he declared that he would no longer be their shepherd; that that dieth, let it die, he I would let them rush to their own ruin since they refused to be guided by him; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off, destroyed by the power of the oppressor; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another, in the civil war, such as preceded the final destruction of Jerusalem. V. 10. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, to indicate the withdrawal of God's favor from His people, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. The person of the prophet here merges into that of his antitype, of the Good Shepherd Himself, for it is He who finally withdrew the blessings of His solemn promise from His former chosen people. V. 11. And it was broken in that day, the covenant being annulled by Israel's disobedience; and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me, the lowly among the people, those who were Israelites in truth, knew that it was the word of the Lord. It was from among the poor and lowly that the Lord, even in those days, recruited His Church, even as St. Paul speaks of it, 1 Cor. 1. V. 12. And I said unto them, to the flock that did not recognize the things of its peace, If ye think good, if they desired to recognize and acknowledge the services rendered them, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver, the value of a slave that had been killed, Ex. 21, 32, the ordinary price of a female slave, Hos. 3, 2. Cp. Matt. 26, 15. V. 13. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, thereby rejecting the insult which they offered. A goodly price that I was prized at of them! this being said in impressive irony. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. This statement has no meaning in this connection, but it receives a meaning through its fulfilment, for the thirty pieces of silver which the rulers of the Jews weighed to Judas for his betrayal of the Lord were by him cast into the Temple, the money later being used for the purchase of a

potter's field. Cp. Matt. 27, 1-10 and Jer. 32, 6-15. V. 14. Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel, so that, by the punishment of God, there might be lasting dissension in the Jewish camp, a peculiarity which, in the later history of the people, contributed much toward the rapid overthrow of the nation. Sin is a reproach to any people, but the height of folly is the denial and rejection of the Messiah, the one Good Shepherd.

THE FOOLISH SHEPHERD. — V. 15. And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd, of a wicked hireling, who bears the insignia of a true shepherd, but cares nothing for the sheep. V. 16. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, one assuming the functions of a true shepherd, which shall not visit those that be cut off, paying no attention to those who perish, neither shall seek the young one, those that have gone astray, nor heal that that is broken, suffering with broken limbs, nor feed that that standeth still, those who are strong, but in need of food; but he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces, in order to get even the last vestige of meat from the bones. V. 17. Woe to the idol shepherd, the worthless shepherd, that leaveth the flock, neglecting his chief duty toward its members. The sword shall be upon his arm, causing him to lose this important member of his body, and upon his right eye, also a most precious possession; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his It right eye shall be utterly darkened. will hardly do to limit this prophecy to an earthly, temporal power. It seems rather that the Spirit of the Lord, looking forward in the history of the Church, outlined in a few strokes the kingdom of Antichrist erected in the midst of those who rejected the Redeemer in the fulness of His grace and mercy, indicating at the same time that his power would be broken by the power of the Lord, as it was in the Reformation.

Israel's Conflict and Victory. JEHOVAH'S SOLICITUDE FOR ISRAEL. - V. 1. The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, His almighty, creative power being in evidence at this point, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, a favorite picture to show the unlimited power of Jehovah, Is. 42, 5; 44, 24, and layeth the foundation of the earth, which, if it were not upheld by His power, would wander from its orbit and fall into ruins, and formeth the spirit of

man within him, controlling the thoughts and purposes of men so as to accomplish His own plans through them. V. 2. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling, a vessel filled with the intoxicating beverage of His wrath, unto all the people round about, the neighboring nations reeling and falling in hopeless weakness and misery, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem, literally, "and also. upon Judah shall it be in the siege of Jerusa

