/ ! THE MINOR PROPHETS; WITQ NOTES, CRITICAL, EXPLANATORY, AND PRACTICAL, DESIGNED FOE BOTU PASTOKS AND PEOPLE. BY REV. IIENRY COWLES. ' " Undcrstandcst tbou what tlion ' ulesl ? And he said, Uo w can I, except some man should guide me 1 " — Acts 8; r, j, 31. NEW YOPJv: D. APPLET ON 7VND COMPANY, 549 & 551 BROADWAY. 1871. Knteked, according to Act of Coiio'rcss, in the year lSG(i by ItEV. IIENUY COWLICS, lu the CK'rIi'a Ollicc of tho District Court of the United Sl;itc3 for the Northern District of Ohio. • • • • • ^ I D to l^ \2ni PEEFAOE. ^ — *— J ^ The Christian commentator, assuming that the Scrip- "T tares are from God, infers their inestimable value to man- '^ kind. Assuming also that God speaks to man in love and for his good, he infers that originally, to common hearers ^ and readers, his words must have been readily intelligible. Hence he finds his work to be, comprehensively, to get possession of the same means for understanding the words (-^ of God which were enjoyed by those first hearers and readers, including specially the language in which God ^ spake, the historic facts to which he alludes, and the scenes (^ in nature and common life from which he drew his illustra- ^ tions. So much he must have in order to a clear and full understandinix for himself of the ancient words of God ^ to men." -Then it remains only to put his readers in possession of his views of the Sacred Word. To do this he may lead them over all the ground which he himself has travelled, i. e,, through the original Hebrew, unfolding its laws of etymology, syntax, and usage of words, and also through all the details of historic investigation: or he may place before his readers for the most part only the results at which he has arrived. In the former case, he 28,'J64i jV PREFACE. writes for scholars only ; in the latter, for readers of all classes. 1 have adopted mainly the latter method, aim- ing to meet the wants, not of Hebrew scholars only or chiefly, but of all English readers. I have had in view somewhat specially those who have been and are yet to be trained to thoughtful study of God's word in Sabbath schools and Bible classes, and indeed all those laymen and women who love the Sacred Scriptures, and Avho naturally wish to know their full and precise meaning, While in the main it has been my plan to give results only, and not the processes by which I reach them, yet points of great practical interest and value, c. g.^ those prophecies respect- ing the ^Messiah and his kingdom which yet remain in part to be fuliilled, I have deemed it important to discuss fundamentally and thoroughly, so that the reader may sec what principles of interpretation I adopt, and why, — and also to what results they have led me. A superficial treat- ment of these points ought to be eminently unsatisfactory. The commentator has his option whether to restrict bis work mainly to the xmlblding of the exact sense, or to ppeak more or less fully of the practical and moral applica- tions of the tnith which he brings out. These moral applications are, of course, of the utmost importance to every reader ; yet usually God has left each reader to make them for himself, and adapt them to his own case. Hence I have thought it cannot be unwise for me to follow for the most part the same method — assuming that God's word as it came from his lips will have power on men's hearts when the full sense of it is clearly apprehended. I have therefore spoken of the moral bearings and api)lications of the truth only in fewest words, suggestively and by no means ex- haiislively, and rather as a specimen and illustration of PREFACE. . V tlie practical use to be made of the divine word. By this method, the work is much reduced in size and expense ; is brou2;ht within the means and the time for readina: of a much greater number; and still, it is hoped, Avitliout lessen- ing its moral and spiritual value. The study of the Bible has been to me, above all other studies, my life-work and my life-joy. Through divine mercy and a fore-ordering providence, my attention has been turned and held very considerably during forty years past to the study of the Hebrew Scriptures, and especially to the writings of the prophets. At the urgent suggestion of friends, and under a strong conviction of the need of a commentary on these books adapted to all readers, I entered, three years ago, upon the preparation of these volumes, fully purposed to spare no pains, first to reach the exact and full thought in these sacred words, and then to present it with whatever clearness, brevity, and force I could command. These years of study and writing have been to me a continual feast. Such a profusion of literary and poetic beauties as lie here, is one of God's great benefactions, yet is not to be named in comj)arison with the value of those truths fresh from the infinite mind of our divine Father, and from his parental heart. It is a luxury to see the lines of evidence converging to a focus to certify the exact meaning of God's word, and to bring out that meaning in sunlight before the mind. It ought to be and is a luxury even more rich to feel the presence and the power of such truth upon the heart. The writer has gone through these prophetic books with a growing sense of the richness and fulness of their provisions for both the mind and the heart, earnestly wishing that his readers may partake of this feast, and drink deeply at these fountains. vi PREFACE. ■ This volume is sent forth in the hope that it may aid the studies and refresh the souls of those who prize the Sacred Word, and rejoice in the growing sway of light and love under the great Kedeemer's reign. It has been thought best to begin with the minor proph- ets. The notes on the remaining prophets, upon the same general i:)lan, have been prepared for the press, and may appear at some future day, if it should seem desirable. Tlie reader will be careful to observe that in the notes, italic words are emphatic ; but in the sacred text, as in all English Bibles, they indicate that thei-e are no correspond- ing words in the original Hebrew. Hence tliey are often the opposite of emphatic, — a more just translation dispens- ing with them alto2cether. The author lias aimed to give cither a translation, more or less free, or a paraphrase, in all cases where he has been compelled to diflfer from the received version. These pas- sages are usually indicated by marks of quotation. OncitMN-, Ohk\ S(/)t., 18CG. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHETS. The Mosaic system comprised institatious and agencies for sustaining the religious life of tlie Ilcbrew people. The priests and tlie Levitcs were religious orders, held responsible for this senice. In the degenerate ages of the nation, the forms of their religion lost their spiritual power, and those religious orders seem to have gone down morally in the general declen- sion. Hence there arose a demand for a new order of men, and prophets appeared, holding their individual commissions direct from the living God. Singled out by his special call, they went forth with his definite messages, calling upon the people to hear his voice, and turn from their sins to righteousness. Hence it resulted, from the very circumstances which called into existence the order of prophets, that their main work should be to preach reform ; to rebuke the prevalent sins of the nation ; to denounce their idolatry, their self-righteousness, their heart- less formality, and their oppression of the poor ; to threaten im- pending judgments, and to call the people back to their for- saken God. A portion of them (not all) have left in writing more or less of the messages sent by them from God to the people. Some, whose position is quite prominent in the history (e. ^., Elijah and EUsha), have left no books of their own. Others, whose names are not in the historic annals, have left valuable writings. Manifestly each followed, in this respect, his own word from viii GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PROrilETS. the Lord — tlie Lord in his wisdom using these servants of his for the work -svhich lie most needed done and -wliich they were best qualified to do. It is manifest, both from the history and from the tenor of these recorded prophecies, that with few if any exceptions they first bore their messages fi-om God to the people, with the liv- ing voice, in the form of direct address. It may be safely assumed that those portions were committed to writing which embraced prop]>ccy yet to be fulfilled, or which would bo specially useful, either to the Jewish or the Gentile Church, along the course of future ages. These writings of the Hebrew prophets arc now before us — rich treasures of truth and experience from the ancient past, God's own words, given to " holy men of old, wlio spake as tliey were moved by the Holy Ghost." Noble men were they, of martyr spirit, of Christian heroism, of faith and courage iiisj)ircd by the sense of a special mission from the Most High ; men whose record the world cannot afford to lose, nor the Christian Church to drop from her living thought. With what power of logic have they set forth the claims of God upon his rational creatures ! How have they depicted the ingratitude, the meanness, the folly, atid the madness of sin ! With what solemn and thrilling words have they spoken of the judgments which God would send, and did, upon guilty nations, Jew and Gentile, in rctrn)ution on sinners, -whom no warning from his voice availed to reclaim, and whose sins even the great forbear- ance of God could not longer endure ! How pertinent and for- cible arc tlie moral lessons which come down to us from such living examples ! Do proud rulers question whether there be an infinite Moral Governor of the universe? Do they doubt whether he takes note of the sins of mighty nations, and liolds both them and their rulers to a strict moral accountability? Do they vainly tliink to set justice at naught, and trample down the helpless — no God from on high regarding and avenging? Or do they presutne that lie is loo tender-hearted or too weak to punish, so that struH'^ men and pmud nations shall feel it? On ->ll \}r close and earnest study. Let the reader come to it as to God's own words, through one of his faithful but long and sorely-tried servants, remembering his own closing testimony: "Who is wise, and ho shall understand tliese things; prudent, and he shall know them ; for tlie ways of tlie Lord are right, and tlie just shall walk in them ; but the transgressors shall fall therein." CIIAPTEPv I. TiiK book opens with events .peculiar to Ilosea's prophetic min- istry — the taking of a wife whoso lewdness symbolized tlie iutiiltl- ity of tlio nation to (!od, their Maker aiul Husband; and the birth and naming of children wlioso names wore significant before the l)Coplo of tlieir relations to Jehovah. 1. The •word of tlic Lokh that oainc unto IFosca, the F.on of P.eeri, in the -31. The record is a dismal one — revolutions, HOSEA.— CHAP. I. 3 anarchy, conspiracies, universal idolatry, and outbreaking wicked- ness. 2. The beginning of tlie ^Yord of the Lord by nosea. And the Loed said to Hosea, Go, take nnto thee a wife of wlioredoms and children of whoredoms ; for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LOKD. It has been questioned whether this taking of a lewd wife were a real transaction. Some suppose it existed only in vision. The laws of prophetic interpretation forbid this view. The command is, " Go, take ; " and nothing less than the strongest reasons can justify us in rejecting the obvious sense of such language. Be- sides, what could be the use of such a thing, if done only in vision ; and especially, what could be the use of it to the 'people ? Yet fur- ther, and more to our purpose as interpreters of God's word — if tlie Lord meant only that Hosea saw or should see this thing in vision^ why did he not say so ? Cases in which things were to be done in the actual life of the prophets for the greater etFect as symlols be- fore the people, occur frequently in Ezekiel, and occasionally in other Old Tef^taraent prophets. But see this subject discussed more fully in the Appendix — Dissertation I. A second question, of less importance, is, whether Gomer was a lewd woman before marriage. On the one -hand, the language does not absolutely demand the affirmative, while yet it is the more ob- vious sense of the words. On the other hand, the negative is sup- ported by the circumstance that, so interpreted, the case better symbolizes the idolatry of Israel, inasmuch as the Lord entered into covenant with them while yet they were mostly pure from this great sin. It is not necessary, however, that the symbol sliould fit at all possible points. The one main point is the grievous guilt of such adultery. I pass this question, simply expressing my opinion that she had been lewd before marriage, and was taken as a wife upon a promise of conjugal fidelity. It is well to note carefully that the Lord gave the reasons for this remarkable command — viz. : because the land had become wholly adulterous and apostate from God. Of course, adultery here means specially idolatry. By the worship of idols the people had put other gods before Jehovah. They had faithlessly broken their solemn covenant to fear and serve the Lord alone. This covenant can find no better symbol among human relations than that by which one man and one woman "be- come no longer twain, but one flesh." Tlie marriage relation, closer and more -endearing than any other, comes nearest to a perfect symbol of the covenant relation between God and his chosen peo- ple. It is therefore used with great pertinence, beauty, and force. The fact is humiliating to the people of God that this symbol sliould find its most abundant occasion for use, not on the bright Bide of this marriage relation, but on the dark — the shameful infi- 4 HOSE A.— CHAP. I. ilelities and apostasies of tlie people in the times of Ilosea, Jere- miah, and Ezekiel. The same idea, and mostly on its bright side, uudLTlics the forty -fifth Psalm, and (as the Jews must have under- stood it) tlie Uook of Canticles; but its fuller development waited till tia-rrant sin called it forth. Let us not pass this point without taking note of the keenness of the domestic trial to which Ilosea was subjected at his very en- trance upon the projjhetic work. "We sometimes think of this work as l)ringing the ])roi)l)ot into near and honored relations to Jehovah — as, indeed, sublimely grand and glorious. We are liable to forget that for even sucli jiropliets to live godly was to sufter. Isaiah shrank from the work; Jonah lied, to escape its responsibilities; Jeremiah felt lieavily on his heart the message burdens he bore from God to tlie people ; and to Ilosea was allotted this bitter af- fliction — a wife uulaitliful to her marriage vows — that he might bo a living representative of' the great sin of the people against their divine Ilu>band; and perhaps, also, that liis own experience of do- mestic wrong and wretchedness miglit give him a keener sense of the cruel guilt of the nation's idolatry, and might help him to sym- patliize with tlie feelings of Jehovah under such abuse. These ti'ials in the prophet's mission have a vital bearing on the question of ills essential honesty. No selfish motive could have moved him to such a life-work. To rebuke sin in an age of such outbreaking and universal wickedness, and to be subjected to such domestic af- Hiction for the sake of more vividly illustrating the apostasy of Is- rael from their (Jod involve and imply an honest, self-sacrificing devotion to the will of God, and quite preclude the supposition of liis being an impostor. 3. So he went and took Goiner tlie daiiglitcr of Dib- laiin ; wliicli conceived, and bare him a sou. 4. And tlic Lord said unto liim, Call his name Jez- rcc'l; for yet a little ichile, and 1 will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon tlie house of Jehu, and will cause to cea.se the kingdom of the house of Israel. 5. And it shall come to ]iass at that day, that I will break the bow uf Israel in the valley of Jezreel. The word Jezreel has a two-fold significance ; the one drawn from its ctyrnolopv, the other from its liistory. 13y its etymology it means the Lord trill soir, or t/ie LortVa sciring. We liave this Benso in v. 11. Great shall he the day wlien the Lord sliall sow or plant liis people in their own land. 15y liistorical allusion, the word caiTie.s us back to the city bearing that name, the royal resi- denco of Alinb; to the blood shed there by Jehu, and to the aveng- ing of that blood ui)on his posterity. See 2 Kings 10: 1 1, 14. Naming the ])roiibet's lir.-t child Jezreel denoted that this avenging was near at iiand. Jehu by promise was to hold the throne to tho fourf-b generation. Jeroboam II. was tbe tbird in tbat line ; his son, Zachariab, was tbe fourtb and last. A wicked reiirn of six nioutbs ended bis lite and tbe dynasty of Jebu. See 2 Kings 15 : 8-12. Tbe Idugdom of tbe bouse of Israel was to cease soon. It ceased fifty-one years after tlie deatb of tliis king, Zacbariab. It may be asked, Did not tbe Lord (2 Kings 10 : 30j approve of Jobu's deeds in destroying tbe bouse of Abab ? And if so, wby sbould be now avenge tbat blood on tbe bouse of Jebu ? Tbe true answer seems to be tbat be in part approved it. and therefore in part re- warded Jebu — tbat is, by giving bim tbe kingdom to tbe fourtb genex-ation. But be could not approve bis spirit, wbicb was far from being rigbt before God; nor could be approve of bis " taking no beed to walk in tbe law of tbe Lord God of Israel witb all bis beart, departing not from tbe sins of Jeroboam," 2 Kings 10 : 31. Hence tbese judgments on bis bouse. "Breaking tbe bow of Jezreel," is breaking their military power — tbe bow being then tbe chief weapon of war. That this was done especially in tbe valley of Jezreel is every way probable, though there is no definite record of the event. This valley, since called Esdraelon^ has been one of tbe most noted -battle-grounds in history. Here Deborah and Barak fought and conquered ; here Gideon scourged and drove tbe Midianites; here Abab gained a great victory over Ben-hadad. Here have fought Eomans, Crusaders, Egyptians, and Frenchmen. It is more than supposable tbat in this famous valley the enfeebled Iiosts of Israel made their last stand against the Assyrian power. 6. And slie conceived ao-ain and bare a dauo-liter. And God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruliamah : for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel ; but I will utterly take them away. '■'■ Lo-rnhamalir'^'' is literally "not compassionated" — not a sub- ject of mercy. This use of the negative Lo impbos not merely the absence of mercy, but the presence of wrath. Tbe sense is not suspended at the point of mere negation, but goes over to the op- posite side. Here it means tbat the people bad incurred Jehovah's frown. He woidd not any. more show mercy to tbe people of the ten tribes in such form as to arrest and turn aside his impending, iong-dcserved judgments. On tbe contrary, he " would utterly' take tbera away" into captivity. As to the last clause, the marginal reading suggests another possible sense of tbe original, viz. : " tbat I should altogether pardon them." The original He- brew verb means to take away, and is sometimes used for the tak- ing away of sin. But the connecting particle gives this as the course of thought : " I will not again show mercy to tbe house of Israel, for I will utterly take them away," i. e., from their land. This is my purpose. Q nOSEA.— CUAP. I. Y. But I will liavc mercy upon tlic licmse of Judali, and will save tlieni Ly the Lokd tlieir God, and will not pave tlicm by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. There was siill in Judali some true Iklclity to God; he would therefore yet have mercy ou them. Tlie exprossion — " Save them ly the Lord tlieu- God, and not hy sword or hattle," is beautifully concise and forcible — as if Jehovah were himself the engines of war, the sword and the bow, that should save them. The might of his arm is finely contrasted with the might of human prowess in war. 8. IiTow when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she con- ceived, and bare a son, 9. Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi : for ye are not my people, and I will not be yonr God. "Lo-ammi" signifies not mi/ people, and as said above of Lo- ruhamah, it imjdics th;it they are in a state of positive rejection. God was abo\it to disown them— so utterly liad they rejected Iiim by their abounding persistent idolatry, by forsaking the worsJii[) of God, and by most fiagrant immoralities, ILow imjjressive to Ilosea must have been all tlie scenes and sounds of his household ! Often as he sjjake or heard spoken the naincs of these two children, the thouglit came— i\'y merci/ ! Not mij people ! A like testimony it must have borne to the people among whom he was sent as the prophet of the living God. 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall l»e as the sand of the sea, Mdiich camiot be measured nor nuiubered; and it shall come to j)ass, ^/ia< in the place where it was said unto them, ^ e are not my people, fht re it A\n\\ be said untt) thein,-][' laud : ior ass.igc from lltjsua to j)rovc that the " vessels of mercy " to whom God " makes known the ridas of liis glory," are "not of the Jews only but also of tho Gentiles." That is, ho assumes tiiat in this very ptissage nosEA.— CHAr. II. 9 nosea embraces Gentile Christians under the name Israel ; and, of course, that it is fulfilled in the New Testament age, and not exclu- sively before — in the Gentiles, and not otherwise. This ouglit to be decisive. (4.) "While some of the prophets, e. g., Isaiah, speak of the Gen- tiles by name as coming into the church and sharing in the great blessings of the latter "days ; others, like Hosea, predict the same great blessings, but never name the Gentiles, and give them no share except as they come m under the name Israel. We must, therefore, either say that they rule out the' Gentiles from the pale of these blessings and give them to the lineal Isi-ael, and to Israel only; or we must admit that they modify the sense of the word Israel, and use it to include all the real children of God in the latter days. Finall}^, we have the great fact that just at the point where the Israel of the ten tribes was being cast off for their hopeless idolatry and in.curable corruption, a larger, richer promise is made to the " children of Israel " than the hteral Israel ever had before or since, or ever can have. Moveover, what time the old Israel became lost to history, a new Israel appears; Gentiles come into the church of God ; the world opens to the mission of the Gospel, and lies at the feet of the Prince of Peace: and so his Israel becomes as the sand of the sea; his people are the "sons of the living God;" old antipathies give place to the oneness of love ; under their one head, they come up from their last house of bondage, and great beyond all former thought is " the day of Jezreel." For all this let us sing in words furnished to the church for this occasion by Isaiah (chap. 12). " Lord, I will praise thee ; though thou wast angry witli me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold God is my salvation ; I will trust and not be afi-aid ; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song ; he also is become my sal- vation." CHAPTER II. Ik this chapter, the Lord exposes and rebukes the sins of his people, and threatens retribution, vs. 1-13 ; then turns to promises of effective discipline and of restoring mercy, vs. 1-1-23. It is noticealile that throughout this chapter, the adulterous mother, Israel, is spoken of in the third person, and the Lord declares what he will do to her in judgment and for her in mercy. Remarkably, and as if to give a more impressive sense of her horrible guilt, her children are introduced — are apprised of the unnatural crime of their mother, and are exhorted to plead with her to put away her sins. What a family scene must bo the reality presented in this symbol— the children appealing to their mother to desist frcfin her adulterous life, and to put an end at once .to all its indi- 1* IQ nOSEA.— CHAP. II. cations ! It is manifestly tbe purpose of God, in this message by Ilosea, to paint a life-scene of the crimes of bis covenant people ni their relations to himself. 1. Say imto your bretlireii, Amrni ; and to your sisters, lluliamali. Sav 'to your brethren, Amrni ; to yonr sisters, raihamah. Drop the negative particle from the names, Lo-Ammi, Lo-Paiharaah ; sonnd tbe sweet words, " my people ;" " the pitied and beloved"— as if to suggest that the heart of the Lord still yeirns to make tliem again h?s own, and to give tbe freest flow to his great and deep compassions. Tbe persons exhorted to do tbis may be supposed to be the few yet found faithful among the m.any faithless. Tbe Lord calls on them for one more effort to reclaim the nation. 2. Plead with your raotlier, plead ; for she is not my wife, neither am 1 her husband : let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adul- teries from between her breasts ; 3. Lest 1 strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. " Plead with your mother," ye children of shame ; go and tcU her YOU cannot bear tbe disgrace and pain of her unnatural crime ; tell iit-r tbat ber God disowns her as a wife, and puts her away for lier lewd idolatry. Such is tbis strain of fiery rebuke. The last clause refers to' tbe incitements to lewdness common with bad women. " Out of her sight," shoiiM read, " from her face," cor- responding to "from her breasts " in tbe parallel member of tbe sentence. The original has the same form of expression in each ease. Tbe face and tbe bosom are alike used for incitement to lewd pa>;sion ; — paint, ornament, and lascivious expression in the one ; exposure of person in tlio other. In tbe spiritual application, (Jod frowns ui)on and would put away every form of inducement to idolatry in Israel; every thing tbat in any age naturally tempta hi:;! people to sin. 4. And 1 will not havo mercy upon her children ; for they be the children of whoredoms. Closely following out tlio symbol, the Lord appeals to the heart of the motber, as if lie wouM say: Tliough you have lost all setisi- l)ility to your own welfare, yet tbijik of your children. I will not Ii.ive mercy on them; your unnatural crime comes down on them with perpetual curses. Can a mother's heart resist such an appeal? .5. For their mother hath played the harlot : she that conceived them hath done shamefully : for she said. I nOSEA.— CHAP. II. 11 will go after mj lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink. The adulterous motlier is liere seen, going after licr infixmous paramours — as one who Ikes on the wages of her shameless crime. This is turning over and over the leading symbol, to put in still new light the shameful sins of the chosen people against their God, and to show why he ought to and must visit them with terrible retri- bution. The fifth and sixth verses stand related as cause and result: '•'■Because their mother hath committed lewdness," " there- fore will I hedge up her way," &c. 6. Therefore, behold, I will hedge np thy way with thorns, and make a wail, that she shall not find her paths. 7. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them ; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them : then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband ; for then loas it better with me than now. God will trouble her in every way ; she shall follow hard (so the original) after her lovers for help, but in vain, till affliction and want bring her back to reason and to her foi'saken God. 8. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, loJdch they prepared for Baal, 9. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. Ys. 8 and 9 are correlated thus : " Because she did not know," &c., " therefore will I take away," &c. " Did not know that /gave her " all, where the original makes the pronoun / emphatic. God mid- tiplied to Israel silver and gold, which they wrought into images of Baal. This is one point of aggravation in all sin. Men take the gifts of God and pervert tliem into means of sinning the more against him; work them into idols to worship instead of Jehovah Baal was one of the most ancient of the gods worshipped in the East. lie is supposed by many to represent the sun ; by others, the planet Jupiter, as the almoner of good fortune. He was wor- shipped by the people of Phoenicia and Tyre, and from them, at a very early age, and in the reign of Ahab especially, his worship pasocd over to the Jews. 10. j^Jid now will I discover her lewdness in the 12 EOSEA.— CHAP. II. siglit of licr lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. " Discover," in the sense of expose her nakedness before her lovers — terribly significant of the fearful judgments God knows how to send on his apostate people ! 11. I will also canse all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. Thcie were seasons of special joy to the Hebrew people, an^ stand here to represent aZ^ joy. 12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me : and I will make them a forest. and the beasts of the field shall eat them. The lieathen regarded their idol gods as the givers of their vines and fig-trees. Israel says the same thing. Those idol gods are hei lovers, to whom, in her spiritutd adultery, she gives her heart and her confidence. 13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her ear-rings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. This strain of rchnke and threatening culminates with, the general declaration — " I will visit upon her for tlie gnilt of her days of J3aal worship." " Baalim," in the ])lural, refers to the numerous images of Baal, or as others hold plausibly, to the diverse modes of his jnauifestation. " Decking herself with ear-rings and jewels, and going after her lovers," carries out the symbol — a harlot, jilyiiig all tiio shameless arts of a common prostitute. 14. Tlierefore, behold, I will alliwe her, and bring lier into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto licr. This verse is, for the chapter, the transition point between rebuke and threatened retril)ution for the sins of idol worship on the one hand, and promises of effective discipline and of restoring mercy on tlie other. '^ L'c/tol«Ws of s^ilvcj-, aiidybr an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley. It was common among the Jews, indeed it is in all the East, to HOSEA.— CHAP. III. 17 this day, to buy o. wife. Whetlier the price named here was the standard one is of no special importance; if it were, our means of fixing the vahie of a "piece of silver" are very imperfect. Tho amount of barley was about fourteen bushels. This buying does not necessarily forbid the supposition that she had been his wife before. It does imply that she had forfeited that relation, and could properly return only as one justly divo ced. To show this seems to be the chief or sole intent in this second verse. 3. And I said unto her, Tlioii slialt abide for me many days ; thou shalt not play tlie harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man : so will I also ie for thee. The prophet implores her to desist from her former crimes. Probably the true sense of the verse is better given by omitting the word " anMher,'''' which has nothing to correspond to it in the He- brew. " Thou shalt not ho, for man " — any man ; — the special point being to represent a state of Israel described in the next verse as without any worship of either the true God or idols. 4. For the childi-en of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacriiice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and loitliout teraphira : 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Loed then* God, and David their king ; and shall fear the Loed and his goodness in the latter days. Here is an exceedingly interesting prophecy, to the effect that the chOdren of Israel sluill remain a long time without king or prince, without sacrifice, images, or any insignia of worship, wheth- er true or ftilse, requii-ed or forbidden. Images and terapliim (household gods) must be put in the latter class. The ephod was tne outer robe of the high priest. Cured of idolatry, yet not converted to the worship of the true God, they were to remain long in this peculiar, extraordinary state. ■Considering how strong their national passion has been to have a king and some establisheiiatic: '•!, yea, /, will'lbrget thy children." T. As they were increased, so they sinned against me : therefore will I change then* glory into shame. "They " refi.TS to the jjriests. The " increase" might be cither in numbers or in wealth and lioiior; iirol>abIy not either alone, but all. Tlio more they prospered, by so much tlie more they sinned nOSEA.— CHAP. IV. 21 against God. Hence lie would convert their glory into disgrace. The desolations of war and captivity soon fulfilled this threatening. 8. Tliej eat up the sin of my people, and they set their lieart on their iniquity. By "sin," in this passage, some suppose the sin-ofl:erings of the Mosaic law to be meant, and eating them to be the sin committed by the sons of Eli. See 1 Sam. 2 : 12-17. The usual sense of the word is, however, preferable, and is fully sustained by the parallel clause, which is, literally, "They lift up their soul to their iniquity ; " i. e., they are interested and pleasurably excited by the sins of the people. They eat them, in the sense of enjoying tliero as hungry men enjoy a feast. How horribly corrupt these priests must have been ! So far gone in sin that they loved to have all the people sin ! The Hebrew verbs rendered " eat up " and " set " are future, implying not only that they have done, but will yet do this; are committed, past reclaim, to these sins. 9. And there shall be, like people, like priest : and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings. No wonder God has judgments in store for them, from which their superior dignity ;Mid rank shall by no means shield them. Such is the import of this verse. As the people were doomed to desolating judgments, so also are the priests. Their office shall not conduct the lightnings of Jehovah's wrath away from theii* heads, but rather doicn vpon them. 10. For they shall eat, and not have enough : they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase : because they have left off to take heed to the Loed. Resuming from v. 8 tlieir eating the sins of the people, God now declares — They shall eat, but shall get no good of it ; this being the sense of the words rendered " not have enough ; " liter- ally, " sliall not be satisfied." Adulterous life gives no increase of family — the natural conse- quences being the opposite of this. Barrenness was accounted one of the greatest calamities. These sins are due to the fact that they have ceased to honor and fear Jehovah. 11. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. This verse is a grand moral adage — an axiom in the philosophy of human life. The ^'•heart^'' in Hebrew usage, is sometimes wise and understanding, in reference to the intellectual faculties, and sometimes includes tlie moral purposes of the soul, as wliea God is said to be served with the whole heart. " Taking away the heart," therefore, is robbing a man of his good sense, his moral stamina — of all that makes his manhood of any account. After 22 HOSEA.— CHAP. lY. whoredom and wine liavo done their work upon hira, he is practi- cally more brutish than rational and human. Hosea has a similar use of the word "heart " (7 : 11): "Ephraim is like a silly dovo without heart "—^lacking even natural sagacity to avoid the snare. 12. My people ask counsel at their stocks, and tlieir staff declaretli unto them : for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. As if to prove how utterly whoredom and wine have robbed tlie people of their good sense, the Lord adduces their confidence in idol gods. " My people " — who ought to ask counsel of ine — "ask counsel of their sticks of wood"^a justly contemptuous name for a wooden god; " and their staff" — a divining rod, makes revelations to them as an oracle. This divining rod has been common among the miserable superstitions of heathenism, and is not unknov,m in nominally Christian lands. "Whoredom" in tliis connection seems to he literal, sensual ; not the spiritual whore- dom of idolatry. The essential spirit of licentiousness has plunged tlicm into error and folly, so that, from " being tinder their God," in a state of humble dei)endence and moral purity, they have gone utterly into this most imbruting sin. Idol worship in all ages and countries has been intensely licentious, mixed up with abominations too foul to be named. 13. They sacrifice upon the tops of tlie mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and pop- lars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good : therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. High places and groves of great natural beauty and sublimity have always been favorite localities for idol worship — as said here — "because the shadow thereof is good" — i)leasant and attractive, it being the policy of Satan always to cluster ai-ound his worship all ])Ossil)]o sensuous attractions. Therefore the (laughters and wives of the Hebrew iable, as when Agag, using the same word (1 Sam. 15 : 32), said, " Tlie bitterness of death is past.'''' lleneo I translate closely tluis: "Their carousals are over; they jdunge into lewdness; their shields (rulers) love shame." The better" to bring out the sense, I paraphrase the verse thus: " When their carousals are past, their passions are sharpened for Itasor wlioredom : their rulers, who ought to be their shields and safeguards against such basenes?, aro themselves so corrupt as to love what is only tlieir shame." The second construction is worthy of being suggested. By it, the lirst verb, rendered '"/.•* sour,'''' has the sense of becoming apos- tate, tiius :" lie (Ej)hraim) becomes the more apostate from (iod tlirough strong drink ; so they plunge the deeper into whoredom," HOSE A.— CHAT. IV. 25 &c. Iq this construction this verb looks toward its cognate* in V. 16: There Israel is refractory, like an unbroken heifer; here be becomes the more refractory as to God through strong drink. Tliis verb unquestionably bears the sense of departing from God, becom- ing apostate and refractory, as may be seen in Dent. 11 : 10 : " Te turn aside and serve other gods." Ps. 14 : 3 : " They are all gone aside; they are altogether become filthy," &e. But especially Jer. 5 : 23, where tliose two cognate verbs are brought together as parallel : " This people hath a revolting \ and a rebellious heart ; they are revolted f and gone." This passage entirely confirms the close cognate relationship between these two verbs — that in v. 10, and this in 18. The rendering of the verb with its noun in the first clause is more easy on the first construction above given, else the second of the two would be preferable. The ultimate sense is essentially the same, testifying to the fearfully demoralizing influ- ence of strong drink toward lewdness in the orgies of idolatry. The second verb in this verse, expressing the practice of lewd- ness, is made intensive by the usual repetition of the finite verb by means of the infinitive. The reader will notice that my transla- tion of the last clause diifers from that of our English Bible in two respects, making '' shame " the object of the verb, and entirely omitting the words " Give ye." This last change follows the best critical authorities as to the original text. These omit this word rendered " Give ye " as spurious, or, as some conjecture, attach it to the previous verb, and tlius reduplicate its two last radicals. The very apposite sense thus obtained in the place of one very obscure and inept, justifies this choice between the authorities for the orig- inal text. 19. The wind liatk bound lier up in lier wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices. The whirlwind alfords a common figure for those providential agencies with which God overwhelms and sweeps away the wicked. See Ps. 58 : 9 ;'Prov. 1 : 27; Isa, 40 : 24, and 00 : 15, &c. Here a bold poetic imagination gives to the wiiirlwind real life, and wings in which the guilty nation is enfolded, to be borne away to its final doom — captivity. Zechariah (5 : 5-11) has the same figure in a .slightly ditierent dress. " They shall be confounded because of their sacrifices " to idol gods which cannot save. Their objects of confidence shall utterly fail them ; the idols in which they trusted shall prove their curse. So evermore must all the hopes of tlio wicked perish ! That on which they rely for help shall become the millstone to sink them — the fire ta scorch and blast them, for ever and ever ! * ■no. fi^io. :j:-inD. 26 HOSEA.— CHAP. V. CHAPTER Y. In general, the course of thonglit is the same iu tliis chapter as in the fourth; rebukes for sin, threatening of near judgments, in ■which God's own hand should be specially manifest. Judah is spoken of more frequently than in chapter iv., and hence, Judah being less hardened than Ephraim, the strain of remark gives more intimations of hopeful repentance. 1. Hear ye tliis, O priests ; and liearken, ye house of Israel ; and give ye ear, O house of the king ; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. The priests and the king are specially called to attend to this message, because the threatened judgments were to fall first and most heavily on them. The word "judgment " in the original has the article, and sliould have in English — "for the judgment" — the one predicted and near impending — " is specially destined for t/om." The reason given is, they liave ensnared the people into sin — "have been a snare," such as is laid to catch birds, " on Mizpah," &c. Mizpah and Tabor were " high ])laces," locations for idol worship; the former east of Jordan, the latter west. 2. And the revolters arc profound to make shiughter, though I have leen a rebuker of them all. The verb rendered " to make slaughter " is most commonly used for the slaughter of animals — rarely for the slaying of men ; and in reference to animals, more often for purposes of sacrifice, less often for food. Here we may best take the most common sense. The Avord rendered "revolters," is used both in the concrete, meaning revolters, and in the abstract, revolting, departure from right, sin. The latter sense seems lu-cforable here. 1 paraphrase thus: "They," the priests and the king, "make their sins deep, even in tlieir slaying of animals for sacrifice ; " they deviate widely from righteousness and from God, even in their religious ceremo- nies. " But I will chastise tliem all." The sense given in the English version mmj be the true one : the one given here seems the more probable as being more in harmony with the course of thought, and equally in harmony with the usual sense of the words. The Eord assures them that their sacrifice of animals after the law of Moses, wlicther mixed up with idol wor.-hip and all manner of wiikcdtioss, or standing by itself, yet used as a cloak for their sin, would avail them nothing. They might go deep into it ; it could be accounted only as so much the greater sin, and could by no means screen them from the judgments of God. HOSEA.— CHAP. V. 27 3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me : for now, O Epliraim, thoii committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. The special pertinence of tlie declaration " I know EiAraim," &c., comes from the tliougbt in the verso preceding — the attempt to cover up idol worship and all wiclicdness, with the established religious rites of the Mosaic system. AVIiat if they do put on the fairest semblance of true worship, slaughtering animals by the thousand — " I know them ; " I see through their hearts ; Epliraim is full of whoredom (idolatry). True it is that men only in- sult God the more when they assume that they can cover up sin by the forms of religion. To assume that God cannot see through this covering, is an insult to his omniscience; to assume that he can ever accept such liypocrisy, is an insult to his holiness. 4. They will not frame tlieir doings to turn unto tlieir God : for tlie spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Loed. A great moral truth lies here — that when men have given them- selves up heartily to sin and the spirit of sinning rules, and they do not care to know God, then tliey will not make any honest ef- forts to turn to God; they will not shape their external doings so as to facilitate the turning of their hearts from sin to holiness. The I'eason why they Avill not is given here — the spirit of sinning is in them as the ruling jiower of their heart and life. They have not known the Lord, and do not intend to think or to learn of him. 5. And the pride of Israel dotli testify to his face : therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity ; Judah also shall fall with them. The pride of Israel is a true witness against him to the point here charged ; for pride seals the evidence that the heart is hard- ened and perverse. When a sinner is proud in liis sin and of his sin, he gives the strongest evidence of being fully committed and awfully hardened. Therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall un- der the judgments of God. Judah comes in here, and hencefor- ward through the chapter, as having shared in the guilt of Ephraim, and consequently as bound to share her doom. 6. They shall go with their flocks and witli their herds to seek the Lokd ; but they shall not find hira / he hath withdrawn himself from them. In the day of tlieir calamity they may summon to their help the most costly forms and services of religious worship, but all in vain. There comes a time when it is too late to cry even for mercy. Tlie Scriptures repeatedly affirm this awful truth, as e. g. Prov. 1 : 24— 31. When mercy has been abused too long, and patience in God 28 HOSEA.— CHAP. V. ceases to be a virtue, tlien retribution must take its course — else law were a farc&, and the throne of justice would sink into con- tempt. Y. They have dealt treacherously against the Lokd : ibr they have begotten strange children : now shall a month devour them with their portions. The charge of treachery looks to their violation of their cove- nant vows to be the Lord's. One proof of this perfidy was that they liad begotten children of foreign mothers, by intermarriage or ■ by adulterous connection with the heathen round about them. This, God had most explicitly forbidden, Ex. 34: 16. The time of their destruction hastens on ; within one month they shall per- isli "with their portions" — their idol gods whom they had chosen as their helpers and refuge. 8. Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Tvamah : cry aloud at Beth-aven ; after thee, O Ben- jamin. The enemy are near; let the war-cry ring out the alarm on the very hill-tops where the idol temples stand. " Cry aloud at Beth- aven " — that place once sacred as Bethel, the house of God ; now desecrated by idol-worship into Bctli-aven — house of vanity — noth- ings. "After thee, Benjamin," it seems most natural to take as the very words of the outcry. " The foe is after thee," or be- hind tliee, close upon thee. 9. Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke : among tlio tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. The judgment on Ephraim should be sweeping and extermina- ting, putting an end to her nationality, and leaving her desecrated land a desolation. "liebukc" here refers to deeds, not words ; to the judgments of war, subjugation, captivity. Tlio last clause refers to the warnings God had given to tlie i)eoj)le of tlie ten tribes by the mouth of llosea and other prophets. AVhat they had said from the Lord was wholly true, and should surely come to pass. 10. The princes of Judah were like them that re- move the bound : therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. The " bound " referred to is IJie landmarTc by which contiguous estates were defined. Li the al)sence offences these "bounds" were relied on in practice. The sin of removing them is the prcatcr because so easily done and so difficult of detection. The Mosaic law severely denounced this sin. (yec Dent. 19:14 and 27 : 17.) It became a proverb to signify a man of no conscience and no honor. HOSEA.— CHAP. V, 29 11. Eptraim is oj)pressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after tbe commandment. Ephraim is cruslied utterly under the divine judgments because he heartily consented to walk after tJie commandment of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who bade the people worship the golden calves at Bethel and at Dan. (1 Kings 12 : 28-33.) This is the command- ment referred to as the first fatal step — the occasion of the sad re- lapse which Avas so soon to end in the utter ruin of the people and the kingdom. ^o"- 12. Therefore will I de nnto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. This strong language implies sapping the nation's vitality and leaving it utterly powerless. 13. "When Ephraim saw his sicknessi, and Judah saia his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb : yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. This "sickness" and "wound" are of the body politic. Tho sense is that each kingdom, conscious of its weakness and danger, sent to the Assyrian power for help, but to no good purpose. T'efore the word " sent," Judah should be supplied. Ephraim went to the Assyrian king, and Judah sent, &c. The history takes note of both these facts. Ephraim (2 Kings 15 : 19, 20), threat- ened by Pul, king of Assyria, " gave him a thousand talents of sil- ver, tliat Ids hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand." Judah (2 Kings 16 : V), threatened by Rezin of Syria, sent to Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria for help. In neither case was this call for help of any avail. " Jareb " is not the proper name of any king, but is a verb, meaning one who should interpose, or, in modern phrase, intervene. This was precisely what Ahaz king of Judah sought of the Assyrian king, that he should intervene and help himself against Eezia of Syria. 14. For I will 1)6 unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah : I, even I, will tear and go away ; I will take away, and none shall rescue Kim. The connection of thought is — ITo good can come of Assyrian help, '•''for I will be unto Ephraim as a lion," &c., — the lion being a symbol of power that turns not from its purpose for any. Com- pare Ps. 50 : 22 : ^^ Consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." The symbol should not be forced so as to carry over to the Almighty all the qualities of the lion — not his ferocity, not his heartless cruelty, but only his great power which none can evade, none escape, none withstand. 30 nOSEA.— CHAP. VI. The manner of the lion is carried out here to a remarkable ex- tent. He tears his prey in pieces ; goes away ; comes again ; then takes some of it with him to his place, and none can rescue from liis grasp. There were points analogous to this in the ways of God toward Ephraim and Judah, as the prophet proceeds to show. 15. I will go and return to my place, till tliey ac- knowleclo-o their offence, and seek my face : in their af- fliction they will seek me early. Especially in this respect would the Lord he as a lion to thoso kingdoms, lie would send one fearful scourge ; then retire as it were to his place to watch and Avait for the moral result. For God's purpose in sending these afflictions was never vindictive, was never merely to destroy, but only to constrain them to seek his face in repentance. The verb rendered " acknowledge their of- fence" means primarily to be guilty; then to bear one's guUt in the sense of suffering punishment or chastisement for it. The lat- ter seems clearly to be the sense here. There is no decisive usage to sustain tlic interpretation — " acknow^ledge one's offence." The Lord, having sorely chastised them, would wait till they had borne tlie infliction, and had been brought by it to seek his face. lie is sure that in tlieir affliction tliey will seek him early, or earnestly, as one who is up betimes in the morning to a work lying near his heart. So the original implies. Here the chapter closes, but the course of thought passes over to the next unbroken. OIlAPTEli VI. In this chapter we have calls to repentance, assurances of God's great mercy, but tliis mercy is grieved by the fickleness of God's degenerate people. It closes Avitii continued details of aggravated wickedness. 1. Come, and let ns return nnto the Lord : fur he hath torn, and he will heal ii:^ ; he hath smitten, and he will hind ns up. "With unsurpassed beauty and force, the Lord himself gives his jjeoplc tlio very Avnrds Avith which they may exliort eacli other to return to him. The marvel is that in the figure the Lord is no more the lion, l)ut an angel of mercy, coming down to bind up the wounds liimself lias made! And it is he himself that declares tills — testimony, therefore, that could not be better. Lideed, avo could not reasonably accept any other. For avIio else could know, or who else could make us believe, that the same God who hath torn Avill also heal — tlie same who hath smitten Avill also bind un? Such are the wondrous things of God's mercy. nOSEA.— CHAP. VI. 31 2. After two days will lie revive us : in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. The general sense is clear. God will soon revive us if chastise- ment has wrought its proper fruits. Various conjectures have been made to answer the question, Why does he say so deliuitely, "After two days," "on the third day?" Some have found liere, as they suppose, an allusion to the resurrection of Christ. But this passage has the air of liistoric allusion aud not of proph- ecy ; and historic allusions look to the past, and not to the future. The manner of this passage is not that oi prophecy ^ foretelling some future event to occur after two days or on the third, but it is rather that of a statement shaped by the thought, then present to the mind, of some analogous event in past, well-known history. Such an event I find substantially in the case of the pestilence sent on Israel for David's sin of numbering the people. (See 2 Sam. 24.) When for this sin three forms of judgment were proposed to David for his choice, he chose the pestilence, as coming more directly from the hand of God, saying, "Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man." This pestilence continued three days, no more. The Lord became a lion to tear, so long; — then turned to revive and restore. This case, supposed to have been before the mind of IIo- sea, woitld fitly account for his naming two and three days. Ilosea abounds, beyond most of the sacred writers, in historic allusions. A case much less closely parallel may be seen iu the plague of darkness on Egypt of three days. And there may be a tacit allusion to the fact that three days is about the extent of human endurance under extreme privations and hardships, as e. g. the case of the Egyptian found by David's men. (1 Sam. 30:11, 13.) The senti- ment would then be that God is wont to arrest his judgments before human endurance is quite exhausted. 3. Then shall w^e know, if we follow on to know the LoKD : his going forth is prepared as the morning ; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Our translators apprise us that they found no word in the orig- inal for "(/"." It is more true to the original and equally pertinent sense to read It, " Then let us know, let us follow on to know tlie Lord," &c., i. e. encouraged by these demonstrations of his mercy, let us seek to know, yea let us follow on earnestly to knoAV the Lord. "His going fox-th," in this connection, is not his going iu general, but his going forth in the revelations of his great mercy — his outgoing, as the sun comes to light after the darkness of storm or of night — the original word being currently used for the rising of the sun. David uses it in his exquisite nineteenth psalm, Baying of the sun, " Ilis going forth is from one end of the heav- ens and his circuit to the other end thereof." So God's coming 32 nosEA.— aiAP. vi. forth in the clisjjlays of his mercy "is prepared as the morning," cqnally sure in its place, and notliing in nature more fitly repre- sents the revelations of his mei'cy as they rise on benighted souls. The next figure also is rich in beauty and in blessings. "He shall come unto us," corresponding in sense to his "going forth,'' "as the great rain " (often called the "former rain"), "and as the latter rain that water the earth." This is a precise translation of the original. The former rain, succeeding a long dry season, follingf from the middle of October to the middle of December, prepared the ground for seed-sowing, and if abundant, gave assur- ance of harvests. The latter rain fell in March and April, ma- turing the crops, and continuing in some seasons quite to their early harvest, from which fact it takes its Hebrew name. Those who have " tasted that the Lord is gracious " will appre- ciate the fitness and force of these illustrations, and will not wonder that the most beautiful and beneficent things in nature are chistered together to set forth the munificent lovhig-kindness of the Lord. 4. O Epliraim, what shall I do unto thee ? O JTu- tlah, what shall I do unto thee ? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Alas! that there should ever be occasion to turn so abruptly from the glory of God's mercy to the meanness of man's sin ! — from tho enduring love and tlie well-ordered going forth of his light and sal- vation, to the fickleness of man's best resolutions, and to the incon- stancy of his «iost hopeful professions! The antithesis between this verse and tlie preceding one should be noted. The morning light, gloriously outbreaking from the east, is God's love shining out on the darkness of the sin-stricken soul. The morning cloud and the early dew, hopeful and sweet for a moment, but soon gone up as if they had never been, are the goodness of God's inconstant people. We cannot wonder that the Lord should exclaim: "O Ephraini, what shall I do unto thee? " By what new and untried appliances shall I bring stability out of fickleness, and make your wavering steps steadfast? 5. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets ; I have slain them ])y the words of my moutli : and thy judgments are as the light that goetli forth. As to tho figures in this verse — "hewing tliem by the prophets," "slaying them by the words of my mouth" — we may fitly remember that Solomon says: "The words of the wise are as gnads and as nails " (Eccl. 12 : 11), and Paul (ITeb. 4:12) sjjeaks of " tho word of God as sharper than any two-edged sword, pierc- ing even to tho dividing asunder of soul and spirit," and also (Eph. fi:17) of ''the sword of fbo Spirit, which is the word of God." Tlie Lord sigiiilios here that he has used sharp and cutting Avords in his messages to the people — has, in fact, exhausted the power of nOSEA.— CHAP. vi. 33 earnest language to pierce the liard shell of their heart aud reach live flesh. "Thy judgments are as the light" — clear, impressive, awe-inspiring as the liglitnings of heaven — for so the word may signify. The instances of this usage are comparatively rare, how- ever, and the common sense, light, is pertinent and forcible. God had made his displeasure toward their sins clear as the light. 6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice ; and the knowledge of God more than bnrnt-oflerings. " Mercy " here represents the whole circle of moral duties tow- ard man, as in the nest clause, " the knowledge of God " stands for that which is practical, not theoretical only, and comprises all right afl'ections toward God. The people had shown themselves far more ready to otfer sacrifices tliau to do right toward either God or man. Tlie Lord, on the contrary, held sacrifices in low es- teem, but held in the highest esteem mercy toward man and the intelligent worship and homage of the heart toward God. See a similar doctrine taught in the Old Testament, Ps. 40 : 7-9 and 50 : 8-23 ; Tsa. 1 : 11-17, and Micah 6 : 6-8. Our di\'ine Teacher on two several occasions endorsed the sen- timent of this verse most emphatically. Matt. 9:13, and 12:7; "Go ye and learn what that meaneth ; I will have mercy, and not sacrifice " — said, in this case, to show why he ate with publicans and sinnei'S — viz., to save their souls. "But if ye had known what this meaneth — 'I will have mercy, and not sacrifice,' ye would not have condemned the guiltless; " said in rebuke of the Pharisees for their judgments in regard to keeping the Sabbath. This form of statement should not be pressed to mean tliat God had never required sacrifice and burnt-oft'erings ; this would not be true. This doctrine needs often to be revived and reiterated, so prone are men to put the forms and ceremonies of religion in the place of real kindness and justice toward man, and honest heart-worship of God. American slaveholding Christianity is a striking case in jioint — an effort to conform Christianity to the demands of the time by framing a system of religion and morals with mercy and even justice left out, and the real knowledge of God woefully per- verted. 7. Bnt they like men have transgressed the covenant ; there have they dealt treacherously against me. The word rendered "men" is, in Hebrew, adarn^ and may bo either a proper noun, meaning Adam, or a common noun, meaning man. Hence this clause has been construed three ways : (1.) "They, hke common men, have transgressed the covenant " — the point being that they, being priests, princes, and a people long trained of God, have yet broken their covenant, as common men might do ; or, (2.) "They are like men who break covenant" — the point here being that they break their covenant witli God as men are wont to 9* 84 IIOSEA.— CBAP. VI. break their covenants with each other, accounting obhgation to Goi^ no more sacred than a man's obhgation to his fellow ; or, (3.) "They, like Adam, have broken covenant ; " their obligation, like his, being all the more sacred by reason of their intimate and honored rela- tions to the glorious God. Of these various interpretations, none bad, the last has in its favo7the obvious antithesis between "they" and "Adam," which stands out strongly in the original, inasmuch as the use of the per- sonal pi-onoun in Hebrew is not common, and is, therefore, usually somewhat emphatic where introduced as here. A parallel case of the use of Adam as a proper and not a common noun, is found Job 31: 33: "If I covered my transgressions as Adam " did, etc. " T/icre," in the phrase, " there have they dealt treacherouslv," refers to the kingdom of the ten tribes, where the great mass had proved utterly treacherous toward God. S. Giload is a city of tliem that work iuiqiiitj, and is polluted witli blood. From general charges of sin, the prophet here becomes specific. Gilead (often called Ramoth-Gilead) was a prominent city of refuge (see Deut. 4 : 43) on the cast of Jordan. The cities of refuge made special provision for the residence of the priests, who, indeed, were needed there to hold civil courts and determine questions of manslaughter, which naturally came to triiU tfiere. Eut this city was full of bloody violence— as the last clause of the verse lias it— " tracked or footstepped with blood." Murderers left their bloody footprints along its streets. It appears from 2 Kina-s, 15:25, tliat Pekali, in c-onspiriug against and murdering Pekahiah, had with him fifty men of the Gileadites. To this fact the propliet may allude. From such a city he might get fit materials for consiaracy and murdi.r. 9. And as troops of rohbcrs wait for a man, so the company of i)rie.sts murder in tlic way by consent: for they cth of God and man for the amount of thought and deei)-Iaid plot that entered into it. 10. I liave seen an h<»rrible tiling in the lioiise of HOSEA.— CHAP. VI. 35 Israel : there is tlic wlaorcdom of Epliraim, Israel is de- filed. It is in Tiew of sucli particulars as these that the Lord now ex- claims, "I have seen liorriblc things in the house of Israel! " "Whoredom " seems here to bo idolatry, the mother sin of all sins in the land. 11. Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people. This verse has caused commentators much perplexity. The questions have been, whether the "harvest" appointed of God for Judah betokened blessings or calamities; and, if the latter, how it can correspond with bringing back their captives — a fact wliich naturally and usually indicates blessings. The first -word, wcU rendered " also," implies that the Lord had something foi* Judah of the same sort which ho was about to bring on Ephi-aim ; and , there can be no doubt that the strain of the previous context as- sumes the near coming of fearful judgments on Ephraira. Then further, prophetic usage very uniformly makes the harvest a sym- bol of judgments. (See Jer. 51 : 33 ; Joel 3:13; Eev. 14 : 15-20.) These considerations go far to show that the passage must predict judgments on Jud all— naturally, a great slaughter. It oidy re- mains to see how this can comport with the Lord's bringing bavk the captives of his people. The history recorded 2 Ohron. 28 : 1-15 solves this remarkable problem, meeting all its difficulties, and readily accounting for its apparent incompatibilities. Ahaz, king of Judah, reigned wickedly; for which God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, who smote him and took many captives to Damascus. God also delivered him into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with great slaughter. " For Pekah slew in Judah one hundred and twenty thousand in one day, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.'" He ;dso took away two hundred thousand captives, women, sons, and daugliters, and" brought them to Samaria. Hero was a fearful har- vest in the sense of a great slaughter. Yet, contrary to all human expectation, it was closely connected with God's interposition to bi-ing back the captives of his people, for the history proceeds to say that when the captives were brouglitinto Samaria, a prophet of the Lord was there by the name of Oded, and that he went l)eforo the host of Israel and expostulated with them earnestly, and finally persuaded them to send all the captives home. Hence, although God brought back their captives, yet aharvestwas set for Judah iu the nsuai sense of an immense slaughter of their people. 30 nosEA.— CHAP. vn. CHAPTER VII. SpEAKmr, of Ephraim, this diapter continues to portray hia treachery, blindness, intense passion in sinning, and extreme folly. It should be specially noted that tbroutrhout this and the succeeding chapters to the twelfth, Ejjhraim, the kingdom of the ten tribes, i? the theme of remark, Judah being scarcely mentioned. The his toric events alluded to fell Avithin the last years of the kingdom- some of them in the reign of Iloshea, its last king. 1. Wlien I would Lave Lealed Israel, then tlie iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria : fur they commit falsehood : and the thief eometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. The time specially referred to, when the Lord sought to heal Israel, and the indications were hopeful, may probably liave been when tbey sent home their Jewish captives, as in 2 Cliroii. 28: 9- 15— historically coincident with the events referred to in the close of the previous chai)ter. At that time " certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim" acknowledged the guilt of their nation, and spake sensibly of "Cod's lierce wrath against Israel." ]Jut these hopeful api)earaiices soon passed away ; the nation proved lake to Jehovah and false to oven common morality ; thieves break into liouses and robbers plunder abroad. So it often happens that the deepest wickedness comes to light only under the special eflbrts which the Lord makes to heal and restore. When wicked men will not be healed, and only become the more infatuated and deter- mined, and the more outbreaking in their sin for all the labor of love which Cod bestow's upon them to reclaim them, they are fiist verging to the brink of ruin. How i)aiiifully discouraging even to infinite patience and pity ! Some suppose that the period specially referred to as one ir. whicl4 the Lord would have liealed Israel, was during the reign of Jeroboam second. This reign was one of general ju-osperity. (8ee2 Kings li: 2:j-2H.) lie restored the coast of Israel on the north, as had been foretold by Jonah: " For the Lord saw the afliiction of Israel that it was most bitter, for there Avas not anv shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel; and the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven ; but ho javed them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash." ilanifestly here Avas one special effort to heal Israel. Ilosea may have thought of more than one. The Lord is wont to repeat euch ctlorts of reclaiming mercy. 2. And thoy ('(.nsider not in their hearts, that I remember all their wickedness : now their own doings have beset them about ; they are before my face. HOSEA.— CHAP, VII. 37 Literally — " They do not say to their heart, I remember all llieir wickedness. Now their oAvn doings invest them — lie on the outside surface as a garment — palpably before my face, with no con- cealment." 3. They make the king gLad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. Their king and princes, instead of frowning upon the wicked- ness of the people, were in full sympathy with it, and could be drawn in to rejoice in it all. 4. They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, loJw ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, nntil it be leavened. " Adulterers," probably in the literal, not the symbolic sense. Idolatry fostered lewdness. The figure of an ^"oveii," as used in vs. 4, 6, 7, demands special notice. Of course, we must go far back of the modern stove-oven in which the heat is generated and used at the same time. In the kind of ancient oven here referred to, as also in those used commonly before; the age of stoves, the heat- ing is done he/ore the baking, and the excellence of the oven con- sists in its power to Jiold heat, and give it up gi-adually for baking purposes. Precisely at this point the figure applies. The baker gets up an intense lieat, and tlien takes out his fuel and lets it rest till the first intense heat is somewhat abated. He trusts his oven to hold heat while his dough is rising ; indeed, by closing his oven with his fuel in, he may keep the heat confined there so that he can deep all night, and yet find every thing ready for flaming out in the morning. So these wicked men are perpetually heated up with the hot passions of sin. They do not need new incitements continually. The old fires, smothered for a time, flame out again on the first occasion. The heart of wicked men Jiolds Ticui — the heat of sinful passion — ^like an oriental oven. The last clause of V. 4, should read, "ceaseth from firing up," i. e their derision in the land of Egypt. If they turned, in any sense, it was not to the Most High. The original 7nost naturally reads, "They will turn to a no-god'''' — to one not the Most High, but the opposite — one infinitely low and mean. So in the words, Lo-Ammi, Lo-Ruhamah, the negative particle gives the opposite sense — a people rejected from being mine — to wliom mercy is denied. " A deceitful bow " makes the ar- row miss the mark, and therefore cannot be trusted. So with Is- rael. "The rage of their tongue" is their insolence of language, probably in boasting of help from Egypt, despite of God's warning to tlie contra-y. Wlien tliey shall have come into Egypt, cai)tivo and weak, this proud boasting will be tlicir si)ecial derision. ITosljca, the last kmg of the ten tribes, souglit help from Egypt against tlie king of Assyria, but only to his shame and ruin. (2 Kiugs 17:4-.) So shall it ever be with all who depart from God I nOSEA.— CHAP. VIII. 41 CHAPTEE VIII. IsEAEL is still the subject of rebuke, and of tliref ,tened judgment —the prophet bringing forth to view her sins, her resort to idol gods and to foreign alliances, to the rejection of her own ever-liviug God, and showing that this policy must be utterly ruinous. 1. Set tlie trumpet to thy montli. He shall come as an eagle against tlie lionse of tlie Lokd, Lecanse they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. This verse is remarkably in the peculiar style of Hosea — abrupt and bold. " To thy mouth the trumpet ; " [the foe comes down] " as an eagle upon the house of the Lord, because they [my peo- ple] have broken my covenant and sinned against my law." The blast of the trumpet, long and loud, was the alarm for war. The coming of the foe is compared with the swoop of the eagle, Avhen, from his lofty height, he comes down upon the temple. This coming down on the temple may suggest that even this sacred sym- bol of Jehovah's presence in the land cannot*shield it from the fierce invader. The eagle in his flight is frequently, in Scripture, a symbol of swiftness and of terrible conquest. Thus, Deut. 28 : 49 : " The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the ends of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth." xilso. Lam. 4:19: "Our persecutors are sv/ifter than the eagles of heaven." This fearful foe comes because the nation has so utterly apostatized from their God. 2. Israel shall cry unto me, ]My God, we know thee. Grievously as they had departed from God, they still made high religious professions, vainly claiming to know the true God. So in later times they said, "We have Abraham to our father." "Have we not prophesied in thy name ? " The English translation renders it '■'•shall cry,'''' a^ if the thought Avere future only. The Hebrew imperfect rather means the past running on into the future. They have done, and stiU do. 3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him. The repetition of the name " Israel " is expressive. The same people, Israel, who claim to know the true God, have, in truth, scornfully repelled all that is good ; i. e. both God and his blessings. Hence, enemies shall pursue him ; or, as the original word means, cha^e him down. The verb rendered " cast off" has, for its primary sense, to bo 12 HOSEA.— CHAP. VIII. foul, nauseous, loatlisome ; then, to reject and cast off as loathsome. Tlie lattH- is tlie sense here. With loathing has this Israel, wh« claims to know me, spurned away all good, even God himself. 4. Tliey have set up kings, but not by me : they have made princes, and I knew it not : of their silver and their _^okl have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. From Jerohoam of Nehat onward they have set up kings after their own heart, with no regard to God's will. So of their princes; tJiey have made them, and without my approval — the word " know " Leing used here in this not infrequent sense. They had made idol images out of their silver and gold, to the end that they might he cut off; i.e. not of their intention, hut of God's purpose, and of both natural and actual result. The ruin of the nation was both a righteous and a natural retribution for this sin — naturd because idolatry and its associate vices were essential rottenness in the body politic. 5. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast t/iee off; mine an- ger is kindled against them : how long toill it le ere they attain to innocency ? " Thy calf, Samaria," is the golden one set up by Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 12 : 26-33), out of which grew the idol worsliip of the king- dom of the ten tribes. Samaria, the capital, here represents the whole kingdom ; the calf was projierly theirs. The verb rendered "cast otf'is the same that is used and so rendered in v. 3, but manifestly heiie with a slight moditication of meaning; — there, in the sense of repelling with'loathiiig; liore, in the sense of being loathsome, abominable. There is no word foi- "thee," as found in the English translation, which unfortunately fails to give the true sense. Tliere is great force and beauty in this play upon the two kindred meanings of the same Avord. Thus, V. 3: " With loatliing has Israel rejected God and all real good; " V. 5: "Truly and intensely loathso'me is thy calf, Samaria." Tliou hast thrust from thee tiiy God and all his blessings, as things loath- some ; the really loathsome thing is thy calf. To tiiis construction the next clause fits jjcrfcctly : "^line anger is kindled against tlie worsliippers of that abominable calf.'' The last clause is literally rendered, "How long will they be impotent as to moral innocence?" i.e. with no recuperative moral i)ower to return to sense, and to the reasonable worship of the true (lod? In how many cases, throughout all ages, must a holy and compas- sionate God dejjlore the same moral imijotence in wicked men! Inasmuch as God was constantly acting upon tliem toward "inno- cency," we nnist understand this verse to imply that lliere was no conscience, and no moral sensibility in them, to respond iiealthfullv under tlie divine elforts made for tiicir recovery. nOSEA.— CHAP. VIII. 43 6. For from Israel loas it also : tlio workman made it ; therefore it is not God : but tlie calf of Samaria sliall be broken in pieces. The aggravation of this case was that the calf "came out from IsraeV — ^from God's chosen people. "A workman made it" Avith his human fingers, so that it is no god at all. On the contrary, ac- cording to the expressive Hebrew, "it shall become fragments." The prophets were wont to expose the ineffable folly of idol-woi-- ship and of all trust in idols, by referring to their origin as nothing higher or other than human workmanship. A mere man made it, made all there is of it ; and can that senseless, helpless thing be God ? 7. For tbey have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind : it hath no stalk : the bud shall yield no meal : if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. They — the idol- worshippers — in forsaking the true God for idols, have sown the wind ; and how vain a thing this is, any one will see who will suppose hhnself actually attempting to do it. The passage becomes terribly forcible when this sowing of wind, vain and empty as it would seem to be, brings forth for its harvest the whirlwiml — one of the most fearfully destructive agencies in nature. The idea of a harvest is still kept up, and the proi)het proceeds to say, "There is no stalk to it; its shoot will not produce meal; or, if it should, foreigners shall devour it." " Strangers," in the Bible, are always foreigners ; not merely those with whom we have uo personal acquaintance. 8 Israel is swallowed up : now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure. The last verb of the verse preceding gives the leading thouglit of this verse. All Israel is " swallowed up ; " not only will a foreign foe swallow up all the harvests of the land ; the very nation is swallowed up, and its nationality is to become extinct. "Now," i. e. shortly, they shall be among the nations as a vessel of no value, for which nobody cares; a potsherd, a piece of broken crockery, simply useless. 9. For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alono by himself : Ephraim hath hired lovers. As showing how low they have sunk in general esteem among the nations of their thne, the prophet goes on to say, "They have gone to Assyria for help " — wild, wayward, solitary and friendless as the wild ass that has no affinities for other animals, and little, at best, for his own species. In the words "Ej^hraim hath hired lovers," the idea of his marriage relations to Jehovah reappears. This going to other na- tions and not to God for help, is the baseness of an adulteress, for- 44 nOSEA.— CHAP. VIII. saking tlie liome and the love of her husband, and sunk so low that, instead of being hired for prostitution, she herself hires her paramours. Ephraim in his distress goes for help, not to his God, who would have joyfully reheved him with no thought of pay, but to heathen nations, and pays them enormously. See a case of such exaction, 2 Kings 15: 19, 20, where Menahem, king of Israel, gave to Pul of Assyria one thousand talents of silver, and "exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria." Hoshea also, the last king, paid tribute, 2 Kings 17 : 3. 10. Yea, tliongh tliej have hired among the nations, now v/ill I gather them, and they sliall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. This verse has perplexed commentators, especially because of the difficulty of determining the root and the exact sense of the verb rendered, in our version, " sorrow." Without entering upon minnto Hebrew criticism, let it suffice that I find here threatening,^ not promise, the former only being in harmony with the strain of the context; and therefore I derive the verb from the root* which means to writhe, to be in pain, etc. Tlie sense of the passage then is, " Althougli Ephraim hires foreign help [in the line of ungodly national alliances], yet now will I gather them " (i. e. group them all under this scourge), " and they sball soon be in anguish under the burden of exactions imposed by the king of princes." This "king of princes" is the Assyrian who said (Isa. 10: 8), "Are not my princes altogether kings? " Several kingdoms were then bis tributaries. The received version unfortunately gives the sense of " sorrow- ing a little,^^ instead of sorrowing severely, very soox, as the original obviously means. The marginal reading — "in a little wliile "—should have gone into the text. The verb is very inten- sive. 11. Because Ei)ln-aim liath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin. The verb rendered "to sin," in the ]>hrascs "made altars itants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. Beth-aven, house of idols (literally, of nothings, nonentities), is instead of Bethel, house of God, — the name being changed to indi- cate the fearful fact that the people had ceased to be a house of God, and had become a house of idols, after Jeroboam of Nebat set up his golden calf there. The sentiment of this verse is, that the people of Samaria should be put in fear because of these calves. So far from finding peace and help from their new gods, they should find only peril and alarm. "The people thereof" who "shall mourn over it " are the worshippers of these calves. The next clause should read — "And liis priests" (those of the calf) "shall be thrilled -with terror," or perhaps " shall leap as men fran- tic with terror, on account of them, because of his glory " (that of the calf), " for it is departed as into captivity." Sentiment — shame, confusion, and horror shall come on all the ■worshippers and priests of these calves, imder the force of God's awful judgments on the land for this sin. 6. It shall be also carried unto Assyria, for a present to king Jareb : ,Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. " It " (the calf) " shall be carried into Assyria for a present to the king that intervenes," i. e., who is called in to defend the kingdom against the Syrian power, but who, instead, becomes the conqueror and devastator of the ten tribes. See 5:13. Then Ephraim and Israel shall be confounded by the result of their own counsels. Their expected helper becomes their actual destroyer. Y. As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water. " As for Samaria, her king is cut oflf as chips on the fixce of the waters "—as if he were as insignificant as a floating chip, and as easily taken away and destroyed. The original word demands tlie sense chip, and not foam. 8. The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed : the thorn and the thistle shall como rp on their altars ; and tliey shall say to the mountains. Cover us ; and to the hills, Fall on us. 54 • HOSEA.— CUAP. X. " Aven " is liere the Beth-aven of v. 5— the locality of one of the golden calves— long time known as Bethel. See notes on 4 : 15. Its high places, on which idol altars, and temples stood, should bo destroyed. — -"The sin of Israel," is said of the calf at Bethel, as being the occasion and manifestation of her sin of idolatry. The growth of thorns and thistles in places once so much frequented and so_ magnificent in works of art, gives a vivid sense of utter desolation. The doom of the people would be so terrible that they would, choose death rather than life, and hence would cry to the mountains, "Cover us," and to the hills, " Tall on us ! "—strong poetic conceptions, but terribly significant of their awful doom. 9. O Israel, tliou hast sinned from tlie days of Gib- eali : there thej stood : the battle in Gibeah against the chikb-en of iniquity did not overtake them. " More than in the days of Gibeah, hast thou sinned, Israel ; "— thy sins are greater than theirs; for which, see Judges, chap. 19- . 21. Of course, her doom is more terrible. " There (in Gibeah) they stood; "a remnant, even six hundred men, survived, from whomthe ti-ibe was again filled up. The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity (those wicked men) did not overtake and exterminate them. Ephraim need not expect to come off so well, for of her no remnant shall survive to replace the fallen and rebuild the kingdom. 10. It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the ]:)eople shall be gathered against them, when they sliall bind themselves^ in their two furrows. The received translation of the last clause scarcely gives an intelligible sense. The passage has vexed commentators the more because tlie reading of the original, both in its vowels and conso- imnts, is in disi)ute. Omitting the details of this matter, suffice it to say that I prefer to read 'after the margin— sins not furrows, and hence to render the entire verse thus : — "It is in my purpose to chastise them, and the nations shall bo gathered against tliem -^vhen they shall bo bound for their two sins,"— these sins having reference to the two golden calves at Bethel and at Dan. In the same sense, the " high places of Aven " are called '^ the sin of Israel " (v. 8). TIic idea is that, to chastise them, fiod will liiiid them fast because of these sins of calf-worshij), and will then gatlicr the nations (Syrians and Assyrians) together to foil upon tliem. So construed, the sense is vigorous, and entirely in accordance with both tlie significance of the several words and the graniinatical construction. 11. And Kphraim is as an heifer i/icit is taught, a7id lovctli to tread out the cor?}, but I passed over uj^on her fair neck: I will make r]])hraim to ride; Judah shall plougli, and Jacob shnll break his clods. HOSEA.— CHAP. X. 55 To understand this verse readily, we need to bear in mind that in the East, cows (heifers also) as well as oxen were put under the yoke and to the plough. They were also used for threshing, and under the Mosaic law — " Thou shalt not muzzle the os that tread- eth out the corn " (Deut. 25 : 4), the latter may be supposed the more pleasant service. Threshing, moreover, was a common sym- bol for the exercise of oppressive power, or for the infliction of severe sutrering. ^Hence I render — "Ephraim is a well-trained heifer, loving to thresh " (i. e., Avithout a figure, to oj^press)^ " but I passed along over the beauty of her neck " (never yet galled with a yoke) ; " I will yoke Ephraim ; Judah shall plough ; Jacob shall harrow." Some render — I will put a rider on Ephraim, i. e., for a driver. Our English version quite misses the sense in saying — " I will make Ephraim to ride," the idea being that he-shall draio and icorl, not ride. These figures, taken from the occupations of ag- riculture, are significant and forcible. 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy ; break np your fallow ground : for it is time to seek the Lord, till lie come and rain righteousness upon you. "With this new figure before the mind, the prophet turns here to exhort both Israel and Judah to repentance and to works of righteousness. Here, as is very common in Hebrew, the second of two successive imperatives should be rendered in the future as a promise. " Sow for yourselves, for righteousness ; thus shall ye reap according to your piety." The " reaping in mercy " must be pronme, not command. "■ For righteousness " is the literal ren- dering, meaning, sow what will naturally produce the fruits of righteousness. The word rendered " mercy " must refer to man, not to God, and is therefore piety. The Hebrew phrase means — accox'ding to the measure of your piety. " Break up your fallow ground ; " make all due preparation for the harvest of blessings you need and should seek. " For it is time to seek Jehovah until he come and teach you righteousness." The verb rendered in our version to " rain " means to rain in a very few cases, to teach in a much larger number. In the conjugation used here it always means to teacli, never to rain. And since in this latter half of the verse the figure is dropped, and the prophet says with- out a figure — "it is time to seek the Lord," it is more consonant with the strain of the clause to translate this word without a fig- ure, " teach," rather than with a figure, " rain." 13. Ye have ploughed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity ; ye have eaten the fruit of lies : because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Resuming the figures of husbandry, the prophet says — "Ye 56 HOSE A.— CHAP. X. have ploughed \yickeclness," &-c., in the same sense as Paul (Gal.6 : T), "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap ; " or Solomon (Prov. 1 : 31), "They shall eat of the fruit of their own way," &c. Ephraim had trusted, not in the Lord, hut in the way of her own choice, and in the multitude of her mighty men. The Lord is now ahout to show her the folly of such trust. 14. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy peo- ple, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Beth-arbel in the day of battle: the mother •was dashed in pieces upon her children. "Tumult " is the panic-cry of men smitten with fear. "Shal- man" is abbreviated for Shalmaneser, king of Assyria (sec 2 Kings 17 : 3), the same who conquered the kingdom of the ten tribes, besieged and took Samaria, and -bore the people away into captivity. • " Beth-Arbel " is probably Arbela of Gahlee. The fearful judgments which have been spoken of repeatedly throughout chap- ters 4—10 culminate here. The time is just at hand, and tlie man- ner and form of the visitation are no longei* couched in symbols, but are announced in the plainest speech. 15. So shall Beth-el do unto you because of your great wickedness : in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off. Bethel, the centre and hence the symbol of calf-worship, is here used for the scourge sent of God to desolate the laud. The senti- ment is tliat their sin at Bethel becomes their ruin. The king of Israel referred to here, I assume to be IToshea, the last in the kingdom of the ten tribes, — especially because the whole tenor of chapters 7-14 implies that the destruction of the kingdom was very near, and because chap. 13 : 10, 11, implies that the king is already cutoff. "Li a morning," is in the Hebrew — "in tJie morning; " and therefore caunot well mean that his being cut off should occur in the morning hour of some indefinite day ; but either in the next morning ; or taken adverbially, ve)-7/ soon — as the Hebrews were wont to signify the doing of a thing. early by a verb formed from this same word, which means the morning dawn. There seems to be no objection, either grammatical or historical, to the sense — in the next morning — to-morrow morning; — for it is plain that this ])rophet. contiuued to bear messages to the people after \\\G. last king, Ilosliea, was cut off. The liistory (2 Kings 17: 3-Gj shows that this king was shut up and bound in prison, and tha* after this, the king of Assyria seized the whole country, besieged Samaria, and took it after a siege of three years. But this last king appears no more on the face of the history ; — " he is utterly cut off." HOSEA.— CHAP. XI. 5Y CHAPTER XI. The strain of rebuke and of forewarning of judgment Ladng continued with only brief interruptions from tbe beginning of chapter 4, till we are brought almost to the very day in wliich the king of Israel should be cut off", the course of thought now turns to reminiscences of love, and to the most touching expressions of pity and grief over the impending ruin of Israel. 1. "When Israel vxis a cliild, tlien I loved liim, and called mj son out of Egypt. Thinking of the nation as having a lifetime, analogous to that of the individual, running through infancy and youth to manhood, the Lord says, " "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." He had manifested a very special interest in the fathers of the natioii, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; he had shov\-u his care for their children during their oppressions under the Pharaohs. It was precisely by means of the call of God that Moses was trained, commissioned, and led on to become, under God, the deliverer of the people from Egyptian bondage. The citation of this passage by Matthew (2: 14, 15), as being fidfilled in the case of the young child Jesus, called up from Egypt, raises tbe question. Does Hosea in this passage refer in any sense to the Messiah ? The context decides this question in the negative. The entire course of thought, both in what precedes and in what follows, relates to the nation of Israel. Hence Matthew must mean " fulfilled" only in the sense of an analogous event — an event \\\\\c\\ filled out the natural sense of the words "out of Egypt have I called my son." The nation of Israel was God's child, and might be called his son. So vras Jesus. God loved and cared for Israel ; so and more for the child Jesus. God brought the formei" out of Egypt ; and the latter also. The same language, therefore, fitly describes each event, and the second becomes in a sort a fulfil- ment of tJie icoi'ds which describe the first. It is not a case of the fulfilment of jn'oijliecy^ but only of the words of a certain his- tory. The great value of the case lies in its moral bearings as illustrating tlic unchanging and oft-shown love and care of God for his sons. 2. As they called them, so- they went from them : they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven imao;es. God's calling of his son Israel, especially by the agency of Mcses, suggested his continued agencies of calling the people by later propliets, and of this he proceeds to speak: "As they" — these later prophets — " called them, so they went away from their prcs- 3* 58 HOSE A.— CHAP. XI. ence " — (so the Ilebrew) : — the more the Lord's servants called, the more the people turned away ; " they sacrificed to Baahrn," &c., as e. g. under Ahab and onward. Indeed, the worship of Baal appears as for back as Num. 25: 3, 5, and Judg. 2: 11-13, and 0: 25-32. The tense of the verbs " sacrifice " and " burn incense," implies not only that they had, but icould still — of set purpose and fixed habit. 3. I taiic;lit Eplirami also to go, taking them by their arms ; but they knew not that I healed them. " Ephraira," here as elsewhere, must be the kingdom of the ten tribes. There was no nationality known as Ephraim till the revolt under Jeroboam. Ilcncc the Lord speaks of his parental care of this new-born nation in its infancy. " I tauglit Ephraim to w^alk," as a little child is taught, supported and helped along—" taking tliem by the arms." But they did not recognize the Lord's hand in their healing and help. lie does not imply that they could not know; and does not say "they knew not" as lessening, but rather as iucreasing, their guilt. 4. I drew them with cords of a man, witli bauds of love : and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. The description of God's tender care and gentle loving ways with his people continues. " I drew " (not drove) " them— with cords of a man," not cords of a l)ullock, nntamed, headstrong, and wiM. These cords are explained fully in the words "with bands of love," by the sweet attractions which manifested love naturally creates. The next figure also is taken from the ways of the kind husbandman : " I was to them as they that lift up the yoke which presses on their cheek ; "—for the rude yokes of oriental countries are heavy and ill-adapted to the comfort of animals Avliile eating. — The dcscrii)tiou continues: "I brought food to them and caused them to cat." The Hebrew has two verbs here, of which the literal sense is given in this translation. The tense of these verbs iiii[)lies that God is willing still to feed them, as of old. This show- ing of God's loving care and gentleness toward his i)eoi)lc is at onco beautiful and strong. The facts of the case justify more even than this. 5. He shall Jiot return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return, Ei)hraim as a nation is spoken of as one person. — Ho shall not bo sutlered to turn back to the Egypt of his fathers, though tho pCDplo often manifested a strong desire to do so. God had another and a more foarfid doom for them ; " tho Assyrian shall_ be hia king " The reason— because the people refused to return in peui- nOSEA.— CHAP. XL 59 teiico to God. Hosea is reruarkable for liis play on the variona senses of the same -word — as here, hetween "returning to Egypt" in the first clause, and " refusing to return " in the second — the latter •return being moral, — that of real repentance. Because they would not repent, the Lord put them under the Assyrian king which they abhorred, and forbade their returning to Egypt, which they sought. 6. And the s^vo^d sliall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour theni^ because of their own counsels. The word " abide " does not give the full force of the Hebrew, which means, to whirl, to be moved in a circle, brandished. Here, the sword is said to be hurled down upon his cities — as if seen by the prophet, uplifted and waving high in the hand of the Almighty. ■ Through the aid of progressive criticism, .the word rendered " branch " obtains a modified and better sense. Primarily, the ITebrew word means a^;«?'i of a thing; then a branch as being part of a tree; then from branch, the word comes to mean poles and bars — the latter fastening the gates and becoming in a sort the strength and protection of a city ; and finally, by another change, it is used for princes and chieftains, considered as the strength of the city. So here, from the cities on Avhich the sword falls, the prophet passes, not to "branches," for these have no natural connection with the city, but to the chiefs and rulers, and says of them — The sword shall consume and devour them, because of their vicious counsels in departing from God. Tliis last circumstance forbids us to interpret the previous clause as being said of " branches." 7. And my people are bent to backsliding from me : though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt lihn. Though they are my people, yet despite of all my love and of all my discipline, they are " bent " — fully purposed, committed— to turning back and away from me. Though my prophets called them to return to the Most High, yet with one accord they " would not exalt him" — "exalt," in the sense of honoring him as the supreme God^to be adored instead of senseless idols. 8. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? Jiow shall 1 deliver thee, Israeli how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim ? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. The sense of this verse is plain. The " giving up," is to hope- less ruin and desolation. So the parallel word — " deliver thee" — means to give over to the fell destroyer. " Admah and Zeboim" are associated with Sodom and Gomorrah as lying near in Gen. 14: 8, and in Deut. 29 : 2:), as involt'edin the same terrible doom. " Mine heart is turned v^-ithin me " — with feelings of pity, and grief, 60 HOSEA.— CHAP. XI. and tender compassion. " My repentings are kindled togetlier," implies that in this preat conflict of emotions between the high demands of justice and the pleadings of compassion, his relcntingg were enkindled, and his very heart seemed to burn under the intense yearnings of sympathy. The reader will notice the strik- ing contrast between his people, "bent to backsHding" from him, and his own heart so tQnderlylent to love and pity. How wonder- ful that the last words before this outburst of tenderness, and the last antecedent thoughts, are concerning the cruel waywardness and persistent rebellion of his people ! But no words of comment can heighten the beauty and force of tins inimitable passage. The very heart of the God of love stands forth revealed in its glowing and expressive words. The general strain of the message, sent of God by Hosea, had been of necessity stringent and stern with rebukes for sin, and oftentimes terrible in revelations of impending judgment — all right because absolutely necessary. Yet this strain, alone and exclusive, would not do full justice to the tenderness and the loving pity of Israel's God. These messages therefore cannot close without a most emphatic testimony to the loving-kindness of Jehovah. What do these testimonies concerning God prove ? (1.) That he has no pleasureju bringing ruin on even the guiltiest sinner. (2.) That he does not punish in the spirit of vindictive- ness. (3.) That he would always spare the sinner, and forbear to punish, or even chastise, if he could do so wisely and safely. (4.) That he takes supreme delight in conferring good, and longs to bless all his sentient creatures. (5.) That it is only with the deepest grief that he ever brings pain and woe upon his creatures. (6.) ITcnce, tliat he will never punish any sinner beyond his real deserts — never beyond what the good of the universe imperatively demands. (7.) That no sinner, however severely punished, can ever blame God. (8.) That all sinners are bound to do justice to tlie divine love and pity, and should never impute to God feelings and motives wliichhis own lieart-uttcrances unmistakably preclude and forbid. (9.) Tinally, that the character and government of such a God shbuld command our unbounded and eternal confidence and love. 9. I Mill not execute tlic fierceness of mine anger, I ■will not return to destroy ]^]pliraini : lor I am God, and not man ; the IToljOne in the midst oftlice : and I will not enter into the city. Speaking very much after the manner of men, God rci)reseut3 himself as having more " fierceness of anger" than he executes on the guilty. Often we need to make allowance for the necessity resting upon God, if he would be understood by men, of adopting their modes of exjirc^sion, so as t^ si)eak of himself as men have reason to speak of themselves. In such cases, we must qualify the HOSE A.— CHAP. XI. 61 Btatcinents by reference to the known attrilmtcs of Jehovah. In the passage before us, we iimst not suppose that the anger of God had become unreasonably fierce, and that, becoming liinisclf aware of this, he resolved not to execute it in full. It is in accommodation to finite minds that ho represents a conflict in his own between his indignation against sin and his pity for the sinner. Such represen- tations can scarcely mislead any except the captious and nncandid. In the phrase " I will not return to destroy," the first verb is used adverbially, the sense being — " I will not agahi destroy." The reason given — " for I am God and not man," reminds us of those beautiful words of Isaiah (55: 8, 9): "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways, saith the Lord. For, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways'higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." The last clause should read — not, " I will not enter into the city," but, "I will not come i7i ^crathy The former makes no pertinent sense in this connection. The latter is entirely admissible on the score of usage, and is perfectly in harmony with the scope of' the passage. 10. They shall walk after the Lord : he shall roar like a lion : when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west. 11. They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria : and I will place them in their houses, saith the Loed. Better things are here. The people, once more, " follow after the Lord " — a phrase Avhich always means true obedience. The Lord is compared to the lion and his voice to the lion's roar with reference to those fearful, awe-inspiring agencies ©f God in provi- dence which startle and convulse the nations. It was such agencies that overwhelmed the old Assyrian and Chaldean empires, and raised up Cyrus of Persia to befriend the restoration of God's people. "The children" here must be the people of God. They "tremble" — i. e., come with trembling "from the west," as not un- aftected with awe under the majestic presence of Jehovah. Yet they come with ease and rapidity, as is indicated by the flight of the sparrow and the dove. They come from every quarter — from Egypt on the south ; Assyria on the north and east ; and the west is specially named. Only for the sake of the idea of universality could we expect the west to be mentioned, since there lay the sea. God will place them in their habitations, for dwelling again in peace and secmity. These verses give promise of a successful result, to some extent, and at some tinie, to the compassionate labors of the God of Israel to reclaim and restore his people. 12. Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit : biit Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. G2 HOSEA.— CEAP. XII. The Hebrew attaches this verse to the next chapter. In the course of tliouglit it belongs there, and not at the close of this, since it reverts again to the perverseness, treachery, and hypocrisy of Ephraim and Israel ; and when justly understood, makes Judah only less treacherous and apostate. 'AVhat is said here of Ephraim and Israel is plain; the last clause which respects Judah has been interpreted variously. The sense turns primarily on the Hebrew word rendered "ruleth." * The translators of our version derived it from another root, which means to tread down, and then to bear rule. But the sense above given is far more in harmony witli the preceding context, and also with 12 : 2, which indeed quite forbids our taking this passage in a good sense. The best modern critics derive this verb from a root which means, to run wildly and at large, as animals that, after long restraint, have broken loose. So Judah has broken away from the Lord's yoke and runs wanton at her will. The same word occurs (Jer. 2: 31), "Wherefor say my people — We are lords ; we will come no more unto thee." We are lords, gives the idea; we have broken loose from aU authority and restraint.—^ — The entire last clause may be translated — " But Judah runs loose and wild as to God and as to the holy and fiuth- ful one" — where God's purity and faithfulness are put in contrast with the infidelity and moral pollution of Judah. The word for " holy " is indeed in tlie jdural here. So are some of the names of God. Tlie marginal reading properly gives it, " the most Holy." CHAPTER XII. In this chapter the prophet, besides bringing out yet more fully the sins of E])hraim and of Jud;di, seeks to encourage repentance and trust in God by referring to events in the early history of the patriarch Jacob — his taking tlie precedence of his brother Esau (v. 3) ; his prevailing prayer at Peniel, and his meeting with God at Bethel (vs. 3-5). 1. Epliraim fecdctli on wind, and followetli after the east wind: lie dailj increasctli lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt. "Fcedeth on wind," literally, pasturetli himself on wind as shep- herds pasture their Hocks on grass, whicli represents his reliance on the merest vanities, on that which can avail him nothing. " Chasing after the east wind " has the same significance. " Every day he multiphctli lies," and consequently "desolation" — the deso- lation being manifestly spoken of here as the fruit of his lies. Tho '■'■' T'" — rood, expressed in English letters. nosEA.— CHAP, xn, 63 prophet's eye seems to have been on tlie historic events narrated (2 Kings 17:3, 4), where it is stated that the king of Assyria came against Iloshea, the Last king of Israel; that Iloshea became his servant and paid him tribute ; that subsequently the king of As- syria " fonnd conspiracy in Iloshea because he sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year ; therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison," came up and besieged his capi- tal, subdued his kingdom, and took his people captive. His lies did not pay, but brought on him and his kingdom ruin. " They made a covenant with the Assyrians," but broke it; " they carried oil into Egypt" as a present or tribute, but Egypt could not save them from the Assyrian power. Tlie last three verbs of this verse — rendered " increaseth," "do make," "is carried" — arc all in the incomplete tense, which implies not only that they have done so, but have the heart to do so still, 3. The Lord liatli also a controversy witli Judali, and will punisli Jacob according to liis ways ; according to his doings will he recompense him. " Controversy," in the same sense as in 4 : 1 — ground of griev- ous complaint. " And will visit upon Jacob " (literally rendered), in the sense of retribution for his sins. " Jacob " in this passage must mean Ephraim, the kingdom of the ten tribes. 3. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God : The name " Jacob," applied to the northern kingdom, helps the prophet to pass by an easy transition to the early history of the patriarch who bore this name. " He took his brother by the heel in the womb," indicating that he would supplant him in the matter of the birthright and of priority. See the history (Gen. 25 : 26). The verb from which the name Jacob is derived means " to take by the heel," to supplant.— — No bad intention or purpose on Jacob's part should attach to this supplanting as here spoken of. It simply indicated the purpose of God to put Jacob before Esau, although born last. This preference is alluded to in this passage to encourage the people to return to their own God. The next clause carries us to the celebrated scene of Penicl, where Jacob wrestled with the angel of the covenant in struggling prayer all night, and finally prevailed, " had power with God," and 'became a prince through his perseverance and success. The Lord gave him the name Israel, meaning a j)Tince with God, at this very time, both to indicate and to honor his prevalence in pi-ayer. (See Gen. 32 : 28.) " Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel ; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast pre- vailed." 4:. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed : 64: nosEA.— CHAP. xn. lie wept, and made supplication unto him : lie found liim m Beth-el, and there he spake with us ; To give the nicer shades of thought from the original, and to present the relations of the different persons brought to view, the verse might be rendered somewhat freely, thus: "And then he had power with the angel and prevailed ; he wept and made supplica- tion to him. Also God met him (Jacob) at Bethel, and there spake with him and through him with us." The angel referred to is called God (Elohim) in v. 3, and can be no other than" the uncre- ated angel of the covenant, who appeai-s not unfrequently in the history of ancient Israel, manifesting divine attributes, and ob- viously being the very Messiah, then, as ever, the Head of the Church on earth. In the record of the scenes of Peniel (Gen. 32 : 24-30), the historian does not call him "the angel," but says, " there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." This gives his external appearance. But Jacob, when the scene had passed, called the name of the place Peniel, the face of God, " for he said, I have seen God face to face." Much to our point are God's words to Moses (Ex. 28 : 20, 21) : " Behold, I send an an- gel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice ; provoke him not ; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in Jmn.'' The power to pardon sin, imphed to exist in him, and especially the last words, " my name " (in the sense of nature and attributes) " is in him," must be considered as amply identifying him to be the second person in the Godhead. With him Jacob wrestled in agonizing prayer— the external struiigle be- ing only an index of the inward, which was the vital thing.""jacob was in most imminent peril from his enraged and powerful brother, • and therefore must seek help from God. His long agony of strug- gling prayer suggests that he may have had an unsettled account witli the " angel of the covenant," some of the items of which may have been his complicity with his mother in the deception practised by her to get from Isaac the paternal blessing ; and not improbably some lack of faithful reproof of his ftivorite Eachel in the 7nattcr other proclivities toward idol-worsliip — things to be rc- I)entcd of and adjusted as to God before any signal testimony of his favor could be safely given. It need not surprise us, therefore, that " he wept and made supplication." The full historv of his tieart miglit show how bitterly he repented of liis sins, aiid how earnestly he plead that God would remember his covenant, and not account the great faults of his servant as a forfeiture of his claims upon God for i)rotection and help. In all its parts this was a wonderful case of persevering and prevailing prayei- — one that might well be suggested to the wliole Hebrew people in the times of llosea as an assurance that such prayer might yet save them, while nothing less or other than this could. Abruptlv tlio prophet passes to the tliird scene in the life of Jacob— that whicb HOSEA.— CHAP. XII. 65 transpired at Bethel. There the Lord God met tlie yonthful Jacob, reminded him of his own covenant with Abraham and Isaac; re- newed this covenant with Jacob, and left him. Then Jacob awoke from tliis blessed vision and said, " Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." " How di-eadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven ! " See Gen. 28 : 11-22. Some ditference of opinion exists as to the sig- nificance of the last word of this verse, " «s." In what sense did the Lord speak with tis in Bethel ? llosea says, " There the Lord found Jacob, and there he spake with not Jacob only, but us." — — Some have said, the prophet included with Jacob, himself, and perhaps others also, on the score of a common sjTnpathy, as writers sometimes unconsciously suppose themselves to be participating in scenes that awaken in their hearts deep interest. Others, no- ticing that the verb rendered " spake " is in the future, have given it this turn : There the Lord will speak with us ; did speak with Jacob, and will no less with us if we seek him as earnestly. The latter idea — that God will truly speak with us and with all w'ho wait earnestly on him — is no doubt implied; the Bible usually implies this, though it is rarely deemed necessary to express it. The first of the two views above given is preferable, expanded with this further idea, that the things God said there belong to the whole future family of Jacob, viz.: the promise of Canaan; a countless seed; a blessing on all the. families of the earth through his offspring, and the Lord Jehovali for his God and their God. In view of the broad application of the things said then and there to all the Hebrew race, Hosea might well say, "There the Lord spake with us'''' — with us none the less because through Jacob. In this sense the future incomplete tense of tlie Hebrew is specially appo- site. There was peculiar fitness in this allusion to Bethel — the place made so sacred in those ancient times by tlie presence of God and by his renewed covenant, but, during many generations re- cently past, most horribly desecrated by giving to a calf the wor- ship due to God alone. 5. Even the Lokd God of hosts ; the Loed is his me- moriah This verse is a close continuation of the preceding. " Tliere h^ spake with us, even the Lord God of hosts." In most -English Bibles the name " Lord'''' is printed in small capitals when it trans- lates the Hebrew word Jehovah. In this verse the Hebrew reads, "Even Jehovah, God of hosts — Jehovah is his memorial." By this is meant that the name Jehovah is that by which he would be specially known,, or, more precisely, is that one of his various names whose significance he would have his people evermore re- member, as to be fulfilled all along onward in the lapse of the ages. All the names given to the Supreme Being are significant, e. r/., "God of Hosts," or of the celestial armies; "El-Shaddai," the Oumipotent or Almighty; "El" alone, the exalted and the mighly 60 HOSE A.— CHAP. XII. one ; ami in like manner " JehoYali," the immutable, " he that was and is and is to come," forever li/ing and forever the same, the real and the great "Jam." See Ex. 3:13-15, and 6:3, where it Is said, " This is mj name forever, and this is iny memo- rial nnto all generations;" and where also God said to Moses, "I am Jehovali ; and I appeared nnto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them." This cannot mean that tliey had never known and used the name Jehovah, for they had. It must therefore mean that God had not fulfilled to them the true significance of this name, i. e., one faitliful to his promises. The idea is that this faith- fulness results fi-om liis immutability, and that his people do not fully hnow this attribute of God till they have tested and proved it- in their experience of his faithfulness in fulfilling his promises. In this sense the name Jehovali stands through all time as his memo- rial name — its significance to be remembered by his people, and perpetually developed and fulfilled more and more in the lapse of ages. The significance of his other names may be verified and ful- filled at once ; his omnipotence is seen in the creation of worlds and in every real miracle; but his name Jehovah is verified only "by the aid of time, through the occurrence of events transpiring all along down the world's history. In this most expressive sense it is his memorial name, and is adduced by Hosea most fitly in this connection to encoui'age the people to put their trust in him. G. Therefore, turn thou to thy God : keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually. Hence the application here made — " Therefore," since God is forever faithful and true, since he ever has been and ever will bo tlie God of his people Israel, " therefore, turn thou to thy God." " Keep mercy and judgment " — duties toward man ; " and wait on thy God continually," living in dependence u])on him, and expect- ing all needful good from him alone. Morality toward man and piety toward God make up the sum of human duty--loving God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself. 7. JTe is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand : he lovcth to oppress. The discourse hero tiirns abmptly to another sin of the people of Ephraim — covctousness and consequent oi)pression. "TheCa- naanitc — balances of deceit are in his hand: " he loves' to take ad- vantage in trade, and to drive a gainful bargain to the extent of real oi)prcssion. The word " Canaanite " is used for merchant, that people being the trafiickors of Western Asia.- The rho>nicians, long celebrated for commerce and navigation, were ])art of the original people of Canaan. The word Canaanite means in Hebrew one who acquires, accumulates. To this also the jirescnt use of tlio word mny refer. "IJalancos of deceit" were made to cheat with — one weight for buying and another for selling. Thus (Prov. HOSEA.— CHAP. XII. 67 20 : 23), "An abomination to the Lord is a stone and a stone" (one to buy witb and one to sell with) ; " and balances of deceit are not good," i. c, are utterly bad. This allusion to the trading usages of Canaan was shaped to take hold of the people of Ephraim, the more so because the latter, while in general holding the Canaanites in contempt, were yet trading, detVauding, and oppressing in the same way. As if the prophet would say: See the Canaanite ; you think meanly of him for his low tricks of trade; what do you think of yourselves ? 8. And Epliraim said, Yet I am become ricli, I liave found me out substance : m all mj labours they shall Und none iniquity in me tbat loere sin. "Also Ephraim said: Surely I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all the fruits of njy business they shall find in me no acts of extortion that are sinful." The last word is from the verb ^which means to miss the mark, to overdo, to overstep due bounds. *^Ephraim quietly implies that in trade some little crookedness and deception are quite admissible; (probably he would have said. Who can live by trade other\^ise?) But on the other hand there are things so flagrant that all the world will call them sin. He hopes, indeed he is quite sure, they will not find any of this bad sort of sin in his business life. So human nature and the usages and moralities of trade were much the same u. o. 750, when Hosea was writing, as they are to-day ! 9. And I that am tbe Loed tby God from tbe land of Egypt will yet make tliee to dwell in tabernacles, as in tbe days of the solemn feast. Once more the prophet turns abruptly, as is his wont, to prom- ises, yet again to try the power of persuasion and love on the peo- ple. " Yet I, the Lord thy God ever since Egy^it " (L e., since the exodus from Egypt), " will yet make thee to dwell in tents," &c., with referenceto the feast of tabernacles, the great national thanks- giving. This was always a joyful occasion. Hence this verse must be interpreted as a promise of good, and not a threatening of evil. 10. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I haye multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. Literally, "I have spoken to the prophets"— that they might • speak for nie to the people. During the great apostasy in the latter years of the kingdom of Ephraim, the Lord greatly multiplied prophets and visions. " Similitudes " include poetic tigures, and also symbols, which latter comprise both illustrative acts done by the prophets, and also things seen in vision. 11. Is there iniquity in Gilead % surely they are van- (JS HOSE A.— CH AH. XHI. ity : tliej sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal ; yea, their altars are as Leaps in the fiuTOws of the fields. Literally, " Lo ! Gilead is -wickedness ! " The next clause is parallel': ''surely tliey are vanity." Gilead, one of the cities of refuge, where many priests dwelt, has been named for its great wickedness above (G : 8). Gilgal also was notorious for its idol worship. The Hebrew word " heaps " is a play on the word Gilgal, which means a roUed-ui) heap of stones. Idol altars were thick there as the heaps of stones in a ploughed field. 12. And Jacob fled into the country of Sja-ia, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheej). This brief and abrupt allusion to Jacob was designed to suggest God's watchfnl care through his providence over his trustful chil- dren. This familiar history is found, Gen. chapters 29-33. 13. And by a prophet the Loed brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved. By this prophet, Moses, the Lord brought up his people from Egypt, and can do like things again; by this prophet Israel was Icept — the same word Avhich is rendered Tcept in v. 12. As Jacob Iceft sheep — a ftxithful shepherd — so the Lord by Moses yfcepi his people, and, as llosea would have the peoi:)le infer, can again. 14. Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly : therefore shall he leave his blood upon him, and his re- proach shall his Lord return unto him. But Ephraim has long provoked him most bitterly ; therefore shall his Lord leave his blood upon him, unpardoned, and not Avashed away, and shall turn back his reproach upon himself. The blood referred to is probably that of children sacrificed to Moloch ; his reproach is that which he had cast upon the true God by dis- carding his law and worship, and putting idols before him. God ■ would recpiite this reproach by consigning Ephi'aim to public con- tempt among the nations of the earth. CHAPTER XIII. TnE main drift of this chapter is to set forth the sins of Ephraim and their certain consequences in his ruin — intermingled witli some rich assurances of God's love and promises of mercy and help to tlic penitent. 1. Wlicn E]ihraini spake trembling, he exalted him- self in Israel ; but when he utfcnded in Baal, he died. HOSEA.— CHAP. XIII. 69 Our translators seem to have snpp.osed tlie first clause to refer to a time when Ephraim was penitent and humble. More recent investigations in the language show that this sense and construction arc scarcely admissible, and by no means probable. The word on which the interpretation hinges, occurs in this precise form no- where else in our Bible. But a cognate word, withoiit much doubt of the same meaning, occurs, Jer. 49 : 24, where it means terror. This word in our passage is a noun, not, as in the English transla- tion, a participial adjective. I translate : " When Ephraim spake, there was ti-embling; he stood high in Israel ; but when he sinned in the matter of Baal, he died." Ephraim, as here used, is the one tribe only, not the whole ten. In the early days of the king- dom the influence of this tribe was very great; the word of Ephraim was law, and was heard with trembling. His sin in the matter of Baal proved the ruin of his influence and of himself. 2. And now tliey sin more and more, and liave made them molten imas-es of their silver, and idols accordino; to their own nnderstanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen : they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. The word used here for idols, as above remarked, in 4 : 17, is itself significant of toil and labor in their construction. " Ac- cording to their own understanding " means with their skill, with the best art and tact they have. " Wholly the work of the craftsmen," is yet further expressive of the leading idea that these idols are nothing whatever beyond what men make them. There is nothing else about them, in them, or of them. The prophet means to deny that there is any invisible God dwelling in them. In the phrase " they say of them," the pronoun they is expressed in the Hebrew, and hence is made prominent in the thought — re- ferring here to the priests, who had the management of idol wor- ship. They gave the order that the men who offered sacrifice should kiss the calves. This ceremony was one form of expressing their reverence, confidence, and afiection for these calves. 3. Therefore they shall be as the mornin£^ clond, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. " Therefore," as the fruit of such senseless and guilty worship, their glory shall be evanescent ; the whole nation shall soon disap- pear from the face of the earth, and hold no longer any place among the nations. The threshing floors were fitted up on high liills, and in open, exposed situations, to get the benefit of the wind in cleaning grain. But when an oriental whirlwind fell suddenly upon this operation, the chatF was driven ofli" fearfully. 70 nOSEA.— CHAP. XIII. 4. Yet 1 am the Lord thy God from tlie land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me : for there is no saviour beside me. Yet fearful as their doom must be, and great as their guilt had been, the Lord reminds them that he has been their God ever since the nation came out from Egypt. He evinced this relationship to them then, and had done nothing on his part since to change it. 5. I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great droiight. "I did know thee in the wilderness," means more than a mere knowledge of what they were. It implies that he liad manifested his knowledge of their case by his sympathy, love, and care. He let nothing pertaining to their case or wants escape his notice. The word rendered " drought" means properly, tliirst — a land cele- brated for the thirst of the weary traveller — one where no water is. In that land, God brought forth v>-ater for them from the rock. G. According to their pasture, so were they filled ; and their heart was exalted : therefore have they for- gotten me. The better God made their condition, or, in the prophet's figure, the better jjasture lie put them into, the more they were sated ; this fulness begat pride; and in their pride, they forgat Jehovah. Ahis, that tliis sliould be tiie history of. so many myriads of sinners! God blesses them (ihust we say) too nmch ; tliey become too full ; tlien proud; tiien they forget God, and become awfully strong in tiieir wickedness ! Y. Therefore I will be unto them as a lion : as a leopard by the way will I observe them. 8. I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her ivhelps^ and will rend the caul of their heai-t, and there will I devour them like a lion : the wild beast shall tear them. The figures to represent swift destruction are multiplied. To "observe," as the leopard, is to lie in wait and watcii as for prey. God represents himself as doing wliat is done instrunicntally by the Assyrian arms. 0. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. Tiie received translation cx]iressc3 rich truths with great force. Tliou art tiiinc own destroyer; thy God tliinc only deliverer. Tho destruction is wholly thine; tlie salvation altogether mine. But allhouyli both these propositions are true, and although nOSEA.— CHAP. XIII. 71 their beauty and force are mucli enhanced by this -vivid juxtaposi- tion and contrast, yet a close and careful study of the original raises a serious doubt in my mind whether this is r)recisely its sense. The tirst clause is all right. " Thine is this destruction ;" but the last clause, having in Hebrew three words, is more closely and ])erfectly rendered thus: "Because (thou art) against me, against thy help." The strong objection to our received translation is the ])roposition against before the last word, " thy help." The English translation makes no account of it ; but Hosea does not put in words for nothing. Then also the connecting particle more naturally means because than int. In this construction we miss the strong antithesis, but we get a pertinent sense, and one in harmony with the previous and follow- ing context; — thus v. 8, The Assyrian power shall devour thee: V. 9, This destruction is all of thine own procuring, because thou wast against me, against thy only help : v. 10, Where is thy king now, or any one that can save thee ? &c. 10. I will be tliy king : wliere is any other that may save tliee in all thy cities ? and thy jndges of whom thou ' saidst, Give me a king and princes ? The most approved translation is that in the margin : " Where is thy king now — that he may save thee in all thy cities ? " In this case the Hebrew marginal reading is followed, not the received text. The difference between the two is that the marginal reading transposes the last two radicals.* The remark is pertinently made in our English margin, that Iloshea, the last king, was at this time in prison, as is stated 2 Kings 17:4. 11. I jxave thee a kins; in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. This statement probably has reference to this very king Iloshea. It was true of Saul, and no less so of many of tlie kings in the king- dom of the ten tribes. But if we ask for the particular king thought * The real question for the critic here is whether he shall read "^tlX "I will be;" orn'^X "Where?" The only difference is in the trans- position of the last two radicals. The critical authorities for the two read- ings in Hebrew are conflicting. I prefer the latter ( n*x) "Where?" (1.) Because as compared with the other, which is Ibllowed in our received version, this flows easily, following the natural order of the Hebrew words ; while that one labors and almost does violence- to the word rendered "where," in the clause, " where is any other," &c, (2.) This last-named word (xiEX) strongly indicates that the sentence in which it occurs com- menced with an interrogative. This is its common use — an enclitic or post-T>ositive particle, after an interrogative. Our received translation make's this word itself an interrogative, which is scarcely admissible. (3.) The sense is indefinitely more pertinent and forcible — a consideration which, superadded to the preceding, is conclusive. 72 nOSEA.— CHAP. XIII. of by tlie author, no one meets the conditions so well as the last, Hoshea. 12. The iniqiiitj of Epliraim is bound up ; bis sin is bid. This refers to what God, not Ephraim, has done with his sin. It is not implied that Ephraim has been able to hide his sin from either man or God. The figures are taken from a man's tieing up and hiding his money or other valuables for safe-keeping. So God has laidaway the sin of Ephraim, to be brought forth another day for terrible i-etributiou ! Of tliis coming retribution, the prophet proceeds to speak. 13. Tbe sorrows of a travailing woman sball come upon bim : lie is an unwise son ; for be should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. The received translation of this verse can scarcely be improved. The figure in the first clause suddenly changes. Ephraim is first a mother in her travail pains ; then an infant voluntarily retarding his own birth, and thus fearfully imperilling both his own life and the mother's. ISTo figures drawn from human exi)erience can be more forcible than this — the peril that ensues when " children como to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth." If, now, to get the full force of this passage as applied to Ephraim, we suppose the son to bring on this danger by his own voluntary, intelligent agency, we shall see the infatuation and very madness which Ilosea so temperately describes as being " unwise.'' Ephraim is going to the judgment with God in charge of all his sins, and he still lingers nnder the call to repent, and will not make peace with his oft'ended judge. The primary reference here is to judgments on earth, and very near ; yet the principle is even more jjertinent and forci- ble as applied to every sinner going to the final judgment. 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave ; I will redeem them from death : O death, I will be thy ])la^nics, O grave, I will be thy destruction : repentance shall be bid from mine eyes. Ephraim is seen ruining himself by his madness. The figure in the j)rophet's mind suggests death in some of its most jtainful forms; but (.!od interposes, saying, "I Avill ransom thee from Sheol ; I will redeem tlicc from death." Sheol, the grave, and death are, of course, personified here, and supposed to be Tunng figents of terrific 'j)0\ver over frail mortals. The clauses trans- lated — "O death, I will be thy i)lagucs ; " "O grave, I will be thy destniflion — " raise tlie .'^ame critical question which came up in v. 10 — the choice between the interrogative and the indicative form— with, however, less reason for the interrogative here than there. The general sense is tlic same cither way ; tlic interrogative form ROSEA.— CHAP. XIII. 73 is tlie more bold and triumphant, and has yet this further f\ict in its favor, viz. : that Paul (1 Cor. 15: 55) quotes interrogatively — "O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? " In regard to this quotation by Paul, it should be said further, that tlie words as they stand here do not refer to the resurrection, but to salvation from the ruin then impending over Israel ; but Paul's quotation applies them to the resurrection — the tinal triumph of our frail mortahty over death and the grave, nnder the power of a resurrection to unfading life and immortality. The words are beautifully applicable to the latter event, and are, therefore, fitly used. " Eepentance shall be hid from mine eyes," must here bo taken as God's own declaration concerning his purpose just before expressed : '' I will redeem my people and be the destroyer of their worst foes, even of death and the grave, and there shall he no re- versal of this imrpose.'''' This has no reference to God's hiding his eyes from man's repentance in this world or any other. What- ever may be true as to this, the passage before us has nothing to say about it. All language should be construed and apphed with reference to the subject in hand. In this verse the Lord tliinks of Ephraim as bringing down on himself remediless ruin ; but he interposes one more promise : I will yet redeem them even from this awful death if they icill repent ; or as the future might be ren- dered — / zcould, on my part, redeem them, if only they would consent ! 15, Tliougli lie "be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the Lokd shall come up from the wilderness, arid his spring shall become dr j, and his fountain shall be dried np : he shall spoil the treasnre of all pleasant vessels. Promise of help avails not; so, again, the prophet predicts for Ephraim near impending judgments. Though he may have been eininently fruitful, i. e., populous and prosperous among his brother tribes (said with reference to the significance of his name — Ephraim, the prolific, and with reference also to the fiicts of his history), yet " an east wind " — often the simoom coming in upon Palestine from the eastern quarter — " the wind of the Lord," i. e. sent by him especially, "from the desert "—this shall "dry np his fountain and spring," and be the ruin of his land. In oriental countries the great scourge of the land is drought. Cut off from water, the land becomes one wide wast* of desolation. So of Ephraim. This language has special reference to the Assyrian power, which was God's great instrument for laying waste the kingdom of Ephraim. To this Assyrian king the pronoun "Ae" must be referred; "he shall spoil the treasures of all desirable, valuable things." 10. Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God : they shall Ml by the sword : 4 Y4 nOSEA.— CHAP. XIV. tlieir infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. This clear, detinite announcement of the ruin to come on the Idngclom of the ten tribes for their great sins, was obviously made but a short time before the event. Hosea lived and prophesied in the midst of these very scenes. Thus closes what he has to say in the line of rebuking the sins of the people and announcing their coming doom. CHAPTER XIV. This short chapter is a fit and striking sequel to tlie book of Hosea, almost the entire strain of whicli sets forth the sins— the ingratitude, incorrigibleness, and the coming doom of the apostate children of Israel. But the Lord cannot let this stern message of rebuke and threatening close without one more call to repentance. If the nation must go down, like a sinking ship into the angry bil- lows, with its vast freight of human souls, they shall at least go with the sounds of oifered mercy still ringing m their ears ; and further, the Lord would not leave a shade of apology for the mfer- ence that his heart is vindictive. After so much said of judgment and wrath, a wrong impression as to these points might be left if the book w-ere to close without yet another testimony to his merci- ful compassion. How tenderly careful not to crush out hope from even the guiltiest bosom, saying, " I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth, for the spirit sliould fail before me and the souls which I have made." (Isa. 57 : 10.) Yet again : the strain of this closing chapter really gloics with the beauty and joy of God s restored people when they repose under his shadow and drink at his fountain of bliss— all in charming contrast with the utter blight that falls on the wicked who pasture themselves on wind and chase after the east wnnd, and whose best delights turn to ashes on then- lips. The joyous prosperity of God's penitent people is one of the strong recommendations of true piety. And linally, the strainof this chapter is doubtless intended as an answer to the question ofcener thought than expressed, What will become of the cause and kingdom of God on earth? If his people prove so hopelessly apostate, despite of such loving and i)ersistent labor to save them, what is the hope for God's kingdom? Here we have the answer. It will vet be seen that this kingdom has the inlinito God for its king. The interests of truth and righteousness in the earth may seem to go down m darkness ; but they can at Avorst only pass under an echpse, to shine out the more gloriously in their own ai)pointed time. In this point of view, this closing chapter must be taken as a prophecy of the ultimate triumph of the cause and kingdom of God on earth. nOSEA.— CHAP. XIV. 75 1. O Israel, return unto the Loed thy God ; for thou . hast fallen by thine iniquity. "To the Lord thy God" — tliine own God still — a precious reason for hope and encouragement in your i-eturn. 2. Take with you -words, and turn to the Lord : say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us gra- ciously : so will we render the calves of.our lips. " Take words " — avail yourself of the aid which the expression of your feelings in fit language will give you ; and, moreover, do this, not merely alone, each in his solitude ; but socially, the great body of the people uniting as the heart of one man. To " render the calves of our lips," means to respond to God's forgiving mercy with oral expressions of gratitude and praise — offering our lips in- stead of bullocks. The word rendered " calves " means bullocks, and is almost without exception used of bullocks offered in sacri- Jice. The construction in Hebrew is not — the calves of our lips; but this — so will we give back our lips (as) bullocks — after the manner in which bullocks are brought forth for offerings in sacrifice to God. 3. Asshur shall not save us ; we will not ride upon horses : neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods : for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. The returning penitents pledge themselves specifically against three sins : seeking help from Assyria ; from the use of horses in war, usually brought from Egypt ; and saying any more to what is only the work of their own hand;*, " Ye are our gods." The reason given is ample — " In God, the fatherless find mercy ; " — the helpless and forlorn, like ourselves, find compassion in him. The word used carries us back to " Piuhamah," as in chax)ters 1 and 2 — this being the same. "to 4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely : for mine anger is turned away from him. The Lord himself now speaks in response to their vows and prayers. "Heal them of their backslidings " means restore them !)oth in heart and in the external life. " Will love them freely " — the last most expressive word having the sense of spontaneous — with warm and full heart, even as the blessed God of love is wont to love the truly penitent soul. 5. I will be as the dew unto Israel : he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. The dews of Palestine were very heavy, and when in their ful- ness, went far to supply the want of rain. The "lily " is noted 70 nOSEA.— CHAP. XIV. for -its beauty. Our Saviour's reference to it will be readily re- called—" Consider the lilies of the field," &c. (Matt. 6 : 28, 29). ''He," Israel, "shall slioot forth his roots as Lebanon" — referring ' to its lofty cedars which thrust tlieir roots far out and deep down among the ancient foundations of the mountains, and so withstand the temjiests of ages." 6. His brandies sliall spread, and his beanty sbail be as the olive-tree,, and liis smell as Lebanon. The olive-tree with its lovely green, furnishes another image of God's people under his faithful culture. Some of the trees and shrubs of Lebanon were fragrant, and perfumed the atniospliere of the mountain, as is indicated here, " the smell of Lebaaon." 7. They that dwell nnder his shadow shall return ; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine : the scent thereof shall he as the wine of Lebanon. "ZT/s shadow " is that of God — perhaps suggested by the tacit allusion to the cedars of Lebanon, whose shade is magnificent. The word rendered scent, in the last clause, is memorial — the same used 12 : 5 — meaning, they sliall be renowned in fame, as the wine of Lebanon which has to this day the highest repute. 8. Ejihraim shall say, "What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him : I am like a green fir-tree. From me is thy fruit found. Ephraim renounces idols for ever. The Lord takes note of this, and will observe — watch over him with a loving father's Oiire. Tlio fir-tree is an evergreen, — setting forth here that God's lovo and caro are ever enduring — green tlirough all the year. And if the tliought should arise, " But it yields no fruit " — the Lord at once forestalls that objection. "From me is thy fruit found;" all fruit comes, not from creatures, even the best and surest of them, but from myself, 9. Wlio is wise, and he shall understand these things f Ttrudeut, and he shall know them i fur the ways of the Loud are right, and the just shall walk in them : but the transi>;ressors shall fall therein. Tlie interrogatives hero call the reader's special attention. The Bubje(^t-matter of this book — God's ways of judgment and of mercy toward his people, wayward or penitent — are hero set before you ; wliocver is wise shall understand them and learn their lessons of great truth and of i)raotical life. For God's ways are altogether right ; the just, in the sense of upright, honest, and sincere, shall walk ill tlieni witli peace and gladness thnnigh usefulness and honor here to a blissful end licreafter; but transgressors, whom no truth nOSEA.— CHAP. XIV. 77 can reacli to bless, shall stumble and fall under the very influences that brhig salvation to the just. Such are the lessons of this richly instructive book of Hosea. We shall need to go far to find other vi'ritings more forcible, more tersely written, more beautiful in tlieir poetic imagery, more burn- ing in their rebukes of sin, and more glowing in their testimonies to the deep compassion and yearning love of God toward sinful man. / J / JOEL. INTRODUCTION. The precise date and duration of tlie prophetic life of Joel may be coniecturcd, but cannot be certainly known. lie is not named elscwlicre iu the Old Testament Scriptures. His prophecy seems to be quoted both by Amos (compare Amos 1 : 2 with Joel 3:10) and by Isaiah (compare Isaiah 13: G with Joel 1 : 15). Amos prophe- sied at .some period witliin the long reigns of Uzziah of Judah, b. c. 811-750, and of Jeroboam II. of Israel, b. c. 825-784:. Hence, if the writings of Joel were in the hands of Amos, he cannot have prophesied later than the reign of Uzziah; he may have been many years earlier. Ilis book shows that he prophesied in Judah, and that the temple worship was then kept np. Remarkably, the book does not notice the kingdom of tlie ten tribes nor the sin of idola- try. The people are exhorted to repentance, to fasting, woei»iiig, and rending of the heart. It may be inferred that in such a book idolatry would have been rebuked if it had been then prevalent. Some liave argued, from his silence respecting the Syrian power, while he mentions Tyre and Sidon (3 : 4) as enemies, that he nuist have lived before their first invasion of Judah in the time of Aliab (reigned B. o. 918-807). See 1 Kings, chapters 20-22. But this cannot be conclusive, since he might know the Syrian kingdom as an enemy, and yet not mention it. Some weight is rightly given to the fact that the comjiilers of these sacred books have placed Joel between Ilosea.and Amos. In general, they observed the order of time, and it is safe to assume that, living so near the age of those prophets, they must have known with a fair measure of accuracy JOEL.— CHAP. I. 79 when Joel lived and wrote. This com[)Llatioa is usually ascribed to Ezra and his associates — ^perhaps we should rather say, Ezra and his successors. The eai'liest historical notice of a collection known as " the Twelve Minor Prophets," is in the book of " Ecclesiasti- cus," or "Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach" (49:10), in these words: "And of the Twelve Prophets let the memorial be blessed, and let their bones flourish again out of their place, for they com- forted Jacob and delivered them by assured hope." The original of this book bears date 180 b. c. But there is good reason to sup- pose this compilation to be not much if any later than Malachi, about 420 b. c. Joel may have been somewhat earlier than Ilosea, and yet be placed after him in order because shorter or for other reasons. I incline to assign him an earlier date than Hosea. Pos- sibly (not probably) the famine wliich he portrays so vividly was that terrible one of seven years referred to (2 Kings 8 : 1) in the reign of Jehosaphat in Judah (reigned b. o. 914-891) and of Jeho- ram, sou of Ahah, in Israel (reigned b. o. 890-884). "With these only approximate results I pass the question of date. Another question, at once more difficult and more important, respects the principles of interpretation which shall rule throughout the first two chapters. On this depends the determination of the in-imary and proper sense. On this point very able commentators disagree. It is admitted by all that the language seems to describe a fearful visitation of locusts, coupled with drought and consequent famine. But some, with Dr. Ilengsteuberg, liold that there were no real locusts. Foreign enemies "present themselves to the in- ward contemplation of the prophet as an all-devouring swarm of locusts." — (Vol. 3 : 103.) That is, Joel saw the locusts only in vis- ion; the only real visitation Avas that of armed men — the real scourge was war. Others, with Dr. Ilenderson, find real locusts, desolating the land, throughout chapter 1. In chapter 2, armed bands are the real thing, but tliey are compared to locusts. The locust bands, then recent, furnish tlie imagery by which they are described. Others still suppose that real locusts are definitely described throughout chapter 1, and also 2 : 1-27. Yet this being a most fearful visitation, a striking and even appalling proof of God's power to inflict judgments on guilty men and guilty nations, it be- came naturally suggestive of what tlie wicked have to fear in some other and more terrible " great day of the Lord." "Without ad- mitting the doctrine of a double sense, i. e., two distinct and coOr- 80 JOEL.— CHAr. I. dinate senses of the same words and phrases, it may yet be reason- ably held that a fearM devastation by locusts may suggest the ruin brought on a country by war, or by those unknown agencies of destruction which God has in store for the guilty in his magazines of wrath. This latter view I accept, constrained in general by the fact that this seems to be the obvious sense of the passage. My plan of commentary precludes any extended discussion of opinions from which I dissent, yet briefly I must reject the first theory above named as too foreign from the obvious sense of the language. There is no hint that the locusts are seen in vision only, and stand merely as symbols and figures of armed men. Heng- stenberg speaks of it as an " allegory," but the manner and air of an allegory are wanting. Every allegory should furnish clear evi- dence of its being such. Besides this, an allegory should not give a minute natural history of the locust. The. second theory fails to hai'monize with the drift of the description, for the second chap- ter gives us locusts as clearly as the first. In vs. 4-9 these locusts are compared to armed men — not armed men to locusts — a distinc- tion which Dr. Henderson seems to ignore or at least overlook.-; Other remarks bearing on the true interpretation may be suggested in the notes on particular passages. In this book there wUl be very little occasion to comment on the meaning of particular Avords and clauses. The received trans- lation in most cases is excellent, and gives the sense of the original with acciiracy. Tlie point of chief difficulty and of greatest mo- ment is, to arrive at the ultimate sense and instruction — the mind of the Spirit of truth. CHAPTER I A PLAGUE of locusts comcs upon the land, unparalleled in its kind; tlicy are described, vs. G, Y, their devastations, vs. 9-12, IG- 20, and varTous classes of tjie people are summoned to mourning, V3. 5, 8, 9, 13, and to fasting, v. 14. 1. The word of tlie Lokd tliat came to Joel tlie son of Pt'tliiiel. With tlic greatest brevity we arc simply told that this book is the Avord of God tnat came to Joel. 2. Hear tliit^, ye old iiieiij and give ear, all ye iiiliab- JOEL.— CHAP. I. 81 itants of tlie land. Hatli tliis been in yonr days, or even in the days of yonr fathers ? 3. Tell je yonr children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. " Hath this heen in your days ? " must mean, Hath any svch thing as this been — any visitation so fearful and so desolating? He appeals to the oldest men to say if, either in their days or in the days of their fathers, so great a judgment in its kind has befallen the land. V. 4 opens the description. 4. That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten ; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten ; and that which the canker- worm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. Successive annies of locusts come upon the land, each, accord- ing to the strong language of this description, devouring all that the next preceding had left. Great labor has been expended on the natural history of the locusts spoken of in the Bible. They appear under about ten differeut names, but ■whether these names represent ten distinct species remains in doubt. This point has no very great practical importance. It is important, however, to the full impression of these chapters, that the power of these locusts for devastation should be understood. One author says: "Man can conquer the tiger and the lion ; can tm-n the course of mighty rivers, and chain the winds to his car, and can play with the light- nings of heaven, but he is nothing before an army of locusts." Another says: " In some regions of the East the whole earth is at times covered with locusts for the space of several leagues, often to the depth of four, sometimes of six or seven inches. Their ap- proach, with a noise like the rushing of a torrent, darkens the hori- zon, hides the light of the sun, and casts an awful gloom like that of an eclipse over the fields." Major Moore, when at Poonah, had an opportunity of seeing an immense army of locusts which rav- aged the ^lahratta country, and Avas supposed to have come from Arabia. Their column extended five hundred miles, and so com- pact was it when on the wing, that, like an eclipse, it completely lad the sun. Pliny calls them " a scourge in the hand of an in- censed Deity." Before them all verdure disappears; the whole country puts on the appearance of being burnt. Fire itself devi)urs not so fast. Not a vestige of vegetation is left behind them. In a few hours they eat up every green thing, and consign the mis- erable inhabitants to inevitable famine. " The husbandmen make every effort possible to stay or turn aside these foes or destroy them ; they build fires or raise a dense smoke to witlistand them, or dig trenches and fill them with water, but all to no purpose ; for the trenches are soon filled and the fires extinguished by infinite swarms succeeding one anotlier, and forming a bed on their fields 4* 82 JOEL.— CHAP. I. of six or seven inches in thickness. "When thoy die the efflmia becomes intolerable, and often has occasioned a pestilence fearfully destructive to human life." These few facts will siiffico to show that the locust is one of the most terrible agents for destruction in the hands of the Almighty. 5. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep ; and liowl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine ; for it is cut off from yom* mouth. Wine-drinkers are called to weep and howl, because their new wine, called " must," fails them. 6. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. Y. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree : he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away ; the branches thereof are made white. The word here rendered " nation " is usually applied to heathen nations, considered as the enemies of God and of his people. In this case it implies that they are public enemies, a scourge sent of God upon his land. They are strong by reason of their great num- bers ; their teeth are terrible because of the devastations they can make. Stripping off all the foliage and even the bark, they leave only a mass of ruins and bare white branches. Tlie grasshopper of our country bears a close resemblance to the oriental locust. The latter, however, appear in immensely gi-eater numbers, and make their desolations absolutely complete and universal. 8. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. 9. The meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut off from the house of the Lokd ; the priests, the Lord's ministers, mourn. 10. Tlie field is wasted, the land mourneth ; for the corn is wasted : the new wine is diied up, the oil languishetli. By a change in the usage of our English word " meat," within the lasl two hundred years, it has come to mean the flesh of animals. Anciently it was used in tlic general sense of food, and sometimes in the specific sense o^ vegetable food. Thus (Gen. 1 : 29, 30) God said, " I have given to you," i. e. toman, " every herb, and the fruit of trees, for meat ;'''' and "to every beast," &c, "have I given every green licrb for meat.'''' So Jiero, this " meat-offering " consisted of flour, meal, or cakes, witli oil, frankincense, but not a i)article of flesh. Ueuoe the locusts swept it all away. Those who loved JOEL.— CHAP. I. 83 the service of tbe Lord were specially aflQicted, because they -wero no longer able to bring to his temple the accustomed and required offerings. 11. Be je ashamed, O ye luisbanclmen ; howl, O ye vine-clressers, for the wheat aiul for the barley ; because the harvest of the field is perished. Confounded expresses the exact sense, rather than " ashamed," since shame properly implies some sense of guilt. Here the idea is that they were at their wit's end— all their labor had come to naught. 12. The yine is dried up and the fig-tree languish- eth ; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered : because joy is withered away from the sons of men. 13. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar : come, lie all night in sack- cloth, ye ministers of my God : for the meat-gffering and the drink-offering is withholden from the house of yom- God. 14. Sanctify' ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lokd your God, and cry unto the Lokd. The evil was by far the more serious, since not only the vege- tables—annual plants — but trees of many years' growtlj, withered and died under this fearful scourge, so that joy — the joy jnen feel in these source^ of earthly good — withered away. Here is an- other caU to mourning over these calamities, and especially and most pertinently to fasting, and to a general gathering in the house of God to lift up their j^rayer to him. Nothing can be more ap- propriate in seasons of calamity than to humble our hearts before the Lord, and seek his face with deep humility for our great sins. 15. Alas for the day ! for the day of the Lokd is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. The locusts being spoken of as present and this " day of the Lord" as being only "^zmr," grave questions arise here ; viz. : "What is this "day of the Lord" which is near, but not (as it would seem) yet present ? Is it the visitation of locusts, and nothing beyond and greater? If something beyond and greater, then what pre- cisely is it? Does the prophet intend to make his description of it definite, as of some special event; or rather to leave it indefinite, designing only to impress the thought of the awfulness and terror of God's retributive judgments, however and whenever sent? 84 JOEL.— CHAP. I. If tliere were nothing else in Joel biit this (v, 15), looking tow- ard another great day of the Lord, there would be no special ditficulty in interpreting this of the locusts exclusively. Tor it might be urged that the locusts were even then scarcely present, and the terribleness of this scourge was still in the nearer future ; that the tenses in Hebrew and especially in prophecy are not used with such definite precision as in most other languages ; also, that the next verses continue the subject of locusts and the drought as if no other thought had been before the writer's mind. But this verse does not stand alone in reference to the question now before us. The passage (2:1) repeats — "For the day of the Lord Cometh, for it is nigh at hand ;" and, of more weight still (in 2 : 31) we read: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord conie." This plainly shows that the prophet has some thought of another great and fearful, but somewhat remote, "day of the Lord," besides this in which locusts are the manifestation of his retributive ven- geance. Here, then, are various allusions to a "great day of the Lord," to be explained and accounted for. Do we not find the key to their exposition in those laws of mental association which, under the awe-inspu'ing power of a present judgment, like this of locusts, carry the mind over to the more awful future — to the great power of Almighty God to bring forth from the storehouse of his plagues far more terrible, annihilating judgments, and which make every mind feel that God's judgments are near at hand? This law of mind is well known. The effect of any present judgment is to make all future judgments seem near. It leads the mind to antici- pate them with confidence, to take this present one as itself a proph- ecy and pledge of more and other in the future, and to lose sight of whatever time may intervene before they come. Thus, a single death-bed scene makes death seem near to ourselves. Sudden deaths by hundreds, as in the awful cholera pestilence, make stout hearts quail under a sense of God's power and justice, so that it shall seem that death and judgment are at the door. Moreover, a guilty conscience fearfully heightens this sense of the great day of the Lord as near at hand. Thus powerfully suggestive was this fearful day of visitation by locusts. It brought fresh to the proph- et's mind a sense of the awful guilt of liis people, and of the certainty and nearness of God's sorer judgments. And, moreover, as he wrote ybr moral impression, and as the divine Spirit had this main if not sole purpose, it need not surprise us that he deems it of no sj)ecial importance to sj)eak more definitely of the time or manner of these yet future visitations of judgment. Suffice it if lie can imi)ress on the souls of wicked men the solemn thought that God's great day of judgment to them cannot be long delayed ! Yet further, as bearing on the sense of this verse, let it be noted that tlie most fearful thing in any form of judgment is that it comes from God, and is a proof of his stern displeasure. The conscious sense of his wrath burning against us is of all things most awful. JOEL.— CHAP. I. 85 This becomes fitly the all-absorhmg thought. Any form of judg- ment may sufBce to awaken this feehug. Once awakened in a consciously guilty bosom, the man knows and feels that more and greater demonstrations of God's displeasure must be near. In view of these laws of mind and of their relations to the question in hand, I see in this verse, and also in 2:1, no evidence of allusion to any other specific day, as e. g. the invasion of the Assyrian army. To suppose this, seems foreign from the general drift of the prophet's thought. Besides, if he had wished to predict that invasion, it is marvellous that he should not have made his statements more definite. The original words rendered "destruc- tion " and " almighty " are from kindred roots — as if we should say, " a mvjldy ruin from the Almighty hand." IG. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God ? The same idea as in v. 9, resumed and reiterated interrogatively — Is it not so ? Tlie prophet reverts to the subject in hand (vs. 2-14) as if no thought of any other day had come in to divert it. This fact shows that v. 15 is no new and foreign subject, but only some- thing naturally suggested by his mam theme. 17. The seed is rotten imder their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down ; for the corn is withered. The effects of extreme drought, coupled with the woi'k of the locusts. No seed vegetates ; all harvests fail. 18. How do the beasts groan ! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture ; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. The "cattle are perplexed" — the original word, looking, how- ever, not so much to a state of mind as to its manifestations. They wander up and down as if bewildered and at their wit's end. 19. O LoED, to thee will I cry : for the fire hath de- voured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath bm-ned all the trees of the field. 20. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee : for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the iu-e hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. The prophet declares his purpose to cry unto the Lord for help and mercy, for the twofold reason that his heart feels so, and that he would lead the people also to prayer for help. Thus closes this chapter— a most graphic, life-like description of a fearful devastation by drought and locusts — so severe and so ter- rible as to impress the mind with a sense of the weakness of man 86 JOEL.— CHAP. II. before tlae great and dreadful God, and of his guilt before Ono too holy to pass over siu Avithbut manifesting liis sore displeasure. OHAPTEE II. The gi'eat alarm is sounded fortb from the temple as usual in the presence of some dire calamity (v. 1) ; a more full description of the locusts is given — in part personal (vs. 4-9, and in part general and in the line of their etfects (vs. 2, 3, 10, 11) : the Lord exhorts the people to return to him (vs. 12-14). A solemn assembly is called for fasting and prayer (vs. 15-17) ; the Lord answers gra- ciously (vs. 18-20), and passes over to rich promises of mercy, in- cluding rain and abundant harvests (vs. 21-27) ; and finally to the fuller promise of his Sphit in the latter time (vs. 23, 28-32). 1. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sonnd an alarm in my holy mountain : let all the inhabitants of the land tremble : for the day of the Lokd conieth, for it is nigh at hand ; " Blowing the trumpet and sounding an alarm " from the temple was of divine appointment in the law given through Moses. (See ISTum. 10: 1-10.) It convened the people to consider and act upon any case of general calamity, and had the promise — " Ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies." The near "coming of the day of the Lord" is analogous to chap. 1 : 15, and must be explained in the same way. 2. A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains : a great people and a strong ; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, dyen to the years of many generations. Darkness is often, with the Hebrew poets especially, a symbol of calamity. In this verse, however, there is no occasion to inter- ])ret it as a symbol. It is rather actual — the darkness produced by immense clouds of locusts, obscuring the light of day. This dark- ness came on and passed over the land " as the light of morning spread over the mountains ;" where the point of the comparison is not in any supposed rcseraljlanco between darkness and light, for there is none ; but in the manner of its coming on over the face of the earth. As the morning light sweeps uj) from the east, first gilding the mountain-tops, and then quietly pervading the whole face of the earth, so this darkness swe[)t on as an avalanche of cloud, and rested like a dark pall of gloom and terror on the whole land. That this visitation should be described as surpassing any JOEL.— CHAP. II. 87 ever known before, and even any that should come after for many generations, need not snrprise us. It may have been strictly true of it while it lasted, and in reference to judgments of this sort. More- over, men sutFering under any fearful iniliction, naturally express themselves in such strong terms. 3. A fire devoiiretli before them ; and beliiiid tliem a flame bm'netli : the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desohite wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape them. " Fire " and " flame " are probably figurative ; the desolation they wrouglit being like that of tire on the prairies, as if fire swept on before them, and again behind them, leaving absolutely noth- ing more to be destroyed. Exquisitely forcible and touching is this — the land seen in all the beauty of Eden before them, but be- hind them only a desolate wilderness. • 4. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses ; and as horsemen so shall they run. 5. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of moun- tains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. .Locusts have been often compared to horsey, as in Eev. 9:7:— "The shapes of the locusts were like unto horses -prepared for battle." They are fleet like horsemen, moving rapidly with the •^vind. The figure of an army moving in solid phalanx and fear- ful array, is constantly present to the mind. Yet the thing described is an anny, not of men, but of locusts. The locusts are like armed horsemen. He does not say that armed horsemen ai-e coming on, and are like locusts. G. Before their face the people shall be much pained : all faces sliall gather blackness. The word rendered " blackness " means rathei* a glow or flush of anxiety. The sense is — the people become intensely agitated Avith fear and alarm. 7. They shall run like mighty men ; they shall chmb the wall like men of war ; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks : 8. Neither shall one thrust another ; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the Bword, they shall not be wounded. 9. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall 88 JOEL.— CHAP. II. run upon tlie wall, they shall climb up upon the houses ; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. It cannot be reasonably doubted that this is, and is intended to be, a closely accurate description of locusts, as they sweep along in their onward march for devastation. Every feature is in its place, made true to the reality by a master's hand. That the sword avails nothing against them goes to confirm this view, and to shut otf the possibility of applying the description to the Assyrian army. 10. The earth shall quake before them ; the heavens shall tremble : the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shiuino; : Strong poetic imagery should not be pressed to an extremely literal sense. In this passage, we need not insist that the locusts produced an earthquake, or any real concussion of the heavens. Jerome says pertinently on this passage : " Not that the locusts have so much power that they can move the heavens and shake the earth ; but to those "who are in great suffering and extreme teiTor, it tcill seem that the heavens are falling and the earth tossing under their feet." Strong feeling naturally expresses itself in strong language. The darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, is a com- mon figure for a great calamity ; as, on the other hand, sun-rising and the joyous light of day are symbols of i)rosperity. The reader may find scriptural examples in abundance, e. g.^ of the former class— Jer. 4:28; Jilzck. 32 : 7, 8 ; Isa. 13:10; Matt. 24 : 29. The consternation commonly felt for many ages when an eclipse occurred, shows how forcible this figure must haveTi)een in ancient times. Moreover, there may be here a tacit allusion to the actual darkening of the heavens, occasioned by the flight of countless myriads of locusts. 11. And tlie Lokd shall utter his voice before his army : for liis camp is very great : for he is strong that executeth his word : for the day of the Lord is great and very terril)le ; and who can abide it ? That " his'army " is none otlicr than the locusts, is j)ut beyond a doubt by the Lord himself (v. 25), where he says of the locust, caterpilh'.r, etc., "my great army wliich I sent among you." The words in Hebrew as well as in tlie Englisli version are the same in both passages. This locust army is strong to execute the mandate of Jehovah. Sent by him, they arc terribly cfliicient in devastating the land. This " day of the Lord " can look to nothing else pri- marily save the visitation of locusts. "Abide" is here used in the sense of endure. 12. Tiierefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with rdl your heart, and with fastiog, and with weeping, and with mourning: JOEL.— CHAP. II. 89 13. And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto tlie Loed your God: for lie is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering Unto the Loed your God? This is the ouly appropriate thiug to be done — the only source of hope for deliverance — to return and seek the Lord in penitence, for he is gracious and delights in mercy. "Who knows but he may turu from scourging to blessing, and leave us at least so much that we can bring meat and drink ofterings before him at his temple ? This moral lesson is for all time, and for all sorts of affliction and calamity befalling men in this world. Everywhere and always, bo the scourge what it may, it behooves men to turn to God, con- fessing sin, imploring mere}', daring to hope, since they may, that the Lord will yet turn from judgment to mercy. 15. Blow the trmnpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly : 16. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say. Spare thy people, O Loed, and give not thine heritage to re- proach, that the heathen should rule over them : where- fore should they say among the people. Where is their God? Tliis summons to a great convocation for fasting and humiliation before God, differs fi-om that in chap. 1 : 14, in being more specific as to the classes of people to be convened, and also in giving the form of prayer appropriate for the occasion. In this prayer, the phrase, " that the heathen should rule over them " — has been thought by some to be conclusive proof that the judgment described in this chapter (or, as others think, in the first as well) is not locusts, but armed men — a foreign invasion. But a single circumstance like this cannot legitimately outweigh the continued tenor of the description throughout these two entu-e chapters. Besides, the thing chiefly feared from the heathen is reproach, not subjugation — the reproach of having a God unable to save, and bent on scourg- ing and devastation. This is the thought in v. 17 — "Give not thine heritage to reproach;" and also in v. I'J (the Lord's reply) — "I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen." It 90 - JOEL.— CHAP. II. is also seen in the taunt, supposed to be in tlieir mouth, " "Where is their God?" It is therefore only in liarmony witli the drift of thoiiglit to interpret the ^yords rendered " rule over them," as in the margin, " use a byword against them." While it must be ad- mitted that in most cases this verb means to rule^ yet the noun formed from it has the sense of byword, reproach, in many passages, and the verb is used in this sense in Job, 17: 6. Or, it might be said that giving this phrase the sense of onding, it may still be thought of as an evil to be feared in the future, not as one suffered in the present. K the land were to remain long so desolate and breadless, the people would become an easy prey to any foreign enemy, for such famine at once cuts the sinews of war and leaves the people no power of self-defence. In this view, therefore, they might fitly pray that God would remove this scourge of locusts, lest otherwise the whole nation, being powerless, should fall before its foreign enemies. 18. Then will tlie Lokd be jealous for his land, and pity his people. 19. Yea, the Loed will answer and say unto his people. Behold, I will send yon corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith : and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen : . " ITien," i. e., when his people humble themselves, and with one lieart and voice implore his mercy. Expressly the Lord is said to be "jealous for his land," for that land which had long borne his name before the nations, and with which his honor w'as so deeply involved. The Lord's answer promises blessings that lie over against the previous curse. He will gloriously reverse the calami- tie!? with corresponding mercies. It may be noted that all along through verses 19-26, these blessings point to the devastations of locusts, the destruction of all the fruits of the earth, as tJie evils under wliich the nation had suffered, with no clearly defined allusion to foreign invasion. This fact goes f:ir to disprove any distinct ref- erence in these chapters to such invasion. 20. But I will remove far oft* from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and deso- late, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea ; and his stink shall come u]), and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath doiie great things. The i)hra.se "northern army" is urged by some as decisive proof of reference throughout this chapter to the Assyrians or Chaldeans, and not to locusts. Against this it may be said: (1.) The manner and the conse- quences of the destruction of this army, as given-in this verse, show JOEL.— CILVP. II. 91 that tlioy arc locnst?, not men. In destroyina; this army, the Lord Bonds a strong whid and drives thein into the sea; then they are thrown (this is inii)]ied) hy the waves u])on the shore, and their stencil Ijccoines intolerahlo. Not so would lie destroy an army of men. (2.) It is still a contested question, with authorities con- flictinu: on either side, whetlier the locust armies do not sometimes enter Palestine from the north or northeast, so that this army miglit be called "nortliern" for this reason. Or, (3.) It may be sug- gested whether, inasmuch as all the great powers, hostile to Israel in the hitter period of their history, lay on the north, viz., Syria and Assyria, this term "northern" might not bo a synonym for powerful, so that an army so terrible as this locust horde might be called northern for this reason. In the last clause, "because ho hath done great things," some critics sui)pose they liud voluntary and morally responsible agency, and hence they infer that it cau apjdy only to a human foe. But the indications of moral agency in this phrase are by no means de- cisive. 21. Fear not, O land ; be glad and rejoice : for tlie LoKD will do great things. 22. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field : for the ]-)astures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the lig-trec and the vine do yield their strength. By a bold personification the "land" and the "beasts" are ex- horted not to I'ear anymore, for God will remove his fearful scourge. "The Lord will do great tilings," is here linely contrasted with the locusts " doing great things," as in v. 20. However great their ' devastations, the Lord can make his ensuing blessings far greater. lie delights to set his mercies over against the mischiefs and mis- eries that sin brings on men, and to sliow iti this way how exceed- iugly he can surpass them in the greatness and glory of bis grace. 