ISRAEL\u2019S MESSIANIC HOPE<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n
Hebrew Optimism. The fundamental characteristic of Hebrew thought is its ethical optimism. However prosperous the wicked might be, Israel had no serious doubt that righteousness was better than wickedness, and that righteousness would ultimately prevail. Back of this certainty was Israel\u2019s God, whose character was involved in its reality; before it were the boundless possibilities of its future realization; and within it was the energizing hope, awake to present conditions, \u201clooking and hasting unto\u201d that nearing consummation. In all its life, its institutions, its environment, its leaders, this hope was living and powerful, ennobling and transfiguring them with ideal strength and beauty.
\nRepresented in Messianic Hope. The forms taken by this hope were various, the means to objectify and realize it diverse, but their essence is one. The divine approval and choice of them, expressed as an \u201canointing (Heb. Mi\u0161\u1e25ah) from Jehovah,\u201d when resting upon an order of chosen servants or an individual, made them the \u201cAnointed,\u201d him the \u201cMessiah,\u201d and the hopes in all their phases messianic. At times this messianic hope sank low, again it was concentrated and seemed about to come to fruition, but only to throw a brighter glow upon both past and future, and\u2014as is strong hope\u2019s way\u2014to reveal a larger ideal for the ages yet to be. The supremest of messianic moments of realization and anticipation, distinct yet dependent on the past, marking the end of Israel\u2019s anticipation and also its new beginning, was reached in Jesus of Nazareth, the son of David, the Messiah.
\nCulminating in Jesus. For the history of Israel culminates in Jesus Christ. This is true in the sense, not merely that he is the last and greatest figure of Israel\u2019s history, but also that all the history was making toward him, preparing for him, revealing elements, ideas, and forces which united and came to their fulness in him. Thus he is the unifying element in the Old and New Testaments. To study him requires the study of Israel\u2019s highest life; to know him involves the knowledge of Israel\u2019s messianic thought in its fullest measure. He himself is the witness to the close and vital connection which exists between him and the thoughts and events of the Old Dispensation. The pages of the gospels are full of reference to it. \u201cHe wrote of me,\u201d was his declaration concerning Moses. The followers of Jesus were accustomed to find strong and convincing arguments in his behalf in the various fulfilments of Old Testament life and prediction which his presence and words and experiences reveal. His relation to Hebrew history, therefore, will always make that history of especial significance to us, and justify its being regarded as a \u201cpreparation\u201d for him, a \u201cforeshadowing\u201d of his life and work.
\nHebrew History a Preparation for Him. It is a subject of unceasing interest and permanent importance to the Christian student to follow out this Hebrew preparation for his coming and work. For the essential element in Hebrew history, after all, does not lie in the disclosures of a general providence working through the events and experiences of the Hebrew nation, nor in the light which these throw upon the universal principles of human government and human society, important as are all these lines of inquiry and worthy of study, but rather in the fact that Hebrew history reveals the working out of the divine purpose of salvation for the race. The preliminary stages of this salvation are recorded in the Old Testament and kindred writings, and the investigation of them is central and vital.
\nScope of this Study. These stages of preparation, these \u201cforeshadowings,\u201d are to be the subject of this study. They include everything in the development of Israel which was concerned with the future, and the hope, cherished for nation and individual, which gathered about it and was embodied in its literature.
\nMethods of Investigation. The methods of arriving at these facts and of interpreting them have been various. (1) There is what might be called the fulfilment method; that is, the investigation of certain passages of the Old Testament from the point of view of the New, the endeavor to discover how much more the Old Testament means when it is viewed in the light of the life, teachings, and work of Jesus Christ. This is a legitimate and important inquiry.
\n(2) Another method might be called the theological, or systematic, method, which endeavors to determine the ultimate and essential truth which these Old Testament statements contain. It involves, to a certain extent, the method of fulfilments, but yet its aim is to make abstract and full statements of the truth, and to arrange these in a logical order, rather than to devote the attention merely to the enumeration of a series of fulfilments. The tendency is to view all of the material as of the same importance and significance, without regarding the time, the manner, or the form of its production.
\nThe Historical Method preferable. (3) Another method is adopted in these pages, which may be called for convenience the historical method; that is to say, it takes up the ancient Hebrew literature from the point of view of the historical origin and environment of its various writings. The history is studied from the Hebrew side; the ideas are investigated as they grow out of the history, and are modified or conditioned by it. The question asked is, not so much, What did this statement mean to the Christian Church? but, What did it mean to him who first uttered it, and to those by whom it was first heard or read?
\nDifficulties. This historical method of investigation is not an easy one. It requires a certain amount of imagination as well as self-restraint to transport oneself into the remote periods of the past, and to see with the eyes of the men of old, not importing into the picture that which may seem to be so intimately associated with it. It involves certain new points of view which at first appear strange. One must needs recognize that these ideas, events, and predictions disclose only a very imperfect apprehension of the great truths and facts which seem so clear and definite in the light of their fulfilment. To those who stood in the semidarkness and uncertainty of the pre-Christian period, this material had no such fulness of meaning. Their vision was not illumined with the light of day. They lived in hope, and these hopes in their details were, on the one hand, indefinite and general, and, on the other, limited and conditioned by the historical situation. They were \u201cforeshadowings.\u201d
\nIn particular, the historical method may threaten to take away much of that personal element which has connected the Old Testament directly with the Christ of the New. In putting these sayings, ideals, events, in their historical relations, and, looking forward in company with the prophets and heroes, compelling ourselves to see the future in the hazy, suggestive, indistinct twilight before the sunrise, it will follow that what to-day seems to have pointed to Christ had in its historical position and reference a different or general application. The historic Jesus was not so clearly in their thoughts, whatever of fulness and definiteness his historical existence may have thrown back upon the inner meaning of the promises and the divine purposes in them.
\nAdvantages. But in spite of what may seem at first a narrowing of the richness and attraction of the theme by the rigid insistence upon the historical method, there are compensations which outweigh all these seeming disadvantages.
\n(1) In this light, chiefly, is the Old Testament seen as a living thing, and the Old Testament history as reality. What is desirable above all things else in Bible study is to come face to face with reality. These central facts of God\u2019s dealing with men in his purpose of salvation for them are seen in their growing, in their actual progress in history among men.
\n(2) Therefore a better understanding of their meaning is gained. For to be able to trace the successive steps in the realization of an event is to gain the only proper and satisfactory insight into its character. The preparation for Christ was in history; to history, therefore, must we go, and with history must we advance, if we would understand this preparation.
\n(3) Unquestionably, the conviction of the broad, all-inclusive, and pervasive power of Christianity as a world force in politics, in society, in literature, and in life will be strengthened when this more general preparation for the larger Christ is followed out as he appears in Hebrew history and thought. A worthier view of the divine activity and purpose is to be gained, foretokening something of the apostolic view of Christ, the permanent significance of Christianity, and thus a conception more satisfying, because more real, of the essential unity of the Old and the New Testaments.
\nBreadth of the Messianic Hope from this Point of View. For the adoption of the historical method as thus defined carries with it a somewhat broader notion of the preparation for Christ in ancient Israel than has commonly been held. Messianic prophecy, as ordinarily conceived, is concerned with more or less definite references on the part of writers and speakers of the Old Testament, to the person and work of Jesus Christ, or with the events of Israel\u2019s history as \u201ctypical\u201d of him. While minimizing somewhat the element of definiteness and directness in this view of the messianic teachings in Israel\u2019s prophecy and history, the historical method emphasizes the gradual preparation for the Christ, traceable in each period, and immensely broadens and deepens the foundations of the messianic argument. It uncovers the contribution of each age in revealing and unfolding \u201cby divers portions and in divers manners\u201d the ideas which were united and came to their realization in Jesus Christ. No institution, no hope, no thought, no personality, is insignificant so far as it contributed something to prepare the way for him, or found its final place in his person or kingdom. In this sense messianic prophecy is an inexhaustible study, since Jesus Christ is the living head of the Church, and his kingdom is ever progressing and thus embodying more and more the fruitful anticipations of the Old Testament prophets. It must needs be studied anew and reinterpreted by every generation. Such a study as this is designed only to differentiate certain main currents of messianic thought, to stimulate further investigation, to suggest other lines of inquiry, and to apply a method of approach which can thereby lead to more rational judgments and more fruitful issues in this important field.
\nDivisions of the Subject. The great leaders and teachers of Israel, preeminently the prophets, were the chief bearers of these messianic thoughts and expectations, and the division of the subject into epochs of development follows naturally, and, for the most part, is characterized by, their successive appearance and work. The periods are the following: (1) The Pre-Mosaic Ages; (2) The Mosaic Age; (3) The United Kingdom; (4) Times of the Earlier Prophets; (5) Times of Isaiah; (6) Times of Jeremiah; (7) The Exile; (8) The Post-Exilic Period to the Maccabean Uprising; (9) From the Maccabees to Jesus.
\nCharacter of the Material. The literary material forming the basis of the work of the student in these periods is quite various. All of it, indeed, has to do with an anticipation of future blessing. A large part consists of utterances of prophets relating to the future, contemplated as on the point of realization, expectations of blessing rising out of present conditions and extending on into a far distant day. These might be called messianic prophecies of the present. Again, the prophet can find nothing of hopefulness in the present situation, and overleaping all temporal bounds, he passes as if by reaction into a future which is as much brighter and more glorious as the present is forbidding. This is messianic prophecy of the future. Or, he looks back on the history of mankind and his people, as it has come down to him in legends, traditions, songs, and story, in chronicles and annals, in oracles and institutions; he studies it in the light of the divine inspiration in his own spirit and experience, and combines, organizes, interprets it for his generation in its bearing upon the eternal purpose of Jehovah, his blissful designs for his people in the days to come. This is messianic prophecy of the past.
\nThe Prophet an Interpreter of Jehovah\u2019s Activity. He may cast this material into any form, whether the sermon or oration, the poem or psalm, or the prose narrative. But in all forms the prophet is interpreting to his generation that which should assure them of Jehovah\u2019s purpose of future blessing. Sometimes it is his interpretation of the present that defines for him the future; sometimes he turns his back upon the present, and, as if in spite of it, interprets the future directly; sometimes he reads out of the past the promise that is to be realized. Where the men of his day are blind, he has clear vision. Where the events of the past are dull and dim, or the words from the heroes of old, or divine oracles of early days, wrapped up in the husk of legend, or made uncertain or mysterious by the indefiniteness of oral tradition, he re-creates, translates, expands, and transforms event and word and oracle alike into a living and hopeful message. He seeks, not historical accuracy, but living meaning, in the past, and does not hesitate in his consciousness of speaking the truth to make over the dry details and hazy outlines into elements of inspiration and power, significant for all time. Thus everywhere messianic prophecy is an interpretation; and the wonderful fact that this interpretation foreshadows the Christ of the New Testament cannot fail to appear in any serious and candid study of the subject.
\nThe course of procedure will be to take up one by one the several periods, and in general (1) to determine the character of the material; then (2) to frame a picture of the historical situation from which the hopes were projected; then (3) to study the various passages; and finally (4) to sum up the nature and extent of the \u201cpreparation\u201d which the period illustrates.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER I<\/p>\n
THE MESSIANIC INTERPRETATIONS OF THE PRE-MOSAIC AGE<\/p>\n
The Literature. I. The material bearing upon this period is contained in the Book of Genesis. This book preserves the fine gold of primitive Hebrew tradition, sifted and refined by generations of inspired students of Jehovah\u2019s will. From the point of view of literary form, the book is a composite. It is made up of materials from many sources, ancient poetry, prophecy, history, coming from various authors, put together long after the events which it records. It is conditioned by elements which belong to later periods, the understanding of which depends upon our apprehension of the social and religious atmosphere in which they are produced.
\nThese Traditions have received the later Prophetic Interpretation. II. It follows, therefore, that only messianic prophecy of the past is to be expected in the Book of Genesis. In the case of such material, it is needless as well as futile to ask how far actual preservation of definite historical facts and details can be expected. Doubtless not more than the germs of thoughts and ideals now clearly visible were present there, but they were living and growing. No literary or spiritual analysis is keen enough to discern them now. The book is the work of prophets who had before them a great mass of primitive tradition which the Hebrew people cherished concerning the beginning of the world and man, the early movements of peoples, and the origins of their own nation. All these materials are organized, interpreted, and idealized under the influence of the religious conceptions and aspirations of later ages, in which the religious education and divine guidance of Israel\u2019s teachers had passed beyond the elementary stage. It is from this point of view that the pre-Mosaic material must be studied,\u2014as an interpretation rather than a record of the past. Thus these prophecies illustrate two periods,\u2014both that with which their traditions deal, and that to which the prophets belong who have given them their form. They interpret the aspirations of the earlier age; but the interpretations are those of men living in the light of an advanced and advancing revelation.<\/p>\n
1. THE IDEAL CONCEPTION OF MAN AND HIS DESTINY<\/p>\n
(26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
\nAnd let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
\nAnd over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
\n(27) And God created man in his own image,
\nIn the image of God created he him,
\nMale and female created he them.
\n(28) And God blessed them: and God said unto them,
\nBe fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it;
\nAnd have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
\nAnd over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.\u2014GEN. 1:26\u201328.<\/p>\n
This sublime picture is the condition of all prophecy and of all history, since it presents them as under special divine guidance, and reveals a ground of hope. What is it that is here promised?
