effect_. We find the correct answer in ver.
2: "The law goeth forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem;" and in ver. 7: "And the Lord will be king over them on
Mount Zion." The exaltation will, accordingly, be effected by a
glorious manifestation of the Lord within His congregation; in
consequence of which, Zion becomes the centre of the whole earth. That
this manifestation is to take place in Christ, is brought out only
subsequently; compare especially, v. 1, 3 (2-4). A parallel passage is
also Ezek. xl. 2, where Mount Zion is likewise seen exalted in the
Messianic time.

Ver. 2. "_And many nations go and say, Come and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may
teach us His ways, and that we may walk in His path; for from Zion the
law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem._"

From the words, "And many nations go," to "paths," we have an expansion
of--"People flow unto it." Zech. viii. 20-23 are founded upon, and
serve as a commentary on the passage before [Pg 446] us. The people go
to one another, and send messengers to one another; a powerful
commotion pervades the heathen world, which causes them to seek Zion,
that had formerly been despised by them. It makes no substantial
difference whether the going is to be understood physically or
spiritually,--whether the people flow to the literal Mount Zion, or to
the Church, which is thereby prefigured. All that is requisite is, that
the commencement of their going and flowing must belong to a time in
which the symbol and the thing symbolized were still connected,--when
the literal Zion was still the seat of the Church. The _plurality_
of nations forms a contrast with the _unity_, but not with the
_universality_, as is shown by a comparison of the parallel passage in
Isaiah, where the "many people" are preceded by the mention of "all the
heathens ([Hebrew: kl-hgviM], _i.e._, the whole heathen world) flow
unto it," instead of--"People flow unto it," as in Micah. Formerly,
_one_ people only went to Zion, in order there to offer to the Lord
their worship, and to be taught His ways, Exod. xxiii. 17, xxxiv. 23;
Deut. xxxi. 10 sqq.; now, many people flow thither. In the anticipation
of this future glory of Mount Zion, which will infinitely outshine that
of the present, the sad interval described in iii. 12, during which the
mountain of the house is altogether forsaken, may be more easily borne.
The