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YALE UNIVERSITY
Xibrarg of the ©toimtg School
GIFT OF
Douglas dlgde JWacintosh
DAVIGHT PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY
DWIGHT PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY AND
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
1916-1942
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THE DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS

Ea loquuntur Prophetab Dei quae atjdiunt ab eo,
nihilque aliud est Propheta Dei, nisi entjntiator verborum
Dei iiominibus.
Quid ergo? oum lbgimus, obliviscimur quemadmodum
LOQUI SOLBAMUS ? An ScRIPTURA Dei ALITER NOBISCUM FUERAT
QUAM NOSTRO MORE LOOUTURA ? S. AlJGUSTINUS.

THE DOCTKINE OF THE
PEOPHETS
THE \VARBURTONIAN LECTURES
For 1886-1890

BY

A. F. KIKKPATBICK, D.D.
MASTER OF SELWYN COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
REGIU8 PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE
CANON OF ELY CATHEDRAL, AND EXAMINING CHAPLAIN
TO THE LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER

THIRD EDITION

ILonion
MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited
NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1906

First Edition 1892. Second Edition 1897
Third Edition igoi, 1906

TO THE
Reverend ARTHUR GRAY BUTLER, M.A.
FELLOW AND TUTOR OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD,
AND FIRST HEAD MASTER OF HAILBYBURT COLLEGE,
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED BY HIS OLD PUPIL,
AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF REGARD AND AFFECTION,
AND IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
STIMULATIVE TEACHING, WISE COUNSEL,
AND UNVARYING KINDNESS,
MPCCCLXIII — MDCCCLXVII.
•J"
Sursum ffiotfja.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
This volume contains the Lectures delivered upon
the foundation of Bishop Warburton in the Chapel
of Lincoln's Inn during the years 1886-1890, by
the kind permission of the Benchers given in accord
ance with the desire of the Founder. The original
Lectures have been in some cases re -written and
expanded, and the series has been completed by the
addition of Lectures not actually delivered. But it
has seemed best to allow the book to retain the
style and character given to it by the circumstances
of its origin, rather than to 'recast it into a more
formal shape. I had at one time intended to add
some critical and exegetical notes to the Lectures ;
but with a few exceptions this plan has been
abandoned, partly because the volume had already
grown to its full limits, and partly because I now
hope that, for a portion of the field traversed, such
notes may find a more suitable resting-place else
where.

viii THE DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS
I desire to acknowledge most fully my obligations,
direct and indirect, to the many authors whose works
have been consulted during a long course of study.
These Lectures lay no claim to originality, save in so
far as I have endeavoured to make the statements
contained in them my own by careful study of the
prophetic writings themselves, with all the helps at
my disposal so far as time allowed. But no critic
can well be more sensible of the many defects of the
volume than its author. He lays down his pen
with the consciousness that the words of the son of
Sirach, applied by St. Augustine to the study of the
Psalter, are even more applicable to the study
of the Prophets. When a man hath done, then he
beginneth, and when he leaveth off, then he shall be
doubtful.1 It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that refer
ence is throughout intended to be made to the
Eevised Version. In some cases, where the differ
ence of rendering is important, I have called attention
to it by adding B. V. to the reference. In actual
quotations I have not scrupled to introduce fresh
renderings where it seemed possible to express the
meaning of the original more closely. I have, as a
1 Ecclesiasticus xviii. 7.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION ix
rule, restored Jehovah in place of Loed or God,
which, in accordance with the Jewish tradition, our
Versions generally substitute for the Sacred Name.
The pronunciation of that Name as Jehovah,
although not philologically defensible, is so far
naturalised in our language that it cannot easily be
displaced in favour of the presumably correct pro
nunciation Yahweh. But the correct pronunciation
is a matter of small importance, compared with the
recognition that it is a proper name, the sum
mary expression of God's revelation of Himself to
Israel. The object of these Lectures is to give some
account of the work of the Prophets in relation to
their own times ; to shew, letting each of them, as
far as possible, speak for himself, the contribution
made by each to the progress of revelation ; to point
out the unity in variety, and variety in unity, of
their teaching, testifying alike to the one divine
Source from which their inspiration was derived,
and to the diversity in the human instruments
through which He willed to communicate His
message. It may seem to some that the human,
personal, circumstantial elements of prophecy have
been unduly exaggerated, but I have desired always
«2

x THE DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS
to remember that while " Scripture speaks to men in
their own language," 1 the " prophets of God speak
what they hear from Him, and the prophet of God
is nothing else but the enunciator of the words of
God to men." 2
It may seem further that, especially in view of
the purpose of the Warburtonian Lecture as defined
by its Founder, I have devoted too little attention to
the consideration of special fulfilments of Prophecy.
But if it be true, as I have lately endeavoured to
shew elsewhere,3 that the evidential value of the
Old Testament to the mind of the present day rests
not merely or mainly on the fulfilment of specific
and circumstantial prophecies, but on the whole
drift and tendency of a manifold and complex pre
paration, in history, in life, in thought, pointing to
an end which it foreshadowed, but could not describe,
for which it prepared, but which it could not pro
duce, then the attempt to exhibit the distinctive
characteristics of the teaching of the Prophets in
relation to their own times may legitimately be
regarded as a contribution towards the elucidation
of the evidential value of the Old Testament. It
1 Cp. St. Aug. c. Faustum, xxxiii. 7.
2 St. Aug. Quaest. in Exod. c. 17.
3 In a paper on The Evidential Value of the Old Testament,
read at the Church Congress at Folkestone, 1892.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xi
was the function of the Prophets to prepare for the
coming of Christ not less than to predict it ; and
nothing can produce a firmer conviction of their
divine mission, than the consideration of the way
in which they were raised up from time to time to
meet the actual needs of great crises in the history
of Israel, as well as to point forward to the great
purpose of the ages. If thereby we gain an increased
conviction of the naturalness of Prophecy, we gain
at the same time an increasing conviction of its
supematuralness. Adaptation not less than marvel
is a characteristic of divine working ; and it is by
studying the ways of God in history that we come
to recognise His footprints.
It has been said by an acute observer of move
ments of theological thought and Biblical study,
that " the full rediscovering and full appropriating
of the Old Testament are the special problem of our
own day. . . . The fashioning of the methods by
which the secret of the Old Testament is to be
approached and elicited has taken many centuries.
We are not yet agreed about it ; but I do not think
that it is being too sanguine to feel that we are draw
ing nearer to it. We are beginning to feel the warmth
and the life and the reality come back to those
pale and shadowy figures. Isaiah and Hosea and

xii THE DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS
Jeremiah no longer walk in a limbus Patrum, but
we see them as they were among the forces by which
they were actually surrounded. We see what they
were as men ; we see what they were as exponents
of a message from God; we see the grand and
glorious ideas which stirred within them in all their
richness and fulness, conditioned, yet not wholly
conditioned, by the world of thought and action in
which they moved. We see these ideas linking
themselves together, stretching hands as it were
across the ages, the root-principles of the Old Testa
ment running on into the New, and there attaining
developments which may have been present to the
Divine Mind — though they cannot have been present
to the human instruments whose words went and
came at its prompting." *
The words are bold ; but at least they express the
aim and desire of those who, while they advocate the
most searching critical and historical study of the
Old Testament, retain a firm belief that it is the
inspired record of a unique divine revelation to
the world. The interpretation of the Bible is
not stationary but progressive. As successive cen
turies contributed to the construction of the Divine
Library, so successive centuries must contribute to
1 Sanday, The Oracles of God, pp. 118, 120.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xiii
its interpretation. It must not be supposed that
modern students of the Old Testament wish to
depreciate the students of past generations, or to
regard their own work as final. The answer of
Jerome to the charges of innovation so fiercely hurled
at him will be theirs. Quid igitur? damnamus
veteres ? minime : sed post priorum studia in domo
Domini quid possumus laboramus.1
" It is no less true now than ever it has been,
that the surest means of religious advance is to be
sought in renewed study of the Bible. What we
need especially at this moment is freshness, a real
getting at the heart of the matter instead of dally
ing with the outside. And I question if we shall
get this in any better way than by approaching our
task under the guidance of Criticism and History —
of Criticism and History not, as too often, dissevered
from, but united with, Beligion." 2
May these Lectures offer some help towards such
a more real understanding of the Prophets ; and better
still, may they direct their readers, if they shall find
any, to such a diligent and attentive study of the
Prophetic Books themselves, that, in the words of
1 Prologus in Genesin (Tom. ix, p. 6).
2 Sanday, op. cit. p. 126.

xiv THE DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS
Origen, they may feel, as they read, the traces of
their inspiration, and gain a firmer conviction that
they are in very truth no mere writings of men, but
the words of God.

Cambridge,
November 15, 1892.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The present edition of this book does not differ
substantially from the first, though it has been
revised in detail throughout. In thus re-issuing the
book without material change, I may seem to be
disregarding the various criticisms which it has
received. For the generally friendly tone of those
criticisms I am deeply grateful, and I am by no
means insensible to the force of many of them. But
a work of this nature deals with many questions
upon which difference of opinion is inevitable ; and
its limits compel the slight treatment or entire
omission of many topics which are undoubtedly
important, and may to some seem indispensable for
the proper treatment of the subject. It is possible
that fresh study of disputed problems may lead to
change of judgement, but the four years which have
elapsed since the first publication of the book have
been so fully occupied with other work that I have
had no leisure for such a thorough re-examination of

xvi THE DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS
the wide field covered in these lectures as could
alone justify me in abandoning opinions which
were not hastily formed. I have reason to believe
that, in spite of its many defects, the book has been
found helpful, and I trust that it may continue to be
of service, as an introduction to the study of the
Prophets of Israel. Through their words God still
reveals Himself to us as the All- Sovereign Euler of
the world, Who slowly yet surely carries His purposes
onward to their fulfilment. As we ponder reverently
on the marvellous patience and manifold wisdom of
the methods by which from age to age He prepared
the way for the supreme revelation of the Incarna
tion, faith is strengthened to believe that profound
mystery; strengthened too to believe that with equally
marvellous patience and manifold wisdom, He is
even now from age to age carrying forward to its
complete accomplishment all that the Incarnation
implies for the whole of humanity.
Cambridge,
January 22, 1897.

CONTENTS

LECTURE I
PAGE
Introduction 3

LECTURE II
Obadiah . . . . 33
LECTURE III
Joel 46
LECTURE IV
Amos . . 83
LECTURE V
HOSEA ...... 109
LECTURE VI
Isaiah the son of Amoz . . . 143

xvm THE DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS

Micah

LECTURE VII

PAGE 205

Nahum

LECTURE VIII

239

Zbphaniah .
Habakkuk .

LECTURE IX

LECTURE X

258

269

JeremiahEzekiel

LECTURE XI

LECTURE XII

291

326

LECTURE XIII

Isaiah of the Exile

353

LECTURE XIV
Haggai and Zechariah .

413

LECTURE XV

Zechariah ix-xiv

442

CONTENTS xix

LECTURE XVI
PAGE
Isaiah xxiv-xxvii ... . 479

LECTURE XVII
Malachi .... . 494
^' LECTURE XVIII
Christ the Goal of Prophecy . . 517
Chronological Table . . . 532
Index of some Passages commented on 539
General Index . . 541

INTEODUCTION

oi3Se yap 8ia 'IouSaiovs p,6vovs ol ¦Trpo^rjrai iirkfXTrovro
. . . irao-7?s St rfjs oiKovp.ivq'i fjcrav StScwrKaAiov lepbv tjjs
Trepl Qeov yi/iucrews Kal rrjs koto. ij/v)(7jv 7roXtT£tas.
For, indeed, it was not for the sake of the Jews alone
that the prophets were sent . . . but for the whole world
they were a sacred school of knowledge concerning God and
of spiritual life.
S. Athanasius.

LECTUEE I

INTRODUCTION

Gob, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by
divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days
spoken unto us in His Son. — Hebrews i. 1, 2.

The opening words of the Epistle to the Hebrews connexion
and contrast
affirm the connexion, while they contrast the char- oftujewu*.
J and Chns-
acter, of the Jewish and the Christian dispensa- ^^ttm
tions. It was the same God who spoke in both,
though the mode and the instruments of His com
munication with men in the two periods were widely
different. Of old time, in the long period which pre
ceded the Incarnation, He spoke to the fathers in the
prophets. The voices of that long succession of men
whom He raised up from time to time through a
period of more than a thousand years were the voice
of God. In them He spoke by divers portions and
in divers manners; or, as the inimitable words of
the original1 may be otherwise rendered, in many
1 iroXvfiepuJs Kal ToKvTp6TTOJS.

4 THE PREPARATION lect.
fragments and in many fashions. The revelation was
diversified, fragmentary, imperfect ; here a little and
there a little, line upon line, and precept upon pre
cept, as men needed and as they were able to bear it.
But in these latter days He has spoken to us in a Son.1
Unity is contrasted with variety. In Him the many
partial and fragmentary utterances are reconciled
and united. He is the one supreme and final revela
tion of God. The Messenger is Himself the message.
The whole of the New Testament is the delineation
and interpretation of His Person and His Work.
The one a There was an intimate and organic connexion be-
preparation
for the other, tween the two revelations. God, having spoken in the
prophets . . . spoke in His Son. The first revelation
was the necessary preparation for the second. The
second revelation was the fore-ordained sequel of
the first. This is not the peculiar doctrine of the
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is the
unanimous teaching of the whole New Testament.
Our Lord Himself repeatedly declared that the old
dispensation looked forward to Him. Evangelists
and Apostles were but following His example when
they taught that in all its parts it was the manifold
preparation for His Coming. If the Incarnation is
indeed a fact, if God has indeed spoken to us in His
Son, if the New Testament is in any degree a faithful
1 This is the literal rendering of the Greek, in which the pronoun
His is not expressed. It lays stress on the nature and quality of
Christ, not upon His personality. The one who is a son is con
trasted with the many who were servants.

i FOR THE INCARNATION 5
record of His teaching and of the teaching of those
who received their instruction from His lips, then
the divine choice of the nation of Israel to be the
object of a special discipline and the recipient of an
unique revelation cannot possibly be called in ques
tion. The view which regards the religion of Israel
as only " one of the principal religions of the world,"
maintaining that between it and all the other forms
of religion " there exists no specific difference," * is,
to the believing Christian, absolutely untenable.
For it assumes that all religions alike are but "so
many manifestations of the religious spirit of man
kind,'' and that there is no such thing as a special
divine revelation. Let us fully admit that God left
not Himself vnthout witness among the heathen
nations of antiquity ; that many strivings, and very
noble strivings, after truth are to be found in other
religions than that of Israel ; that these too in their
appointed way formed part of the divine preparation
for the Incarnation ; yet from the Christian point of
view it is impossible to class them together. Chris
tianity stands apart from all other religions as the
final revelation of God to man, and the religion of
Israel stands apart from all other pre-Christian re
ligions as the special preparation for that unique
event which is the fundamental fact of Christianity.
The nation of Israel was the organ of a special Theo.T.
the inspired.
divine revelation, and the Old Testament is the record of
this prepar
ation.
1 Kuenen, Religion of Israel, E.T., vol. i, p. 5.

6 THE PURPOSE leot.
divinely ordered record of that revelation. It can
only be rightly understood when it is studied in the
light of this specific purpose. Viewed as a history
of the nation of Israel, it tantalises by its dis
appointing fragmentariness. It gives little or no
account of many of the most important periods of
national development. It affords little or no insight
into many of the most instructive features of national
life. Viewed as a literature, it is, as a whole, in
ferior to the literature of Greece and Eome. But
when it is viewed as the record of the divine train
ing of the nation which was chosen to be the recipient
of a special revelation, its peculiar characteristics
receive their explanation. When it is viewed as the
record of the revelation made to Israel and through
Israel, in itself preparatory and imperfect, but ever
looking forward to some future fuller manifestation
of God to men, ever yearning for a real ' fulfilment,'
its many voices are found to combine in a true har
mony. The Old Testament is unique as a national
literature in virtue of the essential unity of spirit
and purpose which characterises it notwithstanding
the wide diversity of date and variety of form of its
different elements; in virtue of the progressiveness
with which its teaching advances, not indeed uni
formly or without any check or retrogression, but in
the main and on the whole, from an outward and
material to an inward and spiritual conception of
religion ; in virtue of its steady outlook, in spite of

i OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 7
manifold disappointments, towards an age to come,
which forms the goal of divine purpose for Israel
and for the world. This unity, this progressiveness,
this hope, are rightly regarded as marks of its divine
origin, and proofs of the inspiration of its authors.
It was the office of Israel to prepare for Christ,
and it is the function of the Old Testament to bear
witness to Christ. But its message to the Christian
Church is not exhausted in this its prophetic and
propaedeutic character. It is placed in the hands of
the Christian Church as still profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in
righteousness. It has an abiding moral and spiritual
value. For us who read it with the light of fuller
revelation reflected back upon it, it bears a larger
and deeper sense than that which those to whom its
words were originally addressed could possibly have
recognised. II
When this lecture was founded by Bishop War- Present
position of
burton more than a century ago,1 with the object ^jj!T£
of elucidating the evidential value of prophecy, the Pr°Phecy-
argument from prophecy and the argument from
miracles were regarded as two of the most con
vincing proofs of the truth of Christianity.2 In the
previous century Pascal could say, " La plus grande
1 In 1768.
2 See e.g. Butler's Analogy, Part ii, ch. vii.

8 THE ARGUMENTS lect.
des preuves de Jesus-Christ, ce sont les propheties." }
But in the present day miracles which were once
appealed to as a ground of belief, are in many quarters
treated as a hindrance to belief, while by many it is
denied that there is any such clear correspondence
between prophecy and its alleged fulfilment as to
constitute a proof of the divine origin of Christianity.
It is not my purpose to discuss the causes of this
change of view at length. Scientific research has
"placed in a clearer light the symmetry and order
of external nature, and invested the idea of law with
an absolute majesty inconceivable at an earlier time."
A naturalistic theory of the world banishes God
from the pages of history. Historical criticism chal
lenges the accuracy of ancient records. Deeply as
the extreme results of these tendencies of modern
thought are to be deplored, they have not been with
out a wholesome influence upon Christian thought.
They have taught us to look for God's revelation of
Himself in His ordinary not less than in His extra
ordinary modes of working. The fixed laws of Nature,
unknown to an earlier age, are in a true sense powers
which testify to the majesty of Him who established
them and maintains them in operation. The pheno
mena of Nature are signs which manifest His glory
to the eye of faith, and there is no other faculty but
faith by which He can be seen. We have learnt to
look for the proofs of God's shaping of the history of
1 Pensies, ii. 11, 1.

i FROM PROPHECY AND MIRACLES 9
the world in the continuous discipline in which we
believe His hand can be traced, and in the pro
gressive teaching which we believe reflects His mind,
rather than in isolated interpositions and special
predictions. It cannot be denied that in former times a dis
proportionate value was attached to the arguments
from miracles and prophecy, and that an undue
stress was laid upon the least important aspects of
them. The more astounding to the senses a miracle
appeared to be, the more convincing an exhibition of
divine omnipotence was it thought to offer. "The
particular details, inaccessible by inference from
general principles or other rational means, seemed
to apologists of special importance in proving the
supernatural origin of prophecy. The predictions of
single incidental circumstances seemed the most
striking." 1
But now these arguments are recognised as taking
a subordinate though real place among the evidences
of Christianity, and the nature of their evidence has
been placed in a truer light. Miracles are regarded
as vehicles rather than as proofs of revelation; as the
manifestation of a higher law, or the promise of the
restoration of the true order which has been inter
rupted by sin. While circumstantial predictions are
not to be denied, comparatively little stress is to be
laid upon them. They cannot always be authenti-
1 Orelli, Old Testament Prophecy, p. 27 (E.T.).

10 PRESENT POSITION lect.
cated. For example, the prediction of a Josiah or a
Cyrus by name centuries before they were born was
at one time regarded as an irrefragable proof of the
inspiration of the record. Such predictions would
no doubt be a very remarkable proof that the
prophets who delivered them were the agents of
an omniscient Being, if we could be sure that they
were really predictions. But the Book of Kings did
not take its present form till after the reign of
Josiah, and the name of Josiah may easily have
been an addition to the original narrative; while
many arguments combine to prove that the later
chapters of the Book of Isaiah were not written
until the lifetime of Cyrus.
But even when circumstantial predictions can
be authenticated, they cannot be held to possess
the importance which was once attached to them.
Isolated predictions of this kind give little informa
tion as to the character and purposes of God. They
may serve to attract attention and appeal to the
temper of mind which seeks for a sign, but they will
not satisfy the more thoughtful student. For him
the contemplation of the wider characteristics of
prophecy as a whole will furnish a more solid if less
startling proof of its divine origin.
The 'argument from prophecy' must be based
upon the broadest possible foundation. Appeal must
be made to the whole of the Old Testament as the
record of the preparation for Christ's coming. For

i OF THE ARGUMENT FROM PROPHECY 11
as it has well been said, the Old Testament does not
merely contain prophecies, but is in itself throughout
a prophecy. And in dealing with those parts of the
Old Testament which contain the teaching of the
prophets, appeal must be made not to the predictive
elements of prophecy only, but to the work of the
prophets as a whole. That work must be regarded
in its entirety as one great factor in God's revelation
of Himself to Israel, preparing the way for the fuller
revelation to come, not less than as the fore-announce
ment of His purpose to make that revelation, and of
the mode in which it was to be made. We shall
claim to find in Christ, not the fulfilment of the
predictions of the prophets only, but the consumma
tion and realisation of the whole of their teaching.
In the harmony of the two revelations we shall hear
the voice of God speaking to men, not the voices of
men striving to express their aspirations after God.
The prophecies are not human ideals, but divine ideas.
But the argument is only one among many
arguments for the truth of Christianity; and it is
more properly addressed to believers for the support
and confirmation of their faith than to unbelievers
for the removal of their doubts. What has been
said of miracles is true of prophecy. It "belongs
properly to the believer and not to the doubter. It
is a treasure rather than a bulwark. It is in its
inmost sense instruction, and not evidence." 1
1 Bishop Westcott, Characteristics of the Gospel Miracles, p. 7.

12 CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL STUDY leot-
III
Gains from Christian students of the Old Testament, who
hostilecriticism, stetict from the premiss that it is the divinely inspired
record of a divinely ordered preparation for a divinely
purposed end, and who retain their belief that the
Holy Ghost "spake by the prophets," need not
hesitate to acknowledge that they owe a debt to
hostile criticism. There are three points in particular
in which they have made a decided advance in recent
years towards the general adoption of sounder methods
of interpretation, and the use of safer if less startling
arguments. They have learnt to study the Old Testa
ment critically and historically ; to take account of a
wider view of prophecy ; to offer a more reasonable
conception of the fulfilment of prophecy.
1. Christian students have come to recognise
that the Old Testament must be studied critically
and historically. It is their duty to examine,
frankly and fearlessly, all that can be ascertained
with regard to the origin and date of the several
books, the genuineness of the text, the character of
the record, and all the problems which necessarily
arise in the examination and interpretation of ancient
documents. They will not dissect the volume with
irreverent hands as though anxious to demonstrate
that it never had or could have a living unity, but
they will seek to exhibit more fully the nature and
the correlation of the complex parts which constitute

I OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 13
the organism in which the life is manifested. It is
no less their duty to study the Old Testament his
torically ; to endeavour to realise the relation of
each book to the conditions and ideas of the age in
which it was produced, and to the whole history and
revelation of which it forms a part. This is especially
important in the study of the prophets. The Pro
phecies of the Old Testament, like the Epistles of
the New Testament, had what may be called a
circumstantial origin. Each prophecy, as a rule,
bears the stamp of its own age ; it is couched in the
terms of its own particular epoch; it is shaped to
meet the special needs of those to whom it was first
addressed ; it bears the impress of the character and
the training of the individual through whom it was
given. For every fiery prophet in old times,
And all the sacred madness of the bard,
When God made music thro' them, could but speak
His music by the framework and the chord.1
2. Christian students have learnt to take a larger
view of the prophet's work. The prophet was not
merely, I might even say he was not chiefly, a pre
dictor. He was not so much a foreteller as a forth-
teller. Insight not less than foresight was the gift
of the seer. The precise original meaning of the
Hebrew word for prophet is much disputed, but
1 Tennyson, The Holy Grail, p. 85.

14 COMPLEX CHARACTER lect.
certainly it does not in itself contain the idea of
prediction. In usage it denotes one who is the
spokesman or interpreter of God to men,1 one who
is the medium through which divine revelations are
conveyed, rather than one who is endowed with the
power of foreknowledge, though this may be one of
his gifts.
The prophet's work concerned the past, the pre
sent, and the future. The prophets were the historians
of Israel.2 They regarded the history of the nation
from a religious standpoint. They traced the direct
control of Jehovah over the fortunes of His people,
in mercy and in judgement. It was their function to-
record and interpret the lessons of the past for the
warning and encouragement of the present and the
future. Their work was concerned with the present. They
were preachers of righteousness. They summoned
men to repentance, setting before them the goodness
and the severity of God. The relation of Jehovah to
His people, and the consequent duty of Jehovah's
people to Him, side by side with the duty of man to
his neighbour, arising out of that mutual relation-
1 Comp. Exod. vii. 1 : " See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh :
and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet," with Exod. iv. 16 :
" He shall be thy spokesman unto the people : and it shall come
to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him
as God."2 It will be remembered that the Books of Joshua, Judges,
Samuel, and Kings are classed in the Jewish Canon as "the
former prophets."

i OF THE WORK OF THE PROPHETS 15
ship, were the constant themes of their teaching. It
was their work to make known the Will of God,
and to urge men to bring their lives into harmony
with that Will. They were unceasingly engaged
in advancing the knowledge of His character and
requirements. Yet none the less were they concerned with the
future ; and that not merely by way of general
promises of reward and threatenings of punishment,
but with the full conviction that they were the
appointed heralds of the divine purpose for Israel,
and through Israel for the world. The manifestation
of salvation in the fullest sense ; the advent of
Jehovah Himself to be the Eedeemer of His people ;
the establishment of His kingdom upon earth : these
were the lofty hopes which they were commissioned
to proclaim. And it was their task not only to
announce the divine purpose, but to prepare the way
for its realisation.
3. Christian students have learnt a truer concep
tion of what is meant by the fulfilment of prophecy.
Prophecy and fulfilment were once supposed to be
related as the reflection in a mirror to the object
reflected. The complete course of future events was
thought to have been mapped out in a way intelligible
to the prophet and his contemporaries. Prophecy
was considered as being throughout "inverted
history." Even Bishop Butler could say that " pro
phecy is nothing but the history of events before

16 FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY lect.
they come to pass." x It was expected that the fulfil
ment would correspond exactly to' the prediction.
Many of the objections which have been levelled
against the Christian view of the relation of the Old
Testament to the New Testament rest in great
measure upon the erroneous assumption that this
mechanical view of prophecy and fulfilment is what
the defenders of the faith are pledged to maintain.
But fulfilment is related to prophecy rather as the
plant with all its beauty of leaf and flower and fruit
is related to the seed from which it has sprung. The
connexion can be traced : the microscope can detect
the parts of the future plant wrapped up in the
envelope of the seed ; but it could not foretell, apart
from experience, what the full growth will bring, or
how the minute and colourless rudiments will de
velop into rich variety of form and colour. The
envelope is necessary to contain and protect the
germ; but it is not itself the life -principle of the
future plant. And so, prophecy contains the germ
which is to spring up in a new form in the fulfilment ;
the principle which will in due time receive its
legitimate development. It is the outline which will
be filled in and take definite shape. The inner idea,
and not the form in which that idea is conveyed, is
the essential part of a prophecy. The form in which
the idea is embodied is largely human, determined
by the conditions of the prophet's age and varying
1 Analogy, Part ii, ch. vii.

I FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY 17
from time to time accordingly. The fulfilment, which
is the evolution of the essential idea, is greater than
the prophecy. It drops the envelope which served
to contain it. It grows up out of it. It unites
elements which existed separately, the combination
of which, apart from the fulfilment, could not have
been foreseen. That it is a true realisation of what
was fore-designed in the divine purpose, and foretold
by inspired prophets, will be recognised without
hesitation by the believer. It will not compel belief,
any more than any other spiritual truth, but it will
confirm belief. IV
I propose in this Course of Lectures to approach scope and
the prophecies of the Old Testament from the point these
L lectures.
of view of their delivery rather than of their fulfil
ment. I propose to limit the inquiry to the teaching
of those prophets whose writings have come down to
us. I do not propose to carry it further back into
the age which preceded the age of written prophecy,
or to continue it into New Testament times. I pro
pose to examine the teaching of each prophet in
relation to the circumstances and the needs of his
own time ; to endeavour to estimate the special con
tribution made by each to the progress of revela
tion and the development of the Messianic hope ; to
sketch out, so far as it may be possible to do so in a
short compass, the doctrine of the prophets in its
c

18 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER leot.
historical development as the message of Jehovah to
Israel in successive periods, and the preparation for
the fuller revelation of the kingdom of God in Christ.
The plan will involve some repetition. But it is
worth while to treat each prophet separately, even at
the expense of some repetition, if by so doing we may
realise better the unity in variety which character
ises their message. Each prophet has his own marked
individuality of style, of thought, of teaching; but
they all combine to promote one common end, the
furtherance and the establishment of the kingdom
of God. At the same time it is necessary to beware
of generalising too rigidly, and "making particular
prophets the exponents of merely a single concep
tion," to the exclusion of " other conceptions, which,
though less prominent, are present, either expressed
or suggested. Broad distinctions are rare in the Old
Testament. The course of revelation is like a river,
which cannot be cut up into sections." 1

oftherder •"•*" W^ ^e convenient at once to take a rapid
prophets. survey of the chronological order of the canonical
prophets, distinguishing those whose dates are certain
from those whose dates rest upon internal evidence,
and can only be determined with more or less prob-
1 A. B. Davidson in The Expositor, 3rd Ser. vol. vi, p. 163.

I OF THE CANONICAL PROPHETS 19
ability. Those of the former class may be arranged
in three groups.
1. The prophets of the eighth century, or the
Assyrian period (B.C. 760-700), in which Assyria first
began seriously to interfere in the affairs of Palestine,
and the kingdom of Israel finally succumbed to its
power. To this period belong Amos (c. 760) and
Hosea (c. 755-740), Isaiah (c. 740-700) and Micah
(c. 735-725 ?). The two former exercised their
ministry in Israel, and foretold the downfall of the
Northern Kingdom ; the two latter prophesied in
Judah, in the momentous crisis when it seemed that
it must share a similar fate.
2. The prophets of the seventh century, or the
Chaldean period (b.c. 640-570), in which Babylon
took the place of Nineveh as the mistress of the
world, and Jerusalem fell before the Chaldean in
vader. First in this period comes Nahum (c. 640 ?),
who raises a triumphant psean over the impending
fall of Nineveh : next to him Zephaniah (c. 630-622),
with his message of the day of judgement at hand for
Jerusalem : and after him Habakkuk (c. 609-607),
with his bold questionings of the ways of Providence.
The long ministry of Jeremiah (627-577), to whom
was assigned the bitter task of delivering an unheeded
message of admonition, and watching the agony of
his nation's dissolution, covered the period in which
the two last-named prophets flourished, and was
continued for many years subsequently. Contem-

20 CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER lect.
poraneously with the latter part of it Ezekiel was
prophesying to the exiles in Babylonia (592-570).
3. To the period after the Return from Babylon
belong Haggai (520), Zechariah (520-518), and
Malachi (c. 435 ?). The two former encouraged the
fainting spirits of the returned exiles to rebuild the
Temple ; the latter probably supported the reforms
of Nehemiah nearly a century later, and closed the
series of canonical prophets.
With regard to the dates of these prophets there
is but little variation of opinion. But where shall we
place Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah xxiv-xxvii and xl-lxvi,
Zechariah ix-xiv? Should Obadiah be dated as
early as the reign of Jehoram (b.c. 848-844) ; or
shortly after the Fall of Jerusalem ? Should Joel be
placed in the early part of the reign of Joash (b.c.
837-817), or in the period after the Eeturn from
Babylon ? Not without some hesitation I have come
to the conclusion that the evidence is in favour of the
earlier dates, and treated these prophets as belonging
to the pre- Assyrian period. That the Book of Con
solation now attached to the Book of Isaiah (chaps.
xl-lxvi) was the work not of Isaiah but (in the main
at least) of a prophet or prophets towards the close
of the Babylonian Exile seems to me a certain con
clusion from internal evidence. The closing chapters
of the Book of Zechariah present a difficult problem,
but I am inclined to think that, although not the
work of Zechariah, but of two other writers, they

i OF THE CANONICAL PROPHETS 21
stand in their right position among the post-exilic
prophets, and in all probability belong to the period
between Zechariah and Malachi. To the same period
I am disposed to refer the remarkable prophecy in
chapters xxiv-xxvii of the Book of Isaiah.
I have excluded the Book of Jonah and the Book
of Daniel from consideration. The former is not the
record of a prophet's teaching but the account of a
prophet's work. Though it stands among the Twelve
Minor Prophets it is wholly unlike the remaining
eleven. It is emphatically, as a Jewish tradition calls
it, "a book by itself,"1 and important as are the
lessons which it conveys, it has no claim to be in
cluded in a study of prophetic teaching. The Book
of Daniel is not reckoned among the prophets in
the Jewish Canon, and belongs to the study of
apocalyptic rather than of prophetic literature.
Some minor fragments embedded in larger books
have also been passed over.

VI
In this sketch of the succession of the prophets the The right of
criticism.
right of literary criticism to set aside the tradition of
the Jewish Church concerning the authorship and
date of books or portions of books has been assumed.
A few words must be said in justification of that
1 Midrash Bemidbar (c. 18), quoted in Ryle, Canon of the Old
Testament, p. 194. See Wiinsche, Bibliothtca Rabbinica, p. 451.

22 THE LEGITIMACY OF CRITICISM lect.
right.1 The conclusions of criticism rest upon such
grounds as those of historical allusions, literary style,
characteristic doctrines. They are probable, not
demonstrative, and in different cases reach very
different degrees of probability. A prejudice is
sometimes raised against the conclusions of criticism
by the allegation that it springs ultimately from a
desire to deny the predictive character of prophecy.
It is possible that this may have been a motive with
some of its advocates. But it is not so with others.
They do not start with any theory of the impossibility
of prediction. For them — to take a concrete example
— the question with regard to the last twenty-seven
chapters of Isaiah is not whether Isaiah could have
uttered the predictions they contain, but whether the
historical situation which they presume is that of
Isaiah's lifetime; whether the style is such that
these chapters can reasonably be supposed to have
proceeded from the same pen as the acknowledged
prophecies of Isaiah; whether the characteristic
doctrines differ from the doctrines of those pro
phecies in a way which can only be accounted
for by a considerable interval of time, and the
1 See further my Divine Library of the Old Testament, Lectures
i and ii. It is perhaps worth while observing that the principle of
literary criticism is fully admitted by one of my most distinguished
predecessors in the Warburtonian Lectureship, whose orthodoxy
has been generally regarded as unimpeachable ; and its application
to the later chapters of Zechariah is accepted as proving that they
cannot be ascribed to Zechariah or his age. I refer to Davison,
On Prophecy, pp. 277, 230 (ed. 1856).

I THE LEGITIMACY OF CRITICISM 23
occurrence in that interval of an unparalleled cata
strophe. It is sometimes urged that such questions ought
to be regarded as settled by the authority of the New
Testament. On this point I may be allowed to refer
to what I have said elsewhere.1 I can only repeat
that it is difficult to see how our Lord and His
Apostles (with reverence be it said) could have done
otherwise than accept the current nomenclature of
the time. The critical questions and the issues
which they raise were not before them; and their
acceptance of what was then universally believed
cannot legitimately be held to preclude critical
inquiry, any more than their acceptance of current
ideas upon physical questions is regarded as a bar to
scientific research. VII
Two questions of no slight interest and importance character
and ar-
arise in regard to the contents and arrangement of ranaement
° ° of the pro-
the prophetic books. They have an important bear- Phetic<>oou
ing upon their interpretation, and a few general
remarks must be made here, which will receive
detailed illustration as we proceed. What is the
character of the records of prophecy which have been
preserved to us ? and what is the principle upon
which they have been arranged in the different books?
1 Divine Library of the Old Testament, pp. 8 ff.

24 LITERARY CHARACTER lect.
The answers to these questions will naturally
vary in different cases. Some prophecies appear to
have been committed immediately to writing without
ever having been orally delivered. Other prophecies
were first orally delivered and then committed to
writing. Sometimes this was done by the prophet
himself; sometimes little more than reminiscences
preserved by the prophet's disciples appear to have
come down to us.
In some cases a prophecy was committed to
writing immediately after its delivery. In other
cases a long period of oral teaching preceded the
committal to writing, and we possess only a con
densed report giving the substance of teaching
spread over months or even years, and fusing together
discourses delivered upon different occasions. A most
instructive account of a prophet's method of working
is preserved in the Book of Jeremiah (ch. xxxvi). He
prophesied for more than twenty years before he com
mitted anything to writing ; and the roll which he
then dictated to Baruch can obviously have contained
only a summary of his teaching during that period.
When he re- wrote it after its destruction by Jehoi-
akim, he made many additions to it, and this enlarged
roll forms only the basis of our present book, which
contains many later prophecies. Upon another
occasion he received a command to commit a
prophecy to writing without delay as a witness to
future ages (xxx. 1 ff.).

I OF THE PROPHETIC BOOKS 25
It would vastly simplify the student's task if
it could be assumed that the prophecies in each
book were arranged in chronological order. But
it is certain that this is not always the case.
While the principle of arrangement is generally in
the main chronological, this principle is to some extent
traversed and obscured by arrangement according to
subject-matter. Prophecies of cognate character in
style or thought have been grouped together. In
some instances collections of portions of the prophet's
works, published by himself or his disciples, preceded
the complete collection, and to some extent influenced
its arrangement. Consequently we may have to turn
to different parts of a book for illustration of the
prophet's teaching in a particular period, and we
cannot assume that the book as it stands will present
his teaching in an orderly progress and development.
Thus a wide variety of possibilities with regard
to the character and arrangement of the prophetic
books must be constantly taken into account. And
further, as has been already observed, some of the
prophetic books undoubtedly contain prophecies by
other prophets than those whose names they bear.
But that they have been altered and interpolated to
the extent which is maintained by some modern
critics is wholly improbable, and the arguments by
which these critics support their theories are often
based upon unproved hypotheses, and are of an ex
tremely arbitrary and subjective character.

26 IMPORTANCE OF lect.

VIII
importance The importance of the study of the prophets, and
of the pro-
phetsin especially of the prophets of the earliest period,
relation to .
m%%%£ in relation to the questions which are now being
debated with regard to the origin of the religion of
Israel, can hardly be exaggerated. In Amos, Hosea,
and the acknowledged parts of Isaiah, we are dealing
with documents the age of which is not disputed.
They occupy a position in the Old Testament analo
gous to the position which is occupied in the New
Testament by the acknowledged Epistles of St. Paul.
It is maintained by the school of critics which
regards the religion of Israel as a natural develop
ment and not as a divine revelation, that the
prophets of the eighth century were " the founders
of ethical Monotheism," in other words that they
were the first teachers of the moral character and
requirements of Jehovah. The careful study of
their writings affords the most convincing refutation
of this theory. If anything is clear from their
writings, it is that they do not regard themselves as
innovators but as reformers. They are striving to
recall the people to their allegiance to Jehovah, and
to raise practice to the level of belief. The standard
and the motive of right conduct is the knowledge of
God, which the people might have possessed, but
for their own carelessness and the neglect of their

I THE STUDY OF THE PROPHETS 27
teachers. Jehovah's word and His law have been
declared to them ; but they have despised His word
and transgressed His law. These prophets are con
scious of no discontinuity with the past. Amos
speaks of the prophets who had preceded him, with
out any doubt that he is their legitimate successor.
" The springs at least of all prophecy can be seen
in the two prophets of northern Israel [Amos and
Hosea] ; but the rains which fed those fountains fell
in the often unrecorded past." x The simple fact that
Amos, who went from Judah to prophesy to Israel,
and Hosea, who was a born Israelite, are agreed
in the fundamental principles of their teaching,
proves that the foundations of the religion of
Israel were firmly established before the Division
of the Kingdoms. Nor can there be any doubt
to what period the prophets referred the origin
of Israel's religion. It was to the Mosaic age, when
Jehovah entered into covenant with the nation
which He brought out of Egypt; though even in
the patriarchal period He had revealed Himself to
their ancestors.
But while on the one hand the earliest prophets
bear testimony to the antiquity of Jehovah's revela
tion of Himself to Israel, on the other hand they
cannot be held to afford proof of the existence of the
Pentateuch in its present form. They do not appeal
to a written law as the recognised standard of
1 A. B. Davidson, The Expositor, 3rd Ser. vol. vi, p. 163.

28 THE PROPHETS AND THE LAW lect.
conduct.1 The ' law ' or ' instruction ' of Jehovah of
which they speak is the equivalent of His ' word '
(Isa. i. 10'; ii. 3 ; v. 24). It is oral and not written.
It deals with morality, not with ceremonial. No
doubt a sacrificial system was in full operation.
The prophets repeatedly condemn the popular idea
that Jehovah could be propitiated by sacrifice with
out regard to the moral condition of the worshipper.
Festivals such as the new moon and Sabbath were
observed. There are allusions to the celebration of
the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. A body
of priests existed whose duty it was not merely to
maintain the established ritual of sacrifice, but to
instruct the people in their religious duties. Not a
few parallels to the language of Deuteronomy and
even of the priestly legislation may be collected.
But the whole drift of the teaching of the earlier
prophets indicates that the law, both moral and
ceremonial, was still in process of growth, and
though portions of both the legal and the historical
elements of the Hexateuch probably already existed
in writing, other portions were still preserved by
oral tradition. In fact we must think of ' the Law '
and ' the Prophets ' as concomitant rather than suc
cessive disciplines. Prophecy reached back to the
foundation of the law ; and the law went on growing
1 No such phrase as "the book of the law" occurs in them.
Hos. viii. 12 may imply the existence of written laws, but its
meaning is uncertain.

i THE PROPHETS AND THE LAW 29
side by side with prophecy. " It cannot be doubted
that Moses was the ultimate founder of both the
national and the religious life of Israel ; and that
he provided his people not only with at least the
nucleus of a system of civil ordinances (such as
would, in fact, arise directly out of his judicial
functions, as described in Exod. xviii), but also (as
the necessary correlative of the primary truth that
Jehovah was the God, of Israel) with some system of
ceremonial observances, designed as the expression
and concomitant of the religious and ethical duties
involved in the people's relation to its national God."
But "in process of time, as national life grew more
complex, and fresh cases requiring to be dealt with
arose," the original principles "would be found no
longer to suffice, and their extension would become
a necessity." l To the end, however, the law built
up upon the Mosaic foundation remained the Mosaic
law, and was revered as possessing the sanction of
its founder's authority.

IX
The historical study of the prophets in relation to vaiw.ofthe
historical
their own age may seem to some readers to be less method of
° ^ studying the
fruitful and less necessary than the study of them in Pr°Phets-
the light of their fulfilment. But I am confident
1 Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament,
6th ed., p. 152 f.

30 METHOD OF STUDY lect. i
that there is no other method by which so firm a
conviction can be gained that they were in very
truth what they claimed to be, the inspired mes
sengers of God; no better means by which an insight
may be obtained into the variety and vitality of their
message; no more certain way of attaining to an
assurance that by their agency God was training His
people for that greater revelation which was to be at
once the consummation of the past and the starting-
point of the future.
It has been well said that "at the present
stage in the progress of religious thought we
seem to need above all things to enter with a
living sympathy into the whole teaching of the
Bible, in its many parts and many forms ; to realise
with a historical, no less than with a spiritual
insight, what lessons it conveys and in what shape ;
in order that so we may be trained to recognise
and to interpret the fresh lessons which the One
Spirit is offering to us in other ways." J Towards
such a study of an important part of Holy Scripture
it is the aim of these Lectures to offer some con
tribution however small.
1 Bishop Westcott, The Revelation of the Risen Lord, p. xv.

PEOPHETS OF THE NINTH CENTUEY
OE PEE-ASSYEIAN PEEIOD
OBADIAH— JOEL

aAAa Kal at Trpo<f>ir]Teiai rot's p.rj Trapepyws evTvyydvowi
ry ev aureus Trpoyvtucrei iKavai p.01 eivai Sokovoti irpos to
ireurai tov o~vvtTO)<s a/xa Kal evyvwp.6v(n<i dvayiyvoxrKovra on
Qeov irvevfia -qv ev tois dvSpdcriv e/cetvois.
Moreover, if men study carefully the foreknowledge which
they display, the prophecies seem to me sufficient to persuade
him who reads them with intelligence and judgement that
the Spirit of God was in those men. Origbnes.

the book.

LECTURE II
OBADIAH
27te kingdom shall be Jehovah's. — Obadiah 21.

The brief prophecy which bears the name of Obadiah contents of
is directed against Edom. The nations are summoned
by Jehovah's messengers to make war upon Edom.
He has determined to humble Edom's pride; Edom's
arrogant confidence in the impregnability of his rock-
fortress will be undeceived. Edom will be plundered
by enemies and deserted by allies. His wise coun
sellors will become fools, his heroes cowards ; he is
doomed to utter destruction (1-9).
It is for his inhuman behaviour towards his
brother Jacob that this sentence is pronounced. For
in the day of Judah's humiliation and calamity,
when Jerusalem was taken and sacked by foreign
enemies, Edom was as one of them, rejoicing mali
ciously at Judah's disaster, sharing the plunder
cutting off the fugitives from escape (10-14).
D

34 OCCASION AND DATE leot.
But Jehovah's day of judgement for all the nations
is at hand, and Edom will not escape a just retri
bution. A remnant will remain in Jerusalem, and
Jerusalem will no more be desecrated by invaders :
but Edom will be utterly destroyed by the reunited
forces of Judah and Israel, who will take possession
not only of their own land, but of Edom on the east,
and Philistia on the west ; and Jehovah's kingdom
will be established securely (15-21).
II
Of the prophet himself nothing is known. All
that can be inferred from his prophecy is that he
was a native of Judah. Widely different opinions
are held as to the date at which he prophesied, some
placing him in the ninth century, others at the time
of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar,
others much later still. But the choice really lies
between the two first-named dates, the relative
claims of which we will proceed to consider.
occasion The occasion of the prophecy is obvious. It was
and date. some recent capture of Jerusalem, in which the Edom-
ites had been guilty of the grossest insult and injury
to Judah. They were not themselves the principal
assailants ; indeed it is not clear that they took part
in the attack ; but they had displayed an un-
brotherly spirit by their malignant delight at
Judah's calamity, by sharing in the plunder of the

n OF THE PROPHECY OF OBADIAH 35
city, by intercepting the fugitives, and butchering
them or surrendering them to be sold as slaves.
It is generally assumed that this sack of Jerusalem is u the de-
sf ruction of
can be no other than the capture and destruction of Jerusalem
the city by Nebuchadnezzar in B.C. 586. In support
of this view it is argued that the terms in which
the catastrophe which has befallen Jehovah's people
is described can refer to no less disastrous event.
It is spoken of as the day of distress, the day of their
calamity, the day of their destruction. Moreover the
spirit of bitter hostility to Edom which the prophecy
breathes is said to date from this time. It is
in the prophets of the exilic and the post -exilic
periods that we must look for the closest parallels
to Obadiah.1 But this view is traversed by a serious difficulty. Relation to
Jeremiah's prophecy against Edom (xlix. 7-22) con
tains much that is found in Obadiah. It is impossible
to regard Jeremiah as the original which Obadiah has
copied. Jeremiah's frequent practice of borrowing
from earlier prophets2 makes it a priori probable
that he is borrowing here : the passages common to
both prophets do not contain expressions which are
characteristic of Jeremiah, whereas the other parts
of the prophecy against Edom in Jer. xlix do con
tain such expressions : the prophecy in Obadiah is a
1 See Lam. iv. 21 f. ; Ezek. xxv. 12 ff. ; xxxv. 5 ff. ; Isa. xxxiv.
5 ff. ; lxiii. 1 ; Ps. cxxxvii. 7 ; 1 Esdras iv. 45, 50.
2 E.g. the prophecy against Moab in Jer. xlviii is largely de
pendent on Isa. xv, xvi.

Jeremiah.

36 RELATION OF OBADIAH lect
well-arranged whole, whereas in Jeremiah the same
matter is broken up and given in a far less forcible
and obvious order.
Did boa Now Jeremiah's prophecy against Edom appears
borrow from ¦,.> i p -r i • i •
an older to have been delivered in the fourth year of J ehoiakim
prophet ? (xlvi. 1 f.); at any rate before the destruction of
Jerusalem, for the judgement upon Judah is still
future (xlix. 12, R.V.). Either then Jeremiah is
not borrowing from the Book of Obadiah in its
present form, or Obadiah does not refer to the
capture of Jerusalem in B.C. 586. If the view is
maintained that Obadiah refers to that capture of
Jerusalem, the relation between his prophecy and
that of Jeremiah can only be explained by the
hypothesis that they are both borrowing from some
older prophecy against Edom. Jeremiah has treated
it freely and broken it up, while Obadiah has taken
it as a whole, and supplemented it by the addition
of the promise of Judah's restoration. In support of
this view it is urged that as the common matter
extends to the first nine verses of Obadiah only, it is
clear that this was all that Jeremiah had before
him; and that the inconsistencies, want of con
nexion, and difference of style, between these verses
and the later verses, point to a difference of author
ship. But it is by no means certain that Jeremiah had
only vv. 1-9 before him. The resemblance between
Jer. xlix. 12 and Obadiah 16 can hardly be accidental,

n TO THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 37
and suggests the probability that Jeremiah had the
conclusion of the prophecy before him, though he
made little use of it. It would be quite natural for
him to adopt the verses which describe the doom of
Edom, and to neglect those which describe Edom's
offence, if that offence lay in the remote past ; while
the latter part of the prophecy, which predicts the
restoration of Judah, lay entirely outside of his plan.
In view of the variety of representation which meets
us in almost every prophet it can hardly be seriously
argued that because the nations are summoned to
muster against Edom in v. 1, while in v. 18 the final
destruction of Edom is spoken of as the work of
reunited Israel, therefore these later verses cannot
be by the same author as the earlier ones. The
want of connexion and the difference of style
between the earlier and later verses are not so
pronounced that any stress can be laid upon
them. The hypothesis of a common original is no doubt
possible ; but it is only a hypothesis, and there is
much to be said in favour of the unity of the Book
of Obadiah. It forms a symmetrical whole. The
doom of Edom is naturally followed by the reason
for that doom, while the promise of the restoration
of Judah forms the natural counterfoil to the fate of
Edom, and an appropriate conclusion to the pro
phecy. There are links of connexion between the parts.

38 PROBABILITY OF AN EARLY DATE lect.
In both Edom is spoken of as Esau ; 1 in both Esau's
pride is condemned (vv. 3, 12) ; and the retribution
{v. 6) gains point when it is seen that it is like
for like (vv. 11, 13, 15). No doubt such links of
connexion might be due to a continuator, but they
are certainly in favour of the unity of the prophecy.
or u an When once however the assumption, that the
ofjerusa- calamity described must be the destruction of Jeru-
lem referred
toi ' salem in B.C. 586,is abandoned, it becomes unnecessary
to maintain the theory of composite authorship. And
a careful examination of the prophecy favours the
view that it is not the final destruction of Jerusalem
which is here referred to.
There is not the slightest hint that the Temple
and the city have been destroyed; there is no
allusion, such as we find in Ezekiel (xxxv. 10 ff), to
the Edomites taking possession of the south country ;
there is no explicit reference to the Chaldeans, or to
Nebuchadnezzar,2 or to the wholesale deportation of
the nation to Babylon.3 The attempt to account for
1 Esau, v. 6 ; the mount of Esau, vv. 8, 9, 19, 21 ; the house of
Esau, v. 18. Edom only occurs in the title, and in v. 8, where the
parallelism requires an alternative name. But Esau = Edom is
rare. The language of Jer. xlix. 8, 10 is influenced by Obadiah.
In Mai. i. 2, 3 Esau and Jacob are the ancestors of the nations.
Children of Esau occurs in Deut. ii. 4, 8, 12, 22, 29.
2 Contrast Jer. xlix. 19, 22.
* Obad. 20 is very obscure ; but, by the help of a slight emenda
tion, we may perhaps adopt the rendering of R.V. : The captivity
of this host of the children of Israel, which are among the Canaanites,
shall possess even unto Zarephath ; and the captivity of Jerusalem
which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South. The

ii FOR THE PROPHECY OF OBADIAH 39
this silence by assigning the prophecy in its com
pleted form to a date long after the destruction of the
city is extremely unsatisfactory. The calamity, what
ever it was, was certainly recent ; and the language
of v. 12 perhaps implies that a repetition of Edom's
offence was possible, which would not have been the
case after the final destruction of the city.1
But if the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Chaldeans was not the occasion of the prophecy,
what calamity was it that is referred to ? Certainly
not the sack of Jerusalem by Shishak (1 Kings xiv.
25, 26), for Edom was then subject to Judah ; nor
the capture of the city by Joash in the reign of
Amaziah (2 Kings xiv. 13, 14), for the Israelites
could not be described as strangers and foreigners
(v. 11). There remains the capture and plundering
of the city by the Philistines and Arabians in the
reign of Jehoram, B.C. 848-844. To this it seems
most probable that Obadiah refers. It is true that
the brief account in 2 Chron. xxi. 16, 17 does not
mention the Edomites ; but the historical books are
first-mentioned captives will be those among the Phoenicians, who
trafficked in Israelite slaves (cp. Amos i. 9) : the second possibly
those to whom Joel refers as having been sold away to Ionia. See
p. 70.1 The literal rendering of vv. 12 ff. is that of the R.V., Look not
thou, etc. Either the prophet throws himself back to the time of
the offence, and reproves the Edomites as if they were actually com
mitting it ; in which case the rendering of the R.V. {thou shouldest
not have looked, etc. ) will be virtually, though not grammatically,
correct ; or he throws his reproof into the form of an admonition
because a repetition of the offence is still possible.

40 RELATION OF OBADIAH lect
equally silent about the part which the Edomites
played at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchad
nezzar. Evidently they were not the chief actors ;
but it was natural that just at this time they should
have joined in the raid with a view to plunder, for
they had recently revolted from Judah (2 Kings viii.
20 ff.). The condemnation of Edom's pride (vv. 3 ff.)
is specially appropriate, if they had but lately asserted
their independence.
Relation of This early date for Obadiah falls in with the
Obadiah to
Joel and allusions to his prophecy m Joel, and with the
references to Edom in Amos. Joel, as I hope to shew
presently, prophesied during the early part of the
reign of Joash (b.c 837-817 ?). He was familiar
with the words, or the writings, of Obadiah. In
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that
escape, as Jehovah hath said (Joel ii. 32), appears to
be a distinct reference to Obad. 17; and the last
chapter of Joel contains several allusions to
Obadiah.1 Amos condemns Edom for unbrotherly conduct
towards Israel (i. 11), singling out precisely the
same point in Edom's guilt as Obadiah (vv. 10, 12),
and for trafficking in Israelite slaves, an offence
closely akin to the behaviour condemned by Obadiah
(v. 14). Many years had then elapsed since the events
1 Comp. Joel iii. 3 with Obad. 11 ; iii. 7, 8 with Obad. 15 ; iii. 17
with Obad. 11, 17 ; iii. 19 with Obad. 10, observing that both
passages refer to Edom. Of course this argument falls through, if
Joel is to be placed after the exile.

It TO JOEL AND AMOS 41
to which Obadiah refers, and the bitterness of feeling
which was natural while the memory of Edom's
revolt and insolence was still fresh, had been some
what softened. The brevity of the oracle of Amos
against Edom does not admit of detail, but the
relation of the two peoples is essentially the same,
and the words of Amos are best explained if Obadiah's
prophecy had preceded. But once more ; Amos looks
forward to the restoration of a united Israel under
the house of David, which will possess the remiiant of
Edom (ix. 11, 12), and herein he repeats the prophecy
of Obadiah, who foretells that the house of Jacob and
the house of Joseph will consume the house of Esau,
and the dwellers in the south of Judah will spread
over the mount of Esau.1

Ill
The teaching of the Book of Obadiah is extremely Teaching of
° Obadiah.
simple. Edom's pride is to be humbled; Edom is
to be judged for his brutal conduct toward the people
of Jehovah, which is the more heinous because of the
relationship between them.
1 The meaning of Sepharad in Obad. 20 is much too uncertain
to be made the basis of an argument. But the Persian inscriptions
of Darius repeatedly name Cparda in close connexion with Jaund
or the Ionians (Schrader, Cuneif. Inscr. p. 446). It has been sug
gested that Cparda is probably Sardis ; and if Sepharad =Sa,rdis,
the passage may refer to the sale of Israelite slaves to the Ionian
Greeks of which Joel speaks (iii. 6). Sayce (Rec. of the Past, ser.
2, vol. vi, p. viii) identifies it with Bithynia and Galatia.

42 TEACHING OF OBADIAH lect.
But the judgement of Edom is only one item in a
larger judgement; for the day of Jehovah is near
upon all the nations. That day will be a day
of reckoning and retribution. In the great conflict
between good and evil, represented by Jehovah's
people on the one side, and the nations which con
spire to destroy them on the other, the cause of
Jehovah's people must prevail. The enemies of
Jehovah's kingdom must be defeated. While the
mount of Esau lies desolate, the mount of Zion will
no more be profaned by the foot of the invading
stranger. The captive exiles will be restored to
their home ; Judah and Israel will be reunited ; and
the final result reached in the closing words of the
prophecy is that to which all Israel's history pointed,
the kingdom shall be Jehovah's.
But we are still within the narrow limits of
Palestine. No larger hope is expressed of the in
clusion of the nations in that kingdom. This agrees
with the early date of the prophecy. The nations,
as in Joel, are the objects of judgement, not of
grace. Not until Israel comes into actual contact
with Assyria and Egypt in the days of Isaiah
and Micah, does the truth emerge that Israel's
mission is to achieve a spiritual conquest of all
the nations.
As in Amos, the picture of the future is a picture
of temporal prosperity. Israel will possess its own
land in undisturbed security, and Jehovah will reign

n TEACHING OF OBADIAH 4S
over them there ; but the moral renewal of the people
under His rule is not mentioned either as a necessity
or as a hope. As in Amos, there is no reference to
one special deliverer, the Messianic King. Deliverers
are spoken of, who will come up on mount Zion to
judge the mount of Esau; and the term recalls the
days of the Judges who were raised up from time
to time to fulfil a special work (Jud. iii. 9, 15 ;
Neh. ix. 27). IV
If Obadiah prophesied in the reign of Jehoram, no Fulfilment,
long interval elapsed before Edom was chastised and
Obadiah's prophecy was in part fulfilled. Amaziah
captured Sela, the rock-fortress which the Edomites
boasted was impregnable (Obad. 3), and inflicted a
terrible vengeance upon them (2 Kings xiv. 7 ;
2 Chron. xxv. 11, 12). But they were not completely
crushed. They were again making raids upon Judah
in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chron. xxviii. 17), and at the
destruction of Jerusalem they filled up the measure
of their iniquity by conduct which aroused feelings
of the most bitter indignation. They spread over
the south country as far as Hebron (Ezek. xxxv.
10 ; 1 Mace. v. 65). Whether along with the neigh
bouring nations they were conquered by Nebuchad
nezzar is uncertain. But Malachi (i. 3) presupposes
that Edom had suffered heavily from invasion ; and
before the end of the fourth century B.C. their old

44 FULFILMENT OF OBADIAH'S PROPHECY lect.
capital Petra had passed into the hands of the Nabath-
eans, who founded the kingdom of Arabia Petraea.
The Maccabees waged successful wars against them.
Judas Maccabaeus defeated them at Arabattine
(1 Mace. v. 3), recovered the south country, and
recaptured Hebron. John Hyrcanus compelled the
Edomites who were settled there to accept circum
cision and to conform to the law. The Edomites
appear for the last time during the great struggle
of the Jews with Rome. After the destruction
of Jerusalem by Titus their name disappears from
history. Edom perished but Israel survived. The succes
sive crises of its history were successive steps towards
the establishment of that kingdom which is the final
goal to which Obadiah's prophecy looks forward.
But the idea which he expressed under limitations
of time and space and the conceptions of his own
age has been expanded and spiritualised. The closing
words of his prophecy are still the end upon which
the eye of hope is fixed. But the kingdom for which
we look and pray is not limited, material, temporal,
but universal, spiritual, eternal.
Thus when we claim fulfilment for the prophecies
of Obadiah, we do not mean that the course of history,
either for Edom or for Israel, corresponded step by
step with his anticipations. He combines into one
picture a process which was to be the work of ages.
But we do claim that the principles which find

ii FULFILMENT OF OBADIAH'S PROPHECY 45
expression in his prophecy in a limited and relative
form have been verified by the course of history, and
we await with confidence that complete fulfilment of
them to which the New Testament still points us
forward.

LECTURE III
JOEL
I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh. — Joel ii. 28.

The prophet Of Joel the son of Pethuel nothing is known but the
Joel . °
meagre hints which may be gathered from his pro
phecy. The name was not an uncommon one. It
appears as early as the time of Samuel (1 Sam.
viii. 2), and survives as late as the time of Nehemiah
(Neh. xi. 9), but there is no ground whatever for
identifying the prophet with any one of the name
mentioned elsewhere. The name is significant. It
means Jehovah is God. Like the name Micah, it
contains a brief confession of faith.
a native of Joel was a native of Judah. His home was in
Judah. Jerusalem or its immediate neighbourhood. He
speaks repeatedly of Zion (ii. 1, 15, 32 ; iii. 16,
17, 21), and the children of Zion (ii. 23) ; of Judah
and Jerusalem (ii. 32; iii. 1, 16, 17, 18, 20);
and the children of Judah and Jerusalem (iii. 6, 8,
19), in a way which leaves no doubt upon this point.

lect. ill PROBLEMS OF JOEL 47
He was familiar with the Temple and its services,
with the priests and their ministrations (i. 9, 13, 14,
16 ; ii. 14, 17 ; iii. 18). When he uses the name
Israel (ii. 27 ; iii. 2, 16) it is as the covenant name
of God's chosen people, not as the distinctive name
of the Northern Kingdom, to which he makes no
allusion whatsoever.
The frequent references to the Temple and its washea
, priest?
worship, and the importance attached to the inter
cessory functions of the priests, have been supposed
to indicate that, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he was
himself priest as well as prophet. But this is at
least doubtful. In more than one passage he seems
to summon the priests to their duties as though he
were not himself one of them (i. 13, 14 ; ii. 17).
Not only however is the personality of the Problems of
, . . date and in-
prophet shrouded in obscurity. Opinions differ terpretatum
most widely as to the time at which he flourished,
and the character of the book which bears his name.
Was he among the earliest of the prophets, in the
period before Assyria had even begun to loom like
a threatening storm-cloud on the horizon ? or is he
to be placed among the very latest of the prophets,
at a time when even the memory of Babylon's cruel
tyranny had been blunted into vague generalities ?
Did he first originate, or at least first commit to
writing, thoughts and ideas which were to be taken
up and expanded by his successors ? or did he merely
resume and summarise the writings of his long-past

48 CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF JOEL lect.
predecessors, with which he was acquainted from
diligent literary study ? Is the description of the
locust plague narrative or prediction ? Is it to be
understood literally or allegorically ? or may not the
whole book be rather apocalyptic in its character,
not resting upon a foundation of present facts, or
addressed to any particular audience, but idealising
natural phenomena with a view to delineate for its
readers the terrors and the glories of the age to
come? II
contents of All fruitful discussion of these problems must, it
is obvious, start from a careful examination of the
book itself. It consists of two parts. In the first
part (i. 2— ii. 17) the prophet speaks. According to
the view which will be adopted here, he is describing
an actual calamity which has befallen the people,
and exhorting them to penitence and prayer. In
the second part (ii. 18— iii. 21) Jehovah speaks,
promising the removal of the calamity in the im
mediate future, and foretelling the issues of judgement
and blessing which are in store for the remoter
future. It is important to remember that although
these two parts of the book are now combined in
close juxtaposition without any marked break, they
did not necessarily form one continuous discourse.
In reducing his book to writing Joel has probably
combined addresses delivered on various occasions,

ill CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF JOEL 49
and possibly supplemented them by additional pro
phecies not orally delivered.
The general theme of the first division of the (A) ck i :
. ... a. 17.
book is a call to national humiliation and repent
ance in view of the visitation of locusts and drought
by which the land has been devastated. In his first
discourse (ch. i) the prophet describes this calamity, (i) ch. ».
unparalleled in past times, and destined to be long
memorable in the future. Successive swarms of
locusts have stripped the land and left it bare (i. 2-4).
The careless drunkards must rouse themselves from
their debauch, for they can no longer drug them
selves into insensibility to the sufferings of the land
(5-7). Zion must mourn, for so terrible is the
scarcity that meal and wine can no longer be provided
for the accustomed offerings in the Temple (8-10).
The tillers of the soil must mourn for the loss of
their labours (11, 12). The priests are bidden to
humble themselves in penitence for the intermission
of their due ministrations, and, proclaiming a fast, to
gather the people for solemn humiliation and prayer
(13, 14); and the prophet puts into their mouths a
supplication which pathetically describes the suffer
ings of animals as well as men in the drought which
has burnt up and desolated the whole country
(15-20). In ch. ii a fresh address commences. The («) ca. a.
thought already suggested (i. 15) that the present
visitation is the harbinger of the day of Jehovah is
E

50 CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF JOEL lect.
taken up and pressed home. The locust plague is
described as the army of Jehovah, innumerable and
irresistible, at the head of which He is Himself
advancing to judgement (ii. 1-11). Yet even now,
heartfelt repentance may avail to avert the judgement,
and restore the people to His favour (12-14).
<s) ch. a. Then, in a brief exhortation, the prophet once more
15-17. bids proclaim the fast, prescribes the manner of it, and
dictates to the priests the solemn litany of intercession
which they are to offer in the Temple court (15-17).
(E) ch. a. The second part of the book contains Jehovah's
13-iii. 31. answer to His people's prayer.1 An interval must be
assumed, in which the prophet's call to repentance
was obeyed. Then the prophet, speaking directly in
Jehovah's name and as His mouthpiece, conveys the
double promise of the removal of the temporal judge
ment in the immediate future, and of the bestowal of
spiritual blessing in the remoter future ; and expands
the thought of the day of Jehovah in its twofold
aspect of judgement and salvation.
(i) ch. a. The locust army will be banished and destroyed ;
land, cattle, and people will again rejoice in abundant
rain and the restored fertility of the soil ; and in
their deliverance they will recognise a fresh proof
that Jehovah is their God (18-27).
fs-ss'™' "^ut ^ese temporal judgements and temporal
1 It must be noticed that vv. 18, 19 are certainly to be rendered
in the past tense : And Jehovah was jealous for His land, and had
pity on His people, and Jehovah answered and said unto His people,
Behold, I will send you com, etc.

m CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF JOEL 51
blessings are the types of spiritual blessings and
greater judgements in the future. Hereafter Jehovah
will pour out His spirit upon all flesh ; awful signs
will precede the great and terrible day of Jehovah;
but in the midst of them all will be deliverance in
Jerusalem for those who call upon the name of
Jehovah (28-32).
In that distant future the nations will be sum- (.?) ca. m.
1-8.
moned to Jehovah's tribunal to answer for the wrongs
they have done to His people (iii. 1-8). They are
challenged to muster their forces and do their worst.
It is in vain. They do but gather themselves to meet (A) ca. m.
their doom (9-15). But in that day of terror Jehovah
will be His people's refuge. Foreigners will no more
overrun the holy land. Judah will be blessed with
a marvellous fertility, while Egypt and Edom lie
desolate for the punishment of their sins. Jehovah's
presence will be manifested in the midst of a pardoned
people (16-21). Ill
Such is a brief outline of the Book of Joel, if we cmnexum
adopt the literal interpretation, which is, I believe, at ihecy with
the circum
once the most natural and the most satisfactory. The stances of
J the time.
prophet's teaching springs throughout from the needs
and the circumstances of his own time. The drought
and the locusts were an actual, present visitation. So
terrible was it, that the great day of Jehovah, the final
day of judgement, seemed to be close at hand. But the

52

INTERPRETATION OF THE BOOK OF JOEL lect.

The locust
plague de
scribed not
predicted,

prophet's message for his countrymen is that repent
ance may avert that judgement. They repent, and he
is commissioned to announce the removal of the
plague. But they must not fancy that because it is
postponed, the day of Jehovah will never come. It
will come, in blessing and in judgement. The locust
army which has invaded Judah is but a type of the
army of the nations which will muster to battle
against Jehovah and His people. The destruction of
the locusts is the type of the destruction of the
nations. The outpouring of abundant rain upon the
parched land is the type of the outpouring of the spirit
of God in the latter days. The deliverance of those
who call upon Jehovah in their present distress
(i. 19) is the pledge of the deliverance of those who
call upon His name in the great day of judgement
(ii. 32). The restored fertility of the land is an
anticipation of the marvellous fertility of the future.
The present deliverance is a proof of the Presence of
Jehovah among His people (ii. 27); that Presence
is the supreme blessing of the redeemed nation when
the final judgement is past (iii. 21).
The literal interpretation of the first part of the
book as the description of an actual calamity has,
however, been warmly disputed.
Two questions have been raised — (1) whether this
part of the book is descriptive or predictive; (2)
whether it is literal or allegorical. To the first
question I believe a decisive answer may con-

Ill INTERPRETATION OF THE BOOK OF JOEL 53
fidently be given, that the prophet describes a
calamity from which the land was actually suffering.
This is clear, whether the locusts are regarded as
literal and actual locusts, or interpreted allegorically
of an invading army. The appeal to the experience
of the old men and their fathers (i. 2) ; the charge
to hand on the memory of the visitation to future
generations (i. 3) ; the detailed and graphic picture
of the calamity in all its consequences ; in fact, almost
every feature and every verse of the passage, condemn
the theory that the prophet is predicting the future
while he seems to describe the present.
To the second question I believe that an equally uterainotallegorical.
decisive answer may be given. It is argued that the
description of the locust plague far exceeds the
bounds of possible reality, and in several of its
features is applicable only to an invading army of
human beings, and not to irrational insects ; that
" the northern army," literally the northerner (ii. 20),
must refer not to locusts, which never come from
the north, but to some enemy advancing from that
quarter (cp. Jer. i. 13 ff.) ; that the prayer, " Give
not Thine heritage to reproach, that the nations
should rule over them " (ii. 17), clearly points to the
fear of subjugation by a foreign invader. It has even
been supposed that the four kinds of locusts (i. 4 ; ii. 25)
represent the four great powers from which Israel
successively suffered — the Assyrio- Babylonian, the
Medo-Persian, the Greek, and the Roman empires ;

54 INTERPRETATION OF THE BOOK OF JOEL lect.
or four successive invading armies at some period of
its history.
To these arguments it may be answered that Joel's
language is not to be regarded as plain bare prose,
though in fact the devastation wrought by locusts
can scarcely be exaggerated. It has in it a touch of
poetical imagination and Oriental hyperbole. His
description of the locusts is perhaps coloured by the
thought constantly present to his mind that they
were a Divine visitation, the prototype and the har
binger of the great day of Jehovah, with its attendant
terrors. " The northerner " is a term of too uncertain
meaning to count for much. While locusts un
doubtedly for the most part enter Palestine from the
south or south-east, it does not seem certain that they
never came from the north. Possibly the word may
have denoted what is destructive, ill-omened, and
calamitous. In ch. ii. 17 the right rendering un
questionably is, " Give not Thine heritage to reproach,
that the nations should use a byivord against them."
The calamity which had befallen Israel would seem
to be due to the unwillingness or inability of Jehovah
to protect them, so that the heathen would mockingly
ask, Where is their God ?
But the final and conclusive argument against the
allegorical interpretation is that the locust plague is
itself compared to an army (ii. 2 ff.). It would be
strange indeed to compare a symbol with the reality
of which it is intended to be a symbol. And when

Ill INTERPRETATION OF THE BOOK OF JOEL 55
Jehovah promises to restore the damage which has
been wrought, it is exclusively of the produce of the
earth that He speaks (ii. 21 ff). Here, at any rate,
if the language had been allegorical, it would have
been natural to look for some hint of the actual
disasters to which it was intended to refer, for some
allusion to the restoration of plunder carried off and
captives torn from their homes. But there is none ;
and we are driven back upon the simple and natural
explanation that Joel is describing the disaster which
had actually befallen the land at the time when he
spoke or wrote, from an unprecedentedly terrible
plague of locusts, combined with a severe drought.
There is, however, a modification of the allegorical The apoca
lyptic theory
theory which has found considerable favour in recent untenable.
times. According to this view, the book is an escha
tological or apocalyptic work, describing the terrors
of the last days, which will precede the final day of
judgement. It was never orally delivered to an
audience, but composed for study. It is addressed
not to the prophet's contemporaries, but to those
upon whom that awful day will dawn. The locusts
of ch. i are not common locusts, but weird super
natural creatures. The army described in ch. ii
under the figure of locusts is no ordinary army, but
a mysterious host of unearthly warriors. These
strange terrors and supernatural portents precede
and usher in the day of Jehovah, which is then
described in its double aspect of judgement and

56 DATE OF JOEL Lect.
blessing. "The northerner" is a term borrowed
from Ezek. xxxviii. 6, 15 to designate the army
of Gog, issuing from the remote recesses of the
north for a final conflict against the people of
God. This view is open to the objections already urged
against the older form of the allegorical theory. And
further, there is no hint that Joel's words are
addressed, not to his immediate contemporaries, but
to some imaginary readers in a distant future. He
includes himself along with his audience as a spec
tator of the sufferings of the. land (i. 16). Moreover,
there is no ground for distinguishing the locusts of
ch. i from the locust army of ch. ii. In the first
discourse the devastation which they have wrought,
in the second the irresistibleness of their advance, is
in the foreground ; but in both discourses they are
connected with the day of Jehovah (i. 15 ; ii. 1, 11),
and throughout the damage wrought is simply that
of the locust plague, which is designated alike in the
description of its march (ii. 11) and in the promise
of restoration (ii. 25) as Jehovah's army. This apoca
lyptic theory, moreover, is closely bound up with a
view of the date of the book which we shall find good
grounds for rejecting.
We conclude, then, that Joel describes an actual
plague of locusts, accompanied by a severe drought.
This visitation formed the occasion of his prophecy,
and gave shape to his predictions for the future.

Ill DATE OF JOEL 57
But it may freely be admitted that his picture of
the present calamity is drawn with bolder lines and
stronger colouring in view of the more awful realities
in the distant future which it prefigured. The de
scription of natural phenomena must always be
largely influenced by the ideas which they represent
to the beholder.

IV

The date of Joel's prophecy is one of the most Dateofjoei
keenly debated problems of Biblical criticism. It is
generally acknowledged that he must either have been
one of the very earliest of the prophets, or have lived
after the Return from the Captivity, and have been,
in all probability, one of the very latest of them. The
absence of any mention of Syria, Assyria, and Babylon
among the enemies of Judah points to a time when
these nations had not yet come into conflict with
Judah, or else had disappeared from the stage of
history. For the earlier date we must go back beyond
the time of Amos, who threatens the Syrians with
punishment, and already foresees that Israel will fall
a prey to Assyria, to the earlier part of the reign of
Joash, before Hazael invaded Judah, and only retired
from Jerusalem on the payment of a heavy indemnity
(2 Kings xii. 18 ff.). Most of the critics who adopt
the earlier date agree in placing Joel in this period,
i.e. according to the revised chronology, between about

58

DATE OF JOEL

Presump tion rained
by the posi
tion of Joel
among the
Minor Prophets.

837 and 817 B.C. No other date has been suggested
in the regal period which has at all an equal degree
of probability. The position of Joel in the series of the Minor
Prophets raises a presumption in favour of an early
date. It is the fashion to set aside this considera
tion as entirely worthless ; but it cannot be denied
that the arrangement of the collection is in the
main intended to be chronological. Hosea, Amos,
Micah stand first as prophets of the Assyrian period ;
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah form a middle group in
the half-century before the exile ; Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi stand last as belonging to the period
of the Restoration. The chronological intention in
this grouping cannot be mistaken. But if Joel
belonged to the later period, why was he not placed
along with the prophets of that period ? If he lived
late on in it — and the arguments which make for
placing him in that period make for placing him
decidedly late in it — it is hard to suppose that all
tradition of his date could have been lost at the time
when the collection was made, at the latest in the
third century B.C., and very probably at an earlier
date. The position of Joel in the collection of the
Minor Prophets does no more than create a pre
sumption that, at the time when that collection was
made, he was thought to have lived at an early
period. But it may justify us in considering first

Ill DATE OF JOEL 59
whether the indications which can be gathered from
his prophecy do not confirm that presumption.
At the time when Joel prophesied the priests The charac
teristics of
were held in high esteem. The Temple services were the time
regularly maintained, and were regarded as of great
importance. The intermission of the daily meal-
offering and drink-offering is regarded as the culmi
nating point of the calamity caused by the drought
and the locusts, for it seems to signify nothing less
than a rupture of the fellowship between Jehovah
and His people. But religion was no mere outward
formalism. The need of repentance, deep and
thorough, is fully recognised, and is pressed upon the
people in words that are true for all time (ii. 12 ff).
To judge from the absence of any denunciation
of particular sins, such as injustice, immorality, or
idolatry, the standard of morals and religion was
high. Further, there is no reference to a king or
court; and the prophet's view is limited entirely
to Judah ; there is no allusion to the Northern
Kingdom. There is one period, and one only, in the history correspondto the cir-
of Judah before the exile to which these indications »»*»«««
oj the early
can point. That period is, as has already been said, ?.f£n°{fie
the earlier part of the reign of Joash. After Ahaziah Jmsh-
had been slain by Jehu, the throne of Judah was
seized by the queen-mother Athaliah, the worthy
daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Kings xi. 1 ff.).
In Oriental fashion she murdered all the male

60 DATE OF JOEL lect.
members of the royal family, with the exception of
Joash, who was saved from the massacre by his
aunt Jehosheba, the wife of the high priest Jehoiada.
For six years he was concealed in the Temple.
Athaliah reigned with undisputed sway. Under her
auspices Baal worship was publicly carried on in
Jerusalem. When Joash had entered on his seventh year,
Jehoiada planned an insurrection, deposed Athaliah,
who was put to death, and crowned and anointed
Joash. A religious reformation followed. Baal
worship was put down, and the Temple worship was
reorganised. The change was evidently welcomed
by the people, who hated Athaliah, and it was
effected without serious opposition. All the people
of the land, we are told, rejoiced, and the city was
quiet (2 Kings xi. 20). Jehoiada became the young
king's guardian. During his lifetime all went
well. The worship of Jehovah was maintained,
and the Temple was restored. It was not until
after his death that the princes, jealous, no doubt,
of the priestly influence at court, succeeded in mis-
persuading the king, and a relapse into idolatry
followed (2 Chron. xxiv. 17).
During the minority of Joash a condition of affairs
such as that indicated in Joel may well have existed.
Priestly influence was in the ascendant. The person
and authority of the king were in the background.
There had been a popular reaction against the

111 DATE OF JOEL 01
Baal worship of Athaliah's reign. The worship of
Jehovah was, for the time at any rate, generally
practised. In this period, then, we find at any rate a possible tms date
agrees with
place for the prophecy of Joel ; and the possibility the refer-
that he flourished then is raised to a strong proba- {"2^,
bility by the references in his book to foreign nations.
We have already seen that this date will account
for the absence of all mention of Syria, Assyria, and
Babylon ; they had not yet come into conflict with
Judah. But we have not only an argument from
silence. The nations which are actually mentioned
are nations which we know to have been enemies
of Judah before the time of Joash. In ch. iii we
have a prophecy of the judgement upon the heathen ;
and the nations which are singled out for special
mention as enemies of Judah are the Phoenicians
and Philistines (vv. 4 ff), the Egyptians and Edom
ites (v. 19). The Phoenicians and Philistines are
charged with carrying off the spoils of Jehovah's
people to decorate their temples, and with trafficking
in Israelite slaves. The Egyptians and the Edomites
are charged with the gratuitous murder of unoffend
ing Israelites in their land. Much stress can hardly Egypt.
be laid upon the mention of Judah's hereditary
enemy, Egypt. Still, in the time of Joash not more
than a century had elapsed since Shishak invaded
Judah, and captured and plundered Jerusalem
(1 Kings xiv. 25 f.). The memory of that disaster

62 DATE OF JOEL lect.
must still have survived. But Judah was smarting
yet more keenly under the sense of recent injury from
Edom. Edom. From the time of David, Edom had been
subject to Judah. Jehoshaphat exercised the rights
of an overlord, summoned the king of Edom to
follow him to battle, and marched through his
country (1 Kings xxii. 47 ; 2 Kings iii. 9). But
under his weak son and successor Jehoram, Edom
revolted, probably, according to the revised chrono
logy, about B.C. 848 (2 Kings viii. 20-22). What
more probable than that the revolt was accompanied
by a massacre of Israelites resident in Edom — the
shedding of innocent blood to which Joel refers ?
PMiistia. From the Philistines, too, Judah suffered heavily
about the same time. In conjunction with the
Arabians they invaded Judah, took and plundered
Jerusalem, and carried away the treasures of
Jehoram's palace, together with his sons and his
wives (2 Chron. xxi. 16 ff.). It is not recorded that
Phoenicia, the Phoenicians took any share in the attack. But
they were the great slave-traders of the East. As we
learn from Amos, they sold their captives for the
Philistines (Amos i. 6, 9) ; and to the Israelite, with
his keen love of freedom and attachment to his
country, this was almost, if not quite, as great an
injury as open hostility. Thus the mention of these
four nations and no others as hostile to Judah
strikingly supports the view that Joel prophesied
in the early part of the reign of Joash.

Ill DATE OF JOEL 63
There is one possible historical allusion which Apossau
may be mentioned here. Though but little stress aihmon.
can be laid upon it, it points in the same direction as
the references to foreign nations. The scene of the
final overthrow of the heathen is laid in the Valley
of Jehoshaphat (iii. 2, 12). The significance of the
name Jehovah judgeth may be sufficient to account
for its use ; but it undoubtedly gains in point if
we may assume that there is in it an allusion to
Jehoshaphat's great victory over the confederate
forces of Moab, Amnion, and Edom, in which Jehovah
fought for His people and inflicted judgement upon
their enemies, who had mustered their forces with
the intention of annihilating Judah (2 Chron. xx).
It is at least possible that this great triumph over
the nations, still fresh in the recollection of the
people, for it happened only a quarter of a century
before the time of Joash, supplied the prophet with
his imagery and suggested his language.1
The probability of the early date of Joel is still Relation of
further confirmed by the consideration of the relation Amos.
of Amos to Joel. Clearly either Amos is quoting
Joel, or Joel is referring to Amos ; and, in spite of all
that has been said to the contrary, I cannot but think
1 Theloeality of Jehoshaphat's victory was in the neighbourhood
of Engedi, in the wilderness of Tekoa. The tradition which assigns
the name Valley of Jehoshaphat to the valley of the Kidron,
between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, cannot be traced
beyond the time of Eusebius and Jerome. That valley cannot be
meant here. The term used, denoting a broad open vale, would
be quite inapplicable to the narrow ravine of the Kidron.