23. JjQ glad then, yo children of Zion, and rejoice in the LoKD your God : for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first mo7ith. hi the interpretation of this verse, the main question, one really of great interest, is this: Whether the itmmrje is a 2iVomkc of rain onh/, or whether it co^nprises a far richer 2>romise and 2^ropheci/ of spiritual hlcssings? This question turns mainly on the sense given to the original words rendered in our English text, " the for- mer rain moderately," but in the margin, "a teacher of righteous- ness." If the latter bo the true sense, the passage will be found far more rich in j)romised blessings than has been commonly supposed. The point is worthy of careful attention, and no apology need bo 92 JOEL.— CHAP. n. made for a thorough, though it be a somewhat protracted examina- tion. Tlie evidence in favor of translating " the teacher of rightcons- ness," is in my view fully conclusive. It may he arranged thus: (1.) This construction becomes antecedently probable in view of the common prophetic usage of engrafting Messianic prophecies upon analogous events of then current history. Some great present mercy suggests the far greater mercies of gospel times. This usage is so common that it may be considered one of the laws of Messi- anic prophecy. Thus in the passage Isa. 10: 24-34, with chap. 11 and 12, the deliverance wrought for Israel by the destruction of the Assyrian army, suggested the greater deliverance wrought for Zion by her King Messiah. In Zech. 9 : 8-10, the protection afibrded against Alexander the Great suggested the richer protection coming from the meek and peaceful King, whose empire shall be wider as well as more benign than ever was Alexander's. There is there- fore not only no objection to the gospel idea in this connection, but there is a measure of antecedent probability in its favor, inasmuch as the circumstances are of that very sort in which prophecies of the Messiah so often occur.— — I adduce this point, however, espe- cially to rebut the only objection made against the Messianic inter- pretation, \\z. : that it is out of place here in a strain of remark about rain and fertility after famine. Henderson, Rosemueller, Ge- senius, and others, seem to think this objection conclusive against the reference of these words to gospel times. The facts of pro- phetic usage bear in precisely the opposite direction, and show that Messianic reference is here precisely in place^ opi)ortune, natural, probable. (2.) The second argument is of the same sort with the foregoing, heightening the antecedent probability of a reference to gospel blessings. It lies in the fact that the prophet gives si^ecial notice that he has great blessings to promise, by calling on "the children of Zion to be glad and rejoice in the Lord their God." This notice very commonly and very naturally precedes a prophecy of gospel blessings, as a preintitnation that they are to be brought forward. Thus Zech. 9:9, " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem ; behold, thy King cometh unto thee," &c. And Zech. 2: 10, "Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saitli the Lord." Or, Isa. 49 : 13, " Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his people," itc. This list might be extended almost indetinitcly, some- times indeed with only the special call of attention, "Behold I" as in Isa. 52 : 13, and Jer. 23 : 5. This may be set down, there- fore, as one of the laws of the Messianic passages, all the more strong in proof of Messianic reference here, because the prophet had already announced the coming fulness of bread instead of emptiness, plenty in place of famine ; so that there was really no occasion to call for special joy in the proPi)ect of mere rain. In JOEL.— CHAP. II. 93 fact, rain was already presupposed in the verse preceding — "the pastures of the ■wilderness do spring ; the fig-tree and the vine yield their strength." Hence there are the hest of reasons to look for ■a promise of gospel blessings here. Let us now examine the words tliemselves : (3.) The specially essential word, rendered "the former rain," is in Hebrew, moreh,* a particijjle (Iliphil) from the verb t which means, first, to throw or cast ; then to throw javelins, spears, ar- rows ; to throw drops of water, i. laccs of religious worshij). Plainly tiieir religion bore no testimony against out- AMOS.— CHAr. II. 121 rageons iuliumauity. Any form of religion is practically rotten wiiicli bears no testimony or protest against hard-hearted cruelty to man. There is never a stronger proof of religions corruption than a cool and heartless mixing up of professed worship of God with remorse- less crime to^\\'xrd man. "To drink the wine of the condemned iu the house of their God," is another sin of the same sort. Lit- erally rendered, it is the wine of the amerced or taxed — the wine they had assessed upon their tenants or other poor, and by fraud or force compelled them unjustly to pay. This they have the im- piety to drink " in the house of their god," their religion having no testimony to bear to the conscience against crime toward fellow- men. 9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose hei2;ht was like the heie-ht of the cedars, and he was strono; as the oaks ; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Here the prophet turns to speak in the next three verses of what God had wrought for his people, that iu the -light of these great works of mercy they may see theu* more aggravated guilt. The Amorites, living of old on both sides of the Jordan, rep- resent the nations of Canaan. Physically, they were a gigantic race, and being proficient in the arts of war, they were exceedingly strong. So they appeared to the twelve spies whom Moses sent up from the wilderness of Paran. They reported : " The people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very great, and moreover we saw the children of Anak there." " All the people that we saw in it are men of great stature ; there we saw the giants ; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight " (Num. 13 : 28, 32, 33). The his- tory shows that God's interposition to drive -out this powerful race before Israel, then altogether unused to war, was special. He promised early (Ex. 23 : 27-29), "I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people unto whom thou shalt come. . . I will send hornets before thee who shall drive out the Oanaanites," &c. See also Deut. V: 20, and Josh. 24 : 12. This hornet (so ren- dered) seems to have been some form of scourge, perhaps a pesti- lence, as Hab. 3 : 5 would naturally imply. It was at least God's hand, manifested either in some physical scourge, or in mental panic, or in both, and designed to palsy then* power and make tliem an easy conquest to God's chosen people. This Amos beautifully sets forth: "The Amorite, though iu his early prowess as the height of the cedars and the strength of the oaks, yet God's hand destroyed liis fruit above and his roots beneath." 10. Also I brought yon np fi'om the land of Egypt, and led you forty years throngh the wilderness, to possess the land of tlie Amorite. 6 122 AMOS.— CHAP. n. The scenes of the Exodus and of those forty years in the wilder- ness were full of divine care and love. Every day had its miracles of mercy. 11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for JN'azarites, 7* it not even thus, O ye cliildren of Israel ? saitli tlie Loed. The order of prophets seems not to have been specially provided for in the Mosaic institutes, but sprang up under the law of demand — the exigencies of later times. For the order of Nazarites, how- ever, special provision was made. (See Nnra. 6.) The persons com- posmg this order were often set apart from their birth, e. g.^ Sam- son and Samuel. They were to abstain sacredly and specially from w^ine and from every thing else that could intoxicate, standing as living witnesses to the value of temperance and a perpetual protest against self-indulgence. It was truly a favor to the people that the Lord took his prophets and Nazarites from their own sons. We can suppose the case that the men for these orders should have been called in from other nations. This supposition would show at a glance how much better the social and general influence must be to take them from Hebrew families. Our translators and many commentators interpret the question at the close of the verse as the Lord's appeal to Israel to admit the fact that he had taken his prophets and Nazarites from among them. In my view, such an appeal can scarcely be deemed necessary, and is therefore very improbable, I prefer to read, " And is there nothing of this, O ye children of Israel ? " Is this a thing of no account ? — implying that it is a matter of great account. 12. But ye gave the IvTazarites wine to drink ; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. This fjxct evinces the daring impiety of the people. They sought to fi'ustrate the benevolent aims of God in establishing both these classes of reformers. "Ye gave the ISTazarites wine to drink" — seducing them into the violation of their vows, and thus paralyzing their influence. "Ye forbid the prophets to prophesy." In some cases, they persecnted, imprisoned, and murdered God's prophets, to suppress their testimony. Such a people must be fiist filling up the measure of their iniquities, 13. Behohl, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. 14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the .mighty deliver himself : 15. ISTeither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself : neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. AMOS.— CHAP. III. 123 16. And he that is courageous among tlie mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord. Here the prophet announces divine judgments for these sins of the people. The received version — " I am pressed tinder yon," &c., represents the Loi'd as the cart pressed by its burden of sheaves — with reference to the demand made upon him for vengeance — which demand his justice could not resist, nor could his mercy yield to it without strong pressure and keen anguish. This senti- ment may be very true, but it is probably not the truth taught here. The passage should rather be read — " I3ehold, I am pressing you down as a cart full of sheaves prcsseth down," i. e., whatever it passes over. The points in favor of this construction are (1.) That the verbs are not passive — " I am pressed," &c., but are strongly active, and even causative — "I am pressing you down " — causing you to be pressed down. (2.) That the word " Behold," more naturally calls attention to the punishment God will inflict than to the state of his feelings in view of the necessity of inflicting it. (3.) And it makes the logic of the following verse far more forcible : — a people so pressed down as with a loaded cart upon them must lose all power of flight, even the swiftest of them; the strong could have no force available under such a weight, &c. This logical con- nection of thought, expressed by " therefore " (v. 14), is more than lost by the rendering which assumes that the weiglit and burden of this pressure come down upon God rather than upon his sinning people. The idea that none "can escape is reiterated with great force. The bowmen shall not stand ; the swift-footed shall not save even himself, nor he w'ho has a fleet horse at command ; and finally, he who unites the utmost courage and the utmost strength shall only escape (if at all) naked, saving nothing but his person. The reader will readily notice that the figure belongs to husbandry, and is such as we might look for in one who was from boyhood " among the herdmen of Tekoa." CHAPTEE III. Tms chapter continues the same strain, exposing the sins of the people, showing that the Almighty awakes to judgment against them, and calls his prophet to reveal the fearfnl truth. Foreign nations are summoned to witness the sins of Samaria, and again hei doom is announced. 1. Hear this vrord that the Lord hath spoken against yon, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I bronght np from the land of Egy]^t, saying, 2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth : therefore I will pnnisli yon for all yonr iniqnities. 124 AMOS.— CHAP. III. It was the peculiar aggravation of the sins of Israel that God had Tcnown tliem as his o-'.vn, and had blessed them only among all the nations, with abundant revelations of his will ; and that, not- withstanding all, they had persistently rebelled against him. There- fore, he would surely punish them for all their iniquities. The sins of other nations God might wink at and pass over with comparatively little notice; the sins of Israel could not be passed over ! 3. Can two walk together, except thej be agreed ? 4. "Will a lion roar in the forest when he hath no prey ? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing ? . 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him 1 shall one take up a snare from the ■earth, and have taken nothing at all ? 6. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid ? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it ? These spirited interrogatives imply that God can go on no longer with his covenant people ; that the hour of his desolating judgments hastens on ; that for these judgments there is abundant cause in their sins ; and that the Lord has summoned his prophet to become his oracle of solemn wai-ning to the guilty people. More particularly, I paraphrase thus : Can God and Israel walk together unless agreed in sympathy of purpose and character, as they are not now ? — Will the Lord roar out of Zion in premonitory fore- shadowings of coming vengeance, when there is no prey to fall upon? Can the people fall under war and captivity where no war is, and no captivity, and there is no wrath of God to fear ? Are these threatened judgments really nothing? Are not people wont to be afraid when they hear the clarion blast of war ? And shall they not fear as much non", before the awful blast of Jehovah's trumpet, calling out the nations to bi'ing war on his land ? Shall we not recognize God's agency as including and working all the inllictions of calamity that fall on guilty cities ? This " evil in the city " which v. 6 assumes that the Lord has done, must be natural, not moral — calamity, not sin. The original Hebrew is used frequently for natural evil, e. g., Gen. 19 : 19: "Lest some evil take me and I die ;" and Gen. 44 : 34 : " Lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father ;" also Ex. 32 : 14. Besides, the strain of the whole passage is of natural evil — the judgments about to come from God on apostate and guilty Israel. To construe this evil, therefore, as being sin, and not calamity, is to ignore tlie whole current of thouglit, and to outrage the soundest, most vital laws of interpretation. Moreover, common justice toward God t^jrbids this construction — " Shall tliere be sin in the city, and the Lord liatli not done it?" This would assume that God is the doer of all the sill ill our icorld! AMOS.— CHAP. in. 125 7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets, 8. The lion hath roared, who will not fear ? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy ? The Lord is wont to forewarn liis people by Ms propliets before he smites tlieni with desolating judgments. This forewarning the prophet now gives, as v. 8 implies : "The lion hath roared." God has uttered his fearful note of warning as one about to smite ; who can refuse to prophesy when thus called to it of God ? The prophet means to say that in the presence of such demonstrations of coming judgments, ho should be not only false to God, but false to his countrymen, if he did not solemnly announce God's message, and call them to repentance. 9. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble your- selves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. This is a call to tlie people of Ashdod and Egypt, and, by implication, to all the nations named and doomed in the first two chapters, to convene upon the mountains that overlook Samaria, and be witnesses to her great tumults, disorders, and crimes, and to the oppressions done in the midst of her. Guilty as those nations are, they will see deeper guilt and more outrageous crime in Sama- ria. They are to bo witnesses of her doom : let them first witness her sins. The word "oppressed" in the text, should bo "op- pressions," as in-the margin. 10. For they know not to do right, saith the Lokd, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. These are the people of Samaria. Despite of aU the light of nature and the superadded light of divine revelation, they yet act as if they knew not how to do right. The trouble is not their ignorance, but their moral perverseness. Knowledge of duty does them no good: they will go on in sin as ?■/" they had no moral sense — no knowledge of right. " Tliey store up in their palaces" the fruits of their "violence and robbery" — the cause, violence, being put for the result — the property they wrest from the poor and in- nocent. The frequent allusions to " palaces " imply that the wealtliy classes lived in luxury on the fruits of extortion and op- 'pression. 11. Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; An adversary there shall he even round about the land ; and he shall brmg down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled. 12Q AMOS. -CHAr. Ill, There shall come an enemy — one who shall pervade the whole land. He shall bring down thy strength, and shall spoil thy palaces. The Assyrians were this enemy. The desolation they wrought was complete, as the reader may see in 2 Kings 17. 12. Tims saitli the Lokd: As the shepherd taheth out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a I3iece of an ear : so shall the children of Israel he taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of abed, and in Damascus t7i a couch. This figure, altogether natural for a shepherd-auttor, shows that nothing but the merest wrecks and fragments of that great and wealthy people would remain — only some of the aged, bed-ridden, or sick, overlooked in the general slaughter and deportation of cap- tives — here one in the corner of a bed ; there anofher on a couch. Some of the people might have fled to Damascus for refuge ; hence this reference to the few left there. The devastation would be most terrific and complete. 13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacoh, saith the Lord God, the God of hosts, 14. That, in the day that I shall visit tlie transgres- sions of Israel upon him, I Avill also visit the altars of Beth-el : and the horns of tlie altar shall he cut off, and fall to the ground. 15. And I will smite the winter-house with the sum- mer-house ; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the Lokd. Yet another message indicates the point on which especially the judgments of the Almighty would fall, viz., on the idol altars of Ik'thel, and on the luxurious palaces of rich oppressors. God would direct his judgments so in the line of the sins scourged as to indi- cate those sins. He would show that his wrath burned especially against those idol altars, and those palaces built with the fruits of violence and wrong. " The horns of the altar ; " its projecting ])oints at each of the four corners, were highly ornamented ; hence these especially should be smitten, to rebuke the pride of the people. " The houses of ivory " were those in which ivory was used for ornament. Only the wealthy could have one house for sum- mer and another for winter. Tlie curse of extermination fell on Samaria mainly because licr wealth was ill-gotten, and represented ber cruel, iniquitous oppression of the poor and innocent. AMOS.— CHAP. IV. ISt CHAPTER IV. TnE propliet still atldrossos the proud, oppressive, but effeminate people of Samaria, describing them (v. 1) ; predicting their captivity (vs. 2, 3) ; in irony, bidding them go on in their sins (vs. 4, 5) ; recit- ing successive judgments from God — famine, drought, blasting, pes- tilence, and the overthrow of some of them even as Sodom — all, however, failing to bring them back to God (vs. 6-11) ; therefore the Almighty bids them prepare to meet him in his desolating judg- ments (vs. 12, 1.3). 1. Hear tliis word, ye kine of Baslian, that are in tlie mountain of Samaria, wliich oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. 2. The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away witli hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks. 3. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her ; and ye shall cast tJiem into the palace, saith the Loed. By the word " kine " (the nearly obsolete plural of cow) some sap- pose the luxurious and corrupt women of Samaria are meant. It is better to apply it to the same class hitherto spoken of, e. g., 2 : G-8, 11-16, and 3 : 9-15, i. e., the wealthy, proud, oppressive rulers and leaders in civil and social life, with no special reference to the fe- male sex : (1.) Because the description given of them here identilies them as the same ; they oppress the poor, crush the needy, love strong drink, «&c. (2.) Because these cows of Bashan are spoken of in the Hebrew, now in the feminine and now in the masculine gender, as if the figure di-ew the writer to the feminine, but the fact to the masculine ; and (3.) Because he had special reasons for calling the men "cows of Bashan," as we shall see. Concerning this figtu'e — Bashan, a region on the east of Jordan, was renowned for its rich pastures and breeds of cattle, fine, fat, and strong. (See Dent. 32 : 14; Ps. 22: 12 ; Ezck. 39: 18.) Especially the "bulls of Bashan," as in David's reference (Ps. 22: 12), were fat, strong, feai'- less, ferocious : " Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round." Perliaps with a tacit but cutting allusion to them, Amos meant to say — " Ye cows (not bulls) of Bashan, tat enough indeed and woll- fed ; fierce and cruel enough toward your helpless poor ; but shamefully effeminate and cowardlif Avhere real danger lies; — hear je these words ! The Lord is about to put his hook in your nose, and take you away to a hopeless captivity, Yo sliall be driven out through the breaches made in your city Avails, as a man drives out his cows through a gap in their fence — each cow straightforward, 128 AMOS.— CHAP. IV. i. e., with no option to turn to the right hand or to the left." niis is tlie general course of thought in the first three verses. Spe- cially — (v. 1), "m the mountain" would he hetter on the moun- tain, with the figure in view— cows of Bashan, pasturing on the mountains of Samaria. " "Who say to their masters," the king — the plural being probably what is called ^'■pluralis excellcntm,'''' — a plural form appropriated to one individual — (here a king) as a distinguished honor. " The Lord hath sworn by his holiness " — as if declaring solemnly — If I am holy ; if I abhor sin ; hy all my abhorrence of such outrages upon the innocent — ye shall be swept fi-om your land! "Taking them away with fish-hooks," should not lead our thought to fishing for small game, but to the harpoon- ing of sea-monsters, or rather, to the hook in the jaws of leviathan, or in the nose of fierce bullocks, as v/hcre the Lord said of the As- syrian king (Isa. 37: 29), "I will put my hook in thy nose and turn thee back by the way by which thou earnest ; " or of Pharaoh (Ezek. 29: 4), "I will put hooks in thy jaws," &c., "and will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers ; " or (Job. 41 : 1, 2), " Caust tJioti draw out leviathan with a hook ? " Thou canst not ; but God can! Li v. 3, the clause — "Ye shall cast them into the palace" — should rather be read — " They " — the cows, alias the rich, proud oppressors of Samaria — " shall be cast out of the palace," driven rudely from the ivory mansions, made so splendid by the fruits of robbery and wrong. Thus the entire passage is keenly ironical and stinging. 4. Come to Betli-el and transgress : at Gilgal mnlti- ply transgression ; and bring yonr sacrifices every morn- ing, and jour tithes after tliree years : 5. And oflPer a sacrifice of thanksgiving witli leaven, and proclaim and pnblisli the free ofierings : for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God. These verses continue and even intensify the strain of irony. "Come to Bethel, and sin on, since so you like; try it, if you will! " Bethel and Gilgal were places noted for idol worship. The Mosaic law required a sacrifice each morning ; tithes for the poor at the end of each third year (Deut. 14: 28, 29, and 26 : 12), thank- oflTerings, and free-will offerings also ; — but the people of Samaria mixed up these required ritual services with horrible idolatry and not less horrid immoralities — oppression, slavery, outrages on all tho riglits of the poor and the Aveak. Hence God abhorred them none the less for their religious rites. "This liketh you" — means in the original, this you like or love. 0. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and -want of bread in all yonr places : yet have ye not returned unto nio, saitli tho Lord. 7. And aho I have withholden the rain from you, AMOS.— CHAP. IV. 129 when there icere yet three montLs to the harvest : and I caused, it to rain npon one city, and cansed it not to rain upon another city : one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. 8. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water ; but they were not satisfied : yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Loed, 9. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew : when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig- trees and yom* olive-trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. 10. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt : your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses ; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils : yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Loed. Here is a series of milder chastisements whicli the Lord had tried upon the people, but all in vain. The statement of each form of infliction closes with the same sad result — "Yet have ye not re- turned unto me, saith the Lord." They are enumerated in this way to show the people how long, how patiently, how sincerely, and with what varied appliances the Lord had labored to reclaim them, that they might themselves see the necessity laid on him to proceed to measures far more stern and fearful. " Cleanness of teeth " is identical with want of bread, famine. He had Avithheld rain, long before the maturing of the harvests, so that the harvest must have utterly failed.-^ — The middle clause of v. 9 might be read : " The multitude of your gardens and of your vineyards, also your fig-trees and olive-trees, the locust hath devoured." V. 10 seems to imply that when the young men were slain by the sword, their horses, left riderless, fell into the hands of the enemy and Avere taken captive — fit retribution for their vain trust in horses. K great slaughter had left many bodies unburied, to aggravate the pestilence ; but even this fearful scourge did not bring them back to God. 11. I have overthrown some of you, as God over- threw Sodom and Gomon'ah, and ye were as a fire-brand plucked out of the burning : yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lokd. Some of their cities had been laid desolate, even as Sodom and Gomorrah ; — by what precise agency is not said ; but the rest of 130 AMOS.— CHAP. IV. the nation might fitly regard themselves as a brand plucked from the flames. • These figures occur, Zech. 3 : 2, and 1 Cor. 2 : 15. Yet this most fearful scourge of all, which seemed almost to kindle the very fires of perdition upon them, failed to secure repentance. 12. Therefore, tliiis will I do unto tliee, O Israel : and because I will do tliis uiito tliee, prepare to meet tlij God, O Israel. " Therefore " im])lics that by the very necessities of his moral government, since all discipline and chastisement fail, exterminat- ing judgments must come! 'The word " thus," which here raises the question. How will God deal with them? refers to the previous verses. The answer therefore is — As I have exterminated some of yqjn- cities, root and branch, even as Sodom and Gomorrah, so will I do to the whole nation. Because I have purposed to do this, I now give thee warning — "Prepare to meet thy God! " Ye must meet him, coming with exterminating judgments ; there is no es- cape ; therefoi-e be in readiness! The spirit of this announce- ment seems to be that the decree of judgment had gone forth, and its execution was fixed in the counsels of Heaven ; and yet this tact is declared, not with the exiiectation that the masses will hear and repent, but rather in the hope that some individuals might ; and that it might stand as a warning to all other guilty nations in later times. it will be noticed that the primary sense of the passage relates to Israel as a nation, and had its fulfilment in the final desolation and captivity eflccted by the Assyrian power as stated 2 Kings 17. But in principle it applies with even augmented force to all the in- corrigibly wicked, summoned to meet God in the final judgment- day. It warns them to be ready to meet bun then and there, by turning at once to become* his friends and people. O might the wicked only be wise in time, and make the Great Judge their friend while they may, so freely and v/ith such welcome ! • 13. For, lo, lie that formeth tlie mountains, and cre- atetli tlie wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that niakcth the niornino- darkness, and troad- cth upon the high places of the earth, The Lokd, The G od of hosts, is his name. To give his readers some just sense of the majesty of that Being whom sinners of tliat and of evefy age must meet in judgment, ho names a few of his mighty acts. The |)assage has scarcely a ])ar- allel for its beauty and sublimity. Tlie Creator nnist be indefi- nitely greater than his works; — but look at them — the mountains and the winds; note how he can tell man all his thoughts; how ho can change the glory of the morning into darkness ; and with the majestic march of a God, tread upon the high places of the earth — Jehovah, God of the armies of heaven, his name : — then say — Is it Well for thee to rouse his wi'ath to fiame and then to fall before it? AMOS.— CHAP, V. ■ 131 Can thy heart endure and thy hands he strong in so dread a con- flict? Wilt thou persist in lia%ing this Ahniglity God thine enemy? It is remai'kable that though this chapter begins with caustic irony, yet it ends with the most tender, solemn warnings. Hence the irony is not malign, hut is benevolent — used only for the bettor moral effect — not for any satisfaction to ho found in intlicting a keen and cutting castigation. CHAPTER y. Ik this chapter the prophet laments the fall of Israel ; exhorts the people to seek the Lord ; portrays the glory and power of Je- hovah, as reasons why he should he both feared and sought ; re- bukes the sins of the people, and affirms God's abhorrence of the mere /o;v??s of worship without the heart and without justice and righteousness toward fellow-men. 1. Hear ye tliis word wliicli I take up against you, even a lamentation, O lionse of Israel. 2. Tlie virgin of Israel is fallen ; slie sliall no more rise : slie is forsaken npon lier land : there is none to raise her np. This lamentation or elegy — a plaintive wail of grief — assumes forcibly that Israel is seen as one fallen, and her nationality extinct. She is compared to a maiden, now gone down to rise no more. " Forsaken upon her land " should rather be '■'•prostrate upon her own land," with none to help her rise. 3. For tlins saitli the Loed God ; The city that went out l)y a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth hj an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel. The glory of cities was gi-aduated by the number of men they could send out for war. The passage shows how fearfully their strength had departed. The city that once sent forth a thousand had now but a hundred left ; so that the house of Israel was shorn of its military strength. 4. For thus saith the Lokd unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live : 5. But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba : for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-cl shall come to nought. " Seeking the Lord " is returning to him in penitence and im- ploring his mercy. The promise — " thou shalt live " — usually 132 AMOS.— CHAP. V. covers something more and otlier than natural life, and, in the case of Israel, more than a prolonged nationality ; it means the richest blessings. Life is one of the most comprehensive and expressive terms in human language to denote blessedness — substantial good. "Seek not Bethel ;"«. e., the idol gods of Bethel. So Gilgal and Beersheba are not to be sought, considered as seats of idol-wor- ship. In the last clause the prophet fastens the thought in the mind of his Hebrew readers by a play upon his words. Gilgal, meaning the place of roUed-up heaps, shall be rolled away inio captivity; Bethel shall become Aven, nothing, void of any living thing. The word rendered " nought " is Aven. Bethel came to be frequently called Beth-aven, because it was desecrated by its idols. Here the sense is even stronger — house of nonentities, empty of even its senseless, powerless idols. Even they have gone and perished ! G. Seek the Loed, and ye sliall live ; lest lie break out like fire in tke konse of Joseph, and devonr it, and there he none to quench it in Beth-el. A further reason for seekmg Jehovah is, "lest he break forth like fire on the house of Joseph " — Joseph being another name for the northern kingdom. The last clause, literally rendered, is ex- pressive : "And there be no quencher for Bethel" — no one to ex- tinguish the fires the Lord kindles upon her. T. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, ""Wormwood" is one of the most bitter of herbs — significantly put here for the grief felt by those who get only wrong and injury where they shoiild have right and good. The passage describes those who wrest the cause of the innocent and pervert justice. The clause " leave off righteousness in the earth " is better ren- dered, " who cast righteousness to the ground." The words im- ply also that they make it lie there— make that its resting-place— and allow it no practical sway in human afftiirs. 8. Seeh Mm that makcth the seven stars and Orion, and tnrneth tlie shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night : that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth'thcm out upon the face of the earth : The Lord is his name : Men should seek God because he is so groat and so glorious — has sucli power to turn our day to night, and our night to day— to bring up the waters of ocean by his call, and pour them forth as of old, in the deluge. The beauty and sublimity of tliis passage arc cxcpiisite. Job lias a similar allusion to those brilhant constel lations (9 : 9). AMOS.— CHAT. V. 133 9. That strengthenetli tlie spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. This magnificent description of the power of Jehovah closes with a word designed to make it more practical to tlie Samaritans who relied on the military sti-ength of their capital — " Who makes destruction flash out upon the mighty, and desolation shall como upon the strong city." The first verb, which I have rendered "flash out," takes its figure from the breaking forth of the dawn upon the darkness of the night — a figure which has most force in countries near the equator, where the twilight is short. The re- ceived translation fails to give the exact sense. 10. They hate him that rehnketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Again the prophet reverts to the reigning sin of the people. They love darkness and hate light, because their deeds are evil, and they are committed to wrong-doing. The " gate " Avas in that ago the court-house — the place -where justice should reign, and sin be always rebuked. The people of Samaria hated the upright, honest judge, and whoever else shovdd speak for righteousness. 11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat : ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them ; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not cbink wine of them. These "burdens of wheat " wei*e cruel exactions in the form of rents or taxes, yet oppressive and unrighteous. For these sins of oppressing the poor, God will tear them away from their houses and vineyards. However much they may build the one and plant the other, he can frustrate tlieir hope of enjoying them. It is hard fighting against God. ISTo wisdom and no strength can withstand Mm. 12. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins : they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. " For I know that your transgressions are many, and your sins great." " The poor in the gate " ai-e before the coui-ts of justice. 13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time ; for it is an evil time. " The prudent " are the wise and good. They keep sUence and forbear to rebuke the sins of the age, because they see no hope of doing good thereby. They recognize God's awful presence to scourge the people, and they bow before his manifestly righteous ways. 134 AMOS.— CHAP. V. 14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live : and BO tlie LoED, tlie God of hosts, shall be ^vith you, as ye have spoken. " As ye have spoken " refers to their professions of being the people of the Lord, and, as such, safe against harm from a heathen foe. The prophet says to them — " Seek good, and not evil ; " so the Lord of hosts shall he with you truly — as ye have been saying when it was not true. 15. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate : it may he that the Loed God of hosts wiU he gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. The phrase ''remnant of Joseph" imphes that the population was already greatly reduced in numbers, of which fact there is proof in 2 Kings 10 : 32, 33 : "In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short, and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel." 16. Therefore, the Loed, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus ; Wailing shall he in all streets ; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas ! alas ! and they shall call the husbandmen to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. 17. And in all vineyards shall he wailing : for I will pass through thee, saith the Loed. The prophet Amos is remarkable for the fulness and solemnity with which he uses the significant names of God. Here is an in- stance: "Jehovah, the God of hosts" (or celestial armies), "the Loi'd, saith thus," &c. The people at that time had a very imper- fect sense of the glory and majesty of the Lord their God. This groupiug of his majestic names was therefore entii-ely appropriate, and had a most worthy object. In this jjassage the Lord seeks to impress the certainty of their impending doom by declaring that soon there shall be wailing through all the populous cities and the country. The "skilful of lamentation" were persons who made it their profession to sing or chant mournful dirges at funerals, or on other occasions of public sorrow. Eccles. 12 : 5 speaks of this class of persons as "going about the streets." Jer. 9 : 17-19 seems to show that women were specially employed in this service. This usage prevailed not only among the llebrcws, but among the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and other nations also. God "will pass through" the land and among the people in such a Avay that they shall feel his presence and be made fearfully con- scious of his wrath. 18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lokd I to what end is it for you ? the day of the Lokd is dark- ness, and not light. ^ AMOS.— CHAP. V. 135 19. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him ; or went into tlie honse, and leaned Ms liand on tlie wall, and a serpent bit him. 20. Shall not the day of the Lokd Jje darkness, and not light ? even very dark, and no brightness in it ? In their foolliardiness some had expressed their desire that this day of the Lord might come, madly daring Jehovah to do his worst. Upon them God denounces special Avoe. He asks — What will this day of the Lord be to yon ? and answers — Only darkness, and not light ; no rays of light in it ; no mitigation to its horrors. Then, by two expressive figures, of a class natural to the mind of one trained in fields and deserts where wild beasts have their homes, he shows that to attempt to flee from God in any direction would be only to meet him there in a more fearful form. What else can any sane mind think of the daring impiety that challenges God to show his power to curse and punish, save that it is the veriest madness ? Do such men suppose they can cope with Omnipotence ? Do they assume that God's resources for making them feel the bit- terness of his strokes, are likely to be soon exhausted ? Or do they glory in rousing tlieir puny souls to bravery and daring, as if it were noble to measure strength with the Almighty ? Alas for the folly and the madness that sin begets ! 21. I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in yonr solemn assemblies. 22. Though ye ofi'er me burnt-offerings and your meat-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts. 23. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs ; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. The people were deluding themselves with the notion that they were high in favor with God, because they kept up the forms of the Mosaic worship. To dispel tliis delusion, the Lord solemnly pro- tests to them that He not only takes no pleasure in their worship, but thoroughly abhors it : "I hat-8, I loathe your feast days.'* The practice of burning incense in worship for the sake of its sweet odors, led to the use of the verb to smell in this connection. It may perhaps be as well to translate so as to give only the ultimate sense — I have no pleasure in your solemn assemblies. The "peace-ofl:erings" are often called "thank-ofterings," a term which better expresses their significance — oU'erings of gratitude and thanks- giving. The word "?io/se" (v. 23) is highly expressive, showing that music with no heart in it is only 7!o/s<', and never melody to the ear of God, a thought worthy of consideration in reference to the " service of sacred song " in our own times. If the Lord had a prophet Amos to send now into modern congregations, would ho 136 AMOS.— CHAP. V. not (sometimes) give Mm this very message ? The sentiment ol these verses nppears in several other prophets — in Ilosca, as -we have seen, 6 : 6, and 8 : 13, and 9:4; and Isa. 1 : 11-15. 24. But let judgment run down as waters, and riglit- eousness as a miglitj stream. The Lord asks them to reform, not their modes of worship, but their morals, their monstrous Avrongs and oppressions of their fel- low-men. Let judgment (in the sense of justice) flow freely, rolling on as water, smoothly and without obstruction ; and let righteous- ness be as a perennial stream. Some critics say perennial ; others say strong, powerful. Either is good sense, and the original bears either. A stream never dry, and never abating its flow, seems most in harmony with the scope of thought. How strongly does the word of God aflirm and reiterate the doctrine that God repels the forms of worship, imless they are accompanied with an honest re- gard for our fellow-men ! He will never accept of worship profess- edly oflfered to himself, in place of duties due to man. This is truly like a father, to insist that we shaU treat all his children well, as a condition of his accepting our worship of himself. No worship can be so costly or so imposing that it can supply the place of '' loving om' neighbor as ourself." -"o 25. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and oflerings in tlie wilderness forty years, O house of Israel ? 26. But ye liave borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. 27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Loed, whose name is The God of hosts. This question assumes that the answer is affirmative. Ye did, indeed, i. c, your fathers, then living, did offer sacrifices in the wilderness; hit, ye also carried along your little idol images secretly, stealthily, all that time. The same spirit of idolatry has become far more rampant, open. Heaven-daring, in these later times, for which I shall send you into captiWty beyond Damascus. Tills is the general scope. The particular explanation of v. 2G lias been found somewhat difficult. The quotation of it by Stephen (Acts 7 : 42, 43), made from the Septuagint version, shows soiul^ of these various opinions. The original words have been spelled and read differently; e. (/., tlie Hebrew reading is Melek, which means king ; the Septuagint is Moloch, an ancient idol. Some make Chiun a proper, others a common noun. None of these points of difference materially affect the general sense of the passage, which, beyond all doubt, means tliat the Israelites in the wilderness bore along with them little shrines and images of idol AMOS.— CHAP. VI. 137 gods, or of some of the planets. The Hebrew text niiglit Lo rendered, "But ye bore tlie shrine of jour king (meaning, your idol) and the little images of your idols, the star of your god, which ye made for yourselves." The last clause implies that the images represented a star, and involved the worship of the planet Saturn. They supposed the planets to be animated, conscious and powerful, wielding a vast influence over human destiny. These ideas and usages they found and embraced in Egypt. Of their per- petual tendency to idol worship whUe in the wilderness, the history gives painful evidence, especially in the case of the golden calf (Ex. 82). In onr passage it is assumed that, like Rachel in Jacob's family, some of the Hebrews, during those forty years, bore along their little idol shrines and worshipped them. The Jews were never thoroughly cured of their i:)roclivities toward idols nntU their seventy years' captivity. The captivity of the ten tribes practically destroyed their nationality, and sunk them into oljlivion, so that it cannot be known whether they ever abandoned their idol worship. CHAPTER YI. Woks on cities and their chief men who can be at ease in their great sins, and in the very face of fearful judgments from the Almighty ; fiirther specifications of their sins of luxury, intemperance, and oppression; followed by announcements of yet more desolating judgments, fill up this chapter. 1. Woe to tliem that are at ease in Zion, and trust in tlie mountain of Samaria, which are named cliief of tlie nations, to wliom the house of Israel came ! The word Zion embraces Jerusalem and her leading minds, as, on the other hand, Samaria carries us to the chief city of the north- ern kingdom. The people of Samaria trusted in the natural strengtli of their position — on the mountains. " Judah and Israel were renowned as chief among the nations " of Western Asia. The clause " to whom the house of Israel came," refers to the leading men — ^princes, judges, and religious teachers, to Avhom the people came for justice in the courts, and to whom they looked for influence and direction. This woe came on them because of their great guilt, especially the guilt of being reckless in the midst of awful sin, and under God's revealed threatenings of exterminating judgments. For the responsible leading men to say practically in the face of such threatenings. What do we care? was fearfully provoking to the Most High, and must inevitably seal their doom. In every age sinners who scorn the warnings of Jehovah, and would fain be at ease in Zion despite of them, are near the point where judgments break forth and " there is no remedy ! " 138 AMOS.— CHAP. VI, 2. Pass ye unto Calneli, and see ; and from tlience go ye to Hamatli the great : tlien go down to Gatli of the*^ Philistines : he they better than these kingdoms ? or their border greater than your border ? This verse connects itself in thouglit witli the clause " -which are named chief of the nations " (v. 1). The thought is— Judah and Israel have stood high among the nations of their time, in military po^yer, in richness of country, and in the light of a true religion : their resi:)onsibilities are therefore the greater, and so much the more is their guilt in disowning and abusing the great Giver of their blessings. That they were truly renowned as lirst among the nations, any one may see by going (in thought) to those nations with whom the comparison should naturally \iQ made. Pass thus over the Euphrates to Calneh (called Calno, Isaiah 10 : 9), on the east bank of the Tigris, and see ; from thence go to Hamath the great, on the Orontes, one of the great cities of Syria ; then go down to Gath of the Philistines : were they better than these two king- doms, Judah and Israel ? or had they a larger and better territory ? 3. Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near ; 4. That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch them- selves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall ; 5. That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David ; 6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments : but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Here is a rapid description of the social and moral life of the classes in question — the leading minds, especially in the kingdom of Israel. They "put far away the evil day," i. e., in thought, they assume it to be far distant, and they act as if it were ; but the throne of violence — the bench of justice whence righteousness should proceed and violence never should — they cause to come near ; — the form of expression being antithetic to tliat in the first clause. They thrust the fear of danger from sin far away, and welcome near the worst forms of wrong, even legalized oppression, rolling in luxury, lounging in idleness, feasting on fatlings from flock and stall, chattering to the sound of the viol (where the woi-d used by the prophet has a spice of irony and contempt) ; but they are fain to give themselves to music, as if notliing in their great guilt and near approaching doom should be allowed to trench on then- hilarity; and to crown all, they drink wine by the bowlful, and, anointing themselves with the richest oils, they think only of personal self-indulgence and never " grieve for the afHiction of AMOS.— CHAP. VI. 139 Joseph." Their country ami flic cause of their nation's God have no place in their hearts. This last clause, " tliey grieve not for the affliction of Joseph," is analogous to "being at ease in Zion," and shows Avhy the woes of God came down on Israel. They had no true sympathy with God or witli his ])eople. The name "Joseph" represents the kingdom of Israel considered especially as being the cliosen people of God, and bearing his name before tlie nations ; yet may there not be, in the choice of tliis name, a tacit allusion to the original Joseph among his envious, heartless breth- ren, when they "saw the anguish of his soul, and he besought tliem, and they would not hear." Little did they heed the affliction of Joseph then ; alike heedless are the people of Samaria in tlie days of this prophet. Hence the righteous v/oe, so soon to fall upon them. 1. Therefore, now sliall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. As the men of wealth and high standing have been foremost in oppressing the poor and wresting the cause of tiie meek; foremost also in luxury, self-indulgence, and recklessness of the cause of God : so they shall be first among the captives, heading the sad procession; and the banquet of those who lay stretched out around (in beastly drunkenness, we must suppose), shall be quite broken up. (The Lord has no special tenderness toward this beastly sin!) 8. The Lord God hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver np the city with all that is therein. Note the solemn reiteration of the names of God in this case, in which, since " he can swear by no greater, he swears by him- self." The things so solemnly affirmed are two: (1.) That " God abhors the excellency of Jacob," &c. ; (2.) That he will abandon the city and all its inhabitants to destruction. The " excellency of Jacob " has been alluded to in this chapter ; see v. 1, " chief of the nations," and v. 2, "better than other adjacent kingdoms; " — this excellency being mainly thought of as lying in its natural ad- vantages. The same sense must be the primary one here, the more so because connected with " his palaces ; " but the reason why God has come to abhor and hate a noble country, once flowing with mUk and honey, and the glory of all lands, lies in the guilt, and es- peciallj^ the pride of its people. To this there seems to be a tacit allusion in the very phrase, "the excellency of Jacob," since this word in Hebrew is used for pridc^ as well as for naturally excellent qualities. The sense then, here, is that the pride and moral corru]i- tion of the people were so monstrous and so intrinsically hateful to God, that he abhorred the very country for their sake, and must 140 AMOS.— CHAP. VI. spoil its fair beauty and consign it to long and blant desolation, And there tlie land of Palestine lies to-day — as yet, not half recov* ered from this fearful curse ! 9. And it sliall come to pass, if there remaia ten men in one house, that thej shall die. 10. And a man's uncle shall take him np, and he that hmnieth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house. Is there yet any with thee ? and he shall say, 'No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue : for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord. To show how utter would be the destruction of its inhabitants, the prophet gives some particulars for illustration. If only a small number, say ten (a definite number for an indefinite), remain in one house, even they shall all die. And when a man's uncle (or other friend), together with him wliose office it shall be to burn the corpse, bring out a dead body, and finding one poor invalid in some corner or closet of the house, shall ask him, " Is there another dead man here ? " he shall say, " No more ; " and then shall add, " Hush ! for we may not make mention of tlie name of the Lord." This last phrase — "make mention of the name of the Lord" — nsiially signifies, to speak of God in grateful, appropriate acknowledgment, and due lionor. See Josli. 23 : 7, where this is forbidden in reference to false gods; also Ps. 20: 7, and Isa. 62: 6. Precisely Avhat this prohibi- tion meant in this case is not certain ; ])erhaps it indicates such a sense of the awfulness of God's presence in this scourge upon the land that guilty men could not endure to liear his name ! 11. For, behold, the Lord commandcth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. All the houses, great or little, shall be smitten ; the great shat- tered to pieces, as the Hebrew word implies ; tlie little ones rent with clefts. Oppressors, enriched by wrong, are remembered be- fore God in this day of judgment. 12. Shall horses run upon the rock ? will 07ie plough f/iere with oxen ? for ye liave turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of riy them, but will take them in hand for scourging and for ruin. 14:4 AMOS.— CHAP. VII. -Tlie "higli places of Isaac'' were those elevated sites so con- stantly chosen for idol temples and idol "worship. The "sanctuaries of Israel " were their idol temples and shrines. These were doomed to utter destruction, and at least by implication the whole land as well. The "house of Jeroboam" the Lord would cut off by the sword. He did so ; Shall um (2 Kings 15 : 10) conspired against Zachariah, son and successor of Jeroboam, and thus ended the royal line of his house. It should be noted that in this third vision nothing is said of the prophet's interceding by prayer for the removal or even the mitigation of this judgment. He saw that it was most righteously deserved, and fully fixed in the counsels of Jehovah, and therefore he forebore to press any plea for its reversal. Essen- tially the same answer must he given to the question — Why did he pray ^'•forghe " in reference to the first threatened judgment, and only ^'■deskV upon the second? "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." The conditions of acceptable prayer being fully met on our part, the Lord, on his part, will lead our minds in prayer, aiding us thus to ask for those things, and only those, which he is pleased to grant. 10. Then Amaziali tlie priest of Betli-el sent to Jero- boam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired agamst thee in the midst of the house of Israel : the land is not able to bear all his words. 11. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away caj)tive out of their own land. 12. Also, Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there : 13. But prophesy not again any more at Beth-el :*for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. This historical sketch (vs. 10-17) presents no difficulties that re- quire exposition. Amaziah, " tlic jiriest of Bethel," was probably the high priest before the golden calf located there, for there must have been other priests as well. The history of Elijah (1 Kings 18) gives us some facts respecting the number of idol priests. The charge of treason against the king and the state was often brouglit against the Lord's faithful prophets, and constituted one of their serious embarrassments and trials. It seems that Jeroboam did not think best to interfere with tlie Lord's prophet. Amaziah tliere- fore resorted to a private cfibrt (vs. 12, 13; to get Amos out of the kingdom. Judah, said lie, is a better place for you ; the prophets ot tiic Lord get a good living there; there you can bo quiet and fulfil your proplietic function, if so you choose : but be off and away from Bethel, for these idol temples are the king's sanctuary — the pla(!C Avhere he worshii>s, and the liouse of his kingdom (so the AMOS.— CHAR VII. 145 Hebrew reads), and it implies that, in their notion, these heathen gods were the j^atrons of the kingdom, and their favor vital to its permanence and prosperity. Hence they would very naturally arraign the Lord's true prophets for high treason, whenever they dared. 14. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither loas I a prophet's son ; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit : 15. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Loed said unto me, Gro, prophesy unto my peo- ple Israel. Amos first gives his own personal defence. With beautiful sim- plicity he replies: " I was no prophet; I did not come up unto this profession because my father was a prophet before me ; but I was earning my bread by honest labor when the Lord took me from following the flock, and said — ' Go, prophesy unto my people Is- rael ' — not Judah, as you propose, but Israel. How could I do otherwise than obey this divine mandate ? " 16. ISTow, therefore, hear thou the word of the Lord : Thou sayest. Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 17. Therefore thus saith the Loed ; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line ; and thou shalt die in a polluted land : and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land. The rest of his reply comes directly from the Lord himself. Thou hast forbidden me to prophesy against Israel ; for this impiety the Lord reveals to thee tliy doom — thy wife a harlot in the city ; thy sons and daughters falling by tlie sword ; thy landed estates divided by line to others ; thou thyself shall die in a foreign and so in a polluted land, and the nation shall be carried away into cap- tivity — a fearful warning against interfering with the divine mis- sion of God's faithful jirophets ! The Hebrews regarded all other lands compared v^-ith their own as polluted. Hence they naturally desired to make then- graves in the holy land. This captivity was to Assyria, eftected by Tigiath-Pileser b, o. 722, or sixty-two years after the death of this Jeroboam. IdG AMOS.— CmiP. VIII. CHAPTER VIII. This chapter opens Avith tlie last vision in this series of foul (v3. 1. 2), which is followed by further details of the great and damning sins of the people, and of the terrible judgments then im- pending. 1. Thus hatli the Lord God shewed unto me : and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2. And he said, Amos, what seest thou ? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel ; 1 will not again pass by them any more. Summer fruit ripens quick and soon decays. The people had ripened for ruin, and their ruin was near at hand. The latter of these two ideas seems rather more prominent than the former; perhaps both are implied. The special idea is that the end is come to the nation of Israel. God can pass by them, sparing them and deferring his judgments, no longer. 3. And the songs of the temple shall be bowlings in that day, saith the Lord God : there shall he many dead bodies in everyplace; they shall cast them forth with silence. Since the time of David, songs had formed a part of the temple worship. In the dark and sad day just at hand, those songs should become bowlings — the wails of agony. The original is concise : " The songs of the temple shall wail in that day." The last half of the verse Dr. Henderson translates with graphic power : "The carcasses are many! Throw them out anj-whcre ! Hush ! " This is a close translation of the Hebrew, except tliat the verb throw is not imperative, but indicative — " men do tlirow them out anywhere." The last word "hush" should be compared . with Amos 6 : 10, where the word is the same, and tlie sentiment also, doubtless, the same. Some suppose this injunction to silence looks toward their danger from the invading foe, it being such that they could not bury their beloved and honored dead with safety, save in secrecy and silence. Perhaps so; but the passage (G:10) ftivors another Aacw, viz., that an apj)alling sense of the presence and wrath of God awed every heart into silence. 4. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the laud to fail, AMOS.— CHAr. VIII. 14Y 5. Sayiug, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn ? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifvnng the balances by deceit ? 6. That we may bny the poor for silver, and the needy for a paii* of shoes ; ym, and sell the refuse of the wheat ? The guilty people are once more exhorted to hear tlie threat- ened judgments of the Almighty, and the recital of those judgments is prefaced by a further description of their oppressions of the poor. In this passage, as in 2 : 6-8, these oppressions stand as the crown- ing, damning sin — that which filled to the brim the cup of their iniquity. "Swallow up the needy," exhibits the same verb that is rendered (chap. 2 : T) " that 2ya7it after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor." It might more precisely be rendered here — "• that pant after tlie poor," even to make the needy of the land cease altogether, i. e.^ to annihilate them so that none should remain. So eager are they to drive hard bargains, and wrest from the poor the last pittance of their earnings, they cannot wait for the new moon and for the Sabbath to pass over — so would they hurry off tlieir religious duties to get back again to their extortion and fraud. Their religion stood in tlae way of their sin in no other respect than that it demanded a few hours' suspension of trade and business. It utterly failed of its proper influence, ^^z., to make their heart • thoroughly benevolent, and, consequently, their business-life just. It would seem that these tradesmen bought by the shekel and sold by the ephah. So they perverted their measures and Aveights to subserve the ends of fraud. They made false balances for deceit. Yet further, they drive their fraudulent trade to get money in order to buy the poor for slaves, cheapening even tlieir price, so that they could get a poor man or a poor boy for a pair of sandals, which are of much less value than American shoes. And one thing more, they sell as merchantable the refuse of the wheat — the light, half-filled grains. What a depth of corruption in morals do such sketches of the ways of business and trade re- veal ! The reader will be careful to note how sharply the Lord rebukes and exposes such outrages on human rights and on com- mercial justice, and how fearfully he punishes the guilty. 7. The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. Here begins the message which (in v. 4.) the people were ex- horted to hear. It opens with a most solemn asseveration, the oath of the Almighty. " Tlie excellency of Jacob " cannot well mean here any quality or thing that Jacob pos.9essed — not his moral qualities, not his goodly land — but it must refer to and describe Jehovah himself lie was " the excellency of Jacob " in the sense 148 AMOS.— CHAP. VIII. of being his most glorious "portion," Lis licliest treasure ; that in which Jacob shonhl more exult and rejoice than in all things else. Comparing this passage with Ann)s G : 8, where the Lord says, " I abhor the excellency of Jacob," the difference is that tliere the phrase refers to the glorious land and country of Jacob which the people did account their chief glory, as they should not ; here, to their covenant-keeping G-od whom they ought to have ac- counted their chief glory, but did not. The object in using this one phrase ia these two different senses may have been to make this contrast palpable. It is by no means uncommon for Jehovah to swear by himself. I'aul (Ileb. 6 : 13) intimates the reason to bo that he can swear by none greater — by notliing else so solemn. As to the form of this oath, it is very common in Hebrew, but not often retained in our English translation : " If I shall ever forget any of their works " — where the full force would be express- ed by filling out the sentence — then I am 7iot God. A very strong emphasis on the word //" suffices, however, to express the sense. God will not lose from his memory one of the least of aU their doings. All shall come up again for judgment. 8. Sliall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn tliat dwelleth therein ? and it sliall rise np wholly as a flood ; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as Iti/ the flood of Egypt. The tone of awful earnestness, manifest in this oath of Jehovah, should lead us to expect appalling? judgments, in hearing which, all ears sliould tingle. The prophet compares the convulsions that shall shake the land to an earthquake, and represents tliis earth- quake as heaving up the land, even as the Nile lifts up its waters in its annual inundations. The verse might be paraphrased thus : "For this, sliall not the land tremble as in au earthquake, and every dweller therein mourn, when the whole land rises up as tlic Nile, and rolls to and fro, and then sulisides like the river of Egypt after its mighty inundations ? " Of tlie two words rendered "cast out," and "drowned," the first must mean, driven and tossed, as impelled by miglity forces; and the second, sulslding again, when the moving force is spent. The ultimate thought is, that convulsions shake and rock the kingdom of Israel, and finally sweep it away into the gulf of ruin. 9. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith tlie Lord GoT), that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I Avill darken the earth in the clear day : This is the usual figure for great calamity. The -last clause reads literally — "I will darken the light to the earth in the day- time." The actual tiling indicated by these figures should not be looked for in the natural but in the political and moral world. (See Joel 3: 15 and 2: 31.) AMOS.— CnAP. VIII. 14<> 10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation ; and I will bring up sackclotli upon all loins, and baldness upon every bead ; and I will make it as tbe mourning of an only son, and tlie end tbereof as a bitter day. These are the tokens of gi'ief common among the people of the East in all ages. 11. Bebold, tbe days come, saitli tlie Lord God, tbat I will send a famine in tbe land, not a famine of bread, nor a tbirst for water, but of bearing tbe words of tbe Lokd: 12. And tbey sball wander from sea to sea, and from tbe nortb even to tbe east ; tbey sball run to and fro to seek tbe word of tbe Loed, and sball not find it. 13. In tbat day sball tbe fair virgins and young men faint for tbirst. In their deep calamity, their ideas and feelings in regard to messages from tlie Lord by his servants, will utterly change. Whereas they had made light of these messages when they had them— even scorning the Avord of God and misusing his prophets — now, the Lord having withdrawn and trouble having come on, they are in the horrors of a great famine of the words of the Lord. They long for some word from hhn, and wander over the whole laud in vain to find a prophet. Like Saul after the Lord had forsaken him, they say — " I am sore distressed ; God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophet nor by dreams" (1 Sam. 28 ; 15). This Avas one of the prophet's last appeals to the peoide to give heed to the words of the Lord while they had them. 11, Tbey tbat swear by tbe sin of Samaria, and say, Tby god, O Dan, livetb; and, Tbe manner of Beer-sbeba livetb ; even tbey sball fall, and never rise up again. The "sin of Samaria" is here idol gods. One of Jeroboam's calves was put up in Dan, the extreme northern limit of the king- dom. The " mawTze?' of Beersheba " means first the ways of idol worship practised there, and next, the idol gods themselves, which is the sense here. The form of the oath might be better ex- pressed—" As thy God, O Dan, liveth ;" or, " By the hfe of thy god, O Dan ;'' and so of the god Beersheba. All who have had such reverence for these infamous gods as to swear by them shall fall, nevei" to rise again. 150 AMOS.— CHAP, IX. CHAPTER IX. Tms chapter opens ■with tlie fifth and last special vision shown the prophet : affirms the complete destruction of the guilty, apos- tate people of Israel ; denies in vivid forms all possihility of their escape (vs. 1-7, 10), yet promises the rescue of a small renmant (vs. 8, 9) ; predicts the raising up of the fallen tent of David, and the saving of the true Israel for an era of extraordinary and long-con- tinued prosperity. 1. I saw tlie Lord standing npon tlie altar : and lie said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake : and cut them in the head all of them ; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he thatiieeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not he delivered. la the outset, a question arises respecting tlie altar referred to liere, the decision of which aftects the interpretation of the chapter fundamentally. Some, with Dr. Henderson, take it to he the idol altar at Bethel, and adduce the following reasons for tliis view : (1.) The reference (8: 14), immediately preceding, to the utter and final fall of the worshippers of those itlols, showing that tliis suh- ject was in mind; (2.) That Amos (3 : 14) affirms this very thing — '' In the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall he cut ofl' and fall to tlie ground ; " (3.) The fit- ness of this fact in itself^ and in all its relations ; (4.) Tlnit Hosea, under the same circumstances, distinctly predicts that God will hreak down those altars and spoil their images (Hos. 10: 2, 5, 8). Others, including Dr. Hengstenherg, Rosenmuller, and Cahan, take it to mean the altar of hurnt-olFeriug at Jerusalem. I adopt this opinion decidedly, for the following reasons: (1.) This, and tliis only, is the altar — the one to be thought of when avc liavo nothing else to determine the sense except this emphatic definite article. (2.) The idol altar was not, to the same extent, the promi- nent thing at Bethel. The calf, the god himself, was much more prominent. (3.) The scope of tliis chapter, and more especially from V. 8 to the close, contemplates Judah and Jerusalem, as well as Samaria, Bethel, and the northern kingdom ; e. g., v. 7, " brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt; " v. 8, "the house of Jacob," and v. 9, " the house of Israel," wlio are spoken of as "my people," V. 10; "the tent of David," v. 11; "my people of Israel," v, 14. (4.) The allusions, v. 11, and especially the use of the plural num- ber, are tliouglit to refer to both kingdoms: "In that day will I raise up tlie tent of |)uvid tliat is lalleu (looking, perhaps, in part to the crushing down of the temple, as in this v. 1), and will wall up AMOS.— CEAP. IX. 151 their (not its) breaches " — the breaches of both kingdoms, and " I ■will raise np his ruins," those of David, and " I will build it " — the tent — "as in days of old." The two points of argument last made (Nos. 3 and 4) offset the consideration that most of the book of Amos relates to the northern kingdom. That is freely admitted, yet when the Lord reaches, in this last chapter, the revelations of mercy, the phraseology embraces the sonthern as well as the north- ern kingdom ; or rather that temporary distinction is lost sight of, and we have the earlier Israel of the times of the Exodus and of David. In this point of view we go back also to the great altar at Jei'usalem. (5.) But more than all is the argument from the scope and course of thought. To see this iu its full force, we must look first at the fact that the people of the northern kingdom, though fearfully apostate from God into idol-worship, yet kept up some of the forms of the Mosaic system, and manifestly depended upon God's protection and favor on this account. See the evidence, chap. 4:4,5: "Bring your sacritices every morning, your tithes after three years, your thank-offerings and your free-offerings " — where the sense is. Bring them if you will, and rely on them for salvation if you will; they can avail you nothing. Also 5:14, 18-26: "Seek good and not evil; so the Lord shall be with you as ye have said; " i. e., they had said the Lord would be with them, because of their religious worship. The prophet replies, " God will be with you then, and only then, when you seek good and do right." V. 18 shows that they did not fear but even dared the coming of the day of the Lord — manifestly through their vain confidence in his favor. Hence he solemnly afBrms, " I hate, I despise your feast- days; I will not accept your burnt-offerings," &c. The whole con- nection here shows that the Lord would fain annul their vain reli- ance on the mere forms of ceremonial worship for the salvation of their country. With this fact in mind, let us come to our verse (0 : 1). I para- phrase it thus: " I saw the Lord standing beside the great altar of burnt-offering in Jerusalem, and he said, ' Smite the capitals of the columns, and make the very thresholds tremble, and dash them in pieces npon the heads of all the people within, and the remnant of them I will slay with the sword ; whoever flees shall not escape, and he that gets away shall not be finally delivered.' " In tliis vision the people are supposed to be assembled iu the temple for safety against the judgments of God, but he comes down with his destroying angel and orders the whole temple to be crushed down from pinnacle to basement, that it may fall crashing upon the heads of the assembled tlirong. Then, whom the falling temple does not crush, the sword shall slay, and none shall escape. The context in the next tlu-ee verses confirms this view of the general course of thought in this passage, as we shall see. This vision of the temple crushed down npon the heads of those who had fled to it for refuge against the judgments of God, is alto- gether in harmony with Amos 6 : 8 : — "The Lord hath sworn by 152 AMOS.— CHAP. IX. himself, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces.'' See Notes on the passage. The whole heart of the Holy One revolts at the idea that his temple should bo made a hidiug-place and sanctuary of refuge for hypocrites so foul, apostates so guilty and so Heaven-provoking; and as he abhors their goodly land because of the sins of the people, and wHl not spare it for its natural beauty, so neither will he spare its goodly temple. 2. Tlioiigli tliey dig into liell, thence sliall mine liand take tlieni ; tliongli tliey climb up to lieaven, tlience will I bring tliem clown : 3. And tliongb tliey hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them ont thence ; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them : 4. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them : and I will set mine eyes upon them for eviJ, and not for good. The aim throughout those verses is to deny all possibility of escape. It is not essential to the titness or the force of these supposed cases that they should be actually possible. The affirma- tion is that if they were so, and •(/'men should hide there, it should avaU them nothing. There is no escape from the Almighty by any expedient, possible or even supposable. " The top of Carmel " is suggested as a place to hide one's self, both because of its numerous caves and thick undergrowths, and because, lying adjacent to the Mediterranean, it naturally stood in contrast with tlie bottom of the sea. " Going into captivity " presupposes that their lives are at first spared ; but even the rights of prisoners of war should not save them from death. 5. And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall inom*n : and it shall rise up wholly like a flood ; and be drowned, as J)y the flood of Egypt. 6. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth ; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth : the Lokd is his name. These bold descriptions of Jehovali's power over the material world are adduced here in the same line of tliought with tlic ]ire- codiug — to show how hopelessly futile juiist be every attempt of guilty men to evade his scourge or escape his retributions. The AMOS.— CHAR IX. 153 manner of the original is graphic: "And the Lord Jehovnli of Hosts — he is touching the earth, and then it melts, and all the dwellers in it nionrn ; its whole surface is lifted np like the rising Nile, and then subsides as the river of Egypt (the cti'ects of an earthquake, as in Amos 8 : 8). He builds his chambers in the heavens ; he has founded his arched vault upon the earth (i. e. the blue concave tirmament). He calls for the waters of the sea, and then pours them out upon the face of the earth — Jehovah, his name." What our translators meant by " troop " is not clear. The original word refers to the apparently arched concave above ns, which the Hebrews thought and spoke of as solid, " the firmament," and its pillars or lower edges as resting upon the earth. 1. Are ye not as cliildren of the Ethiopians nnto me, O chikh'en of Israel? saith the Lord. Have I not bronght np Israel ont of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir ? This verse aims to confront and demolisli another delusive reliance of the apostate people, viz., that, being the seed of Abraham and children of the covenant, bronght by a series of miracles into the land of promise, they were invincible against any heathen power, since their God would surely protect them. The Lord replies to their thought — "What are ye to me more than the Cushites and Ethiopians? I did indeed bring you up out of Egypt; so I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor (Crete), and the Syrians from Kir " — the region of the river Cyrus. Does sucli a removal insure the perpetual prosperity of any jjeople ? Can it save you from being removed again, far beyond Damascus ? (See Amos 5 : 27.) The Ethiopians, or Cushites, originally holding central Arabia, were removed to the interior of Africa. 8. Behold the eyes of the Lord God are npon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face face of the earth ; saving that I will not ntterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. The phrase " sinful kingdom " leads the mind to the kingdom of the ten tribes, that being at this period far more corrupt than Judah. The sentence "I will destroy it from the face of the earth," had special reference to the ten tribes. The excepting clause, " saving that I will not ntterly destroy the house of Jacob," raises the question whether the saved were of the ten tribes, or of Judah only. On this point, the statements in this verse are not altogether explicit : v. 'J favors the hope that some from the ten tribes were plucked from utter ruin; v. 10 shows that all the sinvcrs — all who were past repentance and reform — would be cut ott' by the sword. 9, For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house •7* 154. AMOS.— CHAP. IX. of Israel among all nations, like as co}vi is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. It would seem that " the house of Israel," as used in this verse, must be a different class from " the sinful kingdom," named in v. 8, and from "the sinners of my people," spoken of in v. 10. The latter, he says, " shall be destroyed " (v.8) ; " shall die hj the sword " (v. 10); but the former, thoug-h sifted fine and far among tlio nations, shall none of them be lost. They are the precious^ grain, and God's eye is on them to save them and to use them for his own purpose, as liis eye is also on the sinful kingdom to destroy it from the face of the earth. The "house of Israel," therefore, must in- clude here only the real people of God, " faithful found among the faithless;" the same whom, considered as captives, he will restore, as said below. The word rendered " the least grain " is thought by Ilengstenberg to mean a bundle, or any thing bound up. This is the almost universal sense of the word. Its meaning here would be essentially as in 1 Sam. 25 : 29 : "Men rise up to per- secute and to seek thy soul; but the soid of my Lord is bound in the bundle of the living by the Lord thy God." So in our passage Avith this sense of the word, the house of Israel are bound up in the bundle of life by the Lord himself, and cannot be lost in the sifting process of discipline by dispersion among the nations. If we might give the word the sense — a small grain — the ultimate meaning would be much the same. 10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The e\\\ sliall not overtake or prevent us. The sense here must be — "All the sinners out of or among my people" — the sinners being one class and God's people another. The sinners shall die — the judgment of God being the fearfully sifting process. The descrii)tion given of them evinces their vain self-confidence. Tlie evils threatened by the prophets of the Lord, they are sure, will neither overtake them from behind, nor come in ahead of them from before. " Prevent " has usually in our Bible that ancient, now obsolete sense, of getting in advance, coming in ahead to intercept and confront an adversary. Vain self-confi- dence never saves ; it only hastens and aggravates destruction. 11. In that day will I raise \\\\ the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, 'and I will build it as in the days of old : The point of time indicated by "in that day," is not definite. It looks into that future pei'iod when discijjline shall have wi'ought its desired result and the fulness of the Lord's time of mercy shall have come. The "tent" or booth "of David" — not his royal palace, which would indicate prosperity and strength — but bis AMOS.— CHAP. IX. 155 reduced and himible dwelling', a booth of tree-boughs, and even thig fallen down, God will now raise np. The reigning family of David had been sadly broken down by the revolt under Jeroboam ; far more so still by their apostasy into idol-worship, oppression, and other immoralities, for all which God had doomed the sinners of his people to be ntterly cut off; but the day will come for rear- ing up again this royal line and its kingdom. He will wall up the breaches of the " double house," the two kingdoms (for so the plural pronoun, rendered "thereof," should naturally mean): "I will raise up David's ruins and build his tent as in days of old." These promises suggest the original covenant with David's line (2 Sam. 7:10). "And thy house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever." King Messiah is to come in this royal line, and, according to the strain of this prophecy, events ripen for his coming. Only in him can this prophecy find an adequate fulfilment. 12. That tliey may possess tlic remnant of Edom, and of all tlie heathen which are called by my name, saith the Loed that doeth this. Tlie "rem.nant of Edom" reminds us that in chap. 1 : 11, 12, we saw Edom doomed to sore judgments, almost exterminating, be- cause of his relentless hostility to his brother Jacob's race. Now the revived and rebuilt house of David shall possess what is left of Edom. There may also be a tacit allusion to the fact that the literal David himself subdued the Edomites and made them tributary, and that they took advantage of the breaches in David's tents — in other Avords, the weakness induced by the revolt and by the great sins of the covenant people — to throw oft" this yoke. David's line, having returned to God and to consequent prosperity and power, shall again possess Avhat remains of Edom. And not of Edom alone, but of all the heathen over whom God's name is called, for so saith the Lord who bringeth to pass these promised events. The calling of God's name over a ])erson or peojile is not an empty ceremony, but a most significant fact. It implies their consecration to his love and service. Thus it was said concerning Israel — Deut. 28 : 9, 10 : "The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto him- self," &e., "and all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord," literally rendered, " that the name of the Lord hath been called over or upon thee," and cv^nsequently that thou art the people of God, and the object of his protecting care and love. To the same pur])ort is Dan. 9 : 18, 19, "O Lord, beliold the city over which thy name is called " — "for thy city and thy people ai'e called by thy name." In this most interesting sense God's name has been called over the gentile nations. This is the great fact afiirmed in this passage. May it not be that Isaiah, in nearly the same words, means the same thing (o-i:5)? "The God of the whole earth shall he be called," i. c, "his name shall be called over or upon it all." Another mode of expressing essen- 156 AMOS.— CHAP. IX. tially the same thing is this — "They" — the royal seed of Duvid — " shall possess " (inherit) " the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen." Precisely this Isaiah afSrms — " Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles " (54 : 3). Yet further, let tis not lose sight of the idea that this calling of the name of God over these heathen nations, and this inheriting or possession of the Gentiles by the royal seed of David, must all he understood, not in the worldly but in the gospel sense. Israel takes possession of the gentile nations, only in the name of her King Messiah ; only by preaching to them his gospel, revealing to them his loVe, and taking their hearts captive for him by the power of his cross. We must think of no other conquest, no other form of possession, but this. Finally, let us revert to tlie quotation of these verses (11, 12) by the Apostle James (Acts 15 : 14-17) in his speech before the great council at Je- rusalem, lie began with saying, " Simon Peter has been relating to you how God has visited the Gentiles to convert some of them to himself; and to this agree the words of the prophet Amos ;" and then he quotes substantially from the Septuagint version these two verses. His quotations differ from the Hebrew chiefly in read- ing "the residue of men," instead of "the remnant of Edom." The Hebrew reader will readily see the resemblance between "Edom" and "Adam" — which was specially close when the Hebrew was written without the vowels. Yet James gives the general sense with entire accuracy, viz., that God had of set pur- pose called the Gentiles within the pale of his church, to inherit in it among his people. 13. Beliolcl, tliG clays come, saitli tlie Lord, tliat the ploiigliman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of £:;rapes him that soweth seed ; and the momitains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14. And I will bring again the captivity of my peo- ple of Israel, and they shall bnild the waste cities, and inhabit them, y and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the frnit of them. 15. And I will plant them npon their land, and they shall no more be pulled nji out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lokd thy God. Here let us first note the sense of particular words and phrases. " Days come," looks forward to tlie remote and indefinite fu- ture. The manner of calling attention to the matters revealed in tlicse last three verses, ^'■Behold" coupled with the cliange from "in that day" (v. 11), to "days come" (v. 13), imply that tliese lat- ter events lie onward in the future, beyond those recorded (vs. 11, 12). " The ploughman overtaking the reaper," il'c, implies great prosperity and abundance. Tlie rea[)er will have so much to do, AMOS.