THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS REV. STANLEY LEATHES, D.D., Professor of Hebrew, King's College, London ; Prebendary of St. Paul's Rector of Much Hadham, Herts ; Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. EYKE AND SPOTTISWOODE, LONDON GKEAT NEW STKEET, FLEET STEEET, E.G. EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, MELBOURNE, & NEW YORK. 1891. IN MEMQBIAM DULCE3I ATQUE SEMPEE FRAGRANTEM FILI^E AMANTISSm^E NECNON DILECTISSDOS IN JESU DORMIENTIS. a 2 " Thy Word is tried to the uttermost, and Thy sen-fin y ' and Ain by g. Thus, Caph is k, and Koph is k. He i* h, and Hheth is h, and the like. THE LAW IN THE PHOPHETS. rNTKODUCTION. fTIHE theory which has found so much favour, in sundry * quarters, of recent years, is the theory that a large por- tion of the Pentateuch was the work of Ezra and the priests in Babylon. Deuteronomy, it has been alleged, was the composition of nobody knows whom in the time of Josiah or Manasseh, but the ritual portions of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers were much later, and the Pentateuch, as we now have it, was hardly completed in the time of Nehemiah. According to modern theories there are few portions of Genesis even as early as the division of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. It is needless to observe how contrary this notion is to the old-fashioned belief, which regarded Genesis as one of the very oldest books in existence ; but it may not be needless to observe that if there is any ground for accepting this theory it at once becomes impossible to regard Genesis as in any sense an historical book. The history of events that is not written down for seven or eight hundred years and more after their supposed occurrence, is not likely to be worth anything as a trustworthy record of facts, and there- fore the entire history of the Jewish nation and its origin is A 2 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. at once plunged into hopeless obscurity. We know, and can know, nothing about it. This is obvious, as the result of the theory, when we read Wellhausen's proposed re-construction of the history in his article, " Israel," in the Emydopadia tti-ifniinini. According to him the Bible record is worth literally nothing; it is convicted of falsehood, and may be put aside. And in attempting to deal with a matter of this kind we must be very careful as to the principles on which we proceed. It will not be unreasonable to be especially cautious as to the validity of the grounds on which we are asked to adopt this belief. What is the evidence for the assertions that are so freely and so confidently made ? We turn over page after page of Wellhausen's " Prolegomena " and expect to find the proof which he repeatedly says he is going to produce, but it is never forthcoming. It is all theory based on theory, supported by theory, and resulting in theory. From first to last there is literally no proof, rightly so-called. We find that the conclusion with which he ends has been assumed from the beginning, and the apparent harmony in the argument is produced by the ingenious adjustment of the several pans { the theory. There is an assumption from the beginning that the records as we have them are, from the nature, of the case, untrustworthy ; and the actual facts, and their sequence or relation to each other, have to be discovered as best they can from the disguised and distorted narratives with which we have to deal. The narrative exists simply for the construction of the theory ; the theory is not naturally sug- gested by the narrative, nor is it in any way dependent upon it, because as soon as any incident or statement is INTRODUCTION. 3 found to be inconveniently rigid for the requirements of the theory it is ruled out of court as unhistorical or spurious. This, it must be admitted, is no exaggerated account of the methods of Wellhausen and his school. It is not a little strange that in an age which boasts its devotion to the prin- ciples of science a method so obviously deductive and delusive should be chosen in preference to one that should have more reverence for facts and for the sounder principles of induction. What, then, are the principles on which we should deal with the records of the Old Testament ? Those records come to us with the highest possible credentials. They are the national records of a very remarkable nation, ever held in unusual reverence by the whole body of the nation, and even by the independent and, to some extent, antagonistic body of the Christian Church. The first question which confronts us is that of their antiquity. Prima facie, they are of the highest antiquity, because they form ostensibly a natural catena of authorities. For instance, the Books of Kings pre- suppose those of Samuel, as do those of Samuel that of Judges, and Judges presupposes Joshua, as Joshua does the Pentateuch. It is absurd to imagine that this apparent concatenation is the effect of any design in the composition or arrangement of the books. The indications and coincidences are of that casual nature which could not be presented by design. So far, then, as the apparent character of the records goes, there can be no doubt that they seem to reach back to a remote antiquity. Of course if they can be proved to be not genuine this apparent character must go for nothing ; if, on the other hand, the proof of this is insufficient, the effect of their apparent character remains in all its force. A 2 4 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. There is, however, one consideration which seems to be of some weight in enabling us to form some estimate of their real character, and that is, the characteristics of the nation since the commencement of the Christian Era. For it is a matter of conspicuous notoriety that there is no nation that has manifested anything like the degree of tenacity which is, and has been, manifest in the Jewish nation for the last eighteen centuries. The annual observances of the Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, and the Day of Atonement, go on now as they are enjoined to be observed in laws which are apparently fifteen centuries earlier than the commencement of the Christian Era. This, of course, does not apply to details which circumstances have rendered impossible, but it applies with all the greater force to the observances them- selves, which have been scrupulously maintained notwith- standing the difficulties arising from the altered circumstances. If, then, this has been the known character of the Jewish nation for so many centuries past, it serves to suggest a presumption that a character which has been maintained under the greatest possible disadvantages did not begin to be a new feature in the nation's history when it ceased to be a nation. The testimony of the national historian, Josephus, tends to confirm that presumption when, in speaking of the care with which the national records had been preserved, he says that the Jews would willingly die for them, and that during many ages nothing had been added to, or taken from, or changed in them, but that they were ever regarded with the greatest reverence by all the nation.* In this respect, then, it cannot be doubted that the records of this people * Contra Apion, i. 8. INTRODUCTION. 5 come to us with peculiar, if not unique, authority, and we have, as it were, before our own eyes, a living instance of the strong and conservative tenacity with which, till lately, it was universally believed that the Jews had preserved their records. Of course there are a thousand a priori imaginary difficul- ties which might be raised to militate against the probable antiquity of the Jewish records, but the poems of Homer are a monument which, though of lesser antiquity than a large part of the Jewish Scriptures, shows conclusively that such writings not only might be, but have actually been, preserved. This, then, is one consideration which proves that it is not impossible that the records may be very old. Again, for the last eighteen centuries we know that the Jewish Scriptures have been preserved in substantially the same condition.* No one can allege that there has been any material addition, omission, or alteration made in them. If, then, for eighteen centuries they have been handed down in virtually the same condition, and unaltered, it is on every ground more natural that the antiquity, which they were supposed to possess then, should have given them this value for the generations of the future, than that, being compara- tively modern productions, they should have acquired without cause a fictitious value and importance which made posterity tenacious of their preservation. If, under every conceivable disadvantage, the national customs and literature have been preserved, it is certainly not antecedently impossible that when these disadvantages did not exist they should have been * " The Massoretic Text was already substantially the same in ii.-v. cent. A.D." DRIVER. Notes on the fleb. Text of the Books of Samuel, p. xxxix. 6 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. preserved with equal care for many centuries. That there are writings in the Old Testament of the eighth century before Christ no one would deny; and if these writings have been preserved for five-and-twenty centuries, it is clearly not antecedently impossible that others may have existed and been preserved for even a longer time. If it can be shown that in these writings of the eighth century before Christ there is evidence of acquaintance with aMaody of yet earlier writings, any supposition which rests on the improbability of writings of that age existing is at once negatived thereby. It becomes, then, by no means hopeless to trace a catena in the Jewish records which may give them an antecedent probability of being in certain portions of very considerable antiquity ; and seeing that the national tradition is wholly in favour of that antiquity, it is not unreasonable to start with a presumption in its favour until we find it overruled by proof to the contrary. And assuredly an enquiry which begins with assuming a much more modern date for the records must be required to show cause why the traditional date should be put aside as of no account. There is, therefore, an initial question which demands an answer before we lend our ear to the specious theories of those whose arguments begin and end with theory. Of one thing we may be fairly certain, namely, that a nation which for eighteen centuries has manifested such marvellous faith- fulness in its traditions, is the less likely to have been so mistaken in the time of the Christian Era, and long before it, as to suppose that writings which had been imposed on tbe nation as authoritative in the time of Ezra were actually a thousand years older. We may conjecture as we please on INTRODUCTION. 7 the assumption of an uncritical age and the like; but to suppose that the bulk of the Mosaic Law was of the time of Ezra is to suppose, in fact, that Israel had never had any real national existence, and that the consciousness of national existence had not originated in the memorable night of the escape from Egypt, but in the far less sig- nificant epoch of the return from Babylon. This of itself is a notion so contrary to all antecedent probability and to the distinct evidence of known facts, that it requires some- thing more than pure conjecture and baseless theory for its- foundation. We have a right, therefore, to insist upon the production of facts as strong and mutually consistent as these before we allow the probability of writings which have so much to show for their antiquity being of very much later date. And, on the other hand, if it is possible to show from the internal evidence of language, subject-matter, and the like, that these writings are what they profess to be, then we may reasonably consider ourselves absolved from that defer- ence to the opposite theory which it is alleged we owe. If, for example, a careful study of the Prophets shall