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or disappeared, the words of verse 20 need not be figuratively understood at all: "Every
island fled away, and (certain) mountains disappeared". The shock divided Babylon into
three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.
The mighty army that comes up against Israel, which Ezekiel addresses as Gog
(38: 14-23), is met by a terrible earthquake:--
"So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field,
and all creeping things that creep upon the face of the earth, shall shake at My presence,
and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall
shall fall to the ground . . . . . I will plead with him with pestilence and with blood . . . . .
great hailstones, fire and brimstone" (Ezek. 38: 20-22).
The passage seems to refer to the seventh vial. Twice in Isa. 2: in connection with
the day of the Lord we read of the time "when He shall shake terribly the earth".
Hag. 2: 6, 7, 21 & 22 says:--
"Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea,
and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come."
"I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms,
and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and I will overthrow the
chariots and those that ride in them; and the horses and the riders shall come down, every
one by the sword of his brother."
This again speaks plainly of Har-mageddon. The first earthquake in the experience of
man is described as a "creation", being something new. It was occasioned by the
presumption of Korah, and Moses said:--
"If the Lord make a new thing (margin, create a creature), and the earth open her
mouth and swallow them up . . . . . then shall ye understand that these men have provoked
the Lord" (Numb. 16: 30).
The earthquake is associated with the judgment of God upon those who sinned in
connection with holy things. Deut. 32: 21, 22 declares that the idolatry of Israel
kindled a fire which shall consume the earth and set on fire the foundations of the
mountains. Thus the volcano and the earthquake are both associated with "the vengeance
of His Temple". The earthquake that Zechariah tells us shall split the Mount of Olives in
the midst is likened to the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, the king, who followed
Korah's sinful example, and was smitten (like the men under the first vial) with leprosy.
Not only is the earth convulsed, but there falls from heaven hailstones of almost
incredible weight. The Jewish talent has been computed as equal to 114 lbs. troy (Moses
Stuart), avoirdupois (Companion bible), the Attic talent 57 lbs. troy. Whichever we take
the talent to mean, the judgment is beyond thought. The construction of the sentence and
the words used in verse 21 justify some such rendering as "terrific!"
Some readers have passed through the mental and physical agonies of the
bombardment of modern war in the trenches, or the terrors of an air raid at home. What
therefore must this unparalleled earthquake be, followed by a storm of hail, each stone
weighing at least about a half hundred weight, falling from heaven! By far the most
important feature of this section is that of verse 19, "And great Babylon came into