— CHAP. IX. 157 and the plonghinan withal is so eager to get in readiness a largo field, tliat lie treads on the lieels of the reaper. The mountains terraced and cultivated in grapes to their summits shall seem to dis- til new wine. It flows down their declivities as if the mountains themselves were becoming liquid. To " bring again their captiv- ity " always implies good and not evil — promised blessings and not threatened calamities. It is also nsed in a broader and more gen- eral sense than tliat of bringing captives home to their own land. IIow this came to pass may be seen in the history of the Hebrews as related to Canaan. In all those ages of promise, prior to their possession of Canaan under Joshua, '' to inherit the land," to pos- sess the land of promise, was the consummation of hope, the thing of most earnest desire. " The meek shall inherit the laud," shows the significance of this phraseology. In later times, after cap- tivity in foreign lands had been their sad experience, the phrases " bring again their captivity," and " plant them again in their own land," superseded the former phrase in a like sense of general pros- perity. Cases that both illustrate and prove this figurative use of the phrase " to bring or tarn again the captivity," may be seen (Job 43 : 10), " And the Lord turned the captivity of Job," but Job had been in no captivity in the literal sense. The Lord changed his state by a change analogous to that from bondage to freedom. Also Ezek. 16 : 53, 55, " When I shall bring again the captivity of Sodom and. lier daughters," &c., but the trouble with Sodom was not a real captivifi/. This term is used here figuratively for another calamity worse than that. The precise sense of the phrase is given ' in a clause explanatory (v. 55), " When thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall return to their fonner estate." These cases wiU suffice to establish the usage which I have assumed. Let us be- ware lest we stop in the letter and miss the spirit of this prophecy. So doing, we shall find in it only a Mohammedan pa,radise, and God surely intended something fiir richer and better than that. We shall greatly eiT if in reading this passage we think only of great harvests, hills running down with Aviue, and the people of Israel restored again and forevermore to Palestine. The construction Ave are compelled to put on the two verses next preceding forbids this. The sense given to those verses by the Apostle James, viz., the call- ing of the Gentiles into the gospel faith, forbids it. It would be a sad falling otf if, borne along by the whole cun-ent of thought in this ninth chapter, and especially in verses 11, 12, we should begin to rejoice in the glory of gospel salvation, spreading widely over all the Gentile world, and then, in these last thi-ee verses, should reach the climax by dropping down to Judaism, and find none but sensual ideas, luxui-ions harvests, plenty of good wine, and the land of Palestine held forever by the Jews. The current strain of all the gospel prophecies forbids this construction, Amos himself would rebuke ns ! He would say, How could you forget that, be- ing myself a husbandman from my youth, I ought to be allowed to draw my figures and illustrations from things with which I had 158 AMOS.— CHAP. IX. been all my life familiar? llad you not noticed this same thing throughout my book ? And could you not learn to distinguish be- tween tlie drapery and the person clothed in it — between the cos- tume and the inward reality? Yes, thoulovely, venerable prophet of the Lord, we will not torture thy figures of speech into sensu- alities that never came into thy mind ! We will try to see in this rich imagery of natm-e the glorious and munificent things of gospel times. We will not impute to thee the inconsistency of denoun- cing the woes of God on men " at ease in Zion," because they " drink wine in bowls" (G : 0), and then representing the saints of God as finding their highest spiritual life and glory in vineyards, grapes, and "wine ! I cannot close this book of Amos without a passing tribute to his clear, forcible, and earnest style; to the richness of his figures, drawn chiefly from the familiar but often sublimely grand fields of nature, and from the scenes of husbandry ; to the sublime and sol- emn grandeur with which he recites the significant names of Je- hovah, God of hosts; and not least, to his warm syiupathy witli the wronged and outraged poor, and to his intense abhorrence of the luxury, pride, ostentation, and especially the opp^'ession which manifestly was the crowning and damning sin of the leading men in the kingdom of Israel. We shall need to go for to find keener invectives against these Ileaven-provoking sins, or a more earnest wielding of Jehovah's thunders against the oppression of the poor, the perversions of justice, and the enslaving of men. Well, in- deed, had it been, if dui'iug the past hundred years, our American churches had drank deeply of the spirit of Amos, the herdman-, prophet, and had given heed to the burning words against oppress- ion which God spake through his li]is! Then had our American Christianity never stricken hands with the oppressor ! American systematized oppression would have been throttled in its cradle, and the woes of the great war of rebellion under which the nation lias bled and groaned need never have been! It may be noted tliat Amos, like Ilosea and Joel, closes with an outlook from the lofty heights of the mount of Vision into that goodly land of Prom- ise, yet mostly futui-e, when " the earth shall be full of the knowl- edge of the Lord," when his kingdom and peojjle shall possess the world, and all its tribes and kingdoms shall become tlie kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ that lie may reign forever and ever. OBADIAH. INTEODUCTION. Of the autlior of this shortest book in the Bible, we have the briefest possible account. Ilis name "was Obadiah — there the rec- ord ends. The book contains historical (not prophetic) allusions to the capture and destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and the consequent captivity, and therefore must have been written subse- quent to that event, yet how long after cannot be-certainly deter- mined by any evidence external or internal. The tone of the pas- sage (vs. 11-14) implies that those events connected with the fall of Jerusalem were then recent. The name, Obadiah, meaning "servant of the Lord," occurs frequently in the Hebrew genealo- gies, and several times in Bible history. The author of this book was not the Obadiah who stood up so nobly for the Lord under that wicked Ahab (1 Kings 18 : 3, 4, Y, 10), nor that other Obadiah Avho was employed by Jehoshaphat to teach rehgious duty (2 Chron. 17 : 7). We must 1)6 content to know but little of his personal history. His subject is one — a prophecy concerning Edom. The poster- ity of Esau, otherwise called Edom, founded this kingdom at a very early period. They manifestly had their land imder cultivation before the Hebrews entered Canaan. They appear repeatedly in the scenes of Jewish history during the reign of David, and more especially after the revolt. The early antipathy which brought Esau out with four hundred armed men to intercept Jacob on his return from Padanarara to Canaan, though sometimes kept down under the pressure of conscious iuability to do his brother harm, 160 OBADIAH.— CHAP. I. yet seems never to have been fully suppressed. As said by Araoi (1 : 11), '•bo cast off all pity, and bis anger did tear perpetually, and be nnrsed bis wratb forever." Tbis enduriug batred seized its opportunity when Jerusalem fell before tbe Cbaldean power, and broke fortb, not only in most uufraternal words, but in most cruel deeds. Tbis was tbe special occasion of the prophecy here recorded. Other prophets have predicted the fall of Edora, some of ear- lier date, e. ^., Isaiah and Joel, and some contemporary, or of later date, e. g.^ Jeremiah, Ezelciol, Malacbi, and the writer of Psalm 137. (See Isaiah 21 : 11 ; and 34: and Joel 3:19, and Jeremiah 49 : 7-22 (closely parallel), and Ezek. 25 : 12-14, and Mai. 1 : 3, 4.) CHAPTER I. 1. The vision of Obadiali. Thus saith tlie Lord God concerning Edom ; We have heard a rumor from tlie LoKD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, a,nd let us rise up against her in battle. Tbe Lord commissions his servant Obadiah to proclaim, "Wo have heard from the Lord a message, i. e., a thing to be announced (not a " rumor" in tbe sense of an uncertain, flying report), to the eftect that his providential agencies have summoned tbe heathen fortb, calHng on them to arise and come up for battle against Edom. 2. Beliold, I have made thee small among the heathen : thou art greatly despised. 3. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high ; that saith in his heart, AVho shall bring me down to the ground ? 4. Thouij-h thou exalt thiisclf as the ea2:le, and tliouti'li thou set thv nest anions the stars, thence will I Ijriuir thee down, saith the Lokd. The great men of Edom had been proud (we may suppose) of t!ic high antiquity of their nation; of their great wealth, tlioir country having been for ages tbe thoroughfare of commerce be- tween Egypt and North Africa on their southwest, and the rich countries of Mesopotamia and India on tbe east and northeast; of their emiuent progress in tbe arts, of which tbe ruins yet remain- ing are ample proof; and of their early knowledge of letters, of ■which the Book of Job (native to tbis country) is good testimony. Sir Isaac Newton came to tlic conclusion tliat Edoui was the nur- OBADIAH.— CHAr. I. 161 sery of the arts and sciences for all the world, and that even the Egj'ptians received from them their earliest knowledsje of astron- omy and of its use in navigation. Men of the world think and speak of pride on such grounds as honest and honorable ; but, how- ever this may be, it surely cannot atone for moral obliquities, for national animosity, jealousy, revenge, and perpetual hatred. And when, as in this case, national pride deceives a people so greatly as to make them think they have nothing to fear from the just judg- jnents of God, the mistake is fearful. This was the sin and ruin of ancient Edom. The phrase "Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high," has in modern times received a very striking confirmation from the personal visits and examination made by a large number of travellers — Burckhardt among the earliest; Dr. Edward Eobinson among the most accurate and reliable. They and others have found on the site of ancient Petra a vast amount of ruins of the homes of both the living and the dead, especially along the face of an immense gorge or chasm, where the perpendicular vock, several hundred feet in height, was improved for temples, sepulchres, and private residences, chiselled from the rock itself. The massive grandeur of these ruins aids us to appreciate the de- scription, " Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose hab- itation is high." It also accounts for the pride and vain confidence felt by the men of Edom in the military strength of their fast- nesses, and evinces the pertinence of the divine word, " Though thou lift thyself high as the eagle, and set thy nest among the stars thence will I bring thee down." IIow vain it must ever be for even the loftiest and mightiest of men to defy the Almighty, o. count themselves above the reach of his retributions ! 5. If tliieves came to tliee, if robbers bj nigbt (liow art tlion cut off!) would tliey not have stolen till they had enough ? if the grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave so?ne grapes ? 6. IIow are the things of Esau searched out ! how are his hidden things sought up ! These supposed cases — the thieves, the night-robbers, and tin grape-gatherers — all have the same object, viz., to show that tht spoihng of Esau would be unsparing. The interjected exclamatior: — " IIow art thou cut off! " — implies that the desolation of Esa'o would be more dire than that wrought by thieves and night-rob- bers. The latter, compelled by fear to make short work, are wont to seize what comes first to hand till they have enough for present want, or, as the case may be, all they can carry away ; and so may leave some valuables behind. Gi'ape-gatherers leave gleanings. But Esau's Avealth wiU be carefully searched out. Those wlio shall come to spoil him will find all his hidden stores. The exclamation in v. 6 corresponds in form of statement precisely to that thrown into 1G2 OBADIAH.— CHAP. I. the middle of v. 5 — " ITow art thou cut off! " The prophet's eja and heart were full of the sad fate of so much wealth, heautj'', and glory, doomed to utter desolation. 1. All the men of tliy confederacy liave bronglit tliee even to the border : the men that were at peace with tliee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee ; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee : there is none understanding in him. When the Lord's time comes to cast a mighty nation down, he causes all their friends to turn against them. So this verse affirms of the kingdom of Edom. First, all his allies (" men of thy con- federacy"), hound by treaty to stand or fall with him, cast him out of their coimtry, chasing him even to their border, as one turns a villain out of his doors. Next, those who were on terms of peace and friendship tm-n to deceive him, and prevail agamst him ; and last, even his dependents, who ate at his table, put a snare under his feet to entrap him. Snare (not "wound") is the sense of the original word used here. Finally, this utter failure of all his re- liances suggests the remark, " There is no understanding in him." He should not have trusted such helpers, and rejected the Almighty God! 8. Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even de- stroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau ?' The closing thonght of the verse preceding suggests these ques- tions. Edom was celebrated for her wise men, and was proud of them. Would not the Lord in that day destroy those great men, and cause wisdom to cease ti-om the mount of Esau ? 9. And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dis- mayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut ofl' by slaughter. Her warriors also should be smitten with panic, in order that the slaughter of the people might be complete. " Teman " was the naiue of a city and region in the eastern part of Idumea. Per- haps it was celebrated for its courage and prowess in war. 10. For thy violence against thy brother Jacol), shame shall come over thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. The discourse turns here from the destruction of Edom to those sins whicli were its sjjccial cause. These sins were their violence and outrages against the posterity of Jacob, their brother. For tins they should be ashamed and confounded ; and for this the nation should idtimatcly be cut off forever. These two inflictions would OBADIAH. 1G3 be distinct, mul might be somewhat- widely separated in time. The form of the pro])]ictic statement admits this distinction ; the facts of history fultiUed it. The shameful defeat came from the liand of Nebuchadnezzar ; the final overthrow was postponed into the early ages of the Christian era. 11. In tliG day tliat tlioii stoodest on th.e other side, ill the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates^ and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou lociHt as one of them. 12. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger ; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction ; neither should- est thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. 13. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity ; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity ; 14. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the cross- way, to cut oif those of his that did escape ; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. These specifications of what Esau had done in the hne of vio- lence and Avrong toward his brother Jacob are put in the form of pointed rebuke, after the fact. In the day when the Chaldeans took his (Jacob's) armed men captive, entered his gates, and cast lots upon whatever was fair and precious in the holy city, thou wast hostile and violent as they. '' Thou stoodest on the other side " means more than simply standing aloof and distant ; it im- plies the attitude of an adversary. The original words have tins sense (2 Sam. 18 : 13) : " Thou wouldest have set thyself against them." " Thou wast as one of them " might possibly, if taken by itself, mean only that the men of Edom sympathized fully with the Chaldeans and against the Jews ; but it more naturally implies that they participated heartily in the assault and pillage of tlie hated city. V. 14 certainly means all tliis. "Thou shouldest not have looked on (exultingly) iu the day when he was treated as an alien." V. 12 shows that they were present in the sack and ruin of the city, seizing the opportunity to rush within those gates and lay hands on her spoil. The middle clause of this verse (12) is made specially emphatic — " Thou shouldest not," of all the na- tions, " thou shouldest not have been looking on, to gloat thine envious and cruel eye with the sight of then- calaujilies." V. 14 rep- 1G4 OBADIAH. resents that tliey most cruelly stood in the road-crossings to waylay the fleeing Jews, to cut off their escape, and to deliver them up as captives to their cruel captors. They should have done none of these things. God — the righteous God of nations — is jxow holding them to a strict and stern responsibility for tliose cruel violations of fraternal sympathy which should have bound them to the pos- terity of their father's brother. The writer of Ps. 137 felt the si)irit of this just retribution — "Eemeraber, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of avenging Jerusalem, who said: Ease it, I'ase it, even to the foundation thereof " (v. 7). 15, For the day of the Loed •?*§ near upon all the hea- then : as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee : thy reward shall return upon thine own head. "The day of the Lord " is his time for retribution, declared here to be " near upon all the heatiien." It came soon by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. " As thou " (Edom) " hast done to Jerusalem, so shall it be done \into thee ; thy reward " (the sort of treatment thou hast shown to others) "shall coinc back upon thine own head." IG. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall he as thougli they had not been. These allusions to drinking are explained by the usage of the prophets. When they bore predictions of dire calamity, tliey were said to carry a cup filled with a mixture which represented the wrath and vengeance of the Almighty. The ground passage is Ps. 75 : 7, 8: "But God is the judge, he putteth down one, and setteth up another; for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture : but the dregs thereof — all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them." To Jerusalem Isaiah said (.51 : 17) : "Stand up, thou who hast drunk at the hand of tlie Lord tlie cup, of liis fury." In Jer. 25: 15-33, this figure is carried out fully : "Take the wine-cup of this fury at mine hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it." So also Jer. 49 : 12, in a passage very closely i)arallel to this of Obadiah. With this view of the sense of this figure, it seems necessaiy to refer tlie first clause — "ye who liave drunk on my hcly moun- tain " — to the Jews themselves. They had taken their turn in drink- ing from this cup of retributive justice ; now all tlie heathen — Edom among them — must follow. These guilty heathen nations must driidc copiously, for tlie word rendered " swallow down " is strong — shall guzzle down, as men who love it, and suck out the very dregs with keenest relisii. And this shall be the end of them — their cup of national aimiliilation. 17. But upon mount Zion shall bo deliverance, and OBADIAH. 1C5 tliere tliall be holiness ; and tlie house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Over against the final fate of those oppressive and wicked na- tions, Momit Zion stands in the strongest contrast. Turning now to l)romises for the people of God, the prophet portrays the victory given to Zion's side. Mount Zion shall be delivered, and, best of all, '' shall become Zio/y." This will secure her forever against such fearful calamities, for these come only as needful discipline to cleanse her from lier sins. That " the house of Jacob shall possess their pos- sessions " will either mean that they repossess their former land, or that they gain possession of the country of the heathen — one or the other, according as the pronoun " their'''' is reflexive, meaning their own, or refers to heathen nations. The former is most probable. The latter fact is taught specially in vs. 19, 20. 18. And the honse of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stub- ble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them ; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau ; for the Loed hath spoken it. Fire is one of the oriental images for war and its devastations. Thus, Num. 21 : 28 : "For a fire is gone out of Ileslibon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath consumed Ar of Moab," &c. Isaiah (10:17), setting forth how God's consuming wrath fell on the Assyrian host, says, " The light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and it shall burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day." So here, the honse of Jacob shall be a fire, &e., and Esaii stubble. This must imply that Jacob should be the executioner of the Lord's vengeance upon Esau. A signal fulfil- ment of this prophecy took place under John Ilyrcanus, b. c. 125. 19. And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau ; and they of the plain the Philistines : and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Sa- maria : and Benjamin shall j^ossess Gilead. The people of the southern part of Palestine should possess the mount of Esau, that being contiguous to their homes. They of the plain country, the southwest portion of Palestine, slioidd have the country of the Philistines, adjacent to them, &c. 20. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath ; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south. "The captives of this host" are the captives returning from Babylon. They shall possess the country long held by the Canaan- IQQ OBADIAH. ites, even to Zarepliath, a city near Zidon (see 1 Kings 17 : 9), and called " Sarepta," Luke 4 : 26. The geography of '' Sepharad " is not fully settled. It was a place whither some captives from Je- rusalem were sent by the Chaldeans. liecent critics locate it in Western Asia, near the Bosphorus. 21, And saviours shall come tip on monnt Zion to judge tlie monnt of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Loed's. " Saviours " must he nsed here in the sense in which God raised up saviours to deliver the people in the days of the Judges that succeeded Joshua. The passage teaches that the princes reigning on Mount Zion shall rule over Mount Esau : " the elder shall serve the younger," or rather, in the much broader sense, the people who stand with God shall bear sway over all the realms and peoples of the earth. The wicked shall no more hear rule : " the kingdom is the Lord's and he is Governor among the nations," This is the great truth in which the whole Book of Obadiah culminates- a glo- rious truth indeed ' JOE"AH. INTEODUCTION. This book, more than any other in the Bible, has been assailed with ridicule by infidels, and tortured from its simplicity by neolog- ical critics. Whereas its air is that of a simple narrative of facts, immense efforts have been made to show that its statements are not fact, but fiction. Some of tliese critics would make it a vision ; some an allegory ; some a parable ; others a tale of ancient tradi- tion, believed by people of weak mmds, perhaps, but by such only, and never reliable. It would scarcely pay to follow out these critical fancies in detail. Let it suffice that the narrative bears not the least trace of being a vision, or an allegory, or a parable, or a tale of old-time tradition. From beginning to end it is simple, straightforward, nobly honest and self-condemning, especially con- sidered as written by Jonah of himself; in short, in every respect bearing the best internal evidence of truth. Then further, the book has worthy moral objects; e. ^., to set forth the peril of flee- ing from the path of duty, however rough or even dangerous that path may be; also, the ways of God's discipline to bring his wan- dering servants back, and the tenderness of his pity and forgi\nng love toward them despite of their sins ; and yet further, the prin- ciples on which God deals with nations, even the heathen, whether in judgment when they sin, or in sparing mercy when tliey repent. Such objects as these are great and good enough to entitle the book of Jonah to a place in the sacred canon ; or we might go farther back and say, sufliciently important to justify God in making those arrangements of his providence which constitute his part in these 168 JONAH.— CHAP. I. scenes of Jonah's history. But more than all, Jonah is distinctly recognized, in both the Old Testament and the New, as an historical and not a fictitious person. In Old Testament history, 2 Kings 14 : 25 distinctly refers to this Jonah, the son of Amittai, in these words : " He (Jeroboam II.) restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Ilamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, tlie son of Amittai, who was of Gath-IIepher." This city was assigned to the tribe of Zebulon (Josh. 19 : 13), so that Jonah's residence was within the kingdom of the ten tribes. He is thus located, precisely as to place, and proximately as to time^ not later than tlie early part of the reign of Jeroboam II. (reigned B. c. 825-784). In the New Testament, the proof to the point that Jonah was a real and not a fictitious character, is complete. (See Matt. 12 : 39-41, and IG : 4.) The Lord Jesus most distinctly re- fers to Jonah as the subject of a sign — i. e., of a miracle — as having been three days and three nights in the whale's belly, and as hav- ing preached to the people of Nineveh, under which preaching they repented; and finally, he definitely compares himself with Jonah: " Behold, a greater than Jonah is here." Now, if, despite of these testimonies to the contrary, men insist that Jonah is to bo ac- counted a fictitious character, they may say the same with equal reason of the queen of Sheba and of the wise Solomon. Will it be claimed that the Lord Jesus did not Mow v/hether the history of Jonah were truth or fiction? or that, knowing it to be fiction, he did not care how strongly his allusions to it implied its truth and misled the people ? Neither of these positions will ever be taken by those who intelligently accept and honor Jesus Christ as a teacher sent from God, and the very impersonation of truth. Yet further, the apocryphal Book of Tobit (14 : 4, 8) recognizes Jonah as an liistorical and not a fictitious character, a fact -which at least testifies to current Jewish opinion at its date. Josephus is yet another witness to the same point (Ant. 9:10, 12). The case of Jonah suggests that the Hebrew prophets, though brought into very near relations to God, were yet only human— men of like passions with the race at large, and subject to the tempta- tions incident to human frailties. His course in fleeing to Tarshish and his spirit while at Nineveh, are at once surprising and painful. In view of the fact that he was one of the earliest of the Hebrew prophets whose writings have come down to us, it is at least sup- posable that the Lord intended this example to be a lesson of spe- JONAH.— CHAr. I. 169 cial admonition to all subsequent prophets. Let us hope that it was blessed to them as a warning against being unfaithful to their mission, and against assuming to dictate or question the policy of the Most High God. CHAPTER I. Jonah is commissioned to go to Nineveb and forewarn them of their destruction (vs. 1, 2), lie attempts to flee away to Spain in- stead (v. 8); a tempest from the Lord arrests the ship (vs. 4r-ll); he is thrown overboard and caught up by a great fish (vs. 11-17). 1. IsTow tlie word of tlie Loed came unto Jonah tlie son of Amittai, saying;, 2. Arise, go to l^ineveh, tlint great city, and cry against it ; for tlieir wickedness is come up before me. Fineveh, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, opposite the site of the modern Mosul, for many ages past in ruins, has been discovered and its ruins somewhat thoroughly explored in the present century. It was the capital of ancient Assyria, one of the oldest cities since the flood (Gen. 10: 11, 12), long celebrated for its size, wealth, and magnificence. At this time its wickedness had come up before God, and he mercifully sent to them a prophet from Israel to forewarn them of impending ruin and exhort them to repent. The Hebrew prophets were somewhat frequently commissioned to utter predic- tions of judgment on Gentile nations, but seem to have been very rarely sent in person to bear tliese predictions to those nations. In Jer. 27 maybe seen a proximate case. The prophet was directed to send his prophetic message by the hand of foreign ambassadors present at the Jewish capital. 3. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Loed, and went down to Joppa ; and he found a ship going to Tarshish : so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Loed. It is now quite settled among critics that "Tarshish" was the city Tartessus, in Spain, with v/hich the Phoenicians kept up an active trade by sea. Jonah thought to escape the responsibility of his unwelcome commission to Nineveh by taking ship at once to Tarshish. The narrative is particular to state repeatedly that this was " fleeing from the jDresence of the Lord " — as if there would be no God in Tarsliish to make him trouble! or at least, as if God could not object to his laying down his prophetic ofiice, and going abroad to foreign lands. "We naturally ask — What could have 8 170 JONAH.— CHAP. I. been his motive and what his temptation to a course so wicked and so foolish ? Fear for liis personal safety is the cause we most naturally think of, yet of this it might well be asked — Did not he know tliat if the Lord sent him into danger, he could protect him through it? and that it is always safe for a child of God to go where he knows his Father sends him ? Another motive, even less worthy than this of fear, is indicated by his own strange expostulation with God (4 : 1, 2), because He retracted his threat to destroy Nineveh and turned from punishment to pardon. This change on the part of God " displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry ! " (Alas for poor human nature !) "And he prayed nnto the Lord and said — I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country ? Therefore I fled before to Tarshish ; for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil." Ah, indeed! then Jonah did not like to go* to Nineveh, through fear that they would repent, and then the Lord would forgive them and not destroy tlie city, as he was about to proclaim. And was he concerned lest his reputation should siiffer, and he be thought a false prophet ? Alas, again we must say, for the follies and sins of man ! In some points of view it seems wonderful that God should employ such a man at all as a prophet — only that in the sins of Jonah many a man might see his own, if he would. The Lord has great moral lessons to teach us from these sins of Jonah. Let none of us be too blind to see them, nor too much in love with sin to accept the I'ebuke they read to us, and repent. 4. But the LoED sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. The verb rendered " sent out " is strikingly expressive. lie hurled down upon the sea a great wind. The same word is used in the next verse for casting out the wares from the ship. So easily does God cast forth liis tempest blasts and lash the sea into fury. 5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man mito his god, and cast fortli the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship ; and he lay, and was fast asleep. Those heathen men — for such they doubtless were — had each his god. In his danger each of those men prayed to the god he was wont to worship. "Who does not pray in the hour of peril? Certainly the heathen arc usually no exception. Prol)ably there are no people on earth further removed from confidence in some super- human power able to befriend and save, than the irreligious and profane class in Christian lands. JONAH.— CHAP. I. lYl Some have tlionght tlaat the statement respecting Jonah as fast asleep under such circumstancci?, is violently improbable. — —But who knows how far he had walked dming the previous day to reach Joppa, or how much he may have suffered in his mind throughout his journey, and for days jjrevious? The ways of sin are not wont to be ways of pleasantness, nor her paths those of peace. 6. So tlie sliipm aster came to liim, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper ? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God "v\dll think upon us, that we perish not. This rousing call must have stung the sleeper, especially when, having fully awakened, he saw that God had met him in his guilty way, and had brought such peril upon others for his sake. It is noticeable that the word God in the last clause has the article: ''It may be that the great and the true God will think upon us," &c. Had he not some just conception of the one only true God? 7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is ujDon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. The "lot " was practically an appeal to God to decide a pend- ing question by his providence. In this case the Lord took the disposal of the lot, according to Prov. 16 : 33 : " The lot is cast into the lap ; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." It put the finger of God upon Jonah. 8. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us ; What is thine occupation ? and whence comest thou ? what is thy country ? and of what people m't thou ? 9. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew ; and I fear the Lokd, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him. Why hast thou done this ? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Loed, be- cause he had told them. The alarm felt by those sailors was greatly increased when Jonah told them that the God whom he feared and Avorshipped was that great God of heaven wlio made the sea and the dry land. They could not help rebuking him. How couldest thou oftend 8uc7i a God ? See what comes of it ! Didst thou think to escape the wrath and the reach of so great a God ? 172 JONAH.— CHAP. I. 11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that tlie sea may be calm nnto ns ? for the sea wrought and was tempestuons. They see plainly that they nmst do something with Jonah. He is the Achan in their camp. So they frankly ask him what they shall do with him. The last clause manifestly means that the sea was becoming more and more tempestuous. 12. And he said nnto them. Take me np, and cast me forth into the sea ; so shall the sea be calm nnto 3^ou : for I know that for my sake this great tempest is npon you. Here is one redeeming quality in the character of Jonah. It is pleasant to see a man, when found in sin, so frank, so honest, so consciously sensible of his fault, and so ready to sutfer the whole fruit of his own misdoings, and relieve his companions. 13. ISTevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land ; but they could not : for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. The spirit which Jonah manifested awakened the sympathy of the captain and crew in liis behalf, and again they dug into the sea with tlieir oars (so the Hebrew means), to bring their ship to land ; but all in vain. The sea only became the more furious. 14. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said. We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood : for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. It was a solemn thing to take this human life; and like men who appreciate this, tliey once more implore the mercy of God, and beseech him to note the necessity that lies upon them, which they refer distinctly to his manifest hand in providence, so that they may not be held guilty of innocent blood. 15. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea : and the sea ceased from her raging. 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and oiFered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. 17. ISTow the Lord had prepared a great fish to swal- low up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. The original word rendered " jirepared " means appointed, assigned, i. c, to this service. This fish was providentially ready. The fact here stated is the great stone of stumbling and rock of offence to tliat class of critics who deny tlie existence of miracles. JONAH.— CHAP. 11. 173 We need have no special sympatliy witli their perplexities or their stnmblinfj: ; for there can be no good reason for rejecting miracles. Besides, in this case, our divine Lord distinctly recognizes the pres- ence of miracles bj saying that Jonah was " a s^g'n," i. e., a man in whom miracles were manifested. It is not necessarily a miracle that a great tish should swallow a man. There are several varieties that are capable of swallowing a man whole, for they have done it. But that a man shonld live three days and three nights, or, indeed, one hour, in the belly of a fish, must be a miracle. CHAPTER II. Iisr this short chapter, Jonah has put on record the prayers he poiu-ed out unto God from his heart of anguish while imprisoned thi'ee days in the stomach of a sea-monster. 1. Then Jonali prayed unto tlie Lord his God out of the fish's bellj, 2. And said, I cried by reason of mine aiflietion unto the LoKD, and he heard me ; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. The phrase — " out of the belly of hell " — should not carry our minds to the place of final torment for the wicked, but to the pit or grave, wliere the bodies of men are laid at death. He felt like one buried alive — his consciousness still active and keen as ever, but himself shut up in darkness ; imprisoned, apparently past hope of ever seeing the light of this fair world again, save as he knew and felt that his God might mercifully restore him. The Hebrew word used here (Sheol) often has this sense — the grave, 3. For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas ; and the floods compassed me about : all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Many of the expressions in this prayer of Jonah occur in the Psalms, with only slight variations, if any. The reader may find it interesting to compare v. 2 with Ps. 120 : 1 ; v. 3 with 42 : Y ; V. 4 with 31 : 22 ; V. 5 with 69 : 1 ; v. 7 with 142 : 3 ; v. 8 with 31:6; and v. 9 with 3 : 8. This comparison goes far to establish two interesting facts: (1.) That these psalms were extant in Jonali's time; (2.) That he had read them often, had become familiar with their phraseology, especially that which was used in prayer, and was therefore accustomed to use their language in his own de- votions, lie did as Christians now do wlio are lamiliar with the devotional portions of God's word — use those forms of expression in their daily and hourly intercessions before God. 174 JONAH.— CHAP. II. 4. Then I said, I am cast out of tliy siglit ; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. It cannot surprise us tliat Jonah both said and felt, " I am cast out of thy sight." T\lien his fellow-passengers on shijihoard took hini up and cast him overboard, it must have seemed to him that God was casting him forth out of his sight forever. But Jonah had once known the loving-kindness of his God. Hence, the thouglit of possible mercy came now to his relief, and he said, " Yet I will look once more toward thy holy temple." Did he not appreciate in that hour how much the mercy of God is worth to a soul con- sciously lost ? 5. The waters compassed me abont, even to the sonl : the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. He seemed to himself to lie on the bottom of tne sea — its weeds wrapped as his winding-sheet about him. C. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains ; the earth with her bars ivas about me for ever : yet hast thou brought uj) my life from corruption, O Loed my God. The word ''bars," in the clause "the earth with her bars was about me forever," Gesenius supposes to refer to the bars of Sheol — the under world — as closed now upon him forever. But the promi- nent position of the word " earth " in the sentence favors another construction, viz., that the earth, in the sense of land as opposed to sea, had cast him out, and closed its bars upon him, so that he could not hope ever to see its light and beauty again. If he had meant the bars of Sheol, he might readily have said so in imambiguous terras. Yet, notwithstanding he was so imprisoned in the depths of the sea, he lifts up his grateful eye and his voice of acknowledg- ment to God above — " Thou hast brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. Y. When my soul fainted wdthin me I remembered the Lord : and my j^rayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 8. They that observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. " They that observe l^'ing vanities " are the worshippers of idol gods which are always false and vain. They do indeed '■'•forsalce " in the sense of rejecting and losing their own mercies. They miserably forego the blessedness that is in store for them in the true God, if only they will seek it there. So of all sinners who seek their good elsewhere than in the living God. They "forsake their own mercies." JONAH.— CHAP. m. 1Y5 9. But I will sacrifice unto tliee with the voice of tLanksgiving ; I will pay that that I have vowed. Sal- vation is of the LoED. Precisely what his totvs were in his trouble he has not said. Doubtless he promised the Lord never again to try to flee from his presence to avoid an unwelcome duty. He closes '^vith this most expressive, glorious testimony : " Salvation is of tlie LorcV He and he only can save in times of trouble. 10. And the Loed spake unto the fish, and it vomit- ed out Jonah upon the dry land. "With infinite ease the Lord spake — only sj)al-e to the fish — and it vomited Jonah forth upon the dry land, doubtless on the shore of his native country, Palestine. It would seem that the ship had not gone far fi-om its starting-point, Joppa, when the storm headed and beat it back. CHAPTER III. CojoiAXDED a second time, Jonah goes to Nineveh, and pro- claims its approaching ruiu. The people and their king humble themselves and repent before God ; he turns from his pm*pose and spares the city. 1. And the word of the Lokd came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2. Arise, go unto l^ineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. Jonah was not only to go as commanded, but he is specially charged to preach to that great and proud city what God should bid him preach — a charge very probably significant of some appre- hension lest Jonah might trip at this point, and certainly full of suggestions to all who are ever called of God to preach in his name. "What have they to do to preach out of theu' own heart, to sub- serve some supposed interest of theii* own, other than that for which God sends them ? They might as well flee to Tarsliish, to escape the duty of preaching the ruin of the wicked, as to withhold God's threateuings, or .preach something else and other than what God bids them, Avhen they reach the Kineveh whither he sends them. 3. So Jonah arose, and went unto jSTineveh, accord- ing to the word of the Loed. ISTow Nineveh was an ex- ceeding great city of three days' jom-ney. Now Jonah obeys. He is a wiser and a better man for the dis- cipline God has given him. " Before I was afflicted, I went astray; 176 JONAH.— CHAP. III. but noNV Lave I kept thy word." Tlie jilirase "an exceeding great city," stands in the llebrew, " a city gi-eat to God,'''' i. e., great before him — gi-eat as to him, in his estimation. The Hebrews were accustomed to express their highest ideas of the superlative degree by using the name of God, e. g., "mountains of God," &c. The sense of this passage may be someAvhat more specific, representing the city as great in its relations to God, and not merely as very great apart from those relations. In estimating an oriental day's journey, we must think of a caravan, heavy laden, many on foot, in a hot climate. Twenty miles would be the maximum. Thi statement " a city of three days' journey " should probably be ap- plied to its circumference, and not to its diameter ; because sixty miles in diameter would make the city incredibly large ; because one of the most reliable ancient historians, Diodorus Siculus (II., 3) represents it as sixty miles in circuit ; and because Jonah's begin- ning to enter it one day's journey (v. 4) may have been on a tor- tuous course, and not on a right line through its centre. 4. And Jonali "began to enter into the city a day's journey, and lie cried, and said, Yet forty days, and K^ineveh sliall be overthrown. Jonah seems to have begun his preaching as he entered the city, and to have made his proclamation in the streets and public places, wherever he found people to hear him. 6. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and pro- claimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. The first step toward their repentance and salvation lay in tlieir telieving God. They accepted the message of this solitary stran- ger as one sent them by the Most High God. To those who have noted the strange incredulity of millions under the light of the gospel, this fact appears surprising. We must suppose that Jonah spake as one who felt the solemnity of his mission and car- ried the air of a deeply honest man, and Ave must also suppose that he had their conscience on his side, and that the power of God was in and with his words. 6, For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and' sat in ashes. It does not appear that the king heard from Jonah's own lips ; Tiut the word came to him through his servants. They testified to the deep, pervading conviction of the people, and the king at once believed God as his people had done. The name of this king is not given or known. This record of him may well rebuke many an ungodly monarch Avho plants his foot upon the very idea of " a higher law of God," and scornfully repels all authority higher than the mandates of his own Avill. JONAH.— CHAP. m. 177 1. And lie caused it to be proclaimed and published tlirough Niiieyeh by decree of tlie king and bis no- bles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing : let them not feed, nor drink water : 8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God : yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in theii" hands. It is specially noticeable that this proclaination calls not only for humiliation, fasting, and all the customary oriental tokens of sorrow and penitence, and for prayer also — crying mightily to God — but also specially enjoins on all men to "turn every one from his evil way and ft'om the violence that is in their hands." So manifest is it that the law of justice and right is everywhere in the human mind, and that no heathen can be so blind as not to see it. This also is a stinging rebuke to men, who, under far clearer light than theirs, yet labor to extinguish this light, or, in the more fit and expressive words of revelation, " put darkness for light and light for darkness." 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not ? ITie form of this question suggests that the king of Nineveh did not Tcnow that God would always forgive a penitent people. He had heard less of God than we have. But he could say, '' Who can tell (literally, " who knows ") whether he will turn and repent, that we perish not ? " On this assumed possibility he bases his call to humiliation, fasting, prayer, and reform. 10. And God saw their works, that tliev turned from their evil way ; and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them ; and he did it not. " God saAV," not their professions, nor merely their prayers, but ''their works, that they turned from their evil way." Of course, when they changed their moral attitude before him, he changed his plan ; turned from his purpose, and spared the city. So he always deals Avith the nations of the earth; Works meet for repentance will infallibly secure the reversal of threatened and impending doom. God's immutability is that of principle — not of plan and action. Ho immutably hates and punishes sin : hence, when a sinner becomes a penitent, God turns from threatened vengeance to free pardon. 8* 178 JONAH.— CHAP. IV. CHAPTER IV. This cliaptcr is a mournful record of the moral frailties of a good man, and a glorious testimouy to the pity, forbearance, and love of the blessed God. Jonali is greatly displeased because the Lord reversed the predicted fall of Nineveh : he waits outside the city to see what the Lord would do to it; he put up a rude tent for shelter from the heat ; and the Lord brought up a gourd over him for his further relief; but a worm destroys the gourd. Jonah is again fretful, impatient, and angry, and the Lord very gently rebukes him, and gives reasons for sparing Nineveh. 1. But it displeased Jouali exc3edinglj, and lie was very angry. Some critics give the word rendered in this passage " displeased," the sense of grieved. It would be a great relief to my feelings of sorrow and shame, if the words and the circumstances would bear this construction. But as an interpreter of God's word, I must honor the truth rather than humor the feelings of the heart. So this passage must stand, '" displeased," " angry exceedingly." 2. And he prayed unto tlie Loed, and said, I J)ray tliee, O Lord, was not this my saying, wlien I was yet in my country ? Therefore I iled before unto Tarshish : for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. In the clause, " Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish," the sense is not that I fled at a former time., but tliat I fled hefore I came into such an emergency as this ; I anticipated precisely such a result as this, and I fled heforeliand., to avoid it. I did not wish to declai'e to tbem from the mouth of the Lord that the city should fall within forty days, and then have my words prove false. To this con- struction, the reasons he assigns correspond: 'Tor I knew tliat thou art a gracious God, and wouldest probably repent so as not to inflict this evil." The last clause which groups his testimony to God's mercy is in the very words of Joel (2 : 13), and almost iden- tical with Ex. 34 : G, 7. Probably both passages were familiar to his mind. This boldness before God, while so grievously in the wrong withal, is appalling. It is awful that a sinner, plucked him- self as a brand from the burning, and living on mere mercy alone, should object to God's showing the same mercy to his fellow-sin- ners. AVhy did ho not rather rejoice and shout for joy when he saw the king and i^eople of Nineveh on their faces before God — his warnings pressing them cflfectually to repentance, and the clouds of gathering vengeance swept away by the hand of love ? JONAH.— CHAP. IV. 179 8. Tlierefore now, O Loed, take, I beseecli tliee, my life from me ; for it is better for me to die than to live. And now lie is so mncli vexed and so angry, that lie prays God to take Lis life ! How could lie tliiuk himself prepared to die in such a temper ? 4. Then said tlie Loed, Doest tliou well to be angiy ? Some interpreters render this verse — " Then said the Lord, Art thou 7nuch vexed? " There are two fatal objections to this ren- dering: (1.) The question so put is needless, since Jonah had shown his extreme anger hut too plainly; and (2.) The original words cannot, legitimately, beai* this construction. They mean — Does thine anger bm-n justly, rightly ? Hast thou any good reason for such anger ? Is it doing well, that thou shouldest let such pas- sions rise ? — A very gentle rebuke indeed, for sins so great and so provoking to God ! 5, So Jonali went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what wonld be- come of the city. " Till he might see what would become of the city " — as if this question were still in suspense. Can it be supposed that he thought — Possibly the Lord will hear my prayer and my expostulation, and will turn again to execute his first sentence of destruction ? •'o" 6. And the Lord God prepared a gonrd, and made it to come np over J onah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the goiU"d. Still the Lord is mindful of the little comforts of his servant Jonah, and brings up over him very suddenly the shade of a rapidly growing plant, to "reheve his sufferings" — for so, more accurately, I render the words translated " to deliver him from his grief." This " gourd " is supposed to be the shrub known by the name of " Palma Christi." 7. 33ut God prepared a woiin when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gom'd that it withered. 8. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind ; and the sim beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said. It is better for me to die than to live. 180 JONAH.— CHAP. IV. This east wind, wliicli tlie text reads "vehement," the margin, nearer the truth, has "sOent." It was not a violent hut a s?. Tlierefore tlius saith the Loed ; Behold, against this I'amily do I devise an evil, from which yc sliall not remove your necks ; neither shall ye go haughtily : for this time is evil. Tbo idea of retaliation and of just retribution stands out clearly MIC AH.— CHAP. II. 189 in the very form of the prophet's expressions: They devise iniquity; God devises calamity to punish it. They devise it v2:>on their beds ; God devises it upon this whole family — the prophet choosing a word iov family which has the leading radicals of the word for led. God's calamities shall be on them as a yoke which they cannot throw otf, and under which they can no longer walk proudly, carry- ing their heads high — for the prophet's words have this sense. 4. In tliat day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament witli a doleful lamentation, and say. We be utterly spoiled : be batb cbanged tlie portion of my people : how hath he removed it from me ! turning away he hath divided our fields. The best lexicographers would read the second clause — not> "lament with a doleful lamentation," but thus — " And wail in a dirge of wailing, It is done!'''' i.e.^ all is over! "and say, we are utterly spoiled ! " " Changing the portion of my people " means here changing the title to their landed estates, and hence implies that they lose possession of their country. The last clause better — "He hath apportioned our fields to one who takes them all away from us " — i. c, God has given them all to the conqueror of our country. 5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Loed. Consequently there shall be none to setoff their land to them by lot in the ijublic congregation. " Cord " is used here for a measur- ing line for land. The soil has passed into the hands of a foreign power. This is one of then- bitter plaints. 6. Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy : they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame. 7. O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Loed straitened ? are these his doings ? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly ? At this point, the ungodly people interpose to gainsay the prophet, forbidding him to prophesy, and suggesting the sort of prophet they would have. The passage is quite obscure, the tran- sitions being abrupt, and the point where the objector's language closes and the x>rophet's reply begins, being a matter of some doubt. Thus, among the ablest critics now before me, Eosenmuller assigns to the objector less than half of v. 6 ; Henderson precisely v. 6, and no more ; Hengstenberg apparently, vs. 6 and 7. I find the best point of transition from the objector to the prophet at the close of V. 6, and translate thus: " Prophesy not ; let those prophesy who will not prophesy as to such things; reproaches will never cease." 190 MICAH.— CHAP. II. « This is tlieir demand and this their complaint. They say — "We can't hear any more such prophesying; let us have another sort of men who will not say such hard things; — tliere is no end to your faul- finding. Tiien the prophet resumes in v. 7, " Shall this he said in the house of Jacoh?" "Is tlie Spirit of the Lord to be strait- ened ? " — i. e., to be dictated to by mortal man ? " Are these Ms doings?" i. e., is it his fault tliat he must predict calamity? Is it not rather your sins that bring down the wrath and curse of God? '' Do not my words always bless him who walketh uprightly ? " This is the beginning of the prophet's reply. 1 dissent from the English version — " O thou that art named the house of Jacob:" (1.) Because this verb witliout any preposition following, seems not to be used in the sense to name ; (2.) And mainly, because, beyond all question, this first clause is interrogative and not vocative. Thei-e are four distinct questions asked in this verse, each indicated by its interrogative particle. There is, therefore, as much reason for making this first clause a question as either of the three that follows. Beyond a doubt, each of the four is an interrogative clause. The first expresses the surjirise and horror felt by the proj^het that men should ai'ise in, the house of Jacoh to say such things in the way of dictation to the Almiglity ! The construction of v. 6 is exceed- ingly obscure. The sense I have given is a choice among difficulties. 8. Even of late my people is risen np as an enemy : ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. 9. The women of my people liave ye cast out fi'om their pleasant houses ; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever. These verses are interposed here to show that the objectors who cavil against the prophets of the Lord do not themselves " walk up- rightly." Then v. 10 warns them out of the land; and v. 11 returns to tell them what sort of a prophet they choose, and shall have. The words "• Even of late " do not necessarily imply that the event is very recent. The horrible thing is that " my lyeople^^'' God's own people, " should have risen up," i. e., in their full strength, " to become an enemy " to every man's rights and interests — a public enemy to all. For instance, " they strip off" both tlie outer robe and the inner from men passing along securely " with no thought of danger, " returning from war." Tlieir worn and weary soldiers, returning from hard service for their country, they fall upon, and rob and strip even to the skin ; for the common oriental dress included only these two garments, the outer robe and the inner. " Tlie wives among my people ye expel from their pleasant houses, and from their children ye take away my orna- ments " (the good clothing I have given them), and never return it — "take it away forever.'''' These are named as instances and illustrations of their rapacity and wickedness, to show what is MICAH.— CHAP. II. 191 meant by their "rising up as aa enemy." Bad as any foreign enemy were tliey even toward the soldiers of their country return- ing from As^ar, and toward wives and children who, being depend- ent and defenceless, are specially under God's protection. 10. Arise ye, and depart ; for this is not your rest : because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. " Up, and away " — be out of this land ; " for this is not your rest." God gave Canaan as a laud of rest to his people, but never to such apostates as you ! They had so polluted the land by their sins that it should itself destroy them. The very land is thought of as instinct with life, and tired witli holy indignation to devour these guilty inhabitants ! 11. If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people. Having shown (vs. 8, 9) that these cavillers against the Lord's prophets do not "walk uprightly," and having (v. 10) warned them out of the land as their tit doom, he comes now to describe the sort of prophet they would like and shall have. " If a man walking in wind and falsehood will lie for them, and wiU prophesy to them (not o/, but) for wine and strong drink " — taking his pay in those articles as meeting his chief want — "he shall be the prophet of this people." The middle clause is in the tirst person, as in our English Bible, giving iis the very words of his proposal — "I will proph- esy for you if you will give me all the wine and strong drink I want." Fit showing of the depth of degradation into which wicked men would sink the prophetic otiice, if they could ! The first point in this description is richly graphic : — " If a man walking in wind and lies will lie for them all they wish," &c. Men who are windy, gassy, fidl of talk but void of sense and thought, and utterly reckless of truth — such are commonly in every age the high priests of error and falsehood, the champions of religious delusion. For this use of the word '"Hcind " to denote what is empty, light as air and worthless, see Isa. 41:29, "Their molten images are wind and confusion;" and Job 16: 3, "Is there any end to words of wind?'' 12. I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee ; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel ; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold : they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. 13. The breaker is come up before them ; they have 192 MICAH.— CIIAP. II. broken up, and have passed tlirongli the gate, and are gone ont by it ; and their king shall pass before them, and the Loed on the head of them. This sudden transition to the ricliest promises of restoration and salvation is indeed remarkable. It would seem that the divine Spirit, fired with indignation in view of such depths of moral pollu- tion and guilt, ralhes himself to the defence of his own cause of truth: "I will surely save my people, and restore my crum- bling kingdom." Glorious turn of thought this — rebounding from the greatness of man's sin to the richness of God's mercy ! The promise is that God will surely gather together all of Jacob, and all who survive of Israel ; will become their shepherd ; and that there shall be "« hum'''' (so the Hebrew) as of bees in swarm -a loud noise by reason of the great number of men. They are thought of as having been imprisoned within high walls ; hence " the breaker " who makes great breaches in this wall goes out before them. They break through ; they pass out through the gate ; they go forth by it ; and their king marches before them, and Jehovah at their head. This deliverance is wholly of the Lord. Ilis providential agencies are omnipresent, and his Spirit inspires the movement. The allusion in this passage to the Exodus from Egypt should be noticed. Here, as there, the people are first gathered together; the Lord takes charge of them as his flock; then he sends Moses to break down the prison walls. The Exodus, or going forth, is made prominent here by repeated reiterations, as it Avas tliere in the historic facts; and, finally, Jehovah puts himself iiere at the head of his ransomed people, as then and there in the pillar of fire and of cloud. As to the ultimate significance of these verses, it will be noted tliat they speak both of Jacob and Israel ; but these terms are not distinctive as between the two rival kingdoms. Neither of them is the usual name to designate the kingdom of Judah. It would seeni to be no part of the prophet's intention to regard the distinction of kingdoms which was made by the revolt. The names Jacob and Israel have ratlier the general sense — the covenant people of God. So also, as to time and circumstances of fulfilment, the passage is altogether general and indefinite. Beyond a doubt it must imi)]y that God will at some future day gather his scattered people of Israel, and ])ut himself at their head as their Deliverer and King. He will make his earthly kingdom great and glorious. As to the question whether Gentiles form a i)art of it, or whether Jews alone are thought of, no more should bo sought in any given pas- sage than it contains. Not every passage can say every tiling. This proi)hecy does not name the Gentiles, nor does it exclnde them. One instalment — a small one — of this broadly comprehensive promise was paid in tlic restoration from Babylon. Vastly more remains unpaid yet. MICAH.— CHAP. III. 193 CHAPTER III, TnE prophet returns to speak against the sins of the people, thveUing specially in this chapter on the sins of the princes and judges (vs. 1-4, y-11); gmng the sin and doom of the false prophets (vs. 5-7) ; and closing with predictions of the desolation of the holy city and of the temple mountain (v. 12). 1. And I said, Hear, I pray yon, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of tlie lionse of Israel : Is it not for yon to know judgment ? " And then I said," &c., connecting this in thought with what he had said before. In the previous chapter he had sharply re- buked and terribly doomed those who devise iniquity on their beds (2 : 1-5) ; now he asks. Why are not such sins forestalled by the faithful administation of justice and law? Does it not behoove princes and judges — men at the head of their " thousands " — (see Ex. 18: 21) "to know judgment?" He implies by this more than merely knowing the theory of law and justice. Ought they not to know it in practice^ and to see it administered all the more faithfully and earnestly l)y how much the greater the reigning corruption ? 2. Who hate the good, and love the evil ; who plnck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones ; 3. Wlio also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them ; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. So far are they from knowing judgment in the practical sense that they even hate good and love evil, and they show this by their deeds. This description of rapacity and robbery is fearfully strong. They not only fleece but flay their victims; not only flay but tear oflf the flesh and cat it ; then go on to the bones ; cho]) them flne for the pot, as if they would boil and eat up the last thing in the poor body of their victims. So witii insatiable extoi'tion, they strip men of their last right, of their last acre, and of their last farthing. 4. Then shall they cry nnto the Lord, but he will not hear them : he will even hide his face from them at that time, as thev have behaved themselves ill in their doinirs. Yet these men, of such outrageous extoi'tion, set themselves to pray to God ; but of course he will not hear. " The prayer of tho wicked is abomination to the Lord." "If I regard iniquity in my 9 194 MICAH.— CHAP. III. Tieart even, the Lord Avill not hear me ; " how much more when snch iniquities are found in men's hand ! " lie will hide his face from them at that time according as they have made their doings vile," i, e., inasmuch as tliey have done so wickedly, and according to the wickedness of those doings, God will hide his face from them. 5. Thus saitli the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, tliat bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace ; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. Turning from civil to religious leaders, vs. 5-7 speak of the corrupt jjrophets of that age. The clause, " that bite with their teeth," &c., may be construed in either of two ways: (1.) As indi- cating extortion, following out the idea in vs. 3 : "Who eat the flesh of my people ; " or (2.) As indicating gross and supreme sensuality ; who live only to eat, and prophesy only for the sake of good eating. In the former construction, the remainder of the verse might he put thus : " Who bite savagely with their teeth, yet cry ' all's well ; ' and if one resist their extortion, they even declare war on him." But the latter construction is preferable: "Who are mere sen- sualists, and for good feeding will prophesy peace to the most wicked of men ; but if one refuse to till their mouths well, they are up in arras against him." Such shamefully low impulses and low sensual natures, ought to be anywhere else rather than in the sacred office! Alas for the people when those who minister to them in holy things make a god of their belly, and live only for good eating ! 6. Therefore, night shall he nnto yon, that ye shall not have a vision ; and it shall be dark nnto yon, that ye shall not divine ; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them, 7. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confonnded : yea, they shall all cover their lips ; for there is no answer of God. This is the doom of these false, ungodly prophets : " There shall l)e night to you so that there can be no vision ; it shall be too dark for you to divine ; the sun shall go down upon the prophets," &c. " They shall cover tlieir lips " — as those who have nothing to say, and with the further idea of intense shame and sorrow, inasmuch as the beard — always prominent in oriental life — was to the male sex the seat of beauty and honor. The leper (Lev. 13 : 45) was to jnit a cover on his upper lip. Ezekiel (24 : 17, 22) was forbidden to cover his lips in mourning for liis deceased wife. The cause of this intense shame and confusion is that they not only get no an- swer from God, but that he frustrates their predictions, confounds their machinations, and exposes the groundlessness of their claims MICAIL— CHAP. III. 195 to be propliets of the Lord. The darkness God brings over them is that of calamity and judgment "where they were predicting only good. 8. But truly I am full of power by tlie Spirit of the LoKD, and of judgment, and of miglit, to declare nnto Jacob bis transgression, and to Israel bis sin, "With a strong and full consciousness of honesty, and of being tilled with the Spirit of God, Micah puts himself in contrast with those fiilse prophets. His soul is deeply stirred within him by his abhorrence of their spirit and life, so that his holy indignation overleaps the re- straints of false modesty, and he speaks out fearlesslj^ what so tills his indignant soul that he cannot but say it. He must and will rebuke the sins of the people and of their leaders even ; for no regard to rank and station shall soften the just severity of his reproofs. 9. Hear tbis, I pray you, ye beads of tbe bouse of Jacob, and princes of tbe bouse of Israel, tbat abb or judgment, and pervert all equity. 10. Tbey build np Zion with blood, and Jerusalem witb iniquity. 11. Tbe beads tbereof judge for reward, and tbe priests tbereof teacb for liire, and tbe propbets tbereof divine for money : yet will tbey lean upon tbe Loed, and say. Is not tbe Lord among us? none evil can come npon ns. Once more, as in v. 1, he inveighs against the horrible cori'uption of the princes and judges of the land. With Judah specially in his eye, he charges them with abhorring not sin and wrong, as they should, but judgment and justice as men never should; and with distorting and perverting equity. " They build np Zion with blood " by devoting the frnits of their robbery and murder to splendid buildings and gorgeous display. They judge for bribes in open contempt of the law given through Moses (see Ex. 23 : 8, and Deut. 16:19); and yet they lean upon the Lord and vainly think that, being called the people of God and keeping up the forms of his worship, they are safe against calamity. Jeremiah rebukes the same wretched folly (7: 4): "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these." So in later times, the self-righteous, extortions Pharisees said, "We have Abraham to our father; " — "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? " &c. 12. Therefore sball Zion for yonr sake be ploughed as a lield, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and tbe mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. Retribution for such sins must come. "Zion" — the hill of David in the south part of the city — " the mountain of the house " 19 G MIC AH.— CHAP. IV. (temple) i. e., Mount Moriah, the teniple-mountaiu on tlie nortli, and Jei-asalem in general — shall become desolate : Zion to be ploughed as a field ; Jerusalem to be heaps of desolate ruins ; and the temple- mountain " as the high places of a forest," thickly covered with au undergrowth of shrubs. This lias special reference to the destruc- tion of tlie city by the Chaldeans when, for seventy years, even Jerusalem lay in utter desolation. CHAPTER IV. The first eight verses are a graphic prediction of God^s restoring mercy to his real Zion; vs. 9, 10 resume the subject of the captivity to Babylon ; vs. 11-13 note the events of a later period — the Syrian invasion, and the heroic deeds of the Maccabees. 1. But in tlie last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Loed shall he established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills ; and people shall flow unto it. 2. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Loed, and to the house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths : for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Loed from Jeru- salem. 3. And he shall judge among many people, and re- buke strong nations afar off ; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning- liooks : nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. These words occur substantially in Isa. 2 : 2-4, but appear to be original with Micah. At least it nnist be admitted that here they fit nicely to the pi-evious context (3 : 12), and also to the following context. In Isaiah, the passage has no such close connection with the preceding context. In this passage, tlie relation of thought to what precedes is the first thing to be noted. Zion is seen in ruins ; the temple-mountain dishonored and waste — all for the sins of the covenant people. Must it hence be inferred that the kingdom of God among men is crushed down, never to rise ? By no means. In the last days this kingdom shall rise in for greater glory than ever before. The temple-mountain — called hero " the mountain of the house of the Lonl^'' though in 3 : 12 it is only " the mountain of the house " — shall be lifted high and firmly set on the tops of the other mountains, and high above all tlio hills in glorj' MICAH.— GEAR IV. I97 and esteem. Sucli I understand tf) be the sense of this striking ]ioetic conception — the temple-monntain (Moriah) lifted up and set on the top of all otlier mountains. In honor it shall surpass and overtop them all. In Ps. G8: 16, the Psalmist, supposing the other mountains to envy Mount Moriah this distinction, says — " The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan ; an high hill," &c. " Why do ye look invidiously, ye high hills ? This is the hill which God hath desired to dwell in." Zech. 14 : 10 carries the figure one step further. All the rest of the world becomes a plain ; its mountains subside altogether, and then the temple-mountain stands oat soli- tary and alone, the one great and only mountain of the world ! The sense here is the same as in Micah — this mountain, the one place of sm-passing honor, dignity, and glory. Next, " peoples, even all the nations of men, shall flow imto it." That they shall Jloic thither implies, not that they are dragged or driven into this worship, but that they come spontaneously, as water moves with the utmost ease under the power of gravitation. Many nations shall come of their free accord. They shall exhort one another to go up to the house of the God of Jacob, to learn of the true God and of all moral duty there. God's will, as revealed in Zion, they recognize to be the fountain of all law, and they joyfully place themselves under his supreme dominion. Then his peaceful reign over the nations of men begins; they need sword and spear no longer; the culture of the soil supersedes the arts of war, and nation no more lifts up sword against its brother nation. For the law of God is the law ot'supreme, impartial love, administered under the sway of the Prince of Peace : how then can the result be other than universal tranquillity ? Obeyed, it must supplant war forever. Men can no longer " hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Glorious scene ! Bhssful consummation ! And this is no visionary dream. It shall yet be. The days of battles and carnage, the days of fell animosity, satanic ambition, demoniac hate, must cease, and give place to days of blessed peace and good-will among men. Let the love of the Great Father have the praise for all this! Micah sees it in the distant future. Briefly and in general, he locates it "in the last days." They are future yet; but they Avill surely come and (may we not hope and pray ?) wiU not long tarry ! 4. But tliey shall sit every man under liis vine and under his fig-tree ; and none shall make them afraid : for the mouth of the Lokd of hosts hath spoken it. Over against the scenes of war lie the pursuits of peace and the quiet enjoyment of God's good gifts of nature aud jarovidence, and of the fruits of human labor. Each man sits under his own vine and fig-tree ; — none shall make them afraid. These are the usual oriental symbols of a state of paradise on earth. 198 MICAH.— CHAP. IV. 5 For all people will walk every one in tlie nan;o of liis god, and we will walk in the name of the Lokd our God for ever and ever. This verse sliov.'s how the people in that good day are to feel and act. These are their supposed words. They recognize the common law of human life, that men follow the God they ac- knowledge and trust, and tlien they avow their own full purpose to walk in the name of their God for ever and ever. They are alto- gether satisfied with his worship and service. In the love of his name and in the full strength of their convictions they pledge themselves to his ways and worship for all time. 0. In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted ; Y. And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation : and the Lord shall reign oyer them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. At that time the Lord will gather to himself the halting, i. c.^ the lame, the smitten, scathed, and long-rejected remnant of his people, and will make them a strong nation, reigning over them himself in Mount Zion forever. As vs. 1-4 by their very terms expressly include the Gentiles, so these verses have special reference to the long-dispersed Jews. "When the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then shall all Israel he saved ; her partial blindness shall pass away, and the Lord's great plan of re- deeming, saving mercy shall grasp the world, and bring the nations of every race and clime beneath Iramanuel's sceptre. (See Eom. 11 : 15, 23-27). 8. And thou, O tower of the flock, tlie strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion ; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. In this passage God is thought of as the shepherd, and his peo- ple as his flock. Hence the " tower of the flock " is Jerusalem. Towers were built in or near the eheepfold for defence. The original dominion, as under David, shall return again. That pros- perous era of the llebrcAV people in which tliey subdued all their enemies round about, and greatly improved the modes of public worship, is a common illustration of Messiah's reign. The king- dom of Immanuel shall have this Mount Zion for its centre and capital forever. But let us give this scripture its gospel sense. Let us not fall into the error of the Pharisees, as seen in the New Testament, who could find in the Scriptures nothing hut a " king- MICAH.— CHAP. IV. 199 dom of this world " for the outward Israel and lier earthly- king. We need to distinguish the clothing of ideas from the ideas themselves. That tlie great trutlis of gospel times and of Christ's millennial reign, should he clothed in Jewish imagery and costume, ought not to surprise or stumhle us. The human mind heing what it is, this mode of writing for Jews and among Jews is uuavoidahle, is natural, is indeed the only language that could have been ai that time understood. 9. llTow wliy dost thou cry out aloud ? is there no king in thee ? is thy counsellor perished ? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. 10. Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daugh- ter of Zion, like a woman in travail : for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon ; there shalt thou be delivered ; there the Lokd shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. With V. 9 commences a remarkably regular series of prophecies, forecasting great events that were specially to affect the welfare of the Jews down to the coming of Christ, and of the church of God thenceforward. It is very noticeable that the beginning of each is indicated in our English Bible by tlie word " wow," which has its corresponding Hebrew word. It stands at the head of vs. 9, 11, and 5: 1. Consequently, the distinct predictions are (1.) vs. 9, 10; (2.) vs. 11-13; (3.) chapter 5 : 1, and onward substantially through the chapter. No. 1 speaks of the captivity to Babylon and the res- toration from it. No. 2, of the gathering of the great Syrian armies, together with those of some other adjacent powers, against the Jews, in the times of the Maccabees, with their heroic defence and final victory. No. 3, of the siege and fall of Jerusalem, when the sceptre finally departed from Judah ; of the Messiali's birth at Beth- lehem, and then of his peaceful, triumphant reign, its policy and results. With this summary of the points before us to the end of chapter 5, we may the better understand each separate prophecy. In the first prediction of this series (vs. 9, 10) tlie people are seen in extreme agony : the prophet hears their sharp outcry of anguish, and asks the cause of it. "And where are thy reliances for help ? Hast thou no king? no counsellor ? " The trouble is, that the city is tailing before the fierce Chaldean, and their honored tem- ple and loved homes are in ruins. How much they rested on their king is indicated (Lam, 4 : 20), where they say of him : '• The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we liad said. Under his shadow we shall live among the lieathen." Zedekiah was both weak and wicked, yet he was the Lord's anointed king, and the people, long accustomed to rever- ence royalty, and to expect good from the Lord through \ih 200 MICAH.— CHAP. IV. anointed ones, bemoaned his fall into the enemy's power. The prophet foresaw these events with entire historic accuracy. A woman in her travail pains is the next fignre, used here to repre- sent only the paiuful side of the case — not the joy over a hai)py hirth. In the clause, " there shalt thou be delivered," the original forbids us to think of any reference to the bright side of this figure. It means merely that they should be brought out of this captivity at some future time. The " dwelling in the field " lies interme- diate between their expulsion from Jerusalem and their residence in or near Babylon, and seems to allude to their exposure in the open country during their long and weary journey to I3abylou. The twice repeated " there " — " tliere shalt thou be delivered," " there shall the Lord redeem thee," &c., was equivalent to saying, Do not dread this going to Babylon, as if it must be the tomb of all your hopes, for there your God will meet you for your deliver- ance. So in fact it came to pass. Precisely tliere God raised xip Cyrus ; precisely at Babylon he gave him those victories which paved the way for the restoration of his people. So true is it that the people of God never need fear to pass under any cloud Avhicii the Lord their God may bring up over them. What seems to them their ruin, God can make their salvation. 11. ]!^ow also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord : neither understand they his counsel : for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 13. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion : for I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass : and thou shall beat in pieces many people : and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lokd, and their substance unto the Lokd of the whole earth. Here the course of thought makes another stage onward, and reaches the second distinct prophecy in this series. Many nations gather together against Zion in bitter malignity and haughty scorn, and with set purpose to defile her sanctuary. Manifestly a real hatred of their religion gives tlie impulse to this onslaught upon Zion. " Let her be defiled," say they, " and let ns have the joy of look- ing on to see her anguish," ISTo language could more accurately describe the spirit of AntiochusEpiphanes and of his allies, in their fell, demoniac attempts to uproot and overwhelm the holy city, its temple, and all the true worshippers of Jehovah, The reader will find a most thrilling history of these events in the first and second books of Maccabees. It specially appears there that tlie wrath of these enemies of God was aimed at the tcm])le, its worsliip, and all worshippers of the true God, since, when at one tune the temple felJ MICAH.— CHAP. V. 201 into their liands, tliey polluted it in every way they conld devise, even offering swine's flesh on the sacred altar. Hence ''the cleansing of the sanctuary " finds a prominent place in Daniel's prophecy of these events, and in Jewish history. " But," says our prophet, ''they do not understand God's thoughts and counsels." No, indeed ; for God thought, first, to discipline, prove, and purify his people ; next, to scourge and terribly punish his enemies ; the latter only being made prominent here in the prophecy. He gathered them as sheaves into the floor, 23reparatory to bringing the tlireshing I)OAver of his people down upon thcni. Then the prophet calls on the " daughter of Zion to arise and thresh." The mixing of meta- phors here need not surprise us, for we have strength, even if we have not the most finished concinnity and fitness in the points of the illustration. That a virgin should thresh with the feet of cattle, and ' that with threshing should be blended the use of horns of iron, is all strong and full of meaning, however it may lack the nicer beauties. It should be said, however, that in the phrase " daughter of Zion," the idea of a female is lost in the general conception of the military force of the city. There was a terrible significance in these figures when the things they denoted became actual history, when God fired the souls of the heroic, lion-hearted Maccabees, and made " one of them chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight," grind- ing to powder one after another the huge armies sent upon them by the enraged Syrian king. Remarkably, the Lord promised to turn the spoils of these wars to account toward the wealth of his own kingdom. Perhaps this is an historic allusion to David, who turned tlie spoils of his many victories to account for building and adorning tlie first temple. So it is evermore the Lord's purpose to make the wicked lay xip treasures for the just, and coin money, to be consecrated under his providence, though against their intent, unto the Lord of the whole earth. CHAPTER V. As already indicated, tliis chapter records the third in the con- nected series of consecutive prophecies. It begins with the siege of Jerusalem and the dishonor done to her Judge; advances to the birth of the Messiah, and then to the character and results of his glorious reign on earth. 1. !Now gather thyself in troojDS, O dangliter of troops : lie liath laid siege against us : they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. The descriptive points in this verse are few ; the thronging of her own troops within the city, the siege, the extreme insult oflered to the Judge of Israel. The Lord summons the anned hosts of Jerusalem together for battle, and probably of Judah as well; 9* 202 MICAH.— CHAP. V. some hostile power besieges the city and inflicts utter disgrace on the head man of the nation, at that time embodying and represent- ing the government, and called " the Judge of Israel," with allusion to the Judges who fell between Joshua and Saul, and were infei'ior to their kings — showing that already royalty had greatly declined. After this decline came ruin, for, to smite the chieftain of the nation with a rod upon the cheek must imply extreme indignity and utter impotence — not only that all influence and authority had gone from this particidar Judge, but, since he is a representative man, that the sceptre had passed away from Judah lierself. In what special event was this prophecy fulfilled? Some (with Hengstenberg) have said, in the fall of Jerusalem, before the arms of Titus, a. d. 70. The objections to this view are : - (1.) It involves a serious anachronism, since, as this verse imme- diately precedes the account of the birth of King Messiah, so its events should precede that event. But the fall of the city, instead of coming before his birth, was seventy years after. (2.) On this theory the last and main point of the description does not appositely fit the historic facts. In the prophecy, the main thing is the utter dishonor done to the supreme authority ; but in the final destruction of the city by the Romans, the terrible thing was the slaughter of more than a million of her people, the horrors of famine and pestilence, and appalling judgments on the whole nation. It was not the loss of their sceptre, for this had practically gone long before. (3.) There are clear indications throughout this chapter that the prophet had his eye on tliat striking prophecy (Gen. 49 : 10) : " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Note the coming forth of the Euler of Israel (v. 2) ; the gathering of the people to him (v. 3) ; even of all nations to the ends of the earth (v. 4) ; that he shall be " the Peace'''' — the real Shiloh — the Prince of Peace (v. 5), &c., &c. These considerations go far to show that the passage does 7iot look specifically to the fall of Jerusalem before the lioman arms under Titus, a. d. 70. Another interpretation is already indicated by the leading points made in this description, viz., the siege and fall of Jerusalem, n. c. 34, when King Antigonus, the last monarch of the Asmonean dynasty (Jewish), fell before Herod the Great, who was aided by eleven Roman legions. Ilerod was an Idumean. In him the Jews came under a foreign dynasty, and never again had a king of their own race, save King Messiah. This siege was an obstinate contest of one_ year's duration. History * notes especially that "King An- tigonus surrendered himself in a most cowardly mannei', and was ac- cordingly treated with the greatest indignity. Ue threw himself at * See Jahn's " Hebrew Commonwealth," p. 375, and Taylor's " Manual of History," p. 176. MiCAn.