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Page 13
Contemporary with Jeremiah was Ezekiel. He likewise describes
this happy state of the Israelites under a king of the name of David,
chap. xxxiv. 22.
�Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey:
and I will judge between cattle, and cattle. And I will set up one
Shepherd over them, and be shall feed them, even my servant
DAVID: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd, and I
the Lord will be their God, and my servant DAVID a Prince
among them. I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them
a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of
the land; and they shall dwell safely in' the wilderness, and sleep in
the woods. And I will make them, and the places round about my
hill, a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in the
season: there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field
shall yield her fruit; and the earth shall yield her increase; and they
shall be safe in their land; and shall know that I am the Lord, &c.�
In another passage this prophet says, that the two nations, Israel
and Judah, shall have one king, and that this king shall be named
DAVID, who shall reign for ever, chap. xxxvii. 21--28. �Say unto
them, thus saith the Lord God, behold I will take the children of
Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will
gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. And
I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of
Israel, and one king shall be king to them all, and they shall be no
more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms
any more at all. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with
their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their
transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places
wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them, so shall they be
my people, and I will be their God. And DAVID my servant shall
be king over them, and there shall be one shepherd. They shall
also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes and do them.
And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my
servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell
therein, even they, and their children, and their children�s children
for ever, and my servant DAVID shall be their prince forever.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them: it shall be an
everlasting covenant with them, and I will place them, and
multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them, for
evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them, and I will be
their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall
know, that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall,
be in the midst of them for evermore.�
The natural construction of this seems to be this, �that a descendant
of David, called by that name, should reign over the Israelites for
ever.�
In the very circumstantial description which Ezekiel gives of the
state of the Israelites in their own country, yet expected by the
Jews, he speaks of the prince, and the portion assigned him, chap.
xlv. 78. And in his description of the temple service, he moreover
speaks of the gate, by which the prince is to enter into it. See chap.
xlvi. 1, 2.
The next, and last, passage I shall quote, is from the book of
Daniel, who, in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, had a
vision of four beasts, representing the four great Empires. At the
close of his account of which, he speaks of �one like the son of
man� being brought into the presence of God, and receiving from
the Eternal an everlasting kingdom (chap. vii. 13)--�I saw in the
night visions, and behold one like the son of man came with the
clouds of heaven, and come to the ancient of days; and they
brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion,
and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages,
should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed.�
I have now gone through the prophecies which are allowed both by
Jews and Christians to relate to one person whom they call the
Messiah. It must be evident from all these passages, that the
characteristics of this, to both parties, highly interesting personage,
as described by the Hebrew prophets, are these:--
1. That he was to be a just, beneficent, wise, and mighty monarch,
raised up and upheld, and established by God, to be the means of
promoting universal peace, and happiness. That Israel should be
gathered to him, and established in their own land; which was to
be the seat of dominion, and the centre of union, and of worship to
all the people, and nations of the earth; who were to live under the
government, and receive, and obey the law of this beneficent
prince; and enjoy unspeakable felicities on the earth, then changed
to a universal paradise. And for all this happiness, they were to
worship, and glorify the true God only, and glorify the Eternal, and
give thanks to Him �because He is good, and his mercy endureth
forever.�
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