\n(a) Man\u2019s nature is godlike. The essential being of man is identical with that of his Creator.
\n(b) The purpose of his creation is that he may become lord of the world. The proper translation of the second clause in v. 26 is not \u201clet them,\u201d but \u201cthat they may have dominion over,\u201d etc. As man\u2019s essential being is identified with that of his Creator, so his destiny joins him intimately with the world.
\nThe Ideal of Humanity. (c) This lofty purpose is to be accomplished by the human race; it is \u201cthe gradual taking possession of a kingdom given to mankind by God.\u201d What does this ideal conception involve? What hope lies within it? The man to whom it was revealed and who uttered it was conscious in himself that mankind had not attained unto his destiny, that the attainment was far distant. In his utterance there lies the inspired thought of a glorious future, that man is designed for something infinitely beyond what he has yet reached; that he was intended by nature for companionship with God; that he was born to be the king of the world; and that these fundamental purposes, because divine, shall ultimately be realized. This sublime prophecy, therefore, is the foundation of all that is to follow. The purpose and the progress of salvation is made possible because of this primal fact.
\nThe generalities of this primal foreshadowing involve a multitude of details to be unfolded in later and more definite words. Yet its limitations must be as clearly recognized as its possibilities. In foreshadowing man\u2019s future it looks not beyond the world, even though it promises him sovereignty therein.<\/p>\n
2. THE HOPE OF VICTORY OVER SIN<\/p>\n
(14) And Jehovah God said unto the serpent,
\nBecause thou hast done this, cursed art thou
\nAbove all cattle, and above every beast of the field;
\nUpon thy belly shalt thou go,
\nAnd dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
\n(15) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
\nAnd between thy seed and her seed:
\nIt shall bruise thy head
\nAnd thou shalt bruise his heel.
\n\u2014GEN. 3:14, 15.<\/p>\n
The Ideal of Ultimate Deliverance. These verses disclose a very different picture. The writer is one who stands in the midst of the plainest and saddest facts of human life, facts which demand from him an interpretation and explanation. These are the essential facts of human sin, human birth, and human death, waywardness from God, the coming of the individual into the world through the agony of the mother, his struggle for existence, his labor and sorrow, and his passing away in spite of all resistance and struggle. Under the divine guidance the prophet has given us his interpretation, and through the interpretation he has risen to a higher sphere. Out of it he has drawn glorious hope, sublime inspiration, for the future. What is his explanation, and what is his hope?
\n(a) Everything returns for its solution to man\u2019s disobedience toward God. The birth-pangs of the mother and her sorrows, man\u2019s conflict with the soil for the means of existence, the horror of death, are the results of the divine displeasure against the fall of the race from its fidelity toward its Creator. This is the fountain of sin.
\n(b) Sin is not originally natural to humanity. Man struggles against it. There is enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. A divine aversion to evil has been planted in the human soul.
\n(c) Observe that all is general. In the eye of the seer it is humanity, the descendants of the first pair, who must wage this warfare.
\n(d) How, or where, or when this struggle shall culminate he does not say. To him the importance of the issue is vital; its details have no place in his horizon.
\n(e) Man shall ultimately conquer\u2014not without suffering, not without pain. Yet it is head against heel. The serpent\u2019s power shall be struck at its strongest point by that part of man most capable of bruising and crushing.
\nWhat a picture of the history of humanity is given in the writer\u2019s portrayal of the fundamental perplexities of human life! What an insight into essential causes! What a vision of human greatness even in the ruins! What a sublime hope and inspiration is added in his prophecy of victory over difficulty, of the final solution of this terrific problem! \u201cTo the woman\u2019s seed belongs the future.\u2026 Henceforth man\u2019s gaze is no longer turned backward in longing after a lost Paradise, but is directed hopefully to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. THE HOPE OF COMFORT<\/p>\n
(29) And he called his name Noah, saying,
\nThis same shall comfort us for our work
\nAnd for the toil of our hands,
\nBecause of the ground which Jehovah hath cursed.
\n\u2014GEN. 5:29.<\/p>\n
Hebrew Problems of Society. The fundamental problems of individual human life, sin, and death have given occasion to the first sublime picture of hope and victory. But there are other problems that concern society, which pressed with equal weight upon the heart of the prophetic narrator. The two extremes of social organization disclosed in nomadic life, on the one hand, and on the other, the gathering of masses of men into cities, war and its attendant evils, polygamy, murder, sensuous pleasures, around all of which the material of tradition gathered, must be interpreted and presented by the prophet, their secret grasped, their riddle solved. To the Israelite in his quiet, agricultural life, quite barren of excitement and simple in its pleasures, they appear as the concomitants of a sinful development. So the picture is given of the progress of the Cainite line, in the invention of weapons of war and instruments of music, in the practice of polygamy, in the first murder, all exhibited in the spirit of revenge and pride condensed in the song of Lamech.
\nOver against this dark panorama the narrator presents another and more hopeful prospect. Another son of our first parents is the progenitor of a line culminating in one who is to introduce a new era, and about whom therefore cluster the divine assurances of hope and peace. The line of Seth is conspicuous for Enoch, who walked with God, and for Noah, who is to be the comfort of his race. With him is the new beginning. He is one who obeys God in the face of the disobedience of all other men. He is the comforter who gives to humanity the opportunity to breathe again. In Noah the prophet presents his own ideal of social life and normal activity, as over against the corrupt practices of the Cainite civilization. It is as an agriculturist that Noah is to bring comfort to man.
\nThe Ideal of Civilization. The toil of breaking up new ground is in him to find its recompense. He is to till the ground, win victory over the stubborn earth, which is involved in the curse. As he comes forth from the ark, the promise is given that the earth shall henceforth yield her fruit in her season to him (Gen. 8:21, 22). He, according to the prophet, is a type of a true citizen of the world and son of God, in that he is no wild nomad, nor does he live in a city. He has no weapons of war. He is a husbandman who wins for man the prize of earth\u2019s fruitfulness, and particularly the blessed gift of the vine. Thus in him is seen a prophecy of one element in the final victory over evil, the ideal of a true civilization, the subjection of earth to man.<\/p>\n
4. THE HOPE OF JEHOVAH\u2019S INDWELLING IN SHEM<\/p>\n
(25) Cursed be Canaan;
\nservant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
\n(26) Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem;
\nAnd let Canaan be his servant.
\n(27) God enlarge Japheth,
\nAnd let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
\nAnd Let Canaan be his servant.
\n\u2014GEN. 9:25\u201327.<\/p>\n
The victory of Noah was his undoing. He yielded to that which he conquered. The fruit of the vine tempted him to a fall, the consequences of which involved his descendants. The strange story of Genesis 9:20\u201323 is made the occasion of the utterance of an oracle of wide-reaching import. Its words run into the forms of Hebrew ethnography of the prophet\u2019s own time. Two statements are especially important:\u2014<\/p>\n
Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem,
\nand
\nLet him dwell in the tents of Shem.<\/p>\n
There is no little difficulty in the interpretation of the latter line. Does the pronoun refer to Japheth or to Jehovah? If to the former, the words proclaim the ultimate ascendancy of Japheth over Shem, or at least his inheritance in the blessings that gather about the Shemite religion. If to the latter, it would be a repetition of the promise of the former verse, only in a more detailed form. Jehovah is not only to be God of Shem, but to dwell in his tents. The latter view is not altogether satisfactory, yet is to be preferred.
\nThe Ideal of Religion. The importance of all this is: (1) Jehovah selects a part of mankind to whom he is to be God with all which that implies. Intimate knowledge of him is assured, from personal contact and communion, to a family of people. Among all men he has chosen to whom he will reveal himself. (2) Now for the first time Jehovah is to take part in the life of this family of peoples, to move and act among them as one of them. He is to reveal himself not merely to, but among them. The hope of the divine advent appears. Happy, therefore, is Shem who has for his portion the true God!<\/p>\n
5. THE HOPE OF THE NATIONAL HOME AND GLORY<\/p>\n
\u2014GEN. 12:1\u20133; 13:14\u201317; 15:1\u20137; 27:27\u201329.<\/p>\n
In Abraham:\u2014<\/p>\n
(1) Now Jehovah said unto Abram,
\nGet thee out of thy country,
\nfrom thy kindred, and from thy father\u2019s house,
\nUnto the land that I will show thee:
\n(2) And I will make of thee a great nation;
\nAnd I will bless thee, and make thy name great;
\nAnd be thou a blessing:
\n(3) And I will bless them that bless thee,
\nAnd him that curseth thee will I curse:
\nAnd in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.\u201412:1\u20133 (J).<\/p>\n
(14) And Jehovah said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward: (15) for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. (16) And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. (17) Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.\u201413:14\u201317 (J).<\/p>\n
In Isaac:\u2014<\/p>\n
(1) After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward. (2) And Abram said, O Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Dammesek Eliezer? (3) And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. (4) And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. (5) And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to tell them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. (6) And he believed in Jehovah; and he counted it to him for righteousness. (7) And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.\u201415:1\u20137 (JE).<\/p>\n
In Jacob:\u2014<\/p>\n
(27) And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said,
\nSee, the smell of my son
\nIs as the smell of a field which Jehovah hath blessed:
\n(28) And God give thee of the dew of heaven,
\nAnd of the fatness of the earth,
\nAnd plenty of corn and wine:
\n(29) Let peoples serve thee,
\nAnd nations bow down to thee:
\nBe lord over thy brethren,
\nAnd let thy mother\u2019s sons bow down to thee:
\nCursed be every one that curseth thee,
\nAnd blessed be every one that blesseth thee.
\n\u201427:27\u201329 (JE).<\/p>\n
The Hebrew traditions respecting Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are much more local and limited in their character, but for that very reason are clearer and fuller. Jehovah is the tribal God of these clans, and the oracles and experiences centre about his particular relations to them.
\nThe student should, first of all, observe that the background of the whole picture is the nomadic life of the patriarchs. They have no settled home. They move to and fro. To the prophetic narrator and interpreter this mode of existence, as we have already seen, appears unsatisfactory. He feels, therefore, a fundamental imperfection in the lives of these heroes which gives color and character to the whole representation. It is through their wandering life that they fall into sin, are caught in difficulties, and come to conflicts with the inhabitants. Their lives are made uneasy, fraught with questionings and fears, thereby. As nomads, they cannot achieve the fulfilment of the divine will.
\nThe Ideal of Nationality. But the insight of the prophet enables him out of this dark background to exalt the divine purpose of Jehovah in relation to his future people, and from this to pass to messianic foreshadowings. His interpretation of the events and oracles gathers about the outlook for the national home and its future glory.
\n(1) The three heroes become champions of faith, Abraham the foremost. God made him a wanderer. He must separate from all former associations, home and kindred. He has reached mature life before this decision is made. Isaac and Jacob, however, are selected before birth, and, like him, continue in the line which he has established. With him, therefore, is a new beginning in the prophet\u2019s mind, unlike all that precedes, conditioned and characterized by faith and hope. These figures are the progenitors of the future chosen people, and embody its highest characteristics. They prefigure the great personalities who from time to time shall glorify the nation, represent Jehovah, and point forward to a greater One than them all.
\n(2) The land through which the patriarchs wandered is of divine selection. It extends as far as the eye can reach. It is a land of fertility and richness beyond compare, a gift of God designed of him to receive and nourish the nation when its day of settlement and peace shall come.
\n(3) And this nation is to be one of wide extent and influence. In this favored land it shall grow into a multitude. It shall be a ruling nation, and as others stand related to it is their destiny determined. A curse or a blessing lies in its attitude toward those about it. Many there shall be who shall bless themselves by reason of sharing in the blessing which its favor confers.<\/p>\n
6. THE HOPE OF A COMING VICTORIOUS RULER<\/p>\n
(1) And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days.<\/p>\n
(8) Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise:
\nThy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;
\nThy father\u2019s sons shall bow down before thee.
\n(9) Judah is a lion\u2019s whelp;
\nFrom the prey, my son, thou art gone up:
\nHe stooped down, he couched as a lion,
\nAnd as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
\n(10) The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
\nNor the ruler\u2019s staff from between his feet,
\nUntil Shiloh come;
\nAnd unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.
\n(11) Binding his foal unto the vine,
\nAnd his ass\u2019s colt unto the choice vine;
\nHe hath washed his garments in wine,
\nAnd his vesture in the blood of grapes:
\n(12) His eyes shall be red with wine,
\nAnd his teeth white with milk.
\n\u2014GEN. 49:1, 8\u201312.<\/p>\n
The Ideal of Kingship. As the former oracle concerned the origin of the nation and its relation to those without, so this oracle has to do with the internal affairs of the future nation. It is still more limited and local in its scope. From among the clans one tribe, Judah, is honored, and its ultimate superiority and permanent authority proclaimed. It is personalized, its career that of an individual. He is the protagonist of the nation. The exaltation is first to victorious warfare with the peoples of the land,\u2014warfare which he wages as leader among his brethren. Hereby the national heritage is permanently secured. When the victory is gained, he rests like a lion in his lair, enjoying the prey. His rule is to be increasingly successful and glorious \u201cuntil Shiloh come.\u201d Whatever the particular meaning of this enigmatic phrase may be, the essential thought is, without doubt, that his success shall continue until he controls all, until his sway is unhindered. Then, with all things in his hands, he rules in a land of marvellous resources, developed to its highest point of prosperity, over its submissive peoples.
