John Gill Commentary Micah 5

Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops
Not Jerusalem, full of people, called to draw out their forces, and fall upon the enemy besieging them, whether Chaldeans or Romans; but rather the Babylonians, whose armies were large, and their troops numerous; who are called upon by the people of God, encouraged by the foregoing prophecies, 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 prevail over all their enemies: unless the Romans should be intended, to whom this character of "daughter of troops" well agrees, of whose legions all have heard; and since the Babylonish attempt on Jerusalem, and the carrying the Jews captive into Babylon, are before predicted, with their deliverance 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 naturally comes in here;

he has laid siege against us ;
either Nebuchadnezzar, and the Chaldean army; or Vespasian with the Romans: this, according to the prophetic style, is spoken of as if actually done, because 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 his 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, (Jeremiah 52:10Jeremiah 52:11) ; or else they, the besieged, would use the Messiah, the King, Judge, and Ruler in Israel, in such a spiteful and scandalous manner; 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, (Isaiah 50:6) (Matthew 26:67) ; and this is mentioned as a reason why Jerusalem 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.

But you, Bethlehem Ephratah
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 Bethlehem, of which this is a prophecy, as is evident from (Matthew 2:4–6); the place is called by both the names it went by, to point it out the more distinctly, and with the greater certainty, (Genesis 35:19); the former signifies "the house of bread", and 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 pasture, 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 Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun, (Joshua 19:15); from which tribe the Messiah was not to come, but from the tribe of Judah; and in which this Bethlehem was, and therefore called, by Matthew, Bethlehem in the land of Judah; as it appears this was, from (Ruth 1:1Ruth 1:2); and from the Septuagint version of (Joshua 15:60), where, as Jerom observes, it was added by the Greek interpreters, or erased out of the Hebrew text by the wickedness of the Jews:

[though] you are little among the thousands of Judah;
this supplement of ours is according to Kimchi's reading and sense of the words; which, in some measure, accounts for the difference between the prophet and the Evangelist Matthew, by whom this place is said to be "not the least", (Matthew 2:6), as it might, and yet be little; besides, it might be little at one time, in Micah's time, yet not little at another time; in Matthew's; it might be little with respect to some circumstances, as to pompous buildings, and number of inhabitants, and yet not little on account of its being the birth place of great men, as Jesse, David, and especially the Messiah: or the words may be rendered with an interrogation, "are you little?" &c.^F4; you are not: or thus, it is a "little [thing] to be among the thousands of Judah"^F5; a greater honour shall be put upon you, by being the place of the Messiah's birth. Moreover, Mr, Pocock has shown out of R. Tanchum, both in his commentary on this place, and elsewhere^F6, that the word (ryeu) signifies both "little" and "great", or of great note and esteem. The tribes of Israel were divided into tens, hundreds, and thousands, over which there was a head or prince; hence, in Matthew, these are called "the princes of Judah", (Matthew 2:6);

