FINAL CONFLICT AND DELIVERANCE 435
then, when the enemy lifts his hand for the last blow in order utterly to destroy them, " that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance " the visible appearance of Jehovah in the person of their Messiah Jesus takes place. The uplifted arm of the adversary becomes suddenly withered ; and because Jehovah intervenes as the shield of the remnant that remains, therefore " the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city " (xiv. 2). " For thus saith the Lord unto me, Like as when the lion growleth, and the young lion over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds be called forth against him, he will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them : so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon Mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem ; He will protect and deliver it ; He will pass over and preserve it" *
And not only shall Jehovah Himself " go forth and fight against those nations," but when once the weak and broken remnant of the people recognise their Divine Saviour, and hear the shout of the King in their midst, they are suddenly girt with superhuman strength. The feeblest of them, hannikhshal (lit., " he that stumbleth," i.e., the one so weak that he could not even stand, much less fight), shall in that day be as David the greatest of Israel s national heroes, and " to the Jew, therefore, the highest > [type of strength and glory on earth" and the house of M "David shall be as Elohim (i.e., " God " in His might and ,; majesty), and as the Divine " Angel of Jehovah," who of < old went " before them " in the desert and through the Red vi Sea smiting down their enemies, and therefore, " the highest
- lie type of strength and glory in heaven."
be No wonder, therefore, that through Him they " will 9 push down their adversaries," and " through His Name tread ra e them under that had risen up against them " ; 2 and, if I tile may venture a brief digression, I would say that there is a message in this scripture for you too, dear Christian reader. It is this, that however weak in yourself and ready 1 Isa. xxxi. 4, 5 (R.V.). Ps. xliv. 4, 5.
