The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1871-03-16
CONTINUED.

WV 'S'' N''~'
tons Of great moment--towit:
/. Why will forty years be spent In
subiugating the nations OF the earth and
9. Are not all the Gentle inhabitants,
" from twenty years old ana UPWARD,
with few exceptions to be slain?
The prophet Micah assures us. that
the war between the Jews and Gentiles
will last forty years, and it might we'll
be considered q sufficient answer to our
first interrogatory to say that the war
will last that length Of time because God
says so. But we are not fully satisfied
with this disposition Of the question.
We want to know why so much time is
appropriated to this purpose. when, By
the exercise of miraculous power, the
nations might be subdued in n single
year. Isaiah throws some light on this
point. Speaking evidently of Christ,
the prophet says:
"lIe shall be for a stone of stumbling
and for Il rock OF offence to both the houses
of Israel
1t is a well established fact that
Christ vas "a stone of stumbling and a
rock Of offence" to the blouse of Ju-
dah" from the time be commenced bis
ministry, A. D. 80, until Jerusalem was
destroyed by the Roman army under
Titus, A. D. 70-a period of 40 years.
The blouse of Judah" therefore, is
not to be subjected to this process
again. fut the blouse of Israel"
or "Tcn Tribes" who were not in Ju.
dca when Christ was crucified, arc yet
to find Jesus of Nazareth "a stone Of
stumbling and u rock of offence" for a
like period Of 40 years. And notwith-
standing the wondrous works that will
be done, they, as q body, will reject
%him-just as the House of JUDAH"
did, eighteen hundred years ago-and
comparatively few Of them will reach
the promised land. In this connec-
ton Jehovah says to the House of
Israel:
81 will cause you to pass under the rod,
and | will bring you into the bon OF the
covenant:
And | will purge out from among you
the rebels. and them that transgrcss
against me: | will bring them forth ont
OF the country where they s%ojourn, and
they shall not enter into the land of Israel;
and ye shall know that am the Lord"
The Israelitcs were rebellious and
unbclieving when Moses led them out
of Egypt, and the "Tcn Tribes" will
be like their ancestors in this respect,
when Christ shall appear to bring them
forth from the countries where they
soiourn, and to "make them one IA.
ton in the land upon the mountains of
Israeli
We have nevcr been able to discover
anything in the B be which indicates
that the ''Ten Tribes will pursue any
particular route i in their march back to
Judea, excepting th&t they will return
to Egypt. There is no doubt about
this, as it is positively stated that
"They shall return to Egypt" The
Epyp,ians and Assyriuns will cndcayor
to prevent them from reaching Jrdea,
and the result will be that the "House
of Israel" will march through the Red
Sea, as their fathers did, and the Egyp.
tan and Assyrian host will meet with
the same fate which befel Pharaoh and
his army. AS it is written:
81 will bring them AGAIN also out of the
Mnn " nHyP., iu1 ga.ner tn' m out OF AS
of Gilead and Lebanon:
"And he shall Pass through the sea with
sea, and all the deeps OF the river shall div
up; and the pride Of Assyria shall be
shall depart away" p'
This will be the second exodus of
the Israelites from the land of Egypt.
We infer, from the last chapter of
Malachi, that the "Ten Tribes" will
be disciplined in the wilderness in "the
law of Noses" and that there Elijah
will meet them, and endeayor to "turn
the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart Of the children to their
fathers." Elijah was engaged in the