Moses. With this generation, therefore, he was exceedingly angry, and "sware in his wrath that they should not see his rest." But upon the next generation-those who were under twenty years old when they left the land of bondage, and those who were subsequently born-those whom they impiously said should be a preyupon these there was a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit, and to them was given possession of this promised rest. With them the covenant was renewed; and they feared the Lord all their days, and observed his statutes and laws. A similar line of proceeding will, it is probable, take place in the "latter day," when possession will be again given them of their country. A period of thirty years, and subsequently of fortyfive years, is spoken of as intervening between the time of their restoration and the Millennium. During this time, no doubt, the Lord will again plead with them: the hardness of their hearts will be taken away: they will look unto Him whom they pierced, and mourn ; and with weeping and supplication will they acknowledge their own and their fathers' iniquity in rejecting Him, who was the great antitype of all their sacrifices, and whose first coming was in every respect conformable to what their prophets had foretold. In this controversy which God had with them for forty years in the wilderness, he established them as his visible church, while all the rest of the world was left in idolatry: he gave them the moral law; instituted the types and ceremonies of their worship; and regulated the polity by which they were to be judicially governed. It was at this time, also, he gave his first written word; made known in a most remarkable manner his GREAT NAME and his attributes; and gave clearer revelations of the Messiah than the world had before enjoyed. After these things had been accomplished, and God had for so many years guided, clothed, and fed them in a miraculous manner; after he had made himself known to them by many signs and wonders, on various interesting occasions; -at length their sacred banner waved over the stream of Jordan; the waters of which, like those of the Red Sea forty years previous, were dried up before them; and they entered the promised land! For how long a time they possessed it, the consideration of the next Period will shew. FROM THE FIRST YEAR OF AHAZ KING OF JUDAH, 65 YEARS, FROM 742 ΤΟ 677 BEFORE CHRIST. CONTENTS : The maturity and glory of the Jewish nation-Its forms of government-The great things which God wrought for it -The Jewish church under Solomon-Its glory reflected from Christ-Its decline-Prophetical dates-Shalmanezer's invasion of Israel-Esarhaddon's invasion both of Israel and Judah-Captivity of Israel-Captivity of Manasseh-Sign given to Ahaz-Final fall of the kingdom of Israel. THE PROPHECY. "And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up towards Jerusalem to war against it. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim: and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field; and say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted, for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: thus saith the Lord, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within THREE SCORE AND FIVE YEARS shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son." -ISAI. vii. 1-9. Or, as the last two verses are rendered by Dr. Jubb (see Lowth on Isaiah) "Though the head of Assyria be Damascus; PERIOD II. THE events which commence and terminate this chronological period are connected with the closing scenes alike of Israel's and Judah's prosperity. As the space of the first period embraced the days of their youth, so the time between the first and second period embraces that of their full maturity and manhood. But as the object of prophetical dates does not, on any occasion, appear to be intended for seasons of prosperity, only as supports in seasons of affliction and trial; so none were therefore given during this long interval, which lasted from the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, in 1451 в.с., to the period now under consideration-above 800 years. This includes the brightest period of the Jewish history, and the highest external glory of the Jewish church. Under David and Solomon, the fame and renown of the nation went into all lands. Search was made by the kings of Persia, in the time of Ezra, and it was found "there had been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all the countries beyond the river; and toll, tribute, and cus |