64 DATE OF JOEL lect.
that it is Amos who is dependent on Joel He opens
his prophecy (Amos i. 2) by repeating the words of
his predecessor (Joel iii. 16), Jehovah shall roar from
Zion, as if to shew that he is continuing Joel's work,
and that they are both alike messengers of the same
God, Who will arise to judge the heathen. The con
nexion, moreover, lies deeper than a mere external
coincidence of language. The Book of Joel closes
with a vision of judgement on the nations, and a
promise of prosperity for Judah. Amos takes up
the thought of judgement, develops it in detail with
specific threatenings, and warns Judah and Israel
that they will not escape. But it is not only at the
beginning of his book that Amos refers to Joel. He
closes his prophecy (ix. 13) with a repetition of Joel's
promise of marvellous fertility for the land of Judah
(Joel iii. 18), as though he would declare that,
although the promise has not yet been realised, God's
word cannot fail of fulfilment. Thus in respect both
of threatening and of promise he confirms the message
of his predecessor.
It has been maintained that Joel is borrowing the
language of Amos. But both quotations are firmly
embedded in the context of Joel, and they belong to
his circle of ideas. How natural to the prophet for
whom Jerusalem is the centre of thought and action
are the words, Jehovah shall roar from Zion, and utter
His voice from Jerusalem! How appropriate in
Joel is the promise of fertility in contrast to the

in DATE OF JOEL 65
scarcity caused by the locusts and the drought ! In
Amos, on the other hand, the names Jerusalem and
Zion occur each but once again (ii. 5 ; vi. 1) ; and
however suitable the words may be as a trumpet-
note of warning of impending judgement, they stand
by themselves in no direct connexion with the con
text. It should be noted, moreover, that Amos
continues with words which sound like a further
reminiscence of the circumstances of the Book of
Joel : The pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and
the top of Oarmel shall wither. Such language is
natural to the shepherd- prophet, yet at the same
time he seems to borrow a word from Joel.1
Again, Amos seems to refer to the circumstances
described by Joel when he reminds the Israelites of
the judgements by which Jehovah had called them
to repentance (iv. 6 ff).2 The reproof, Yet have ye
not returned unto Me, corresponds exactly to Joel's
summons, Return unto Me with all your heart (ii. 12).
Once more, it is plain that the day of Jehovah was
a familiar idea to the people in the time of Amos
(v. 18 ff), though they misinterpreted its significance,
claiming its blessings for themselves, and assigning
its threatenings exclusively to their enemies. Such
a misconception might easily have arisen from a
1 This word for pastures is used here only by Amos, but occurs
three times in Joel (i. 19, 20 ; ii. 22).
2 Amos (iv. 9) uses the word gdzdm, A.V. palmer-worm, lit.
biter, for some kind of locust. It is found in Joel i. 4 ; ii. 25, and
nowhere else. V

66 DATE OF JOEL leot.
one-sided and partial interpretation of the prophecy
of Joel.
Relation It is, of course, impossible to affirm positively
that the prophecy of Joel is referred to by Ezekiel
(xxxviii. 17; xxxix. 8), when he speaks of ancient
prophecies which had predicted the great final
assault of the powers of the world upon Israel, but
it is at least important to observe that the conception
of a conflict between the confederate nations and
Israel, and the supernatural destruction of the nations
who defy Jehovah in defying His people, is no new
idea in Ezekiel's time. Ezekiel's emphatic language
in ancient days (xxxviii. 17) scarcely allows us to
suppose that he is referring to the quite recent
utterances of Zephaniah and Jeremiah ; but it would
be natural if he had Joel in mind, and Joel had
prophesied more than two centuries before.
Arguments Such are some of the principal reasons for
exilic date regarding Joel as one of the earliest of the prophets.
We must, however, examine the arguments urged
with equal confidence for placing him after the return
from the Captivity. It is alleged that the language of
ch. iii. 1 ff., 17 is decisive for a date after the destruc
tion of Jerusalem in B.C. 586 ; that the absence of all
allusion to the Northern Kingdom, or to a king and
princes, points to a time when that kingdom had
passed away, and even Judah had no longer a king
or court, but was governed by priests and elders ;
that the sale of Israelite slaves to the sons of Javan,

ill DATE OF JOEL 67
or Ionian Greeks .(iii. 6), indicates a late date, for
down to the time of Ezekiel the Ionians were
bringing slaves to Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 13) ; that the
ideas of the book are hierarchical and ceremonial,
and only conceivable in the period of the Restoration,
and in the small community of the returned exiles ;
that the absence of reproof for special sins, and in
particular for idolatry, cannot be reconciled with all
that we know of pre-exilic times ; that the attitude
of the prophet towards the heathen nations shews an
approximation towards the narrow exclusiveness of
later Judaism. The general tendency of recent criti
cism has been in favour of a post-exilic date ; but to
what precise epoch of the post-exilic period the book
should be assigned is a much disputed point. It
cannot well be earlier than B.C. 500, for the Temple
is standing, and its services are regularly performed.
To a date about this time some critics would assign
it, but according to others it is later than the reforms
of Ezra and Nehemiah, and must be placed about
B.C. 400, or even later. Those who adopt the later
date for the most part regard Joel as a kind of com
pendium of Jewish eschatology, and the forerunner
of the later apocalyptic literature.
These arguments seem formidable, but their force of doubtful
diminishes upon closer examination. The phrase
in ch. iii. 1, rendered in our English Versions bring
again the captivity, probably means restore the fortune,
and does not necessarily denote restoration from exile

68 DATE OF JOEL lect.
In any case it is no proof of a post-exilic date, for it
is used by Amos (ix. 14) and Hosea (vi. 11), when
they look beyond the disasters which they foresee
are in store for Israel, to the restoration of the people
in the distant future. Joel speaks of a dispersion
of Israel among the nations (iii. 2), but the context
shews that it is not the deportation of the people
en masse by its Assyrian or Babylonian conquerors
to which he refers, but rather the sale of captives as
slaves to distant nations (vv. 6, 7), for which Amos
condemns Gaza and Tyre with stern severity (i. 6, 9).
The division of Jehovah's land (iii. 2) is not the
conquest of the whole country by the Chaldeans (in
what sense was that a division of the land among
the nations?), but the seizure or reconquest of territory
which had once belonged to Judah, by Philistines,
Edomites, and other neighbouring nations, which, as
we have seen, took place in the reign of Jehoram.
The silence of Joel about the Northern Kingdom
may be due not to the fact that this kingdom had
ceased to exist, but to the limited circle of Joel's
interests. His silence, moreover, admits of a very
natural explanation, if he was writing at a time
when Judah was still smarting from the recollection
of the cruel tyranny of Athaliah. It is easy to
understand how the hopes of reunion which appear
in almost all the other prophets might, under these
circumstances, fall into the background.
The absence of all mention of the king and court

in DATE OF JOEL 69
is sufficiently accounted for by the peculiar circum
stances of the minority of Joash. Too much stress
must not be laid upon it. The Book of Micah con
tains no reference to Hezekiah, except in the title,
though, as we know from the Book of Jeremiah
(xxvi. 18), he came into close personal relations
with him.
The predominant influence of the priesthood, and
the importance attached to ceremonial, have been
somewhat exaggerated. But Jehoiada could not
have occupied the position which he did without
increasing the influence of his class. Devotion to
ceremonial was by no means limited to post-exilic
times. Isaiah's complaint is that it was regarded as
the sum and substance of religion.
Elders, if indeed magistrates are denoted by the
term at all in Joel,1 were not an institution peculiar
to post-exilic times. On the contrary, they are more
often mentioned before the exile than after it.
The absence of rebuke for particular sins, and the
attitude of the prophet towards the nations, are at
least as difficult to explain on the hypothesis of the
late date as on that of the early date. In the first
quarter of a century after the Return, Haggai and
Zechariah have abundant fault to find with the
people. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi find even
1 In ch. i. 14 the right rendering may possibly be Gather, ye
elders, the inhabitants, etc., but it is not certain. In ch. i. 2 ;
ii. 16, the context shews that old men are meant

70 DATE OF JOEL lect.
graver offences to rebuke. The circumstances of
the Book of Joel do not agree with what we know of
either of these periods ; and in fact the advocates of
the post-exilic date generally avoid the difficulty by
placing the book in the interval between Zechariah
and Ezra, or some considerable time after Malachi —
two periods of which we know practically nothing.
All the later prophets look forward to the conver
sion of at least a remnant of the nations. Joel's
"particularism" may be due to his early date rather
than to the advance of a spirit of Judaism. Hosea
is wholly silent about the destiny of the nations.
Amos looks forward to their conquest, not their
conversion (ix. 12).
The argument from the course of the slave trade
between Phoenicia and Ionia can hardly be pressed.
The Phoenicians maintained intercourse with the
Ionian Greeks from the earliest times.1 Syrian
slaves may have been transported to Asia Minor
then as they were afterwards ; and Joel would
select the Ionians for mention as the remotest region
to which his countrymen had been carried away.
1 Homer (II. xxiii. 740) speaks of —
' ' A silver bowl well wrought,
By Sidon's artists cunningly adorned.
Borne by Phoenicians o'er the dark blue sea ' ;
and one of the Tell-el-Amarna tablets (b.c. 1400) mentions Ionians
in connexion with Tyre. See Sayce in The Academy, 17th Oct. 1891,
p. 340. That Javan means Ionia seems probable, but even on this
point critics are not agreed. Sayce (Smith's Diet. Bible, ed. 2,
i. 573) supposes it to be Cyprus : others place it in South Arabia.

in DATE OF JOEL 71
The positive arguments for the early date of Joel
seem to me decidedly to preponderate, and the force
of those for the late date diminishes upon examina
tion. It is extremely difficult to see how Joel can be
fitted into any part of the period after the Return
without considerable assumptions ; and it is admitted
that we are not in a position to explain his refer
ences to surrounding nations from the circumstances
of that period. There is an entire absence of indica
tions that the prophet is living in a small, struggling,
despised community. The Temple worship is firmly
established and regularly organised. There is no
sign of the apathy and neglect which Haggai and
Zechariah rebuke, or of the contemptuous indifference
which Malachi censures.
A.ttention has been called to the resemblance comparison
of Joel with
between Joel and Zechariah xii-xiv, and they have £«&. xii-
been assigned approximately to the same period.1
The comparison is instructive, for there are certain
resemblances, but the contrasts are greater than the
resemblances. Joel's prophecy springs out of the
actual circumstances of his time. It is emphatically
a message to his contemporaries. It summons them
to humiliation and penitence. It promises the
removal of the plague from which they have been
suffering. When he goes on to speak of the more
distant future, it is in terms suggested by, and closely
related to, the circumstances of the present. Zechariah
1 See Cheyne's Bampton Lectures, p. xx.

72 TEACHING OF JOEL lect.
xii-xiv, on the other hand, is not based upon present
circumstances. It is apocalyptic and eschatological,
rather than prophetic and didactic. It deals simply
with the distant future. The difference between
the two works seems to me so marked that if, as I
hope to shew, Zechariah xii-xiv belongs to the post-
exilic period, a strong presumption is raised against
the probability that Joel can be referred to the same
period.
fromstyic. The question may naturally be asked, how it can
be that style and language do not at once enable us
to decide between dates so far apart as the ninth
and fifth, or even fourth, centuries B.C. ? The most
opposite conclusions have been drawn from the style
of Joel. To one critic its smooth, flowing simplicity
appears to be a certain indication of high antiquity ;
another regards it as the result of art and familiarity
with the older literature. But style, if we may judge
from modern instances, depends at least as much
upon the individual as upon the age ; and in the
case of the prophets it probably depends largely
upon the way in which the books were committed
to writing. The remains of Hebrew literature
are too scanty for us to decide with certainty
what was and what was not possible in a particular
period. The uniformity of the Massoretic punctuation
has probably obliterated many distinctions of pro
nunciation which would have served as landmarks.
For these reasons it is doubtful if the argument from

ill TEACHING OF JOEL 73
Joel's style and language can be laid in the scale on
either side. But it is a strange misrepresentation to
say that " the language of Joel plainly bears the
character of the latest period of Hebrew literature."
If any argument can be drawn from it, it is in favour
of the early date.

Joel, if we are right in assigning him to the ninth Teaching of
Joel : —
century B.C., leads the way in the series of prophecies The day of
which culminate in the Apocalypse. In the plague
of locusts and drought, which was the occasion of
his prophecy, he saw a sign and a presage of the great
day of judgement and redemption — the day of Jehovah.
It seems to be close at hand. Alas for the day !
for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction
from the Almighty shall it come. . . . Great is the day
of Jehovah and very terrible ! and who can abide it ?
But repentance may avert the final catastrophe.
Jehovah is gracious and full of compassion, slow to
anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repenting
Sim of the evil. If the visitation bears its fruit in
penitence, He may send blessing to take the place
of judgement. The people obeyed the prophet's warning and
repented, and he was commissioned to assure them
of the speedy removal of the scourge from which
they had suffered, and of the complete restoration of
the fertility of their land.

74 TEACHING OF JOEL lect,
But he would not have them rest contented with
this immediate and temporal blessing. This present
experience is intended as a presage of spiritual bless
ing, and a warning of decisive judgement. The great
day of Jehovah is still to come, heralded by terrible
signs in nature, wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. While for the
nations who have misused the people of Jehovah and
defied Him it will be a time of judgement and retri
bution, for Israel it will be a time of the outpouring
of the spirit of Jehovah, of deliverance in the midst
of judgement.
The out- And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will
pouring of
jdunmh °f ^owr owi ^ spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions : and
even upon the slaves and upon the handmaids in those
days will I pour out My spirit (ii. 28, 29).
Universal as the promise to all flesh seems at
first sight to be, the context and the explanation,
upon your sons and upon your daughters, shew that in
its first and original intention it is limited to Israel.
The words admit of the larger meaning which was
given them on the day of Pentecost, but it does not
appear to be as yet explicitly present to the prophet's
mind. He foretells the realisation of Moses' wish,
Would God that all Jehovah's people were prophets, that
Jehovah would put His spirit upon them (Num. xi. 29).
In the new age the whole nation will receive the

ill TEACHING OF JOEL 75
gift of the divine spirit, and participate in that
prophetic illumination which as yet is granted only
to a few select individuals. Inferiority of position
will be no bar to privilege. Even slaves will share
the blessing.
The promise of the outpouring of the spirit was Fulfilment
fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 14 ff.). miseat
The prophecy did not, indeed, refer solely to the
Pentecostal gift, nor was it exhausted in it. But the
miracle of Pentecost ushered in the new dispensation
to which Joel had pointed, and in which his words
are to receive an ever -increasing fulfilment. It is
noteworthy that a larger meaning is attached to
the words. All flesh is extended to include Gentile
as well as Jew. And that which Joel speaks of as
the action of Jehovah Himself is attributed to the
Risen and Ascended Lord (Acts ii. 33). Nor does
St. Peter omit the words which tell of the approach
of the day of the Lord in its aspect of terror. Grace
and judgement move side by side. The Fall of
Jerusalem was the sequel of the day of Pentecost.
For those who would not receive their God when He
came in mercy, He must appear in wrath.
The day of Jehovah will come with its attendant The deiiver-
" ance of
terrors. But it will not be a day of terror for Israel, Israel
for whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be
delivered : for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall
be a company that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and
among the survivors shall be those whom Jehovah calleth

76 TEACHING OF JOEL lect.
(ii. 32).1 Here, too, the primary reference appears to
be to Israel ; and although the words admit of a wider
meaning, it is implicit, and not definitely expressed.
rhe judge- The counterpart of this picture of Israel's illumin-
nations. ation and deliverance is the judgement of the nations,
They are summoned before Jehovah's tribunal to
answer for their offences against His people. Those
who have plundered Jerusalem, and sold Israelite
captives into distant slavery, will themselves in turn
meet the like fate.
Another scene follows. The nations are ironically
challenged to muster for the final conflict. Jehovah
brings down His heavenly hosts to battle against
them. The day of His final triumph is at hand. The
prophet leaves the doom of the insurgent armies to
his reader's imagination, and turns to picture the
felicity of Zion, when Jerusalem shall be holy, and
there shall no strangers pass through her any more ;
when there shall be no more scarcity and drought, but
perennial streams will fertilise even the barren ravine
of the acacias ; when the Presence of Jehovah among
His people will at length be fully realised.
Limitations The limitations of Joel's prophecy require careful
of JoeVspro- . .
phecyas notice. 1 or him the great contrast is between Israel
regards —
(a) The an(j the nations. Israel is to be saved and glorified.
salvation of °
the natwns, j^g ^ions are to be judged. The contrast between
the righteous and the ungodly within the chosen
1 On the probability that here and elsewhere Joel refers to
Obadiah, see above, p. 40.

m TEACHING OF JOEL 77
people, and the hope of the salvation of at least a
remnant among the heathen nations, lie outside the
circle of Joel's teaching. There are none of the stern
warnings which we find in almost every other prophet,
that the day of Jehovah will be a day of terror and
doom to the sinners even among His own people ;
none of the glorious hopes which meet us alike in
the prophets of the eighth century and in the prophets
of the Restoration, that the nations will one day pay
homage to Jehovah, and come to Zion for instruction.
If there is room in his words for both warning and
hope, at any rate they are not explicitly expressed.
Can these limitations best be explained on the
hypothesis of an early or a late date ? Has the
universalism of Messianic prophecy not yet been
reached ? or is the stern exclusiveness of later Judaism
already clouding over the larger hope? Surely it
is natural to see in them the unexpanded bud of
prophecy, rather than its withered flower.
The author of deliverance is Jehovah Himself. (&) «¦ per
sonal
There is no prediction of a Teacher 1 or Deliverer or Messiah,

1 The rendering of ch. ii. 23 : For He hath given you the
teacher for righteousness, which is followed by the Targnm and
Vulgate (quia dedit vobis doctorem iustitiae), cannot be defended.
The context makes it clear that moreh must mean, as it does in
the next clause, the former rain. The meaning of the words for
righteousness is, however, difficult. The rendering moderately
(A. V.), or in just measure (R.V.), is questionable, for the word
righteousness in the O.T. always has an ethical sense. Probably
for righteousness means either— (a) in proof of His righteousness
or faithfulness to His covenant (Isa. li. 5, 6) ; or (b) in token of

78 TEACHING OF JOEL lect.
King who will be His earthly representative. Him
self He sits to judge the nations. In person He
takes up His abode in Zion.
(e) ethical Joel has been charged with " a want of ethical
teaching. ...
interest. The moral element in his prophecy is
said to be subordinated to the longing for a national
triumph over the heathen. The criticism, I must
say, seems to me a shallow one. Repentance deep
and sincere is urged upon the people in the strongest
terms. The locust plague is viewed as a divine call
to return to Jehovah. It is true that repentance is
not defined, and that particular sins are not singled
out for condemnation. But we cannot tell how far
these brief utterances may have been supplemented
by oral teaching. Eeturning to Jehovah sums up
the duty of His people who had wandered from
Him. The promise of the outpouring of the spirit
recognises most fully man's need of the infusion of a
supernatural life, and his capacity for being raised
above his natural self.
The dwelling of Jehovah among His people,
which is the final goal of the prophecy, implies
that they have been fitted for His immediate
presence. And if the relation of Israel to the
nations may seem at first sight to be tinged with a
spirit of narrow nationalism, it must be remembered
that the conflict between Israel and the nations was
your righteousness, i.e. your justification and restoration to God's
favour (Job xxxiii. 26).

ill TEACHING OF JOEL 79
the form in which the great conflict between good
and evil, between God and His enemies, presented
itself to Joel under the circumstances of his age.
Thus, then, at the time when Israel was about to conclusion
come in contact with the great powers of the ancient
world, and fainting spirits might be tempted to
tremble for the very existence of the people of God,
Joel was inspired confidently to predict the final
issue of the conflict between the people of God and
the powers of the world. Be it never so long
delayed, the day of Jehovah must come, when He
will be finally triumphant over every enemy. Be
His own people never so obstinate, the goal must
finally be reached, when the words shall be fulfilled :
Jehovah dwelleth in Zion.

THE PROPHETS OF THE ASSYRIAN
PERIOD
AMOS— HOSEA— ISAIAH— MICAH

6 Se jtieT 67rt/i€Aetas kcu ^poo-ox^S evTvy\avb>v rofs
irpo<t>r}TiKots Aoyois, 7ra#<W e£ auroC tou avaytyv(uo-/c€tv
t'^vos evdovcriao'p.ov, oY &v irdo'Xei ireio'd'qcreTai ovk dvvpia-
ttwv eTvat (rvyy pd^jiara tow Tre-ir urrevp-evovs Qeov Aoyous.
The diligent and attentive student of the words of the
prophets will feel from reading them the traces of their
inspiration, and from that feeling will be persuaded that
what are believed to be the words of God are no mere
human compositions. Oriqenes.

LECTURE IV
AMOS

Let judgement roll down as waters, and righteousness as a
mighty stream. — Amos v. 24.

Four of the prophets whose writings have been pre- The pro-
served to us belong to what may be termed the ^.sl-yrlan '
. period.
Assyrian period : the period in which the Northern
Kingdom fell before the advancing armies of Tiglath-
Pileser, Shalmaneser, and Sargon ; and the Southern
Kingdom, after becoming a tributary vassal of the
great king, only escaped from a like fate by the
miraculous intervention of Jehovah for the deliver
ance of His people. Of these four prophets Amos
and Hosea .prophesied lo_Lsxael, Isaiah ancLMicah to_
•Judah. Amos and Hosea were in part contemporary,
but Amos was somewhat the earlier of the two.
They both commenced their ministry in the reign of
Jeroboam II ; but while there are no indications that
any of the extant prophecies of Amos were delivered

84 CONTRAST BETWEEN AMOS AND HOSEA lect.
after that reign, Hosea's activity certainly continued
into the period of political chaos which followed upon
the death of that powerful monarch.

II
Date of The precise note of time prefixed to the prophecy
of Amos (i. 1), two years before the earthquake, prob
ably refers to his mission to Bethel (vii. 9 ff). The
memory of that earthquake long survived, preserved
possibly by its visible effects ; -1 but the date of it is
no longer known. We shall not, however, be far
wrong if we place the ministry of Amos in the
second half of Jeroboam's reign. The victories by
which he restored the border of Israel from the entering
in of Hamath unto the sea of the -Arabah, had already
been won when Amos prophesied,2 and the prosperity
which was the result of these successes had already
begun to bear evil fruit in the spirit of luxury and
overweening self-confidence. If Jeroboam's reign, as
seems most probable, lasted until B.C. 749, or even a
few years later, the mission of Amos is probably to
be placed about B.C. 760. On the other hand, none of
Hosea's prophecies can well be later than B.C. 734.3
Thus the two prophets fall within the same quarter
of a century, and though Amos preceded Hosea, it
can at the most have been by but a few years.
1 Zech. xiv. 5 ; cp. Note B to Lect. XV, p. 478.
» Cp. Amos vi. 14 with 2 Kings xiv. 25. 3 See pp. 110 ff.

CONTRAST BETWEEN AMOS AND HOSEA 85

III

But the recorded prophecies of these two con- contrast
between
temporary prophets present a singular contrast, which j™"* and
it is well to bear in mind in studying their books.
It cannot be accounted for by the fact that Amos,
though he prophesied to Israel, was a native of
Judah, while Hosea was a native of the Northern
Kingdom; nor need it be supposed that either of
them ignored the truths which the other teaches, for
Hosea seems to have been acquainted with the
writings of Amos.1 But they offer a remarkable
illustration of the principle which it is essential to
bear in mind for the study of the Old Testament as
well as of the New, that God chooses one man to
present one portion or one aspect of the whole sum of
truth, and another man to present another portion or
another aspect of it. The fourfold Gospel gives a
more complete portraiture of our Lord's life and
work than a single narrative could have done. St.
Peter and St. John, St. James and St. Paul, have
each a distinctive and characteristic message to de
liver. Perhaps with our present limited faculties we
are more impressed by truth when one part of it is
presented to us boldly without reserve or qualifica
tion, and then another part offered for our accept-
1 Cp. Hos. viii. 14 with Amos ii. 5 ; Hos. xii. 9 f. with Amos ii.
10 f.

86 HISTORICAL CIRCUMSTANCES lect.
ance with equal definiteness and emphasis. The teach
ings which a hasty judgement may pronounce to be
contradictory are in fact complementary : conscience,
not logic, will adjust the balance between them.
So it is with Amos and Hosea. Amos starts
from the thought of the universal sovereignty of
Jehovah. He is a preacher of a righteousness. His
soul is filled with a sense of the need for justice.
He says comparatively little about deeper motives.
Humanity in man's dealings with his fellow-man is
a universal duty, incumbent upon and recognisable
by nations outside the sphere of special revelation.
Hosea starts from the thought of Jehovah's relation
to Israel. He is the preacher of mercy and loving-
kindness. He points to the inner motives of human
conduct, and deals with man's duty to his fellow-man
in the light of his duty to God and in virtue of God's
choice of Israel. His spirit is full of a pathetic
tenderness, learnt in the school of sorrow.

IV

cinum- The period in which Amos was called to his pro-
stances of
the time, phetic work was one of singular external prosperity
for both Israel and Judah. Israel had recently re
covered from a state of extreme depression. During
the reign of Jehoahaz, the son and successor of Jehu,
it had suffered most severely from the Syrians
under Hazael and Benhadad III. Hazael took all

iv OF THE TIMES OF AMOS 87
the Israelite territory beyond the Jordan, and even
captured some cities on the western side of it. The
army of Israel was reduced to a nominal strength.
Its weakness is indicated by the repeated raids of the
Moabites, who penetrated even into the neighbour
hood of Samaria (2 Kings x. 32 f. ; xiii. 3, 7, 20, 22,
25). The nation seemed to be on the brink of de
struction. But the hour of Israel's fall had not yet
come. It was to have one more respite.
Stimulated by Elisha's dying charge, Joash, the
son and successor of Jehoahaz, recovered the cities
which his father had lost to the west of the Jordan.
It is probable that these successes were partly due to
the fact that the strength of Syria was otherwise
occupied in grappling with a new enemy on the north.
The Assyrians were advancing southwards. Jehu is
named on the ' black obelisk ' of Shalmaneser II as
having paid him tribute in B.C. 842. But they
began by concentrating their attack upon Syria. For
the time Damascus served as a barrier to check the
tide of their conquests, and their successes relieved
Israel from the presence of their formidable neigh
bours. Joash, however, did not follow up his victories;
and it was reserved for Jeroboam II to be the saviour
of Israel (2 Kings xiii. 4 f. ; xiv. 26 f.). He assumed
the aggressive, recovered the territory of Israel on
the east of the Jordan from Hamath in the valley of
the Orontes on the north to the Dead Sea on the

88 SOCIAL EVILS lect.
south, and even captured Damascus (2 Kings xiv. 25,
28). Almost simultaneously Uzziahwas strengthening
the power of Judah in the south ; and the two king
doms rose to a pitch of power and prosperity greater
than they had enjoyed since the days of Solomon.
internal But prosperity, as it so often has done, brought
condition of r r J °
Israel. grave evils in its train. The brief chronicle in the
Book of Kings does little more than give a bare out
line of the external history. It is from the pages of
Amos and Hosea that we must draw the materials
for a picture of the actual condition of the people in
the Northern Kingdom. There we get a glimpse of a
state of society from which the primitive simplicity
and equality had disappeared. A class of wealthy
nobles had arisen, who had swept the smaller hold
ings together into vast estates in defiance of the
fundamental principles of the constitution, and mis
used their power to oppress the masses, who had
sunk into a condition of poverty and in some cases
even actual slavery.1
Let us turn to the pages of Amos, and note what
he saw beneath the apparent prosperity and external
splendour of Jeroboam's reign. The luxury of the
rich was conspicuous. They had their winter and
summer residences (iii. 15), which were built of hewn
stone, panelled with ivory, and furnished with couches
inlaid with the same costly material (v. 11 ; iii. 15 ;
vi. 4), where they feasted and drank to excess amid
1 See Robertson Smith's Prophets of Israel, p. 93.

iv OF THE TIMES OF AMOS 89
delicate perfumes, and soft strains of varied music
(vi. 4-6). But these luxuries were obtained by means
which Amos bluntly calls violence and robbery (iii. 10);
by oppression of the poor and needy, who were even
sold as slaves by their remorseless creditors (ii. 6-8) ;
by dishonest trading, by false weights, and worthless
goods (viii. 4-6) ; by exacting presents and taking
bribes (v. 11, 12). Women shewed themselves as
cruel and hard-hearted as men, imperiously demand
ing from their husbands the means for the supply of
their luxuries, regardless of the fact that they were to
be procured at the expense of the poor and needy
(iv. 1).
Public and private virtues alike had decayed. The
venality of the judges — that perpetual curse of
Oriental countries — was notorious. The poor man
need not look for redress in the courts where justice
was openly bought and sold (v. 7, 12). Licentious
ness of the grossest kind was unblushingly practised
(ii. 7). Tradesmen made no secret of their covetous
ness and dishonesty (viii. 4 ff). Humane laws were
openly ignored (ii. 8).
And withal no reproof of these practices was
tolerated. The suggestion of the duty of upright
dealing was sufficient to make a man unpopular
(v. 10). Engrossed with their own pleasures, the nobles
shewed a callous indifference to the moral ruin of
their country (vi. 6). Confident in the continuance
of a prosperity which they attributed to their own

90 PERSONAL HISTORY OF AMOS lect.
exertions, they had no fear of impending judgement
(vi. 1, 13).
The outward ordinances of worship were zealously
observed at the various sanctuaries. Sacrifices and
burnt offerings and meal offerings and thank offerings
and freewill offerings were brought in abundance.
New moons and Sabbaths and festivals were ob
served. The joyous songs of the worshippers re
sounded in their sanctuaries (v. 21 ff. ; iv. 4 f. ; viii. 3,
5, 10). They trusted in the privilege of descent (iii.
2 ; ix. 7). Was not Jehovah of hosts in their midst?
Did they not duly propitiate Him in the manner He
desired ? Could He possibly desert them ? Surely
the day, whenever it might come, in which He would
manifest His Presence more immediately and visibly,
must be a welcome day of blessing for Israel, and
discomfiture for Israel's enemies ! (v. 14, 18).

Personal Such was the state of society in Northern Israel
Amos. when Amos was sent on his mission. His home was at
Tekoa, about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, whence
came the " wise woman " who was employed by Joab
to procure Absalom's recall (2 Sam. xiv. 2). He was
no prophet by birth or education,1 but a shepherd or
1 When Amos disclaims being a prophet's son (vii. 14), he
may refer to his natural parentage ; but it is certainly possible that
he means that he had not been trained in the ' schools of the
prophets.' So R.V. marg., one of the sons of the prophets. Cp.
1 Kings xx. 35.

iv PERSONAL HISTORY OF AMOS 91
herdman,1 and dresser of sycamore trees, which were
cultivated both for their fruit and for their durable
wood (1 Chron. xxvii. 28 ; Isa. ix. 10). He may have
partly owned the flocks and the trees which he tended,
but the fact that he followed the flock (vii. 15), makes
it clear that he was not a wealthy noble, but a yeo
man like Elisha who worked upon his own farm, or
perhaps of still humbler position. The language of
his prophecy bears numerous traces of the character
of his occupation. The significance of the phe
nomena of nature, familiar to one whose life was
spent in the open air, impressed itself deeply upon
him (iv. 13 ; v. 8 ; ix. 5, 6). The waggon loaded
with sheaves (ii. 13) ; the lion growling over his
prey (iii. 4) ; the remnants of his prey recovered by
the shepherd out of the lion's mouth (iii. 12) ; the
bear, more formidable to the shepherd than even the
lion (v. 19) ; the snares set for birds (iii. 5) ; plough
ing (vi. 12) ; cattle- driving (iv. 3); corn-winnowing
(ix. 9); the locusts devouring the aftermath (vii. 1 ff.);
the basket of summer fruit (viii. 1 ff.), — supply
him with imagery which he uses with perfect natural
ness, as might be expected from one who was brought
up to the calling of a shepherd and husbandman.
1 In ch. i. 1 he is said to have been among the shepherds of
Tekoa. The term naked here used occurs elsewhere in the Old
Testament only in 2 Kings iii. 4, where it is applied to Mesha
(A.V. sheepmaster). It appears to denote the owner or keeper of
a particular breed of sheep or goats, small and ugly, but valuable
for their wool. In ch. vii. 14, 15, Amos describes himself as a
herdman, and says that Jehovah took him from following the flock.

92 PROPHECIES OF AMOS lect.
ms mission At the divine call Amos left his flocks and herds
to Beth-el. and sycamore groves at Tekoa, and journeyed to
Beth-el. There, under the shadow of the royal
palace and sanctuary, he publicly delivered his
message.1 How much of the book as we now have
it was thus orally delivered, we cannot tell. But no
doubt the substance of the prophecy against Israel
which occupies the greater part of it was actually
spoken. The climax was reached when he foretold
the destruction of the sanctuaries of Israel, the fall
of the house of Jeroboam, and the captivity of the
people. Amaziah the priest of Beth-el interposed,
and sent word to Jeroboam, charging Amos with
treason. Amaziah evidently dared not lay violent
hands on the sacrosanct person of a prophet without
the king's authority. But he strove to silence the
unwelcome visitor, and bade him flee to his own
home, and prophesy there. Amos defended his
action. It was no self-chosen task, but one imposed
upon him, contrary to all expectation, by a divine
mandate which he could not resist. And he pro
nounces a solemn sentence upon Amaziah. Though
he might now be able to silence the prophet, he was
destined himself to experience the fulfilment of his
words. 1 It is possible that he went as far as Samaria. The addresses
in chaps, iii-vi seem, in part at least, more suitable to Samaria
than to Beth-el. See iii. 9 ; iv. 1 : vi. 1.

AGAINST THE NATIONS 93

VI

It seems probable that Amos went home to ne Book of
Tekoa, and there committed his prophecies to writ
ing. The book bears evidence of more orderly and
systematic arrangement than would be likely to have
characterised the spoken prophecies.1 In particular,
the prophecies against surrounding nations, and
against Judah, with which it opens, would scarcely
have been spoken in Beth-el. If, as there seems no
reason to doubt, the title is from the prophet's own
hand, at least two years must have elapsed before it
was completed.
The series of prophecies against the nations which The pro-
forms the prologue to the book is noteworthy, alike against the
for the view of the universal sovereignty^ Jehovah Chaps- *> "•
which it presents, and for the doctrine of the moral
responsibility of the heathen which it assumes.
Here, in the earliest of the prophets whose date
is universally acknowledged, Jehovah is already
presented to view as the supreme Ruler of the
world. He is not Israel's God alone, though He
is Israel's God in a special sense, for He has chosen
Israel out of all the families of the earth to be His
own people. But He who is the all-sovereign
Creator of the universe, orders the migrations of the
nations, and cares for their welfare. It is He who
1 See Note A, p. 107.

94 PROPHECIES OF AMOS leot.
brought up the Philistines from Caphtor and the
Syrians from Kir, not less than Israel from the land
of Egypt (ix. 7). He has the right and the power
to punish them for their offences. What then are
the offences of which they have been guilty? In
part no doubt it is for hostility to Israel that they
are condemned ; but in the main it is for inhumanity,
for breaches of those natural laws of piety written in
the heart and conscience of man, by which the
relation of man to man and nation to nation ought
to be governed. The gravamen of the offence lies
in its character, not in the fact that it is committed
against Jehovah's people. Thus Syria is condemned
for the barbarous destructiveness of its wars
against Gilead; Philistia for merciless deportation
of captigss. into slavery; Tyre for a like offence,
aggravated by the forgetfulness of the brotherly
covenant made by Hiram with David and Solomon ;
Edom for pitiless hostility, and that against his own
brother; Ammon for savage brutality in warfare;
Moab, most notable instance of all, for an act of sense
less insult, which violated the natural laws of respect
for the dead. The condemnation of these nations
implies that even the heathen possessed some know
ledge of right, which carried with it a corresponding
degree of moral responsibility. The violation of the
natural laws of humanity written in their hearts
demands punishment. They are capable of exercis
ing moral judgements. Even the Philistines and

iv AGAINST THE NATIONS 95
Egyptians are summoned as witnesses of the wrongs
which are perpetrated in Samaria (iii. 9).
With Judah and Israel it is otherwise. Judah is JudahamdIsrael.
condemned for disregard of the divine revelation
made to it : because they have rejected the law of
Jehovah, and have not kept His statutes, and their lies,
the false gods which they have chosen, have caused
them to err (ii. 4). Israel is condemned for in
humanity and debauchery ; and their misconduct is
aggravated by forgetfulness of all that Jehovah had
done for them in bringing them out of Egypt, and
establishing them in the land of Canaan. They have
been admonished by a succession of prophets; but
they have silenced the prophets whose rebukes
disturbed their complacency. They have had the
Nazarites before their eyes as a standing example
of self-control, but they had done their best to
corrupt those whose ascetic lives were a constant
rebuke of their self-indulgence (ii. 6-12).
VII
The storm of judgement which has swept over the Israel's sm$
Chaps.
surrounding nations from north to south, and from »»-**•
west to east, remains suspended in all its intensity
over Israel. It was to Israel that Amos was
specially sent, and upon them the full force of his
moral indignation is let loose. The sins which were
rife in the state of society which has already been

96 AMOS' DENUNCIATION lect.
described — covetousness and dishonesty, cruel treat
ment of the poor and defenceless, open violation of
humane laws, perversion of justice, selfish and idle
luxury, immorality and profanity — all in succession
are dragged to the light and unsparingly denounced.
Repeated chastisements have had no effect upon them
(iv. 6 ff.) : they are ripe for judgement ; let them
prepare to meet their God ; to seek Him is the one
condition of life ; and if they do not seek Him, He
will break forth as a consuming fire that none can
quench. By the side of Israel's moral offences, their cere
monial errors fall comparatively into the background.
Amos goes to the root of the matter, and deals with
the attitude of the people's heart and will towards
Jehovah. How could any worship, offered by hands
so stained with sin, from hearts so absolutely indif
ferent not merely to Jehovah's known requirements,
but to the common dictates of morality, be possibly
acceptable ? But it is scarcely true to say that
Amos "expresses no dread of the religious symbolism
prevalent in Northern Israel"; that "like Elijah and
Elisha, he lets the golden calves pass without a word
of protest." x Elijah and Elisha were face to face
with the graver question whether Baal or Jehovah
was to be Israel's God. Amos was face to face with
the scarcely less grave moral question, what concep-
1 Cheyne, Hosea, p. 31. See Davidson's criticism in The
Expositor, 3rd Ser. vol. v, pp. 174 ff.

iv OF THE SINS OF ISRAEL 97
tion Israel formed of Jehovah and His requirements.
This question overshadows everything else. But
apart from the indispensable moral conditions of true
worship, it is clear that he regards the worship
carried on in sanctuaries of their own choice, with
ceremonies of their own devising, as no true seeking
of Jehovah. Their altars are to be destroyed. In
the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel
upon him, I will also visit the altars of Beth-el, and the
horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground
(iii. 14). Or again : Seek ye Me, and ye shall live :
but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not
to Beer-sheba : for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,
and Beth-el shall com,e to nought (v. 4). Ironically
he exhorts them : Come to Beth-el, and transgress ; to
Gilgal, and multiply transgression ; and bring your
sacrifices every morning, and your tithes every three
days; and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which
is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings and publish
them (iv. 4, 5). It may be doubtful whether the sin
of Samaria, means the calf of Beth- el or the Asherah
which was still standing in Samaria (2 Kings xiii. 6) ;
but the worshippers of the calves are certainly in
cluded in the prophet's threat, They that swear by the
sin of Samaria, and say, As thy God, 0 Dan, liveth;
and, As the way of Beer-sheba liveth ; even they shall
fall, and never rise up again (viii. 14). And the
last vision (ix. 1 ff.) presents a graphic picture of the
worshippers buried under the ruins of the Temple in
H

98 AMOS' EXPOSITION lect.
which they are assembled for worship. " These pas
sages," says Professor Davidson, " appear to carry in
them a formal repudiation of the calves. ... If the
prophet's language be not a verbal protest against the
calf worship, it is because it is a great deal more ; it
is a protest which goes much deeper than the calves,
and is directed to something behind them. The
calves, and the whole ritual service as it was prac
tised, were but symptoms of that which gave offence
to the prophets, which was the spirit of the worship,
the mind of the worshippers, the conception of Deity
which they had in worshipping, and to which they
offered their worship. Jehovah distinguishes between
this service and the worship of Him. Seek Me, and
seek not to Beth-el." 1
Israels self- In the midst of all their moral depravity, and
delusion. failures to recognise Jehovah s character, they still
claimed to be His people, and imagined themselves to
be entitled to His favour. Jehovah, the God of hosts,
is with us, was their favourite watchword (v. 14).
They desired the day of Jehovah (v. 18). It was in
conceivable that He should manifest Himself other
wise than as the champion of His own people and
the destroyer of their enemies. It must have been
a rude shock to the easy-going security of the Israel
ites to learn that just because they were Jehovah's
people He intended to punish them. You only have
I known of all the families of the earth : therefore I
1 Expositor, 3rd Ser. vol. v, p. 175.

iv OF JEHOVAH'S REQUIREMENTS 99
will visit upon you all your iniquities (iii. 2). All
that He had done for them in delivering them from
the bondage of Egypt, and leading them through the
wilderness, and destroying the gigantic Amorites
before them, ought to have bound them to grateful
service. At least, if they did not recognise the
claim to gratitude, it would have been the part of
prudence to fear the Almighty Creator of the universe
(iv. 13 ; v. 8 ; ix. 6).
Jehovah's requirements are few and simple. Seek Jehovah's
require-
good and not evil. . . . Sate the evil, and love the good, ments.
and establish judgement in the gate (v. 14, 15). Let
judgement roll down as waters, and righteousness as a
perennial stream (v. 24). Requirements few and
simple, yet difficult, because they cut clean across
the ingrained selfishness of the human heart, and
demanded nothing less than a complete reversal of
their present principles of action.
Seek Jehovah; seek good; that ye may live, is the The
tt « impending
burden of the prophet s message. He sets before judgement.
them life and death ; and if they will not choose the
way of life, the punishment cannot be averted. Once
and again at the intercession of the prophet Jehovah
repents Him of the evil (vii. 1-6). But the end must
come. Judgement cannot be deferred (vii. 7 ff. ; viii.
1 ff). The sinful kingdom must be destroyed from
off the face of the earth. Jehovah's character must
be vindicated in the sight of all the nations. The
instrument of chastisement is at hand. Amos does

100 THEOLOGY OF AMOS lect.
not name them, but no doubt he has the Assyrians
in view. The Syrians had been a formidable enemy,
but a still more formidable and irresistible power was
arising in the distant north (v. 27 ; vi. 14).
The restora- Yet co-ordinately with the prediction of judgement
tion. we meet with the promise of restoration. Though
the sinful kingdom must' be destroyed, the house of
Jacob will not be utterly destroyed. When the house
of Israel is sifted among all the nations, as corn is
sifted in a sieve, the least grain shall not fall upon
the ground. Only the self-confident sinners, who
deny the possibility of a judgement, will perish
(ix. 8-10). Then the ancient glory of the Davidic
kingdom will be restored ; a reunited, purified Israel
will once more possess the remnant of Edom, and
all the nations which Jehovah had claimed as His
own.1 Israel will be restored to its own land, and
dwell there securely in the enjoyment of undisturbed
prosperity. The curse of barrenness will be removed :
the land will be enriched with the blessings of ex
uberant fertility (ix. 11-15). VIII
Theology of The dominant idea in the theology of Amos is the
Amos. . . OJ
sovereignty of Jehovah in nature and in history.
The lord, or the lord Jehovah, or the God of hosts, are
his favourite titles for God ; 2 and whatever may
1 With ix. 12 cp. Deut. xxviii. 10. 2 See Note B, p. 108.

iv THEOLOGY OF AMOS 101
have been the origin of the title Jehovah of hosts, it
can hardly be doubted that the Septuagint rendering
Lord all -sovereign (icvpt,o<; TravTo/cpdrcop) rightly re
presents the sense in which the prophets employed it
to designate Jehovah as the Ruler of the hosts of
heaven and earth. In three passages Amos breaks
out into a sublime apostrophe of the sovereign
Creator. When he bids Israel prepare to meet its
God, he would startle them into repentance by bring
ing home to them the conviction of what He is Whose
name is Jehovah, the God of Hosts. He it is Who
formed the solid mountains and created the subtle
wind, Who reveals to man His thoughts in His works
and by His prophets, Who turns the light of dawn
into darkness, and makes the high places of the earth
as it were the footstool of His feet (iv. 13).
When he bids Israel seek Jehovah if they would
live and not die, he draws as it were two portraits,
and hangs them up one over against the other. On
the one side there are the men who turn judgement to
wormwood, and cast righteousness down to the ground :
on the other there is the maker of the Pleiades and
Orion, Who turns the deepest gloom into morning, and
makes day as dark as night ; Who calls for the waters
of the sea, and pours them over the face of the earth ;
Jehovah is His name ; Who flashes destruction upon
the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress
(v. 7 ff). This is the God with whom these daring
sinners have to do.

102 ESCHATOLOGY OF AMOS lect.
Do they doubt His power to overtake them,
though they should bury themselves in the lowest
depths of Sheol, or scale the topmost heights of
heaven ? He Who touches the land and it melts away,
and all its inhabitants mourn, is none other than He
Who builds His chambers in the heaven, and founds
His vault upon the earth, and calls for the waters of
the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth
(ix. 6).
He is, as we have seen already, the God of his
tory, Who orders the migrations of the nations, Who
claims the right and has the power to judge them
for their breaches of the common law which He has
written in their hearts.
But in a special way He has revealed Himself to
Israel. In one sense Israel is but as one of the
nations whose destinies He has guided. Are ye not
as the children of the Ethiopians unto Me, 0 children
of Israel? (ix. 7). But in another sense Israel is
the only nation which He has known} chosen and
acknowledged as peculiarly His own. He has sent
them prophets, and the prophets are His servants, to
whom He reveals His secret counsel (ii. 11 ; iii. 7).
His moral character is shewn in His denunciation
of Israel's conduct, and in those demands of goodness,
judgement, and righteousness, of which we have
already spoken.
1 Cp. the use of the word in Gen. xviii. 19 of the call of
Abraham.

iv ESCHATOLOGY OF AMOS 103
The eschatology of Amos is of the simplest Amos'
character. The picture of Israel's future which he
draws in the concluding verses of the book is, like
that of Joel,1 a picture of purely temporal felicity.
Sinners will be destroyed in the judgement which is
impending ; while the sound grain will be preserved
out of which a renewed people is to spring (ix. 9, 10).
But he casts no light on the deeper problem, how sin
is to be atoned for and eradicated. He looks appar
ently for this restoration to follow at no long interval
upon the judgement which is to fall upon Israel from
the Assyrians.
Amos has no prediction of a personal Messiah.
But it is noteworthy that he does connect the hope
of the future with the house of David. This is to
be restored to its pristine glory, and through its
restoration blessing comes to the reunited nation
which exercises a sovereignty over surrounding
nations as of old. He is still the representative of a
rudimentary stage of prophetic revelation, to be
enlarged, developed, spiritualised by his successors ;
to be fulfilled not indeed in the letter, but in the
spirit. IX
But though in some respects the teaching of Place of
p • Amos in
Amos is of a simple and rudimentary character, his the religious
history of
1 To whose words he seems to allude, cp. Amos ix. 13 with Joel
iii. 18. See above, pp. 63 S.

104 PLACE OF AMOS lect.
book offers a complete refutation of the theory that
his prophecy marks an entirely new departure in the
religious history of Israel. He, in common with the
other prophets of the eighth century,1 is, as I have
already observed (p. 26 ff), a reformer and not a
founder. If the people had no knowledge of the
moral demands of Jehovah, how could they justly
be blamed for disregarding them ? Amos refers to
prophets who had preceded him, and betrays no sense
of any discontinuity between their teaching and his
own (ii. 11 ; iii. 7). With all their faults, men desire
to hear the words of Jehovah. They are their
spiritual food, and the spiritual ' famine ' which will
ensue upon the withdrawal of prophetic teaching,
which is threatened as part of Israel's punishment,
will be recognised as a grievous evil (viii. 11 ff).
It is instructive to observe the knowledge which
Amos himself shews, and which he presumes in his
hearers. He implies a familiarity with the history
of Jacob and Esau (i. 11). Moab shall die with
tumult (ii. 2) may possibly be a reference to the
phrase sons of tumult in Balaam's prophecy of the
destruction of Moab (Num. xxiv. 17, R.V.). He
condemns (ii. 8) the breach of the humane law
concerning pledges, which is found in Exod. xxii. 26.
He speaks of the forty years of wandering in the
wilderness, and the gigantic stature of the Amorites
1 I do not refer to the evidence of Obadiah and Joel, because
their dates are disputed.

iv IN THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF ISRAEL 105
(ii. 9, 10). He knows the fame of David as a
musician (vi. 5). This simple countryman is ac
quainted with the history of his nation and under
stands its religious significance. He expects his
hearers and readers to know it, for he refers to these
things incidentally and cursorily, as to matters with
which they would be familiar; and he refers to
events outside his own nation. The fate of Calneh
and Hamath, the origin of the Philistines and the
Syrians, have their warning and their interest for him.
The natural inference is that the class of yeomen,
possibly even of peasants, to which Amos belonged,
was by no means an uninstructed class. How far
the ancient history of the nation had been already
committed to writing, or how far it was still preserved
by oral tradition, is a question which cannot be
answered with certainty. But if, as there seems no
reason to doubt, Amos committed his own prophecy
to writing, it is at least probable that some historical
records already existed in a written form.
The law and the statutes of Jehovah are presumed
to be known, for Judah is condemned for having
forsaken them and followed false gods (their lies)
like their fathers (ii. 4).1 The existence of a ritual
law is implied in the condemnation of the offering
of leavened sacrifices on the altar (iv. 5) ; 2 and the
1 It is wholly arbitrary to condemn this passage as a ' Deuter-
onomic ' interpolation.
2 Lit. burn a thank offering of leaven. Cakes of leavened bread
were presented as part of the sacrifice of peace offerings (Lev. vii.

106 LESSONS OF THE BOOK OF AMOS lect.
sanctity of the holy land in comparison with foreign
countries is presupposed when Amaziah is con
demned, as part of his punishment, to die in a land
that is unclean (vii. 17; cp. Hos. ix. 3).
New moons and Sabbaths were observed by
abstinence from business, even by those who had no
heart in the observance (viii. 5) ; feasts and solemn
assemblies were frequented (v. 21 ; viii. 10) ; sacri
fices, burnt offerings, meal offerings, peace offerings,
freewill offerings were offered (v. 22 ; iv. 5) ; tithes
were paid (iv. 4).
Permanem The Book of Amos teaches, with singular clear-
lessons of
the book. ness and force, truths which can never become
superfluous or obsolete. The truths that justice
between man and man is one of the divine founda
tions of society ; that privilege implies responsibility,
and that failure to recognise responsibility will surely
bring punishment ; that nations, and by analogy,
individuals, are bound to live up to that measure of
light and knowledge which has been granted to them;
that the most elaborate worship is but an insult to
God when offered by those who have no mind to
conform their wills and conduct to His requirements ;
— these are elementary but eternal truths.
13), but no leaven was ever to be burnt (Lev. ii. 11). Such a
ritual impropriety would seem to be of small moment. The
allusion to it implies the existence of a ritual law, to which much
importance was attached.

iv LESSONS OF THE BOOK OF AMOS 107
Note A.
Structure op the Book of Amos.
The Book of Amos may be divided as follows : —
(i) Chaps, i, ii. The Prologue.
The title and preface1 (i. 1, 2) are followed by denun
ciations of judgement against six neighbouring nations
(i. 3— ii. 3) ; upon Judah (ii. 4, 5) ; and lastly, in more detail,
upon Israel (ii. 6-16). Each begins, Thus saith Jehovah.
(ii) Chaps, iii-vi.
A series of addresses, three of which begin Hear ye this
word (iii. 1 ; iv. 1 ; v. 1), and end with a threat introduced
by Therefore (iii. 11 ; iv. 12 ; v. II, 16) ; and two begin with
Woe (v. 18 ; vi. 1). In these the crimes and the impending
punishment of Israel are set forth at length.
(iii) Chaps, vii. 1-ix. 10.
Further threatenings of judgement in the form of five
visions. After the third follows the narrative of Amos'
experience at Beth-el (vii. 10 ff.) ; and after the fourth a
repeated rebuke of the sins of the people (viii. 4 ff.).
(iv) Chap. ix. 11-15. The Epilogue.
The promise of the restoration of the House of David, and
the renewed happiness of Israel in their own land under
Jehovah's protection. 1 Comp. Joel iii. 16.

108 NAMES OF GOD IN AMOS lect. iv
Note B.
Names op God in Amos.
(1) Jehovah [the Lord] alone, commonly, as in other
prophets. (2) The Lord Jehovah [Adonai Jehovah: A.V. the Lord
God1'] is his favourite title, occurring twenty times. Ch. i. 8 ;
iii. 7, 8, 11, 13 ; iv. 2, 5 ; v. 3 ; vi. 8 ; vii. 1, 2, 4 (twice),
5, 6 ; viii. 1, 3, 9, 11 ; ix. 8.
The Lord [Adonai] only, vii. 7, 8 ; ix. 1.
(3) The following combinations should be noted : —
Jehovah the God of hosts [A.V. the Lord, the God of hosts],
iv. 13 ; v. 14, 15 ; vi. 8, 14 ; and more emphatically,
Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts, v. 27.
The Lord, Jehovah of hosts, ix. 5.
The Lord Jehovah, the God of hosts, iii. 13.
Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord, v. 1 6.
Note that Lord never occurs in Hosea, and God of hosts
only once (xii. 5).
1 Readers of the English will remember that, both in A.V. and
in R.V., God and Lord printed in capitals represent the sacred
name JHVH, which from early times was not pronounced by the
Jews in reading the Scriptures. In place of that ineffable Name
was read Adonai=~LoTdi, or when Adonai is coupled with it,
Elohim = God. Thus "the Lord God" (Gen. ii. 4) = Jehovah
Elohim; "Lord God" (Gen. xv. 2) = Adonai Jehovah ; "God the
Lord" (Ps. lxviii. 20)= Jehovah Adonai. In A.V. Jehovah, stand
ing alone, is occasionally represented by God (Gen. vi. 5 ; 2 Sam.
xii. 22).

LECTURE V
HOSEA
/ desire lovingkindness, and not sacrifice ; and knowledge of God
more than burnt offerings. — Hosea vi. 6.

Hosea was a younger contemporary of Amos, and an Date of
older contemporary of Isaiah and Micah. Accord- B-°- 7ss-no
ing to the title prefixed to his book, the word of
Jehovah came to him in the days of TJzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the dayt
of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. It seems
to be tolerably certain that this is a composite title.
The latter part of it probably belonged in the first in
stance only to the first division of the book (chaps.
i-iii) ; while the earlier part was added, perhaps by
the editor of the collection of the Minor Prophets, to
indicate that Hosea prophesied in the same period
as Isaiah and Micah.1 It need not be strained to
mean that Hosea's ministry extended over the whole
period covered by the reigns of these four kings of
1 Comp. Isa. i. 1 ; Mic. i. 1.

110

DATE OF HOSEA'S MINISTRY

(i) Chaps.
i-iii in the
reign of
Jeroboam.

(2) Chaps.
iv-xiv after
Jeroboam'sdeath.

Judah. In fact it seems hardly possible that it can
have done so. Internal evidence proves that while
the greater part of the book must be assigned to a
time subsequent to the reign of Jeroboam II, no part
of it can well be so late as the reign of Hezekiah or
even of Ahaz.
The book falls into two well-marked divisions.
Chaps, i-iii are complete in themselves. They be
long evidently to the reign of Jeroboam. For they
predict the downfall of the house of Jehu (i. 4), a
prediction which was fulfilled when after a brief
reign of six months Jeroboam's son and successor
Zechariah lost his throne and his life by Shallum's
conspiracy.1 They were written in a time of pros
perity, which, however, it is predicted, would not last
much longer. Corn and wine, silver and gold, were
still abundant (ii. 8 ff), but Israel was soon to be
deprived of the blessings which it had misused, and
the true Giver of which it had ignored. The reign
of Jeroboam was, as we have seen, a time of such
prosperity. But it speedily came to an end after
his death. We can thus hardly be wrong in refer
ring the first three chapters of Hosea to the closing
years of his reign, about 755-749 B.C.
The second division (chaps, iv-xiv) evidently be-
1 See 2 Kings xv. 10. The expression rendered before the people
is a very strange one ; and we should probably adopt Gratz's brilliant
conjecture, in Ibleam, which involves an extremely slight change in
the letters of the text. Ibleam was in the plain of Jezreel (2 Kings
ix. 27). See Driver in The Expositor, 3rd Ser. vol. v, p. 259.

v DATE OF HOSEA'S MINISTRY 111
longs to a later period. It contains clear indications
of the state of anarchy and misrule into which the
Northern Kingdom fell upon Jeroboam's death.1
But it is at the latest anterior to the fall of Samaria,
which is predicted as still future (xiii. 16) ; and
it must in all probability be placed considerably
earlier than that event. It shews no trace of
the circumstances which called forth the great
prophecies of Isaiah vii. ff. There is no allusion to
the coalition of Pekah and Rezin to dethrone Ahaz.
The direct consequence of their action was that Ahaz
appealed to Assyria for help, and Pul or Tiglath-
Pileser III 2 responded to his appeal by ravaging
and depopulating northern Palestine, Galilee, and
Gilead. To this grave disaster Hosea makes no
allusion. The punishment of Israel's sins is im
minent, but it is still future. Gilead is spoken of as
being still a part of the Northern Kingdom (vi. 8 ;
xii. 11 ; contrast Mic. vii. 14). Assyria is nowhere
regarded as a present and actual enemy, but as a
worthless and dangerous ally, to whose support a
faction in the country was appealing (v. 13 ; vii. 11 ;
viii. 9 ; xii. 1 ; xiv. 3). Now this was precisely the
position of affairs in the reign of Menahem. He
1 See e.g. vii. 7 ; viii. 3 f. ; x. 3, 15 ; xiii. 10 f.
2 The identification of Pul with Tiglath-Pileser has been corro
borated by the discovery of the name Pulu in a list of Babylonian
kings, while in the Babylonian Chronicle Tuklat-abal-isarra
(= Tiglath-Pileser) is given as king for the same years. Pul
appears to have been the Babylonian substitute for the name
Tiglath-Pileser (Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, E.T. i, p. xxxii).

112 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HOSEA'S TIMES lect.
was a military adventurer, who waded through blood
to the throne, upon which he could only maintain
himself by purchasing the support of Tiglath-Pileser,
and practically becoming a vassal of Assyria (2
Kings xv. 14 ff, 19 ff). But with the accession of
Pekah the political situation was completely changed.
We may therefore with some confidence conclude
that Hosea's public ministry was closed, and in all
probability his book written, before B.C. 734, when
Pekah and Rezin invaded Judah.1

II
arcum. We must now recall the circumstances under
the time, which Hosea exercised his ministry. We have
already had occasion to consider the characteristics
of the reign of Jeroboam II in connexion with the
prophecy of Amos (pp. 86 ff). On the death of that
powerful monarch the great kingdom which he had
built up fell speedily into ruin. After six months'
1 If Shalman who spoiled Beth-arbel (x. 14) could be identified
with Shalmaneser the successor of Tiglath-Pileser, the book would
be brought down to a date after B. c. 727. But the identification is
improbable. Salamanu appears on the monuments as the name of
a Moabite king ; there was an Arbela on the east of Jordan, and it is
far more likely that the incident referred to occurred in one of the
savage wars between Moab and Gilead. See Schrader, Cuneiform
Inscriptions, p. 440. Professor Sayce (Jewish Quarterly Review, vol.
i, p. 162 ff.) endeavours to shew that Hosea's prophecies belong in
part to the very last years of the Northern Kingdom, immediately
before the fall of Samaria, and conjectures that Jareb (v. 13 ; x. 6)
may have been the natal name of Sargon ; but the arguments
stated above appear to me conclusive in favour of the earlier date.

v CIRCUMSTANCES OF HOSEA'S TIMES 113
reign in Samaria his son and successor Zechariah was
slain by Shallum, and the dynasty of Jehu came to
an end. But the usurper could not keep the throne
which he had seized. Menahem had apparently
already established himself in the once important city
of Tirzah, and marching thence against Samaria, took
it and slew Shallum. A few brief sentences suggest
the horrors of the civil war which followed, and the
brutal vengeance which Menahem inflicted on those
who had refused to take his side (2 Kings xv. 16).
But he could not secure his throne without external
aid. Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, invaded
Israel. Menahem purchased his support with the
sum of a thousand talents, which he raised by a
tax upon the owners of property, and submitted to
the indignity of holding his throne as the creature
and vassal of the king of Assyria. He reigned
for ten years, and left his throne to his son Pekah-
iah. But after two years civil war broke out again.
Pekah, one of his generals, with a band of Gileadites,
murdered him in his palace, and seized the throne.
At this point the political relations of the nations
underwent a change. Pekah allied himself with
Rezin the king of Syria to attack Ahaz, and set a
creature of their own, the son of Tabeel, upon the
throne of Judah. Ahaz appealed to Assyria for help,
offering his submission as a vassal, and sending a large
subsidy. Tiglath-Pileser invaded Syria, slew Rezin,
took Damascus, and deported the inhabitants to Kir.
I

114 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HOSEA'S TIMES lect.
But first he had attacked Israel, ravaged northern
Palestine both east and west of the Jordan, and
carried the inhabitants away to Assyria. Pekah, de
feated and discredited, lost his throne and life in the
conspiracy of Hoshea, who in his turn ascended the
throne as a vassal of Assyria. It is difficult to deter
mine the precise course of events, but it is clear that
sooner or later Hoshea made overtures to So1 the
king of Egypt, and ceased to send his tribute to
Assyria. Shalmaneser promptly dethroned and im
prisoned his rebellious vassal. Samaria fell after a
three years' siege, begun by Shalmaneser, and com
pleted by his successor Sargon in B.C. 722. The
kingdom of Israel was at an end. The Israelites
were transported to the far east, to the districts
between the Tigris and Euphrates, and even to the
remoter Media, while their old home was peopled
with colonists from Babylonian cities conquered by
Assyria. The Israelites who were left in the land
intermingled with their heathen neighbours. A nomi
nal worship of Jehovah was continued side by side
with the worship of heathen deities. But the national
existence of Israel was at an end. Henceforward all
the hopes of the chosen people centred in Judah.
Thus the ruin of Israel was precipitated by in
ternal feuds coinciding with the advance of external
1 It is generally thought that the name So (2 Kings xvii. 4)
should be read Stive1, and that Stivti may be identified with the
powerful Ethiopian king of Egypt Shebek I or Sabaco. But the
identification has recently been questioned,

v CIRCUMSTANCES OF HOSEA'S TIMES 115
enemies. Four out of the six kings who succeeded
Jeroboam died violent deaths. Hoshea ended his
days as a captive. Menahem alone " slept with his
fathers," and left his kingdom to his son. The throne
was seized by a succession of military adventurers,
who were not strong enough to maintain themselves
on it without foreign aid. They did not hesitate to
sacrifice the interests of their country to their own
selfish schemes of aggrandisement. The independence
of the nation once lost, its downfall was rapid and
irrevocable. Ill
The pages of Hosea cast a lurid light upon the The history
illustrated
condition of Israel during the ten or fifteen years by Hosea.
which followed the death of Jeroboam. The evils
which Amos condemned have become rapidly worse.
In the first division of the prophecy (chaps, i-iii)
the nation is described as still outwardly prosperous.
But it has practically deserted Jehovah. It ascribes
its blessings to the false gods which it worships. It
is ripe for punishment, which will speedily fall upon
it. It is pre-eminently the religious apostasy of the
nation which is denounced in these chapters.
But the second division of the book, which belongs
to the later period of Hosea's ministry, presents a
series of pictures of the social, moral, and religious
condition of Israel during the ten or fifteen years
after Jeroboam's death, not less graphic than those

116 ISRAEL'S DEGENERACY lect.
drawn by Amos, and far more appalling. From the
highest to the lowest the nation is represented as
being utterly corrupt. The king and the princes
amuse themselves with the people's misdoings instead
of restraining them. The princes are plunged in
debauchery. The king is the intimate companion of
' scorners,' who prided themselves on their cynical
contempt for virtue and religion. What wonder if
such a populace turns to destroy such kings! (vii. 2 ff.).
What wonder if, with all these internal dissen
sions, Ephraim's strength is devoured by strangers,
and he grows prematurely old ! (vii. 9). A degenerate
priesthood rejoices in the sins of the people, because
they augment their revenues (iv. 8), instead of rebuk
ing them, as they were in duty bound to do. Nay,
the priest turns bandit on his own account (vi. 9).
Virtue has perished out of the land. There is no
truth, and no lovingkindness, and no knowledge of God
in the land. Every form of vice has taken its place.
There is nought but swearing and breaking faith, and
killing, and stealing, and committing adultery. One
act of violence follows close upon another. They
break out, and blood toucheth blood (iv. 1, 2 ; cp. vi. 8 ;
vii. 1 ; x. 4 ; xi. 12). Sin is universal (viii. 1).
There is a nominal regard for Jehovah. My God, we
Israel know Thee, is the popular cry (viii. 2). Sacrifices
in abundance are offered to Jehovah, but He will not
accept such merely formal worship (v. 6; viii. 13); for
in reality they have forgotten Him, and abandoned

v HOSEA AN EPHRAIMITE 117
themselves to licentious and degrading superstitions
(iv.6, 10,12,13; vi.6,7; viii. 11-14; x. 1,8; xi. 2; xiii.
2). This forgetfulness of Jehovah is the root-evil of all.
When danger threatens they look to Assyria or Egypt
for help instead of turning in repentance to Jehovah
(v. 13 ; vii. 11 ; viii. 9). They will not tolerate
rebuke (iv. 4), but persecute and despise the pro
phets which are sent to them (ix. 7, 8). For such
a nation nothing remains but judgement sharp and
speedy. IV
Such were the conditions under which Hosea had Hosea a
• t-1 t i-i native of
to deliver his message. Like Amos he prophesied to theNonhem
° x Kingdom.
the Northern Kingdom. He only easts side glances,
sometimes of encouragement and approval, sometimes
of warning and rebuke, at Judah. But while Amos
was a stranger, sent upon a temporary mission only,
all indications combine to shew that Hosea was a
native of Israel, bound to the kingdom whose ruin he
had to predict by the closest ties of sympathetic
patriotism. He has been called the Jeremiah of the
Northern Kingdom ; and the numerous allusions to
his book in Jeremiah 1 make it evident, as we might
expect, that it was a favourite study of that pro
phet. "In every sentence it appears that Hosea had
1 Cp. Jer. iii. 22 with Hos. xiv. 1, 4 ; Jer. iv. 3 with x." 12 ;
Jer. v. 30 ; xviii. 13 ; xxiii. 14 with vi. 10 ; Jer. vii. 9 with iv. 2 ;
Jer. ix. 12 with xiv. 9 ; Jer. xiv. 10 with viii. 13 ; ix. 9 ; Jer.
xxx. 9 with iii. 5 ; Jer. xxx. 22 with ii. 23.

118 HOSEA AN EPHRAIMITE lect.
not merely visited the kingdom of Ephraim, as Amos
had done, but that he is acquainted with it from the
depths of his heart, and follows all its doings, aims,
and fortunes, with the profound feelings gendered of
such a sympathy as is conceivable in the case of a
native prophet only " 1 He shews, as we have seen,
complete familiarity with the internal condition of
the kingdom; with the depth and hopelessness of its
social corruption; with the crimes of its kings, its
nobles, and its priests ; with its foreign relations,
such as the various intrigues for alliance with Egypt
or Assyria ; with the deep-seated religious apostasy
which united a nominal worship of Jehovah in a
corrupt and idolatrous form with Baal worship and
an utter disregard for morality. The picture is
drawn with a force and feeling which attest an eye
witness; and an eye-witness who does not merely
view things from the outside as a stranger, but is
keenly and bitterly alive to the sense that his own
country is being dragged headlong down to ruin by
the sins and crimes which he rebukes but cannot
reform. So strong is the impression produced by the
general drift of the prophecy, that it is scarcely
necessary to point to the special allusions which
stamp it as the work of an Ephraimite. The places
which Hosea mentions are all in the Northern
Kingdom. Lebanon supplies him with imagery (xiv.
5-7) ; Mizpah in Gilead and Tabor in Galilee repre-
1 Ewald, Prophets, vol. i, p. 211 (E.T.).

V HIS LIFE-HISTORY 119
sent the land from east to west (v. 1) ; Samaria is
frequently mentioned (vii. 1 ; viii. 5, 6 ; x. 5, 7 ; xiii.
16), Jerusalem not once; Gilead (vi. 8; xii. 11),
Shechem (vi. 9, R.V), Gilgal (iv. 15; ix. 15; xii. 11),
Beth-el, sometimes sarcastically called Beth-aven,
for the house of God has been turned into the house of
vanity or idol- worship (iv. 15 ; v. 8; x. 5, 8, 15),
Jezreel (i. 5), Gibeah (v. 8 ; ix. 9 ; x. 9), Ramah
(v. 8), are among the places referred to. The name
Ephraim occurs no less than thirty-seven times.
Distinctive features of language are less numerous
than might have been expected ; but certain pecu
liarities of style and diction appear to belong to the
northern dialect. Others possibly have been elimin
ated by scribes in the course of the transmission of
the text.

Hosea's personal history supplies the master-key Hosea's ufe,
historv
to his teaching. Jehovah's loving faithfulness to
Israel, and Israel's thankless unfaithfulness to Jeho
vah, are the ideas which permeate and give unity to
the whole book. These ideas had been branded upon
Hosea's inmost soul by his own domestic experience.
With delicate touch and entire absence of self-
consciousness, almost as if he reflected upon it from
the outside, he tells the sad story, and reveals the
secret of his life. When Jehovah began to speak to
Hosea, He said to him, Go, take thee a whorish wife

120 HOSEA'S LIFE-HISTORY lect
and whorish children; for the land goeth utterly a
whoring from following Jehovah. So he went and
took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim (i. 2, 3). She
bore him children, to whom, in obedience to the
divine command, he gave names which made them,
like Isaiah's children, living witnesses to their father's
message. Jezreel signified that a day of vengeance
was at hand for the house of Jehu in the valley of
Jezreel, to avenge the wanton bloodshed of Jehu in
Jezreel. Lo-ruhamah, or Unpitied, betokened that
Israel's day of grace was drawing to a close, and that
Jehovah would no longer shew mercy to the house
of Israel, and pardon their transgressions. Lo-ammi,
that is, Not-my-people, declared that Israel had for
feited its position as the people of Jehovah, and that
He would no more be their God.
But Gomer proved faithless to her marriage vow.
Ensnared perhaps by the wild orgies of Baal and
Ashtoreth, she deserted her husband. She fell at
last into slavery.1 But in this her lowest degradation
her husband does not abandon her. By divine com-
1 Ch. iii records the second act of the tragedy. The woman
loving a paramour, and an adulteress (read the active participle
with the LXX), can be no other than Gomer. If the relation of
Jehovah to Israel is symbolised by Hosea's marriage with Gomer,
and Israel's unfaithfulness is represented by her adultery, then
Jehovah's unbroken love for Israel and determination to recover
Israel in spite of its apostasy can only be symbolised by the
prophet's recovery of Gomer. That she had fallen into slavery
must be inferred from his purchasing her. The sum paid, partly
in money and partly in kind, was about thirty shekels, the value
of an ordinary slave (Exod. xxi. 32 ; Zech. xi. 12).

v THE MORAL DIFFICULTY 121
mand he redeems her from bondage, and brings her
home again. There he keeps her in a stern seclusion,
depriving her of the liberty which she had so wantonly
abused, and not yet restoring her to the full rights of
a wife ; but watching over her, until her affection for
him should revive. A touching picture, is it not, of
the prophet watching with unabated love over the
guilty wife of his youth ; waiting patiently, if per-
adventure tears of penitence might cleanse her sin-
stained soul, and her heart again respond to his
untiring love ?
Such I believe to be the outline of Hosea's personal
history. And so he learnt, in the bitterness of his own
domestic trial, something of the unquenchable love
of Jehovah for Israel, something of the cruel wrong
of Israel's unfaithfulness towards Jehovah.
But before we proceed to observe in detail how The 'moral
this experience shaped all his teaching, it is necessary
to face the ' moral difficulty ' involved in the story.
How, we ask, could God have given His servant
such a command ? or, to put the question from the
other side, How could Hosea have recognised the
voice of God in the impulse which prompted him
to marry a woman of unchaste life ? Must he not
rather have thrust it from him as a snare and a
temptation ? Such a course must inevitably expose
a prophet to well-merited contempt, as though he
of all men were condoning the immorality of his
countrymen which it was his mission to condemn ?

122 HOSEA'S LIFE-HISTORY lect.
Thenarra- The difficulty has long been felt, and various
tive not an .
allegory. explanations of it have been suggested. Some inter
preters have regarded the whole narrative as an
allegory. Now while it is tolerably certain that the
prophets — at any rate some of the later prophets —
express their teaching in the form of narratives of
transactions which it is not necessary to suppose
actually took place, there is not the slightest hint
that such is the case here. The whole narrative
bears the stamp of reality ; and this impression of its
reality cannot be satisfactorily accounted for by the
theory that the transactions related were presented
to the prophet's mind in a vision, and impressed
themselves upon his imagination as vividly as though
they had actually taken place.
There is not the slightest hint of this in the book
itself. Only by a literal interpretation does the
narrative of the first chapter receive its natural
meaning ; and it is only by a literal interpretation
that we obtain the connexion between Hosea's life
and his teaching which is the true key to his
writings. But in fact the allegorical theory does
not really remove the moral difficulty. If the
transaction was one which was repugnant to the
moral sense, how could it be chosen as the subject
of an allegory ? Moreover, if the prophet had a
faithful wife, it seems incredible that he should
have exposed her to the suspicion of infidelity, as he
must have done by using an allegory which certainly

v THE MORAL DIFFICULTY 123
does not bear its allegorical character upon the face
of it. It may be added that the names are strongly
in favour of the literal interpretation. For if the
story of the marriage were an allegory, we should
naturally expect the wife to bear a significant name.
Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, Lo-ammi, tell their own story ;
but Gomer bath Diblaim yields no obvious symbolical
meaning. The natural inference is that it is the
actual name of a woman which she bore before she
became the prophet's wife, while the children's names
were given to them with a purpose.
If then the narrative is not an allegory but a
record of facts, what light can be thrown upon its
moral aspect ? Some have thought that Hosea wedded
Gomer with full knowledge of her character, in the
hope of winning her back to a virtuous life. Such
an act, it is urged, would have nothing immoral in
it. But again it must be said that there is no hint
of such a purpose in the narrative, and that it does
not correspond to the requirements of the symbolism.
The true view, which at once relieves the moral
difficulty, gives the natural explanation to the nar
rative, and supplies the key to Hosea's teaching in
the experience of his life, is that while we have in
these chapters a record of actual facts, Gomer was
as yet unstained when Hosea took her to be his wife.
She is called a wife or woman of whoredom (ch. i. 2),
not because she was already such, but because she
proved to be such in her wedded life. The hideous

124 HOSEA'S LIFE-HISTORY lect.
tendencies to evil were latent in her heart. The
prophet's love did not avail to restrain them. It
awoke no permanent response of love in her heart.
She abandoned him for the wild orgies of the licen
tious worship of Baal and Ashtoreth.
Then, as he sat in his homeless home, and pondered
over this sorrow of all sorrows, death of deaths,
The springs of blessing poisoned at their source,
as he " watched the ghastly ruins of his life," he saw
that even this cruel calamity was not blind chance
but the will of God.
Through all the mystery of my years
There runs a purpose which forbids the wail
Of passionate despair. I have not lived
At random, as a soul whom God forsakes ;
But evermore His Spirit led me on,
Prompted each purpose, taught my lips to speak,
Stirred up within me that deep love, and now
Reveals the inner secret.1
Then he recognised that it was by God's command
that he had chosen the wife who had proved so
faithless. All had been ordered to teach him the
lesson which he was to teach Israel, as he could
have learnt it by no other means. The beginning oj
Jehovah's speaking to him was the impulse to marry
1 Plumptre's "Gomer," in Lazarus, and other Poems. In this
singularly beautiful and suggestive poem the view is adopted that
Hosea married Gomer, knowing her character, in the hope of
reforming her. But the lines quoted, and much more in the poem,
admirably illustrate the view which is adopted here.

v THE DISCIPLINE OF SUFFERING 125
Gomer. He did not know it at the time. It was
only by the course of events that the significance of
that act was revealed to him, and he learnt that that
was the first step in his prophetic career : but he
records it for us in the light in which he was led to
see it in after-days, that we may understand and
sympathise with him in his painful discipline. God's
instruments not seldom act by His direction without
conscious knowledge that they are being specially
guided by Him, and do not recognise till afterwards
that the impulse which moved them was a divine
impulse. And it is hardly necessary to remark that
God ' spoke ' to His prophets through events and
circumstances. We ask indeed why it was that God laid this
heavy burden upon His servant, and trained him by
such a fearful discipline. Is it not a law of this
fallen world, that " knowledge through suffering
entereth," that self-surrender is the path of service,
that redemption is only wrought out through sacri
fice? But this is a very different matter from a
command which would have outraged Hosea's moral
sense, and exposed him to the scorn of his fellow-
countrymen. VI
It was a stern education, but at least we can see how The appiu
tion.
it fitted the prophet for his work, and taught him to
understand the relation between Jehovah and Israel.

126 INFLUENCE OF HOSEA'S LIFE lect.
Jehovah had chosen Israel to be His own people.
He had brought them out of Egypt. He had led them
to the home which He had prepared for them. He
had shewn the tenderest love for them, and claimed
from them the return of a pure and undivided
affection. The bond between them was as close and
tender as the bond of wedlock.
But Israel had been faithless to Jehovah. The
land, so runs the burden of Hosea's message, goeth
utterly a whoring from following Jehovah (i. 2). She
had sought other lovers in false gods, especially the
various forms under which Baal was worshipped.
To them she ascribed the prosperity and the blessings
she enjoyed. She said, I will go after my lovers, that
give me my bread and my water, my wool and my
flax, mine oil and my drink. . . . For she did not
know that it was I who gave her the com, and the
wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and
gold, which they made into an image of Baal (ii. 5, 8).
Therefore Jehovah had determined to punish Israel.
He would deprive her of her prosperity, and prove
to her that it did not come from the Baals that she
worshipped. He would carry her into exile, into a
second Egyptian bondage, and there in hard service
she would learn the measure of her folly and her
guilt. There she would be deprived of her legiti
mate rights, and secluded from her old temptations.1
1 Observe the parallel between the position of Gomer (iii. 3) and
that of Israel in exile (iii, 4).

v ON HIS TEACHING 127
The children of Israel shall abide many days without
king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and
without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim (iii. 4).
But the separation would not last for ever. Behold,
I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and
speak to her heart . . . and she shall make answer there,
as in the days of her youth, responding to Jehovah's
call with trembling confidence (ii. 14 f. ; cp. iii. 5).
The doom expressed by the names of Jezreel and
Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi will be reversed. Jezreel
will be no more the omen of calamitous defeat, but
the pledge of Israel's triumph, the scene of the victory
of the united forces of Israel and Judah over their
enemies 1 (i. 11). But the plain of Esdraelon was not
only the battle-field, but the corn-field of Palestine ;
and the name of Jezreel further suggests the renewed
fertility of the land in the future time of peace and
plenty (ii. 22), while its meaning, God soweth, points to
the ' sowing ' of Israel in its own land once more, to
grow and multiply and bear fruit abundantly (ii. 23).
Lo-ruhamah, the Unpitied, becomes Ruhamah, the
Pitied. Lo-ammi, Not-my-people, becomes once more
Ammi, My people (ii. 23).
Israel and Judah will be reunited under a true
king of David's line (i. 11 ; iii. 5). Jehovah will
proclaim a truce for His people with man and
1 In ch. i. 11 the day of Jezreel must mean the day of battle in
the plain of Jezreel ; and the obscure words shall go up from the
land are best understood to mean shall go up thither to battle from
all parts of the land,

128 JEHOVAH AND ISRAEL lect.
beast (ii. 18). He will multiply and prosper them
in the land. The true ideal of the marriage
covenant will be realised. Israel will reflect
Jehovah's attributes in a perfect and unending
fellowship of knowledge and of love, i" will betroth
thee unto Me for ever ; yea, I will betroth thee unto
Me in righteousness and in judgement, and in loving-
kindness and in mercies. I will even betroth thee
unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know Jehovah
(ii. 19, 20).
Such is briefly the substance of the first division
of Hosea's book ; and we feel in almost every line
how his own sad lot had burnt into his inmost soul
a sense of the heinousness of Israel's infidelity
towards Jehovah, We feel how he saw that his own
unquenchable love for the guilty Gomer, and his
eager longing to win back her love, were but a faint
type of the mighty love of Jehovah for Israel, and
of His unquenchable desire to win back Israel to
her allegiance to Him ; and with Jehovah desire is
purpose, and purpose means accomplishment, be it
never so long delayed by human folly and obstinacy.
VII
Teaching of In the second division of the book (chaps, iv-xiv)
chaps, iv- . n • .
xu. there is no direct allusion to the circumstances of
the prophet's life. But the same fundamental
thoughts of the love of Jehovah for Israel, and the

v JEHOVAH AND ISRAEL 129
unfaithfulness of Israel towards Jehovah, form the
warp and woof of the whole series of discourses.
The sins of the people in all ranks of life are exposed
and censured. They are all traced to their source in
the spirit of infidelity towards Jehovah. Warning
is given again and again of the inevitable chastise
ment which such conduct must bring upon them ;
yet in spite of all offences, Jehovah is ready to
pardon, and one day Israel will return and repent
and be restored.
Impassioned feeling, not logical arrangement, is
the characteristic of the discourses collected in this
part of the book. Any attempt to give a systematic
account of Hosea's teaching is liable to give
exaggerated prominence to some parts at the expense
of others. But the following may be set down as
some of the chief forms in which the fundamental
idea of the book finds expression.
A covenant exists between Jehovah and Israel. The
covenant
Jehovah is Israel's God. Israel is Jehovah's people.
But Israel has broken the covenant. They like
Adam 1 have transgressed the covenant : there have
they dealt treacherously against Me (vi. 7). . . . A
trumpet to thy mouth ! As an eagle against Jehovah's
1 The rendering is uncertain. It may be, Like men they have
transgressed, or, They are like men who have transgressed, etc.
But like Adam gives the most point. Though no actual covenant
is said to have been made with Adam, the command given to
him with penalties for the breach of it was virtually a covenant.
Cp. Job xxxi. 33. K

130 JEHOVAH AND ISRAEL lect.
house doth he come ! because they have transgressed
My covenant, and rebelled against My law (viii. 1).
The closeness and tenderness of this covenant-
relation between Jehovah and Israel are expressed,
as before, by the figure of marriage. But another
figure is employed to bring into relief other aspects
of Jehovah's protecting care and Israel's duty of
obedience. Israel is Jehovah's son. When Israel
was a child, then I loved him, and called My son out of
Egypt (xi. 1). The words recall the words in which
God's claim upon the nation at the Exodus is expressed
to Pharaoh : Israel is My son, My firstborn. . . Let
My son go, that he may serve Me (Exod. iv. 22 f.).
Other Semitic nations regarded their gods as the
fathers of their people. They supposed themselves
to be actually descended from their gods. But the
relation of Jehovah to Israel is not a physical
but a moral relation, a fatherhood of adoption,
grounded in His free choice of the people to be
His own.
rts origin. This covenant-relation dated from the Exodus. It
was no new thing. The nation was born when it
was brought out of Egypt. It was a delight to
Jehovah. He loved it. I found Israel, He says, like
grapes in the wilderness ; I saw your fathers as the
first-ripe in the fig-tree at her first season (ix. 10).
Since that time He had been Israel's God. / am
Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt ; and thou
shalt know no god hit Me, and beside Me there is no

v JEHOVAH AND ISRAEL 131
saviour (xiii. 4 ; cp. xii. 9). He had been continually
training His child by loving discipline. /, even
I, taught Ephraim to walk; I took them on My
arms; but they knew not that I healed them (xi. 3).
He had taught them by the ministry of the prophets
(xii. 10). But from the first they had sinned, and
chosen other gods. They came to Baal-peor, and
devoted themselves unto the Shame, and became an
abomination like the thing they loved (ix. 10).
The covenant with the nation dated from the
Exodus; but Hosea reminds them how, even in
earlier days, Jehovah had revealed Himself to their
eponymous ancestor Jacob, and preserved him
through the various vicissitudes of his life (xii. 3 ff,
12 ff.). It is important to observe the idea of
national personality which is involved. Israel is
treated as an individual, as possessing a solidarity
and continuity of life, as responsible for its actions.
Jehovah's covenant is with the nation, not, primarily,
with the individuals of the nation. It is in the later
prophets that the doctrine of personal responsibility
begins to appear, which is fully developed in the
New Testament. But the older truth still retains
an important meaning.
What were the conditions of this covenant? It its con
ditions.
implied all the duty and love and obedience which
are involved in the relation of wife to husband, and
son to father. It is true that the ancient conception
of these relations differed not a little from the modern

132 THE SINS OF ISRAEL lect.
one. The ideas of ownership and authority entered
into them in a way which is strange to us. But
both relations, as they appear in Hosea, involve the
tenderest love and the closest affection.
The obligations of the covenant were set forth in
a Torah, a Law, a body of instruction or a revelation.
It was the duty of the priests to teach it ; but they
had neglected their duty (iv. 6). Israel had re
belled against Jehovah's law. They counted it as a
strange thing (viii. 1, 12).
What do we gather from Hosea were Jehovah's
requirements as embodied in His law ? Truth,
lovingkindness, knowledge of God ; these are the essen
tials which stand in the forefront. It is because
these are wanting that Jehovah has a controversy
with the inhabitants of the land (iv. 1). Loving-
kindness and not sacrifice is what He desires, and
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (vi. 6).
Justice and lovingkindness are to be the rule and
aim of all their actions (x. 12). Let them return to
God, keep lovingkindness and judgement, and wait
upon their God continually (xii. 6). Sacrifice will
not avail to propitiate Jehovah while it is offered by
men whose hearts are estranged from Him, and who
habitually neglect the essential part of His com
mandments (v. 6).
is-raeissins But Israel's conduct presents a glaring contrast
to the high ideal of loving duty to their God and to
one another which is thus set before them. The

V THE SINS OF ISRAEL 133
root-sin, from which all others spring, is unfaith
fulness to Jehovah. Israel is a harlot and an
adulteress. She has broken the marriage vow by re
ligious apostasy. The false gods for which she has
deserted Jehovah are her lovers. The Phoenician
nature -worship was essentially immoral, and it is
not always easy to decide whether Hosea is speaking
literally or figuratively. Probably he regarded the
abominations connected with the worship of Baal
and Ashtoreth as the outward symbol of the spiritual
sin, and did not care to distinguish sharply.1
Israel's political apostasy was also a breach of her
marriage vow. Jehovah was her natural protector.
To seek alliance with Egypt or Assyria was a deser
tion of Him. It implied distrust of His ability or
His willingness to help. Coquetting with foreign
nations was not allowable for a people which was
to be separate from all others (vii. 13 ; viii. 9).
Their idolatry was a further offence. In the calves
at Beth-el and Dan they professed to worship Je
hovah. But Hosea scorns the notion of a manu
factured god. He hath cast off thy calf, 0 Samaria.
. . . From Israel is even this ; a workman made it, and
it is no god : yea, the calf of Samaria shall be shattered
in pieces (viii. 6). Contemptuously he calls Beth-el
Beth-aven. For him it is no longer the house of God
but the house of vanity?
1 See iv. 12 ff., 17 f. ; v. 3 ff. ; ix. 1 ; xiii. Iff.
2 Cp. viii. 4 f. ; a. 1, 5, 15 ; xiii. 2 ; xiv. 3.

134 ISRAEL'S PUNISHMENT lect.
The separation of the Northern Kingdom from
Judah was another sin. That separation was in one
aspect a punishment to Judah. We cannot help
some feeling of sympathy with the revolt against a
burdensome despotism. The prophet Ahijah, when
he told Jeroboam what was in his mind, did not con
demn his enterprise. He told him the conditions
upon which a blessing might rest upon it. But
from the first Jeroboam had set those conditions
at defiance. In the event the separation had borne
evil fruit, and Hosea condemns it as wrong in prin
ciple. The unity of the nation should have corre
sponded to the unity of Jehovah. His wife should
have been one. Moreover, from the first, their self-
chosen kings had led them astray. Idolatry had
been the direct result of the separation. And so
Hosea condemns it, and points forward to the reunion
of Israel under the true king of David's line in the
golden age of restoration.1
The moral corruption of the nation is universal.
From the highest to the lowest, all are corrupt.
How intimately immorality was connected with false
worship we have already seen. It sprang from the
want of knowledge of God. It culminated in the
absence of lovingkindness, that cardinal virtue in
which the love of Jehovah for Israel should have
been reflected in man's relation to his fellow-man.
The punish- For these sins judgement is close at hand. Samaria
ment. 1 See viii. 4 ; xiii. 9 ff. ; i. 11 ; iii. 4, 5.

v AND RESTORATION 135
must bear the punishment of her guilt. The king
dom of Ephraim must be destroyed. But even while
He pronounces sentence, Jehovah's compassion is
moved. He yearns over the guilty nation with the
tenderest affection. How shall I give thee up,
Ephraim? how surrender thee, Israel? how shall I
make thee as Admah ? how set thee as Zeboim ? Mine
heart is turned within Me, My compassions are kindled
together (xi. 8). But the judgement is inevitable, and
death and Sheol are summoned to do their worst.
From the power of Sheol should I deliver them ? from
death should I redeem them ? Where are thy plagues, 0
death? Where is thy destruction,0 Slieol? Repentance
shall be hid from Mine eyes (xiii. 14).1
But Jehovah's love for His people is unquench- Therestma-tion,
able. The first division of the prophecy, as we have
seen, points to a restoration beyond the judgement.
Here the same thoughts recur. If the nation must
die, it will rise again. / will go, says Jehovah, and
return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence,
and seek My face. In their affliction they will seek Me
earnestly, saying, Come and let us return unto Jehovah :
for he hath torn, and He will heal us ; hath smitten,
and will bind us up. After two days will He revive us :
on the third day will He raise usjwp, and we shall live
1 The last clause of this verse shews that the preceding clause
must speak* of judgement not of deliverance, and must therefore be
taken interrogatively. This interpretation is confirmed by the
preceding and following verses, which speak of the judgement as
now inevitable.

