and the Avenger of his wrongs upon the land of Nimrod, and the great Assuager of God's anger against his people, the Peacemaker between God and the heathen, the Subverter of Idolatry, and the Establisher of the whole earth in one kingdom of righteousness and blessedness. And into this, the last portion of the prophetic strain, are interwoven with Divine skill the chief subjects of the two former parts: the travail-pains of Zion are accomplished; the Assyrian and his troops are vanquished; Babylon the daughter of troops and her land are wasted; the remnant of Jacob are raised up in strength against the Gentiles, and cease not from their victories until the whole world is delivered from wickedness, and filled with the worship and service of God.

The more I study these writings, the more I discover in them the wonderful art of God, whose glory it is to conceal a matter; and the more needful do I find the Spirit of Christ, whose office it is to reveal that which the Father hath hidden from the princes of this world. Likewise, the more closely I study the Prophets, I discover every where the traces and footsteps of the Scripture histories, both personal and national, as these are recorded in the preceding books of Scripture; insomuch that I believe nothing more is needed, to interpret the language and allusions of the Prophets, than what is contained in Scripture itself. We observed, in our seventh interpretation (vol. ii. p. 794), that there seemed to be an allusion in this strain of prophecy to Rachel's giving birth to Benjamin at Bethlehem-Ephratah, by the tower of Edar. It is not for nothing that Rachel's death is so circumstantially related; her hard travail, her naming of her child with her parting breath, and Jacob's changing of the name from " son of sorrow" to "son of the right hand." With him also Jacob's wives finished their bringing forth, and Jacob's family was complete. The twelve patriarchs, the foundations of the church, were then completed: the twin mothers, Rachel and Leah, "which did build the house of Israel," ceased from bearing; she which travailed had brought forth. It would be too long for the clearing of an interpretation, or indeed for the topic of any discourse, to enter into the mystery of Jacob's two wives, which is in itself a large and copious subject. Suffice it to observe, that no sooner had Rachel, who is speedily referred to in the passage before us, brought forth her first-born son Joseph than Jacob instantly proposed to Laban to go forth from his servitude into freedom; from his sojourn in a strange land, to the land of promise (Gen. xxx. 25); from residing with the father of his wives, to reside with his own father;-and that when she beareth her second son, Benjamin, they are arrived at the tower of Edar, by which Mount Zion is denoted in this context (Gen. xxxv. 18). In this interval, it is that Jacob gathereth all his substance, and turneth from being a bondsman to be the

head of two bands; hath his name changed from being Jacob "the supplanter," to become" Israel the prince of God;" meets God the second time at Bethel; and hath that name, Israel, set upon him, not by God the man-wrestler, but by the God of Bethel, who spoke from above the ladder in the heavens. In this interval between the birth of Joseph and Benjamin, the period of Rachel's travail, it is that Jacob is brought back to the tower of Edar, the strong-hold of the daughter of Zion, and finds himself the father of Benjamin, the "man of the right hand." These two sons, therefore, I believe denote-Joseph, the beginning of Israel's liberty and return, his fulness and strength, in which figures Joseph's fates are always set forth (Gen. xlix.; Deut. xxxiii.); Benjamin, the complete attainment of the inheritance, and the perfect accomplishment of the promised fulness, the return to Mount Zion from which time forth the church ceaseth to bear, hath finished with bearing, and dies as to child-bearing: the nation is brought forth in a day, the number of the elect is completed, and the action from which the church is gathering out of all nations begins to proceed. (Sometimes I speak in the language of the type, sometimes of the antitype; because it is the way of Scripture; and I feel it to be the only way of preventing us from falling out of real substances into abstract notions, out of real ideas symbolically expressed into intellectual and lifeless conceptions.) Inlike manner, as the characteristics of Jerusalem, or the church, in this prophecy, are illustrated from the history of Rachel, so are those of Christ from Rachel's two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Of Joseph, great fulness and strength and warlike prowess are the continual features (Gen. xlix. 22-27; Deut. xxxiii. 13-18), and by him, as the chief leader and strength, it is predicted that the nation shall be overthrown. Judah holds the plough, Ephraim's mighty shoulder draws it, and the rest of the tribes of Jacob break the clods, in that day when God prepares to "sow righteousness upon the earth" (Hos. x. 11). In the blessings of Joseph, pronounced by Jacob and by Moses, particular allusion is made to, and stress laid upon, his having been "separated from his brethren :" in which peculiarity, as in all the circumstances connected with it, Joseph is looked upon by all students of these things, to be an eminent type of Christ; who, for his prophetic words, was taken by the wicked hands of his brethren, sold for money, and consigned to the pit of the grave, in the hope that he was there to perish, and be no more heard of for ever: but, thence delivered, he becomes the Saviour of the land of Egypt and of the whole world, and of these very brethren who had so cruelly treated him. To this the "smiting of the judge of Israel," and his giving of them up for a season, and his returning as the excellency of his brethren, hath reference in the text. And here we draw attention again

