thus the Lord's people should have such courage, force,
and power, as not only to withstand their enemies,
but to. obtain a conquest over them. The Targum is,
"I will make the people in them strong as iron, and
›' their remnant firm as brass ;" which was true of,
and accomplished in, Judas Maccabeus and his bre-
thren; and will be more clearly fulfilled in the Chris-
tian kings and princes in the latter day, when engaged
with the antichristian states. And thou shalt beat in
pieces many people; as the Maccabees did subdue
many people and nations, as all Palestine,-Moab,
!dumea, Samaria, and Iturea, as Josephus {} relates;
and as the Christian princes will beat in pieces, and
Utterly destroy, all the antichristian kings of the earth,
their states and kingdoms, and bring them into sub-
jection to them: and I will consecrate their gain unto
the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole
earth; that is, to Christ, who in the last day will ap-
pear to be King and Lord of the whole earth; and all
the riches of the antichristian nations, Pagan, Papal,
and Mahometan, will be devolved to, and employed
in, his interest and service; see Rev. xxi. 24. these are
the words of God the Father, with respect .to his Son
Jesus Christ; who will now have a dominion, glory,
and kingdom given him, by the Ancient of days, that
so all people, nations, and languages, shall serve him,
Dan. vii. 14. of which there might be some type and
shadow in the times of the Maccabees.

THIS chapter begins with a prophecy of the siege of
Jerusalem, ver. 1. and then follows another concerning
the place of the Messiah's birth, ver. _2. and of the case
of the Jews, either before or after it, ver. 3. and of
Christ's office as a shepherd, and of his grandeur in the
world, vet. 4. and of his being a peacemaker, and pro-
tector of his people from their enemies, ver. 5,. 6. and
of his people, the great in_crease of them, and their use-
fulness, and also of their co u rage, strength, and'prowess,
ver. 7, 8, 9. 'likewise that the Lord will remove from
them their vain confidence, and all occasion of it,
and whatsoever illicit arts and practices were found
among them; and all idolatry, and the instruments of
it, vet. 10, 11, 12, 13, 1.4. and the chapter is con-
cluded with a threatening of vengeance to the Heathens,
ver.
Vet. 1. Now gather thyself in troops, 0 daughter of
troops, &c.] Not Jerusalem, full of people, called to
draw out their forces, and fall upon the enemy be-
sieging them, whether Chaldeans or Romans; but ra-
ther the Babylonians, whose armies were large, and
their troops numerous; who are called upon by the
people of God, encouraged by the foregoing prophe-
cies, as well as by what follows, to come forth with
all their forces, and muster up all their armies, and
exert all the power and strength they had, thus
suiting them; being assured, by the above promises,
that in the issue they should prevaii over all their ene-
mies: unless th.e Romans should be intended, to whom'
this character of daughter of troops well agre,es, of
whose legions all have heard; and since the Babylonish
attempt on JeruSalem, and the carrying the Jews cap-
tive' into Babylon, are before predicted, with their de-
liverance from it, and what they should do in the
times of the Maccabees; a prophecy of the Romans,
or a representation of them, a gathering 'their troops
and legions together to besiege Jerusalem, very na-
turally comes in here. He hath laid siege against us;
either Nebuchadnezzar, and the Cha!dean army; or
Vespasian with the Romans: this, according to the
prophetic style, is spoken of as if actually done, be-
cause of the certainty of it. They shall smite the judge
of Israel with a rod upon the cheek; that is, either they,
the besiegers, the king of Babylon and his army, when
they shall have taken Jerusalem, besieged by them,
shall use Zedekiah the king of Judah, and judge of
Israel, and' Iris princes and nobles, very ill, ,signified
by this phrase; yea, in a very cruel and barbarous
manner; first slaying his sons and his princes before
his eyes, then putting his eyes out, binding him in
chains, and carrying him to Babylon, and there laying
him in a prison, Jet. lii. 10, 11. or else they, the-be-
sieged, would use the Messiah, the King, Judge, and
Ruler in Israel, in such a spiteful and scandalous man-
ner; and so the Messiah was to be used by them, who
according to prophecy gave his cheek' to them that
plucked off the hair, and hid not his face from shame
and spitting; and' so Jesus, the true Messiah, was
smitten, both with rods, and with the palms of men's
hands, and buffeted and spit 'upon, Isa. 1. 6. Matt.
xxvi. 67. and this is mentioned as a reason why Jeru-
salem would be encompassed with the Roman armies,
and besieged by their troops and legions, and become
desolate, even for their rejection and ill usage of the
Messiah. Aben Ezra says, it is right in my eyes
that the judge of Israel is the Messiah, or Zerubbabel;
not the latter, who never was so used, but the former.
Ver.._2. BUt. thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, &c.] But
though Jerusalem should be besieged and taken, and
the land of Judea laid waste, yet, before all this should
be, the Messiah Should be born in Beth-lehem, of
which this is a' prophecy, as is evident from Matt. ii.
4, 5, 6. the place is called by both the names it went
by, to point it out the more distinctly, and with the
greater certainty, Gen. xxxv. 19. the former signifies
the house of bread, aud a proper place for Christ to be
born in, who is the bread of life; and it has the name
of the latter from its fruitfulness, .being a place of pas-
ture, and as we find it was at the time of our Lord's
birth; for near it shepherds were then watching over
their flocks; and it is here added, to distinguish it
from another Beth-lehem in the tribe of Zebulun,
Josh. xix. 15. from which tribe the Messiah was not
to come, but from the tribe of Judah; and in which

{c} Antiqu. l. 13. c. 15. sect. 4.