136 ISRAEL'S PUNISHMENT lect.
in His sight. And let us know, press on to know, Jehovah :
His going forth is sure as the morning : and He shall
come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth
the earth (v. 15-vi. 3).
For a while Jehovah must be like a lion, tearing
and devouring His prey : yet one day His roar will be
the signal, terrible yet gracious, for Israel's return from
the lands of their banishment. He shall roa/r, and
the children shall come trembling from the west} They
shall come trembling as a bird out of Egypt, and as a
dove out of the land of Assyria : and I will make them
to dwell in their oion houses, saith Jehovah (xi. 10, 11).
But the most touching and beautiful picture of
the restoration is in the dialogue between the
penitent people and Jehovah 2 with which the book
closes. They approach Him with a prayer for
pardon, confessing their sin, and promising no more
to turn for help to worldly powers or material forces,
no more to worship the work of their hands. Very
gracious is the answer : / will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely ; for Mine anger is turned away
from him (xiv. 4).
1 I.e. from the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean. Cp.
Isa. xi. 11 ; Joel iii. 6.
2 vv. 2, 3 of ch. xiv are obviously the people's confession, and
vv. 4-7 Jehovah's answer ; and tho dialogue is continued in v. 8
thus: "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with
idols?" Jehovah answers, "I, even I, have answered, and will
regard him." Ephraim responds, "I am like a green fir-tree":
Jehovah reminds him of the source of his prosperity : "From Me
is thy fruit found."

v AND RESTORATION 13?
There is here no reference to the reunion of Israel
with Judah, or to the Davidic king ; but it does not
follow that those features in the earlier picture of
the restoration are not Hosea's work, or have been
forgotten. Completeness is not to be expected
everywhere. The dominant idea of this passage is
Ephraim's repentance and restoration to the favour
of Jehovah. It is natural that Hosea should dwell
in detail upon the destiny of his own people, and
especially upon that returning to Jehovah which he
knows must be the condition of restoration and
blessing. But silence as to the future reunion of
Israel and Judah and the leadership of the house of
David does not mean that these hopes are ignored.
There is nothing in this picture which is inconsistent
with that drawn in the first division of the book.
They are mutually complementary, not contra
dictory. VIII
Hosea's message is limited to the chosen people. Hosea silent
about the
In the main, indeed, it is, as we have seen, limited nations.
to that part of it with which he was himself con
nected. He is silent about the destiny of the
nations. He has no single word to say either of
their judgement or of their redemption. Amos had
recently spoken of Jehovah as the sovereign of the
world, ruling and judging the nations as well as
His own people. The restored and reunited Israel

138 THE CONTRAST lect.
was to possess the nations. Hosea's contemporaries
Micah and Isaiah — if not some earlier prophet to
whom they were both indebted — spoke of Zion as
the centre of the worship of the nations, from which
Jehovah's law was to go forth to the world. But it
would be precarious to infer that Hosea neither knew
nor cared about the destiny of the nations. It is with
Israel that he has to do. His intense love for his
people leads him to concentrate his attention upon
them.
Deeper But he gains in depth what he loses in breadth.
characterof Hosea's jf the teaching of Amos is wider, that of Hosea is
teaching. °
more profound. Not that the one is to be regarded
as the rival of the other : each has his proper place
in the economy of revelation. But we cannot fail to
note that Hosea goes deeper, and deals not with
action only but with the springs and motives of
action. The love of God for His people is a thought
which does not appear in Amos. It is prominent in
Hosea (iii. 1 ; xi. 1, 4 ; xiv. 4). The term loving
kindness (Heb. hesed) is not found in Amos. It is a
characteristic word in Hosea, who uses it to express
the natural attitude of Jehovah to His people, and
man's natural attitude to his fellow-man, as the
reflection of that love (ii. 19 ; iv. 1 ; vi. 4, 6 ; x. 12 ;
xii. 6). Characteristic too of Hosea as compared
with Amos is the stress which he lays upon Israel's
repentance as the condition of its restoration. Amos
sees the nation purified by judgement. Hosea equally

v BETWEEN AMOS AND HOSEA 139
foresees that the sinners must be destroyed ; but
further, he puts into the mouth of the nation con
fessions and prayers which point to the radical change
needed (v. 15 ; vi. 1 ff. ; xiv. 1 ff). While like Amos
he describes the future as a time of restored prosperity
and fertility, it is not this which is the supreme goal
of his aspirations, but the perfect fellowship of life
and love between God and His people, in which His
purpose for them will be completely realised.
Once more Hosea takes a step in advance of Amos First refer
ence to the
in his prophecy of the future king. Amos had spoken Messianic ttuncf,
of the reunion of Israel in connexion with the house
of David. Hosea predicts that the children of Israel
shall return and seek Jehovah their God and David
their king (iii. 5). It is the first hint of that ideal
ruler whose coming we are about to find predicted in
Micah and Isaiah. For David must mean not merely
a prince of David's line, but a second David; one
who corresponds to David as the man after God's own
heart, and who, as is plain from the position which
he occupies, is to be Jehovah's true representative.

IX
How have Hosea's prophecies been fulfilled ? Fulfilment.
Does it seem that they reach far beyond any fulfil
ment to which we can point, and have failed of
accomplishment ? It must be remembered that all . /
prophecy is conditional. It expresses God's purpose,

146 STRUCTURE OF lect:
which is so mysteriously conditioned and limited by
man's folly and obstinacy. Yet in spirit, if not in
the letter, they have been and are being fulfilled.
Israel went into exile. The nation died. But it
was recalled to life. Israel of the Return was always
held to represent the whole and not a part of the
nation. After it returned from Babylon it never
again forsook Jehovah for other gods.
The second David has appeared in Christ ; and
the promised blessings have been granted through
I Him in a way utterly transcending all that Hosea
could have anticipated. The love of Jehovah has
been manifested by His unspeakable gift to humanity.
The ideal of sonship has been exhibited in Christ,
who has fulfilled Israel's calling.1 Jehovah's relation
to Israel is continued for us in Christ's relation to
His Church. But we can see too how Israel's blind
ness and obstinacy have hindered the complete
fulfilment of the prophecy; and we still wait for
the time, when, in the words of St. Paul, all Israel
shall be saved.
Jehovah's mighty and inextinguishable love for
Israel, which will not rest satisfied until it has
brought all Israel into harmony with itself : that is
the master -thought of Hosea's message. As we
expand it in the light of the Incarnation, we dare
1 The quotation of ch. xi. 1 in Matt. ii. 15 implies that Israel
was a type of Christ. Israel's resurrection (vi. 2) is a type of
Christ's resurrection.

v THE BOOK OF HOSEA 141
to think of a love which embraces all mankind, an
almighty love which will not be content until all
things are subject unto it, that God may be all in all.

Note A.
Analysis of the Book of Hosea.
Part I. — Chaps, i-iii.
The prophet's domestic history, and the message of doom
expressed by the names of his children (i. 1-9). Yet even
this doom will be reversed (i. 10 -ii. I).1 Reverting
abruptly from the future to the present, Hosea describes
the sin of Israel and the certainty of judgement (ii. 2-13),
and concludes with the promise of restoration (ii. 14-23).
The prophet's treatment of his guilty wife is a parable of
the means which Jehovah will adopt for the restoration of
Israel by the discipline of punishment (iii).
Part II. — Chaps, iv-xiv.
Fresh beginnings may be noted at iv. 1 ; v. 1 ; viii. 1 ;
ix. 1 ; xi. 12 (Heb. xii. 1), but no definite plan of arrangement
can be traced. The section as a whole must be taken to
represent Hosea's teaching after Jeroboam's death. It is
1 Abrupt as is the transition from v. 9 to v. 10, and again from
ii. 1 to ii. 2, I cannot think that the transposition of i. 10-ii. 1
to the end of ch. ii, which is proposed by Cheyne and others, can
be right. These verses would form a very awkward conclusion to
that chapter. Rather, as it seems to me, the thought of deliver
ance succeeds that of judgement as it does in ch. ii and again in
ch. iii, so that each of the three subdivisions into which chaps.
i-iii fall contains the contrast of the two ideas which form the
groundwork of prophecy, and ends with the promise of restoration.

142 THE BOOK OF HOSEA lect. v
possible that Hosea himself committed to writing prophecies
orally delivered on different occasions. But no precise
division of subjects is to be looked for in a prophet like
Hosea, burning with indignation at the sights he saw, yet
yearning with intense love over the guilty nation.
The following subdivisions may however be a help to
study : —
(1) Chaps, iv-viii. Israel's guilt. The accusation.
The corruption of the people due to their ignorance
which is the fault of the priests (iv). Detailed account of
the way in which this corruption penetrates all public life,
and infects the State from its leaders downwards (v— vii).
Israel's sins of covenant-breaking ; idolatry ; political apos
tasy ; neglect of the law (viii).
(2) Chaps, ix-xi. 11. Israel's doom.
The necessity and certainty of Israel's punishment further
demonstrated. In this section the impending catastrophe
comes more clearly into view.
(3) Chaps, xi. 12-xiv. Retrospect and prospect.
The past history of the nation shews the ingratitude of
their faithlessness (xii, xiii) ; but when punishment has
done its work, the penitent nation will be restored (xiv).

LECTURE VI
ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOZ
In the year that king Usziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and His skirts filled the temple. Above
Him, were standing seraphim : each one had six wings ; with twain
he doth cover his face, and with twain he doth cover his feet, and
with twain he doth fly. And one kept crying unto another, and say
ing, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Hosts : the whole earth is full
of His glory. — Isaiah vi. 1-3. I
It was a crisis in the history of Israel that The crisis.
needed an exceptional messenger. The last half of
the eighth century was to witness the fall of the
Northern Kingdom. It was hopelessly corrupt.
Amos and Hosea had pronounced its doom. The
judgement was inevitable. Its ministers were close
at hand. Would Jerusalem share the fate of
Samaria ? How could it escape in the impend
ing conflict between Assyria and Egypt for the
supremacy of Western Asia ? Lying as it did
close to the route which the hostile armies must
traverse, its existence was at stake. So human

144 THE GREATNESS OF ISAIAH lect.
reason would have calculated. But Jehovah's pur
pose was to preserve His own city ; and as the in
terpreter of that purpose He raised up the prophet
Isaiah.
The The messenger was worthy of the occasion. " Of
messenger. the other prophets," writes Ewald,1 "all the more
celebrated ones were distinguished by some special
excellence and peculiar power, whether of speech
or of deed ; in Isaiah all the powers and all the
beauties of prophetic speech and deed combine to
form a symmetrical whole ; he is distinguished less
by any special excellence than by the symmetry
and the perfection of all his powers. . . . There are
rarely combined in the same mind the profoundest
prophetic emotion and purest feeling, the most
unwearied, successful, and consistent activity amid
all the confusions and changes of life, and lastly,
true poetic ease and beauty of style, combined with
force and irresistible power ; yet this triad of
powers we find realised in Isaiah as in no other
prophet." He is indeed the king among the
prophets. During his long ministry of forty years,
through evil report and good report, unflinchingly
and consistently he delivered Jehovah's message to a
people blind to its high calling, deaf to the divine
word, destitute of energising faith and elevating
hope. When they were secure in the conceit of
their own arrogant self-confidence, he warned them
1 Prophets, vol. ii, p. 1 (E.T.).

« HIS MODES OF WORK 145
of the impending judgement. When they trembled
in pusillanimous despair at approaching calamity, he
encouraged them with the assurance of divine pro
tection. With unshaken confidence he proclaimed
the absolute sovereignty of Jehovah over the nations
of the world, and maintained " the eternal hope of
the divine kingdom upon earth."
Watch him at his work. He was no recluse, ms modes
living apart from the busy ways of men, and emerg- °J '""
ing from his retirement only to disappear again
when his message had been delivered. His home
was in the capital. There, in the centre of the
national life, he exercised his ministry. Almost all
his discourses are addressed to the people, or to
particular classes, or to individuals in Jerusalem.
His family around him formed part of his message.
His own name, Jehovah's deliverance, given him
originally as an expression of trust or of gratitude
(cp. Ps. xxvii. 1), became an omen of his work. His
wife was the prophetess. Two at least of his children,
like Hosea's, bore significant names. Shear-yashub,
' a remnant shall return ' (vii. 3), bore witness to the
certainty of the truth that Judah must be purified by
judgement till but a remnant of it was left, yet that
it could not finally prove apostate from Jehovah.1
1 The name is explained in x. 20-22. The words, "a remnant
shall return " (Shear ydshub), ' ' « remnant of Jacob, unto the
mighty God," make it clear that a return to allegiance to Jehovah,
not a return from exile, is meant. It should be noticed that as
Shear-yashub was old enough to accompany his father in or about
L

146 ISAIAH'S MODES OF WORK lect.
Maher - shalal - hash - baz, ' Hasten - booty - speed - spoil '
(viii. 1 ff), foretokened the speedy downfall of Samaria
and Damascus. Thus in the darkest days of trial he
could say, Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah
hath given me are for signs and for wonders in
Israel from Jehovah of hosts, which dwelleth in mount
Zion (viii. 18).
He gathered round him a band of faithful dis
ciples, who treasured up his utterances in their
memories, and guarded the prophecies which he had
committed to writing — a sealed book to the in
fatuated multitude (viii. 16 ; xxix. 11).
At one time we see him taking a great tablet and
writing on it in bold legible characters some enig
matic watchword, which he placards in public in
order to arrest the attention of the most casual
passer-by (viii. 1 ; xxx. 7 ff.).1 At another time we
see him traversing the streets of Jerusalem stripped
and barefoot, a living picture of the captives of
Egypt and Ethiopia who were to be led away by the
victorious Sargon (xx. 2).
He evidently occupied a unique position of
authority in Jerusalem. He was the fearless censor
the year 735, the fundamental idea of Isaiah's teaching expressed
in the name must have been present to his mind from the very
commencement of his public ministry, if not before. See
Davidson, Expositor, 4th Ser. vol. vii, p. 243.
1 In this case the words Rahab hem shebeth were to be written on
the tablet as the designation of Egypt. Rahab, i.e. Egypt, is
sitting still. They may brag, as the name Rahab implies, but they
will not move to help you.

vi HIS MANY-SIDEDNESS 147
of the faithless and cowardly Ahaz ; the trusted
counsellor of the well-intentioned though vacillating
Hezekiah. In no gentle terms he denounced an
unworthy minister of state, and frankly warned his
successor of the dangers and temptations of office
(xxii. 15 ff., 24 f.). When he needed a witness in the
prosecution of his prophetic work, he could call
upon the chief ecclesiastical authority of the city
(viii. 2).
The variety of his activities is most remarkable.
Not only was he a religious and social reformer, a
preacher of righteousness and godliness, but a keen
and far-sighted statesman. He observed the political
movements of the day at home and abroad. He
criticised them from the divine standpoint. He
pronounced an authoritative judgement on their
true meaning and issue in relation to the will and
purpose of God. But though he thus lived among
his people, intensely interested in all that concerned
their welfare, and fully conscious of the importance
of the present, he looked forth from his prophetic
watch-tower upon the nations around, and marked
their movements and foretold their destinies; he
looked forward with clear eye to a future in which
Israel, purified in the fire of judgement, should realise
its calling, and be the centre from which spiritual
knowledge should go forth to illuminate the nations
of the world.

148 NON-ISAIANIC PROPHECIES

II

The Book of At the outset of any attempt to form an estimate
Isaiah. .
of the work and teaching of Isaiah, we are met by the
preliminary question, how much of the volume which
bears the name of Isaiah can be ascribed to the son of
Amoz, the friend and counsellor of Hezekiah. Modern
criticism, upon grounds of which the general principles
have been stated in the first Lecture, detaches at one
stroke the last twenty-seven chapters, and assigns that
sublime prophecy to one or possibly more authors, who
lived towards the close of the Babylonian Exile, when
Cyrus had already commenced his career of conquest.
That this view is not only critically justified, but
that it sheds a flood of light on the meaning of the
prophecy, I hope to shew in a future Lecture. But
criticism does not stop here. Upon similar grounds,
more or less convincing in each particular case, some
twelve out of the first thirty-nine chapters are pro
nounced not to be from Isaiah's pen. Among these
passages are to be reckoned the doom of Babylon, to
gether with the magnificent ode of triumph at the
oppressor's downfall (xiii. 2-xiv. 23) : the vision of
universal judgement and national restoration which
forms the epilogue to the collection of prophecies
against the nations (xxiv-xxvii) : the doom of Edom
and its contrast in the glorious future of Israel which
forms a similar epilogue to the collection of discourses

vi IN THE BOOK OF ISAIAH 149
belonging to the reign of Hezekiah (xxxiv, xxxv);
the historical record found also with comparatively
small variation in the Book of Kings (xxxvi-xxxix,
with the exception of Isaiah's words in xxxvii. 21-35) :
together with some shorter and less important
pieces, about which opinion is less decided. These
passages are thought to presume historical circum
stances which are not those of Isaiah's time. They
differ in style, more or less markedly, from the
undoubted prophecies of Isaiah. They contain theo
logical ideas which appear to be in advance of those
of Isaiah's day, and to belong to a later stage in the
development of revelation.
It is obviously impossible to discuss here the
validity of the grounds upon which this judgement
rests in each case. But they are certainly of sufficient
weight to make it necessary to set these passages on
one side in endeavouring to form an estimate of
Isaiah's work and teaching. The devout student of
Holy Scripture need not be disquieted by such a
conclusion. The canonicity of a particular document |
does not depend upon the accuracy of the tradition
with regard to its authorship. Its inspiration is not
invalidated if that tradition is found to be erroneous.
Isaiah is honoured rather than dishonoured if he is
seen to have been the founder of a school, to which
no small part of the book which bears his name is
due. The Holy Spirit is not limited to the use of
one instrument in preference to many. Whether the

Isaiah

150 ISAIAH'S CALL lect.
Book of Isaiah is the work of one prophet or of many,
it is placed in our hands as an undoubted part of the
canonical Scriptures of the Old Testament, and is to
be studied as such. But our concern at the present
moment is not with the book as a whole, but with
those parts of it which may without reasonable doubt
be attributed to Isaiah himself. Ill
The can of The key to the right understanding of Isaiah's
ministry is to be found in the account of his call to
the prophetic office, which is given in the sixth
chapter. It was in the year of King Uzziah's death.
That monarch's long reign had been, like the reign of
his contemporary Jeroboam II for northern Israel,
a period of prosperity such as Judah had not known
since the time of Solomon. But for those who saw
below the surface, its splendour was dimmed by the
deep-seated decay of religion and morality. One day
in that year, as the prophet worshipped in the Temple
courts, musing perad venture upon the sovereignty of
the King of Israel, Jehovah of hosts, Who had set His
throne there, and upon the failure of His subjects to
render Him a loyal homage ; meditating upon the
holiness of Jehovah and the appalling contrast pre
sented by the almost universal unholiness of the
nation ; the earthly Temple faded from his view, and
its place was taken by its heavenly counterpart. The

« ISAIAH'S CALL 151
veil which shrouded the inner sanctuary of the divine
Presence was drawn aside. Instead of the Ark, the
symbol of that Presence, he beheld the throne itself
whereon the Lord was seated; instead of the
Cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy-seat,
he saw attendant seraphs hovering above the
throne ; instead of the chant of priests and Levites,
he heard those seraphs answering one another in
perpetual hymn,1 Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.
Yet all he saw was as it were the skirts of the robe
of Him who sat there; for who can look upon the face
of God and live ? and he marked how even those holy
seraphs were wont to veil their faces before the divine
Majesty, as unworthy to behold it; and to cover their
feet, as though conscious of the imperfection of their
service. Then, as the prophet gazed upon the sight, and
listened to those voices unceasingly proclaiming the
essential nature of the thrice holy God, the sense of
his own uncleanness, of his own unfitness to bear the
holy message of that holy Being, the sense of the
uncleanness of his people which, as dwelling in the
midst of them and representing them, he could not
escape, overwhelmed him utterly. Woe is me ! he
1 Even the R.V. fails to mark the frequentative tense, one kept
crying unto another, etc. Rightly the Te Deum : "Tibi Cherubin
et Seraphin incessabili voce proclamant, Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth."

152 ISAIAH'S CALL lect.
cried, for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips : for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of
hosts. But his lips are touched with a live coal from
off the altar. The cleansing fire of divine love purges
away his sinfulness. He is ready for his commission.
When he hears the voice asking, Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us ? he is prepared to answer,
Here am I ; send me. But what a crushing task it is!
Go, and tell this people, Hear ye continually, but under
stand not ; and see ye continually, but perceive not.
Make the heart of this people gross, and make its ears
dull, and seal up its eyes ; lest it see with its eyes,
and hear with its ears, and its heart understand,
and it turn and be healed. It is a stern sentence.
But the nation was already insensible, deaf, and
blind. God's message must fall upon unreceptive
ears, and it is a fixed law of the divine economy
that calls to repentance, messages of grace, all good
motions and impulses, do but harden the hearts
of those who will not yield to them. Individuals
would no doubt hear and repent. But the nation
as a whole was spiritually dead. Isaiah's ministry
would but confirm the obdurate mass of the people
in its obduracy.
Lord, how long ? He dares not appeal against the
sentence as Amos did (vii. 2, 5). But he feels that it
cannot be final. The answer comes that cities must
be wasted and houses uninhabited, that the land

vi ISAIAH'S CALL 153
must be desolate and its people exiled. Judgement
must follow upon judgement until the evil is
destroyed. Yet the nation cannot be annihilated.
As the life remains in the stump of the felled
oak tree, ready, when spring returns, to throw
up fresh shoots, so there will be a holy seed left
in Israel, ready, when the winter of its punishment
is over, to spring up once more into a holy nation
(vi. 13, R.V.).
That vision stamped an indelible character upon
Isaiah's whole ministry. The majesty, the holiness,
the glory of God : these are the ideas which fill and
awe his spirit. They intensify his sense of the petti
ness of man, of the impertinent absurdity of human
pride, of the intolerable enormity of Israel's defiance
of Jehovah. But while he is possessed with the cer
tainty that judgement must come to purge the un
godly nation, he is equally confident that the people
and city of God's choice cannot perish utterly. A
remnant shall return is the echo of the words, a holy
seed is the stock thereof.
It seems plain that this vision was the primary
call of Isaiah to his prophetic ministry, and not, as
some have supposed, a second and special call to the
ministry of hardening. Why then does the account
of it stand where it does, and not, as might have been
expected, at the beginning of the book ? The most
probable answer seems to be that it was originally
prefixed to a collection of prophecies belonging to the

154 CIRCUMSTANCES OF ISAIAH'S TIMES lect.
reign of Ahaz which was published separately, and
that it was retained in this position when the various
subordinate collections were united. We can easily
understand that Isaiah might not have felt disposed
at once to publish so solemn an experience, and re
served it for the preface to prophecies of the time of
Ahaz, instead of prefixing it to those of the reign of
Jotham. There is at least this appropriateness in the
present order. The opening chapters have familiar
ised us with the character of the people. We have
learned something of the sins which are demanding
punishment. We are prepared to understand the
terms of his mission, and to sympathise with him in
his arduous task.

IV

circum- Isaiah's ministry may be divided into three periods,
the time', corresponding approximately to the reigns of Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah. If he lived on into the reign of
Manasseh, by whom, according to tradition, he was
sawn asunder, we have no record of his ministry
which can be connected with the history of the time.
Let us endeavour to realise the condition of Judah in
the year of Uzziah's death, when Isaiah began his
work. It was not unlike that of Israel in the time
of Jeroboam II. For while Jeroboam had been ex
tending the power of Israel in the north, Uzziah had
been strengthening the kingdom of Judah in the

vi CIRCUMSTANCES OF ISAIAH'S TIMES 155
south. He waged successful wars against the Philis
tines, dismantled the fortresses of Gath, Jabneh, and
Ashdod, and built cities for himself in Philistia.
The Ammonites and Edomites were among his vassals.
He fortified Jerusalem and other cities, reorganised
the army, and stocked his arsenals with munitions of
war. Nor was he less successful in the arts of peace.
He largely developed the internal resources of the
country. He rebuilt the port of Elath on the Red
Sea, by which the commerce of the East found its
way to Jerusalem. The occupation of Sela, which
had been captured by Amaziah, commanded the trade
route to Southern Arabia. But, as was the case in
the Northern Kingdom, prosperity had brought grave
evils in its train, and sowed the seeds of disaster and
ruin. The increase of wealth and luxury had under
mined the ancient national life. The greed of gain
had sapped the nation's morality. As the rich grew
richer and more powerful, the poor grew poorer and
more defenceless.
Jotham continued his father's policy with success, w Reign of
Jotham.
He strengthened the fortifications of Jerusalem, built b.o. iko-iss
castles and towers in the forests, perhaps beyond
Jordan, and suppressed an Ammonite revolt. Only
towards the end of his reign were the murmurs of the
coming storm heard. Pekah and Rezin attacked him,
though without success. But it was a warning of
what was in store for his successor.
Under these circumstances Isaiah commenced his

156 ISAIAH'S MINISTRY lect.
ministry. To the reign of Jotham may be referred
with confidence the discourses included in chaps.
ii-iv, together with the closely connected appendix
in chap. v. One or two references suggest that these
discourses were not committed to writing until Ahaz
had come to the throne, but in the main they reflect
the time when disaster had not yet befallen the state,
and the pride of Judah was still unbroken. From
them we may draw a picture of the social and reli
gious evils of the time. Listen to Isaiah's sarcastic
inventory of the jewellery and the wardrobes of the
fashionable ladies of the capital : the anklets and the
networks and the crescents, tJie pendants and the bracelets
and the veils, the head tires and the ankle chains and
the sashes and the perfume boxes and the amulets ; the
rings and the nose jewels; the festival robes and the
mantles and the shawls and the satchels, the mirrors
and the muslin veils and the turbans and the scarves
(iii. 18 ff). With contemptuous severity he pictures
these haughty daughters of Zion promenading the
streets with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walk
ing and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling
with their feet with the anklets which they wore.
Listen to the woe which the prophet pronounces
upon the revellers who rise up early in the morning,
that they may follow after strong drink, and tarry late
into the night, while wine inflames them. And the harp
and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in
their feasts (v. 11 f.).

vi IN THE REIGN OF JOTHAM 157
Listen to his indictment against the rich men
who had accumulated vast estates by ousting poor
yeomen from their ancestral holdings in contradiction
to the fundamentally democratic spirit of the Israelite
commonwealth. Woe unto them that join house to house,
that annex field to field, till there be no room, and ye
are left to dwell alone in the midst of the land (v. 8).
Listen to the cry of the poor, plundered and crushed
and ground down, seeking in vain for redress from
venal judges who take bribes to acquit the guilty,
and condemn the innocent (v. 7, 23). It is the elders
and the princes who are to blame. Israel was
Jehovah's vineyard, and its ruling classes resembled
keepers of a vineyard who had behaved like the
cattle which they were set to exclude from it, and had
themselves browsed upon it. It is ye that have eaten
up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses :
what mean ye that ye crush My people, and grind
the face of the poor ? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts
(iii. 14 f.).
Religious indifference accompanied the growth of
luxury, and lay at the root of the decay of morality.
The worship of Jehovah had degenerated into a heart
less though elaborate ceremonial (i. 11 ff).1 Idolatry
was common; foreign superstitions of all kinds were
freely practised; magic and witchcraft and necro
mancy were resorted to by those who were anxious
1 A few references are introduced, which, though taken from
later prophecies, illustrate the tendencies of this period.

158 ISAIAH'S MINISTRY lect.
to penetrate into the mystery of the future instead
of doing their duty in the present (ii. 6 ff. ; iii. 2, 3 ;
viii. 19 f.).
Scornful sceptics denied the providential govern
ment of Jehovah, and challenged Him to prove His
power by action. Let Him maJce speed, let Him hasten
His work that we may see it : and let the counsel of the
Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may
know it (v. 19). Some undermined the foundations
of morality; obliterating the distinction between right
and wrong, and calling evil good and good evil
(v. 20). False prophets misled the people, and drugged
their consciences by prophesying smooth things
(ix. 15 ; xxviii. 7 ; cp. Micah ii. 6 ; iii. 5, 11) ; and
the people on their part welcomed the delusion, and
strove to silence the voice of fearless reproof (xxx.
9 ff). A complacent self-confidence and a proud
reliance in the abundance of their wealth and the
strength of their armaments characterised the nation
generally. Their defiant independence seemed to
proclaim aloud that they had no need of Jehovah to
protect their land and their city (ii. 7 ff. ; iii. 8).
The im- In the face of this state of things Isaiah's message
pending ' '
judgement. is almost exclusively a message of judgement. The
day of Jehovah is at hand; a day of judgement upon
all human pride, a day of woe to all those self-satisfied
sinners. Jehovah of hosts hath a day upon all that is
proud and haughty, and upon all that is lifted up; and
it shall be brought low (ii. 12). Jehovah standeth up

vi IN THE REIGN OF JOTHAM 159
to plead, and standeth to judge the peoples (iii. 13). Me
will break down the fence of His vineyard, and leave
it to be devoured and trodden down. Jehovah's
people must go into captivity for lack of know
ledge. Sheol will open its jaws, and swallow up all
Jerusalem's magnificence and thronging population
and noisy crowds of careless holiday-keepers (v. 5 ff,
14). The judgement fell upon them in the invasion
of Pekah and Rezin ; and in an appendix added
apparently after this event Isaiah describes the
catastrophe, and, doubtless in view of the spirit
in which it had been met, warns the people that
Jehovah's anger is not yet turned away, and that He
is summoning a yet more terrible enemy from the
ends of the earth. He gives that enemy no name,
but beyond a question it is the invincible and untir
ing Assyrian that he has in view (v. 25 ff).1
Yet all this judgement is for purification, not for
destruction. A remnant will be left. When chas
tisement has done its work, it shall come to pass, that
he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in
Jerusalem, shall be called holy. Jehovah will once
more manifest His Presence there as of old time in a
1 With some hesitation I have treated the perfects in v. 13-16
as ' prophetic ' perfects, or perfects of certainty, referring, by a well-
known Hebrew idiom, to that which is still future, but must inevit
ably come. ' ' My people are gone into captivity " = " must surely
go." But the natural explanation of v. 25 ff. is to regard it as an
addition to the original prophecy, pointing to its fulfilment in the
disasters of the Syro-Ephraimite invasion, and warning (vv. 26 ff.)
that still worse calamities are in store, for an unrepentant people,

160 ISAIAH'S MINISTRY lect.
cloud of smoke by day, and a flaming fire by night
(iv. 3, 5).
(U) Reign It is probable that during part of the sixteen
of Ahaz.
b.c. 735-718. years assigned as the length of Jotham's reign (2 Kings
xv. 33) he was acting as regent during his father's
enforced seclusion from public affairs, and that his
reign as sole king was but a short one. His son
Ahaz succeeded him, and the disasters predicted by
Isaiah speedily fell upon Judah. Ahaz was a weak,
vain, incapable prince, "a child of that spirit of
the age against which Isaiah was waging war." The
heathenish party, led by the king himself, at once
gained the ascendency. Idolatries of all kinds were
introduced. The horrors of Moloch -worship were
revived. The public worship of Jehovah was sus
pended.1 Meanwhile Ahaz was threatened with invasion.
The sole object of the series of unprincipled adven
turers who succeeded Jeroboam II in the Northern
Kingdom was self- aggrandisement. Casting about
for some means of securing himself upon the throne
which he had seized by violence, Pekah entered
into an alliance with Rezin the king of Syria, for the
purpose of conquering Judah. It was a policy as short
sighted as it was unbrotherly, for it could hardly
fail to end in the intervention of Assyria. The con
federate kings attacked Jotham without success.
1 See 2 Kings xvi. 3, 4, 10 ff. ; xxiii. 11, 12 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 2 ff,
23 ff. ; xxix. 7. Isaiah alludes to him as a petulant child (iii. 4, 12).

vi IN THE REIGN OF AHAZ 161
But the accession of Ahaz was the signal for the
renewal of the attack. They invaded Judah with
the intention of dethroning Ahaz, and setting
up a creature of their own, Ben Tabeel, in his
place. Ahaz and his people were in consterna
tion. In the expressive phrase of Isaiah, his heart
shook, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the
forest shake before the wind (vii. 2). It was a critical
moment. The only policy which his counsellors
could suggest was that he should make a humble
submission to Assyria, and throw himself upon
Tiglath-Pileser's protection. At this juncture Isaiah
was sent to him with a message of warning and
encouragement. He went out along with his son
Shear-yashub, whose name was a pledge of Jehovah's
final purpose of mercy through judgement, and found
Ahaz inspecting the water-supply of the city, in
preparation for the expected siege. Take heed, and
be quiet, was his counsel ; fear not, neither let thine
heart be faint, because of these two stumps of smoulder
ing firebrands (vii. 4).. It was not from them that
Judah had to fear. The power of Syria and Israel
was doomed. But, he concludes with significant
warning, if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be
established (vii. 9). The meaning is clear. Ahaz
must choose between the policy of faith and the
policy of unbelief; between reliance upon Jehovah
and reliance upon Tiglath-Pileser. He chose the
latter. Tiglath-Pileser's help was given, but not before
M

162 ISAIAH'S MINISTRY lect.
the allied kings had inflicted a severe defeat upon
Ahaz, captured a host of prisoners, and actually
besieged Jerusalem.1 Probably they were compelled
to raise the siege by the news that an Assyrian army
was in motion. Tiglath-Pileser invaded Syria and
Israel, and carried away the inhabitants of the
northern part of the kingdom of Israel into exile.
Two years later, in B.C. 732, Damascus was taken.
Before he returned home, Tiglath-Pileser held a
court at Damascus, at which he received homage
from his vassals. Among them, as we learn from his
triumphal inscription as well as from the Book of
Kings (xvi. 10), was Ahaz. Thus Ahaz was delivered,
but at what a price ! Not the gold and the silver
only, which he took from the treasuries of the
Temple and the palace, but the independence of
Judah, was the ransom which he paid. From this
time onwards, with the exception of brief intervals,
Judah was the tributary vassal of Assyria, until for
a moment Egypt seized its share of the decaying
empire, only to surrender it at once to the still
mightier power of Babylon.
Isaiah's watchword in this crisis was Immanuel,
' God is with us ' ; as the Psalmist of a few years
later expands it —
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved ;
God shall help her, when the morning dawneth.
In this hour of Zion's peril and her king's faith-
1 Isa. vii. 1 ; v. 25 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 5 ff.

vi IN THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH 163
lessness, in full view of the dark days of calamity to
come, in sight of preparations for war and amid
signs of disaster and defeat, with trumpet tones
Isaiah rings out that thrilling prophecy of a great
light which should dawn upon the darkness, of the
final victory of God's people over their oppressors,
of the Child of promise who should found an eternal
kingdom of peace and righteousness (ix. 1 ff).
The reign of Hezekiah forms the third and most (.m) Reign
° of Hezekiah
brilliant period of Isaiah's ministry. Soon after his ao- ?»-«»?
accession Hezekiah, stimulated by the warnings of
Micah (Jer. xxvi. 18, 19), and supported, no doubt,
by Isaiah, carried out a great reformation, abolished
idolatry, and restored the worship of Jehovah. The
high places, and such objects of superstition as the
brazen serpent, were destroyed ; the Temple was
reopened ; the Passover was celebrated. He resumed
the policy of Uzziah ; strengthened the defences of
Jerusalem ; J fille'd his arsenals ; and recovered some
of the prestige which Ahaz had lost. He encouraged
agriculture ; and we learn from the title of the
later collection of Proverbs (xxv. 1) that his scribes
were employed upon the collection and preserva
tion of the literature of the country.
Soon after the accession of Hezekiah, Tiglath-
Pileser was succeeded by Shalmaneser IV (b.c. 727).
1 The 'Siloam inscription,' found in 1880, describes the con
struction of a tunnel connecting the Virgin's Spring with the Pool
of Siloam. This may have been the conduit which Hezekiah made
to improve the water-supply of the city (2 Kings xx. 20).

164 ISAIAH'S MINISTRY lect.
Egypt had recently been conquered by Ethiopia,
and Shebek I, called by Greek writers Sabaco,1
reigned at Memphis. Efforts were made to unite
the states on the Mediterranean in a coalition with
Egypt against Assyria. Hoshea, who had been
placed upon the throne as a vassal of Assyria,
refused to pay tribute. Shalmaneser invaded the
Northern Kingdom, and made Hoshea prisoner.
After a three years' siege Samaria was captured
in b.c. 722, not however by Shalmaneser but by
his successor Sargon, who had just come to the
throne. A large number of the Israelites were
carried into exile, and their place filled by Baby
lonians. An Assyrian governor was appointed, and
the Northern Kingdom ceased to exist.
It was apparently in these early years of Heze-
kiah's reign that a strong party in Jerusalem advo
cated alliance with Egypt. This policy Isaiah
resisted with all the eloquence and authority at his
command. The series of discourses preserved in
chaps, xxviii-xxxi is the record of his efforts.2 As
1 In 2 Kings xvii. 4 he is called, according to the Massoretic
text, So. But this is probably an erroneous vocalisation for Stive1.
The identification of So with Shebek has, however, recently been
questioned. 2 Chaps, xxix-xxxi are very commonly referred to B.C. 702,
on the ground that xxix. 1 anticipates the siege of Jerusalem
within a year. But this interpretation of the verse is very
questionable. On the other hand, xxviii. 1 ff. is anterior to the
destruction of Samaria, and chaps, xxix-xxxi appear to be closely
connected with it. Ch. xxviii. 15 ff. will refer to the Egyptian
alliance which was being negotiated, and which is further referred

vi IN THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH 165
strongly as he had resisted the fatal determination
of Ahaz to call in the aid of Assyria, he now resisted
the policy of breaking loose from Assyria in reliance
upon Egyptian help, and advocated submission and
peace. We may trace the steps of the negotiations
with Egypt in Isaiah's denunciation of the policy
of the secular statesmen of Jerusalem. Samaria's
destruction is imminent. The ministers of Jehovah's
judgement are at hand (xxviii. 1 ff). But Judah is
scarcely less guilty, and stands in need of sharp
discipline. The statesmen of Jerusalem indeed boast
that they have secured themselves in the coming
storm. We have made a covenant with death, and
ivith Sheol are we at agreement ; x when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us ;
for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
have we hid ourselves (xxviii. 15). The prophet
ironically puts into their own mouths words which
describe the true character of the Egyptian alliance
upon which they were depending. It was lies
to in the following chapters. The references to idolatry (xxx. 22 ;
xxxi. 7 ; notice the close parallel to these passages in xvii. 8, about
734) point to a time before Hezekiah's reformation, which must
have taken place in the early years of his reign. Ch. xxxiii
belongs partly to the time of Sennacherib's invasion (vv. 7 ff.),
partly to the time immediately after his retreat (vv. 13 ff.). Possibly
the discourses of chaps, xxviii-xxxi were collected and published
with the addition of chaps, xxxii and xxxiii at this time.
1 Is this passage a reference to Hos. xiii. 14 ? 'Death and hell
may have been invoked to do their worst upon the Northern
Kingdom (see p. 135), but we are secure.'

166 ISAIAH'S MINISTRY leot.
and falsehood, for it involved a breach of faith with
Assyria and was in itself a delusion. The foundation
of the divine kingdom was laid in Zion ; deliverance
would come, but not from the quarter to which they
looked for it. The storm would burst ; the hail
would sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters
would overflow the hiding-place. If they persisted in
their policy, their bands would be made strong (v. 22).
The yoke of Assyrian domination would be riveted
more firmly on their necks. They endeavour to
conceal their negotiations from the prophet, but in
vain. Woe unto them that strive to hide their counsel
deep from Jehovah, and their work is in the dark,
and they sayt Who seeth us ? and who knoweth us ?
(xxix. 15). He cannot prevent the embassy from
being sent, but he exposes its folly and uselessness.
Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah ; taking
counsel but not of Me, and weaving a web, but not of
My spirit, in order to add sin to sin : that walk to go
down into Egypt, a,nd have not asked at My mouth ; to
shelter themselves in the shelter of Pharaoh, and to take
refuge in the shadow of Egypt. But the shelter of
Pharaoh shall prove your shame, and refuge in the
shadow of Egypt your disgrace (xxx. 1 ff). The real
grounds of their hankering for alliance with Egypt
were mistrust of Jehovah, and confidence in material
power. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help,
and rely upon horses ; and trust in chariots, because
they are many, and in horsemen, because they are very

vi IN THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH 167
strong ; but they hare not looked to the Holy One of
Israel, neither sought Jehovah. . . . But the Egyptians
are man, and not God ; and their horses are flesh, and
not spirit : and when Jehovah stretcheth forth His
hand, both helper and holpen shall stumble and fall,
and they shall all fail together (xxxi. 1, 3).
Either in consequence of Isaiah's influence or
owing to external circumstances, Judah did not
revolt, and Jerusalem escaped the fate of Samaria.
Two years later (B.C. 720) Sargon totally defeated
Sabaco in the battle of Raphia, and verified Isaiah's
warnings of the futility of reliance upon Egypt. Nine
years later (b.c. 711) Sargon's armies were in Palestine
again. Ashdod, depending apparently upon Egyptian
help, had revolted and endeavoured to get neigh
bouring states to join it. Its presumption was
speedily chastised, and the Egyptians left it in the
lurch. For some time the Assyrians appear to have left
Palestine alone, and it may be inferred that Judah
and the neighbouring countries paid their tribute
quietly. Again and again Isaiah, while advocating
submission to the yoke of Assyria, repeats that this
scourge of God is but a servant in the hand of his
master. Eot a step further can he go than he is
permitted ; and the time will come when his pride
must be humbled and he will be taught to recognise
Jehovah's supremacy.1
1 See e.g. x. 5 ff., belonging probably to the time of Sargon.

168 ISAIAH'S MINISTRY lect.
The death of Sargon and the accession of Senna
cherib in B.C. 705 led to a change in the position
of affairs. Merodach-baladan of Babylon revolted,
and endeavoured to stir up the western states to
revolt also. The opportunity seemed favourable, and
Hezekiah asserted his independence. Sennacherib
promptly came to chastise his rebellious vassal.
The last hour of Jerusalem seemed to have come.
The exact course of events is obscure, but it appears
that Sennacherib ravaged Judah, forced Hezekiah to
submit, and compelled him to pay a heavy indemnity,
without however requiring the surrender of Jerusalem
(2 Kings xviii. 13-16). But reflection convinced him
that it would be imprudent to leave so strong a
fortress in Hezekiah's hands while he marched on
to Egypt ; and he therefore detached a force under
the Tartan and the Rabsaris and the Rabshakeh1
to threaten Jerusalem, and demand its surrender.
Though the force was insufficient to invest the city,
a refusal seemed certain to ensure condign chastise
ment when Sennacherib returned victorious from his
Egyptian campaign. What should Hezekiah do?
In his extremity he sent to Isaiah for advice. The
prophet bade him not to fear, and Sennacherib's
1 These are not proper names, but titles of Assyrian officers.
Tartan = commander-in-chief; Rabsaris, according to Pinches'
recent discovery (Academy, 25th June 1892, p. 618) = Rabu-sa-resn,
chief of the heads or princes ; Rabshakeh = Rab-saki, chief of the
captains. The two last titles have been Hebraised in a form which
gives them a wrong meaning. The chief of the eunuchs and the
chief of the cup-bearers would hardly be military officers.

vi IN THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH 169
demands were refused. Rabshakeh returned to his
master, who was now besieging Libnah. Gladly no
doubt would he have inflicted a summary vengeance.
But Tirhakah's army was already on the march, and
he was forced to content himself by replying to
Hezekiah's defiance with fresh threats. The letter
which he sent to Hezekiah was a contemptuous
denial of Jehovah's power to defend Jerusalem.
Hezekiah took the letter to the Temple, and spread
it before Jehovah, with earnest prayer that He whose
honour had been impeached would vindicate His
claim to be the living God.
Then it was that Isaiah uttered that sublime pro
phecy in which this period of his ministry culminates.
Sennacherib's proud words, he declared, were rank
blasphemy. He knew not who it was whom he had
defied. But now that haughty spirit would find that
he had met his master. / will put My Iwok in thy
nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee
back by the way by which thou earnest. Jehovah's city
should be inviolate. He shall not come unto this city,
nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before
it vnth shield, nor cast a mount against it. . . . For I
will defend this city to save it, for Mine own sake, and
for My servant David's sake (xxxvii. 29, 33, 35).
And so it came to pass. The angel of Jehovah went
forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred
and fourscore and five thousand. What form that
sudden and mysterious catastrophe wore to human

170 ISAIAH IN THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH lect
eyes, we do not know. Probably it was a pestilence.
Unable to face Tirhakah's army, Sennacherib turned
homewards, leaving Jerusalem unharmed. Twenty
years later he died by the hands of his own sons as
he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch.
So, as ever, man's extremity was God's opportunity.
Isaiah lived to see his own prophecies fulfilled, and
to prove God's faithfulness to His promises. In a
passage of singular poetic power and beauty he cele
brates the deliverance1 (xxxiii. 13 ff). He looks for
its moral effect upon the sinners in Zion. Surely
now they will be startled into repentance by the
visible tokens of God's presence in their midst. Once
more the people of Judah will see their king restored
to his proper dignity, and his kingdom extending to
its old limits. The recollection of the terrors of the
invasion, the preparations for the siege, the fierce looks
and strange language of the Assyrian invader, will
deepen their sense of gratitude for deliverance. Jeru
salem will enjoy a perfect peace. Look upon Zion, the
city of our solemnities. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem
a quiet habitation, a tent that shall never be removed,
the stakes whereof shall never be plucked up, neither
shall any of the cords thereof be broken. And in his
closing words the prophet sees the final goal as
though it were close before him. The inhabitant shall
1 Psalms xlvi-xlviii and probably lxxv, lxxvi belong to this
time, and should be read in illustration of Zion's jubilant thank
fulness.

vi ISAIAH'S THEOLOGY 171
not say, I am sick : the people that dwell therein shall
be forgiven their iniquity.
But the conditions were not fulfilled. Even this
proof of Jehovah's Presence failed to convince the
impenitent people. The righteousness for which He
looked was still wanting. The spiritual Israel had
not yet been formed out of the carnal Israel.

Isaiah towers above all the other prophets before Isaiah's theology.
and after. It seems almost presumptuous, in the
case of so many-sided a genius, to attempt to single
out special and distinctive elements in his teaching.
But even Isaiah has his distinguishing character
istics. Every prophet was a theologian. His teach
ing rested upon that aspect of the divine character
which had been specially brought home to his
consciousness. But Isaiah is pre-eminently a theo
logian. The vision in which he received his call
was a revelation of the Glory of Jehovah, exhibiting
the supreme attributes of Majesty and Holiness. An
overwhelming sense of these attributes was burnt
into his inmost soul. It shaped his view of Jehovah's
relation to Israel and of Israel's behaviour to Jehovah,
and formed the inspiration and dominating idea of
his teaching.
What God is in the ineffable reality of His
absolute Essence man cannot understand. Upon the

172 ISAIAH'S THEOLOGY lect.
consuming intensity of that light unapproachable in
which He dwells no human eye can gaze. But what
man may know and behold of that divine perfection
is revealed as God's glory. It is manifested in
nature, in history, in revelation. The whole earth is
full of His glory. And in this supreme moment of
Isaiah's life the glory of God's majesty and the glory
of God's holiness were flashed into Isaiah's soul.
The revelation of the divine majesty awakened in
him the sense of creaturely weakness, of his own
insignificance : the revelation of the divine holiness
aroused the sense of human sinfulness, of his own
transgression. In the light of God's glory man
shrivels awestruck into nothing ; shrinks conscience-
smitten and abashed from the Presence he cannot
endure. These two ruling ideas of the majesty and
the holiness of Jehovah come into prominence in
successive periods of his work. Neither is ever
absent from his mind, but the first distinguishes
the earlier and the second the later period of his
ministry.
(i) The The majesty of Jehovah was a predominant idea
majesty of '
Mocah. in Isaiah's teaching during the reign of Jotham. It
was, as we have seen, a period in which long years
of prosperity were bearing bitter fruit. Signs of
careless luxury and proud independence met the
prophet's eye and ear wherever he turned. Supersti
tion, idolatry, scepticism, infested the whole country.
The cry of the poor for their lawful rights was

vi THE MAJESTY OF JEHOVAH 173
unheeded. The processes of justice were perverted
to the ends of oppression. Those vast estates, made
by dispossessing small holders from their ancestral
holdings ; those splendid palaces with their sumptu
ous banquets and riotous revels; those extravagant
wardrobes and costly jewels with which the grand
ladies of Jerusalem adorned themselves ; those
horses and chariots, those forts and towers, those
fleets and armies, of which the statesmen of Judah
boasted as an impregnable defence ; those private
chapels with their gold and silver images ; those
secret rites performed by some cunning soothsayer
from Philistia or the East ; that reckless indifference
to truth and right and justice which was compat
ible with the most profuse outward ceremonies of
worship ; — what were all these but a deification of
wealth and power and selfish pleasure and reckless
ambition; an insolent defiance of the supreme majesty
of Jehovah of hosts ? This was the aspect of Israel's
sins which presented itself to Isaiah's mind in this
period. Man seemed in his complacent self-aggran
disement to have forgotten his Maker ; Israel had
defiantly flung off the obligation of allegiance to its
King ; the indictment against them is summed up in
the words, Their tongue and their doings are against
Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of His glory (iii. 8).
Therefore Jehovah must vindicate His character.
The day of Jehovah is at hand, in which all human
pride and worldly greatness will be humbled before

174 ISAIAH'S THEOLOGY lect.
the terrible manifestation of His majesty. Enter into
the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the
terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty.
The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the
haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah
alone shall be exalted in that day. Men will fling
away their impotent idols to the moles and to the
bats, and flee to hide themselves from before the
terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty,
when He ariseth to shake mightily the earth (ii. 10 ff,
17, 19 ff . ; cp. v. 15). In that day He will prove to
the trembling and astonished people His paramount
supremacy. He will demonstrate that He is the
jealous God, Who tolerates no rival, and cannot be
satisfied with a half-hearted allegiance. Throughout
the group of prophecies from the reign of Jotham
(chaps, ii-v) the idea which moves the prophet's
mind is the sense of Jehovah's majesty, outraged and
insulted by Judah's proud independence and speedily
to be vindicated by a searching judgement.
That judgement fell upon Judah in the attack of
the Syro-Ephraimite alliance in the reign of Ahaz ;
in the humiliation which it suffered by other defeats,
and by its ignominious submission to Assyria ; ulti
mately in Sennacherib's invasion, in which, though
in the end it was delivered, the country suffered
heavily from the ravages of war and the large in
demnity which it paid. The judgement fell upon
Israel in the internecine feuds which sapped its

vi THE MAJESTY OF JEHOVAH 175
strength and precipitated its ruin, and in the suc
cessive invasions of the Assyrians, by which the
kingdom was first curtailed and then destroyed.
But judgement was in store for Assyria also. The
Assyrian had a commission from Jehovah. He was the
rod of Jehovah's anger, and the staff in his hand was
Jehovah's indignation. But he knew it not. He too
would grow proud in his own conceit, and fancy
himself the lord of all the world, and boast, By the
strength of my hand I have done it, and by my
wisdom; for I am prudent. And therefore it will
come to pass, that when the Lord, has performed His
whole work upon mount Zion and upon Jerusalem,
He will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the
king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks (x. 5 ff,
12, 13). The majesty which must first be vindi
cated in punishing His own people for their pride
would afterwards be exhibited in vengeance upon
their enemies. Jehovah is exalted, for He divelleth on
high, was the moral of Sennacherib's humiliation
(xxxiii. 5) ; and the triumph song which is put into
the mouth of the redeemed in the day of their
deliverance repeats the same theme : —
Give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon His Name ;
Make known His doings among the peoples,
Make mention that His name is exalted (xii. 4).
Still loftier and more comprehensive than the (to The
holiness of
idea of Jehovah's majesty is the idea of His holiness. Jehomh-

176 ISAIAH'S THEOLOGY lect.
Holy, holy, holy, was the cry which Isaiah heard
from the lips of the adoring Seraphim; and he
chooses the title the Holy One of Israel to describe
the relation of Jehovah to His people. What then
is the meaning of the divine attribute of holiness ?
and in what sense does Isaiah employ the title
Holy One of Israel ?
Holiness is not of course an attribute now for the
first time ascribed to Jehovah. It is used by Isaiah's
predecessors.1 To Amos it is the essential character
istic of Deity. The Lord Jehovah, he says, hath
sworn by His holiness (iv. 2). That is synonymous
with swearing by Himself (vi. 8). In Hosea He
proclaims Himself to be the Holy One in the midst
of Ephraim (xi. 9 ; cp. 12).
Nor is it a title which was limited to the sphere
of revelation. Other Semitic nations applied it to
their gods;2 but revelation takes it, and invests it with
a deeper significance. Primarily the Hebrew root
from which the word is derived seems to denote
separation. It represents God as distinct from man,
separate from the creation which He has called into
existence. Then, since limit is the necessary con-
1 Whether its use can be carried back to the Mosaic age will
depend upon the view taken of the date of the Song of Moses (Exod.
xv. 11), and of the ideas which have taken final shape in
Leviticus (xix. 2, etc.). But it cannot be new to Amos and
Hosea. 2 The holy gods occurs in the inscription on the sarcophagus of
Eshmunazar king of Sidon, in the fourth century B.C. (Corp.
Inscr. Sem. i, p. 14.)

vi THE HOLINESS OF JEHOVAH 177
dition of created things, and imperfection and sin
fulness are the marks of humanity in its fallen
state, the term grows to denote the separation of
God from all that is limited, imperfect, and sinful.
But it does not rest here in a merely negative
conception. It expands so as to include the whole
essential nature of God in its moral aspect. This it
is which evokes the unceasing adoration of angelic
beings. His purity and His righteousness, His faith
fulness and His truth, His mercy and His loving
kindness, nay even His jealousy and His wrath, His
zeal and His indignation, — these are the different
rays which combine to make up the perfect light of
holiness. It is the moral nature of God, which
man's dull soul can but dimly imagine ; for what
does he know of absolute truth and righteousness
and love ? what of the consuming indignation which
the sight of sin must stir in Him Whose nature is
an intense zeal for truth and righteousness ? what of
the reconciliation of apparently opposing attributes
in perfect unity of will and purpose ?
God is holy ; persons, places, and things set apart
for His service are holy by virtue of that consecration ;
and of men there is demanded an inward holiness
which shall, in its measure, reflect the holiness of God.
The character of God as the Holy One in His
relation to Israel is expressed by the title the Holy
One of Israel. This title appears to have been coined
by Isaiah. At any rate it is almost peculiar to the
N

178 ISAIAH'S THEOLOGY lect.
Book of Isaiah.1 It is characteristic of the second
part of the book as well as of the first, and forms
one of the most noteworthy links of connexion
between them.
Let us try to realise its significance. Jehovah is
the thrice holy God. This holy God, in all the ful
ness of His Deity, has entered into personal relations
with Israel. He is Israel's God. They are His
people. He is therefore their Holy One, and His ex
press claim upon them is, Te shall be holy, for I am
holy (Lev. xi. 44, 45 ; xix. 2 ; xx. 7, 26 ; xxi. 8) :
ye shall be unto Me a holy nation (Exod. xix. 6 ; Deut.
vii. 6 ; xiv. 2, 21 ; xxvi. 19 ; xxviii. 9).2 They are
to reflect and exhibit to the world Jehovah's character.
They are to be His witnesses. Perhaps originally
this meant little more than that they were to be a
separate people, distinguished by their allegiance to
Jehovah ; but as His character was gradually revealed
to them in Law and Prophecy, the claim on Israel
grew to have a deeper meaning. Then it was that
the divorce between calling and practice grew to be
startling. The people fancied that they had a right
to claim Jehovah's faithfulness to His covenant, while
1 It occurs three times in the Psalter (lxxi. 22 ; lxxviii. 41 ;
lxxxix. 18) : twice in Jeremiah, but in chapters which appear to be
the work of a follower of Jeremiah, and are largely dependent on the
Book of Isaiah (I. 29 ; li. 5) : once in a modified form in Ezekiel
(xxxix. 7, the Holy One in Israel). Cp. too Hos. xi. 9 ; Hab. i. 12.
2 Whatever view is taken of the date of the documents from
which these words are quoted, the ideas contained in them are pre
supposed by Isaiah.

vi THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL 179
they were at liberty to sit loose to the obligations
which it imposed upon them.
So Isaiah comes forward to assert this neglected
truth of the holiness of Israel's God. It has a double
aspect. It is a truth of terror, and a truth of con
solation. Jehovah must vindicate His neglected
holiness, not less than His outraged majesty, by the
chastisement of His people's sins. Yet equally must
He vindicate it by the defence of His people and the
destruction of their enemies.
At the beginning of the book, in an address which
serves as a general introduction, although not de
livered until the reign of Ahaz at the earliest, Isaiah
strikes this note. The children whom Jehovah has
brought up and raised to high estate have rebelled
against Him. They are not a holy nation, but a
sinful nation. They have forsaken Jehovah, they have
despised the Holy One of Israel (i. 4). The thought is
developed in the parable of the vineyard in ch. v.
The manifold and tender care of Jehovah for the
people of His choice had not resulted in the fruit
which He desired. When He looked that His vine
yard should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild
grapes. Again their transgression is summed up in
the sentence, They have rejected the teaching of Jehovah
of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel
(v. 24). The enormity of those sins of covetousness
and violence and profligacy and debauchery was only
aggravated by the insulting hypocrisy of a ceremonial

180 ISAIAH'S THEOLOGY lect.
worship, which was abomination to Jehovah, while
they professed to honour Him, though their hearts
were far from Him. It reached its climax in the
audacity of a scepticism which challenged Him to
prove His claim to be the Holy One of Israel by
action. Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work,
that we may see it ; and let the counsel of the Holy One
of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it !
(v. 19). Therefore in the impending day of judgement
the holiness not less than the majesty of Jehovah
will be vindicated. When men are boiued down, and
great men humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled,
then Jehovah of hosts will be exalted in judgement and
God the Holy One will be proved holy in righteousness
(v. 15, 16).
In the later period of Isaiah's ministry the
doctrine of the Holy One of Israel became still more
prominent in his teaching. In that crisis when the
policy of the worldly-wise statesmen in Jerusalem
threatened to entangle Judah in an alliance with
Egypt, and involve it in the ruin which befell
Samaria, Isaiah unhesitatingly bade his countrymen
rely upon the Holy One of Israel. If they would
remain quiet, and obey His message, and conform to
His will, then in His own time He would be gracious
to them, and deliver them from the oppression of the
Assyrian tyrant. His honour was pledged to defend
His own people. But they were for the most part
faithless. The worldly spirit predominated. Thus

vi THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL 181
said the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, By re
turning from your self-chosen policy and keeping still
shall ye be saved ; in tranquillity and, in confidence
shall be your strength : and ye would not (xxx. 15).
Mockingly they taunted the prophet and his com
panions with their great watchword. Cause the Holy
One of Israel to cease from before us, they cried
(xxx. 11) ; and instead of looking to the Holy One
of Israel, and seeking Jehovah, they sent their am
bassadors to ask for the help of Egypt, and put their
trust in chariots and in horsemen (xxxi. 1).
Calmly Isaiah continued to proclaim his double
message of judgement and deliverance. Thus saith
the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word,
namely the prophetic exhortation to rely upon
Jehovah, and trust in oppression, which they must
use to extort means for purchasing the help of Egypt,
and in perverseness, namely the policy of secret in
trigue, and rely upon it ; therefore this iniquity shall
prove to you like a breach ready to fall, bulging out in a
lofty wall, whose ruin cometh suddenly in an instant
(xxx. 12, 13). Yet Jehovah will protect Jerusalem,
like the mother bird hovering over its nest to pro
tect its young, passing over it and preserving it, as of
old He passed over the houses of the Israelites when
He destroyed the Egyptians (xxxi. 5).
The Egyptian policy failed, and the danger was
averted. The shock of the fall of Samaria may have
contributed to induce the obstinate people to give

182 ISAIAH'S THEOLOGY lect.
heed to the warnings of the prophets, and enabled
Hezeldah to effect the reformation of which we read
in the Book of Kings.
It was not till some twenty years afterwards that
the great crisis came. Then, at the moment when
all seemed lost, the Holy One of Israel proved Him
self to be all that He had promised. Sennacherib's
blasphemous message, contemptuously lowering Je
hovah to the level of the gods of the nations whose
cities he had destroyed, was a fiat defiance of the
Holy One of Israel. Little did the proud king know
Whom he had challenged. Whom hast thou reproached
and blasphemed ? and against whom Jiast thou exalted
thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high ? even against
the Holy One of Israel (xxxvii. 23). In the utter
most extremity and not until then, Jehovah shewed
Himself to be the Holy One of Israel, and vindicated
His holiness not less than His majesty in the deliver
ance of His city and His people.
The great thoughts of the majesty and the holi
ness of Jehovah shape and colour Isaiah's hopes for
the future. It is worth while noticing how entirely the
author of the Book of Consolation (Is. xl-lxvi) enters
into the spirit of his master when he represents the
redemption of Israel from Babylon as the character
istic work of Israel's Holy One. This, however, lies
outside our present subject. But what Isaiah him
self looks forward to as the goal of all God's dealings
with His people is the production of a holy nation.

vi THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL 183
In that gloomiest moment, when he is warned that
the effect of his preaching must be to harden an
already obdurate nation, he is assured that there is
still a holy seed within it (vi. 13) ; and when the Lord
shall have purged the blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem from
the midst thereof by the spirit of judgement and by the
spirit of burning, then he that is left in Zion, and
he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy
(iv. 3, 4). In the day when Ephraim and Syria are
humbled, men will no more resort to their altars and
their idols, but will look unto their Maker and have
respect unto the Holy One of Israel (xvii. 7, 8).
When the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his
Holy One for a flame, consuming the mighty Assyrian
power like a heap of thorns and briars, the remnant
of Israel, and they that arc escaped of the house of
Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote
them, but shall stay upon Jehovah, the Holy One of
Israel, in truth (x. 17, 20).
When the great transformation comes, the meek
shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among
men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel (xxix. 19).
In that day men's spiritual sight will no more be
blinded ; their spiritual ears will no more be deaf.
The deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes
of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of dark
ness (xxix. 18). When they see the manifest tokens of
Jehovah's Presence in their midst, the sinners in Zion
are afraid: when they reflect ion His judgements

184 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH lect.
upon themselves and upon the terrible enemy of the
nation, trembling surprises the godless ones. Who of
us, they ask, can sojourn in a consuming fire ? who of
us can sojourn in perpetual burnings ? Who indeed
can endure the Presence of the most Holy God, Who
burns and devours His enemies like thorns and
thistles ? This is the prophet's answer : He that
walketh righteously and, speaketh uprightly ; that re-
jecteth the gain of fraud, and shaketh his hands from
holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of
blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil ; he
shall dwell on high ; strongholds of the rocks shall be
his refuge ; his bread shall be given him ; his water shall
be sure (xxxiii. 13 ff). Israel will recognise the holi
ness of Jehovah, and reverence His majesty. When
his children see the luork of My hands in the midst of
him, they shall hallow My Name ; yea they shall hallow
the Holy One of Jacob, and stand in awe of the God of
Israel (xxix. 23).
The triumph song of the redeemed closes with the
call to joyful adoration :
Give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon His Name ;
Make known His doings among the peoples,
Make mention that His Name is exalted.
Cry aloud and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion ;
For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
(xii. 4, 6.)

MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH 185

VI
Isaiah's preaching concerned the present. It Messianic
. prophecies.
found its occasion and its object in the needs and the
circumstances of his own day. But it is constantly
reaching out beyond the immediate present into the
future of the divine purpose. The course of God's
dealings with His people, and in a measure with the
nations also, is through judgement to redemption.
The goal of His purposes is the establishment of a
kingdom of peace and righteousness, the centre of
light and salvation for the nations. The establish
ment of this kingdom is connected with the coming
of a personal Deliverer, a King who is to spring from
the house of David. Its seat is to be in Zion, purified
and regenerated through judgement.
To his earliest collection of discourses Isaiah has ch. a. z-t,
prefixed a brief prophecy, taken from Micah or from
some older prophet,1 in which the future destiny of
Zion is described. It serves as a foundation for the
prophet's call to repentance, and as a foil to the
description of Judah's sin, shewing the depth of its
fall by contrast with the sublimity of its mission. In
1 For our present purpose it is immaterial whether the words
are Micah's own, or, as many think, borrowed by him as well as
by Isaiah from some older prophet. Their loose connexion with
the context shews that they are not Isaiah's own, but he appro
priates them by quoting them. I see no sufficient reason for
regarding them as merely the insertion of a compiler. On the
other hand, they are firmly embedded in the context in Micah.

186 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH lect.
the after-days Zion is to be the spiritual centre of the
nations. Its spiritual pre-eminence is represented
under the figure of a physical elevation of the temple-
mount. Thither not Israel only but the nations of
the world will go up to worship, and to learn from
Israel's God. Thence will proceed the divine revela
tion. The nations will obey Jehovah's rule, and
universal peace will be established (ii. 2 ff.). There
t is no hint here of a personal Messiah. Jehovah
Himself is the Teacher and the Ruler. The form of
the prophecy is suggested by the pilgrimages of
worshippers to the Temple. Its spirit is the truth
that in the divine purpose Zion was to be the centre
of the world's salvation (John iv. 22).
The full grandeur of this prophecy is only seen
when it is brought into relation with the circum
stances of the time. When religion and morals were
at the lowest ebb ; when Israel instead of converting
the nations to the worship of Jehovah was being
perverted by their superstitions ; when the nations,
instead of coming to pay homage to the God of
Jacob, were threatening to crush His people out of
existence; at such an inauspicious moment Isaiah
authoritatively repeats the prophecy which predicts
the spiritual supremacy of Zion, and the establish
ment of an universal peace.
ca. iv. n. The group of prophecies which thus opens with
the ideal of Israel's destiny ends with the description
of Zion purified through judgement, and protected

vi MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH 187
by the Presence of Jehovah in her midst, which we
have already had occasion to consider (p. 159). That
prophecy is sometimes thought to contain a reference
to a personal Messiah. In that day, it runs, shall the
growth [tsemach] of Jehovah be beautiful and glorious,
and the fruit of the land shall be excellent and comely
for them that are escaped of Israel (iv. 2). These words
are thus paraphrased in the Targum : " At that time
shall the Messiah of Jehovah be a joy and a glory,
and they that keep the law shall be an honour and
praise to them that are delivered of Israel." Such a
personal interpretation, however, does not lie in the
context. The renewed fertility of the land is a con
stant feature in the pictures of the Messianic age,
and it is to this that the words primarily refer.
Jehovah makes His land bring forth and bud and
bear fruit for His restored people, and they find their
fullest satisfaction in Him and in His gifts, instead
of craving for material splendour and worldly
aggrandisement. But though a personal reference cannot be intended
here, it is possible that the passage may be the source
of the term Tsemach, ' Shoot ' or ' Growth ' (A.V.
'Branch'), applied to the Messiah in later times.
Jeremiah speaks of the Messiah as the shoot or growth
from the stock of David (Jer. xxiii. 5 ; xxxiii. 15) ;
and Zechariah treats it as a recognised title of the
Messianic King (iii. 8 ; vi. 12). The use of the term
is at once limited and elevated. Isaiah's words may

188 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH lect.
include those spiritual gifts of which material bless
ings are the symbol (Ixi. 11) ; and of all the blessings
which Jehovah will cause to spring up for His
land and people, the chief will be that King of
David's line in whom the hopes of his nation are
centred.
ch.vii.uff. In no case perhaps is it so difficult to disengage
the mind from the associations of its ultimate fulfil
ment, and to endeavour to ascertain its original
meaning, as in the case of the prophecy of Immanuel.
¦ But it is clear that the words, Behold a virgin shall
I conceive and bear a son, and shall - call his name
, Immanuel, were not, in their original intention, a
1 prediction of the miraculous birth of Jesus. Isaiah
is giving Ahaz the sign, for which, with a spurious
assumption of piety, he had refused to ask. Now an
event which was not to happen for more than seven
centuries could not form a sign to Ahaz. Moreover,
the context proceeds to speak of what is shortly to
happen. Before the child who is to be called Im
manuel arrives at years of discretion, the power of
Syria and Ephraim will be humbled. It is in the
immediate future that he is to be born. Accordingly
some commentators regard Immanuel as the Messiah
whose advent Isaiah expected to fall within the
period of the Assyrian troubles. But this view
cannot be regarded as satisfactory, though it com
mends itself to many able interpreters. Such a
" perspective combination of events lying far apart "

vi MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH 189
is not indeed contrary to the general conditions of
prophecy. Isaiah seems to have looked for the com
plete regeneration of the nation immediately after
the deliverance from Assyria, much as the Apostles
looked for the final coming of the Lord in their own
lifetime. But the child Immanuel is not connected
with the house of David, nor is he spoken of as a
deliverer. And the fatal objection to this theory is
that an event which did not happen could not possibly
fovm a sign to Ahaz.
The true explanation appears to be that the sign
consists not in any miraculous circumstances con
nected with the birth of the child,1 but in that which
is to happen before the child comes to years of
discretion. Some mother known to Ahaz and the
prophet, but of whom we know nothing, who was
soon to give birth to a child, or possibly any woman
who was about to become a mother, is told that she
may call her son Immanuel. She may with con
fidence give him a name significant of the Presence
of God with His people. That Presence will be
manifested in deliverance and in judgement. It will
be manifested by the fulfilment of the prophet's
declaration, that from Rezin and Pekah Ahaz has
1 The Hebrew word rendered virgin in the A.V. would be more
accurately rendered damsel. It means a young woman of marriage
able age, and is not the word which would be naturally used for
virgin, if that was the point which it was desired to emphasise.
The definite article (the damsel) may refer to a particular young
woman, or it may be generic, and refer to any young woman who
was about to become a mother.

190 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH lect.
nothing to fear. Before the child comes to years
of discretion, the land whose two kings Ahaz now
dreads shall be desolate. But there is another side
to the sign. The child must feed on curds and honey.
This does not mean the usual food of childhood, or
a luxurious diet. It implies that the land will be
uncultivated, and relapse into a rough pasture,
furnishing milk and wild honey, and nothing more.1
Judgement will fall upon Judah, and that from the
very quarter to which Ahaz was now looking for
help, the King of Assyria (v. 17). The course of
events will prove to the unbelieving king that
Jehovah holds supreme control over the history of
the world and the destinies of His people.
In virtue of his significant name, a representative
character attaches to Immanuel. He is the pledge
for his generation of the truth expressed in his name,
as Isaiah's children by their names were living
exponents of other truths which he proclaimed.
Accordingly when Isaiah foretells that the flood of
Assyrian invasion, pouring over Syria and Ephraim,
will sweep onward into Judah, he calls Judah Im-
manuel's land, the home of him whose name is a
constant reminder of the presence of God and a
pledge of deliverance (viii. 8). The significance of
this is plain from what follows. The nations may
make an uproar, but they -shall be broken in pieces ;
1 Cp. vii. 21-25, which confirms this explanation of the meaning
of eating curds and honey, as a threat and not a promise.

vi MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH 191
they may take counsel, but it shall be brought to
nought ; for Immctnu El, ' With us is God.'
If this view is correct, the sign given to Ahaz is
not a direct prophecy of the Messiah and of the
miraculous manner of His birth, any more than the
second Psalm is a direct prophecy of the Resurrection,
or Hosea xi. 1 a direct prophecy of the Flight into
Egypt.1 But as the words which in the Psalm re
ferred primarily to the adoptive sonship of the king
are applied in the New Testament to the eternal
sonship of Christ, so the name given as the pledge of
the presence of God with His people becomes the
name of Him who was the mediator of that presence.
The words describing His birth receive a profound
depth of meaning, which they admit, though they do
not necessarily convey it. The name itself becomes
the expression of the mysterious fact of the Incarna
tion. Jesus is the true Immanuel, and in Him the
prophet's utterance is fulfilled.
The house of David was represented by a faithless ch. ix. 1-7.
and apostate prince in Ahaz. Its enemies were
plotting its destruction. It must have seemed hope
less to look for deliverance from such a quarter.
But with the fearless courage of inspiration Isaiah
proclaims that it is still God's purpose to establish
His kingdom of peace and righteousness by the
1 St. Matthew introduces the quotation of Hos. xi. 1 with the
same words as that of Isa. vii. 14 : that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.

192 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH lect.
means of a scion of the house of David. He sees
the dawn breaking over that part of Israel which had
suffered most from the Assyrian invasion.1 He sees
the power of Israel's oppressor broken as in the
day when Gideon with his handful of warriors broke
the power of Midian. He sees the instruments of
war piled together on the battlefield, and burnt.
The people that walked in the darkness have seen great
light,
Those that dwelt in the land of deathly gloom, upon them
hath light shone.
Thou hast increased the nation?
Thou hast made great its joy ;
They joy before Thee with joy like that of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden, and the rod of his back,
The staff of his oppressor, hast Thou broken as in the day of
Midian.
For every boot of booted warrior tramping noisily,
And every garment rolled in blood,
Shall be for burning, for fuel of fire.
And how has this been brought to pass ? Because
A child is born to us,
A son is given to us,
And the principality rests upon his shoulder,
1 In quite an unexpected way the prophecy which seems to
predict only a temporal restoration receives a spiritual fulfilment
(Matt. iv. 13 ff.). Despised Galilee becomes the scene of Christ's
ministry. That which suffered most is most honoured : that which
was most despised is selected for special privilege.
2 Or, according to a very generally accepted emendation, Thou
hast increased the rejoicing.

vi MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH 193
And his name is called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his principality and of peace there shall be
no end, Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to
establish it, and to uphold it,
With judgement and with righteousness from henceforth even
for ever (ix. 2-7).
The fourfold name of this prince declares his mar
vellous nature, and proclaims him to be, in an extra
ordinary and mysterious way, the representative of
Jehovah. The title Wonderful Counsellor conveys
the idea of his endowment with supernatural wisdom
in that counsel which was peculiarly the function of
a king.1 Mighty God expresses his divine greatness
" and power, as the unique representative of Jehovah,
who is Himself the mighty God (x. 21).2 Eternal
Father describes his paternal tenderness and unend
ing care for his people. Prince of Peace denotes the
character and the end of his government. His
advent is still future but it is assured. The zeal of
Jehovah of hosts will perform this.
In another prophecy the character of this king ch. xi. iff.
and his rule is described. The Assyrian has fallen.
The mighty forest of Lebanon has been hewn down
1 Cp. xxviii. 29 ; Mic. iv. 9.
2 " In such passages the Old Testament revelation falls into a
self-contradiction, from which only a miracle has been able to de
liver us, the Incarnation of the Son of God " (Orelli, Old Testament
Prophecy, p. 274). 0

194 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH lect.
(x. 33 f.). But out of the stock of Jesse shall come forth
a shoot, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit.
The spirit of Jehovah in all its manifold fulness will
rest upon him to fit him for his office, which he will
exercise with perfect righteousness and equity. The
peace of Paradise will be restored in nature. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain ;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah,
as the waters cover the sea (xi. 1-9).
He will be the signal for that gathering of the
nations to Zion which had already been foretold.
Israel's exiles will be brought home from the lands
whither they have been scattered. Ephraim and
Judah will live in perfect harmony. The return
will be like a second Exodus ; and the prophet con
cludes by putting into the mouth of the restored
people a song like that which Israel sang upon the
shore of the Red Sea (ch. xii).
Thus when the kingdom was in the lowest depth
of degradation, Isaiah foretold the Advent of the ideal
King of David's line, the pledge and mediator of God's
presence among His people, to effect the destruction
of their foes, and establish a kingdom of peace and
righteousness, the rallying point for all the nations of
the earth.
The in- Another series of prophecies relates to Zion as the
violability of zion. seat of God's kingdom. In the days when Zion wa?
threatened with destruction, Isaiah asserts its perma
nence. Worldly-minded politicians were intriguing

vi MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH 195
for an alliance with Egypt, a policy at once faithless
and fatal. In contrast to that policy is the tried stone,
the precious corner-stone of sure foundation which
Jehovah has laid in Zion. The language is a metaphor
from the solid and costly foundations of the Temple.
What is that stone of sure foundation? Not the city,
nor the Temple, nor the house of David, but the divine
plan of which that house is the outward expression.
Jehovah has laid the foundation of His kingdom in
Zion ; but the building upon it must be reared with
the line of judgement and the plummet of righteous
ness. Faith is the condition of tranquil security in
the midst of danger (xxviii. 16 £).
This prophecy is re-echoed in Ps. cxviii. 22 : The
stone which the builders rejected is become the head of
the corner. It is fulfilled in Christ, as the personal
embodiment of the divine purpose, the foundation of
God's kingdom in the Church.1
The necessity and the certainty of judgement on
the one hand, and the inviolability of Zion on the
other, form the groundwork of the prophecies of this
period (xxix. 3 ff.). And beyond the judgement, as
we have seen, conversion, reformation, pardon, the
transformation of nature for God's purified people,
open up a vista of wondrous possibilities. The rule of
the perfect king is responded to by the nobility of a
regenerate and instructed people (xxxii. 1 ff.) ; but
only through judgement will the end be reached, when
1 See Rom. ix. 33 ; 1 Pet. ii. 6 ff. Cp. Matt. xxi. 42 ; Acts iv. II.

196 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH lect.
the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of
righteousness quietness and confidence for ever.
The first series of prophecies presents the promise
of the personal Messiah, the ideal King. The second
series assures the permanence of that kingdom which
is God's means for realising His purpose upon earth.
Thus we are brought to the series of prophecies
relating to the nations. The oracles upon the nations
are for the most part threatenings of judgement.
Yet the purpose, generally set forth in ch. ii. 2 ff. and
ch. xi. 10, shines through in several passages. Moab
is exhorted to seek the protection of the true king
who is to sit on David's throne, but Moab's pride
is a fatal hindrance (xvi. 1 ff). Isaiah anticipates
the homage of the Ethiopians to Jehovah when they
see the judgement fall upon the Assyrians. At that
time slwtll a present be brought unto Jehovah of hosts
of a people tall and smooth, and from a people terrible
from tlieir beginning onward . to the place of the
name of Jehovah of hosts, the mount Zion (xviii. 7).
But prophecy reaches its climax when Isaiah looks
forward to the reconciliation of those bitter foes,
Egypt and Assyria, with Israel and with one another.
Israel, the victim of both, becomes the bond which
unites them. Jehovah shall make Himself known to
Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that
day. . . . In that day shall there be a highway
out of Egypt to- Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come
into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the

vi FULFILMENT OF ISAIAH'S PROPHECIES 197
Egyptians shall worship irith the Assyrians. In that
day shall Israel be the third ivith Egypt and with
Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth : for that
Jehovah of hosts hath blessed them, saying, Blessed be
Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands,
and Israel Mine inheritance (xix. 21, 23 ff).
These nations represent the nations of the world ;
their reconciliation signifies the eventual incorpora
tion of even its most deadly enemies in the kingdom
of God. The prediction can never be literally realised
for these nations, because they have ceased to exist ;
but it will yet be realised in that great peace of the
world, which is the hope of all the nations of
mankind.1 Isaiah's prophecies received signal, if only partial, Fulfilment
oj lstt mil s
fulfilment in his own lifetime. Judgement fell upon p™Phecies-
Judah. The coalition of Syria and Ephraim came
to nothing. Assyria proved to be the real source of
danger. But Assyria could not move one step further
than Jehovah permitted it. When it threatened the
existence of His people, He interposed, as Isaiah had
confidently predicted. The deliverance of Jerusalem
from Sennacherib was the most conspicuous attesta
tion of his divine commission. It shewed that the
Holy One of Israel was in the midst of His people.
They had not waited for Him in vain. But Isaiah
seems to have looked forward to that great deliverance
as the dividing line between the present and the
1 Briggs, Messianic Prophecy, p. 208,

198 FULFILMENT OF ISAIAH'S PROPHECIES lect.
future, as the crisis which would usher in the after-
days for which he looked. He seems to have
anticipated the Advent of the perfect King and the
regeneration of the people within a measurable
distance, if not in his own lifetime. The divine
purposes were revealed to him, but the time and the
manner of the accomplishment of those purposes
were not revealed to him. He saw them from
afar, yet they seemed to be close at hand, like the
distant peak which the Alpine traveller sees towering
majestically into the sky, apparently close beyond the
grassy slope upon which he stands. Nor need we be
surprised that it was so. If the closest followers of
the Lord, at the critical moment when He was about
to leave them, were warned that it was not for them
to know times or seasons (Acts i. 7), is it strange that
such knowledge was withheld from the Old Testament
seers ? They sought and searched diligently . . . what
time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which
was in them did point unto ; and it was revealed unto
them, sometimes by the course of events interpreted
by that Spirit, sometimes doubtless by the direct
teaching of that Spirit, that their prophecies were
not for themselves but for a future generation
(1 Pet. i. 10 ff.).
All prophecy is conditional, and the realisation
of the promises with which Isaiah was charged de
pended upon the attitude of the people. But not
even the mighty deliverance which they experienced

vi STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH 199
could awaken them to repentance and faith. The
result was inevitable. The depth of Judah's fall was
proportionate to the height of grace to which it had
been raised. Within a very few years after Senna
cherib's retreat Hezekiah was succeeded by Manasseh,
the infamous crimes of whose long reign sealed the
doom of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings xxiv. 3 f. ;
Jer. xv. 4).
Yet if the accomplishment of Isaiah's prophecies
did not come in the form or at the time which he
anticipated, they have not failed to find a true and
wonderful fulfilment. The teaching of the Gospel
has gone forth from Zion; the Incarnate Word of
the Lord from Jerusalem. To Zion the nations turn
as the centre and source of their highest hopes.
Unto us a child is born. The shoot has come forth
from the stock of Jesse, upon whom the Spirit of
the Lord rests. While the kingdoms of this world
have their day and perish, the kingdom of God
endures. Slowly the purpose of the ages is being
fulfilled, till in the end He will manifest Himself as
the Eternal King, supremely exalted, supremely holy.
Note A.
Structure of the Book of Isaiah.
The Book of Isaiah falls into two main divisions. In the
first of these, chaps, i-xxxix, the great enemy of Israel is
Assyria : in the second, chaps, xl-lxvi, it is Babylon. It is

200 STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH lect.
with the first of these divisions only that we are now con
cerned. All that can be offered here is a general sketch,
which does not attempt to deal with minutiae or to solve
many difficult problems. The dates of many sections cannot
be determined with certainty, and much diversity of opinion
prevails with regard to them.
Chaps, i-xxxix include four distinct books, some at least
of which shew evident traces of composite origin. They are
as follows : —
A. — Chaps, i-xii. This book has a Prologue (ch. i), and
an Epilogue (ch. xii), and is divided by the account of Isaiah's
call in ch. vi.
(1) Ch. i forms a general introduction, setting forth
Jehovah's care for His people and their ingratitude to Him.
It cannot be earlier than the time of Ahaz, for the land has
suffered severely from invasion (vv. 7 ff.), and it may be as late
as the invasion of Sennacherib ; but on the whole it may best
be regarded as a call to repentance at the end of the Syro-
Ephraimite war.
(2) Chaps, ii-v consist of a continuous discourse (ii. 5-
iv. 6), prefaced by a quotation from Micah, or some older
prophet (ii. 2-4), and followed by the parable of the vine
yard, with the series of woes appended to it (v). Reproof of
the sins of Judah and warning of the imminence of judgement
form the main subject of this division.
It must belong in the main to the time of Jotham, for
Judah's prosperity and pride are still unbroken. But one
or two allusions (iii. 4, 12) make it probable that the dis
courses were not committed to writing till after the accession
of Ahaz ; and the conclusion refers to the Syro-Ephraimite
invasion, and the yet worse danger of an Assyrian invasion
looming in the distance (v. 25-30).
(3) Ch. vi. Isaiah's call.

vi STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH 201
(4) Chaps, vii-x. 4 belong to the reign of Ahaz. Ch. vii
refers to the time when Ahaz was threatened with invasion
by Pekah and Rezin (b.c. 734). Ch. viii-ix. 7 is a little later,
after the devastation of Northern Israel (ix. 1), but before the
fall of Damascus in b.c. 732 (viii. 4).
Chaps, ix. 8-x. 4 are addressed to the Northern Kingdom,
when it was beginning to recover from the disasters of the
Assyrian invasion (vv. 9, 10). Vv. 18 ff. may refer to the
conspiracy of Hoshea against Pekah. This address is there
fore in its proper chronological order here ; and the descrip
tion of the miserable reality of the present follows naturally
upon the picture of the glorious future (ix. 1-7), by the law
of contrast so often traceable in prophecy.
(5) Chaps, x. 5-xii open with the prediction that Assyria,
though employed by Jehovah as His instrument, will be
punished for its pride. Assyria's power will be destroyed,
and a kingdom of righteousness established in Zion under
the perfect King of David's line. The scattered Israelites
will be restored ; and the thanksgiving song of the redeemed
forms a fitting epilogue to the book.1
Several links seem to connect this section with the
prophecies of the time of Ahaz. Ch. xi. 1 ff. is the sequel
of ix. 1 ff. ; x. 20 describes the policy of Ahaz ; x. 21 refers
to vii. 3, and xi. 13 to ix. 21 ; x. 12, 21 ff. speaks of severe
judgements as still impending. But x. 9 ff. appears to refer
to Sargon's conquest of Samaria in B.C. 722, Arpad in 720,
1 The Isaianic authorship of xi. 10-xii. 6 is denied by Cheyne
and others. But so far as xi. 10-16 is concerned, the political
horizon is that of Isaiah's time (vv. 11, 16) ; v. 13 alludes to ix.
21 ; and the references to the Exodus are quite in Isaiah's manner
(x. 26 ; cp. iv. 5 ; xxxi. 5). Then ch. xii is intimately connected
with it. The parallel between the song of the redeemed and Exod.
xv is unmistakable, so that it forms the natural sequel to xi. 15,
16. If it is not Isaiah's, it is a very remarkable lyrical compendium
of his teaching.