\nSummary. III. If the student, at the close of this study of pre-Mosaic hopes, will now endeavor to gather up and organize the separate materials furnished by each picture, several points may be suggested.
\n(a) Separate oracles and fragments of tradition have been wrought by the insight of Israel\u2019s great religious teachers into an organism with closely related parts, the whole moving forward in historical progress. This is a marvellous conception of history realized by no other ancient people. These Hebrew seers, looking back upon the past, behold it all under the guidance of Jehovah, who, from the beginning has planned out the course of affairs. This Jehovah, God of Israel, is by them identified with the Creator of the world, the Lord of universal righteousness, the One dwelling among men, the friend and helper of his faithful servants everywhere, and who is working out his purposes of grace and redemption toward his creation. Man is set forth in all his primal greatness and his future glory described.His disobedience receives bitter punishment, which however involves an ultimate victory and the restoration of his original heritage. The various steps in that recovery ensue. The beginning is made in the subjection of a part of earth and the promise of its permanence. The process of divine selection is set in motion. Hopes are aroused. Promises are given. A land is chosen. A nation is constituted. A victorious leader is assured.
\n(b) Another idea appears beneath this organic view of primitive history. Its keynote is the idealism of the prophet. At the basis of his interpretation was the undying hope which rose above all the gloom of the present, which used the truth already attained to see more deeply into the future. In this ideal light he pictures the past, dim, uncertain, and fragmentary as it is. Touching the supreme crises of the primitive history, it gives to them also a glow which beams down the ages and outshines even the realities of his own religious experience.
\n(c) The moral element in this picture is not its least striking characteristic. The victory which humanity is to win is not merely a victory over the stubborn earth, over the difficulties of social and political organization, and over all the sorrows, misfortunes, and insoluble enigmas of human life. Because all is traced to a fundamental moral failure on the part of man, the victory is to be a moral one in the return to obedience to Jehovah, from whom man has fallen away. As this fall is the explanation of all other problems and difficulties and perplexities, so is the final deliverance and restoration the pledge of all lesser joys.
\n(d) Yet still deeper, interpenetrating all, is the thought of the eternal and omnipotent purpose and presence of Jehovah. Because Jehovah is here, the Jehovah who is the Creator of earth and man, who is the Lord of the natural and spiritual universe, the victory is to be achieved. He enters into communion with man. He guards human destinies. His purposes control the affairs of men, and all to the end that righteousness and truth may prevail. Because of what he is, these hopes shall be realized. The land shall be conquered. The nation shall be born. The leaders shall come and shall lead. The world shall be subdued. Salvation shall be achieved.
\n(e) By the study of these passages a clearer idea is gained not merely of the meaning of these marvellous utterances and events, but also of the point of view and method of thought and action of the prophet. He is the interpreter, resting upon the solid ground of religious experience, sensitive to Jehovah\u2019s touch. He applies his experience and insight to his own age and its problems as they appear, and in the application he rises to hopes and convictions unfelt before. In the same way he deals with the past, however fragmentary and fleeting its memorials. He interprets these meagre memorials, arranges them, and reads into them his own grander ideas. In the light of his spiritual perceptions and his divinely communicated idealism, this past is transfigured before us. Its events become facts embodying hopes of large significance, projecting their issues far before them into the future. They place at the threshold of the history of this people the aspiration after salvation from sin and the assurance of ultimate victory for all mankind. They reveal behind the veil the presence and eternal purpose of Jehovah. They draw the eye forward to an unknown future whose half-open portal is bright with the glory reflected from an illumined past.<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. THE SUGGESTIVE DETAILS OF GEN. 1:26\u201328 DEVELOPED: e.g. (a) the \u201cimage\u201d and \u201clikeness\u201d of God, what it implies, Orelli, O. T. Proph., p. 83 f.; Briggs, Mess. Proph., p. 70; Dillmann, Gen., I, p. 81; Schultz, O. T. Theol., II, p. 256 f.; (b) subduing the world, what it involves.
\n2. THE IDEAL OF MAN IN OTHER RELIGIONS: cf. Lenormant, Beginnings of History, Ch. I; Taylor, Ancient Ideals (Table of Contents).
\n3. THE FORM OF THE NARRATIVE of which Gen. 3:14 f. is a part: e.g. the tree, the serpent, the fall, in ancient legend and symbolism, cf. Lenormant, Beg. of Hist., Ch. II; Ryle, Early Narratives of Genesis, pp. 35\u201345.
\n4. THE FALL AND THE VICTORY OVER SIN as they appear in other parts of Scripture: e.g. (a) in the Prophets; (b) in the Gospels; (c) in the Pauline epistles.
\n5. THE ORACLE OF NOAH, Gen. 9:25\u201327: (a) its ethnological difficulties; (b) the question of interpretation in vs. 27. Cf. Orelli, O. T. Proph., pp. 96\u2013104; Dillmann, Gen., I, p. 309; Holzinger, Comm. on Gen., p. 91 f.
\n6. ABRAHAM IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: (a) How explain references to him in John 8:56; Gal. 3:8, and elsewhere? (b) Principles involved in explanation? Cf. Orelli, O. T. Proph., pp. 124; Toy, Quotations in the N. T.
\n7. DATES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DOCUMENTS from which these oracles have come? Cf. Driver, Int.6, etc.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER II<\/p>\n
IDEALS AND INTERPRETATIONS OF THE MOSAIC AGE<\/p>\n
The Literature. I. The Biblical literature which describes and illustrates the age of Moses is contained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. All these, like the book of Genesis, are composite and anonymous. The description given on page 12 f. applies to them, with the exception that they contain some materials which, in their present form, may not unreasonably be ascribed to the age with which they deal, and perhaps to Moses himself. Such, for example, is the Ten Words. Further, the historical period of Israel\u2019s life having begun, the tradition of this age has become more firmly and clearly historical, and is embodied in these writings in fuller measure. An historical background can now be described in definite and limited outlines.
\nBirth of the Nation. II. The nation of Israel came into existence in the midst of experiences which conditioned its character and future. The oppression in Egypt, with its humiliating burdens, the dawning hope of escape, the marvellous deliverance at the Red Sea, the discipline of the desert life, served to mould the unstable mass of shepherd clans into a new organization with specially defined characteristics. Greater than merely external circumstances and experiences, however, in its influence, was the effect produced by the presence of the great personality under whose direction and inspiration the passage from slavery to freedom took place. Moses was the founder of Israel, in that he united the tribal fragments and gave new meaning to ancient political and social institutions, so that a unique community came into being inspired by new motives.
\nThe pervading principle which the organization in all its parts reflected was religious. All rested upon the recognition of Jehovah as Israel\u2019s God. But this conception took on new meaning and force because of the new light thrown by the inspired leader and prophet upon the character and purposes of their national deity in his covenant with them. Moses\u2019 gospel, ratified at the Red Sea and on Sinai, had three articles: (1) Jehovah, God of Israel, is a God of righteousness and love; (2) he requires obedience to his just and holy law; (3) he delivers his people from their enemies. On this foundation the Hebrew nation was built, and with this principle all its institutions were inspired. Centuries were to pass before the full meaning and issue of these thoughts were disclosed.
\nIdeal Interpretation of this History. III. Into this field, so full of germinal forces and ideas, prophetic and priestly seers of later ages have gone, and have undertaken as before to interpret the larger significance of these events. The narratives belong to various periods of Israel\u2019s later history and evince varying modes of religious insight. The writers evidently lived under very different conditions and were interested in many different religious ideas. Their interpretation of the material of tradition, therefore, is marked by much variety, as they lay emphasis upon this or that aspect of the newly forming nation.
\nThe historical situation in general, presupposed by the utterances, is in all but one instance that critical period when Israel stands upon the borders of the land of its possession. The most important of these passages fall under two heads: (A) The outlooks of Israel among the nations; (B) the hopes of Israel\u2019s inner life.<\/p>\n
A. Outlooks of Israel among the Nations. A. Israel is to play her part in the world as a nation, and the seers behold her emerging and developing in the field of history.<\/p>\n
1. THE ROYAL NATION<\/p>\n
(17) I see him, but not now:
\nI behold him, but not nigh:
\nThere shall come forth a star out of Jacob,
\nAnd a sceptre shall rise out of Israel,
\nAnd shall smite through the corners of Moab,
\nAnd break down all the sons of tumult.
\n(18) And Edom shall be a possession,
\nSeir also shall be a possession, [which were] his enemies;
\nWhile Israel doeth valiantly.
\n(19) And out of Jacob shall one have dominion,
\nAnd shall destroy the remnant from the city.
\n\u2014NUM. 24:17\u201319.<\/p>\n
A picture of Israel\u2019s royal place and power is given from the non-Israelitish seer Balaam, as he stands upon the heights of Moab, overlooking the army of Israel below, and, rapt in ecstasy, beholds the far-distant appearing of a conquering king. That the poet was interpreting some early fragments of actual historical tradition gathering about this heathen seer is most probable. It is equally evident that his interpretation is colored by the fact that he himself lived in the early days of the kingdom. His oracle is all the more significant on that account. The certainty of Israel\u2019s ultimate victory over all nations round about, and its proud position as lord of the world, are most impressively emphasized from one outside of the circle of the chosen nation, yet in terms of its own national consciousness. The striking feature of the oracle is that the representation is individual. The unity of Israel, symbolized in a victorious leader, is vividly set forth. He bears the sceptre of authority. His is the star of destined success.<\/p>\n
2. THE NATIONAL HERITAGE<\/p>\n
(6) Do ye thus requite Jehovah,
\nO foolish people and unwise?
\nIs not he thy father that hath bought thee?
\nHe hath made thee, and established thee.
\n(7) Remember the days of old,
\nConsider the years of many generations:
\nAsk thy father, and he will shew thee;
\nThine elders, and they will tell thee.
\n(8) When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
\nWhen he separated the children of men,
\nHe set the bounds of the peoples
\nAccording to the number of the children of Israel.
\n(9) For Jehovah\u2019s portion is his people;
\nJacob is the lot of his inheritance.
\n(10) He found him in a desert land,
\nAnd in the waste howling wilderness;
\nHe compassed him about, he cared for him,
\nHe kept him as the apple of his eye.
\n\u2014DEUT. 32:6\u201310.<\/p>\n
The stanzas from a poem which the Deuteronomic narrator has preserved interpret the prophetic insight of Moses into the peculiar relation of Jehovah to Israel. It is described as that of \u201cFather\u201d and \u201cSon.\u201d In the light of this relationship the nation\u2019s past is viewed. Long before the son came, the Father determined, in view of his coming, the position and relations of the nations. The nation came into being in the desert. In the desert Jehovah took him up, protected and fostered him.<\/p>\n
3. THE PRIESTLY NATION<\/p>\n
(3) And Moses went up unto God, and Jehovah called unto him out of the mountain, saying,
\nThus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob,
\nAnd tell the children of Israel;
\n(4) Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
\nAnd how I bare you on eagles\u2019 wings,
\nAnd brought you unto myself.
\n(5) therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed
\nAnd keep my covenant,
\nThen ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me from among all peoples:
\nFor all the earth is mine:
\n(6) And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation.
\n\u2014Ex. 19:3\u20136.<\/p>\n
A priestly seer interprets another side of Israel\u2019s early life. To him both kingdom and priesthood had long been in existence. In the relation of Moses and the nation to Jehovah, as this came down to him from the early days, he saw the inner meaning of the national destiny from his own priestly point of view, which he also recognized as Jehovah\u2019s will. To him the nation\u2019s opportunity was to become, not merely a conquering people ruling the world, but, while occupying that regal place, to be a priestly people also, offering up acceptable worship unto Jehovah before the nations, if not even mediating in behalf of the nations before him. This destiny was, in his sight, not confined to any body within the nation; it was the property of the entire people. To this end they must separate themselves unto God. They must draw near in obedience unto Jehovah. Theirs was a royal destiny, but royal because sacerdotal. In a world where Jehovah was universal king they were to be priests of humanity, lords of the spiritual treasuries of Almighty God.
