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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 For lo, in those days, and in that time, When I turn back [to] the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, |
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| 2 Then I have gathered all the nations, And caused them to go down unto the valley of Jehoshaphat, And I have been judged with them there, Concerning My people and Mine inheritance Israel, Whom they scattered among nations, And My land they have 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 do cast a lot, And they give the young man for an harlot, And the young woman have sold for wine, That they may drink. |
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| 4 And also, what [are] ye to Me, O Tyre and Zidon, And all circuits of Philistia Recompence are ye rendering unto Me And if ye are giving recompence to Me, Swiftly, hastily, I turn back your recompence on your head. |
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| 5 In that My silver and My gold ye took, And My desirable things that are good, Ye have brought in to your temples. |
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| 6 And sons of Judah, and sons of Jerusalem, Ye have sold to the sons of Javan, To put them far off from their border. |
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| 7 Lo, I am stirring them up out of the place Whither ye have sold them, And I have turned back your recompence on your head, |
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| 8 And have sold your sons and your daughters Into the hand of the sons of Judah, And they have sold them to Shabeans, Unto a nation far off, for Jehovah hath spoken. |
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| 9 Proclaim ye this among nations, Sanctify a war, stir up the mighty ones, Come nigh, come up, let 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 ploughshares to swords, And your pruning-hooks to javelins, Let the weak say, 'I [am] mighty.' |
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, and come in, all ye nations round, And be gathered together, Thither cause to come down, O Jehovah, 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 Wake and come up let the nations unto the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I sit to judge all the nations around. |
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 Send ye forth a sickle, For ripened hath harvest, Come in, come down, for filled hath been the press, Overflowed hath wine-presses, For great [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 [are] in the valley of decision, For near [is] the day of Jehovah in the valley of decision. |
Valley of decision – Trial, crisis. R1757:6
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| 15 Sun and moon have been black, And stars have gathered up 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 from Zion doth roar, And from Jerusalem giveth forth His voice, And shaken have the heavens and earth, And Jehovah [is] a refuge to his people, And a stronghold to 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 And ye have known that I [am] Jehovah your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain, And Jerusalem hath been holy, And strangers do not pass over into it again. |
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 hath come to pass, in that day, Drop down do the mountains juice, And the hills do flow [with] milk, And all streams of Judah do go [with] water, And a fountain from the house of Jehovah goeth forth, And hath watered the valley of Shittim. |
Flow with milk – Food for beginners in the Lord's way. A24; D577
Flow with waters – Truth. C65
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| 19 Egypt a desolation becometh, And Edom a desolation, a wilderness, becometh, For violence [to] sons of Judah, Whose innocent blood they shed in their land. |
Edom – Christendom. D15
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| 20 And Judah to the age doth dwell, And Jerusalem to generation and generation. |
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| 21 And I have declared their blood innocent, [That] I did not declare innocent, And Jehovah is dwelling in Zion! |
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