—cnAP. V. 203 the feet of the Roman general, who repelled him with contempt, and scornfully called him Antigona^ as if he were unworthy the name of a man. The deposed king was loaded with chains, carried to Antioch, and there beheaded like a common malefactor." Tims signally was the Judge of Israel " smitten Avith a rod upon the cheek : " thus did the " sceptre depart from Judah." The order of time is complete, for it was during the reign of this very Herod who thus supplanted Antigonus that the Prince of Peace was born and the Sliiloh of ancient prophecy came ; and thenceforv."ard the true Israel never lacked a glorious King. 2. But tlioii Betli-leliem Epliratali, tJioiigh tliou he little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel ;' whose goings forth have Ijeen from of old, from everlasting. "The Judge of Israel" — all his dignity and power gone — has passed away, and with him that earthly kingdom and dispensation which so long embosomed or imprisoned the germ of the true king- dom of God. Now a new " Ruler in Israel " appears who is truly King and Lord of all. The first point presented is his birth- place. On the side of his human nature, he comes forth from Beth- lehem Ephratah — that httle city, too small to have a place among the thousands of Judah — for this is precisely the sense of the Hebrew ; not that Bethlehem was a small one among the thousands, yet being one of them, but too small to be one of them. The ex- pression refers to a classification of the people of each tribe into thousands which commenced during their sojourn in the Avilderness, each thousand having its head officer, who combined both civil and judicial authority. The rise of this system may be seen Ex. 18 : 21, 25. Saul recognizes its existence long after the settlement of Canaan, Avhen he said of David (1 Sam. 23 : 23), "If he be in the land, I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah." In the transition from nomadic life in the wilderness to fixed resi- dence in Canaan, this system of division into thousands, with each its head-man, "captain," or "judge," took this modification. Those cities that numbered one thousand people rose to the rank of being among the thousands, and had one such officer. The smaller villages must needs unite two or more together to constitute a family of a thousand. Bethlehem had less than a thousand people, and was therefore among the smaller cities — only a village in Ju- dah. It lay six miles southwest of Jerusalem, in a fertile region, as its name, "house of bread," denotes. Ephratah also means "fruit- ful." It" was the birthplace of David, and partly for this reason, we may suppose, was the birthplace of his greater Son. Royalty in the house of David had fallen low at the period contemplated in this prophecy. Indeed, there are indications here that it was seen by Micali to be practically extinct, so that David is thought of as having returned back from the place of liis throne on Mount Zion, 204 MICAH.— CHAP. V. to the place of his humhle birth and shepherd life, Bethlehem. Its beinf^ a small city was really no disqualification for a birthplace of King Messiah, since David himself was born here and not in any of the greater cities of the land, and also because it was no part of God's plan, in determining the birthplace of his incarnate Son, to make him famous by its greatness or renown. The appended name "Ephratah" carries us back to Gen. 35 : 16-19, where this place was distinguished by yet another birth. Though thou art so small, Bethlehem, "yet out of thee shall he come forth wJio is to he/or rne ruler in Israel." For me, rather than "unto me " — the idea being, not that the Messiah comes from Bethlehem unto God, but that he is to be ruler for God, acting under God and in his behalf in the great mediatorial scheme. The word "ruler" means chief ruler, king. On the last clause of the verse, opinions differ. There can be no doubt that the noun rendered "goings forth" is correlated with the verb just before it, rendered '■'■ sliall come forth,'''' i. e., from Bethlehem — the noun being from the same root. In one point of view, he shall go forth out of Bethlehem ; but in another, his goings forth have been from of old, from ever- lasting. The last point in this correlation, the precise sense in wliicli his goings forth have been from of old, is that on wliich critics have differed. Some say that, as in his human nature he came out of Bethlehem, so in his divine nature be came forth from eternity. Others, urging that eternity is no place, and there- fore cannot be antithetic to Bethlehem which is a place, find a ref- erence to his repeated manifestations through his divine nature and before bis proper incarnation, e. g., to the patriarchs, to Moses, Joshua, Sanmcl, and others. 1 adopt the latter view, as constitut- ing the most natural antithesis, as avoiding the rather harsh con- ception of coming out of eternity, as involving a reference to a sc- ries of facts of the highest moment in identifying this glorious Euler of Israel, and finally as well accounting for the use of the plural, "his goings forth," which imiilics that there had been many. But the construction first stated above, provides for only one com- ing forth, viz., from eternity. The prophet, then, means to say that this was not his first manifestation among men. During all the earlier ages, he had often come forth and made his presence manifest. In the wilderness he was the angel of Jehovah's pres- ence (Ex. 23 : 20-23, and 33 : 14) ; to Joshua (5 : 13-15) he appeared as captain of the Lord's host, and to Manoah fJudg. 13 : 17, 18) as one whose name is "Wonderful.'' So the Hebrew, which occurs again in Isa. 9 : G. And these are only a few out of many. It was manifestly pertinent that Micah, in predicting his human bii-th in Bethlehem, should indicate the fact of his preexistence and of his frequent previous manifestations to his i)eoplc in the earlier ages. it only remains to note tluit the Jews of the Saviour's time so far understood this prophecy as to a])ply it to the Messiah, and to learn from it that ho should be born in Bethlehem. Matthew in- forms us (2 : 4-G) that Ilerod gathered the cliief j)riosts and scriles MICAH— CHAP. V. 205 top^etlier and demanded of tliem wliere Clirist slioiild be liorn. They at once answered, "In Bethlehem of Judea,'" and appealed to this prophecy for the proof. 3. Therefore will he give tliera up until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth : then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. He (Jehovah) gives up them (liis covenant people), in the sense of leaving them to be scourged for their sins and purified imder this disci- pline, until this great Rulei*, the Messiah, should be born. Tlie verb rendered " give up," has this sense in 1 Kings 14 : 16, and 2 Chron. 30 : 7, •' Be not as your fathers Avho transgressed against the God of your fathers; therefore he gate them up to desolation." "She that travailcth " must refer to the thought in the previous verse, the human birth of the Messiali in Bethlehem. Micah may have had before his mind what Isaiali wrote (7 : 14), " Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name ImmanueL" The giving up to temporary calamities is referred to in verse 1. The divine policy seems to have been to let his apostate Israel sink very low as to its outward estate, and then by this means bring out the more prominently before all the world the Great Deliverer. "The remnant of his brethren" should naturally be those of the Jewish communion who were scattered abroad. They were to re- turn to the main body. 4. And he shall stand and feed in the strena-th of the LoKD, in the majesty of the name of the Lokd his God ; and thej shall abide : for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. The Hebrew verb " feed " belongs to shepherd life, and includes both feeding and ruling, supplying the want of food and the want of protection and government as well. The attitude of a shepherd is a standing one, hence " he shall stand and feed." He shall fulfil this oflice, not in any merely human might and majesty, but in the strength and majesty of the veiy God. " And they," his peo- ple, his flock, " shall alide,^'' in the sense of permanence and secu- rity, not driven about and away into captivity, as they then would have been so recently. May there not be a quiet antithesis between the shepherd standing over them, and themselves sitting securely and at ease under his guardian eye and overshadowing presence ? One reason why they sit so securely is that their king is "great unto the very ends of the earth." The range of his power sweeps far beyond Judea. It fills the wide world, and leaves no place for nations and armies hostile to the people of the Messiixli. 5. And this ma?i shall be the |)eace, when the Assyr- ian shaK come into our land : and when he shall tread 20G MICAH.— CHAP. V. ill our palaces, tlieii shall we raise against liim seven slieplierds, and eight principal men. " This man," the Messiah, " shall be fcacc^^'' the fountain and author of peace, and of peace in a sense involving not only tlie absence of war but the presence of all the best earthly good and even heavenly good besides. Yet the special sense is that ot peace as opposed to war. The course of tliought throughout this passage contemplates the people as in a militant state, often assailed by outward, active enemies. Under such circumstances, " peace " is a word fraught with intense and precious significance. The brevity of this expression, " this man shall be peace," fovors the opinion that Micah had before his mind, and assumed that his read- ers would have before theu-s, those other prophecies which he liad almost quoted: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Prince of Peace) shall come ; him shall the people obey " (Gen, 49 : 10) ; and that of Isaiah (9:6): " For unto us a child is born ; unto us a son is given ; and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Frince of Peace.'''' As if he would say, You will under- stand my brief allusion to this man as " peace ; " you will remem- ber those prophecies so very similar to what I have been saying. The Assyrian foe is named because he was then for more for- )nidable than any other. This does not imply that precisely this enemy would be on hand in the days of the ^lessiah's advent or thenceforward. He expects that help from God against foreign en- emies will come in the way of supplying competent leaders. That tliese military leaders are called "shepherds," may have a tacit reference to Moses, the shepherd leader, and to David, the shep- herd king. It may also imply that if the people are taught and fed in the ways of God, they will be invincible against outward ene- mies. "Principal men" is in Hebrew, anointed men., set apart, anointed and qualified of God. , " Seven " and " eight " are definite numbers used as indefinite, in the sense of an adequate number for leaders against the foe. See notes on Amos 1 : 3. "S-' 6. And tliev shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and tlie land of Kinirod in the entrances thereof: thns sliall he deliver iis I'roni the Assyrian, wlien he Cometh into onr land, and when he treadeth within onr borders. Tlie verb rendered " v.'aste " is the same rendered " feed " in v. 4, and is probably a i)]ay on the possible senses of that word. While King Messiah shall feed his own people like a shepherd, they, made brave in war by his might witliin them, shall feed down tiio land of Assyria by the sword — of course in the sense of consum- ing and laying desolate. The Assyi'ian stands here to represent MICAH.— CHAP. V. 207 tlie enemies of God's people, and is selected because when ilicah wrote, lie was the enemy chiefly to he feared. With this view I see no necessity of looking after a literal fultilment on that Assyria. Any powerful foe is Assyria. Y. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from tlie Lord, as the shovrers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. 8. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep : who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.* 9. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adver- saries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. " The remnant of Jacob " comprises those who survive the wars and desolations sent of God to scourge and purify his people. It is of course implied that these liave been purified by the afflictions which they have survived, and are now prepared for efl:ective use- fulness in the service of their King Messiah. Fu-st, they shall '' be among Gentile nations like the dew and like showers from the Lord " — figures suggestive of munificent blessings — blessings that come before men ask for them, " on the just and on the unjust ; " anticipating the wants of vegetation. The next figure also lo- cates them among Gentile nations, where they are as a lion among beasts, or a young lion among the flock — everywhere a power to be respected and even feared. The idea of destructiveness is (we may hope) less prominent than that of efiiciency, or at least we are to tliink of destructiveness only as relating to the real and incorri- gible enemies of God, and even then of their agency as incidental and passive rather than direct and active. " Vengeance belongeth unto God," and wlien his providence employs his people in the destruction of guilty nations, it is commonly not by any direct agency, but rather by indirect. 10. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LoED, that I will cut off thy horses out of the m.idst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots : 11. And I will cut oil the cities of thy land, and throv,' down all thy strong holds : These statements show that God's people are not thought of here as fighting with carnal weapons, for if they were, then horses and chariots would come into use. " Cities" must be here thought of in the military sense, parallel to " strongholds." The idea is that the Lord will be himself their Refuge and Strength, and will 208 MICAH.— CHAP. V. take away their confidence in human sources of help. The Psahn- ist gives tlie spirit of this passage, saying — " Some trust in cliariots and some in horses ; but we, in the name of the Lord our God " (Ps. 20 : 7). 12, And I will cut off witclicrafts out of thine liand ; and tliou slialt liave no more sootli-sajers : 13, Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee ; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thy hands. 14, And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee : so will I destroy thy cities. "Witchcraft and soothsaying are twin sisters to idol gods ; all unite in a common sympathy with Satan and his kingdom against God and his truth and worship. "What he here promises is there- fore a blessing to his church and kingdom. Indeed, we might say, He can give no greater blessing to his people than to take away their sins, by mild measures and influences, if he can ; by stern and painful agencies, if he must. The destruction of " cities " here also, as in V. 11, must contemplate them, not as mere residences of a dense population, but rather as the corrupt centimes and fountains of idolatry and vile superstition. 15, And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. The church being purified, it remains to execute vengeance on the heathen who are still incorrigible. Then and so will the world be redeemed from its sins, and the reign of Messiah be omnipotent in all the earth. What we should expect from the nature of the case is rendered certain by the sure word of prophecy, viz., tbat this subjugation of the world to King Messiah will be effected by a twofold agency : (1.) The power of truth and of the Spirit of God to whatever extent they may become effectual. (2.) iJesolating and exterminating judgments on all who are incorrigible under the best appliances for their salvation that God can wisely employ. Thus closes this most instructive Messianic chapter. Some have said that tlic jjortiou of this chapter which promises i^rosperity closes with v. 8, the remaining part denoting adversity. Such in- terpreters seem to forget that God can give his peoj)le no richer blessing than to cut off" and remove their sins. Aye, let his name be praised for this, even though it be by stern excision, the cutting off" of right hands, or the plucking out of right eyes! MICAH.— CHAP. VI. 209 CHAPTER VI. A GRAND public liearina; of the case made by Jeliovali against liis covenant people is called for (v. 1); the mountains are sum- moned to be present (vs. 1 and 2) ; the Lord presents his complaint and appeals to his past mercies (vs. 3-5) ; the people ask what they shall do to please God (vs. 6, 7) ; the prophet replies (v. 8), and continues still to expose their sins, and to speak of the judgments inflicted therefor. 1. Hear ye now what tlie Lord saitli ; Arise, contend tlion before tlie mountains, and let the liills hear tliy voice. 2. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Loed hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. The first verse is the Lord's word to his prophet. " Contend " is used here in the sense of a legal contending — a pleading before a court. This complaint made by Jehovah against his people, the prophet is to bring before the " mountains and the strong founda- tions of the earth," as if inanimate nature could not fail of having moral sense enough to appreciate the luerits of so very plain a case. The scene is sublimely grand — this holding court before the moun- tains and the strong pillars of the earth, giving them to understand that the Lord has a controversy with his people, and summoning them to hear and pass upon the case. 3. O my people, what have I done unto thee ? and wherein have I wearied thee ? testify against me. The case now opens. The Lord says, " O my people, what bavfe I done that could in any possible degree justify thee in such apostasy against thy God? " If they have ought to reply, the court is open ; " testify," saith. the Lord, " against me." 4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Eg3i3t, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants ; and 1 sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor an- swered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. Miriam became prominent in the song of triumph on the hither side of the Red Sea, Ex. 15. The striking narrative respecting Balak and Balaam may be seen, Num. chap. 22-2-i. Balak thonglit 210 MICAH.— CHAP. VI. to prevail against this new and formidable people by means of divination and the cursing power of one widely known and honored as a master in the mysteries of magic ; but the Lord headed Ba- laam, and would not let him go to sell his conscience and his soul for the wages of unrighteousness, and make capital for Balak against the Lord's people. The Lord's control over Balaam evinced his power on the hearts of even wicked men, for Balaam still continued to be a bad man, and met his death at last among God's enemies (ISTum. 31 : 8). " Shittim" was a valley in Moab. Gilgal was the place, close on the west side of the Jordan, where the Hebrew peo- ple pitched their first camp in Canaan, and raised their mouniuent of stones. "• From Sliittim unto Gilgal " cannot be directly con- nected with Balaam's answer to Balak, as if this answer was kept up throughout this entire journey. We must supply the ellipsis: " Rememljer all tliat occurred from Shittim till ye were across tlie Jordan in Gilgal." " That ye may know the righteousness of the Lord" cannot here refer to justice^ but must rather mean the favors and mercies of the Lord. The word " righteousness " has tliis sense in quite a number of passages. One clear case occurs 1 Sam. 12 : Y, where Samuel says, " Let me reason with you of all the righteous acts of the Lord (righteousnesses), which he did to you and to your fathers ; " whereupon lie proceeds to recite a long catalogue of di- vine benefits, mercies — not by any means acts of mere justice. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? shall I come before him witli burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old 'I 1. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? These are questions put by the people to the prophet. They respond to his rebukes and expostulations with the inquiry. What will meet the demands of the Lord our God? What does he re- quire us to do ? Two things are worthy of note in the general cast of these inquiries : (1.) That tlicy arc deeply sliaded with the current thought of the heathen nations round about tliem, rather than by the tone of the Institutes of Moses ; and (2.) That they seem to imply that the Deity demands ofterings of the most costly sort, and penance the most severe — overlooking all the weightier matters of the law — justice and love. 8. He hath shewed thee, O man, what h good ; and what doth the Lokd require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God 'i This is the prophet's brief but exceedingly comprehensive reply. "Do justice" first of all, everywhere, and always; then, yet fur- ther, toward your fellow-men "show mercy;" do acts of kindness MICAH.— CHAP. VI. 211 and favor wLere no merit >3reates a claim of justice ; and finally, as toward God, walk with liim humbly, in constant communion and fellowship. Recognize his surrounding, all-pervading presence, and adjust thy spirit and thy life to a due sense of that presence. In the last clause the Hebrew is specially expressive: "'Bow low to walh tcith God," as if only so could sinning mortals hope to come near to the Holy One. Thus, in fewest, briefest words, does the prophet reply, giving us precisely the great duties which man owes both to his fellow-man and to his God. 9. The Lord's voice crietli unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name : hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. Again the prophet returns to expose and reprove the sins of the people, and to announce the judgments that the Lord must needs send. The " city " to Avhich the Lord's voice crieth is Jerusalem, prominent for her responsibilities,, prominent in her sins. It was therefore every way fitting that the Lord should cry unto her. In the next clause the Hebrew margin presents a slightly different reading, which would give tliis sense: "Those who fear thy name will have wisdora." But this reading has no claims for precedence before the one in our Hebrew text and in our English text — "The wise will regard thy name " — whatever fools may do or may not. The prophet assumes that the unwise will not regard the name of Jehovah. The exhortation is, " Hear ye the rod " — the lessons tauglit by the Lord's rod of discipline — and So Ic^rn to Lnow him who has appointed it, and who directs its mission in a sinning world. 10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the honse of the wicked, and the scant measnre that is abominable ? As if surprised as well as grieved, the Lord asts. Are there yet in wdcked men's houses the treasures +hey have gotten by wicked- ness and the scant measure, or "ephah? " This form of question strongly implies that there are. The Hebrew people seem to have been strangely addicted to falsifying by unjust weights and measures, although then* statute law most expressly forbade it. See Lev. 19:35, 36, and Dent. 25:13-16. Other passages note the prevalence of this sin, and strongly condemn it: Prov. 11 : 1 and 20 : 10 ; Hos. 12:7; and Amos 8 : 5. 11. Shall I connt them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights ? The use of the first person creates the only ditficulty of exposi- tion. The verb properly means " Shall I be pure?" — not. Shall I count others as pure ? Read thus, Ave must suppose the prophet to put the question as of himself, that the people may in like manner 212 MICAH.— CHAP. VII. each ask it of himself, " Shall I be pure with " (?'. 3ely, thus : " Thou shalt eat and not be satisfied, for thy hunger shall still be within thee ; thou shalt remove away (/. e., thy goods for safety), but thou shalt not save them ; and whatever thou shalt save I will give up to the sword." 16. For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their coun- sels ; that I should make thee a desolation, and the in- habitants tliereof an hissing : therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people. Omri, the father, and Ahab, the son, were leaders in the idolatry of Israel. Their example and influence were intensely ])erniciou3 over Jndah. " The reproach of my people " is not reproach cast Tyy my people, but such reproach as is due to my people, consider- ing that they were mine by covenant, under the highest obligations, but violated all. CHAPTER YII. The course of thought in this chapter embraces the prophet's distress (v. 1); its causes in the extreme wickedness of tlie people (vs. 2-4) ; so great that no confidence can be re])Osed in man, not even in best friends (vs. 5, 0) ; but should be in God (v. 7j Trusting ^^ MICAH.— CHAr. VII. 213 in her God, Zion exults over her enemies (vs. 8, 9), who aie covered with shame (v. 10) ; enlargement for Zion (vs. 11, 12), albeit judg- ments have come and must come for her sins; the prophet's prayer (v. 14) ; and the Lord's answer (vs. 15-17) ; the prophet testifies in sublime strains to God's pardoning mercy, and the people respond (vs. 18-20). 1. Woe is me ! for I am as -wlien tliej liave gatliered tlie smnmer fruits, as tlie grape-gleauiuo-s of tlie vintage : there is no cluster to eat : my soul desired tlie first ripe fruit. The prophet gives expression to his sadness, grief, and disap- pointment, by comparing his case to tliat of a man longing for the first ripe fruits, but who finds the summer fruits all gathered, the grapes all gleaned, and not a cluster left for his hunger. The state of things among the people which causes him such grief and disap- pointment, he proceeds to describe. 2. Tlie good 7Jia7i is perished out of tlie eartli : and there is none upright among men : they all lie in vait for blood ; they hunt every man his brother with a net. 3. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asheth, and the judge asl'eth for a reward ; and the great w^«?^, he uttereth his mischievous desire : so they wrap it up. 4. The best of them is as a brier : the most upright is sharper than a thorn-liedge : the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometli ; now shall be their per- plexity. The received translation gives the sense, in the main, well. The verb rendered '■'■ icvap itvp " implies not merely covering over, but tying up — interlacing, and making all secure by artful planning. The Avatchmen " (v. 4) are prophets, and "the day of thy watch- men " is the day thy prophets have foretold as one of destruction, and of God's visitation in judgment. ISTow shall the wicked who fall under these judgments be perplexed and confounded in their plans of wickedness, so that they shall not know what they can do. 5. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide : keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. C. For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ; a man's enemies a^^e the men of his o^vn house. 214 MICAH.— CHAP. VII. This entire description, beginning with v. 2, reveals a state of appalling corruption of morals, and gives the soundings of tlie great dei>ths of human depravity as seen where the light of God's word is withdrawn, and idol worship with its surroundings comes into its place. As Christianity sanctifies and makes benign all the sweet relationships of home and family, so does human depravity, finding free scope, and ever-quickening impulse under the reign of idolatry, desecrate and render fiendish tliose same precious relationships. It is terrible that homes of love should become "habitations of cruelty ; " but human depravity, imrestrained, has precisely this ten- dency, and sometimes reaches this result. Y. Therefore I will look unto the Lord ; I will wait for the God of my salvation ; my God will hear me. jSTo conclusion from such premises as these could be more fitting than this. "When all our dearest earthly friends fail, let it be our joy that God is true and faithful — a doubly precious friend. 8. Kejoice not against me, O mine enemy : when I fall, I shall arise ; when I sit in darkness, the Lokd shall he a light unto me. The special thing to be noticed in the Hebrew of this verse is that the verb rendered " rejoice," and the noun, "mine enemy," are \>o\h. feminine^ showing that tlie prophet addresses some city or political power, present to his thought ; and consequently does not speak in his own person exclusively, but in behalf of his peo- jjle; the sense being this: Speaking for Judah and Jerusalem, I say to Edom or to Babylon — " Rejoice not over me, thou insulting and exulting enemy ; tliougli I fall in war, and my sons and daugh- ters go into captivity, I shall arise through the strength of my Re- deemer God ; though I sit in the darkness of a fallen kingdom, ray people in a strange land, yet the Lord shall be a light unto me." It should be carefully noticed that the x'rophet's mind is jiro- jected forward from the awful sins of the land to the consequent curse — the captivity in Babylon, and to the deliverance ultimately wrought there for the covenant people when they became humbled, reformed, and penitent. It is with those scenes in view that he addresses Edom and Babylon so triumi)hantly in these verses. 9. I will hear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me : he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall l)ohold his rii>;hteousness. 10. Then she that is mine enemy shall see tt, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God ? mine eyes shall behold her : now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. MICAH.—CHAr. VII. 215 In these verses also, Micali speaks in behalf of the covenant people. V. 9 gives i;tterance to the feelings appropriate under such sore chastisements from the Lord — a moral lesson for all in affliction, he the form of it what it may. "Righteousness," in such a con- nection, does not mean simple justice, hut beneficence, goodness, God's interposition in redeeming and saving mercy. This specific sense is in some passages entirely essential ; I, therefore, confirm it: (1.) By the fact that in many passages "righteousness" is parallel to " salvation," and therefore synonymous with it, e. ^., Isa. 51 : 5, 6, 8 : " My righteousness is near ; my salvation is gone forth," &c. — " but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteous- ness shall not be abolished " — " but my righteousness shf-11 be for- ever, and my salvation from generation to generation ; (2.) In other jjassagee, the strain of the context and the nature of the case de- mand this sense, e. ^., Isa. 54: 17; which means — God wOl save his Zion from all her foes, " and their righteousness " {i. e., this sal- vation) " is of me, saith the Lord." Also Ps. 51 : 14 : " Deliver. me from blood-guiltiness, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness." — See notes on Micali 6 : 5. In V. 10, the Englisli translators have given the gender of the party spoken of — manifestly the same that is addressed in v, 8. The sense is — The great enemy of Zion (probably Edom or Baby- lon) shall see the salvation wrought of God for us. She who had said tauntingly, "Where is the Lord thy God?" shall now be overwhelmed with shame, and be hex'self trodden under foot as mire in the streets. Wliereas slie looked exultingly on me in my fall, now mine eye shall behold her under God's righteous retri- butions. 11. In tlie day tliat thy walls are to be Liiilt, in that clay shall the decree he far removed. 12. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the for- tress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. These verses obviously speak of blessings upon Zion in the day when the Lord, having turned again her captivity, shall rebuild her walls, bring home her captives from afar, and with them also " tlie forces of the Gentiles." Critics have difi'ered greatly as to the precise sense of the words rendered " sliall the decree be far removed." What our translators meant by " the decree," or by its being " far removed," is by no means clear. It is plain to one who reads the original, that Micali chooses his words, the verb ''' and the noun,t for the sake in part of a paranomasia, the two la.st radicals of the verb and the two which compose tlie noun being the same, and therefore the sounds of each are similar. For the 216 MICAH.— CHAP. VII. sake of this result, he may, perhaps, have used one or both of these words in a soniewliat unusual sense. Tliis may occasion some of the difficulties found by critics in the interpretation of the passage. The following construction is suggested as fully in harmony both with the context and with the original and normal use of both these words : " In the day for rebuilding thy -walls, in that day shall limit he far cmay " — i. e., the city bounds shall be far off; the city indefinitely extended. This use of the noun is amply justi- fied by Job 14 : 5, " Thou hast appointed his hounds that be cannot pass" (here, of time); and Job 26: 10, "He hath compassed the waters with lotmds" (here limits in space, as in our passage), and 28 : 2G, " He made a decree (bound) for the rain " (determin- ing its locality, and, perhaps, quantity). Isa. 5 : 14, " Hell hath opened her mouth without meas^^rc;" literally, " and there is no limit." The primary sense of the verb is — to be far off, far removed. Parallel in general meaning is Zccb. 2 : 1-4, where the first thought is — Go, measure the length and breadth of the city walls, as if to rebuild on the old foundations ; but this direction is with- drawn, and God promises — Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls for the multitude, &c. So here the purpose of God is to en- large her borders so that she may receive great accessions, as the nest verse proceeds to say. The verb used here occurs Isa. 33 : 17: "Thine eyes shah see the King in his beauty; Avith joy shall they behold the land greatly extended^'''' enlarged — their king in his glory, with a subject territory greatly increased on every side. In sentiment Isa. 54: 2, 3, is parallel: "Enlarge the place of thy tenl, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations ; spai'e not; lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the riglit hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhab- ited." Eemembering tliat Micah was contemporary with Isaiah, and that there are abundant proofs of their acquaintance with each other's writings, we shall readily account for their saying the same things, in much the same language, as to the day when the fallen walls of Zion shall be rebuilt. Taught by one and the same Spirit, and writing of tlie same things in the same age, why shoulcl not their views and their language be essentially the same? Gese- nius gives these words here this sense — "The set time is greatly extended." But it does not clearly appear from the context what this "sot time" is, nor is any good reason npi)arent for restricting the enlargement to the one element of time. I prefer the broader sense as given above, which may indeed comprise enlargement in ter7'ito7'i/, in capacity for receiving great accessions to the church, and in tlic^^CTv'ocZ of this prosperity — enlargement in the most gen- eral sense. Hence, the broad, indefinite form of the statement. In V. 12, the first verb is imi)crsona], and therefore means, not that " /ic," some one man, shall come from Assyria, but that MICAII.— CHAP. VII. 217 men, peoples, it raav be in vast numbers, shall come. The word rendered "fortified""* I prefer to r cndev 3j]/pf, thus— "In that day shall men come to thee from Assyria and from the cities ot Egypt ; and from Egypt even to the great river (Euphrates) ; from sea to sea and from moimtain to mountain ; " I c, from all the intervening regions, Avhicli indeed comprise all that vast country lying contiguous to Palestine, and stretching out to the remotest bounds of Egypt on the southwest, and to Assyria on the north and east. From these remote lands shall the exiles return, and, as above intimated, perhaps Gentiles as well, for the promise may look far on beyond the restoration from Babylon, although its primary reference is probably to that event. 13. :Notwitlistanding the land shall be desolate be- cause of them that dw'ell therein, for the fruit of their doings. The sense is — ^Notwithstanding these glorious promises of future enlargement, every way adapted to inspire liigh and brilliant anti- cipations, yet bear in mind " that for the great sins of the people, an age of judgment and desolation will surely intervene. Before tliose better days shall come, the land will lie a long time desolate as the fruit of the people's sins." A caution against abusing these promises. 14. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine lieritage, which' dwell solitarily m the wood, in the midst of Carmel : let them feed i?i Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. The word rendered "/e«Z"is pastoral — the usual term to de- scribe the service of the shepherd. It, therefore, combines the two ideas — feeding, and ruling, or guiding. Hence to the ITebrews tlicre would be no incongruity in supposing this feeding to be done with the "rod" — which is here the shepherd's crook; not a rod for scourging. The sense of the verse is — Take charge of thy peo- ple as a shepherd of his flock ; they are thine heritage, now solitary in the forest; let them feed in the rich ])astures of Bashan and Gilead, as of old. This is the prayer of the prophet. He expects the people to join in it. 15. According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous tJiings. This verse may fitly be considered as the answer of the Lord to the prayer in the verse preceding. It pledges miraculous inter- position and cfiiective help, as in the Exodus from Egy[)t — the stand- ing historic case to signify a glorious salvation. 10 218 MICAH.— CHAr. VII. 16. The nations sliall see and be confonnded at all their might : they shall lay tlieir hand upon their month, their ears shall be deaf. VI. They shall lick the dnst like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth : they shall be afraid of the Loed our God, and shall fear be- cause of thee. Here are the effects on tlio Gentile nations of God's marvellous deliverances to be wrought for his.people. They shall see and shall be ashamed of their own insignificant prowess. They may be sup- posed to say — " We have no power to cope with that ; all our strength vanishes away before such marvellous works." They shall be dumb and deaf, as men astonished and stupefied with amazement. They shall lick tlie dust, humbling themselves low before the glori- ous majesty of Jehovah. They shall crawl out of their holes in the ground — a strong figure, to denote the change that has come over their glory and greatness. The last clause should read thus: " They shall approach with humble fear and reverence unto the Lord our God " — this shade of meaning being required by the prep- osition rendered " unto.'''' See notes on Hos. 3 : 5. Thus those tlirilling impressions of awe and fear are to avail for the conversion of the Gentile nations. 18. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth in- iquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage ? he retaineth not his anger for ever, be- cause he delighteth in mercy. That sins so great should be so entirely forgiven, so fully passed over, to be noticed and known no more — and that God should so fully turn from his righteous anger, and give scope only to his great mercy — is most wonderful! As the prophet thinks of these qualities of the divine mercy in tlie case of his forgiving his covenant people and restoring them again to favors so great, his heart is overwhelmed within him. And why not? "What can be more wonderful ? This language is full of beauty and of strength as well. "Who is a God like Thee, taking away sin " (to be seen and noted no more), " passing over the transgressions of the remnant of his chosen " (as a traveller ^rtssfs hy what he does not wish to notice) ; " and he does not make his wrath strong forever " (im])lying tliat he does the vor.y opposite — makes it subside and give place to loving-kindness.) And all this "because he delighteth in mercy "), finding his real bliss, even tlio highest joy of his heart in forgiving the chief of sinners.) Is not all tliis most precious and most wonderful ? Who, having once seen liis own guilt in all its appalling blackness and vileness, and tlieu felt the sweet sense of pardon, as if God himself were whispering peace and love to his heart, will not appreciate this inimitable de- scription of the pardoning love of the Lord? MICAH.— CHAP, VIL £19 19. He will turn again, lie will have compassion upon IIS ; lie will subdue our iniquities ; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. This verse may, without violence, Le construed as a sort of re- frain or response, taken up by the people themselves, who enter into the spirit of the prophet's words, and respond in terras scarcely less pertinent and afi'ecting. Or it may very fitly be considered as the prophet's own application of the previous verse to the case of God's covenant people. Either way the general sentiment is the same. God will turn from scourging to blessing, when his smitten people turn from their sins to righteousness. " He will have com- passion upon us." Ah, yes, indeed he will! Such a God, so full of loving pity, how can it be otherwise ? " He will subdue our iniquities," the original word for "subdue" implying that he will tread them down under his feet — as an apostle said, " He will tread Satan under your feet shortly." Sin, personified, command- ing its forces of temptation, is thought of as a powerful foe of man, as his arch enemy, perpetually ensnaring, assailing, crushing down and piercing through with bitter pangs ; but God subdues this en- emy ; he withstands his efiorts ; sets himself to counteract his temp- tations, and becomes himself a strong tower of refnge, whither his people may fly and into which they may nm and be safe! O how inexpressibly precious ! "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," and they go down like a millstone, to rise no more ! The idea is, that they come up no more to remembrance — as the Lord has said, " Their sins and their iniquities will I remem- ber no more! " (Heb. 8: 12). Considering that the Infinite Mind of the Universe never has lost from its thought and knowledge one fact, however minute, and never can, this statement seems most wonderful of all. God Avould have us feel that he does not remem- ber against us the sin which we have fully repented of and heartily forsaken, and which therefore he has altogether forgiven and put away. He would almost lead us to think that he can forget them and has forgotten them, so that they shall come before his mind even in memory no more ! O how divinely kind and gracious is this ! How like a tender Father ! That he should labor to dispel from our mind those painful feelings of shame and grief over ^?ur sins, and should seem to say, " Come near to me and be my free- hearted, loving child, as welcome to my smiles and confidence and favor as if you had never sinned against me ! " Let tliis infinite Friend, so kind and so gracious, be loved, trusted, and adored by us all, for ever and ever ! 20. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. Here the book closes, aflarming that such a God will surely per- 220 MICAE.— CHAP. VII. form all tlie good tilings, the truth and the mercy promised to tlie fathers long years ago. No doubt he will ! Zacharias, filled with the Holy Ghost, caught the spirit as well as the leading words of this passage : " To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant," &c. (Liake 1 : 72). I^AHUM. INTRODUCTION". TnE introduction to tliis short book gives us only tlie general subject — a prediction of sore calamity on ISTineveb ; the name of tbe author and the place of his residence, or perhaps nativity. The latter point, being of small importance, I dispose of it briefly. Two places bear the name of Elkosli, and claim the honor of this prophet's birth ; — one, beyond the Tigris ; the other, in Gahlee — the latter with the greater plausibihty. Some think that Caper- naum, — village of Naum — bears the name of this prophet. The date of the book is a greater question. It can, however, be answered only proximately. The location of the book in the series of minor prophets probably had some reference to its date ; but the internal evidence in the line of historic allusion is our main reliance. This goes to place him a little after Micah. His great theme being the fall of Nineveh, there can be no reasonable doubt that he wrote soon after the famous invasion of Judah by Sennacherib and the utter overthrow of his army. That this event had tlirilled the nation may be seen in numerous passages of Isaiah, e. (/., 10 : 24-34, and 14 : 24-27, and 17 : 12-14, and 83 ; and 3G-39 chap. It could .not bo otherwise. Hence, naturally and properly, the Lord by his prophets sought to turn these signal eve'nts to the best moral account. Isaiah, though alluding to these transactions so often, had yet mostly passed over the retribution which the Lord would one day bring on Nineveh. This was left for Nahum. It was important, for the best moral impression on the people, that this should be revealed, and indeed that it should be written and made public soon after the invasion by Sennacherib and the defeat of his army 222 NAHUM.— CHAP. I. — at least, before the first impressions made bj those events ha 3 passed away. Now, this great invasion was in the fourteenth year of Ilezckiah (2 Kings 18:13), whose reign of twenty-nine years fell n. c. 728-099 — consequently, about b. c. 714, and ISTalmm would be located in time during the latter part of Ilezekiah's reign. This book furnishes one other historic point — a reference (3:8-10) (o the fall of "No-Amon," otherwise caUed Thebes and Diospolis, the famous capital of Upper Egypt. The manner of the prophet's allusion to this event implies that it was then past, yet probably recent and fresh in the minds of his first readers. But no extant history chronicles precisely the date of her fall. What Isaiah says (20 : 1-6) of Sargon, king of Assyria, and of his general Tartan, almost without doubt refers to this event, the more surely so, because both Isaiah and Nahum represent the Ethiopians as being the allies of the Egyptians, and involved in the ruin of their great city. The location of this narrative in the book of Isaiah favors its date somewhat earlier than the march of Sennacherib upon Jerusalem. Sargon is known to have reigned next before Sennacherib. These facts and suppositions go to confirm the views above presented respecting the date of this book, as falling in the latter part of the reign of Hczekiah, i. e., b. c. 710-700. The fall of'Nineveh, which Nahum so vividly describes, chapters 2 and 3, took place from seventy-five to eighty years after the date assumed for this prophecy. It fell before the allied forces of the Medes under Oyaxares and the Chaldeans imder Nabopolassar, the precise date being assigned by the most reliable historians to n. c. 625 All tlie critics accord to Nahuui a style of lofty sublimity and a power of graphic painting rarely surpassed. He wrote as one whose very soul was permeated and thrilled by the great events of his time, and who saw God's hand in them — a i)resent and glori- ous poiccr for salvation to his people, and for vengeance on their foes. To see the beauty and feel the force of his book, we shall need to imbue our hearts deeply with the true spirit and sig-. nificanee of those momentous facts of history. NAHUM.— CHAP. I. 223 CHAPTER I. After the briefest possible introduction, the prophet breaks into the midst of his theme, ids starting-point being most fitly those great qnalilics of the divine character ^yhich both the recent events of history and tlie burden of his prophecy conspire to illustrate — • especially his retributive vengeance upon his enemies, coupled with his merciful protection and deliverance of his people. Hence we have mainly God's judgments on his foes (vs. 2-G) ; God a refuge for his people (v. T) ; the overthrow of Sennaclierib's army before Jernsalem (vs. 8-1 -i) ; and tlie ensuing peace and joy (v. 15). 1. The burden of Mneveh. The book of the vision of iSTahmn the Elkoshite. A " burden " in prophecy, here as elsewhere, is a message of calamity, predicting jndgment and desolation. 2. God is jealous, and the Loed revengeth ; the Lokd revengeth, and is furious ; the Loed will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth xvrath for his ene- mies. It should be borne in mind that these attributes of Jehovah are suggested by his retributive justice on Assyria, first, in destroying her great army when it came proudly and defiantly to lay waste the holy city ; and next, in the future desolations of Nineveh, their great and proud capital. These historic facts may serve as illustra- tions of the sense in which Jehovah is "jealous," "revengeth," and " taketh vengeance." -The Avord "/'«rio?As" in the English version should not be taken in the bad sense which has in modern times become predominant — as when spoken of wild beasts enraged, or men half fi'antic. The original is innocent of this s]>ecial sig- nificance, and simply implies that the Lord is moved with indignation against his proud, determined enemies. 3. The Loed is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit iJie wielded: the Loed hath\\\i way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. The first clause continues the glowing description of Jehovah's attributes, most of the expressions being taken from the classic passage (Ex. 34 : 6, 7) where the Lord proclaimed his name to Moses as one slow to anger, yet who will not at all acquit the guUty. The last clause opens one of tlie grandest portrayings of the majesty of Jehovah ever drawn by human pen : " Jehovah — his way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust about his feet." Across the deserts of the East a moving car- avan is seen farthest by the dust they raise. So the clouds are the 224 NAHUM.— CHAP. I. dust rising beneath his feet and marking the pathway of his glorious presence. 4. He rehnketli the sea, and maketli it dry, and drictli up all the rivers : Baslian lanj^nislietli, and Carmel, and tlie flov/er of Lebanon languislietli. With an eye perhaps on the Eed sea and the Jordan, the prophet proceeds : " lie rebuketh the sea and so dries it up," i. e., by his mere Avord of rebuke. Also, through his power of withholding rain, all vegetation, even in the most fertile regions, withers. 5. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. In the jjhrase "the earth is burnt at his presence," the original verb gives no sanction to the sense to hum, but must mean is lifted up, with reference to the upheaval of its crust by volcanic agents. The whole verse refers to this class of agencies. "The moun- tains tremble before him," or "because of him" (not properly "«t A?m"), "the hills melt," liquid lava gushing forth from their bowels and pouring down their sides — and the solid crust of the earth's surface is upheaved with its cities and all their vast population. 6. Who can stand before his indignation ? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger ? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. "With the terrible agencies of the volcano and the earthquake still in mind, the prophet fitly asks — "Who can stand before Jeho- vah's indignation ? " " Who can rise up against his burning wrath ? " " Else up," and not " a&irt>," is the sense of the Hebrew. His fury is poured forth like rivers of lava from the craters of Ve- suvius, How, then, can the wicked endure before him when once he ariseth in his wrath ? 7. The LoED is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble ; and he knoweth them that trust in him. By a sudden, yet most expressive transition, this same God is a gloi'iotis refuge for his people. He is none the less good because he feels such indignation against incorrigible sin. He will defend his trustful children none the less because his wrath is so terrible against his and their foes. Indeed, his wrath against their foes is the ])ledgo and guaranty of his love for them, and of his purpose to de- fend them forever. This side of his character had its present il- lustration in the deliverance wrought for Judah when just about to fall before the armed hordes of Assyria. In the phrase " he Imoweth them that trust in him," ^"^ Jowwcth'''' takes the strong sense of a pe- culiar and most tender rajard. NAHUM.— CHAP. I. 225 8. But with an oveiTiinning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pm-sue his enemies. From this point onward through the chapter, Sennacherib's army is before the mind, and the prophet alhides to their mischievous plottings against the people of God, and to his consequent retri- bution upon them in tlieir complete destruction. A question of some importance arises here, upon which interpreters differ, viz., "Whether the prophet's allusions to the invasion of Judah by Sen- nacherib (vs. 8-15) are prophecy or history. Was this passage writ- ten tcfore or after the invasion? My mind inclines strongly to the latter view, on the following grounds: (1.) The tenses of the verbs used at least admit this construction. Owing to a striking peculiarity in the use of the Hebrew tenses in propbecy, or rather, perhaps, to the mental stand-point of the prophet when visions of the future are brought before him, it becomes very difficult to de- termine, y/'o/w the tenses alone, wliat is prophecy and what is history. In this passage it would be hard to show absolutely from the tenses alone, that either theory is impossible. There is plainly nothing in the tenses to forbid tbe construction of what relates to Sennacherib's invasion as recently past. Thus the verbs in v. 8 are future, but they refer to the future fall of Nineveh — about b. c. 625. (V. 9), thus (literally) : " What will ye devise against Jehovah ? " The sense is — How can ye devise any thing to purpose against such an one as Jehovah ^.^-wbich has augmented force, considered as spoken after the fall of Senruicherib's host. TJie reasons given are, "He makes" (not "AviU make") ''ruin complete." "Affliction shall not rise again" — from you, or from any whom tbe Lord has once undertaken to destroy. These reasons are all fuilj'- in point, considered as said after the invasion and its defeat. In v. 10 the sense is — " Though compacted like tangled thorns and soaked with strong drink, they were devoured " (the Hebrew is in the past tense) "like dry stubble." In v. 11 read "From thee eame ouf'' (past tense) " one wlio plotted mischief" — alluding to the past purpose and deed of Sennacherib. The twelfth verse has past tenses through- out ; not '■'•shall they be cut down," but they icere cut. " Though I have afflicted tliee, I will afflict tliee no more," is literal, and properly assume that tbe invasion is past. Tlie thirteenth verse means that now and henceforth, I will break olf liis yoke from upon thee. Thou shalt have nothing to fear more from the Assyrian power. In v. 14, the infamy and disgraceful deatli of Sennach- erib assume that the invasion is past. In v. 15, the messengers with tidings of their fall — the call to Judah to resume her solemn feasts for her Belial shall never come near even to alarm her again — all is specially pertinent and life-like on the assimiption that the deed is done. There can, therefore, be no objection to its con- struction as history on the score of the Hebrew tenses, nor in the strain of the passage. (2.) The passage (1 : 2-7) is especially per- 22G NAHUM.— CHAP. I. fmcTit and forcible on the supposition that the Ml of Sennacherib's liost is in tlie recent past, and fresh before all minds. (3.) There is great pertinence in going forward from these events of recent his- tory to predict the final ruin of Assyria, in righteous retribution for her bold and impious defiance of the Most High God. (4.) The history of the event as given (Isa, 37) goes flir to show that no prophecy of Nahuni, predicting the fall of this Assyrian host, was extant lefore that fall. The king and even the pious portion of the people were in deep agitation, not to say consternation ; they come to Isaiah for some light from the Lord, and he gives it. Then their fears are allayed and their faith confirmed. The whole tenor of these transactions implies that nothing is known of any prediction from ISTahum of the tailure of this invasion and the consequent ruin of its author. (5.) The Book of Nahum must be taken as one whole, written at one time. But it is scarcely supposable that the whole, including the i)rediction of the final fall of Nineveh, dates lefore this great invasion of Judah. These considerations seem decisive. There is a sudden transition from v. 7, where God is a refuge to his people, to v. 8, wliere he is a sweeping flood, overwhelming Nineveh and obliterating even its ancient foundations. The ideas, however, are kindi-ed, for God is such a refuge to his people l>e- cause he is such a power of destruction upon her enemies. The figure — "with a flood sweeping over the land" — is probably bor- rowed from Isaiah 8 : 7, 8, where it describes the desolating march of the vast Assyrian army over the land of Judah. By a fit and most palpable retribution, armies, equally vast and desolatini?, shall yet come down on Nineveh, and shall make an utter end of even tlie site where she stood so long in her glory. The darkness of ob- livion shall chase down these enemies of God, and they shaU sink from the knowledge of coming generations. 9. What do ye imagine against tlie Loed ? lie will make an utter end : affliction shall not rise np the second- thne. The prophet puts this bold question to the proud Assyrian invader: "Wliat would ye plot against Jehovah?" "He will make an utter end" of his foes and of i/ou. " Trouble to many people shall not arise from you a second time." Once smitten, you will never return to harass them agam, 10. For while t/ie^j he folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be de- voured as stubble fully dry. For though your armies more in phalanx, closely interlaced as thorns in their wild growtli, and though they reel under their intoxication, tliey shall be devoured as stubble burns when perfectly f^fy- That they are said to be drunken as with wine, and hence NAHUM.— CHAP. I. 22Y to reel in their intoxication, may allude to a striking fact in God's agency over nations doomed to judgment, and also to a very strik- ing figure to represent this liict — the fact being that God gives such nations over to infatuation ; and the figure to express it being this (as appears in Jer. 25 : 15-29). God sends round to the nations the wine-cup of his fury, and they drink till they are "moved" and " mad." Ilence they ai"e easily destroyed. They more tlian half destroy themselves. The slaveholding power of this American nation is a case quite in point, evincing this same mad infatuation which is both a natural and a governmental forerunner of destruc- tion. The wine-cup of Jehovah's fury has been to their lips ! 11. There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lokd, a wicked counsellor. Sennacherib or Eabshakeh. He comes forth out of Assyria, or perhaps, specially from Nineveh, devising evil against Jehovah as the king of his covenant people. 12. Thus saith the Loed ; Though they he quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have aiSicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. The Lord sees this heathen king deliberately plotting the destruction of Judah, and therefore declares his purpose to destroy him and his army. The first prominent word, rendered " quiet," more properly means complete^ furnished with every appliance for success in their proposed object. Though they are fully equipped, and withal so very many, yet shall they be cut down (as the figure in V. 10 had ex]^)ressed it) when he, the destroying angel, shall pass through their camp. Isaiali records this event in these brief words : " Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand, and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses " (Isa. 37 : 36). Byron has put this scene in his best style : "Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen ; Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown. For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed on the face of the foe as he passed, And the eyes of the sleepere waxed deadly and chill. And their hearts but once heaved, and forever were still." The last clause — " though I have aflflicted thee," &c., refers to Judah, now relieved from danger, and no more to be afflicted by this long dangerous enemy. 13. For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonvls in sunder. 228 NAHUM.— CHAP. I. This verse expands the thought just hefore expressed. 14. And the Loed liatli given a commandment con- cerning tliee, that no more of thy name be sown : ont of the honse of thy gods will I cnt off the graven image and the molten image : I will make thy grave ; for thou art vile. The person spoken of must be the Assyrian king. No scion of his family should again take I'oot ; no child come to the honor of his father's throne. This would seem to be the most natural sense of these words. But according to the dim light of the history of those times, its precise fulfilment is not readily made out. The king should be Sennacherib who headed the famous invasion of Judah and Jerusalem. All the latter part of this verse 14 finds an accurate fulfilment in him. He made his grave in the house of his gods — a vile, " light'''' man, of no particular account. " Light " is the sense of the Ileorew word. But Isaiah records (37 : 38), " and Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead." History assigns to this Esarhaddon a reign of thirty-five years. How, then, could it be said, no son of Sennacherib should come to the throne ? To avoid this difficulty. Dr. Henderson holds that the threatening was not to take efiiect at his death, but only at the final destruction of Nineveh — which he locates b. c. 625 — almost a century in the future. Then, his dynasty should become extinct. He says, "It does not mean that none of his sons should succeed him in tlie government." But this is just what it seems to say, if we give the language a sense which aflirms the extinction of his dynasty. If the words affirm extinction at all, they affirm it to take effect at once. Others, with better success, give the words this turn — that his name, in the sense of fiime, reputation, should be diff"used abroad — sown Iroadeast, no more. He should die in dishonor as a vile man, and his name go down to posterity only in disgrace. In this sense of the prophecy, its fulfilment presents no difficulty. 15. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace ! O Judah, kee]3 thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows : for the wicked shall no more pass through thee : he is utterly cut off. "War telegrams were borne in those days by swift runners (see 2 Sam. 18 : 19 ff.). When they brought tidings of victory and peace, their approach might well be hailed with joy. So now of these mes- sengers with tidings of the utter ruin that befell Assyria's proud hosts in that one fatal night. The prophet's graphic touch of this scene is masterly. He gives no long and tedious details : his mind flashes over and past them all, to light on one or two most significant and expressive results. "Go, Judah, now, and keep thy solemn feasts : perform thy vows made in the hour of thy peril : this Belial shall pass through thy land no more : he is utterly cut off! " NAHUM.— CHAP. II. 229 As to keeping those solemn feasts, Judah could^ for no enemy remained in lier land to prevent : she should, for never before were there such themes for praise, such reasons for coming to the house of God witli her thank-oflerings to pay her solemn vows. CHAPTER II. This chapter brings us at once to the prophet's great theme — the burden of Nineveh. The mad and proud invasion of Judah by Sennacherib must first be noticed, that being the antecedent occasion of this final overthrow — the great sin of vrhich this fall was the signal retribution. Tliat consequently is spoken of in the first cliapter. This chapter and the thii-d give us the assault on an- cient Xineveh, and her final fall. 1. He that daslietli in pieces is come up before tliy face : keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. Instead of finding in this first verse a summons to Hezekiah to prepare his capital for defence against Sennacherib (as some have done), I prefer to apply it (as manifestly vs. 3-13 mnst be ap- plied) to the Assyrian king Ohynilidan, in whose reign the combined forces of the Medes and Chaldeans came up against great Nineveh, and laid it in ruins. With this construction, v. 2 is interposed as a reason for God's overthrowing Nineveh — good, although the event occurred more than half a century before. Then v. 3 resumes and carries forward the thought of v. 1. Moreover, Sennacherib has been effectually disposed of in chapter 1, tumbled into his dishonored grave, and his name given over to contempt and oblivion. It is not meet to raise him from his grave, to appear again on the face of this chapter. Nineveh and her kings are addressed. Niaeveh had been in her day a conquering power, dashing nations and their strong cities to atoms. Now, another great '' hammer of the nations" is raised up of God, and appears at her gates, and the IJrophet taimtingly admonishes her to look well to her fortifications ; to set watchmen along the ways leading to the city ; to gird her loins for strife, and fortify to the utmost. 2. For the Loed hath turned away the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel : for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine-branches. Why? "Because the Lord hath" (not turned a^ray, but) "re- stored the glory of Jacob as the glory of Israel, although the 'emptiers' (her foreign enemies) had (almost) emptied the land of her population, and marred their vine-branches." This language hiiplies that Judah had suffered sorely from her enemies, both in 230 NAHUM.— CHAP. II. the waste of precious life, and in the damage done her vines, and of course other vegetable growths as well. The same facts are indi- cated by Isaiah of this very time : " And the remnant that is es- caped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward," &c. "From out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant," &c., showing tliat many must have perished (see Isa. 37: 31, 32). V. 30 shows that cultivation had been entirely neglected during two full years. The word rendered " excellency " is sometimes (e. g., Amos C : 8 and Ps. 47 : 4) applied to the land of Palestine, as being the " glory of all lands." So liere, with the accessory idea of theland in its state of prosperity and glory. Jacob and Israel are here, not each the name of a distinct people, but both the name of one. With tacit allusion to the change of Jacob's name to Israel (Gen. 32 : 27, 28), the Lord is said to restore the glory of Jacob as being the people who have a princely power with God, and are recognized by him as his covenant peoi:)le. Jacob and Israel are never the dis- tinctive names of the two kingdoms. Here God blesses Jacob, as if in remembrance of what his other name, Israel, implies. 3. The shield of his mightj men is made red, the valiant men a?'e in scarlet: the chariots shall he with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir- trees shall be terribly shaken. 4. The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the light- nings. This description, given by the prophet, of the approaching hosts of Media and Chaldea, is, like all his descriptive paragraphs, full of fire, painting to the eye most vividly. '' The shields of his mighty men are reddened; his heroes are in scarlet; his chariots flash with the brightness of their iron scythes, as in the day of their prepara- tion (/. e., when new) ; the spears of cypress also wave on high. The chariots dash madly in the streets; they run to and fro in the open grounds; they look like lamps of fire; they dart like the lightning." 5. He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk ; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. Here the king of Kineveh is seen starting up as from a reverie or a sleep, to begin to appreciate his danger. He sees the fearful onslaught of converging hosts upon his capital. Now, "he thinks of his generals," and summons them to their work; they start oif in haste, or in panic, and "stumble in their goings; " they make haste to the city Avail," where their soldiers and military defences were located for the protection of tlie city, "and the breastworks are made firm." Breastworks is rather the modern phrase. This was a NAHUM.— CHAP. II. 231 mantlet, apparently of interwoven bonglis, to protect their heads as well as breasts fi'om the missiles of ancient warfare. According to Diodorus Sicnlus, Nineveh had fifteen hundred towers, dis- tributed around on her city walls. These mantlets may have been located in the intervening spaces. 6. The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. Y. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be bronght up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering npon their breasts. " The gates of her water-courses are burst open, and the palace is swept away." Nineveh stood upon the Tigris, on low ground. These "rivers" were her artificial canals for letting in their supply of water for irrigation and for other uses. Now, burst open by the besiegers, the palace, and consequently much of the city, was inundated. The word rendered " Huzzab " has been variously interpreted, as the margin indicates. All modern critics agree in making the word a verb, and not, as in the English version, a proper noun. The reader may choose among the following construc- tions, the first of which disregards the usual division of verses : (1.) (v. 6). '' The palace is dissolved, though firmly established." (v. 7). " She is made bare ; she is carried up," &c. (2.) (v. 7). " It is settled! {i. e., decreed and done!) she is led off into captivity," &c. (3.) (v. (J). " And the palace is dissolved, (v. 7.) "Though it (the palace) was firmly founded, yet is she (the city) led into captivity; she is borne away (as a captive queen) ; her maids are leading her as with the voice of doves, smiting (drumming) upon tlieir breasts." This choice between various constructions involves no doc- trinal ti-uth of special importance. The last interpretation, requir- ing no change in the Hebrew accents, and otherwise meeting both the exigencies of the context and the established usage of the indi- vidual words, has slightly my preference. 8. But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water : yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry^ but none shall look back. " Though Nineveh has been since her early days as a reservoir of waters" — a point for the confluence of people from every clime and kingdom, "yet now are they fleeing." "Stand! stand! but there is no turning them baclc." This translation imitates the terseness and gives the sense of the original. All great com- mercial centres, like the London and New York of our times, will have a population gathered from the whole cirilized world. TIio exigencies of business and trade produce this result. Our pas- sage touches graphically the eftect of a panic on such a population. The masses have but one imjiulse — to run. The authorities, who 232 NAHUM.— CHAP. II. ■would fain save the city, shont, "Stand! stand! " Lut the call ia powerless ; it tnrns no one back. 9. Take ye tlie spoil of silver, take tlie spoil of •rold : for there is none end of tlie store and e-lorv ont of all the pleasant fiu-niture. Tlie prophet turns for a word to the conquerors, who are thought of now as within the citr. " Seize the silver ; seize the gold ; there is no end to her stores " (i. e., of carefully prepared and curiously wrouglit furniture, equipage, &c.) — a huge mass of all beautiful things." There is no other word but "things" so nearly equivalent to the Hebrew in comprehensiveness. The great wealth of Nineveh now lies at the mercy of her conquerors. 10. Slie is empty and yoid, and waste : and tlie heart nielteth, and the knees smite together, and mnch pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. The first three adjectives aim to intensiiy the idea of utter empti- ness, as if Xineveh had been a huge and foil bottle, now inverted, and the contents gm-gle and gush out to the last drop. " Hearts melt ; there is shaking of knees and keen pangs in all loins ; all feces lose their cheerful glow" — contract and seem to draw in their brightness. This seems to be the exact sense of the Hebrew. 11. Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feed- ing-place of the young hons, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, a?id the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid ? 12. The lion did tear in pieces enough fov his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with rayin. 13. Behold, I con against thee, saith the Loed of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thj young lions: and I will cut oiF tliy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers sliall no more be heard. Nineveh is here thought of as an old lion's den. This figure is the more pertinent because the ancient Assyrians (like the modern British) chose the lion for their national symbol. This figure conse- quently is prominent in the ruins of ancient Nineveh (see Layard's "Nineveh," pp. -32, 47, 85, 88, &c.) Hence the prophet exultingly asks, Where is the old den now ? In tlie last verse the figure is half dropped and half retained. "Uurning her chariots in the smoke," drops the figure ; " the sword devom-ing her young lions. XAHTM.— CHAP. HI. 233 and cutting off his prey fi-om tlie earth,'' mostly retains it. '' The voice of her messengers "' is that of her ambassadors, who repre- sented her power in distant countries, with perhaps a tacit allusion to the taunting speech of her Eabshakeh to the Jewish people on the walls of Jerusalem, as in Isa. 36 : 4-20. Such a voice as this shall be heard no more. The immediate cause of her ruin is presented forcibly: "Behold, I am against thee, saith Jehovah of hosts." Xot the proudest or the mightest of cities can stand when the great Jehovah is against her. . CHAPTER III. The same subject — the fjill of Xineveh — is resumed and coa- daded. 1. "Woe to the bloody citv I it is all full of lies and robbery ; tbe prey dejiartetb not : First come the moral causes of this fearfal desolation. It is a city of blood ; " all full of hes " — ^no truth between man and man ; and thence come, by natural result, violence and robbery. The seizing of prey, by the strong from the weaker, never ceases. The original words suggest that men, created rational and moral, have become fierce and savage as beasts of prey. 2. The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. 3. The horseman liftetli up both the bi-ight sword and the ghttering spear : and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses ; and there is none end of their coi'pses ; they stumble upon their corpses : These verses resume the account of the siege and assault, con- tinued from 2 : 3-5, 9, 10 : "' The crack of the whip ; the noise of ratthng wheels, prancing horses, bounding chariots. There are horsemen mounting; flashing swords, the lightnings of the spear; heaps of sLiin, masses of the dead, and no end to the corpses; men stumble over their dead bodies.". Think of it, and note how it looks — this onslaught of warriors through the crowded streets of help- less Xineveh, leaving traces of their work in the heaps of her man- gled dead I One of the marvels is, that the pen of prophecy should paint such a life-scene with no less vividness and force than the ablest historic pen. Surely we must see in this the impress of God's own finger I •i. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that 234 NAHUM.— CHAP. III. selletli nations throngli her wlioredoms, and families tlirongli her witchcrafts. Again the proxjliet recurs to the moral causes of tliis appalling slaughter. There had been sin no less appalling! If these terms that usually denote lewdness, referred to Israel and Jndah, it woidd he legitimate to give them the sense of idolatry — this usage being well established with reference to the covenant people. In this passage the same usage may be inferred from the connection of whoredom with witchcraft. Hence, under this figure of a lewd harlot, the prophet really means idolatry and its monstrous brood of supersti- tions, witchcrafts, and doubtless licentiousness as well. Through the influence wielded by her world-wide commerce, Nineveh had corrupted all the nations round about. It was, therefore, only a fit retribution that her fall should be a public disgrace before them all. 5. Behold, I aTYi against thee, saith the Loed of hosts ; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. 6. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. Tliis is her doom of shame. The figure of a harlot is kept up throughout these two verses. '' Discover " — not in the modern sense, to find hy scarcJi, but in the ancient one, to expose to public view, and here to public scorn. God will expose her nakedness before all the nations; and then, to make her shame the greater, will cast abominable filth upon her naked person. Y. And it shall come to pass, t/iat all tliey that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste : who will bemoan her ? whence shall I seek com- forters for thee ? None can bear the horrid sight. Her old associates flee away, and no one cares to pause, to bewail her doom. 8. Art thou better than j^opulous Xo, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall teas from tlie sea? 9. Ethiopia and Egypt tvo-e her strength, and it icas infinite ; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. When Nahum wrote, Nineveh was still in her glory. Her peo- ple felt as secure from ';his or any other destruction as the people of London, Paris, or New York, to-day. It was to meet such a feel- ing of security that the prophet calls their attention to Ko, the great NAHUM.— CHAP. III. 235 city known as Thebes and Diospolis, the capital of Upper Egypt — which, from a state of unrivalled splendor, wealth, and greatness, had been suddenly laid in ruins. " Art thou better," i. e., stronger and more safe, " than No-Amon ? " The word rendered " populous " should be taken as part of the proper name of the city. "No- Amon," called only "xYo," Ezek. 30: 14-16, and Jer. 40: 25, but more often in Egyptian history, " Thebes," stood on both sides of the Nile — a most magnificent city, the ruins of whose temples and tombs are at this day one of the wonders of the v/orld. This city is supposed to have fallen under the assault of Sargon, king of Assyria, of whom Isaiah 20 speaks. — See introduction to Nahum. Thebes had powerful aUies. Being the centre of trade, busi- ness, and religion for all Upper Egypt, and probably for Ethiopia also, she had their aid, and the prophet says this was icithout limit. Lubim was tlie Hebrew form of the nama Libyans, and Put is sup- posed to have been part of their extensive country — the whole lying on the west of Egypt. 10. Yet was she carried away, she went into captiv- ity : her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets : and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. " Yet she became an exile," &c. The verse sketches the usual fate of a conquered people in that almost savage state of the world. If such had become the doom of Thebes, ought not Nineveh also to fear ? 11. Thou also shalt be drunken : thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. Nineveh also as well as Thebes should " be drunken " — should take the wine-cup of Jehovah's wrath and drink her death-doom. See notes on Nahum, 1 : 10. "Thou shalt be hid," means shall be lost to puijlic view — obliterated and forgotten; dropped from the knowledge of the human race. How wonderfully has this been true of old Nineveh for twenty-five centuries ! Until the present generation, ages have passed over her ruins, and no living man knew the site where once she sat so proudly and sinned so fearfully ! The Arab rode his steed high above her fallen towers and crumbled walls, all unconscious how mucli human greatness lay dead and forgotten beneath his. feet I " Shall seek strength." The Hebrew properly means a stroiujhold — a jjlace of safety against the enemy. To this they should be subjected, despite of their lofty walls and almost countless towers. So understood, the course of thought is continued into the next verse. 12. All thy strong holds shall he like fig-trees Avith the first ripe figs : if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 236 • NAHUM.— CHAP. III. 13. Beliold, tliy people in the midst of tliee art women : the gates of tliy land shall be set wide open unto tliine enemies : the fire shall devom- thy bars. By a most significant figure, the prophet shows that her miUtary strength was of small account — ratlier a temptation to an assault than a defence against it. Nineveh had become too rich, and too luxurious and effeminate, to stand against the plundering rohher- hordes of younger and more vigorous races. Her warriors had he- come as Avomen. The "bars" which the fire shall devour, are those of her gates. 14. Draw the waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds : go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brick-kiln. Tauntingly the prophet commends to her a little more labor on her fortifications — advice the more in point, because Nineveh had already expended an untold amount of wealth and labor upon this very thing, and also because she was so sure her walls were impreg- nable, and because they were, after all, of so very small account as against her enemies. The irony was put on for an edge, to make the truth cut. 15. There shall the fire devour thee ; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the canker-worm : make tlijself many as the canker-worm, make thyself many as the locusts. Even there in thy brick-kilns and mortar-beds, the fire of Jeho- vah's retribution wUl find thee out and devom- thee. It shall eat thee, as the canker worm (a species of locust) eats the herbage of the land. Then the locust having been suggested to his mind as a figure of devastation, he seizes it as a figure for a multitude, and says — " Make thyself a countless host like the locusts, yet shall the fire and sword of the Almighty consume thee." 16> Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven : the canker-worm spoileth, and flieth away. She had enjoyed an immense commerce with India on the east, and with all western Asia and northeastern Africa on the west. The wealth of those valleys of the Euphrates and the Tigris was also immense ; but the propliet quietly suggests that the locust pillages and then flies away. So would her great wealth vanish before the hosts of her foes. 17. Thy crowned are as the locusts, and tliy captains as the great grasshoppers, whicli camp in the hedges in the cold day, lut when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. NAIIUM— CHAP. III. 237 "Thy crowned" are lier princes, of wliom Sennacherib said, "Arc not my princes altogether kings? " The original rendered "captains" is an Assyi'ian word, meaning satraps, governors. They Avill disappear as the grasshoppers, who lie close under the wall during the cool of the day, hut when the sun rises flee away, and their very place is unknown. So these high officers on whom he had so much relied, would fail him and disappoint his expectations. Nahum 2 : 5 represents the king, when first aroused to his danger, as thinking of these officers — to how little purpose may be seen- here. 18. Tliy shepherds shimber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust : thy people is scat- tered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. "Thy shepherds" must mean, in this connection, his viceroys — officers in charge of his provinces. They are in a deep sleep, in- active, overcome with sloth — as a real shepherd might be. " Thy nobles have sat down " — as if in utter unconcern for the peril of Nineveh. Thus, nobles and people alike fail him in the hour of his extremity. 19. There is no healing of thy bruise ; thy wound is grievous : all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee : for upon whom hath not thy wicked- ness passed continually ? The nearly obsolete word " Iruit " means report concerning thee — the news of thy Ml. The world was ready to rejoice over her righteous doom ; for where could a tribe be found that had not felt the galling of lier yoke — the infliction of some wrong from her overbearing power? So the prophet leaves proud Nineveh to her righteous yet fearful doom! Considering this prophecy as written and sent forth to the world almost a century before the final catastrophe, it was a standing admonition to the king and people of Nineveh to prepare tc meet God in the judgments of his wrath. Considered in its relations to God's people in the reign of Hezekiah, it was admirably adapted to secure a right moral impres- sion from the overthrow of Sennacherib's army, and to malce the people feel that, with God on their side, they need not fear the mightiest or proudest of their foes. HABAKKUK. INTRODUCTION. The introduction to this short book gives nothing hut the wri- ter's name. He leaves the reader to ascertain from tlie book itself the time when, the place where, and the theme of which he wrote. These points may be ascertained with a good degree of definiteness and certainty in the first chapter, especially vs. 5-11. These verses show that the Chaldean power is now for the first time coming up to view as a desolating scourge on Judah, They were to do a work which men would not readily believe (v. 5), indicating that they had scarcely been known as a dangerous power before. The minute description of their character and ways (vs. 6-11) bears toward the same result, showing that previously they had been but little known. Hence this must have been their first invasion. It was very near at hand when Habakkuk wrote. The invasion occurred in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, whose reign of eleven years was B. o. 611-GOO. It has been usual to date this invasion B. 0. 606. Habakkuk's Vv^riting must be located somewhat (perhaps a few years) earlier. The desolation and famine which he contem- plates (8 : 17) and which his exalted fixith enabled him to triumph over, came with this sweep of a conquering, crnel enemy, probably not long after the publication of this wonderful book. Habak- kuk was contcmiJorary with Jeremiah, who began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of Josiah, and continued down to the destruc- tion of the city and the last deportation of captives in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, a range of some forty years. Near the middle of this period fell the first invasion by the Chaldeans in the fourth IIABAKKUK.— CHAP. I. 239 year of Jelioiakim. From Jeremiah, therefore, we may learn much respecting the general and moral condition of the people when Ilabakkuk wrote. One leading course of thought runs through the entire book : the sins of the covenant people ; God's raising up the Chaldeans to scourge them therefor; the prophet's expostula- tion with the Lord against permitting a people so cruel and wicked as they to afflict and destroy Judah ; the Lord's answer touching the Chaldeans ; closing with the prophet's prayer that God would reenact the glorious scenes of deliverance that appear on so many pages of the nation's early history ; and God's virtual reply, by caus- ing his glory to pass before the prophet's eye, thus impressing his soul with a sense of his power to save, and of Ms faithfulness and love as well. In view of these manifestations, the prophet exults in Jehovah alone, satisfied that under the wing and in the love of such a God he has nothing to fear, but every reason for joyful trust and triumph. In point of style, Habakkuk stands unrivalled. Who can name the writer that excels him in the best qualities of a poetic imagination, and especially in his grand and sublime con- ceptions of Jehovah ? CHAPTER I. The prophet, distressed by the appalling prevalence of wicked- ness among his people, cries to God for help (vs. 2-4) ; the Lord replies that he is raising up the Chaldeans to scom-ge them, and describes that people (vs. 5-11), against which the prophet expos- tulates with God (vs. 12-17). 1. The burden Avliicli Habakkuk tlie propliet did see. " Burden " is here, as usual, a prox^hetic message of such sort as bears heavily on the prophet's heart. 2. O LoED, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear ! e^oen cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save ! 3. Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance 1 for spoiling and violence are before me : and there are that raise up strife and contention. 4. Therefore, the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth : for the wicked doth compass about the righteous ; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. A preliminary question arises here as to the general scope of 240 HABAKKUK.