\nB. Hopes of Israel\u2019s Inner Life. B. As these narrators interpreted the germs of Israel\u2019s relations to the outer world in their larger issues, so they saw in the elements of Israel\u2019s infancy the beginnings of higher institutions and their significance. As the nation itself was a realization of the Kingdom of God, so these institutions contained permanent expressions of the development of the relations of Jehovah to his people.<\/p>\n
1. THE ROYAL INSTITUTION<\/p>\n
(14) When thou art come unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein; and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are round about me; (15) thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom Jehovah thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, which is not thy brother. (16) Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. (17) Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. (18) And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of [that which is] before the priests the Levites: (19) and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: (20) that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.\u2014DEUT. 17:14\u201320.<\/p>\n
Israel is to have a king in the fulness of time, and he is to be one whom Jehovah shall choose\u2014one from his own people, a servant of Jehovah, pure and simple, free from pride, upright and just. These characteristics are set in contradistinction to those of the degenerate rulers of the prophet\u2019s own day. The individual form of the presentation does not preclude its application to a royal line, but rather suggests it, since the royal characteristics cited are local and temporary, not ideal. It is also supported by the analogy of the following passages. Such a line shall rule over Israel forever.<\/p>\n
2. THE PROPHETIC ORDER<\/p>\n
(15) Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; (16) according to all that thou desiredst of Jehovah thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. (17) And Jehovah said unto me, They have well said that which they have spoken. (18) I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. (19) And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
\n\u2014DEUT. 18:15\u201319.<\/p>\n
For the institution of prophecy how close a parallel and how suggestive a prospect is presented in the person of Moses himself, who is to his nation the bearer of the messages of Jehovah, the interpreter of the divine will, and the revealer of the higher possibilities of those germinant institutions which the tribes brought with them into the new nation. In him is the assurance that Jehovah will provide others like him. The form of the oracle is individual. Whether the promise concerns an individual or an order cannot be decisively determined. In such a case the application is probably two-fold. The narrator may reasonably be regarded as having in his mind, not only a prophet of his own day who realized these characteristics in a special manner, but also the larger body of which he was a member. The essential features of the order, upon which he lays emphasis, are that the prophet should be one of his own people, who brings to man, with divine authority, a message which he has himself received from Jehovah. They who reject his word must reckon with Jehovah himself.<\/p>\n
3. THE PRIESTLY ORDER<\/p>\n
(12) Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: (13) and it shall be unto him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.\u2014NUM. 25:12, 13.<\/p>\n
A priestly narrator dwells upon the salvation of Israel from the righteous wrath of Jehovah through the timely action of the priest Phinehas. This act of \u201catonement\u201d calls forth the divine assurance that there are never to cease from Israel those who shall be priests unto Jehovah. For Israel the priesthood is of permanent significance. In its hands is the covenant with Jehovah, whereby peace is secured to the nation.
\nSummary. IV. In gathering together these elements of foreshadowing in the Mosaic period, some concluding suggestions should be taken into consideration and compared with those made regarding the teachings of the pre-Mosaic age.
\n(a) More definitely and convincingly than was possible in the former material is to be observed how back of the prophecy and promise lies the history conditioning their form and direction. This history, taken as the starting-point, is worked into an ideal picture projecting itself thereby into and beyond the prophet\u2019s own time.
\n(b) The particular element in this idealization is to be regarded, in harmony with what has preceded, as the \u201cmanifest destiny\u201d of the nation, evident from the beginning, before the beginning. There was in the birth hour of this people the dawning consciousness of its splendid future which these seers divine and develop.
\n(c) A still higher step is taken. The nation thus predestined is also \u201cpostdestined,\u201d that is, the beginning conditions and determines the conclusion. It is to be a permanent force in the world. Thus its various elements, appearing in germ at this time, are proclaimed as enduring. The institutions are to last \u201cforever.\u201d
\n(d) The idealization here observed is explicable neither from the Mosaic age itself nor from the prophet\u2019s own times. Something must be allowed for Oriental hyperbole, but it may be safely said that external circumstances were opposed to any such hope. It was cherished in spite of them. Whence did it come?
\n(e) It is perfectly evident that the picture of the future is based on the same faith in Jehovah\u2019s purpose and faithfulness which the pre-Mosaic age revealed.
\n(f) The moral sanity of the prophet is illustrated in his constant insistence upon the conditioning element of national righteousness. These glorious prospects are to be realized for an obedient and righteous people, faithful to Jehovah, God of justice and truth.
\n(g) One particular in which the history is seen to condition the picture lies in the fact that the outlook is external and political. The hopes are centred not so much about individuals as about orders, organizations, institutions. There is little that is internal, individual, spiritual. The Mosaic period was primarily the formative era of the national life and polity. The inner character and intent of the institutions, the higher spiritual realities they prepared, were secondary. Hence the wide atmosphere and the largeness of the outlook which characterized the material of the pre-Mosaic age are not so apparent here. Indeed, the wilderness life of the people could not but seem imperfect and unpleasant to the narrators. The whole period, in spite of its germinant elements, is beset with disaster, waywardness, and gloom. The great deliverance at the beginning is swallowed up in the weary wanderings and baffled designs of the forty years of desert life that followed. Only in connection with the beginning and end of the period do the brighter prospects appear, and they are confined to the sphere of outward, organic, national life. Yet the specific is the basis for the generic. The material is the ground from which the spiritual is to spring. The formation of the nation is the limited realization of pre-Mosaic expectations. Its institutions mark an historic stage in their fulfilment. But as realization and fulfilment they are limitations, even though necessary stages of progress. Nevertheless, in limiting the horizon, they reveal outlooks into a more definite future. On these the narrators seize. As the outward stature of the nation grows, the inward consciousness of its own higher goal becomes clearer and stronger.<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. THE HISTORY OF THE MOSAIC AGE: (a) the Hebrews in Egypt and their deliverance; (b) the movements in the desert; (c) the age as marking (1) the beginning of the nation, (2) the new religious movement. Kittel, Hist. of the Hebrews, I, pp. 192\u2013262; Ewald, Hist. of Israel, II, pp. 1\u2013228; Cornill, Hist. of the People of Israel, pp. 39\u201345; Biblical World, VIII, pp. 105\u2013119, 475\u2013484; Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 14\u201354.
\n2. THE MOSAIC ORGANIZATION: (a) its social and political elements; (b) its religious elements; (c) its promise and its limitations as a form of the Kingdom of God. Smith, O. T. in the Jewish Church, Lect. XI; Wellhausen, Sketch of the Hist. of Israel, pp. 5\u201317; McCurdy, History, Prophecy, and the Monuments, II, pp. 91\u2013105; Orelli, O. T. Proph., pp. 125\u2013130.
\n3. THE PRIESTHOOD: (a) its origin; (b) its purpose; (c) its earliest duties; (d) views regarding the tribe of Levi; (e) Israel as a nation of priests and kingdom of priests. Bible Dictionaries, articles Priesthood and Levi; Budde, Religion of Israel to the Exile, p. 80 ff.
\n4. THE KING AND THE PROPHET IN DEUTERONOMY: the individual and institutional element in these passages. Cf. Briggs, Mess. Proph., p. 112 f.; Orelli, O. T. Proph., pp. 131\u2013133.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER III<\/p>\n
IDEALS INSPIRED BY THE UNITED KINGDOM<\/p>\n
The Literature and the History of this Age. I. The Book of Judges contains the oldest memorials of the struggle of the newly formed nation for possession of the promised land and for unity and organization. It was not so very long a contest, but its intensity was proportioned to the important principles that were at stake.
\nThe Mosaic constitution, only partially apprehended by the people at large, came face to face with the attractive but less fruitful and lofty elements of the Canaanitish faith and life. The victory was first in the sphere of religion, though not without concessions on the part of the victors. The steady advance toward unity of political organization was assisted by the victory of Jehovah over Baal.
\nThe outcome of the age was the establishment of the monarchy. The earliest accounts in the Book of Samuel1 have preserved the record of the gladness with which the nation hailed this consummation, while at the same time traces remain of the doubt and questioning, if not opposition, with which this step was met by some who were most loyal to Jehovah. Samuel stands as the central figure, the patriotic leader, the founder of the true Jehovah prophets, the mediator of the transition to the new monarchy. Saul, the first king, failed to realize the meaning of his exaltation, handicapped, perhaps, by external circumstances and his imperfect religious training, as well as by his own weaknesses of nature and character.
\nWith David and Solomon the new monarchy advanced rapidly to a position of considerable power and influence. External circumstances in their days were favorable. Great nations round about them, Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, were in a state of decline. No power stood forth in western Asia at this critical period to oppose Israel. The nation now, as never before, realized its unity and its opportunity. Both religion and politics were animated by high aspirations. The two great kings themselves possessed remarkable characteristics of mind. David was the born leader, the attractive, lovable hero, who knew how to bind men to himself and use them in the accomplishment of his wide-reaching designs; frank, impetuous, fervently religious, yet easily led away by passion, a heroic character such as Israel had never before produced. Solomon, on the other hand, building upon the foundation of David, was a typical Oriental monarch. He brought the nation into the great current of world history, and introduced cosmopolitan elements into the realm of Israel\u2019s thought and religion. Developing commerce and trade, he filled the land with wealth, and organized into a firm structure the elements which David had attached to himself. At the same time he had the weaknesses of an Eastern despot, and these have been recorded for us along with his more creditable achievements.
\nBoth kings were prominent in the worship of Jehovah. What David planned when he brought the ark to Jerusalem, the city which he had already made his political capital, Solomon carried out by the building of a temple which constituted the religious rallying place of the people, and which preserved, in their purest form, the rites and worship of the nation.
\nThe Ideal Interpretation of the History. II. Thus the period constitutes a brilliant epoch in the history of Israel. The nation came of age. New life and light entered on every hand. Realizations of much that had been hitherto merely germinant in the social and religious organization appeared. Hence the material for the religious thinkers of later days, for the exercise of the prophetic insight of the following epochs, is abundant, and offers much that is central and vital for Israel\u2019s religion. Here was a vast field for religious contemplation and inspiration, opened to both prophet and priest, from which to rise to larger and higher anticipations. Prophetic and priestly histories dwell upon the times of David and Solomon with peculiar relish. The elements that centre in or about the monarchy afforded to them unceasing subjects for teaching and hope. Poetry came with its garland of praise, with its deep insight, to the interpretation and glorification of the kingdom. The psalm literature, whose themes are taken from this field, is abundant and important. All the material, with the exception, perhaps, of one or two passages, may be studied, indeed, from this one point of view\u2014the monarchy and its promise.<\/p>\n
1. THE KINGDOM FOUNDED IN JEHOVAH\u2019S RIGHTEOUSNESS<\/p>\n
(1) And Hannah prayed, and said:<\/p>\n
I. My heart exulteth in Jehovah,
\nMine horn is exalted in Jehovah:
\nMy mouth is enlarged over mine enemies;
\nBecause I rejoice in thy salvation.
\n(2) There is none holy as Jehovah,
\nFor there is none beside thee:
\nNeither is there any rock like our God.<\/p>\n
(3) II. Talk no more so exceeding proudly;
\nLet not arrogancy come out of your mouth:
\nFor Jehovah is a God of knowledge,
\nAnd by him actions are weighed.
\n(4) The bows of the mighty men are broken,
\nAnd they that stumbled are girded with strength.
\n(5) They that were full have hired out themselves for bread;
\nAnd they that were hungry have ceased:
\nYea, the barren hath borne seven;
\nAnd she that hath many children languisheth.<\/p>\n
(6) III. Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive:
\nHe bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.
\n(7) Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich:
\nHe bringeth low, he also lifteth up.
\n(8) He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
\nHe lifteth up the needy from the dunghill,
\nTo make them sit with princes,
\nAnd inherit the throne of glory:
\nFor the pillars of the earth are Jehovah\u2019s,
\nAnd he hath set the world upon them.<\/p>\n
(9) IV. He will keep the feet of his holy ones,
\nBut the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness;
\nFor by strength shall no man prevail.
\n(10) They that strive with Jehovah shall be broken to pieces;
\nAgainst them shall he thunder in heaven:
\nJehovah shall judge the ends of the earth;
\nAnd he shall give strength unto his king,
\nAnd exalt the horn of his anointed.\u20141 SA. 2:1\u201310.<\/p>\n
The prophetic historian interprets the dawning aspirations of the new age after a king by a spirited hymn placed in the mouth of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, the prophet and inaugurator of the monarchy. Three stanzas, praising the holiness, omniscience, and omnipotence of Jehovah, culminate in a fourth stanza, glorifying his all-embracing judicial activity, which is exercised to the end of the establishment and exaltation of the king. The three last lines should read:\u2014<\/p>\n
Jehovah shall judge the ends of the earth,
\nIn order to give strength unto his king,
\nIn order to exalt the horn of his anointed.<\/p>\n
As Professor Briggs says, \u201cThe reign of Jahveh in judgment has in view the exaltation of a king in Israel.\u201d The prophetic insight ascribed to the mother of the founder of Israel\u2019s kingdom the perception of the purpose which led Jehovah to exercise judgment in the world. It was to give greater glory to him who as representative of Jehovah was to bear rule over the people of his choice. The hidden implication is that the monarchy thus founded will be glorious, as his instrument, in its manifestation of Jehovah\u2019s justice to the world.<\/p>\n
2. THE EVERLASTING PRIESTHOOD AND THE KINGDOM<\/p>\n
(35) And I will raise me up a faithful priest,
\nThat shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind:
\nAnd I will build him a sure house;
\nAnd he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
\n(36) And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house
\nShall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread,
\nAnd shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests\u2019 offices,
\nThat I may eat a morsel of bread.\u20141 SA. 2:35, 36.<\/p>\n
A later writer of priestly spirit, in whose eyes priest and king had long been in existence, beholds in the overthrow of the house of Eli a judicial divine sentence whose brighter side reveals the rise of a true priestly order, faithful to Jehovah\u2019s will. The significant features of the oracle are (1) the permanence of this priesthood, (2) its intimate association with the kingdom. Before the \u201canointed\u201d king the priest is to move as a loyal servitor. Thus the establishment of the monarchy is the condition of an abiding priesthood.<\/p>\n
3. DAVIDIC PROMISES AND HOPES<\/p>\n
(a) The Covenant with David:\u2014<\/p>\n
(11) Moreover Jehovah telleth thee
\nThat Jehovah will make thee an house.
