spensation--and hence the guilt of rejecting Him
less, mercy may still be shown. External destruction does not involve
spiritual ruin. Moab, indeed, is destroyed, so that it is no longer a
people, because it has exalted itself against the Lord; yet, "in the
latter days I will turn the captivity of Moab, saith the Lord," Jer.
xlviii. 47. But when the revelation of the grace of God has become
perfect, His justice also will be perfectly revealed against all who
reject it, and rise in hostility against those who are the bearers of
it: "Their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched,
and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh," Is. lxvi. 24. These
remarks contain the key to all which the Lord declares as to the future
judgment which, in its completion, belongs only to the future world. It
is not the world as such, but that world to which the Gospel has been
declared, and in the midst of which the Church has been founded, which
forms the object of it; compare Matt. xxiv. 14.

Footnote 1: _Hofmann_ (_Weissag. u. Erfuel._ i. S. 203) has revived the
explanation, according to which the valley of Jehoshaphat is to be
understood as the valley in which, under Jehoshaphat, judgment was
executed upon several Gentile nations. But this locality, the desert of
Thekoa, which was about three hours distance from Jerusalem (compare my
_Comment. on the Psalms_, in the _Introduction to Ps._ xlvi. xlviii.
lxxxiii.), is at too great a distance from the temple, where, according
to vers. 16 and 17, the Lord holds His judgment upon the nations.
Tradition has rightly perceived that the valley of Jehoshaphat can be
sought for only in the immediate vicinity of the temple. In favour of
the valley of Jehoshaphat now so called, "at the high east brink of
Moriah, the temple-hill" (_Ritter_, _Erdk._ xv. 1, S. 559; xvi. 1, S.
329), is also Zech. vi. 1-8 (compare the remarks on that passage). From
the circumstance that there is, first, the mention of the name, and,
then, the statement of its signification, "And I gather all nations,
and bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and _plead_ with
them there," _Hofmann_ infers that the name must have already existed
as a proper name. There is, however, an analogy in Num. xx. 1: "And the
people encamped at Kadesh;"--but the place received the name Kadesh
only because of the event to be subsequently related: previous to that,
its name was Barnea. (Compare _Dissert. on Gen. of the Pent._