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its immediate connexion with the restoration of the Jews, and from the description being applicable to no part of his ministry during the period of his first advent*. Then, as Isaiah elsewhere predicts, he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: now he appears as a mighty conqueror, sprinkled with the blood of his prostrate enemies. Then he was oppressed, he was afflicted, he opened not his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; he was taken from prison and from judgment; he was cut off out of the land of the living; he was slain; he was buried: now he victoriously treads the wine-press of his indignation; he tramples upon the people in his anger; the day of vengeance is in his heart; he is glorious in his apparel; he travels in the greatness of his strength. Two such entirely different descriptions must either relate to two entirely different persons, or to the same person at two entirely different periods. That they both however equally relate to the Messiah, is universally allowed. They must therefore relate to him at the two different periods of his first and second advent. Accordingly, as I have just observed, we find the present description immediately connected with the restoration of Israel: whence it will follow, that it relates to some yet future manifestation of the Messiah.

But it may be asked, Why is he then represented as coming from Edom and from Bozrah? I answer: As the ships of Tarshish, when connected with the restoration of the Jews, mean not literal Tyrian vessels, but the navy of some great maritime people, some modern Tyre: so Edom, when similarly connected, means, not the literal Edom, but some profane enemy of God and his people, who is to be revealed in the last days. This enemy, as we learn from other collateral prophecies, will be a mighty power within the limits of the Roman empire, which shall either be the ten horned beast himself under his last head, or a notoriously infidel state united with that last head. The

* See Bp. Lowth in loc. who rightly refers this prophecy to the last days, though I cannot think that it has any relation to the overthrow of Gog and Ma gog mentioned by Ezekiel and St. John. It plainly describes the same events, as those foretold in Rev. xix. to them accordingly the father of that eminent prelate supposes it to allude. See Mr. Lowth's Comment. on Isaiah Ixiii. 2, 3

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rise of such an infidel state we have beheld even in our own days, and we have yet more recently seen it identified with the last head. Even now the predicted confederacy of this formidable power, of the false Romish prophet, and of the vassal kings of the Latin earth, the confederacy of which Edom is here used as a type, is forming with a wonderful degree of rapidity; and every passing event seems to be preparing the way for some awful crisis. From the overthrow of this confederacy at the time of the restoration of the Jews, a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, Isaiah beholds the Messiah triumphantly returning.

It is worthy of notice, that the learned among the Jews have ever considered Edom as a type of Rome: whence they interpret those prophecies, which foretell some future calamities about to befall Edom, as relating, not to the literal Edom, but to his antitype Rome; or, as they might more accurately have expressed themselves, to the Roman empire; for Edom being a kingdom, his antitype must be a kingdom likewise. Thus R. Kimchi asserts, that "Whatever the prophets have spoken of the destruction of Edom in the last times, they have spoken concerning Rome;" and that, "When Rome shall be laid waste, there shall be redemption to Israel." The same commentator applies the 34th chapter of Isaiah, which like the prophecy now under consideration literally treats of the desolation of Edom and the Lord's sacrifice in Bozrah, to the downfal of Rome; and cites with marks of approbation the Chaldee exposition of the 9th verse, "The streams of Rome shall be changed into pitch." It is sufficiently evident indeed, that the two predictionsare so entirely parallel to each other, that they must both relate to the same events. The 34th and 35th chapters compose one prophecy, as the 62d and 63d compose another. They both equally treat of the restoration of Judah, and the downfal of the Antichristian Roman confederacy under the mystical name of Edom. The only difference between them is, that in the one the overthrow of Antichrist is first mentioned, and in the other the restoration of Judah. R. Kimchi applies, in a similar manner, the whole 24th chapter of Isaiah to the destruction of

Edom and the return of Israel, declaring it to be a prophecy yet unaccomplished; and what he understands by Edom he shews by his commentary on the 16th verse: "Whoever inquires into the destruction of Rome, let him diligently examine the whole book of the Lord." Both he, and R. Solomon Jarchi, use exactly the same language (with what propriety in the present case I shall not stop to inquire), when paraphrasing the 11th verse of the 21st chapter of Isaiah. "The burden of Dumah, which is Edom," says R. Jarchi: "The burden of Rome," says R. Kimchi *. The Targum on the 22d verse of the 4th chapter of Lamentations is composed on precisely the same principle of mystic interpretation: "And, after thine iniquity shall be accomplished, O congregation of Zion, thou shalt be delivered by the hand of Messiah and Elias the high-priest; and the Lord shall no more cause thee to migrate into other countries: and in that time I will visit thine iniquity, O Rome, which art built in Italy, and art full of the troops of the sons of Edom." In fine R. Abraham Sebah, commenting on the 1st chapter of Genesis, says, that, "While the sixth millenary of the world is running out and drawing near to a close, Rome shall be destroyed, and the Jews shall return from their dispersion †."

