CHAPTER XV
THE blessed and prosperous condition of restored and converted Israel under the care and leadership of their true Shepherd-King may be given as the summary of the chapter to which we have now come. The first verses are linked on, and are a continuation of the promises contained in the last section (vers. 711) of the 9th chapter.
Of the abundance of spiritual blessings and glory which shall then dwell in the land, to repeat a few sentences from my notes on chap. ix. 1 9 " Material prosperity and temporal abundance will, as is not the case in the present dispensa tion, be the outward sign and accompaniment." " Corn," exclaims the prophet at the conclusion of that chapter, " shall make the young men cheerful (or, literally, grow or increase ), and new wine the maids (or virgins )."
But for Palestine to become once again, yea, even more
than before, a land " flowing with milk and honey," after its
many centuries of barrenness and desolation, the fertilising
! showers are essential ; and though this is promised to
! them, they are yet exhorted to " ask " for it, even as in
i Ezek. xxxvi., where, after promising, among many other
i great things, that " this land which was desolate shall
I become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and deso-
| late and ruined cities shall become fenced and inhabited,"
we read : " Thus saith the Lord God, yet for this will I be
inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them " *
for the promises of God, whether in relation to temporal
or spiritual blessings, are only turned into experience by
the faith and prayers of His people.
1 Ezek. xxxvi. 37.
