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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 Come near, ye nations, to hear, And, ye races, attend,–Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof, The world, and all things produced therefrom: |
Ye nations, to hear – This dashing to pieces as a potter's vessel will prove a valuable lesson to them when they come forth to an individual judgment under the Millennial reign. D20[D20:2]
Let the earth – The present organization of society. C229[C229:1]; A323[A322:1]; D46[D45:2]
And all things – All selfish and evil things. D20[D20:2]
Come forth of it – Of the spirit of the world. D20[D20:2]
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| 2 That Yahweh, hath wrath against all the nations, and indignation against all their host,–He hath devoted them to destruction, He hath delivered them to slaughter; |
For the indignation – The time of trouble. D13
Is upon all nations – The judgment of nations, now instituted, is a judgment of men in their collective (civil and religious) capacities. D12[D12:1]
Including heathendom also, because they have preferred darkness to light. D70[D70:1]
He hath utterly – Taking the future standpoint. D20[D20:2]
Hath delivered them – Judging them unworthy of a continued lease of power. D70[D70:2]
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| 3 And, their slain, shall be cast out, And, their carcases, the stench of them, shall ascend,–And, the mountains, shall melt away, with their blood. |
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| 4 Then shall be dissolved, all the host of the heavens, And the heavens, shall roll up as a scroll,–Yea, all their host, shall fade–Like the fading and falling of a leaf from a vine, and, Like what fadeth and falleth from a fig-tree. |
The host of heaven – The nominal church, ecclesiastical systems. D552[D551:3]; R1947:6[R1947:29], R1705:5[R1705:4], R1488:2[R1488:3]; HG316:5
Shall be dissolved – A symbolic representation of the way in which the change of dispensation will be effected. R1814:2[R1814:2]
Together as a scroll – Catholicism and Protestantism, the two ends. D258, D552,; R4343:3, R3531:4, R1355:6, R1474:1, R1766:2
Not in one great roll, but in two separate parts, really in opposition. R1705:5[R1705:6], R2061:6[R2061:28]
A concentration to one center--but in two great divisions. R1474:1
Coming closer together as their power decreases. R1355
Rolling together for mutual protection, sympathy and co-operation. R5349:4, R1488:2, R3533:1
We see in Germany what seems to be the start of this rolling together. The Emperor has been obliged to conciliate the Catholic element of his empire more and more. R3532:1
The two sides clearly divided; as the book of Revelation clearly distinguishes between the "Image" and the original "Beast," Papacy; while showing that they will be considerably in fellowship. (Rev. 13:15-17) R2047:1, R2046:3
Illustrated by the appointments of ritualists as bishops in the Church of England, and the elevation of a Roman Cardinal to the House of Lords as a Lord Bishop. R2309:1; D551
Shall fall down --Fall off, drop out; not all at once, but gradually, yet rapidly. D552
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| 5 For my sword, hath been sated in the heavens,–Lo! upon Edom, shall it descend, Even on the people whom I have devoted to justice. |
To judgment – Verses 2 to 5 are a symbolic representation of the way in which the change of dispensation will be effected. R1814:2
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| 6 A sword, hath Yahweh–Glutted with blood, Sated with fat,–With the blood of well-fed lambs, and he-goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams,–For, a sacrifice, hath Yahweh, in Bozrah, Yea a great slaughter, in the land of Edom; |
The blood of lambs – Of the tribulation saints. D17
And goats – The "tare" class. D17
Sacrifice in Bozrah – The name Bozrah signifies "sheep fold," and the city is even yet noted for its goats. D17
Ecclesiasticism, the chief citadel of Christendom. D17
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| 7 Then shall buffaloes come down with them, And bullocks with bulls,–So shall their land be soaked with blood, And, their dust, with fat, shall be enriched. |
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| 8 For, a day of avenging, hath Yahweh,–A year of requitals, for the quarrel of Zion. |
The LORD'S vengeance – The time of trouble. D11; D20; OV345:6
A day of rectifying the wrongs of the people. R3841:5
The controversy – The strife and contention in nominal Zion. D19
Of Zion – The saints, the true Church. OV345:6
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| 9 Then shall, the torrents thereof, be turned, into pitch, And, the dust thereof, into brimstone,–So shall her land become burning pitch: |
Into brimstone – Destruction. A318
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| 10 Neither, night nor day, shall it be quenched, To times age-abiding, shall ascend the smoke thereof,–From generation to generation, shall it be waste, Never, never, shall any pass through it: |
The smoke thereof – The remembrance of the destruction of the present systems of deception and error. R2609:6
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| 11 That the vomiting pelican and the bittern, may possess it: And, the great owl and the raven, dwell therein; Then will he stretch out over it, The line of desolation, and, The plummet of emptiness. |
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| 12 Her nobles (but none are, there!) unto royalty, will call,–All, all her princes, shall become nought. |
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| 13 Then shall come up, in her palaces, thorns, Nettles and thistles, in her fortresses,–And she shall become, A home for wild dogs, An enclosure for ostriches; |
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| 14 Then shall criers meet with howlers, And, the shaggy creature, unto his fellow, shall call,–Only, there, shall, the night-spectre, Make her settlement, And find for herself a place of rest: |
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| 15 There, shall, the arrow-snake, Make her nest and lay, And hatch, and gather under her shadow,–Only, there, shall be gathered the falcons, every one with her mate. |
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| 16 Seek ye out of the scroll of Yahweh, and read, Not, one from among them, is lacking, None, hath missed, her mate,–For, a mouth, hath, itself, commanded, And, his spirit, hath, itself, gathered them: |
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| 17 Yea, he himself, hath cast for them a lot, And, his own hand, hath given to them a portion, by line,–Unto times age-abiding, shall they possess it, To generation after generation, shall they dwell therein. |
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