make it clear that they must have had in their possession what we now know as the Books of the Law, the baselessness of the opposite conjecture as to its later origin will become apparent. If we find in Milton allusions to Ben Jonson and to Shake- speare, it needs no further proof that these writers preceded Milton. That he refers to them by name makes this abso- lutely certain; but if there were any other indications that he was familiar with their language, and had it in his mind, the result would be as certain, even though he did not 8 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. mention them by name. The reader of TVimyson can detect certain indications of delicate allusion to the language of Dante, which escape the notice of those who are not generally familiar with the works of that poet. But as soon as these are pointed out the conclusion is inevitable that the language of Dante was in the mind of Tennyson. When, in like manner, it can be shown that Hosea and Isaiah, not once or twice, but many times over, use language which is the language of the Law, and perhaps exclusively so, a presump- tion amounting almost to certainty is created, that writings with which traditionally they must have been acquainted were actually in their hands. When, for example, we find in the Gospels or the New Testament allusions to, and verbal quotations from, the Old Testament, we necessarily conclude that the Evangelists and Apostles had in their possession the same Old Testament that we have ; and if we find Isaiah cited by name, we know that the passage quoted must have stood there then as we find it now. Nor is this conclusion at all modified if, as it sometimes happens, the reference is such as it is difficult to identify. When, for instance, St. Matthew tells us that our Lord's parents came and dwelt at Nazareth, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene," we may have some doubt as to what particular passage was in the mind of the writer ; but, at all events, his probable refer- ence to one or more possible passages warrants the inference that he was acquainted with all. And so again, when in the post-Captivity prophets we find references to what has recently been called the Priestly Code, we cannot doubt that the authority of it was recognised in their time, and, INTRODUCTION. 9 what is of more importance, that it was then in existence and known. Now, if in the earlier prophets the same indi- cations are discernible, what is there to prevent us from drawing the same conclusions, except the theory which has reversed the order of these documents, and made the Priestly Code of later date than the writings of the prophets ? But if fact is the test of theory, the theory in this case must go to the wall. The language which in Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi is obviously borrowed from, or de- pendent upon, the so-called Priestly Code, if found in earlier prophets, must either show that we are wrong in the date we assign to these prophets, or else that the Priestly Code was known to them as well as to their descendants. That the greater number of the minor prophets, however, were older than the Captivity no one would care to deny. Con- sequently it is the date of the Priestly Code that must be re-adjusted, rather than that of any prophet whose language can be shown to imply the knowledge of it. I may add that the same method of reasoning would seem to be equally valid, though this is not directly concerned with my present purpose, when applied to the other books of the Bible. A clear reference in one to any other is evidence that the other preceded it. Thus, if there is any evidence in the Book of Ruth of acquaintance with Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy must have preceded the composition of Ruth. If the writer of Kings refers to Samuel he must have known Samuel, and the like. This is a canon of criticism which would hold in the case of any other literature, and nothing short of conclusive evidence is required to show why it fails to apply in that of the Jewish literature. 10 ////. LAW /.V THK PROPHETS. I proceed to give the evidence which exists to show that the prophets were all of them acquainted with the Books of the Law, and I take them according to their order in the English Bible, to which also the references are made. For the sake of the ordinary reader it has been thought desirable to quote in full so much of the several passages as may enable him at a glance to estimate the degree to which they correspond. If references alone are given they are apt to be passed by. In this case the whole weight of the argu- ment lies in the comparison of the passages referred to. The most important instances are marked with an asterisk. ( 11 ) THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED. ISAIAH. ISAIAH, according to 1. 1, flourished in the reigns of Uzziah,. Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, or approximately from 750 to 700 ; that is to say, contemporaneously with the early kings of Rome. According to a tradition preserved by Kimchi he was of royal family, his father Amoz being brother to Amaziah the king; in which case he would have been first cousin to Uzziah, which may or may not have been so. As his writings are the noblest in the Old Testament in point of style, there is a certain propriety in ascribing to him the nobility of royal blood, as tradition has done. We know nothing about his personal history but that he was married and had two or more sous ; that he assured the people of the overthrow of Sennacherib's host, and survived that de- liverance. He declared to Hezekiah that his sons should be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon while Babylon was still an insignificant power ; and in like manner several of his prophecies foretell the desolation of Babylon, e.g. chaps. 13 and 14. It is for this reason that many of the writings that have come down to us as Isaiah's have been conjecturally assigned to an unknown writer a hundred and fifty years later, and nearly the whole of chaps. 