Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/255

 when "Jehovah shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people; . . . and He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the out casts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isa. xi. 1 1, 12).

That the restoration spoken of here is yet future, is proved also by the fact that it is to be followed by Israel's national conversion, which has certainly never yet taken place. "And they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness"

The restoration of Israel to their own land after the many centuries of dispersion and wanderings, will, as I have stated elsewhere, " be a great mercy and a wonderful event in the world's history "; but a still greater mercy, and a still more wonderful thing, will be the restoration of the long - interrupted covenant relationship and communion between them and their God. This is what is promised in the last words of the 8th verse: " They shall be My people" the " Lo-ammi" period, during which Israel, separated from God, is given over into the hands of his enemies, shall at last be ended, and God shall again receive them graciously and acknowledge them as " Ammi" and He, Jehovah, shall be their God, be emeth u-bhits* dakah, " in truth and in righteousness " even as we read in Hos. ii. 19, 20: " And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord"

But the expression be emeth u-bhits dakah " in truth and in righteousness " belongs to both clauses of the brief statement which announces the restoration of the covenant relationship between Israel and God, for not only will God act toward them (as, indeed, on His part He has ever done) in truth and in righteousness, but this also shall henceforth be the condition of the people. No longer shall it be said of them that " they swear by the name of Jehovah, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness" (Isa. xlviii. i), but like the man after God's