earth, blood and fire and
pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the
moon into blood. Then whosoever calleth on the name of Jehovah
shall be delivered: for upon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be
deliverance. I will contend with the Gentiles for my people, and
will bring back the captives.

The multitudes, the multitudes in the valley of judgment: for the
day of Jehovah is near in the valley of judgment." In a similar
strain Isaiah prophesies against Edom: "Draw near, O ye nations,
and hear! For the wrath of Jehovah is kindled against the nations,
and he hath given up their armies to slaughter. The stench of
their carcasses shall ascend, and the mountains shall melt with
their blood. And all the hosts of heaven shall melt away; and all
their host shall fall down, as the blighted fruit from the fig
tree. For my sword shall rush drunk from heaven: behold, upon Edom
shall it descend. For it is a day of vengeance from Jehovah. Her
streams shall be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone,
and her whole land shall become burning pitch. It shall lie waste
forever, and none shall pass through it. The pelican and the
hedgehog shall possess it; the heron and the raven shall dwell in
it."

Tremendous and appalling as this imagery is, it is obvious that
the whole meaning of it is earthly and temporal, a local judgment
of Jehovah in vindication of his people against the heathen. And
kindred judgments are threatened against his own people when they
lapse into wickedness and idolatry. "Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and
turning it upside down." "Jehovah appeareth as a hostile witness,
the Lord from his holy place. Behold, Jehovah cometh forth from
his dwelling place, and advanceth on the high places of the earth.
The mountains melt under him, and the valleys cleave asunder like
wax before the fire. For the sin of the house of Israel is all
this."

Thus the earliest meaning of the phrase, Day of the Lord, or Day
of Judgment, according to Biblical usage, was the occurrence of
any severe calamity, either to the Jews, as a punishment for their
apostasy; or to the Gentiles, as a punishment for their
wickedness, or for their violent encroachment on the rights of the
chosen people. These visitations of military disaster or political
subjection, though purely local and temporal, are depicted in the
most terrific images, such as flaming brimstone, fallin