40 66 have been so assigned. This, however, is in direct violation of the evi- dence of language ; and the first and main reason assigned by Professor Driver for so treating them is that they are contrary to the " analogy of prophecy." Before, however, 12 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. we can accept this statement we must decide whether there is snch a thing as real predictive prophecy, and what, if any, portions of the Bible are examples of it. If this is decided affirmatively, there is nothing in the writings of Isaiah to contradict the "analogy of prophecy," but much to illustrate and determine this analogy. For example, the 1st and the 53rd chapters are either descriptive or pro- phetic; if they are prophetic they are neither more nor less so than 62 64. The Book of Isaiah bears traces of a very high degree of civilisation, and gives abundant proof of general acquaintance with a yet earlier literature. L 1. The first word, JITH, hazon, is not found in the Pentateuch, nor earlier than 1 Sam. 3. 1, "There was no open vision.'' 1 This, so far, is a slight in- dication which may tend to show that Isaiah was later than the Law ; another derivative of the same root, riiPlD ma//azeh, is found three times in the Penta- teuch, Gen. 15. 1 ; Num. 24. 4, 1C ; and the root itself, nil"!, hazah, is used in the natural sense, Exod. 18. 21, "Thou shall provide out of all the people able men," and in 24. 11, "Also they saw God, and did eat and drink"; and Balaam uses it twice of himself in Num. 24. 4, 16, "Which saw the vision of the Almighty." We may, perhaps, infer there- fore, that the usage in Isaiah and the later prophets, where the former word is common, is characteristic of a later dispensation, at all events the usage is later, and, with some few exceptions, peculiar to the pro- phets. As a matter of fact the word is only found ISAIAH. 13 elsewhere in 1 Sam. 3. 1 ; 1 Chron. 17. 15 ; 2 Chron. 32. 32 ; Ps. 89. 20, and Prov. 29. 18 ; whereas in the prophets it occurs some thirty times. v. 2. " Hear, heavens, and give ear, earth," can hardly be other than a reminiscence of Dent. 32. 1, " Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak ; and hear, earth, the words of my month." Indeed, on the supposition that Deuteronomy is the earlier document, this 32nd chapter may be regarded as supplying the text for Isaiah's commentary upon it in his opening chapter. v. 4. " They have forsaken the Lord." Deut. 28. 20, "Whereby thou hast forsaken me"; 31. 16, "And will forsake me." "And despised the Holy One of Israel." Num. 16. 30, " These men have provoked the Lord," and 14. 11, 23 ; Deut. 31. 20. The same word in all cases. The phrase " Holy One of Israel," which is almost exclusively Isaiah's, is based on the revelation of Lev. 11. 44, 45, "I am holy"; 19. 2, "I the Lord your God am holy"; 20. 7, 26 and 21. 8. Not elsewhere in the Pentateuch. v. 9. The phrase "Lord of hosts" is in many respects remarkable. It is first found in 1 Sam. 1. 3, where it is common. Isaiah uses it some fifty or sixty times, and Jeremiah likewise, but Ezekiel and Daniel not at all ; the post-Captivity prophets very frequently : Micah 4. 4 and Hub. 2. 13 once ; Nahum 2. 13 and 3. 5 arid Zeph. 2. 9, 10 twice; Hosea 12. 5 once uses "LoED God of hosts," and Amos 3. 13 uses "God of hosts," 14 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. and seven times " LORD God of hosts." Isaiah, there- fore, among the prophets, may be said to have intro- duced the phrase, as no prophet seems to have used it before him. In Isaiah it is gem-rally "yChowah zeva'oth"; in 3. 15; 10. 23, 24; 22. 5, 12, 14, 15; 28. 2i', it is "'adonfli yfihowt gSva-'oth " : in 22. 14 we have "yShowah zSva'oth" as wrll : in 10. 16 it is "ha'0d-> ; 7. 19 ; 13. 1, 2 ; 26. 8 ; 28. 40 ; 29. 2 ; 34. 11; elsewhere only, Ps. 78. 43 ; 105. 27 ; 135. 1) ; Jer. 32. 20, 21; Xeh. 9. 10. As in the case of these latter instances there can be little doubt that the language of Deu- teronomy is adopted, it is at least probable that it has been adopted also by Isaiah. v. 19. "Seek not them that have familiar spirits" &c. The 'ovoth and yiddggronmi of Lev. 19. 31 and 20. 6, 27. '* Seeking to the dead " also is denounced, Deut. 18. 11. In both cases the identity is verbal. There can be no reasonable doubt that the prophet had in mind both these passages, as his language suggests. 9. 3. " The day of Midian " presupposes the knowledge of the history five centuries before, the narrative of which is preserved, Judg. 7. 21, &c. ; compare Ps. 83. 9, 11. If it does not, it must refer to something else of which we have no record, whereas we have the record of this, and doubtless the prophet and the Psalmist had it too. If, however, it was worth any- thing as a record it must have been much older than either. ISAIAH. 25 v. 7.r" The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this," probably refers ultimately to " I am a jealous God," Exod. 20. 5 ; 34. 14 ; Deut. 4. 24 ; 5. 9 ; 6. 15. v. 13. " For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seelc the Lord of hosts." Deut. 4. 29, 30, "But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God ... if thou seelc him ... if thou turn to the Lord thy God." fc v. 15. " The ancient and honourable, he is the head ; and the prophet that speaketh lies, he is the tail." Deut. 28. 13, 44, "The Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail " ; " He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail." This application of the words occurs only in Deuteronomy and Isaiah. v. 17. " Their fatherless and widows." Compare 1. 23, and, "For all this his anger is not turned away," &c., compare 5. 25. v. 20. " They shall eat, and not be satisfied." Compare Lev. 26. 2G, "Ye shall eat, and not be satisfied." 10. 1. "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed," shows that written laws of some kind were by no means unknown in the prophet's time. Compare v. 19, "that a child may write them," which, in like manner, shows the state of education at the time. v. 2. " That widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless." Compare 1. 