to all the parallel
passages, a sense too profound to admit of a relation to the Lord so
loose and external being thereby designated. It is used only of such as
are received into the condition of the people and sons of Jehovah, Hos.
ii. 1 (i. 10). _Further_, The mere restoration of the Davidic dominion
over the heathen is a very meagre thought, which is far from coming up
to what Jacob had foretold in Gen. xlix. 10, and to what David and
Solomon expected of the future; compare, _e.g._, Ps. lxxii. 11: "And
all kings worship Him, all the heathen serve Him."--The closing words,
"Thus saith the Lord that doeth this," are intended to strengthen faith
in a promise which appears to be incredible, by calling attention to
the fact, that the person who promises is also the person who carries
it out to its fulfilment; compare Jer. xxxiii. 2: "Thus saith the Lord
that makes it, the Lord that forms it, [Pg 395] to carry it out, the
Lord is His name." This closing formula is also very ill suited for so
meagre a prediction as that of the restoration of the old borders, of
which Israel, under the reign of Uzziah and Jeroboam, was not so very
far short. It was, probably, solely from a false interpretation of the
passage under review, that an important historical event had its rise.
Hyrcanus compelled the Idumeans, who were conquered by him, to be
circumcised, and in that way to be incorporated into the Theocracy; so
that they lost entirely their national existence and name (_Jos. Arch._
xiii. 9, 1; _Prideaux Hist. des Juifs_, vol. v. p. 16). This proceeding
differed so materially from that which was ordinarily followed--for
David did not think it at all necessary to adopt a similar proceeding
against the Idumeans, and the other nations which were conquered by
him--that it necessarily requires some special reason to account for
it; and such a reason is furnished by the passage under consideration.
Hyrcanus washed to be instrumental in the fulfilment of the prophecy
contained in it; but in this he failed. He did not consider, 1. That
the reception of Edom into the kingdom of God is here brought into
connection with the restoration of the tabernacle of David, and hence
could be brought about only by a king of the house of David. He did not
consider, 2. That the matter here in question is not such a reception
into the kingdom of God as depends upon the will of man, but a
spiritual reception, which carries along with it the full enjoyment of