202 STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH lect.
Carchemish in 717.1 The captivity of the Northern
Kingdom has taken place (xi. 1 1 ff.). Hence in its present
form this section cannot be earlier than the middle of
Hezekiah's reign, and may be later. But the appropriate
ness of its position is obvious. The affirmation of the
transitoriness of the Assyrian power and the permanence of
the divine kingdom is needed as a counterpoise to the pre
diction that Assyria will be the scourge of Judah (vii. 17 ff.).
This collection of prophecies (i-xii) was probably circu
lated separately, as forming a symmetrical whole of convenient
size. B. — Chaps, xiii-xxvii. — A series of prophecies concerning
the nations (except ch. xxii).
Some dates are given or can be fixed with tolerable
certainty. Ch. xvii. 1-11 appears to be before the Syro-
Ephraimite invasion ; ch. xiv. 28 ff. is dated in the death-
year of Ahaz ; 2 ch. xx belongs to B.C. 711 ; chaps, xviii and
xxii probably belong to the time of Sennacherib's invasion ;
ch. xix may be somewhat later.
The collection contains some non-Isaianic prophecies.
Chaps, xv, xvi appear to be an older prophecy, reaffirmed
with a supplement by Isaiah (xvi. 13 f.). Chaps, xiii. 1-xiv. 23
are ascribed to a prophet of the Exile on the ground
that the historical situation is not that of Isaiah's time.
Babylon not Assyria is the mistress of the world and the
1 Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, p. 385.
2 The oracle refers not to the death of Ahaz, but to that of
Tiglath-Pileser, which happened about the same time (b.c. 727).
Philistia had suffered from Tiglath-Pileser, who captured Gath, and
the Philistines would naturally be triumphant at his death. But
they are warned that his successors would prove even worse enemies.
In point of fact, Sargon defeated Hanun king of Gaza at Raphia in
720, and captured Ashdod in 711, while Sennacherib took a tre
mendous vengeance on Ashkelon and Ekron in 701. See Schrader
Cuneiform Inscriptions, pp. 168, 256.

vi STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH 203
oppressor of Israel. Babylon is soon (xiii. 22) to be de
stroyed, and Israel restored to its own land (xiv. 1 ff.). The
great apocalypse of judgement and redemption which con
cludes the series (xxiv-xxvii) is also thought to bear marks
of a later age ; and it seems not improbable that this book of
prophecies concerning the nations was not completed until
after the return from the Exile, when the concluding chapters
were written by a disciple of Isaiah, deeply penetrated with
his spirit, as a finale to the collection. See further in
Lecture XVI.
C. — Chaps, xxviii-xxxv. — Chaps, xxviii-xxxiii contain
a series of prophecies dealing with the relations of Judah
to Assyria, and in particular with the scheme for throwing
off the Assyrian yoke by an Egyptian alliance. Ch. xxviii
opens before, but not long before, the fall of Samaria. Ch.
xxxiii as plainly refers to Sennacherib's invasion in 701.
The date of chaps, xxix-xxxi is disputed, but the view that
they belong to the early years of Hezekiah gives by far the
most intelligible explanation of their contents (p. 164 ff.).
Chaps, xxviii-xxxi may have been republished with the
addition of ch. xxxii, the connexion of which is loose, and
ch. xxxiii, when events had proved the wisdom of the policy
they advocate and verified the prophecies they contain.
Chaps, xxxiv, xxxv appear to be a supplement to this
collection, added towards the close of the Exile, predicting
the judgement of the nations and the restoration of Israel.
They stand to this section in a relation analogous to that of
chaps, xxiv-xxvii to the preceding section.
D. — Chaps, xxxvi-xxxix. — A historical section, found also
in 2 Kings xviii. 13-xx. 19, with some variations. 2 Kings
xviii. 14-16 is not in Isaiah, and Isa. xxxviii. 9-20 is not in
Kings. It can hardly in its present form be the work of
Isaiah, for it brings the history down to B.C. 681 (xxx vii.
38) ; and the text is in a disturbed condition, e.g. vv. 21, 22

204 STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF ISAIAH lect. vi
of ch. xxxviii are out of place. But it is a question whether
it may not have been derived, mediately or immediately,
from the chronicle of Hezekiah's reign which Isaiah wrote
(2 Chron. xxxii. 32). It is appended here, as Jer. lii
( = 2 Kings xxiv. 18 ff., xxv) is appended to the Book of
Jeremiah. Divisions A, B, C were probably in circulation as separate
books before they were combined, supplemented by D, and
finally united in the same great volume with the Book of
Consolation (xl-lxvi).

LECTURE VII

MICAH

He hath shewed tluie, 0 man, what is good; and what doth
Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God. — Micah vi. 8.

Contemporaneously with Isaiah of Jerusalem contrast
flourished Micah the Morashtite. The two prophets mTaTand
... ... Isaiah.
present a remarkable contrast in their origin, their
training, their sphere of work. They are a striking
example of the variety of the instruments which God
chooses for communicating His message and accom
plishing His purposes. But, remarkable as are the
differences between them, the unity of their aims and
teaching is no less remarkable. It bears witness to
the identity of the source from which their inspira
tion was derived.
Isaiah, if not actually connected, as some have
thought, with the royal family, evidently belonged
to the upper classes. He was the counsellor and
friend of kings, intimate with priests and nobles

206 THE CONTRAST lect.
well acquainted with the various parties of statesmen
in Judah. He was a native of Jerusalem ; his home
was in the city; he was in close touch with the
national life which centred there.
Micah was a simple countryman, born of obscure
parentage, in an otherwise unknown village. His
father's name is not mentioned. He is only dis
tinguished as the Morashtite, or native of Moresheth,
probably the same as Moresheth -gath (i. 14), a
village in the lowlands of Judah,1 some twenty
miles south-west of Jerusalem. Jerome tells us that
in his day it still existed as an insignificant village
near Eleutheropolis. Micah, as his prophecy shews,
was in closest touch and sympathy with the class of
yeomen whose wrongs he so graphically describes
(ii. 1 ff), and to which, in all probability, like Amos,
he belonged. His love for his country home and its
surroundings is strikingly indicated in his description
of the impending judgement (i. 10 ff). He watches
the enemy sweeping through the lowland, and seiz
ing one village after another. Each familiar name
seems to contain an omen of destruction, or a call to
mourning, or a cruel irony of contrast.
To the countryman the sins of the nation seemed
to be concentrated in its capitals (i. 5 ; cp. vi. 9),
1 The Shephelah, or ' lowland ' of Judah, was the region of low
hills between the maritime plain of Philistia and the central high
lands of Judah. It was the debatable ground between Israel and
the Philistines. For a graphic description of the district see G.A,
Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land, ch. x.

vii BETWEEN MICAH AND ISAIAH 207
Samaria and Jerusalem are marked out for inevit
able destruction. Micah was no politician like Isaiah.
He nowhere alludes to the appeal to Assyria for
help which Isaiah stigmatised as the climax of
worldly faithlessness ; or to the intrigues for alliance
with Egypt, which Isaiah opposed as equally faithless
and futile. He does not condemn that blind confi
dence in material forces which to Isaiah was one
of the most significant indications of the national
spirit, except incidentally and by implication, when
he classes horses and chariots and fortresses along
with witchcrafts and images and pillars and Asherim
as things of which the land will be rid in the
Messianic age (v. 10 ff). He does not, like Isaiah,
stand on his prophetic watch-tower and survey the
nations around, and assign to each its destiny,
though he sees them sharing in the judgement and
salvation of the future. His message is to Israel and
Judah, and indeed in the main to his own country.
It deals not with matters of state policy and foreign
alliance, but with the not less vital questions of
social morality and religious duty; questions which
Isaiah by no means ignored, but which Micah treats
with a vigour and a vividness peculiarly his own ;
and while he predicts the inevitableness of judge
ment for the guilty nation, he predicts the certainty
of its restoration to fulfil the divine purpose, with
an unhesitating confidence which bears witness to
a mind penetrated by a constant conviction of the

208 MICAH'S SHARE lect.
faithfulness of Jehovah to His covenant and His
promises. With all the difference between them in origin,
in education, in environment, in point of view and
range of survey, Micah and Isaiah are in fundamental
agreement in their admonitions and instructions for
the present, and in their hopes for the future. Yet
in this fundamental agreement the simple country
man is charged with a distinctive message, and alike
in his representation of the character and require
ments of God, and in his predictions of the future
development of the kingdom of God, he supplements
his unrivalled contemporary.

II

HezeMah's From a notice of unique interest in the Book of
tion. J Jeremiah (xxvi. 17 ff.) we learn that Hezekiah's
reformation was due to the preaching of Micah. In
the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign Jeremiah prophe
sied in the most public place and manner that unless
the people repented, Temple and city would be de
stroyed. He was put on trial for his life; and in
his defence certain elders of the land recalled before
all the assembly of the people the precedent of Micah,
and quoted the words of his prophecy against Jeru
salem. Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the
days of Hezekiah king of Judah ; and he spake to all the
people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts,

vii IN HEZEKIAH'S REFORMATION 209
Zion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall
become heaps of ruin, and the mountain of the house as
the high places of the forest. Did Hezekiah king of
Judah and all Judah put him at all to death ? Did he
not fear Jehovah, and intreat the favour of Jehovah,
and Jehovah repented Him of the evil which He had
spoken against them ? Whereas we are committing great
evil against our own souls.
Micah's procedure was probably similar to that of
Jeremiah. We may imagine him appearing in the
Temple courts upon some public occasion of fast or
festival, when the people from every part of Judah
were assembled at Jerusalem, and there, in the pre
sence of king, priests, and people, delivering his
message. We can picture the amazement succeeded
by fury with which venal judges and corrupt priests
and hireling prophets listened to the words of one
whom no doubt they branded as a fanatic enthusiast.
Is not Jehovah in the midst of us ? no evil shall come
upon us, was the comfortable doctrine which they
approved, appropriating the assurance of Isaiah's
great watchword Immanuel, while they ignored the
warnings which he connected with it. But better
counsels prevailed. The threat indeed was absolute
and unconditional ; but God's threatenings, like His
promises, are conditional; they may be withdrawn
or suspended ; and upon the repentance of Hezekiah
and the people the threatened punishment was
averted. Through the critical period of the Assyrian

210 LENGTH OF MICAH'S MINISTRY lect.
invasions, when the destruction of Jerusalem seemed
imminent, Isaiah could boldly proclaim that Jehovah's
chosen city was inviolable. But Micah's prediction
remained on record. Its fulfilment was only deferred.
Length of The reformation of Hezekiah was the culminat-
Micah'sministry. jng point of Micah's ministry. But there is no
reason for supposing that his ministry was limited
to that occasion. The title of his book assigns the
reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah as the period
of his activity, nor is there any sufficient ground
for doubting its accuracy. The social evils which he
condemns closely resemble those which Isaiah con
demns in prophecies unquestionably delivered in the
reign of Jotham, even if they were not committed to
writing until after the accession of Ahaz (p. 155 ff).
These evils doubtless lasted on into the time of
Ahaz, and were in some respects aggravated by the
weak government of that prince, by the calamities of
war, and by the burdensome taxation necessary in
order to raise the Assyrian tribute. To this period
may with much probability be assigned chaps, vi
and vii. Ahaz abandoned the worship of Jehovah,
and Jehovah's expostulation with His people implies
that they were deserting Him (vi. 1 ff). Ahaz set
the example of human sacrifice, by causing his son
to pass through the fire (2 Kings xvi. 3) ; and the
words which are put into the mouth of the people
imply that the sacrifice of a firstborn son was regarded
at the time as the highest form of religious devotion

vii LENGTH OF MICAH'S MINISTRY 211
(vi. 7). Ahaz walked in the way of the kings of Israel
(2 Kings xvi. 3), and the indictment against Judah
culminates in the charge that the statutes of Omri are
kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk
in their counsels (vi. 16). The reign of Ahaz, as may
be gathered from the hints in the Book of Isaiah,
was precisely such a time of anarchy and distress
and dissolution of the bonds of society and of family
ties as that which is described in ch. vii.1
But if the Book of Micah is the record of a pro
longed ministry, what relation does it bear to his
prophecy before Hezekiah ? The analogy of Jere
miah's method of procedure is suggestive. Just as
Jeremiah, by divine command, gathered up the sub
stance of more than twenty years of oral teaching,
and launched it, as a last desperate effort, against
the unrepentant people of his day, so Micah, but with
happier results, may have gathered up the substance
of many years of work, in his harangues to Hezekiah
and the people of Judah. The substance of his pro
phecy upon that occasion is probably preserved to us
in chaps, i-v, interspersed with those promises of a
happier future, which can hardly have formed part
of his public call to repentance, yet doubtless had
been spoken, or were afterwards spoken, in private,
for the consolation of the faithful disciples who
gathered round him.
1 With ch. vii. 2 cp. Isa. i. 15 b, 21; with vii. 3 cp. Isa. i. 23 ;
with vii. 4 cp. Isa. x. 3 ; with vii. 5, 6 cp. Isa. iii. 5.

212 MICAH'S MESSAGE OF JUDGEMENT

III

Bis message Micah's message is primarily a message of judge-
of judge
ment, ment. Jehovah cometh forth out of His place amid awful
convulsions of nature, which express the terror of His
advent. It is the transgression of Jacob and the sins
of the house of Israel which have called Him forth.
Samaria and Jerusalem are as it were the impersona
tion of the nation's guilt (i. 5 ; iii. 12). On them the
punishment must fall. Samaria must be utterly
destroyed. With wild shrieks and piteous lamenta
tions he bewails its fall. But the calamity does not
stop there. It sweeps onward to the very gate of
Jerusalem. Tell it not in Gath, he exclaims, quoting
the ancient proverb, weep not in Acco.1 Let not our
enemies hear of it lest they mock us ; shew no signs
of grief before them lest they insult us in our mis
fortune. He watches the invading army sweeping
along the Lowland ; and the familiar names of the
villages in the neighbourhood of his home each yield
an omen of calamity. At Beth-le-aphrah, the house
of dust, he must wallow in the dust as a mourner.
Shaphir, the fair, is a name of bitter irony for a village
1 This almost certain emendation (supported by the LXX) re
stores the parallelism. Acco was a town from which the Canaan
ites were not driven out (Judges i. 31), and it is chosen along with
Gath, as a representative of places which would rejoice at Israel's
disaster, for the sake of the paronomasia which the name affords
with the word for weep.

vn MICAH'S MESSAGE OF JUDGEMENT 213
whose inhabitants must pass away into captivity in
nakedness and shame. Zaanan and Beth-ezel belie
their names when they do not sally out to repel the
foe or help their neighbours. Maroth is doomed to
verify its name by the bitterness of disappointed
hopes. Lachish will have sore need of the
swift steeds (rechesh) which its name resembles.
Moresheth-gath suggests the idea of a daughter
whose mother must give her up with parting presents
to a husband. Achzib proves but " a summer-
dried fountain " (achzab) to those who rely upon it.
Mareshah (possession) must expect a new possessor.
Israel's nobles will flee for refuge, like David, to
the caves of Adullam. Judah must mourn for the
children in whom she delighted, for they are carried
away into captivity.
The prediction of impending judgement is followed The causes
of the judge
by an exposition of its causes. It takes the form of »««»'•
a stern denunciation of the offenders whose sins call
for this judgement. It is offences against the funda
mental laws of social morality, breaches of the
elementary principles of justice and mercy, which
chiefly provoke Jehovah's wrath. The idolatries of
Samaria and Jerusalem 1 are not condoned (i. 5, 7).
A prominent feature in the Messianic age to which
1 It is probable that in i. 5 we should follow the LXX, Syr. ,
and Targ. in reading (as the parallelism seems to require), what is
the sin of Judah ? is it not Jerusalem ? for what are the high places
of Judah ? are they not Jerusalem 1 But the idolatries of Judah are
clearly condemned by implication in v. 10 if.

214 SOCIAL EVILS OF MICAH'S DAY lect.
Micah looks forward will be the abolition of witch
craft and soothsaying, the destruction of graven
images and pillars and Asherim out of the land (v. 10
ff). But these are not the sins upon which he dwells
in detail. It is the social sins of his time which he
attacks with the passionate emphasis of one who has
seen, if not felt, the scourge of the crimes he de
nounces, and with the lofty authority of one who is
full of power by the spirit of Jehovah, and of judgement,
and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin (iii. 8). For these he sees no
remedy but judgement, swift and sharp.
principally Foremost among these evils was the formation
social sins. of great estates by the wealthy nobles. Isaiah
had in general terms pronounced Woe to them that
join house to house, that annex field to field, till
there be no room, and ye be left to dwell alone in the
midst of the land (v. 8). But Micah shews us the
process in actual operation. We feel that it is no
fancy picture, but a description of what he had seen
going on in his own neighbourhood. Woe to them
that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds!
when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is
in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and
seize them ; and houses, and ta,ke them away : and
they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his
heritage (ii. 1, 2). We see the unscrupulous magnate
scheming how he may get the poor but honest owner
of a few acres into his power, and dispossess him of

vii SOCIAL EVILS OF MICAH'S DAY 215
his ancestral land and home. Naboth's vineyard was
no doubt a typical case. The judges are quite
ready to do a friendly turn for a powerful neighbour.
They set both hands to evil to do it thoroughly. The
prince asketh, and the judge giveth judgement for a
reward ; and the great man, he uttereth the mischief of
his soul, and they weave it together (vii. 3). Little do
they care about the consequences of their heartless
evictions. What does it matter to them if the women
of Jehovah's people are cast out from their pleasant
homes, or young children deprived of their birthright
in the land of promise, and left to wander forlorn in
heathen countries ? (ii. 9).
Exacting creditors do the like on a smaller scale.
Look at yonder man tearing the cloak from the
shoulders of a fellow-villager in pledge for some debt,
as ruthlessly as a marauding enemy might do in time
of war (ii. 8).1
The governors and the judges who ought to have
been the shepherds of Jehovah's flock, fleece and
devour the sheep which they were set to guard.
They pluck their skin from off them, and their flesh
from off their bones ; they eat the flesh of My people ;
1 It is certain that the Massoretic text of this verse is corrupt.
My people must mean, as in ii. 9 and iii. 3, the oppressed poor.
The ingenious corrections of Roorda and Robertson Smith (Prophets
of Israel, ed. 2, p. 429) must be adopted, which, however, I venture
to translate somewhat differently thus : But ye are become an
enemy unto My people : a man riseth up against him that is at peace
with him (cp. Ps. vii. 4) : ye strip off the cloak from them that pass
by securely averse from war.

216 SOCIAL EVILS OF MICAH'S DAY lect.
and they flay their skin from off them, and break their
bones ; yea, they chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and
as flesh within the caldron (iii. 2, 3).
The people were crushed by oppressive taxation
as well as by private extortions. They were doubt
less often forced to borrow money to pay the taxes,
and when unable to pay the interest, lost their lands
by foreclosure.1 Uzziah and Jotham were great
builders ; Ahaz had to pay a heavy tribute to Assyria,
besides repairing his losses by war. As Micah gazed
upon the modern improvements in Jerusalem, the
strong fortifications and the stately palaces upon
which no doubt the nobles congratulated themselves,
it seemed to him as though they were constructed of
the lives of men, and cemented with human blood.
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with
iniquity (iii. 10).
In the darkest period of the prophet's ministry
an appalling state of social corruption prevailed. It
was not merely that the strong oppressed the weak.
Every man's hand was against his neighbour. The
dictates of natural piety were ignored. The most
sacred relations of life were violated. No one could
be trusted. 'Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not con
fidence in a familiar friend: keep the doors of thy
mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son
dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against
her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in
1 Cp. Neh. v. 4, 5.

vii SOCIAL EVILS OF MICAH'S DAY 217
law ; a man's enemies are the men of his own house
(vii. 5, 6).
Upon this guilty nation judgement must fall. The judge-
ment.
Those who had forcibly dispossessed others must
themselves in turn be dispossessed by force. Those
who had banished their fellow-countrymen from
their rightful inheritance must see their ill-gotten
estates partitioned by the conqueror. The splendid
buildings of Jerusalem, which to the prophet's eye
were so many monuments of oppression, must be
levelled to the ground. The Temple in which they
trusted must become an overgrown ruin. The people
must be scattered as exiles in a foreign land. The
land which had been promised them as a rest and an
inheritance could be no resting-place to those who so
misused it. They must be driven out, even as the
Canaanites were driven out before them, because they
have polluted the land, till it can bear them no
longer.1 Up and begone ! for this is not your rest :
because of uncleanness shall ye be destroyed,2 even with
grievous destruction (ii. 10).

IV
But beyond this time of distress, dispersion, and Prophecies
of restora-
humiliation, dawns the sure hope of restoration, re- tion.
union, and glorification. Israel must be scattered ;
1 With ii. 10 cp. Deut. xii. 9, etc. ; Lev. xviii. 25.
2 So the LXX. The variation may be one of vowel points only ;
lit. shalt thou be destroyed.

218 MICAH'S PROPHECIES OF RESTORATION lect.
but Jehovah will once more gather His flock; and
though, as Isaiah had prophesied, it is only a remnant
that will return, it will represent the whole nation.
Led by their king, they will march forth from the
prison of exile ; yea, Jehovah Himself will go before
them as at the Exodus (Exod. xiii. 21). In few but
graphic words the prophet describes that triumphal
progress. The breaker is gone up before them : they
have broken forth and passed on to the gate, and are
gone out thereat: and their king is passed on before
them, and Jehovah at the head of them (ii. 13).1
The ideal of the theocracy will be realised.
Jehovah shall reign over them in mount Zion from
henceforth even for ever (iv. 7). A prince of the house
of David will rule over a reunited Israel as His ap
pointed representative. He springs from Bethlehem,
the ancient home of David, not from Jerusalem, the
seat of his kingdom; for the kingdom has passed
away, and the family of David has returned to its
1 This passage is certainly not (1) a threat that Israel will be
driven to take refuge in fortresses, and to flee before their enemies ;
nor (2) a specimen of the false prophets' teaching, for it presup
poses the disasters which they denied would happen ; but (3) a
promise of restoration, which is intended as an answer to those
who complain that Jehovah's prophet has no message but of judge
ment (ii. 6, 7), and in which Jehovah's care for His flock forms a
contrast to the description of the false shepherds which follows in
chap. iii. 1 ff. See Note A, pp. 229 ff. The breaker may be used
in a collective sense for the advance guard of the army which clears
a way for the passage of the main body. If it denotes an individual
leader, he is distinguished from the Messianic king. See Driver in
The Expositor, 3rd Ser. vol. v, pp. 263 ff.

vii MICAH'S PROPHECIES OF RESTORATION 219
primitive obscurity in one of the most insignificant
villages of Judah. Yet he it is for whom the divine
purpose has been preparing, and to whom the word
of prophecy has been pointing, from ancient times.
He shall be Peace ; the pledge and giver of security.
He — such is the limitation of Micah's language, fore
shortening the course of events, and speaking in
terms adapted to the nation's present need — will
gather round him an abundance of able leaders to
repel the Assyrian invader, nay, to carry the war
back into the enemy's country.1
To the nations which submit Zion will be a
beneficent quickening power, as dew from Jehovah,
as showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man,
nor waitethfor the sons of men (v. 7). For Zion will
be the teacher of the nations, and the centre of a
world-wide worship. From Zion shall go forth instruc
tion, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. Zion's
God will arbitrate between the nations, and establish
universal peace (iv. 1 ff).
But to those who resist Zion will be as a lion
among the beasts of the forest. When the nations
gather for one final effort to destroy the city of
God, Zion will be triumphantly victorious. They
know not the thoughts of Jehovah, neither understand
they His counsel : for He hath gathered them as the
sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, 0
daughter of Zion. for I will make thine horn iron,
1 See Note B, p. 235.

220 MICAH'S PROPHECIES OF RESTORATION lect.
and T will make thy hoofs brass : and thou shalt beat
in pieces many peoples : and thou shalt devote their gain
unto Jehovah, and their substance unto the Lord of the
whole earth (iv. 12, 13). Divine vengeance will be
executed upon the nations which will not hearken.
The kingdom of God will be established in peace
and righteousness.1
Perhaps we do wrong to attempt to range the
prophecies of Micah in an order of succession.
Different visions of the future present themselves
to his mental eye.2 He does not accurately dis
tinguish the order in which the events were to occur ;
still less does he indicate the intervals of time which
were to separate them. His prophecies were never
intended to be a chronological chart of the history of
the future.
But the leading ideas of his prophecy are the
regeneration of Israel through judgement ; the estab
lishment of the kingdom of Jehovah under the ideal
king of David's line ; the evangelisation of the nations
through that kingdom. In the main they are the
same as those of Isaiah. The prophet of the court
and the prophet of the people are in fundamental
agreement. Micah indeed predicts the destruction
of Jerusalem, while Isaiah, except in one isolated
1 The double aspect of Israel to the nations as a blessing and a
terror (v. 7, 8) is parallel to and is illustrated by the fuller pro
phecies of iv. 1 ff, 11 ff.
2 Now in iv. 9 denotes a different present from now in iv. 11 :
while v. 1 reverts to the time of iv. 9. See Note A, p. 233.

vii MICAH'S PROPHECIES OF RESTORATION 221
passage (xxxii. 13, 14), predicts its preservation.
The judgement which was ultimately to fall was
averted for the time. Micah also goes further than
Isaiah, in predicting the birth of the Messiah in
Bethlehem. The significance of that prophecy in its
original context lies, as we have seen, in its suggestion
of the circumstances under which the Messiah was to
be born, rather than in the prediction of the precise
place of His birth ; but its literal fulfilment was one
of those signs connected with the birth of Jesus
which were unmistakably significant alike to the
simple and to the learned.
In connexion with the circumstances of their own
time, in part under the forms and limitations of that
time, Micah and Isaiah expressed the sure purpose
of God towards His people and the world. Those
purposes have been accompHshed and are still being
accomplished, not with the rigid literalism demanded
by a mechanical theory of prophecy, but with a true
fulfilment, which witnesses to the progress of divine
purpose which is gradually being revealed to the
world. These predictions of a nobler age to come stood in The false
prophets.
a close and important relation to Micah's preaching
to his contemporaries. They were a consolation to
the faithful, and a rebuke to the careless. They
were one of the weapons in his hand in the conflict
which he had to wage with false prophets. For now
for the first time we get a clear view of a popular

222 MICAH'S DESCRIPTION lect.
party of false prophets opposed to the true and
faithful messengers of Jehovah. Isaiah refers to
prophets who teach lies, to leaders who are mis-
leaders, to prophets who are swallowed up of wine
and have gone astray through strong drink (ix. 15, 16 ;
xxviii. 7). But in Micah their character and their
practices are depicted with more definiteness. They
pandered to the sensual lusts of the people, and were
welcomed by them accordingly (ii. 11). They de-
) manded payment for their prophecies, and, provided
that their clients rewarded them with proper liberality,
they were always ready with a cry of Peace ! while they
unsparingly attacked those who refused to comply
with their demands. These were the men who lulled
the people into an easy security by the perversion
of Isaiah's doctrine of Immanuel, reiterating as their
watchword, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us ? no evil
shall come upon us (iii. 5, ll).1 The essential differ
ence between Micah and these men was the moral
character of his mission. This was the proof of true
inspiration, i" am full of power by the spirit of
Jehovah, and of judgement, and of might, to declare
1 According to the R.V. ch. ii. 6, Prophesy ye not, thus tliey
prophesy, refers to the attempt of the false prophets to silence the
true prophets. But I am inclined to think that this verse is a
dialogue between Micah and the nobles whom he is censuring.
Prophesy ye not, say the nobles to Micah and his fellow-prophets.
They shall prophesy, is his emphatic answer. At any rate, retort
the nobles, they shall not prophesy concerning these things, reproving
our conduct and predicting our exile. Disgrace, answers Micah,
shall not be averted, your fate is certain (or perhaps, rebukes shall
not cease, the prophets cannot be silenced). Cp. Isa. xxx. 10 f.

vii OF THE FALSE PROPHETS 223
unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin
(iii. 8).
But it was an indispensable part of his message,
that while these false prophets were preaching their
delusive message of peace, and taunting him with
being a prophet of evil only, he should proclaim that
Jehovah's purposes towards His people were good and
not evil (ii. 7), and should promise the realisation of
Israel's destiny, even if it could only be accomplished
through judgement.

V

But to return to the consideration of Micah's Popular
. and pro-
moral and religious teaching. One of the most phetic views
of religion.
remarkable passages in the whole book is that in
ch. vi,1 in which the false popular view of Jehovah
and His requirements is placed in sharp contrast
with His real character and demands. Jehovah
institutes a trial between Himself and His people.
He pleads His own cause. It is assumed that
mutual obligations existed between them. Has He
imposed burdensome conditions, or failed to fulfil
His obligations, that they have deserted Him?
Nay surely ! He appeals to the testimony of his
tory. He had redeemed them from the bondage
of Egypt. He had given them leaders. He had
confounded the malice of their enemies, and brought
] On the authorship of chaps, vi, vii see Note A, p. 233.

224 MICAH'S TEACHING lect.
them safely across the Jordan.1 In all His dealings
with them He had demonstrated His righteousness,
His faithful performance of His side of the covenant.
The voice of the people is heard in answer, inquir
ing how Jehovah may successfully be propitiated,
and suggesting what they are ready to offer.
Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow my
self down unto God on high ? shall I come before Him
with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old ? will
Jehovah accept thousands of rams, myriads of rivers of
oil ? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the
fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? (vi. 6, 7).
The speaker evidently represents the popular idea
of the essentials of religion.2 He regards Jehovah
as other nations regarded their gods, as a despot who
requires to be propitiated by material offerings, and
can be propitiated by them, provided they are suffi
ciently large and costly. He is ready to go all
lengths. He will not be behind the Phoenician or
the Canaanite. He will offer a sacrifice of his nearest
and dearest. But as the prophet's answer shews,
he has no conception of the moral requirements of
Jehovah. 1 Remember from Shittim unto Gilgal means ' remember all that
happened from Shittim, the last station on the east of Jordan, to
Gilgal, the first station on the west.'
2 Bishop Butler (Serm. viii) takes vv. 6, 7 to be Balak's words,
and v. 8 to be Balaam's answer. It would be scarcely worth while
to mention this interpretation, which destroys the whole signifi
cance of the passage, had not Dean Stanley given it currency in
his Lectures on tile Jewish Church (Lect. viii, vol. i, p. 163).

vii FALSE AND TRUE IDEAS OF RELIGION 225
In sharp contrast to the people's lavish offer is the
prophet's simple answer, He hath declared to thee,
0 man, what is good : and what doth Jehovah require
of thee, save doing judgement, and loving mercy, and
walking humbly with thy God ? (vi. 8).
Doing judgement : seeing that each and all have
their just rights ; the foundation of society, and yet
the very thing of which there was an utter lack in
Micah's time. The rulers whose duty it was to know
judgement abhorred it and perverted all equity (iii.
1, 9). Sternly Jehovah challenges the people : Are
there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the
wicked, and the scant measure which is abominable ?
and in reply the voice of the offender1 is heard
parleying with himself whether he may not " be
pardoned and retain the offence " : — Can I be clean
with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful
weights? (vi. 10, 11).
But justice is not the whole of man's duty to his
neighbour. Mercy or lovingkindness is nobler than
justice. But mercy must not be strained, and
stinted, and grudging. Accordingly God's second
demand is loving mercy; not merely to shew it,
but to love it. No doubt there were not a few
among the wealthy nobles of Micah's day who prided
themselves on not being guilty of injustice. Yes !
1 So the Hebrew text. But it is very doubtful whether we
ought not to read, with the LXX, Targ., and Syr,, Shall a man be
clean, etc., or (cp. Vulg.) Shall I count him clean, etc., making v. 11 '
the continuation of God's speech in v. 10. For clean cp. Isa. i. 16.
Q

226 MICAH'S TEACHING lect.
perhaps they were entirely within their legal rights
when they seized the land of some poor neighbour
who through bad seasons and misfortune and
pressure of heavy taxes had failed to pay his debts
and fallen into their power. But was conduct like
that brotherly ? Nay, there was the higher duty of
loving mercy. And how utterly destitute of the love
of mercy was that state of society in which every
man's hand was against his neighbour, and none
could trust another (vii. 1-6).
And what does God require in respect of duty
towards Himself? What but walking humbly with
thy God ? A life of fellowship with God implying
an identity of will and purpose ; but fellowship con
ditioned by that spirit of humility which must ever
govern the intercourse of weak and sinful man with
a perfect and infinite God. What a contrast to the
temper of the proud self-satisfied magnates of
Jerusalem, clouded in the conceit of their own
power, infatuated by the supposed security of the
privileges which they abused.
In this simple but comprehensive summary of
man's duty to his neighbour and to God, Micah
takes up and combines the teaching of his pre
decessors and his great contemporary. Amos had
insisted upon the paramount necessity of civil
justice: Hosea had proclaimed that it was not
sacrifice but lovingkindness that God desired : one
of the prominent doctrines of Isaiah was the majesty

vii FALSE AND TRUE IDEAS OF RELIGION 227
of Jehovah, to which reverent humility on man's
part is the fitting correlative.
Simple as are Jehovah's requirements, Micah has
little expectation that the nation as a whole will
conform to them. Their ingrained selfishness and
inveterate corruption forbid the hope. Nothing but
the sternest discipline of punishment can avail to
reform that guilty people. There are few more
touching utterances in the whole range of prophecy
than the closing passage of the book. The prophet
speaks in the name of the true Israel, the nucleus
of faithful souls which existed in the midst of the
unfaithful mass, the holy seed which was to preserve
the life of Israel. Sorrowfully he confesses the
widespread and deep-seated depravity which pre
vails (vii. 1-6); and then he turns to contemplate
the future. In faith and patience he will watch and
wait. With humble resignation he accepts the just
punishment of the nation's sin, sure that the dawn
must follow the darkness. I will bear the indignation
of Jehovah, because I have sinned against Him ; until
He plead my cause, and execute judgement for me : He
will bring me forth to the light, I shall behold His
righteousness. Nor is that confidence misplaced.
Addressing Zion Jehovah 1 proclaims the decree for
its restoration. A day for building thy fences ! in
that day shall the boundary be remote !2 The land
1 It seems best to regard Jehovah as the speaker, as in v. 15 ;
but it may be the prophet himself.
2 Fences, not walls; the figure of the vineyard underlies the

228 MICAH'S TEACHING lect.
will be large enough for all the exiles who crowd
into it from the lands of their dispersion. But even
across that bright vision of the future passes a cloud.
Judgement must precede redemption. The land
shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein,
for the fruit of their doings (vii. 13).
Hope turns into prayer. Feed Thy people with Thy
rod, the flock of thine heritage . . . let them feed in
Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. And
Jehovah makes answer that He will deliver them
from exile as He did from Egypt. As in the days of
thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt will I shew
unto him marvellous things. Once more the nations
will behold and tremble.1 When they see the mani
festation of Jehovah's power on behalf of His people,
they will humbly pay Him homage.
Man's perversity may delay but it cannot frustrate
God's purposes. He will yet find a way to pardon,
and not only to pardon, but to remove, the iniquity
of His people. The oath which He sware to the
forefathers of the nation cannot be broken. Who is
a God like unto Thee, concludes Micah, with a
reminiscence of the Song of Moses, and an allusion
to the meaning of his own name,2 forgiving iniquity
expression, cp. Isa. v. 5 ; Ps. lxxx. 12 ; lxxxix. 40. In that day
the boundaries of the land will be extended ; cp. a far-stretching
land, lit. a land of far distances, Isa. xxxiii. 17.
1 Cp. Exod. xv. 14ff.
" Micah= Who is like Jehovah? Cp. Exod. xv. 11 ; and for the
following words, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.

vii RESIGNATION AND FAITH 229
and passing over transgression for the remnant of His
heritage ? He retaineth not His anger for ever, be
cause He delighteth in mercy. He will turn again and
have compassion upon us ; He will subdue our iniqui
ties, as He subdued the Canaanites before us ; yea,
TJwu^ wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,
as Thou didst overwhelm the Egyptians in the Red
Sea.1 Thou wilt shew Thy faithfulness to Jacob, and
Thy mercy to Abraham, which Thou didst swear unto

our

fathers from the days of old.

Note A.
Contents and Integrity of the Book of Micah,
The Book of Micah falls into three divisions.
A. — Chaps, i, ii.
(1) Jehovah is about to appear to judge Israel for its sins
(i. 2-5). Samaria will be utterly destroyed (6, 7) ; the wave
of calamity will sweep onward to Jerusalem (8, 9). One
town after another in the Lowland will be overwhelmed by
it (10-16). (2) Woe to the proud nobles of Judah, whose deeds of
violence demand this punishment. They would fain silence
true prophets, and listen to false prophets, but as they have
driven their victims from their homes, so will they be driven
out into exile themselves (ii. 1-11),
(3) Yet the scattered flock of Israel will one day be
gathered, and go forth from captivity in a second Exodus
(ii. 12, 13).
1 See Joshua xviii. 1, etc. ; Exod. xv. 5.
2 Cp. Gen. xxii. 16 ff. ; xxviii. 13 f. ; Exod. xiii. 5, 11 ; xxxii. 13.

230 CONTENTS OF lect.
B. — Chaps, iii-v.
(1) Censure of the rulers, prophets, and priests, for abuse
of their offices. They are the cause of Jerusalem's impend
ing destruction (iii. 1-12).
(2) Yet in the latter days Jerusalem will be the centre of
instruction for the world (iv. 1-5). The scattered flock will
be gathered ; the eternal reign of Jehovah inaugurated ; the
Davidic kingdom restored (6-8).
(3) In the immediate future humiliation and exile are in
store for Zion (9, 10); yet ultimately she will be victorious
over the nations which muster to destroy her (11-13).
(4) Israel must be reduced to extremity, and her ruler
subjected to gross insult (v. 1) ; but from Bethlehem will
come forth a king of David's house, to rule over a reunited
nation, and repel the Assyrian invader (v. 2-6). To some
Israel will be a source of blessing (7), to others a destructive
foe (8, 9). Israel will be purified, and vengeance executed
upon the obdurate nations (10-15).
C. — Chaps, vi, vii.
(1) From that ideal future the prophecy turns to the sad
contrast of the present. The people are addressed. Jehovah
is dramatically represented as commencing a suit with Israel.
He defends His faithfulness to His side of the covenant, and
contrasts His real demands with the popular idea of religion
(vi. 1-8).
(2) The wilful disregard of these requirements calls for
punishment (9-16).
(3) The prophet speaks in the name of the true Israel,
lamenting the universal corruption (vii. 1-6), and expressing
its determination humbly to bear the punishment ; in perfect

vii THE BOOK OF MICAH 231
confidence that Jehovah will one day vindicate His righteous
ness (7-10). In answer is heard the divine proclamation for
Zion's restoration (11-13).
(4) The prophet prays for this restoration, and Jehovah
promises to bring it about (14-17). He concludes with an
expression of perfect trust in the pardoning mercy and un
changing faithfulness of Jehovah (18-20).
Each of the three main divisions begins with rebuke and
threatening, introduced by an emphatic Hear ye ; and each
ends with promise and hope.
I have given this somewhat full analysis with the
object of shewing that the book is not the disconnected col
lection of fragments or the patchwork of interpolations
which it is sometimes represented as being. It must be re
membered that in all probability it consists of discourses
delivered on various occasions and under different circum
stances. The transitions are no doubt more than usually
abrupt. Connexions and contrasts of thought are not ex
pressed. It is left to the reader's intelligence to supply them.
But they are, I believe, to be discerned. The question for
the student is not (as it is so often misleadingly put) whether
the sequence of ideas is " what we should expect," but whether
it admits of explanation. Now just as in the Hebrew lan
guage co-ordination is common where Western languages
would use subordination, so in the prophetic books two con
ceptions or two descriptions are frequently compared or
contrasted without any definite statement of the relation in
which they stand to each other.
Let us apply this principle to Micah.
(1) Ch. ii. 12, 13 is said by some, who admit that it
may be Micah's, to stand in no logical connexion with the
context : by others it is set down as an exilic interpolation.
The connexion is certainly loose, and the prophecy of restora-

232 INTEGRITY OF lect.
tion presumes that Israel will go into exile. But so does the
preceding admittedly genuine prophecy (vv. 3-5, 10) ; and
nothing in w. 12, 13 presumes that the exile is a present
fact. Now, on the principle suggested above, is there any
thing unreasonable in the bare addition of a prediction of
restoration to a prediction of exile 1 There is, however, a
link of connexion. The true prophets were attacked for
prophesying evil (vv. 6, 7). Micah will shew that he too can
prophesy good as the ultimate purpose of Jehovah towards
His people. Nor is a link of connexion with iii. 1 ff. want
ing. The treatment of Jehovah's flock by their shepherds
which is there described presents a striking contrast to His
own care of them in the future which is promised in
ii. 12, 13.1
(2) Again, chaps, iv, v are supposed by some critics to
be a composite work. Stade (Z.A.T.W. i. 165 ff.) regards
the whole as exilic or post-exilic, but thinks that iv. 1-4,
iv. 11-v. 4, v. 7-15 form a continuous whole, into which
iv. 5-10 and v. 5, 6 were inserted still later. Kuenen
allows that part may be Micah's, but holds that at any rate
iv. 6-8, 11-13, and the present form of v. 10-15, are due
to an exilic or post-exilic hand. Two questions arise : (a) Do
these passages contain ideas which are inconsistent with what
we know of the prophets of the eighth century? and (b) Is the
want of connexion such as to prove that the whole passage
cannot be the work of the same author 1
(a) With regard to iv. 6-8 the remarks already made
on ii. 12, 13 will apply. It is presumed that the Exile
will take place, but not that it is a present fact. That the
assault of many nations upon Zion (iv. 1 1 ff.) is not a pre-
exilic idea cannot be maintained. Isa. xxix. 1-8 is a sufficient
parallel. 1 It should be noticed how the conception of the people as a
flock runs through the whole book. See ii. 12 ; iii. 1 ff. ; iv. 6, 8 ;
v. 4 ; vii. 14.

vii THE BOOK OF MICAH 233
(6) The disjointed character of the passage is no sufficient
argument against unity of authorship. It presents a series of
pictures of the destiny of Zion, arranged by contrast or con
nexion of thought, not in chronological succession. Zion's
exaltation (iv. 1-5) is the contrast to its destruction (iii. 12) :
that exaltation involves the gathering of the people (iv. 6-8)
whose dispersion has been predicted (ii. 3 If., 10). To that
dispersion the prophet then reverts (iv. 9, 10) ; but again
glancing forward into the distant future foresees the nations
gathering against Zion to their own destruction (iv. 11-13).1
Once more he reverts to the idea of the humiliation (v. 1)
which •will precede the advent of the Messianic king, for
which he looks within the period of the Assyrian troubles
(iv. 2-6). Then once more he looks forward into the future
of redemption. Israel's double relation to the nations is
parallel to what has preceded ; v. 7 corresponds to iv. 1 ff. ;
v. 8, 9 to iv. 11-13. That the outlook should conclude
with the purification of Israel and the judgement of the
nations needs no explanation.
(3) The difference between chaps, vi, vii and chaps, i-v
in style and character, and to a certain extent, in the circum
stances presumed, is remarkable, and has led to the very
general acceptance of Ewald's view, that these two chapters
are the work of another prophet in the reign of Manasseh.
No doubt this hypothesis is plausible ; but that the differ
ence of style is incompatible with unity of authorship is by
no means certain. There is nothing in the contents of the
passage which might not have been written by Micah him
self, and the difference of environment may be accounted for
1 Now in iv. 9 refers to a time different from and now in v. 11.
The first is a present anterior to the Exile, the second subsequent to
it. Now in v. 1 reverts to the present of iv. 9. That the Hebrew
word for now may be so used of an assumed present is clear from
iv. 7, where from now (AN. from henceforth) refers to an assumed
present in the time of the restoration.

234 THE BOOK OF MICAH lect.
if it was written either in the time of Ahaz, or in the reign
of Manasseh, into which Micah may easily have survived.
Some reasons for connecting it with the reign of Ahaz have
been pointed out above (p. 210 f.). Chap, vi at any rate is
a piece of public preaching, which is more likely to belong
to the time of Ahaz than to that of Manasseh, when true
prophets were silenced. The message to the city (vi. 9) is
entirely in Micah's spirit (p. 206), and the allusion to his
name (vii. 18) quite in the style of the author of ch. i.
More recent criticism assigns vii. 7-20 to the Exile, and
affirms that there is a gap of a century between vii. 6 and
vii. 7 ff. But in its dramatic style the passage has a strong
bond of connexion with vi. 1— vii. 6 : it refers not to the Baby
lonian but to the Assyrian exile (vii. 1 2), and to the Assyrian
ravages of the Northern Kingdom (vii. 1 4) : some conclusion
is certainly needed to vi. 1-vii. 6, which can hardly have
ended abruptly with v. 6. The remarks already made on
ii. 1 2 f, iv. 6 ff. apply here. The captivity is presumed as an
event that will happen, not described as a present fact.
There seems to be nothing in the passage which might not
be the work of a prophet who knew that the Exile must
happen, and had before his eyes the first captivity of
Northern Israel or possibly the destruction of that kingdom.
The position of chaps, vi, vii at the end of the book is not
decisive against a date in the reign of Ahaz ; for they form
a separate work, and could be placed in no more suitable
position. I have treated this remarkable prophecy as part of the
writings of Micah, and assigned it to the reign of Ahaz. At
the same time I feel that the arguments in favour of a later
date, under Manasseh, have considerable weight, and that the
possibility that it proceeds from a different author must be
allowed.

NOTE ON MICAH V. 2-6 235

Note B.

A brief note is all that can be given upon some of many
points of difficulty and interest in ch. v. 2-6. The English
reader is liable to miss the connexion of v. 2 with iv. 8.
The word rendered ruler is from the same root as that ren
dered dominion. This ruler will exercise the former rule.
But what is meant by whose goings forth are from ancient
time, from the days of old ? Goings forth (or comings forth) is
from the same root as shall come forth in the same verse, and
must be explained accordingly. From ancient time, from the
days of old, is illustrated by vii. 20, days of ancient time, and
vii. 14, days of old. The words can hardly describe the
eternal pre-existence of the Messianic king, or his manifesta
tion from time to time in the course of history ; for these
ideas, though in the light of the fulfilment they may be
seen to be included in the words, hardly come within the
range of Old Testament prophecy. Rather they describe
the coming forth of the Messianic king as included from
ancient time in the divine purpose which is made known
through the prophets. Cp. Isa. xxii. 11 ; xxxvii. 26.
She which travaileth (v. 3) is very commonly interpreted of
the mother of the Messiah. But the comparison of ch. iv.
9, 10 makes it certain that the nation is this travailing
woman. Jehovah will give up His people to their enemies
until the nation has brought forth its new offspring of be
lievers. Cp. Isa. Ixvi. 7-9. The following clause (v. 3 b)
seems to refer to the reunion of the divided nation in the
return from exile, which is a constant feature in the pro
phetic outlook.
Vv. 5, 6 are parenthetical : v. 7 is the sequel of v. 4
Isaiah connects the coming of the Messiah with the restora
tion of the exiles (ch. xi) ; Micah more distinctly brings
it into connexion with the needs of his own time. It is a
striking instance of the limitations of prophecy.

THE PEOPHETS OF THE CHALDEAN
PEEIOD
NAHUM— ZEPHANIAH— HABAKKUK—
JEREMIAH— EZEKIEL

Multa in Scripturis Sanctis dicuntur iuxta opinionem
illius temporis quo gesta referuntur et non iuxta quod rei
Veritas continebat.
Many things are described in Holy Scripture according
to the opinion of the time at which they are recorded to
have happened, and not in accordance with the inward truth
of the fact.
S. Hieronymus.

LECTURE VIII

NAHUM

Jehovah is a jealous God and an avenger ; Jehovah is an avenger
and full of wrath; Jehovah is an avenger unto His adversaries, and
He reserveth wrath for His enemies. — Nahum i. 2.

The last half-century of the kingdom of Judah was Events
an age of change and convulsion throughout Western latihaif-"
a ¦ i ii century of
Asia. As the prophets surveyed the nations around the- Mwdom
' of Judah.
or contemplated the internal condition of the kingdom
of Judah, they could not fail to see that the day
of the Lord was at hand ; — " one of those crises or
turning-points in the history of the world at which
God Himself interposes, revealing Himself as all that
He is, and bringing to an end openly all the work
which in more hidden ways He has been performing
from the beginning." 1
That eventful half-century saw the ruin of the
great empire of Assyria, founded on violence and
built up by bloodshed : it saw the rise in its place of
1 A. B. Davidson in The Expositor, 3rd Ser. vol. vii, p. 207.

240 THE PROPHETS lect.
the Chaldean empire, sweeping all before it in an
irresistible tide of conquest. For a moment it seemed
uncertain whether the seat of the supremacy of
Western Asia would be upon the Nile or the Eu
phrates, but the decisive battle of Carchemish (b.c 605)
annihilated the hopes of Egypt, and gave Babylon
the sovereignty of the nations for three-quarters of a
century. That half-century saw the invasion of the
Scythians, an event which was for the time as
momentous and appalling to the ancient monarchies
of Asia as the invasions of the Goths and Vandals
were to the Roman empire. Bursting forth from
behind their mountain barriers in the dark mysteri
ous North, these savage hordes of barbarians poured
down upon the ancient seats of luxury and civilisa
tion, spreading terror as they moved. They pene
trated to the borders of Egypt, where Psammetichus
the king of Egypt met them, and only dissuaded
them from advancing further by prayers and gifts.
For twenty-eight years, so Herodotus tells us, they
held sway in Western Asia, and turned everything
upside down by their overbearing insolence and un
restrained plunderings.1
Such distress of nations with perplexity . . men's
hearts failing them for fear, was the spectacle which
the prophets of Judah beheld all around them. At
1 Herodotus, i. 105, 106. Comp. Grote's History of Greece, vol.
ii, ch. xvii. The precise time is uncertain, but it falls within
the period B.C. 640-607.

viii OF THE CHALDEAN PERIOD 241
home the prospect was not more hopeful. For a
brief time indeed it may have seemed that the refor
mation effected by King Josiah gave promise of new
life for Judah ; but deeper prophetic insight saw
only too plainly that it was but superficial and
temporary; that the great day of Jehovah was at
hand for Judah, and that the deserved chastisement
of her sins could no longer be deferred. It became
more and more evident that God's purposes for His
people could only be accomplished by means of the
purifying fires of judgement.
Four of the prophets whose writings have come Prophetsof thu
down to us belong to this period, Nahum, Habakkuk, period.
Zephaniah, and Jeremiah ; and Ezekiel, though he
occupies a somewhat different position, may be con
veniently annexed to it. Nahum was probably the
earliest. The possible limits for the date of his
prophecy are from B.C. 660 to B.C. 607 ; but we shall
not be far wrong in placing him about the middle of
this period, soon after B.C. 640. Zephaniah pro
phesied in the reign of Josiah, probably in the earlier
part of it, while the great reformation was in progress.
Habakkuk may have delivered his message in the
same reign, but there are good grounds for placing
him in the early years of Josiah's son and (after the
brief interval of the reign of Jehoahaz) successor
Jehoiakim, about B.C. 610-607.
Jeremiah's long ministry extended over nearly
half a century, from the thirteenth year of Josiah
R

242 THE PROPHETS lect.
(b.c. 627) till some years after the fall of Jerusalem.
Thus Zephaniah and Habakkuk were his contem
poraries, while Nahum may have flourished a few
years earlier.
Their char- Each of these four prophets had a distinct message
acteristics. , n , . .
to deliver, and each delivered it in his own character
istic style. Nahum pronounced the doom of the
oppressor, and interpreted the impending ruin of
Nineveh as a revelation of the righteous vengeance
of God. Zephaniah, like Nahum, is a herald of judgement,
but it is a universal judgement on the' world, and,
above all, on the chosen people of God. But he
looks beyond the judgement, and shews that it is
God's means for universal redemption, of His own
people first, and then of the nations.
Habakkuk, perplexed with obstinate questionings,
troubled with doubts as to the justice of the mys
terious ways of divine Providence when he beholds
violence succeeding violence in the cataclysm of the
nations, boldly challenges God to defend His actions,
and teaches the lessons of patience, constancy, and
faith, which he was taught himself in answer to his
challenge. Jeremiah stands in the midst of a doomed and
obdurate nation, the most tragic figure in the history
of Israel, the martyr prophet, bearing the iniquity of
his people. He proclaims with equal distinctness
the imminent ruin of that guilty people, and the rise

vm OF THE CHALDEAN PERIOD 243
out of that ruin of a kingdom of righteousness, and
the establishment of a New Covenant.
Each prophet had his special gift for his particular
work. Nahum bears the palm for poetic power.
His short book is a Pindaric ode of triumph over
the oppressor's fall, stern, vindictive if you will, but
springing out of a deep satisfaction at this proof of
the sovereignty of righteousness, this testimony to
the moral government of Jehovah among the nations
of the world.
Zephaniah is the orator of plain straightforward
speech, severe and uncompromising in his denuncia
tion of the sins of his countrymen,
Habakkuk has a philosophic mind, which would
fain understand the enigma of the world. The
dramatic form of his book is noteworthy, and its
appeal to the imagination not less than the reason is
characteristic and instructive.
Jeremiah is distinguished by his intense humanity.
He attracts our sympathy by his unique life of suffer
ing. A man of no great intellectual power (as we
should say) as poet, orator, or philosopher ; naturally
shy, retiring, and tender-hearted ; he is pre-eminent
among those who out of weakness were made strong,
a signal proof that the prophet's power was given to
him from above, and was not merely the product of
his own genius.

244 POSSIBLE LIMITS lect;
II
Date of The terminus a quo for the prophecy of Nahum is
Nahnm's .
prophecy the capture and destruction of .No-amon, or Thebes,
c. em b.c. r _ ' '
in Egypt. He quotes it as a warning to Nineveh of
its impending fate. Shalt thou fare better than No-
amon, that was situate among the canals, that had the
waters round about her ; whose rampart was the sea
(i.e. the Nile), and her wall the waters ? Ethiopia and
Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite : Put and
the Libyans were her 1 help. Yet was she carried away ;
she went into captivity (iii. 8 ff.).
There can be little doubt that the event referred
to is the capture of Thebes by Assur-bani-pal, the
son and successor of Esar-haddon, in his second
Egyptian campaign, undertaken against Urdamani,
or Rud-amon, the successor of Tirhakah. The ex
pedition took place soon after Tirhakah's death in
B.C. 664, and we may therefore fix B.C. 660 or there
abouts as the earliest possible date for Nahum's
prophecy. The terminus ad quern is the destruction of Nineveh,
which took place, according to the best chronological
authorities, about B.C. 607,2 not, as used generally to
1 So the LXX.
2 The expedition of Pharaoh-Necoh against the king of Assyria
(2 Kings xxiii. 29) will in this case have actually been undertaken
against the last king of Nineveh. There will be no need to assume
an error in the Book of Kings, or to explain king of Assyria as
equivalent to king of Babylon, because Nabopolassar's empire had
taken the place of Assyria.

viii FOR THE DATE OF NAHUM 245
be thought, in B.C. 625. The prophecy of Nahum
must certainly have been composed before that event.
These limits may, however, be narrowed con
siderably. (1) The allusion to the destruction of
Thebes is in favour of a date towards the beginning
rather than the end of the period. Though no
doubt the fall of such a powerful city would make
a lasting impression, and the ruin of Thebes would
naturally be selected for mention because it had been
effected by the Assyrians themselves, the allusion
would be more forcible if the event had occurred
within living memory. (2) Judah is not only still
under the Assyrian yoke, but apparently still smart
ing under the recollection of an Assyrian invasion
(i. 12 b, 13, 15 b ; ii. 2). Nineveh, though threatened
by its enemies, is still in the full possession of its
wealth and strength (i. 12; ii. 9). Now the last
recorded Assyrian invasion of Judah was in the
reign of Manasseh, who was carried captive to
Babylon, but after a while was set at liberty and
restored to his kingdom (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11 ff.).1
1 The historical character of this narrative, which has been
called in question, has received remarkable confirmation from the
cuneiform inscriptions. They do not indeed prove its truth, but
they shew that it is not incredible. (1) They supply evidence of the
intervention of Assyria on the coast of the Mediterranean during
this period. (2) They suggest an explanation of the statement, at
first sight so perplexing, that Manasseh was taken to Babylon, not to
Nineveh, which was the capital. After the suppression of Shamash-
shum-ukin's revolt, Assur-bani-pal caused himself to be crowned
king of Babylon, and probably resided there for a time. An in
scription exists which records his reception of certain ambassadors

246 DATE OF NAHUM lect.
The name of Manasseh appears in a list of kings
who were tributary to Esar-haddon, the successor of
Sennacherib, but as there is no hint that he had
then attempted to throw off the Assyrian yoke,
it seems probable that the narrative in Chronicles
refers to another occasion. The inscriptions of
Assur-bani-pal record that the " West Country" or
Phoenician and Palestinian states rose when his
brother Shamash - shum - ukin revolted about the
year B.C. 648. What can be more likely than that
Manasseh took part in this rising, or at any rate
incurred the suspicion of disloyalty, that an expedi
tion was sent to inflict punishment, and that he was
carried away into an ignominious though temporary
captivity ? J This hypothesis explains Nahum's allu
sions to a recent Assyrian invasion.
On the other hand, after the death of Assur-bani-
pal (B.C. 626 ?), the power of Assyria rapidly declined.
The loss of Babylon, where Nabopolassar established
himself about B.C. 625, was a severe blow to its
prestige. Josiah seems to have enjoyed a practical
at Babylon. (3) An exact parallel to the treatment of Manasseh
is found in Assur-bani-pal's treatment of Necoh I, who was
seized, bound hand and foot with iron bands and chains, and
carried to Nineveh ; yet, in spite of this ignominious treatment,
subsequently restored to his throne. See Schrader, Cuneiform
Inscriptions, pp. 366 ff., and comp. Driver in Hogarth's Authority
and Archaeology, pp. 114 ff.
1 See Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, pp. 367 ff. It may be
noticed that colonies were planted in Samaria by Esar-haddon
(Ezra iv. 2), and Assur-bani-pal, with whom Osnappar (Ezra iv. 10)
is most probably to be identified.

viii DATE OF NAHUM < 247
independence, and about the middle of his reign
(b.c. 622) we find him exercising an authority in
Northern Palestine, which he would scarcely have
done if the Assyrian government had still been
vigorous (2 Kings xxiii. 15 ff.).
On these grounds it seems best to place the
prophecy of Nahum soon after B.C. 640, when the
memory of an Assyrian invasion of Judah was still
fresh, and the power of Assyria was still un
impaired.1 This date moreover best explains the
situation of Nineveh which is implied in Nahum.
He appears to know of a particular enemy who
is threatening the city (ii. 1), though he does not
mention its name. Now it was just about this time
1 Kuenen places the prophecy somewhat later (c. 623), at the
time when Nineveh was threatened by Cyaxares and the Medes.
This date seems to me less consistent with the description of the
power of Assyria as still unimpaired (i. 10, 12 ; iii. 1), for, after the
death of Assur-bani-pal, if not before, it was rapidly falling into
decay. The catastrophe is still in the future (iii. 11, 12) ; and it
is natural to take v. 13 as referring to the future also, and
describing the paralysis which will seize the Assyrians. Vv. 18, 19,
which draw a vivid picture of the completed ruin of Nineveh,
certainly refer to the future. The tenses are perfects of certainty.
The exhortation to Judah to keep her feasts and perform her
vows (i. 15) might seem to indicate that Josiah's reformation had
already begun. But after his captivity Manasseh had at any
rate tolerated the worship of Jehovah, and the accession of Josiah
would be sufficient to encourage anticipations of a happier time.
Moreover if, as I hope to shew, Nahum was writing at a distance
from Judah, little stress can be laid upon the words.
Prof. A. B. Davidson, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and
Colleges (1896), thinks that a later date still (c. 610-608), shortly
before the destruction of Nineveh, is not beyond the range of
possibility.

248 NAHUM WROTE AT NINEVEH lect.
that the Median power, which had been consolidated
by Deioces, became formidable to Assyria under
Phraortes. Nahum saw that this power was destined
to be the avenger of Israel's wrongs. Phraortes,
indeed, lost his life in his attack upon Nineveh ; and
the Scythian invasion, from which Medes and
Assyrians both suffered, deferred the final catastrophe.
It was reserved for Cyaxares, the successor of
Phraortes, to combine with Nabopolassar, and to
inflict the blow which Nahum had foreseen.
Ill
piace of Nahum is called the Elkoshite, or native of Elkosh.
writing. Unfortunately this designation gives us no certain
information. No such place is mentioned in the Old
Testament. In the Lives of the Prophets, ascribed to
Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, Elkosh is
located in the tribe of Simeon, near Eleutheropolis,
which was situated about twelve miles north-east of
Lachish.1 Jerome states that in his day a ruined
village in Galilee called Helkesei was pointed out to
him as the birthplace of Nahum ; and a village on
the left bank of the Tigris, near Mosul, bearing the
name of Alkush, still contains a building which is
called the tomb of Nahum. None of these rival
traditions can be regarded as trustworthy. Much
value can hardly be attached to the traditions of the
1 See Nestle, in Pal. Expl. Fund, Quarterly Statement, 1879,
pp. 136 ff.

viii NAHUM WROTE AT NINEVEH 249
end of the fourth century a.d. ; while the tomb at
Alkush is not ancient, and the tradition connecting
it with Nahum cannot be traced beyond the sixteenth
century. It may however be inferred from the contents
and character of his prophecy, that he was residing
in Assyria at the time when he wrote it. He uses
Assyrian words to designate Assyrian officers.1 He
was well acquainted with Nineveh. Its brick-built
walls (iii. 14) ; the ' mantelet ' used for protecting
the soldiers upon them (ii. 5) ; the river-gates ; the
palace in the centre of the city which was the last
retreat of its defenders (ii. 6) ; its temples and
images (i. 14) ; its immense stores of wealth, the
spoil of conquered nations, the prey which the lion
had gathered in his den (ii. 9, 12) ; its vast popula
tion, the conflux of many nations (ii. 8 ; iii. 15) ; its
crowds of merchants (iii. 16) ; its horses and chariots
(ii. 13) ; its princes with their tiaras ; its marshals
and nobles and worthies in all their magnificence
(iii. 17, 18), — these are depicted with a vividness
which bespeaks not merely vigour of poetic imagina
tion but the familiarity of an eye-witness. He must
1 Taphsar, 'scribe' or 'marshal' (iii. 17), is probably the
Assyrian dupsarru, ' tablet- writer ' ; minzar (A.V. 'crowned')
may also be an Assyrian word. Huzzab (ii. 7) still remains
unexplained. The suggestion of Mr. Paul Ruben (Academy, 7th
March 1896) that in place of nnSjw, ' she is carried away,' should
be read n'jnj/n = Assy r. etellitu, 'queen' or 'lady,' throws no light
on this old enigma, though it would give another Assyrian word in
Nahum.

250 NAHUM WROTE AT NINEVEH lect.
have seen the magnificent palace of Assur-bani-pal,
from the ruins of which many of our finest speci
mens of Assyrian art, and many of our most valuable
cuneiform inscriptions, have been derived.
That he had seen Nineveh cannot of course
be proved, but it is a natural inference from the
forcibleness of his language ; and further, he seems
to address the city as if it was actually before him
in all its cruel splendour when he was writing. This
conclusion is confirmed by phenomena in his book
which indicate that he was not writing in Judah.
He has only a passing word for Judah. He seems
to regard it ideally, as the kingdom of God, rather
than actually, in its existing condition. There is
no hint that the Assyrian oppression was a justly
merited punishment for the sins of Judah, or that
the city whose deliverance he welcomes was almost
if not quite as guilty as the city whose doom he
announces.1 The absence of reproof and the idealisa
tion of Judah are most satisfactorily accounted for
by the hypothesis that he wrote at a distance from
Palestine. Nor is there anything in the prophecy
which militates against this view. He betrays no sign
of a close acquaintance with Judah and Jerusalem.
The references to Palestine (i. 4) are of a distant and
merely literary character.
Whether he was a descendant of the exiles carried
away from Northern Israel nearly a century before,
1 Cp. Zeph. iii. 1 ff. with Nah. iii. 1.

viii UNITY OF THE BOOK OF NAHUM 251
or whether he was taken to Nineveh as a prisoner in
some later invasion, perhaps that of Assur-bani-pal,
there is nothing to indicate ; but in either case, it is
interesting to hear the voice of prophecy sounding
across the desert from the banks of the Tigris,
publishing the good tidings of the oppressor's fall
and proclaiming peace, as it sounded nearly a century
later from the banks of the Euphrates, to announce
the glad tidings of the end of the still more cruel
tyranny of Babylon.1

IV

The Book of Nahum is distinguished from the The Book of
books which we have been hitherto considering by
its unity, and its literary character. It deals with a
single subject : it was evidently not based upon oral
discourses, but composed to be at once committed to
writing. Its theme is the impending ruin of the
guilty city of Nineveh, regarded as the proof of
Jehovah's moral government of the world.
The book opens with a solemn proclamation of
Jehovah's twofold character, as a God of vengeance
and a God of mercy. The rhythm of the original is
stately as befits the subject :
Jehovah is a jealous God and an avenger ;
Jehovah is an avenger and full of wrath ;
1 The name Nahum, which means Comforter, suggests the
parallel with Isa. xl. 1 ; and i. 15 is quoted in Isa. lii. 7.

252 UNITY OF THE BOOK OF NAHUM lect.
Jehovah is an avenger unto His adversaries ;
And He reserveth wrath for His enemies.
Jehovah is slow to anger and great in power,
And He will in no wise acquit the guilty ;
Jehovah hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm,
And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
He brooks no rival. He will not condone iniquity.
If He seem at times slack to interfere, it is the
patience of omnipotence, and neither the helplessness
of impotence nor the apathy of indifference. When
once He wills to act, none can resist His power.
Before His indignation who can stand ?
And who can rise up in the fierceness of His anger ?
His fury is poured out like fire,
And the rocks are broken asunder by Him.
But in contrast to this appalling awfulness
Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of adversity ;
And He knoweth them that take refuge in Him.
And with an overwhelming flood will He make a full end oj
her place,
And will pursue His enemies into darkness.
That judgement is not the contrast to His good
ness, but the proof of it. There is no need to mention
the name of the arch-adversary, the embodiment of
antagonism to Jehovah. The prophet's eye is riveted
upon that guilty city. Her offence is insolent defiance
of Jehovah, high-handed oppression not of His chosen
people only, but of a multitude of nations, upon whom
she has trampled with brutal inhumanity. Senna-

viii THE GUILT OF NINEVEH 253
cherib with his insulting blasphemies was her typical
representative, and to him the prophet's mind recurs.
From thee went forth one (we can hardly doubt that
it was he) purposing evil against Jehovah, counselling
wickedness. Her ferocious violence and her heartless
treachery are graphically described. The lion did
tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for
his lionesses, and filled his caves with prey and his
dens with ravin. Then, dropping figure, he exclaims,
Woe to the blood-guilty city, all full of falsehood
and outrage, where rapine ceaseth not. Resuming
metaphor, Nahum goes on to describe her as fascinat
ing the nations by her insidious charms, and be
witching them by her cunning, until she gets them
into her power, and reduces them to a hopeless
slavery. The prophet's indictment against Nineveh has
received strange confirmation from the inscriptions
and sculptures which have been brought to light in
recent years, many of which may be seen in the
British Museum. " The barbarities which followed
the capture of a town would be almost incredible,'-
writes Professor Sayce,1 " were they not a subject of
boast in the inscriptions which record them." The
details of the savage cruelties of the Assyrians are
too horrible for quotation. " How deeply seated
was their thirst for blood and vengeance on an
enemy is exemplified in a bas-relief which represents
1 Assyria ; its Princes, Priests, and People, p. 127.

254 THE DOOM OF NINEVEH lect.
Assur-bani-pal " — the king, be it remembered, who
was Nahum's contemporary — " and his queen feast
ing in their garden while the head of a conquered
Elamite king hangs from a tree above." J They are
witnesses against themselves that they flagrantly
violated every law and instinct of humanity in their
lust of conquest and their passion for revenge.
And so Nineveh's doom was pronounced. With
righteous indignation not unmingled with an almost
contemptuous exultation Nahum chants her knell.
He bids her strain every nerve for defence ; repair
her walls, make provision for the siege, set her
sentinels (ii. 1 ; iii. 14). But all in vain. A short
skirmish outside the walls, and the gates are forced ;
panic terror paralyses her defenders; the battle
rages through her streets ; the central citadel sur
renders ; her vast stores of wealth are plundered ;
she is stripped bare and naked and exposed to infamy
(ii. 3 ff. ; iii. 2 ff.). Naught remains of all her mag
nificence but emptiness and desolation and vacuity.
So utterly indeed was she destroyed that " the very
site of Nineveh remained for centuries unknown." 2
The fact is a striking comment on the prophet's
words. She falls unwept. Who will bemoan her? She
pitied none, and there is none to pity her. Nay all
rejoice, for all have been her victims. All that hear
1 Assyria ; its Princes, Priests, and People, p. 128.
2 lb., p. 26.

viii NAHUM 'S TEACHING 255
the report of thee clap their hands over thee, for upon
whom did not thy wickedness pass continually ? (iii. 19).
Judah is released from the oppressor's yoke. The
messengers speed to carry the good news, and the
prophet bids her celebrate glad festivals of thanks
giving and pay her vows.1
Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace ! Keep
thy feasts, 0 Judah, perform thy vows; for the wicked
one shall no more pass through thee ; lie is utterly
cut off (i. 15).

Nahum had a great principle, an eternal truth, Nahum' s
° L x teaching.
to proclaim — the certain destruction of this world's
kingdoms built on the foundation of force and fraud ;
the triumph of the kingdom of God reared on the
foundation of truth and righteousness. But the
limitation of view with which he proclaims this
truth is very remarkable ; and the fact that a
prophet's view might be thus limited is an important
principle to be borne in mind for the general inter
pretation of the Old Testament. For him Nineveh
is the representative of worldly power in antagonism
to Jehovah ; Judah is the kingdom of Jehovah, repre
senting Him on earth. Judah is viewed in the
abstract in the light of her calling and destiny, in
1 Cp. Ps. Ixvi. 11-14.

256 LIMITATION OF NAHUM'S VIEW lect.
a word, idealised ; not in the concrete, as she actually
was, failing hopelessly to fulfil that calling.
(1) There is not a single word of recognition that
the long Assyrian oppression had been the punish
ment of Judah's sin, as we are constantly taught
by other prophets. Nahum's prophecy is the sequel
to those words of faith with which the book of Micah
closes : Jehovah will bring me forth to the light, 1
shall behold His righteousness. Then mine enemy shall
see it, and shame shall cover her ; which said unto me,
Where is Jehovah thy God ? (Mic. vii. 10); but Nahum
betrays none of the deep consciousness of national
guilt which distinguishes that most touching pro
phecy. (2) Again, there is no hint that Judah stands in
present need of penitence and reformation ; yet it is
difficult, if not impossible, to assign Nahum's pro
phecy to a time when the moral and religious con
dition of Judah was essentially different from that
which is described in Zephaniah and Jeremiah.
(3) Once more, Nahum not only gives no hint
that the yoke of Assyria would be succeeded by the
yet heavier yoke of Babylon, but in express terms
predicts a full deliverance and restoration for Judah.
Though I have afflicted thee, I vnll afflict thee no
more. . . . The wicked one shall no more pass through
thee. . . . For Jehovah restoreth the excellency of
Jacob as the excellency of Israel (i. 12, 15; ii. 2).
Yet the fall of Nineveh was not the final end of

viii in REGARD TO JUDAH 257
Judah's servitude ; it was not the immediate pre
cursor of her complete restoration, though Nahum
seems to have expected that it would be. It was
indeed one step in the evolution of God's purposes
for His people ; but the salvation of Zion was not to
be yet.Judah's impenitence and faithlessness postponed
God's purpose. Nahum, writing far away from
Judah (and in no other way can I understand his
prophecy), could not realise the deeply ingrained sin
of the people ; and while he grasped and clearly
enunciated the great principles of the divine govern
ment, he did not take into account the human
obstacles to the fulfilment of God's purpose, or fore
see the long hard course of discipline by which Judah
must be led to the desired consummation.

LECTURE IX

ZEPHANIAH

Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Jehovah ! for the day
of Jehovah is at hand. — Zephaniah i. 7.

ContrastbetweenZephaniah and Nahum.

Zephaniah and Nahum belonged to the same age.
They prophesied in all probability within a few years
of each other. But Zephaniah stands in pronounced
contrast to Nahum. While Nahum announced the
particular judgement of Nineveh alone, and saw in
that judgement the prospect of Judah's liberation from
a cruel tyranny, Zephaniah proclaimed the speedy
approach of an universal judgement, and saw that its
first and chief severity must fall upon Jerusalem.
Nahum regards the judgement of Nineveh mainly as
a just retribution for its crimes. Zephaniah regards
the judgement of Judah and the nations not only or
chiefly as the punishment due to them, but as the means
by which the purification of Judah and the conversion
of the nations are to be accomplished. Thus Zeph
aniah goes far beyond Nahum in breadth of view, and

lect. ix DATE OF ZEPHANIAH'S PROPHECY 259
in insight into the ultimate course of the divine
purpose. So far as the teaching of a prophet was con
ditioned by his environment, a ground for this
difference may be found in the wholly dissimilar
circumstances of the two prophets. We have seen
reason to believe that Nahum prophesied in Assyria,
and, remote from actual knowledge of the condition
of Judah, could concentrate his thoughts upon the
wrongs which she had suffered rather than upon the
punishment which she deserved. Zephaniah evi
dently lived in Jerusalem.1 He appears to have
belonged to the royal family.2 At any rate he had
abundant opportunity for observing the crimes of
the highest classes in the capital.

II
The title of the book tells us that the word of Date of
Zephaniah's
Jehovah came to Zephaniah in the days of Josiah. prophecy C. OoO B.C
Internal evidence confirms this statement. The
only question is whether he prophesied in the be
ginning of Josiah's reign, before the great reforma
tion had done its work ; or towards the close of it,
when this last effort for amelioration had spent its
1 Note the special topographical allusions to the Fish-gate, the
Second Quarter or Lower City (the Mishneh), the Maktesh (lit.
mortar), where the merchants lived (i. 10 f.).
2 It is difficult to account for his genealogy being traced up to
Hezekiah and no further, unless the king of that name is meant.

260 DATE OF ZEPHANIAH'S PROPHECY lect.
force, and the reaction which was to break out in
the reign of Jehoiakim had already set in. A
decisive answer may be given in favour of the
first alternative. The idolatrous practices which
Zephaniah condemns are precisely those which were
abolished by Josiah. While it is possible that the
first steps towards reformation were already being
made, it seems scarcely conceivable that language
like that of Zephaniah could have been used after
the reformation had been carried out.1 That refor
mation can hardly have been completed at one
stroke ; the Book of Chronicles describes it as a
gradual process in successive stages; and we shall
probably not be wrong if we suppose that Zephaniah
prepared the way for Josiah's movement by his
preaching, and was one of the prophets who sup
ported him in its final achievement (2 Kings
1 See ch. i. 4 ff., 8 ff., 12 ; iii. 1 ff. It has been urged (1)
that the expression remnant of Baal (i. 4) implies that the reforma
tion had already taken place ; and (2) that the allusion to the
king's sons (i. 8) implies that Josiah's sons were already responsible
persons. (1) The reading of i. 4 is however doubtful. The LXX
has the names of Baal, which may be right (cp. Hos. ii. 17) ; and if
not, the expression may mean no more than ' every vestige of Baal
worship.' At most it need imply no more than that the reforma
tion had commenced, which it did, according to Chron., in the 12th
year of Josiah. (2) Jehoiakim would have been 12, and Jehoahaz
10 years old in the 18th year of Josiah, and hardly of age to incur
censure on their own account. But the Icing's sons may mean the
royal family generally, 'the princes of the blood' ; and if Josiah s
sons are referred to, it is questionable whether the prophecy implies
their personal responsibility. This doubtful phrase cannot outweigh
the positive indications referred to in the text.

ix OCCASION OF ZEPHANIAH'S PROPHECY 261
xxiii. 2). His ministry may therefore be dated
between B.C. 630 and 622.
It was just about this time that the marauding its occasion
hordes of Scythians poured down over Western tion of tie
Scythians.
Asia (p. 240). It seems highly probable that their
advance was the occasion of Zephaniah's prophecy.
Rumours of this " scourge of God," which spread dis
may and devastation as it went, must have reached
Jerusalem. What is more likely than that the pro
phet should have seized the opportunity, as Joel
seized the opportunity of the locust-plague, and have
taught, as Joel did, that this dreaded visitation was
in reality a manifestation of Jehovah's power, by
which He was judging the nations, and summoning
His people to repentance. It is plain that the idea
of an invasion, and an invasion of an extraordinary
and desolating character, underlies his description of
the day of Jehovah.1 The danger is close at hand.
The great day of Jehovah is near and coming very
quickly (i. 14). Now at this time Judah had little
cause to fear from the Assyrians, while the Baby
lonians had not yet become formidable. But the
Scythians correspond remarkably to the description.
The mystery of their origin clothed them with
just that vague terribleness which characterises
Zephaniah's description. They swept down along the
coast, and Philistia must have suffered heavily from
them. Herodotus records that in their retreat they
1 See i. 7, 13, 16-18 ; ii. 4.

262 OCCASION OF ZEPHANIAH'S PROPHECY lect.
plundered the temple of Aphrodite (i.e. Atargatis) at
Ashkelon. They do not appear to have turned aside
to Jerusalem. It was. hid in the day of Jehovah's
anger. Zephaniah's warnings succeeded in their
object, and the judgement was averted for the time.

Ill

The In truth the condition of Jerusalem was such as
of judah. to call for judgement. Alike in religion and in
morals an appalling corruption prevailed. The cruel
persecutions of the earlier part of Manasseh's reign
had been suspended, and the worship of Jehovah was
tolerated. But that was all. Incense was burned
to Baal in Jerusalem. Idolatrous priests were regu
larly maintained. The worship of the sun, moon, and
stars upon the roofs of their houses was the favourite
practice of the people.
An easy syncretism deemed the recognition of
Malcam as a deity compatible with a professed
allegiance to Jehovah. Here there were apostates
who had forsaken Jehovah; there there were in-
differentists who did not trouble themselves to seek
Him. Here there were men who hankered after
foreign fashions in a way that proved them unfaith
ful, to their national privileges ; there there were
practical atheists who denied that there was any
providential government of the world (i. 4 ff., 8, 12).

ix ZEPHANIAH'S BREADTH OF VIEW 263
Immorality went hand in hand with irreligion.
Zephaniah's strictures upon Jerusalem are hardly
less severe than those of Nahum upon Nineveh.
Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted, to the
oppressing city ! . . . Her princes in the midst of her
are roaring lions ; her judges are evening wolves ; they
leave nothing until the morrow. Her prophets are light
and treacherous persons; her priests have profaned
that which is holy, they have done violence to the law}
Self-complacent pride, shameless falsehood, flagrant
iniquity, merciless extortion, are rife, and yet the
guilty transgressors are unabashed. The unjust
knoweth no shame?
And therefore the ' decree ' of judgement has been
issued ; the day of grace is passing as swiftly as the
chaff swept away before the wind, and the day of the
Lord's anger is about to come upon the guilty city
(ii. 2). IV
It is in his conception of the impending judge- zephaniah'sbreadth of
ment that Zephaniah's remarkable breadth of view view.
is to be noticed. The judgement which he pre
dicts is an universal judgement. It will be as it
were a second deluge, consuming all things from off
1 iii. 1-4. Cp. the expansion of this passage in Ezek. xxii. 23 ff.
2 iii. 5 ; ii. 1 ; iii. 11-13 ; i. 9. The latter passage appears to
refer to the extortions practised by the retainers of gi'eat men, not
to idolatrous customs.

264 ZEPHANIAH'S BREADTH OF VIEW lect.
the face of the ground.1 The great day of Jehovah
is close at hand. That day is a day of wrath, a day
of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desola
tion, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds
and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm
(i. 15).2 The storm of judgement strikes Jerusalem first :
it is infinitely searching (i. 12); there is no possi
bility of escape, no means of redemption for the men
that have sinned against Jehovah (i. 18). Even the
righteous can hardly be saved. It may be ye shall be
hid in the day of Jehovah's anger is all the hope, that
is held out even to the meek of the land which have
wrought His judgement (ii. 3).
From Jerusalem the storm sweeps westward to
Philistia, eastward to Moab and Ammon ; it reaches
Ethiopia in the remotest south, Nineveh in the
distant north. Nay, none are excepted. My deter
mination is to gather the nations, to assemble the king
doms, that I may pour upon them Mine indignation,
even all the fierceness of Mine anger ; for with the fire
of My jealousy shall all the earth be devoured (iii. 8).
Depth of If Zephaniah is distinguished by breadth of view
insight. in his conception of the universality of the judge-
1 With i. 2 f. cp. Gen. vi. 7 ; vii. 23.
2 The opening words of this passage in the Vulgate, Dies irae
dies ilia, were adopted by Thomas of Celano as the opening words
of that great hymn on the Last Judgement, which is one of the
masterpieces of sacred Latin poetry. See Trench, Sacred Latin
Poetry, p. 296.

ix ZEPHANIAH'S DEPTH OF INSIGHT 265
ment in which Jerusalem must share, he is equally
distinguished by profound insight into the purpose
and the issue of this universal judgement for Israel
and for the nations. Nahum views the judgement
of Nineveh almost as an end in itself. Its grand
object is the manifestation of Jehovah's righteous
sovereignty in the punishment of the inhuman
tyrant. He glances no doubt at the consequent
liberation of Judah from the yoke of servitude, but
only incidentally and cursorily. Zephaniah on the
other hand views the judgement as the appointed
means for the purification of Israel and the conver
sion of the nations.
In that day . . . I will take away out of the midst of
thee thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more
be haughty in My holy mountain. . . . The remnant
of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies ; neither
shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth
(iii. 11, 13).
Zion will rejoice in her King ; and Jehovah will
rejoice in His ransomed people. In words of passion
ate tenderness, which remind us of Hosea, the
prophet declares :
In that day shall it be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou
not ; 0 Zion, let not thine hands be slack. Jehovah
thy God is in the midst of thee, a Mighty One Who
saveth ; He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will
rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing
(iii. 16, 17).

the nations

266 THE ISSUES OF THE JUDGEMENT lect.
The restored people will be a witness to God's
working and a wonder to the world. At that time
. . . will I make you a name and a praise among all
the peoples of the earth (iii. 20).
ismes of But it is not only Israel which will be redeemed
the judge-
mentfor through judgement. When Jehovah paralyses all
the gods of the earth with the terribleness of His
advent, men shall worship Him, every one from his
place, even all the coast-lands of the nations (ii. 11).
The fire of God's jealousy refines while it con
sumes. It works for the nations the great change
of purified lips, that they may all call upon the name
of Jehovah, to serve Him with one consent. From
remotest countries they come to worship in Zion.
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My suppliants, even
the daughter of My dispersed, shall bring Mine offering
(iii. 9, 10).
Zephaniah has no prophecy of a personal Messiah.
He does not foresee particularly how redemption is
to be effected, but this he does foresee, that this
judgement which is imminent in all its unparalleled
terribleness will issue in salvation for Israel and the
world. Isaiah and Micah had prophesied of the day when
all the nations would stream Zionwards to learn and
to worship. Zephaniah repeats this hope ; but he
takes another firm step forward towards the univer
sality of the Gospel, when he foretells that, instead
of their old defeated and discredited gods, men will

ix FULFILMENT OF ZEPHANIAH'S PROPHECIES 267
worship Jehovah every one from his place (ii. 11). It
is a prelude to the yet more definite declaration with
which Malachi rebuked the bigotry of his contem
poraries (i. 11), and it prepares the way for that
memorable utterance of Him in whom all privileges
of race and prerogatives of place were abolished :
The hour cometh, when neither in this mountain nor
in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father (John
iv. 21).
The immediate judgement with which Zephaniah Thefuifx-
threatened Jerusalem was averted. But his prophecy
began to be fulfilled in the disasters which befell
neighbouring nations. It was fulfilled yet further
in those great convulsions of the nations of the East
which followed shortly. It was fulfilled for Judah
in the captivity and the destruction of the guilty
nation. For these were all steps of progress advan
cing towards the great end, elements contributing to
the fulness of the times, preludes to the establish
ment of the universal divine kingdom.
In part Zephaniah's words still await fulfilment,
and we do him no injustice if we say that he could
not anticipate how distant their fulfilment would be.
It was given to those ancient prophets to soar above
the earth-born mists which becloud human vision,
and to see God's purposes rising majestically against
the clear firmament of His righteous sovereignty,
like sunlit Alpine peaks against the azure sky ; but
it was not given them to see all at once how many

268 ZEPHANIAH'S PROPHECIES lect. ix
an obstacle must be surmounted, how many a dis
appointment endured, ere the longed-for goal could
be attained.These prophets of judgement still teach the great
lesson that God is King; and that, in spite of all
that men may think to the contrary, He is ever
coming to judge the world. Force and violence are
transitory ; truth and righteousness abide. Assyria,
Egypt, Babylon, Macedonia, Rome, where are they ?
But that little nation of Israel, bruised and battered
in the clash and collision of mighty world empires,
scattered and scourged for its sins, rose with a
new life to be the Jewish Church, and from the
Jewish Church there sprang that wonder of the
principalities and powers in heavenly places, — the
Christian Church ; and in the Name of its Master it
goes forth conquering and to conquer.
As we look back upon each successive great day
of the Lord in past ages faith gathers strength, and
we look forward without impatience and without
wavering to that greatest day of all, when the Son of
Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather
out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling,
and them that do iniquity . . and the righteous shall
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

LECTURE X
HABAKKUK
0 Lord, how long ? — Habakkuk i. 2.