17, 23. v. 13. " I have removed the bounds of the peoples." Com- pare Deut. 32. 8, "He set the bounds of the peoples"; 19. 14, " Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's land* 26 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. mark " ; 27. 1 7, " Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark." The same word in each case. v. 14. "As one gathereth eggs that are left." Compare the Law, Dent. 22. 6, 7, " If a bird's nest chance to -be before thee . . . thou shalt not take the dam with the young, but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go," &c. v. 21." The mighty God," see 9. 6. Compare Deut. 10. 17, "A great God, a mighty." The same words. Compare also Jer. 32. 18 ; Neh. 9. :'_' : not elsewhere. v . 22. " Though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea," according to the original promise. Gen. 22. 17, " I will multiply thy seed ... as the sand which is upon the seashore," &c. ; 32. 12, " And thou saidst, I will . . . make thy seed as the sand of the sea," &c. v. 24. " After the manner of Egypt," refers to the well- remembered history of the Exodus, Exod. 14. 26, 27. v. 26. "The slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb." Compare chap. 9. 3 ; Judg. 7. 25. * 11. 9. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." Compare 6. 3 ; Ps. 72. 19. Isaiah and Habakkuk (2. 14) both quote Num. 14. 21, "But as truly as I live all the earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord." Is there any reason to believe that the author of Numbers quotes either? v. 11. "The Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover," &c. Compare Exod. 15. 16, 17, which gives the narrative of the first time. vs. 15, 16. "Make men go over dryshod . . . like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the ISAIAH. 27 land of Egypt." Compare Exod. 14. 29, "The chil- dren of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea." The narrative referred to. 12. 2. " I will trust and not be afraid : for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song ; he also is become my salvation." Compare Exod. 15. 2, "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation," a verbal quotation which, being intro- duced by l 3, is shown to be so. Isaiah was acquainted with the narrative of Exodus, or at all events with the Song of Moses. " Salvation " is a characteristic word with Isaiah. It is first used in Gen. 49. 18, then Exod. 14. 13 ; 15. 2 ; Deut. 32. 15 ; not elsewhere in the Pentateuch. Except in the Psalms it occurs most frequently in Isaiah, who thrice uses the variant teshugah, which is not found in the Pentateuch. v. 5. " Sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things." The prophet adopts the language of Exod. 15. 1, 21, " I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously"; "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." The same root. 13.1. "The burden of Babylon." Isaiah is the first to use this word in this technical sense. May he not derive it from Num. 24. 3, &c., " And Balaam took up (same root) his parable," &c. ? v. 19. "As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." See chap. 1. 9. 14. 3. "And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest." Compare Exod. 33. 14, " I will 28 THE LAW IN THE PROPHKT*. give thee rest"; Dent. 3. 2o, "Until the Lord have given rest," &c. ; 12.'10, "And ... he giveth you rest from all," &c.; Deut. 25. 19, "When the Lord thy God hath given thee rest," &c. ; the same expression in all cases, suggestive of the " hard lx>ndage " of Egypt and the Desert. v. 4. " Thou shalt take up this proverb." This phrase is used seven times in Num. 23 and 24, elsewhere only here and Micah 2. 2 ; Hah. 2. 6 ; and in Job 27 and 29. v. 21. " Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers," according to the terms of the second commandment, Exod. 20. f>. v. 25. " I will break the Assyrian . . . then shall his yoke depart from off," &c. Compare Gen. 27. 40, " It shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." * 15. 5." His fugitives shall flee unto Zoar." Gen. 19. 20, 22. " Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one : Oh, let me escape thither. . . . There- fore the name of the city was called Zoar." 16. 2. "As a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon." Compare Num. 21. 13, "Arnon is the border of Moab/' v. 12. " When it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place," as was Balak, king of Moab, Num. 22. 41; 23. 14, 28; 24. 1, 10. 17. C. "Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it." Deut. 24. 21, " When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vine- yard, thou shalt not glean it afterward." ISAIAH. 29 v .8. For the "groves." See Exod. 34. 13; Deut. 7. 5; 12. 3; 16. 21; for the "images," or sun-images, see Lev. 26. 30. Both are mentioned again by Isa. 27. 9. r. 10." The rock of thy strength," see 26. 4. 18. 2. " Vessels of bulrushes." The gome', mentioned here and 35. 7, is only found elsewhere in Exod. 2. 3, of Moses' ark of bulrushes, and Job 8. 11. v. 7. " To the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, the mount Zion." Compare the numerous passages in Deuteronomy which speak, as of a thing not yet deter- mined, of the place which the Lord should choose to place His name there, 12. 5, 11, 14, 18, 21, 26 ; 14. 23, 24, 25 ; 15. 20 ; 16. 2, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16 ; 17. 8, 10, 15; 18. 6; 23. 17; 26. 2; 31. 11; Josh. 9. 27. It is impossible that these passages can have been suggested by this in Isaiah ; on the contrary, this is a manifest witness to the prophet's acquaintance with the language of Deuteronomy, and to the historic fulfil- ment of the hope expressed, in the choice of Zion. 19. 3. For the "idols," fliltm; compare 2. 8. They are expressly forbidden in Lev. 19. 4 ; 26. 1. The word for " charmers," 'itt/m, occurs only here. For the " fami- liar spirits" and "wizards," see 8. 