[yet] out of you shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Israel;
not Hezekiah, who very probably was now born at the time of this prophecy; nor was he born at Bethlehem, nor a ruler in Israel, only king of Judah: nor Zerubbabel, who was born in Babylon, as his name shows, was governor of Judah, but not of Israel; nor can it be said of him, or any mere man, what is said in the next clause: but the Messiah is intended, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi confess, and other Jewish writers. The Targum is, ``out of you shall come forth before me the Messiah, that he may exercise dominion over Israel.'' Jarchi's note is, ``out of you shall come forth unto me Messiah, the son of David;'' and so he says, "the stone which the builders refused" (Psalms 118:22); plainly suggesting that that passage also belongs to the Messiah, as it certainly does. Kimchi's paraphrase is, ``although you are little among the thousands of Judah, of you shall come forth unto me a Judge, to be ruler in Israel, and this is the King Messiah.'' And Abarbinel<sup>F7</sup>, mentioning those words in (Micah 4:13); "arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion", observes, ``this speaks concerning the business of the King Messiah, who shall reign over them, and shall be the Prince of their army; and it is plain that he shall be of the house of David: and it is said, "O you, Bethlehem Ephratah", which was a small city, in the midst of the cities of Judah; and "although you are little in the thousands of Judah, out of you shall come forth unto me" a man, a ruler in Israel, "whose goings forth are from the days of old"; the meaning is, the goings forth of the family of that ruler are from the days of old; that is, from the seed of David, and a rod from the stem of Jesse, who was of Bethlehem Judah.'' So Abendana^F8, a more modern Jew, paraphrases the words thus, ``out of you shall come forth unto me a Judge, that is to be ruler in Israel, and this is the King Messiah; for because he is to be of the seed of David, from Bethlehem he will be.'' To which may be added R. Isaac^F9, who, having cited this passage, observes, and, he, the ruler in Israel, is the King Messiah, who shall come forth from the seed of David the king; who was of Bethlehem Judah, as in (1 Samuel 17:12). Wherefore Lyra, having quoted Jarchi, and given his sense of the passage, remarks, hence it is plain that some Catholics, explaining this Scripture of King Hezekiah, "judaize" more than the Hebrews.

Though some of them object the application of it to Jesus, who they say ruled not over Israel, but Israel over him, and put him to death; which it is true they did; but God exalted him to be a Prince, as well as a Saviour, unto Israel, notwithstanding that, and declared him to be Lord and Christ; besides, previous to his death, and in the land of Israel, he gave abundant proof of his power and rule over universal nature, earth, air, and sea; over angels, good and bad; and over men and beasts: all creatures obeyed him; though indeed his kingdom is not of this world, but of a spiritual nature, and is over the spiritual Israel of God; and there is a time coming when he will be King over all the earth. Now out of Bethlehem was the King Messiah, the ruler in Israel, to come forth; that is, here he was to be born, as the phrase signifies; see (Genesis 10:14); and here our Jesus, the true Messiah, was born, as appears from (Matthew 2:8Matthew 2:11) (Luke 2:1–6Luke 2:11Luke 2:15Luke 2:16); and this is not only certain from the evangelic history, but the Jews themselves acknowledge it.

One of their chronologers^F11 affirms that Jesus the Nazarene was born at Bethlehem Judah, a parsa and a half from Jerusalem; that is, about six miles from it, which was the distance between them: and even the author of a blasphemous book^F12, pretending to give the life of Jesus, owns that Bethlehem Judah was the place of his nativity: and it is clear not only that the Jews in the times of Jesus expected the Messiah to come from here, even both the chief priests and scribes of the people, who, in answer to Herod's question about the place of the Messiah's birth, direct him to this, according to Micah's prophecy, (Matthew 2:4–6); and the common people, who thought to have confronted the Messiahship of Jesus with it, (John 7:41John 7:42); but others also, at other times. The tower of Edar being a place near to Bethlehem Ephratah, (Genesis 35:19Genesis 35:21); Jonathan ben Uzziel, in his Targum of (Genesis 35:19), says of the tower of Edar, this is the place from where the King Messiah shall be revealed in the end of days; nay, some of them say he is born already, and was born at Bethlehem.

An Arabian, they say^F13, told a Jew, ``the King Messiah is born; he replied to him, what is his name? he answered, Menachem (the Comforter) is his name; he asked him, what is his father's name? he replied, Hezekiah; he said to him, from where is he? he answered, from the palace of the king of Bethlehem Judah.'' This same story is told elsewhere<sup>F14</sup>, with some little variation, thus, that the Arabian should say to the Jew, ``the Redeemer of the Jews is both; he said to him, what is his name? he replied, Menachem is his name; and what is his father's name? he answered, Hezekiah; and where do they dwell? (he and his father; ) he replied, in Birath Arba, in Bethlehem Judah.'' These things show their sense of this prophecy, and the convictions of their minds as to the births of the Messiah, and the place of it.

