woes of mankind. "Seek first the things from above, and all others shall be added unto you." "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life which now is, as well as of that which is to come."

II. IT ESTABLISHES ITSELF AS THE GUARDIAN OF MEN FOREVER. "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion," etc. The address to the "tower of the flock" shows that, as the most wretched and scattered of men will be brought into a great community, so shall the reign of the daughter of Zion be restored, i.e. the Jews be converted and brought in with the Gentiles. The watch tower spoken of by Isaiah (Isaiah 32:14) is most likely the tower here referred to by Micah. "Flock tower" is a good expression, inasmuch as it indicates the watchfulness of Christ as a moral Shepherd, the great Shepherd of souls. It is said here that "the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." It did so come; it began with the Jews. "He came to his own, and his own received him not." Although oh his last visit to Jerusalem the common people did receive him as their King: "Hosanna to the Son of David!" What a Guardian, what a "Bishop of souls," is Christ!

1. He knows all his sheep. Each of the millions is known to him - his idiosyncrasies, imperfections, necessities, etc.

2. He has ample provision for all his sheep. His provisions are adapted to all, and are inexhaustible.

3. He has power to protect all his sheep.

CONCLUSION. Thank God this moral monarchy of Christ is established on our earth! The kingdom of God is come unto us. Thousands of all grades and classes have entered into it, and they have found it to be "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Would that it were universal! It will be so one day. It is not so yet, because, being moral, men have the power of resisting it. - D.T.

A glorious future has been held up to the view of the Jewish nation (vers. 6-8). It is like the ideals of peace and blessedness presented to all in the Word of God; like the visions of the heavenly glory set before even the most ungodly. Such promises are attractive; even the godless Jews in Micah's time would exult in the thought of "the former dominion," the days of David and Solomon returning to Zion. But the vision again changes. Cries of pain and distress are heard. There passes before the prophet's mind a view of the discipline and chastisement which must fall on the disobedient nation before the promised blessings can be enjoyed.

I. THE SALUTARY DISCIPLINE. In brief, vivid words a succession of calamities is sketched.

1. Their monarchy is overthrown. "Is there no king in thee?" Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah in succession were dethroned by foreign conquerors, and carried into exile. Many national premises and blessings were bound up with the name and family of David (2 Samuel 7), so that the loss of their king was no ordinary loss. He was their chief stay and "counsellor" (cf. Isaiah 9:6), "the breath of their nostrils" (Lamentations 4:20). No wonder their consternation and distress: "pangs," etc..(cf. Psalm 89:38-51). Thus one step in Divine discipline then and now may be the striking down to the ground of the chief objects of our confidence, the earthly props which we seek to substitute for God.

2. They are humiliated before their foes. They "go forth out of the city;" some in a vain attempt to escape, like Zedekiah and his troops (2 Kings 25:4-6); others as prisoners of war from a city which has capitulated and is being sacked by its conquerors. Illustrate from Lamentations 5:1-16. They are driven forth into "the field;" without shelter even from the elements unless in tents (contrast their former "ease in Zion," Amos 6:1-7, etc.); without the protection of the old towers and bulwarks in which they had prided themselves (Psalm 48:12, 13); without weapons or leaders, and thus exposed to any indignities that these conquerors choose to inflict upon them. Thus may it be with those whose way God "turneth upside down," stripping them of all their old sources of security - money, position, friends; turning them out of the "nest" in which they expected peacefully to spend the remainder of their days. Illustrate from contrasts in Job 29. and 30.

3. They are carried captive "even to Babylon. Babel in early days had been a symbol of a godless world power. It does not rise again on the Hebrew horizon till the days of Isaiah and Micah. Making friendly overtures to Hezekiah, it is presented to his view, by his faithful seer, as a distant, mysterious, but formidable foe of the future - ignotum pro mirifico (Isaiah 39.). As the ten tribes had been carried captive to Halah and Habor and adjacent districts, so should Judah be taken even to Babylon. Thus is it in God's discipline with his prodigals now. They may find themselves in a far country," brought down to the lowest depth of humiliation, shut out from all earthly help, shut up to God. And even now, in the midst of the pleasures of sin, prophetic voices within may warn them: "Thou shalt go forth... thou shalt go even to - ." The dreadful possibilities of judgment, whether in this world or another, may at times mar their peace. For, unlike the servants of God, they dare not say, "Things to come... are ours.

4. In the house of bondage pangs of sorrow must be borne. Seventy years!" - a long lifetime of captivity. "Tribulation ten days!" a time of discipline indefinite to us, though fixed by the counsel of God. Those pangs will be "resistless, remediless, doubling the whole frame, redoubled till the end for which God sends them is accomplished, and then ceasing in joy" (Pusey). For the very term "daughter of Zion" suggests hope. It is a term of friendliness, like "Father of spirits" (Hebrews 12:9), which reminds us of the essential relations between us and our God, and gives us a pledge that in wrath he will remember mercy (cf. Isaiah 57:16).

II. "THE END OF THE LORD." Then and there the end for which the trials are sent will be reached, and deliverance will come. As with their king Manasseh, so shall it be with the nation. In their affliction they will seek the Lord (Jeremiah 29:10-13).