lem," the entire country and its capital being involved in the severe trial which would come upon its neighbors. V. 3. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people, for those who attempt to lift and remove it; all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, suffering sprains and dislocations, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it, all the powers of evil being united in an effort to overthrow the city of the Lord. V. 4. In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, so that it would shy in terror, and his rider with madness, all the warlike forces finding themselves at a loss to effect their evil purposes; and I will open Mine eyes upon the house of Judah, with His protecting care, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness, so that the hostile forces would not be able to find their way. V. 5. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, in the firm conviction which upholds them, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength, a reliable source of confidence, in the Lord of hosts, their God, because the Lord has chosen this city, His Church, and by virtue of this choice is bound to redeem His people. V. 6. In that day will I make the governors of Judah, the leaders of the people by the Lord's choice, like an hearth of fire among the wood, so that they would consume their enemies like a basin of fire devouring fagots, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf, burning up the dry straw; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left, so that none of the adversaries can hold out against them; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem, so that the renewed people could fitly become the nucleus of the New Testament Jerusalem, the Church of Christ. V. 7. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, the dwellings of the country outside of the capital with its stone palaces, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah, the house of David being the royal family as continued in the descendants of Zerubbabel. The meaning evidently is this, that Jerusalem would have no preference before the rest of the country at the approach of the enemies, but the entire covenant people would in the same degree enjoy the protection of the Lord. V. 8. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, by a special strengthening against the foe; and he that is feeble among them, literally, "the stumbler," one who can hardly hold himself up, at that day shall be as David, to the Jew the highest type of strength and courage; and the house of David shall be as God, like a supernatural being, as the Angel of the Lord before

them, like the Son of God in His Old Testament form, whose power lived in His believers. V. 9. And it shall come to pass in that day, even while Jerusalem was exalted to a degree of strength and glory far transcending anything in its past experience, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem, this being the definite, energetic purpose of the Lord with regard to His people. It is a remarkable fact, one full of glorious comfort, that the Church of God has emerged from all its conflicts with renewed strength and power, that even in the worst persecutions, the blood of the Christians was the seed of the Church.

REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION.-V. 10. And I will pour upon the house of David, the entire royal family, the royal priesthood of the Church of the New Testament, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the members of His congregation in general, the Spirit of grace and of supplications, Him who works in the heart of man the certainty of the divine grace and urges him to seek forgiveness of sins by daily prayer; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, as they nailed their Redeemer to the cross, John 19, 34; Rev. 1, 7, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, acknowledging their transgression in killing the Prince of Life, Acts 3, 15, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born, almost the greatest grief and sorrow known to the Jews. V. 11. In that day, when the greatness of their crime in putting their own Messiah to death, would be brought home to some of the people, shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as is ever the case when men realize that their sins were the cause of Christ's death, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon, when the men of Judah mourned so bitterly over the death of their King Josiah, who was mortally wounded near that place in the Plain of Esdraelon, 2 Chron. 35, 22 ff., in the Valley of Megiddon, this being the name of the battle-field. V. 12. And the land shall mourn, every family apart, every section of the nation taking part in this expression of sorrow: the family of the house of David, those of royal descent, apart and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan, probably those belonging to the prophetic order, apart and their wives apart; v. 13. the family of the house of Levi, those belonging to the priestly family, apart and their wives apart; the family of Shimei, the teachers of the people, apart and their wives apart, so that two were of royal line and two of priestly descent; v. 14. all the families that remain, every family apart and their wives apart. Nor would this sorrow of true repentance be in vain. Chap. 13, 1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants

of Jerusalem, to the entire nation, as representative of the Church of the New Testament, in whose members the fruit of Christ's redemption is realized, for sin and for uncleanness. The blood of Christ, shed for the sins of the whole world, has prepared a water of sprin

kling which thoroughly cleanses sinners from their uncleanness. Cp. 1 John 1, 7. It is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, also in Holy Baptism. Titus 3, 5. 6.

Further Results and Revelations. THE FRUITS OF PENITENCE. - V. 2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, in the great Messianic period, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, so that the very names which had formerly been in the mouths of men everywhere were no longer mentioned, and they shall no more be remembered, the loathing of every form of superstition being so great that men would put aside every thought of the former idolatry and superstition; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit, who speaks through the false prophets, to pass out of the land. This is one of the results of the preaching of the Gospel, as we see also in the case of the people of Ephesus when Paul proclaimed the true God to them. Cp. Acts 19, 19. V. 3. And it shall come to pass that when any shall yet prophesy, continuing his wicked profession in spite of the changed attitude of men, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. This is in line with the command of the Lord in the Old Testament. Cp. Deut. 18, 20. Translated into terms of our day, it means that the mere fact of prophesying is a proof that a man is a deceiver. V. 4. And it shall come to pass in that day that the prophets, those who still assert that they possess the power to prophesy, shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment, after the manner of Elijah and of John the Baptist, to deceive, to impress men with their status as prophets, just as men nowadays affect the dress, speech, and manners of certain professions in order to make an impression; v. 5. but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman, vehemently disclaiming any connection with the prophetic profession; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth, rather, "a man has purchased me from my youth." V. 6. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? the scars which he bore as a result of his wounding himself in the service of idols, 1 Kings 18, 28. Then he shall answer, in trying to evade the issue and to place the blame elsewhere,

Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends, possibly when he was chastised in his capacity as slave. The entire paragraph shows with what utter loathing idolatry and superstition is to be regarded in the Church of the Lord and may be taken as a warning in our days when men are turning to deceivers for counsel and guidance.

THE SHEPHERD SMITTEN. With great abruptness the prophecy here takes a different turn, as the prophet sets forth the manner in which redemption was secured. V. 7. Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, the same one who addressed the people in chap. 11, 12, and against the Man that is My Fellow, Him who is true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the Messiah is the eternal Son of God, who was in the bosom of the Father from eternity and by Him begotten in the great eternal to-day, saith the Lord of hosts, who here summons the sword for the Messiah's great Passion, to carry out the infliction of suffering by which the redemption of mankind was to he gained. Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, a word which Jesus applied to Himself on the evening before His death, Matt. 26, 31; and I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones, literally, "I will bring back My hand upon the little ones"; for He intended to redeem the wretched, the poor and lowly, for of these was made up His Church. V. 8. And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein, the great majority of the people, shall be cut off and die, being offended in Him and therefore rejected from His herd; but the third, only a small part, shall be left therein. V. 9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, the test of affliction and persecution as it soon came to the first congregation, and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried, cp. 1 Pet. 1, 6. 7. They shall call on My name, and I will hear them, graciously giving them the attention which assured them of His certain assistance; I will say, It is My people, and they shall say, The Lord is my God. This has ever been the relationship obtaining between the God of the covenant and His Church on earth, and this intimate communion is one of the miracles of the Church till the end of time. Cp. John 14, 23.

The Final Conflict and Triumph of God's Kingdom.

THE JUDGMENT AND THE REDEMPTION.-V. 1. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, a great Day of Judgment, and thy spoil, that gained by the enemies in overcoming Jerusalem, shall be divided in the midst of thee, the enemies being at leisure and secure in the conquered city. V. 2. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, the enemies being recruited from all countries of the world; and the city shall be taken and the houses rifled and the women ravished, a picture of an apparent complete overthrow of the Church such as she experienced during the dark ages; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, yielding to the power of Antichrist, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city, some at least would remain faithful to the true God in the Church of the Reformation. V. 3. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle, on the many occasions when He went forth to battle with them and for them. V. 4. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, this location being considered the center of the earth and the throne of the Lord, as He makes ready for judgment, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, an earthquake having this effect as the earth trembled under the footsteps of Jehovah, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south, thus opening a road from Jerusalem straight toward the east. V. 5. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, since it would offer safe hiding-places; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal, a small town east of Mount Olivet; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah; and the Lord, my God, shall come, His advent being looked for by His children with joyful expectation, and all the saints, the holy angels, with thee. The picture sketched by the prophet shows Jehovah preparing to judge the nations, while the believers flee to Him for refuge, knowing that their salvation is near. V. 6. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear, that is, there would not be full daylight, nor dark, literally, "the glorious things will withdraw themselves," evidently said of the lights of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars; v. 7. but it shall be one day, a most singular day in every way, which shall be known to the Lord, He alone being acquainted with its true nature, not day nor night, because the lights of heaven will have lost their power to