The words "unto me" are thought by some to be redundant and superfluous; but contain in them the glory and Gospel of the text, whether considered as the words of God the Father; and then the sense is, that Christ was to come forth in this place in human nature, or become incarnate, agreeably to the purpose which God purposed in himself; to the covenant made with him, before the world was; to an order he had given him as Mediator, and to his promise concerning him; and he came forth to him, and answered to all these; as well as this was in order to do his will and work, by fulfilling the law; preaching the Gospel; doing miracles; performing the work of redemption and salvation; by becoming a sacrifice for sin, and suffering death; and likewise it was for the glorifying of all the divine perfections: or whether as the words of the prophet, in the name of the church and people of God, to and for whom he was born, or became incarnate; he came forth unto them, to be their Mediator in general; to be the Redeemer and Saviour of them in particular; to execute each of his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; and to answer and fill up all relations he stands in to them, of Father, Brother, Head, and Husband;

whose goings forth [have been] of old, from everlasting;
which is said of him, not because his extraction was from David, who lived many ages before him; for admitting he was "in [him], in his loins", as to his human nature, so long ago, yet his "goings forth" were not from thence: nor because he was prophesied of and promised very early, as he was from the beginning of the world; but neither a prophecy nor promise of him can be called his "going forth"; which was only foretold and spoken of, but not in actual being; nor because it was decreed from eternity that he should come forth from Bethlehem, or be born there in time; for this is saying no more than what might be said of everyone that was to be born in Bethlehem, and was born there: nor is this to be understood of his manifestations or appearances in a human form to the patriarchs, in the several ages of time; since to these, as to other of the above things, the phrase "from everlasting" cannot be ascribed: but either of his going forth in a way of grace towards his people, in acts of love to them, delighting in those sons of men before the world was; in applying to his Father on their account, asking them of him, and betrothing them to himself; in becoming their surety, entering into a covenant with his Father for them, and being the head of election to them, receiving all blessings and promises of grace for them: or else of his eternal generation and sonship, as commonly interpreted; who the only begotten of the Father, of the same nature with him, and a distinct person from him; the eternal Word that went forth from him, and was with him from eternity, and is truly God. The phrases are expressive of the eternity of his divine nature and person; Jarchi compares them with (Psalms 72:17); "before the sun was, his name was Jinnon"; that is, the Son, the Son of God; so as the former part of the text sets forth his human birth, this his divine generation; which, cause of the excellency and ineffableness of it, is expressed in the plural number, "goings forth". So Eliezer^F15, along with the above mentioned passage in the Psalms, produces this to prove the name of the Messiah before the world was, whose "goings forth [were] from everlasting", when as yet the world was not created.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (hdwhy yplab twyhl ryeu) "parvulane es?" Drusius; "parvane sis?" Grotius; "parva es?" Cocceius.
• F5: "Parum est ut sis inter chiliarchas Judae", Osiander, Grotius; "vile, ignominiosum est, esse inter millia Judae", De Dieu.
• F6: Not. Misn. in Port. Mosis, p. 17, 18.
• F7: Mashmiah Jeshuah, fol. 62. col. 2.
• F8: Not. in Miclol Yophi in loc.
• F9: Chizzuk Emuuah, par. 1. p. 279.
• F11: R. David Ganz, Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 14. 2.
• F12: Toldos Jesu, p. 7. Ed. Wagenseil.
• F13: T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 5. 1.
• F14: Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 1.
• F15: Pirke Eliezer, c. 3. fol. 2. 2.

Therefore will he give them up
Or "notwithstanding", as this particle signifies; see (Hosea 2:14) ; though all this shall be, yet, previous to the birth of this person, the Lord would give up the Jews to trouble and distress, and into the hands of their enemies; and the time from this prophet to the birth of Christ was a time for the most part of great trouble to the Jews; not only was their country invaded and their city besieged by Sennacherib in Hezekiah's time, but, some years after that, they were wholly carried captive into Babylon: and when they returned it was troublesome times with them; they met with many enemies that disturbed them while they were rebuilding the city and temple; and after that they endured much tribulation, in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, or of the Maccabees; nor were they long in any quiet, nor in any settled state, unto the coming of the Messiah.