1. They shall be delivered. Set free from the burden of their sins, a burden too grievous to be borne; purged from idolatry; blessed with a revival of religion, as shown by a renewed regard to God's Law through the gracious work of his own "free Spirit" (Ezekiel 36:16-27).

2. They shall be redeemed from the hand of their enemies. God will visit them as their Goel, their Kinsman-Redeemer, who has not forgotten or forsaken them (Jeremiah 30:8-11). By the manifestation of his righteous grace and irresistible power they shall be "redeemed without money" (Isaiah 52:3), restored to their land and to the enjoyment of ancient privileges. Such is "the end of the Lord" in the discipline of life. The revelation of the Fatherhood of God in the Person of Christ and in his sacrificial death for the redemption of sinners assures us that he chastens "for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness." But it is only by sitting at his feet and learning of him, and thus being "exercised" by our trials, that we can hope to win from them "the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:9-11). - E.S.P.

Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, etc. The prophet here, without doubt, refers to the carrying away of the Jews to Babylon. He refers to the consternation in which the Jews would be placed on the approach of the Chaldean army, The questions relative to a "king" and a "counsellor" (ver. 9) are, it is thought, put forth in bitter irony, in order to provoke an answer. "Is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished?" The answer, perhaps, would be, "Yes, we have a king, and we have counsellors, but they are utterly worthless; they have power neither to protect us from the terrible calamities nor to invent means for our escape." The metaphor of the parturient woman seems intended to shadow forth the agony of their consternation at the idea of going forth from the city of Jerusalem, being located in the open country, and afterwards conveyed to Babylon. After this comes the promise of emancipation. "There the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies." Their restoration is metaphorically represented by a travailing woman. Whilst it is unfair to attach to Scripture a wrong interpretation, it is perfectly fair to use its passages as symbols of truths applicable to man in all ages and all lands. These words may serve to illustrate, therefore, some points in relation to the moral regeneration of the world.

I. THE STATE OF MANKIND REQUIRES IT. "Is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished?" It was more serious for the Jewish people to be deprived of a king than for any other people, for their king was theocratic; he was supposed to be the voice and vicegerent of God. The prophet means to say that when the Chaldeans would come and carry them away, they would have no king and no counsellors. Now, men in an unregenerate state:

1. Have no king. A political ruler is to man, as a spiritual energy, only a king in name. He does not command the moral affections, rule the conscience, or legislate for the inner and primal springs of all activity. Such a king is the deep want of man; he wants some one to be enthroned on his heart, to whom his conscience can render homage. No man in an unregenerate state has such a king; he has gods many and lords many, of a sort, but none to rule him, and to bring all the powers of his soul into one harmonious channel of obedience.

2. Have no counsellor. Society abounds with counsellors who proffer their advice; but some of them are wicked, most of them worthless, few, if any, satisfactory, that is, to conscience. What the soul wants is not the mere book counsellor - though it be the Bible itself - but the spirit of that book, the spirit of reverence, love, Christ-like trust. Such a spirit, when it comes to us, will guide us into all truth; it is the "unction from the Holy One."

3. Have no ease. "Pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail." The unregenerate soul is always liable to consternation, remorse; it often writhes in agony. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Now, moral regeneration brings the man a true King, a true Counsellor, a true Peace - a peace "that passeth all understanding."

II. IT IS OPPOSED BY FORMIDABLE ANTAGONISTS. "Many nations are gathered against thee." The nations here referred to are those that composed the army of Nebuchadnezzar, or those that joined it in the attack against the Jews. What formidable opponents there are to the conversion of man!

1. The depraved elements of the soul. Unbelief, selfishness, carnality, etc. These are Canaanites that battle mightily against the moral Joshua.

2. The corrupt influence of society. How much, in this country and this age especially, is there struggling against man's regeneration custom, fashion, amusements, pleasures! And then, too, acting through all these forces within and without, there are the principalities and powers of darkness; so that it comes to pass that it is no very easy thing to effect the regeneration of men; there are nations of moral forces battling against it.

III. IT IS GUARANTEED BY THE WORD OF ALMIGHTY GOD. "They know not the thoughts of the Lord," etc. The enemies of the Jews were utterly ignorant of God's purpose to deliver his people from Babylonish captivity. "They had not the most distant idea that the object of Jehovah, in permitting his people to be so treated, was to recover them from idolatry, and thus prepare them for a triumphant restoration. The metaphor taken from the process of threshing out grain is frequently used by the prophets to denote the complete destruction of a people."

1. Man in ignorance fights against God's purpose. The Chaldeans and all the enemies of the Jews did so now. Men are always doing this. "Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

2. Man, in fighting against God's purpose, brings ruin on himself. It is here predicted that the enemies of the Jews should be as "sheaves," and that the Jews themselves should be strengthened. "I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass." "When God," says an old writer, "has conquering work for his people to do, he will furnish them with strength and ability for it - will make the horn iron and the hoofs brass; and when he does so, they must exert the power he gives them, and execute the commission: even the daughter of Zion may arise and thresh." The nations thought to ruin Christianity in its infancy, but it was victorious over them. Those who persisted in their enmity were broken to pieces (Matthew 21:44), particularly the Jewish nation; but multitudes by Divine grace were joined to the Church, and they and their substance were consecrated to the Lord Jesus, the Lord of the whole earth. - D.T.