19. i's* 19, 20. For the "altar" and the "pillar" the references are probably to the action of Jacob and Laban, Gen. 31. 52, and to that of Moses, Exod. 24. 4 ; " The sign and the ivitness" shows this. v. 20. " They shall cry unto the Lord because of the op- pressors," as in Exod. 3. 9, where the oppression of Egypt is spoken of in the same language. 80 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. v.21 The " sacrifice," "oblation," and "vow." It is gratuitous to regard these apart from the " Priestly Code," which deals with them in detail. Lev. 2. 1, &c.; 3. 1, &c.; Num. 8. 2, Ac. v. 22. " He shall be inlreated of them, and shall heal them." Very apposite in relation to Egypt and the frequent prayer of Pharaoh to Moses to "Intreat the Lord," Exod. 8. 4, 24 ; 9. 28 ; 10. 1 7. The word is chiefly used in the Pentateuch. " And shall heal them." Exod. 15. 26, " I am the Lord that healeth thee." 20. 3. See 8. 18. 21. 4. " The night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me." Compare Deut. 28. 67, " At even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning ! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear." Similarity of thought, not of language. * r. 9. "The graven images of her gods." This particular phrase is peculiar to Deut. 7. 2f> ; 12. 3, and to this place. 22. 14. " This iniquity shall not be pinyf/." See 6. 7. * v. 21. " Thy girdle." The word D32X occurs five times in Exodus, three in Leviticus (the Priestly Code), and elsewhere only here. 23. 3." The harvest of the river." This word *Y)fcO in the great majority of cases is used in connection with Egypt and the Nile. In Genesis and Exodus it thus occurs nearly thirty times. 24. 2. "As with the lender so with the borrower," &c. Compare Exod. 22. 2f>, 27; Deut. 15.2; 24. 10, 11. ISAIAH. 31 v. 5. " The everlasting covenant." The phrase is applied to the covenant with Noah, Gen. 9. 16 ; with Abraham, 17. 7 ; to that of circumcision, 17. 13 ; to that of the Sabbath, Exod. 31. 16 ; to the shewbread, Lev. 24. 8; and to the covenant with David, 2 Sam. 23. 5. In Isaiah it is found also at 55. 3 ; 61. 8. " The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof" is pro- bably a reminiscence of the condition of Canaan before the conquest. Compare Deut. 12. 31 ; Num. 35. 33, &c. Lev. 18. 28, "That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you." v. 18. " The windows from on high are open." Com- pare Gen. 7. 11, "The windows of heaven were opened." 25. 1. "Thou art my God, I will exalt thee." Compare Exod. 15. 2, " He is my God . . . and I will exalt him." The same word is used. v. 9. " This is our God ; we have waited for him, and he will save us : this is the Lord ; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.' 1 '' The first occurrence of this phrase is at Gen 49. 18, " I have waited for thy salvation, Lord." 26. 4. " In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength," margin, " the Rock of Ages." Compare Deut. 32. 4. " He is the Rock, his work is perfect " ; and 15, " The Rock of his Salvation"; 18, "Of the Rock that begat thee"; 30, "Except their Rock had sold them"; 31, " Their Rock is not as our Rock." In all these cases the word is the same. 32 THE LAW IN THE PKOPHETS. For the thought compare Gen. 49. L'4, " Thence is the shepherd the stone of Israel." The expression Rock as applied to God is only found as above in Deuteronomy; Isa. 30. 29; 44. 8 ; Hab. 1. 12 ; 1 Sam. 2. '2 ; 2 Sam. 23. 3 ; and the Psalms, in which it occurs some twelve or fifteen times. $|e v. 8. " Yea, in the way of thy judgments, Lord, have we waited for thee." See 25. 9 and 8. 17. "The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remem- brance of thee." These are the actual words of Exod. 3. 15, "This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." They are quoted again in Ps. 102. 13; 135. 13; Hosea 12. G; .but nowhere else. There can be no reasonable doubt that in each case it is the passage in Exodus which is referred to. v. 17. " Like as a woman with child ... is in pain and crieth out in her pangs." Gen. 3. 16, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children," &c. The figure of the travailing woman is common in Isa. 13. 8 ; 37. :; : 42. 14 ; 66. 7, 9. v. 20. " Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers," &c., is in all probability a reminiscence of Exod. 12. 22, 23, " None of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning : for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians," &c. Though one alone of these instances may be more or less insig- nificant, the combination of them amounts almost to a demonstration of the prophet's acquaintance with Exodus. ISAIAH. 33 v. 21. " The earth also shall disclose her blood." Gen. 4. 10, 11, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground"; "The earth . . . hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood." 27. 9. Compare 6. 7 and 17. 18. The purging is the Levitical atonement. For the "groves and images," see note on 17. 8. #.11. "It is a people of no understanding." Compare Deut. 32. 28, "They are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. that they were wise," &c. " He that formed them will shew them no favour." Compare Deut. 32. 18, "And hast forgotten God that formed thee." Here the words are different, but there is a general similarity in the context. v. 13. Compare 18. 7 and the note there. 28. 11. Compare Gen. 11. 7. v. 16. " Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone." Compare Gen. 49. 24, "From thence is the shepherd the stone of Israel." v. 21. "For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon." It is impossible to understand this without reference to the narrative in 2 Sam. 5. 20 and Josh. 10. 10. As the several incidents occurred respectively 300 and 700 years before, it is too much to suppose they would have been remembered without any record, or that the record we have in Samuel and Joshua was written later. There is. therefore, sufficient evidence that both these narratives were C 84 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. in existence and were well known in the time of Isaiah. 