Or else this is to be understood of what should be after his coming; for though Jesus was born at Bethlehem, according to this plain prophecy, and had all the characters of the Messiah in him, yet the Jews rejected him, and would not have him to reign over them: wherefore he, the Messiah, as Japhet interprets it, gave them up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart, and into the hands of their enemies the Romans; by whom they were destroyed or carried captive, and dispersed among the nations; in which condition they still remain, and will, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; so long will Jerusalem be trodden under foot, or the Jews be given up to their will, according to (Luke 21:24) ; or, as here expressed, until the time [that] she which travaileth has brought forth :

that is, according to the first sense until the Virgin Mary travailed in birth with the Messiah, and brought forth him her firstborn, (Matthew 1:25) ; or according to the latter, until Zion, or, the church of God, travailed in prayer, in the ministry of the word, and brought forth many children to Christ, both among Jews and Gentiles; and the sense is, that the Jews shall be given up to distress and trouble, till the time of their conversion, see (Isaiah 66:7Isaiah 66:8) ;

The Jews have a tradition in their Talmud, that "the son of David would not come until the kingdom spreads itself over the whole world for nine months; as it is said, "therefore will he give them up until the time that she that travaileth has brought" forth; which is the time of a woman's going with child.'' This both Jarchi and Kimchi take notice of. In one place ^F16 it is called the kingdom of Aram or Syria; and in another ^F17 a blank is left for Edom, that is, Rome; for by the kingdom is meant the Roman empire, and which did extend all over the world before the coming of the Messiah Jesus, as appears from (Luke 2:1) ; as well as from all profane history;

then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel ; that is, the brethren of the Messiah, as Kimchi and Abendana interpret it; who should return with the children of Israel, as both they and Jarchi explain it; to which the Targum agrees. Kimchi's note is, ``"the remnant of his brethren"; they are the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which remained when the ten tribes were carried captive; and the surnames, his brethren, relate to the Messiah.'' So Abendana <sup>F18</sup> , ``and "the remnant his brethren"; they are the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, they shall return with the children of Israel, who are the ten tribes; as if he should say, these and these shall return to their land, and King Messiah shall reign over them; and the surnames, his brethren, respect the Messiah.'' And to the same purpose R. Isaac ^F19 , ``the remnant of the brethren of the Messiah, who are the children of Judah and Benjamin, that are left and remain of the calamities and persecutions of the captivities, shall return to their own land, together with the children of Israel, who are the ten tribes.''

Meaning either the remnant, according to the election of grace, among the Gentiles; who with those among the Jews should be converted to Christ in the first times of the Gospel, those immediately following the birth of Christ; the Gospel being preached both to the Jews and Gentiles, and some of both were called and converted, and whom Christ owned as his brethren, and was not ashamed of; see (Matthew 12:49Matthew 12:50) (Hebrews 2:11) ; or the Lord's chosen people, and brethren of Christ, those of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and those of the ten tribes of Israel; who shall join and coalesce together in seeking the Messiah, embracing and professing him, and appointing him the one Head over them, when they will turn to the Lord, and all Israel shall be saved; see (Jeremiah 50:4) (Hosea 1:11) (Romans 11:25Romans 11:26) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 10. 1.
• F17: T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 2.
• F18: Not. in Miclol Yophi in loc.
• F19: Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. p. 281.

And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord
The ruler in Israel, before described and prophesied of; the Messiah, as Kimchi himself interprets it, and other Jewish writers. Kimchi's note is, ``after the affliction, the King Messiah shall stand and feed Israel in the strength of the Lord;'' and so R. Isaac ^F20 paraphrases the words exactly in the same way: wherefore, as another learned Jew ^F21 observes, these expressions evince that the ruler here spoken of can be no other than the Messiah; not Zerubbabel, who never attained to this height and happiness.