— CHAP. 1. tliese verses. Some suppose they describe the effects of the Chal- dean invasion — the demoralization and oppression which they pro- duced ; others, that they present the state of morals and of the public life of the Jewish nation shortly before that invasion. I Jiold the latter view decidedly, for the following reasons : (1.) Be- cause the prophets were accustomed to record the sins for which God judges and punishes his people, before they record the punish- ment itself. This is their established usage, and is, moreover, de- manded by moral considerations, it being necessary for the best moral results that not only the punished but the world should know why God punishes. (2.) In v. 5 the ])rophet manifestly intro- duces the Chaldean power for the first time to the reader's notice. It was obviously unthonght of before. That this must be true will be readily seen by supposing the other theory (the first above named) to be true. On tliis supposition the prophet (vs. 2-4) would be made to say — Lord, how long shall I cry out to thee of the mischiefs wrought by those Chaldean savages, and thou wilt not bear? See how they have broken down the public morals, and made justice between man and man a mockery ! To which (by the supposition) the Lord replies: "Let all the heathen take notice of it and marvel exceedingly, for I am about to do a strange and almost incredible thing." And what is it? "I ana raising up the Chaldeans!" "Ah, Lord God," the prophet might reply, "we have had them upon iis a long time ! They are the very mischief that I complain of," &c. Such a construction of the passage is utterly inadmissible. (3.) The description (vs. 2-4) corresponds to the moral and social state of Judah under the reign of Jehoiakim, and also of Zedekiah. See Jer. 22, and 2 Chron. 36. The public morals were utterly prostrate, and wickedness in all forms was rampant. (4.) On the other hand, the state of the country does not correspond with the results of the Chaldean invasion. The lat- ter are indicated in 3 : 17. Hence in vs. 2-4 I understand the prophet to speak of the state of society in Judah before the Chal- deans were thought of V. 2 seems to imply that the prophet had been for some time in his prophetic work, laboring among a degenerate people, battling against sin, and almost impatient that the Lord did not interpose to convert, or chastise, or exterminate. Jer. 22 shows that the people were then horribly corrupt, and tliat their king Jehoiakim Avas the weakest, meanest, and wickedest king that had ever disgraced their throne. V. 3 is literally ren- dered thus : " Why dost thou cause me to behold iniquity, and why dost thou look (unconcerned) upon human misery? Destruction and violence are before me ; there is strife, and men excite conten- tion." The second clause does not weU admit the sense — "Why dost thou ma'ke me heTiold? The implied expostulation with God is stronger — Why dost thou thyself look on this woe with no eti:brt to relieve or prevent? The sense of v. 4 is not obscure: " There- fore," under the influence of almost universal violence and strife, law becomes frigid, cold as if near death ; right judgment is never HABAKKDK.— CHAP. I. 241 issued by the courts of law; the wicked circumvent the rigliteous, and always secure unjust decisions. 5. Beliold ye among the heatlien, and regard, and wonder marvellously : for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe tliough it be told you. Here the Chaldeans are brought first to our notice. Indeed, it would S3em that they were brought by this prophecy to the notice of the Jews as a dangero^is power^ they having previously neglected to observe the sudden rise and rapid growtli of tbis new power among the nations. The Lord says, " Look abroad, consider atten- tively, and you will have occasion to wonder exceedingly," the last imperative in a series of two or more being usually in sense a fu- ture. God will do a work which will seem incredible, even though sustained by good testimony. 6. For lo, I raise up tlie Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs. This is the work, the raising up of a new first-class power, the Chaldeans. By taking notice of recent events, the Jews might see the rise of this power. The Chaldean king Nabopolussar, aided by the Medes, had overthrown Nineveh (b. o. 625), as Nahura had foretold. The Egyptians, alarmed at their growth, came against them, but were badly beaten at Carchemish, on the Euphrates. Thenceforward no nation was able to stay their progress. The Jews, moreover, were probably the less alarmed at this because they were in sympathy with the Chaldean, while he was devasta- ting Nineveh, and were certainly in league with him when Josiah felt bound in honor to march out against Necho, king of Egypt, as a common enemy to himself and to his ally, the Chaldean. But relations of friendship with such a power are evanescent. The Jews soon had reason to fear this new enemy. The Lord de- scribes them, " bitter and rapid," " who march upon broad regions," vast countries of the earth, i. e., who fear nothing, and strike for . vast conquests. Y. They are terrible and dreadful : their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 8. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evenino- wolves : and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far ; they shall fly as the eagle that hast- eth to eat. Sad proof that they were " terrible and dreadful " appears in the history (2 Chron. 36 : 17) : " He brought upon them the king 11 242 HABAKKUK.- -CHAP. I. of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age." " Their judg- ment and their dignity proceeding from themselves," seems to mean that they are an independent, self-made people. Literally, it reads—" Their decision " (plans) " and their lofty hearing are self- originated." In the clause, " their horsemen spread themselves," the verh rendered " spread"" means they " leap fiercely and proud- ly," their horses being probably like the Arabian stock of more modern times. Tke Hight of the eagle when roused by hunger is a vivid figure for the most rapid motion then known. 9. They shall come all for violence : their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the cap- tivity as the sand. In the clause, " their faces shall sup up as the east wind," the obscurity of this translation suggests a doubt of its correctness. The various marginal readings confirm the opinion that our trans- lators were mucli perplexed with the passage. Later commentators also doubt and differ. It is diflicult. The principal word * is little known in our extant Hebrew. Henderson renders — " The aspect of their faces is like the east wind." Gesenius— " Tlie gathering of their fsices is forward." The latter I approve, with only a slight modification, so as to signify not the act of gathering, but their faces already gathered, i. e., " the set or phalanx of their faces is forward; " all as one in solid phalanx and complete array, they set their faces forward, turning never to the right hand nor to the left, and turning back for none. This construction answers to the indi- vidual words, and to the demands of the context. Such au army will, of course, gather up captives as the sand. 10. And they shall scoif at the kings, and the princes sAaZ^S^ a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong- hold ; for they shall heap dust, and take it. More than fearless of kings and of strongholds, they scoff at the one and deride the other. It is only their sport to strike terror through them all. The last clause alludes to the usual method in that age of capturing walled towns— heaping up huge embank- ments of earth that even overtopped the enemy's walls, whence they hurled their missiles into the city. 11. Then shall Ms mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. The sentiment of this verse is, that constant success has made the Chaldean another man. The moderation and modesty of hia HABAKKUK.-CHAP. I. 243 early years liave given place to unbounded aspirations. He assumes that the gods are on his side, and ascribes his victories to their favor and help. The first verb, rendered in our version "change," means more definitely "to ^«iy Lebanon (this would be entirely aside ti-om the course of thought) ; but done to Lebanon. " Lebanon " here is probably Jerusalem and her temple — so named partly because the cedars of Lebanon were in her temple — partly in reference to the lofty grandeur of tliat mountain which fitly symbolized the glory of the holy city. The violence done by Bal>ylon to Jerusalem shall return in retribution to overwhelm herself So also shall an onslaught like that on a herd of wild beasts which terrifies them, fall on thee — implying that they would be in like manner frightened and panic-smitten. In this translation, I supply the needed verb from the next preceding clause. Two things cover Babylon, in the sense of over- whelming her in the day of her ruin, viz., the violence she has brought on Lebanon (Jerusalem), and an onslaught like that on wild beasts, who furnish a striking example of a panic-smitten host. The last clause has occurred verbatim (v. 8). 18. TVhat profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work triisteth therein, to make dumb idols '{ Exegetically, the only question in this verse tm-ns on the precise relation between the first clause and those that follow, indicated in our English Bible by '•'• tluit the maker," &c. Some take the cou- nectmg particle* as a relative, thus: " What's the use of the graven image which its maker graveth ? " I prefer to make this particle indicate a reason why idol images are profitless, viz., 'became they are made by human fingers , tlius — " What can be the use of a graven image, ybr its human maker hath wrought it," «tc. " Whiii 252 HABAKKUK.— CHAP. III. is the use of a molten image and a teacher of lies (an idol priest), for the maker of it trusts in his own work, in a thing himself has made ? " 19. Woe unto him that saitli to the wood, Awake ; to the dumb stone, Ai-ise, it shall teach ! Behold, it i& laid over with gold and silver, and tliere is no breath at all in the midst of it. All this is plain, and sets forth vividly the intense folly of idol- making, idol- worship, and of all trust in idols. 20. But the Lord is in his holy temple : let all the earth keep silence before him. All unlike the whole idol system are the power, the majesty, and the all-pervading reign of the dread Jehovah ! That he should he thou gilt of liy a Jew as in Ms Tioly temple at Jerusalem,, was hoth natural and truthful ; for his manifested presence was there in the Holy of Holies, reposing ahove the mercy-seat and beneath the wings of the cherubim. All the idol temples were godless. Not so the temple of the Lord of hosts in Mount Zion ! His rule is both supreme and universal. Let all the earth stand in awe before him —all the more so, as they note how tlie proud and conquering nations of the earth, like old Babylon, meet their righteous doom from the retributive justice of his throne ! CHAPTER III. This chapter, said in the preface to be a " prayer," is not exclu- sively or even chiefly prayer in its strict sense ; though it begins with prayer and closes with most wonderful utterances of simple faith and exulting joy in God. The chapter is chiefly song^ em- bodying as the immediate answer to his prayer what is technically called a '' tJicopliavAj " — i. e., a manifestation of God to his prophet — to his mental, not bodily eye, we must suppose ; bringing up be- fore him in vivid review the glorious things God had wrought for his people in ancient days. The special aim was to reveal God as seen in his glorious power, and in his loving faithfulness to his chosen people, so that the prophet should see that Jehovah is verily great and glorious, and especially worthy to be trusted as the endur- ing protector of his own people. It was under the influence of this sublimely grand manifestation of Jehovah, that the prophet makes at the close such an utterance of his simple faith and of his un- bounded joy and triumph in the God of his salvation. The publication of this song, in connection with the revelation of such calamities, was designed to inspire tlie same faith and joy in the believing portion of the people as it had done in the prophet's own HABAKKUK.— CHAP. III. 253 soul, despite of the Ml of tbeir beloved city and land before the terrible Chaldean power. 1. A prayer of Habakknk the prophet upon Shig- ionoth. "Upon Shigionoth," refers to the mnsic in -wliich this song was to be sung — no doubt lofty, bold, triumphal, in keeping with the strain of the sentiment. 2. O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid : O LoKD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of tlie years make known ; in wrath remember mercy. " O Lord, I have heard thy message " — verbal prediction, i. e., concerning the invasion by the Chaldeans (as recorded chap. 1: 5-11), " and I was afraid." " O Lord, re-enact thy work " (of deliverance f(jr thy people) " in the midst of these years ; even now make known " — i. e., tliyself and thy power to save ; in this manifesta- tion of thy wrath against us for our sins, " remember mercy." Tlie word rendered "revive," means literally to male alide. In this connection it must be in the sense of reproducing, performing once more those great works of salvation for Israel with which their early history is filled. The laugua*6-of this prayer, " O Lord revive thy work," may be used fitly by all Christians in the way of accommodation, as a prayer for a revival of true religion in the hearts of men. Yet this passage must be interpreted according to the natm-e of the subject as shown in the context; and this re- quires ns here to apply the words to God's work of saving his people from being utterly ruined by the Chaldean invasion, then close at hand. 3. God came from Teinan, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Sehih. His glory covered tlie heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. The theophany pi'oper commences here. Bearing in mind that the prophet had besought God to reproduce those glorious works of saving power wrought of old for his people, we shall read- ily see the fitness of this peculiar manifestation. Tlie Lord seems, practically, to reply to his servant — Thou hast prayed me to do again what I did in ancient days for my people. Eather let it suffice tliee that I make aU my glory pass before thee in displays of my power and faithful love to my people. Thou shalt see the uplifted glorious arm of Jehovah, as in former times, made bare for his people, and thou shalt know that I am still and evermore the God of thy sal- vation. It is plain that God forbore to do precisely tlie thing for which Habakknk prayed — /. e., come down to save Judea and Jeru- salem just as he had long before saved his people out of Egypt, aud made them victorious in Canaan ;--but he does a second tiling, not 254 HABAKKUK.— CHAP. III. less effective for the repose and even joy of the prophet's heart: he makes such revelations of himself by the aid of those historic scenes as avail to inspire unbounded faith and even triumphant joy in the God of his salvation. Probably we can get no l)etter con- ception of this thcophany, as it appeared to Ilabakkuk, than to conceive of it as a j^anorawia, passing before the prophet's mental eye — the divine Spirit causing him in the liglit of those ancient historic scenes to lehold a jJrcsoit God, marching before the hosts of his chosen, or standing on the contines of Canaan, or lifting up his voice in awful thunder, shaking the mountains and filling rivers and seas with consternation. The prophet's mental state was such, we may suppose, as Elisha prayed for in behalf of his servant — " Lord, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the yonng man, and he saw ; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha " (2 Kings 6 : 17). So the eyes of Ilabakkuk were opened and fie saw God ; — the groundwork of this manifestation of God being his former deeds of power in delivering his people from their enemies, and planting them in their promised land. Tliese scenes are made to pass before him in a sort of panoramic vision, while God opened his eyes to see things in their true relations to the ever-present agency of llim who worketh all in all, and worketh none the less really because for the most part invisibly to mortal eyes. Similar conceptions and representations of God are not uncom- mon in Hebrew poetry. Thus (Deut. 33 : 2, 26, 27) Moses, in his last words of blessing upon the tribes, said : " The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up (like the rising of a sun) from Seir unto them ; he shone forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints — from his right hand went a fiery law for them." Also, " There is none like unto the God of Jesurun, who rideth upon the heavens in thy help and in his excellency on the sky." — — This is as if his very eye saw without a veil the unclouded majesty of the Infinite One ! Such was his poetic conception of the scenes of Sinai ; or, as we might say — This was Sinai seen in panoramic vision. Of the same character is a passage in the Song of Debo- rah — (Judg. 5: 4, 5), "Lcn-d, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped ; the clouds also dropped water. The moun- tains quaked (so the Heb.) before the Lord, even that Sinai before the Lord God of Israeh" Of the same sort is Ps. 68 : 7, 8, 33 : _" O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God, the God of Israel." — "Sing praises to him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens that were of old; lo, he doth send oat his voice, and that a mighty voice." — —Very similar in the line of poetic conception are many expressions in Ps. 77: 10-20 and 11-i: 1-8, and Isa. 03 : 11-14., e. g., "The waters saw tliee, O God ; the Avaters saw thee, they were afraid ; the depths also were troubled." " The sea saw it and fled ; Jordan was driven HABAKKUK.— CHAP. III. 255 back. What ailed thee, O thon sea, that thou fleddest?" &c. A» if the gre.at deep were waked into intelligence and consciousness hy those august and tlirilling manifestations of the majesty other King ! Such conceptions of dead nature quickened to life, thought, and feeling before a present God, give wonderful power to these pano- ramic scenes, of which the one intent is to set the all-Avorking and energizing God before the niind.— — Some Christians in later ages have testified to manifestations of God to their souls, under which their sense of his attributes and works has been not less impressive than supernatural presentations of divine power to the senses would be. I^Tot without reason, they ascribe these manifestations of God to the divine Spirit's agency. In this manifestation to Habakkuk, the hand of the same Divine Teaclier must be assimiod. It is remarkable how much these conceptions of God working upon Nature, and of Nature responding to the agencies of God, blend themselves with the genuine spirit of poetry, exemplifying the fact that genuine poetry, so far from being necessarily unreal and un- truthful, may be the veriest reality and the purest truth. Most certain it is that the poetic conceptions of God and of Nature in this theophany in nowise over-paint the actual verities of things. Before I proceed to comment on particular terms or clauses, a few words are due in respect to the use of the tenses in this theoph- any. If the views advanced above are just, it is obvious that tlio tenses throughout should be present. A panorama made up of a se- ries of historic paintings must naturally represent each scene as present. The events which constitute the groundwork, and to which the paintings perpetually refer, may have transpired long ago. Others like them may occur again ; but the painting has for its object to give the observer a view of them as then passing. So here, all is made present by the impressions wrought upon the prophet's mind by the teaching Spirit.* These preliminary re- marks will sufficiently prepare tlie way for the study of the pas- sage. " God comes up from Teman," the South, this being both the etymological significance of the name, and the geographical po- sition of the place. Mount Paran is well known as often associated with Sinai. God comes up from those regions as one who had re- vealed himself there in forms of surpassing majesty and glory in the giving of the law. It will be recollected that Moses (in Deut. 83) and the author of Ps. 68 both speak of God as coming up from Mount Sinai, the land of the south. The best critics mostly agree that '• Sclah " is a musical term, meaning jpawse, and perhaps a direc- * The Hebrew student will readily notice that in this passage (vs. 3-15) both of the two normal Hebrew tenses are u&ed, the perfect and the imper- fect (often called the future), some of the verbs being in one tense and some in the other. The explanation of this remarkable fact seems to be that these two tenses meet at a common centre in the present, and in a case of this sort, may be used almost indiscriminately for the present, yet not altogether so, since still the perfect will imply that the event icas as Rell as ts / and' the imperfect not only that it is, but u-iU. be yet again. 256 HABAKKUK.— CHAP. III. tion to the singers to rest -svliile the instruments filled ont an inter- lude. In some cases (not in all) the thouerht just expressed renders a pause for reflection appropriate. His visible glory seems to illumine the whole concave heavens above. Tlie earth is full of manifestations of God that are proper themes of praise. The sense is not that he sees the world full of men actually praising God, but rather that the very earth itself seems vocal with praises. Moun- tains, rivers, and the pestilence, all seem to he doing God's work so perfectly, though unconsciously, as to fill all the earth with voices of praise. 4. "^And his briglitness was as the liglit ; lie had horns coming out of his hand ; and there vms the hiding of his power. The word rendered "light,"* modern critics suppose here to mean the sun. Also that "horns coming out of his hand" are rays ofligM streaming forth and bearing to the eye the appearance of horns. The Arabic (a cognate language) shows that this usage of " horn " is oriental. It is also Uebraistic, as appears in the use of the same Avord as a verb (Ex. 34: 29, 30, 35), where three times over it is said that the skin of Moses' face was Tiorny., i. ^., emitted horn-like rays of light ; in the English version, " shone.'''' The whole verse may be freely translated — " His brightness was as the sun in his strength ; rays of light streamed from his hand ; there lay concealed his unknown power." 5. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went fox'th at his feet. Jehovah is still coming up from the land of the south, the re- gion of Sinai and the wilderness, marching at the head of the thou- sands of Israel, to give them possession of Canaan. This is the con- ception of God throughout this theophany (vs. 3-15). Before him moves onward the pestilence, and fevers seem to go forth from his presence on their mission of death. The word rendered "burn- ing coals " has but two well-established senses : (1) lightnings ; (2) fevers — both having the common idea of intense heat. The general sense is that God sent " the hornet " (see Ex. 23 : 28 ; Dent. V : 20, and Josh. 24 : 12), i. f., plagues, judgments, and, no doubt, the pestilence, to cut off the strong and warlike Canaanites, and make them a more easy conquest to the then unwarlikc children of Israel. It is very obvious, from a comparison of the Canaanites as seen by the spies, with the Canaanites as found by Joshua, that by some means a great change had come over them. Theu* mili- tary prowess was far less formidable. 6. He stood, and measured the earth : he beheld, and drove asunder the nations ; and the everlasting -nix HABAKKCK.— CHAP. UI. 257 nioimtains were scattered, the pei'petual hills did bow : his ways are eTerlastino;. The sense is, T see him stand (as in the days of Jo=lina Le stood) on the confines of Canaan, a mighty conqueror and the rightful Lord of all; "he measures off the land"' for his people with the sweep of his eye, according to the purposes of his wi«iom. "He looTcs^'' and the terror of that look " drives asunder the nations " of Canaan, and dispossesses them of their land, that his people may take possession. In the presence of such majesty " the everlasting mountains are scattered ; " " the enduring hilk how low " as in awe before him; "his ways are of old,'' i. e., they were manifested in those ancient days. T. I saw the tents of Cnshan in affliction : and the curtains of the land of ilidian did tremble. The best authorities agree in finding one branch of the Cushites in eastern Arabia, and the Midianites in western. That their " tent3 are in atfiiction " means that the people themselves, dwelling in tents, are troubled by the glorious things Jehovah is achieving for his people. The " curtains of Midian " are their tent-curtains, trembling in sympathy with the trembling hearts of their occupants. The two clauses are essentially parallel, and show that the fear and the dread of Israel, while Jehovah is so manifestly marching at their head, fell on even remote nations, so that they stand appalled by what they hear and see of his power. The pohcy of the Gibe- onit€s (Josh. 9) is in proof of this. (See vs. 24, 25). 8. "Was the Loed displeased against the rivei? ? icas thine anger against the rivers ? icas thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses, and thv chariots of salvation ? This verse contemplates the passage of the lied Sea and of the Jordan. A bold imagination in the strains of lofty song does not stop to narrate the facts and detail the circumstances. On the contrary, assuming these, and speaking of events as they appear to the eye, the prophet exclaims : " "What aUeth thee, O thou Jor- dan ? " Is it because the Lord is angry against the rivers ? is it that his wrath is on the sea that he drives their waters back, and seems to rebuke them for obtruding themselves in the pathway he has marked out for the hosts of his chosen ? " Rivers," twice in the plural, contemplate the Eed Sea as one, the Jordan another. TJjough it was more properly an arm of the soa. yet its tides are said to rise- seven feet, and consequently must make an active cur- rent. But a strong imagination is not wont to be precise as to number. Indeed, the startling fact is the main thing, and not the number of rivers in question. The last clause shows that the Eed Sea is in his mind. " That thy chariots are salvation " is the precise rendering, the full construction being that thy chariots arc 258 HABAKKUK.— CHAP. IIT. chariots of salvation, i. e., that riding in royal state as a conquering hero on thy horses and chariots of war tliou dost save thy people from tlie grasp of Pharaoh, and hring them forth in triumph. 9. Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even tJiy word. Sehah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. This verse should close with " Selah." The lirst clause presents no difficulty. The second has per]>lexed commentators, and scat- tered their opinions more than almost any other passage in the Bihle. Dr. Henderson remarks that one hundred different exposi- tions of it have heen given. "Thy bow is made quite naked" conceives of Jehovah as still a warrior chieftain at the head of his martial hosts, coming down in battle upon the nations of Canaan. To " make the bow naked " is to draw it out from its sheatli or case, which Avas a protection necessary to preserve the string from dampness, and keep it in order for service. Drawn out and made quite naked, it was ready for use. The next clause, interpreted so variously, has in Hebrew three words,* all of them words of very frequent occurrence, especially the first two, and of well-es- tablished meaning. The first word may be a noun in the sense of oaths, possibly sevens, or a participle, meaning sworn. The sec- ond is a noun, meaning originally a rod, something stretched out; then a shoot or twig ; but in use most often, the tribes of Israel. The third means a word, a word of coram*ind or of threatening; in rare instances, a watchword or a song. Here foUoAv some in- terpretations by the ablest commentators. Dr. Henderson^ " Sevens of spears was tlie word ! " i. e., let there be a full comple- ment of spears for the war. This is the divine mandate. Gese- nius — " Sworn are the rods of his word," i. e., the promised chas- tisements ; he has sworn the overthrow of his enemies. But Gesenius favors a slight change in the first letter of the first word, by which it would come from a different root, meaning to be sated, to be full., and then would render — "Sated are the spears, i. c, with blood! A song! " After a somewhat extended examination, I prefer the rendering of our received translation, on the following grounds : (1.) It gives each word its most common meaning. The usage of the words rendered " oaths " and " tribes " is very strong. It is not easy for one wlio has examined it to see how a Hebrew reader could understand these words to mean any thing else in this con- nection. (2.) This sense is in harmony with truth, and tlie truth is one which the Lord has often taken special pains to reassert and im- press, viz., tljat the conquest of Canaan for the tribes of Israel was in fulfllment of his oft-sworn promise to their fatliers. (See Deut. Y : 7, 8, 12 ; Ps. 105 : 8-11 ; Jer. 11 : 4, 5). The great theiuc of * -irx nia^ ni:"3':3 HABAKKUK.— CHAP. III. 259 this theopliany is this very conquest. Hence the fitness of this reference to the oath of Jehovah to give Canaan to the tribes. (3.) In this construction the ohlest authorities all ac;ree, c. (7., the Clialdee Paraphrast: " Thou didst marvellously reveal thyself in thy great power on account of thy covenant which thy word had made with the tribes for the ages to come." Also Jerome : "Ascending thy chariot and seizing thy bow, thou wilt give salva- tion to thy people, and wilt fulfil for all time the oaths which thou hast sworn to our fathers and the tribes." (4.) No other interpretation is so well supported, or is obnox- ious to so few objections. " Selah " calls for a pause, appro- piate here for reflection. " Thou didst cleave the earth with riv- ers " looks toward those fearful convulsions occasioned by earth- quakes, which often open new fountains and plough out new water- courses. 10. The mountains saw thee, and thej trembled : the OYcrflowino; of tlie water passed by : the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. A strong imagination gives to inanimate objects life, thought, and emotion. So here — The " mountains see " Jehovah as he stands forth at the head of his hosts in Canaan, " and they trem- hhy The verb here used means to move in a circle, to dance ; then to be in pain, to writhe ; also to shake, as here, with the acces- sory idea of being in anguish. The great floods of water swept past and along, with reference perhaps to the Jordan, long dammed up while the ]jeople were passing through its bed, and then rushing with augmented volume and force ; or possibly to great storms of hail and rain which the Lord sent down in some of the great battles fought with the Canaanites. In the phrase " the deep uttered his voice," lies one of the grandest conceptions found in any lan- guage. The conscious spirit of the Great Deep, aftrighted before the majesty of Nature's King and Lord, throws up his hands and utters screams of awe and terror ! How can he endure such a Presence? How can he be placid when the great and dreadful God comes so near ! 11. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation ; at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. Not only are the mountains and the great deep agitated at the presence of Jehovah : " Tlie sun and the moon stand back toward their dwelling-places" — literally, stand towai-d, in the sense in which it is said of a ship at sea, she stands toward a given point. They made for the dwelling-places where they were thought to repose when withdrawn from human view. Ah ! they, too, cannot bear the dread presence of Jehovah in his majesty ! They retire to their hiding-places " at the light of thine arrows which flew — at 260 HABAKKUK.— CHAP. III. the brightness of the lightning of thy spear." So conscious are they of their inferiority, so ashamed to put their feeble light in contrast with the blaze of Jehovah's splendor, they shrink away to tlieir re- cesses. Orientals are accustomed to speak of tlie heavenly bodies as having their homes, mansions, abodes.* The word " they " before " went" refers, not to the sun or moon, nor to tlie Hebrew soldiers, but to God's arrows, the lightnings. These are said not merely to go^ but to fly — a very intensive form of the verb go. 12. Thou didst marcli tliroiTc-li tlie land in indimia- tion, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Putting the emphatic words first in order, the Hebrew would run — " In wrath thou didst marcli through the land ; lu fury thou didst thresh the nations" — sweeping away the guilty and doomed nations of Canaan from be- fore thy people. 13, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, (3?;5?^i. for salvation with thine anointed ; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the nech. Selah. The first clause is plain; the last is specially difiicult. "Thy anointed " must, by the demands of the parallelism, be the same with " thy people." The sentiment is simply that God marched thus through the land to save his people, considered as his chosen and anointed, to give them victory over their enemies and possession of Canaan. Upon the last clause few words must suffice, present- ing only the construction which I on the whole prefer. By "liouse " {i. e. of the wicked) may be meant the family, the class of people ; or the structure, the building, conceived of as embody- ing their interests and strength. I prefer the latter. By "head " may be meant the head-men, the princes of the family or clique of the wicked ; or the MgTiest fart of the structure. I adopt the latter, and therefore translate : " TIiou dashest to pieces the head " (and dost strike it ofli") " from the house of the wicked, laying bare the foundation even to the neck " — i. e. as deep as water would be that came up to the neck — of course, utterly destroying the entire structure which represents the strength and cause of the wicked. A simihir case of smiting the head and dashing the whole structure to atoms appeal's Amos 9 : 1. This may have been in the prophet's mind. The phrase "even to the neck" was proverbial, at first to indicate a depth of water nearly suflicient to drown a man. See Isa. 8 : 8 and 30 : 28. Probably it came thence to be used for about the same depth, five feet, more or less, in other relations. * I render "toward their habitation," on the strength of what gram- marians call "He local" which is appended to the word for habitation, giv- ing the souse, " toward their habitation." HABAKKUK.— CHAP. III. 2G1 This would be deep enongh to tear xip the foundations of a building, and effect its utter ruin. If we adhere to the Hebrew text, and suppose any connection of thought between these two clauses now under consideration, tins must be the construction. If it were ever allowable to admit that a slight error of one letter has crept into the text, for T^hich the manuscripts give no authority, I should favoT such a solution here, and then read rocZ; in place of 7?gook of Zephaniah, with the history of Josiah's reign, as found, 2 Kings chapters 22 and 23, and yet more fully 2 Ohron., chapters 34 and 85, will throw yet more light upon the precise date of his writings, and upon the much more important point of its definite aim and purpose. Let it be borne in mind that after the great reformation wrought by Ilozckiah with the aid of Isaiah and other prophets during his reign of twenty-nine years, a fearful relapse followed during Manasseh's long reign of fifty-five years ; that the brief history sets forth in very strong terms the horrible influence of this wicked king who " made Jerusalem and Judah do worse than the heathen " (2 Chron. 33 : 9) ; that his repentance occurring late in life, while it may have saved his own soul in answer to a godly father's prayers, yet seems scarcely to have at all arrested the strong currents of national wickedness ; that his son Anion, reigning two years most wickedly, and then losing his life by conspiracy among his own servants, must have left the nation yet waxing worse and worse; and then that Josiah, coming to the throne at the tender age of eight years, began to sock after the God of his fathers at the age of sixteen, commenced a vigorous reform yet four years later, 12 206 ZEPHANIAH.— CHAP. I. i. e., at tlie age of twenty, wliic'h was tlie twelfth year of his reign, and had gone over the work with commendable thoroughness at the end of sis years' labor, i. e., in the eighteenth year of his reign. That was the era of a remarkable passover, kept with great solem- nity and with hopeful results. But the roots of wickedness had gone deep into the national life. Ileiice this reform, as to the mass of the nation, could not have peneti-ated much beneath the surface. This reign of the good Josiah was the Lord's last call of the nation to repentance. Toward this result, Zephaniah and Jere- miah lent their aid — the latter beginning to prophesy in the thir- teenth year of Josiah, and the former probably about the same time. Zephaniah (1 : 4) predicts — " I will cutoff the remnant of Baal from this place," efore tlie day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Loed come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. The decree, i. c, the purpose of God to destroy, is thought of here as pregnant with a sure execution, and soon to " bring forth." Before this execution of the Lord's wrath, so near at hand, there was a short moment for repentance. The prophet exhorts the peo- ple to seize and improve it. In the clause " before the day pass as the chaff," Henderson explains " day," not as the period of judgment, but as the short space for repentance lying yet before it. But the uniform usage of the word " day," fourteen times repeated in a connection like this, within the first chapter, and again in this verse, in every instance in the sense of the period of the judgment, seems to forbid his construction. I prefer to explain it : " Before that day of judgment shall sweep along as the chafl:' flies" — swiftly and waiting for none. 3. Seek ye the Lokd, all ye meek of the earth, whicli have wrought his judgment ; seek righteousness, seek meekness : it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. Here is the point of the exhortation, the duty to which they are exhorted. All the meek, the humble ones of the land, the only hopeful class — all those wlio have obeyed the Lord's revealed will ("judgments '' here in tlie sense of revealed statutes), are imi)lored to seek the Lord, and also to seek righteousness o * Dip instead of OU))^. ZEPHiys^IAH.— CHAP. 11. 273 nnd a deeper Inimiliatioii ("meekness''), in the hope that so they may be hidden from danger in the day of tlie Lord's anger. It could not be regarded as certain that they ayouM be exempt from all harm, even though penitent, for sometimes the righteous must suffer (in this world, not the nest) witli the wicked. Hence the qualified form of the statement, " it may le, that ye shall be hid." 4. For Gaza sLall be forsaken, and Aslikelon a deso- lation : tliey sliall drive ont Aslidod at tlie noon-day, and Ekron sliall be rooted up. With this prediction of desolation on the cities of the Philistines, compare Amos 1 : 6-8. The Ilebrew verbs which express the doom of Gaza and Ekron form a paranomasia with those names. If the word gazee meant forsaken, we might imitate the Ilebrew by saying Gaza shall be gazeed. These paranomasias are not merely beauties of style ; they are utilities as well, for the doom of a city so expressed could not be forgotten. It would be riveted in the mind with the name itself. 5. Woe unto tlie inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites ! the word of the Loed is against you ; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, 1 will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. 6. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. This " sea coast " is the eastern shore of the ^Nfediterranean, and the western border of Canaan, along w'hich the Phihstines (Chere- thites) — to some extent a maritime people — were located. All that region would fall before the Chaldean power. It did. The sea coast shall be not "dwellings and cottages," but "pastures with shepherds' cisterns^ and folds for flocks." T. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah ; they shall feed thereupon : in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LoEi) their God shall \dsit them, and turn away theu' captivity. This looks forward to the better days, when the Lord should re- store his captive people, and they, returning, should find theii- old enemies, the Phihstines, no longer there, but should themselves enjoy quietly the country of the sea coast. 8. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the re> vilings of the children of Aiunion, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified thcinselves against their border, 12* 274 ZEPHANIAH.— CHAP. II. God had heard what Moah and Araraon had said iii contempt of Israel and of Israel's God, and -would now remember it and visit them with retribution. " Magnified themselves against their border," has the sense of carrying themselves proudly and in an overbearing way along and over their bordei- — with reference, doubtless, to hostQe encroachments upon Jewish territory. 9. Therefore, as I live, saitli tlie Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles and salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation : the res- idue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. This is the doom of Moab and Ammon. How fearfully it has been put in execution ! For the past twenty-four centuries, the world has scarcely known where those nations once stood ! In the phrase "the breeding of nettles," the Hebrew gives the sense, the 2}ossession of nettles — a place which nettles shall occupy as all their own. 10. This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. So God will avenge himself on those who reproach Mm through their reproach of his people. 11. The LoKD loill 1)6 terrible unto them ; for he will famish all the gods of the eartli ; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen. The course of thought here should be noted. God becomes terrible to idolatrous nations when he famishes, i. e., wastes away and destroys their gods ; for when a nation's gods are gone, what have they more? On" the other hand, and as a result of destroy- ing both the idol gods of those nations and their incorrigible wor- shippers as well, men everywhere, over all the isles of the Gentiles, shall worship the true God. " The isles of the nations " embrace all remote countries lying beyond the sea. 12. Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall he slain by my sword. These Etliiopuins are those of Africa — probably including the Egyptians. They were destined to fall before the same all-devour- ing Chaldean sword. • 13. And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria ; and will make isTineveh a desolation, a?ul dry like a wilderness. ZEPHANIAH.— OIIAP. III. 275 See Nineveh, doomed in like manner (Nalium, chap. 2 and 3). 14. And flocks sliall lie down in tlie midst of lier, all tlie beasts of the nations : both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the npper lintels of it ; iJieir voice shall sing in the windows ; desolation shall he in the thresholds : for he sliall uncover the cedar work. The word rendered "cormorant" moans "the vomiter," and is supposed to designate the pelican. The " bittern " is the porcupine or hedge-hog, so called from his rolling himself up. These shall " lie among the capitals " — the tops of the columns — wliich of course are now fallen to the ground. The columns are those of her ruined temples and palaces. 15. Tliis is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am^ and there is none beside me : how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in ! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand. Thus great Nineveh, once proud and joyous, is doomed to lie an utter waste, the scorn of passers-by. She was doubtless standing in her strengtli and glory when this servant and seer of the Lord uttered and penned these terrible words. The nations of the eai'th have had ample occasion to verify thdr truth during moi"e than two thousand years. CHAPTER III. This chapter opens with further statements of the guilt and doom of Jerusalem (vs. 1-4); of God's justice in her punishment (v. 5); of his judgments on other nations (vs. 6-8) ; then tui'ning to "words of mercy, the Lord promises to convert the nations (vs. 9-10), and to restore and bless most abundantly the remnant of his people (vs. 11-20). 1. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the op- pressing city ! 2. She obeyed not the voice ; she received not cor- rection ; she trusted not in the Lord ; she drew not near to her God. The entire strain of remark shows that this passage speaks of Jerusalem ; e. g., that she had heard the voice of God ; had been instructed and corrected, yet in vain ; and that Jehovah is spoken of as '■'■her God." The word rendered " filthy," means rebel- lious : she had polluted herself by her sins, especially by idolatry, and had outraged justice by her oppressions of her own poor and 276 ZEPH.1NIAH.— CHAP. III. defenceless people. Hence the wrath of God upon her. She had also been taught her duty by the servants of the Lord, espe- cially in later times by his prophets ; yet she would neither obey God nor trust him. 3. Her princes witliin lier are roaring lions; lier judges are evening wolves ; tliey gnaw not the bones till t]ie morrow. Her princes and judges had been fearfully corrupt. Those who should have withstood the influx of vice had been themselves ex- amples and ministers of all wickedness. " Roaring lions," in the sense of being mighty in sin, bold and rampant in their iniquity. "Evening wolves," who in oriental counti-ies go about in the darkness, making night hideous with their howl and perilous by their ferocity, stand here to represent those judges who make an ntter wreck of justice and peace, prostrating beneath their feet the very interests they are sworn to sustain. These (human) wol-ves are voracious ; "they do not gnaw the bones in the morning; " so the Hebrew reads, and implies, not that they leave all^ but that they leave nothing till the morrow. Their voracity saves not even the bones till morning. 4. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons : her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. " Her prophets are light," in the sense of vain-glorious, proud, and boastful — bearmg on their hearts no sense of their responsi- bility. The priests seem for the most part to have gone down in degeneracy and sin with the people by at least an equfil pace. The Lord had some prophets that were thoroughly faithful and bold in rebuking sin ; yet the history shows that under the wicked kings, false prophets were never wanting who claimed to speak for God, but who really prostituted the whole influence of the prophetic name, and of God's name too, so far as they could, to the cause of vice and idolatry. 5. The just LoKD is in the midst thereof ; he will not do iniquity : every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he fiiileth not; but tlie unjust knoweth no shame. N'ote the designed antithesis between the flagrantly unjust judges, false prophets, and degenerate priests on the one hand ; and on the other, the just Lord, never doing iniquity, bringing forth his just decisions every morumg withuut fail. Courts were held in the morning hour. Those unjust, wicked men are shnmelcss — lost to all compunction of conscience for wrong-doiug. Tliis lactshovva that the moi-al tone of public sentiment was deplorably low. ZEPHANIAH.— CHAP. III. 277 G. I liave cut off tlie nations : their towers are deso- late ; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by : their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. This is thought, with good reason, to have special reference to the calamities hrought by a great Scythian invasion upon most of the nations of Western Asia during the reign of Josiah. From these evils, Judah, under his wise and righteous reign, was exempt. In seasons of great public danger, travel must cease, and none would pass along the highways. (See Judg. 5 : 6.) 7. I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them : but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings. At this time the Lord said: "Mypeoijle" will appreciate this merciful protection attorded to them : they " will fear me and re- ceive instruction." In case they did so, "their dwelling" (in the sense of place of rest and safety) " should not be cut off, according as I have visited all others with judgments." The English, " how- soever I punished them," fails to give the true sense, which is this : that if his kind protection of them against the Scythians had moved them to gratitude, obedience and trust, he would not now punish them as he had done other nations. I prefer to adhere to the usual sense of the verb here used, viz., to visit with judgment, rather than to give it (with Dr. Henderson) the new and doubtful sense of ap- pointing for punishment. " But they rose early and corrupted all their doings " — as men who work with their might and with earnest heart, are up betimes in the morning. It is noticeable that God rep- resents his own earnestness in efforts to save them by the same im- . pressive figure (2 Chron. 36 : 15) : " The Lord God of their lathers * sent to them by his messengers, rising up early in the morning and sending, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwell- ing-place." The contrast gives a sad impression of their horrible depravity, but a rich and exalted one of 7iis unutterably tender com- passion and loving-kindness! They, up early in the morning, working with might and main, to do along and hard day's work iu sin ; God, up betimes to press his agencies mightily to save them ! 8. Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the Lokd, until the day that I rise up to the prey : for my determination ■^'s to gather the nations, that 1 may assemble the kingdoms, to pom* upon them mme indignation, even all my fierce anger : for all the earth shall be devom-ed with the fii'e of my jealousy. " Therefore " (in view of all these things) " wait ye for me " (/. c. 278 ZEPHANIAH.— CHAP. III. to fultil my threatenings) " until tlie day of my rising up for tlie prey, to spoil the nations, for this is my purpose." Great and widely extended judgments are iu the plan of God, to fall on all the guilty nations of the earth. Let his people expect tliem in their time. 9. For tlien will I turn to tlie people a pure lan- guage, that tliey may all call upon the name of the LoED, to serve him with one consent. Here is a reason for awaiting those judgments, because then, in close connection, the Lord will convert the remnant of the nations to himself. His great judgments will prepare the way for mercies no less great. " I will turn to the nations (Gentiles) a pure lan- guage"— freed from the very names of idols (see Hos. 2 : 17), and from all those terms that are suggestive of the pollutions and cor- ruptions of human depravity. God will give them a new vocabu- lary; the language of Zion will be all new when aU men shall call upon the name of the Lord. " To serve him with one shoulder," is the striking expression of the Hebrew — as we might say, moving on in military phalanx, slioulder to shoulder, for soldiers dress to a line by the shoulder. Or the phrase may allude to two or more men bearing the same burden on their shoulders, in which case they must move accurately together. So in Zion should order and harmony be perfect, resting on the basis of having one heart and one soul. 10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my sup- pliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine ofiering. This must be the African Ethiopia, south of Egypt, embosoming the head-waters of the Nile. Thence should suppUants from the Lord's scattered people come with their ofterings to Jerusalem. The reader will readily recall the case of an " eunuch of great au- thority under Oandace, queen of Ethiopia, who came to Jerusalem to worship " (Acts 8 : 27 ff.), and who went home with more of the gospel than he had ever known before. The case proves that there were some dispersed people there, probably Jews, who remembered Zion, and that a purer knowledge of God went among them after the Christian era. It would seem that there have been nominal Christians in Abyssinia ever since. They were found there by Bruce in his travels, early in the present century. 11. In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me : for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be Ixaughty because of my holy mountain. This cannot mean that they shall have no sense of shame for tlio ZEPHANIAH.— CHAP. III. 2Y9 sins of wMcli they are or have heen guilty. The Scriptures and Christian experience combine to teach that pardoned sinners have the very keenest sense of sorrow and shame for their sins. (See Ezek. 16 : Gl-63 and 30 : 31.) The meaning here is therefore only this : that they shall not he confounded before the nations by God's judgments upon them for their sins. They will not sin as they had done; and moreover, God will forgive and forbear to punish. That their sin itself should mostly cease — at least, their specially provok- ing, heaven-defying sins — is expressly said : " For then I will take away out of thee thy proud, exulting ones, and man shall no more be haughty in my holy mountain." The Hebrew has it " /h," not " because of" 12. I will also leave in tlie midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The few spared and surviving, after the many had ftdlen under sore judgments, are blessed by what they have suffered, and by what they'have seen others suflTer ; and these return to the Lord their God. Of this promise there have been many fulfilments. 13. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies ; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth : for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.- This applies readily to the remnant restored from Babylon, and aflBrms then- general purity of character, greatly reformed as com- pared with the morals of the nation before the captivity. It may apply also to subsequent periods. 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion ; shout, O Israel ; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jeru- salem. Tills call to great joy indicates that precious blessings are to he revealed. 15. The LoED hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy : the king of Israel, even the LoKD, is in the midst of thee : thou shalt not see evil any more. " Hath taken away thy judgments," not in the sense of remov- ing from them the administration of justice or the jurisdiction of his law, but of terminating his inflictions of calamity and his retri- butions for their sin. The days of her sore scourging had passed. " He hath cleared away thine enemies from before thee " — perhaps with historical allusion to their early days in Canaan, when tho Lord did not fully clear away the Canaanites and Philistines. Now 280 ZEPHANIAH.— CHAP. III. he will, and they shall repose in quiet — less tempted to sin, and less annoyed Avith thorns in their side — enemies within tlieir own bor- ders. Their king, Messiah, the real Jehovah, being in the midst of them as Immanuel (God with us), verily, " they shall see evil no more," as compared with former evils. IG. In that day it sliall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not : and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. "Let not thy hands be slack " is said in the sense of not waxing feeble through despondency and unbelief. 17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty ; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy ; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. Her Lord is not in the midst of her — his Zion — as a terror or a scourge, but as a mighty one for help, rejoicing in her purity and blessedness. Tlie plirase "he will rest in his love " seems to mean in the original, " will be silent in his love," in the sense of freely forgiving her sin, and henceforth forbearing to speak of it in words of threatening, and to act against it in retributive judgments, ITis love is silent from upbraidiug and chastising, in contrast with the continual strain of rebuke which had been the common mani- festation of his presence in their former apostasy. Now, they being no longer apostate, but walking humbly and softly before God, he takes the purest delight in abiding among tliem, and silently enjoys their worship and their responsive love. It is indeed a precious thought, but is most fully authorized, that God rejoices in the sin- cere love and worship of his people. It is a source of ineflfable de- light to his benevolent heart. This doctrine is reiterated with great force in this passage. 18. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the sol- emn assembly, 'loho are of thee, to whom the reproach of it loas a burden. "Those who are grieved" (because of their exclusion) "from tliy solemn festivals, I will gather home (they were of thee), who have borne reproach for her" (Zion's) "sake;" or the last clause might be read, " to Avhom reproach for her sake Avas a burden." Tlie sentiment is tliat God will gather Iiorae to Zion those dispersed, ones Avlio had been sad because of tlieir long exclusion from hei* solemn feasts, and Avho had borne reproach for their God. 19. Behold, at tliat time I will undo all that afllid thee : and I will saA'e her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. 20. At that time will I bring you agahi^ even in the time that I gather you : for I will make you a name and ZEPHANIAE.— CHAP. III. 281 a praise among all people of tlie earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lokd. The original, rendered "I "vrill undo," means I will deal with — take them in hand for justice and judgment. This would doubtless involve their undoing. Sentiment — God will reverse the state of lier long-depressed and scattered people. The feeble shall be saved with strength ; the exiled brought home in triumph ; the long-dis- honored and disowned shall have praise and lame in the very place where they had been put to shame. The public sentiment of the world is changed, and the real friends of God are now held, not in contempt, but in honor. It can scarcely be supposed that the restoration from Babylon exhausted the significance of these prom- ises. Then the restored people were few and feeble. Though hon- ored and favored by Cyrus, yet they were by no means greatly honored by their nearest neighbors, the Samaritans, nor by other contiguous nations. Something more and better than that must lie yet treasured up for Zion in these promises. Yet further, the clear indications in this chapter (vs. 9, 10) of the conversion of the Gen- tiles also, must cany the great body of these predictions over into the gospel era, and some portion of them down into those times described by Paul (Eom. 11), when, almost simultaneously, the Jews will be grafted back into their former stock, and the Gentile world be converted to the same ever-blessed God. come, that glo- rious day 1 HAGGAI. INTEODUCTIOI^ Both the date and the occasion of this book are given very dis- tinctly. Its date is subsequent to the restoration from captivity in Babylon by sixteen years. Its occasion was the fact that the Jews were sinfully neglecting to complete the building of their temple. Consequently the Lord sent Ilaggai to rebuke them for this sin, and to exhort them to resume the work and complete it. It should be borne in mind that Cyrus, on his accession to the Medo-Persian throne, two years after it had absorbed the Chaldean empire and made Babylon its capital, issued an edict, strongly inviting the Jews to return to their own land, and rebuild both their holy city^ and their temple. Fifty thousand responded to this call, and under Zerubbabel as governor, and Joshua as high priest, returned to the land of their fathers, and commenced rebuilding the city, and in process of time the temple also. The Book of Ezra gives the Jewish' history of these events. It there appears that in the second year of Cyrus (b. c. 535), and in the second month, they began to re- build the temple ; that soon the Samaritans began to oppose and retard their Avork, and kept up this opposition during the remaining five years of the reign of Cyrus (Ez. 4 : 5), and yet more vigor- ously and successfully, imder his vile son and successor Cambyses (called, Ez. 4:6," Ahasuerus "), who reigned seven years and five months. At length, from his successor, Smerdis (called, Ez. 4 : 7, 8, 11, 23, Artaxerxes), they obtained an order that the work should absolutely cease. This Smerdis reigned but seven months. A better king succeeded, in the person of Darius Uystaspcs. As Smerdis was at bcbt only an usurper, and as the decree of Cyrus was there- HAGGAL— CHAP. I. 283 fore still the law of the realm, there was no legal obstacle m the way of resuming this work the first moment after the pressure of violent prevention was removed. "When, throughout the first year of Darius, it was seen that the people did not resume this v.'ork, hut occupied themselves in fitting up and even embellishing their own houses, the Lord sent his prophet Ilaggai, and two months later Zechariah, to rebuke them for this neglect, and to encourage them to resume and complete the building of the temple. The work was completed in the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 6: 15). These are briefly the historic facts which, being intimately connected with the subject matter of this book, are essential to its intelligent exposition. CHAPTER I. The Lord rebukes the neglect of the people to build his house ; calls their attention to their lean and meagre harvests, and to his blighting curses upon their land and labor because of this neglect ; and when the people shall have returned to this duty, pledges them his favoring presence. 1. In tlie second year of Darius tlie kino;, in tlie sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of tlic LoED by Ilaggai the prophet unto Zerubbahel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedecli, tlie high priest, saying, 2, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. The people excused their delay in finishing tlie temple, on the alleged ground that the time for it had not yet come. It has been supposed that they bolstered up this lame apology by their own construction of Jeremiah's prophecy (25: 12), which had named seventy years as the duration ot" the captivity. As the temple was not destroyed until eigliteen years after the first captives were taken away, aud as only about fifteen years had passed, up to tlie first year of Darius, since the first captives returned, they perhaps per- suaded themselves to think that the temple must lie desolate yet some three years longer, to complete its full period of seventy years. Men sometimes put constructions upon Scripture which God has neither put nor authorized, the ultimate cause being that they are but too well pleased to have it so. This may have been- a case of the same sort. 284 HAGGAI.— CIIAP. I. 3. Then came tlie word of tlie Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4. Is it time for yon, O ye, to dwell in yonr ceiled honses, and this honse lie waste ; In the question, "Is it time for yon," &c., the Lord uses tlie word " time " because the people had used it, saying, "The time has not come to build the Lord's house," Thus ye say, " The time has not come to build my house ; " has the time come for you to build yours, and finish them off Avith comfort and even elegance, while you let my house lie waste ? Is this a proper expression of gratitude to Jehovah for condescending to dwell in the midst of you, and for redeeming you from your long captivity? The word " you " in the Hebrew is made specially emphatic. It is for you, for such as ?/ow, for you, in view of all your circumstances, &c. • This emphasis is indicated by repeating the pronoun you. " Ceiled houses," from the Uebrew word meaning covered, refers to the inside covering of the walls with more or less of ornament — in modern phrase, called " finishing " — for both comfort and beauty, 5. ISTow, therefore, thns saith the Lord of hosts ; Con- sider your ways. 6. Ye have sown much, and bring in little ; ye eat, but ye have not enough ; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink ; ye clothe'yon, but tliere is none warm ; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to 2)ui it into a bag with holes. The expressive form of the original is, "Set your heart on your ways," i. e., look on yom* ways, not only thoughtfully but solemnly, appreciating and realizing the significance of your course toward God, and of God's toward you. Since they had dishonored God by neglecting his temple, he had scourged them by suspending his usual gifts of timely rain and sun. He appeals to them to note the facts of their own case, how they had prospered in nothing, and had toiled to small purpose. 7. Thus saith the Lokd of hosts ; Consider your ways. 8. Go up to the momitain, and bring wood, and build the liouse ; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. This second exhortation to consider their ways may have a look forward, as the first (v. 5) looked back, as if the Lord would say: " Take note of what shall be hereafter, as well as of what has been heretofore, (io to tiie mountain; get wood; finish my house; then see what a change shall come over your labor, and the fruita thereof," 9. Ye looked for mucli, and, lo it came to little; and HAGGAI.— CHAP. I. 285 when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why ? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine lionse that is waste, and ye run every man nnto his own house. 10. Therefore, the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed /"y'o?;? her fruit. 11. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands. The phrase "hlowupon it," some interpreters render (as the margin has it) hlow it away. The preposition rendered ^ipon, strongly favors our received translation. The sense will then be — Even after you had gathered your harvests home, I blighted them as by the breath of my mouth. The word " ri/?i," " ye run every man to his own house," indicates that their hearts were not in God's house, nor toward it, hut toward their own. It was specially characteristic of the entire age before the coming of Christ that God's moral government over men in this world was made manifest by present retribution. It was never intended that those present retri- butions should he perfect, or should supersede the necessity of a fu- ture state in which all deticiencies would be made up ; but it was the design of God to make his government palpable, so that all men should have tangible, visible evidence of its reahty. Obviously there was indetinitely more need of present retribution then than now. It was a sort of compensation to offset their inferior light respecting God, duty, and salvation. The genius of that whole dispensation in regard to the point now in hand — present retribution for right and wrong doing, visited on the people in blessings or in curses — is set forth strongly in the latter chapters of Deuteronomy, especially chapter 28. These verses of Haggai presuppose this type of God's moral government over men in this world. 12. Theu Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all tlie rem- nant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Loed their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Loed their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord. 13. Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the 286 HAGGAI.— CHAP. II. spirit of all the remnant of tlie people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lokd of hosts, their God, ' 15. In the fonr and twentieth day of the eixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. It is pleasant to note that these messages from the Lord pro- (hiced the desired result. The Lord stirred up the spirit of hoth rulers and people, and they took hold earnestly of the neglected work of rebuilding the temple. Twenty-four days sufficed to arouse them and to make the necessary preparations. The masses of the people were fiir more obedient to the voice of God than before the captivity — furnishing yet another case of blessings coming through sore chastisement. " Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word," CHAPTER II. The distinct portions of this chapter are strongly marked : (1.) The portion (vs. 1-9) which speaks to those hearts that were sad and depressed by the greatly inferior glory of this temple compared with that built by Solomon. (2.) Vs. 10-19, designed to show that their late neglect to build the house of God had vitiated all their labors, and brought a blight from the Lord upon all their fruits ; and (3.) Vs. 20-23, encouraging tlieir rulers, and confirming the great promise made (vs. 6-9J. 1. In the seventh mouthy in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Loed by the prophet Haggai, saying, The reader will note that this date is one month, less three days, after they began upon tlie work of rebuilding. (See 1:15.) "With what had been done in tlie former effort, commenced some fourteen years before, the work of this month sufliced to show that this temple must be greatly inferior in splendor and in all its ap- pointments, to that which had stood from the time of Solomon down to the captivity. 2. Speak now to Zeruhhabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Jud ah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech the high priest, and to the re-sidue of the people, saying, 3. Who is left among you that saw this house iii her first glory ? and how do ye see it now % is it not in yom* eyes in comparison of it as nothing ? A few patriarchs of venerable age remained to remember the glory of that first temple which liad now lain desolate about sixty- HAGGAI.— CHAP. II. 287 eight years. The Lord calls theii* attention to the contrast between that and this. " How do ye see this now ? Is not this in your eyes, compared with that, as nothing? '' Ezi-a. 3 : 12, 13, gives us a touching allusion to this scene, blending the joy of the young l^eople with the grief of their fathers — the shoutings of the one class and the sad wailings of the other — each swelling up, and perhaps each exciting the other, until the noise -was heard afar, and men could not distinguish the sliouts of joy from the outcries of grief — a scene not soon forgotten by either the joyous or the sad ones of that day. The Lord calls attention to the -wide contrast between this latter house and the former because he had something to say about it, as "we shall see. 4. Yet now be strong, O Zerubabbel, saitli tbe Lokd ; and be strong, O Joslma, son of Joseclecli the liigh priest ; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LoED, and work : for I am with you, saith the Loed of hosts : The first thing he would say is, Be strong of heart, and never yield to depression; "be strong and work," for I am with you, and my presence ought to outweigh greater and more discouraging contrasts than this which saddens your hearts to-day. Shall it not be enough for you that I am with you ? 5. According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remain- eth among you ; fear ye not. The proper construction of the term "word," in the phrase rendered " according to the word that I covenanted," &c., pre- sents difficulties. There seems to be no authority iu the original for the words " according to," or for the idea that the continued presence of the Spirit is in accordance with that original covenant made when the nation came forth from Egypt. This mayor not bo true : it is not expressed clearly and beyond a doubt here. On the contrary, this passage, almost beyond a doubt, affirms (1.) That the covenant made at Sinai is still in force, no less since the captivity than before ; and (2.) That God's Spirit also still abides with the people; so that for both reasons the people ought not to fear, but be strong and of good courage. With such a covenant of promise, and such a present, indwelling Spirit, why should they bewail the lack of those external splendors which pertained to the temple of Solomon ? 6. For thus saith the Loed of hosts ; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land j Exegetically, the chief difficulty in this verse turns on the word rendered " onccy The choice seems to me to lie between these 288 HAGGAL— CHAP. II. two constructions: (1.) "Yet once more, and that very soon, 1 will shake," &c. ; or (2). " It is yet but one short period, and I will shake," &c. In the latter case, the word one (this is the nsual sense of the Hebrew) is only equivalent to the article. Of this usage there are some examples. The choice between these two construc- tions is a matter of no great importance as to the ultimate sense. The first constritction may be thought to imply once more, and once only. The " shaking of the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land," must be taken in the figurative and not the literal sense, to indicate, not an earthquake, reaching far out through boundless space, but convulsions among the great nationalities of the world — Assyrian, Chaldean, Medo-Persian, and Grecian — to pave the way for the coming of Messiah's kingdom. They dash one against an- other, each in succession overwhelming its immediate predecessor, but each revolution ripening the world for the coming of Messiah. In a similar strain Ezekiel says (21 : 27) : " I will overturn, overturn, overturn, and it shall be no more, until lie come whose right it is, and I will give it him." In tbis view of the sense, the next verse will be explanatory — " Yea, I will shake all nations," &c. 1. And I will sliake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come : and I will liil this house with glory, saith the Lokd of hosts. 8. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The test word in verse 7 is " desire.'''' Is this a synonym for the Messiah? Is it only another name for the same exalted man, thought and spoken of here as one " desired by all nations " ? So the current sentiment of the Church and so its sacred songs have for the most part assumed. This has been a pleasant and cherished interpretation. I must confess that I have felt its strong attrac- tions. But I have been compelled by the force of grammatical and exegetical reasons to modify somewhat this interpretation, yet not so as ultimately to lessen but rather to augment the richness of its spiritual significance. The usual construction, which interprets tlie word "desire" as meaning precisely the Messiah, must be re- jected : (1.) First and mainly, because the verb is plural — " tliey come, even the desire of all the nations." The word "desire" must therefore be a noun of multitude, i. e., a noun embracing in its meaning not one object alone, but many. There seems to be no way to get over this diificulty so long as we make " desire " synony- mous with Messiah. (2.) The scope of thought is not congenial to its strict applica- tion to the Messiah, especially as seen in the declaration, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts." Silver and gold were eminently absent, not present, in the personal HAGGAI.— CHAP. II. 289 life of the man of Kazareth. Yet in this prophecy silver and gold must stand in a close relation to the sense of the clause " the De- sire of all nations shall come." -A better construction is possible. and indeed imobjectionable. Let it be borne in mind that this entire passage grows out of the contrast between the meagrenesg of tlie new temple and the wealth and splendor of the old, and out of the consequent discouragement and depression of the Lord's peo- ple. He calls their special attention to this wide contrast (v. 8). He proceeds to intimate (vs. 4, 5) that the absence of gold and silver, and of material splendor in this new temple, may be abun- dantly compensated by his spiritual blessings ; by the fact that"/ am with you,'" and the further fiict that the covenant and the Spirit are still remaining. He advances yet in the same line of thought — I am about to convulse the nations — to revolutionize the state^ of the world, and thus, as the ultimate outcome, the desiralle things of all nations — their wealth, beauty, and glory — shall come to Zion ; and " I will fill this temple with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." The silver and the gold of all the world are mine, saith the Lord of hosts, and by the might of my power over the hearts of men and over all human society, it shall be consecrated to Immanuel's kingdom. Special stress must be accorded to this frequent repe- tition of the phrase, " saith the Lord of hosts," closing each of three successive verses, 7, 8, 9. Let it also be borne in mind that, according to this construction, the Lord speaks precisely to that which constituted the chief solicitude of tlie pious Jews. They were saying in their heart : How much, we do miss the riches — the silver, the gold, the cedars, the tapestry — of tliat ancient temple ! When and how can we ever rear a temple worthy of the God of our fathers ? We are very poor ; shall we over be ricli enough to build and adorn a temple wortliy of our God ? To this the Lord very kindly and pertinently replies : Give yourselves no solicitudes in that line. I am the Lord God of hosts ; I rule this wide world, and I can command all its silver and gold when I will for my king- dom. And I shall do it ! In support of this construction may be Tii-ged (1.) It gives the ordinary and established sense to the word rendered " desire.'''' This word is used mainly for those things which T,^orldly men desire. (2.) It meets the exigencies of the plural verb, since it embraces in its idea many things, not one only. (3.) It is, as we have seen, fully in keeping with the previous con- text — the train of thought which occasioned this prophecy, and which introduced this passage. (4.) It is equally in harmony with the subsequent context — filling this house with glory, and God's claimiug the silver and the gold of the world as his own. (5.) It is also entirely in harmony with other and more ancient prophecies, e. g., Isa. GO. To set this in its full light would demand the whole chapter, in which we read: "The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee " — " all they from Sheba shall come, bringing gold and incense" — "the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring tliy sous from far, their silver and their gold 13 200 HAG GAL— CHAP. II. ■with them, unto the nnrae of the Lord thy God " — " the glory of Lebanon shah come nnto thee to beantify the place of my sanctu- ary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious," &c., &c. The same strain runs through the scventy-secoud Psalm : " The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents ; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts." Let it be said very dis- tinctly that in this construction of the passage, I do not exclude but include the Messiah. One advantage of this construction is that under it we get, not the Messiah alone, but nauch more be- sides. It is only under his reign and after the power of his cross over human hearts has been gloriously developed among the great and distant nations of the earth, that all the silver and gold of the world shjill be brouglit and laid at his feet for use in the pur- poses of his spiritual kingdom. Even yet, how little of the real wealth of nominally Christian nations — nay, more, how little of the wealth of the visible Church is truly consecrated to the Saviour of men! It shall yet be far otherwise than this! Prophecy cannot receive its entire fultilment until the wealth of the world shall press forward voluntarily (so to speak) to lay itself at Immanuel's feet, to be used so that he may soonest and best see of the travail of his soul, and may have most of that "joy set before him," in the con- version of myriads to his love and service. It may be asked : Do you expect, in the good time yet coming, to see a temple built with cedars from Lebanon, and beautified with the silver and the gold of all the earth? 1 answer, Nothing can be further from my thought than the going back of Christianity to real Judaism. The New Testament " temple of God " is the loving and pure heart wherein God dwells (2 Cor. G:16). In this temple, by another figure, Christians are themselves "living stones" (1 Pet. 2:5), and in this temple " the sacrifices of God are a broken heart and a contrite spirit." Of course, Jewish prophets must think and write in Jewish symbols and terms. Good Christian sense must find the spiritual meaning of those terms and symbols — the New Testament and its teaching Spirit furnishing the key. 9. The gloiy of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith tlie Lokd of hosts : and in this place will I give peace, saith the Loed of hosts. To the first clause, two different interpretations have been given ; (1.) That the " latter house " is that of Zerubbabel, the former that of Solomon ; and the thing aflSrmed, that the glory of this built under Zerubbabel, shall be greater than the glory of that built by Solomon; (2.) That the temple of Solomon is out of mind, and that the antithesis really lies between the former and the latter glory of this same temple then in building — its "former glory " being what it had under Zerubbabel, and onward down through what remained of tlie age before Christ; and the latter, that which it shall attain when the desirable things of all nations shall come into it ; when the wealth and beauty of the world shall be consecrated to Imman- HAG GAI.— CHAP. II. 291 nel, and the Prince of Peace shall reign in Lis own spiritual tem- ple, filling it with the glory of his own presence. The latter is doubtless the true construction: (1.) Because it is precisely what the words in their order mean, and vmst mean. They stand thus : " Great shall be the glory of this house — the latter more than the former, saith Jehovah of hosts." (2.) Because this construction alone answers to the drift of the context, the very thing that the Lord is saying in this passage being this — The meagre glory of this temple, as ye now see it, shall give place to a glory vastly greater when the wealth and beauty of all the nations shall be brought into it. That is, the era of spiritual power, beauty, and glory, shall immensely surpass all the external splendors of Judaism ; the spirit shall eclipse the letter ; the inward be more and better than the outward ; the homage of countless warm and living hearts shall more adoi-n and glorify God's temple than all the gold of Ophir, the smoke of incense and the blood of thousands of bullocks and of rams. "In this place will I give peace" — can have but one interpretation ; — not tranquillity as opposed to the disturbances of war; not peace of mind as opposed to agitation and distress: but including all these and much more, the abstract word peace, used for the concrete, it means the great Peacemaker^ the great author and Prince of Peace, the world's pacificator as toward its abused, oflended Maker; — the Shiloh of earlier propliecy, repeatedly foretold under precisely this appellation. (See Micah 5 : 5 and Isa. 9 : 6, T.) This naturally completes the evidence in proof that this entire passage refers to the then futiu'e times of the Messiah. 10. Ill tlie four and twentietli daij of the niiitli month, in tlie second year of Darius, came the word of the Loed by Hag_o:ai the prophet, saying, 11." Thus saith tlie Lokd of hosts, Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, 12. If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy \ And the priests answered and said, No. 13. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean ? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. 14. Then answered Haggai, and said. So is this peo- ple, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord ; and so is every work of their hands ; and that which they ofl:er here is unclean. The priests being the authorized expounders of the ceremonial law, the Lord directs the people to propound to them two ques- tions : (1.) In case a priest, bearing holy flesh in his garment, brings 292 HAGGAI.— CHAP. II. it in contact with any thing else, does it impart its own sacrednesa to whatsoever it touches ? To this, they answer, No. Ceremo- nial holiness is not imparted hy the touch. (2.) Over a^^ainst this is the second question : Does a man, who has been made unclean by contact with a dead body, impart his own uncleanness by the touch? They answer, Yes. Ceremonial uncleanness is imparted by the touch. This doctrine of the ceremonial law, the Lord ap- plies to the people. They had sinned in neglecting to build the Lord's temple. By reason of this sin, their moral state became analogous to that of the man ceremonially unclean. This sin im- parted its moral character to all they did. The Lord could not take pleasure in the labors of their hands ; it all became unclean. On the other hand, if they should do any good thing, it could not carry its good quality over to any thing else they might do. Under the law of God, works of supererogation are unknown. 16. And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upwards, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Loed : 16. Since those daj/swere, when one came to an heap of twenty 7neaswes, there were hut ten : when one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were hut twenty. 17. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands ; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Loed. The Lord would have them review the pei'iod from that day backward to the point where the building of the temple commenced, and so from that day onward to the present, and observe how feai-- fully their harvests had been blighted. "I smote you with blasting and blight, yet ye moved not toward me " — literally, " there was nothing of you to me." Up to this point his chastisements had l)roved altogether unavailing. 18. Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the nintli month, eoen from the day that the foundation of the Loed's temple was laid, consider it. 19. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and tlie fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree, hath not brought forth : from this day will I bless tjou. Hero is another call to examine the course of the Lord's provi- dence toward thcni throughout the interval from the day when they commenced laying the foundations of the Lord's house to that hour. Is the seed yet in the barn? No. Planting-time is past, and you liave i)Iunted ; but have you any harvests of any sort? Not EAGGAL— CEAP. II. 203 any. But now that ye liave resumed tliis labor upon the temple, from this clay I will bless you. JS^ote and see. 20. And a2;aiii tlie word of the Loed came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, 21. Speak to Zeruhbahel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth ; 22. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen ; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them ; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. This message, sent especially to Zerubbabel, bears the same date with that immediately preceding, and seems intended to supple- ment and reaffirm the prophecy recorded (vs. 6-9). It is quite plain here that the " shaking of the heavens and the earth " is the same thing as " overthrowing the throne of the kingdoms," and has no application other than this. God will cast down vast armies, over- throwing chariots and their riders, horses and horsemen, and turn- ing a man against his bi'other, so that God's enemies should give theii* strength to mutual slaughter. Thus those vast, ungodly king- doms of the earth are doomed to fall. 23. In that day saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet ; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. But throughout this slaughter of his foes, God will protect his friends. lie indicates this by saying that their governor shall be as his signet-ring upon his finger. This imphes care, love, and pi'otec- tion. No doubt the Lord intended this promise should be good to the successors of Zerubbabel ; — good for his people so long as they put their trust in him, whoever their Zerubbabel may be. ZEOHARIAH. INTEODUOTION. Tde usual preliminary questions of personal history — date, occa- Bion, and special object — are readily settled in the case of the proph- et Zechariah. lie began to prophesy in the eighth month of the second year of Darius Ilystaspes, i?. o. 520, contemporary with Uag- gai, when Zerubbabel was governor of Judah, and Joshua was high priest. At this period, the great matters of interest in the visible kingdom of God were the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the resettlement of the returned and still-returning captives from Chaldea, and yet more especially, the rebuilding of the temple, and the culture of thei faith and religious life of the people composing the new community. In many respects it was a time of laying again the foundations of re- ligion and morals, and of planting anew those institutions which were to be tlie fountains of their future religious life, and hence of their abiding prosperity. Consequently, there was abundant work for the prophets of the Lord. It is pleasant to note that their work was more hopeful and less discouraging than that of their predecessors for many generations. The people were more impres- sible ; the word of the Lord was effective ; the spirit of obedience, and not of rebellion, was in the main predominant. Hence, most of the messages sent from the Lord by Zechariah were of cheerful tone, breathing for more of promise than of threatening. The reader will notice in this proi)het (relatively to the whole amount of his writings) more predictions of tlie Messiali tban in any other. The people were at first a small and feeble band, estimated in comparison with other tribes and sovereignties about then). They could scarcely have stood their ground against tliesc hostile powers, ZECnARIAE.