\n(12) When thy days be fulfilled,
\nAnd thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
\nI will set up thy seed after thee,
\nWhich shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
\n(13) He shall build an house for my name,
\nAnd I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
\n(14) I will be his father,
\nAnd he shall be my son:
\nIf he commit iniquity, I will chasten him
\nWith the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;
\n(15) But my mercy shall not depart from him,
\nAs I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
\n(16) And thine house (and thy kingdom) shall be made sure for ever before thee:
\nThy throne shall be established for ever.
\n\u20142 SA. 7:11\u201316.<\/p>\n
(b) The God of David:\u2014<\/p>\n
(43) Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people;
\nThou hast made me the head of the nations:
\nA people whom I have not known shall serve me.
\n(44) As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me:
\nThe strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
\n(45) The strangers shall fade away,
\nAnd shall come trembling out of their close places.
\n(46) Jehovah liveth; and blessed be my rock;
\nAnd exalted be the God of my salvation:
\n(47) Even the God that executeth vengeance for me,
\nAnd subdueth peoples under me.
\n(48) He rescueth me from mine enemies:
\nYea, thou liftest me up above them that rise up against me:
\nThou deliverest me from the violent man.
\n(49) Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, Jehovah, among the nations,
\nAnd will sing praises unto thy name.
\n(50) Great deliverance giveth he to his king;
\nAnd sheweth lovingkindness to his anointed,
\nTo David and to his seed, for evermore.
\n\u2014Ps. 18:43\u201350.<\/p>\n
(c) The Future of David\u2019s House:\u2014<\/p>\n
(1) I. David the son of Jesse saith,
\nAnd the man who was raised on high saith,
\nThe anointed of the God of Jacob,
\nAnd the sweet psalmist of Israel:
\n(2) The spirit of Jehovah spake by me,
\nAnd his word was upon my tongue.
\n(3) The God of Israel said,
\nThe Rock of Israel spake to me:<\/p>\n
II. One that ruleth over men righteously,
\nThat ruleth in the fear of God,
\n(4) [He shall be] as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth,
\nA morning without clouds;
\n[When] the tender grass [springeth] out of the earth,
\nThrough clear shining after rain.<\/p>\n
(5) III. Verily my house is not so with God;
\nYet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
\nOrdered in all things, and sure:
\nFor it is all my salvation, and all [my] desire,
\nAlthough he maketh it not to grow.<\/p>\n
(6) IV. But the ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust away,
\nFor they cannot be taken with the hand:
\n(7) But the man that toucheth them
\nMust be armed with iron and the staff of a spear;
\nAnd they shall be utterly burned with fire in [their] place.\u20142 SA. 23:1\u20137.<\/p>\n
Jehovah\u2019s Choice of David and its Significance. Three passages gather about the person of the great king himself. They contain prophetic views of his own consciousness and that of his age as to the character of his royal line. The connection between David and Jehovah was so close and intimate, the fidelity of the monarch to his God was so marked, and the consequent justice, peace, and prosperity of his reign were so evident, that all constituted a pledge for the future which could not but be cherished. The monarchy now would be permanent. The family now occupying it would be continued there. It is to build a house for Jehovah wherein he will dwell in the midst of his people. The prophet could not overlook the manifest defects of David\u2019s reign and those of his successors. He, as well as they, would suffer punishment, which for them would be chastisement coming through the disasters and difficulties besetting the State. It was nevertheless impossible that the divine mercy should not rule more permanently and potently than the wrath. The Davidic line absorbs into itself, in the ideal picture, the life of the State and the religion. It represents all that is vital and energizing in the body politic; it is the source of power and blessing. It is the object and channel of Jehovah\u2019s favor. Its relation to Jehovah is that of sonship. Nothing higher appears in the prophet\u2019s vision. The future, therefore, is secure to it and in its hands. The seer beholds all this prospect unfolding before David himself, who is assured an everlasting future of ultimate triumph in the house which, under Jehovah\u2019s favor, he is now to establish.<\/p>\n
4. ROYAL PSALMS<\/p>\n
In the Book of Psalms are songs which glorify the conception of kingship as now established in Israel, and by their lofty outlook, bold imagery, and sweeping utterances belong to the literature of \u201cpreparation.\u201d The most important among them are Psalms 2; 24:7\u201310; 45; 72; 110.
\nWhen we consider these Psalms from the point of view which we have chosen, viz. the historical, it is seen that some important modifications must be made in the ordinary conception of them.
\nHistorical Background of these Psalms. (1) They are inspired by definite historical situations, belonging to the singer\u2019s own time, or to a past with which he is familiar. It is by no means easy, in the case of all these Psalms, to determine this historical situation, and in the case of some quite impossible. This is not strange, since it is the function of poetry to generalize incidents, facts, and persons, and to see particulars in the light of more general principles. Thus the king, in whose honor these hymns are sung, may have been David or some one of his descendants upon the throne, in connection with whom the bard felt that the glorious anticipations and hopes that filled his heart might be realized.
\nAn excellent example of this is found in the forty-fifth Psalm, probably a marriage hymn sung in honor of one of these kings, in which the joyful occasion is made the vehicle for a series of magnificent and far-reaching pictures. Scholars have differed as to which king was meant. Some have thought of the marriage of Solomon with the princess of Egypt; others of the marriage of Joram with Athaliah. The historical references in the poem are too indefinite to permit a categorical conclusion on these points.
\nThe second Psalm is still less susceptible of reference to an exact historical occasion. The situation is that of the Israelitish king ruling over a vast territory, against whom his tributaries are planning to rise in rebellion, but whose authority over them is assured, and proclaimed by Jehovah himself. Here again the situation would not be unsuitable to Solomon or to David, but positive assertion is impossible.
\nPsalm 72 is reasonably assigned to the reign of Solomon. Psalm 24:7\u201310 seems appropriate to David\u2019s bringing of the ark to Mount Zion, and has been thought by some to picture the very occasion of the procession and its entrance into the Holy City. Psalm 110 has the same general character as the second Psalm. While presumably addressed to a king about to lead his army against the enemy, and promising him victory in the campaign, its expressions are too wide-reaching to obtain from them any definite reference.
\nThus each of these Psalms rests on a solid background of historical life, and it is only the method of the writer and our ignorance of the time in which he wrote that prevent us from determining the exact details of the historical situation.
\nTheir Authorship. (2) The Davidic authorship of the Book of Psalms evidently cannot be sustained. Such a psalm as the second, for example, is made up of four parts, the fourth part, vss. 10\u201312, summing up the whole, being undoubtedly written, not by a king, but by some one who admonishes the rebels to make their peace with the king. Verses 7\u20139 are dramatically put into the mouth of the king, just as vs. 6 is put into the mouth of Jehovah. Psalm 110, whatever may be the application that later prophets have given to it, was evidently written by a prophet concerning a king, for it begins, \u201cJehovah said unto my lord,\u201d i.e. \u201cking.\u201d It is now quite generally recognized that while David was regarded as the \u201csweet singer of Israel\u201d and a writer of psalms, the majority of the poems of the Psalter are not from his hand.
\nTheir Messianic Character. (3) It is involved in this point of view that the psalmists have not in mind the historical Jesus. To them the anointed, the Messiah, of whom they sing, is a personage within their own ken and time, from whose achievements and in whose career they expect to be realized the wondrous anticipations which they describe. It is precisely because their anticipations at this definite point and in this limited application were not realized, that we can speak of messianic elements or \u201cforeshadowings\u201d in connection with them. The very \u201corientalism\u201d of the style which, in praising historical personages, glorifies them in extravagant hyperbole, lends itself, under divine direction, to expressions which prepare the way for other and larger interpretations than the writers themselves intended. Yet these expressions are, at the same time, manifestations of the exalted insight of prophets who believed in the purpose and power of Jehovah thus to bless His people.<\/p>\n
(a) The Warrior King<\/p>\n
(1) I. Jehovah saith unto my lord, \u201cSit thou at my right hand,
\nUntil I make thine enemies thy footstool.\u201d
\n(2) Jehovah shall send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion:
\n\u201cRule thou in the midst of thine enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n
(3) II. Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power:
\nIn the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
\nThou hast the dew of thy youth.<\/p>\n
(4) III. Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent,
\n\u201cThou art a priest for ever
\nAfter the order of Melchizedek.\u201d<\/p>\n
(5) IV. The Lord at thy right hand
\nShall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
\n(6) He shall judge among the nations,
\nHe shall fill [the places] with dead bodies;
\nHe shall strike through the head in many countries.
\n(7) He shall drink of the brook in the way:
\nTherefore shall he lift up the head.\u2014Ps. 110.<\/p>\n
(b) The Enthroned King<\/p>\n
(1) I. Why do the nations rage,
\nAnd the peoples imagine a vain thing?
\n(2) The kings of the earth set themselves,
\nAnd the rulers take counsel together,
\nAgainst Jehovah, and against his anointed, [saying,]
\n(3) \u201cLet us break their bands asunder,
\nAnd cast away their cords from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
(4) II. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
\nThe Lord shall have them in derision.
\n(5) Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
\nAnd vex them in his sore displeasure:
\n(6) \u201cYet I have set my king
\nUpon my holy hill of Zion.\u201d<\/p>\n
(7) III. I will tell of the decree:
\nJehovah said unto me, \u201cThou art my son;
\nThis day have I begotten thee.
\n(8) Ask of me, and I will give [thee] the nations for thine inheritance,
\nAnd the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
\n(9) Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;
\nThou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter\u2019s vessel.\u201d<\/p>\n
(10) IV. Now therefore be wise, O ye kings:
\nBe instructed, ye judges of the earth.
\n(11) Serve Jehovah with fear,
\nAnd rejoice with trembling.
\n(12) Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way,
\nFor his wrath will soon be kindled.
\nBlessed are all they that put their trust in him.
\n\u2014Ps. 2.<\/p>\n
(c) The Royal Bridegroom<\/p>\n
(1) I. My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter:
\nI speak the things which I have made touching the king:
\nMy tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
\n(2) Thou art fairer than the children of men;
\nGrace is poured into thy lips:
\nTherefore God hath blessed thee for ever.<\/p>\n
(3) II. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one,
\nThy glory and thy majesty.
\n(4) And in thy majesty ride on prosperously,
\nBecause of truth and meekness [and] righteousness:
\nAnd thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
\n(5) Thine arrows are sharp;
\nThe peoples fall under thee;
\n[They are] in the heart of the king\u2019s enemies.
\n(6) Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:
\nA sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
\n(7) Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness:
\nTherefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee
\nWith the oil of gladness above thy fellows.<\/p>\n
(8) III. All thy garments [smell of] myrrh, and aloes, [and] cassia;
\nOut of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad.
\n(9) Kings\u2019 daughters are among thy honourable women:
\nAt thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
\n(10) Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;
\nForget also thine own people, and thy father\u2019s house;
\n(11) So shall the king desire thy beauty:
\nFor he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
\n(12) And the daughter of Tyre [shall be there] with a gift;
\nEven the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
\n(13) The king\u2019s daughter within [the palace] is all glorious:
\nHer clothing is inwrought with gold.
\n(14) She shall be led unto the king in broidered work:
\nThe virgins her companions that follow her
\nShall be brought unto thee.
\n(15) With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led:
\nThey shall enter into the king\u2019s palace.
\n(16) Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,
\nWhom thou shalt make princes in all the earth.
\n(17) I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations:
\nTherefore shall the peoples give thee thanks for ever and ever.\u2014Ps. 45.<\/p>\n
(d) The Royal Benefactor<\/p>\n
(1) I. Give the king thy judgements, O God,
\nAnd thy righteousness unto the king\u2019s son.
\n(2) He shall judge thy people with righteousness,
\nAnd thy poor with judgement.
\n(3) The mountains shall bring peace to the people,
\nAnd the hills, in righteousness.
\n(4) He shall judge the poor of the people,
\nHe shall save the children of the needy,
\nAnd shall break in pieces the oppressor.
\n(5) They shall fear thee while the sun endureth,
\nAnd so long as the moon, throughout all generations.
\n(6) He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass:
\nAs showers that water the earth.
\n(7) In his days shall the righteous flourish;
\nAnd abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.<\/p>\n
(8) II. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
\nAnd from the River unto the ends of the earth.
\n(9) They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him;
\nAnd his enemies shall lick the dust.
\n(10) The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents:
\nThe kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
\n(11) Yea, all kings shall fall down before him:
\nAll nations shall serve him.
\n(12) For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth;
\nAnd the poor, that hath no helper.
\n(13) He shall have pity on the poor and needy,
\nAnd the souls of the needy he shall save.
\n(14) He shall redeem their soul from oppression and violence;
\nAnd precious shall their blood be in his sight:<\/p>\n
(15) III. And they shall live; and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba:
\nAnd men shall pray for him continually;
\nThey shall bless him all the day long.
