inContvibíng '19áu' 33.eienipí on. 451 whofe Power fucceeded that of their Kings , in the per- Chap. 2. fon of Zerobabel and his Succeffors. Jacob propheti- cally declares two things ; their eftablifhment in yudah, and their continuance till the comingofShiloh. This Oracle doth not precifely refpeEt the perfon of ludah, for he never afcended the Throne, nor poffeft the Em- pire over his Brethren ; nor folely his Pofterity as a Tribe diftinguifht from the reft, although it had fpecial advantages from that time : For the Banner of Judah Nura3. led the Camp in their march through the wildernefs That Tribe had the firft poffefïion of the landofCana- an; thefe were the beginnings ofits future Glory. And fromDavid to the Captivity, that Tribe polfeft the Kingdom; but the glory of his Scepter was loft in the perfonofZedekiah : Therefore the full meaning of the Prophecy regards the People of Ifrael, in the relation theyhad to the Tribe ofJudah : For that Tribe alone returned entire from the Captivity with fome re- liques of L'viandBenja zin; fo that the Nation from that time was diftinguifht by the title of the Jews in relation to it; and the Right to difpofe of the Scepter was always in the Tribe of ludah : For the Levites that ruled after the Captivity received their Power from them. Till Shiloh come, that is, the /11e'ah, as the Chaldee Paraphrafe, and the antient lewifh Interpre- ters expound ; fo that the intent of the Oracle is, that after the eftablifhment of the Supreme Power in the Family of Judah, it fhouldnot pafs into thehands of Strangers, but as a certain Prefage, and immediate Fore - runner of the coming of Shiloh. And this was fully accomplifh't. For in the Captivity therewas an interruption rather than extinctionoftheirGovernment; their Return was promifed at the time they werecarri- ed Captives to Babylon. But at the comingofChrift, Judea was a Provinceof the RomanEmpire, Herod an M m m a Edomite
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