— CHAP. I. 295 save under the protection of the Persian throne. In this throne, God had remarkably provided for their security. Hence, they had great reason to feel that in this respect their salvation and national life were from the Lord. In the same line of thought, the Lord often revealed to them that Greater Patron and more glorious Refuge, ere long to appear in the person of Iramanuel, the real King of Zion. The first six chapters are distinguished from the rest of the hook, and indeed from most of the other prophetical writings of the Old Testament, by the blending of symbol and vision. The things presented to the prophet in vision were highly symbolic. Most of these symbols were so far explained to the prophet as to give us an adequate clue to their significance. Some critics have assumed that the diversity in the point of symbolic vision, between the first six chapters and the remaining eight, is sufficient proof that the lat- ter portion was not written by the same Zechariah. The only valid ground for this assumption must bo another further back, viz. that, if God reveals any truth to a given prophet by symbolic visions, he must pursue this precise method and no other without variation throughout that prophet's life. But what authority can be found for such an assumption? Does it obtain in the case of the prophet Amos, or Daniel, or Ezekiel, or Jeremiah ? I look upon this assumption as one of the follies, not to say absurdities, of hyper- criticism. Tlie book throughout is richly instructive, fraught with spiritual life and power, and consolatory to the feeble but trusting children of God. -'D CHAPTER I. This chapter contains three distinct portions : vs. 1-6 derive admonition for the people from the case of their fathers whom the Lord sent into captivity for their sins; vs. 8-17 is the first symbolic vision, viz., of horses and their riders, and vs. 17-21 the second, of four horns, and of smiths to break those horns in pieces and destroy their power for harm. 1. Ill tlie eiglitli month, in tlie second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, Zechariah is said (Ezra 5 : 1) to be the son of Iddo the prophet. "Wo must suppose that "'son" is used tliere in its less rigid sense, for grandson. Iddo is perhaps made prominent there as his an- cestor, because he was a prophet. 296 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. I. 2. The Lord liath been sore displeased with yoiu fathers. The statements of the history respecting this sore displeasure of God against their fathers are ahundant and very strong. (See 2 Ohron. 36 : 11-16, and 2 Chron. 33, and 2 Kings 21 : 2-16.) 3. Therefore, say thou unto them, Thus saith the ■LoKD of hosts ; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will tm'n imto you, saith tlie Lord of hosts. In view of God's wrath against their fathers and its results in the desolation of their city and land, the Lord commissions Zech- ariah to say to the people then present : " Turn unto me in penitence, and I will turn unto you in forgiving love and mercy." This is the standing law of God's moral kingdom in this world of probation. The reader will notice the frequent yet not " vain repetition " of the divine title, "■ the Lord of hosts," the Great Euler of the aelestial armies, the King of the universe. 4. Be je not as your fathers, unto whom the form.er prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings : but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. 5. Your fathers, ivhere are they ? and the prophets, do they live for ever \ 6. J3ut, my words and my statutes which I com- manded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? And they returned and said. Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, accordino; to our ways and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. "With great pertinence and force the Lord exhorts them not to be as their fothcrs, stift-neckcd, obdurate, reckless of the warnings and entreaties sent them of God by the former prophets. ^Vliera arc those fathers now? Gone from the world where they became so fearfully hardened in their sins ; gone from the land they pol- luted by their abominations and cursed by their persistence in rebellion ; gone to their righteous but most fearful doom! It were well for the children to think often of those fathers and ask, "Where are they? The prophets, too, having served their generation amid sore trials and heart-griefs unutterable, bad gone to their iilissfal reward. Let the peoide consider! l)id not the words wliicl) God sent by those former prophets " tulce hold of your fathers?" i)id they slip off as things of loose grasp, and prove void of re- sult? Did not those awful tlircateniiigs Jiold on^ and liave not you yourselves seen and felt the terrible judgments which thoso ZEcnARiAH.— cuAr. I. 29Y words portended ? They themselves were forced to admit this. Tliey returned and said, i. e., they took a new and better view of the case under the pressure of appalling facts, and then they said — All that God thought and threatened to do unto us as a nation, he has done ! Let their children take warning ! T. Upon tlie four and twentieth day of tlie eleventh montli, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of tlie Loed unto Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom ; and behind him ivere there red horses, speckled, and Avhite. 9. Then said I, O my lord, what are these ? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these he. , 10. And the man that stood among the myrtle-ti*ees answered and said. These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. 11. And they answered the angel of the Lokd that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said. We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. 12. Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O LoED of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years ? 13. And the Loed answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. 14. So the angel that communed with me said unto me. Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lokd of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion vrith a great jealousy. 15. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease : for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. IG. Therefore thus saith the Lokd ; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies : mine house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line sliall be stretclied forth upon Jerusalem. 13* 298 ZECnARIAH.— CHAP. I. 17. Cry yet, saying, Thus saitli tlie Lord of hosts , My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad ; and the Lord stall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. These verses comprise one entire and distinct vision, the first in a series, and of symbolic character. The sjonbols represent the executive forces by which the Lord administers his providential government over the nations. The special aim here is — (1.) To assure the Hebrew people that God had more judgments to send on the nations that had oppressed them ; and (2.) That he would greatly augment the growth and prosperity of Zion. So much for the general scope of the passage. As to the particulars, let us note that this is a night-vision, presented to the mind's eye of the prophet by special divine agencies. That men riding on horses are used to represent the executive forces of God's reign over the nations is due (we may suppose) to the use of post-liorses as vehicles of the royal mandates, as the nerves of communication (so to speak) from the working brain on the throne to the remotest organs of his will in all his distant provinces. They seem to be thought of here rather as explorers to observe and report, than as executioners. Tlie reader will better understand this representation if he will be at the pains to classify the personages of the scene — what are sometimes called" the dramatis personte " — thus: (1.) The man riding upon a red horse (v. 8), who stood (on horseback) among the myrtle-trees in the shaded vale, at the head of others, also on horses of various colors ; the same who (v. 10) explained and said, " These are they whom the Lord hath sent," &c., to whom the other horse- men report (v. 11) ; and to whom prayer is offered as "the Lord of hosts " (v. 12) ; and who answers so kindly (v. 13). This can be no other than the uncreated angel — the very Son of God, so often if not always the God revealed and made manifest in all the ages before his incarnation. (2.) Next are his attendants, on horses, representing angels proper; those "ministers of his who do his pleasure," and wlioin he continually employs in the administration of his providential government on earth. TJiey appear (v. 8) where it must be assumed that the horses have riders upon them ; also (v. 11), they report what tlioy have seen in their mission to and fro through the eartli. (3.) The revealing angel, specially attendant upon the projjhet as his interpreter, usually called " the angel that talked with me," e. g., v. 9, 13, and also in v. 14, where our translators have given the same Hebrew word another rendering, " that communed with me." It is the same angel wlio offers the prayer (v. 12), since the answer (v. 13) is given to him. That ha offers this prayer is due to his strong sympathy with the prophet, to whom ho was a sort of guardian angel. This grouping of tlie characters of this scene will help tlic reader to understand its sig- nificance. Tlie horses and their i-iders are seen among the myrtle- ti'oes in a shady vale — both the myrtles and the vale indicating the ZECHAEIAH.— CHAP. I. 299 low and humble condition of God's people and kingdom, especially at that time, yet showing ns plainly that however low and humble in human estimation, God was in the midst of them^ and did not disdain to reveal precisely there his glorious Son, and under him the angels clothed in might as the executive servants of his reign among the nations. is'o other speciality of meaning can be safely assigned to the color of these horses, except that red commonly indicates war-scenes of blood, and that the variety may suggest that God's agency embraces all varieties of manifestation — curses and blessings, war and peace. The prophet asks his attendant angel what those horses and their riders mean. He promises to show Ijim, but the statement is given by the personage first seen and standing in the foreground of the picture — the Great Uncreated Angel of Jehovah — " These are they whom the Lord sends to traverse the whole earth." Then they themselves come forward and make their report in the hearing of the prophet : " We have traversed the earth, and lo, all the nations are still and at rest." Even those great powers which had so cruelly oppressed the Jews were not receiving theii* deserved retribution. This is the main point of their report. Upon this, the revealing angel, warming in sympatliy with the prophet and his jieople, cries — " IIow long, O Lord, ere thou wilt have mercy on Jerusalem and on Judah, upon which thou hast manifested thine indignation now seventy years ? " To this the Lord answers with words of comfort and cheer. He has purposed to scourge and soon to destroy that fierce Chaldean power, and he will surely lift up Jerusalem. V. 15 may be paraphrased thus: "I am very sore displeased with Chaldea and Edom : I was comparatively a little displeased with my people, Judah and Jerusdem, and therefore I suliered those powers to come down on the holy city and land ; bi^t they aug- mented that infliction ; they gave vent to their cruel and vindictive spirit, and have quite overdone the work which I commissioned them to do. For this, they are to have a fearful doom." In V. 10, the Lord promises to return in mercy and to help onward the rebuilding of the city; and in v. 17, that the population sliould overpass the city walls and fill the adjacent country. " Will yet choose Jerusalem " — means, will yet manifest his loving choice of her by appropriate mercies. 18. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and beliold fom* horns. 19. And I said nnto the angel that talked witli me, "What he these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Jndah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 20. And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. 21. Then said I, What come these to do ? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head : hut theje 300 ZECILYRIAII.— CHAP. II. are come to fray tliem, to cast out tlie horns of the Gen tiles, wliicli lifted up iJieir horn over the land of Judah to scatter it. This second vision is closely connected in significance with the first, looking especially to the destruction of those heathen powers which "had scattered Judah and Jerusalem." The "horn" is a natural emhlem of power. The numher, four, does not count so many hostile nations, hut rather means all, in every quarter of the earth, toward every cardinal point of the compass, who have been pushing and scattering the saints of God. The word rendered "carpenters," should be "smiths," workers in iron or other met- als, and therefore ai-med with suitable instruments for breaking horns. The word " fray," mostly obsolete as a verb, means to frighten. The next verb, rendered " cast out," has a stronger sense — cast down to tTie ground^ so as altogether to paralyze their power for harm. This prediction was fulfilled shortly after. Chaldea revolted against its late Medo-Persian conquerors during the reign of this same Darius. lie consequently attacked and subdued them, and then greatly marred the military strength and glory of Baby- lon. Thenceforward Chaldea was no more felt or feared as a power among the nations. CHAPTER II. Tins chapter introduces one vision and has but a single theme. The vision presents a man going forth to measure Jerusalem ; but he is soon stopped, and it is announced that Jerusalem shall be so prosperous and pojjulous that her peojtle shall overpass her former limits and fill the adjacent country with unwalled villages (vs. 1-4). God will dwell in the midst of her, revealing his glory there ; her captive children are exhorted to flee out of Babylon and hasten home. In the greatness of her future prosperity, many other nations shall join themselves unto the Lord (vs. 5-13). 1. I lifted np mine eyes ao;ain, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2. Then said I, Whither goest thou % And he said unto me, To measm-e Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. 3. And behold, the augel that talked with me Avent forth, and another angel went out to meet him, 4. And said unto him, Kun, speak to this young man. Baying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein : In this vision a man is seen with a measuring line, g^ing forth ZECHARIAE.— CHAP. II. 301 lo measure Jerusalem — probably its dimensions before its recent destruction — as if preparing to rebuild it on the same foundations. The angel that talked with the prophet went forth {i. e., from flic prophet) and another angel came forth (it may be supposed) from the Lord, to meet him and to say to him : Hasten to that young man who has the measuring line, and tell him there is no occasion to measure the old limits of the city; the new one shall spread out beyond her former walls, and her people shall live in the surrounding country without walls, because of the miiltitude of men and of cattle. In this passage, the point most in dispute among critics is the question — -Who is this "young man"? (v. 4). Some say he is the prophet Zechariah ; others, that he is the " man with a measuring line " of v. 1 — an appropriate work for an active young man. I incline to the latter view, especially because v. 4 implies that the measurement of the city is arrested for retisons there given. The wliole scene was designed to impress vividly \ipon the prophet and his people the great promise of God respect- ing the growth, jjrosperity, and glory of the new city, and ulti- mately of that spiritual Zion of which this was the outward symbol. 5. For I, saitli tlie Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be tbe glory in the midst of her. The connection of thought here is admirable : Think no more of walls to be rebuilt for the new city, nor of costly outlays to beautify and adorn it ; " for I, saith the Lord, will be myself her wall," even "a wall of fire round about her; " and I will be her adornment also — even " a glory in the midst of her." This mag- nificent promise we cannot suppose to have been exhausted in the days of Zechariah, nor in the entire period before the incarnation of "the Son of God; but preeminently then when He, the great In- carnation of God, became manifest in human flesh in the midst of his Zion. Yet its fulfilment began in those days of Zion's reforma- tion and rebuilding. Our divine Lord reasserted essentially the same thing and made it a promise of perpetual love to his Church, Avhen he said, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." 6. Ho, ho, come forth., and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord : for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. 7. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest imth the daughter of Babylon. This call siimmons all Jews still remaining in Ohaldea to return, especially to escape from the judgments God was soon to bring on Babylon. Babylon is '• the land of the north." (See Jcr. G : 1-22, and 10:15.) This call to escape contemplates Qn-obably) that 302 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. II. impending devastation of Babylon referred to in the notes on Zech 1 : 21. The Lord had scattered Ihom abroad as if the winds from every quarter of the heavens liad been combined for this work. This is the most natural sense of the words "as the four winds of heaven " — i. e., would do it. So, in Isa. 64 : 6, and Job 30 : 15. A dilFerent phrase is used to express the sense — into or toward the four quarters of the heavens ; as in Jer. 49 : 32-36. 8. For tlius saith the Loed of liosts : After tlie glory hatli lie sent me imto tlie nations wMcli spoiled you : for lie tliat toiichetli you touclietli tlie apple of his eye. Here two points may need each a word of explanation, viz., the sense of the phrase "after the glory," and the identification of the persons "he" and "me," in the clause "he hath sent me," &c. "Alter the glory" is an ellii)tical, shortened phrase, looking to v. 5, and meaning that after haxlng Iccome the cjJory of Zion by reveal- ing himself as her king, her refuge, and protector, it followed naturally that he should be sent to scourge the nations that had spoiled Jerusalem, i. e., the Chaldecins, and perhaps the Edomites also. As to the persons "he" and "me,"m the phrase "he hath sent me," &c., the language implies that the speaker who calls himself the "Lord of hosts," has been sent by some one referred to as " he ; " " he hath sent me,'" &c. The one thus " sent " can be no other than the leading personage in tlie vision (1 : 8-13), there seen on a red horse (v. 8) ; to whom the otlier horsemen report (v. 11); to whom the angel interpreter ofters prayer (v. 12); and moreover the same personage who in 2 : 5 says, " I will be a glory in the midst of her," i. e., the Son of God. The antecedent of " he " is implied in thought, rather than expressed in w^ord ; yet can be no other than the infinite Father — often represented in the Scrip- tures as sending the Son — here on a mission of providential judg- ments on the guilty nations that had desolated Jerusalem, The reason assigned is beautifully significant of the tenderness of even the Father's love toward his people. We often see manifestations of tenderness in Jesus Christ while wearing our nature in its hu- man weaknesses; but here Jesus says of his Father— "He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye." " Toucheth "—in the sense of doing harm. The apple is the pupil of the eye,' which the Hebrews call the little man of the eye, or as here, the little boy of the eye, both terms coming probably from the fact that, looking into the eye, you see a miniature picture of yourself Can we reahze the precious truth taught here— that God feels every injury done to his people, as we feel a wound in the apple of our eye ? Then let us forever dismiss and discard the cruel assumption tliat the Infinite God has little or no sympathy with our spiritual life, with the real welfare of his people, the interests of his truth, and Uie cause of human salvation ! 9. For, behold, I will shake my hand upon them, ZECnARIAn.— CHAP. II. 303 and tliey sliall be a spoil to their servants : and ye sliall know tliat the Lokd of hosts liatli sent me. Immanuel, as the God of imivcrsal providence, sent to the na- tions that had Toasted Zion, here dcchires what lie will do, and calls special attention to it: "I will shake or wave my hand over them " — so much only being necessary to indicate to the execntioners of his will what they were to do ; and "they shall become a spoil to those who have heretofore been their servants ; " i. e., the nations some time in servitude nnder Chaldea now rise np, overcome, and spoil lier. Ye shall know by your experience of divine blessings that my commission is truly divine. It is remarkable that the phrase "the Lord of hosts " is used interchangeably of the Father and the Son : of the Father here ; of the Son in v. 8, and elsewhere in this and the previous chapter. No other explanation of this is needed save the fact that this name is equally applicable to either, and that the Scriptures in some cases represent the Father and in some cases the Son, as administering the government of this world. 10, Sino; and rejoice, O daughter of Zion : for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LOED. Closely parallel with this is Zoch. 9:9: Tlieir — " Eejoice great- ly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee,"&c. Jlere, as the reader will see, " Sing and rejoice," for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord, i. c, Jehovah. This close similarity strengthens the evidence that the speaker here is the promised Messiah, and that this promised coming can be exhausted in nothing less than his appearance in human flesh, and indeed in nothing less than his abiding presence (spiritually) with his people "to the end of the world." This abiding presence, in somewhat lower forms, he mani- fested from the time of Zechariah onward to his incarnation. All this is indeed occasion for exultant joy. 11. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people : and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Loed of hosts hath sent me unto thee. Christ's coming to dwell incarnate and subsequently by his Spirit, the Comforter, would result in the calling of the Gentiles into liis Church, and ultimately in the gathering of many nations^ and in their becoming joined in the I'elationships of love and trust to their redeeming Saviour and king. Here reciu-s again that ex- pressive phrase — " Thou shalt know " (in thine own blest expe- rience) that I am sent of the Eternal Father, that the work is not mine alone, but his as well — evermore sustained by tlie common sympathy and the cooperative agency of each and of both. 30tt ZECHARIAH.—CHAP, III. 12. And tlie Lord sTiall inlierit Judali Ids portion in tlie lioly land, and sliall clioose Jerusalem again. "Inherit," in the sense of having them as indeed his own peculiar people, with their most hearty concurrence and true devotion to his service. This verse manifestly had its special fulfil- ment in the nearer future — already apparent in the time of this prophet. 13. Be silent, O all flesli, before the Lord : for lie is raised up out of liis lioly habitation. So glorious are these promises, so magnificent and momentous these achievements, that the prophet gives utterance to his sense of the impressive presence of Jehovah, who works them all, by saying — " Be silent, O all flesh, before " such a God, so pi-esent in this guilty world, " for he hath roused himself up from his holy habita- tion," and is about to gird himself for solemn and mighty issues! CHAPTEE III. This chapter records another distinct and entire vision, in which Joshua, the high priest, is the prominent personage. lie appears, not in his own iierson, but as representing the priesthood, and par- ticularly in their depressed condition at that time. The \nsiou aims to show that God does not reject but forgives and restores the priesthood, and indeed wUl at length make it perpetual in the per- son of his Messiah. 1. And he shewed me Joshua the high priest stand- ing; before the ang-el of the Lord, and Satan standino- at his ricrht hand to resist him. The tense of the Hebrew verb connects this verb closely with the preceding : " i\.nd then he caused me to see Joshua the high priest standing," engaged in his official ministrations before tlie uncreated angel Immanuel; and Satan, fA*? well-known adversary of God's people, standing at his right hand to act the Satan against him — literally to " Satan'''' him — the Hebrew for Satan meaning to ])ersecute, oppose, resist. Bearing in mitul, tliat tlie high ])riest was by virtue of his ollicc a representative mun, otKciating for the i)eo- ])le before tlie Lord, and remembering the low estate of their entire religious system at this time, it need not surjjrise us that the people should be sinfully despondent and weak of faith. Probably this was the great sin which is here represented by tlie filtliy garments of the priest. It is fully in character for Satan to take ad\aiitago of tlieir unbelief, and thrust forward his plea against their being for- given or in anywise accepted before God. lie dreaded the present and prosj)eetive rcvi\al in their religious state, and roused himself ZECnAEIAH.— CHAP. III. 305 (as is his wont) to lioad it off at tlie outset. Is not he a very devil ? 2. And tlie Loed said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke tliee, O Satan ; even the Lord that hath chosen Jeru- salem rebuke thee : is not this a brand phicked out of • the lire ? He who in v. 1 is called "the angel of the Lord," is here " the Lord,'''' " Jehovah," So also in the phrase '• The Lord rehute thee," "Jehovah " is the word for " Lord," showing tliat this term is ap- plied interchangeahlj to both the Father and the Son. The clause, " The Lord rebuke thee," is repeated, both for the greater emjjhasis, and in order to connect with it the consolatory words — he, the same that has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes thee. The term " choose " here, as in 1 : 17 and 2 : 12, implies God's special love for Jerusalem as representing his own people. "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ? " implies that after the fires of utter destruc- tion were ah'eady kindled upon her, the Lord plucked her out and extinguished the fires. Having done so much to save her and at such personal risk, would the Lord give her up to Satan now ? This language is used by Amos (4: 10), and may be borrowed from him. Commenting on these verses. Dr. Henderson raises the question as to the ground of Satan's opposition, and remarks that the passage does not inform us ; but that he finds a clue to it in Jude 9, in which passage he adopts the construction which resolves "the body of Moses " into the Jewish church, and assumes a refer- ence there to this passage in Zechariah. But in that dispute it was Michael tlie archangel who contended with the devil; in this, it is the Lord Jehovah, not to say also that Jude's language, " the body of Moses," should by no means be made to mean any thing else but liis physical, veritable body, without good reason. The literal sense, if admissible, as it is here, has the prior claim. 3. JSTow Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. 4. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. The Mosaic law prescribed the priest's garments very minute- ly, and made great account of them as indicative of the moral l)urity requisite in those who came before God. Here the filthy^ garments represent the sins of the people, probably (as suggested' above) their unbelief and despondency at that time, and their long and guilty Avanderings from God iuto idolatry in past time, from, which they were only now returning. He stood before the 306 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. HI. divine angel who, in v. 4, pardons sin. This divine personage says. to his attendant angels: "Take those filthy garments away;" and to Joshua, " See, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clotlie thee with festive garments," such as the priests should wear on lioly days. This removing of his sin is a representative thing, its import being, not that the Lord forgives his personal sin, but rather the sins of the people, and practically reinaugurates the long disused functions of the priestliood. As if he would say to all the people : "Eeturn to the modes of worship enjoined upon your fathers in the wilderness ; your own covenant-keeping God will hear your prayers and accept your offerings through the High Priest of his own appointment. The great sins of your nation be- fore and dra*ing the captivity are forgiven, and again the way is open to you for acceptable worship before him and for confidence in his love." V. 4 commences: "He" (the angel Jehovah) " ansicered.'''' But the narrative has nothing that called for an answer. Freqiiently, in both the Old Testament and the New, the word " answer " refers to something thought but not expressed ; in the present case, to the silent prayer of Joshua standing before the Lord as a sinner, that God would forgive him. To this unuttered prayer the answer comes. 5. And I said, Let tliem set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Loed stood by. The original word, rendered "I said," Dr. Henderson thinks should have its vowels changed so as to read, "And he " (the Lord) "said." He pleads for this change on the ground that it would be impertinent for the prophet to speak here. I do not see force enough in this objection to justify a change of the text. The prophet's re- quest I attribute to his deep sympathy with the transaction — a sym- pathy upon which his Lord would not frown, and which in his eye would readily atone for any seeming impertinence. The prophet saying in his heart as he saw the filthy garments taken away, " That is good^'' begged that his head-dress might be changed as Avell. His request was at once complied with. In the last clause, some sup- pose that the angel of the Lord stood hy^ as supervising the transac- tion till all was complete, thus expressing his deep personal interest; while others render it simply stood^ as if he rose up preparatory to the solemn asseveration recorded in the next verse. I prefer the former consti'uctioii, witli our English version. 6. And the angel of the Loed protested nnto Joshua, saying, 7. Tluis saith the Loed of hosts ; If thou wilt wallv in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, ZECHARIAH.— CHAP III. 307 and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand bj. The word rendered " protest " means to affirm with special so- leranitT, to asseverate. In the word " charge," the naargin is more true to the original, "ordinance." Our translatoi's seem to have misapprehended the word rendered " places to walk." * It is a participle, witli the sense oi guides, attendants, who shall aid you to walk — cause you to walk safely. They are to come from among "these that stand by" — his own attendant, ministering angels. It is a plain promise of the aid of ministering angels. The essential mean- ing of the verse is clear : " If thou art botli obedient and faithful, thou shalt be established in the priesthood, thy services shall be ac- cepted befoi*e me, and thou shalt have ministering angels to lead and aid thee in thy work." 8. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee : for thej are men wondered at : for behold, I will brino- forth my servant The BE,A]SrCH. This call of Joslma's special attention implies that statements are to be made of things highly important. The word rendered " thy fellows," means thy associates in the priesthood, the subordinate priests who served under the general direction of the high priest. In the rendering "they are men wondered at," fcAV readers would be likely to see the true idea, which is — they are men of typical character, men who are significant signs or representatives of the great intercession, performed for God's people by Jesus Christ, their Great High Priest. The most literal rendering is " men of wonder." Seethe same use of the word, Isa. 8: 18 and 20 : 3 ; Ezek. 12 : 6, 11, and 21: 24, 27. In this line of thought the prophet gives a striking prediction of the Messiah. The course of thought is : " Hear and give special heed, O Joshua, thou high priest, and thy attendant priests also, for ye are aU typical men ; for lo, I shall soon cause to appear among men my servant the Bi-anch!" The original for "bring forth" does not refer specifically to his human birth of a virgin, but to his being caused to come down to our world, and so to appear among men. The word " branch " should not carry our thought to a branch in the sense of liml)^ as one among many on the same tree, but to the one shoot which springs up from tlie root, and which, though small at first, becomes a tree of wonderful qualities. The word seems to be chosen because it well expresses the humble origin of the Messiah, and the small beginnings of his Avork, and also liis descent from tiie stock of David as to his human nature. It occurs as a name for the Messiah in Isa. 4:2; Jer. 23 : 5 and 33 : 15 ; and Zech. 6 : 12. " My servant " is also a well-known designation of the Messiah, occurring Isa. 42 : 1, and 49 : 3, 5, 6, and 52: 13, and 53: 11. The earliest Jewish expositors known to usia- 308 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. III. r terpret tliis passage of the Messiah. The Chaldean Parap^hrase (older than the Christian era) reads it: "Behold, I bring my sei-vant the Messiah, who will be revealed." 9. For beliold the stone tliat I have laid before Joshua ; upon one stone shall he seven eyes : behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Loed of hosts, nnd I wiU remove the iniquity of that land in one clay. This verse brings forward another great truth, manifestly re- garded as one of high importance, since special attention is called to it. The first and main inquiry is, "What is this "stone"? Note what is said of it. It is laid before the high priest Joshua, manifestly to be under his care; the seven eyes of God — his perfect eye — are upon it ; it is not a stone to be built on, but to be en- graved — wrought with the chisel into forms of beauty ; and finally, the real thing signified by it must have some natural connection with tlie great work of Christ's atonement, in which, by one oifer- ing, " in one day," he bore away the sins of men. All these con- ditions cannot be fulfilled in the foundation stone of the temple, although not improbably the stones of the temple suggested this figure of a stone. They are, however, all fulfilled in the Iking Church of God^ and in nothing else. God's Church was then " laid before Joshua," in the sense of being put under his charge ; then, as ever, the perfect eye of God was upon it ; its engra\ang into forms of spiritual beauty is eminently God's work by the chisel of his providence, and by the agency of his Spirit ; and finally, the sins of this Church Christ took away by that one oflering of him- self on Calvary. By a figure somewhat analogous to this, Chris- tians are said to be "the temple of the living God " (2 Cor. 6 : 16), and "his buLlding"(l Cor. 3:9), and "living stones, buUt up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5). The passage Zech. 4: 10 defi- nitely alludes to this verse, and asserts that "they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth." TJie usage of accounting seven as the perfect number seems to have been oriental, aud not merely Jewish — pervading the literature of the East, and not restricted to Palestine. These truths were well adapted to inspii'o the people with fresh confidence in God as their present Friend and Guardian, interested evermore in the spiritual culture of Ms people, and purposing to use the priesthood again, as in early days, as his instrument in the spiritual training of his peo- ple ; and at the same time signifying that a more perfect atonement v.ould be made — finished and complete — "in one day," and not needing, therefore, perpetual sacrifices, year by year, which never could do their work perfectly. (See Ileb. 7:27, 9:9, 25, 26, and 10 : 1-4.) 10. lu that day, saith the Lokd of hosts, shall ye call ZECUARIAn.— CHAP. IV. 309 every man his neiglibor iiiidei* the vine and under the fig-tree. In that fntnre day, when the Messiah shall be revealed, " the iniquity of his people he taken away in one day," and their spir- itual discipline he made etfective to their sanctification, there will he snperahounding joy and blessedness, beautifully represented here by the common Jewish conception of reposing in peace and in love under the vine and the fig-tree. The last words of the verse — " under the vine and under the fig-tree " — are given here as the very language of the call. Every man shall cry to his neighbor, " Ho ! under the vine and under the fig-tree ; " come and let us have peace and rest, enjoying the gifts of our bountiful God! CHAPTEE IV. Tni8 chapter is another complete vision, having one set of sym- bols, illustrating one leading truth, viz., that the only perpetual fountain of power for spiritual life and labor is in God, and reaches man through his Spirit. 1. And the angel that tallied with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wali:ened out of his sleep, This verse has special interest, because of the analogy it gives us to illustrate the mental state of the prophet while enjoying pro- phetic visions. His angel interpreter came and '•'• icaTced him," arousing his liiind into a new state of activity, corresponding to the ordinary change from sleeping to waking. Of course, it is only by experience that any one can know every thing pertaining to this prophetic state. Its powers must be quite analogous to those of a new 9ense^ and we do not need to be told that each of our five senses must give its own sensations and impressions. No one of them can perform this service for another ; the eye cannot give us sounds, nor the ear colors. We must have the prophetic sense be- fore we can hope to have the prophetic sensations or impressions, or to Icnow them perfectly. 2. And said unto me, What seest thou ? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which ai'e upon the top thereof : 3. And two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. In this vision the symbols and their meaning are plain. Chris- tians are the lights of the world. Churches arc candlesticks, and 310 ZECHARIAII.— CHAP. IV. their members luminous bodies, candles or lamps, revealing Kglil concerning God in this otherwise very dark world. Here, ihen, are one golden candlestick; a bowl or reservoir on the top of it, to contain oil ; two olive-trees, one on each side, for supplying the oil ; -ind pipes or tubes (v. 2 seems to say seven in number, and v. 12 two), to carry the oil from the tree to the reservoir. This is essen- tially the apparatus for supplying light. That the candlestick is all of gold indicates its excellence — the value, in God's sight, of the Church, and of living, shining Christians. 4. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord ? 5. Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be ? And I said, ISTo, my lord. 6. Then he answered and spake nnto me, saying, This is the word of the Loed imto Zernbbabel, saying, ISTot by might, nor by power, bnt by my Spirit, saith the LoKD of hosts. These symbols, interpreted into literal language, amount to this word which the Lord sends to Zerubbabel, then the governor of Judah, and in charge of the great work then present and pressing — the rebuilding of the temple: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The work upon which you labor seems to you very difficult — often, perhaps, too great for your re- sources; but know that success is not by any human power alone, but by the Spirit of God. This Spirit supplies the oil that feeds the lamps. Christian souls and religious institutions correspond to the lamps and to the machinery which supplies them ; but the living fountain of oil is of tlie Lord alone by his Spii-it. This is the pre- cious doctrine of the Xew Testament as well as of the Old. Paul loved to say, man may labor, " God alone giveth the increase." (See 1 Cor. 3 ; 5-9.) 1. "Who art thou, O great mountain ? before Zerub- babel thou slialt hecome a plain : and he shall bring forth the headstone thet'eof loitJi ^Ixouting^, crying^ Grace, grace, unto it. Obstacles, high and strong as great mountains, may seem to block thei)rosecufion of tins work; but say in the hearing of your governor, "AVho art thou, great mountain," that thou shouldst think to witlistand this vrork of God ? " Before Zerubbabel become thou a plain ! " — a summons to the great mountain of difiiculty and opposition to lie low before the Lord's servant, and cease to retard his efforts. The " headstone " seems most uatui-ally to mean the crowning topstone, put on at the completion of the temple. This would be put on with loud ascriptions of praise to divine grace for ZECHARIAn.— CHAP. IV. 811 the effective power wliicli bad carried the work throuj^h to its final consummatiou. 8. Moreover tlie word of the Loed came unto me, saying, 9. The Lands of Zerubbabel liave laid the foundation of this house ; his hands shall also finish it ; and thou shalt know that the Loed of hosts hath sent me unto you. This message translates into literal language the symbols of the vision (vs. 2, 3, 11-14), and the strong poetic imagery of v. T. Through mercy and help from God, Zerubbabel shall finish the building of the temple, and the people shall know, when they ex- perience this fulfilment, that the Lord has truly sent his prophet to tliem. 10. For who hath despised the day of small things ? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel loith those seven ; they are the eyes of the Loed, which run to and fro through the whole earth. Here is an additional word to those who have been greatly dis- couraged in the rebuilding of the temple and painfully impressed by its insignificance, compared with the greatness and splendor of the former one. I translate — "For who have despised the day of small things? Let them rejoice when they see the plumb-lead in the hands of Zerubbabel ; those seven — tlie eyes of the Lord are they, ranging through all the earth." The words " tliose seven " are somewhat abrupt, but manifestly refer to the passage (3 : 9), "Upon one stone are seven eyes; "and they are immediately ex- plained to be the eyes of the Lord, which never fail to see any of the least possible things in all the earth. They traverse the uni- verse, and take cognizance of every thing. Let the disheartened dismiss their despondency when they see the plumb-line in the hands of Zerubbabel for laying out this temple work, and especially when they consider that the perfect eye of the All-seeing One is ui)on him, and that his universal, almighty agency guarantees the execution of this work. Dr. Henderson, by severely inverting the order of the words, translates thus: "Who hath despised the day of small things? For those seven eyes of Jehovah, Avhich run to "and fro through the whole earth, rejoiced when they saw the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel." He would make this the sense : Let no man think lightly of that over which God rejoices. But I very much prefer the construction given first in order above, not only because it follows the order of the words without any violent inversion, but because it avoids the harshness of saying that "the eyes of God rejoiced ; " and, yet further, because the eyes of God are introduced here, not as themselves rejoicing, but as a rea- Bou why his people should rc^joice, and why they should trust implicit- 312 ZECnARIAH.— CHAP. V. ly in Iiis promise to carry the work tlirongli. This most vital idea is missed and lost in Dr. Henderson's translation. 11. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive-trees npon the right side of the candle- stick and Tipon the left side thereof ? 12. And I answered again, and said unto him, What he these two olive branches which through the two gold- en pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves ? IH, And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these l)e f And I said, ISTo, my lord. 14. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. The prophet still seeks a fuller explanation of the two olive- trees and of the olive clusters in the s;vTiiholic vision, and at last obtains it. They represent the two anointed ones (Ileb. " sons of oil "), by which I understand the two anointed orders — the civil rulers and the priests. Both of these classes were inaugurated into their work by being anointed with oil — the significance being the same in each case, viz., that God imparts the graces of his Spirit to qualify them for the functions of their office. 1 prefer to apply the phrase, " the two anointed ones," to the two orders, kings and priests, rather than to the two individuals then filling those offices, Ze- rubbabel and Joshua, because this provision for oil through these conducting tubes was not transient, limited to the hfetime of these two men, but permanent — to continue so long as God should give them kings and priests ; and especially because permanence was a cardinal idea in the symbol. Its special intent was to show that the God of Israel still honored his own institutions as of old, and would do so onward into the distant future. These anointed kings and priests stand Icfore rather than " ly " the Lord of the whole earth — standing being the appropriate attitude for servants in the i)res- ence of their masters, preeminently so for the servants of the Most High God. CHAPTER V. This chapter comprises two visions — a flying roll, and a woman sitting in an cphah — both denoting the judgments of God on his chosen i)eople, considered as having filled up the measure of their iniquities. 1. Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and beliold a flying roll. 2. And he said unto me, What seest thou ? And I ZECHAKI AIL— CHAR V. 313 answered, I see a flying roll ; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cnbits. This roll is to be thought of as being the ancient form of book or volume^ made of parchment or prepared skius; but immensely large, the dimensions being those of the porch in front of Solomon's temple. (See 1 Kings 6 : 3.) This correspondence cannot be sup- posed to be accidental. Hence we must conclude it was intended to intimate that this " fiery law " and its judgments come forth from their God, who dwelt in the temple. That it was seen " flying," oliowed that it hastened to its work, Ezekiel's roll (2 : S-10)'prob- ably suggested this symbol, 3. Then said he nnto nie, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth : for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side, accord- ing to it ; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side, according to it. This further explanation shows that this flying roll sym'bolizes the curse of the Almighty going forth over the earth for execution upon tlie guilty. The roll, like Ezekiel's, was written on both sides, and it would seem that the first table of the law was written on one side — the second on the other. The case of the false swearer repre- .sents all sins against the ])rccepts of the first table ; the case of the thief, all sins against the second. According to the high behest of this law of God, now going forth to punish violations against itself, the thief is cut off according to the law written on one side ; the swearer, according to the law written on the other, 4. I will bring it forth, said the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name : and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. The Lord brings forth this flying roll, and causes it to enter the house of every sinner against the law of God. It abides there, and utterly consumes every vestige of his habitation — a terribly vivid representation of God's judgments upon all unpardoned sin ! To think of the law itself as written out, and its written record then armed with power to search out every sinner, enter into his house and there consume every thing — all his ill-gotten wealth, the last crumb of his accumulated comforts, and finally himself— this surely must imply a ruin for the guilty from which there can be no escape, and in which there can be no alleviation. 5. Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now tliine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. 14 • 314 ZECHAKIAH.— CHAP. V. 6. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. lie said moreover, This is tlieir resemblance through all the earth. Y. And behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead : and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. 8. And he said. This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah ; and he cast the weight of lead upon the month thereof. A new scene opens. The first apparent object is an epliali, the largest Hebrew dry measure, corresponding to the common corn- basket of our country, containing by one computation one and one-ninth bushels, and by anotlier one and one-lialf. This is seen "going forth," as if this also, like the flying roll, was hastening to execute its mission. We shall probably best reach the sense of this symbol if Ave remember that the Scripture speaks of sin- ners as " filling up the measure " of their iniquities (Matt. 23 : 32, and 1 Thess. 2 : 16). Here is the largest-sized measure. A wo- man sits in it, who is explained to represent or symbolize '■'■wic'kcd- ness''"' — the sins, or, yet more precisely, the sinners of the covenant people. Tlie female person is a common symbol in the Scriptures for a city with its masses of people, e. calis " peace to the nations. The gospel of his word carries with it peace and love to the very hearts of men. The reader will notice how fully this view of Messiah's reign harmonizes with that given by Micah 4 : 1- 4; Isa. 11 and Ps. 72, &c., &c. Though the kingdom of Mes- siah relies on peaceful agencies alone for its ditfusion, yet it shall be extended far away to the ends of the world. " Ilis dominion shall be from sea to sea" — from land's end in one direction to land's end in another — " from the great river" (Euphrates) " to the ends of the earth." The prophet is not aiming to fix certain geographical boundaries to this kingdom, as if implying that it lies within these and in no case beyond them, but rather means that it is coexten- sive with the known world, sweeping away to the very ends of the earth. That this passage (vs. 9, 10) is a prophecy of Jesus Cliri.st, admits of no rational doubt. (1.) The course of thought which suggests and introduces it, the transition from the protection af- forded against Alexander to the greater and better protection af- forded by Zion's King against Satan, the world's worst conqueror and tyrant, goes far to prove it Messianic. (2.) The call for ex- traordinary joy in tliis glorious King belongs to the prophecies of the Messiah, and to notliing of less magnitude and value. (3.) Tlie points made can apply to none but the Messiah. (4.) They all apply to him easily, accurately, and fully. (5.) The one most extraoi-dinary point — liis riding on an ass — was not only fulfilled in hini but hy hiui, with more appearance of special aim to fulfil this I)roj)hecy than is apparent elsewhere in regard to any other. Yet, in view of the exposition above given of the significance of this act, we must sujjpose that he did it hccaii.se of its significance rather than merely for the sake of fulfilling this prophecy. lie did fullil it, however, none the less. (G.) The testimony of the disciples in their comnieiits on the historic fact is in point. Matthew (21 : 4) remarks : " All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was ZECHARIAn.— CHAr. IX. 337 spoken by the prophet," and then cites this passage; while John (12 : 16) remarks that his " disciples did not understand these things at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him." When the Spirit had fully come to teach them all things, and to bring all things Christ had said and done to their remembrance, then the significance of this transaction be- came wonderfully clear to their minds. All these points of evi- dence combined make the proof signally complete — indeed, over- whelming. 11. As for tliee also, bj the blood of thy covenant 1 liave sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. 12. Tui'n you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope : even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee ; 13. When I have bent Judali for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sous, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. The ninth and tenth verses may be regarded as a digression from the regular com-se of thought, and embraced in a parenthesis. In V. 11 the prophet returns to speak of events that follow shortly after those predicted (vs. 1-8). The conflict (v. 13) between the sons of Zion and the sons of Greece finds its fulfilment in the fu- rious wars waged diu-ing twenty-four years between the Jews and the Syrian Greeks, commencing^ in the reign of Antiochus Epiph- anes. His people are here called Greeks because Ms kingdom was one of the four into which the great Grecian empire of Alex- ander was divided, and also because their language and customs were Grecian. " As for thee also (O daughter of Zion, as in v. 9), because thou art in a covenant Avith thy God which is sealed with blood, I will send forth thy prisoners out of the pit in which is no water." The covenant of the Lord with the Jewish nation was sealed with sprinkled blood. See Ex. 24 : 8. — " And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said : Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord had made with you concern- ing all these words." A " pit without water " is one from which the water has by some means gone, leaving mud on the bottom, exceedingly offensive and often miasmatic. See the experiences of Joseph and of Jeremiah, Gen. 37 : 24 and Jer. 38 : 6. The Lord's people are thought of as having been imprisoned in such a pit ; but the Lord sends them forth. The past tense, rendered " have sent," is doubtless used because the event is so fixed in the counsels of God as to bo accounted done. Hence this tense (tlie perfect) is used by the proplicts even for events yet as to actual occurrence in 15 338 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. IX. the future. This was to occur after Zechariah's clay. " Kcturn ye to the strong hold " — a high and tlierefore strong, inaccessible position, and here in contrast with the " deep pit " whei-e they had lain imprisoned. Being the people of Jehovah and in covenant with him, they were evermore "prisoners of hope" — prisoners having just ground of hope in his protecting, delivering grace. To " render double " is to give them blessings twice as gi-eat as their afflictions had been. See the same expression, Isa. 40 : 2 and 61 : 7. It is altogether the way of the Lord to send gi-ief and affliction only in single measure, but joy and blessing in double — weighing out the retributions of justice carefidly and the inflictions of his rod very tenderly ; but pouring forth the bounties of his mercy as if he could not think of measuring them by any rule less than the impulses of infinite love ! In v. 13 — "Because I have trodden Judah for my bow, and filled my bow with Ephraim as mine arrow " — means that the Lord is to use the military strength of Judah and Ephraim in protecting his land against the Syrian armies. The strong bows of the warrior were bent by using the foot as well as the hand. Hence the phrase "to tread the bow," for bending it to fit its string for use. Applying the arrow "filled the bow" — this being a necessary complement, without which it was of no account. " Raised up " should rather be " roused up " — exciting and inspiring to deeds of heroic valor — all which had its precise fulfilment in those inspirations of heroism with which the Lord anointed the souls of the Maccabees against their Syrian foes. 14. And tlie Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning : and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The agencies of God's providence in this war shall be as pal- pable as if Jehovah himself were visible above them as they fought their battles. His own arrows shall go forth like the lightnings ; he shaU blow the trumpet-blasts of the battle, and shaU march upon his foes as in the whirlwinds of the south — those most fear- ful tornadoes that carry death in their wings. These whirwinds of the south are referred to by Job (37 : 9), and by Isaiah (21 : 1). This grouping of the boldest and most terrible elements of nature represents God's agencies in those Avars. 15. The Lord of hosts shall defend them ; and they shall devour and subdue with sling-stones ; and they shall di'ink, and make a noise as through wine ; and they shall be tilled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. " The Lord of hosts " (" God of the celestial armies " is the right ZECIIARIAH.— CHAP. IX. 339 name to use here) "shall defend tliem " (literally, shall throw his shield over them), "and they shall devour" (literally "eat" as it were the flesh of their enemies), " and shall tread down sling- stones " — implying that their enemies are now as powerless as a small sling-stone when lying on the ground, which is dangerous only when hurled and flying from its sling. The sense is not — " suhdue with sling-stones," i. e., of their own; but tread under foot their enemy as they would tread upon sling-stones. " They shall drink," i. e., the blood of their enemies, as men drink wine, and shall shout as men under its stimulus, and be filled with it as the bowls of the altar, and as its corners upon which the blood was daily sprinkled. These allusions to the howls and the corners of the altar may refer tacitly to the covenant sealed with blood, under which help came from God for victory. The reader will be careful to notice the contrast between these verses (13-15) and the Messianic passage (vs. 9, 10) on the point of war with deadly weapons. Under Messiah's peaceful reign there shall be no chariots or horses of war ; the battle-bow shall be cut oiF and unknown : but here, in the age before Messiah came, Ju- dah is the Lord's bow, Ephraim his arrow ; the Lord fights at their head, and they too fight with determined and almost furious bra- very. — —The Lord had his own reasons for making the age before Messiah came so militant. Let us not question their wisdom or their love. But manifestly it is his purpose in this chapter to put the future kingdom of the Messiah in the strongest possible con- trast with those mihtant features of the earlier age, and to assure us that in the good time coming men shall truly "learn war no more." The gospel, having once developed its whole genius and power, shall prove itself thoroughly and only "peace on earth and good wiU to men." 16. And the Lokd their God shall save them in tliat day as the Hock of his people : for they shall he as the stones of a crown, lifted np as an ensign upon his land. " The Lord their God shall save them as the flock of his people " — as if he were indeed their own shepherd. "Because diadem- stones," the jewels of a crown, "are they," borne ^n the head of a conquering king, and waving high over his land. A beautiful contrast should be noted here between their Syrian foes — sling- stones under foot — and themselves crown-stones, precious gems, set in a crown, and borne aloft over the land on the head of conquerors. IT. For how gi-eat is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men clieerful, and new wine the maids. There is good reason for this exclamation of surprise and joy in vieAv of the goodness of God to his people, and the beauty of his 34:0 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. X. providential dispensations as seen in tlie time of those Syrian wars. In tlie last clause, " cheerful " is not precisely the idea, hnt rather fruitful^ prolific^ which, according to well-known Jewish ideas, was one of the most conclusive and joyous proofs of great prosperity. Early marriages, liealthful parents, "sons as plants grown up in their youth ; " daughters as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace : " happy is that people that is in such a case" (Ps. 144: 12-15). "Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them" (Ps. 127: 5). these are the peaceful and pros- perous times that succeed those wars. CHAPTER X. This chapter is a continuation from the close of chapter 9, and hence has for its ground idea the wars of the Maccabees against the Syrian power. V. 1 stands immediately connected with 9 : 17, in- dicating the external prosperity that succeeded those wars ; v, 2 falls back to note the apostasies which brought on this Syrian scourge; v. 3 the zeal and jealousy of the Lord kindled against the corrupt Jewish leaders, and the remedy for their mischiefs ; in v, 4 men rise up, capable of filling positions of responsible trust; in v. 5 they fight valiantly, because the Lord is with them, and confounds their foes. In vs. 6-12, on the basis of this great deliverance wrought for his people, the prophet predicts that in times more remote the Lord will work similar but yet more glorious achieve- ments for his Zion. 1. Ask ye of the Loed rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. Under the ancient dispensation the Lord gave timely rains and abundant harvests to his people when they were obedient and trustful, and sought him in prayer, lie took care to have them understand this from the outset. See Dent. 11 : 13, 14: — "And it shall come to p'ass that if ye shall hearken diligently unto my com- mandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your lieart, and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the-first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy wine and thy oil." Hence the prophet says here: "Ask of tlie Lord rain " — it comes for the asking, for the Lord your God licars the prayer of his obedient people. Rain " in the time of tlie latter rain" was especially useful to perfect the maturing crops. "So the Lord shall give"— not "bright clouds," but "light- nings," always portending rain. The Hebrew words translated "showers of rain " imply abundance — " tlie rain of great rain " — so ZECnArJAH.— CHAP. X. 341 tliat not in detaclied districts alone, but over the wliole laud, " every one sliall liave grass in the field." 2. For the idols have spoken vanity, and tlie diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams ; they com- fort in vain : therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled because there was no shepherd. The reason is given liere why the Lord comes to the rescue ; "/or the people have been sorely deceived by diviners and by the priests of idol gods, and have been seduced away from me," allud- ing to the antecedent apostasy which was the occasion and procur- ing cause of that fearful Syrian scourge. Historical evidence to this apostasy exists in 1 Mac. 1 : 11-15. The "idols," is in He- brew "the teraphim," household gods which appear not unfre- quently in Jewish history, e. g., withEachel (Gen. 31 : 19, 34); with Michal, Saul's daughter (1 Sam. 19 : 13, 16) ; with Micah in Judges 17 : 5, &c., &c. All the light that came from these gods and diviners was only darkness ; their guidance only misled the people ; the hopes they inspired were worse than vain ; consequently the whole people were led off in a wrong and ruinous way, going en masse, as a flock of sheep follow the lead given them. They were in great aflBiction (the sense of the word rendered " were troubled "), because there was no competent and real shepherd. 3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats : for the Lokd of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. "My wrath" (saith the Lord) "is kindled against those shep- herds " who so mislead the people. " I will punish the he-goats," so called because the he- goat leads the flock. "For the Lord hath visited his flock," implying that he is the real shepherd of the house of Judah, and hath made them victorious in the conflict against their enemies, crowning them with honor before the nation, as he indicates by comparing them to his own horse, one specially honored by his own use in the day of battle. In the middle of the verse is a play upon the two meanings of the usual Hebrew word for visit* which, with a preposition following, equivalent to upon, means to inflict judgment ; but standing alone means to look after in a good sense. God will look after those enemies in the sense of visiting vjwn them his plagues; but will look after his peo- ple in tlie sense of looking into their case with kindness, and redress- ing theu' wrongs with his glorious right arm. 4. Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the 342 ZECnARIAH.— CHAP. X. nail, out of liim the battle-bow, out of liim every oppress- or together. When the Lord visits Judali in mercy, he gives her the very blessings she needs — good leaders in jjlace of the had who had been so sore a curse upon her. Hence out of Judah now come forth the " corner-stone " men, good for bearing the weightiest responsibilities : tlie " nail " men, to hold things in their right place, or to bear great burdens. " The battle-bow " are the men skilful in the line of war, ]jut the word rendered " oppressor " does not in this passage im- ply any injustice, but only an active, vigorous, and capable ruler. The nail, in oriental use, was rather a spike or tent-pin, sometimes so large that all the kitchen utensils were hung upon it. (See Isa. 22 : 23, 25 and Ezra 9 : 8.) 5. And they shall be as mighty men^ which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the bat- tle : and they shall fight, because the Lokd is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. This graphic and vigorous description of the Lord's valiant war- riors corresponds admirably with the historic character of the Mac- cabcan brothers, who girded themselves for heroic fight in the name of the Lord God of their fathers. They felt that the Lord was with them. The " riders on horses " were tlieir Syrian invaders. The history makes frequent mention of large bodies of horsemen in their armies, e. g., 1 Mac. 3 : 39 : "Seven thousand horsemen," and 4 : 1, '•one thousand of the best horsemen," &c. They were confounded to meet such power among those despised Jews. 6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them ; for I have mercy upon them : and they shall be as though I had not cast them oif : for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them. The general conception in this verse is that of reproducing the best days of Israel, e. g.^ imder David and Solomon. Consequently " Joseph," the ten tribes, must be saved ; tlie people all made ready to " clxcell " in a settled and secure way in their own land, the Lord showing his mercy upon them even as though he had not ever cast them olf for their sins. But tliis conception carries us onward into the Messianic age, and could have its fulfilment in nothing short or less. The recall of the ten tribes, in any age subsequent to Zechariah, must, of necessity, be regarded as Messianic, and to be fulfilled only in the New Testament sense. With these prin- ciples of interpretation before the mind, this entire passage (vs. 6-12) becomes not only clear and free h-om its otherwise insur- mountable difficulties, but rich in gospel significance and in the fulness of glorious promise for Zion in her latter days. ZECnAR_AH.— CHAP. X. 343 T. And tliey of Epliraim shall be like a miglity man^ and tlieir hearts shall rejoice as through wine: yea, the children shall see it, and be glad ; their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord. 8. I will hiss for them, and gather them ; for I have redeemed them : and they shall increase as they have increased. 9. And I will sow them among the people : and they shall remember me in far countries ; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. " Epliraim " contemplates in its literal sense the ten tribes ; but in its real prophetic outlook, the ingathering of the nations to Jesus Christ in the gospel age. A Jew in the time of Zechariah coxild conceive of no state of things more desirable than the reproducing of the good times of David and Solomon. Hence language and figures are drawn from that state to represent the best condition possible for God's earthly kingdom — the sublimely glorious con- quests of peace and victories of love in the latter days. In v. 8 Ephraim comes back with heart full of joy ; the Lord lifts up his shrill cry for them, as the keeper of bees whistles for them, and they come to his call. They multiply as of old (Ephraim took his name from the idea of being prolific in population). In v. 9 God will scatter them abroad among the nations, and there, under the moral influence of this affliction, they shall remember the Lord their God and repent of their great sins. So the Lord said by Ilosea (2 : 4), " I will allure her into the wilderness and speak to her heart." " They shall Ime with their children " — live in the high spiritual sense, with aUusion perhaps to Ezek. 37 : 9 : " Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may ?i«e." "With their children," implies that these blessings go down to future generations — not to themselves alone, but to their children after them as well. 10. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria ; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon ; and jjlace shall not be found for them. These words must be understood as historic allusion, and not as specific and literal prediction. The sense is not — I will gather my captives out of Egypt and out of Assyria, but — I will do a similar thing to the great achievement of bringing my people out of Egypt under Moses. I will redeem them from a second Egypt, and save them from a second Assyrian Sennacherib. That only Egypt and Assyria, and not Chaldea, are referred to, is explained by the fact that the kingdom of the ten tribes had disappeared before the Chal- dean came into notice ; hence, Ephraim never knew Chaldea as an 34:4 ZECnARIAH.— CHAP. X. enemy. ISTote also that the prophet does not say they shall re- turn to Judah and Jerusalem ; but, to show the enlargement of the Lord's kingdom, he names " Gilead," the extensive region on the east of Jordan, and "Lebanon," on the north, which lay outside the usual boundaries of the tribes of Israel ; and, indeed, he says, " place large enough shall not be found for them." But this has never been fulfilled in the lineal descendants of Abraham, nor can it ever be. Their numbers, all told to-day, would not meet the de- mands of this prophecy, interpreted however moderately. We must, therefore, find Israel and Ephraim in that new era of Messiah's king- dom in which there is no distinction of Jew and Greek, but all are one in Christ Jesus. Yet another reason for omitting to name Judah and Jerusalem is, that the prophet has in mind the ten tribes specially, and not Judah. The demand for restoring mercy lay chiefly in their direction, as seen in the age of Zechariah. Further, the Jews were never carried captive literally into Egypt. If any Jews fled thither for refuge in those seasons when their homes were broken up, they went and were received as friends. But v. 11 con- ceives of their rescue from Egypt as being from the hand of enemies, a fact which shows that Egypt comes in here only by way of historic allusion. Arguing against the doctrine of a literal restoration of the Jews to Palestine, Dr. Hengstenberg pei'tinently says : "If it cannot be denied that the lands out ofiohich the Israelites were brought back, are to be understood only as types, what objection can be urged if the land to which they shall be restored is in like manner to be regarded as a type ? " (Christology, ii., 143.) 11. And lie shall pass tlirongli tlie sea witli affliction, and sliall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the rivers shall dry up : and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away. This verse begins with a change of person from the first, " I," as in vs. 6-10, to the third, "he." But "he " must be understood of the same Lord God. The " sea " can be no other than the Red Sea, named by way of historic allusion. The Lord passes through it at the head of his people to achieve a like deliverance to that of the Exodus from Egypt. ISTot " with affliction," for there is no word corresponding to " witli," and nothing out of which to make this sense; but the sea which is itself i\\G\Y affliction — which stands in their way, and is the occasion of their trouble — in apposition with the word " sea." Whatever their affliction may be, analogous to the Red Sea of the olden time, the Lord will march through it at the head of his people. " And he will smite the waves " in that sea which represents their affliction, as he is wont to smite his enemies. " And all the dejjths of the Nile shall be dried up " — with his- toric reference to the Jordan, which, however, being a comparatively small stream, is not itself named here, but the usual word for the ZECHAEIAH.— CHAP. XI. 345 Nile is taken instead. That is, the idea of drying vp comes from the Jordan ; the magnitude of the stream from the Nile. Isaiah (11 : 15, 16) has a very simihar allusion to the passage of the Eed Sea. ''The pride of Assyria" and "the sceptre of Egypt" are also historic allusions to those hostile powers fi-om whom Israel had suf- fered BO much. The sense is — God will humble all the foes of Zion, and will eflectually break in pieces their power to harm. 12. And I will strengtlien them in the Loed ; and they shall walk np and down in his name, saith the LOKD. Finally, they shall be made gloriously strong in the Lord, and through iiis strength alone. So shall they walk up and down, trav- erse the land at their will, or in their duty, without fear. No harm can befall them, since they walk with God.- Many parallel pas- sages might be cited from Isaiali, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah, serv- ing to confirm the general interpretation here given, and to show that the prophets harmonize remarkably in these views of the general course of events in the great future of Zion; and also to show that they give the same sense to individual and special phrases. It has not seemed necessary to collate and compare these texts, except in passages of special difJiculty. The reader wOl find in Isaiah 11 : 11-10 a passage remarkably similar to this in all impor- tant respects. It is beyond aU question ii/'cs82Vmzc; so must this be also. CHAPTER XI. If the Book of Zechariah be divided into two portions, the firet six chapters being the first division, and the remaining eight the second, then this "eleventh will be a digression from the current strain of promised blessings in the second ■ portion, very analogous to the fifth chapter in the first pai-t. As the fifth was intcx-poscd for the purpose of moral warning to the careless, apprising them that the judgments of God awaited the guilty, so here this eleventh chapter is interposed for the same purpose. There can be no doubt that it predicts judgments on the covenant people at some period of their history then future. The manner of presenting this truth is very peculiar, essentially that of symbolic vision — a case quite unique in the respect that, in vision only, and not in actuality, and as personating, not himself, but others, the prophet is required to perform the fuuctivons of a shepherd to the Lord's people, consid- ered as his flock. On this theory of interpreting the chapter the best modern commentators are united. Despite of the unique pe- culiarities of the case, it is generally agreed that the chapter pre- dicts the overtlirow of the Jewish state, and the ruin of their city and temjile, eflected by the Romans, about a. d. 70, in consequence 15* 346 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XI. of their national corruption, and of their blind and mad rejection of their Messiah. The prophet, acting the part of a good shepherd (vs. 4-14), personates the Messiah himself. Acting the part of the foolish sliepherd (vs. 15-17), he personates the Scribes and Pharisees of the Saviour's day. The first three verses, wrought up in high poetic imagery, predict the fall of the nation before the Eoman arms ; while the remaining part of the chapter gives the antecedent moral causes of tliat fall. Whereas those morally blinded and hard- ened Jews had said in the madness of their wrath against the spot- less Eedeemer, "His blood be on us and on our children," on them and on their children his blood did come, and their blood flowed like rivers of water! The Saviour himself had said, "'Behold your house is left unto you desolate." Here is an earlier prediction of those fearful retributions. History endorses its accuracy to the very letter. The comprehensive thought of this chapter is, therefore, Judaism^ utterly corrupt and apostate^ repelling the merciful ef- forts of her Redeemer to reclaim and save lier^ and, thus hringing on herself dire destruction. The divisions of the chapter are al- ready indicated incidentally: vs. 1-3, a comprehensive prediction of ruin upon their city and nation ; vs. 4-14, the causes of this ruin shown to lie in the utter corruption of those orders (the priests, scribes, and doctors of the law) who should have been, under God, their good shepherds, and their consequent rejection of their true Sheplierd, Jesus, the Messiah. Lastly, vs. 15-17 give the course and doom of those corrupt teachers, specially personated by the jn-ophet, acting the part of a foolish shepherd. 1. Open thy doors, O Lebanon, tliat tlie fii'e may de- vour tliy cedars. Lebanon and her lofty cedars represent Jerusalem ; her doors, the gates of the city. Hence this is a summons to Jerusalem to pre- pare for approaching ruin. The groimd of tliis poetical conception of Lebanon for Jerusalem may be a tacit analogy between them — ■ Lebanon one of the grandest objects in the realm of nature, Jeru- salem in the realm of art ; Lebanon among the works of God, Je- rusalem among the works of man — with, perhaps, a side-look to the fact that the temple was largely buUt with cedars from Lebanon, 2. Howl, fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen ; because the mighty are spoiled : howl, O ye oaks of Eashan, for the forest of tlie vintage is come down. The sentiment is — This destruction shall be complete. The lof- tiest and strongest fall; how, then, can the feebler hope to stand? The same strain of poetic conception is carried through the verse, the grandest trees of the forest representing Jerusalem and other strongholds of the nation. "Wail, O cypress, for tho ce- dar has fallen " (i e., Avliat were most lofty are now destroyed) ; " wail, ye oaks of Uashan, for tho forest of tho inaccessible moun- ZECHARIAU.— CriAP. XI. 34-7 tain-lieiglits is laid low." "If tliese things bo done in the green tree, -what shall be done in the dry ? " 3. There is a voice of the liowlirig of tlie slieplierds ; for tlieii" glory is spoiled : a voice of tlie roaring of yonng lions ; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. Ilere the figures turn from inanimate nature to animate. The ornament and glory of the shepherds are their rich pastures — now laid waste. Compare Jer. 25 : 36 : "A voice of the cry of the shep- herds, and an howling of the principal of the flock ; for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture." " The pride of Jordan," in which the young lion made his laii', were the dense thickets along his banks. This phrase was already in use by Jeremiah, whom Zechariah fol- lows remarkably in his terms and phrases. See Jer. 12 : 5, where the " swelling of Jordan " is the same original phrase here rendered "pride of Jordan." So iilso, Jer. 49:19, and 50:44 — in all cases said of the thick undergrowths along the Jordan, where the lions liad their homes. The sentiment is here the same as above — All classes of people are in distress, for their choicest treasures are wasted ; what they most love and value is in ruins. A poetic imagination seizes on the x-uin of individual classes, and by a few striking details gives a vivid conception of the universal desola- tion. 4. Thus saith the Loed my God ; Feed the flock of the slaughter ; As already stated, vs. 4-14 are a sort of parable — a dramatic scene, in which the prophet personates the Messiah, and represents in hhnself what the Messiah was to do for the Jewish nation, con- sidered as the people of God. The figure throughout is that of a shepherd and his flock — a figure often applied to the spiritual rela- tions of the Lord to his people. Those who act under and for him, ministering to the religious life of his people, are also called shep- herds, pastors of his people. This figure had become very common in the age of Zechariah, and of the prophets during the captivity. The reader will see, in Ezek. 34 and Jer. 23, how familiar those prophets were with this conception, and how much use they made of it to set forth the relations sustained by the Lord towai'd his peo- ple. It also served with them, as with Zechariah, to represent how fearfully the priests and prophets of that age had degenerated, and were scattering and wasting the sheep of the Lord's pasture. "The flock of the slaughter" means the flock doomed to slaughter for their sins — the Jewish people, now ripe for the fearful reti*ib;itive judgments of the Almighty. 5. "Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty : and they that sell them say, Blessed he the Loed; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. 348 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. Zi. The persons of the drama in tliis verse are (1.) The flocTc^ who are the Jews during the period A. d. 30-70, conceived of as the ilock of the Lord's pastures ; (2.) Their luyers (" possessors ") and their sellers^ the Eomans; and (3.) Their own shepherds, the priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, who should have taught them the knowledge of God, but who had no care or pity for their deplorable moral condition. Their buyers who buy them for slaughter kill them and are not punished as guilty, because it is of the Lord to scourge the nation for its great sins. The verb here nsed* has only these two well-established senses : (1.) To sin; (2.) To suffer punishment for sin. See notes on Eos. 5 : 15. It occurs Jer. 2 : 3 and 50 : 7, both of which passages strikingly illuslrate the sense of the clause before us. The former, referring to the time when Israel was holi- ness to the Lord, says — " AH that devour him offend,'''' i. e., sin against God, and shall suffer punishment ; " evil shaU come upon them, saith the Lord." The latter, referring to a time when the Lord would scourge his people, reads — '' All that found them have devoured them ; their adversaries said. We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord." It is remarkable that foreign enemies whom the Lord made use of to scom-ge his people, seem to have iu some sort understood why the Lord gave them this license. The king of Assyria (Isa. 36 : 10) said : " Am I now come up ^Dith^■ out the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me. Go np against this land to destroy it." That " they who sell them bless the Lord for their gains," corresponds to the clause, " they are not punished " (" offend not "). They think they are doing God service, and thank him for the personal selfish good they get as if all were morally right. 6. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Loed : but lo, I will clehver the men every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king : and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. The reason for the ruin that comes thus terribly on the covenant people is that God has given them over to destruction for their in- corrigible sins. The repetition of the verb rendered " jnty " is a play upon the word, thus : As their shepherds have lost all pity for the moral condition of their flock, so will I abjure all pity for them, flock and shepherd both ; and wiU give them over to remedi- less ruin. This doom, thus made prophetically specific, is shown by the history to be drawn with entire accuracy. The facts were, that the peojile had no head; that intestine discord and civil war were scarcely less destructive than the Koman sword. Every one Avas delivered into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of the lioman king. The slaughter was tei-rific, scai'cely equalled by ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XI. 349 any other scene recorded in authentic history. Joseph us is tlie chief original authority. His statements are full and reliable. According to his account, the loss of life on the Jewish side, during that horri- ble siege and capture, could not have been less than eleven hundred thousand ! 7. And I will feed tlie flock of slaughter, even yon, O poor of the flock. And I took nnto me two staves ; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands ; and I fed the flock. Not " I will feed," for this fiiils to give the tense of the origi- nal ; but, " so then I fed the flock doomed to slaughter because of the poor of the flock " — i. e., out of my pity for the poor ones of the flock — a pertinent and beautiful statement of the labor and love of their own Messiah, who was so often "'moved with compassion when he saw the people as sheep having no shepherd." For the proud and self-righteous and for those who were rich toward this world hut not rich toward God, he manifested no specially tender pity ; but for the masses who had no shepherd, and especially for the poor, his heart was tenderly touched. In the line of pure benev- olence he rose indefinitely high above all other religious teachers of every age in this — " he j^reached the gospel to the poor." These " staves " were the usual well-known shepherd's ci'ool;, the only special instrument used by the shepherd ; useful to him both in the management of the flock, and in repelling its enemies. They represent here those providential agencies by W'hich the Lord aided the pastoral work of the ITessiah over his people, as appears from their significant names. The one he called Grace (not so properly " Beauty "), hut grace in the sense of that divine favor which re- strained hostile heathen nations from assaulting the people of the Lord while they faithfully served hhu. The other, "Bauds," w'as a crook of cords, significant of those jirovidential agencies which held the people together in peace. With these aids he acted the part of a shepherd to the flock. 8. Three shepherds also I cut ofl' in one month ; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. The prophet, personating the Messiah, is supposed to have sub- ordinate shepherds imder him. These three shepherds cannot mean three individuals. The general strain of the subject forbids this. Besides, Zechariah is wont to present individuals as represent- atives of orders or classes of men. See chap. 3, throughout, where Joshua represents the order of priests ; and 4 : 14, where the two anointed ones must mean the two orders, the regal and the priestly, which were inducted into ofiice by the ceremony of anointing. Here we must suppose that the prophet takes the number three from precisely those three established orders upon w^hom the pasto- ral responsibility of caring imder God for the covenant people de- volved — priests, prophets, and civil magistrates. (See Jer. 2: 8, 26 350 ZECHARIAH.— CHAr. XL and 18: 18.) Tliosc who represented these classes daring our Lord'* public ministry must be specially intended here, probably the priests; the scribes in the place of the ancient prophets; and the civil magistrates. The Lord Jesus rejected them fi-oin their places of trust, not instantaneously, but very summarily, as " one month " shows. It was the labor of his public life. The history of our Lord's public ministry, in its relation to the scribes, doctors of the law, and Pharisees, shows that he and they had not the least com- mon sympathy. He loathed them, as the Hebrew word imphes ; he lost all confidence in their moral integrity and even honesty ; and on the other hand, their soul rebelled against him because of the purity of his character, and the fidelity and pungency of hia rebukes of their sin. 9. Then said I, I will not feed yon : that that dieth, let it die ; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off ; and let the rest eat, every one the flesh of another. The Messiah abandons tlie floct, the Jewish people, to the sweep of terrible judgments. " I will be your shepherd no longer." A threefold judgment shall be your extermination ; — pestilence ; the sword from without; the sword from within ; — the two last look- ing toward (1.) the Konian arms ; (2.) those horrible conflicts of hostile parties which made the very strength of the nation its essen- tial weakness and ruin. Let the pestilence sweep away w^hom it will ; let the Eoman sword drink the blood of the victims so doomed by the will of the Most High ; let every man's teeth be sharpened to devour his neighbor's flesh! The reality set forth in this prophetic language was fearfully terrific! They had said — ''Ills blood be on us and on our children I " The Lord responded, '' So let it be ! " Here is the prediction. History verities it to the letter ! 