\n(16) There shall be abundance of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains;
\nThe fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon:
\nAnd they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
\n(17) His name shall endure for ever;
\nHis name shall be continued as long as the sun:
\nAnd men shall be blessed in him;
\nAll nations shall call him happy.\u2014Ps. 72.<\/p>\n
(e) Jehovah, the King in Zion<\/p>\n
(7) I. Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
\nAnd be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors:
\nAnd the King of glory shall come in.<\/p>\n
(8) II. Who is the King of glory?<\/p>\n
III. Jehovah strong and mighty,
\nJehovah mighty in battle.<\/p>\n
(9) IV. Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
\nYea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors:
\nAnd the King of glory shall come in.<\/p>\n
(10) V. Who is this King of glory?<\/p>\n
VI. Jehovah of hosts,
\nHe is the King of glory.\u2014Ps. 24:7\u201310.<\/p>\n
Essential Ideas. The important and central topics with which these Psalms deal may be summed up under three heads: (1) Jehovah\u2019s relation to the monarchy. (2) The position and prospects of the king. (3) The future of the nation under the monarchy.
\n(1) Jehovah himself is the King from whom all Israelite kingship derives, and in his palace in Zion (Ps. 24:7\u201310) he legitimatizes all his earthly representatives (Ps. 2:7; 110:1; 45:6, 7).
\n1. Jehovah\u2019s Reation to the Monarchy. The righteous character and deeds of Jehovah are recognized as lying at the basis of the kingdom. In Psalm 45:7, it is the uprightness of the king that has secured for him the favor of Jehovah. In Psalm 72:1, the king as the representative of Jehovah is to be clothed with divine justice that he may thus rule uprightly and forever.
\nJehovah is at the same time the king\u2019s helper in war (Ps. 110:5). He has established the kingdom by his divine decree so that it shall not be removed (Ps. 2:6\u20138). In Psalm 24:7\u201310, he is also represented as coming into the city, which is at the same time the political centre and capital of the kingdom, to dwell in his holy place.
\n2. The Position and Prospects of the King. (2) The king is a victorious warrior whose campaigns are carried on in all the earth and are everywhere successful (Ps. 45:4, 5; 72:9; 110:6, 7). As king he is the favorite of Jehovah. The monarchy is of God\u2019s own creation, and to this he himself testifies publicly. The occupant is declared to be his son (Ps. 2:6, 7). He sits at the right hand of Jehovah (Ps. 110:1), and in his warlike expeditions Jehovah moves at his right hand to punish his enemies (Ps. 110:5). The interpretation of Psalm 45:6 is not easy, but in view of the representations which have just been given, it is not unlikely that the intimate and close relation between Jehovah and the king is likewise referred to. The occupant of the throne is even called God himself. Or, if that seems too hyperbolical, his throne is denominated a divine throne, divine in its character or its permanence (cf. R. V. margin).
\nThe righteous character of the monarchy is a fundamental trait in it. Reference has already been made to this in the preceding paragraphs. The king sits upon the holy hill of Zion, and he rules in justice and mercy over all his subjects (Ps. 45:4, 6, 7; 72:2, 4) and in this righteousness he appears a merciful deliverer to those who need deliverance, and about him gather the prayers and praises of those whom he has thus blessed (Ps. 72:12\u201315). The king is to possess a priestly character (Ps. 110.). His army consists of a body of warriors clad in holy garments. He himself is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The reference to Melchizedek, of course, connects itself with the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, where he is represented as both king and priest. The Israelitish king is to continue in the same line of succession in the same royal city. He is to unite the offices of king and priest, blessing in the name of Jehovah and receiving tithes. The war in which he engages with his followers is a holy war. He sits upon the \u201choly hill of Zion\u201d (Ps. 2:6).
\nStriking terms are used to indicate the duration of the monarchy. It is to be forever (Ps. 110:4); as long as the sun (Ps. 72:17); unto all generations, for ever and ever (Ps. 45:16, 17).
\n3. The Future of the Nation under the Monarchy. (3) Its material development is to be unparalleled. The ground is to yield abundantly, even to the tops of the mountains. The population is to be like the grass of the earth (Ps. 72:16). The people are utterly devoted to their king. The flower of the youth offer themselves to his service (Ps. 110:3). The nation under the leadership of its king shall extend its sway over all the earth, and from the ends of the world tribute shall be received (Ps. 72:8\u201311). The king\u2019s armies shall go to and fro in the earth, beating down wickedness (Ps. 110:6). In the second Psalm the universal sway is represented as already an accomplished fact. When a rebellion against this authority is threatened, with all the greater force the poet emphasizes the fact that such a rebellion is worse than useless, since the king upon Zion has been divinely determined as universal monarch. Let all peoples, therefore, hasten to make their peace with him (Ps. 2:7\u201312). And as thus dominating over the affairs of the world the monarchy will bring in the reign of peace till the moon be no more (Ps. 72:7). This authority will be gained also through friendly union with the surrounding peoples, whose representatives shall merge their individuality in Israel\u2019s supremacy. In the marriage of the king with a foreign princess the poet beheld the promise of this unlimited sway (Ps. 45:9\u201317).
\nSummary. III. In summing up the study of this period, the following suggestions deserve consideration:\u2014
\n(a) It cannot be too steadily kept in mind that there is no evidence in this material that the references are to any other than historical persons, and, for the most part, to particular kings, though we are unable to determine precisely the exact reference in each case. The message that the prophet brings is intended for his own time primarily. The hopes gather about the persons of these kings. We may realize from this point of view what elements of blessing were felt by the nation to centre in the monarchy, especially with what ardent affection the people regarded David, that these wide-reaching hopes settled themselves upon members of the Davidic house. The condition of anarchy and hopelessness out of which the monarchy lifted the people, and the height of security and prosperity to which the nation attained under it, are therein amply illustrated. No wonder, then, that to this house exaltation and permanence were attached. In a very real sense now for the first time and in connection with the beginnings of the monarchy is the foundation laid for messianic prophecy in actual historical events. In the splendid facts of David\u2019s and Solomon\u2019s reigns were yet more splendid promises. Prophecy, united to the throne by a common attachment to Jehovah, had now come into being and from the first began to look forward to the future and to anticipate a more glorious day.
\n(b) But this lofty anticipation in joining itself to successive members of the Davidic line was constantly failing of realization. Solomon did not become the Messiah expected, and king after king passed away with the future still concealing the expected blessing. Yet ever the disappointed hope renews its youth and clothes a new figure in the brightness which has faded from the present. The monarchy itself as an institution realized in the Davidic house was felt to be a permanent institution of blessing. No doubt is felt that the light is to break forth from that source. The qualities of true kingship are to realize themselves in it. No nation of antiquity possessed so high an ideal of kingship, so wonderful a conception of the essential duties and characteristics of monarchy, as did Israel. One may well ponder carefully this conception, in its various elements, its demand for justice, mercy, righteousness, and peace.
\n(c) To determine the source of this appreciation of monarchy in Israel is to uncover again the essential foundation of Israel\u2019s life, exhibited here in a somewhat more definite form. The living, active, energizing Jehovah is the life, the centre, and the soul of these ideals of monarchy. As in the preceding period the prophets saw him as the founder and leader of the nation, its lawgiver and judge, so now they behold in him the ideal king from whom all kingship derives, who gives authority to Israel\u2019s royal line. In this period the conception of Jehovah as king attains fulness and color. The monarchy, regarded as established by him, reflects back upon him something of its definiteness and beneficence. His sovereignty is emphasized. The quality of righteousness, revealed to Moses as essential and central in his character, now clothes his kingship, and from him, as king, passes to his earthly representative and son, the king in Israel. Hence the glorious picture of monarchy in Israel; hence the undying hope of its beneficent sway over all the nations of the earth throughout all time. The prophets who are near to Jehovah, whose faith rises to him through all earthly limitations, do not hesitate to ascribe to his royal representatives the highest achievements, the widest authority, the finest justice and beneficence.
\n(d) It is now possible from this point of view to discern the foreshadowings of this period. Its eternal background is the prophetic faith in Jehovah as the lord of all, the eternal, righteous ruler. Its centre is the Davidic monarchy, the single figures of which, clothed in all the idealization of the prophet\u2019s inspired expectation and the singer\u2019s insight, appear and pass away, leaving the realization still unrealized, the ideal abiding. David and Solomon and all their line were gone, but the image and expectation of what they might have been, of what the monarchy could attain, outlived them and became the heritage of the future.<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES: (a) the stages in the occupation of Canaan; (b) the difficulties of settlement, (1) internal, (2) external; (c) meaning of the \u201cJudge\u201d; (d) outcome of the age in politics, society, and religion. Ewald, Hist. of Israel, II, pp. 269\u2013408; Stanley, Lects. on the Hist. of the Jewish Church, Lects. 13\u201317; Kittel, Hist. of the Hebrews, II, pp. 60\u2013102; Kent, Hist. of Hebrew People, I, pp. 59\u201398; Smith, Prophets of Israel, Lect. I; McCurdy, History, Prophecy, and the Monuments, II, pp. 106\u2013143.
\n2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY: (a) the service of Samuel, of Saul, of David, of Solomon; (b) the twofold conception of its origin in 1 Sam. 1\u201315. H. P. Smith, Comm. on Samuel (in Intern. Crit. Comm.), Introduction; Kent, Hist. of Hebrew People, I; Wellhausen, Sketch of the Hist. of Israel, pp. 36\u201356; Stanley, Lectures, etc., I, Lect. 18; McCurdy, History, Prophecy, and the Monuments, I, pp. 238\u2013253.
\n3. PROPHECY: (a) its origin; (b) its relation, (1) to Jehovah, (2) to the State, (3) to the priesthood, e.g. in Samuel. Cornill, Proph. of Israel, pp. 1\u201328; Orelli, O. T. Proph., pp. 1\u201350; Briggs, Mess. Proph., pp. 1\u201333; G. A. Smith, Book of the XII Prophets, I, pp. 11\u201329.
\n4. THE BOOK OF PSALMS: (a) organization; (b) history; (c) authorship; (d) literary character; (e) religious attitude and ideas characteristic of them. Perowne, The Psalms, Introduction; Kirkpatrick, The Psalms, Introduction; Encyc. Brit. art. \u201cPsalms\u201d; Davison, Praise Songs of Israel; Robertson, Origin and Religious Contents of the Psalter.
\n5. THE COVENANT WITH DAVID: (a) is the application individual or institutional? (b) the date and affiliations of the oracle; (c) its importance in the history of messianic prophecy. Cf. Briggs, Mess. Proph., p. 130; Orelli, O. T. Proph., pp. 150\u2013152.
\n6. DAVID IN THE NEW TESTAMENT: (a) passages in the Gospels collected and compared; (b) passages in the Epistles; (c) light thrown on conceptions of the time respecting O. T. prophecy; (d) permanent value of the N. T. interpretation.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER IV<\/p>\n
MESSIANIC HOPES IN THE TIME OF THE EARLIER PROPHETS<\/p>\n
The Literature. I. The age which opened with the disruption of the empire of David and Solomon into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah saw also the beginnings of a vigorous and splendid literary activity. Prophetic and priestly circles were the scene of this new movement. Oral tradition, in the presence of the opening world and its varied interests, began to decline, and both prophet and priest perceived the necessity as well as the usefulness of organizing these invaluable memorials, and putting them beyond the danger of perishing by reducing them to writing. Many books were written which have been utterly lost; some have come down only in fragments which later writers have preserved. Such were the poetical compilations known as the Book of Jashar and the Book of the Wars of Jehovah. Poetry. Others were books of laws like the so-called Book of the Covenant. Still others dealt with the stories of the heroic age of the Judges, or with the materials which had accumulated about the careers of the three great kings, Saul, David, and Solomon. They have been preserved in part by the compilers of the present Books of Judges, Samuel, and the Kings.
\nProphetic historical Books. Somewhat later than these, two books were compiled, in which the traditions of the nation\u2019s earliest age were gathered and arranged in historical order. The earlier of these was the so-called J document produced in Judah; the later was the document E, which seems to have appeared in Northern Israel. Both now form part of the present Pentateuch. At most they are not more than a century apart, and the significant fact about them is that both interpret these early traditions in the light of the prophetic ideas of the time. Reference has already been made to the inspiring outlooks and the sound moral ideas cherished by these seers. In their eyes the rude and fragmentary relics of the national past are transfigured.
\nWritten Prophecy. Such books as these prepared the way for an outburst of individual prophetic activity, even more impressive and potent. In crises of the national history, now becoming more frequent, great teachers appeared whose messages, so opposed to the spirit of the age, were put in written form as a testimony to future generations of the reality of their prophetic impulse and the truth of their words. These prophetic books witness both to the unwavering faith in Jehovah, the progress of his revelation to his servants, and the grandeur of the thoughts they cherished. They are Israel\u2019s most precious bequest to the world.
