of John's Gospel; his prophetic character and second coming, illustrated in the four Gospels and the Epistles; ending with a prediction of the speedy approach of the latter, in the Apocalypse: Rev. xxii. 20."--Hales's Analysis of Chronol. vol. ii. p. 463. "I cannot possibly understand this verse (ver. 1,) otherwise than as declaring that a great King would be born to the nation of Israel, in Bethlehem : and, if not a word occurred in Matt. ii. 5, 6, on the explication of this text, I could not but believe that its subject is Christ, the Christ who was born under the reign of Herod. The entire connexion of the prophecy in the foregoing chapter leads me to him, and to the time of his birth."—Michaelis, Anmerk.

SECTION XXVIII.

THE DESIRE OF NATIONS, AND THE GLORY OF THE LATTER TEMPLE.

Haggai ii. 6-9.

6. "For thus saith Jehovah of hosts,

"It is yet a very little time,

"And I will shake the heavens and the earth,

"And the sea and the dry land;

7." And I will shake all nations;

"And the DESIRE of all nations shall come,
"And I will fill this house with glory;

"Saith Jehovah of hosts.

8. Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold,
"Saith Jehovah of hosts.

9. "Great shall be the glory of this house,
"The latter above the former;

"Saith Jehovah of hosts.

"And in this place I will give peace;
"Saith Jehovah of hosts."1

THE Messiah is here described as a Deliverer of whom the world would stand in the greatest need,

1 Ver. 7. A difficulty arises from the verb shall come, being plural, and the nominative desire, being singular. Kimchi understands the prefix so as to read "they shall come with the desire of all nations," i. e. " bringing their valuable donations." The accurately learned Dr. Stonard, in his Commentary on the Vision of Zechariah, p. 94, adopts the same idea of an ellipsis of a preposition, but prefers >. They shall come to the Desire of all nations; i. e. to Jerusalem, the spiritual city of the Lord of hosts.-Judæa, of which Jerusalem was the head, is called the land of desire in Ps. cvi. 24. Jer. iii. 19. Zech. vii. 14." The admission of the same ellipsis had occurred to Michaelis, who says, "If I followed the

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and who should be very extensively the object of actual desire and expectation. The preparations for the introduction and establishment of his reign, in the providential government of God, were to be such as would indicate it to be of the greatest importance; the conquests of Alexander, the wars between his successors, particularly as they affected the Jews, and the power of the Romans. But the Spiritual Glory of the Messiah's kingdom, in effecting the true happiness of mankind, was to be INFINITELY superior to all earthly splendour. This passage, however, does not appear to afford, either directly or inferentially, any definite information on the specific object of our inquiry, the nature and person of that great Deliverer.

Jewish points, I should translate this clause, and they shall come to him who is the Delight, or the Joy of the Gentiles; under which description Christ is understood." Anmerk. The Targum retains the Hebrew word, without alteration or any hint of explication. The LXX. perhaps read as they translate it rà έkλEKTά. Michaelis, Seiler, and Rosenmüller take the word as a collective singular, signifying "valuable things," and interpret it as a prediction of the honour and rich offerings which were presented to the second temple by the Persian kings, by opulent Jews settled in foreign countries, and by the numerous proselytes from heathenism. This interpretation, they think, is supported by the specifying, immediately after, of "silver and gold." The two latter authors, however, maintain that the chief reference of the prediction, and its most complete accomplishment, belong to the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah.

SECTION XXIX.

RESTORER, SAVIOUR, AND SOVEREIGN OF THE CHURCH.

Zech. iii. 8.

"Behold I, bringing forth my Servant the Branch."

vi. 12, 13.

12. "Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying;
"Behold, a Man; his name the Branch.
"And from his ground shall he spring forth,
"And shall build the temple of Jehovah.

13. "Even he himself shall build the temple of Jehovah :
"Even he himself shall bear the honour:

“And he shall sit and rule upon his throne:

"Even he shall be Priest upon his throne;

"And the peaceful determination shall be between these two.'"

UNDER the figure of a branch sprouting from the tree, the Messiah has been repeatedly presented to us; probably to intimate his being the promised descendant of the family of David. For the encouragement of Joshua the high-priest and his faithful associates, under the difficulties of their situation, it is promised that this long-desired Priest and Ruler should assuredly spring forth and grow up, in the appointed time, till which time they and their successors should possess the Levitical priesthood; that he should prosperously

1 Is. iv. 2; xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5. The Targum expressly applies both the passages of Zechariah to the Messiah: Behold, I bring forth my servant, the Messiah, and he shall be revealed." iii. 8. "Behold a Man, Messiah is his name, ready that he may be revealed and may spring forth and may build the temple of Jah." vi. 12.

erect the temple of spiritual worshippers, a temple framed for heaven and eternity; that he should execute the divine will, which the typical yearly atonement emblematically declared, by a real sacrifice "taking away the iniquity of the land in one day;" and that he should, in the united offices of a Priest and a King, bestow upon a ruined world the happiness of reconciliation and restoration to the favour of God.3

This picture of the Messiah presents him in his characters of making expiation for the guilt of sin, exercising all-sufficient power for saving men from its enthralment, and making them the pardoned and accepted subjects of God. Any conclusions to be drawn from this representation, with regard to the PERSON of the great Deliverer, must depend upon the information to be collected, in future parts of this work, concerning the nature of the salvation, and the qualifications requisite for its accomplishment.

A similar observation might be made concerning another passage in this prophet; which, therefore, I subjoin in a Note. The Messiah is displayed as a Sovereign triumphing and widely reigning but his triumphs are not those of force and violence; he comes not upon the terrible war-horse; his path is not marked with tears and blood. His are the victories of truth, and holiness, and beneficence; the conquests of reason and conscience; the reign of holiness and piety, of good-will and pardoning grace to men,

2 Ch. iii. 9. See Dr. Stonard on Zechariah, pp. 189-192. For some further illustration of this passage, I beg to refer to Four Discourses on the Sacrifice and Priesthood of Christ, &c. p. 23, and the Note VIII.