Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/271

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Gentiles shall honour and reverence them " as the priests of Jehovah, the ministers of our God" (Isa. Ixi. 10), and cleave unto them as the appointed messengers of salvation and instruments of blessing, saying, " We will go with you, for we have heard that Jehovah is with you."

A pledge and prophecy of it we have in the history of the gospel in this dispensation, for it is a remarkable and wonderful fact that " the religion introduced by a Jew, the religion which consists of faith in the person of One who was indeed a Jew namely, our blessed Lord is that which has been embraced " by multitudes from among the Gentiles. Those are, therefore, not far wrong who have interpreted the words " a man, a Jew," of Christ; for although, as the whole context shows, it is not primarily and directly of the Messiah, but of the Jews in the days of their future blessing, that this prophecy is spoken; yet, as we have seen, it is only when Israel shall be the Messianic people and the representatives of Christ among the nations, Who will then be the King of the Jews, that this prophecy will be fulfilled. In this connection it is interesting to observe that even the Jews saw a reference in this scripture to the Messiah. Thus in an ancient Midrash we read:

"All nations shall come, falling on their faces before the Messiah, and the Israelites saying, Grant that we may be Thy servants, and of Israel. For, as relates to the doctrine and the knowledge of the law, the Gentiles shall be their servants, according as it is written: In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirts of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. "[1]

  1. Pesikta Rabhathai, in Yaklut Shimoni.