APPENDIX.

I.

Observations on the Prophecies relating to the Messiah, and the future Glory of the House of David.*

THAT no particular person, under the character of the Messiah, was promised to the Israelites in the time of Moses, has, I presume, been sufficiently shewn already,† though it was foretold even to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that their posterity should be a great and flourishing nation, superior to all others, so that other nations would bless in their name, or mention them in a proverbial way, as an example of great prosperity.

In the blessing pronounced by Moses, it is said that, in case of obedience, the Lord would make them the head and not the tail, that they should be above only, and not beneath, (Deut. xxviii. 13). Also, if after their disobedience (in consequence of which they would be dispersed over the whole earth) they repented, and returned to the Lord, it was promised to them that God would restore them to their country, and make them more prosperous than ever they had been before. Deut. xxx. 4, 5: "If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of the heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee, and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers."

The first promise of any particular person, or prince, under whom the people would enjoy great and lasting prosperity, seems to be implied in what God says to David, 2 Sam. vii. 12-16: "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit

Theol. Repos. 1786, V. pp. 210-242, 301-316. + Referring to some preceding papers, in Theol. Repos.

iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of a man, and with stripes of the children of men; but my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee and thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before me, and thy throne shall be established for ever."

Mention is made of this promise in several of the Psalms; but it certainly suggests no idea of such a person as Jesus Christ, and only that of a temporal prince of the posterity of David. It implies that his family would never entirely fail; for though it might be severely punished, it would recover its lustre again. And, connecting this promise with that of the glory of the nation in general, foretold in the books of Moses, it might be inferred that, after long and great calamities (the consequence of their disobedience) the people of Israel would certainly be restored to their country, and attain the most distinguished rank among the nations of the earth, under a prince of the family of David. This is the subject of numberless clear prophecies from Amos to Zechariah. But still no prophecies such as these give us any idea of such a person as was the founder of the Christian religion, though other prophecies certainly do.

Having considered all these prophecies with some attention, I shall recite, and remark upon all of them in which mention is made of any particular person, or persons, under whom, or by means of whom, the Israelitish nation would enjoy its prosperity, or from whom they would derive any advantage whatever; passing over almost all those in which the national glory is spoken of, without any mention of a prince, or head. After this, I shall make a number of general observations on the whole.

All Christian commentators and critics have found great difficulties in this subject. But it appears to me that they have arisen chiefly from the necessity they imagined themselves to be under of applying more prophecies to Jesus Christ than, in my opinion, belong to him, and especially from not distinguishing the characters of the humble prophet from those of the temporal prince, but applying in a spiritual sense to the former, what was intended in a literal sense for the latter; in which they have followed too closely the writers of the New Testament.

A little reflection, however, would have prevented the embarrassment of Christians on this subject, especially an attention on the one hand to the clear language of the prophecies, which speak of nothing but temporal prosperity,

and on the other, to the express declaration of our Saviour, that his kingdom was not of this world; the clear inference from which is, that the Messiah and the temporal prince are two persons.

That there should be no notice taken of such a person as Jesus Christ in the ancient prophecies, is not more improbable than that he should be described as if he was to be such a warrior and conqueror as David had been, when no two characters could well be more unlike.

With this idea I enter upon this really new field of criticism, and proceed to the examination of the particular prophecies, taking them in the order of time in which they were delivered.

The first distinct prophecy concerning the restoration of Israel, and the flourishing state of that nation in the land of Canaan, under the princes of the family of David, is that of Amos, who prophesied under Uzziah king of Judah, and Jeroboam II. king of Israel, between the years 823 and 758 B. C. His language is so plain, that it needs no comment. Chap. ix. 8-15.*

Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom;

And I will destroy it from off the face of the earth.

Yet I will not utterly destroy

The house of Jacob, saith Jehovah.

For, behold, I will command,

And I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations,

As one that sifteth corn with a sieve:

And a grain shall not fall upon the ground.

But all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,

Who say, Evil shall not draw near, nor come suddenly, on our

account.

In that day I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David,

And I will close up the breaches thereof:

And I will raise up its ruins,

And I will build it as in the days of old:

That the residue of men may seek Jehovah,

And all the Heathen who are called by my name;

Saith Jehovah who doeth this.

Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah,

That the plougher shall draw near to the reaper;

And the treader of grapes, to the sower of the seed:
And the mountains shall drop sweet wine;

And all the hills shall melt.

All the quotations from the Scripture prophecies are from the Translations of Bishop Lowth, Mr. Blaney, and the Bishop of Waterford [Newcome], as far as they go. (P.) I have here given the passages from Ezekiel also, in Archbishop Newcome's Translation, which was not published till 1788.

And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel;

And they shall build the desolate cities, and shall inhabit them ;
And they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof;
They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit thereof.
And I will plant them upon their land;

And they shall no more be rooted up

From the land which I have given them,
Saith Jehovah, thy God.*

Here is no mention made of any particular deliverer, and the idea naturally suggested by the language is, that Israel, and not Judah only, will hereafter be happy under the government of a king of the family of David, and that the Gentile nations will then be worshippers of the true God.

The next account of the future restoration of the Israelitish nation is by Isaiah, in a prophecy which was probably delivered in the reign of Ahaz, king of Judah, Chap. xi. and xii., in which only one person is mentioned under whom the nation was to enjoy great prosperity. He is described as an upright prince, endued with the spirit of God, under whom there would be universal peace, which was to take place after the second return of the Israelites from their dispersed state, when the whole nation would be united, and they would subdue the neighbouring kingdoms.

But there shall spring forth a rod from the trunk of Jesse ; And a scion from his roots shall become fruitful.

And the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him;

The spirit of wisdom and understanding;

The spirit of counsel and strength;

The spirit of the knowledge and the fear of Jehovah.

And he shall be of quick discernment in the fear of Jehovah :
So that not according to the sight of his eyes shall he judge;
Nor according to the hearing of his ears shall he reprove.
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,

And with equity shall he work conviction in the meek of the earth.
And he shall smite the earth with the blast of his mouth,

And with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked one.
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins;

And faithfulness the cincture of his reins.

Then shall the wolf take up his abode with the lamb;

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid:

And the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling shall come together;

And a little child shall lead them.

And the heifer and the she-bear shall feed together:

Together shall their young ones lie down;

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

And the suckling shall play upon the hole of the aspic;

Newcome's Minor Prophets, pp. 37,38.

And upon the den of the basilisk shall the new-weaned child lay

his hand.

They shall not hurt, nor destroy in all my holy mountain;

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah,
As the waters that cover the depths of the sea.

And it shall come to pass in that day,

The root of Jesse, which standeth for an ensign to the peoples, Unto him shall the nations repair,

And his resting-place shall be glorious.

And it shall come to pass in that day,

Jehovah shall again the second time put forth his hand,

To recover the remnant of his people,

That remaineth from Assyria, and from Egypt;

And from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam;

And from Shinear, and from Hamath, and from the Western

regions.

And he shall lift up a signal to the nations;
And he shall gather the outcasts of Israel,
And the dispersed of Judah shall he collect,
From the four extremities of the earth.
And the jealousy of Ephraim shall cease;
And the enmity of Judah shall be no more:
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah;

And Judah shall not be at enmity with Ephraim.

But they shall invade the borders of the Philistines westward: Together shall they spoil the children of the East:

On Edom and Moab they shall lay their hand;

And the sons of Ammon shall obey them.

And Jehovah shall smite with a drought the tongue of the Egyptian

sea;

And he shall shake his hand over the River with his vehement

wind;

And he shall strike it into seven streams,

And make them pass over it dry-shod.

And there shall be a high-way for the remnant of his people; Which shall remain from Assyria:

As it was unto Israel,

In the day when he came up from the land of Egypt.

And in that day thou shalt say:

I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah; for though thou hast been angry with me,

Thine anger is turned away, and thou hast comforted me.

Behold, God is my salvation;

I will trust, and will not be afraid :

For my strength, and my song, is Jehovah;

And he is become unto me salvation.

And when ye shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of

salvation; in that day ye shall say:

Give ye thanks to Jehovah; call upon his name;

Make known among the peoples his mighty deeds:

Record ye, how highly his name is exalted.

Sing ye Jehovah; for he hath wrought a stupendous work :