The entry of the Chaldeans on the stage of history The
J o J Chaldean
found its herald in Habakkuk. Nahum, as we have period.
seen, predicted the destruction of Nineveh. He saw
in the ruin of that ruthless oppressor of the nations
a signal exhibition of God's judgement upon pride
and violence, and anticipated, it would seem, that
the removal of the tyrant would be immediately
succeeded by the deliverance and glorification of
God's people.
Zephaniah, with a wider and clearer view of the
course of God's purposes, foresaw that an universal
judgement must precede deliverance, and that this
judgement must begin at the house of God. The
bright expectations kindled by Josiah's reformation
were doomed to speedy disappointment. It soon
became evident that the desire for better things had
never taken real hold of the heart of the nation.

270 THE CHALDEANS lect.
When Josiah fell in the fatal battle of Megiddo, the
hopes of Judah perished with him. Passing over
his eldest son Jehoiakim, the people made Jehoahaz
king. After a reign of only three months, he was
deposed by Pharaoh-Necoh, who was now for a brief
space supreme over the countries from the Euphrates
to the Nile. He placed Jehoiakim on the throne
instead of Jehoahaz. Jehoiakim was a selfish,
tyrannical, godless ruler. The nobles were only
too ready to follow his example, and in a short time
the old evils of Manasseh's reign broke out again.
Meanwhile the new, mysterious, invincible power
of the Chaldeans was gathering like a storm-cloud
in the north. Rumours of their ferocious character,
their insatiable lust for conquest, their irresistible
prowess, reached Jerusalem. It was an age to try
the faith of pious souls. Obstinate questionings
could not fail to force themselves upon every
thoughtful mind. At home, the reign of lawless
ness ! abroad, this power that knew no law but its
own ambition and its own strength, threatening to
overwhelm the earth ! Judah no doubt deserved
chastisement. But how could a righteous God
employ for His instrument this self-deifying world
power ? Was brute force, not righteousness, after all
the arbiter of human destiny ?
In such a crisis Habakkuk was called to deliver
his message; frankly to face the problem, and not
indeed to solve it, but to shew men how they might

x DATE OF HABAKKUK 271
wait in faith for its ultimate solution. His message
is a theodicy ; its aim is to justify the ways of God
to man ; but in providence as in nature it is true
that His judgements are unsearchable, and His ways
past tracing out ; and oftentimes the only answer that
He can return to man's doubts is to point to what
He has revealed Himself to be, and bid man trust
that He is the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

II

Internal evidence makes it tolerably certain that Date of
Habakkuk.
Habakkuk wrote in the reign of Jehoiakim (b.c
609-597). The Chaldeans were already in full career
of conquest. Their terrible reputation had reached
Jerusalem (i. 5 ff.). Some years must therefore have
elapsed since Nabopolassar founded the Chaldean
empire at Babylon (b.c 625). But it seems impos
sible to suppose that the gloomy picture drawn by
Habakkuk (i. 2-4) can represent the condition of
Judah during the reign of Josiah. It points decidedly
to the reign of Jehoiakim, whose selfish luxury and
oppressive exactions are sharply contrasted by Jere
miah with his father's upright conduct and just
administration (Jer. xxii. 13-17).
It is however less easy to decide whether the
prophecy was written in the earlier or in the later
part of Jehoiakim's reign. It is urged on the one
hand that the Chaldeans must already have invaded

272 DATE OF HABAKKUK lect.
Judah. The prophet appears to have their over
bearing violence actually before his eyes. The
wicked is swallowing up the righteous (i. 13).
According to this view, Habakkuk must have written
after Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion, which took place
about B.C. 601.1 On the other hand the language in
which the rise of the Chaldean power is described
appears to imply that it is not yet firmly established.
It still seems incredible to the mass of the people that
this power which has so suddenly sprung up should
be destined to prove Jehovah's instrument of judge
ment. / work a work in your days, which ye will not
believe though it be told you (i. 5). But after the
defeat of Necoh at Carchemish (B.C. 605) the
supremacy of the Chaldeans was assured. It must
have been obvious that there was no barrier to stay
their advance. Nor is it certain that Habakkuk
speaks of the Chaldeans as having already invaded
Judah. The language in which their conquests is
described is still quite general. It is the nations
which are suffering. It is not clear that Judah is
represented as being already a victim. On the whole
the balance of probability appears to be slightly in
favour of the earlier date, before the battle of Car
chemish ; but the interpretation of the prophecy is
not materially affected, whichever date is adopted.
Habakkuk's commission is not to predict the rise
1 In this case v. 5 would have to be rendered, / am working a
work in your days, which ye would not believe, if it were told you.

x THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK 273
of the Chaldean power, but to reconcile their employ
ment as an instrument of judgement with the justice
of God, and to foretell their ultimate destruction.
Ill
Habakkuk was not a preacher like Jeremiah and Habakkuk
a, writer.
Zephaniah. His prophecy shews no indications of
having been delivered orally before it was com
mitted to writing. He does not bear a message of
warning to his guilty countrymen in the hope that
even at the eleventh hour they might amend their
ways and avert the impending punishment. It is
possible indeed that, like Isaiah, he may have in
scribed the oracle of consolation on a tablet, and
exposed it in public, and explained its enigmatic
utterance to any one who cared to inquire what it
meant (ii. 2 ff). But as a whole his book is the fruit
of religious reflection ; it exhibits the communings and
questionings of his soul — representative no doubt of
many other pious spirits of the time — with God ; and
records the answers which the Spirit of God taught
him for his own sake and for the sake of tried souls in
every age. These communings and questionings,
these wrestlings of his spirit with God, were doubtless
spread over some considerable time. It is not to be
supposed that light was given at once. The book
seems rather to be the result of a prolonged mental
struggle. But it is — as I must still believe in spite
T

274 CONTENTS AND PLAN lect.
of some recent theories as to its character — an artistic
and connected whole. In form it is dramatic, though
Ewald's suggestion that it was intended for actual
performance is destitute of all probability.
Thebook. The book opens with a dialogue between the
prophet and God, in which God is boldly but
reverently challenged to defend His action in the
government of the world (ch. i). The answer which
the prophet receives, with the command to inscribe
it upon tablets in legible characters which all may
read, is the assertion of the principles upon which
death and life depend in nations and individuals.
This naturally introduces a detailed denunciation of
the Chaldeans for their career of violence and injustice
(ch. ii). Their victims are represented as rising up
to denounce them, and their crime begets its own
punishment. The last woe is pronounced on the
senseless stupidity of idol- worship ; and in magni
ficent contrast to this folly is pictured the Advent of
the living God for the destruction of the wicked and
the salvation of His people. It is a poetic appeal to
the religious imagination. The splendour of the
thought convinces and overwhelms the prophet's
heart ; a holy fear possesses him in the presence of
this all-sovereign God ; he feels that however gloomy
and disastrous may be the future through which the
nation must pass, he can joyously trust in the God
of his salvation, Who will in the end surely fulfil His
purposes for His people (ch. iii).

x OF THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK 275
I have taken this rapid survey of the whole book,
because it is important to get a general view of the
relation of its parts and of the progress of thought in
it, which are so striking as entirely to outweigh
arguments against the unity of the book derived
from some difficulties of detail. We may now pro
ceed to examine more fully the way in which the
various thoughts are worked out.
The book commences with a bold expostulation ca. ». 2-4.
with Jehovah. Habakkuk contemplates with dismay
the reign of lawlessness around him in Judah. Long
and earnestly has he pleaded with God to interpose,
but no answer has come : evil rears its head un
checked and unremedied : iniquity, violence, oppres
sion, plundering, strife, contention, universal paralysis
of law and order : these are the sights he is compelled
to witness day by day around him in Judah. Will
Jehovah never interfere 1
The answer comes from the mouth of Jehovah ch.i.5-11.
Himself. Even now He is raising up the Chaldeans
to be the executioners of His judgement. Unpar
alleled and wholly incredible is the sudden uprising
of this mighty nation. It is fierce and restless ; it
marches through the length and breadth of the earth
in an unchecked career of conquest. It acknowledges
no higher law, no superior power ; it mocks at the
puny efforts made to resist its advance; the strongest
fortresses are no bar to its progress. Yet — and here
is the one ray of comfort — though it deifies its own

276 CONTENTS AND PLAN lect.
strength, it will pass away like the hurricane which
it resembles, and perish self-condemned and be no
more seen.
ch. i. u-i7. Such is the answer to the prophet's complaint.
But it only raises a fresh perplexity in his mind.
Granted that Israel deserves to be punished ; granted
that the relation of the eternal God to His people as
the Holy One of Israel is the guarantee that chastise
ment will not result in annihilation. How, he would
fain know, can the pure and holy God employ such
instruments as these lawless upstarts ? How can
He surrender not Israel only but the nations of the
world to the mercy of a tyrant who acknowledges
no law but his own will and worships no god but his
own might ? Is this Jehovah's government of the
world ? The judgement seems to be only the triumph
of violence on a larger scale. The correction of one
evil appears to involve the permission of a still
greater evil.
0 Jehovah, for judgement hast Thou appointed him!
yea, 0 Bock, for correction hast Thou established him!
0 Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and
that canst not look onperverseness, wherefore lookest Thou
upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy peace
when the ivicked swalloweth up him that is more right
eous than he ? yea, Thou hast made men as the fishes of
the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over
them ! . . . Shall he therefore continue to slay the
nations unsparingly? (i. 12 ff).

x OF THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK 277
Thus boldly yet reverently the prophet summons
God to explain Himself ; and then in earnest expecta
tion he prepares to watch for an answer, and to
defend his outspoken challenge.
The answer comes, in a brief, enigmatic, pregnant
oracle, which he is to engrave upon a tablet in
characters that may easily be read, as a testimony
to future generations ; for its fulfilment will be long
delayed, albeit come at last it assuredly will.
Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him ;
But the righteous shall live in his faithfulness (ii. 4).1
St. Paul has adopted the second clause as one of
the watchwords of his theology. He has given it " a
spiritual meaning and a general application." But
our present aim is to ascertain its primary and
original meaning ; and we must be on our guard lest
the New Testament development of the thought
which is here presented to us in germ should lead us
astray as to the meaning which it bears in the
original context.
The first clause describes the Chaldean. His
whole nature is inflated, presumptuous, insincere. It
is essentially false and unreal ; and therefore — so we
must complete the sense by inference from the second
1 This verse is the whole of the oracle which is to be engraved
upon a tablet, and perhaps (cp. Isa. viii. 1 ; xxx. 8) exposed in
public to catch the attention of the passer-by. Vv. 2, 3 give the
reason for the command ; vv. 5 ff. are the expansion of v. 4 a.

278 HABAKKUK'S TEACHING • lect.
clause — it has no principle of permanence ; he is
doomed to perish.
But the righteous — Israel according to its calling,
realised in the character of those godly men who
even in the darkest days represented what Israel was
designed to be — shall live in his faithfulness. We
shall not die was Habakkuk' s confident assurance, based
upon the character of Jehovah ; and this oracle is the
divine response to that confidence. For the true
Israel his integrity, his trustworthiness, his constancy,
the correspondence of his nature to God's eternal
law, constitute a principle of permanence : he cannot
perish but is destined to live, through all the cata
clysms and convulsions which are to shake the world.
This is the sense of the words as they are used by
Habakkuk. We must not anticipate the progress of
revelation by supposing that faith in the full New
Testament sense of the word is here revealed as the
means of life. The Hebrew language indeed has no
word which fully expresses the idea of faith as an
active principle. Yet since integrity of character
and constancy in trouble could only for the Israelite
spring from reliance on Jehovah, the thought of
faith as an active principle is not far distant. St.
Paul takes the message, enlarges it, interprets it,
and shews its fulfilment in the light of the Gospel
revelation.1 1 Comp. Bishop Lightfoot, Galatians, pp. 154 ff., " On the
words denoting Faith."

x PRINCIPLES OF LIFE AND DEATH 279
This then is the message which the prophet re
ceives as the answer to his questionings, that in spite
of all appearances to the contrary, pride and injustice
will perish, while righteousness will endure.
Then, fixing his eye on this turbulent, ferocious,
self-confident nation of the Chaldeans, he proceeds
to predict their doom. With dramatic vividness he
summons the nations which have been their victims
to pronounce it. Shall not all these take up a parable
against him, and a taunting riddle, and say, Woe to
him that increaseth that which is not his ! how long ?
and that loadeth himself with pledges ! Restless ambi
tion and insatiable lust for conquest will be the ruin
of the Chaldeans. By their extortions they are as it
were burdening themselves with a crushing load of
debt. As suddenly as they themselves have arisen,
will others arise to reclaim from them their ill-
gotten spoils ; as ruthlessly as they have plundered
and slain others, will others plunder and slay them.
They that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Little will their strong fortresses avail to save
them ; the very beams and stones of them are
eloquent with the tale of their oppressions. Blood
shed and iniquity are not means by which stable
cities can be built ; the toil of all the nations which
labour wearily to rear the palaces of Babylon is
destined to the flames : all that opposes the establish
ment of God's kingdom must be destroyed, for (as
Isaiah had declared more than a century before) the

280 THE CHALDEANS SELF-DOOMED lect.
earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah, as
the waters cover the sea.
By cunning intrigues they have outwitted their
enemies, and gloat over the sorry spectacle of their
shame : x they in turn must themselves drink of the
cup of Jehovah's wrath, and their glory be covered
with infamy. Nay, for their misuse of God's world, the
very forests of Lebanon which they have wantonly
destroyed, and the wild beasts which they have
slain in their savage hunting expeditions, will rise in
judgement against them.2
They have no champion to defend them. What
can the idols which they have themselves manu
factured avail ? What profiteth the graven image, that
the maker thereof hath graven it? the molten image,
and the teacher of lies, that the maker of his work
trusteth therein, to make dumb idols ? 3 But how
different is the God of Israel! Jehovah is in His
holy temple : let all the earth keep silence before Him.
1 The language appears to be figurative and to refer generally to
the fraud as well as force which the Chaldeans employed. But it
does not seem impossible that the figure was suggested by an actual
occurrence. Herodotus relates that Cyaxares and the Medians
' ' entertained the greater number of the Scythians as their guests,
made them drunk, and then massacred them " (i. 106). Such a
breach of Oriental laws of hospitality could not fail to make a
deep impression, even though the victims of it were the dreaded
Scythian invaders.
2 With the principal ancient versions we must read in ii. 17,
and the destruction of the beasts shall terrify thee.
3 It has been suggested that vv. 18 and 19 should be transposed,
so that Woe, etc. may stand first. But it is possible to be led astray
by too rigid a demand for symmetry.

t THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK 281
These words form the transition to the great ode
which occupies ch. iii, — the prayer of Habakkuk,
as it is called. As the woes upon the Chaldeans
correspond to the first clause of the central oracle, so
this poem corresponds to the second. For how better
shall the prophet enforce the truth that the righteous
shall live in his faithfulness, than by making men
feel that the living God rules supreme in the world,
and ever and anon comes to judgement with a
purpose of victorious righteousness ?
Habakkuk has received the assurance that Israel's
sins will speedily be punished, and that in turn their
proud oppressors will be judged for their offences,
while the righteous will live ; but that assurance
was coupled with a warning that the fulfilment of it
might be long delayed. He fears that such long
delay may shake the faith of waiting Israel ; and so
he prays for a speedier accomplishment of the divine
purpose —
Jehovah, I have heard Thy message; 1 am afraid.
Bring Thy work to life, Jehovah, in the midst of the years.
In the midst of the years wilt Thou make it known,
In wrath wilt remember mercy.
The answer to his prayer flashes upon him as in
a moment. He beholds as in a vision the advent of
Jehovah to judge and to redeem. He describes it in
language borrowed from the great deliverances and
revelations of the past ; — the Red Sea, Sinai, the
Jordan, the conquest of the Promised Land. These,

282 JEHOVAH'S ADVENT lect.
as the language implies, are all pledges for the
future. To the Oriental mind, with its disciplined and
well-stored memory, the law of association meant far
more than it does to us. A word suggested a whole
train of thought. A phrase implied an argument.
And so it is here. The recollection of the past
is the ground of hope for the future. He who once
wrought these wonderful works for His people will
not fail to work the like again in His own time and
His own way.1
Habakkuk sees God coming as He came of old to
manifest His Presence at Sinai.2 The radiance of
His glory fills heaven and earth. Light unapproach
able, impenetrable, conceals His power. When He
takes His stand, the earth trembles, nations are
scattered, the unchanging mountains are convulsed ;
as of old He came, so now He comes again.
The nations tremble at His coming. He dries up
1 Such I believe to be the right principle of interpretation of this
difficult ode, following in the main the renderings of the margin of
the R.V. Many commentators, adopting the renderings which the
text of the R.V. has retained from the A.V., regard it as wholly a
historic retrospect, recalling the great deliverances of the past as
pledges for the future. This method of interpretation appears to
be less in accordance with the grammatical constructions, though
it may be admitted that these are not decisive ; it involves more
difficulties in detail ; and it gives a less forcible meaning to the
whole. But whichever line of interpretation is followed, the
general purport of the whole is the same ; to impress upon the
heart by the help of the imagination the great truth of God's
sovereign rule in the world. For a rendering of the Prayer to
illustrate the line of interpretation adopted see Note B, p. 288.
2 Cp. Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; Judges v. 4, 5 ; Ps. lxviii. 7.

x FOR JUDGEMENT AND SALVATION 283
the sea, and divides the rivers as He did of old. No
obstacles can bar His progress. His bow is drawn
to discomfit the enemies of His people.
All nature trembles awestruck. The sun and
moon withdraw their light, outshone by the glitter
ing of His arrows and the lightning flash of His
spear. He marches through the earth in an irresist
ible progress of judgement. This is the twofold
purpose of His coming, to redeem His people and
to execute judgement upon their oppressors.
Thou art come forth for the salvation of Thy people,
For the salvation of Thine anointed ;
Thou hast shattered the head from the house of the wicked,
Laying bare the foundation to the rock.
Thou hast pierced with his own spears the head of his warriors,
Who came as a whirlwind to scatter me,
Exulting as it were to devour the afflicted in secret.
The prophet feared when he heard the message
of impending judgement (v. 2) ; and now, in view
of this awful manifestation of God's Presence and
power, he trembles with a terror which convulses
his whole frame. But while he trembles, he learns
the secret which will give him patience, nay more,
rejoicing in the day of trouble, when the land lies
utterly desolate from the Chaldean invasion. He
can endure, as seeing Him Who is invisible, working
in the world. For though the fig tree blossom not,
And there be no fruit upon the vines;

284 PERMANENT VALUE lect.
Though the labour of the olive disappoint,
And the fields produce no food ;
Though the flock be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls ;
Yet as for me, I will exult in Jehovah,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
Earthly hopes may fail, but in Jehovah there is
an unfailing spring of calm happiness in the midst
of trouble. And one day the indefeasible purpose of
Jehovah for His people will be accomplished, He
will give them secure possession of their own land.
In bold language of faith he sees that goal attained :
Jehovah the Lord is my strength ;
He will surely make my feet like hinds' feet,
And cause me to tread upon mine high places.
IV
Permanent Habakkuk's prophecy was a timely word of
look" " consolation to those who had to watch the dissolu
tion of their country, the horrors of the Chaldean
invasion, the last agony of the siege and capture of
Jerusalem, and the shadows of the long night of the
captivity settling down over the city and the land
they loved. But has he not also a special message
for an age like our own, in which the problems of
human existence, of permitted evil, of the slow ad
vance of good, press heavily upon thoughtful minds,
till some are fain to ask whether there is a righteous
God at all, or whether, if there be a righteous God,

x OF THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK 285
He is not contending with antagonistic forces which
He cannot altogether control ?
Faith and patience are the gist and essence of
Habakkuk's message. He teaches us that we must
not look at one small part of God's government alone,
but study the whole so far as we may see it ; for then
we shall know that it does make for righteousness ;
we shall learn to trust where we cannot understand ;
we shall be enabled to wait in patience for the end
which will solve the riddle. We see in Habakkuk
an example of the higher faith that comes through
doubt — doubt not captious and hasty, but reverent,
humble, patient, longing to know more of God and
of His ways. Such questionings as his are answered,
not with a demonstration that will satisfy the caviller
who demands to live by sight, but with that fuller
sense of God — for us of God in Christ — which is life
eternal. Lord, who Thy thousand years dost wait
To work the thousandth part
Of Thy vast plan, for us create
With zeal, a patient heart.
Note A. — Integrity and Structure of the Book of
Habakkuk.
I do not propose to discuss the grounds upon which some
modern critics maintain that chaps, i. 1-ii. 8 is the only part
of the book which is to be assigned to the Habakkuk of the
Chaldean period ; ch. ii. 9-20 being an addition of post-
exilic times, describing a heathen or heathenishly disposed

286 INTEGRITY OF lect.
enemy of the congregation, and ch. iii a prayer of the
post-exilic congregation in time of distress, possibly written
by the author of ch. ii. 9-20, possibly taken from some
collection of Psalms arranged for use in the Temple. If
the view of the organic connexion between the several parts
of the book which I have endeavoured to maintain is correct,
the theory falls to the ground, unless it is to be supposed
that the original prophecy has been worked up by a literary
artist at least as skilful as the prophet himself. In support
of the view taken in the text I append the following analysis.
The book falls into three main divisions.
A. — The Problem. Ch. i.
(1) Habakkuk speaks, expostulating with Jehovah for
allowing wrong to triumph unchecked so long in Judah
(2-4). (2) Jehovah answers, pointing to the Chaldeans, whom
He has raised up to chastise the guilty nation. Their
terrible character is described (5-11).
(3) Habakkuk rejoins, expressing his astonishment that
Jehovah can not only tolerate these monsters of cruelty, but
use them as His instruments. Are they to go on for ever
unchecked in their course of rapine ? (12-17).
B. — The Solution : — part i. Ch. ii.
(1) Habakkuk pauses, waiting for Jehovah's answer, and
considering how he may best defend his bold challenge of the
divine rectitude (v. 1).
(2) The answer comes, declaring that the proud Chaldean
contains in himself the germ of ruin, while the righteous pos
sesses the principle of life (2-4).
(3) The first of these thoughts is expanded. The Chal
dean's drunkenness, his restless ambition, his insatiable lust

x THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK 287
for conquest will prove his ruin (u 5). His victims are
introduced 1 heaping their execrations upon him in a series
of woes, for the barbarous cruelties of his conquests, which
will recoil upon his own head (6-8) ; for the bloodshed and
injustice by which his empire has been established (9-11);
for the merciless tyranny by which his capital has been
built (12-14) ; for the cunning intrigues by which he has
entrapped his victims and for his wanton outrages on nature
(15-17) ; for his senseless idolatry (18-20).
V. 20 contrasts the living God with the dumb and lifeless
idols, and forms the transition to
C. — The Solution : — part ii. Ch. iii.
(1) Habakkuk has heard the announcement of God's
judgement on Israel, and of the ultimate doom of the
Chaldeans. But he fears that the long postponement of
the latter which is contemplated (ii. 2, 3) may prove too
severe a trial of faith, and therefore he prays that the time
of waiting may be shortened (iii. 2).
(2) The answer to his prayer is given in the fuller
revelation of Jehovah's working in the world, which is
expressed by the description of His Advent to redeem His
people and to judge their enemies (3-15).
(3) Reflecting on this sublime Theophany the prophet
(speaking in the name of the faithful Israel) expresses his
determination to rejoice in Jehovah even in the midst of
distress, in full assurance that He will one day put His
people in secure possession of their land (16-19).
It may be observed in conclusion that the dramatic
character of this ' prayer ' is entirely in keeping with the
1 Perhaps this idea is lost sight of after v. 8, and in vv. 9 ff. the
prophet speaks rather in his own person.

288 THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK lect.
dramatic character of chaps, i and ii ; although it differs
from those chapters as poetry from prose.
Note B. — The Prayer of Habakkuk.
I subjoin a rendering of ch. iii to illustrate the line of
interpretation adopted in the text.
A Prayer 1 of Habakkuk the prophet. In the dithyrambic
mode.2 I
Jehovah, I have heard Thy message ; I am afraid.
Bring Thy work to life, Jehovah, in the midst of the years.
In the midst of the years wilt Thou make it known,
In wrath wilt remember mercy. II
God cometh from Teman,
And the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His majesty covereth the heavens,
And the earth is full of His praise.
For brightness appeareth as the sunlight,
He hath rays coming forth from His hand ;
And there is the hiding-place of His power.
Before Him goeth Pestilence,
And Fever followeth in His track.
He hath taken His stand, and made earth to quake ;
He hath looked, and made nations tremble ;
And the eternal mountains are scattered,
1 Cp. 1 Sam. ii. 1 ; Psalms Ixxii. 20 ; xc. 1.
2 Shigionoth, the plural of Shiggaion (Psalm vii), probably
denotes a particular style of music or poetry, or may include
both.

x THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK 289
The seonian hills do bow ;
His goings are as of old.
Under affliction do I see the tents of Cushan ;
The curtains of the land of Midian are trembling.
Is it against the rivers, O Jehovah,
Is it against the rivers that Thine anger is kindled,
Is Thy fury against the sea,
That Thou ridest upon Thine horses,
Upon Thy chariots of salvation ?
Thy bow is bared fully bare ;
(By oath are Thy chastisements decreed) ; *
With rivers Thou cleavest the earth.
The mountains see Thee, they tremble ;
The flood of waters overflows :
The deep utters his voice,
The height lifts up his hands.
Sun and moon abide in their dwelling,
At the light of Thine arrows as they go,
At the lightning flash of Thy spear,
When Thou dost march through the earth in indignation,
Dost thresh the nations in anger.
Thou art come forth for the salvation of Thy people,
For the salvation of Thine anointed ;
Thou hast shattered the head from the house of the
wicked,
Laying bare the foundation to the rock.2
Thou hast pierced with his own spears the head of his
warriors,
Who came as a whirlwind to scatter me,
Exulting as it were to devour the afflicted in secret.
1 Reading and interpretation are very uncertain.
2 Adopting Cheyne's ingenious emendation, Psalms, p. 396.
U

290 THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK lect. s
Thou hast trodden the sea with Thine horses,
The heap of mighty waters. Ill
I heard, and I trembled inwardly ;
My lips quivered at the voice ;
The strength of my bones decayed,
And my limbs trembled under me :
That I must wait calmly for the day of distress,
When the troop of invaders cometh up against my people.
For though the fig tree blossom not,
And there be no fruit upon the vines ;
Though the labour of the olive disappoint,
And the fields produce no food ;
Though the flock be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls ;
Yet as for me, I will exult in Jehovah,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength ;
He will surely make my feet like hinds' feet,
And cause me to tread upon mine high places.

LECTURE XI

JEREMIAH

Behold, I have put My toords in thy mouth : see, I have this
day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up
and to break down, and to destroy and to onrtlirow ; to build, ami
to plant. — Jeremiah i. 9, 10.

There is a tragic interest attaching to the life and Tragic
times of Jeremiah. The circumstances of the age, of the ufe
and times
the person of the prophet, the character of his of Jeremiah
message, all combine to demand our sympathetic
study. Who can watch unmoved, even at the
distance of twenty-five centuries, the death-agony of
a nation, and that nation the chosen people of God ?
Who can fail to be deeply touched by the story
of the prophet's life -long martyrdom, ended not
improbably by a martyr's death, — that story with
its frank confessions of human weakness, and its
unrivalled testimony to the reality of God -given
strength ? Who can ponder without awe the record
of human hardness and obstinacy, insensible alike
to the pleadings of love and the denunciations of

292 THE PROPHET JEREMIAH lect.
wrath ? Who can trace without wonder and reverence
the irresistible advance of God's purpose through
and in spite of man's opposition to His will, bringing
life out of death, and shaping a new order out of the
dissolution of the old ?
Hu book The Book of Jeremiah is a combination of history,
biography, and prophecy, which carries us into the
heart of the age, and pictures for us the character of
the prophet, more strikingly and completely than
any of the other prophetic books. It is — let it be
freely confessed — less attractive in outward form
than Isaiah, and consequently perhaps it is less
familiar to most readers of the Bible ; but it yields
to no book in its intensely human interest, and
deserves the most attentive study.

II
History of Very briefly let us recall the history of that long
BOSi1w-609 half-century during which Jeremiah's ministry lasted
(b.c. 627-577). His call took place in the thirteenth
year of Josiah (i. 1). It was an auspicious moment.
The power of Assyria was weakened ; and although
probably still nominally subject to it, Judah was
enjoying practical freedom. A noble -hearted king
was on the throne in the bloom of youth, surrounded
josiah's re- by right-minded advisers. A religious reformation
formation. ^ ° °
had just been set on foot1 to purge the country
1 According to 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3, Josiah began his reformation
in the twelfth year of his reign, the year before Jeremiah's call.

XI HISTORY OF HIS TIMES 293
of the idolatrous worship and flagrant immoralities
which had been dominant through the long and dis
astrous reign of Manasseh (2 Kings xxi ; xxiii. 4 ff. ;
Jer. vii. 9 ff, 17 ff., 30 ff. ; viii. 2 ; xix. 13 ; xxxii. 29,
etc. ; Zeph. i. 4 ff). That reign, with its horrible
enormities, had filled up the measure of Judah's guilt
(2 Kings xxiv. 3, 4 ; Jer. xv. 4) ; yet in God's for
bearance one last opportunity of repentance was to
be offered ere the final sentence of doom was pro
nounced on the apostate nation and the guilty city.
This movement of reform Jeremiah supported by
his public preaching. To this period may be referred,
in the main at least, the contents of chaps, ii-vi
(see iii. 6) ; though it is highly probable that some
of these utterances were modified in the light of
subsequent experience, when he committed them to
writing in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.
Repentance was indeed still possible. Amend your
ways and your doings, and I will cause you, to dwell
in this place, are the words in which he sums up the
teaching of this period (vii. 3). But he seems soon
to have found that the sin of Judah was so ingrained
and inveterate that there was but little hope of any
thorough amendment. The sin of Judah was written
with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond
(xvii. 1) ; and their virtual reply to all his exhort
ations to repentance was, There is no hope; for we
will walk after our own devices, and we will do every
one after the stubbornness of his evil heart (xviii. 12).

294

HISTORY OF JEREMIAH'S TIMES

Jehoahaz, B.C. 603.

Jehoiakim,B.C. 609.

Eighteen years after the commencement of Jere
miah's ministry, Josiah fell, fighting against Pharaoh-
Necoh, on the fatal battlefield of Megiddo. The last
hopes of Judah perished with him.
His second son, Jehoahaz or Shallum, was placed
on the throne ; but, after a brief reign of three
months, he was enticed by Pharaoh-Necoh to Riblah,1
made prisoner, and carried away to Egypt. Jeremiah
and Ezekiel appear to have seen some promise of
good in him, for they both speak with sorrow of his
untimely fate (Jer. xxii. 10-12 ; Ezek. xix. 3, 4).
In his stead Necoh placed Josiah's eldest son
Eliakim on the throne, changing his name to Jehoi
akim, Judah thus became a dependency of Egypt.
Jehoiakim was a cruel, selfish, luxurious prince
(Jer. xxii. 13 ff). With his accession the old pagan
ising party again came into power. The worship of
Jehovah was not indeed suspended, but it was com
bined with heathen idolatries. But mark God's
long-suffering. Still the offer of pardon was held
out, and on two occasions at least it was deliberately
and contemptuously rejected.
The first of these occasions was in the beginning
of Jehoiakim's reign (xxvi. 1 ff. ; cp. vii. 1 ff.),
1 Riblah was on the Orontes, midway between Damascus and
Hamath. It was the meeting-point of the main routes eastward
to the Euphrates, westward to the coast and Phoenicia, southward
to Damascus and the Jordan. Pharaoh-Necoh was halting there
before advancing to the Euphrates ; and Nebuchadnezzar made it
his headquarters for his campaign against Jerusalem and Phoenicia
Jer. xxxix. 5, 6).

xi THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM 295
Jeremiah was directed to take his stand in the
Temple court on some public fast or festival, when
the inhabitants of all the cities of Judah would have
come to Jerusalem to worship, and there deliver his
message in the ears of all the people. It may be
they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil
way ; that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose
to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
But instead of repenting, the people, led by the
priests and the prophets, seized Jeremiah and
clamoured for his life. The charge against him,
like the charge against our Lord Himself and against
St. Stephen, was one of blasphemy, for threatening
the Temple and city with desolation (vv. 11, 12). He
was only saved by the courageous firmness of certain
elders, who defended him by quoting the example
of Micah in the reign of Hezekiah, won over the
people in spite of the persistent hostility of priests
and prophets (xxvi. 16, 17), and secured his acquittal.
The second occasion was in the fifth year of
Jehoiakim (xxxvi. 9 ff). The roll which Baruch had
written at Jeremiah's dictation, and read in public
on the great fast day in the ears of all the people,
was taken to the king. We are familiar with the
scene of the king sitting with his courtiers in his
winter-palace, with the fire in a brasier burning
before him. Jehudi began to read the roll to him,
but he had read no more than three or four columns
when the king impatiently seized it, contemptuously

296 HISTORY OF JEREMIAH'S TIMES lect.
cut it to shreds with his own hand, and flung it into
the fire which was burning before him. A few of the
more reverently-minded princes made intercession to
the king not to burn the roll, but he would not listen ,
to them. The rest looked on with indifference or
approval. The prophet's warnings made no impres
sion on them. The king's contempt for Jehovah's
message did not strike them with any horror. They
were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the
king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
Thus once more, through its chief head and repre
sentative, the nation proclaimed its impenitence, and
set the seal to its doom.
Meanwhile the great battle of Carchemish,1 in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim, B.C. 605, had settled the
question of the supremacy of Western Asia. In that
great battle — it was one of the decisive battles of
ancient history — the forces of Egypt under Necoh
met those of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar (Jer.
xlvi. 2 ff). Nebuchadnezzar was completely victori
ous, and the Egyptians were compelled to retreat.
For the moment he was unable to follow up his suc
cess, as his father's death recalled him to Babylon.
But he soon returned to secure the fruits of his

1 Carchemish used generally to be identified with the classical
Circesium, at the junction of the Chaboras with the Euphrates, but
is now thought to have been situated much farther up the river
to the north-west at Jerabis. In either case it commanded the
passage of the Euphrates, and hence the decisive battle was fought
there.

A a

XI THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM 297
victory, drove Necoh's forces back to Egypt, and
added to the Babylonian empire all the provinces
which had belonged to Egypt, right up to the frontier
of that country (2 Kings xxiv. 7). Jehoiakim became
his vassal. For three years he served him, and then
rebelled. It was an act of mad folly. Nebuchad
nezzar soon appeared before the walls of Jerusalem.
Jehoiakim probably fell in some skirmish.1 His son
Jehoiachin, otherwise known as Jeconiah or Coniah, jehoiachin,B.C. 597.
succeeded him. But after a brief reign of three
months he was compelled to surrender. He was
carried prisoner to Babylon ; and Josiah's youngest
son Mattaniah was placed on the throne — if throne
it could now be called — under the name of Zedekiah. zedekiah,B.C. 697-586.
The name signifies Jehovah's righteousness. Did the
heathen monarch know what bitter irony and stern
truth there was in the name which he gave the
puppet king? Jehovah's righteousness : just what the
faithless king and the ungodly people would not
believe in ; and because they would not believe in
it, and respond to it in their lives, it must be made
manifest in the awful judgements now about to
fall on the people of God.
Calamity produced no reformation. In vain Jere
miah declared that submission to the yoke of Babylon
was God's will ; that the exiles in Babylon should
resign themselves to a prolonged sojourn there, and
1 Jer. xxii. 19 ; comp. the silence of 2 Kings xxiv. 6 about his
burial.

298 HISTORY OF JEREMIAH'S TIMES lect.
that those who remained in Judaea should bear the
yoke of vassalage with equanimity. In the fourth
year of his reign Zedekiah seems to have been plot
ting rebellion. It is clear from the purport of Jere
miah's message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon,
Tyre, and Zidon (xxvii. 1 ff.),1 that their object in
sending ambassadors to Jerusalem was to form a
confederacy to throw off the yoke of Babylon ; and
it is natural to connect Zedekiah's visit to Babylon
in the same year (li. 59) with this movement.
Nebuchadnezzar no doubt had heard of it, and forth
with summoned his vassal to appear before him and
renew his oath of allegiance.
At length Pharaoh-Hophra came to the throne,
and, trusting in the old delusion of Egyptian support,
Zedekiah broke his oath. An oath was none the less
\ binding because it was taken to a heathen king.
Indignantly Ezekiel asks, Shall he prosper ? shall he
escape that doeth such things ? shall he break the cove
nant and yet escape? (xvii. 15, 16). Nebuchadnezzar
with a powerful army appeared before Jerusalem
and besieged it. The advance of an Egyptian army
' compelled him temporarily to raise th^e siege (Jer.
Destruction xxxvii. 5 ff). But the end was close at hand. After
ofjerusa- .
ie-m, b.c. an eighteen months' siege famine made further resist-
586. i °_ &
'ance impossible. A breach was made in the walls,
and the city was taken, on the ninth day of the
1 It is evident from xxvii. 3, 12, 20 ; xxviii. 1, that Jehoiakim
in xxvii. 1 is a textual error for Zedekiah.

xi THE REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH 299
fourth month of the eleventh year of the reign of
Zedekiah. Zedekiah attempted to escape, but was
captured by the Chaldeans, and brought before Nebu
chadnezzar at Riblah. After his sons and the nobles
who had been taken prisoners had been put to death
before his eyes, he was himself blinded, according to
the brutal custom of the time, and carried in fetters
to Babylon. Ezekiel's prophecy that he should jiot
see Babylon, though he would die there_(Ezek. xii.
13), was fulfilled to the letter. A month later
Nebuzaradan appeared at Jerusalem to execute his
master's sentence on the rebellious city (2 Kings xxv.
8 ff). The principal priests and officers and sixty
prominent citizens were sent to Riblah for execution ;
all the remaining treasures of the temple were carried
off ; the temple, palace, and city were burnt ; and all
the people of the better class were carried away into
exile. Only some of the poorest of the people were
left behind to cultivate the land. Over these
Gedaliah, the son of Jeremiah's protector Ahikam,
was appointed governor. Here, at least, there seemed
to be a gleam of hope. But the miserable jealousy of
a member of the royal family — Ishmael, the son of
Nethaniah, instigated by Baalis, king of Judah's
ancient enemies the Ammonites — speedily quenched
it. Gedaliah was treacherously murdered; the leaders
of the people, fearing the vengeance of the Chaldeans,
migrated — in defiance of Jeremiah's advice — to
Egypt, where the Jews were scattered about, and

300 THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM lect.
fell into their old idolatries (Jer. xl-xliv). Five
years later another deportation completed the de
population of Judaea (lii. 30) ; the land was left
utterly desolate to enjoy her sabbaths; Jeremiah's
predictions and threatenings were fulfilled to the
very letter in his own lifetime, and before his own
eyes. Thus, by the utter destruction of city and sanctu
ary, another volume of Israel's history was closed. The
destruction of the sanctuary at Shiloh had marked
the end of the age of the Judges ; the destruction of
Solomon's Temple marked the end of the period of
the monarchy ; the destruction of the second Temple
by Titus was to mark by a yet more terrible cata
strophe the close of the national history of Israel in
their own land.
It is necessary thus briefly to trace the features
of the history of Jeremiah's times, and to point out
the obstinacy, the impenitence, the infatuation of
kings, princes, and people during at any rate the last
half of that eventful fifty years, if we would at all
realise the agony, the bitterness, the struggle of Jere
miah's ministry, as the long night of the exile settled
down in storm and gloom upon his beloved country,
and estimate the strength of the prophetic inspiration
by which he was enabled to foresee a nobler city
arising out of the ruins of the old, a new covenant
taking the place of that which seemed to have been
so decisively annulled.

xi JEREMIAH'S CHARACTER 301
III
Let us now fix our attention on the prophet him- The prophet
, Jeremiah.
self. His book is to a large extent an autobiography
— a volume of personal " confessions," from which we
learn to know him in his weakness as well as his
strength, and to sympathise with him in the trying
circumstances of his long and arduous ministry. He
was a priest, and his home was at Anathoth, a village
about three miles to the north-east of Jerusalem.
His active ministry was mainly exercised in Jeru
salem, but apparently he continued to live at
Anathoth (xi. 21; xii. 6; xxxii. 7). He was but a iiiscait,eh. i. I, ff.
youth when the word of Jehovah came to him. He
would fain have declined the call. Ah, lord Jehovah !
behold, I cannot speak ; for I am a child. But man's
/ cannot was met by God's Thou shalt. Say not, I
am a child : for upon whatsoever errand I shall send
thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command
thee thou shalt speak. . . . Behold, I have put My words
in thy mouth: see, I have this day set thee over the
nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to
break down, and to destroy and to overthrow ; to build
and to plant. . . . Gird up thy loins, and arise, and
speak unto them all that I command thee : be not
dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them
(i. 6 ff, 17).
We mark at the outset the prophet's natural His
timidity of character and reluctance to face the

302 JEREMIAH'S COMMISSION lect
terrible task before him. The same characteristics
reappear in later life, when, in the midst of de
famation and persecution, he would gladly have kept
silence, or fled to some solitary lodge in the wilder
ness (xx. 9 ; ix. 2). Jeremiah was not the man upon
whom human choice would have fallen for so diffi
cult, nay, desperate a mission; but God chooses
the weak for His instruments, in order that the
strength with which He endows them may be seen
to be all His own.
Hismission. Yet we may recognise in Jeremiah's character a
special fitness for his mission. That tender, shrink
ing, sympathetic heart could more fully feel, and
more adequately express, the ineffable divine sorrow
over the guilty people, the eternal love which was
never stronger than at the moment when it seemed
to have been metamorphosed into bitter wrath and
implacable vengeance.
Jeremiah's commission concerned not Israel only,
but " the nations " : he was to be the exponent of
God's world-plan in that age of convulsion and up
heaval. It was primarily to pluck up and to break
down, and to destroy and to overthrow ; though ulti
mately to build, and to plant; in other words, to
announce the removal of the existing order of things
to make room for a fresh one. Jehovah was as the
potter who shapes his work upon the wheels, re
moulding it into new forms according to his purpose,
dealing with nations and men in His sovereign

xi JEREMIAH'S MINISTRY 303
power, not arbitrarily or capriciously, but according
to their deserts. It was a commission which might
well have daunted a bolder heart than Jeremiah's.
Alone he must stand, in opposition to rulers and
people alike, to kings and princes, priests and
prophets, and all the people of the land (i. 18).
Some friends and supporters he had in the earlier
days of his ministry ; but they died or were carried
into exile, and the more he needed support and en
couragement as his mission grew more difficult, the
more entirely was it denied him. He was to form
no domestic ties ; to abstain from sharing the social
joys, or shewing his sympathy with the natural
sorrows, of his countrymen (xvi. 1 ff.). His stern and
cheerless life of isolation must express the burden
of his message, and figure the doom of his people.
We may watch him at his work, delivering his Modes of
work.
message in the most public places, on the most
public occasions, in the Temple courts, at the royal
palace, at the city gates, upon days of fast or festival,
when the people from the country had come to
Jerusalem to worship.1 We see him using as the
foundation of his teaching symbolism which involved
a laborious journey (xiii. 1); deducing a lesson of
warning from the sight of the potter at his wheel
(xviii. 1 ff.) ; taking a party of elders into the valley
of Hinnom by the "potsherds' gate," and breaking
1 See vii. 2 ; xvii. 19 ; xix. 14 ; xxii. 1 ; xxvi. 2 ; xxxv. 2 ;
xxxvi. 5, 10.

304 JEREMIAH'S MINISTRY lect.
an earthen pitcher into fragments before them as an
illustration of the ease with which Jerusalem would
be destroyed, and the irreparableness of the destruc
tion (xix. 1 ff). He takes the Rechabites, and tests
their loyalty to their father's command, in order to
point to the contrast between their fidelity to a
father's precept and Israel's disregard of Jehovah's
law (xxxv. 1 ff). In the last siege of Jerusalem he
proves his confidence that his prophecies of ultimate
restoration would be fulfilled, by exercising his right
as next of kin to redeem a field at Anathoth, on
which very possibly the Chaldeans were at that
moment encamped (xxxii. 6 ff).
With the help of his faithful scribe and disciple
Baruch, he commits his prophecies to writing, gather
ing together a record of his first twenty-three years
of ministry, at the crisis when Nebuchadnezzar was
on the point of invading Judah ; and when the
godless Jehoiakim destroyed the roll, re-writing it
with many fresh additions. Specially was he
charged to commit to writing those wonderful
prophecies of restoration which form the Book of
Consolation (chaps, xxx -xxxiii), to be a witness
during the long years of exile to Jehovah's purpose,
and a comfort to the faithful in their banishment
from country and sanctuary and all that they held
most dear.
ms Jeremiah's ministry was a life-long martyrdom.
sufferings. ,T , ... ., , • i,,.
JNot only was it m its nature a burden that might

XI JEREMIAH'S SUFFERINGS 305
well have crushed the strongest spirit ; not only was
he compelled to stand almost alone against the whole
nation ; but he was actually the object of bitter
persecution : his very life was constantly in danger.
His neighbours at Anathoth sought to murder him.
They devised devices against him, saying, let us destroy
the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off
from the land of the living, that his name may be
no more remembered (xi. 18 ff). His own family
raised the hue and cry after him, and could not be
trusted (xii. 6). Denounce, and we will denounce him,
say all my familiar friends, they that watch for my
halting ; peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall
prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge
on him (xx. 10). The priest who was the chief
officer of the Temple thrust him in the stocks for
profaning (as he thought) the Temple court with his
forebodings of evil (xx. 1 ff). The popular prophets
were in constant opposition to him, both in
Jerusalem and in Babylon (xxiii. 9 ff. ; xxviii. 1 ;
xxix. 1), endeavouring, only too successfully, to
neutralise his message with their flattering falsehoods.
Not even when he solemnly predicted the death of
Hananiah, and his prediction came to pass within
two months (xxviii. 16 f.), nor when he declared
that Ahab and Zedekiah, who were not only false
prophets, but immoral livers, would suffer the
horrible Babylonian punishment of being burnt alive
(xxix. 21 ff), did the people believe him,
X

306 JEREMIAH'S SUFFERINGS lect
Priests and prophets, as we have seen, clamoured
for his life, and put him upon his trial for predicting
the destruction of the city and the Temple. Jehoi
akim sought to arrest him after he had written the
roll, and he might easily have shared the fate of
Uriah (xxvi. 20 ff). That prophet, for predictions
similar to those of Jeremiah, incurred the king's
displeasure, and though he fled to Egypt, he was
brought back and put to death, and his corpse
ignominiously flung into the graves of the common
people. In the profane degeneracy of this unbeliev
ing age, no inviolable sanctity attached to the person
of a prophet. In the siege he was charged with the
intention of deserting to the Chaldeans, and was
thrown into prison (xxxvii. 14 ff). The military
party demanded his execution. The pusillanimous
king dared not oppose them. They flung him
into a filthy dungeon, to perish by starvation; and
he was only rescued from it by the charity of a
foreigner (xxxviii. 1 ff). He was dragged away
perforce to Egypt by the men who consulted him
whether they should remain in Jerusalem, and then
had not faith or courage to follow his advice (xliii.
6). Finally, if tradition may be accepted, he was
stoned to death at Daphnae, in Egypt, by the angry
people, who were impatient of his denunciations of
their idolatries.
Jeremiahs We should have been glad to think that he
complaints °
endured this persecution with meekness and patience

XI JEREMIAH'S COMPLAINTS 307
and forgivingness. We can hardly,indeed, be surprised
that he bemoans his hard lot, or even curses the day
of his birth (xv. 10 ff. ; xx. 14 ff). Many a Christian
man's faith has failed him, and in moments of
despair he has wished that he had never been born.
When he challenges the justice of God's govern
ment (xii. 1 ff), or even complains that he has been
deceived and deluded (xx. 7), we can sympathise
with the human despair and weariness which for the
moment loses its hold on God, and sinks exhausted
and hopeless.
But we are startled, nay, horror-struck, to hear ana demm-
.... ... . . ciations of
his bitter curses against his persecutors, his passionate Ms enemies.
invocations of divine vengeance upon them.1 They
reach a terrible climax in ch. xviii. 19 ff, where he
prays :
Give heed to me, Jehovah, and hearken unto the voice
of my plea? Shall evil be recompensed for good ? for
they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I
stood before Thee to speak good for them, to turn away
Thy fury from them. Therefore deliver up their
children to the famine, and give them over to the power
of the sword ; and let their wives become childless and
widows ; and let their men be slain of death, and their
young men smitten of the sword in battle. . . . For Thou,
Jehovah, Thou knowest all their counsel against me to
1 See xi. 18 fi'. ; xv. 15 ff. ; xvii. 18 ; xviii. 19 ff. ; xx. 11 ff.
2 This reading of the LXX suits the context better than that
of the Heb. text, the voice of them that contend with me. Cp. ch.
xx. 12 ; Job xiii. 6.

308 JEREMIAH'S COMPLAINTS lect.
slay me : forgive not their iniquity, neither blot Thou
their sin from Thy sight ; but let them be made
to stumble before Thee : deal Thou with them in the
time of Thine anger.
Let us be just to Jeremiah. The provocation was
tremendous. The most strenuous efforts for the
welfare of his countrymen were recompensed with
treacherous plots against his life, or open demands
for his execution. And we must not judge him by
the standard of the Gospel. It is the spirit of
Elijah and Elisha, not of Christ. It is the spirit
of Zechariah, whose dying words were, The Lord
look upon it and require it; not the spirit of
Stephen, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Let
it be granted that some personal vindictiveness
was mingled with those imprecations. But there
was a far deeper meaning in them. They were
— in however imperfect a way — the expression of
a desire for the triumph of righteousness, for the
manifestation of God's justice in the world. We
must remember how keenly the prophet felt that his
cause was God's cause, and that his enemies were
God's enemies ; that God's honour was at stake to
defend and vindicate His prophet, and prove his
opponents to be utterly in the wrong ; while in those
times the idea of future rectification and redress of
the wrongs of this world was hardly, if at all, enter
tained, and godly men longed to see God's righteous
judgement visibly manifested in this present life.

xi JEREMIAH'S TEACHING 309
Nor must we forget the other side of the prophet's Anothcsideof his char-
character; the tender sympathy of his nature, — I <»<"«'¦¦
suspect it was largely this which made him feel the
malice of his persecutors so bitterly — the deep sorrow
with which he watched his infatuated country rush
ing madly to irreparable ruin (e.g. iv. 19 ff. ; viii! 18ff) ;
the faith that believed and obeyed and acted even
where it could not understand (xxxii. 17 ff), resting
itself upon the character of God revealed and proved
in the long history of His dealings with His people.
Unchristlike as was his temper in denouncing his Jeremiah a type
enemies, men have rightly seen in Jeremiah a type ofchrut.
of Christ. The solitary sufferer, defamed and perse
cuted, and opposed by the spiritual leaders of the
nation, in an age when the country was hastening to
ruin, prefigures Him who was to suffer many things of
the elders and chief priests and scribes, as He made the
last offer of God's mercy to an obdurate people, before
they were scattered for a dispersion compared to
which the seventy years of exile were to be but as a
few days. IV
From the prophet we turn to his message. It was Jeremiah's
. . teaching.
in the main a call to repentance and a warning of judge
ment. Like Amos and Hosea, he based his preach
ing on the relation of Jehovah to Israel. Jehovah had jciwmh and Israel.
chosen Israel, and entered into covenant with them ;
He had brought them out of Egypt, and led them

810 JEREMIAH'S TEACHING lect.
through the wilderness ; He had continually edu
cated them by the ministry of His prophets (ii. 1 ff,
6 ff. ; vii. 25). Like Hosea, Jeremiah uses the figures
of marriage and sonship to describe the closeness of
Israel's relation to Jehovah, and the duties implied
in that relationship. / remember for thee the kindness
of thy youth, the love of thine espousals ; how thou
wentest after Me in the wild,erness, in a land that was
not sown (ii. 2). lam a father to Israel, and Ephraim
is my firstborn (xxxi. 9).
Israel's But Israel had forsaken Jehovah, and chosen
sins ." — other gods ; and false belief had led to a deep-seated
and inveterate moral degeneracy. My people have
committed two evils ; they have forsaken Me the foun
tain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water. . . . I had planted
thee a noble vine, wholly a true seed : how then art
thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine
unto Me? (ii. 13, 21).
idolatry. Idolatry was openly practised in the cities of
Judah and the streets of Jerusalem ; 1 the very
Temple had been polluted (vii. 30) ; Jerusalem had
been defiled with the abominations of human sacri
fices; and it would seem that these horrors had
actually been defended as pleasing to Jehovah, for
He has expressly to disclaim ever having given such
a commandment (vii. 31). The people fancied that
1 See i. 16 ; vii. 16 ff. ; viii. 2, 19 ; xi. 13 ; xxxii. 29 ff. ; xliv.
2 ff., 7 ff.

xi THE SINS OF JUDAH 311
they could unite these idolatries with the worship
of Jehovah, utterly failing to recognise that he was
" the jealous God," who would not tolerate a divided
allegiance, no, not for a moment.
This provocation of Jehovah was combined with a unbeiitf.
contemptuous scepticism. They have denied Jehovah,
and said, It is not He ; neither shall evil come upon us
(v. 12). They were not indeed speculative atheists,
denying His existence ; but they were practical
atheists, for they denied the reality and the right
eousness of His government of the world.
Corruption in religion had borne fruit in cor- immorality.
ruption of conduct. Faithlessness and falsehood,
injustice and covetousness, violence and murder,
were universal.1 Jerusalem was like Sodom in the
days of Lot. There was no salt of righteousness in
her to preserve her. Run ye to and fro through the
streets of Jerusalem, and see noiv, and know, and seek in
the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there
be any that doeth justly, that speaketh the truth, and I
will pardon her (v. 1). Her sins cried out for punish
ment. Shall I not visit for these things ? saith Jehovah:
shall not my soul be avenged upon such a nation as
this ? (v. 29). »
Yet the blind confidence of the people in the Biimifor- malism.
outward forms of religion remained unshaken. They
offered their sacrifices. Indignantly the prophet re-
1 See v. 1, 26-28 ; vi. 6 ff, 13 ; vii. 5 ff. ; ix. 2 ff, 8 ; etc., and
for illustration, xxxiv. 8 ff.

312 JEREMIAH'S TEACHING lect
pudiates the idea that a ritual of sacrifice was the sum
and substance of the Mosaic legislation (vii. 21 ff),
Bluntly they are told that their offerings are not ac
ceptable (vi. 20). Severely they are asked, Shall vows
and holy flesh take away from thee thy wickednesses,
or shalt thou escape by these ? 1 They trusted in the
presence of the Temple in their midst, and, pointing
to its buildings, exclaimed, with the iteration of
fanaticism, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of
Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these (vii. 4) ; and
therefore, they argued, no evil could happen to them.
But sternly Jehovah demands, Will ye steal, murder,
and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn
incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom
ye have not known, and come and stand before Me in
this house, which is called by My name, and say,
Deliver us ? 2^-that ye may do all these abominations I
Is this house, which is called by My name, become a
den of robbers in your' eyes? (vii. 9 ff).
Seif-con- They trusted in the wisdom of their " wise men "
— the philosophical thinkers and political advisers of
the state ; in the law which the. priests and scribes
expounded with an easy-going opportunism ; in the
comfortable assurances with which the false prophets
drugged their consciences. The established order
of things was very satisfactory : it was not going to
1 Ch. xi. 15, according to the LXX. The Massoretic text can
only be translated by violence, and gives no satisfactory sense.
2 Ewald rightly suggests that, by a simple change of vowel
points, the verb should be read in the imperative.

Xi THE SINS OF JUDAH 313
come to an end just yet ; Jeremiah was a revolution
ary disturber of the public peace to challenge its
excellence. We arc wise, they said, and the law of
Jehovah is with us. . . . The law shall not perish from
the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word
from the prophet (viii. 8 ff ; xviii. 18).
No prophetic exhortation could convince them obduracy.
of their sin. No chastisement could bring them to
repentance. When judgement fell upon them they
would ask, with an air of injured innocence, Where
fore hath Jehovah our God done all these things unto
us? (v. 19 ; xiii. 22: xvi. 10). They were incorrigible
(v. 3), and nothing was left but to write Judah's
epitaph : This is the nation that hath not hearkened
to the voice of Jehovah their God, nor received correc
tion: truth is perished, and is cut off from their
mouth (vii. 28).
Therefore nothing remains but judgement. The
city and nation must be swept away. The old order
must be destroyed that a new one may arise in its
place : death is the only hope of life.
At first, indeed, there is a tone of hopefulness in change of
... . toneinJere-
Jeremiah's message. Reformation was still possible, mtah'spro-
° phecies from
The exile might still be averted (iv. 3 ; vi. 8). Ametul hopefulness
your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to
dwell in this place (vii. 3). This is the purport of
the prophecies which belong to the reign of Josiah
(chaps, ii-vi), though- even in these a sense of the
desperateness of Judah's case frequently appears.

314 JEREMIAH'S TEACHING lect.
Perhaps the prophet saw the superficiality of the
reformation ; perhaps, too, they are coloured by the
state of affairs in the reign of Jehoiakim, when they
were committed to writing.
In the prophecies of the early years of Jehoiakim
hope and despair alternate. The offer of pardon is
still made, but the impression left by the discourses
of this period is that the prophet was thoroughly
convinced that the conditions of pardon would never
be accepted. The people are heard pronouncing
their own doom. When Jehovah pleaded with them,
Return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend
your ways and your doings, their answer, in deeds if
not in words, was this, There is no hope : for we will
walk after our own devices, and we will do every one
after the stubbornness of his evil heart (xviii. 12).
to the con- And so from the fifth year of Jehoiakim and
Diction that
judgement is on ward the stern sentence goes forth. They are a
inevitable. °
people past praying for, and Jeremiah is forbidden
to intercede for them any more.1 Could there he a
more terrible command than this ? Therefore pray
not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer
for them, neither make intercession to Me : for I will
not hear thee (vii. 16). God's patience is exhausted.
Nay, even if the most famous intercessors of all
history, Moses and Samuel, could arise to plead
their cause, yet would they not prevail to avert the
judgement (xv. 1 ff).
1 See vii. 16 ff. ; xi. 14 ; xiv, 11 ; xv. 1.

xi THE IMPENITENCE OF JUDAH 815
The seventy years' duration of the Babylonian
supremacy was now plainly proclaimed (xxv. 11 ff);
those who were carried away to Babylon with
Jehoiachin were bidden to settle there, and prepare
for this prolonged sojourn in the land of exile (xxix.
4 ff) ; those who remained in Judaea were counselled
to bow to the Chaldean yoke, for thus alone might
the severity of their punishment be mitigated, if they
would resign themselves to Jehovah's will (xxvii.
9 ff, 12 ff). And thus in the final siege Jeremiah
had to bear the reproach of being a traitor and a
renegade, because he must needs preach surrender
when prolonged resistance was but a futile effort to
evade the inevitable divine decree (xxi. 8 ff. ; xxxvii.
6 ff. ; xxxviii. 3 ff). V
From that gloomy and desperate present, that Hope
' directed to
terrible spectacle of an obdurate and impenitent thefuture.
people courting its own doom, Jeremiah turned his
gaze to the future. In his sternest denunciations of
judgement he held out the promise of restoration.
In the darkest gloom of the night of calamity he
foresaw the dawn of a brighter day. In the death-
agony of his nation he foretold its resurrection to a
new life. The fullest promises are collected in the
" Book of Consolation " (chaps, xxx-xxxiii), a series
of prophecies which he was specially enjoined to
commit to writing as the record of God's fore-

316

JEREMIAH'S TEACHING

Imperish-

Israel.

of

The return
from exile.

ordained purpose. But they are not confined to this
book. Let us try to gather out a general idea of
their substance.
(1) The indestructibility of Israel was from the
first one of his favourite doctrines. The judgement
which must be inflicted is designed for correction,
not annihilation. I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to
save thee : for I will make a full end of all the nations
whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full
end of thee ; but I will correct thee with judgement, and
will in no wise learn thee unpunished (xxx. 11 ; cp.
iv. 27 ; v. 10, 18 ; xlvi. 28 ; x. 24). He insists upon
God's good and loving purpose in this chastisement,
/ know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith
Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you
cm hereafter and a hope (xxix. 11).
(2) The nation must go into captivity ; but the
day for return will come when the seventy years are
over — a decade of punishment for each century of
sin — and the double recompence of their iniquities
has been inflicted (xvi. 18). The exodus from
Babylon will eclipse the memory of the exodus from
Egypt (xvi. 14 ff), and restoration will be for Israel
as well as Judah (iii. 12 ff). Fear thou not, 0 Jacob
My servant, saith Jehovah; neither be dismayed, 0
Israel : for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed
from the land of their captivity ; and Jacob shall return,
and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him
afraid (xxx. 10). The storm of the Lord's fury will

xi PREDICTIONS OF RESTORATION 317
burst upon the head of the wicked (xxx. 23), but the
day of Babylon's distress will be the hour of Israel's
redemption (xxx. 7).
In tenderest language does God declare His love
for Israel. Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love ; therefore have I continued lovingkindness unto
thee (xxxi. 3). It is the love of the father's heart
yearning over his prodigal son. Is Ephraim My
precious son ? is he a darling child ? for as often as I
speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still :
therefore My heart yearns for him ; I will surely have
mercy upon him, saith Jehovah (xxxi. 20, cp. ver. 9).
Rachel's tears for her lost children are dried (xxxi.
16). Ephraim laments his sin, and prays for the
grace of penitence (iii. 21 ff). A holy people return,
and Zion can be saluted with a greeting worthy of
her name as the city of God : Jehovah bless thee, 0
habitation of justice, 0 mountain of holiness (xxxi.
23). (3) A succession of worthless kings had dis- The Mem-
graced the throne ; but in that day of restoration
true and faithful shepherds will be raised up to take
the place of these false and selfish tyrants. Pre-emi
nent above them all towers the figure of One whose
Name is a pledge of the new dispensation which He
inaugurates. Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that
I will raise unto David a righteous Branch} and he
shall reign as king, and deal wisely, and shall execute
1 Lit. Shoot or Growth. See p. 187.

anic King.

318 JEREMIAH'S TEACHING lect.
judgement and justice in the land. In his days Judah
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely : and this is
his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah is our
righteousness (xxiii. 5, 6). That Name is a watchword
of the age to come. It signifies that he is to be the
pledge for the realisation of the truth, that Jehovah
Himself is at once the standard and the source of
His people's righteousness. A righteous ruler will
reign over a righteous people, in perfect fellowship
with a righteous God.
Elsewhere that King is styled David (xxx. 9).
Not that Jeremiah expected David to return in
person, like the Arthur of our ancient legend ; but,
like Hosea, he looked for one of the line of David
who should fulfil the ideal of the man after God's
own heart. That King is to have a mysterious privi
lege of priestly access to God. I will cause him to
draw near, and he shall approach unto Me : for who is
he that hath had boldness to approach unto Me ? saith
Jehovah (xxx. 21).
Theregener- (4) The city must be destroyed. But out of its
ate city. rums will arise a new city, wherein shall be heard
again the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice
of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of
them that say, Give thanks to Jehovah of hosts : for
Jehovah is good ; for His mercy endureth for ever
(xxxiii. 11). The restored city will bear the same
name as the righteous King. In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely;

xi PREDICTIONS OF RESTORATION 319
and this is the name whereby she shall be called,
Jehovah is our righteousness (xxxiii. 16). For city
no less than King will be the witness to the truth
which constitutes the essence of Redemption, and
will be the instrument for translating the truth into
visible fact.
(5) An apostate people had broken the old cove- The xew
Covenant.
nant made with them at the Exodus (xi. 1 ff). But
Jehovah will make a New Covenant, written not on
tables of stone, but on the tables of the heart, an
inward, spiritual, everlasting covenant, a covenant of
pardon and grace. This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
Jehovah : I will put My law in their inward parts,
and in their heart will I write it ; and I will be their
God, and they shall be My people : and they shall teach
no more every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Enow Jehovah : for they shall all know
Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,
saith Jehovah : for I will forgive their iniquity, and
their sin will I remember no more (xxxi. 33 f.).
/ will give them one heart and one way, that they
may fear Me for ever ; for the good of them, and of
their children after them : and I will make an ever
lasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away
from them, to do them good ; and I will put My fear
in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me
(xxxii. 39 f.).
And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity,

320 JEREMIAH'S TEACHING lect.
whereby they have sinned against Me ; and I will
pardon cdl their iniquities (xxxiii. 8).
The Pres- (6) The ark had been the most prized palladium of
ence of
Jehovah, the old order ; and the spirituality and glory of the
new age could not be more emphatically described
than by the prophecy that it would neither have nor
need an ark, because Jehovah Himself would be
in their midst. His Presence would supersede its
symbol. In those days they shall say no more, The
ark of the covenant of Jehovah ; neither shall it come
to mind : neither shall they remember it ; neither shall
they miss it ; neither shall it be made any more. At
that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah
(iii. 16 f.).
Personal (7) The people failed to realise their own guilt.
responsibility. They complained that they were being punished for
the sins of their forefathers, and impugned the justice
of God. But in the new age a deeper sense of
individual responsibility will be realised. In those
' days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten
sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
But every one shall die for his own iniquity : every man
that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge,
(xxxi. 29 f.). Jeremiah is not abrogating the second
commandment. In the very next chapter he ex
pressly quotes it (xxxii. 18). He is not questioning
the truth of the solidarity of a family or a nation.
There are consequences of their parents' conduct
which the children cannot escape. But it is for

xi THE NEW COVENANT 321
their own sins that men are responsible, and for their
own sins that they will be punished.
(8) It is an intimate, spiritual fellowship between Fellowship
the repentant, pardoned people and the God who
loves them with an indomitable love, in spite of all
their perversity, to which Jeremiah looks forward.
It is thus summed up : I will give them an heart to
know Me, that I am Jehovah , and they shall be My
people, and I will be their God : for they shall return
unto Me with their whole heart (xxiv. 7).

VI
But Jeremiah had an express commission to the The destiny
nations as well as to Israel. He speaks of a book of nations
prophecies against the nations, some part at least of
which is incorporated in the extant Book of Jeremiah
(xxv. 13). His message to the nations was in the
main, as it was to Israel, a message of judgement, in judge
It was an epoch of judgement for the world, and
Nebuchadnezzar was the divine agent in its execution.
Lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by
My name, and should ye be utterly unpunished ? Ye
shall not be unpunished : for I will call for a sword
upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah of
hosts (xxv. 29 ; cp. xii. 14 ff). Jehovah hath a con
troversy with the nations ; He will plead with all flesh ;
as for the wicked, He will give them to the sword
(xxv. 31 ; cp. xlvi. 10 ; xlvii. 6 ; xlviii. 10).
y

ment

tion.

322 THE DESTINY OF THE NATIONS lect.
Nebuchadnezzar is Jehovah's servant: into his
power He has given the kingdoms of the world, for
He as their Creator claims the sovereign right to
dispose their destinies. And all the nations must
serve Nebuchadnezzar, and his son, and his son's son,
until the time of his own land come (xxvii. 5 ff).
But that day will come, a day of retribution for
Babylon's heartless violence; and the book of the
prophecies against the nations closes with a tri
umphant vision of vengeance on the great oppressor
Babylon, who shall sink, and not rise again.1
and redemp- Yet even in the judgement of the nations there is
hope. To Moab, to Ammon, to Elam, a restoration
is promised (xlviii. 47 ; xlix. 6, 39).
And, like his predecessors, Jeremiah foresees the
gathering of the nations to Jerusalem, to the name of
Jehovah (iii. 17). He sees them come from the ends
of the earth, disowning their idols, and confessing
that Jehovah alone is God (xvi. 19). Israel might
even now be the blessing and the boast of the nations
according to the patriarchal promise, if it would
repent (iv. 2) : and in the days to come the nations
will no longer teach Israel the worship of their false
gods, but themselves learn to serve Jehovah (xii. 16);
and ransomed Zion will be the wonder of all the
nations of the earth (xxxiii. 9).
1 While the statement that Jeremiah prophesied the fall of
Babylon is not to be questioned (li. 60), it is doubtful whether
chaps. 1, li, at any rate in their present form, can be from Ms pen.
See Driver's Introd. to the Lit. of the O.T.* p. 266.

xi FULFILMENT OF JEREMIAH'S PROPHECIES 328
VII
Thus in an age of change and convulsion and summary.
revolution Jeremiah with unhesitating faith pro
claimed the certain progress of the eternal purpose
of God. He affirmed that the destruction of the old
order was but the prelude to the introduction of a
new and nobler order. He declared that the final
aim of the removal of the things that were shaken was
that the things which cannot be slutken might remain.
In the prophecy of the New Covenant he deepened
and spiritualised the idea of the relation of the
Church to God, and emphasised the thought of the
responsibilities and privileges of the individual. If
his picture of the Messianic King and his kingdom
is less magnificent than Isaiah's, the true glory of
that rule comes into fuller prominence in proportion
as the outward splendour falls away ; and we make
a long step forward towards the idea of that spiritual
kingdom which was to be the true fulfilment of the
hopes of Israel.
If, lastly, we ask how Jeremiah's prophecies have Thefuifii-
n it i ment of
been fulfilled, we can point first to the literal restora- Jeremiahs
prophecies.
tion of the Jews to their own land. Unlikely enough
it must have seemed to human calculation, as men
gazed upon the ruined walls of the city and the
smoking ashes of the temple, that the greatest glory
of temple and city was yet to come. But so it was.
And if the feeble band of exiles that returned, and

324 FULFILMENT OF JEREMIAH'S PROPHECIES lect.
the struggling community which for centuries hardly
held its own against hostile neighbours, seemed but
a poor realisation of those glowing pictures of pros
perity, what shall we say ? On the one hand, did
not man's unbelief dwarf and stunt the growth of
the divine purpose, so that God could not (with
reverence be it said) fulfil all His will? All pro
phecy, as Jeremiah himself repeatedly teaches, is
conditional. On the other hand, does not St. Paul
caution us against too hastily assuming that God's
purposes for Israel as set forth in these prophecies
have already received their complete fulfilment?
We dare not dogmatise how or when or where, but
we still look for the consolation of Israel (Rom.
xi. 25 ff).
But if something may seem to be wanting to the
fulfilment of the promises of Israel's restoration, it is
surely far otherwise with those other most character
istic prophecies of Jeremiah.
The New Covenant has been established in the
spiritual dispensation of the Gospel, in a law written
by the Spirit in the hearts of men ; and in the new
revelation the means of pardon and purification have
been provided and made known to man. In the
Incarnation God has come to dwell among men in a
far more intimate relation than Jeremiah could have
anticipated. All and more than all of the essential
spirit of the prophecy of the righteous Branch is
fulfilled in Christ, the true heir of David's line. In

xi FULFILMENT OF JEREMIAH'S PROPHECIES 325
Him is set forth the deep meaning of the Name, The
Lord is our righteousness. He is priest as well as
king, entering into the presence of God with unceasing
intercession. To Him all nations are gathered, and
His Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him
that filleth all in all, is the present witness in the
world (alas, with what defect and failure !) of the
truth which He made known, The Lord is our
righteousness. Scorn and shame and persecution and ingratitude
were the reward of the martyr prophet in his life
time ; but " self-sacrifice was fruitful " : fruitful for
his own age ; for corrupt as were the people as a
whole, there must have been a holy seed to whom
his prophecies were as life in death : fruitful for all
time to come ; for he stands for ever as a strong
corner-stone in that foundation of the prophets upon
which is reared the majestic building of the Catholic
Church of Christ

LECTURE XII

EZEKIEL

The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, 1
have made tliee a watchman unto the house of Israel. — Ezekiel iii.
16, 17.

Ezekiel's Eleven years before its final destruction in B.C. 586,
history. Jerusalem was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, and
stripped of all its best and noblest inhabitants.
Together with the young king Jehoiachin, and the
queen -mother Nehushta, the ruthless conqueror
carried away to Babylon all Jerusalem, and all the
princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten
thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the
smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the
people of the land} In the train of exiles which
sadly wended its way across the desert to Babylon
was a young priest, Ezekiel2 the son of Buzi, designed
1 2 Kings xxiv. 14. See further vv. 15, 16, and comp. Jer.
xxiv. Ezekiel dates from this captivity, and in ch. xxxiii. 21,
xl. 1, expressly speaks of it as our captivity.
2 The name means God strengthened. Cp. Hezekiah, Jah
strengthened.

leot. xii CONDITION OF THE EXILES IN BABYLON 327
by God to be the centre of religious life and hope
for his countrymen in the land of their banishment.
It must not be supposed that the Jewish exiles in condition of
Babylonia were treated as slaves. Such wholesale
deportations as that by which Jerusalem was de
populated were the common policy of Oriental
conquerors : they were intended to break the spirit
of nationality among the conquered peoples, and
reduce them to the condition of submissive subjects ;
but, save for the fact that they were torn from their
homes, the victims of this policy were not harshly
treated. Lands were assigned them; they were
allowed to form settlements; some considerable
degree of civil and religious liberty was permitted to
them. The elders no doubt organised the new com
munity so far as was possible under the altered
circumstances ; the first beginnings of what after
wards developed into the worship of the synagogue
probably appeared.1 Intercourse with those who
had been left behind in Judaea was maintained.
Ezekiel was well informed of events which happened
in Jerusalem (xi. 2; xvii. 11 ff): Many of his
prophecies were intended for those who were still
left behind there rather than for the exiles.
1 See Ezek. xxxiii. 30 ; and comp. Jeremiah's advice to the
exiles to build houses and plant gardens and marry and multiply
in view of the return to their own land ; and to seek the welfare
of the city to which they had been carried captive, and to pray for
it (xxix. 4 ff.). Ezekiel refers to the elders in a way which makes
it clear that official representatives of the people are meant (viii. 1 ;
xiv. 1 ; xx. 1, 3).

328

NOVELTY OF EZEKIEL'S POSITION

LECT.

EzekieVshome in
Babylonia.

Circum
stances of
his minis
try.

Jeremiah wrote letters and sent messages to the
exiles in Babylon (Jer. xxix ; li. 59). It may even
be conjectured that under the pressure of common
suffering old jealousies were forgotten, and friendly
communications established with such of the
Northern Israelites as had remained loyal to their
religion and nationality through a century and a
quarter of exile.
At Tell-Abib on the banks of the river Chebar — not
to be identified with the Habor (2 Kings xvii. 6)
which flows through Mesopotamia, but some tributary
of the Euphrates in Babylonia — Ezekiel settled. He
was married (xxiv. 18), and had a house of his own
(iii. 24 ; viii. 1 ; xii. 3 ; xiv. 1 ; xx. 1), to which the
elders and others resorted to consult the prophet;
but scarcely any details of his personal history are
recorded except the sudden death of his wife, and his
life was probably unmarked by special incident.
No doubt he had been trained for the duties of
the priestly office before he left Judaea; but it is
doubtful whether he had yet been called to exercise
his priestly office in the Temple.1 Five years after he
arrived in Babylonia came his call to the prophetic
ministry (b.c. 592) ; and from that time onward for
more than twenty years he was the spiritual centre
1 If the thirtieth year, mentioned in ch. i. 1 in connexion with
the prophet's call, could be understood to refer to his age, he
would have been twenty-five years old when he went into exile,
and probably would not yet have served in the Temple. But it is
very doubtful to what the thirtieth year refers.

xn AMONG THE EXILES IN BABYLON 329
of the community of exiles. His latest prophecy of
which the date is recorded was delivered on the first
day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year of
the Exile (xxix. 17). Even among the exiles chastise
ment had not borne fruit in repentance and amend
ment. Some still clung to their old idolatries, which
they persisted in regarding as compatible with a
nominal allegiance to Jehovah (xiv. 1 ff ; xx. 1 ff) ;
others were ready to offer a stubborn resistance to
the prophet's moral teachings (ii. 3 ff. ; iii. 4 ff, 11) ;
others complained that they had been deserted by
their God, and declared that they were being punished
not for their own sins but for the guilt of their
ancestors (xviii. 2, 25 ; xxxiii. 10, 17, 20; xxxvii. 11).
Ezekiel's task was rendered more difficult by the
presence of false prophets who buoyed up the hopes
of the people with delusive promises of a speedy
restoration (Jer. xxix. 8 ff, 15, 21 ff). But though
at first perhaps his message was slighted, and possibly
he was actually persecuted, he came to be looked up
to, and recognised as the prophet of the community
in which he lived ; it grew to be the fashion to
consult him, and even those who had no mind to
obey his exhortations would go and listen eagerly to
his discourse (xxxiii. 30 ff).
Thus Ezekiel occupied an entirely new position xuceityofhi* position
as the prophet of Jehovah in a foreign country, far
removed from the old centre of national life and
worship, and all that had been regarded as constituting

330 EZEKIEL'S POSITION IN BABYLON lect.
the distinctive privileges of Israel among the nations
of the world.
affecting the This new position largely moulded the character
of his ministry. In the land of exile, at a distance
from the scene of action, remote from the feverish
turmoil, the restless hopes and fears, which agitated
Jerusalem during the last ten years of its existence,
he could more dispassionately survey the great
catastrophe which was impending, and more calmly
reflect upon its meaning and its purpose.
ami the Hitherto public discourse had been the principal
his work. method of prophetic ministry. Jeremiah preached
for years before he committed any of his prophecies to
writing : but now, under the changed circumstances
of his position, the prophet must turn author. It
is significant that a roll of a book is given him as
the symbol of his commission (ii. 9 ff). Ezekiel's
prophecies bear evidence of long meditation and
careful elaboration. Originally he may have spoken
the substance of them to his little band of hearers,
for he tells us how at one time it was the fashion to
come and listen to him (xxxiii. 31 ff), and how they
complained that he was a speaker of parables (xx. 49) ;
but they were intended for Judaea as well as Babylonia,
and he bestowed careful attention on their literary
form as he committed them to writing. He dwells
upon his subject, and expands and develops his
thoughts, in contrast to the terse, sharp utterances of
the older prophets. Not content with an outline, he

xii HIS METHODS OF TEACHING 331
fills in the details of the picture, sometimes to the
detriment of its distinctness.
Visions, allegories, parables, symbolic actions, uu visions.
are marked characteristics of the form of Ezekiel's
teaching. They may correspond to the prophet's
temperament, to a naturally imaginative cast of
mind. God makes use of the natural gifts of His
servants. These shape, to some extent at least, the
form which their communications take. But there
is no ground for regarding Ezekiel's visions as merely
a literary artifice, as nothing more than the form in
which he chose to clothe his message. On several
occasions, we are told, the hand of Jehovah was upon
him ; in other words, he was the subject of an over
powering divine influence, and fell into a kind of
prophetic trance or ecstasy. This was the case when
he saw the vision of the glory of Jehovah which was
the prelude to his call (i. 3 ; cp. iii. 14, 22). It was
the case when he saw the vision of the shameless
iniquities committed in the very Temple, by which
the inhabitants of Jerusalem were banishing the
presence of Jehovah from its precincts (viii. 1 ff). It
was the case again, when he beheld the vision of the
dry bones brought to life by the inspiration of the
breath of God, to teach the desponding Israelites that
life could be restored even to the dry and scattered
fragments of the nation (xxxvii. 1 ff). It was
the case once more, when he saw rising before him
a glorious picture of the restored sanctuary, in

332 EZEKIEL'S METHODS OF TEACHING lect.
which Jehovah would once more vouchsafe to
dwell in the midst of a purified people (xl. 1).
But while we maintain that these visions were
really and supernaturally presented to the prophet's
mental eye, we may admit that it is possible that
they received some elaboration in detail as he
pondered over them before committing his descrip
tion of them to writing. No doubt the details of
the picture were all significant to his own mind,
though we may not be able to interpret them with
certainty.
Allegories Allegory and parable he employs not only in
and par- j . .
aties. predictions of the future, but m descriptions of the
past and the present. Israel is the foundling child,
faithless to the preserver who has made her his
wife (xvi. 1 ,ffi). She is the lioness, which rears her
whelps only to become the hunter's prey (xix. 1 ff.) ;
the stately cedar (xvii. 3) ; the vine which is doomed
to be destroyed (xix. 10 ff ; cp. xv. 1 ff. ; xvii. 6).
Nebuchadnezzar is described as one great eagle,
the king of Egypt as another (xvii. 3, 7); Tyre
is a stately ship (xxvii. 5 ff) ; Egypt a monstrous
crocodile (xxxii. 2 ff). Sometimes, as in ch. xvii,
the parable is worked out in detail, and subsequently
explained.
symbolic Frequently Ezekiel's teaching is presented in the
CtCZXOJbSr form of symbolic actions. It is much disputed
whether these actions were literally performed, or
whether they are only introduced as a vehicle for

xii EZEKIEL'S METHODS OF TEACHING 883
the ideas which he wished to convey. It is urged,
for example, that such signs as the mimic siege of
Jerusalem (iv. 1 ff), or the burning and smiting and
scattering of the hair (v. 1 ff), would have been
puerile, and cannot be supposed to have been
actually performed. Unquestionably, however, pro
phets did frequently make use of symbolic actions.
Jeremiah actually put a yoke on his own neck,
which Hananiah took off and broke (Jer. xxvii. 2 ;
xxviii. 10). He broke the potter's earthen bottle
in the presence of the elders (Jer. xix. 1 ff). We
are not in a position easily to estimate how far
actions which may seem to us puerile, would have
been considered puerile by the Oriental mind in
those early times. The very strangeness, and it
may be even the foolishness, of a sign, may have
served to attract the attention of those who would
have been indifferent to the prophet's words (Ezek.
xii. 2 ff). They were a graphic and forcible way
of expressing the message which he was charged to
deliver. The prophet's whole life and person and
family relations must all be subservient to his
ministry ; he must live for his work ; he must
suffer that he might teach.
It was not unnatural that the prophet who was Repeated
i • claim of
removed from Jehovah s land, and was working divineauthority
under new conditions in the midst of heathenism, f»r Ms
message.
should lay special stress on his divine commission.
The frequency with which he repeats his authority

334 COMPARISON OF lect.
for his message -1 is no idle iteration of a meaningless
formula, but an encouraging reminder to his hearers
that even in the days of their punishment Jehovah
had not ceased to care for His people.
Jeremiah Nothing illustrates the position occupied by
and Ezekiel ... .... .
compared. Ezekiel so well as a comparison of him with
his contemporary Jeremiah. Ezekiel was in all
probability personally acquainted with Jeremiah :
certainly he was familiar with his teaching and
his writings. During his youth Jeremiah must
have been one of the most conspicuous figures in
Jerusalem. His narrow escapes from a violent
death in the early years of Jehoiakim's reign must
have been notorious. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were
both priests ; but in almost every other respect they
present a striking contrast. Jeremiah was labouring
in full sight of the death throes of the city and
nation, watching each stage of the dissolution which
he could neither avert nor retard, stigmatised as a
traitor to his country, despised and persecuted by
the civil, military, and religious authorities of the
city. Ezekiel in his banishment was at least spared
the bitterness of actually witnessing from day to day
the folly and the sin which were filling up the
measure of Jerusalem's guilt, though he knew of
them by report, and denounced them from a dis
tance. The exiles among whom he lived for the
1 The formula, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, alone is said to
occur 117 times.

xii EZEKIEL AND JEREMIAH 335
most part abstained from any actual persecution,
and even honoured him as the prophet of Jehovah.
Jeremiah in the presence of a corrupt worship
and a polluted Temple must needs denounce the old
order and declare the necessity for its destruction.
Ezekiel in a foreign land could predict the restoration
of Temple and worship in a new and purified form.
Jeremiah was the man of feeling and action,
Ezekiel of reason and reflection. Jeremiah's book
is pervaded by an intense personality. We feel
that we know him, and sympathise with his living
martyrdom. Ezekiel is little more to us than a
name. We do not grasp him or his surroundings,
or feel the throbbing pulses of his life beating in
his utterances. His work is carried on in a calm
equanimity, not in a stress and struggle which were
almost more than frail humanity could bear.
Different as were the positions and the tempera
ments of the two prophets, for a while their tasks
lay side by side ; but Ezekiel carries on his work to
a further point. He is characteristically the prophet
not only of the downfall of Jerusalem, but of the
exile in Babylon.

II
Ezekiel's book is his own record of his prophetic The Book of
Ezekiel.
work. While it is tolerably certain that the Book
of Jeremiah was compiled gradually, and only

336 THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL lect.
brought to its present form by some of his disciples'
after his death, the Book of Ezekiel bears the marks
of careful plan and arrangement, and comes to us in
all probability direct from the prophet himself. He
speaks throughout in the first person : his name is
only twice mentioned (i. 3 ; xxiv. 24).
The book falls into three distinct divisions, cor
responding to three periods of his ministry :
(i.) Chaps, i-xxiv contain the prophecies of a
period of four and a half years from the prophet's
call in the fifth year of his exile (b.c. 592) to the
commencement of the siege of Jerusalem in the
ninth year (B.C. 588).
(ii.) The last division of the book consists of two
sections : — (a) prophecies delivered at or shortly after
the time when the messenger who had escaped from
the capture of Jerusalem reached him 1 (chaps, xxxiii-
xxxix) ; and (b) the vision of the constitution of the
restored community (chaps, xl-xlviii), dated in the
twenty-fifth year of his exile (b.c. 572), almost at
the close of his ministry.2
(iii.) These two divisions are separated by a
collection of prophecies concerning the nations,
chaps, xxv-xxxii, delivered partly, though not alto
gether, in the intervals during which he had no
1 For "twelfth year" in xxxiii. 21 should probably be read
eleventh. It is improbable that the fugitive would have taken
eighteen months to reach Babylon.
2 The latest date mentioned is that assigned to ch. xxix. 17-21,
viz. B.C. 570.

xii EZEKIEL'S TEACHING 337
message for Judah, while the siege of Jerusalem was
in progress.1 In the first of these divisions the prophet surveys
the present. By symbol and figure and discourse
he enforces the inevitable certainty and the moral
necessity of the judgement impending over Jerusalem.
Here and there a gleam of light pierces the darkness ;
but the prophet must pull down before he can build ;
he must destroy false hopes before he can hold out
true ones.
In the last division he looks forward to the future.
The blow has fallen : Jerusalem and the Temple are
in ashes; the people are in exile. No less confidently
than he had predicted the ruin of the city and the
dispersion of the people, does he foretell the restora
tion of the people to their own land and the rebuild
ing of the Temple and the city.
The judgements on the nations which occupy the
middle division of the book, form the transition from
the one to the other. Judgement had begun at the
house of God, and should it spare the nations ? Nay,
their malicious triumph at the fall of Jehovah's
people was an insult to Jehovah Himself: they
must give place in their turn to His kingdom, and
be compelled to acknowledge His sovereignty.
1 Prof. A. B. Davidson prefers to consider the book as consist
ing of two equal parts, i-xxiv and xxv-xlviii ; the judgements
upon the nations, which occupy chaps, xxv-xxxii, being regarded
as the prelude to the restoration of Israel.