29. 22. " Therefore thus saith the Lord who redeemed Abraham " ; a general reference to the history of Abraham, as known from Genesis. v . 23. " They shall sanctify ... the Holy One of Jacob, * and shall fear the God of Israel." Compare Gen. 31. 53, " And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac." The words, however, are different. Compare 8. 13. 30. 1, 2." That take counsel, but not of me," &c. ; " That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth." Compare Num. 27. 21, "And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord," &c. Deut. 17. 16, "He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses : forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." Compare Deut. 28. 68 and Exod. 13. 17. v. 6. "The viper and fiery flying serpent." Deut. 8. 15, "Who led thee through that great and terrible wil- derness, wherein were fiery serpents," &c. v . 8. " Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever." This is what, according to the Law, had been done of old for a like purpose. Exod. 17. 14, "And the Lord said, "Write this for a memorial in a book " ; 24. 4, " And Moses wrote all ISAIAH. 85 the words of the Lord," &c. ; 34. 27, 28, " And the Lord said unto Moses, "Write thou these words : for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel . . . And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten command- ments " ; Num. 33. 2, " And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord," &c. ; Deut. 31. 9, " And Moses wrote this law " ; 24, " And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished," &c. Such is the witness of the document to its own origin. Why is the like evidence to be received in the case of Thucydides and rejected in that of Moses ? v. 9. "Children that will not hear the law of the Lord." It is entirely gratuitous to assume that the " Law of the Lord" here, and in similar places, is not used in its technical sense of the written Law. v. 17. "One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one." Compare Lev. 26. 8, " And five of you shall chase an hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thou- sand to flight " ; and Deut. 28. 25, " The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies ; thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them " ; 32. 30, " How should one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight," &c. v. 18. Compare Gen. 49. 18. The words are different. v. 22. " Ye shall defile also the covering" &c. This word is only found here and Exod. 38. 17, 19 ; Num. 17. 3, 4. The word rendered ornament is only found C 2 3f> THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. here and Exod. 28. 8 and 39. 5. The word Pill is only found three times in Leviticus, and twice in Lamentations, besides. r. 29. " Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel." This shows that the keeping of these feasts was habitual, in accordance with the precepts, Lev. 22. 2, &c. With the "Mighty One," literally, "Rock" "of Israel." Compare Deut. 32. 4, 15, 18, 80, 31 and chap. 26. 4. 31. 1. Compare 30. 2; Deut. 17. 16, "Neither seek the Lord " ; 4. 29, " If thou seek him with all thine heart." Compare Gen. 25. 22. * v. 5. " As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem ; defending also he will deliver it ; and passing over he will preserve it." Compare Deut. 32. 11, "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young ... so the Lord alone did lead him ;" Exod. 12. 13, "When I see the blood I will pa** over and . . . not . . . destroy"; 23, "The Lord will pass over"', 27, "Who passed over the houses," &c. This word is used in this sense nowhere else. 32. 1. Deut. 17. 14, 15, "When thou art come ... and shalt say, I will set a king over me . . . Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose," &c. This is a picture of the reign of the ideal king. 3fc v. 9. " Hear my voice, ye careless daughters ; give ear unto my speech." Compare Gen. 4. 23, " Hear my ISAIAH. 37 voice ; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech." The same words. 33. 2. " Lord, be gracious unto us ; we have waited for thee." Gen. 43. 29 ; 49. 18, " God be gracious unto thee, my son"; "I have tvaited for thy salvation." v. 15. " He that walketh righteously, and speaketh up- rightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes.' 1 '' Compare 1. 23 ; 5. 23 ; Deut. 10. 17, " Which regardeth not persons, nor taketh retvard" ; 16. 19, " Judges . . . shalt thou make . . . and they shall judge the people with just judgment " ; 27. 25, " Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person"; Exod. 18. 21, "Thou shalt provide . . . able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness " ; 23. 8, " And thou shalt take no gift, for the gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous." v. 17. " Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty." Compare 32. 1 and the note. v. 19. " Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive . . . that thou canst not understand." Deut. 28. 49, 50, "A nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand ; a nation of fierce countenance," &c. 3fc v. 20. " Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities.' 1 ' 1 This word moged is of perpetual recurrence in the Priestly Code. See especially Lev. 23 ; Num. 15. 3, &c. This passage is a clear witness to the observance of these solemnities. 88 THE LAW AV THE PROPHETS. r. i'4. "Shall be fury ice n their iniquity." Compare Num. 14. 19, "Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." Exod. 23. 21; 32. 32. The \\onl is more commonly used in the sense of letirini/ sin, &c. 34. 1. "Let the earth hear," &c. Deut. 32. 1, "Hear, earth, the words of my mouth," and chap. 1. ~2. vs. 5, 6. " My sword shall be bathed in heaven ... the sword of the Lord is filled with blood." Deut. 32. 