\nThe Literary Problem. The attention which these writings received in Israel, the care with which they were preserved, and the enthusiasm with which they were studied by the many followers of their teachings who were raised up by them in the prophetic circles,\u2014all this has made the prophetic books as they now stand in our Bibles a great literary jungle, in which the original growth has been enlarged, pruned, grafted with new shoots, until the problem of the literary origin and relationship of the several elements of each prophetic writing is a very complicated one. Early prophecies have been expanded in the spirit of a later age, interpreted in the light of new experiences, completed to form a more symmetrical whole. Fragments of oracles whose authorship was unknown were connected with collections of prophecies of known authors, later prophets wrote in the spirit and in the name of earlier masters, or described the episodes in their lives. Modern scholarship, moving with caution and with the exercise of recognized scientific canons of judgment, has sought, and succeeded in part, in disentangling this maze and recovering in this field, as in that of the Pentateuch and the Historical Books, the original writings of greater prophets whose names head the several prophetical books of the Old Testament.
\nLeaders among these writing prophets, the first of the long line, were the heroic figures of Amos and Hosea, whose books are the earliest of the collection known as the Minor Prophets. Their appearance and work is to be understood only by a study of the course of Hebrew history since the days of Solomon.
\nHistorical Progress from the Disruption to the Overthrow of Israel, 937\u2013722 B. C. II. The glorious period of David and Solomon was all too brief, and the dream which they cherished was realized in a very different manner from that which they would have desired. Their kingdom became a glorious ideal inspired by religion and painted by prophets in glowing colors. The breaking up of the temporary unity followed immediately on the death of Solomon (937 B.C.), when the flower of the nation, the tribes of the north, cast off the sway of the Judean weakling and would-be tyrant Rehoboam, and continued what they believed to be the true succession of the kingdom of Israel under the leadership of their rightfully elected king, Jeroboam, inspired thereto by prophets and conscious of the rectitude of their cause.
\n1. Results of the Disruption. 1. The consequences, however, were fateful, both for good and evil. Disunion took the place of harmonious action of all the tribes, and that at a time when, in the face of the Aram\u00e6ans of Damascus and the mightier enemies that `lay behind to the east, united effort alone could hope to be successful in maintaining the nation. All the advantages of community in modifying local peculiarities and in removing local weaknesses were brought to nought, and the beneficent influence of a united religious life was forever destroyed. Each kingdom now went its own way, working out the heritage of the past as local and temporal interests suggested.
\nOn the other hand, with the new life manifesting itself in the Oriental nations in the far East, especially in Assyria, there was slight hope that even a united Israel could long make headway against such overwhelming odds. Thus there was greater likelihood of one or the other of the smaller kingdoms surviving the shock of Assyrian conquest. All the advantage, also, that came from the competition of two peoples living side by side, with parallel interests, all the variety that local impulses gave to the development of a common stock of social and religious traditions, found opportunity through the disruption to realize themselves.
\nParticularly in religion is this fact important. A united Israel with strong central authority, with the political aims that David and Solomon cherished, would have afforded nothing like the free field for the unique outworking of the ideals of the religion of Jehovah which was actually secured through the disruption. Prophetism, for example, demanded freedom to speak out the truth learned from personal communion with Jehovah. But free speech was not consonant with a Solomonic r\u00e9gime. One of the prime causes of the disruption was the outbreaking of the free spirit in northern Israel, where the nomadic tendencies toward independence had been less overpowered by the centralization of the court; and it is precisely in northern Israel that now the religion of Jehovah takes fresh root and plays its glorious part during this new period of a century and a half. It is not a matter of chance, then, nor one difficult of explanation, that the time of the early prophets is a period in which the interest centres about the kingdom of northern Israel.
\nThe history of the northern kingdom falls naturally into four periods: (1) Establishment and organization (937\u2013889 B.C.); (2) the dynasty of Omri (889\u2013842 B.C.); (3) the dynasty of Jehu (842\u2013740 B.C.); (4) decline and fall (740\u2013722 B.C.).
\nReligion received its character in the first period. Its strength and weakness are derived from the political and social elements which marked the formation of the kingdom. It was in a sense a retrogression, since it returned in some measure to that local and independent character which was shown in the formative period of the nation\u2019s history, and out of which David and Solomon had sought to lift the people by the centralization of worship at Jerusalem. Religion never stood so steadily behind the monarchy, and never became so imposing a fact in the life of the nation, in the north as in the south. Along with that independence there also came back the tendencies to the old agricultural symbolism of worship, the images, from which it seems the Judean worship had largely freed itself. The religious question, indeed, was a much more complicated one in northern Israel, where the country was larger, and the variety of population and interests greater in comparison with the limited and united territory and people of Judah, where religious centralization was easily accomplished. But, on the other hand, problems of tremendous import were set and solved in the north of which the south never dreamed. The north was the battle-ground where was fought out the struggle which resulted in the victory of the prophetic conception of Jehovah. Had it not been for the religious life of the northern kingdom, with its checkered career and its striking vicissitudes, there would have been no Isaiah and no Jeremiah.
\n2. The Work of Elijah and Elisha. 2. The first religious crisis in the northern kingdom connects itself with the second period, the epoch of the vigorous dynasty of Omri. With this king the monarchy settled itself firmly in its seat. A new capital was established at Samaria. Moab was reconquered, and a dynasty was founded which lasted for three generations. It is significant that in the Assyrian inscriptions Israel is called \u201cthe land of Omri.\u201d The Ph\u0153nician alliance was established in imitation of the brilliant foreign policy of David and Solomon, and the son of Omri, Ahab, received Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Tyre, as a wife. Another element in the foreign policy was the reconciliation with Judah which Ahab accomplished, his daughter being given in marriage to the son of Jehoshaphat.
\nForeign alliances meant the recognition of foreign religions; thus Ph\u0153nician Baalism appeared in Israel, fostered by the royal court. It is unlikely that Ahab had any notion of supplanting by a new religion the worship of Jehovah, consecrated by ancestral tradition and national history. But the cult of Jehovah in northern Israel, as has already been noticed, was more closely associated with the local and agricultural nature worships, and also had not yet rooted itself as an organized ritualism after the manner of the Jerusalem temple worship in Judah. It was now brought into competition with the highly organized Baal worship of Ph\u0153nicia, itself the sublimation of Canaanite nature worship, backed by the patronage of the queen. What wonder, then, that the imposing ceremonial and seductive ritual tremendously overbore the national cult! It was Jehovah or Baal, with the odds immensely in favor of the latter, and the victory was almost gained for the Ph\u0153nician god.
\nElijah. But the very freedom of the field in Israel gave an opportunity for the assertion of individual faith and the clearer proclamation of higher truth respecting Jehovah. A man appeared for the occasion, filled with the prophetic spirit\u2014Elijah. His work consisted essentially in two things: (1) the uncompromising assertion that there could be no union between Jehovah and Baal, Jehovah\u2019s exaltation above the natural world, the insistence on his righteous judgment, as illustrated in the prophet\u2019s condemnation, in Jehovah\u2019s name, of the unholy murder of Naboth; (2) the vindication of Jehovah\u2019s absolute supremacy, though king and people lean to the other side. This is the first religious schism for Israel, the first jar given to that splendid faith in the oneness of Jehovah and his people. \u201cStand for or against him,\u201d was Elijah\u2019s war-cry. \u201cHowever you stand, he remains supreme,\u201d was his revolutionary corollary which was to introduce a higher stage of Israel\u2019s religion. No wonder he has become the type of the Messiah\u2019s forerunner! In freedom-loving Israel alone could such a divine inspiration have been proclaimed.
\nElisha. The years that followed Elijah were years of disaster for Israel. The perennial feud between Damascus and Israel, with its varying success, inclining, however, chiefly to the side of the former, brought a strain upon the people which was almost unbearable. Right in the midst of it came the sudden change of dynasty which placed Jehu on the throne (842 B.C.). It is clear that the religious revolution which Elijah set in motion had its part in this political upheaval, and succeeded thereby in removing forever the danger of the supremacy of Ph\u0153nician Baalism. But the almost equally difficult problem remained of establishing and purifying the Jehovah worship, now in the ascendant; this must be done in the face of the desolating and devastating Syrian wars. The instrument of Jehovah was found in the person of the disciple of Elijah\u2014Elisha. He recognized his duty in relation to Elijah\u2019s work as modified by the new circumstances. Hardly had Jehu been firmly seated when the Syrian wars broke out, which lasted for thirty years (ca. 835\u2013803 B.C.) and brought the nation low. It was this prophet\u2019s task to maintain the spirit and courage of the nation, from king to peasant, to carry Israel through these weary years. His methods were partly political. He was court adviser. He was in touch with the people as well, and made them feel that Jehovah was with them. He thought it the time, not to denounce, but to encourage; not to break down, but to build up. At the time of his death the battle was almost won. Syria never afterward proved a dangerous foe, and Israel was henceforth devoted to Jehovah.
\n3. From Jeroboam II to the End. 3. The splendid reign of Jeroboam II (781\u2013740 B.C.) was Elisha\u2019s justification. The latter had, indeed, no special crisis in religion to meet, such as presented itself to Elijah. He has left us no definite body of teaching, no new light on Jehovah\u2019s character and purposes. His work was largely for the time, and events over which he had no control made his endeavor futile within twenty-five years after his death.
\nThe nation rapidly degenerated. Assyria left no time to Israel for reform or repentance after the great Damascus war had ceased. Elisha\u2019s prophetic followers, the school of optimists which he may have founded, could not take heart in view of the threatening situation, and they, too, may have become corrupt. A new application of the revolutionary thought of Elijah was now needful on a larger scale, in the face of Assyria\u2019s overpowering might. There were those who were ready to make this application. It opened a new epoch of Israel\u2019s religious history and introduced the earlier written prophecies.
\n4. The Situation of Israel at the Close of this Age. 4. The elements of the age which saw the decline and disappearance of the kingdom of Israel and which conditioned the work of the new prophets may be summed up as follows:\u2014
\nSocial Disorganization. (1) Social disorganization was the practical outcome of the wars with Damascus. These wars, carried on as they were by periodical inroads into Israelitish territory, involving the destruction of the crops and the wasting of the country, brought ruin to the agricultural class, the bulwark of the national life. They emphasized also the military element in the nation and conditioned the qualities of the occupant of the throne. He must be a general. He must surround himself with soldiers. The ruling classes in the nation became, therefore, brutalized. The court and the capital measured the strength of the nation. The common people were ever more heavily taxed with the burdens of the wars. Whatever profit came from them was reaped by the nobles and the king. Inadequate periods of rest were given for the recovery of the nation. Hence the brilliant reign of Jeroboam II, which coincided with a period of peace when Damascus had been crushed by Assyria, and Assyria herself had gone into temporary eclipse, was really a mockery of prosperity, ready to collapse at the first real pressure brought to bear upon it.
\nAssyrian Advance. (2) Assyria was the power which was to bring this pressure to bear, the great monarchy of this age, whose steady advance into the West from the time of Ashurnatsirpal (884\u2013860 B.C.) foreboded the subjugation of all Syria, should it be unable to present a united front to the assailant. For a while union was secured. Shalmaneser II (860\u2013824 B.C.), after his long and tremendous series of contests with the Syrian states, succeeded, indeed, in carrying away the empty honors of victory, but at the expense of almost exhausting Assyria. Rammannirari III (811\u2013782 B.C.) renewed the aggressive policy just in time to deliver Israel from the last crushing blow of Damascus, and carried his arms to the border of Egypt, only to have the empire again fall into disorder after his death. This latter period of Assyrian quiescence coincides with Jeroboam II\u2019s splendid reign. But no thoughtful man of the times could fail to realize that the Assyrian was only lying in wait, and that his armies must inevitably turn the scale in his favor at last. The Assyrian was not in the field from motives of benevolence or from desires to impose a just authority over western Asia,\u2014his was a military policy with military measures, and with the design of glorifying and enriching Assyria. However magnificent the ultimate result of Assyrian conquest proved to be in carrying the political progress of the world another stage forward, the immediate outcome to these Syrian states was devastation, disaster, and impoverishment. This danger continually hung over Israel during these later years. Indeed the court was probably already entangled in tributary relations with the great empire on the Tigris. There is reason to believe that the dynasty of Jehu had from the first sworn allegiance to Assyria. If so, another heavy burden of tribute and shame must be borne by the people.
\nThe New Religious Position. (3) The religion of Jehovah had won during this century a notable victory. Elijah had succeeded in awakening the nation to the danger of Baalism, and had prepared the way for placing on the throne a king devoted to Jehovah. This faith in Jehovah as the nation\u2019s God had been the one saving, sustaining element during the weary years of the Damascus struggle. It was a cheering outlook on the past opened in this time by the prophetic writers (J and E) whose books have been embodied in our present Pentateuch (cf. p. 12). According to them the fathers had been led by Jehovah, and his promises to them disclosed larger vistas of blessing in the future. The narratives of the origin of the nation and its early history as interpreted by these seers were full of hopefulness and must have elevated the spirits and stirred the hearts of the men of this century.
\nYet these writers, pupils in the school of Elijah, had caught from him the suggestion of Jehovah\u2019s absolute position as over against his people, his uncompromising righteousness,\u2014though they did not altogether grasp its revolutionary bearings. Sin has entered the world through man\u2019s disobedience, is their teaching, whereby woe has fallen upon mankind in Jehovah\u2019s wrath. All down through Israel\u2019s history he had punished the wicked among them. Yet he still remained Israel\u2019s God, protector, and deliverer.
\nThe prospect darkened as time went on. The social and political calamities of the years that followed, the new and threatening complications in society and politics, were still more shattering to the old Jehovah faith. What wonder that religion degenerated into despair on the one hand, and on the other into a brilliantly organized but hollow court ritual, or into gross superstition.