338 EZEKIEL'S TEACHING lect.
Ill
importance It is not difficult to see the particular importance
of Ezekiel's . .
work for his of Ezekiel s work for his own age in the successive
own age periods of his ministry. That ministry, it must be
remembered, had for its object the whole nation. It
is in fact sometimes difficult to decide whether he is
addressing the exiles around him in Babylon or those
who were still left in Jerusalem.
in destroy- So long as the city was still standing, the exiles
vng false
hopes in Babylon, not less than the people who remained in
Jerusalem, were foolishly cherishing delusive hopes,
which needed shattering with no gentle hand. The
expectations of the exiles were, as we have seen,
buoyed up by the utterances of the false prophets
who promised them a speedy return. Ezekiel and
Jeremiah united in pronouncing these expectations
to be wholly illusory (Ezek. xiii; Jer. xxix). Mis
led by similar false teachings, the inhabitants of
Jerusalem persuaded themselves into a comfortable
security that they had nothing more to fear from the
Chaldeans (Jer. xxviii). There was a party in Judaea
who despised the exiles, questioned their right to
claim a share in national privileges, and boasted of
their own superior position (Ezek. xi. 15).
Under these circumstances the prophecies con
tained in the first division of the book are of necessity,
in the main, of a gloomy and threatening character.
Yet here and there rays of light break through the

xii DESTRUCTION OF FALSE HOPES 339
clouds. Just when the contemptuous sneers of the
dwellers in Jerusalem were reported to the exiles,
the hope of restoration to their own land is held out,
coupled with the promise of a new heart and regener
ate will, which would enable them to keep the com
mandments which they had hitherto broken (xi. 16 ff).
Just when the heaviest indictment for perfidious
ingratitude has been entered against Israel, and the
survey of the nation's history has proved it worthy
of the severest judgements, the renewal of an ever
lasting covenant is foretold, and judgement is shewn
to have mercy as its final purpose (xvi. 59 ff. ; xx.
36 ff). Just when the cedar of the house of David
is doomed to be plucked up by the roots, Ezekiel
announces the divine purpose to take from the top
most of his young twigs a tender one, and plant it
in the high mountain of Israel (xvii. 22 ff). Just
when the crown is torn from the unworthy brows of
the prince of Israel, the hint is given that it is
reserved for One whose right it is (xxi. 25 ff).
When once the city had fallen, and the nation had
for the time ceased to exist, there was grave danger
lest the exiles should fall into despair and apathy,
either sullenly murmuring at the injustice of their
fate or contemptuously acquiescing in their present
lot. Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, said
some of them, and we are wasting away in them : how
then am we live ? (xxxiii. 10). Th,e way of Jehovah is
not equal, murmured others, who alleged that they

840 EZEKIEL'S TEACHING lect.
were being punished for the sins of previous genera
tions (xxxiii. 17; cp. xviii. 25). Our hope is lost: we
are clean cut off, sighed others, who abandoned them
selves to faithless despair (xxxvii. 11).
in awaken- Then it was that Ezekiel bent all his energies to
ing true
hopes. awaken and cherish the hope of restoration. God's
purpose, he proclaimed, was not to destroy, but to
reform. As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have
no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that the
wicked turn from his way and live : turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, 0 house of
Israel? (xxxiii. 11).
The leaders and rulers of the nation had abused
their trust. Jehovah's sheep were scattered and
forlorn. But He Himself will search for His sheep
and will seek them out. He will gather them from
the countries, and bring them back into their own
land. There He will set up one shepherd over them,
even His servant David. They will be ruled by the
ideal king, the man after God's own heart. The true
mutual relation between Jehovah and His people will
be realised (ch. xxxiv).
The holy land lay desolate, abandoned to mali
ciously exulting enemies who said, Aha ! the ancient
high places are become our possession (xxxvi. 2). But
Jehovah will judge the nations. He will restore and
marvellously augment the fertility of the land. He
will multiply its inhabitants. When He restores His
people to their land He will regenerate them by an

xii AWAKENING OF TRUE HOPES 341
act of pure grace, cleansing them from their sins,
endowing them with a new nature, implanting in
them a spirit of willing obedience (ch. xxxvi).
The nation, as a nation, had ceased to exist.
Nothing short of a miracle could recall it to life.
But that miracle will be wrought. The dry bones
scattered about in the open valley will feel the
quickening power of the Spirit of God, and be re
called to life. The severed peoples will be reunited
into one. The reunited nation will have one king,
Jehovah's servant David. He will confirm an
eternal covenant of peace with them. His sanctuary
will be in the midst of them for evermore (ch.
xxxvii). The Temple was in ashes, worship was suspended,
the land was desolate ; but Jehovah had only aban
doned His land and His sanctuary for a little time.
A nobler Temple and a purer worship will be called
into existence, answering to an ideal which had never
yet been realised ; Jehovah will return to dwell in
the midst of His regenerate people; a life-giving
stream will issue from the Temple and fertilise the
desert; the curse of barrenness will be removed
(chaps, xl-xlviii).
Ezekiel's eschatology is almost entirely concerned The future
of the
with Israel. He does not, like Isaiah and Micah, nations.
picture the nations streaming up to the restored
Jerusalem to receive instruction ; or, like the great
prophet of the Exile, describe Zion's oppressors

342 • FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS lect.
coming to pay her homage and to worship her God.
His visions of the future of the nations are, in the
main, visions of judgement. Gog and his hosts pour
down from the remotest north, and, joining with the
peoples of the distant south, threaten the restored
Jerusalem with destruction. The powers of the
world muster their forces for one stupendous final
effort to destroy the kingdom of God, only to meet
with complete and ignominious discomfiture. Through
this and through other judgements the nations, we
are told repeatedly, shall know that I am Jehovah ;
they shall recognise that Jehovah is what He claims
to be in relation to Israel and to the world. But
there are only hints, few and obscure, of a conversion
of the nations. Sodom and Samaria, the one the type
of heinous and defiant sin, the other of self-willed
separation, will share Israel's restoration, for their
guilt is less than hers (xvi. 53 ff). The goodly cedar
which will spring from the tender twig taken from
the other cedar which is to be rooted up, will shelter
in its branches all fowl of every kind; in other
words, all nations will resort to the Messianic king
dom for protection (xvii. 22 ff). But though these
hints of a larger hope are given, they are not
developed. It is to Israel's future restoration that
Ezekiel's outlook is almost exclusively directed.

OF EZEKIEL'S TEACHING 343

IV

The fundamental principle and inspiring motive Funda-
-i-> i ¦ i> ¦ i mental
of Ezekiel s teaching was the glory of God. God's principles
° o J of Ezekiel's
glory is the Old Testament expression for the revealed ffffffli^.,
Presence of God among His people. His glory cor- "¦>Jehomh-
responds to His Name, which is the summary of His
Nature, so far as He has made it known to man.
The vision by the river Chebar, which formed the
prelude to Ezekiel's call to the prophetic office, was
the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah
(i. 28). That complex and mysterious vision sym
bolised the divine omnipotence, omnipresence, and
omniscience. It represented the manifold and un
ceasing activity of Jehovah's power in the world. It
was the key to the ministry of the exiled prophet,
that the glory of Gfcd could be manifested in the
plains of Babylon as truly as on the mountains of
Judaea. He saw it again in the plains of Babylon
(iii. 23). In a trance he beheld it in the Temple,
outraged by the abominations which were done
in its very presence (viii. 4 ff). He beheld it
leaving its accustomed place as the sentence went
forth to destroy the guilty city (ix. 3 ; x. 4),
and finally quitting the polluted place which
was no longer fit for its abode (x. 18, 19 ; xi.
22, 23).
Again in vision he saw that glory return to the

344

FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS

(2) The
Name of
Jehovah.

restored city and Temple ; once more the glory of
Jehovah filled the house, and he heard the voice which
proclaimed, This is the place of My throne . . . where
I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for
ever (xliii. 2-7 ; xHv. 4).
This ever-present sense of the glory of God finds
its counterpart in the title by which Ezekiel is taught
to speak of himself. Before that divine Presence he
feels the frailty of his own humanity : he is the son
of man; the weak mortal descendant of mortal earth-
born flesh.
Jehovah's Name is the correlative of His glory.
All His dealings with Israel have been and are and
will be for His Name's sake. They are designed to
manifest His one unchangeable Nature. Israel had
merited nothing but destruction in the wilderness,
but He spared them for His Name's sake, that it
should not be profaned in the %ight of the nations
(xx. 9, 14, 22). So now it is not for any merit on
Israel's part that they will be recalled from exile,
but for Jehovah's Name's sake. / do not this for
your sake, 0 house of Israel, but for Mine holy Name
(xxxvi. 22). The judgement of the nations and the
redemption of Israel are both a sovereign exercise
of divine grace in accordance with the immutable
character of the divine Nature.
Closely connected with the conceptions of the
of Jehovah. Glory and the Name of Jehovah is the conception
of His holiness. His holiness is His essential

(«) The
holiness

xii OF EZEKIEL'S TEACHING 345
Deity.1 It has been profaned by the exile of His
people. He has been forced to let Himself appear
in the sight of the nations as though He were unable
or unwilling to protect His people. Thus, when He
restores Israel, He will demonstrate the holiness of
His great Name, which has been profaned among
the nations. As Israel had been the guilty cause
of its profanation, so it will be made the instrument
of its sanctification. The nations shall know that I
am Jehovah, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be
sanctified in you before their eyes (xxxvi. 23 ; cp.
xx. 41 ; xxviii. 25 ; xxxix. 27). In the judgement
of the nations, moreover, not less than in the restora
tion of Israel, will His sovereign Deity be exhibited.
Thus it is said of the destruction of Gog : I will
magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself, and I will make
Myself known in the eyes of many nations ; and they
shall know that I am Jehovah (xxxviii. 23 ; cp. v. 16
and xxviii. 22).
Such were the fundamental principles of Ezekiel's Ezekiei

theology. Some further characteristic elements of individual
0,/ responsibility
his teaching remain to be considered.
The doctrine of individual responsibility had been
taught by Jeremiah (Jer. xxxi. 29, 30), but Ezekiel
repeats it with an emphasis which is peculiarly his
own. Men were complaining that they were being
punished for the sins of their ancestors ; and he
meets their complaint by affirming the principle that
1 See above, pp. 175 ff.

346 FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS lect.
the soul that sinneth, it shall die : the son shall not bear
the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear
the iniquity of the son ; the righteousness of the right
eous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked
shall be upon him (xviii. 20). On the other hand,
the presence of the righteous cannot avail to deliver
a land in the day of its transgression. Though these
three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should
but deliver their own souls by their righteousness (xiv. 14).
The sense of personal responsibility in his own
work weighed heavily on the prophet's own mind :
and the nature and limits of that responsibility were
made clear to him at the outset of his mission, and
again at the commencement of the second period of
his work. He was shewn that while he was respon
sible for the faithful proclamation of his message, he
was not responsible for its success or failure (iii. 16 ff.;
xxxiii. 1 ff).
importance We cannot fail to be struck with the attitude
attached to .
ceremonial of Ezekiel towards the ceremonial side of religion.
True, he was a priest, and by training and associa
tions he might be expected to have a sympathetic
feeling for the Temple and its ritual ; still he em
phasises the importance of ceremonial in a way
which is new to prophecy. Nor is the reason far
to seek. So long as the Temple was standing,
and the chief danger was lest men should trust
in outward forms, the efforts of prophecy were
directed to the condemnation of externalism and

xii OF EZEKIEL'S TEACHING 347
the interpretation and spiritualisation of ceremonial
ordinances. But when the Temple had fallen, and the regular
worship of Jehovah had ceased, prophecy must needs
foretell the re-erection of the Temple and the restora
tion of the forms of worship. Religion must of
necessity find some outward expression ; and as we
shall see when we come to consider the work of the
prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the Temple was the
indispensable centre and rallying point for Israel
in the period of the Restoration. It was the focus
of their religious life, the visible pledge and witness
to Jehovah's Presence among His people, when all
outward tokens of national power and greatness had
passed away.
But it is a strange perverseness which has led does not
exclude
some critics to charge Ezekiel with caring for nothing ethical
° ° ° interest or
but the externals of religion ; of having, as one ffjfjf^
writer sarcastically says, " the merit of having trans
formed the ideals of the prophets into laws and
dogmas, and destroyed spiritually free and moral
religion." 1
Nothing can be more unfair than such an asser
tion. In common with his predecessors, he explicitly
condemns the prevalent sins of idolatry, injustice,
oppression, impurity, and the like, and insists upon
the practice of the opposite virtues (ch. xviii).
But he goes much further and deeper than this.
1 Duhm, Theologie der Proplieten, p. 263.

348 SPIRITUALITY OF EZEKIEL'S TEACHING lect.
The restoration of Israel which he predicts is not
merely an outward restoration of the exiles to their
own land. It is to be accompanied by a spiritual
change wrought by the mighty grace of God. I will
sprinkle clean water upon you, and, ye shall be clean. . . .
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will
I put within you ; and I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart
of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my
judgements and do them (xxxvi. 25 ff. ; cp. xi. 19, 20).
This regeneration of the restored Israel will be a
pure act of divine grace. So and not otherwise can
the mighty change be effected. But Ezekiel lays
equal stress upon man's freedom to choose, upon his
need of repentance and purpose of amendment:
Return ye, and turn yourselves from all your trans
gressions. . . Cast away from you all your trans
gressions, wlverein ye have transgressed ; and make you
a new heart and a new spirit : for why will ye die, 0
house of Israel ? (xviii. 30, 31).
This is not the language of a petrified legalism,
which expects salvation by its own works, but of
absolute and utter dependence on the renewing grace
of God, balanced by the recognition of the freedom
of the human will and personal responsibility.
The vision of the restored Temple and re-established
worship, with its wealth of elaborate detail, might
seem at first sight to lend some countenance to

xii FULFILMENT OF EZEKIEL'S PROPHECIES 349
the view that Ezekiel loved form for form's sake.
But it must be remembered that the great moral
change is presumed to have been already wrought.
The people have been regenerated. The Temple is
the earthly abode of Jehovah Who returns to dwell
in the midst of His people. The ritual is their
expression of devotion to His service. It is their
safeguard against relapsing once more into idolatry.
No doubt Ezekiel's thoughts move in a limited circle.
He expresses the perfected relation of Jehovah
and His people in the terms of what is familiar
to him. The times needed a definite promise that the
outward ordinances which were then the necessary
support and expression of religion would be once
more restored ; but it is a shallow judgement which
supposes that Ezekiel regards forms and ordinances
as constituting the whole essence of religion.
It is not perhaps very profitable to attempt to The
fulfilment.
inquire how far Ezekiel looked for a literal fulfilment
of his vision of the future, or how far he regarded it
simply as an embodiment of spiritual ideas. But in
less than half a century from the close of his ministry
his prophecies began to be fulfilled. Unlikely as it
must have seemed to human calculation, hopeless as
it appeared to many of the exiles, the Israelites were
restored to their own land, the Temple was rebuilt,
the worship of Jehovah was re-established.
But this was but the beginning of a fulfilment.

350 FULFILMENT OF EZEKIEL'S PROPHECIES lect. xii
Those promises of cleansing and forgiveness and
spiritual renewal point forward to the revelation of
the Incarnation and the atonement, and the dispensa
tion of the Spirit under which we live. They are
being fulfilled in us and for us.
The name of the city shall be Jehovah-Shammah —
"Jehovah is there"; so the closing words of the
prophecy summarise the attainment of God's purpose
for Israel in the perfected realisation of the covenant
between Himself and His people. The seer of Pat-
mos boheld Ezekiel's vision expanding with a larger
glory, and heard a great voice out of the throne saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He
shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and
God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.

THE PEOPHET OF THE EXILE
ISAIAH XL-LXVI

y.ia Se o3o"a iravra Zvva/rai trocjiia,
Kal jxivovcra kv avrij Ta iravra ko.lv ifa,
Kal Kara yei/eas ets i/'u^as c5o"tas fJ-erafSaivovcra
<pl\ovi Qtov Kal 7rpo^6?jTas KaracrKeua^et.
And Wisdom, being one, hath power to do all things ;
And remaining in herself, reneweth all things :
And from generation to generation passing into holy souls
She maketh men friends of God and prophets.
The Wisdom of Solomon.

LECTURE XIII
ISAIAH OF THE EXILE
Comfort ye, comfort ye Mg people. . . . In the wilderness pre
pare ye the way of Jehovah. . . . The glory of Jehovah shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. — Isaiah xl. 1, 3, 5.

If the great prophecy of Israel's redemption and internal
glorification now included in the Book of Isaiah had of the date
of Isaiah
come down to us as an independent and anonymous xl-lxvi-
document, no reasonable doubt could have been
entertained as to the time at which it was written.
Internal evidence would be regarded as fixing its
date with remarkable precision towards the close of
the Babylonian Exile.
Israel is in exile. Jehovah has surrendered His israei in
people to their enemies. They are suffering the
punishment of their sins. They are being tried in
the furnace of affliction. Jerusalem has drunk to
the dregs the cup of Jehovah's fury. The daughter
of Zion lies prostrate in the dust as a mourner ; the
chains of her captivity are about her neck. The
2 A

354

DATE AND AUTHORSHIP

LECT.

Jerusalem in i-uins.

Babylon the place
of exile,

which has
alreadylasted long,

mother city of Zion is a barren exile, bereaved of
her children, and wandering to and fro. Her children
are scattered from their home. Jehovah's wife is
divorced from Him, and her children are sold into
slavery for their iniquities.1
Jerusalem itself is in ruins ; the cities of Judah
are deserted ; the land is desolate ; the Temple is a
heap of ashes. The situation is summed up in the
pathetic words : Thy holy cities are become a wilder
ness, Zion is become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised
Thee, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant things
are laid waste (lxiv. 10, 11).
Babylon is the scene of Israel's captivity. Babylon
is the oppressor who holds Zion's children in thrall.
Babylon has been the agent in executing Jehovah's
judgement, and she has performed her task with a
malicious pleasure.2
The exile has already lasted long. It seems to
have become permanent. Zion fancies herself for
gotten and forsaken. Jehovah sleeps. His wonder
ful works of old time are a memory and a tradition
only. Deliverance from the tyrant's iron grasp
seems hopeless. The centuries during which Israel
possessed its land are fading into a mere moment in
the remoteness of the past. The weary decades of
exile are lengthening out into an eternity of punish-

1 See xiii. 22-25 ; xlviii. 10 ; xlix. 21 ; 1. 1 ; li. 17 ; lii. 2, 3 ; etc.
2 See xliii. 14 ; xlviii. 14, 20 ; xlvii. 6.

xiii OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 355
ment. Faith and hope are strained to the point of
breaking.1 But deliverance is at hand. Jerusalem's servi- but u mm
. Til ^° mUi-
tude is accomplished ; satisfaction has been made
for her iniquity. The decree has gone forth for
pardon, redemption, restoration.2
The deliverer is on his way. Cyrus is already in
full career of conquest. Babylon is doomed. The
proud oppressor is on the point of being humbled.
Her gods themselves are going helplessly into cap
tivity. In fulfilment of prophecy the exiles will be
set free. They will be sent back to rebuild Jeru
salem and restore the Temple. Jehovah will lead His
people through the wilderness to their ancient home
in a second exodus, which, as Jeremiah predicted
(xvi. 14 ff), will eclipse the glories of the first. The
desolate widow will be consoled. Zion's scattered
children will be gathered. Her persecutors will
pay her homage. Glorious with the revelation of
Jehovah's glory, Jerusalem will become the centre
of universal worship. Israel will fulfil its mission
and unite all nations in a willing allegiance to
Jehovah.3 The circumstances are those of the closing years
1 See lviii. 12 ; Ixi. 4 (ancient ruins) ; Ixiv. 5, 6 (R.V. ; but the
text is doubtful and perhaps corrupt) ; xl. 27 ; xlix. 14 ff. ; li. 9.
2 See xl. 1, 2; xli. 27 ; xliii. 1 ; xliv. 21 ff., 24 ff. ; lii. 7 ff. ;
lvii. 17 ff, etc.
3 See xliii. 14 ; xlv. 1 ff, 13 ; xlvi. 1 ff. ; xlviii. 14 ; xl. 3, 4,
9 ff. ; xliii. 19 ff. ; xliv. 26 ff. ; xliii. 5 ; li. 9 ff. ; liv. Iff.; Ix. 14 ;
lx. 1 ff. ; lxv. 18, 19, etc.

356 DATE AND AUTHORSHIP lect
Date of the of the Babylonian Exile. But the date can be fixed
prophecy about b.c. even more precisely. Cyrus, according to the
commonly received account, succeeded to the throne
of Persia in B.C. 558. Recent discoveries, however,
appear to shew that he was not originally king of
Persia, but of Anzan or Elam.1 However this may
have been, in B.C. 549 he conquered Astyages, and
victors and vanquished united to form the powerful
Medo-Persian empire. The conquest of Lydia and
the capture of Sardis followed in B.C. 546. Eight
years later came the decisive struggle against the
Babylonian empire. Babylon fell in B.C. 538.
At the time when the prophecy opens Cyrus is in
full career of victory. The double account of his
origin from the east and from the north (xli. 2, 25)
seems to be a definite allusion to the union of
the Persians with the Medes under his sovereignty.
But further, the isles or coast lands are described as
trembling before him (xli. 5), so that apparently he
1 Recently deciphered inscriptions are said to "cast a new and
revolutionary light on the character and nationality of Cyrus, as
well as on his conquest of Babylon. Cyrus and his ancestors are
shewn in them to have been kings of Anzan or Ansan, not of Persia,
he and his son Cambyses, so far from being Zoroastrian iconoclasts,
conform to the worship and ritual of Babylonia, and Babylon
surrenders to the invader ' without fighting ' instead of undergoing
the horrors of a siege." Anzan was " the mountainous region in
the east of Babylonia, which constituted the ancient kingdom of
Elam, with its capital Susa." The conquest of Astyages took place
in B.C. 549, but Cyrus does not receive the title of king of Persia
until B.C. 546. Apparently therefore he only obtained possession
of Persia in the interval. See Sayce in Records of the Past New
Series, vol. v, pp. 144 ff.

xiii OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 357
was already7 engaged in his campaigns in the west of
Asia Minor. On the other hand, Babylon is still
standing in all her pride and careless security,
unconscious of her impending doom.
Accordingly the extreme limits for the date of
the first division of the prophecy (chaps, xl-xlviii)
are the years 549 and 538, and while it is not prob
able that it was earlier than 546, it can hardly
have been much later. For though the latest pro
phecies in the book, with the possible exception of
parts of ch. Ixvi, are still prior to the fall of Babylon,
we may detect a tone of disappointment in some
of them, as though some considerable interval, had
elapsed since the first proclamation of deliverance,
without the glorious hopes which it held out having
been realised.
The place of writing can hardly have been other Babyloniathe place of
than Babylonia. The prophet speaks in the presence writing.
of a dominant heathenism. Idolatry in all its gross-
ness and folly surrounds him. He has watched the
infatuated idolaters carrying their helpless gods in
solemn procession ; he has seen these contemptible
deities manufactured, and set up in the temples ; he
has watched their besotted worshippers at their vain
devotions.1 All this points naturally to Babylonia ;
and when we find the prophet in closest touch and
sympathy with the exiles there ; when we observe
how fully acquainted he is with their circumstances,
1 xl. 18 ff. ; xli. 21 ff. ; xliv. 9 ff. ; xlv. 20 ; xlvi. 1 f., 5 ff.

358 DATE AND AUTHORSHIP lect.
their character, their sins, their hopes, their fears,
the impression is confirmed ; and when we note how
the prophet unites himself with those exiles in con
fession, thanksgiving, and earnest pleading,1 we can
scarcely doubt that he was himself one of them.
It has indeed been urged that the author shews
more acquaintance with Palestine than with Baby
lonia. But we should not expect him to introduce
details about his surroundings in Babylon, other than
those which bore upon his immediate purpose, such,
for example, as the descriptions of idolatry; while
the allusions to Palestine are perfectly natural for
one whose heart was constantly there. They are
such as he might easily have derived from the study
of the older prophetic literature with which his
mind was steeped, and from conversation with those
who had been carried into exile by Nebuchadnezzar.
Many of them no doubt still survived ; every detail
of Palestinian scenery would be printed in their
memories; and they would find a sad pleasure in
recalling every feature of their lost home.
The author It follows that if this prophecy was written in the
not Isaiah. last decennium of the Exile, by a prophet living
among the exiles in Babylonia, its author cannot have
been Isaiah the son of Amoz, the contemporary of
Hezekiah. It is no " a priori assumption of the
impossibility of prophecy " which compels this con-
1 Note the use of the first person plural in xiii. 21 ; lix. 9-12 ;
lxiii. 7, 16 ff. ; lxiv. 1 ff.

XIII OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 359
elusion, but a simple induction from the contents of
the book. The Babylonian Exile is not predicted ;
it is described as an existing fact.1 The rise of
Cyrus is not foretold ; he is already triumphantly
advancing from point to point. What is predicted
is the deliverance of the exiles and their restora
tion to Palestine. Now while it is conceivable that
Isaiah might have been transferred in spirit to a
future age, and, taking his stand in the midst of the
tribulations which he foresaw were to come, might
have predicted the deliverance which was to follow,
such a hypothesis does not seem to be in accordance
with the economy of revelation. We have repeatedly
had occasion to observe the circumstantial origin of
prophecy ; to remark that the teaching of one
prophet after another was designed to meet the
needs of his own age ; to note how it arose directly
out of those needs. Here, on the other hand, we
should have an example of a prophecy entirely
disconnected from the events of the author's time.
It seems far easier to suppose that, under circum
stances which we can only conjecture, it was annexed
to the collection which bears Isaiah's name although
it was not written till a century and a half after his
death, than that it forms so startling an exception to the
general principles by which prophecy was governed.
1 A comparison of the prophecies in which Jeremiah predicts the
restoration from the Babylonian Exile will shew the force of this
argument. In these the Exile is foretold, not assumed. See
Jer. xxxi- xxxiii.

360

DATE AND AUTHORSHIP

The pre- Not only however does this prophecy contain
ceding , . . ..,.„..
argument positive indications of its date, which if it had not
corroboratedby the argu- been attached to the Book of Isaiah could not have
ments: — (i)
andian!" been mistaken, but it is distinguished from the
m'age' acknowledged writings of Isaiah by its style, its
language, and its theological ideas. The terse,
compact, forcible oratory of Isaiah is replaced by
a measured though impassioned eloquence ; the
vigorous rhetoric of action by the pathetic pleading
of suffering. Careful examination shews that a
considerable number of words and phrases charac
teristic of Isaiah are entirely absent from these
chapters, or occur in them but rarely ; and conversely,
that a considerable number of words and phrases
occur in these chapters which are not to be found in
the acknowledged prophecies of Isaiah ; while not a
few words and phrases which occur once or twice in
Isaiah without any special force are used here in a
distinct and specific sense.1
Further, the prominent theological ideas of the
prophecy differ widely from those of Isaiah. This
will appear in detail from the study of the contents
of the book : here it may suffice to point out one or
two of the most striking differences. The Messianic
King of the stock of Jesse, so conspicuous in Isaiah's

(2) from
theological
ideas.

1 See Driver's Isaiah, pp. 192 ff., for the best statement of this
argument. " In carefully weighing the material collected in these
lists," writes Delitzsch in the last edition of his Isaiah (1889),
" one is surprised at the number of phenomena telling against the
unity of authorship " (vol. ii, p. 128, E.T. ).

xiii OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 361
teaching, is nowhere mentioned.1 Jehovah is the
only King in the restored Theocracy (lii. 7). The
significance of Israel as Jehovah's Servant in relation
to His universal purpose for the world, and the
unique portraiture in which the conception of the
Servant culminates, find no parallel in Isaiah. The
new and eternal covenant of mercy which Jehovah
makes with His people in the restoration is never
alluded to by Isaiah.2 The contrast between
Jehovah, the absolute and only God, and the false
gods which are nothing but material idols, is
developed in a wholly new way.
It may indeed be freely admitted that style and
language change with advancing years, and that we
have no right to fix limits to the extent of the insight
and foresight which might have been granted to
Isaiah in his later years, when he had withdrawn
from public life and in an undisturbed seclusion
pondered on the ulterior purposes of God for His
people. It may be freely admitted that, by the side
of remarkable differences, there is much in these pro
phecies which reflects the language and the teaching
of Isaiah ; for example, the characteristic title of
Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel; and that the germs of
much which here attains its full growth and develop
ment are to be found already in the writings of the
1 Unless indeed ch. lv. 3, 4 refers to him. Even if it does, the
difference is remarkable.
2 Cp. on the other hand Jer. xxxi. 31 ff. ; xxxii. 40 ; Ezek.
xvi. 60 ff. ; xxxvii. 26.

862 DATE AND AUTHORSHIP lect.
son of Amoz ; but these resemblances cannot be
regarded as sufficient to establish identity of author
ship. Rather they may be taken to indicate that
this Book of Consolation is the work of a disciple of
Isaiah, upon whom a double portion of his master's
spirit rested, and in whom he lived and spoke to another
generation according to their particular needs. But
this prophet speaks as one who has been disciplined
and enlightened by the unparalleled crisis of national
suffering which had happened in the interval. In
the historical development of Old Testament revela
tion the Exile and no earlier period is the true place
for this prophecy.1
internal We have then to balance the whole weight of the
evidence .
must combined arguments from the clear and definite m-
outweigh °
tradition, dfoations of the circumstances under which the work
was written, from the marked peculiarities of its
style and language, and from the distinctive charac
teristics of its teaching, against the single fact that it
has been handed down by the tradition of the Jewish
Church as a part of the Book of Isaiah. Undoubtedly
this tradition comes down from ancient times. Jesus
the son of Sirach found it in its present position
at the beginning of the second century B.C., and
naturally regarded Isaiah as its author.2 In the New
Testament the accepted tradition is of course fol
lowed, and these chapters are referred to and quoted
1 Cp. Delitzsch's Isaiah, ii. 132 (E.T.).
2 Ecclus. xlviii. 24, 25.

xiii OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 363
as Isaiah. But this tradition cannot counterbalance
the overwhelming weight of internal evidence. It
may be thought surprising that the name of one of
the greatest of Israel's prophets should have fallen
into irrevocable oblivion, but it is not more surprising
than that there is not the faintest clue to the name
of the greatest of Israel's poet-thinkers, the author of
the Book of Job. But here as in other cases the
individuality of the prophet who was charged with a
divine commission seems to have been regarded as of
comparatively little importance. The messenger was
lost sight of in the message ; nay, the more divinely
wonderful the message, the less it mattered for pos
terity to know from what human lips or pen it came.
Why this prophecy was attached to the Book of
Isaiah instead of being preserved as an independent
book must remain an unsolved enigma.1 We know
nothing of the circumstances under which the pro
phetic writings were finally collected into their
present form. We have already (p. 148) seen reason
to believe that the earlier part of the Book of Isaiah
1 A partial explanation may be found in the form of ancient
books. The prophecy was annexed to Isaiah i-xxxix, in order
to form a volume approximately equal in size to those of Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets. If it was anonymous, it would
soon come to be ascribed to Isaiah. ' ' Every one who has handled
Eastern manuscripts knows that scribes constantly copy out several
works into one volume without taking the precautions necessary
to prevent an anonymous piece from being ascribed to the author
of the work to which it is attached." — Robertson Smith, O.T. in
Jewish Church (ed. 2), p. 100. But the reasons suggested above
probably had some influence in determining its position.

364 ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
contains discourses or writings of his disciples. A
true instinct may have felt that the right place for
the prophecies of the greatest of his disciples was in
the same volume with his master's writings. In
such a prophet Isaiah himself lived on : the sons of
the prophets were the descendants of their spiritual
father ; there was a continuity and solidarity in the
spiritual as in the natural family ; and no injustice
would be done if posterity identified them. It is
possible, too, that the significance of Isaiah's name
may have had some influence. Where could the
great prophecy of Israel's deliverance from Babylon
be more fitly placed than in the volume of the pro
phet whose name proclaimed the message of Jehovah's
salvation? At any rate, there is no ground for a
charge of fraud or imposture. There is not the
slightest reason for supposing that a nameless prophet
wished to secure the prestige of a famous name. The
book itself does not contain the faintest trace of any
claim to have been written by Isaiah, such as would
certainly have been found in a pseudonymous
production.1 II
It follows that the Book of Consolation is to he
1 In the Talmudic list the prophets are placed in the order,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah ; and they are found in this order in
many MSS. It has been conjectured that the position of Isaiah
preserves a trace of a consciousness that, in its present form, the
book is later than Jeremiah and Ezekiel. See Strack in Herzog'a
Encycl. vii. 433 ; and Ryle's Canon of the 0. T. pp. 225 ff.

xiii A MESSAGE TO THE EXILES 365
studied as a series of prophecies addressed by an Timeliness
exile in Babylon to his fellow-exiles in the last prophecy.
decennium of the Captivity. It is from this point of
view alone that its full significance can be realised,
and its true meaning understood. It was a crisis in
Israel's history of incalculable importance for the
history of the world's redemption. At this crisis God
raised up a prophet second to none of the older pro
phets save Isaiah himself, to bring home to the
desponding spirits of the exiles a conviction of the
grandeur of Israel's mission for the world, and of the
certainty that Jehovah, Who had predestined Israel
to be His Servant to accomplish this mission, would
assuredly fulfil His purposes. If any prophecy bears
the stamp of appropriateness to a critical epoch it is
this. This prophet is above all a theologian. The
message which he has to proclaim concerning Jehovah,
and Israel's relation to Jehovah, is the central truth
around which all his teaching is grouped. But he
is no abstract theologian, discussing the Being and
Attributes of God as a speculative question ; he has
a most practical aim in view. All his teaching is bent
on making his countrymen realise the significance of
the approaching crisis, prepare themselves for it,
throw themselves on Jehovah, seize the moment, and,
rising to the occasion, fulfil their true destiny.
It is not likely that the prophet addressed his
message orally to large audiences. The circum
stances of the exiles can hardly have made this

366 THE CHARACTER lect.
possible. It may have been delivered in the first
instance to an immediate circle of disciples, but in
order to reach the mass of the exiles it must have
been committed to writing, and circulated to others
who could communicate it to those immediately
around them. But in whatever way its publication
was effected, it is plain that it was intended for the
whole body of the exiles in Babylon, of every class
and character.
character It is sometimes assumed that the Exile effected an
of the
exiles: immediate and complete change in the character of
the entire people. Nothing can be further from the
truth. Jeremiah and Ezekiel testify to the pre
valence of idolatry and superstition in the earlier
years of the Exile, alike in Egypt and Babylonia.1
The picture which can be drawn from the pages of
our prophet displays no radical amendment.
Some of the exiles have been absorbed by the hea
thenism around them. They have no wish to return
to the Holy Land. They have forsaken Jehovah, and
forgotten His holy mountain ; they practise heathen
superstitions and worship the heathen deities of
Fortune and Destiny ; they contemptuously neglect
the laws of ceremonial purity and Sabbath observance,
which had now become of special importance as
marking the distinction between Israel and the
heathen ; they scorn and persecute the faithful
worshippers of Jehovah. These stout-hearted rebels
1 See Jer. xliv ; Ezek. xiv and xx.

xm OF THE EXILES IX BABVLON 367
we far from righteousness; they do not believe in
Jehovah's purpose to redeem His people.1
Others professed a reverence for Jehovah's Name, some in-
differentists.
and still called themselves citizens of Zion. They
observed the Sabbath, and kept the fasts; but their re
ligion was an external formalism. Like their ancestors
in Judaea, they had no conception of Jehovah's moral
demands, and failed to realise that He was a jealous
God. They were guilty of gross violence and oppres
sion towards their poorer and weaker neighbours,
and they did not scruple to combine heathen rites
with the worship of Jehovah. The temptation was
strong in the midst of a prevailing heathenism, and
they had never broken with the evil traditions which
they had carried with them into exile.2
But in the midst of these apostates and in- some faith
ful but
differentists there were some true Israelites who desponding.
feared Jehovah and obeyed the voice of His servant ;
who followed after righteousness and sought Jehovah
and treasured His law in their hearts ; who mourned
for Zion's desolation, and recognised that the sufferings
of the Exile were the merited punishment of the
nation's sins. With these, who were of a contrite
and humble spirit, Jehovah promises to dwell ; to
these He proclaims the gospel of deliverance. Yet
even these were timid and desponding; fancying
1 See Ixv. 2 ff., 11 ff. ; Ixvi. 3 ff., 17 ; xlvi. 8, 12 ; xlviii. 1 ff. ;
li. 7. On chaps, lvii, lviii, see p. 372.
2 See xlviii. 1 ff. ; lviii, 1 ff. ; Ixvi. 3.

368 THE NEEDS lect.
themselves forgotten and forsaken by Jehovah;
questioning whether the fierce tyranny of Babylon
could ever be quelled, and Israel restored to its
ancient home.1
Adaptation Such were the elements among which the prophet
of the pro-
vhecy to had to work. He had a message for all. The object
their needs. ° °
of his prophecy was not merely to comfort faithful
Israelites by the announcement of the approaching
deliverance from Babylon, but to prepare for that
deliverance. The sternest rebuke alternates with
the tenderest consolation. The most fearful descrip
tions of the rebels' doom are presented side by side
with the most glorious prospects of restoration.
Jehovah is coming to redeem His people. But the
mass of the nation is all unfit for His advent. It is
the prophet's task if possible to prepare them for it,
to startle them into repentance, to inspire them with
faith. They have no conception of Israel's calling
and destiny ; it is His aim to convince them of its
responsibility and its magnificence. Now or never
is Israel's opportunity. With impassioned enthusi
asm he sets before them the character of the God
with whom they have to do ; the purpose for which
He has chosen Israel to be His servant ; the deliver
ance by which He designs once more to put Israel in
a position to fulfil its mission to the world. These
are the leading ideas round which all that he has
1 See 1. 10 ; li. 1, 7, 12 ff. ; Ixi. 1 ff. ; Ixvi. 10 ; lvii. 15 ; xl.
27 ; xlix. 14.

xiii OF THE EXILES IN BABYLON 369
to say is grouped ; and his message gains a new depth
of meaning, it becomes instinct with fresh force, when
we connect it with the circumstances under which
the prophet lived and taught ; when we regard it not
as an abstract treatise, anticipating needs which were
to arise a century and a half after its composition, but
as the living, burning words of one whose heart
throbs with passionate eagerness and trembling fear
in sight of the glorious consummation which is at
hand, if Israel has but faith and courage to take God
at His word and challenge Him to fulfil His promises
to the uttermost. If the prophecy loses something in
mere marvellousness when it is no longer regarded as
predicting from a remote distance the circumstances
of the Exile and the Return, it gains infinitely
more in significance and interest when it is brought
into a vital connexion with the present needs of the
nation. Ill
We must then approach the study of the leading
ideas in the Book of Consolation from the standpoint pianofthe
r book.
of its immediate purpose. A rapid glance at its
general plan and outline will facilitate this study.
For our present purpose it may, I believe, be regarded
as possessing a substantial unity. It is not a formal
treatise composed at one time. There are marks of
progress in it. Some critics think that they can trace
the hands of more than a single author. But there
2 B

370 STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS lect.
is, in spite of many difficulties, especially in the later
chapters, sufficient coherence and unity of purpose to
justify us in speaking of it as a book, and in speaking
of its author. If, as seems almost certain, the author
has made use of earlier prophecies, he has incorpor
ated them as a substantial part of his work. They
are no mere accidental excrescences, and there seems
no strong reason for supposing that the book was not
completed by its original author substantially in its
present form.
What the plan of the work is, and how it should
be divided, are questions not easily answered.
At first sight the triple division of the book into
three equal parts, which has found much favour, is
extremely attractive. The solemn warning at the
close of ch. xlviii, There is no peace, saith Jehovah,
to the wicked, repeated at the close of ch. lvii,
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked, and
reiterated in substance though not in words in the
closing verse of the book which describes the doom
of the rebels against Jehovah, has been thought to
give the desired boundary marks. But it does so in
appearance only. There is no real break in thought
between chaps, lvii and lviii. The theme in both is
the reproof of Israel's sin.
xi-xiviaS' There is however a general agreement that chapters
xl-xlviii form the first division of the prophecy. They
are the " Book of Consolation " properly so called. They
contain the prophet's first great message of good

xiii OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 371
news in view of the approaching deliverance. Most,
if not all, of the great ideas further developed in the
subsequent chapters are found here in germ ; but
some subjects are treated in detail here which do not
reappear in the later chapters. Prominent thoughts
in these chapters, which do not recur later on, are
the contrast between Jehovah and idols, the appeal
to ancient prophecies in proof of Jehovah's Deity,
the divine call of Cyrus and his triumphant career,
the destruction of Babylon the proud oppressor.
We may perhaps discern a more hopeful tone in these
chapters than in those which follow. In the first
flush of enthusiasm the prophet has hope for all his
countrymen. It is only by degrees that he comes to
realise that it is only the few that can be saved to
constitute the new Israel.
From ch. xlix onward the divisions are less
clearly marked. It has indeed been questioned
whether any real divisions exist. But the following
arrangement will be found helpful for study.
Chapters xlix-liv expand the idea of Jehovah's (a.) chaps.
r xlix-liv.
Servant, already presented in germ and outline in the
preceding chapters. The Servant's calling, his ex
perience, his triumph, are successively described, and
the section ends with a glorious picture of the final
result of his work in the restoration and beatification
of Zion. It is addressed, in the main, to the faithful
few, who are capable of appreciating in some degree
the ideal destiny of Israel, and who long for its

Iv-lx.

372 STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS lect.
realisation. From this point onwards, the Servant of
Jehovah is not mentioned by name, though he may
be the speaker in ch. Ixi. 1 ff His place is taken by
the servants of Jehovah, as though the ideal had been
transformed into the actual, and would henceforward
be realised in all the individual members of the
nation.1
(.m.) chaps. Chapters lv-lx may be taken to form the next divi
sion. It opens with an invitation to accept the offered
salvation, and an earnest call to repentance. But the
people are slow to listen, and the prophet, borrow
ing the words of some earlier prophet,2 describes the
actual character of the nation in the past. Yet,
in spite of all past apostasy, it is now Jehovah's
purpose to heal Israel. Then follows a renewed
1 See liv. 17 ; lvi. 6 ; lxiii. 17 ; lxv. 8, 9, 13, 14, 15 ; Ixvi. 14.
The singular does not occur after liii. 11, nor the plural before
liv. 17.
2 The want of connexion with the preceding section, as well as
the difference of style and apparently of historical circumstances in
lvi. 9— lvii. 10, are best explained by the supposition that the passage
is taken from some older prophet, a contemporary, perhaps, of
Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It is not, however, an interpolation, but
is introduced by the author as a description of the causes which
have brought Israel into its present plight. It has an application
to those exiles who were inclined to idolatry. But the prophet
speaks of them rather than to them. He implies that there is a
continuity of national life, and that they are the true children of
their ancestors, from whose guilt they have not dissociated them
selves by hearty repentance.
In ch. lix. 1-8 it seems to me that the prophet is referring
mainly to the sins of the nation before the Exile,, for which
(vv. 9 ff. ) the nation is now suffering. Here, too, the prophet may
be following older models, but to what extent is doubtful,

xiii OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 373
summons to repentance, with an exposure of the
hypocrisy of Israel's formal righteousness. Unre-
pented sin is the real hindrance to the desired salva
tion, not impotence or unwillingness on Jehovah's
part. He is about to appear with an irresistible
manifestation of victorious power in judgement as
well as mercy. Thus, and not otherwise, will the
goal of Israel's destiny be reached.
Reproof and denunciation are the distinguishing
characteristics of this section. It describes the
hindrances to salvation in the impenitence and unre-
ceptiveness of the mass of the nation. But Jehovah
triumphantly overcomes these obstacles : if man will
not co-operate with Him, His own arm will effect
His salvation (lix. 16). The closing chapter reaches
the same goal as the closing chapter of the preceding
section, though Jerusalem's restoration is now con
sidered, not in itself merely, but in the wider aspect
of its relation to the nations of the world.
The last division (chapters lxi-lxvi) consists of a c*»o chaps.
Ixi-lxoi.
series of addresses, some of which seem intended to
reassure those who were cast down by the delay of
the promised salvation, while others seem to have
been delivered when the decree for the Return had
been issued, and the rebuilding of the Temple was
being actually contemplated. The old promises are
reaffirmed, but the contrast between the penitent
who can alone enjoy them and the impenitent for
whom nothing remains but judgement, is even more

374 THEOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
strongly and sternly emphasised than before. Jehovah
Himself cannot give salvation to those who obsti
nately refuse its conditions. Even the Book of
Consolation must end with a final contrast of glory
and disgrace. IV
Theology of _A_ thorough examination of the theology of the
Isa. XL-IJ.m.. ¦ ' ^

LJ,L-t

iheGodof R00^ °f Consolation would require a separate treat-
israei. jg& j^ that can De attempted here is to indicate
some of the leading ideas which the prophet was
taught by the Spirit of God to impress upon his
fellow -exiles in Babylon to meet their needs in this
momentous crisis. Consider their position. Though
they were not slaves in the modern sense of the
word, they had lost their liberty, and humanly
speaking there seemed but little probability that
they would ever regain it. They were face to face
with a dominant heathenism, which seemed to have
rewarded its votaries with triumphant prosperity.
What wonder if some of them were tempted to think
that man was stronger than God ; that after all the
visible powers of the material world were more real
than the unseen powers of the spiritual world?
What wonder if others were ready to regard Bel and
Nebo, whom their conquerors worshipped, as equal
or perhaps superior to Jehovah, and to fancy that
aftei all it might be wisest to propitiate the gods of
the country where they were living? Such were

xiii JEHOVAH THE GOD OF ISRAEL 37t
their dangers. And so the prophet sets to work to
bring home to their minds the truth that God, and
not man, is the supreme power ; that Jehovah is the
one unique, incomparable God, beside Whom there is
no other. It is not that he has any new truth to
proclaim about Jehovah ; but just as the truths con
cerning the Holy Trinity were gradually defined and
made clear as the need for definition arose from the
propagation of false statements, and what was im
plicitly contained in the faith of the Gospel was
explicitly defined so as to exclude error ; so now this
prophet of the Exile, for the needs of his time and
his audience, brings out into a new relief and promi
nence the fundamental truth of absolute monotheism,
the truth that Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the
one only God Who created the world, and preserves
its order, and controls the events of history for His
own purposes. All the prophet's teaching centres
round the exposition of the nature and character
of Jehovah, Who has chosen Israel to be His own
people, to set forth His glory ; for in that nature and
character is the ground of Israel's confidence, the
certainty that Israel is not and cannot be forsaken.
The contrast between the transitory impotence of (/> contrast
n t ¦ between God
man and the eternal omnipotence of Jehovah is the first andman.
point which he emphasises. In face of the apparently
invincible might of Babylon, deliverance must have
seemed hopeless to the exiles. But at the very outset
of his prophecy he proclaims this contrast for Israel's

376 THEOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
comfort. When the mysterious voice has announced
the impending restoration of Israel, another voice
bids him Cry, and when he asks What shall I
cry ? he receives the answer : All flesh is grass, and
all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field : the
grass withereth, the flower fadeth ; because the breath of
Jehovah bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth : but the word of
our God shall stand for ever (xl. 6 ff). It is the
thought upon which Israel is to reflect in view of all
the overwhelming magnificence and power of their
conquerors, which seems for the moment so irresist
ible and so permanent.
The same thought is repeated even more emphatic
ally at a later point in the prophecy, when perhaps
disappointment was beginning to be felt at the delay
in the fulfilment of the prediction of deliverance. /,
even I, am He that comforteth you : who art thou, that
thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son
of man that shall be made as grass ; and hast forgotten
Jehovah thy Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and
laid the foundations of the earth; and fear est con
tinually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor,
when he maketh ready to destroy? and where is the
fury of the oppressor ? (li. 12, 13).
(s) contrast But it is not so much the contrast between
betweenind"idois. Jenovah and man as the contrast between Jehovah
and idols upon which the prophet dwells. It is this
which gives him occasion to set forth the omni-

xiii THE SUPREMACY OF JEHOVAH 377
potence and wisdom and omniscience of the Creator,
the sovereign Ruler of the world, Who knows and
declares from the beginning the final purpose of His
will. Who, he asks, hath measured the waters in the
hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with a span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a
balance ? (xl. 12). The answer is obvious. None but
Jehovah, who has assigned to the universe its form
and dimensions, as easily as a workman measures his
materials and plans out his work with his ordinary
tools. Who, he continues, hath meted out the spirit
of Jehovah, or being His counsellor hath taught Him ?
With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him,
and taught Him in the path of judgement, yea taught
Him knowledge, and shewed Him the way of under
standing? (xl. 13 f.).
Alone He planned the universe in His supreme
wisdom; alone He rules and maintains it all. Its
magnificence and order bear unceasing witness to
His power. Lift up your eyes on high, and see :
who hath created these? He that bringeth out their
host by number : He calleth them all by name ; by the
greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in
power, not one is lacking (xl. 26). But He does not
rule in nature only. He rules in the affairs of men.
The Creator of the world is its Governor. It is He
that is throned upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. It is He Who

378 THEOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
has stretched out the heavens like gauze, and spread
them out as a tent to dwell in : that bringeth princes to
nothing, and maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
Scarce lvave they been planted, scarce have they been
sown, scarce hath their stock taken root in the earth,
when He bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the
whirlwind taketh them away as stubble (xl. 22-24).
To whom then will ye liken God ? or what likeness
will ye compare unto Him ? is the prophet's indignant
question as he points from his sublime sketch of the
Creator and Governor of the world to the contempt
ible folly of a manufactured idol (xl. 18). To whom
then will ye liken Me, that I should be equal to him ?
saith the Holy One, is the solemn repetition from God
Himself of the prophet's question (xl. 25).
But this truth of the sovereignty of Jehovah has
an immediate application to present circumstances.
The coast lands of the Mediterranean and the nations
which are trembling before the triumphant advance
of Cyrus are challenged to say who it is that has
raised up this victorious hero and endowed him with
such irresistible might. Who hath wrought and done
it ? and the answer comes, One who calls the genera
tions from the beginning, planning and controlling not
this only but all the movements of the world's
history : I Jehovah am the first, and with the last I
am He (xli. 4). But in their panic the nations resort
to their gods, and repair their idols ; and these gods
are now arraigned, and challenged to give proof of

xiii THE SUPREMACY OF JEHOVAH 379
their deity by shewing their foreknowledge (xli. 21 ff).
Let them point to predictions which have been already
fulfilled, or predict what is yet to happen : nay, let
them demonstrate their existence by action of any
kind. But they are dumb. There is none that de-
clareth, there is none that sheweth . . . even among
them there is no counsellor, that . . . can answer a
word (xli. 26 ff). Jehovah claims that He has raised
up Cyrus, and no one else knew that he was coming :
He first proclaims to Zion the good news of approach
ing deliverance.
Once more the nations are summoned, and their
gods are challenged to produce testimony to their
own powers of foreknowledge and of action. Who
among them can declare this, and shew us former
things ? let them bring their witnesses, that they may
be justified. But they have none ; whereas Jehovah
can appeal to Israel as His witnesses. That mys
terious nation in its past history, and in the fresh
wonders which are in store for it, is the witness to
Jehovah's power. 7", even I, have declared, and have
saved, and have shewed, and there was no strange god
among you : therefore ye are my witnesses, saith
Jehovah, and I am God. Yea from this day forth I am
He; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand:
I work, and who can reverse it? (xliii. 9-13).
But Israel is slow to believe ; and once more the
claims of Jehovah to unique Deity, and to the sover
eignty and foreknowledge which are the attributes of

380 THEOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
Deity, are asserted ; and the stupid folly of idolatry
is signally exposed by a graphic description of the
whole process of idol manufacture. Jehovah speaks
as the King of Israel, and his redeemer Jehovah of
hosts : I am the first, and I am the last ; and beside Me
there is no God. . . . Fear ye not, neither be afraid:
have I not declared unto thee of old, and shewed it ? and
ye are my witnesses. Is there a God beside Me ? yea,
there is no Rock ; I know not any. They that fashion
a graven image are all of them vanity ; and their de
sirable things shall not profit : and their own witnesses
see not, nor know ; that they may be ashamed (xliv. 6 ff.).
But Israel's King is the King of all the earth.
When He formed the earth and established it, He
created it not to be chaos, but formed it to be in
habited ; and His purpose is, and He has confirmed
it with a solemn oath, that unto Him every knee shall
bow, every tongue shall swear. He claims and will
ultimately receive the universal allegiance of all
mankind (xlv. 18 ff).
The destruction of Babylon is imminent ; and as
the prophet watches the images of her tutelary deities
borne into a helpless captivity, he contrasts their im
potence with the loving care of Jehovah, who has
borne and carried the nation of Israel from its birth.
He makes one last appeal to the transgressors to
ponder the course of Israel's history, and to read the
lesson of this new deliverance which is in course of
accomplishment. Remember the former things, of old :

xiii THE SUPREMACY OF JEHOVAH 381
for I am God, and there is none else ; I am God, and
there is none like Me ; declaring the end from the be
ginning, and from ancient times things that are not
yet done ; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will
do all My pleasure . . . (xlvi. 9 ff).
Throughout the first division of the prophecy
(chaps, xl-xlviii) this contrast between the impo
tence of the heathen idols and the omnipotence,
omniscience, and sovereign purpose of Jehovah is
repeatedly insisted on. This is the fundamental
truth upon which Israel may depend : this can
inspire them with hope and courage in the midst
of the catastrophes which cause consternation to the
nations, for these are but Jehovah's means for the
deliverance of His people.
All this omnipotence is being exerted on behalf of
Israel. Jehovah has created Jacob, and formed
Israel (xliii. 1). They are His sons and His daughters,
whom He has created for His glory (xliii. 6, 7) : they
are His people, His chosen, the people which He
formed for Himself that they might set forth His
praise (xliii. 21). Again and again the tender love
of Jehovah for His people is described. He shall feed
His flock like a shepherd; even as in the days of old
in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and
He bare them and carried them all the days of old
(lxiii. 9 ff). His is more than a mother's love. Can
a woman forget her sucking child, that she should
not have compassion on the son of her womb ?

382 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JEHOVAH lect.
yea, these may forget, yet will I not forget thee
(xlix. 15).
There are two attributes of Jehovah, constantly
connected in this prophecy with the redemption of
Israel, which require special notice — His righteous
ness and His holiness.
(s)jehovah's The righteousness of God is manifested in His
righteous-Mss- deliverance of Israel. There is no contrast in the
mind of the prophet between righteousness and
mercy. Salvation is the correlative and companion
of righteousness (xlv. 8 ; xlvi. 13 ; li. 5, 6, 8 ; lvi. 1).
Jehovah is a righteous God and therefore a saviour
(xlv. 21). For salvation is His eternal purpose ; and
it is in conformity with that eternal purpose that He
is delivering Israel. However He may seem for a
time to be forced by men's sin to deviate from the
straight line of that purpose, He is always self-
consistent, unswayed by passion, unbiassed by par
tiality, undeterred from His purpose by human
obstinacy and perversity. He has called Israel His
servant in righteousness (xiii. 6), and He promises to
uphold him with the right hand of His righteousness
(xli. 10). He has raised up Cyrus in righteousness
to execute His purpose (xlv. 13). When He comes
triumphant from His victory over Israel's enemies
He proclaims Himself as one that speaks in righteous
ness, mighty to save (lxiii. 1). The decree for the
ultimate submission of the nations is a word that has
gone forth from His mouth in righteousness (xlv. 23).

xiii THE HOLINESS OF JEHOVAH 383
Jehovah's righteousness is His conformity to that
absolute law which God must ever be unto Himself,
that unchanging standard of right which excludes all
idea of caprice or variableness. It is the embodi
ment in action of the attribute of truth, which is the
inalienable characteristic of Deity.
The title the Holy One of Israel is one of the most auehovaKsholiness.
striking points of connexion between this prophecy
and Isaiah. It was, as we have seen reason to
believe (p. 17*7), coined by Isaiah ; and it is appro
priated by his great disciple in the Exile. The
preservation of Israel in the Assyrian troubles when
Jerusalem's last hour seemed at hand was the work
of the Holy One of Israel. The redemption of Israel
from Babylon and her glorification are equally His
characteristic work. Thy Redeemer is the Holy One
of Israel is a distinctive note of this prophecy.1 It
is the Holy One of Israel who has sent to Babylon
to bring down all the Chaldeans as fugitives (xliii.
14, 15; cp. xlv. 11). Redeemed Israel -will glory in
the Holy One of Israel. It is He who glorifies Zion
(lv. 5 ; lx. 9), and the title of the city will be The
Zion of the Holy One of Israel (lx. 14). This title
the Holy One of Israel was a perpetual reminder of
the character of the God who had entered into cove
nant with Israel. It affirmed on the one hand that
in virtue of His essential Deity His purposes for His
people could not be frustrated; and on the other
1 See xli. 14 ; xliii. 14 ; xlvii. 4 ; xlviii. 17 ; xlix. 7 ; Hv 5.

384 THEOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
hand that Israel must conform to His claim of holi
ness. And the prophet looks forward to the response
of the people to Jehovah's renewed manifestation of
His purpose towards them.
(S)Jehovah's It is but another way of expressing the truth that
name. Israel's redemption is in accordance with the divine
righteousness and the characteristic work of Israel's
Holy One when it is said to be wrought for His own
sake, or for His Name's sake (xliii. 25 ; xlviii. 9-11 ;
cp. xiii. 8).1 It is the outcome and issue of all that
He is, and all that He has revealed Himself to be.
Israel is not redeemed for any merit of its own, but
in pursuance of an eternal purpose, in accomplish
ment of the unchanging divine Will and Counsel.
(8)jehovaKs As the motive of Jehovah's action is for His
glory. Name's sake, its rule His righteousness, its condition
His holiness, so its final cause is His glory. The
object of Israel's creation is His glory (xliii. 7): in
the redemption of Israel the glory of the Lord will be
revealed so that all flesh may see it together (xl. 5);
when He executes vengeance, men will fear the
name of Jehovah from the west, and His glory from
the rising of the sun (lix. 19) ; Zion in her restora
tion will be the reflection of that glory (lx. 1, 2), and
in the final judgement it will be manifested and
recognised among the nations (Ixvi. 18, 19). Thus all
the dealings of God with His people and with the
world contribute to that revelation of His Being and
1 Com]), the teaching of Ezekiel, p. 344,

xiii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 385
His attributes which makes His Presence known, so
far as men can know it, in its dazzling and tran
scendent splendour. V
We have seen thus far how the great prophet The Servant
of the Exile develops and enforces the fundamental
truth of the Being and the character of Jehovah in
order to reanimate the faint-hearted, to arouse the
indifferent, to convince the apostates, among his
hearers, in view of the approaching deliverance of
Israel from Babylon. Side by side with this truth,
or rather interwoven with it into one great argument,
he sets forth the truths of God's eternal and irre
vocable choice of Israel to be His peculiar people, of
the purpose with which that choice was made, and of .
the means by which that purpose is to be carried into
effect. The Servant of Jehovah is the counterpart
and correlative of Jehovah Himself in the prophet's
teaching. It was a truth for the time. Israel as it
was needed to be convinced of its mission to the
world in order that it might seize the opportunity
now to be offered to it of making a new step forward
for the accomplishment of that mission, of redeeming
the failure of past days, of responding to the divine
call and accepting the divine commission.
The study of the idea of the Servant of Jehovah
presented in these chapters is beset with difficulty.
2c

386 ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
The only method which can lead to satisfactory
results is to examine the gradual development of
the conception in the series of passages which treat
of it.
ne natwn The first of these is ch. xli. 8-16. The con-
of Israel, . ...... -, , -.
ch. xii. 8-i6. sternation which is being produced among the nations
by the triumphant advance of Cyrus has just been
described. From the nations Jehovah turns to
address Israel. In the midst of these political con
vulsions Israel has nothing to fear.
But thou, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have
chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend ; thou whom I
have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called
from the corners thereof, and unto whom I have said,
" Thou art My servant, I have chosen thee and not cast
thee away "; — Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; le not
dismayed, for lam thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea,
I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right
hand of My righteousness.
It is plainly the nation of Israel which is here
styled the Servant of Jehovah. This honourable
title is given in the Old Testament to individuals
who were raised up to do special work, such as
Moses the lawgiver, Joshua the conqueror of the
Promised Land, David the founder of the true
theocratic monarchy. And here the nation is
regarded as a unity, chosen, called, preserved, for
a special purpose of service to God. In spite of all
appearances, God has not cast away His Servant.

xiii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 387
Israel has nothing to fear. Its enemies are the
enemies of Jehovah, and they will be utterly
destroyed. Behold, all they that are incensed against
thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they that
strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish
(xli. 11).
Here the emphasis is on the choice of Israel and The
. . . . T Servant's
its ultimate success in its mission. In the next mission,ch. xiii. 1 j
chapter the character and object of that mission are
described. Jehovah is the speaker. He is address
ing the world. He introduces to them His Servant,
and describes His work and its method :
Behold My servant, whom I uphold ; My chosen, in
whom My soul delighteth : I have put My spirit upon
him ; he shall cause right to go forth to the nations.
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be
heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and a failing wick shall he not quench : he shall cause
right to go forth in truth. He shall not fail, nor break
down, till he have set right in the earth, and for his
instruction shall the coastlands wait (xiii. 1-4).
Then, turning to His Servant, Jehovah addresses
him: Thus saith God, even Jehovah, that created the
heavens, and stretched them forth, that spread out the
earth, and that which cometh forth of it, that giveth
breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that
walk therein ; I Jehovah have called thee in righteous
ness, and hold thine hand, and guard thee, and give

388 ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
thee to be a covenant of people} a light of nations ;
to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the
dungeon, them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house (xiii. 5-7).
We have here a description of the work of
Jehovah's Servant. But who is meant ? I cannot
think that there is any doubt that, as in the preced
ing passage, Israel is meant by this title. The same
terms are employed here as in ch. xli : here, as
there, the Servant is described as divinely upheld,
chosen, called. But it is, as we say, an ideal descrip
tion, setting forth in the sublimest terms the divine
purpose of Israel's election. That purpose is nothing
less than the propagation of divine right according
to truth among all nations. It is nothing less than
to bring universal illumination to the moral dark
ness of the world, universal liberation to the bond
slaves of ignorance and error. This victory of right
is not to be won by force, or with pomp of attendant
circumstance : it will not overwhelm but restore the
weak and feeble : and this divine purpose is sealed
1 Much confusion and difficulty have been introduced into the
interpretation of this passage by the failure to recognise that
people in v. 6 does not denote Israel. It must be explained
as in v. 5, where, as in ch. xl. 7, people means mankind in
general. It is through the work of His servant Israel that Jehovah
wills to establish His covenant with all mankind. There is no
reference here to the work which needs to be effected for the
servant himself before he can accomplish the divine purpose,
though already the language of v. 7 may be chosen in view of the
startling paradox that the instrument designed for the world's
liberation is itself in prison, itself needs to be set free.

xiii THE SERArANT OF JEHOVAH 389
with the solemn words : I am Jehovah : that is My
name ; and My glory will I not give to another, neither
My praise unto graven images (xiii. 8).
But the actual state of Israel is a strange contrast
to its splendid destiny. It is this astonishing para
dox which next occupies the prophet's attention.
The coming restoration of Israel from exile is de
scribed (xiii. 10-17), and then with startling abrupt
ness Israel — the actual Israel of the Exile — is
addressed :
Ye deaf, hear ! and ye blind, look, that ye may see ! The
Who is blind, but My servant ? and deaf, as My failure,
messenger that I would send ? Who is blind as My 18ff-
devoted one ? yea, blind as Jehovah's servant ? Israel,
far from being able to open blind eyes, is itself blind.
Far from being in a position to loose others from
prison, they are themselves snared in holes and hid
in prison houses. And the cause of this strange con
trast between the actual plight in which Israel lies
and its ideal destiny is the chastisement which
Jehovah has inflicted upon Israel for its wilful sin
and disobedience (xiii. 24, 25).
Yet, utterly as Israel has failed in its calling, sore The
... Servant's
as has been the punishment inflicted upon it, it has restoration
an indelible character as the Servant of Jehovah ; in ^/{gj
spite of itself it will be carried on to fulfil its mission.
Yet now thus saith Jehovah that created thee, 0 Jacob,
and He that formed thee, 0 Israel : Fear not, for I
have redeemed thee ; I have called thee by thy name ;

390 ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
thou art Mine (xliii. 1). Blind and deaf as are the
individuals who now compose the nation of Israel,
they are still His witnesses. Their very existence
bears testimony to His plan. Bring forth the blind
people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. . . .
Ye are My witnesses, saith Jehovah, and My servant
whom I have chosen (xliii. 8, 10).
Once more, in ch. xliv, the same thoughts are
repeated. In spite of the repeated sins, for which its
consecrated princes have been dishonoured, and Jacob
made a curse, and Israel a reviling, Jehovah has not
cast off His people. Free forgiveness awaits them.
He will quicken them once more with a new life, and
the nations will unite in fellowship with Israel and
Israel's God. Here are the gracious words of
promise :
Yet now hear, 0 Jacob My servant, and Israel whom
I have chosen : thus saith Jehovah, that made thee, and
formed thee from the womb, who will help thee : Fear
not, 0 Jacob My servant, and thou, Jeshurun, whom I
have chosen. For I will pour water upon the thirsty,
and streams upon the dry ground: I will pour My
spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine
offspring : and they shall spring up among the grass,
as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I am
Jehovah's; and another shall celebrate the name of
Jacob ; and a third shall inscribe himself as Jehovah's,
and surname himself with the name of Israel
(xliv. 1-5).

xiii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 381
The instrument of deliverance has already been
prepared. If Cyrus has been raised up and com
missioned by no less honourable a title than the
Anointed of Jehovah (xlv. 1), it is for the sake of
Jacob His Servant, and of Israel His chosen, that
Jehovah has called him by his name (xlv. 4). And
when the exiles march forth from Babylon in their
new Exodus, the triumph song which is to be re
echoed even to the end of the earth is this, Jehovah
hath redeemed His servant Jacob (xlviii. 20).
Thus far— to the end of the first division of the The ideal
prophecy — it is plainly the nation of Israel which is ch. xiix. i i
spoken of as the Servant of Jehovah. Israel is the
people which He has chosen to fulfil His purposes
for the world, and in spite of its utter failure in its
mission, Israel remains His Servant ; it cannot be
abandoned ; it is to be redeemed and restored to its
own land that it may fulfil its destiny as the bearer
of salvation to the ends of the earth. Jehovah's
essential character and His relation to Israel are the
guarantees that Israel's mission must, in some way or
other, be accomplished.
But how can this be ? Israel itself needs to be
converted ; atonement must be made for Israel's sin
before it can fulfil its mission to the world ; and
thus in a second group of passages, extending from
ch. xlix to ch. liii, we have a fresh presentation of
the Servant's work. That work is now described as
beginning with Israel itself, and extending from

392 ISAIAH XL-LXVI LECT.
Israel to the nations. In spite of Israel's failure and
humiliation the true Servant of Jehovah is hidden
within it. In the opening of this new division of
the prophecy he speaks, addressing the nations, and
describing his calling and his work, his seeming
present failure and his certain ultimate success.
Listen, 0 coastlands, unto me; and hearken, ye
peoples, from far: Jehovah called me from the womb;
from the bowels of my mother He made mention of my
name: and He hath made my mouth like a sharp
sword, in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me;
and He hath made me a polished arrow, in His quiver
hath He concealed me; and He said unto me, Thou
art my servant ; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
But I — I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent
my strength for nought and vanity : yet surely my
judgement is with Jehovah, and my recompense is with
my God. And now saith Jehovah that formed me
from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back
to Him, and that Israel may be gathered unto Him . . .
yea, He saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest
be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to
restore the preserved of Israel : yea, I will make thee
a light of the nations, that thou mayest be My salvation
unto the end of the earth (xlix. 1-6).
At first sight it might be supposed that the pro
phet is the speaker. But this is clearly not the
case. The Servant of Jehovah who speaks is still
identified with Israel (v. 3). But in what sense?

xin THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 393
For this Servant's first work is for Israel itself, to
raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the pre
served of Israel. He is therefore at once identified
with and distinguished from Israel ; and it would
seem that Israel must be used in a narrower and a
wider sense of the ideal Israel according to the
divine calling and purpose, and the actual Israel
sunk for the most part in indifference and unbelief.
Hidden within the nation there is the true Israel,
ready to fulfil its calling as the Servant of Jehovah ;
the faithful few, who alone really deserve the name
of Israel ; and it is through this element within the
nation that it can be saved and restored and led on
to fulfil its calling. This element corresponds to the
holy seed which Isaiah foretold would preserve the life
of Israel through the time of desolating catastrophe
(vi. 11-13) ; and in the name of this element which
he represents, and not for himself alone, or for any
single individual, the prophet speaks.
Once more in ch. 1. the Servant speaks, describ- ms
experience,
ing his divine equipment, his vocation, his experience <*• '¦ ts
of shameful rebuff and persecution, his certainty of
ultimate triumph in the divine strength.
The Lord Jehovah hath given me a disciple's tongue,
that I may know how to sustain the weary with a
word: He wakeneth morning by morning, wakeneth
mine ear to hear as disciples do. The Lord Jehovah
hath opened mine ear, and I — I was not rebellious, I
turned not away backward. I gave my back to the

394 ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
smiters, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the hair ;
I hid not my face from insult and spitting. But
the Lord Jehovah will help me: therefore have I
not been confounded ; therefore have I set my face like
a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He
is near that justifieth me ; who will contend with me ?
let us stand up together : who is mine adversary ? let
him approach me. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help
me : who is he that shall condemn me ? behold, they all
shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them
up (1. 4-9).
It is the Servant who speaks ; and God Himself,
addressing the faithful few, sets His seal to the
Servant's mission. Who is among you that feareth
Jehovah, that obeyeih the voice of His servant ? though
he hath walked in darkness, and hath had no light, let
him trust in the name of Jehovah, and stay himself
upon his God (1. 10).
If this passage stood alone we might again sup
pose that it referred to the prophet himself; but it
must be taken along with the other passages of the
series ; and when we remember the strong sense of
solidarity in ancient Israel, we shall find no difficulty
in seeing that the prophet speaks not for himself
only, but as the mouthpiece and representative of
that true Israel, which, as we have seen, is spoken of
in ch. xlix as Jehovah's Servant.
Thus, step by step, we are led up to that sacred
passage in which the prophet's teaching concerning

xiii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 395
the Servant of Jehovah culminates. The exodus victory
through
from Babylon is assumed to have taken place (lii. e^f^ni^
7-12). Jehovah hath made bare His holy arm in the hu-
sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth
see the salvation of our God (lii. 10). Then once
more the prophetic discourse reverts to the Servant ;
but whereas before he was himself introduced as
speaking, it is now Jehovah Who speaks, and
describes the issue of his work. His success and
exaltation will be proportionate to his humiliation,
exciting the astonishment of nations and kings, who
are struck dumb with amazement at this unexpected
sight (lii. 13-15). But it is not to the nations only
that it is a surprise. Speaking in the name of his com
patriots the prophet laments the general incredulity
with which he had been received. Who in Israel
had believed the announcement made to them ? For
he had no outward attractiveness ; nay, he was de
spised and rejected of men, he was as some loathsome
sufferer, from whom men turn in abhorrence (liii. 1-3).
Penitently they confess their blindness as they re
cognise that he suffered not for his own sin but for
the sin of the people, on behalf of those who thought
him the object of God's especial wrath (liii. 4-6).
The grossest maltreatment he met with uncom
plaining resignation : he perished, unregarded, by a
violent death, and innocent as he was, he shared the
grave of oppressors and malefactors (vv. 7-9).
But in sharpest contrast to his apparent fate is his

396 ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
real destiny, for he suffered by Jehovah's will, and
through death victorious over death he makes atone
ment for the transgressors with whom he was
reckoned; and he whom men condemned as a
malefactor proves to be their Saviour and Inter
cessor (vv. 10-12).
Of whom speaketh the prophet this ? Is the portrait
here drawn that of " an individual figure in which
all the attributes of the Servant culminate," or is it
" an ideal figure, which is the impersonation of Israel's
ideal character, and which he represents as accom
plishing what Israel, as he knew it, had left un
achieved ? " 1
To attempt precise definition may .perhaps be too
great a refinement, a drawing of distinctions which
would not have been present to the prophet's mind,
Person or personification, this at least is the culmina
tion of the idea of Israel as the Servant of Jehovah,
whether he expected the features of the portrait to
be realised in a single individual or in the restored
and purified nation. It represents the ideal Servant
perfectly fulfilling his work. It shews how that
work must be accomplished in the face of misunder
standing and opposition and persecution; how re
demption can only be achieved through vicarious
suffering, life can only be won through death. It is
possible that some features in that portrait were
taken from the actual experience of prophets and
1 Driver, Isaiah, p. 178.

xiii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 397
other faithful servants of God, and united in an
ideal combination ; that it sums up the experiences
of the past, and through them points forward to the
future. The significance of that portrait for the
prophet's contemporaries was that it expressed the
certain assurance that the purpose for which Israel
had been created and chosen and preserved would
not fail of its accomplishment. It is upon the basis
of the atonement made by the Servant that the glow
ing description in chap, liv of Zion's restoration in a
covenant which is never to be broken rests. When
Israel has confessed its sin, and recognised the work
of the Servant in and for it, it can fulfil its mission
and become the mother of the universal church. It
is noteworthy that the Servant of Jehovah is not
mentioned again. Instead of " the Servant," collective
or individual, we meet with " the servants," 1 as though
in the restored Israel every individual would in his
part fulfil the vocation of the whole.
Whatever may have been the precise idea which Fulfilment
in Christ.
the prophet's portrait of the suffering and triumphant
Servant of Jehovah conveyed to himself and his con
temporaries — and it is impossible for us to tell how
far they were allowed to see into the mysterious
truth which it foreshadowed — we who read it in the
light of its fulfilment cannot doubt that it was
intended by the Holy Spirit to point forward to
Christ. In Him alone it receives its complete
1 liv. 17 ; lvi. 6 ; lxiii. 17 ; lxv. 8, 9, 13, 14 15 ; Ixvi. 14.

398 ISAIAH XL-LXVI

LECT.

explanation. He takes up the work which Israel
could not do. As Israel's ideal representative, He
sums up in Himself and carries out to its fullest
development all that every true Israelite, every
faithful prophet, every patient martyr had foreshewn,
in many parts and in many fashions, of the Servant's
work. Israel was " the Messianic nation " ; and the
Messiah who came in the fulness of times was the
true and perfect Servant, whose redemptive work
was exercised for His own people first, and then for
the world. He was the final outcome and develop
ment of Israel; yet no mere natural product or
spontaneous development, but the divinely fore
ordained and divinely given crown and consumma
tion of the nation's history.
There is no prophecy in the whole of the Old
Testament which offers a more convincing proof,
not only of God's foreknowledge and purpose, but
of His communication of it to man through His
prophets; and when a recent historian of Israel
can say that " when the ancient Church interprets
the passage of the sufferings and death of the
Messiah it does it violence, taking what is said about
the past history of Israel for a prophecy of the future
destiny of the Messianic King," 1 he betrays that he
has failed to grasp the fundamental principle of the
organic unity of the Old and New Testaments, and
the relation of the history of Israel to that gradual
1 Stade, Oesch. des Volkes Israel, ii. p. 79.

xiii THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH 399
unfolding of salvation which is consummated in
Christ. But we must not hastily conclude that because,
in the light of its fulfilment, this meaning of the
prophecy is clear to us, it was also clear to the
prophet and his contemporaries. Nay, we know that
the idea of a suffering Messiah was abhorrent to the
minds even of the disciples. All their thoughts were
concentrated on the type of the Messianic King, and
it was only as they pondered on the facts of the
Lord's life in the early days after Pentecost that they
were brought to see how the prophecies of the suffer
ing Servant and the victorious King were united in
the one Person of Him who reigned from the tree.
It is natural for us to regard this great prophecy,
and indeed the whole series of prophecies, in the
light of its fulfilment only, as it applies to Christ.
It is easier to do so ; but in so doing we lose some
thing of the full understanding of the methods by
which God taught His people of old, and revived
and strengthened their faith. For once more be it
observed that this whole exposition of the calling and
the work and the victory of the Servant of the Lord
was a truth for the time. At this crisis in Israel's
history those who had ears to hear needed to be
taught what was the calling of their nation, what
was the purpose for which it had been so wonderfully
created and preserved through all vicissitudes. They
needed to be assured that in spite of Israel's failure,

400 ESCHATOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
the divine purpose would be victoriously accom
plished. More than they could have hoped has already
been fulfilled ; and in that fulfilment is the guarantee
for us that God's purposes are moving towards a
consummation greater and more glorious than aught
that we can dare to imagine.

VI
Eschau>- The immediate purpose of the prophet was, as we
have seen, to comfort the exiles in Babylon with the
assurance of their speedy deliverance, to interpret
to them the significance of Israel's vocation, to pre
pare them to rise to the occasion, and, responding to
the call of God, fulfil their destiny. So, while the
restoration of the exiles to their own land occupies
the foreground of his picture, the distance is radiant
with a splendid vision of the glorious future which
awaits Zion when it achieves its mission to the world.
In the first division of the prophecy (chapters xl-
xlviii), which forms the Book of Consolation in the
stricter sense, the coming deliverance from Babylon
is naturally most prominent; but the thoughts of
the ultimate consequences of that deliverance are
already present in germ and outline, to be developed
and expanded in the later chapters of the book.
The Exodus The approaching deliverance will be a second
ion. Exodus. Jeremiah had predicted that its fame would

xiii ESCHATOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 401
eclipse that of the first Exodus. Behold the days
come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As
Jehovah liveth, that brought up the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt ; but, As Jehovah liveth, that
brought up the children of Israel from the land of the
north, and from all the countries whither He had driven
them (Jer. xvi. 14, 15 ; xxiii. 7, 8). Our prophet
repeatedly refers to the comparison.1 It is a signifi
cant one. The nation was " born" in the first Exodus :
in this second Exodus it is to be born again. This
restoration is to be the initiation of a new order.
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new
things do I declare : before they spring forth I tell you
of them (xiii. 9 ; xliii. 19 ; xlviii. 6). Jehovah will
once more lead His people through the wilderness
with signs and wonders (xl. 3 ff) ; but whereas in the
first Exodus they came forth in haste (Deut. xvi. 3 ;
Exod. xii. 11), and carried with them the contamina
tion of the land of their sojourn, they are not to go
out in haste or by flight ; they are to touch no unclean
thing (lii. 11, 12). Those who bear the vessels of
Jehovah are bidden to be clean. Jehovah will return
to Zion, and once more establish His kingdom there
in the sight of all the nations (lii. 7-10). Babylon is
to be put to eternal shame ; Zion is to be glorified
with everlasting glory. Babylon's gods are dethroned
and dishonoured ; Zion's God is supremely exalted
and recognised as the sole sovereign of the world.
1 See xl.- 3 ff. ; xlviii. 20 f. ; li. 9 ff. ; lii. 11, 12 ; lv. 12.
2d

402 ESCHATOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
The restora- Spiritual revival follows upon outward restoration;
tion of Zion
and access- but the greatest glory of the restored Zion will be
ion of the ° ° J
nations. the accession of the nations, which crowd to do her
homage, and confess that Jehovah is the only true
Deity. Surely God is in thee; and there is none
else, there is no god. The universal homage which
He demands will ultimately be paid Him (xliv. 3 ff,;
xlv. 14, 18-25).
In the later chapters of the book the restoration
and its consequences are depicted in fuller detail
in a series of passages, each of which surpasses the
preceding one in glowing enthusiasm and magnificent
anticipation. The first work of the true Servant of Jehovah,
hidden within the nation, is, as we have seen, to raise
up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel
(xlix. 6). Zion's children are restored to her (xlix.
14 ff). She can scarcely believe the sight; but
Jehovah's love is inalienable; and her waste and
desolate places and her land that has been destroyed
shall now be too strait for the inhabitants. At
Jehovah's summons the nations bring them back,
and their great ones wait to do them service (xlix.
22 ff). Nature welcomes them ; the curse of barren
ness is removed ; and Jehovah makes Zion's wilder
ness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of
Jehovah (li. 3).
Jerusalem's persecutors will receive their just
recompence : she will no more be profaned, but hence-

xiii ESCHATOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 403
forth will be the holy city, into which there shall no
more come the uncircumcised and unclean (li. 17 ff. ;
lii. 1 ff).
A still more glowing picture of Zion's restoration ca.
follows immediately upon the culminating descrip
tion of the suffering and victory of the Servant of
Jehovah. She is to exult once more in the multitude
of her children : she will spread abroad on the right
hand and on the left ; and her seed will possess the
nations. Jehovah's wrath has rested upon her for a
moment, but His mercy will be everlasting. The
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but
My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall
My covenant qfjpeace be removed, saith Jehovah that
hath mercy on thee (liv. 10). The outward beauty of
the new Jerusalem, glistening with precious stones,
will find its counterpart in the spiritual perfection of
her children, when they realise in fact the character
and calling of the servants of Jehovah (liv. 11-17).
Strangely different indeed, the prophet knows, has
been and is the character of the mass of the nation
which bears the honourable title the Servant of
Jehovah; yet his faith is unshaken that Jehovah
cannot desert His people or fail in His purpose.
When there is none to interpose, His own arm brings
salvation unto Him. The covenant cannot be broken.
A redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn
from transgression in Jacob, saith Jehovah. And as
for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith Jehovah:

404 ESCHATOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
My spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have
put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth
of thy seed's seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and
for ever (lix. 20, 21).
ch. ix. It is under these conditions that the divine glory
dawns upon Zion, and as she shines with that
celestial brightness, she becomes the light of the
world which lies in darkness. She draws the nations
to herself, and they bring back her scattered children.
The treasures of the world are offered to do honour to
Jehovah. All that is most costly and beautiful is
brought to beautify the place of His sanctuary.
Strangers build.up her walls, and their kings minister
to her. The sons of those who once oppressed her
now pay her homage. Prosperity, peace, divine
illumination, universal righteousness, distinguish the
restored city and people. Her glory and her blessed
ness know neither limit nor end. The vision reaches
into the far distance ; and then the prophet, return
ing to the present, proclaims the ministry of
restoration which has been committed to him.1 He
1 Opinions are divided whether the speaker in ch. Ixi. 1 ff. is
the prophet himself or the Servant of Jehovah. The Targum
assigns the words to the prophet, and this 1 believe to be the
correct view. It is true that the Servant is endowed with the
Spirit, commissioned to raise up the downcast and release the
prisoners. But nothing here goes beyond what the prophet might
say of himself. The office of the speaker here is to proclaim, not
to mediate, salvation. Elsewhere, when the Servant is introduced,
he is designated by his title. He disappears from the book after

xiii ESCHATOLOGY OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 405
assures his fellow-exiles of the double recompence of
honour which awaits them for the shame they have
suffered. Israel will fulfil its calling as a nation of
priests,1 and the nations will serve them. The
patriarchal promise will be realised. All that see
them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed
which Jehovah hath blessed (Ixi. 9).
Glorious as are these hopes for the future, they chaps, t *«-
Ixvi.
cannot remain unchequered and unqualified. The
actual state of Israel forbids such optimism. The
nations may still persist in antagonism to Jehovah
and His people. And so in the closing chapters
of the book the thoughts of judgement and salva
tion alternate with strange abruptness. Jehovah's
triumphant return from executing vengeance upon
Edom is a type and example of the universal judge
ment which awaits His adversaries. And when the
prophet pleads in the name of the church of the
Exile for the speedy fulfilment of the promises of
restoration (ch. lxv), Jehovah points him to the
apostate and rebellious element in Israel which
hinders the coming of salvation, and warns them
that for them nothing but judgement is in store
(Ixvi. 1 ff). It is not all Israel that will be saved :
chap, liii, and it would be strange that he should be reintroduced
here without being named. And in these closing chapters the
personality of the prophet does not lie so entirely in the back
ground as it does in the earlier part of the book. This view does
not affect the application of the prophecy by our Lord to Himself
(St. Luke iv. 21).
1 Isaiah Ixi. 6 ; cp. Exod. xix. 6.