40-42, "I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword . . . I will make mine arrows drank with blood." * v. 6. " Fat of the kidneys " mentioned only here, and Exod. 29. 13, 22 ; Leviticus, chaps. 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9, frequently. Compare also Deut. 32. 14, "Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan . . . with the fat of ku/<>/* of wheat." This is an undoubted reference to the sacrificial ritual. The kidneys of animals are not mentioned elsewhere. * v. 11 . " The line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness." Gen. 1. 2, " The earth was without form, and void " ; these words nowhere else but Jer. 4. 23. v. 16. "Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read." What is the book meant? Some say, the prophet's own, if so, it is a remarkable claim to authority. At all events it shows that there was a book possessing that claim. ISAIAH. 39 v. 17. "And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line : they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein." Num. 26. 55, "Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot"; 33. 54, "Ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance " ; 36. 2, "To give the land for an inheritance by lot," &c. Compare Josh. 14. 2, &c. ; Ps. 78. 55 ; Lev. 25. 18, " Ye shall dwell in the land in safety," &c. 35. 9. "No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast," &c. Compare Lev. 26. 6, "I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid, and I will rid evil beasts out of the land." 36. 7. "Is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar." It is wholly gratuitous to say that this action of Heze- kiah does not involve a knowledge of the Law in Deut. 12. 5, &c., as much as it does in the case of Josiah; but if so, what becomes of the theory that the Law was fabricated then. If it was known in the time of Hezekiah, it could only have been lost in the time of Josiah. v. 17. "Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards." This is remarkable testimony to the character of the Land of Promise as "a land flowing with milk and honey," Exod. 3. 8, 17, &c., an expression not used by Isaiah. 40 THE LAW IN THE PROPHETS. 37. 16. "That dwellest between the cherubims." This is a witness to the existence of the ark of the covenant at the time, in accordance with the prescription, Exod. 25. 18, &c., 37. 7, &c. These cherubims are not men- tioned elsewhere in the Pentateuch, except Num. 7. 89. "Thou art God alone of all the kingdoms of the earth : thou hast made heaven and earth." Compare Deut. 4. 85, 89 ; 32. 89 ; and Gen. 1. 1. v. 82." The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this." See on 9. 7. 38. 19. " The father to the children shall make known thy truth." Compare Deut. 4. 9, "Teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons " ; and 6. 7, " And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house," &c. v. 20. " We will sing my songs to the stringed instru- ments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." This is a witness to the existence of David's Temple service of song in the time of Hezekiah. 39. 2. "The silver, and the gold." Deut. 17. 17, "Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold." 40. 11. "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd." Gen. 49. 24, " From thence is the Shepherd, the stone of Israel." t'. 16. The mention of the "burnt-offering," and the "ob- lation," or n1"lTl v. 20, which are of continual occurrence in the Priestly Code, shows the customary use of them. "Were these things observed in Babylon ? If not, is it likely the law concerning them originated there ? 1 ISAIAH. 41 v. 25. " To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal ? saith the Holy One." Compare Deut. 4. 15, 18 and 39, " Know therefore, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and npon the earth beneath : there is none else." v. 31. "They that wait upon the Lord." This phrase is more common in Isaiah and the Psalms than else- where, it occurs some nine or ten times in each ; for its original we must go back to Gen. 49. 18. 41. 9." I have chosen thee." Compare Deut. 7. 6, " The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself " ; 10. 15, " Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them " ; 14. 2, " The Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." v. 10. " Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be not dis- mayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee." Compare Deut. 31. 6, 8, " Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them : for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee ; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. . . . And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee ; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither for- sake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed." v. 11. " Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded." Compare Exod. 23. 22, " Then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries." v . 14. " Thy redeemer." This expression, which is frequent 12 THE LAW IN THE PUOPHETS. in the latter chapters of Isaiah, compare 35. 9, is first found, Gen. 48. 16, where Jacob uses it of himself, " which redeemed me from all evil " ; and again, Exod. 6. 6, "I will redeem you"; and 15. 18, "The people which thou hast redeemed." v. 17. "I the God of Israel will not forsake them." Si as above, Deut. 31. 6. v. 29. " Their molten images.' 1 '' This word, nesek, is not used in the Pentateuch in this sense, but only in that of drink-offering. Isaiah, at 48. 5, again uses it as a molten-image, but in 57. 6, he uses it in the sense of a drink-offering. Jeremiah twice uses it for tnn/fi-n- imaye, 10. 14 and 51. 17, but everywhere else it is drink-offer in'j. 42. 4. " The isles shall wait for his law." Compare Gen. 49. 10, " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver, &c., and unto him shall the gathering (or obedience) of peoples be." The verb is not found in the Pentateuch except at Gen. 8. 12, "And he st