to Jacob's never thinking of retiring from Laban's service till after Joseph was born, whereupon he began to acquire great substance. But in the blessing of Joseph by his father there is a remarkable note: "Hence is the Stone and the Shepherd of Israel:" which is in a still more remarkable manner alluded to in this prophecy of Micah; "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together, as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The Breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their King shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them" (ii. 12, 13). Here he is the Breaker of Babylon's gates, the Stone of Israel, with which the colossal image of gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay, is broken to pieces; and he is also the Shepherd who gathers the flock of Israel-at once "the Stone and the Shepherd." By his coming in these characters of Joseph, it is signified that when these works of mighty prowess are to be done he comes with the Ten Tribes, of which Joseph is the head; and with warlike prowess, of which Joseph is promised the possession in the blessing of Moses referred to above. And to this character also of the Stone, reference is made in that strain of prophecy under our consideration; where it is said, that at Babylon she shall be redeemed and delivered from all her enemies (iv. 10): and still more strikingly in the following words, prophetic of the threshing of the nations; "I will make thine horn iron, and thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt break in pieces many peoples;" which is derived from these words of Moses' blessing: "His glory is like the firstlings of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns with them he shall push the people (peoples) together to the ends of the earth." And in the verses immediately following we have him set before us as "the Shepherd who stands and feeds in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God."-Now, with respect to Benjamin, it is to be observed that his blessings are double in their character; the one indicating most rapid and complete destruction of his enemies-not in obstinate conflict, like Joseph, but in ravenous devouring of them when they have been scattered by Joseph's mighty horn, and trodden down by his feet of iron and brass : 66 Benjamin shall raven as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil." Christ and his people act in the character of Joseph in those terrible conflicts which are described in the prophet Zechariah around the walls of Jerusalem; in the character of Benjamin when Gog and Magog come up against them and are made a prey of (Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix). And in our context it

is very remarkably set forth in these words: "And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver" (Micah v. 8): and immediately follows, I think, a token of Benjamin, the son of the right hand, in the words, "Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries." The other prediction concerning Benjamin is in these words: "And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders" (Deut. xxxiii. 12). This "beloved of the Lord," the true Solomon, the true. Jedidiah (beloved of the Lord), shall dwell with Benjamin, when the true Joshua the Ephrathite (Christ acting the part of Ephraim the captain of the Lord's host) shall have won the land; protecting him, and dwelling between his shoulders, as heretofore he dwelt between the cherubim." For though Mount Zion belongeth to Judah (Psa. lxxviii. 68), the breadth of the city of Jerusalem, on which Zion rested, as the glory upon the shoulders of the cherubim, belonged to Benjamin (Jos. xviii. 28), as also did the chief part of the temple, which was built upon Mount Moriah. Thus Judah and Benjamin were bound together in one city, and so they cleave together still; and I shall not say but that in this prophecy Benjamin may stand as a representative of Judah, so far as these references are concerned. Now this complacent abiding in Benjamin, the youngest and darling child of Jacob, is descriptive of that blessedness which the Lord shall shed upon the nations when his controversy with them is over; being expressed in our prophecy in these words: "And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men" (Micah v. 7). These, and other marks which we shall notice as we proceed, convince me that in this prophecy of Micah, concerning the spoiling and the rebuilding of Jerusalem-the strong-hold of the daughter of Zion, the earthly bride of Christ-the Holy Ghost doth make continual reference to Rachel, and to her two sons Joseph and Benjamin. There is a beautiful exemplification of the same truth in the lxxx th Psalm, which is an invocation of the Lord of hosts, who "leadeth Joseph like a flock," to come and save the heritage of his people: "Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.” These are the weapons of his warfare, even the children of Rachel. And, if I mistake not, there is an allusion to Benjamin, the son of the right hand, in the 17th verse; " Let thy hand be upon the Man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom thou madest

strong for thyself." Every one will appreciate these things according to his gift of interpretation. The strength of the evidence dependeth very much upon the delicacy of a man's discernment in the Divine word; that delicacy is not otherwise to be acquired than by faithful study of the Scriptures; and that faithfulness is the gift of God and the work of the Spirit. But whether my reader may have attained spiritual tact to discern these things or not, is not material to the soundness of these interpretations, which rest upon a broad basis: yet would I fain communicate to him the same delight in the word of God, and assurance of its verbal inspiration, which my own mind deriveth from these observations; for another example of which see Morning Watch, vol. ii. pp. 83-89.

The prophet, having announced the humble origin upon earth of Him whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, doth predict a giving up of the people until the woman in travail shall have finished with her pains, and be delivered of all her children. "Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth." We had learned from the second part of the strain (chap. iv. 10), that she which travaileth is the daughter of Zion. (Vol. ii. pp. 798803.) This subject is renewed in the text, in order to inform us of the reason for which she was given up: Therefore will he give them up." And what is this reason? It must be contained in the one or other of the two preceding verses; whereof the former recounts the smiting of the Judge of Israel on the mouth, and the latter the origin, celestial and terrestrial, of Him who is to be unto God for a ruler in Israel. In the latter I can find no reason for the giving up of Israel; and therefore it must be looked for in the former: which having with this view re-considered, I am inclined somewhat to modify and enlarge the interpretation given of it above (p. 46); and, in addition to what is there set forth upon the words "They shall smite the Judge of Israel upon the cheek," to understand it of what was done to Christ in the days of his flesh: not only, and not so much, of those particular instances of smiting which are recorded of him (Matt. xxvi. 67, xxvii. 30; John xviii. 22, xix. 3), as of the general indignity and mockery and cruelty with which he was treated throughout the whole of his ministry, and especially of the injustice and murder with which it was violently put an end to. This rejection of the Holy One and the Just, whom with wicked hands they crucified, affords the only sufficient reason in the context for God's giving them up for a season. And seeing that the word "therefore" doth absolutely require that we should find a reason in the context, I am persuaded in my mind that this is the reason. Wherein I am confirmed by various parts of Scriptures, and by none more than our Lord's