406 FULFILMENT OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
the enemies of Jehovah within His people will share
the fate of those outside it. But the remnant of the
nations which survives the judgement will declare
Jehovah's glory to the yet more distant nations.
They will bring the dispersed Israelites home to
Jerusalem as the most acceptable offering they can
present, and Jerusalem will be at once the centre of
universal worship and the scene of a final judgement
(Ixvi. 18 ff).
The prophet's picture of the future contemplates
the inauguration of a new age with the restoration of
Israel. He looks for new heavens and a new earth
(lxv. 17, 18). The restored Jerusalem is a new
creation. It is radiant with a splendour which is
more than earthly. The peace of paradise is restored
(lxv. 25). The curse of sin is annulled. Yet even
so death is not abolished, though its penal character
is at an end (lxv. 20). The final consummation and
restoration of all things is not yet attained.
VII
The When we compare the prophet's glowing antici-
fulfilment pations of Israels future with the actual course of
history we are disappointed. The prophet's antici
pations appear to be closely connected with the
Return. The immediate result fell far short of
them. Much was long deferred. Much still
remains unrealised. Was he not then a true

xiii FULFILMENT OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 407
prophet ? Here as elsewhere it is necessary to con
sider carefully the character, limitations, and con
ditions of prophecy. First, it is clear that some of
the language used is not plain matter-of-fact prose,
but highly imaginative poetry. It is not necessary
to suppose that the prophet expected that a road
would be actually levelled through the desert, or
that miraculous springs of water would burst forth
on the track of the returning exiles, or that the
walls of Jerusalem would be adorned with precious
stones. Next it is necessary to take account of
what has been called the perspective of prophecy.
The prophet was taught to see the immense signifi
cance of the Return as ushering in a new era and
marking a fresh step in the evolution of God's
purposes 01 salvation for the world. But he was not
instructed to distinguish the successive moments in
that great vision of salvation which rose before his
view. He connected the complete realisation of all
the promises to Israel with the Return from Babylon,
as his predecessors had connected the establishment
of the Messianic kingdom with the deliverance from
the Assyrian troubles. As vast ages of the past
are concentrated into the vision of successive days
in the story of creation, so long ages of the future are
foreshortened in a series of pictures which seem to
be immediate and simultaneous, until the course of
events shews that they represent successive ages of
long duration and slow development. The prophet's

408 FULFILMENT OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect.
language is that of the immediate hopes and circum
stances of the time. Jerusalem is regarded as the
centre of all the world's worship : to the actual
Jerusalem is attached all the vision of glory which
fills the prophet's mind with its splendour. But the
truths which his words convey reach far beyond the
local and material city. They supply much of the
language and the imagery which is adopted in the
Apocalypse to describe the spiritual Jerusalem ; and
only in the spiritual city of the perfected church will
they find their complete fulfilment.
Once more, in comparing prophecy with fulfil
ment the conditional character of prophecy must be
taken into account. How far the nation as a whole
was from thorough repentance is evident from the
words of the prophet himself. Indeed it seems
plain from the later chapters of the book that as
the time of deliverance drew near, he saw with
increasing clearness that the sin and apathy of the
mass of the exiles were a fatal bar to the immediate
and complete realisation of all that he had foretold.
It was only a fraction of the Israelites in Babylon
who had faith to accept the challenge of Cyrus, and
return to build the house of God. Those who did
return were for the most part, as the pages of Haggai
and Zechariah abundantly shew, slack and selfish;
slow to realise the great issues which depended
on their action, and to draw upon the treasury of
divine power which was open to their prayers. The

xiii FULFILMENT OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI 409
pages of Nehemiah and Malachi bear witness how
soon they fell into graver offences. Thus Israel's
failure hindered the free action of divine grace.
God could not do His mighty work then because of
their unbelief.
Yet shall we think him less a true prophet
because the picture of the future which he drew
was possibility rather than actuality, the divine
ideal (albeit expressed in terms of the circumstances
of the time) rather than the reality to which men
were capable of attaining ?
Nay, surely : for when to human foresight Israel's
return was at best uncertain, he predicted it with
unwavering confidence. When to human view the
return of a few thousands of Jews from Babylon to
Judaea must have seemed a matter of absolute in
difference, he affirmed that it was fraught with
world-wide consequences for the salvation of man
kind. When the work of Israel as the Servant of
Jehovah seemed to have ended in blank failure, he
drew that marvellous portrait of Him in whom
Israel's history culminated; who Himself achieved
the work in which Israel failed, wrought out salva
tion for the world, and through death brought life
to all mankind. Israel returned ; Israel survived ;
out of Israel came salvation for mankind in
Him who is the true representative of Israel.
Israel, though she knows it not, is greater in the
offspring who trace their spiritual descent to her

410 FULFILMENT OF ISAIAH XL-LXVI lect. xiii
than she ever could have been in her isolation.
Such a prophecy was not mere human aspiration
or bold guesswork, but the voice of the Spirit of God
revealing beforehand, as men could receive it, the
purpose of the ages. Truly he is the Evangelical
Prophet, the herald of the good news of deliverance,
not to the Israelites in Babylon only, but to the
captives of sin in every age and country. Rightly
are these chapters regarded as one of the most
precious parts of the Bible, full of meaning as we
study them in the light of their origin, fuller still
of a larger meaning and a present significance for
ourselves as we study them in the light of the
revelation of God's eternal purpose of salvation in
Christ Jesus.

THE PEOPHETS OF THE EESTOEATION
HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH
ZECHARIAH IX-XIV ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII
MALACHI

Tvatra ij 6eia ypatfarj 8t8ao"/caAds eo-Tti' dperijs Kal 7rio"Te(os
cWtjvovs.
All Divine Scripture is a teacher of true virtue and faith.
S. Athanasius.

LECTURE XIV
HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH
Who hath despised the day of small things? — Zechariah iv. 10.
I
With unwavering faith the prophets who watched Theiimitsof
the ruin of the Temple and the destruction of Jeru- predicted.
salem proclaimed that this catastrophe was not des
tined to result in a frustration of the divine purpose
for the chosen people. Jeremiah, while he fore
told the inevitable certainty of the impending judge
ment, fixed the limits of it. Thus saith Jehovah:
After seventy years be accomplished for Babylon, I will
visit you, and perform for you My good word, to cause you
to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I
think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and
not of evil, to give you an hereafter and a hope (Jer.
xxix. 10, 11). Ezekiel, as he gazed in spirit from
the land of his banishment upon the deserted ruins
of the Temple, saw rise before him the vision of a
nobler building and a more perfect order of worship.

414 HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH lect.
As surely as he had beheld the departure of the divine
glory from the desecrated Temple and city, so surely
he beheld its return to dwell in the Holy Place
once more (Ezek. xi. 23 ; xliii. 2 ff).
The seventy years of the Babylonian supremacy 1
were drawing to their close, when the strains of the
greatest poet-prophet of Israel rang out in the ears of
the waiting exiles : Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and
cry unto her, that her time of service is accomplished, that
her punishment is accepted ; that she hath received of
Jehovah's hand double for all her sins (Isa. xl. 1, 2).
Cyrus the Already the deliverer was in full career of con-
deliverer. quest. As Nineveh had fallen before the power of
Babylon, so Babylon yielded to the advance of
Persia, and Cyrus became supreme monarch in
Western Asia.2 One of his first acts was to issue
the proclamation which permitted the Jews to return
to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple (Ezra i. 1-3).
1 Seventy years is named as the duration not of the Exile hut of
the Babylonian supremacy (Jer. xxv. 11, 12 ; xxix. 10). It is ob
viously a round number, but from the battle of Carchemish (b.c.
605) to the capture of Babylon (b.c. 538) was very nearly seventy
years. Only fifty years intervened between the destruction of
Jerusalem (586) and the first Return (537).
2 See above, p. 356. According to the Annalistic Tablet of
Cyrus recently discovered, "Nabonidus fled, and the soldiers of
Cyrus entered Babylon without fighting. " Nabonidus had rendered
himself unpopular by his religious 'policy , and Cyrus was welcomed
by the Babylonian priests and people as a deliverer. The siege
ascribed to the reign of Cyrus by Greek and Roman historians really
took place in the reign of Darius. See Sayce, Records of the Past,
new series, vol. v, pp. 144 ff.

xiv THE RETURN FROM BABYLON 415
This permission was in accordance with his general
policy. It is not improbable that he had received
help in the conquest of Babylon from the conquered
peoples who had been transported thither by the
Babylonian kings, and discerning in the presence of
such peoples a source of weakness to his empire, he
determined to restore them to their old homes. The
statement of Josephus (Ant. Jud. xi. 1, 2) that Cyrus
had read the prophecies of Isaiah, and was inspired
with an ambition to fulfil them, rests upon no sure
foundation, and is probably nothing but that his
torian's own conjecture. It cannot indeed be either
proved or disproved ; and it is certainly possible
that Cyrus was aware that the Jews in exile regarded
him with eager expectation as their appointed de
liverer. But even if he was acting unconsciously, he
was none the less the chosen instrument of Jehovah
for carrying out His purposes of mercy toward His
people. The account of the actual circumstances of the TheRetum
Return is disappointingly meagre, and we are left to
fill in many details by inference or conjecture. The
response to the invitation was by no means universal.
But the Return was distinctly a national act. All the
families settled in Babylon seem to have taken part
in it. With one or two possible exceptions, those
,who accompanied Ezra eighty years later belonged
to the same families as those who followed Zerubbabel.
The new community was intended to represent all

416 HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH lect.
Israel. The twelve elders at its head (Neh. vii. 7),
and the sacrifice offered for the twelve tribes of
Israel at the dedication of the Temple (Ezra vi. 17),
were significant of the spirit in which the enterprise
was undertaken.
But though most if not all of the families settled
in Babylon were represented, the choice of their
representatives was no doubt mainly determined by
personal faith and zeal. It was those whose spirit God
had stirred who volunteered for an undertaking which
needed no small measure of courage and energy.
Many shrank from the effort, and preferred to remain
where they were. But they were not by any means
all of them uninterested, or indifferent to the success
of the movement. They supported it by rich gifts
(Ezra i. 6), and from time to time continued to send
offerings to Jerusalem (Zech. vi. 9 ff.) ; and the fact
that men like Ezra and Nehemiah could arise among
the exiles is proof that diligent study of the Law and
generous zeal for the welfare of the nation continued
to flourish among the exiles who remained behind.
The leaders The numbers of the returning exiles are precisely
Retum given as 42,360 in all, together with 7337 servants,
and 200 or 245 singing men and singing women
(Ezra ii. 64 f. ; Neh. vii. 66 f.). The leaders of the
company were Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and
Joshua (or Jeshua) the son of Jozadak. Zerubbabel,
as the actual or legal heir of Jehoiachin, was the
representative of the house of David, and had been

xiv THE RETURN FROM BABYLON 417
appointed governor of Judah by Cyrus (Ezra v. 14).1
Joshua, who held the office of High Priest, was grandson
of Seraiah, the last High Priest who had ministered
in the Temple at Jerusalem before its destruction.
With them were associated ten colleagues, and this
council of twelve elders 2 was doubtless intended to
represent, under the altered circumstances of the
time, the ancient tribal division of the nation.
Zerubbabel and Joshua however were the prominent
leaders ; of the other ten nothing further is recorded,
unless they are to be identified with the elders of the
Jews mentioned in Ezra v. 5, 9 ; vi. 7, 8, 14, to whom
the satrap Tattenai addressed himself as the respon
sible authorities of the community at Jerusalem. To
the special charge of the new governor were com
mitted the sacred vessels of the Temple which had
been carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and
were now restored by Cyrus to their proper use.

II
A perilous journey of perhaps four months (cp. significance
Ezra vii. 8, 9) brought the exiles to their ancient Retum.
home. It may well be imagined that some sense of
disappointment depressed their spirits, as they com-
1 See Note A, p. 435.
2 The lists in Neh. vii. 7 and 1 Esdras v. 8 agree in giving
twelve names. That in Ezra ii. 2 only contains eleven, and no
doubt one has been accidentally omitted. The variations in the
lists need not be discussed here.
2 3

418 HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH lect
pared the glowing pictures of the prophets with the
actual circumstances of their march. Yet to the eye
of faith, which could penetrate to the inner mean
ing of the work in which they were engaged, it must
have seemed a triumphal procession, worthy to be
accompanied by the most joyous songs of thanks
giving and the loudest Hallelujahs. As we look back
upon it in the light of history, we see in it a move
ment which has shaped the destinies of the world ;
and we know that the universal joy of nature was
not too strong a figure to express its supreme im
portance. The mountains and the hills shall break
forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands (Isa. lv. 12).
Restoration The exiles returned from Babylon to found not a
of worship. kingdom but a Church. If ever Israel had cherished
the hope of taking its place among the great powers
of the world, as the world measures greatness, that
hope had now been shattered utterly and for ever.
They returned to found a Church: and their first
care, after they had settled themselves in their cities,
probably so far as was possible in their ancestral
homes, was to restore the worship of Jehovah. In
the seventh month of the first year of the Return,
the people gathered themselves together as one man to
Jerusalem (Ezra iii. 1). They re-erected the altar of
burnt offering in its place, possibly upon its ancient
foundation ; restored the daily sacrifice, and celebrated
the Feast of Tabernacles (Ezra iii. 1-6).

xiv THE RETURN FROM BABYLON 419
Without delay they proceeded to take in hand Rebuilding
the great object of their mission, the Rebuilding of Temvie.
the Temple. This had been specified in the decree
of Cyprus; and for this their countrymen who re
mained in Babylon had freely contributed their
offerings (Ezra i. 2 ff.; vi. 3 ff). Preparations were
made, which seem like a shadowy reflection of
Solomon's vast assemblage of workmen and accumu
lation of materials ; and in the second month of the
second year of the Return the foundation of the
Temple was laid with solemn ceremonial of praise
and thanksgiving. The old doxology, For Jehovah
is good, for His mercy endureth for ever tmvard Israel,
rang out with a new depth of meaning, for it had
received a fresh verification from the strange vicissi
tudes of the people's history. Some however who
had seen the house in its former glory wailed aloud
as they contrasted these humble beginnings with
the ancient magnificence to which their memories
fondly clung.1
The work did not proceed far without opposition. The
The heathen or half-heathen Samaritans2 claimed opposition.
1 See Note B, p. 436.
2 These Samaritans must not of course be confused with the
Samaritans of later times. They were the descendants of Assyrian
colonists, who had mingled with such Israelites as had been left
behind after the deportation of the northern tribes. They com
bined a corrupt worship of Jehovah as the God of the land with
their own heathen worship (2 Kings xvii. 24-41). Bodies of such
colonists seem to have been settled in Samaria by Sargon, 722-705
(2 Kings xvii. 24 if.) ; Esarhaddon, 681-669 (Ezra iv. 2) ; and
Assur-bani-pal, 668-626 ( = Osnappar, Ezra iv. 10).

420 HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH lect.
the right to join in it. Their offer was rejected by
Zerubbabel and Joshua in council with the chiefs of
the people. That rejection has been stigmatised as
the act of a narrow and short-sighted ecclesiastical
bigotry ; but it is hard to see how the Samaritan offer
could have been accepted without at once exposing
the small and weak community to the danger of a
corrupting idolatry.1 Irritated by this refusal, the
Samaritans adopted an attitude of active hostility.
Partly by threats of violence, partly by intrigues at
the Persian court (Ezra iv. 4 ff), they succeeded in
their spiteful opposition, and for some fifteen years
the work stood still. Of the details of the history of
that time we know nothing ; but it may be inferred
from the language of Haggai that the stoppage of the
work was due at least as much to want of energy on
the part of the returned exiles themselves, as to the
opposition which they had to encounter. Their
courage was daunted by the first show of difficulty ;
and care for their own comfort and even luxury
diverted their attention from the higher duty. Their
own houses were ceiled and panelled, while the house
of God still lay in ruins (Haggai i. 4). They excused
their apathy by questioning whether the time ap-
1 It should be noted that although they were compelled to
refuse the co-operation of the Samaritans as a body, individuals
were not repelled from sharing the religious privileges of the new
community. Not only the returned exiles, but "all such as had
separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen
of the land," took part in the dedication of the Temple (Ezra
vi. 21).

xiv THE RETURN FROM BABYLON 421
pointed in the divine counsels for the restoration of
the Temple had yet arrived. The time is not come,
they said, for Jehovah's house to be built. Perhaps
they satisfied their consciences with the thought that
the full term of seventy years had not yet run its
course since the destruction of the Temple.
Ill
It was a grave crisis in the history of the com- Ministry of
muuity. They were rapidly reconciling themselves zechariah.
to an existence without a Temple : yet existence
without a Temple would have meant (humanly
speaking) the extinction of the national religion.
The catastrophe was averted by a providential
combination of circumstances. The prophets Haggai
and Zechariah were raised up to recall the people to
the sense of their duty. Drought and famine aroused
their consciences, and disposed them to listen to the
prophets' message. The recent accession of Darius
gave at least a hope of a changed policy on the part
of the government.
The extant prophecies of Haggai were delivered
within a period of four months, in the sixth, seventh,
and ninth months of the second year of the reign of
Darius, B.C. 520. Zechariah's first prophecy falls
within the same period, in the eighth month of the
same year ; his great series of visions is dated just
two months later than the last of Haggai's utter-

422 MINISTRY OF HAGGAI lect.
ances ; and the last of the prophecies which can be
assigned to him with certainty followed after an
interval of two years.1
Haggai's commission was, as we have seen, mainly
concerned with the rebuilding of the Temple. His
first message (i. 1-11) was addressed to the people
through their civil and spiritual leaders, Zerubbabel
and Joshua. It was delivered on the first day of the
sixth month (Elul = Aug.-Sept.), when the people
would be assembled for the festival of the New Moon.
He censured them for their culpable delay in rebuild
ing the Temple. They pleaded that the time was
not yet come for it; but they could build and
decorate houses for themselves, while Jehovah's
house still remained in ruins. The drought and
scarcity from which they had suffered were the
chastisement of their negligence.
The work The reproof bore fruit. Before the month expired,
the work was resumed. The obedience of the people
was encouraged by the assurance of the divine co
operation. / am with you, saith Jehovah, was the
brief but sufficient message which Haggai, Jehovah's
messenger, was commissioned to deliver (i. 13).
But as when the foundation of the Temple was
laid, hope for the future could not efface regret for the
past, and the loud wailings of the old men were
1 The last six chapters of the Book of Zechariah are wholly
different in style and character. They appear to be the work of
another writer or, more probably, of two writers, and will be con
sidered separately in Lecture XV.

xiv REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE 423
mingled in strange discord with the joyous shouts
of the younger and more sanguine, so now there were
not wanting pessimists who daunted the spirit of the
builders by contrasting the humble beginnings of
their work with the magnificence of the former
Temple which they could still remember. This new
Temple was in their eyes as nothing.
And so, a month after the work had been recom
menced, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month
(Tisri or Ethanim = Sept.-Oct.), a fresh message came
to Haggai. It was the seventh day of the Feast of
Tabernacles, and Haggai doubtless spoke publicly to
the assembled people. The assurance of the con
tinued Presence of Jehovah and His spirit 1 with
them, in fulfilment of the covenant made with the
nation at the Exodus, was repeated ; and a prediction
was added that through the offerings of the Gentiles
the latter glory of the house should be greater than
the former. Jehovah would overrule impending
convulsions among the nations of the world to effect
His purposes, and in that place He would give peace.
Zechariah now came forward to support Haggai ; zechariah.
1 The meaning of ch. ii. 4, 5 has been obscured by an unfor
tunate division of the verses. Render, For I am with you, saith
Jehovah of hosts (according to the word that I covenanted with you
when ye came out of Egypt), and my spirit abideth among you : fear
ye not. The clause, according to the word . . . Egypt, may be a
gloss, for it is omitted by the LXX, and is very loosely attached
to the rest of the sentence. But if it is genuine, it must be taken
as parenthetical, and we must connect the clauses, / am with you,
. . . and my spirit abideth among you. With the latter clause
cp. Zech. iv. 6.

424 MINISTRY OF HAGGAI lect.
and appealing to the lessons of history, exhorted the
people not to be as their forefathers, who turned a
deaf ear to the warnings of the former prophets
(Zech. i. 1-6).
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month
(Chislev = Nov. -Dec.) Haggai spoke again. By the
analogy of an instance taken from the ceremonial
law he shewed the people how both they and the
land had been defiled by neglect of their most press
ing duty, and promised them a blessing on their
return to it.
The same day he brought a special message to
Zerubbabel, the founder of the Temple, assuring
him that he, and the community which he repre
sented, were the chosen objects of divine care, and
would be preserved unharmed in the midst of the
convulsions which would destroy surrounding nations
Zerubbabel is addressed by the lofty title of Jehovah's
servant. The doom pronounced on Jeconiah (Jer.
xxii. 24) is reversed, and Zerubbabel, as the re
presentative of the house of David, is restored to
the position of Jehovah's signet ; — His most highly-
prized and carefully-guarded possession, in closest
contact with its owner, His means of attesting His
words and utterances. IV
zechariaKs Here the recorded ministry of Haggai ends.
Just two months later, upon the twenty-fourth

mxionx.

xiv ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS 425
day of the eleventh month (Shcbat = Jan.-Feb.),
Zechariah saw his great series of visions, directed in
the main to enforce the same truths which Haggai
had proclaimed.
In the first vision (i. 7-17) he saw Jehovah's (i)Thehorsemen.
messengers, who had traversed the earth, reporting
to the angel of Jehovah that the whole earth was at
rest ; and when the angel interceded for Jerusalem
he was answered by the assurance of Jehovah's
displeasure at the malicious delight which the
heathen had taken in Israel's affliction, and of His
jealous love for the people of His choice. The time
has come for Temple and city to be rebuilt. / have
returned to Jerusalem in mercy ; My house shall be
built in it, saith Jehovah of Hosts, and a line shall be
stretched forth over Jerusalem. . . Jehovah shall
again comfort Zion, and shall again choose Jerusalem
(i. 16, 17).
The scene changed, and four horns of iron, (s)The horns and
symbols of the powers which had scattered Israel, the smiths.
met the prophet's eye. Beside them stood four
smiths — each we may imagine with uplifted hammer
— ready to shatter the horns in pieces. So should
the nations which had destroyed Israel be them
selves destroyed.
The vision faded, and in its place appeared a man ($) The man
with the
with a measuring line in his hand, going to measure measuring
° ° line.
Jerusalem. But he is told by an angel that his
task is futile, for Jerusalem will spread beyond the

426 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS lect.
limit of walls, and will need no such material
defences. For I, saith Jehovah, will be unto her a
wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in
the midst of her (ii. 5). Jerusalem is to be the
centre of the world's worship, when Jehovah's
Presence is manifested in her midst. Sing and,
rejoice, 0 daughter of Zion : for lo, I come, and I will
dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. And
many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that
day, and they shall be unto Me for a people : and I
will dwell in the midst of thee (ii. 10, 11).
(4) The Mai But Israel's present humiliation was in sharpest
of Joshua. contrast to that future glory, and comfort for the
present distress was urgently needed. Accordingly
in the next vision the prophet saw Joshua the
High Priest, the people's spiritual representative,
arraigned at the bar of heaven, and Satan or the
Adversary standing at his right hand to accuse him.
His sordid garments marked him as the sinful
representative of a sinful people, but the Adversary
who demanded his condemnation was sternly rebuked.
Jehovah rebuke thee, 0 Satan; yea, Jehovah that
chooseth Jerusalem rebuke thee : is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire ? (iii. 2).
The nation which Joshua represented had just
been saved by an act of divine grace from being
utterly consumed in the furnace of the exile. Was
it fitting then that Satan should challenge God's
purpose of mercy, and seek to bring Israel's sin to

xiv ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS 427
remembrance ? So the sentence of pardon is pro
nounced. Joshua's filthy garments are exchanged
for rich apparel, and a fair mitre is set upon his
head, as the outward token of his acceptance. He is
promised the right of access among those who stand
round the heavenly throne ; and he and his com
panions are declared to be types of One greater
than themselves; even the Branch, the Shoot or
Sprout from the stock of David, of whom Jeremiah's
prophecy had spoken nearly a century before (iii. 4 ff).1
Thus Joshua was encouraged in his work of (s) The
golden
priestly intercession. The next vision (ch. iv) was chandelier
designed to give similar encouragement to his
colleague Zerubbabel. A golden chandelier rose
before the prophet's eye. Each of its seven lamps
was connected with the central reservoir of oil.
Beside it stood two olive trees. From two over
hanging branches of the trees, a perpetual supply
of oil was distilled into the reservoir. The precise
meaning of the details of the vision is obscure ;2 but
its general purpose cannot be mistaken. It conveyed
Jehovah's message to Zerubbabel, Not by might, nor
by power, but by My spirit, saith Jehovah of Hosts.
Tattenai either had challenged or was on the point of
challenging the Jews to produce their authority for
proceeding with the work. An unfavourable answer
might come from the Persian court. The enmity
of neighbouring nations was always to be feared.
1 See pp. 317, 187. 2 See Note D, p. 438.

428 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS lect.
Zerubbabel's heart may well have quailed at the
task before him. But he is assured that there is an
unfailing supply of divine grace and strength at
hand for the nation ; he is taught that there is no
need to appeal to worldly power and material force.
Every obstacle will be removed. Wlio art thou, 0
great mountain ? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a
plain. He will carry the work to its completion;
he shall bring forth the top stone of the temple in
the midst of the shouts of joy which invoke the
divine favour upon it. It was a day of small things,
measured by external appearances ; but the success
of Israel's mission depended not on material force,
but on the power of the spirit.
(6) The But restoration would be incomplete indeed with-
ttyinq roll. . .
out spiritual reformation. Holiness was the aim of
Israel's calling, and the land of Israel was to be the
holy land (ii. 12). Two visions follow, symbolising
the attainment of this purpose. The flying roll
is the emblem of the curse which goes forth to
(?) The exterminate sinners ; the woman in the ephah borne
woman in , . ,
theephah. away to the land of Shinar prefigures the entire
removal of the spirit of wickedness, and its banish
ment to the typical land of unholiness (v. 1-11).
W The four Finally, the powers of heaven are seen going
chariots. forth to execute judgement on the heathen who
have rejoiced in the humiliation of God's people
(vi. 1-8).
Thus the visions of the seer conveyed a message of

xiv ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS 429
encouragement to the people and their leaders ; they
held out the assurance that the country should be
repeopled, the Temple rebuilt, the land purged from
all iniquity, the heathen judged.
One symbolical act of deepest significance re- The
-. . . coronation
mamed to be done. I he prophet was commanded ofjosima.
to crown the High Priest Joshua, and declare him to
be the type of One greater than himself who was
still to come ; — the Branch of the house of David ;
the royal priest, who should build the spiritual
temple, of which the material Temple was the
figure, and rule in perfect harmony with God, whose
representative he would be (vi. 9-15).1
For two years Zechariah was silent, and then, in
answer to an inquiry whether it was still obligatory
to observe the fasts instituted to commemorate the
destruction of Jerusalem, he directed the attention
of his questioners from outward observances to the
real substance of Jehovah's demands. He pointed
once more to the warnings given by the past history
of the nation, and bade them obey the commands
which their fathers had disregarded. Reaffirming
Jehovah's burning love for His people, he pictured
the prosperity in store for them, culminating in the
pilgrimage of the nations to Zion as the spiritual
centre of the world, and their eagerness for fellow
ship with Israel, in order that they might share in
Israel's fellowship with God (vii, viii).
1 See Note E, p. 439.

430 IMPORTANCE OF THE WORK

Success and The preaching of the two prophets bore the
importance of the work desired fruit. The building of the Temple was
Tethariah. carried on with vigour. Tattenai, the Persian
governor of the province, challenged their authority ;
but though he felt it his duty to refer the matter to
Darius, he did not think it necessary to interfere
with the work. In this the Jews rightly recognised
a proof of God's favour. The reference to Darius
led to the discovery of the decree of Cyrus in the
archives at Ecbatana; and Darius issued a fresh
decree directing Tattenai to provide materials for
the work, and to furnish the Jews with animals and
other requisites for sacrifice. In less than four and a
half years from the recommencement of the work the
Temple was completed, and dedicated with solemn
ceremonies, amid general rejoicings, on the third
day of the twelfth month (Adar = March-April) in
the sixth year of Darius (Ezra vi. 14 ff).1
Haggai has met with rough treatment and scant
justice at the hands of critics, who have scornfully
stigmatised his plain and unadorned utterances as
1 It is very probable that Psalms xcv-c were composed for use
upon this occasion. The Septuagint titles of xcvi, When the home
was being built after the captivity, and xcvii, When the land was
being settled, may preserve a true tradition as to their date. The
keynote of these Psalms is taken from Is. lii. 7, Jehovah hath pro
claimed Himself King. The restoration of Israel was the proclama
tion of His sovereignty, the dedication of the Temple His re-
enthronement in Zion.

xiv OF HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH 431
thin and meagre. Certainly he is neither orator nor
poet like Isaiah ; but the prophet's real importance is
not to be measured by the brilliance of his periods.
Plain straightforward words of warning, exhortation,
and encouragement — Consider your ways (i. 5, 7 ; cp.
ii. 15, 18) : Be strong, 0 Zerubbabel . . . be strong,
0 Joshua . . . be strong, all ye people of the land, and
work (ii. 4) : — the lesson of doing the duty that lies to
hand with unwavering faith and steady perseverance
in spite of appearances and opposition : these are the
substance of Haggai's preaching : and measured by
its practical success, the work which he and his
colleague Zechariah accomplished was of the first
importance. For it was due under God to their efforts that
the rebuilding of the Temple was recommenced and
carried to a successful issue. This was a service of
incalculable moment. The Temple was the outward
symbol of the dwelling of God in the midst of Israel.
To let it lie neglected was, alike for themselves and
in the sight of the nations around, a practical denial
of the truth which gave meaning to their return
from exile, the truth which in different forms Haggai
and Zechariah are never weary of repeating, that
Jehovah had not cast off His people but had in very
deed returned to dwell in the city of His choice.
The Temple was the necessary centre for the people
whose bond of unity must henceforth be their re
ligion. A common place of worship must be the

432 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES lect.
outward expression of that religious unity, the point
to which the heart of the faithful Israelite might turn,
even in his remotest land of exile. And yet again ;
though the destruction of the Temple had closed for
ever one volume of Israel's history, the re-erection of
it must bear witness to the continuity of that history.
The house of Jehovah in Jerusalem was one and the
same, though its material form had been altered.
The great herald of the Restoration had indeed
taught his hearers that no earthly temple could
represent the majesty of Him Whose throne is
heaven and Whose footstool earth (Isa. Ixvi. 1), but
the time had not yet come for dispensing with this
outward and visible sacrament of God's Presence
among His people. Five centuries of preparation
had still to pass before the full time came for God to
tabernacle in man, and for the needs of that period
the Temple was indispensable.

VI
Their uni- But if Haggai and Zechariah concentrated their
efforts on promoting the rebuilding of the Temple, it
was in no narrow spirit of national exclusiveness or
religious bigotry. The glory of that Temple was,
they predicted, to be its catholicity. They watch
the nations bringing their offerings to adorn the
Temple, and to make its outward splendour signi
ficant of the still greater glory which was in store

xiv OF HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH 433
for it (Hagg. ii. 7 ; Zech. vi. 15). They see them, as
Isaiah and Micah had seen them, streaming thither
to worship Jehovah, and eagerly claiming a share in
the privileges of the chosen nation (Zech. ii. 11 ;
viii. 20 ff). There is to be consummated the final
reconciliation of man to God and man to man. For
to nothing less than this, though the prophet may
not have perceived their full import, do the words
reach forward, In this place will I give peace, saith
Jehovah of hosts (Hagg. ii. 9). And dimly shadowed
out beyond the material Temple, rises the mysterious
outline of a spiritual temple, which the priestly king
of David's line will build (Zech. vi. 12, 13).
It is the strangest misconception of the teaching
of these prophets to charge them with a heartless
and unspiritual formalism. It is abundantly clear
that they looked for holiness as the true goal of
Israel's training. The Lord's inheritance is to be the
holy land ; all evil doers and Wickedness itself are
to be banished from its boundaries. Again and
again the truth is emphasised that moral failure had
been the cause of their fathers' rejection, and that
obedience to God's moral requirements is the necessary
condition of acceptable approach to Him, and of the
bestowal of His blessing.
Hardly second in importance to their practical The
service in securing the restoration of the Temple, nope.
was their work in handing on the torch of Messianic
hope under the altered conditions of the time. The
2 F

434 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES lect
kingdom had passed away. The representative of
David's house was only a provincial governor
appointed by a foreign power, with no security of
office. Yet once again the hope of Israel is directed
to the house of David ; Zerubbabel is distinguished
by the lofty title of Jehovah's servant, the object of
His choice and care (Hagg. ii. 23); he is invested
with an importance far beyond his personal and
individual consequence, as the type of One to
come. Side by side with Zerubbabel as the representative
of David's line, the high priest as the spiritual re
presentative of the people gains a new prominence.
He and his companions are a sign. They are a
pledge that Jehovah will fulfil His purpose to bring
forth His servant the Branch (Zech. iii. 8 ff). With
this promise of the advent of the Messianic king is
connected the assurance of the completion of the
Temple and the removal of the iniquity of the land.
The mysterious stone which is set before Joshua
appears to be the top stone of the Temple (cp. iv. 7).
It is the object of Jehovah's special care. The con
nexion of this double assurance with the promise
of the coming of the Messiah is explained by ch. vi
12 ff, where the priestly character of the Messiah is
symbolically set forth, and it is predicted that He will
build the Temple. As priest, He will make atone
ment for the sin of the land. But how will He take
part in the building of the Temple ? Does Zechariah

xiv OF HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH 435
expect His coming immediately in connexion with
present circumstances, or does he already anticipate
the building of the spiritual temple of living stones ?
Probably it was only through the course of events
that the spiritual character of the work of the
Messiah could be fully realised, but the truth is
there in germ.
But further, Joshua is crowned as a type of the
Branch, symbolising a royal priest who was yet to
come : and thus in his Messianic prophecy Zechariah
makes an advance towards the idea of the union of
the priestly office with the royal office in the person
of the Messiah. In the next lecture I hope to shew
that the other prophets whose writings now form
part of the Book of Zechariah make other significant
advances towards the union of distinct, and as it
must have seemed, incompatible, lines of Messianic
prophecy. Thus the Book of Zechariah occupies a
position of singular importance towards the close of
the prophetic period in virtue of its contributions
towards a more complete conception of the true
character of the Deliverer, for whose coming men
were bidden to wait through centuries of trial in
patience and faith.
Note A. — Sheshbazzar = Zerubbabel.
It is here assumed that Sheshbazzar (Ezra i. 8, 11 ; v.
14, 16) is to be identified with Zerubbabel. It has indeed
been maintained by some recent critics that Sheshbazzar was

436 HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH lect.
a Persian officer, and that Zerubbabel was not placed in a
position of authority as governor until some years had
elapsed after the Return. But a comparison of Ezra v. 14, 16
with iii. 8 ff. seems to leave no doubt that the compiler
of the Book of Ezra identified Sheshbazzar with Zerubbabel,
and he would scarcely have styled a foreigner the Prince of
Judah (i. 8). That Zerubbabel should have had a Persian or
Babylonian name is in no way improbable (cp. Dan. i. 7),
and that the Hebrew name should be used in the narrative
(Ezra v. 2) while the foreign name appears in Tattenai's
letter (v. 14, 16) is perfectly natural. The reasons alleged
for supposing that the compiler was mistaken in this identi
fication, and has confused the events which took place in
B.C. 520 with those which happened immediately after the
Return, are not convincing.

Note B. — On the Historical Accuracy op the
Narrative in Ezra iii, iv.
In an elaborate article on "The Duration of the Building
of the Second Temple " in the Studien und Kritiken for 1867,
pp. 460 ff., Schrader has argued that the Temple was not
commenced until B.C. 520. This view has been adopted by
many critics, most recently by K. Marti, Der Prophet Sachwrja,
1892, p. 53. It is urged that Haggai speaks of the founda
tion of the Temple being laid on the 24th day of the ninth
month of the second year of Darius (ii. 18); and that the
corresponding account in Ezra (v. 2) describes Zerubbabel
and Joshua as then beginning to build, the house of God. The
compiler of the Book of Ezra is supposed to have antedated
the commencement of the work in his account in ch. iii, and
placed the events of the second year of Darius (b.c. 520) in
the second year of the Return. The grounds alleged for
supposing that he thus misunderstood his authorities, and

xiv HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH 437
produced an inaccurate and inconsistent narrative are, how
ever, insufficient. The meaning of Haggai ii. 18 is obscure.
It is by no means certain that Haggai there identifies the
day on which he was speaking with the day on which the
Temple was founded. The preposition used (R.V. since the
day) more naturally implies a terminus a quo remote from the
day on which he was speaking. But even if it be granted
that he does speak of that day as the day on which the foun
dation of the Temple was laid, his language may perfectly
well refer to the resumption of the work. This was, to all
practical intents and purposes, the foundation of the Temple.
Similarly the language of Ezra v. 2 may be explained, as it
usually has been, of the recommencement of the work.
Moreover Haggai ii. 3 implies that in the seventh month
(two months before the date of ch. ii. 18) the building had
already progressed so far that disparaging comparisons could
be made between it and the old Temple ; and it is improb
able that the laying of the foundation-stone would have been
delayed in modern fashion until the walls were beginning
to rise. Note C. — Haggai ii. 7.
It is perhaps scarcely necessary to remark that the per
sonal Messianic reference, to which the rendering of the
Vulgate, veniet dedderatus cunctis gentibus, has long given a
wide currency, cannot be maintained. The verb shall come
is in the plural, and the word rendered in the A.V. the desire
means, as in 1 Sam. ix. 20, the desirable things or choicest
treasures, such as the silver and gold spoken of in v. 8 as
belonging to Jehovah, and therefore at His disposal for the
adornment of the Temple. This tribute of the nations is
the outward expression of their recognition of Jehovah, and
accordingly the passage may rightly be regarded as having a
Messianic reference, though it cannot be understood as a pro
phecy of the Messiah Himself. Construction and sense are

438 HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH lect.
both illustrated by Isa. lx. 5, to which this passage may very
possibly be an allusion. The abundance of the sea shall be
turned unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee.
The interpretation of the words as the choicest of the nations
is attractive. It seems to be supported by the verb come,
and the LXX ret IkXektcX 7ravT<ov tQiv WvCov might he so
understood. Similarly in Isa. lx. 5 it is tempting to render
the multitude of the sea (i.e. the countries round the Mediter
ranean) . . . the host of the nations. But the context decides
against this interpretation ; for v. 8 must refer to the
treasures mentioned in v. 7 ; and a comparison of Isa. Ixi. 6
shews that the wealth and not the Iwst of the nations is the
meaning of the passage in Isaiah. Cp. Zech. xiv. 14.
Note D. — On Zech. iv.
The chandelier must certainly represent the nation of
Israel, not the Temple. If the reading of the Massoretic
Text in v. 2 is retained, the seven pipes to each of the lamps
(R.V.) symbolise the ample supply of oil conveyed to them.
But the Sept. and Vulg. may be right in reading seven
pipes to the lamps. But what is meant by the two olive trees
and their two branches ? The trees are generally explained
to mean the Aaronic priesthood and the house of David, the
two branches being their present representatives, Joshua and
Zerubbabel. They are supposed to be called the two sons of
oil (v. 14), either as being anointed, or as the instruments
through whom is ministered the supply of divine grace which
enables Israel to fulfil its mission. But sons of oil is not a
natural paraphrase for anointed ones ; and the description
that stand by the Lord of the whole earth would apply more
naturally to heavenly beings (cp. iii. 7) than to Joshua and
Zerubbabel. The intention of the vision is to represent, by
the figure of the perpetual supply of oil furnished to the
chandelier, the unfailing supply of Jehovah's strength to

xiv HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH 439
Israel ; and it is best to suppose that the interpreting angel
avoids giving a human meaning to the branches, and intends
by the two sons of oil that stand by the Lord of the whole earth
to suggest the idea of mysterious heavenly ministers of divine
grace to Israel. See the note in Perowne's Comin. in the
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges.
Note E. — On Zech. vi. 9-15.
The meaning of this important passage has been much
disputed, and requires further examination. Heldai, Tobijah,
and Jedaiah, had come from Babylon, bearing offerings of
gold and silver. Zechariah is bidden to take some of the
gold and silver from them, and to make a crown or crowns of
it. Which was he to do ? The word ataroth rendered crown
is plural, but it may denote a crown composed of two or more
circlets, and is used of a single crown in Job xxxi. 36. Now
as only one person is crowned, and the verb shall be in
v. 14 is in the singular, it seems best to render the word in
the singular, crown. (The object of the verb set (v. 11) is
not expressed in the original. Them is supplied in A.V. and
R.V.) It has been supposed by some that two crowns were
to be placed on the head of Joshua, one representing the
priestly, the other the regal dignity ; but the crown was not
a priestly ornament. Zechariah is to place the crown on
the head of Joshua, and to speak to him saying, Thus saith
Jehovah of hosts, Behold, a man whose name is Shoot [Tsemach],
and he shall shoot up out of his place, and build the temple of
Jehovah : yea it is he that shall build the temple of Jehovah, and
shall bear majesty ; and he shall sit and rule upon his throne ;
and he shall be a priest upon his throne ; and the counsel of
peace shall be between them.
Jeremiah had applied the term Tsemach (E.V. Branch)
meaning Shoot or Growth, to the Messiah as the shoot from
the stock of David (Jer. xxiii. 5; xxxiii. 15). Zechariah

440 HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH lect.
takes it up and treats it as a recognised title of the Messianic
King. In ch. iii. 8 Joshua and his companions are spoken
of as a sign that Jehovah will bring forth His servant
Tsemach, and fulfil the ancient prophecy of his coming.
Here Joshua is crowned as a type of Tsemach. Joshua is not
himself Tsemach ; the title has been definitely appropriated
to the Messiah. Obvious reasons would have prevented the
coronation of Zerubbabel, which would have seemed more
natural. Such an act would have appeared suspicious to
the Persian satrap, and however harmless in intention, might
have been interpreted as a claim of independence. But the
impossibility of crowning Zerubbabel leads to an act of the
highest significance. The point of the act lies in its anomalous
and exceptional character. It was, however little its full
significance may have been understood at the time, a fore
shadowing of the future union of the royal and priestly offices
in the person of the Messiah. Jeremiah had already taught
that the Messianic King would have a priestly right of access
to God (Jer. xxx. 21) ; and the present passage offers the
conception of the Messiah as a royal priest.
The Shoot will shoot up from his appointed place, as a
rod out of the stem of Jesse. He will complete the building
of the Temple, fulfilling the prophecy of 2 Sam. vii. 13. He
will bear royal majesty — hod is especially used of kingly and
divine majesty (1 Chron. xxix. 25). Now, if the words of
Jeremiah are rightly understood to mean that the Messianic
king will have priestly privileges, is it surprising that
Zechariah, whose prophecy is founded on those of Jeremiah,
should go further and say, he shall be a priest upon his throne ?
But to whom does the pronoun his refer 1 At first sight
it seems simplest to refer it to Tsemach. But the interpre
tation of the next clause will then be involved in serious
difficulty. Who are the parties between whom the counsel
of peace will be maintained ? " The King and the Priest,"
answers Delitzsch, " whose dignities and offices the Messiah

xiv HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH 441
unites in His own person. The antagonism and rivalry of
the two offices will be removed and vanish in his person, in
the king, who is a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek."
But it is difficult to see how between them both can fairly be
explained not of two persons, but of two characters or offices
united in one person. It is more satisfactory to refer the
pronoun his to Jehovah. Solomon's throne is called the
throne of Jehovah (1 Chron. xxix. 23 ; cp. xxviii. 5). Much
more might the throne of the ideal theocratic king, the per
fect representative of Jehovah, be called Jehovah's throne.
But if it is Jehovah's throne upon which this priestly king
sits to rule, the difficulty of e. 13 c disappears. It is Je
hovah and the priest-king Tsemach between whom there will
be counsel of peace. Jehovah's perfect representative will
rule in entire harmony with Him.
The crown which had been placed on Joshua's head was
to be laid up in the Temple as a memorial of the liberality of
those who had brought their offerings. It was an earnest of
other offerings from those afar off, both Jews and Gentiles,
who would contribute to the building of the Temple.
If this view of the passage is correct, there is no need
to follow Ewald in inserting and, upon the head of Zerubbabel
in u 11 ; and to alter speak unto him to speak unto them.
Such alterations are not emendation but reconstruction of
the text ; and in fact the change does not suit the context ;
for v. 1 2 distinctly implies the coronation of one person not
of two.

LECTURE XV

ZECHARIAH IX-XIV

Rejoice exceedingly, 0 daughter of Zion; shout triumphantly,
0 daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King shall come to thee;
righteous and saved is He; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even
upon a colt, the foal of an ass. — Zechariah ix. 9.

Critical The last six chapters of the Book of Zechariah
^echariah present critical problems of singular interest and

IX -XIV.

unusual difficulty. "When we pass from the eighth
chapter to the ninth, it is evident that we have
entered a fresh region of thought. The distinctive
characteristics of the first part of the book have
disappeared. They are replaced by new and equally
distinctive characteristics. The differences are great ;
the resemblances few and unimportant. In the
first part of the book the prophet is repeatedly
mentioned by name. We are told to whom he
is speaking. His utterances are precisely dated.
Their object is plain. They have an intimate con
nexion with the historical circumstances of the age.

lect. xv ZECHARIAH IX-XIV 443
Zechariah is emphatically a teacher raised up to
meet the peculiar needs of a particular generation.
In the second part of the book the author's name is
never mentioned. The data for determining his age
and the circumstances under which he speaks are
uncertain. They elude us by their indefiniteness
and baffle us by their inconsistency. The didactic
element gives way almost entirely to the apocalyptic.
After every allowance has been made for the difference
of subject, it seems in the highest degree improbable
that these chapters can be the work of Zechariah,
the coadjutor of Zerubbabel and Joshua in their
great work of rebuilding the Temple.
But further, these chapters fall into two divisions Two divi
sions in
so dissimilar in style and substance that in spite of zechariah
J L IX-XIV.
an unquestionable connexion between the prophecies
as they are at present arranged it seems doubtful
if they can be regarded as the work of the same
writer. The title at the beginning of the twelfth
chapter marks off chapters xii-xiv as a distinct
prophecy, and although ch. xiii. 7-9 appears to form
the sequel to ch. xi, it is so isolated that it may
well be doubted whether it now stands in its original
position. For our present purpose, however, it is less
important to determine whether these chapters are
the work of one author or of two, than to fix, if
possible, the period or periods to which they belong.
The two parts are so distinct in their characteristics
that it will be necessary to examine them separately

444 DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI lect.
for this purpose ; and it will be necessary to do this
in some detail, in order to justify the position here
assigned to them in the succession of the prophets.
Dates It has very generally been maintained that internal
generallyassigned evidence proves chaps, ix-xi to be the work of a
to the two x x
divisions. pr0phet who flourished shortly after the death of
Jeroboam II, and was therefore contemporary with
Hosea and Isaiah. It has even been proposed to
identify him with that Zechariah, the son of
Jeberechiah, whom Isaiah selected to attest his pro
phetic message (Isa. viii. 2). Chaps, xii-xiv have
been assigned to the period between the death of
Josiah at Megiddo in B.C. 609 and the Fall of
Jerusalem in B.C. 586. Their author would accord
ingly have been the contemporary of Habakkuk and
Jeremiah. Some critics, however, and critics who
have approached the question from widely different
points of view, have maintained that these chapters,
whether proceeding from one author or two, belong
to the age after the Exile. This view seems to me
to be the true one. While I am fully conscious of
the difficulties, especially with regard to chaps, ix-xi,
I believe that it is easier to offer an explanation of
the apparent references to pre-exilic circumstances
upon the theory of a post-exilic date, than to account
for the apparent references to post-exilic circum
stances upon the theory of a pre-exilic date.

xv DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI 445
II
Let us consider first the positive indications in a) chaps.
. ix xi.
chapters ix-xi which point to a date after the Windica-
17 lions oj a
Captivity. They are briefly as follows. The exile, a°^e"xiUc
not only of Ephraim but of Judah, appears to be pre
supposed (ix. 11, 12; x. 6-11). Judah has been
partly restored to its own land (ix. 9, 11), and is to
expect more complete restoration (ix. 12). Ephraim,
still in exile, is to be brought back and reunited to
Judah (x. 6 ff). The land of Judah has been overrun
by a foreign enemy, and, apparently, the temple has
been desecrated (ix. 8). Judah, it would seem, is
without a king, and is bidden to rejoice at the ap
proaching advent of the Messianic King (ix. 9). The
mention of Greece (ix. 13) I reserve for consideration
presently (pp. 454, 476). Further, it is difficult to
resist the impression that various parts of the prophecy
are dependent upon earlier prophets, especially Hosea,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.1
Now let us consider the indications which are windwa- tiojis of a
thought to point to a date before the Captivity. It pre-exiuc date.
is urged (a) that the references to Ephraim and
Judah in chapters ix. 10, 13 ; xi. 14 distinctly imply
that the Northern Kingdom was still in existence, and
1 Stade in his elaborate essay in the Z.A. T. W. for 1881, pp. 1 ff.,
has damaged his case by overstatement and exaggeration ; but he
appears to me, in spite of Kuenen's criticism (Eiul. p. 397), to have
made out a strong case for the dependence of ix. 1-8 on Ezek.
xxviii. 1-5 ; of a. 3-12 on Ezek. xxxiv ; of xi. 1-17 and xiii. 7-9
on Hos. ii ; Jer. xxv. 34-38 ; xii. 3-5 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 2-10.

446 DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI lect.
that the relations between Judah and Ephraim were,
or had been till recently, friendly : (b) that the
parable of ch. xi. 4 ff. finds its best explanation in
the circumstances of the Northern Kingdom after the
death of Jeroboam II (2 Kings xv. 13 ff), when
Shallum murdered Zechariah after a brief reign of
six months, and was himself in turn slain by
Menahem, after enjoying the fruits of his treachery
for a single month : (c) that the worthless shepherd
(ch. xi. 15 ff.) may best be identified with Menahem
or Pekah : (d) that the political horizon closely
corresponds to that of Amos and Hosea : Syria,
Phoenicia, and Philistia being threatened (ix. 1-7)
as in Amos i. 3-10 ; Egypt and Assyria being coupled
together (x. 10, 11) as in Hos. vii. 11 ; ix. 3 ; xi. 11 ;
xii. 1 : (e) that the closest parallels to the description
of the Messianic King in ch. ix. 9 are to be found
in Isaiah and Micah : (/) that the mention of tera-
phim and diviners (x. 2) is inconsistent with a date
after the Exile, when idolatry and superstition had
been eradicated. Other arguments, which rest upon
a more or less precarious exegesis, need not be con
sidered here. On the strength of these indications
ch. ix is placed towards the close of the reign of
Jeroboam II (B.C. 755-749) ; chaps, x, xi somewhat
later, after the hostilities between Israel and Judah
in the reign of Ahaz, and the deportation of the
northern Israelites to Assyria by Tiglath-Pileser in
B.C. 734 (2 Kings xv. 29).

xv DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI 447
We have accordingly two sets of indications Proposedsolution.
pointing in opposite directions. How can they best
be reconciled ? A hypothesis which has recently
found considerable favour supposes that in these
chapters "really old, pre-exilic fragments are pre
served, which for the most part come down from the
eighth century B.C., but have been arranged by a
post -exilic redactor, and amplified with additions
from his own hand." * This hypothesis is certainly
plausible, and it helps to account for the abrupt
transitions which are so perplexing. But it is not
satisfactory, and after repeated consideration it
seems to me that while the indications of a post-
exilic date are clear and definite, and refuse to be
explained away, the supposed indications of a pre-
exilic date all admit of a reasonable explanation.
The clue to the solution of the apparent contra- supposed
evidence for
dictions is to be found in the secondary and apo- we-exiiu
calyptic character of the whole section.2 It takes up examined-
and reaffirms the prophecies of Amos and Hosea,
Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which look forward to the
restoration and reunion of Israel and Judah under
1 Kuenen, Einl. § 81. Compare Prof. Cheyne, in the Jewish
Quarterly Review, Oct. 1888, p. 82. Prof. Driver, Introd. to Lit.
of O.T.e p. 349, thinks that "on the whole a post-exilic date
for the prophecy is the most probable," and that "it is in part
a re-affirmation, in a form adapted to the circumstances of the
time, of older promises of victory over foes, restoration of exiles,
and the advent of the Messianic age. "
2 Cp. Delitzsch, Messianische Weissagungen, pp. 149 ff. ; and for
some remarks on the difference between Apocalypse and Prophecy
see Bishop Westcott, Introd. to the Study of the Gospels, p. 73, n. 3.

IS.

448 DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI lect.
the Messianic King, the Prince of the house of
David. Its interest is wholly in the future — a future
which may in part be still remote. Assuming then
for the moment that the standpoint of the writer is
post-exilic, and the character of his prophecy apo
calyptic, let us see whether the supposed evidence
for a pre-exilic date does not vanish upon a careful
scrutiny.
ch. ix. 10, (a) The references to Ephraim and Judah in
ch. ix. 10, 13 do not necessarily imply that the old
kingdoms were still in existence. In ch. ix. 10
the prophet is speaking of the Messianic age. He
assumes that the restoration of Ephraim as well
as Judah, which the ancient prophets foretold, is an
accomplished fact. In accordance with the prophecies
of Hosea (ii. 18), of Isaiah (ix. 5 ff), and of Micah
(v. 10 ff.) the Messiah's kingdom will be a kingdom
of peace. All the instruments of war will be destroyed
from the midst of the restored people. Then, with
splendid inconsistency, the prophet describes Judah
as Jehovah's bow and Ephraim as His arrow, Zion as
His sword and her sons as His spear1 (ix. 13), in
the final conflict which must precede the reign of
universal peace.
ch. xi. u. The historical reference of ch. xi. 14 is quite
uncertain. It can scarcely be said that the relations
between Israel and Judah in the middle of the eighth
century B.C. were those of brotherhood. The words
1 See Note A, p. 476.

xv DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI 449
may equally well contain a warning against history
repeating itself in a second disruption and a dis
solution of the restored brotherhood which the
prophet contemplates.
(b) The allegory of ch. xi. 4 ff. is far too obscure ch. xi. kg.
of interpretation to allow of any argument being
based upon it. It is at least as reasonable to explain
it as a symbolical prediction of the rejection of a
divinely-appointed ruler by an ungrateful people as
it is to treat it as a symbolical account of historical
events. Of course it may be admitted, even upon
the hypothesis of a post-exilic date, that some of the
features in the picture may have been suggested by
the history of the Northern Kingdom.
(c) Here, too, the same remarks will apply. The ch. xi. is-
identification of the worthless shepherd with Pekah
or Menahem is precarious. The argument is not
one which can be pressed.
(d) It is true that Syria, Phoenicia, and Philistia ch. ix. 1-7
are among the nations threatened by Amos ; but his
outlook is much wider ; and there is a special reason
for the mention of these particular nations here,
with the significant addition of Hamath, which is not
included by Amos. They are just the nations which
came within the limits of the Promised Land, from
the wilderness to the river Euphrates (Exod. xxiii. 31 ;
cp. 1 Kings iv. 24, viii. 65, where note from the
entering in of Hamath).
These nations must be destroyed, or reduced to a
2 G

450 DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI lect.
condition of friendly dependence, as a preliminary
to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom,
which will include their territories, from the River to
the ends of the earth (ix. 10). Egypt and Assyria
are not mentioned as present enemies ; but they are
naturally mentioned in connexion with Ephraim's
restoration (x. 10), exactly as Hosea had mentioned
them in connexion with Ephraim's captivity. As
syria was the actual, Egypt the typical, land of bond
age ; and if the language of v. 11 may seem to imply
that the Assyrian empire was still standing, it must
be remembered that the term Assyria is used both for
Babylon (Lam. v. 6) and for Persia (Ezra vi. 22), as the
successors to the power and territories of Assyria.
Ch. ia. 9. (e) It will be seen, when we come to consider the
characteristics of the Messianic King, that the por
trait here drawn differs in significant features from
that of the pre-exilic prophets, and really forms a
strong argument for the post-exilic date.
ch. x. 2 (/) The reference in ch. x. 2 to teraphim and
diviners is best understood as a reference to past
history, and not to the circumstances of the prophet's
own time. But even if it is so taken, we know from
Malachi that sorcery was prevalent in his day (iii. 5);
it is scarcely conceivable that the mixed marriages
which Nehemiah so fiercely denounced did not intro
duce Philistine superstitions (Neh. xiii. 23 ff.) ;* and
1 If the Philistine meoninim (Isa. ii. 6) were really cloud-com
pellers or rain-makers, there would be a remarkable link of connexion

xv DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI 451
Josephus gives an elaborate account of the practices
of exorcism in his own time (Ant. viii. 2, 5).
Thus, then, the indications which have been sup- Preponder
ance of
posed to prove the pre-exilic date of these chapters evidence for
L *¦ x x post-exilic
are partly inconclusive, partly capable of an ex- date-
planation consistent with the post-exilic date. If
this is so, the positive references to the Captivity
and to the partial restoration of Judah may be
allowed their full weight, and we may decide in
favour of fixing the date of these chapters in the
period after the Return from Babylon. Undoubtedly
the prophecy bears a striking resemblance to the
earlier prophets, but this may be accounted for by
the author's familiarity with the writings of his pre
decessors. But he is no mere servile plagiarist. He
has a commission to reaffirm the old hopes under
new circumstances, and to add warnings of no trifling
significance. Ill
We pass on to consider the date of the second (a) chaps.
xiir-xiv.
division ("chaps, xii-xiv). The Northern Kingdom OMm,«-
^ r ' ° mentsfora
has entirely disappeared from view. All the interest ^egggween
centres in Judah and Jerusalem. If the mourning To.sse.
of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon (xii. 1 1)
refers, as is generally supposed, to the national mourn-
inc for the death of Josiah at the battle of Megiddo
with the present passage, where the point is that Jehovah sends the
rain which incantations cannot procure. Cp. Jer. xiv. 22. But the
derivation is doubtful.

452 DATE OF ZECHARIAH XII-XIV lect.
(2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25), the prophecy must be re
ferred to a date subsequent to B.C. 609. It is com
monly argued (a) that the way in which this mourning
is spoken of indicates that it was still fresh in the
popular recollection : (b) that the references to the
house of David (xli. 7, 8, 10, 12 ; xiii. 1) imply that
the kingdom of Judah was still in existence : (c) that
the allusions to the earthquake in the days of Uzziah
(xiv. 5) and to the extirpation of idolatry and false
prophecy point to the time before the Exile : (d) that
the predictions of the siege and capture of Jeru
salem (xii. 2 ff. ; xiv. 1 ff.) refer to the impending
destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (b.c. 586).
On these grounds the prophecy has been assigned to
the period between the death of Josiah and the
destruction of Jerusalem. Supposed allusions to the
hostility of Egypt in the reigns of Josiah and Jehoi
akim (xiv. 18), to the persecution of the prophets by
Manasseh, or the murder of Uriah by Jehoiakim
(xii. 10), and to a king of Judah, possibly Josiah
(xiii. 7), are far too precarious to be taken into
account.
(?) The But it is very doubtful whether these arguments
argumentsexamined. WLu Dear examination, (a) The interpretation of
ch. xii. 11 is uncertain, but if it does refer to
Josiah, it must be remembered that the tragic fate
of the last good king of Judah, and the popular
grief for his death, long excited an especial interest.
It is in the later history of Chronicles, not in

xv DATE OF ZECHARIAH XII-XIV 453
Kings, that the account of the mourning for him
is given, (b) There is no explicit reference to a
king, and though parallels to the expression house of
David are found in Isa. vii. 2, 13 ; Jer. xxi. 12,
the mention of the house of David in xii. 12 ff. by
the side of the house of Levi suggests rather the
position of co-ordinate pre-eminence which it held
after the Exile than that of absolute supremacy as the
reigning house, (c) The allusion to the earthquake
cannot be pressed. In any case it was too remote
for personal reminiscence ; and it may be questioned
whether the touch of expression which seems to
treat it as comparatively recent (as ye fled) does not
rest upon a wrong reading.1 The prediction of the
final extirpation of idolatry appears to be a repetition
of Hosea's prediction (ii. 17), and does not necessarily
imply the prevalence of idolatry, while false prophets
were, as we know from Nehemiah (vi. 10 ff.), by no
means limited to the period before the Exile.
On the other hand, it is at least doubtful whether
the house of Levi would have been placed, as it is
here, by the side of the house of David before the
Exile ; it seems certain that the author draws largely
from earlier prophets, especially Ezek. xxxviii, xxxix; 2
and the apocalyptic character of the prophecy points
to a late rather than an early date. We have only
1 See Note B, p. 478.
2 Kuenen, who disputes Stade's conclusions as to chaps, ix-xi,
admits that he has proved the dependence of chaps, xii-xiv on
earlier prophets, " though not without some exaggeration."

454 DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XIV lect.
to contrast Jeremiah's predictions uttered on the eve
of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans
with these generalised predictions of a final muster
of the heathen against the city of God, in order to
feel the entire dissimilarity between them.
chs. ix-xi If then we may adopt the conclusion that chaps.
and xii-xiv, n ¦» i •
both post- ix-xiv all belong to the period after the Exile, can we
exilic but by
authors S° further and (1) decide whether they are the work of
one writer or of two; and (2) ascertain more precisely
the date or dates to which they are to be assigned ?
(1) The balance of probability seems to me in favour
of assigning these chapters to two authors. The argu
ment from style and subject-matter is undoubtedly
precarious, but chaps, xii-xiv appear to be distin
guished from chaps, ix-xi by characteristics of style
and contents at least as marked as those which distin
guish chaps, ix-xiv as a whole from chaps, i-viii.
Precise date (2) To the second question it is impossible to give
in the post- _ L °
exiuc period a definite answer. It has been suggested that ch.
uncertain. °°
ix. 1 ff. was written in view of Alexander the Great's
march southward after the battle of Issus (b.c. 332),
and that we here obtain a clue to the date. But the
passage contains no distinct reference to the Greek
period, and no secure inference can be drawn from a
mere conjecture. Of more weight would be the men
tion of the sons of Greece in ch. ix. 13, if we could
be certain that the text is sound. It would seem
to imply the existence of the Graeco- Macedonian
empire, if Greece is spoken of as the great enemy

XV DATE OF ZECHARIAH IX-XIV 455
which the restored Israel has to confront, and so to
bring the prophecy down to the time of Alexander
the Great at the earliest.1 But the reference is an
isolated one ; nothing else in the prophecy seems to
point to so late a date, and I cannot help feeling that
there is a strong probability that the words against
thy sons, 0 Greece, are a gloss or interpolation added
in the Maccabaean age.2 Stade (Z.A.T.W., 1882,
p. 305) comes to the conclusion that these chapters,
which he assigns to one author, were written between
b.c. 306 and B.C. 278 ; but his arguments seem in
sufficient to establish either the unity of authorship
or so late a date.
In so difficult a question it is necessary to speak
with hesitation ; but at present it seems to me that
these chapters belong to the same class of apocalyptic-
eschatological prophecy as Isaiah xxiv-xxvii, and
may with considerable probability be assigned to the
same period, the first sixty or seventy years after
the Return. In this case they stand in their right
position between Zechariah and Malachi. For our
present purpose this will be sufficient ; and though
it seems most probable that they are the work of two
writers, there are links of connexion which will make
it convenient to treat them together in examining
their distinctive teaching.
How came these chapters to be appended to the
'not earlier than b.c. 333."
2 See Note A, p. 476.

456 CONTENTS OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI lect.
Position Book of Zechariah if they were by a different author
of these
prophecies, or authors ? The clue to an answer to this question
is to be found in the similarity of the titles prefixed
to these two prophecies and to the Book of Malachi.1
It has been conjectured with much probability that
these three pieces came into the hand of the editor
of the collection of the Minor Prophets as anonymous
writings. He appended them at the close of his
volume, and prefixed to the second (Zech. xii. 1) and
third (Mai. i. 1) titles imitated from that which he
found, partly or altogether, prefixed to the first
(Zech. ix. 1) ; and supposing that Malachi iii. 1 might
contain the author's name,2 he added it to the title.
Hence " Malachi " was treated as a separate book,
while the anonymous pieces which followed the
Book of Zechariah came in time to be regarded as
part of it, and attributed to the pen of Zechariah.
IV
Analysts of Before proceeding to consider the characteristic
Zechariah . ,...,,. .,
ix-xiv. doctrines of these prophecies, it will be well to give
an outline of their contents. This, it is hoped, will
illustrate and confirm the view which has been taken
of their date, and prepare for the consideration of
their teachings.
1 An utterance of Jehovah's word upon the land of Hadroxh
(Zech. ix. 1) : an utterance of Jehovah's word concerning Israel
(xii. 1) : an utterance of Jehovah's word to Israel by Malachi
(Mai. i. 1).
2 The Heb. word for " my messenger " is Mal'dchi.

xv CONTENTS OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI 457
The first section (ix. 1-8) announces that the ($ chaps.
ix-xi.
nations which dwell within the promised boundaries («) •*• *-«•
of Israel's land (Exod. xxiii. 31) must be destroyed,
or reduced to a position of friendly dependence.
Jehovah's providence is guiding the course of the
world's history with special regard to the destiny of
His own people.1 His doom falls upon Damascus
and Hamath. The wisdom of Zidon, the strength
and wealth of Tyre, cannot avail to save them. The
judgement sweeps southward. The cities of Philistia
are terror-stricken. Gaza loses her independence.
Ashkelon is deserted. The purified remnant which
is left is converted to the worship of Jehovah, and
lives in friendly if subordinate association with
Judah, like the Jebusites of old.2 Jehovah will
protect His own people ; enemies shall no more
invade their land (ix. 1-8).
Thus the way is prepared for the advent of the a>)ix.9-x.:
Messianic King. Zion is bidden to welcome Him
as He comes, victorious after suffering, in the garb
of peace. He destroys the implements of war,3 which
are no longer needed, from the midst of the reunited
nation, proclaims universal peace, and rules over the
full extent of the Promised Land. Words of comfort

1 Render v. 1 with R. V. marg. , Jehovah hath an eye upon men
and upon all the. tribes of Israel.
2 Perhaps we should read, by a simple change of -vowel points,
thousand for chieftain in v. 7. Cp. Mic. v. 2.
3 Read perhaps, with the LXX, in ix. 10, and he shall cut off the
chariot, for and I will cut off the chariot.

458 CONTENTS OF ZECHARIAH IX-XI lect.
are addressed to Zion. In virtue of the covenant
sealed by sacrifice (Exod. xxiv. 8) her children have
already been in part restored from the cheerless
dungeon of exile. Those who are still prisoners,
hoping for release, are bidden to return ; and a double
recompence is promised them.- Yet conflict must
precede the final peace. Judah will be Jehovah's
bow and Ephraim His arrow, Zion His sword and
her sons His spear.1 He will Himself appear to
lead them to victory. Triumphantly they vanquish
their foes. He re-establishes them in their own
land. Plenty and prosperity make their youths
strong and their maidens beautiful (9-17). The
fertility of the land is Jehovah's bounty ; to Him let
them turn with prayer for its continuance. Idols
and diviners have proved a delusion; it is because
they sought help from them that Israel has been
scattered like an unshepherded flock (x. 1, 2). Nay,
worse, it has fallen into the hands of false shepherds.
(c) x. s-is. But the day of retribution for these tyrants has
come.2 Jehovah has visited His people. He will
appoint them new rulers, under whose guidance
1 See Note A, p. 476.
2 The shepherds and he-goats of a. 3 are commonly taken to
mean bad native rulers. But it gives a better sense to understand
the words of foreign tyrants, here and in xi. 3. That this mean
ing is possible is clear from Jer. xxv. 34 ff., which the prophet
certainly has in his mind. From him in x. 4 may mean from
Jehovah, as the source of authority (cp. Hos. viii. 4 ; Jer. xxiii.
1-4) ; but it seems preferable to suppose that it means from Judah,
and that it is an echo of Jer. xxx. 21. Native rulers will take the
place of alien oppressors.

XV CONTENTS OF ZECHARIAH IX-Xl 459
they will discomfit their foes. Judah will be
strengthened ; Israel will be restored from exile.
The sea of calamity will be divided, like the Red Sea
of old. Assyria and Egypt will be humbled. Jehovah
will be Israel's strength, and Israel will order its
life in accordance with His revealed will (x. 3-12).
With ch. xi a fresh prophecy opens. A forest (<j) xi. i-s.
fire devours the cedars of Lebanon ; a crashing
storm lays low the oaks of Bashan. In other words,
the rulers and potentates of the nations are swept
down by the storm of war. The rulers are heard
lamenting the loss of their magnificence ; the poten
tates mourning for the destruction of their strong
holds (1-3).1
In this crisis the prophet receives a commission (e)it u-ih.
from God to feed " the flock of the slaughter," which
has been so barbarously maltreated by its rulers ;
for a pitiless judgement is coming upon the earth, in
which nations will be sacrificed to the arbitrary
ambition of their rulers.2
The prophet enters on his task, and takes as the
insignia of his office two staves, to which he gives
1 These verses are commonly explained to refer to the unworthy
leaders of Israel. But Jer. xxv. 34 ff., on which it appears to be
based, refers to the judgement of the nations, and this seems to
be the right explanation here.
2 In xi. 6 for the land render the earth, and for his neighbour's
hand read, by a simple change of vowel points, his shepherd's hand.
The judgement is apparently identical with the war figuratively
described in vv, 1-3.

460 CONTENTS OF ZECHARIAH XII-XIV lect.
the names of Graciousness and Union, to signify the
gracious care of God for His people and the union
of Judah and Israel. He deposes evil rulers; but
the ungrateful people grow weary of his rule, and
he leaves them to their fate. Contemptuously they
give him for his hire the sum fixed as compensation
for a common slave ; and in token that he is acting
as Jehovah's representative he puts it into the
Temple treasury. He breaks his staves, as a sign
that Jehovah's protection is at an end and that the
brotherhood between Judah and Israel is dissolved
(4-14). The whole passage is an allegory, describ
ing the rejection of the divinely -appointed Good
Shepherd by His ungrateful flock, and the fatal con
sequences to the flock.
(/) xt is- But stern judgement is in store for the guilty
people. The prophet is bidden to assume the
character of a worthless shepherd, in token that
they will fall into the hands of a cruel ruler, who
will make havoc of them for his own advantage
and will eventually meet with a just retribution
(15-17).1 V
(iii cimps. Ch. xii is distinguished by its title as the com-
xiir-xiv.to.) xu. i- mencement of a separate prophecy. We are intro-
1 In v. 17, for sword, which does not agree with the next clauses,
read, by a simple change of vowel points, burning heat (as in Job
xxx. 30). Burning heat be upon his arm, and upon his right eye :
let his arm be clean shrivelled up, and his right eye be utterly dimmed.

xv CONTENTS OF ZECHARIAH XII-XIV 461
duced to fresh scenery and different circumstances.
The nations are seen mustering to fight against
Jerusalem ; but Jerusalem will be to them a bowl
of reeling and a burdensome stone ; they will gain
nothing but confusion and injury to themselves.
Judah at first appears in the hostile ranks ; but
while Jehovah smites the horses of the peoples
with blindness, He opens His eyes upon Judah.
They recognise their error, and, turning against
their allies, destroy the enemies of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem will not only be delivered, but it will turn
to Jehovah in mourning, sincere and universal, for
having rejected Him and slain Him in the person
of His representative. A fountain of cleansing will
be opened for them. The very names of idols will
be abolished. False prophets will be cut off. Nay,
the pretender will be slain by his own parents in
their righteous zeal for truth (xii. 1-xiii. 6).
With xiii. 7 a new section begins, which appears to (6) xm. 7-9.
be at once the sequel of the allegory in ch. xi and
the key to the cause of the people's mourning in
ch. xii. Why it stands here is an unsolved enigma.
The sword is summoned to smite the divinely-
appointed shepherd of the people. In other words,
the ungrateful nation is to be punished by the re
moval of the faithful ruler. Two-thirds of the people
will perish. The remainder will be purified by trial,
until they once more deserve the name of Jehovah's
people and acknowledge Him as their God (xiii. 7-9).

462 DISTINCTIVE IDEAS lect.
tc)xiv.i- Finally, the book closes with the vision of a
great day of judgement and redemption. Jehovah
gathers the nations against Jerusalem ; the city is
taken and plundered ; half of its inhabitants are
carried away into captivity. Then Jehovah comes
forth to battle against the nations, and at the
touch of His feet the Mount of Olives is cleft
asunder. He comes with His attendant angels in
a weird day of gloom1 which ends in light. From
Jerusalem shall go forth an unfailing stream of
living waters to fertilise the land. Jehovah will
be undisputed King. Jerusalem will be exalted in
the midst of a vast plain, rebuilt in its old extent,
and once more securely inhabited. There will be
no more curse or ban (1-11).
td) xiv. is- Meanwhile horrible plagues have overtaken the
is. nations which fought against Jerusalem. They
have perished by internecine warfare and by the
hands of Judah's warriors (12-15).
(e) xiv. is- But the survivors of the nations will come vear
si. by year to worship Jehovah at Jerusalem. There
will no longer be any need to distinguish between
things sacred and profane, for all things alike will be
consecrated to Jehovah. The ungodly and profane
will no more enter the Temple (16-21).
1 In xiv. 6 read, with R. V. marg. , there shall not be light, the
bright ones shall contract themselves: i.e. sun, moon, and stars
are darkened. Cp. Joel ii. 10.

OF ZECHARIAH IX-XIV 463

VI

The distinctive ideas of Zech. ix-xiv may be Distinctiveideas of
grouped under the heads of — (1) the Messianic King ; zechariah
(2) the rejected shepherd ; (3) the restored and
penitent people ; (4) the divine sovereignty.
(1) The familiar passage which predicts the (i)zv>e
, Messianic
advent of the Messianic King requires careful ffn!j'ff
consideration. Rejoice exceedingly, 0 daughter of Zion ;
Shout triumphantly, 0 daughter of Jerusalem :
Behold thy King shall come to thee;
Righteous and saved is He ;
Lowly, and riding upon an ass,
Even upon a colt, the foal of an ass.
And He shall cut off1 the chariot from Ephraim,
And the horse from Jerusalem,
And the battle bow shall be cut off ;
And He shall proclaim peace unto the nations ;
And His dominion shall be from sea to sea,
And from the River unto the ends of the earth.
In days when Zion had no king, if we are right
in assigning this prophecy to the post-exilic period,
the prophet, in the inspiration of unshaken faith,
reiterates the promises of his predecessors. While
in the course of divine judgement the king perishes
from Gaza (ix. 5), Zion's King shall come to her. He
comes as the Prince of Peace. The features of the
l So the LXX for I will cut off.

464 DISTINCTIVE IDEAS lect.
portrait are repeated from Isaiah and Micah, but
with significant differences. He is righteous ; for as
righteousness is an essential attribute of Jehovah,
so it must be an attribute of that king who is His
true representative, and of the age in which His will
is to be realised. Jehovah is our righteousness is the
name alike of the Messianic King and of the re
deemed city (Jer. xxiii. 6 ; xxxiii. 16). And He is
saved, or, given the victory} As Israel is a people saved
by Jehovah (Deut. xxxiii. 29), so Israel's King comes
to her victorious over all His enemies by Jehovah's
help (Ps. cxliv. 10). By that deliverance Jehovah
publicly attests His righteousness in the sight of the
world. But — strange paradox ! — this victorious King
is lowly. Literally the word means afflicted ; but it is
used of one who has passed through the school of
suffering, and learnt in it the lesson of humility,
and it may fairly be rendered lowly. He comes
in the guise of peace, riding, not upon a horse,
which would have been suggestive of war and
worldly power (cp. x. 5), but upon an ass, the
animal ordinarily used even by kings and princes
in time of peace. It is a colt, unused before,
and therefore fit for the sacred service of bearing
Jehovah's representative. The purpose of His ad
vent is to destroy the implements and furniture of
1 The participle is passive, and cannot be rendered actively as
in the ancient versions. Having salvation (A.V. and RV.) is
ambiguous. Contrast Isa. xlv. 21 (a God who is righteous and a
saviour) where the active participle of the same verb is used.

xv OF ZECHARIAH IX-XIV 465
war from the reunited nation over which He is
to rule in the full extent of the Promised Land
(Exod. xxiii. 31), and to proclaim peace to all the
nations. It is not wholly clear whether the prophet
regards the war of which he speaks in ix. 13 ff.
as preceding and preparing the way for the advent
of the King, or whether he foresees that even the
Prince of Peace must fight before He can secure
the peace which it is His purpose to establish, and
can settle His people in undisturbed security in
their land. But peace is the true note of His rule ;
it is put in the forefront as the final purpose of His
coming. In the main the prophet repeats the picture
drawn by his predecessors, but the new features
which he introduces are significant. All that is
implied in the words saved and lowly is fresh. They
speak of triumph through suffering, and sum up
in brief the ideas connected with the suffering Ser
vant of Jehovah described by the Isaiah of the Exile
(p. 395). That new revelation of the way in which
God's purposes of redemption were to be worked out
has modified the expectation of the Messianic King.
It may be uncertain whether the prophet himself
foresaw that the parallel lines of prophecy of the
triumphant King and the suffering Servant were
destined ultimately to meet and be fulfilled in one
Person ; but it is clear that he was guided by
the Spirit to give a new turn to the hope of Israel
2 H

466 DISTINCTIVE IDEAS lect.
which might guide thoughtful minds in Israel to
welcome as their King Him who came in lowliest
guise as a servant.
m The (2) Jeremiah had prophesied of the divine judge-
'K&JBCt&CL shepherd ment which was to be executed upon the faithless
ch xi. i-17 ; r
xiii. 1-9. shepherds of Israel, a term which includes not
kings only, but all the ruling and leading classes
— kings, princes, priests, prophets — to whom the
charge and oversight of the people was committed.
He had promised that Jehovah would raise up
faithful shepherds in the time of the restoration
of Israel, and, in particular, the righteous Shoot of
the house of David (Jer. xxiii. 1-8).
Ezekiel in the land of exile had echoed the
same warning and the same promise. The selfish
shepherds who cared only for their own interests
must be punished, and in their place Jehovah will
set up one shepherd, even His servant David (Ezek.
xxxiv ; xxxvii. 24 ff.).
These prophecies lie in the background of ch. xi,
and it is necessary to bear them in mind in order
to understand this difficult passage. As in ch. ix
the prophet resumes with significant modifications
the earlier prophecies of the Messianic King, so
here he resumes the earlier prophecies of the true
Shepherd, in a form which was a most pregnant
warning to his countrymen. The warning is thrown
into the form of a parable or allegory, which sets
forth the divine purpose for Israel, and its frustration

xv OF ZECHARIAH IX-XIV 467
by the wilful and contemptuous ingratitude of the
people. At Jehovah's command, and as His representative,
the prophet takes charge of the flock which has
been so cruelly neglected and maltreated by those
who were responsible for its care. The impending
judgement upon the inhabitants of the world, in
which nations will be sacrificed to the ambition and
caprice of their rulers, makes this the more necessary.
As the insignia of his office, the prophet takes two
pastoral staves. One he names Graciousnessf to
signify Jehovah's goodwill towards His people; the
other he names Union (lit. Binders), to indicate the
reunion of Judah and Israel. As speedily as possible
he removes the three faithless shepherds. It is un
necessary to attach a precise meaning to the three
shepherds, and interpret them to mean the three
leading classes of kings, prophets, and priests; or
the three world-kingdoms ; or some three particular
oppressors of Israel, such as Antiochus Epiphanes,
Antiochus Eupator, and Demetrius. They are a
part of the furniture of the allegory, and their
removal by the prophet within a month is intended
to signify God's intention to deal promptly and
effectually with the oppressors of His people, who
ever they may be. But His purpose is frustrated
by the wilfulness of the people. The prophet-
1 Or, Pleasantness: the gracious kindliness of Jehovah. Cp.
Ps. xxvii. 4 ; xc. 17.

468 DISTINCTIVE IDEAS lect.
shepherd's soul was vexed with their obstinacy,
and their soul also loathed him. He determines
to leave them to their fate, as they deserved.
He breaks the staff Graciousness in token that
the covenant which had been made with all
the peoples not to injure Israel was annulled.
These most miserable of sheep knew of a truth,1 as
they observed their shepherd's action, that he was
only obeying the divine command. But they re
fused to take warning. When he asks whether they
wish him to give up or retain his charge, they bid
him go, and in evident contempt weigh out to him
the thirty pieces of silver which were the legal
compensation for an injured slave (Exod. xxi. 32).
By divine command he casts them into the Temple
treasury,2 intimating thereby in the most public
manner that the insult was not offered to him so
much as to his master Jehovah, Whose representative
they had thus contumeliously rejected (cp. 1 Sam.
viii. 7). His service at an end, he breaks his
1 There does not seem to be any ground for supposing that
either in v. 7 or in v. 11 a faithful minority are spoken of as the
poor of the flock. If the text is sound, the flock destined by its
owners for the slaughter is described as the most miserable of sheep.
The mention of their miserable condition emphasises their folly in
rejecting the good shepherd. But the text is suspicious, and the
LXX suggests that we should read in v. 7, So I fed the flock of
slaughter for them that made merchandise of it: and in v. 11, So
they that made merchandise of the flock knew, etc.
2 This rendering, which is supported by the Syriac Version,
gives an intelligible sense. No satisfactory explanation of cast it
unto the potter can be given.

xv OF ZECHARIAH IX-XIV 469
second staff Union, in token of the dissolution of the
union between Judah and Israel which would follow
upon their rejection of the divinely-appointed ruler.
A second act in the allegory follows. The
prophet is commanded to assume the character of a
foolish shepherd, in token that, as a judgement upon
these misguided sheep who refuse their true shep
herd, Jehovah will not merely leave them to them
selves, but abandon them to the pitiless cruelties of a
worthless shepherd, who, nevertheless, in the end
will not escape the retribution he deserves.
The prophet's message is clearly conveyed in the
form of an allegory. It is not necessary to suppose
that the prophet actually personated the good and
the bad shepherd, any more than it is to suppose
that Jeremiah presented the cup of Jehovah's wrath
against the nations before his auditors in some visible
form (xxv. 17). It was, no doubt, common for the
prophets to use symbolical action, but it is difficult
to see how some of the features of this transaction
could have been actually represented, and it is best to
regard the whole as simply an allegory or parable.
It is a solemn warning of the way in which divine
grace may be frustrated by human obstinacy. The
truth which it conveys had been abundantly illus
trated in the past history of Israel. It was to receive
a more terrible illustration in the subsequent history
of the nation. What may have been to the prophet's
mind the precise connexion between this prophecy

470 DISTINCTIVE IDEAS lect.
and the one which precedes is obscure. Very prob
ably they were written at a wide interval of time,
and under wholly different circumstances. Perhaps
he did not intend to place the rejection of the Good
Shepherd in any precise chronological relation to
the advent of the Messianic King and the reunion
of Judah and Ephraim. But its significance cannot
be mistaken. By the side of the splendid promises
of chaps, ix and x he is taught to set this solemn
warning that even in the age to come Israel might
choose the evil and refuse the good, and frustrate the
fulfilment of the promise.
ch.xiii.7-9. A third and concluding act in the tragedy still
remains. Strangely isolated as these verses are where
they now stand, it cannot be doubted that vv. 7-9 of
ch. xiii must be read in connexion with the allegory
which we have been considering. For a judgement
upon the guilty people the sword is summoned to
smite the good shepherd. The consequence of his
death is the dispersion of the flock. Yet in the
midst of calamity a remnant is preserved ; it is re
fined in the fire of trial, and finally brought once
more into covenant-relation with Jehovah.
It has been suggested that these verses originally
formed the conclusion of ch. xi, and should be
restored to that position. Whether this is done or
not, it is clear that they must be taken in connexion
with that chapter. Their present position is an un
explained enigma. But they cannot refer to the

XV OF ZECHARIAH IX-XIV 471
judgement upon the worthless shepherd. It is incon
ceivable that Jehovah should call him My shepherd,
and the man that is My fellow. Does the prophet
then see the good shepherd prematurely slain in
battle, like Josiah at Megiddo, or does he foresee that
the people will crown the ingratitude which has
already rejected him by murdering their deliverer?
The words in themselves give no answer to the ques-
'tion. But it is hard not to see in them the key to
the obscure allusion in ch. xii. 10 ff. to the murder
for which the penitent nation must mourn. And
thus the prophecy of the Good Shepherd, like that
of the Messianic King, is linked with that of the
suffering Servant in Isa. liii. The murder, which is
the guilty nation's sin, and by which it brings to
pass its own punishment, is in its other aspect an
atoning sacrifice, accomplishing the divine purpose
of redemption (Isa. liii. 10).
(3) The ninth and tenth chapters foretell the <s)The
i i t i i mi restored and
restoration and reunion of Israel and Judah. Ine penitentpeople.
eleventh chapter appears to sound a note of warning,
that through the obstinate folly of the people that
brotherhood might again be dissolved and the nation
subjected to long and severe chastisements. In chaps.
xii-xiv the scene changes. Jerusalem is the centre
of interest. Resuming the prophecies of Ezekiel, the
writer tells of the final muster of all the nations of
the earth for one desperate effort to destroy the city
of God. In one act of the drama they appear to be

472 DISTINCTIVE IDEAS lect.
triumphantly repulsed (ch. xii. 2 ff.) ; in the other
Jerusalem is captured and plundered (xiv. 2). Then
and not till then does Jehovah Himself interpose
(xiv. 3). But in both cases the ultimate result is the
same. Her assailants are discomfited and destroyed,
But the day of Jerusalem's deliverance is a day of
national mourning. Jerusalem is not only to be out
wardly delivered but to be inwardly cleansed. Repent
ance is the condition of cleansing, and it is brought"
about by a special outpouring of divine grace. And
it shall come to pass in that day, that . . . I will
pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabit
ants of Jerusalem, a spirit of grace and of suppli
cation ; and they shall look unto Me, even him whom
they thrust through ; and they shall lament for him,
as men lament for an only son, and mourn bitterly
for him, as men mourn bitterly for the firstborn
(xii. 10). As the text stands,1 the words can have
but one meaning, startling as that meaning is. It is
Jehovah who has been thrust through and slain in
the person of His representative. In the guilt of
this murder all the nation has participated, and for
1 The difficulty of the text is very great. Could the prophet
have spoken of thrusting Jehovah through? The construction, too,
is anomalous, and excites suspicion. It has been conjectured that
we should read they shall look unto him whom they thrust through.
The change is easy ; it is supported by some MSS., and seems
to be required by the next clause. But all the versions attest the
reading unto me. Some MSS. of the LXX indeed have els iv
QeKhrnaav, unto him whom they pierced ; but this reading is prob
ably derived from St. John xix. 37.

xv OF ZECHARIAH IX-XIV 473
it the whole nation must mourn with a solemn and
universal mourning, in which all take part. The
house of David with its subordinate branches, of
which the family of Nathan is instanced as one, and
the house of Levi with its subordinate branches, of
which the family of the Shimeites is instanced as
one, set the example to the whole nation. This peni
tence is the fruit of the spirit which has been poured
out upon them; and the divine response to this
penitence is the opening of a cleansing fountain for
sin and for impurity (xiii. 1). The ceremonial law
provided from time to time lustrations for those who
were defiled by touching the dead (Num. xix), but
here shall be a perennial fountain, ever open to
cleanse away this guilt of murder and all sin. Idol
atry and false prophecy will be finally and entirely
eradicated from the land (xiii. 2 ft'.).
But who, we ask, is it for whose murder the
nation needs an atonement? The passage as it
stands is an unsolved enigma. Must we not, as has
already been suggested, find the key to its solution in
ch. xiii. 7-9 ? whether we assume that these verses
originally preceded, and for some unknown reason
have been transferred from their original position
at the close of ch. xi ; or that the prophet, with
the crime in full view in his own mind, does not
interrupt his narrative in order to explain, and only
returns afterwards to give the needful clue when he
has completed his vision of the future.

