re." But we have already proved, in our work on
_Balaam_, p. 465 seq., that the right explanation is: "At the end of
the days." This is the explanation given by the LXX. also, who commonly
render it by [Greek: en tais eschatais hemerais]; and by the Chaldee
Paraphrast, who translates it by [Hebrew: bsvP ivmia]. The reasons
which seem, at first sight, to favour the signification "in future,"
are invalidated by these two considerations:--_first_, that it is not
at all necessary that the end be just absolutely the last, but only the
end of those events which the speaker is reviewing; and, _second_, that
it altogether depends upon the will of the speaker, what extent he is
to assign to the beginning and to the end. The expression is used by
the prophets in a manner different from that of the Pentateuch. The
prophets use it almost exclusively with a reference to the Messianic
times,--an _usus loquendi_ which originated in Deut. iv. 30. They
divide the whole duration of the kingdom of God into two parts, the
beginning and the end,--the state of humiliation, and [Pg 443] the
state of glorification. The line of demarcation is formed by the birth
of the Messiah, according to v. 2 (3): "He will give them up until she
who is bearing brings forth."--"The mountain of the house of the Lord"
is, according to the common _usus loquendi_, not Moriah, but the whole
mountain of Zion, of which Moriah was considered as a part; compare Ps.
lxxvi. 3, lxxviii. 68. In ver. 8, the prophet speaks of two parts only,
Zion and Jerusalem. In iii. 12, Zion only, as the better part, is first
spoken of; and then, in the second clause, Jerusalem and the mountain
of the house, the latter corresponding to Zion, are contrasted with
each other, or Jerusalem and Mount Zion considered in its highest
quality as the temple-mountain.--[Hebrew: nkvN], "fixed," "firmly
established," implies more than, simply, "placed." It shows that the
change is not merely momentary, but that the temple-mountain shall be
exalted for ever, and that no earthly power shall be able to abase it.
It thus goes hand in hand with the declaration in ver. 7: "The Lord
shall be king over them from now _until eternity_." The same word
[Hebrew: nkvN] is used in 1 Kings ii. 45 of the immutable firmness of
the throne of David: "The throne of David shall be firmly established
before the Lord for ever;" compare 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13. The commentary
on [Hebrew: nkvN] is given by Dan. ii. 44: "And in the d