10. And I took my staff, et^en Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. The first crook, now broken, represented the sundering of the covenant which God is supposed to have made with foreign natioiis (the sense of " all the people "), to restrain them from harming his chosen. This covenant lay in the divine mind — his purpose to restrain heathen nations from making war on his people. See the same sense in Hos. 2:18: "In that day I Avill make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field," &c. Compare Job. 5 : 23 and Ezek. 34 : 25. 11. And it was broken in that day : and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Loed. The stcifi:' once broken, the Eoman arms came down upon the land. " Then the i)Oor of the flock "—Christ's disciples— having ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XL 35I been apprised by him (Matt. 24 : 15-21), knew that the hour of jiidi!;- incut for the land had come, and fled for safety to the mountains of Pella, on the east of Jordan. History recoi-ds the remarkable fact that not one Christian Jew fell in that awful carnage. All who had faith in their divine Lord gave heed to his warnings. The Lord by his special providence gave them ample time to make good their escajje before the city was invested hy the Roman legions. They fled to Pella in the mountains east of the Jordan, and were all safe. 12. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price ; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty ])ieces of silver. 13. And the Loed said unto me. Cast it unto the pot- ter : a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thu'ty pieceu of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Loed. The great shepherd, ahout to close his services, proposes in the business settlement that they, the Jews, should give him tlie wages due. It is not implied by the original words that he fixed the price huuself. " Give me my price," should rather read, " Give me my hire or reward." He manifestly left it with them to fix the price. He only said. Give me what wages you please, and let me go. They Aveighed out thirty pieces of silver, the very price for which Judas betrayed him, and the usual price for a slave. (See Ex. 21 : 32.) Maimonides, one of the most reliable ancient Jewish authors, speaks of this as the i)rice of a slave's services, but contemptible for a free man's. The meagreness of it indicates how low they estimated his services. Precisely this is the intended showing of the transaction. "A goodly price," &c., is ironical, and shows how keenly the insult was felt. It has, moreover, a prophetic outlook toward tlie very deed of Judas. The Lord said, ''Cast it to the potter." He did so. This, too, was one of the points of remarkable coincidence between this symbolic prophecy and one of the prominent scenes in the betrayal of his Lord by Judas. It should be noted that Matthew, having stated that Judas, filled with remorse, returned the price of blood (27: 3-10), says that the chief priests '^ bought therewith the potter's field to bury strangers in," which thenceforth bore the name of " the field of blood," and that "then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy tlic froflict^ saying. And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value ; and gave them for the potter's field as the Lord appointed me." Th'cse words are not found in the Book of Jeremiah, but the general sense and nearly the same words occur in this passage of Zechariah. How came it to pass that Matthew named Jeremiah instead of Zechariah ? It should bo considered that Zechariah's words, "the potter," »fec., connect his prophecy closely with Jeremiah, chaps. 18 and 19. "The i^otter " 352 ZECnARIAn.— CHAP. XI. of Jeremiali worked down in the valley of tLe son of Hinnom, a* the expressions " go down " and " went down " (-Jer. 18 : 2, 3) ren- der probable, and as the passage (19 : 2) proves, for here the "east gate" is (in Heb.) "the entrance to the potter's gate." There Jeremiah was to denounce npon the people most solemn threaten- ings from the Lord, and then break a potter's vessel before them. Tlie place, already made abominable ; the breaking of the vessel, sig- nificant of a doom for which there can be no remedy ; and the fear- ful solemnity of the message— all conspired to make the associations connected with this potter's house specially solemn and portentous. These things need to be understood in order to get the full sense of this passage in Zechariah. It may be supposed that Matthew had before his mind the full account of Jeremiah as well as the more brief one of Zechariah, and quoting from memory, assigned to the former what is found as to its precise words most nearly in the latter. -It is by no means necessary to the reliability of the Scrip- tures that we prove them perfectly accurate in all the minutest literary points. Let it suffice that every thing vital is right and true, and that every doctrine of any importance is revealed without the least admixture of error. 14, Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands that I mio-ht break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. The phrase " the brotherhood between Judah and Israel " is an historic allusion to the case of the two nations after the revolt under Jeroboam. Under their mutual relations, brotherhood was peace ; brotherhood broken was civil war. Hence the breaking of this sec- ond staff or crook symbolized the withdrawal of those providential agencies which had kept the people together in friendly relations with each other. Those agencies being withdi-awn, intestine discord at once broke out, hostile parties arose, and civU war became their most fearful curse. The history of the period, commencing shortly before the invasion by the Romans, and continuing till the city lay in ruins, is a mournful confirmation of this symbolic prophecy. 15. And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 10. For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, tohich shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still : but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. IT. AVo to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock ! the sword shall he upon his arm, and upon his right eye : his arm shall be clean dried uj), and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XI. 353 This passage seems to prove conclusively that the person who is commanded here (v. 15) to "take the instruments of a foolish shepherd," and who Avas ordered (vs. 4-14) to "feed the flock of slaughter," can he no other than the prophet himself; yet not acting in his own person, or rather not prefiguring augbt concern- ing himself; but in vs. 4^14 personating the Messiah during his public ministry; and here (vs. 15-17) personating those priests, scribes, and civil magistrates whom the good shepherd cut oti " in one month " (v. 8). The object here is to give a more full view of the character, life, and doom of those faithless shepherds. The passage is very brief; hence we are not told precisely what the '' instruments of a foolish shepherd" are. They were not the two crooks, Grace and Bands, as in the former case ; the savage scalpel and butcher-knife would be more appropriate. "Lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land," &c., reminds us that God is said to do what he providentially permits to be done. As a jndgment on those utterly corrupt Jews, the Lord gave them shepherds of like moral corruption. ^That the prophet should say " a shepherd," as if but one, when the sense is a whole class, an entire body of professedly religious teachers, is in accordance Avith his nsage, as Ave have seen in the notes on v. 8. Tlie things which this bad shepherd will not do come first in order; " he will not visit the perishing; will not seek after the oiitcasts; will not heal the bruised; will not nourish the halting," who can scarcely walk, i. «., he neglects pre- cisely the very things which a good shepherd should by all means do. On the other hand, with supreme selfishness, he gets all the good he can for himself. lie eats the flesh of the fat ones, and even tears in pieces their hoofs, so eager is he to get the last thing of any value from the carcass. In the clause " Woe to the «(?oZ shepherd," the Hebrew word rendered '■'■idoV admits this sense, but does not require it, and therefore should not have it here, there being no allusion in the case to idolatry, and the more general sense of useless^ worthless, faitliless, being in point, and fully jus- tified by nsage. The judgments on this worthless and wicked shepherd fall on those bodily organs most useful to the shepherd — the arm and the eye. The sense is, that God wiU ntterly paralyze his power for such services, and will moreover send his judgments so in the line of his sins, that they AviU be a perpetual index and remembrancer of that for which he suffers. As the shepherd would not use his arm and his eye in the care of his flock, the Lord withers them utterly and forever. "To him that knoweth to do good, and docth it not, to him it is sin " (Jam. 4:17). Wasted talents, poAvers for good unused, bring down from God the most teri'ibl© retribution. 354 ZECnARLVn.— CHAP. XII. CHAPTER XII. This chapter manifestly opens a new subject. The first leading inquiry should respect its general scope and spirit, and the period of time to which it relates. In chapter 11, the Jews of our Saviour's time reject him, their offered. Messiah, and bring upon their city and nation an avalanche of ruin, Now the question may be supposed to arise, Is the kingdom of the Messiah therefore utterly broken down ? To this inquiry, chapters 12 and 13 reply — By no means. The Lord, has yet a " Judah," and a " Jerusalem," and a "House of David. : " he will redeem them from their external enemies (see 12 : 2-9) ; and what is yet more to the purpose, he will pour upon them a spirit of gi-ace, supplication, and penitence, which shall make them in a far higher and nobler sense his people, and shall insure their glorious prosperity as his people and kingdom. The exposition of this portion of Zechariah involves the inves- tigation and proof of several points : I. Tlie scenes here x>TediGtecl Ueomcard in the Christian age sub- seqxient to those predicted in chapter 11. (1.) Because, in the absence of proof to the contrary, it should be assumed that our author advances in time. He has been thus advancing in his course of thought throughout chaps. 9, 10, and 11, "Why not also yet f lu'ther in chapter 12 ? (2.) Because there is manifestly a close analogy between the order of subjects in the first six chapters (made up of a series of visions) on tlie one hand, and chaps, 7-14 (not such visions) on the other. As chaps, 1-4 promise good to Zion, so do chaps, 7-10. As chap. 5, on the other hand, pre- dicts the sin and doom of the guilty, so does chap, 11 ; and then as chap. 6 : 1-8 returns again to God's lo\'ing care and protection of Jiis peoijle, and specifically as manifested against hostile nations, so does this chap, 12, and also chap, 14. As tlie last part of chap, 6 is eminently Messianic, predicting also the ultimate reception of the nations into his kingdom, so we find the same idea in these chapters 12-14, and especially in chap. 14. (3,) Because manifestly we are in this chapter borne on beyond the date of chap. 9, for there tlie Lord was protecting- his people against Alexander and his Syrian successors; here against "all nations" (vs. 2, 3,9); and, moreover, hero we have passed the crucifixion of Clirist (which is essentially involved in chap, 11), for the people bewaQ their guilt in that act (see v. 10), The location of these events in time must therefore be onward, after tlie advent of Messiah, So much may be considered as fixed. But other questions remain, II, It is a question of no trifling hni)ortance whether the terms "Israel," "Judah," "Jerusalem," " the house of David," are to be taken liere literally or figuratively. Is " Judali " in these oliapters (12-14) the very Judali of Zechariah's time ; are her people the lineal descendants of Abraham ; and does the lineal Jew Iiere, as then and tlicre, represent and embody the earthly kingdom of God? Is ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XII. 355 Jerusalem still, as of old, lier capital, and the centre and throne of Messiah's kingdom? Do the Gentile hosts besiege her literally, as the Chaldeans had done so recently when Zechariah was writ- ing ? 1 cannot think so, for these reasons : (1.) With the events jn-edicted (chap. 11), the literal Judah and Jerusalem ceased to he the recognized visible Chm-ch and kingdom of God on earth. It is the precise purpose of chap. 11 to affirm this ftict. Consequently, ever since the apostolic age, Chiu-ch history has taken on a new type. No Church historian thinks of looking for the Christian Church in the Jewish line. (2.) "Whatever Old Testament prophecy is clearly shown to refer to the New Testament age must, by all legitimate rules of interpretation, be construed in accordance with New Testament light, with gospel ideas, with the new principles of Messiah's kingdom, then first fully brought out. Hence the Judah and Jerusalem of gospel prophecy, standing as types and symbols of Messiah's kingdom, must bo construed, not literally, but figura- tively — just as " the temple" is no longer, as of old, the one place of God's dwelling, and of all acceptable worship, but the Christian " temple " is the living pious heart. (3.) That the Jews shall re- turn again — not to their own land merely, but to Judaism restored after the order of Moses ; tliat Jerusalem shall again become the living centre of all visible v^orship, and of all the true religion of the world — this worship conforming itself, as of old, to the Mosaic ritual ; and that, as such, Judah shall be invaded and Jerusalem besieged by all the Gentile nations of the earth, according to the literal construction of chapters 12 and 14, are not things even sup- posable. If the New Testament is held to be of any account, Juda- ism, after the order of Moses, is dead, and those ideas must henco be rejected. For, practically, that state of things must ignore all the Christianity of the Gentile world — all the actual Christianity of the whole woi-ld as it now is, and as it has been since the death of Christ. Can any sane man believe that all the Gentile Christian churches are at some future period to be annihilated ; the religious world be put back to its condition and relations as in the age of Zech- ariah ; bloody sacrifices and passovers and feasts of tabernacles be restored, and Judah and Jerusalem stand as the sole representatives of the Church of God upon the earth ? Or can it be believed that all the great nations of the present or of any future age shall gather in one vast crusade against the converted Christian Jews in their own land to besiege Jerusalem, and to exterminate all true rehgion from the lace of the earth? The literal construction of chapters 12-14 would hold us to such results: therefore the literal construc- tion must be promptly rejected. (4.) Nor let it be thought that we do violence to the laws of language when we reject the literal and adopt the figurative sense under such circumstances as these. Let the reader ask himsell^ — IIow should a Jewish prophet, writing in the midst of Judaism, with no other liistory of the Church before him, and no other conception of the Church in his nnnd l)ut that of Judaism, with no other first readers but Jews, Avrite of the future 356 ZECHAKIAH.— CHAP. XII. Church and kingdom of God in the gospel age? Shall wc denian(? thathev/rite of the Christian Church and of millennial times in New Testament words and phrases, and with fidly-developcd New Tes- tament ideas? Let us remember that the time had not come for such ideas. Let us recall the striking fact that more than three years' personal commimion with Jesus himself, and no small amount of his personal labor, quite failed to convert his disciples from Jewish to Christian ideas ; that only the shock given to the old system by his death, aided by the subsequent teaching of the Holy Ghost, availed, and then rather slowly, to effect this great change. IIow absurd, then, to expect that the Hebrew prophets and their first readers could readily reach those new ideas and take in the sense of Christian as contrasted with Jewish phraseology! Plainly, those Jewish prophets and their first readers must think of Christianity only as of Judaism extended and purified ; must con- ceive of a world converted only as a world coming up to Jerusalem to worship ; and must conceive of irreligion, infidelity, every form of hostility to Christ, as the gathering of nations for war against Jerusalem and Judah, to crush them from the face of the earth. Hence when we speak of Jewish costume and drapeiy as clothing gospel ideas in these sublimely grand and glorious prophecies, we are not parting company with common sense. We are simply in- terpreting in harmony with the stern necessities of then* condition. Jewish minds, with no other than Jewish training, must think so and speak so, by the inevitable laws of human thought. III. Consequently, it is no longer a question whether, in these remaining prophecies of Zechariah (chap. 12-14), we are to find blessings for the Gentile world ; even the extension of the gospel to all the nations of the earth. If these prophecies relate to times subsequent to the death of Christ, they must predict the prosperity of the Christian Church, tlie conversion of the world to Immanuel. It might be a much more diffi- cult question (were it needful to be settled) whether the lineal Jew is here, and if so, where and by what marks we shall identify him. If he were named here alongside of his brother Gentile, as Paul names them in Rom. 11, it would be easy to make this dis- crimination. But it is at least supposable that in the greater part of these three chapters there is no intention to discriminate between Jew and Gentile. If so, how can it be expected that a discreet in- terpreter should make any distinction ? Interpreters should not be asked to malce prophecy, nor to put into it what was not there be- fore ; but only to unfold the sense already there. It may be well to remember also that the change wrought in the transition from Judaism to Cliristianity, fitly described as a "breaking down of the middle wall of partition between us " (Eph. 2 : 14), aimed not to tlirust the Jew out, but to let the Gentile in ; to abolisli henccfortli all distinction as to Christian riglits and privileges, and make both one heiu'ctortli in Cln-ist Josns. "NV'liy, then, may not Old Testa- uient i)roi)liecy assume precisely tliis state of the future kingdom ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XII. 357 of the Messiah ? The thoughtful reader can scarcely fail to ap- preciate the inaportance of these points, and if so, will not account this discussion unreasonably full or protracted. Chapter 12 is naturally in two parts, of which the first (vs. 1-9) represents Judah as invaded and Jerusalem as besieged by the combined powers of all nations ; but the Lord delivers them. The second part (vs. 10-14) represents the hoiise of David and the peo- ple of Jerusalem as deeply penitent for their sins, especially the sin of crucifying their Messiah. In my comments on this chapter, I propose first to explain the words and phrases so far as may seem necessary, and then to speak of its general scope and fulfilment as prophecy. 1. The burden of tlie word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lokd, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the S]:)irit of man within him. This prophecy is a " hurden npon Israel " only to a limited ex- tent, for the assault of all nations upon her and the siege of Jerusa- lem were transient, ending soon in complete victory on Zion's side. That help comes from the Lord alone, who is mighty to save, is indicated by the allusion to his great and glorious works of creation. 2. Behohl, I will make Jerusalem a cnp of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the sieo-e both ao-ainst Judah cmd against Jerusalem. The phrase rendered "cup of trembling" is read by some, "threshold of shaking" — one upon which a violent assault should be made, but which should react in ruin upon the assailants. There seems, however, to be no good reason for rejecting the usual sense of the words "a cup of reeling, intoxication" — with reference to that very common conception of the wine-cup of the wrath of the Lord which maddens and infatuates nations doomed to ruin, (See Jer. 25 : 15-31, and notes on Fahum 1 : 10). All the nations are thought of as gathered against Judah and Jerusalem. In the last clause the sense is, that what the Lord had said of Jerusalem should be true of Judah also in the siege of her capital. 3. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burden- some stone for all peoj^le : all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. The reference to a burdensome stone alludes to a custom among the Jewish young men of trying their strength at lifting a very heavy stone as high as possible, in which some were wont to get wounds and bruises. Such a stone, fully equal to one's ut- most strength, and often beyond it, should Jerusalem be to the na- 358 ZECHARIAII.— CHAP. XII. tions. The stone itself is not harmed by the lifting, but the lifters thereof were sure to be lacerated. 4. In that clay, saith tlie Lokd, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness : and I will open mine eyes upon the honse of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. Eeniarkably, the Lord accounts horses to be a power hostileto Christ's kingdom. This appears throughout Zechariah, and aids us to the true conception of Messiah's riding on an ass (9_: 9). The warring enemies of God's people come on horses, this animal being associated with human pride and rebellion against God. This astonishment and madness are among the elFects of the cup of in- toxication, given to God's enemies to drink. Xote the beautiful antithesis. God smites with blindness the warring powers of his foes, but opens his own eyes wide on his people to see then* wants and to provide therefor. 5. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall le my strength in the Lokd of hosts their God. G. In that day will I make the governors_ of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf ; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left : and Je- rusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. Y. The LoED also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves ao;ainst Judah. Without saying it openly, yet in their secret thought, the gov- ernors of Judah are relying for their own protection under God on the military strength of Jerusalem and the valor of her defenders. But the Lord will make Judah safe and mighty against her foreign foes, as a hearth of fire to its fuel, which itself burns not, but only faciHtates tlie burning of the wood, oi^as a torch of fire to a sheaf, which consumes it with no danger to "itself. So shall they devour tlie gathered nations who assail them. And " Jerusalem, too, shall still sit on her throne in her own place," on her own foundations. The Lord saves Judah first, that he may forestall the pride of self- reliance on the strength and glory of the city. So vital to true re- ligion is it to crucify all human glorying, to cherish the spirit of absolute dependence on the Lord alone, and to give him for ever- more all the glory as the source of all spiritual fife and of all power for good to Zion, ZECHAEIAE.— CHAP. XH. 359 8. 111 tliat day sliall tlie Lord defend the inliabitants of Jerusalem ; and lie that is feeble amon^them at tliat day shall be as David ; and the liouse of l)avid sliall he as God, as the angel of the Lokd before them. The Lord defends Jerusalem, yet not without their own concur- rent agency. The doctrine that God saves his people must not be abused to human inaction. He saves rather by augnaenting and reanimating theii- strength than by superseding their agency. So here, the feeble shall be as David, who is the type of a most ath- letic warrior ; and the men of David's cast and power shall be now as God, even as the angel of Jehovah — the uncreated one who had so often appeared in forms of majesty and power. This is a strong figure, and must represent a vast augmentation of spii-itual force in the people of God. 9. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusa- lem. Now the Lord sets himself earnestly to destroy all the nations that array themselves in hostile mood against his people and their sacred city. 10. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications : and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mom*n for him, as one mourneth for Ids only son^ and shall be in bitter- ness for him, as one that is in bitterness for liis first-born. These terms are strongly in contrast with those in v. 9. God will seek to pour out vengeance and ruin on those hostile nations; but grace, mercy, and blessings on Jerusalem. To " pour out " is to bestow in large and abundant measure. It is the usual phrase for the effusionsof the Holy Spirit, as in Joel 2 : 28 — " I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." In this passage, " the Spirit " is the Holy Spirit of God, and not a quality or grace in man. It is thought of, however, as producing piety and prayer in the hearts of men, and hence is called " the Spirit of grace and of supplications " — meaning that Divine Spirit, whose special work it is to beget as to one's self a tender prayerful frame of mind, and as to others a lov- ing compassion for the souls of men, and earnest prayer for their salvation. " Grace " in man stands for that wliich is specially pleasing to God, and which secures his favor. In the case of sin- ners, the first buddings of grace are penitence and prayer, a broken and contrite spirit, which inspires prayer both for our own pardon and for mercy on other sinners also. The close connection between the gift of this Spirit, begetting such grace and supphcations, and the "looking upon him whom they have pierced," shuts us up to 360 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XII. this sense of the passage — its leading thought being the conversion of sinners. To " look on me whom they have pierced " can mean nothing else than thinking of their guUt in crucifying the Lord of glory. They now look upon the crucified One with bitter peni- tence and grief for the sin of piercing his heart, and with imploring cries for pardon through his own blood. This sin of piercing the Lord belongs not alone to that Eoman soldier who drove the nails into his hands and his feet, nor to him alone whose spear opened his side, but obviously to all who participated then and there in his death, and indeed to that indefinitely greater mass who in all ages have had the same wicked heart as they had, and have abused, in- sulted, scorned, and rejected Jesus Christ in a spirit like theirs. All such have crucified the Son of God afresh, reenacting the very scenes of Calvary, and its very sins too ! But when, touched by the Spirit of God, they look on the crucified One as pierced by their own hands, and when they think of their own sins as the nails and the spear that gave him his bitterest pangs, and then take also into view the wonderful truth that, despite of such abuse fi-om myself, that murdered Saviour loves me in his pity still, and ofixsrs me par- don as it were through the blood my own guilty hands have shed, O then the deep fountains of my grief burst open, and for once, if never before, it is a luxury to weep. Thousands have felt this bit- terness of grief for their sins against the crucified One, made doubly keen by the sense of his enduring and forgiving love, despite of guilt so black and ingratitude so vile ! Such I take to be the thought of this passage. This mourning for sin is as when one mourns over an only son, lost in death ; its bitterness is as that over a first-born. Ask the real parent's heart for the depth of an- guish in such mourning ! 11. In that clay tliere sliall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mom'ning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12. And the land shall mourn, every family apart ; the family of the house of David apai't, and their wives apart ; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart ; 13. The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart ; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives aj)art ; 14. All tlie families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. This mourning for sin against the slain Messiah is not restricted to a few, but is widely extended ; it is " a great mourning in Jeru- salem," like that over the death of the good King Josiah, who fell in battle against Necho, king of Egypt, in the valley of Megiddon, the long-faincd battle-ground of Esdraclon. See tlio history in 2 ZECHARIAn.— CHAr. XII. 361 Chron. 35 : 23-25 aud 2 Kings 23 : 29, 30. Note here that this mourning for sin is not merely a public thing : public mournings are sometimes a pageant only, with more of display than of heartfelt grief. Tliis is so much a personal matter, lying between each individual soul and his Saviour, that each one is drawn to weep and mourn apart and alone. Every instinct leads the mourner to seek solitude, and to pour out his whole heart there, under no other eye than God's ! Who has not felt this impulse toward silent, se- cret mourning, under such mingled shame and grief, coupled with the conviction that your whole concern is now with that cruciiied One whose heart you have pierced, and whose possible mercy is now your only hope ? The mode of presenting this thought is by Jewish terms and historic allusions. The house of David and the house of Nathan, one of his sons, in the royal line ; then the house of Levi and the house of Shimei, one of his sons, represent- ing the priesthood ; — these stand for the whole people, and show that they all mourn apart, aud their wives apart. The tirst verse of the next chapter belongs with this, showing that such penitence and prayer bring pardon fuU and tree. " In that day a fountain is opened for sin and for uncleanness " " to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem " — the same on whom (12 : 10) the spirit of grace and of suijplication is poured out. In that blood which their own gmlty hands have shed, is pardon found for all the truly penitent. That this chapter must relate to events subsequent to the death of Christ — that it concerns the Christian Church and the gospel age, and therefore must be interpreted according to New Testament ideas — has been already said, and I trust adequately shown. It still remains to inquire whether its fulfilment can be located yet more definitely, and if so, where; and whether now past or yet future. It may be proper for me to say that during several years ])ast, and until this present reinvestigation, I have been inclined to locate the fulfilment of this portion of Zechariah, chapters 12-14, yet in the future — near or in tlie millennial age. I must now modify this opinion so far at least as to suggest the strong probability that this chap. 12, looks primarily to a series of events that occurred within the first three centuries of the Christian era. My reasons for this view fall under two different heads : (1). The consecu- tive order of Zechariah's prophecies throughout chapters 9-11, which, unless some reason appear to the contrary, should continue also through chap. 12. Thus in chap. 9 : 1-8, we have the conquer- ing sweep of Alexander's ai'mies, over Persia, Syria, Tyre, and Philistia, while God ])rotected Judali — all in the fourth century before Christ; then, in 9:11-17 and 10:1-5, the wars of the Syrians in the age of the Maccabees, in the second century before Christ; then in chap. 11, the very events of Christ's personal ministry, his being rejected by the Jews, and their consequent destruction by the Romans — all in the period a. r>. 1-70. This regular order of time suggests v/ith very considerable force whether 16 3G2 ZEcnARiAn.— CHAP. xn. chap. 12 does not continue on with no great chasm into the Chris- tian age. (2.) But a second reason, certainly worthy of considera- tion, is that, adopting the principles of interpretation already pre- sented, we find great events to which these prophetic descriptions very accurately correspond. Thus in 12 : 1-9, the leading idea is that of ferBecutiov.., a fierce and bloody onslaught upon the Church of God. A Jewish prophet could not depict an era of persecution in any other form so definite and decisive as this. Judah invaded, Jei'usalem besieged 'and assailed by heathen nations ; this in tlie Christian age can be nothing else but violent persecution. And who does not know that the history of the Church during the first three centuries is largely the history of j)ersecutions ? The Church is bittei-ly and cruelly assailed; but she is like "the bush that burned with fire, yet was not consumed," or in this prophet's own figures, not less pertinent, she is a cup of reeling to all that besiege her; a burdensome stone they cannot lift, however much they essay it, and can by no means harm, but are only themselves harmed thereby ; or yet more fitly, she is a hearth of fire, and her enemies the burning fael; or a torch, and they the sheaf that readily takes fire and is consumed. So the Church stood the shock of persecution unshaken; bore its fires unscathed; became only the more pure, grew only with the more rajiid growth ; while on her enemies the wrath of the Lord came down to their uttermost destruc- tion. Must we not account this series of historic events as fully answering to the drift of these prophetic representations ? Taking this natural harmony between the historic facts and the prophetic portrayals, in connection with the probable continued consecution of the prophetic steps along the track of time, is there not at least a very high degree of probability that this is the true interpretation ofZech. 12:1-9? We come next to the closing portion 12 : 10-14 and 13 : 1. Here it should be borne in mind that chap. 11 has virtually assumed the rejection of Messiah by his covenant people and his consequent crucifixion. It is hence but fit that the Lord, through his prophet, should meet the natural inquiry — What was the result of his violent death? Did it utterly crush the young germ of the shoot and scion of David? Did it whither the hopes of the Avorld, and the raised expectations of the hierarchies of heaven? Did it ring the death-knell of Zion's promised future glory ? -Not at all ; noth- ing of the sort. Indeed, that very death on the cross unsealed the fountains of spii-itual power ; brought down the glorious effus- ions of the Spirit of God ; made the hearts of even his murderers like water in the tenderness of their contrition and the outflow of their sorrows, and drew the hearts of millions, w'ith a power of at- traction never known on earth before, into loving gratitude and all- consuming zeal and labor for the risen Iledeemer of men. Is not such the plain teaching of this most wonderful passage ? We scarcely need, therefore, to ask more particularly tohen it was ful- lillcd. Its fulfilment began, we may say, on the day of Pentecost ZECHARIAn.— CHAP. XH. 363 when God first " ponrcd out tlie Spirit of grace and of supplica- tions," and when three thousand men " were pricked in their heart " in view of this very fact that they liad taken Ilim of Kazareth, and by wicked hands had crucified aud slain him. Its fulfilment continued on through that glorious age of gospel tri- umphs. It continues still wherever the sense of Christ crucified goes deep to the heart, and, under the Spirit's light, men feel that they have themselves been his betrayers and murderers. The fountain opened for the penitent people of the house of David is only the great fact of the gospel age, the way of pardon revealed and brought out fully to glorious light through the atonement of the crucified Son of God. It need not be assumed that these prophecies are exhausted in those events to which they primarily refer. Their truths are for all time, and their fidfilment in this sense cannot be exhausted until the gospel shall cease to be " the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." So long, the agencies of outward violent persecution shall never crush the true Church, but only serve to purify her the more; so long, a Saviour crucified shall be the power of God, through the Holy Ghost, unto penitence, and prayer, and pardon, and anew and holy life unto God and the Lamb. If any objection can be plausibly urged against the explanation above given of this chapter 12, as already fulfilled proxyliecy, it will be on the ground that vs. 10-14 are thus put, in time, lefore vs. 1-9 ; whereas, according to their order of sequence, they should come after. My answer is twofold : (1.) Claiming a large abatement li-om the facts as stated in the objection. (2.) Accounting for the relative location of the two passages on other grounds than the order of time. — — (1.) The objection assumes that as to time, the passage (vs. 10-14) looks to the death of Christ and to the immediate effects of that death upon its authors. 1 answer : Such limita- tion as to its efects is by no means necessary or natural. And the moral efects of that death, not the death itself as an historic event, are here the subject of remark. These moral effects are thought of as characterizing the gospel dispensation— specially prominent indeed in its opening era, but characteristic of it throughout. V. 10 is not connected with what precedes it as an event that closely follows in time. The Hebrew language would naturally indicate such a connection by the future with vav couversive. But here the connective particle might as well be rendered " hit," indicating an event of an opposite antithetic character. And the thought that follows is obviously antithetic to what precedes. This relation of the two thoughts determined the location of the latter passage. I will seek to pour out judgments unto their destruction on the na- tions that come against Jerusalem ; but the grace of my Spirit unto salvation on Jerusalem herself. This is manifestly the law of thought that suggested the passage, v. 10-14. That is, vs. 1-9 give the judgments of God against the sworn, violent enemies of his Church; vs. 10-14 the blessings that come through the death of Christ, and the mission of his Spirit upon the Church and people. 364 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XIII. CHAPTER XIII. The first verse, as already intimated, belongs very properly to the previous chapter, since it stands in the closest relations of thought with the penitence of the people for their sins against the Lord Jesus. The next point made is the ]mrifyinrj of the people from their sins, as shown by specifying two most besetting sins of the ancient Hebrews, idolatry and false prophesying, both of which are thoroughly removed from the land (vs. 2-6). Ihen, by association of ideas, the crucified Messiah is brought to view (v. Y) ; finally, the ungodly portion are cut off, only one-third part remaining, but these are purified by stern discipline, and come to know Jehovah as their God (vs. 8, 9), 1. Ill tliat day there sliall be a fountain opened to tlie liouse of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sill and for uncleamiess. 2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LoED of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered : and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. The manner of Zechariah is to affirm a general truth by affirm- ing certain individual facts which are left to imply it. So here, to show that the laud is purified from its great sins, he makes no gen- eral statements, but simply individualizes two of the prominent and most dangerous sins of the covenant people — idolatry and false prophecy — and represents them to be effectually exterminated. '■ Cutting off the very names of idols, so that they should be no more remembered," implies that idolatiy is thoroughly expelled from the land. (See Hos. 2: 17 and 14: 8 and Mic. 5 : 12-14.) The " prophets " named here in connection with idols before and " the unclean spirit " after, must be false prophets, called prophets only because they falsely and foully assumed this name. The Lord will drive them out of the land, forcibly expel them. The refer- ence to an "unclean spirit " recognizes Satanic agency. 3. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, that his fether and his mother that begat him shall say unto him. Thou shalt not live ; for thou speak- est lies in the name of the Loed : and his father and his mother that begat him thall thrust liim througli when he prophesieth, A supposed case is made: If any one shall yet attempt to pro])h- ZECnARIAH.— CHAP. XIII. 365 esy falsely, bis own fother and motlier shall be so zealons fov God and for truth tliat they shall soleinnly declare nnto bun, " Thou thalt not live;" and, moreover, they shall not merely threaten; they shall even tlunist him through hi his very act of propliesying. To make the' case stand out the more strongly, stress is laid npon the parental relation : his father that begat and his motbertbat bare him will not shrink from taking his life. This would be according io the Mosaic law. See the passages, very strong and explicit : Deut. 13:6-10 and IS : 20. 4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall he ashamed everj one of his vision, when he hath prophesied ; neither shall they wear a rough gar- ment to deceive : Public sentiment gives no countenance to the abominable sin of pretending to be the Lord's prophet. Hence, all men of tins class should be ashamed of their former pretended visions. The "rough garment" was one used by mom-ners, and worn by false prophets to make the people think they were bearing the sins of the nation sorrowfully on their heai'ts — somewhat in imitation of the true prophets of the Lord. 5. But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an hus- bandman ; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. 6. And one shall say unto him. What a?'e these wounds in thy hands ? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded i?i the house of my friends. "But one sball say" (a supposed case), "lam an husbandman, for a man sold me from my youth," i. e., as a servant. This is the precise sense of the original, which says nothing specially about "keeping cattle." He means to show that his position in life has been such as should remove all suspicion of his playing the false prophet. He has been held as a servant all his days. But there are palpable marks on his person that convict him of lying even now ; hence, one replies to him — What mean those gashes on your hands ? He can only confess the truth : " They were inflicted by my associates according to the custom of idol worshippers, in their temples." The word rendered "friends" means properly lovers; but is used in the bad sense, and here of his fellow idolaters involved like himself in this harlotry to which the word "lovers" refers. Jewish as well as profeue history shows clearly that cutting the flesh was common in idol worship. (See 1 Kings 18; Jer. 16: 6 and 41 : 5 ; Deut. 14 : 1.) The common idea of penance may be supposed to lie at the bottom of such practices; a consciousness of guilt; the demands of remorse ; coupled with the notion that the gods wOl exact some suflfermg for such sins, and hence each man had best in- flict it upon hunself, rather than leave it for the gods to inflict. 3G6 ZECHARIAH.— CHAP. XIIT. Y. Awake, O sword, against my slieplierd, and against tlie man tliat is my fellow, saitli the Loed of hosts : smite the slieplierd, and the sheep shall be scattered ; and I will turn mine hand npon the little ones. This verse refers to the cleatli of Christ hy violent liauds, and its results as to the flock of -wliidi he was the shepherd. An active imagination gives life and will to the sword., considered as the instrn- ment in a violent death, and the Lord of hosts commands-— "Awake" (as if it had heen asleep, at rest), "awake against my shepherd" (the Messiah), described here as heing "the man that is my nearest friend " — for such is the sense of the word rendered " my fellow." This word occurs elsewhere only in the Pentateuch, and there in such passages as Lev. 6 : 2, and 19 : 11, 15, 17, and 25 : 15, &c., " Ye shall not he nor deceive each man his near friend," &ic. " If a man lie imto his neiglibor in that which v.'as delivered him to keep, or hath deceived his neighbor," &c. This usage shows that the word is used for the neai-est human relationship, not in- volving consanguinity. It, tlierefore, well expresses the relation between the Father and the Son, when he is thought of as incarnate — in his human nature. This human nature of Jesus stood in this close relation to the Father. The bold metaphor, "Awake, O sword," &c., has its analogy in Jer. 47 : 6, 7 : " O thou sword of the Lord, hoAV long ere thou wilt be quiet? Put up thyself into tliy scabbard; rest and be still." "How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the sea shore? There hath he ai^pointed it." This sword of the Lord is the Lord's executioner. So in our passage the Lord of hosts com- mands the sword to its work, remarkably recognizing the divine agency in the atoning death of the Lamb of God. Our Saviour intimated the same agency when he said to Pilate (John 19: 11), "Thou couldcst have no power against me except it were given thee from above." The Lord Jehovah had most important ends to accomplish in his kingdom by this violent death of "the Lamb of God who was to take away the sin of the world," and therefore sufiercd him to fall into the hands of wicked men, and sullered those wicked hands to take his life. '^Vhat God suffers to be done, he is sometimes said to do. The consequences to the flock are depict- ed : " Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered " — the natural result wlien their protector and guide falls. So in cliap. 11 : G, 9-14, where the good shei)]ierd is ]>ractically rejected by liis flock, and where a tacit allusion to his dishonored death is implied (vs. 12, 13), the consequences are the utter ruin of the corrupt and guilty portion of the covenant people. Those Jews Avho murdered the Son of God and repented not of their deeds, brought down on their city and their entire nationality a fearful doom. But the Lord turns back his hand to spare and save his little ones. (Tlio same use of this verb, " turn back," may be seen Isa. 1 : 25.) The eamo hand that was stretched out to destroy the guilty, reversing ZECHArjAH.— cmip. XIII. 367 -Its action, turned itself back to protect and bless " the pooi* of tho llock that waited on me," as they are described, chap. 11 : 11. A few of tlie Jewish peopls received Jesns as their Messiah, became bis disciples while he lived or converts to his faith after his death, and these became objects of his special care and love. It remains to consider the connection of this verse with the one immediately preceding. I think this connection falls under the law of associa- tion of ideas. The close analogy between the false prophet, whose hands had been gashed and pierced " in the house of his friends," and the Messiah, whose hands were pierced in a deatb by crucifixion among those who ought to have been his friends, suggested the latter case, and led the prophet to speak of it here. This accounts for its coming in here out of "placG in the sense of being botb aside from the general course of thought in this chapter, and out of its chronological order — his violent death having been assumed in chap. 11, and certainly thought of as already past in 12: 10 and 13: 1. This renewed allusion to it is therefore due to the power of this law of suggestion. In this explanation, it is assumed that in speaking to men, the Spirit of inspiration not only uses human language, but follows human laws of thought in determining the succession of ideas. We may be quite unable to make up a full and perfect an- swer to the question. What is inspiration ? but it stands out undeni- ably, on the face of these inspired writings that inspu-ation does not supersede nor override the laws of mental association by which one thought suggests another analogous one. 8. And it sliall come to pass, that in all tlie land, saitli the Lokd, two parts therein shall be cut off mid die ; bnt the third sliall be left therein. 9. And I will bring the third part throug-h the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried : they shall call on my name, and I will hear them ; I will say. It is my people ; and they shall say, The Loed is my God. The primary sense of these verses is clear. Over all the land, two parts out of three are cut off" and die ; the third part remain- ing, is purified through the fires of earthly discipline. These be- come far more fully than before the people of the living God. But while the rendering of these words is plain, and their current usage well established, the question of their application and fulfil- ment as prophecy is by no means so ob\'ious. It has been com- mon for interpreters to assume the closest possible connection be- tv^een these verses and v. 7, and hence to apply them to the case of the lineal Jews immediately subsequent to the crucifixion of Ohrist, when, as they would say, the greater part — two-thirds — of the people were cut off violently by tlie Roman arms; the remain- ing third piuufied and brought into the Cliristian Church. This 368 ZECHARIAn.— CHAP. XIII. may possibly be the correct view ; but there are serious objections to it: (1.) The facts of history do not verify it ; the proportion cut off being much more than two parts out of three, and the saved . being less than one in three. (2.) The saved are here thought of as being the entire visible Chm-ch of God. But in fact, the Churcb in the apostolic age was far more of Gentiles than of Jews. (3.) This construction is out of the chronological order which runs not only through cbapters 9-11, but also through chapters 12 and 13, up to the digression which takes us back for a moment to the cru- cifixion in 13 : Y. Chapter 12 : 1-9 gives us the Christian Church passing through its first three centures, a period of persecution. Chapter 12 : 10 to 13 : 1 gives the effect of Messiah's death as tlirough the Holy Ghost a power unto penitence, prayer, and pardon. Chap. 13:2-6, the great advance made in the Christian Church in real piety, presented by means of Jewish historic allusions, but manifest- ly meaning that the people of God are, through di\'ine mercy, redeemed from reigning sin, and brought into a tiir higher state of Christian life than the covenant people had reached during the ages before Christ. Thus far, then, the reader will notice a somewhat regular chronological order, a progress onward in time in tlie course of thought. It is reversing this course to go back in this passage (13 :_ 8, 9) to the date of chap. 11. It quite breaks out of the line of historic events in which we were moving in the passage 13: 2-6. 1 therefore suggest another construction, viz. : that vs. 8, 9 lie in the same line of thought with vs. 2-6, and looking to a somewhat later period in the Christian age, give us the corruptions of Christian- ity^ and indicate that God will sever those corrupt portions, prior to the millennial age. It is obvious that chap. 14 gives us first the opening scenes and then the full consummation of millennial purity and glory. If we give due heed to the chronological succession of prophetic events in this prophet through chapters 9 to 13 : 6, and allow for continued progress on the same grade of advance, we shall find ourselves di-awing nigh the millennial age in the closing verses of chap. 13. It has been already suggested that the main reason for applying vs. 8 and 9 to the lineal Jews at the point where they took sides for Christ or against him in the latter half of the first cen- tury, is the assumption that they stand closely connected with v. 7. This class of interpreters would paraphrase thus: "Smite the shepherd, then shall the ancient covenant people be scattered and broken up ; two parts of them shall reject Jesus Clirist and perish miserably under the Eoman arms; the remaining thu-d part shall be- come the beloved and sanctified people of God." But instead of this, the connection may be quite different, thus : The manifestation of Jesus Christ in the fiesh served to reveal the utter rottenness of the visible Jewish clnirch. When the shepherd was smitten, the mass of that church Avent to ruin ; only a iQ^f of the little ones were saved. So, in the advanced ages of the Cliristian Church, cor- ruption became again fearfully prevalent, and another great sifting process became indispensable before the era of the final conquest ZECHARIAn.— CHAP. XIII. 369 and triumpli of Christ's Miigtlom could open. Tliat is, as v. 7 came in under the influence of association of ideas, so it goes out and v. 8 comes in, under the same general law of analog}- — v. Y standing alone as a diversion from the cmTent strain of chronological thought. Tlie analogy between the corrupt Judaism of the Saviour's day on the one hand, and the corrupt Christianity of the medieval Christian age, onward indeed to the present day, is the law of connection be- tween V. 7 and v. 8. In support of this view, let it be noted that tlie prophet does not put the eighth verse in close connection as to time with verse 7. He does not say, " in that day^ two parts therein shall be cut off," &c. Let the reader notice how constantly lie has used this phrase Avherevcr he meant this thing, as c. ff., in 12 : 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 13 : 1, 2, 4 — nine times within this and the previous chapters. Hence its omission here should at least suggest a grave doubt whetlier ho could have located these events (vs. 8 and y) " in the same day " with those of v. 7. If he did, why did he not say so ? Yet further, our translators manifestly leaned strongly toward the application of these verses to the Jews exclu- sively, and therefore rendered "in all the fowcZ; " but Zechariah wrote it, " in all the earth.'''' * This Hebrew phrase is used more than fifty times (I count fifty-nine) in the sense of all the earth. I find but three cases of its use for Judea only, and in these the con- nection furnishes the limitation. This same phrase is used by our prophet in 14 : fl : " And the Lord sliall be king over all tlie earth ; in tliat day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." Tliis usage ought (it would seem) to be accounted decisive proof that Zechariah in vs. 8, 9 speaks of Christianity as a whole all over the world, and not of Judaism in Palestine only. Such, in brief, are the reasons which compel me to diiFer widely from the current interpretation of these verses. I am constrained to apply them to the gigantic corruptions of the nominally Christian Church, especially the Eoman and the Greek, and not altogether excepting some of those that have been once ostensibly reformed. Let it be asked, "What does the "American and Foreign Christian Union " find to do ? Or let us ask, How large a portion of nominal Christendom to-day comes up to the standard of these words: " They shall call on my name and I Avill hear them ; I will say. It is my people, and they shtdl say. The Lord is my God "? Who can doubt that the fires of discipline and of judgment must pass over the nominally Christian world, sifting out the precious from the vile, and consuming wliatever proves to be only dross ? How large a part of this work shall be wrought by the moral and spiritual agencies of truth, purifying and converting; and how much by the stern agencies of consuming fire, time only can fully show. This language looks toward the latter. Let the peo])le of God press theii" gospel work to the utmost whUe they may ! I V T T T : 16=^ 370 ZECHARIAU.— CHAr. XIV. OriAPTEE XIV. The principles of interpretation whicli sliould rule in this chap- ter have been fully discussed and brought out in ray remarks intro- ductory to chapter 12. The events which it'portrays are aU yet in tlie future. Consequently there is no occasion to try to locate thein in history, or to define their j^recise historic character. Their gen- eral significance and results may be inferred with reasonable cer- tainty. The entire costume is Jewish, as we ought to expect. ■Jerusalem is invested by the combined forces of all nations ; the city taken and sacked; half its people go into captivity (vs. 1, 2). The Lord comes forth to fight against those nations (v. 3) ; he stands on the mount of Olives and cleaves it in twain for his people to pass through (v. 4) ; they flee, but ultimately the Lord and his holy ones appear for their salvation (v. 5) ; a most pecuhar twilight period fol- lows, breaking forth near evening into the eflfulgence of full day (vs. 6. 7) ; living waters flow from Jerusalem perpetually (v. 8) ; Jeho- vah alone is King over all the earth (v. 9) ; the whole world becomes a plain, and the temple-monntain stands alone the only mountain (v. 10) ; the plague that comes on those who fought against Jerusa- lem (v. 12) — panic and mutual slaughter consume them (v, 13) ; Judah aids Jerusalem in tbis great conflict against their common foes (v. 14); God's judgments reach all the domestic animals used by their enemies, as well as their owners (v. 15) ; all the surviving people, of the world shall go up to Jerusalem to worship (v. 16) ; the plague on those who will not go up (v. 17), and especially on Egypt (vs. 18, lU); holiness to the Lord in aU inanimate things, universal and final (vs. 20, 21). 1. Behold, tlie day of tlie Loed cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. "Behold," calls special attention to what follows, as of the deepest interest and greatest importance. Eemarkably, the usual form, "day of tlie Lord," is materially changed here. It is — "a day comes for the Lord " — one day preeminently j^'i\s Iris by long residence— his visible glory having dwelt there for ages, reposing upon tlio mercy-seat and beneath the cherubim; partly also to the indications of prophecy, as in Zech. 6 : 12, 13—" he shall build the temple of tlio Lord." But why is he called " the mes- senger of tlio covenant"? "Messenger" means angel. It is the word usually translated angel. Jesus is the angel of the covenant m tlie twofold sense : (1.) Of being the same personage so often palled in the Old Testament an " angel," e. r/., Ex. 23 : 20-23, which if the reader will examine, he will sec refers to the uncreated angel who i)anlons sin, in whom is the name of Jehovah, and who is a perpetutd I'resenco with liis Church under both the old dispensation 17* MALACni.— CHAP. III. 395 and the new ; called "the ancrel of the covenant" also, beoanse so long promised by covenant with the patriarchs and saints of old : and (2.) Of being especially " the Mediator of the new covenant " (Heb. 9: 15) ; and of "the better covenant, estabhshed upon better promises" (Heb. 8 : 6-13). " Behold " indicates an announce- ment worthy of particular attention, the more so because repeated — "Behold, he shall surely come, saith the Lord of hosts." Can we trace any connection of thought between this promise as it stands here, and the preceding context ? If any, it is this : The priesthood is becoming hopelessly corrupt, the people going astray as slieep having no shepherd; the kingdom of God will never rise and become far extended by such agencies alone ; the name of God is everywhere dishonored. This course of things will not answer the ends of divine mercy ; something more and other than tliis must be done; I will send my servant John, and close after him, the Lord of all! He will bear up the otherwise sinking cause of God and of righteousness. The reader will notice the person who speaks in this verse. He is " Jehovah of hosts." Yet he says : " I will send one who shall prepare the way before me." The testimony of inspiration thus makes the promised Messiah no other than " Jehovah of hosts." This name is given him by divine author- ity. 2. But who may abide the day of his coming ? and who shall stand when he appeareth 1 for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap : "TVho shall be able to bear the day of his coming" — the searching ordeal of such moral scrutiny? Not those corrupt priests, so recently before the prophet's mind. Ah ! full soon wUl he scourge them out of his temple, and hurl them down from the high position which they so shamefully desecrate! " Who shall stand when he appeareth ? " Some few — those who " looked for redemption in Jerusalem" — will hail his coming as "the horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David ;" but the sensual, the worldly, tlie formal, — however carefully they may have covered up their iniquity with the cloak of sanctimonious pro- fession, wUl be put through such processes of refining and provijig as shall surely reveal then- dross — " for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap," — physical agents which well Ulustrato the work of the coming Messiah in purifying his Church. The state of the Church and its leading men at that time strongly suggested the need of this purifying work to be done by " the Messenger of the covenant." 3. And he shall sit as a refiner and pm-ifier of silver : and he shall puriij the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may oiler unto the LoKi") an offcrinoi: in riffhteonsness. 396 MALACni.— CHAP. III. " Sitting " is the posture of the refiner of silver, chosen as being more convenient for the long, patient, careful watching of the pro- cess Tvhich is essential to success. Silver is too precious to be wasted by having too much heat ; and its purity is too valuable a quality to be missed by having too little. That "he -shall purify the sons of Levi " was suggested by the deeply-felt want of this at that time, and is always vital because of the essential importance of ha^^ng those who minister in sacred things spotless examples of the godliness which they should commend to others. How can the Lord send blessings to men through instrumentalities that are cor- rupt and rotten? Having wisely determined to work through human agents, and having designated them, what if they prove foithless, and only hinder and block the progress of the work they should set forwai'd ? Hence the first labor of the Messiah when he appears among his people will be "to pm-ify the sons of Le\a, that they may offer unto the Lord an ofiering in righteousness." 4. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Loed, as in the days of old, and as in former years. This done, the ofi'erings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleas- ing to the Lord as in the better, purer days of the Hebrew people, when "Israel was holiness to the Lord." (See Jer. 2 : 3.) The verse has a refreshing look toward that one perfect off'ering of Jesus, our Great High Priest, in which God was well pleased, and on the ground of which he will joyfully accept the humble offerings of his people. 5. And I will come near to you to judgment : and I will be a s"wift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those t]iat oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that tm-n aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Loed of hosts. " .Bm?," over against this, " to you " and to all such as you (referring to tlic priests and Levites of that day) " will I come near in judgment, and I will be a swift witness," &G.—sioift, as afford- ing no more time for such wickedness, and as cutting short their most abused probation. These Avords refer to the horribly wicked religious leaders of those days. G. For I am the Loed, I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. The connection of thought here turns on the special significance of tlio name Jcliovali — the ever laithful and unchanging One — the God of the promises, who hath said and Avill surely fulfil. If he MALACHL— CHAP. III. 307 had not made such promises of enduring protection and mercy to tlie ancient covenant people, lie would even now cut them off at once. This only is tlio reason why they are not consumed. It i,s only because he is Jehovah that his fixitht'ulness spares " the sons of Jacob." There is a power in that name, " sons of Jacob," that avails to save them yet, on the score of those never-failing promises. See notes on IIos. 12 : 4—0. 7. Even from tlie days of your fathers ye are ^one away from mine ordinances, and liave not kept tliein. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saitli the LoKD of hosts. But ye said, TVlierein shall we return % 8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say. Wherein have we robbed thee ? In tithes and offerings. 9. Ye are cursed with a curse : for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. This apostasy had -already been of long standing. -The spirit of divine command and promise is tersely and beautifully expressed here — "Eetiu-n unto me, and I will return unto you." So also is the spirit of man's depravity truthfully expressed in the quick re- sponse — Are we not all right now ? " Wherein shall we return? " .... Alas for the blindness of sin ! Alas for the hardness it brings on human hearts ! It is only when conviction of the truth as it is, fastens on the mind through the Spirit of God, that sinners think to any purpose of returning to God. Strange that a man should rob God ! " Yet ye have robbed me," in withholding the stipulated tithes — the tenth pai't of their annual income. For this withhold- ing, the Lord was visiting the land with the curse of barrenness and famine. 10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Losd of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there sliall not he room enough to receive it. This striking passage has the richer interest to Christians be- cause, under the principles of the ancient economy, viz., temporal blessings to the faithfully obedient, it presents to us the great law of his spiritual administration as well, showing that there can really be no limit (short of our utmost capacity) to the spiritual blessings God will give those who, really hungering for righteousness, " open wide their mouth that God may till it," and hence who honestly use all appropriate means for this result.- God is forever the same, and certainly is no less bountiful of blessings under the Christian than under the Jewish economy. " Prove me ; " put my words 398 MALAcni.— CHAP. in. to tlie test ; try it and see. If yoii have doubts, there is a ready way to solve them ; do all I say, and bide the issue. "Pour out," as the margin indicates, is tlie vei"b that means to empti/ out^ as if God meant to say he would empty forth his vast reservoirs of bless- ings. In the last clause, our translators found it necessary to ital- icise too many words— a common indication that they did not clearly see the primary sense of the passage. The word they rendered '■'■ tliaf'' never has this meaning, but means tintil. The other Hebrew words are " not " and " enoiigJi " — " until not enough," i. c, until ray stores shall fail me — a resiilt you never need think of as possible. Since this can never be, the Lord would have his people understand that nothing can limit his blessings short of their capa- city to receive. The Hebrew of this clause is the same as in Ps. 72 : 7 — ''Abundance of peace until" (there is) "no moon; " translated, " so long as the moon endureth. 11. And I will rebitlce tlie devourer for your sakes, and he sliall not destroy the fruits of your ground ; neither shall your vine cast her fruit, before the time in the field, saith the Loed of hosts. 12. And all nations shall call you blessed : for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts. These verses still ejspand the promise commenced in v. 10. If you will truly bring in all the tithes and meet all your obligations to God, then I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes — the locust, put here for all forms of destructive agents. AU the nations shall witness to your prosperity. 13. Your -words have been stout against me, saith the LoKD. Tet ye say, What have we spoken so imicli against thee ? 14. Ye have said, It is vain to serve God : and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts ? 15. And now we call the proud happy ; yea, they that work wickedness are set up ; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Once more recurring to those wicked men who have constantly gainsayed the ]>rophet and his Lord, he charges them — " Your words have been A«n7, strong against me, saith the Lord." They retort by virtually denying the charge. Then the Lord makes his charge more specific. When I jjromised, "Bring in all the tithes," HO shall your cup be filled with good, ye replied, "It is vain to serve God ; what profit have we found in keeping his ordinances, and walk- ing mournfully before the Lord," as those who sorrow for their MALACUL— CHAP. III. 399 sins? Thou, Lord, Last said tlic nations shall ciill tlie rigliteons blessed ; on the contrary, \oe call the jjroud blessed ; yea, they that work wickedness arc built np in cndnring prosperity. They that " prove God " in this way, daring him to do his Avorst if he will, not those that prove him by bringing in all the tithes, are delivered from evil, and even from the danger of it. The antithesis between what God had said before -(vs. 10-12), and what these wicked gainsayers reply (vs. 14,15), ismnch niore appar- ent in the original, especially of v. 15 than in the received trans- lation. First, the pronoun "■ tee," being expressed in full, is sliglitly emphatic: you say one thing; ice^ on our part, not admitting what you say, are stoutly maintaining the opposite. Then the verb, " call you llessed " (in v, 12), and the corresponding verb, '' call the proud Itnppy''' (v. 15), are precisely the same ; as if they would say — You claun that the nations shall call God's obedient people blessed ; we, for our part, call the proud blessed. So the word rendered "^jrore" (v. 10) is the same as is here (v. 15) rendered "tempt." You have said, Let my people ^;ro»e me. We bave to say in reply, that \hQ\\\(ik.Q(S.liave froTcd tliee by scoffing at thy words; and yet so far from being punished, they are even delivered from all fear and danger. Their eyes stand out witli fatness ; they have more than heart could wish. "What a portrayal this of most shocking hardihood in sin! 16. Tlien tliey tliat feared the Lord ^pake often one to another : and the Lokd hearkened and heard it j and a book of remembrance was Avritten before him for them that feared the Lokd, and that thonght npon his name. 17. And they shall be mine, saith the Loed of hosts, in that day when I make np my jewels ; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him, 18. Then shall ye retm-n and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Here we turn to tlie other class, in every respect the moral opposites of the ungodly and the proud. " Then," i. e.^ in the very face of such bold, defiant blasphemy against God and right- eousness ; " then they that feared the Lord " — all unlike the proud who had no fear of God before their eyes — "held free communion one with another." They did not suppress their thoughts because the defiant godless blasphemers were so outspoken, but none the less for that, they talked freely one with another. There was One who listened, all unawares to them ; " the Lord hearkened and heard; " and what is more, he made a record for the perpetual re- membrance of a thing that touched his heart so tenderly. There he entered the names of those who, at such a time, in the face of Bucb blasphemy, yet feared the Lord, and had thoughts of affection 400 MALACHI.— CHAP. IV. and esteem for liis name. " These shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my treasures ;" I will hold them among my choicest, best jewels; and until that future, final gather- ing of them into my heavenly cabinet, I will manifest my compas- sion and loving-kindness toward them, as a man does toward his own son that serveth him. Such is the sense of the word rendered "sjjffre." The Lord implies that he has indeed real service for his people — some of it, perhaps, hard and earnest v/ork; but his great and tender love for them will insure the kindest treatment possible, even as a kind father may set his son to earnest service, hut Avill lovingly watch over him to spare him from excessive toil and expos- ure. No good father makes his son a galley-slave. The kind Lord drops many a loving tear over the hardships to w^hich his needful service may subject his people in these years of their toil and of reproach for his name. Let it be enough for us that he feels toward us such pity and such tender love! "Then shall ye return," look agam, and then ye shall see a broad distinction, nay more, a real contrast, between the destiny of the righteous and the destiny of the wicked. The proud and defiant ones have been say- ing, "Where is the God of judgment? " "Everyone that doetli evil is good in the sight of the Lord ; " " it is vain to serve God ; " " the proud are blessed ; " " they that tempt God with most daring provocation are delivered;" — but tTie reckoning day %cill sliortly come ! Let the righteous return after a httle space, and they will see a broad line of diverse destiny ranging " between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.'' The beginning of the next chapter is closely connected with this, for there this lino of difference becomes a wide and striking contrast. CHAPTER IV. "With no break in the continuous thouglit, this chapter proceeds to contrast the destiny of the v/icked and of the righteous (vs. 1-3) ; gives a general injunction to observe the law of Moses (v. 4) ; and a promise of John Baptist under the name of Elijah, with brief hints of the work he should do (vs. 5, 6). 1. For behold, tlie day cometb, that shall bum as an oven ; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble : and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lokd of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. "For" indicates a close connection with chapter 3. "Ec- Jiold," calls solemn attention. " The day," in its usual prophetic sense, is a period which is peculiar, "sui generis " — lierc a time of fearful judgments on the wicked. The wicked are said iu the MALACni.— CHAP. IV. 401 Old TestaTnent, as well as the Xew, to be destroyed by fire. Tlius Psalm 11 : 6, " Upon the wicked be shall ram forked lightnings, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest." The prime exemplar is the ruin on Sodom, Gen. 19: 24, "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." See also Ezek. 38 : 22. Tlie great question here respects the time^ and hence the sort of judgment referred to. In my view, the primary reference must be to judgments on the Avicked in time, ])rovidential inflictions, like that on Jerusalem by the Eomans, like the still earlier judgments that fell on the i;ngodly portion of the Jews in the fearful Syrian -wars during the second century before Christ ; indeed, einbracing all those forms of special infliction which belong to God's providential government over nations aud individuals too in the present world. All these are to be taken as prophecies and pledges of that far more terrific vengeance .which shall come down on all the finally Avicked in the world to come. I would not apply this passage to either this world or tlie next, to the entu'e exclusion of the other, bat assume that it refers primarily to judgments in this world ; then as a type, a harbinger, prophecy, and pledge, it em- braces also those heavier, sorer judgments which execute full and unmitigated justice on the ungodly in the world to come. The context shows that the primary reference here is to judgments in time ; for the righteous are thought of as walking over the ground where the ashes of the perished wicked lie strewn. 2. But unto you tliat fear mj name, shall the Smi of righteousness arise with healing in his wings ; and ye shall go forth, and grow np as calves of the stall. 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Loed of hosts. This is the joyous, far dilFerent lot of the righteous. The fear- ers of God's name are in strong contrast of character as well as destiny with the proud blasphemers. The rising sun is a glowing and glorious image of hope and joy. " Eighteousness " has here the not imcommon sense of deliverance, salvation, blessedness, with no implication of its being strictly deserved on the score of simple justice, and by no means excluding mercy. The reference is mainl}^ to the Messiah as the great fountain of light, peace, and joy, to the saints of God. His wings are the beams of his light. " Ye shall go forth and leap as well-fed calves of the stall." Leaping rather than growing is the sense of the Hebrew, indicative of exultant joy. How solemn and impressive the scene, to walk over the ashes of the wicked and say — Here the wrath of God smote them, and here their ruins lie, an awful monument to the madness of sin and to the justice of Jehovah's most fearful retributions ! Sucli views of their horrid blasphemous wickedness as are given above (3 : 13-15), ought to reconcile every sane mind to the severity of 402 MALACni.— CHAP. IV. these judgments, and even ought to inspire in all hearts the song of Moses and of the Lamb — " Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; ju3t and true are thy ways, thou king oi saints." 4. Eemember ye tlie law of Moses my servant, whicli I commanded unto liim in Iloreb for all Israel, witli tlie . statutes and judgments. Specially pertinent, in -view of the shocking abuses and corrup- tions of the ceremonial law, is this last injunction to observe those statutes and judgments until the better system shall supersede them, 5. Beliold, I will send you Elijali the prophet before the coming of the gj-eat and dreadful day of the Lord : 6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a cm'se. The remarkable thing in this passage is that, without any spe- cial explanation, the great foi-erunner of the Messiah is here called " Elijah the prophet." The New Testament has solved this enigum to us ; but how could the Jews of Malachi's time have understood it? Still the general sense might perhaps have been clear to them, viz., one who should be a second Elijah, who should come with a spirit and power like his, sternly rebuking sin, and earnestly calling all men to repentance. This would be the more apparent by how much the more they regarded Elijah as a representative man, embodying in himself precisely those qualities which fitted him for the prophetic work. The shocking corruption of the priests in the time of Malachi would suggest strongly that the covenant people would need another Elijah, filled with his spirit and power, to do the work which the priesthood were only undoing and coun- teracting. Our Lord, in Mark 9 : 11-13, gave a very specific exjjla- nation. " They asked him — ' Why say the scribes that Elias must first come ? ' " He answered — " Elias verily cometh first and restor- eth all things ; but I say unto you that Elias is indeed come, and they have done imto him whatsoever they listed." Or as narrated by Matthew (11 : 14), " If ye will receive it, this is Elias who was to come."^ The phrase rendered — " the great and dreadful day of the Lord," is in tlio original verbatim from Joel 2 : 31, " before the coming of the day of "the Lord, the great, and the terrible." Standing liere it must refer to the " day that shall burn as an oven " (v. 1), while not unnaturally the language may be borrowed from Joel. To warn in mercy before he smites in judgment, is evermore the order of God's throne. Hence the second Elijah should como before the Jewish people and polity sliould bo smitten down by the terrible Roman arms. They were fearfully corrui)t already. It was foreseen that they would become yet more .so before and dur- MALACIII.— CHAP. IV. 403 iug the Messiah's incarnation. Hence the last warnings sent tliem through John Baptist, in the form of a call to repent, and to welcorae their Great Deliverer, soon to appear, came in the liour of their greatest moral extremity. But what is the perti- nence of describing the moral work wrought hj John Baptist, as " turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers " ? Perhaps few of us appreciate the loving heart and the social influence of this John. It may have come to us with tlje notions of our childhood to think of the man of eamel's-hair cloak and leathern girdle, making his meals of lo- custs, and ranging the wilderness of Judea to preach repentance, as only a stern reprover — a battle-axe upon men's sins, and scarcely less savage toward the endearing relationships of society. If wo added tlie latter inference, we made a great mistake. It never was any part of true religion, never was the function of any true re- former, to ride roughshod over the tenderness of the parental and filial relations. iSTo, it is idolatry that first debases and then cruci- fies parental affection, and makes the mother that bare him heart- less and cruel enough to cast her boy into the burning arms of Mo- loch. Avai'ice and lust are doing the same thing in tens of thou- sands of families in CIn-istian lands to-day. So always and every- where sin quickens selfishness ; and selfishness, grown rampant and rabid, severs parent from child, and child from parent. On the other hand, what do we always see in all geu\;ine revivals of re- ligion ? "What so universally as a revival of deep, all-absorbing lore for others^ especially within the circle of the domestic relations? How often do we see the hearts of parents borne down with almost crushing solicitude in the tenderness of their love for the souls of tlieir children ! What but this turning of the hearts of parents to their children begets such agonizing prayer of Christian parents for ungodly children, and of converted children for yet unconverted parents ? Hence it was the Spirit of the Lord that moved this prophet to touch by one master-stroke the central influence of John Baptist's preaching. When the men whom he called so might- ily to repentance, had bowed their hearts to this high behest, their next thought was that of renewed cai-e and love for their children. If we hadbeen present in that revival, we should have found it by no means unlike all the true revivals of our day in this one most precious feature. Such a revival of the home and household af- fections is eminently pleasing to God. In such a soil religion thrives. "Where the hearts of fathers turn with loving, tender in- terest toward their children, and the hearts of children in like manner to their fathers, the Saviour finds a congenial home and takes up his abode. It seems to be implied that if John's preach- ing had altogether failed of this result, the gospel of salvation from the lips of Jesus might have fallen powerless upon the world, and left to Judea and to the nations of the earth only the remediless " cursc.''^- How forcibly, then, comes the appeal to us to cherish the tenderness of mutual love and earnest care for others'' souls. 404 MALACHI.— CHAP. IV. especially -within the dear circle of family relationships, lest the gospel should fail to hless us, and lest we doom ourselves and those we ought to love, to a moral ruin for which God has no remedy ! Thus close the admonitions of the last prophet of the Old Tes- tament age, and with them the volume of Scripture as it stood till in the fulness of time the Messiah came. DISSEETATION I. ox THE CEITEEIA FOE DISTrN'GnSnrN'G, IN THE PROPHETIC I.IFE, BETWEEN TUIXGS SEEN AND DONE IN VISION ONLY, AND THINGS DONE IN FACT. The importance of this point seems to justify a more extended examination tlian could properly be introduced in the notes. It is clear beyond a doubt that some of the prophets had visions, somewhat analogous to dreams, yet not altogether dreams, in which objects were presented to their mind's eye only ; or as the case may be, they were transported, not in body, but in thought, to distant points, and made to see or do things that had no actuality in the external world. It is equally clear that these prophets all lived an actual life in this external world, and that, in the ministry of their prophetic office, they were required of God to go and to do in the external world things of a symbolic nature, belonging properly to their prophetic work. iSTow our first question is, Are there any criteria Inj which these two tery different things can he distin- guished from each other ? Our second question is. If so, are they in the records themschcs^ in the very forms of the statement, or are they mainly *or only in our oxen ideas of the fitness or unfitness of the things to he done in actual Ufe ? The only decisive and satisfectory answer to these questions must be obtained by a careful examination of the cases which belong to one class or the other as they stand in the record. If there are laws of prophetic usage, so well established as to aftbrd us the cri- teria we seek, they must be sought and found by a thorough induc- tion from particular cases ; not otherwise. We are shut up to an examination of the record. Does the record give us the distmctive ci'iteria, or does it commit the decision to the taste and judgment of each reader? The subject wiU be exhausted only when all the cases that belong to cither class have been carefully and candidlj- examined. Ezekiel abounds in these cases. We will begin with him. Note a case of mere vision (37:1-14), the well-known " valley of dry bones." The very introduction shows this to be a vision only. "The hand of the Lord was upon me," indicating 408 DISSERTATION I. some special extraordinary power, "and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord," not in actuality, but in that peculiar, prophetic state often described as " /« the Spirit;'''' and "set me down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about," &c. Here the form of the statement seems designed to shut off the thought of an actual scene. But vs. 15-22 in the same chapter present an actual scene. " Take thee one stick, and write on it 'For Judah,' and take another stick, and write on it, Tor Ephraim,' &c. ; join them one to an- other into one stick, and they shall become one in thy hand." That this is actual, and not in vision only, appears from the fact that tlie form of statement gives no intimation of a vision, but has throughout the air of reality. Thus, " "When the childi-en of thy people shall ask, "Wilt thou not show us what tliou meanest by these?" it is plainly implied that they saw the sticks joined, and did not merely hear the prophet report the case as presented to himself alone, and in vision only. Still further, the Lord said : " The sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand 'before their ei/es,'''' i. from all the ends of the earth to worship the one Lord therc.^^ Sec notes on llos. DISSERTATION II. 423 1 : 10, 11, and on Zech. 12 : 1-9. (2.) In anotlier class of proph- ecies whicli have far less of Jewish costume, the same great truth is undeniably tau4 2 Baasha 9.53 22 Elah 930 1 Omri 939 11 Ahab 918 21 Abaziah 897 1 Jehoram 896 12 Jehu 884 28 Jehoahaz 856 10 Joash 840 15 Jeroboam n 825 41 Interregnum 784 11 Zachariah 773 i ShaUum 773 t\ Menahem 773 12 Pekahiah 761 2 Pekah 759 19 luterregniim 740 9 noshea 731 9 End of the kingdom . . . 723 m. EEBREW PROPHETS. B. C. Joel (supposed) 830-835 Jonah 833 Amos 825-759 Hosea between 825 and 699 Isaiah 7,J9-699 Micah 758-699 Nahum 700 Jeremiah 629-580 Zephaniah 624 Habakkuk 610-588 Daniel 603-533 Ezekiel 595-573 Obadiah 58S-5S0 llajrgai 530 Zechariah 520 Ezra 457^33 Nehcmiah in Judah 444-433 & 408-400 Malachi (supposed) 408-100 N. B. — In a few of these cases no cer- tain data exist. The figures shoukl be regarded as only the nearest approxi- mation to truth possible under the cir- cumstances. IV. GREAT EVENTS, B. C. Revolt of the ten tribes 975 Shishak, king of Egj'pt, at Jeru- salem 970 Omri builds Samaria 939 Famine under Ahab 3i y'rs . 913-910 Homer 907 Carthage built 885 First OljTupiad 776 Rome founded 753 End of kingdom of ten tribes. . . 722 Kineveh destroyed 635 First captives to Babylon ! 606 Jerusalem destroyed 588 Confucius 551 Restoration from Babylon 536 Rome a republic 535 Temple finished 515 Pythagoras 497 Esther. 478 Thcmistoclcs 514-449 Herodotus 484-444 SocnUes 409-399 A Complete Biblical Library. THE TREASURY OF BIBLE KNOWLEDGE: BEING A DICTIONARY OF Th.e Books, Persons, Places, Events, and other matters, of ■whioh mention is made in Holy Scripture. Intended to establish its authority and illustrate its contents. 33y REV. JOHINr .A.YE.E, 31. J^., OF GOSm-LE AXD CAIUS COLLEGE, CAilBEIDGE. Illustrated ivitk many hundred ivoodcuts and fifteen full-page steel plates, draiun by Justyne,from original photographs by Graham, andfi've colored maps. 1 thick -volume, tzmo, o^ pages. 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