474 ZECHARIAH IX-XIV lect.
«) The (4) It may be questioned whether the prophet
sovereignty, intended ch. xiv to be understood as parallel to chaps.
xii, xiii, or as a sequel to them. Perhaps the question
would not have presented itself to his .mind, whether
these two acts in the great world-drama of Judgement
and Redemption were to be simultaneous or succes
sive. However that may be, in ch. xiv we have
presented to us the vision of a great day of Jehovah.
It is a weird day of gloom, but at evening time there
shall be light. In the last extremity, when Jeru
salem has been taken and plundered, Jehovah comes
with His attendant angels, in storm and earthquake,
and routs Jerusalem's foes, who perish by terrible
plagues and internecine strife. Then Jehovah shall
become king over all the earth. No other gods will
dispute His sovereignty. No ambiguous names will
divide His unity. Under the figure of physical
change, which leaves Jerusalem towering majestically
in the centre of a level plain, is indicated the supreme
importance of the city. The living waters which
issue from her symbolise her life-giving energies.
The remnant of the nations which once menaced her
existence now come to worship the King, Jehovah
of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. There
shall be no more anything accursed. There will no
longer be a distinction between things sacred and
things profane, where all will bear the stamp of
consecration. Jerusalem will be, not in name but
in reality, the holy city. The goal will be attained

xv THE FULFILMENT 475
towards which one prophet after another had strained
his eyes. The seer of Patmos almost repeats the
words as he bids us still look forward to it.
VII
Zion's King came to her. Deliberately Jesus The
. fulfilment.
presented Himself to the people as their King by
riding into Jerusalem upon the ass' colt. The
outward form was not the essential part of the
prophecy. He might have fulfilled the prophecy
without thus acting it out to the letter. But He
would have the people know by a sign which the
most ignorant could not mistake what He claimed
to be. They knew Him and they welcomed Him ;
and yet within one short week they fulfilled the
other prophecy of the rejected shepherd. For
whatever minor meaning or previous fulfilment the
allegory of the true shepherd may have had, we
cannot doubt that it pointed forward to the Good
Shepherd who was rejected, betrayed, and crucified
by those whom He came to save.1 The warning of
the allegory fell unheeded upon their ears. Of Him,
as of no other, could God speak as the man that is
My fellow. The penitent looking unto Him whom
they had pierced began upon the day of Pentecost,
when three thousand were pricked in the heart. It
will be consummated when He comes with the clouds,
1 This is not the place to enter upon the complicated difficulties
of the quotation in Matt, xxvii. 9.

476 MESSIANIC PROPHECY IN ZECHARIAH leot.
and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced
Him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over
Him. If the view which has here been taken of the
later chapters is correct, the Book of Zechariah as a
whole occupies a position of remarkable importance
in the development of Messianic prophecy. It knits
together lines of thought and hope which before were
separate. In the first part, as we have seen, the
union of the offices of Priest and King in the person
of the Messiah is prefigured (p. 439 ff). In the second
part, we have at least a hint and suggestion of the
union of the prophecies of the Royal Messiah and
the suffering Servant of Jehovah (p. 465), and a dark
shadow of warning falls across the brightness of the
prospect. When Israel's true shepherd comes he will
be contemptuously rejected, nay, put to death by an
ungrateful people.
Thus step by step prophecy moved towards the
appointed goal. And so it came to pass, in fulfilment
even more strangely tragical than could ever have
been anticipated. He came, and they made the crown
of thorns His diadem and the Cross His throne.
Note A. — On Ch. ix. 13.
Kuenen (Einl. § 81, n. 6 : cp. also Konig, Einl. § 73, 3 d)
justly remarks that the reading of this verse is not above
suspicion, and with equal justice rejects two emendations
which have been proposed, neither of which can be said to be
at all plausible. But he does not suggest what seems to me

xv ZECHARIAH IX. 13 477
the true remedy, the omission of the words against thy sons,
0 Greece. The allusion to Greece is quite isolated. Its
denniteness is unlike the generality which in the main
characterises the passage. The words disturb the balance of
the clauses. The enemy is not addressed elsewhere in the
context, but the covenant people. Nothing could have been
more natural than the insertion of such a gloss in the
Maccabaean times, and it was facilitated by » misunderstand
ing of the meaning of the clause to which it was added.
Lastly, the differences of reading represented by the LXX,
against the sons of the Greeks, and the Targum, against the sons
of the peoples, are an indication, though slight, that the words
were not part of the original text, or were differently read.
Now for the meaning of the words, wrnjn is usually
rendered and stir up. But this rendering interrupts the
series of metaphors. Judah is the bow which Jehovah
bends ; Ephraim is the arrow which He places upon its string ;
Zion He will make as a hero's sword. Now, is it not clear
that wnijii ought to be taken in the sense of wielding or
hurling a spear, which it bears in 2 Sam. xxiii. 18? (cp. Isa.
a. 26). Zion's sons are Jehovah's spear, and the series of
metaphors is complete. Next observe the gain to the rhythm
by the omission of the words [v th ^V. The verse will then
consist of four equal clauses, which may thus be represented
in translation, though in the Hebrew bow belongs to the
second line : For I bend me Judah for a bow,
Lay Ephraim on it for an arrow,
Wield thy sons, 0 Zion, for a spear,
And make thee as a hero's sword.
How easy for a scribe in the Maccabaean age, not recognising
the metaphor of the third line, and understanding the verb
to mean stir up, to think that the clause required a supple
ment, and to add his interpretative gloss, against thy sons, 0
Greece.

478 ZECHARIAH XIV. 5 lect. xv
Note B. — On Ch. xiv. 5.
The first word of this verse is one of the very few cases in
which the difference between the " Eastern" and " Western"
tradition as to the reading affects the sense. The Western
reading, which is that of our printed texts, is ohmi and ye
shall flee; the Eastern reading is oripn and it shall be stopped.
This is the reading followed by the LXX, Aq., Symm.,
Theod., and the Targum. The LXX, Aq., Symm., and Theod.,
but not the Targum, render the word in the same way where it
recurs in the verse. It seems to me that there is much to
be said in favour of adopting this reading. The verse will
then run : And the valley of My mountains shall be blocked up
yea it shall be blocked up as it was blocked up by the earth
quake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Even if the pre-exilic
date is adopted for these chapters, the expression as ye fled in
reference to an event which happened 150 years before would
be strange. But it would not be strange for a writer, even
after the Exile, to point to some great landslip, by which the
memory of that terrible earthquake was still visibly preserved.
When this note was originally written, I had not noticed
the remarkable confirmation which the theory it puts for
ward receives from Josephus (Ant. Jud. ix. 10, 4). He relates
that the earthquake occurred at the moment when Uzziah
was impiously attempting to force his way into the Temple
to burn incense. He threatened the priests who endeavoured
to resist him with death ; " but meanwhile a great earthquake
shook the ground, and the Temple opened, and a brilliant
light shone out of it, and struck the king's face, so that he
was forthwith smitten with leprosy : while in front of the
city, at the place which is called Eroge, half of the mountain
toward the west was broken off, and rolling four furlongs to
the mountain on the east stopped there, so that the passages
and the king's gardens were blocked up.'' The word for
" blocked up " used by Josephus (eptcbpayfjvai) is the same as
that which is used in the LXX here.

LECTURE XVI

ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII

Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed ; because
Jehovah of hosts is become King in mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and in the presence of His elders shall be glory. — Isaiah xxiv. 23.

These four chapters form a connected whole, dis- character
istics of
tinguished by marked characteristics of style and Js«*«* ..
° J J XXIV-XXVII.
contents. They contain a sublime drama of judge
ment and redemption, which forms an appropriate
finale to the collection of prophecies concerning the
nations. The various acts of Jehovah's government
of the world culminate in the visible manifestation
of His sovereignty, and in the blessings of His reign
not Israel only but the nations participate.
The contents of these chapters are rightly described
by Delitzsch as " eschatological and apocalyptic."
They draw aside the veil which hides the ultimate
accomplishment of the divine counsels ; they point
forward to the final consummation of all things ;
they present a vision of glory which may serve at once

480 APOCALYPTIC CHARACTER lect.
as a consolation and an encouragement in a time
of distress and disappointment.
It is to this apocalyptic character that they owe
their peculiar difficulties. The standpoint of the
writer is shifted from the present to the future, and
from the future back to the present. It is often
impossible to determine whether he is speaking of
what is actually past, or only of what is past from
some assumed standpoint' in the future. Again and
again the historical circumstances under which he
writes seem to be on the point of disclosing themselves,
only to elude us like a mirage when we try to fix
their details. The truth is that he has drawn his
materials from past history, but has generalised and
idealised those materials as he recombines them into
a new picture upon a grander scale. It is not to be
wondered at that there has been the widest divergence
of views as to the interpretation and the date of this
prophecy. There is much in it which may seem to
confirm the tradition that Isaiah was the author;
but there is more which points to a date shortly
after the Return from the Captivity. " This cannot
be denied," is the verdict of Delitzsch in the last
edition of his Isaiah, published in 1889, less than a
year before his death, " that the contents, in order to
be assigned to their proper place in the development
of Old Testament revelation, point to an age later
than that of Isaiah. The author is not Isaiah, but a
disciple of Isaiah, who here surpasses his master.

xvi OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII 481
Isaiah is great in himself, greater in his disciples, as
rivers are greater than the source from which they
spring." II
The justification of this view must be based upon contents of
a careful examination of the contents of these chapters ?Wer?\.
and of their characteristic teaching. The prophecy
opens with a vision of universal judgement upon the
inhabitants of the earth, because they have transgressed
laws, violated statutes, broken the primeval covenant.
It falls upon all ranks and classes of society alike.
All festivity is at an end. The country is desolate ;
the cities are deserted. A few scattered inhabitants
only are left, like the scattered berries which remain
on the olive trees after they have been beaten, or the
scanty remnant of grapes which gleaners find when
the vintage is done (xxiv. 1-13).
But on them judgement has done its work. They
recognise Jehovah as its author and pay Him homage.
These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout ; for the
majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. As
they glorify Jehovah, they chant the praises of His
people, which reach the ears of the prophet and his
companions. From the ends of the earth have we heard
songs, 'Honour to the righteous.' But the actual state
of that people is in sad contrast to what it should be.
As he thinks of all that Israel has suffered from its
persecutors, he can only cry, I pine away, I pine
2 I

482 CONTENTS OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII leot.
away, woe is me! The treacherous dealers have dealt
treacherously ; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt
very treacherously. The rift in the clouds closes, and
the vision of judgement returns in more terrible form
than before. It is described as a second deluge. The
windows on high are opened, and the foundations of
the earth do shake. Crushed under the weight of the
transgression of its inhabitants the earth perishes.
It shall fall and not rise again (14-20).
At the same time Jehovah will punish the host of
the high ones on high — heavenly beings which are in-
some mysterious way connected with the history of
the world, and have misused their power and authority
— and the kings of the earth upon the earth: and when
all authorities and powers have been judged according
to their deserts, Jehovah will manifest Himself as
King in Zion. The elders of His people will be
admitted to His immediate presence and see His
glory, as of old the elders of Israel saw it in the
wilderness (21-23).
) ch. xxv Transported in spirit into that glorious future, the
prophet praises Jehovah for the wonders which He
has wrought. He has proved Himself the strong
hold of His people, while the city which was the
impersonation of hostility to Judah is laid in ruins.
As they see these judgements, the fiercest and most
despotic nations pay Him reverence. All peoples
are admitted to share the blessings of His kingdom.
Right royally He entertains them in His capital,

xvi CONTENTS OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII 483
There He destroys the veil of ignorance, of suffering,
of sin — all that has darkened the life of humanity —
nay, death itself. He hath swallowed up death for
ever ; and the lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from
off all faces ; and the reproach of His people shall He
take away from off all the earth (xxv. 1-8).
And while glad songs resound from this ransomed
community, Moab, the typical example of contemptu
ous pride, which had rejoiced with malicious joy over
Judah's fall, is reduced to helpless ignominy, and its
strong cities are levelled to the ground (9-12).
Once more the ransomed community raises its (s) ch. xxvi.
voice of praise. While the lofty city of worldly
power is laid low, they can sing We have a strong
city, guarded by no perishable defences, for salvation
doth He appoint for walls and bulwarks. It is to be
peopled with worthy citizens. Open the gates, that a
righteous nation may enter which keepeth faithfulness.
Its confidence is in the Rock of Ages. In grateful
retrospect the redeemed recount how they had waited
for Jehovah to come in judgement, for only through
judgement would the inhabitants of the world learn
righteousness. Though they refuse at first to see it,
they will be compelled to recognise Jehovah's uplifted
hand, and to acknowledge His zeal for His people.
For a time He had surrendered them to the dominion of
other masters, but now through His grace, and through
this alone, they can once more celebrate His praises.
Their enemies have perished for ever ; and Jehovah

484 CONTENTS OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII lect.
has glorified Himself by multiplying His people and
extending the boundaries of their land (xxvi. 1-15).
They recall the prayers which they offered in the
time of chastisement : the birthpangs which seemed
so ineffectual for the production of a regenerate
nation. And the divine answer comes that by a
supreme act of grace the dead shall live. Thy dead
shall live ; thy dead bodies shall arise. Awake and
sing, ye that dwell in dust : for thy dew is dew of light,
and the earth shall give birth to the dead (16-19).
But before that glorious future is attained, the
world must be judged. The people of God are bidden
to take refuge as Noah took refuge in the Ark from
the rising Flood, as the Israelites in Egypt took refuge
in their houses from the destroying angel, for a little
moment, until the indignation be overpast. For Jehovah
will appear to punish the crimes of the world, and
in particular its wanton bloodshed, which cries aloud
for vengeance and can no longer be concealed (20, 21).
(i)Ch. xxvu. The great powers of the world, represented as the
huge and terrible monsters of fable, will be destroyed
(xxvii. 1). Then, breaking once more into song, the
prophet furnishes Israel of the future with a hymn of
praise to celebrate Jehovah's care of His vineyard.
That vineyard will at length respond to His care, and
produce the fruit which He desires. Israel will once
more flourish, for Jehovah has not smitten it to
destroy it as He smote its persecutors. The iniquity
of Jacob will be blotted out by this chastisement, in

xvi CONTENTS OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII 485
which his altars have been utterly destroyed. Never
again will his idolatrous emblems be set up. For
his fortified cities1 have been broken down; cattle
feed and women gather firewood among their ruins.
And why ? Because Israel has no discernment ; it
does not know its Maker, and therefore He shews
them no compassion (2-11).
Yet in the distant future Jehovah will gather
every grain of corn in the garner of His land, and
summon His banished outcasts to return from the
lands of their captivity. The King will receive the
homage of His subjects. They shall worship Jehovah
in the holy mountain in Jerusalem (12, 13).

Ill
This rapid survey may suffice to shew how Distinctive
various scenes in the great drama of judgement and
redemption are passed in review to strengthen faith
and kindle hope by pointing forward to the final
crisis. The unity of the prophecy is not the unity
of an orderly chronological succession, but the unity
of the divine purpose, which determines all Jehovah's
1 The context requires that the defenced city in ch. xxvii. 10
should be understood of Jerusalem, including perhaps other cities
of Judah. The people of no discernment must be Israel (cp. i. 3) :
the conclusion of the verse leaves no doubt on this point. The
terms he that made them, . . he that formed them, would not be
used in reference to a heathen nation. Cp. xliii. 1 ; xliv. 2, 24,
etc. Moreover, as v. 9 is clearly a reminiscence of xvii. 8, so». 10
is suggested by xvii. 9.

486

DISTINCTIVE IDEAS

(1) Judge
ment of the
nations.

(?) Restora
tion of
Israel.

dealings with His people and with the world. The
same thoughts recur again and again in different
connexions ; and it may be worth while to en
deavour to gather together and present in a con
nected form, the characteristic ideas of these
chapters, with the caution that they are not to be
regarded as a historical chart of the course of events,
but rather as an exposition of the principles of the
divine government of the world, leading up to the
final consummation of all things, in the manifestation
of Jehovah's undisputed sovereignty.
(1) It is through an universal judgement that the
way for the reign of Jehovah must be prepared,
The world's guilt demands a signal retribution ; and
it is only through judgement that the inhabitants of
the world can be taught righteousness. Typical
examples of judgement are given. The great cities
in which the world's power and the world's guilt
are concentrated are laid in ruins. Moab, notori
ous for its pride, is ignominiously humiliated,
Ferocious nations, for which fabulous monsters are
the only fitting symbols,1 are destroyed.
(2) But while the cities of the world perish, the
city of God arises with a new splendour. While
Israel's oppressors perish to revive no more, Israel's
1 "Leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked
serpent, and the dragon that is in the sea " (xxvii. 1) are commonly
interpreted to mean Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt. But the apoca
lyptic imagery is designedly indefinite, and is intended to describe
the enemies of God and His people, whoever they may be.

xvi OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII 487
dead are raised to life. While pride is humbled,
humility is exalted. The scattered Israelites will be
gathered. Not one sound grain of wheat will be lost
in the Lord's harvest. The boundaries of the land
will be enlarged, and it will be peopled by more
numerous inhabitants than ever before.
(3) Israel is not only restored, but regenerated, to Regener
atutn of
The discipline of punishment has done the work for Isma-
which it was designed. Correction not destruction
was its purpose. Throughout the dark night of
sorrow faithful souls were waiting patiently for
Jehovah to come and save them. Nor was their
hope misplaced. At length He ordains peace for
them. It is of His grace that they can once more
celebrate His praises. A righteous nation returns
to occupy the city in place of the sinful nation
which was exiled from it. The vineyard which
once disappointed its Owner, and provoked Him to
break down its fences, and leave it to lie waste, now
yields abundant fruit.
(4) But Israel does not enjoy the blessings of «) conver-
V ' J J ° sionofthe
Jehovah's reign alone. Judgement has taught the nations.
nations as it has taught Israel. The scanty rem
nant which escapes in the great catastrophe pays
Him homage. Mighty nations glorify Him when
they see His power manifested upon nations no less
powerful than themselves. All antagonism to Him and
to His people is at an end. Zion becomes the centre
of blessing for all the world. The participation of all

488 DATE OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII lect.
nations in the blessedness of Jehovah's people is
described under the figure of a rich feast which
Jehovah makes for them there.
But this is not all. Zion is the scene of their
deliverance from that veil of ignorance and sorrow
and sin which has darkened human life. While
Jehovah removes the reproach of His people from
off all the earth, so that their relation to Him and
His to them is fully known, He swallows up death
for ever, and wipes away tears from off all faces.
The attainder of the Fall is reversed. Paradise is
restored. IV
Authorship Why should this remarkable prophecy not be
and date. .
regarded as Isaiah s ? and what are the grounds for
placing it in the period after the Return from
Babylon ? A majority of modern critics agree in
thinking that this prophecy cannot have come from
the pen of Isaiah, because the style and language,
the distinctive ideas, and the historical background,
are all unlike those of the acknowledged prophecies
of Isaiah. Style and language might no doubt have
altered with advancing years, and with the char
acter of the subject. Isaiah's spiritual vision might
doubtless have been strengthened, and the veil drawn
aside that he might gaze into the future, when in
old age he retired from active life, to contemplate
the final issues of the divine counsels to which the

xvi date of Isaiah xxiv-xxvit 48d
great movements of his own age had been leading up.
The historical allusions are confessedly indefinite,
because they are generalised and used as symbols of
more marvellous deliverances and more stupendous
catastrophes. Yet when every allowance has been
made, it is difficult to resist the cumulative force
of the combined arguments, which point to another
prophet than Isaiah, and to a later age than the
commencement of the seventh century.
Historical events, it can hardly be doubted, form
the groundwork of the prophet's eschatological
pictures, though these events are not historically
described but generalised and idealised. Some great
catastrophe which has actually happened, serves as
the model for the picture of the judgement of the
world. Heavy as was the blow inflicted upon Judah
by Sennacherib's invasion, it is a more terrible
disaster than that. It can scarcely be any less
calamity than the destruction of Jerusalem, and
the desolation of the land which followed upon
Nebuchadnezzar's deportation of the people.1
Some great city has fallen, whose fall serves as a
type of the fall of the imperial city or cities which
are contrasted with the city of God. The city may
be Nineveh or Babylon ; but no other city of earlier
times occupied the relation to Judah which these
did. There was no other city whose fall could have
offered so signal an example of divine judgement, or
1 Ch. xxiv ; xxvii. 10 f.

490 DATE OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII lect.
have been regarded, even typically, as the prelude
to such far-reaching consequences.
Israel has been punished for its sins. It has
been scattered in distant lands. But punishment
has borne fruit in penitence. Idolatry will never
again be revived. Now although the standpoint of
the writer is often an ideal one, it is difficult to
resist the impression that the actual experience of
the exile lies behind this language. A partial restora
tion appears to have already taken place, which is the
earnest of a complete and perfect restoration. But
it is still a day of reproach and distress. Calamities
are impending upon the world in which God's
people can hardly escape, which will nevertheless
prepare the way for their complete redemption.
All these indications point to the period after the
Return from Babylon, as the time at which the
prophecy was written. The place of writing was
unquestionably Jerusalem. Zion is repeatedly spoken
of as this mountain (xxv. 6, 7, 10).
At what precise date after the Return it should
be placed is more doubtful. But it may with some
probability be assigned to the early part of this
period.1 The sufferings of the exile seem to be still
1 Dillmaim places it " in the first sixty or seventy years of the
new Jerusalem " : Driver, with whom I am glad to find myself in
agreement, though upon somewhat different grounds, in "the
early post-exilic period" (Introduction to Lit. of O.Tfi p. 221 ; cp.
Isaiah, his Life and Times, 2nd ed., p. 119) ; Delitzsch (Messi-
anische Weissagungen, p. 145), "in the exile or later," suggesting
the possibility, which seems to me unlikely, that the author was

xvi DATE OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII 491
comparatively recent. The idolatries of the pre-
exilic period have not been forgotten. The indica
tions of the actual circumstances and hopes of the
people, so far as they can be traced, correspond
remarkably with the circumstances and hopes of the
time of Haggai and Zechariah. It is a day of small
things, but the restoration which has already been
effected, insignificant as it may appear to the out
ward eye, is the pledge of a brilliant future. The
judgement of the world, which prepares the way for
the establishment of Jehovah's kingdom, corresponds
to the shaking of nations and the overthrow of
kingdoms and the punishment of Israel's oppressors,
which are prominent features in Haggai and Zechariah.
Yet there as here the union of the nations with
Israel in the worship of Jehovah is confidently pre
dicted. There too as here, the presence of Jehovah
among His people is contemplated as their glory and
their security. V
Some of the prophecies concerning the nations Positionand purpose
incorporated in the Book of Isaiah appear to date of these
^ ^ ¦*¦ chanters.
from the period of the exile. The collection was
therefore probably not completed until after the
Return from Babylon. May it not be conjectured
the author of Isa. xl-lxvi. Might the conjecture be hazarded that
echoes of the great struggle between Asia and Europe (b.c. 500-480)
reached Palestine, and gave the prophet the impulse, so far as the
impulse came from external circumstances ? Cp. p. 494 f.

chapters.

492 PURPOSE OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII lect.
that a disciple of Isaiah, deeply read in his master's
prophecies and in the works of the other great pro
phets of the earlier period, composed this apocalyptic
prophecy of judgement and redemption, as a fitting
finale to the prophecies upon the nations ? Revela
tion or Apocalypse is the last stage in the develop
ment of Prophecy ; and the writing which we are
considering belongs to the transition stage between
Prophecy and Apocalypse. If Revelation is "the
most attractive form in which hope can be offered to
a people which has learnt to feel even in the deepest
afflictions that they form a turning-point in the
world's history," l the timeliness of this particular
utterance is obvious. The temptation to despair
must have pressed heavily even upon faithful souls
in that first half-century of the Return. The reality
corresponded but meagrely to the glowing visions of
the Book of Consolation. Could it be, they must
often have asked, that through this weak and
despised community Jehovah was working out His
purposes ? Could this be the Zion of which it had
been said, nations shall come to thy light and kings
to the brightness of thy rising ? In such a crisis
this prophet was raised up to reanimate fainting
hearts by reasserting in a new form the old truth
that the course of God's dealings with Israel and the
world is through judgement to redemption, through
death to life ; and that His unchanging principles of
1 Bishop Westcott, Introd. to the Study of the Gospels, p. 73.

xvi PURPOSE OF ISAIAH XXIV-XXVII 493
action must result in the final manifestation of His
absolute sovereignty. This seer was gifted by the
Spirit with a power of vision which looks right
onward to the end, foreshortening the intervening
distance. St. Paul can but quote his words to
describe the final triumph : Then shall come to pass
the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
victory (1 Cor. xv. 54.).1 The great voice out of the
throne which the seer of Patnios heard does but
echo them, and stamp them with the seal of the
New Covenant as still the goal of Christian hope,
when it proclaims, Behold the tabernacle of God is with
men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be
His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and
be their God : and He shall wipe away every tear
from their eyes ; and death shall be no more ; neither
shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any
more: the first things are passed away (Rev. xxi. 3, 4).
1 St. Paul's rendering victory is based upon the Aramaic mean
ing of the root from which is derived the word more correctly
rendered for ever.

LECTURE XVII

MALACHI

The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His Temple.-
Malachi iii. 1.

Blank in After the Dedication of the Temple in B.C. 516 the
the histoi-y
of Judaea, curtain falls upon the fortunes of the little com-
B.O. S16-i68. L
muuity in Judaea. Momentous events were happen
ing which shaped the course of the world's history
for all time. The revolt of the Ionians from the
supremacy of Persia (b.c. 500) led eventually to the
Persian invasion of Greece. The names of Marathon
(B.C. 490), Thermopylae, Salamis (b.c. 480), Plataea
(b.c. 479), recall the memories of the heroic struggle
which drove back the flood of Asiatic barbarism
from the shores of Europe. For the most part the
scene of the conflict was remote from Judaea. But
the revolt of Egypt from Darius in B.C. 487, and
again from Artaxerxes in B.C. 462-456 brought the
clash of arms nearer. The Persian forces marcfed

lect. xvii SILENCE OF HISTORY 495
through Syria. It is scarcely possible that Judaea
can have escaped without feeling some effects from
the proximity of the Persian armies. Increased
taxes, compulsory supply of provisions and baggage
animals, possibly even personal impressment for the
service of the Great King, pressed hardly on the
struggling community.1
But to what extent the Jews were involved in
these movements, and what were their mingled
feelings of hope or fear as they watched the shaking
of the nations around them, can only be conjectured.
It has been suggested that the later chapters of
Zechariah and Isaiah xxiv-xxvii may be voices
which break the silence. But the suggestion has only
a certain degree of probability; and only two notices
have come down to us of events which happened
during the period of nearly sixty years which inter
vened between the completion of the Temple and
the mission of Ezra.2 (1) A brief note in Ezra iv. 6
records the fact that in the beginning of the reign
of Xerxes (B.C. 485) the enemies of Judah wrote an
accusation against them to the Persian court. Were
1 See Neh. v. 4 ; ix. 37. Syrians of Palestine are mentioned by
Herodotus (vii. 89) as serving in the army of Xerxes.
2 Ezra iv. 6-23 is certainly parenthetic. After relating the
successful opposition of ' ' the people of the land " to the building
of the Temple, the compiler quotes other instances from later
history in which they shewed a similar spirit of malicious opposi
tion. The narrative can only be regarded as continuous by the help
of the violent expedient of identifying Ahasuerus with Cambyses,
and Artaxerxes with Pseudo-Smerdis,

496 EZRA AND NEHEMIAH lect.
they charged with complicity or at least sympathy
with the Egyptian revolt of B.C. 487 ? (2) After the
death of Xerxes (b.c. 465) it would seem that the
Jews commenced to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
The Persian officials in Syria, instigated by the enemies
of the Jews among the mixed population of Samaria,
and prompted rather by hatred of the Jews than by
the loyalty to the king of which they made such
profuse professions, wrote to Artaxerxes to warn him
of the mischief which might ensue if the work was
allowed to proceed. They obtained a decree to stop
the building, and lost no time in enforcing it. The
restoration of the walls was peremptorily suspended.
The mission Not many years however can have passed before
of Ezra,
b.c. us. Ezra went up from Babylon to Jerusalem. We do
not know what were the causes which induced
Artaxerxes to change his policy. Possibly circum
stances connected with the Egyptian revolt (B.C. 462-
456) may have influenced him. Be that as it may,
in the seventh year of his reign (b.c 458) Ezra was
despatched with full authority from the king and his
seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and
Jerusalem. All Israelites who wished to return were
permitted to join him. He bore rich presents for
the Temple and its services from the king and from
his own fellow-countrymen. Orders were given to
the treasurers of the trans-Euphratensian provinces
to furnish supplies for the Temple. The ministers of
religion were exempted from the payment of taxes,

xvii EZRA AND NEHEMIAH 497
Ezra was commissioned to reorganise the civil govern
ment of the country, by appointing judges and magis
trates (Ezra vii).
After a journey of four months Ezra arrived at
Jerusalem. The treasures which had been brought
were deposited in the Temple ; solemn sacrifices were
offered by the returning exiles ; and the royal com
missions were delivered to the Persian officials, who
furthered the people and the house of God (Ezra viii).
After these preliminaries, the princes of the people
proceeded to call Ezra's attention to the prevalent
evil of intermarriage with the heathen, which was
threatening to destroy the distinctive character of
the nation. If we may judge from his consternation
at the account which they gave, Ezra had had no
conception of the extent to which the practice had
spread. Encouraged by promises of support from
the right-minded members of the community, he
summoned the people to Jerusalem, and upbraided
them with their trespass. In spite of some isolated
attempts at opposition (Ezra x. 15, R.V.), he carried
his point. A commission of inquiry was appointed,
and the guilty parties were compelled to put away
their heathen wives (Ezra ix, x).
Again the curtain falls upon the history. A gap The mission
of thirteen years separates the opening of the Book b.c. us.1
of Nehemiah from the close of the Book of Ezra.
What had happened in the interval we do not know,
but apparently grave disasters had befallen Jeru-
2 K

498 EZRA AND NEHEMIAH lect.
salem, and Ezra's work of reformation had been
abruptly suspended. The Egyptian rebellion had
been suppressed, but Megabyzos, the satrap of Syria,
had defied the king, and secured a measure of inde
pendence.1 Possibly under these circumstances Ezra
was no longer supported by the authority of Arta
xerxes, and the opposition which the dissolution of
the heathen marriages must have excited found means
to display itself. Possibly Jerusalem was in some
way or other involved in the revolt of Megabyzos.
At any rate the report which wa.s brought by
Hanani to his brother Nehemiah, who was cupbearer
to Artaxerxes at Susa, shewed that Jerusalem was in
a deplorable plight (Neh. i. 2 ff). The gates of the
city had been burnt, and breaches had been made in
the walls.2 Three or four months later he was en
abled to lay before Artaxerxes the wish of his heart.
He obtained leave to go to Jerusalem and restore
the ruined city. His first care on his arrival at
Jerusalem was to repair the walls and the gates of the
city (Neh. ii. 11 ff). While this work was in pro
gress, complaint was made to him of serious social
evils which had sprung up. Many of the poorer
Jews had been compelled by the recent scarcity to
1 See Sayce, Introd. to Ezra, etc. p. 64.
2 It is plain that a recent disaster must be referred to in Neh.
i. 2, 3. The wall must have been rebuilt previously, for it is de
scribed not as broken down (2 Kings xxv. 10), but as breached (cp.
Neh. iv. 7) ; and the fact that the repair of the wall was completed
in fifty-two days (vi. 15) makes it plain that it was not now entirety
rebuilt for the first time.

xvii EZRA AND NEHEMIAH 499
mortgage their lands in order to get food, or to pay
the royal tribute. Some had even been forced to
surrender their children to their creditors as slaves.
Nehemiah summoned an assembly, and persuaded
the wealthy Jews to restore the lands of their poorer
brethren, and to reduce or forego the interest which
they had been exacting (Neh. v).
Ezra now reappears upon the scene. A week
after the completion of the wall, an assembly was
held at which he publicly read the Book of the Law.
The Feast of Tabernacles was solemnly celebrated in
accordance with its provisions (Neh. viii).1
A solemn fast was then held. The people con
fessed their sins, praised God for His mercies to the
nation in past times, and entreated the continuance
of His favour. They then pledged themselves by a
covenant to obey the law, and in particular to avoid
mixed marriages, to keep the Sabbath and holy days,
and to observe the regulations of the Sabbatical year.
They agreed to pay a poll-tax for the service of the
Temple; they cast lots for the duty of providing
wood for the altar ; and they pledged themselves duly
to offer the first-fruits and to pay tithes for the support
of the Levites. Provision was made for securing a
sufficient population for Jerusalem, and the walls were
dedicated with universal rejoicings (Neh. ix-xii).2
1 Ps. cxviii very probably was written for this occasion.
2 It has been supposed with much probability that Ps. cxlvii
was composed for the Dedication Festival.

500 DATE OF MALACHI lect.
nehemiaKs Once more the narrative breaks off abruptly.
second visit,
b.c. iss. Nehemiah was recalled to the Persian court, and
when he again returned to Jerusalem he found
that much of his good work had been undone.1
Eliashib the high priest had established Tobiah the
Ammonite, with whom he was connected by mar
riage, in one of the chambers of the Temple. The
portions assigned to the Levites had not been given
to them, and consequently the service of the Temple
had been suspended. Nehemiah expelled Tobiah,
and restored the chamber to its proper use. He
enforced the payment of the tithes, and committed
the distribution of them to trustworthy treasurers.
Next he took steps to put an end to the desecration
of the Sabbath ; once more he condemned the pre
valent evil of mixed marriages; and finally after
purifying the congregation enacted regulations for
securing the due maintenance of the Temple services
(Neh. xii). II
The prophet It is generally agreed that Majachi prophesied
at some time during the period of which the history
has been briefly sketched in the preceding pages.
The mention of the governor of Judah (i. 8) proves
that Judah was at the time a province of the Persian
empire. The Temple was standing, and the sacrificial
service was being carried on. The absence of any
1 See Note A, p. 511.

xvii DATE OF MALACHI 501
allusion to the Return from the Exile makes it prob
able that some time had elapsed since that event,
and the distressed condition of the people, as well as
the character and contents of the book, confirms this
conclusion. The precise date of Malachi's ministry is how- Date of Ms
s\r*i . -, ¦ ministry.
ever uncertain. Of the various dates which have
been suggested two deserve particular consideration.
(1) The first of these is the interval between
Nehemiah's two visits to Jerusalem. The abuses
which Nehemiah found on his second visit were, as
we have seen, the selfish and irreverent behaviour of
the high priest, the general neglect of the Temple
service, the non-payment of tithe, the desecration of
the Sabbath, and mixed marriages. The evils which
Malachi denounces are almost exactly the same : —
the negligence of priests and people in the Temple
service, the robbery of God by the withholding of
tithes and offerings, the reckless divorce of Israelite
wives and marriage of foreign women. Nehemiah
does not mention divorce, and Malachi does not
speak of the desecration of the Sabbath : but for the
rest the correspondence is remarkably close.1 On
these grounds it is natural to connect the prophecy
of Malachi with the times of Nehemiah, and parti
cularly with the interval between his two visits to
Jerusalem rather than with a time when he was
1 Comp. especially Mai. ii. 10-16 with Neh. xiii. 23 ff. ; Mai.
iii. 8-10 with Neh. xiii. 10-12, 31 ; Mai. ii. 8 with Neh. xiii. 29.

502 DATE OF MALACHI lect.
actually there, for the allusion to the governor in
ch. i. 8 points to the presence of a foreign governor,
rather than to Nehemiah, who refused to avail him
self of his official allowances (Neh. v, 14 ff.).
(2) On the other hand it has been urged that
Malachi must have preceded Ezra, because he does
not refer to Ezra's measures against mixed marriages,
or to the publication of the law. His language,
it is said, is that of Deuteronomy. He does not
shew the familiarity with the Priests' Code which
might be expected from one who came after Ezra,
for, whatever view be taken of its origin, it can hardly
be questioned that Ezra's Book of the Law was sub
stantially the same as our present Pentateuch.1
It may be doubted whether these considerations
are sufficient to outweigh the close correspondence
with the circumstances found by Nehemiah on his
second visit. Malachi's severe reproof of the mixed
marriages and the neglect to pay tithe gains force if
these were matters in regard to which the people
had made a solemn covenant some ten years before.
It is not surprising that his language should agree
most closely with the popular law-book of Deuter
onomy, with which he would naturally be most
familiar. The balance of the evidence appears to be
in favour of the later date.
1 See Robertson Smith, Old Testament in Jewish Church, 2nd ed.
pp. 425 ff., in favour of the earlier date. He concludes that he may
have written after 458, but certainly wrote before 444. On the other
side see Kuenen, Einl. pp. 412 ff., and Driver, Lit. of O.Tf p. 357.

xvii PERSONALITY OF MALACHI 503
Nothing whatever is known of the history of n MaiacH
the prophet. It is even questionable whether we name?
know his name. Malachi occurs nowhere else as
a proper name ; and it is identical with the
Hebrew word for my messenger in ch. iii. 1. If it
is a proper name, it can hardly mean my messenger,
but must be regarded, as a shortened form for
Malachiah, messenger of Jehovah. But the oldest
versions do not recognise it as a proper name.
The LXX, representing a slightly different read
ing, renders the title, Oracle of the word of the
lord against Israel by the hand of his messenger ;
and the Targum adds the gloss, by the hand of
my messenger, whose name is called Ezra the scribe.
The identification of the author with Ezra can
scarcely be more than a conjecture ; but it is
important to observe the oldest exegetical tradition
embodied in these versions. It is possible that the
collector of the Minor Prophets had no information
as to the name of the author of this prophecy, and
prefixed to it a title suggested by ch. iii. 1, regarding
the messenger who is there spoken of as the prophet
himself.1 By the second century a.d., however,
"Malachi" had come to be regarded as a proper
name,2 and though it must remain uncertain whether
it originally was so, it is convenient to continue to
use it. 1 Cp. Hagg. i. 13.
2 In the versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion.

504 PERSONALITY OF MALACHI lect.

Ill

Contents of Malachi's prophecy is in the main, as we have
the boot. x x u
seen, a reproof of the sins of his contemporaries.
The ground of his appeal to Israel is, like that of his
predecessors, the relation of Jehovah to the nation.
Jehovah had loved them. He had chosen Jacob,
while He rejected Esau. Did they ask for a proof
of His love ? It was before their eyes in the fate
of Edom. Israel had been restored to its own land,
but Edom's heritage lay desolate, and Edom's inten
tion to restore his ruined cities was doomed to be
frustrated (i. 2-5).
Reproof of Malachi's first reproof is addressed to the priests
the priests. x
for the negligent performance of their duties. They
openly expressed their contempt for the altar which
they served. They offered, or permitted the people
to offer, blemished animals for sacrifice. It was a
deliberate insult to Jehovah. Better close the Temple
altogether than profane Jehovah's name in His own
sanctuary ! Let them not delude themselves into
fancying that the Temple at Jerusalem was the only
place where acceptable worship could be offered.
Already Jehovah's Name was held in honour through
out the world, and acceptable worship was being
offered to Him everywhere even in heathen lands
(i. 6-14). But the priests were the teachers of the nation

xvii TEACHING OF MALACHI 505
as well as the guardians of its ritual ; and this
responsible part of their duties they had neglected
not less than the other. They had misled those
whom they ought to have directed. Their practice
was in startling contrast to the ideal of Levi's
functions as the keeper of divine knowledge and the
expounder of the Law (ii. 1-9).
Here too Malachi bases his reproof upon the
relation of Jehovah to the people as their Lord and
Father (i. 6), and to the priests in virtue of the
covenant He had made with Levi (ii. 4 ff.). The
reverence of the son for his father, the fear of the
servant for his master, were wholly wanting. For
this the priests were to blame. They had corrupted
the covenant of levi. And their contempt for
Jehovah had recoiled upon themselves. He had
made them contemptible and base before all the
people. Then, turning from the priests to the people, he Reproof of
the people
denounces the heathen marriages by which the M mixed
° J marriages
holiness of the nation was being contaminated, and and dimrce-
condemns the heartlessness of their conduct in
repudiating their Israelite wives (ii. 10-16). Once
more he bases his reproof upon the relation of Israel
to God. It was the purpose of Jehovah for Israel,
and the mutual relation of all the members of the
nation to one another as children of one God,
which made the perfidy of their conduct so heinous.
Nay, it was the original plan and intention of the

506 TEACHING OF MALACHI lect.
creation which made these causeless divorces contrary
to the Divine Will.1
The day of There were sceptics among the people who
judgement denied God's justice, and doubted whether He would
ever come to judge and to discriminate between
the evil and the good. For them the message is
that the day is speedily coming when the Lord, the
Judge whose Presence they thoughtlessly desired,
will suddenly appear in His Temple, in the person
of the Angel of the Covenant. He will separate
between the righteous and the wicked, and purify
the ungodly nation in the furnace of judgement
(ii. 17— iii. 6).
How could they expect a blessing when they
robbed God by withholding tithes and offerings ?
Murmurers might complain that there was no
advantage in serving God; but that day would
distinguish between those who served Him, and
those who served Him not. Destruction would be
the lot of the one class, happiness and prosperity of
the other (iii. 7-iv. 3).
In his parting words he commends to them the
law of Moses as the standard and the safeguard of
conduct. By this law Israel is to rule its life, and so
to await the fulfilment of the promise (iv. 4-6).
1 The meaning of ch. ii. 15 is obscure : but on the whole I
incline to the rendering: And did not One (i.e. God, cp. ii. 10)
make [you both] ? . . . And why [did] the One [do so] ? Seeking a
godly seed. The purpose of marriage was the maintenance of the
Israelite race as the people of God, and this was defeated by mixed
marriages and by divorce.

TEACHING OF MALACHI 507

IV
In Malachi, we are already on the threshold of a style of
„. - . Malachi.
new age. lhe characteristic peculiarity of his style
marks the transition from the free discourse of the
prophets to the didactic dialectic of the schools of
the scribes. Some general truth is affirmed, or some
ground of complaint is alleged ; the people's objec
tion to it is stated ; the objection is refuted, and
warning or promise is pronounced.1
But Malachi's voice is still a true voice of pro
phecy. " With its clear insight into the real wants
of the time, its stern reproof even of the priests
themselves, and its bold exposition of the eternal
truths and the certainty of a last judgement, this
book closes the series of prophetic writings contained
in the Canon in a manner not unworthy of such lofty
predecessors." 2
It has seemed strange to some that a prophet zeaifor the Law.
should lay so much stress upon the external precepts
of the law. But the ritual law was one of the means
by which Israel was to be kept separate from the
nations during the period upon which it was now
entering. Men's attitude towards it could not be a
matter of indifference. The neglect or observance of
ritual rules was a measure of their regard for God.
The offering of blemished or imperfect animals in
1 See e.g. i. 2 ff., 6 ff. ; ii. 10, 14, 17 ; iii. 7 f., 13.
2 Ewald, Hist. v. 176 (E.T.). '

508 TEACHING OF MALACHI lect.
sacrifice indicated the irreverence of the worshipper's
heart. And it is no mere formal compliance with
ritual ordinances which Malachi enjoins. It is
the whole' law which he commends to his country
men as the divinely authorised standard of action.
Those against whom Jehovah will be a swift witness
when He comes to judgement are the sorcerers, 'the
adulterers, the false swearers, those that oppress the
hireling, the widow, and the fatherless, and defraud
the stranger ; all, in fact, whose conduct shews that
they do not fear Jehovah (iii. 5). There was no
antagonism between the law and the prophets ; and
it was not unworthy of the latest voice of prophecy
that it should bid Israel put its conscience to school
with the law, during the centuries in which the voice
of prophecy was to be silent, and a life and death
conflict was to be waged with heathenism.
It was the lesson needed for the age ; and if Israel
misused the law, and forged fetters for itself out of
what God designed for its support, the fault lay in
them, and not in the prophet.
True But while Malachi insists upon obedience to the
worship not
jnumilm ritual precepts of the law, and the importance of the
Temple service, with true prophetic breadth of view
he looks beyond the bounds of a narrow Judaism
with its centre in Jerusalem to the prospect of a
worship coextensive with the world. Whether the
true meaning of the famous passage in ch. i. 11 is
that the nations already in their worship paid an

xvii TEACHING OF MALACHI 509
unconscious tribute to Jehovah as the Supreme
Sovereign of the universe ; or that already numerous
proselytes from heathenism, abandoning their idola
tries, had begun to worship Jehovah as the one true
God ; or that the Jews of the Dispersion, scattered
throughout the world in the midst of the Gentiles,
rendered by their offerings of prayer and praise a
more acceptable service to Jehovah than the careless
priests in the Temple at Jerusalem by their heart
less and contemptible sacrifices, and that thereby
Jehovah's Name was being magnified among the
heathen, the lesson is the same. It is that these
negligent priests were to know that Jehovah was not,
as they might fancy, dependent upon them and upon
the Temple at Jerusalem for acceptable service, for
the world was His Temple, and even the heathen
were learning to fear Him.1
1 The passage must be rendered as in R.V., My name is great
among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered unto My
name, and a pure offering : for My name is great among the
Gentiles. Comp. r. 14 : I am a great King . . . and My name is
terrible among the Gentiles. It speaks of the present, and although
it was to find a larger fulfilment in times to come, it is not simply
a prediction of the future. But the first of the interpretations
mentioned above can hardly be right. The name of Jehovah, as
Oehler rightly observes (O.T. Theology, § 228), presupposes the
divine revelation, and cannot refer to an unconscious worship.
Nor does it seem likely that proselytes from heathenism were as
yet numerous. The third explanation is the best. Probably some
of the Jews at Jerusalem despised the Jews of the Dispersion (cp.
Ezek. xi. 15), and refused to recognise their worship in heathen
countries as true worship. They are rebuked by the emphatic de
claration that in every place Jehovah can be acceptably worshipped,
and that while His Name is despised in the city of His choice by

510 TEACHING OF MALACHI lect.
Duties of Again, if Malachi lays stress on the importance of
priests as
teachers. the sacrificial functions of the priests, he lays equal
stress on the importance of their functions as teachers.
In noble words he describes the lofty ideal of Levi's
calling. My covenant was with him of life and peace ;
and I gave them to him that he might fear, and he
feared Me and stood in awe of My name. The law of
truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not
found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and
uprightness, and did turn many away from iniquity.
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they
should seek the law at his mouth : for he is the mes
senger of Jehovah of hosts (ii. 5 ff). That is not the
language of a petrified legalism.
Tiie coming Lastly, the closing prophecy of the book calls for
oftheLord. J b r r J
special notice. The prediction of the messenger, who
should come to prepare the way for the advent of the
Lord, Elijah the prophet, the mediator between the
old and the new, the herald of the day of judgement,1
was, as our Lord teaches, fulfilled in the mission of John
the Baptist. In bidding us recognise John as the mes
senger He bids us recognise Himself as the Lord, the
angel of the covenant. He bids us remember that if
His own people, it is magnified among the heathen. The words
are an anticipation of John iv. 21 .
1 It seems best to identify Elijah the prophet (iv. 5) with the
messenger who is to be sent to prepare Jehovah's way before Him
(iii. 1). This messenger is to be distinguished from the messenger
(or angel) of the covenant. As the angel of Jehovah represented
Jehovah to Israel of old, so the angel of the covenant represents
the Lord as He comes to judge.

xvii TEACHING OF MALACHI 511
the primary object of His Coming was not judgement
but mercy, yet none the less judgement must follow
upon His coming (John ix. 39). He was the touch
stone by which the hearts of men were tried, and
the distinction between the righteous and the wicked
made manifest.
As we turn the page in our English Bibles,
which, unlike the Hebrew canon, place the prophets
last in the Old Testament, and read of the fulfilment
of the words of Malachi in the mission of the
Baptist, we are apt to forget the four centuries
of history which intervened, centuries of discipline
through struggle and suffering and weary waiting
and baffled hopes, until the fulness of the times was
come and the Christ was born. The Lord came to
His temple ; not, as men might have expected, with
outward show, and visible manifestations which none
could mistake. He came, to be even now a refiner
and purifier of silver, to try the hearts of men ; to
begin that work of judgement which will not be
finally consummated till He has come again and
judged the world in righteousness.
Note A. — On Nehemiah's Governorships.
It is commonly supposed that Nehemiah remained at
Jerusalem as governor from 445 to 433, that he then re
turned to Susa, and after a year or so went back to Jerusalem.
It seems however most improbable that the evils described in
Neh. xiii can have become so serious during so short an
absence, and accordingly some have thought that certain days

512 ON NEHEMIAH'S GOVERNORSHIPS lect,
(xiii. 6) denotes a much longer period, and that Nehemiah's
second visit to Jerusalem was not till several years later. It
must however have been before 425, the date of Artaxerxes'
death. It may however be questioned whether the common
view that Nehemiah remained at Jerusalem from 445 to 433
is correct. (1) His request to the king (Neh. ii. 5, 6) con
templates absence from the court for a limited time only.
(2) The events recorded in Neh. ii-xii appear to be consecu
tive, and to occupy a space of less than a year. (3) As has
been already remarked, it seems impossible to suppose that
the abuses detailed in ch. xiii had sprung up during a brief
absence ; and yet it is certainly unnatural to understand cer
tain days to mean several years.
May not the meaning of ch. xiii. 6 be as follows ? And
in all this I was not at Jerusalem : but in the two and thirtieth
year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I came to the king, and at
the end of certain days I obtained leave of the king, and came to
Jerusalem, etc. Nehemiah's first mission was temporary ;
when he had completed the work for which he came, he re
turned to Susa, after an absence of perhaps not more than a
year in all. He remained at Susa until the thirty-second
year of Artaxerxes, when he again obtained leave to go to
Jerusalem. I render 'u by but, after the negative of the
preceding clause, according to the regular Hebrew idiom. I
understand the words I came to the king not of his return from
Jerusalem, but of his going to the palace to serve in his turn
as cupbearer. It may be inferred from chaps, i, ii that his
attendance was not constant, as he does not appear to have
been in the royal presence until some months after he re
ceived his brother's deplorable account of the condition of
Jerusalem. At the end of certain days will then naturally
mean when his term of attendance was over. If then Nehe
miah went back to Susa after only a few months' stay at
Jerusalem, it is easy to understand how the enthusiasm which

xvii ON NEHEMIAH'S GOVERNORSHIPS 513
he excited may have rapidly cooled, and the old abuses may
have sprung up again till they reached the extent which he
found when he returned after twelve years' absence.
At first sight ch. v. 14 appears to be irreconcilable with
this view. It is, however, not impossible that the dates have
been inserted by the compiler who misunderstood ch. xiii. 6 ;
or that Nehemiah continued to be nominally governor, and
was entitled to the governor's allowances though not resident
in Judaea.

2 L

CONCLUSION

rravTO. Kal iv iracrtv XPI2T0S.
Christ is all and in all.
Colossians iii. 11.
Iva. rj 6 0EO2 rravra iv irao-tv.
That God may be all in all.
1 Corinthians xv. 28.

LECTURE XVIII
CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY
Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets : I came
not to destroy, but to fulfil. — St. Matthew v. 17.

I have endeavoured in this course of lectures to arcum-
..... r. , . 0 stantial
exhibit the work of each successive member of the origin of
prophecy.
goodly fellowship of the prophets in relation to the
circumstances of his own age. I have endeavoured
to shew how the utterances of the prophets arose
naturally (as we speak) out of those circumstances,
though at the same time they claimed to be the
authorised spokesmen and accredited ambassadors
of Jehovah, and by the loftiness of their morality i.
and the spirituality of their religion, by the depth of ^
their insight and the sureness of their foresight, they <\ .
justified their bold claim to be filled with the Spirit
of God. The teaching of the prophets took its rise
out of the particular needs of different ages, as the
teaching of the Apostles recorded for us in the Epistles

518 CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY lect.
took its rise out of the particular needs of the different
churches to which they wrote. The utterances of the
prophets are no abstract declarations of doctrine, or
expositions of morality, or predictions of the future,
unconnected with life and history. They have
strength and reality and permanence because they
deal with living men, because they shew God work
ing in the world, because they let us see how " in
every age He takes man as he is that He may make
him what he is not." J
its unity in We have seen that the prophets necessarily spoke
variety. the language of their own times, and must be inter
preted and estimated in relation to them. It was not
given to them all severally to declare the whole
counsel of God : one enforces one truth, another
emphasises another: here we see progress, sudden
and startling; there to all appearance, retrogression,
as though the people were unable to bear the full
truth, and must be taken back to more rudimentary
instruction. But with all the variety of gifts and
powers in the series of prophets whose writings have
come down to us from a period of more than three
centuries (to take the narrowest limits), with all the
difference of the special circumstances under which
they laboured, and the audiences which they ad
dressed, there is a unity of purpose which bespeaks
a common source and origin for the message which is
one in essence, though manifold in form.
1 Lux Mundi, p. 82.

svni CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY 619 I
II
Prophecy was no premature unrolling of the his-
tory_of_the future to gratify an idle curiosity ; it was
never separated from its ethical end.1 But from first
to last it pointed forward to a great divine purpose
slowly being evolved in the course of ages, to " some
far off divine event," towards which the history of
Israel and the history of the world were moving.
,'At one time that event seemed close at hand, as
though the clouds might break at any instant and
reveal the splendour of the divine presence: and
then the hope was disappointed, only to be reaffirmed
L with fresh confidence. Some partial accomplishment
of promise served as an earnest of greater things to
come, and gave assurance that it must yet find a
more complete fulfilment. But who could rise from
the study of the Old Testament prophets if the
history of their hopes had finally ended there, with
out a keen sense of disappointment and failure? as
one who might find in some lonely desert the
foundations of a vast building laid, and costly
materials prepared in abundance, with plans and
sketches suggestive of majestic perfection, but all
abandoned, unused, forgotten.
Truly if the work of the prophets had ended with
their own age, it would have been a splendid testi
mony for the truths of morality which find their
1 Cp. Tholuek, Die Propheten, § 2.

520 CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY lect.
response in the enlightened conscience, and for the
aspirations towards lofty ideals of which man is
capable; yet we should have felt — if we can con
ceive the possibility — a numbing sense of incom
pleteness and want and failure ; we should have
been compelled to say that they could not really
have been what they claimed to be, the mouthpieces
of an unique divine revelation. We should have
(been forced to confess that the words of prophecy
/were, after all, human ideals and not divine ideas.
For if prophecy was, as it professed to be, an in
spired glimpse into the eternal present of the divine
mind, it must needs foresee the divine purpose for
mankind unfolding itself in time, and that foresight
must in due course be realised in facts. When the
curtain falls on the stage of Old Testament prophecy
at the close of the fifth century B.C., we feel that
the riddle waits for its answer, the drama lacks its
denouement.
v. Those strange centuries of silence! How sorely
waiting faith must have been tried in the days when
there was no prophet, and the vision seemed to tarry
while generation after generation passed away ! Yet
those centuries were doing their appointed work.
Slowly the people were absorbing the spirit of the
old truths, and being prepared for the new revelation.
Slowly they were learning through the discipline of
failure that they could not save themselves ; false
ideals were being swept away ; the spiritual sense was

xviii CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY 521
being developed in the faithful ' remnant ' which
would enable them to receive the Christ.
Then in the fulness of the times, the Christ came,
gathering up into Himself and uniting in His own
Person all those lines of prophecy which had seemed
so strangely inconsistent and irreconcilable, filling
them with a new meaning, vivifying them with a
new energy. Here was the answer to all men's
hopes ; nay, vastly more ; a combination, unique,
unthought of, beyond the boldest venture of faith
and hope to anticipate, needing the humblest teach
ableness to receive when offered for acceptance.

Ill
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It christ
was the function of prophecy to prepare for Him. ment of
r r J r r prophecy
It is the function of prophecy to bear witness to
Him. Through the scriptures of the prophets the
mystery, kept in silence from times eternal but now
manifested, is made known unto all the nations unto
obedience of faith (Eom. xvi. 25, 26). Prophecy
first becomes fully intelligible in the light reflected
from His Person and offices, His teaching, His life
and work, His kingdom.
(i) The kings of Judah ruled as the representa- <n His
v ' Person and
tives of Jehovah, Who was the true King of Israel. °fflces;
Not seldom their conduct was in flat contradiction
to their calling. But Prophecy pointed steadily

522 CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY lect.
forward to an ideal King, Who should be a true
representative of the nation to Jehovah, and of
Jehovah to the nation; the worthy head of the
divine kingdom upon earth. In that future age to
which the gaze of every prophet is directed, Zion
becomes the centre of instruction for the world.
From Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of
Jehovah from Jerusalem (Isa. ii. 3). In the days when
the kingdom was tottering to its fall, and Israel was
about to pass under the yoke of a heathen power,
the advent of a native ruler is predicted who would
have priestly rights of access to the presence of God
(Jer. xxx. 21) : and when the kingdom had finally
passed away, the same idea is presented by a sym
bolical action of deepest significance, and the hopes
of the restored community are directed towards the
figure of a royal priest who should rule as the perfect
representative of Jehovah (Zech. vi. 12, 13).
The scene changes ; and mysteriously there arises
out of the nation which had failed to fulfil its mission
that unique figure of the Servant of the Lord who
renders the obedience which Israel had refused, and
through suffering and death and life makes atonement
for the sin of many.
Yet again, by the side of these varied anticipations
of a great Deliverer, prophecy speaks of an Advent
of Jehovah Himself, to judge the world and reign
among His people.
Already, even in the Old Testament, some of

xviii CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY 523
these lines of prophecy had seemed to meet in a
single person. The king is invested with a divine
character : the offices of priest and king are sym
bolically united : still more startlingly, Zion's king
comes to her in the guise of the Servant of Jehovah,
who has triumphed through suffering.
But it was reserved for the fulfilment to shew
how God's thoughts jtre_greater than man's thoughts,
for in the Person of Jesus Christ the various lines
all meet, in a way unimaginable beforehand to human
reason. In Him God comes to visit His people.
He Who is very God fulfils as man the Servant's
work, and passes through suffering and humiliation
to glory. The royal Priest offers Himself as victim
for the world, and, exalted to His throne, lives to
make eternal intercession.
Men could not have drawn from the Old Testa
ment prophecies the portrait of Him who was to
come. To many the guise in which He came was a
bitter disappointment. Those who had formed their
'conception of what the Messiah must be from a
'partial study of the Scriptures refused to acknow-
' ledge Him at all. But surely if slowly, the Church
of the First Days, as under the guidance of the Holy
Ghost it pondered on the Person and the Work of
the Lord, recognised in Him the union of the various
elements which had been foreshadowed in many
fragments and in many fashions, welcomed Him as
her Priest, her Prophet, her Example, her King,

mg

524 CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY lect.
her God ; and worshipped in adoring love and
wonder.
inmsteach- (ii) And as Christ in His Person and His Offices
summed up and fulfilled all that prophecy had fore
shadowed ; so in His teaching He took up, united,
deepened, vitalised, the old doctrines of the prophets.
For He came not to annul or abrogate the Law and
the Prophets, but to fulfil. He reaffirmed the great
moral and religious demands which God had made of
old, of truth and righteousness and love and reverence
and humility, and all that combines to make up the
holiness to which Israel was called, the perfection
which is the aim of the Christian life (Matt. v. 48).
He concentrated and animated with a new intensity
"the passion for righteousness and the hatred of
iniquity " which had been growing through successive
ages in strength and purity.1 In the old days the
prophets had pointed to the knowledge of God as the
source of life ; and now He came to bring a new idea
of the relation of God to man, and to base man's
duty of loving obedience on " the revelation of the
Father." The prophets had ever been turning men's thoughts
inwards, teaching that no formal observance of out
ward ceremonies could satisfy the requirements of the
Searcher of hearts. Christ re-enacts the old Law in
positive precepts, and pierces to the inward motives
of thought and will as the essential criterion of
1 Dean Church, Discipline of the Christian Character, p. 78.

xvm CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY 525
character and conduct. The new covenant of the
law written in the heart finds its fulfilment in the
dispensation of the Spirit (Jer. xxxi. 31 ff). God is
spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him
in spirit and, in truth. It was only by gradual stages
that individual rights and responsibilities came to be
recognised in the old time ; but Christ proclaims the
personal relation to Himself which consecrates the
meanest, the inalienable sanctity and responsibility
of each separate life, each single soul, without isolating
one from another, or weakening the truth of that
corporate unity and responsibility which were so
clearly understood of old.
(iii) Again, as we study the life and work of %n iris ufe
and work ;
Christ, the fulfilment of prophecy meets our view
throughout. Step by step the prophets had taught
a fuller knowledge of the nature and the character
of God, and as men came to know more of His
transcendent majesty and holiness, the gulf between
Him and sinful man appeared to widen. God seemed
to be farther and farther withdrawn from the world
of sense ; till in the days when prophecy had ceased,
and men were pondering on the contrast between the
present and the past, they ceased to pronounce the
sacred Name of revelation which had been the pledge
of the living Presence and Power of God in the midst
of His people.
Side by side with that deeper knowledge of God
was developed a clearer recognition of the nature of

526 CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY lect.
sin. The prophets affirm the possibility and the
efficacy of repentance, and hold out the offer of
forgiveness. Yet how was the fountain to be opened
for sin and for uncleanness ? Just as men grew to
realise the unapproachable awfulness of God, they
came to recognise their own corruption and alienation
from Him. The gulf between God and man seemed
widening hopelessly.
And then Christ came; and in His own Person
united man to God — mysterious truth, the full
meaning of which is only slowly being apprehended
in the course of ages : by His life of perfect obedi
ence He shewed to man a new ideal and a new
possibility : by His atoning death He reconciled man
to God, and removed the barrier which hindered
men from approaching Him with filial confidence.
And then by His triumphant Resurrection He
swallowed up death for ever, and destroyed the veil
spread over all the nations. Little, strangely little,
have the prophets to say about a personal immor
tality: yet this was the necessary conclusion from
the premiss of that fellowship with God which they
were constantly proclaiming as the goal of Israel's
calling : this, however dimly they may have antici
pated it, was the necessary fulfilment of their hopes.
And thus, in a larger sense than they could
themselves have foreseen, the prophets' promise of
peace — peace for Israel, peace even for the nations,1
1 Isa. ix. 6, 7 ; Zech. ix. 10.

xviii CHRIST THE GOAL OF PROPHECY 527
was realised in the work of Christ for the world, in
Him Who came to guide our feet into the way of
peace. (iv) Yet once again : the Kingdom of Christ if in ms king
[the fulfilment of prophecy. The ruling idea of the
.Old Testament is the establishment of God's King-
' dom in the world. The divine purpose for Israel was
I that they should be Jehovah's people, and that He
Jshould be their God, in the fullest sense of the words.
But this is but a fragment of God's counsel : it is but
the means to the establishment of His universal
Kingdom throughout the world. Whatever may
have been the spirit of later Judaism, no one can
truly charge the prophets with a 'narrow particu
larism ' or a ' nationalistic bigotry.' They may indeed
at one time have looked forward to Israel's becoming
the visible and temporal centre of the divine Kingdom
in the world, yet it soon becomes plain that it is a
spiritual supremacy which Israel was to attain. They
could but embody the essential truth in the language
of their own time. But Christ came, and again pro
claimed the fulfilment of all and more than all for
j which the prophets had looked with yearning eyes,
I founding a.^pjritual Kingdom which knows no limits
of race or country or class or space or time ; uniting
all men in an equal fellowship of blessing and
Iprivilege and hope.

528 PERMANENT VALUE

IV

The nature The manifold outlines, types, foreshadowings,
of fulfil-
ment. hopes, aspirations of the Old Testament' were gathered
together in Christ ; they were filled with a larger
sense, and animated with a new spirit. The fulfil
ment did not come in the form which might have
been expected, and which many did expect, who were
content to look at. some partial aspect of Israel's
hope, and to leave out of account other elements
which they could not reconcile into one consistent
picture. Indeed it was only slowly, through the
teaching of the Holy Spirit, that the Apostles them
selves came to see how truly and completely Christ
had fulfilled the ancient prophecies. The corre
spondence of the fulfilment with the prophecy is not
(as some would urge) forced and arbitrary. It is
"the consummation in life of that which was pre
pared in life." x It doesjiof^depend on an exact
equivalence ofocircnnistantial details. Such details
there are. They serve to attract attention, and invite
to a deeper study. But it is not on these that we
' ought to dwell. They are but the frame of the
picture, the setting of the jewel. Rather it is to the
great lines of thought, the underlying principles, the_
ruling ideas, that our attention should be directed.
We watch them in the Old Testament, working for-
1 Bishop Westcott, Hebrews, p. 480.

xviii OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY 520
ward to an unknown, unseen, unimaginable end ;
and we see them meeting in Christ, not in mere
mechanical or formal union, but in a wholly new
combination, the spring of fresh forces and larger
hopes for the world. The old things are passed away :
nay rather, behold, they are become new.
Old Testament prophecy is still a living message permanent
significance
for the Christian Church. Its fulfilment does not <y o.t.
  .  . . - prophecy.
mean that its use is at an end, so that it may be laid
on one side, because its purpose and significance are
exhausted. Nor does it mean that for us the sole")
use of prophecy is as one of the credentials which \
attest Christ's mission. It is this, and as such it
would claim our reverent study ; but it is far more.
It is not fulfilled and exhausted, but fulfilled and
illuminated, and we must read it in the light of that
illumination. Thence we may derive comfort and courage, as we
watch the methods by which God works out His pur
poses, educates the world, establishes His kingdom
in it. There we may see that He is indeed the
living God, Who rules in the affairs of men : the
Alpha and the Omega, the lord God, which is and
which was, and which is to come, the All-Sovereign
(Rev. i. 8). The inspired optimism of the prophets,
maintained in the teeth of present appearances by
their resolute faith in Jehovah, supplies a wholesome
antidote to the temptation to a despairing pessimism,
so commonly felt in the present day. That optimism
2 M

530 PERMANENT VALUE lect.
was justified in the event, though the event was long
delayed ; and it bids us look forward with confidence,
though the vision may yet tarry long.
And the ethical teaching of the prophets still
abides for our instruction. It is illuminated,
elevated, fulfilled by the teaching of our Lord, but
it is not superseded. Some rudimentary elements
' there are in it, which fall away in the fuller growth ;
| some temporary forms which belong only to the old
I order. But the foundation of eternal truth abides
and lives. " As long as the world lasts," wrote one
whose view of the Old Testament is often stimulat
ing if inadequate, " all who want to make progress
in righteousness will come to Israel for inspiration,
as to the people who have had the sense for right
eousness most glowing and strongest ; and in hearing
and reading the words Israel has uttered for us,
carers for conduct will find a glow and a force they
could find nowhere else." 1 Yes! for they are gleams
from the eternal Sun of Righteousness, Who has
arisen upon us with healing in His wings.
Those sacred writings are still able to make wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus
(2 Tim. iii. 15). And whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that through
patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might
have our hope (Rom. xv. 4).
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
1 M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, p. 42,

xvm OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY 531
We see the work of Redemption, for which prophecy
prepared the way, carried to a point of completion
which is in itself a new and unique beginning ; and,
viewed in the light of the fulfilment which it has
already received, prophecy bids us rest assured that
this work will not fail or be frustrated, but will
finally reach that supreme conclusion, when God
shall be all in all.

532

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Prophets of
Judah.

Kings of
Judah.

B.C.

Kings of
Israel.

Prophets of
Israel.

Contemporary E VENTS.

I. PRE-ASSYRIAN PERIOD

Jehosha phat

876873854

Ahab Ahaziah

-Elijah

Revolt of
Mesha
The 'Moabite
Stone ' : c.
865-854

853
Joram
1
Obadiah c. 846 (?)
Jehoram Ahaziah
848 844
Joel c.837-817(?)
Athaliah
Joash
843837815798
Jehu Jehoahaz
Joash
- Elisha
Jehu pays
tribute to
ShalmaneserII
Amaziah
797
II. THE ASSYRIAN PERIOD
Uzziah
792
790 760755
Jeroboam II
Amos u. 760
Jotham (regent)
750749
Zechariah 'j
>\W\^
*\JL«
Jotham (king)
748 745740
Shallum
Menahem ")
Hosea
' c. 755-740
/yj^\fJ^fjiVwMt* "if,
t Tiglath-pileser III (Pul)
745-727
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

533

Prophets of
Judah.

1
KlNOS OF !
Judah. b-°-

Kings of
Israel.

Prophets of
Israel.

Contemporary Events.

/

! Jotham
1 (king)

740738

Pekah iah

Isaiah 740-700 i

736

Pekah (X,

X*j.Ga*W***

a*

(

Ahaz^Judah in-
i vaded by
1 Pekah

,735 734

*&*,

Micah c. 735- {
725 (?)
and Rezin Hezekiah
i1
732731728727722 720 711
Hoshea n_
t-Ostwf^tM.
Fall of Damas
cus 4- oUs&t^.
isjualrnaneser IV. 727-722
Sargon 722-705
u. Battle of
Raphia
Siege of Ashdod
\i~Jr Ud
Fall of S
end of t
Kingdon
imaria and
ie Northern
1 V) (nm Attyc
^ Senna
cherib's
705701
Sennacherib 705-681
invasion of Judah
Manasseh
697681668
e.662
Esarhaddon 681-668
Assur-bani-pal 668-626
Sack of Thebes
Amon
642
)h^
534

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

Prophets of Judah.

Kings of Judah.

Contemporary Events.

III. THE CHALDEAN PERIOD

Nahum c. 640

Zephaniah c. 630-622

Habakkuk c. 609-607

Jeremiah 627-577

Ezekiel 592-570

Josiah Commencement of Reformation

Reformation
Jehoahaz Jehoiakim

Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion of
Judaea
Jehoiachin Siege of Jerusalem
firstdejKuiatlon^
Zedekiah

Fall of Jerusalem %
~ second departa-
tion

Release of Jehoiachin

640628627622609609607605601(? 597597592

5_81 577570561

Pharaoh-Necoh 609-594

Fall of Nineveh
Battle of Car
chemish
Nebuchadnezzar 604-562

Pharaoh-Hophra 588-570

Evil Merodach

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

535

H.C.

IV. THE RESTORATION

(PERSIAN PERIOD)

549

Cyrus conquers Astyages

Isaiah xl-lxvi
c. 546-540

549-538 538

Conquests of Cyrus in "VV. Asia
Capture of Babylon

537
Return of the Exiles
536
Foundation of the Temple
529
Cambyses
521
Pseudo-Smerdis Darius Hystaspes
Haggai 520
520
Zechariah 520-518
516
Dedication of the Temple
500
Ionian Revolt
490
Marathon
487
Revolt of Egypt
Zechariah ix-xiv (?)
485
Xerxes
Isaiah xxiv-xxvii (?)
480
Thermopylae and Salamis
479
Plataea
465
Artaxerxes I. Longimanus
462-456
Revolt of Egypt
458
Mission of Ezra
445
Mission of Nehemiah
Malachi c. 435
433
Second Mission of Nehemiah
425
Xerxes II
536 CHRONOLOGY

Note
The decipherment of the Cuneiform Inscriptions has raised
considerable difficulties in regard to the chronology of the
eighth century B.C. The Assyrians had what the Hebrews
had not, an exact system of chronology ; and if the decipher
ment of the inscriptions is to be trusted, account must be
taken of the following dates. Jehu is mentioned as paying
tribute to Assyria on the " black obelisk " of Shalmaneser II
c. 842 ; Uzziah was still reigning c. 740 ; Menahem paid
tribute to Tiglath-Pileser in 738 ; the invasion of Judah by
Pekah and Rezin took place in 734 ; Samaria fell in or
about 722 ; Sennacherib's invasion of Judah took place in
701. No reconstruction of the chronology is free from con
siderable arbitrariness ; and the tables given here, which are
derived from various sources, can only claim to offer a pro
visional and tentative solution. A few special points may
be noticed. According to the revised chronology the fall of
the Northern Kingdom after the death of Jeroboam II was
much more rapid than the Ussherian chronology given in
the margin of the A.V. represents it to have been. The two
interregnums of eleven years after the death of Jeroboam II,
and nine years after the death of Pekah, which that chron
ology interpolates, have no support in the history and must
certainly be struck out, reducing the period by twenty years.
But further, if the length of Menahem's reign is rightly given
as ten years, and he was still on the throne in 738, Jero
boam II must have reigned till 749 or even later, according
to some chronologers as late as 741. At the most, less than
thirty years, and possibly only twenty years, elapsed between
his death and the capture of Samaria.
The Fall of Samaria is dated in the sixth year of
Hezekiah, and the invasion of Sennacherib in his fourteenth
year ; but obviously both dates cannot be right, if these

CHRONOLOCY 537
events happened in 722 and 701, as seems to be established
from the Assyrian Inscriptions. I prefer to regard the first
date as correct, so that the sixth year of Hezekiah = 722 ;
and to suppose that the date of the fourteenth year of
Hezekiah in 2 Kings xviii. 13 is misplaced, and should
really refer to Hezekiah's illness, and not to Sennacherib's
invasion. Hezekiah's life was prolonged fifteen years, and
he reigned twenty-nine years, so that his illness would fall
in his fourteenth year.
The chronology of the later period presents fewer diffi
culties. The dates given by different chronologers vary by
a year or two, according as 588, 587, or 586 is taken for
the date of the Fall of Jerusalem.

INDEX OF SOME PASSAGES
COMMENTED ON

Ezra iii, iv
Nehemiah xiii. 6
Isaiah iv. 2 .
v. 25 ff.
vii. 14 ff.
ix. 1 ff.
xi. 1 ff.
xxviii-xxxilii. 13 ff.
Ixi. 1 ff.
Hosea i. 10 ff.
i. 11 .
iii xiii. 14
xiv
Joel ii. 23
Obadiah 12 ff.
Micah ii. 6
ii. 8 .
ii. 12, 13
iv, v .
v. 2-6 .
vi, vii
Habakkuk ii. 4
iii
Haggai ii. 7 .
Zechariah iv
vi. 9 ff,
ix. 9, 10
ix. 13
xiv. 5
11 .

Malachi i.

PAGE
. 436512
. 186 159
188 191
. 193
. 164
. 395
404
. 141127 120
135136 7739
. 222
. 215
218, 231
. 232
. 235
223, 233
. 277288 437438
439
463 476
478509

281 ff.

GENERAL INDEX

Ahaz, 160
Amos, date, 84 ; contrasted with
Hosea, 85, 137 ff. ; circum
stances of the time, 86 ff. ;
personal history, 90 ff. ; pro
phecies against nations, 93 ff. ;
view of Israel's sins, 95 ff. ;
attitude towards the calf-wor
ship, 96 ; Jehovah's require
ments, 99 ; promises of the
restoration of Israel, 100, 103 ;
theology, 100 ; allusions to
history of Israel, 104 ; lessons
of the book, 106 ; structure of
the book, 107 ; names of God
in, 108
Carchemish, battle of, 296
Christ the goal of prophecy, 519
ff. ; in His Person and offices,
521 ; in His teaching, 524 ;
in His life and work, 525 ; in
His kingdom, 527
Chronology, 536
Criticism of O.T., 21, 149
Cyrus, 356, 414
Day of Jehovah, 73. 98, 158,
263 ff., 474, 506, etc.
Exiles in Babylonia, their con
dition, 327 ; their character,
329, 366
Ezekiel, his history, 326 ; influ

ence of his position on his
work, 329 ff. ; methods of
teaching, 331 ff. ; compared
with Jeremiah, 334 ; arrange
ment of book, 335 ; importance
ot his work for his age, 337 ;
principles of his teaching, 342
ff. ; doctrine of individual
responsibility, 345 ; attitude
towards ceremonial, 346 ; no
mere formalist, 347
Ezra, 496
False prophets, 221, 305
Fulfilment of prophecy, 15 ff. ,
139, 197, 323, 349, 397, 406,
475, 519 ff, 528, etc.
Habakkuk, date, 271 ; con
tents of book, 274 ff. ; its
lessons, 284 ; integrity and
structure, 285 ; translation of
ch. iii, 288
Haggai, circumstances of the
time, 414 ff. ; his ministry,
422 ff. ; importance of his woik,
430 ; universalism, 432 ; Mes
sianic hope, 433
Hezekiah, 163
Holiness, 175 ff.
Holy One of Israel, 177 ff.
Hosea, date, 109 ff. ; circum
stances of time, 112 ; a native
ot Ephraim, 117 ; his persona]

542

INDEX

history the key to his teaching,
119 ff. ; the moral difficulty ot
his story, 121 ff. ; view of
Israel as Jehovah's wife, 125
ff., and son, 130; the covenant
with Israel, 129 ff. ; Jehovah's
requirements, 131 f. ; Israel's
sins, 132 ff. ; punishment, 134,
and restoration, 135 ff. ; Hosea
contrasted with Amos, 85, 137
ff. ; silent about the nations,
137 ; depth of his teaching,
138 ; analysis of the book,
141 ff.
Isaiah, Book of, non-Isaianic
portions, 148 ; structure of,
199 ff., 369 ff.
Tsaiah the son of Amoz, raised up
at a critical epoch, 143 ; modes
of work, 145 ; call, 150 ; cir
cumstances of time, 154 ff. ;
leading ideas of his theology,
171 ff., the majesty of Jehovah,
172 ff., and holiness of
Jehovah, 175 ff. ; the Holy
One of Israel, 177 ff. ; Mes
sianic prophecies, 185 ff. ;
prophecies against the nations,
196 ff. ; contrasted with Micah,
205 ff.
Isaiah of the Exile (xl-lxvi),
date, 353 ff. ; place of writing,
357 ; authorship, 358 ; style,
360 ; distinctive ideas, ib. ;
timeliness of the prophecy,
365 ; character of the exiles, 366
plan of the book, 369 ff.
theology of Isaiah xl-lxvi,
374 ff. ; contrast between
God and man, 375 ; between
Jehovah and idols, 376 ;
Jehovah's righteousness, 382 ;
holiness, 383 ; name, 384 ;
glory, ib.
the Servant of Jehovah, 385
ff. ; eschatology, 400 ff.
Isaiah xxiv-xxvii, characteristics,
479; contents, 481 ff. ; distinctive
ideas, 485 ff. ; authorship and

date, 488 ff. ; position and pur
pose, 491 ff.
Jehoahaz, 294
Jehoiachin, 297
Jehoiakim, 294
Jehovah, ix, 108 ; glory of, 171,
343, 384 ; majesty of, 172 ;
holiness of, 175 ff., 344, 383 ;
Name of, 344, 384 ; righteous
ness of, 382
Jeremiah, history of his times,
292 ff. ; call, 301 ; character,
301 ; mission, 302 ; modes of
work, 303 ; sufferings, 304 ff. ;
complaints, 306 ; a type of
Christ, 309 ; his teaching,
ib. ; Israel's sins, 310 ff,
and punishment, 314 ; pre
dictions of restoration, 315
ff. ; the Messianic king, 317 ;
the regenerate city, 318 ;
the new covenant, 319 ; the
Presence of Jehovah, 320 ;
doctrine of personal respon
sibility, ib. ; destiny of the
nations, 321 ; compared with
Ezekiel, 334
Jeroboam II, 87 ff.
Joel, a native of Judah, 46 ; con
tents of book, 48 ff. ; occasion,
51 ff. ; allegorical interpreta
tion discussed, 53 ff. ; apoca
lyptic theory untenable, 55 ;
date, 57 ff. ; relation to Obad
iah, 40 ; to Amos, 63 ; to
Ezekiel, 66 ; to Zechariah xii-
xiv, 71 ; teaching, 73 ff. ; its
limitations, 76
Josiah, 292
Jotham, 155
Judah, kingdom of, internal con
ditions under Jotham, 155 ff.,
214; under Ahaz, 210, 216,
223 ff. ; history and condition
during last half-century of its
existence, 239 ff., 262, 292 ff.
Malachi, date, 500 ; personality,
503 ; contents of book, 504 ;

INDEX

543

style.^ 507 ; zeal for the law,
ib. ; universalism, 508; Messianic
prophecy, 510
Messianic prophecy in Amos,
103 ; Haggai, 432 ff. ; Hosea,
139 ; Isaiah, 185 ff, 385 ff.,
486 ff. ; Jeremiah, 317 ff. ;
Malachi, 510 ; Micah, 217 ff. ;
Zechariah, 432 ff., 439 ff.,
463 ff. ; Zephaniah, 266
Micah, contrasted with Isaiah,
205 ; his home, 206 ; share in
Hezekiah's reformation, 208 ;
length of ministry, 210 ;
message of judgement, 212,
217 ; its causes, 213 ; social
sins, 214 ; prophecies of res
toration, 217 ff. ; Messianic
prophecies, 217 ff. ; conflict
with false prophets, 221 ;
popular and prophetic religion,
223 ; contents and integrity of
book, 229 ff.
Nahum, date, 244 ; place of writ
ing, 248 ; contents of book,
251 ff. ; teaching, 255 ff. ; its
limitations, 256 ; contrasted
with Zephaniah, 258
National personality, 131
Nations, judgement of the, 76,
etc. ; moral responsibility of,
93 ; destiny of, 196 ff., 217
ff. ; 266, 321, 400 ff, 432,
485 ff, 508, etc.
Nehemiah, 497 ; his governor
ships, 511
Nineveh, 249 ff.
Northern Kingdom, internal con
dition under Jeroboam, 88 ;
after his death, 115 ff. ; rapid
decline of, 112 ff.
Obadiah, contents of book, 33 ;
occasion and date, 34 ; rela
tion to Jeremiah, 35 ; to Joel
and Amos, 40 ; teaching, 41 ;
fulfilment, 43
Old Testament, to be studied as
the record of the preparation

for the Incarnation, 4 ff. ;
critically and historically, 12,
148 ff., 362; fulfilment of, 528;
permanent value, 529
Priestly type of the Messiah,
318, 429, 434, 439 ff.
Prophecy, the argument from, 7
ff. ; fulfilment of, 15 ff, 519 ff.,
528, etc. ; limitations of, 76,
137, 255 ff. ; circumstantial
origin of, 12 ff., 359, 517 ;
conditional character, 198,
408 ; perspective of, 198, 407 ;
permanent significance of, 529
Prophets, their work, 13 ff. ;
chronological order of, 18 ff. ;
character and arrangement of
books, 23 ff. ; importance of
studying, 26 ff. ; to be studied
historically, 29 ff.
Pul = Tiglath-Pileser, 111
Rabsaris, 168
Rabshakeh, 168
Return from Babylon, 415 ; its
significance, 417
Scythian invasion, 240, 261
Servant of Jehovah, 385 ff.
Shalman, 112
Sheshbazzar, 435
Tartan, 168
Temple, its importance after the
Return, 431
Uzziah, 154
Zechariah, circumstances of the
time, 414 ff. ; his ministry,
423 ff. ; visions, 424 ff. ; im
portance of his work, 430 ;
universalism, 432 ; Messianic
hope, 433
Zechariah ix-xiv, critical prob
lems, 442 ; divisions, 443 ;
date, 445 ff. ; contents, 456 ff. ;
distinctive ideas, 463 ff. ; the
Messianic king, 463; the rejected

544

INDEX

shepherd, 466 ; the penitent
people, 471 ; the divine sove
reignty, 473
importance of the book of
Zechariah in Messianic pro
phecy, 435, 476
Zedekiah, 297

Zephaniah, contrasted with Na
hum, 258 ; date, 259 ; occasion,
261 ; condition of Judah, 262 ;
breadth of view, and depth of
insight, 263 ff. ; future of the
nations, 266
Zerubbabel, 435

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THE COMPOSITION OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. By Rev.
Arthur Wright. Crown Svo. 5s.

THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 9
The Gospels — continued.
CAMBRIDGE REVIEW. — "The wonderful force and freshness which we find on
every page of the book. There is no sign of hastiness. All seems to be the outcome of
years of reverent thought, now brought to light in the clearest, most telling way. . . .
The book will hardly go unchallenged by the different schools of thought, but all will
agree in gratitude at least for its vigour and reality."
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS.
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FOUR LECTURES ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE
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ander, D.D. Oxon., LL.D. Dublin, D.C.L. Oxon., Archbishop of
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Gospel of St. Matthew —
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TIMES. — "A learned and scholarly performance, up to date with the most recent
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THE EARLIEST GOSPEL. A Historico-Critical Commentary on
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SCHOOL READINGS IN THE GREEK TESTAMENT.
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plexing Epistle ' was once a plain letter concerned with a theme which plain men might
understand.' "

THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE n
The Epistles of St. Paul — continued.
PROLEGOMENA TO ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES TO THE
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TIMES. — " Will be welcomed by all theologians as ' an invaluable contribution to the
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DAILY CHRONICLE. — "The lectures are an important contribution to the study
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CHURCH TIMES. — "We have no hesitation in saying that this volume will at
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matter that, if not new, was forgotten, or generally unobserved, and has thrown so much
light upon their language, theology, and characteristics. . . The notes, critical,

THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 13
The Epistles of St. John — continued.
illustrative, and exegetical, which are given beneath the text, are extraordinarily full and
careful. . . . They exhibit the same minute analysis of every phrase and word, the same
scrupulous weighing of every inflection and variation that characterised Dr. \Ve-.tcott's
commentary on the Gospel. . . . There is scarcely a syllable. throughout the K pis ties
which is dismissed without having undergone the most anxious interrogation."
SATURDAY Rt-'A'IEW. — " The more we examine this precious volume the more
its exceeding richness \n spiritual as well as in literary material grows upon the mind."
The Epistle to the Hebrews —
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THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. With Notes. By Very
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TIMES. — "The name and reputation of the Dean of Llandaff are a better recom
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THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. The Greek Text, with
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GUARDIAN. — " In form this is a companion volume to that upon the Epistles of St.
John. The type is excellent, the printing careful, the index thorough ; and the volume
contains a full introduction, followed by the Greek text, with a running commentary, and
a number of additional notes on verbal and doctrinal points which needed fuller discus
sion. . . . His conception of inspiration is further illustrated by the treatment of the Old
Testament in the Epistle, and the additional notes that bear on this point deserve very
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of Old Testament criticism could not be better described than it is in the last essay."
The Book of Revelations —
THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN. The Greek Text, with
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THE APOCALYPSE. A Study. By Archbishop Benson.
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 15
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16 MACMILLAN AND CO.'S
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 17
Liturgy — continued.
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 19
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Sbe fathers

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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 21
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22 MACMILLAN AND CO.'S
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 23
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 25
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 27
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 29
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 31
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JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
Crown 8vo. [In the Press.

THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 35
Peabody (Prof. F. C,.)— continued.
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This little volume, by the well-known Harvard Professor, treats the
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In the pages of her book Mrs. Porter has tried to gather together some
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36 MACMILLAN AND CO.'S
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its rightful place and power in the lives of its professors."

THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 37
Talbot (Bishop).— A CHARGE DELIVERED TO THE
CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF ROCHESTER, October
24, 25, and 26, 1899. 8vo. Sewed. 2s. net.
THE CHURCH'S FAILURES AND THE WORK OF CPIRIST.
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TEMPLE SERMONS. Crown 8vo. 10s. 6d.

38 MACMILLAN AND CO.'S
Vaughan (Dean) — continued.
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THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE 39
Welldon (Bishop) — continued.
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40 MACMILLAN AND CO.'S THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE
White (A. D.)— A HISTORY OF THE WARFARE OF
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