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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, |
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| 2 I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations: and they have parted my land, |
Gather all nations – In the "Day of Vengeance of our God." (Isa. 61:2) R5601:2
In the present struggle (1914), where the weak nations are called upon to assert their strength. SM413:1; R5769:4
Valley of Jehoshaphat – Valley of graves; valley of death. SM418:2, SM413:2; R5649:5, R4744:6, R5601:2, R5805:5; D141; HG472:6
Typifying Adamic Death. The valley of Hinnom typifies the Second Death. R2908:2
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| 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. |
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| 4 Yes, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head. |
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| 5 Forasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things, |
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| 6 and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border; |
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| 7 behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head; |
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| 8 and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken it. |
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| 9 Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. |
Proclaim ye this – "My determination is to gather the nations, to pour upon them mine indignation." (Zeph. 3:8) R350:3
Among the Gentiles – Among the nations in the Laodicean phase of Christendom. R1757:5
Prepare war – An era of war which will impoverish all nations, sicken all their peoples, and prepare the way for the universal anarchy with which this world will end. R2327:2, R5715:2
To eventually become so satiated with bloodshed and misery as to sicken of war and willingly seek peace. R35:1*, R269:1
Being fulfilled in the wonderful preparations for war now being made among the nations (1897-1916). D142
Illustrated by Austria's peacetime expenditure of $75 million for war preparations (1904). R3396:6
Some sort of a general war, preceding or connected with, the great time of trouble, anarchy, with which this age will close and usher in the Millennial period. R3327:5
Such a general war would increase taxation and breed general discontent alarmingly and quickly, causing the seeds of Socialist propaganda to shoot up and bring forth red-handed anarchy speedily. R3327:6
In France, the clerical party would even favor war, in the hope of reviving monarchy (1903 comment). R3263:5
All the men of war – We look for a great war in which the whole civilized world will Be involved. R3296:5
Let them come up – To battle. R2641:1
"My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger (the natural result of sin): for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." (Zeph. 3:8) R350:3*
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| 10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. |
Plowshares into swords – In the sense that money has been spent for military purposes which should properly have been spent in agricultural implements and developments. R3327:5; SM413:2; HG674:6
"Your ploughshare steel use for swords." R4745:1
Plowshares will first be turned into swords, and the great conflict must take place, before they shall be peacefully turned back to plowshares. (Isa. 2:4) R899:6, R269:2, R35:2*, R353:2*, R1757:5, R362:3; Q812:2
Those who otherwise would be following the plow and pruning the trees are forging and handling instead the weapons of war. D143
Pruning hooks – Pruning-knives. R1757:6
Let the weak – The financially weak nations. D143; R3327:6
Belgium and Switzerland are among the weak nations feeling strong, the latter having the highest pro rata military expense in Europe (1900 comment). R2641:2
Say, I am strong – Drain their resources beyond the powers of long endurance. D143
Desiring to impress each other with their strength. hoping thus to put off the evil day of war. R3327:5, R1838:4
"I am a hero." R1757:6
The resistance shown in the Boer war shows how a weak nation, well armed with modern weapons, may feel comparatively strong and, if proportionately independent, even arrogant. R2641:2
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| 11 Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah. |
Assemble yourselves – Assemble hastily together. R1757:6
All ye heathen – All ye nations. R1757:6
Round about – Nations from every side. R1757:6
Thy mighty ones – The Lord's holy ones. R3327:5
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| 12 Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. |
Let the heathen – The nations. R1757:6
Valley of Jehoshaphat – "God's pleading judgment." R1757:6
The cemetery valley of Jerusalem. R5715:1, R5805:5; HG674:5
To the battle of the Great Day of God Almighty. SM413:T
Round about – The armies of all nations gathered as one vast cemetery. R5715:1
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| 13 Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. |
The harvest is ripe – The Hebrew qatsir, equivalent of the Greek therismos, refers to the same harvest mentioned in Rev. 14, though, first, perhaps, to the Jewish harvest. R223:1*
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| 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. |
Valley of decision – Trial, crisis. R1757:6
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| 15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. |
Sun and the moon – The illuminating influences of the Gospel and the Mosaic Law. D544; R1757:6
Shall be darkened – Infidelity having become widely prevalent. D544
And the stars – The apostolic lights. D544
Teachers, especially the apostles. (Rev. 12:1) R1757:6
Withdraw their shining – When the Gospel age is obscured and the sacrifices enjoined by the Law come to be esteemed as merely barbaric, then the apostles also cease to be recognized as lights. D593
The dark night will have come wherein no man can labor. D544
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| 16 And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but Jehovah will be a refuge unto his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel. |
Shall roar – In rebuke of evil. R2641:1
Out of Zion – The elect Church. R1757:6
From Jerusalem – The earthly phase of the Kingdom of God. A297
Israel, in restoration. R1757:6
And the heavens – Powers of spiritual control, nominal church. A318; R1757:6
And the earth – Society. A318; R1757:6
Shall shake – In the time of trouble. D528
The hope – A refuge. R1757:6
The strength – A stronghold for the sons of Israel. R1757:6
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| 17 So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. |
My holy mountain – Kingdom. A318
Jerusalem be holy – Israel shall be saved, rescued, nationally brought back to power and grandeur. R11:6
"There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant with them, when I shall take away their sin." (Rom. 11:26,27) R12:1
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| 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and shall water the valley of acacias. |
Flow with milk – Food for beginners in the Lord's way. A24; D577
Flow with waters – Truth. C65
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| 19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. |
Edom – Christendom. D15
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| 20 But Judah shall abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. |
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| 21 And I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed: for Jehovah dwelleth in Zion. |
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