shine; but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light. This picture represents the Church of the Middle Ages gradually sinking into darkness as the light of the Word of God was obscured by its leaders. Fortunately, however, the Lord, through the Reformation, caused the glorious light of His Gospel to shine forth once more. V. 8. And it shall be in that day, after the restoration of the light of the Word in its original position, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, from the Church of the Lord in its renewed state, cp. Ezek. 47, 1; half of them toward the former sea, toward the east, and half of them toward the hinder sea, toward the west, so that the blessings of the Gospel would be distributed throughout the world; in summer and in winter shall it be, without intermission. V. 9. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth, as the Ruler of His Kingdom of Grace; in that day shall there be one Lord, the Triune God once more accepted by the Church as He had revealed Himself in Christ, and His name one, to be glorified wherever His Word is proclaimed. V. 10. All the land shall be turned as a plain, with no more mountains to obstruct the work of the Church, from Geba, some twelve miles north of Jerusalem, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, at the southern border of Judah; and it shall be lifted up, Jerusalem alone being placed up on high, and inhabited in her place, or, "shall dwell in her place," from Benjamin's gate, in the wall of the north side of the city, unto the place of the first gate, on the east or northeast, unto the corner gate, that on the west, and from the tower of Hananeel, on the northeast corner of the city, Neh. 3, 1, unto the king's wine-presses, in the royal gardens on the south side of the city. V. 11. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction, such as came upon the Church through the wickedness of Antichrist; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. The Church, as renewed by the Reformation, will, on the whole, remain in possession of the truth and its blessings.

THE REMNANT OF THE NATIONS SAVED.— V. 12. And this shall be the plague, the special infliction, wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem, those who oppose the Church and its work: Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, so that they would rot away in a living death, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth, all these punishments making them unfit for further attacks upon the city of God. V. 13. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult, a confusion and panic, from the Lord

shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. It has always been a matter of good fortune, so far as the Church is concerned, that its enemies disagree among themselves and thus often frustrate their own evil intentions. V. 14. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, the Church itself taking part in the warfare against the enemies threatening her life; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, the treasures of the enemy, their most precious possessions, being taken by the Church, gold and silver and apparel, in great abundance. V. 15. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague, so that the defeat of the enemy would be complete in every way. All the enemies of the Church of God who persist in their enmity will finally, inevitably, be destroyed. V. 16. And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, after the destruction of the enemies that would not repent, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, to join with the Church in its adoration of the one true God. V. 17. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain, the spiritual blessings of the Lord being withheld from them. V. 18. And if the family of Egypt, representative of all the world-powers and enemies that have tried to oppress the Church of God throughout history, go not up and come not that have no rain, or, the lack of rain would be its plague or infliction; there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the

Feast of Tabernacles, refuse to be received into the Church and take part in its worship. V. 19. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a fact borne out by history and experience that the enemies of the Lord, in opposing His Church and refusing to accept His Word, entrench themselves behind a wall of their own foolishness and shut themselves out from the highest spiritual blessings. Meanwhile the Lord is building up His Church to a state of glorious perfection. V. 20. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, those suspended from their harness, which tinkled as they marched forward in a triumphal procession, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord's house, used for the seething of the sacrificial meat, shall be like the bowls before the altar, in which the blood of the sacrifices was kept. In other words, the difference between the sacred and profane would be entirely eliminated, everything used in the service of the Lord being equally sacred in His eyes. Cp. 1 Tim. 4, 4. 5. V. 21. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, all the distinctions of the Ceremonial Law being eliminated; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seethe therein, preparing for the sacrificial feasts without fear of contamination; and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts, no openly godless people being permitted as members of the Church of God. The nearer the Church approaches its perfection, the clearer is shown the cleavage between those who are in truth the servants of the Lord and those who merely bear the name of His ministers; and the final revelation of those who in the accepted time, in the day of salvation, were for and against the Lord Jehovah will come on the Last Day.

Concerning the person of Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament, so little is known that some people have even insisted that it was not the name of a person at all, but only a title, for Malachi means messenger of Jehovah. However, all the reasons advanced for this supposition are so weak that it seems best to hold, with the majority of orthodox teachers, that there was actually a prophet who bore that name, and that he wrote under his own name. The period of Malachi's activity must be placed in the days of Nehemiah, very likely before the second visit of Nehe

miah in Jerusalem. Cp. Neh. 13. His rebukes and admonitions evidently concern the same deplorable conditions which the leaders of the people found it necessary to correct with such emphasis, among these being sacrifices of a poor quality, neglect in paying tithes, marriages with heathen women. All this is further substantiated by the fact that Malachi refers to himself as the last prophet of the Old Covenant, chiefly in prophesying of the forerunner of the Messiah and in stating that the New Dispensation was to be expected very soon. The Book of Malachi may readily be divided