In thus closely connecting together the downfal of the Roman Antichristian faction and the restoration of Judah, the Hebrew doctors seem to me to be perfectly right: an 'attentive perusal of the ancient Scriptures, not to mention those of the New Testament, must unavoidably lead every person to the same conclusion. Such prophecies, as are unchronological, rarely foretell the return of the Jews without declaring, that at the very same season there shall be a tremendous overthrow of God's enemies. These enemies they sometimes describe as a great confederacy of many nations: at other times they designate them by the general name of Edom. What then are we

*It is not improbable, that this gloss might have been founded on the circumstance of their reading Romah (p), instead of Dumah (npr). The difference between the R(), and the D(), is so trifling, that one might easily have been substituted for the other.

† See Mede's Works, B. v. Chap. viii. p. 902, 903; whence these remarks are taken.

to understand by the power or powers termed Edom at the yet future period of the restoration of Israel? This we are abundantly taught, in a manner that can scarcely be misunderstood, by the two chronological prophets Daniel and St. John. At the close of a certain grand period, indifferently styled three times or three years and a half, 42 months, and 1260 days, all which equally mean 1260 natural years, the last or Roman beast and his little tyrannical horn are to begin to be destroyed *. At the close of the very same period, the power of the Jews is to cease to be scattered; or, in other words, is to begin to be restored t. At this time likewise a power, noted for atheism, infidelity, and tyranny; a power, which should spring up after the era of the reformation; is to come to its end, none being able to help it, after having first invaded Palestine, and taken Jerusalemt. And, at the close of these same 1260 years, St. John declares, that the great Roman beast under his last head, his colleague the false Romish prophet or the two-horned beast (which answer to the ten-horned beast and the little horn of Daniel), and his confederates the vassal kings of the Latin empire, shall be totally overthrown by the Word of God at Megiddo in Palestine; and that the wine-press shall be trodden in a country 1600 furlongs in length, which is the precise measure of the Holy Land §. Now, since the restoration of the Jews is to commence at the end of the 1260 years; and since the unspeakable time of trouble, during which the Roman beast under his last head, the atheistical king, the false prophet, and the confederated Latin sovereigns, will be overthrown, is to be contemporary with the restoration of the Jews: since likewise, whenever the Jews are restored, a confederacy of God's enemies, more than once mystically denominated Edom, is to be utterly broken by the victorious Messiah at his second advent: it will necessarily follow, that what Isaiah terms Edom must be the confederacy of the tenhorned beast, the little horn, and the atheistical king: that is to say, the mystic Edom must be, what the Hebrew doctors have rightly judged him to be, some grand

* Dan. vii. 11, 25, 26.

Dan. xi. 35-45. xii. 1-7.

† Dan. xii. 6, 7.

Rev. xiii. 5. xix. 11---21. xiv. 17---20.

confederacy formed, during the last days, within the limits of the Roman empire. And at this conclusion, they might most assuredly arrive merely by comparing to gether different parts of their own Scriptures. St. John indeed both confirms the conclusion, and throws a yet stronger light on the subject:, but the conclusion itself might have been equally drawn, had St. John never written the Apocalypse: and accordingly we find that it actually has been drawn, not merely by Christian, but by Jewish, commentators. On the whole, we may safely venture to assert, that the vintage, described by Isaiah, is the same as the vintage predicted both by Joel and St. John: they equally relate to the overthrow of Antichrist and his associates.

I would not willingly be thought too refined and fan. ciful in what I am about to observe; yet, when we recollect the almost innumerable instances throughout the Hebrew Scriptures wherein proper names are chosen with a manifest allusion to their signification, it is not impossible that the Holy Spirit of God designed even the literal import of the names Edom and Bozra not to be overlooked. Edom then signifies red; and Bozra is the nearest proper name that could have been found to the Hebrew word that denotes a vintage *. Hence, in apparent. allusion to the terms Edom and Bozra, our Lord is de-. scribed as being red in his apparel, and as having his garments stained like him that treadeth in the wine-fat. This however may not be the whole that is mystically intended by these names. As the apocalyptic dragon is said to be of a red colour, and to have seven heads and ten horns, because he acts through the instrumentality of the Roman beast whose distinguishing colour whether pagan or papal hath always been red; and as the great whore is represented as being arrayed in purple and scarlet: so may the Roman confederacy of the last days, consisting (as we are plainly taught it shall consist) of the beast under his last or Carlovingian head, and his colleague the false prophet or papal horn, be denominated by the prophet Edom or red, not without a hidden reference to the same colour. In this case we may suppose Isaiah to *Botsra (2) contains the same fundamental letters, and springs from the same root, as Botsir (2) a vintage.

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