370 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH
seemed no way of escape, He made a way in the sea, and a path in the deep waters for His redeemed to pass over. 1 Now, " as in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt," He says, " will I show him marvellous things." 2 Once again He Himself will march at their head, and no obstacle shall be allowed to hinder the progress of His redeemed people on their way back to Zion. Should any hindrance present itself, even if it be as formidable as the Red Sea at the exodus from Egypt, " He shall pass through the sea of affliction (or straitness), and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river (or Nile) shall dry up (even as the Jordan did before the Ark of the Covenant) : and the pride of Assyria (Israel s former oppressor from the north) shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt (Israel s enemy from the south) shall depart"
But these two empires may also represent Gentile world-power in general, which will then give way to the Kingdom of the Messiah which the God of heaven shall set up, Whose blessed rule shall extend from Mount Zion even unto the ends of the earth.
And not only will the Shepherd of Israel gather them and lead them back to their own habitation, removing by His Almighty power and grace every obstacle out of the way, but there in their own land, when the Spirit shall have been poured upon them from on high, they shall be " strong in the Lord and in the power of His might," and ready to do exploits in His name. " I will strengthen them, in Jehovah" we read in the last verse of our chapter, " and in His Name shall they walk up and down " which last ex pression may denote first their life, or walk and conversation, which shall all be rooted in God, and be in full accord with " His Name" which stands for His revealed character, which shall then be fully and gloriously manifested in their midst in the person of their Messiah, the image of the invisible God. But the phrase ^rw toPM, u-bhistimo yithallakhu, probably means also that they shall walk up and down in His Name, as His messengers and representatives, dispensing
1 Isa. li. 10. - Mic. vii. 15.
