root, and decayed, which tender plant, so weak in appearance, should nevertheless become fruitful and prosper. The aged trunk, denoting the royal house of David, at that time in a forlorn and contemptible condition, like a tree, of which nothing was left but a stump under ground.

Jerem. xxiii. 5,

"Behold the days are coming, saith Jehovah,

That I will raise up unto David a righteous branch,
And a king shall reign and act wisely,

And shall execute judgment and justice in the land.

From the Babylonish captivity to the coming of Christ, David was without a successor of his family, sitting upon the throne of Judah or Israel, in any sense whatever. And from the destruction of Jerusalem to the present time, the Jews have had neither a king nor a regular priesthood belonging to their nation. So that hitherto there has been a failure and interruption, both in the royal line of David, and in the sacerdotal one of Levi; both having merged in the kingdom of Christ, the son of David, which has been established over the true Israel of God, i. e. over all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles. Viewed in any other light, the prophecy must be considered to have failed of its accomplishment, or else an unusually long period has intervened, previous to its being fulfilled. Even admitting the possibility of the restoration of the families of David and Levi to their former privileges at some remote period still future, a long chasm would remain, during which no king or priest could be said to have presided, unless the supreme authority of the Messiah be allowed to have superseded all other.

The concluding clause of this verse is well paralleled by Isaiah xxxii. i. See also Isa. iv. 1, and compare ch. xlv. 8, where the same great event is set forth in similar images. See also Ps. lxxxv. 10–14, and Ps. cxxxii. 17, Luke i. 69, Rom. xv. 12-2, Thess. ii. 8, as compared with Isa. xi. 10.

Zech. iii. 8,

"For behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.”

This cannot mean Zerubbabel, though he was a descendant from David, for the terms here and elsewhere used are too magnificent to be applied to a person of his limited authority and influence. Besides, he was already" brought forth," whereas this passage points to some future personage, and that can be no other than the great Messiah, under whom the reign of peace and righteousness was to commence and to continue. The Hebrew term employed here is tzemeh, whereas in Isaiah it is netzer, the latter meaning a plant springing from the old root, and reserved when the tree is cut down the former, a sprout, branch, or shoot.

Zech. vi. 12,

"Behold the man, The Branch is his name,

And he shall branch out from his place,
And he shall build the temple of Jehovah,

And he shall receive glory,

And shall sit and rule upon his throne,

And shall also be a priest upon his throne,

And the counsel of peace shall be between these two."

Here again, the terms are too high for either Zerubbabel or Joshua, though something of a primary application to them may be admitted, yet the plenary fulfilment must be looked for in a greater than these.

It is well observed by Blayney, that this passage,

strictly and literally translated, will not answer to any other but the Messiah, who was at once both king and priest, and, by uniting both characters in himself, was completely qualified to bring about the counsel of peace or reconciliation between God and man. Branch is the symbol of idolatrous worship.

Ezek. viii. 17, "And lo, they put the branch to their nose." (Heb. Zemer.)

The carrying of branches in the superstition of the Gentiles, and the custom of the Jews, was a sign of honour. And this it is that God complains of; they carried branches as if they did him honour, but they held them to their noses like mockers; that is, they mocked him secretly, when they worshipped him publicly; they came with fair pretences and foul hearts; their ceremony was religious all over, but their lives were not answerable. Taylor's Worthy Communicant, ch. 5, sect. 3. See 70. Theodotion and Symmachus, as there cited.

Newcome renders it, " And lo, they send forth a scornful noise through their nostrils." This, he says, is the rendering of Aquila, Symmachus, and of some copies of the Septuagint. The Septuagint has it thus:

"And lo, they are as it were insulting me to my face." But, in favour of the common version, Dathe says, that a late writer on the religion of Persia, enumerates among the sacred furniture a bundle of twigs, called Barsom in the old Persic language, which they hold in their hands while praying. Michael's says, that they held it before their face opposite to the holy fire; and that it is represented in D'Anquetils' Voyages, tab. 3. Spencer observes, that the heathens, in the worship of their deities, held forth the branches

of those trees which were dedicated to them. See Soph. Ed. Tyr. line 2, 3, &c.

"Wherefore sit you here,

And suppliant thus, with sacred boughs adorn'd,
Crowd to our altars ?"

on which Professor Francklin has the following note: "When prayers and supplications were to be made, either in the temples or other places, the petitioners carried boughs in their hands, bound round with fillets of white wool; this was always looked on as a mark of distress, which entitled them to a peculiar regard, rendered their persons sacred, and protected them from all violence. It is not improbable, but that this custom among the Greeks was borrowed from the Jews, whom we find carrying boughs on solemn festivals." See Maccab. ch. 13.

But as there seems no distress in the case mentioned in the text, but rather provocation and impiety, the rendering of Archb. Newcome appears preferable.

The Vulgate version is, "They apply the branch to their nostrils," which the translator Jerome explains by "a branch of the palm tree with which they adorned the idols." "The text (says Parkhurst on Zemer,) seems plainly to allude to the Magian fire worshippers, who, Strabo tells us, lib. 15, when they were praying before the sacred fire, held a little branch of twigs in their hand." See more in the same place. And Horne's Introd. v. 3, p. 385, edit. 2.

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In Isaiah xiv. 19, " An abominable branch" means a tree on which a malefactor has been hanged, for such were held in detestation. See Lowth in loc.

In Ezek. xvii. 4, Jehoiachin is called the highest branch of a cedar, as being king.

Olive branches, Zech. iv. 12. See under olive. Branch of the vine, John xv. 2. "Like the withered branches which are gathered for fuel and burnt.”

Branches are symbols of prosperity or calamity. "Ramus creberrime (says Glassius, p. 809,) multisque vocitus synonymis, usurpatur in allegoriis, quibus prosperitas imagine crescentis, virentis, vigentisque arboris proponitur; et vice versa infelicitas ac calamitates imagine arboris marcescentis.” Gen. xlix. 22. Job. xv. 32-xxix. 19. Ps. lxxx. 11, 12. Isa. xxv. 5. Ezek. xvii. 6. Mal. iv. 1, &c. &c.

BRASS. The symbol of insensibility, baseness, and presumption or obstinacy in sin.

See Isa. xlviii. 4,

"Because I knew that thou wert obstinate,

That thy neck was a sinew of iron,

And that thy brow was brass."

Jer. vi. 28,

"They are brass and iron, all of them,

Instruments of adulteration are they."

Brass and iron are the baser metals, used to adulterate

"They are all brass and tin, and iron and lead,

In the midst of the furnace,

They are even the dross of silver."

Kingdom of brass. It is by this epithet that the Macedonian empire is described, in Dan. ii. 39, in allusion to its warlike nature-the arms in these times being generally made of brass.

Mountains of brass, Zec. vi. 1. It is difficult to say what these mean, unless we interpret them, as Vitringa does, of those firm and immutable decrees by which God governs the world. The psalmist has an