phecy.

Chap. ii. 1. "_And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the
sand of the sea, which is not measured nor numbered. And it shall come
to pass, in the place where it was said unto them, Not my people ye, it
shall be said unto them. Sons of the living God._"

The first point which requires to be determined, is the subject of the
verse. Every other reference except that to the [Pg 216] ten tribes is
here out of the question; inasmuch as the same who, in the preceding
verse, were called Lo-Ammi, are now to be called sons of the living
God. Several of the ancient expositors here assume a sudden transition
to the Christian Church; but such would be a _salto mortale_. Nor are
we to understand by the children of Israel, all the descendants of
Jacob; for the children of Judah are distinguished from them in ver. 2.
Substantially, however, those too are included, as appears from this
very verse; for both shall then form one nation of brethren. But here
the prophet views only one portion, because to this only did the
preceding threatening, and the mission of the prophet in general,
refer. From this, also, it may be explained how the prophet may apply
to the _part_ the promises of Genesis, which there refer to the
_whole_. The reference to these promises, in the first part of the
verse, cannot be at all mistaken. Compare especially, as agreeing most
literally, the passage in Gen. xxii. 17: "I will multiply thy seed as
the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is on the shore of the sea;"
and xxxii. 13 (12): "I make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which is
not numbered for multitude." A similar literal reference is in Jer.
xxxiii. 22: "As the host of heaven is not numbered, neither the sand of
the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David My servant."
Now, the reference here cannot be accidental. It supposes that these
promises were at that time generally known in the kingdom of Israel.
They served to strengthen the ungodly in their false security. Relying
on them, they charged the prophets with making God a liar in thus
announcing the impending destruction of the kingdom, inasmuch as the
prophecy had not yet been fulfilled in all its extent. The prophet,
however, by his almost literal repetition of the promise, shows that
thereby his threatenings are not excluded--"teaches that the visitation
of which he had spoken would be such that, nevertheless, God would not
forget His word; that the rejection of the