He is both King and Shepherd, and to each of these the act of feeding is ascribed. The same word, in the Greek language, signifies both to rule and to feed and is used by Matthew, (Matthew 2:6) ; and kings are often compared to shepherds. Christ feeds his people, his brethren, his flock, his sheep, and lambs all truly converted ones; and this takes in the whole office of a shepherd, and the care he has of his flock; he takes an exact account of them, goes before them, and leads them out into good pastures; sets under shepherds over them; protects them from, all their enemies; looks after what is lost or driven away; heals the sick, strengthens the weak, binds up the broken, and watches over his flock continually:

he feeds them with himself, the bread of life, with his flesh and blood, which are meat and drink indeed; with the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel; and which are found to be spiritual, savoury, strengthening, satisfying, and soul nourishing food:

and he "stands" and does this, being raised from the dead, and possessed of all power in heaven and in earth; which designs not the position of his body, but the ministration of his office, and his alacrity and readiness to perform it, and his constancy in it:

and all this "in the strength of the Lord"; in his own strength, as a divine Person, which is the same with the strength of Jehovah; and in the power and strength that is dispensed to him as Mediator; and with his Gospel, the rod of his strength, and in such manner as to defend his flock from all that would devour them:

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God;
Jehovah the Father is the God of Christ, as is Mediator; and his name is in him, even the majesty of it; for, as a divine Person, he has the same nature and perfections with him; and as man, exalted at his right hand, has a name above every name in this world, or that to come; and it is by authority from him, in his office capacity, that he rules and feeds his people, having all judgment committed to him:

and they shall abide;
that is, his people, his flock, his sheep fed and ruled by him; these shall continue and persevere under his care and keeping; in him, in whom they are chosen and preserved; in his love, from which they can never be separated; in his hands, out of which none can pluck them; in his church, where they shall ever remain; and so may be considered as a promise of the perseverance of the saints in faith and holiness to the end:

or, "they shall sit" ^F23; quietly and securely, being freed from persecution, with which the Christians were attended in the first three centuries: this began to be accomplished in the times of Constantius Chlorus, who helped the Christians in the times of Dioclesian, and with whom the persecutions ended, and peace and prosperity followed:

for now shall he be great to the ends of the earth;
as he was in the times of Constantine, and will be again. Christ is great in himself, in his person and offices; and will appear to be so to all men, even to the ends of the earth, when his Gospel shall be preached and spread everywhere; when his kingdom shall be enlarged, and be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth; even then shall he appear to be a great King over all the earth, and the great Shepherd of the sheep, the man, Jehovah's fellow; and to have such a flock, and so large, as never any had; when there will be one fold, and one shepherd; for this prophecy respects the latter day glory.

Kimchi's gloss is, ``the name of the Messiah shall be magnified, after the judgment of the wicked.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: Ibid. (Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. p. 281.)
• F21: Tanchuma apud Pocock in loc.
• F23: (wbvy) "sedebunt", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Drusius; "considebunt", Cocceius; so R. Isaac, "they shall sit safely in his time", as is said above, ch. iv. 4. "they shall sit every man" Chizzuk Emunah, ut supra. (par. 1. p. 281.)

And this [man] shall be the peace
The word man is not in the text, only this; and refers to the person before spoken of, who was to be born in Bethlehem, to be the ruler in Israel, that should stand and feed his people, and should be great to the ends of the earth; and is no other than the Messiah, as Kimchi, and other Jewish writers, own, Kimchi's note is, "this peace respects the Messiah; for he shall be the cause or author of peace; as it is said, "he shall speak peace unto the Heathen", (Zechariah 9:10) ;" and R. Isaac ^F24 expresses his sense of the words in much the same language; and it is an observation the Jews sometimes make, and which they give as a sign of the Messiah's coming, "when you see a Persian horse bound in the land of Israel, look for the feet of the Messiah;" which is the sense of (Micah 5:5) ; "this shall be the peace, when the Assyrian comes into our land" ^F25

