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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 For lo! in those days, and at that time,–when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, |
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| 2 Then will I gather all the nations, and bring them down into the Vale of Jehoshaphat,–and will enter into judgment with them there, concerning my people, and mine inheritance Israel, whom they scattered among the nations, and, my land, they apportioned; |
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, for my people, they cast lots,–and gave a boy for a harlot, and a girl sold they for wine–and drank. |
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| 4 Moreover also, what have, ye, to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the circuit of Palestine? A recompense, are ye paying back unto me? But, though ye should make a recompense unto me, swiftly, speedily, would I return your recompense upon your own head. |
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| 5 Because, my silver and my gold, ye took away,–and, my richly beautiful things, carried ye into your temples; |
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| 6 And, the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem, ye sold to the sons of Greece,–that they might be far removed from their own boundary. |
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| 7 Behold me! rousing them up out of the place whither ye sold them,–So will I bring back your dealing upon your own head. |
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| 8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to Sabeans, unto a nation afar off,–for, Yahweh, hath spoken. |
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| 9 Proclaim ye this, among the nations, Hallow a war, rouse the mighty ones, let them draw near, come up, all the men of war! |
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 plough-shares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears,–as for the weak, let him say, mighty, I am. |
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 Give help–and come in, all ye nations on every side, and gather yourselves together,–Thither, bring down, O Yahweh, thy mighty ones! |
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, be roused, and come up, into the Vale of Jehoshaphat,–for, there, will I sit to judge all the nations, on every side. |
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 Thrust ye in the vintage knife, for, grown ripe, is the vintage,–Go in, tread down, for full is the winepress, flow over do the vats, for abundant is their wickedness. |
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 vale of strict decision,–for near is the day of Yahweh, in the vale of strict decision. |
Valley of decision – Trial, crisis. R1757:6
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| 15 The sun and the moon, have become dark,–and, the stars, have withdrawn 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, Yahweh, out of Zion, will roar, and, out of Jerusalem, will utter his voice, and the heavens and the earth, shall tremble,–but, Yahweh, shall be a shelter to his people, and a refuge to the sons 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, Yahweh, am your God, making my habitation in Zion my holy mountain,–So shall, Jerusalem, be, holy, and, foreigners, shall pass through her no 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 drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow down with milk, and, all the channels of Judah, shall flow down with waters,–and, a spring, out of the house of Yahweh, shall come forth, and shall water the torrent-valley of the 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, to a desolation, shall be turned, and, Edom, to a desert most desolate, shall be changed,–because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, in that they shed innocent blood in their land. |
Edom – Christendom. D15
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| 20 But, Judah, age-abidingly, shall remain, and, Jerusalem, to generation after generation. |
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| 21 And I will free from their blood-guiltiness them whom I had not freed,–for, Yahweh, is about to make his habitation in Zion. |
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