the ten revolted tribes, as well as for their brethren of Judah, to return "from the land of the heathen, whither they had gone," at the time of the prediction. The exact fulfilment of the prophecy in the subsequent history of the people proves that it was declared with reference to the return from captivity under the decrees of Cyrus and his successors, and not to any yet unfulfilled events in the course of futurity, as has been taken for granted by those who have supposed the ten tribes lost at that time. When we can show so decidedly that they were fulfilled in the course of subsequent events, we can have no hesitation in pronouncing them to be applicable to that restoration; and, therefore, having been fulfilled, we ought not now to consider them connected with any future contingencies.
The prophets above referred to all lived long before the return of the Israelites from captivity; but there was one other, who lived contemporary with the return, to whose writings, therefore, it is most important that we should look, for an exact understanding of the events to which the former prophecies, as well as has own, referred. The decree of Cyrus for the return of the Israelites to Jerusalem was issued in the year 536 B.C., and it was confirmed by one of Darius in the early part of his reign, which commenced fifteen years after the first -mentioned decree. In the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord to Zechariah, encouraging the people to proceed with the rebuilding of the temple, and repeating the former promises to strengthen them in their work, by the hopes and prospects of their approaching consummation. In the 8th chapter then, we find the prophet commissioned to say, "Thus saith the Lord God, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. ... Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east country and the west country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. ... And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing." Here the house of Judah and house of Israel are so expressly joined together as to prove that the passages referred to the time and events then passing as the accomplishment of former prophecies. Other passages following carry out a fuller proof of this ordinance intended. In the 10th chapter we find the same declarations continued: "And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them to place them; for I have mercy upon them, and they shall be as though I had not cast them