so Jesus the true Messiah is called "our peace", (Ephesians 2:14) ; and is the cause and author of peace, not only between Jew and Gentile, but between God and men; which he has made by the blood of his cross, and speaks and gives peace to men; and he is the author of peace in his churches, whose kingdom is a kingdom of peace, of which there will be an abundance in the latter day; for all which he would not be sufficient was he a mere man; though it was proper he should be a man, that he might have blood to shed, a body to offer up, and in it die to procure peace; and yet be more than a man, God also, to put virtue and efficacy into what he did and suffered to obtain it, as well as to secure and continue the peace of his people, and preserve them from all their enemies:

when the Assyrian shall come into our land ; not Sennacherib king of Assyria; though by the invasion of Judea, and siege of Jerusalem, he might have lately been concerned in, and by reason of the terror which that had raised in the people; the Assyrian may be here put for any powerful enemy of the people of God in later times; or Satan, and his principalities and powers, even all the powers of darkness Christ our peacemaker engaged with, at the time he made peace by his sufferings and death; and perhaps may chiefly design the Turk, the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel, as Mr. Mede ^F26 thinks, that will enter into the land of Judea, in order to take it out of the hands of the Jews, who will be possessed of it upon their conversion to Christ; but he by his instruments will secure to them the possession of it, and their peace and prosperity in it:

and when he shall tread in our palaces ; the palaces of our princes, and nobles, and great men, at least attempt to do it: then shall we raise against him ; the Assyrian, or whatsoever enemy is meant by him: or, "with him", that is, the Messiah, as Kimchi and others ^F1 interpret it. The Targum is, "then will we appoint over us;" which sense the above writer wonders at, as being contrary to the Hebrew text:

seven shepherds, and eight principal men ; that is, many, as the phrase is used in (Ecclesiastes 11:2) ; to which passage Aben Ezra and Kimchi refer us; these are, as the last mentioned writer and others say ^F2 , the princes of the Messiah; and, according to the ancient ^F3 Jewish Rabbins, the seven shepherds are particularly these, David in the midst, Adam, Seth, Methuselah, on his right hand (Kimchi has it, Seth, Enoch, and Methuselah), and Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, on his left hand; and the eight principal men are, Jesse, Saul, Samuel, Amos, Zephaniah, Zedekiah (in Kimchi and Rabbot it is Hezekiah), Elijah, and the Messiah; but, as Aben Ezra, not fifteen persons are designed, at most but eight, according to this form of speech in (Proverbs 30:15Proverbs 30:18Proverbs 30:21Proverbs 30:24Proverbs 30:29) (Amos 1:3) ; &c. Calmet ^F4 takes those seven or eight shepherds to be the seven princes confederate with Darius the son of Hystaspes, who killed Smerdis the Magian, who had possessed himself of the empire of the Persians, after the death of Cambyses; but Smerdis was not an Assyrian, nor is the kingdom of Persia here meant, but the land of Judea; and the prophecy respects the times of the Messiah, who should appear there, and where would be raised up men to support his interest: and if conjecture may be allowed, as this may be understood of the apostles and first preachers of the Gospel, the princes of the Messiah, who were raised up, at the prayer and request of the church, to oppose Satan and his emissaries, in the first times of the Gospel; by these may be meant the writers of the New Testament, the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the Apostles Peter, James, and Jude, which make the seven shepherds; and if you add to these the Apostle Paul, they will make eight principal men; or rather I should think the seven angels are pointed at, that shall pour out the last plagues on the antichristian states; to which, if another angel is added, that will proclaim the fall of Babylon, the same number will be made up; see (Revelation 16:1) (18:1) ; and who will assist the Jews against the Turks, when they shall attempt to dispossess them of their land, they shall again inherit.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Ut supra. (Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. p. 281.)
• F25: Echa Rabbati, fol. 48. 3.
• F26: Works, l. 4. Ep. 41. p. 796.
• F1: Vid. Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. p. 282.
• F2: Ibid.
• F3: T. Bab. Succa, fol. 52. 2. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 26. 3.
• F4: Dictionary, in the word "Shepherds".