\nOutlooks of the Prophets. III. This was the critical moment in Israel\u2019s history that called forth the two prophets, Amos and Hosea, whose messages were addressed to the people of the northern kingdom. Amos was the earlier, in the reign of Jeroboam II; Hosea had a longer prophetic ministry, reaching beyond the time of Jeroboam II into the last days of the kingdom of Israel.
\nIn general, no reader of their books can fail to observe that they disclose one common characteristic. There is in them an element of turbulence. The events which they reflect are unhappy, grievous. The spirit which breathes through them is discordant, fateful, gloomy. There are mutterings of vengeance, cries of punishment, threatenings of calamity, forecasts of disaster, visions of conflict. Sin and righteousness, truth and error, the oppressed and the oppressor, Jehovah and Baal, are arrayed against each other in conflict.
\nAmos sees not one ray of light or hope for sinful Israel. Hosea finds it breaking through the thick clouds of national disaster and death. In these respects the situation reflects quite definitely the dark outlooks of the Damascus wars and the latter days of the Israelitish kingdom.<\/p>\n
1. JEHOVAH\u2019S UNQUENCHABLE LOVE WILL SPARE ISRAEL<\/p>\n
(8) How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? [how] shall I deliver thee, Israel?
\nHow shall I make thee as Admah? [how] shall I set thee as Zeboim?
\nMine heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together.
\n(9) I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim:
\nFor I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not come in wrath.\u2014HOSEA 11:8, 9.<\/p>\n
2. JEHOVAH RECLAIMS SINFUL ISRAEL AS HIS BRIDE<\/p>\n
(19) And I will betroth thee unto me for ever;
\nYea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness,
\nAnd in judgement, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
\n(20) I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness:
\nAnd thou shalt know Jehovah.
\n(21) And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah,
\nI will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth;
\n(22) And the earth shall answer the corn,
\nAnd the wine, and the oil;
\nAnd they shall answer \u201cJezreel.\u201d
\n(23) And I will sow her unto me in the earth;
\nAnd I will have mercy upon \u201cHer that had not obtained mercy;\u201d
\nAnd I will say to \u201cThem which were not my people,\u201d Thou art my people;
\nAnd they shall say, [Thou art] my God.
\nHOSEA 2:19\u201323 [Heb. 21\u201325].<\/p>\n
3. THE BLESSED STATE OF REPENTANT ISRAEL<\/p>\n
(1) I. O Israel, return unto Jehovah thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
\n(2) Take with you words, and return unto Jehovah: say unto him,<\/p>\n
II. Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render the fruits of our lips,
\n(3) Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses:
\nNeither will we say any more to the work of our hands, [Ye are] our gods:
\nFor in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.<\/p>\n
(4) III. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely:
\nFor mine anger is turned away from him.
\n(5) I will be as the dew unto Israel:
\nHe shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
\n(6) His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.<\/p>\n
(7) IV. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive [as] the corn, and blossom as the vine:
\nThe scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.<\/p>\n
(8) V. Ephraim [shall say], What have I to do any more with idols?
\nI have answered, and will regard him:
\nI am like a green fir tree;
\nFrom me is thy fruit found.\u2014HOSEA 14:1\u20138.<\/p>\n
Analysis of the Material. IV. In analyzing the elements of these prophetic oracles which look forward to brighter and better days, one may note the following points:\u2014
\nJehovah absolute. 1. In the prophet\u2019s outlook for the present and future Jehovah occupies the supreme place. In the contrasts and contradictions, in the disappointments and disillusions of this period, experienced by the prophet, his assurance of the supremacy of Jehovah has remained unshaken, immovable. The nation has disappointed him. Its ideal destiny has not been achieved. His hopes respecting the monarchy have suffered a severe shock, for the king has not been such a benefactor as was expected.
\nIn Righteousness. These prophets, therefore, centre their hopes directly upon him, and not mediately, through some institution or person who is to represent his character and purposes. His absoluteness is clearly declared, and this supreme position displays all the more prominently his essential characteristics. His unbiassed and immovable righteousness receives the strongest kind of expression, particularly in view of the startling doctrine now clearly declared that, in the interests of his righteousness, Jehovah rules all people with equal justice, and in accordance therewith will inflict the penalty for sin upon Israel and Judah, the people of his choice. As the result of the long struggle against the Baal worship of Tyre and the nature worship which still clung to the ancestral ritual of the whole Jehovah worship, the ethical and spiritual demand of the prophetic conception of Jehovah is now for the first time positively and prominently proclaimed.
\n2. But these prophets who hold this doctrine of Jehovah\u2019s world-wide supremacy in righteousness are by no means indifferent to the interests of the people of Jehovah to whom they belong. They are, first of all, patriots, in whom love for country and for God, their country\u2019s God, is supreme. Indeed, it was just the contradiction between the misfortunes of their country and the faithfulness of Jehovah to its interests as manifested in its early history which forced them to seek an explanation and to find it in their emphasis (a) upon that larger life of Jehovah which lifts him above devotion to a single people, and (b) upon that righteous characteristic of his which constrains him to be just, even when the punishment must fall upon his own.
\nIn Love. It led them to a deeper thought. They must picture to themselves a further reality, to which the very justice of Jehovah must bring him. The contradiction is finally and fully to be removed by the fulfilment of the earlier promises to his people. But this can be brought about only by Jehovah himself restoring his people, forgiving their sins, saving them from their calamities. Hence still another light is thrown by these prophets upon the character of Jehovah, Israel\u2019s God. He is God, the Redeemer, the Saviour, in a deeper and more strenuous way than was ever realized before. This is especially the view of Hosea, whose bitter experience prepared him for this deeper insight into Jehovah\u2019s character. As he forgave, restored, and enriched the one who had been unfaithful to him, no less merciful and forgiving will Jehovah be to sinning Israel.
\nExternal Outlooks. 3. Though of far less importance, the objective institutions and the external elements of Israel\u2019s life enter into the prophetic pictures of this age. (a) No one can fail to remark how insignificant a position the monarchy takes in these interpretations and anticipations, as compared with those of the period which just precedes. There the monarchy was the representative of Jehovah and his gracious ministrations to the nation. Here it has failed in its task. Jehovah has found it unequal to his purposes, and himself stands forth as the central figure. This shows, perhaps, a reaction caused by disappointment, yet the old faith was living. In Hosea there are still some anticipations that the monarchy will have its part to perform in the brighter days. He beholds the people returning unto Jehovah and \u201cunto David, their king\u201d (3:5). (b) The nation itself shall suffer in the severity of the discipline to which it is subjected. Hosea suggests that only a portion shall come forth to enter into the gladness of the latter day. It is striking that the new doctrine of Jehovah has opened the way for a new doctrine of his people, which, however, he grasps merely in suggestion, without developing its implications. It is the nation, Israel, that will be pardoned, yet only the nucleus of that nation. (c) In this ideal state, when the house of David shall be restored to rule over a forgiven people, the old land will be reoccupied, and will bloom and blossom as never before. Jehovah\u2019s people will dwell in it forever, and the nations round about shall be in subjection unto them.
\nThe Ideals characterized. V. In summing up the conclusions respecting the teaching of this period, it is possible to make some comparison with the earlier material.
\n1. The spiritualizing of the conceptions is striking. They deal with the interior more than the exterior. In the Davidic period, for example, an institution is exalted\u2014the monarchy. The nation and its God receive their significance from relation to it. Jehovah is the king in the sense of victorious Leader, mighty Lawgiver, exercising judgment in the earth, through the king, his anointed. The nation is to enjoy the blessings of prosperity and victory under the protection of the monarchy and through its successful achievements. But now the blessings and the giver of them are higher and more inward. Jehovah loves and forgives his people.
\n2. The individualizing of the recipients of the divine bounty begins. The solidarity of the nation is weakened. In the breaking down of the oneness of relation between Jehovah and the nation, the thought is dawning that Jehovah may come into individual communication with prophetic souls in such a way that their experiences are thereby to have significance for the nation and the religion. Hosea\u2019s family trial prepares the way for the lifelong agony of Jeremiah. The same characteristic is observable in the conception of the saved nation as consisting of those sons of Israel only who are repentant. At the same time there is a removal of emphasis from the persons or institutions which in former periods were the bearers of future blessings. The institutions which were established in the Mosaic age to be the media of the bringing in of the ideal community have here passed into the shadow. Monarchy, prophecy, priesthood, these diminish before the one source of all their strength\u2014Jehovah.
\n3. Further comparisons might be made with previous periods. How evidently dissatisfaction takes the place of confidence! The assurance that the nation is destined to supremacy, which was observed in the oracles of the Mosaic period, has little place. How vague are the assurances of the prophet, and how far off they are removed!
\n4. One thing only remains, but therein is the ground of hope and light for the future. The prophet\u2019s faith in Jehovah has deepened and broadened. No longer is he merely the background of hope and assurance. He comes to the forefront in a new aspect, better understood, more fully revealed. And in that larger knowledge and intuition lies the \u201cPreparation.\u201d<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. THE BACKGROUND OF THE PROPHETIC ACTIVITY: (a) times of Elijah, 1 Ki. 17\u201319; 2 Ki. 1\u20132:12; (b) times of Elisha, 2 Ki. 2:12\u201313:21; (c) times of Amos and Hosea, 2 Ki. 14:23\u201317:6; (d) elements of the social and political life of the age. Read the histories, eg. Kent, Hist. of Hebrew People, II, Chs. 4\u20138; Kittel, Hist. of the Hebrews, II, Chs. 2\u20134.
\n2. MESSIANIC INTERPRETATIONS of early oracles made by writers of this age studied in the light of this age. Cf. pp. 16\u201327, 35, for the material.
\n3. THE PREPARATION FOR AMOS AND HOSEA: (a) the literary preparation for these prophets as argued from their books (the literary form, etc.); (b) the religious preparation required by their doctrines (ethical standards, legislative materials, etc.); (c) a careful study of the preparation for their messianic ideas based on the statements made in the text (pp. 79\u201390). Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, Ch. III; Kent and Sanders, Messages of the Earlier Prophets, Introduction; H. G. Mitchell, Amos.
\n4. THE BOOKS OF AMOS AND HOSEA: outlines for detailed study of these books will be found in the O. T. Student, VII. pp. 201\u2013207.
\n5. THE NEW TESTAMENT ALLUSIONS to passages in these prophets, especially Hosea 11:1, studied and interpreted with a view to the establishment of principles.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER V<\/p>\n
MESSIANIC HOPES FROM THE TIME OF ISAIAH<\/p>\n
The Literature. I. The book of Isaiah is beset with two obstacles in the way of its study in that, first, its chapters are not all from the same author or period and, second, the pieces belonging to Isaiah, son of Amoz, are not in chronological order. Isaiah. Modern scholarship has labored with a fair measure of success to remove both difficulties. It is now quite generally agreed that chapters 40\u201366 belong to the last years of the exile period or later. To these are added chapters 12; 13; 14:1\u201323; 21:1\u201310, 14\u201317 as being produced in the same age. The order of the sermons of Isaiah, except in a few cases, is reasonably established.
\nMicah. The criticism of Micah is still in some confusion. Chapters 1\u20133, excepting 2:12, 13, are recognized by all to be Micah\u2019s. On the remainder of the book there is much difference of opinion, the tendency being to recognize a larger element of Micah\u2019s original words in the midst of some interpolations and later additions.
\nThe Historical Situation. II. The prophetic activity of Isaiah and, in a less definite sense, that of Micah also, gathers about two great periods: (1) the decline and fall of northern Israel with the accompanying political crisis in Judah in the reign of Ahaz (about 732 B.C.); and (2) the period of the invasion of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (701 B.C.).
\nThe earlier prophets had already begun to recognize the tremendous significance of the king of Assyria as a factor in the life of western Asia, and had sought to interpret it in the light of their faith. In the year 743 B.C., Tiglathpileser III began that series of western expeditions which sealed the fate of Syria. In 738 came the overthrow of the coalition centering about Hamath, at which time the Syrian states, including Damascus under King Rezon and Israel under Menahem, sent tribute.
\nThe Syro-Ephraimitic War. By 735 B.C. the two kings were in revolt and joined in an endeavor to overthrow the king of Judah, apparently with the purpose of compelling the alliance of Judah in the struggle against Assyria. Isaiah had already begun his prophetic work. His call, as it is recorded in the sixth chapter, has been dated in 737, and his sermons in chapters 2\u20135 follow within the next year or two. In connection with the war of defence against Syria and Israel he utters a series of prophecies which we find in chapters 7:1\u20139:7.
\nThe episode and declarations made here present Isaiah\u2019s person and purpose most clearly before us. In the midst of the frantic endeavors of the nations of western Asia to preserve their existence in the face of the Assyrian, and over against their petty feuds with one another, Isaiah calls for a different policy. Judah need not fear, either from Israel or from Damascus. Assyria will attend to them before long. Nor, on the other hand, need they whose God is Jehovah seek for protection with the Assyrian. In Isaiah\u2019s prophetic vision, to become involved with the great nation of the Tigris is not only to evidence want of faith in Jehovah, but also to incur all the misfortunes and disasters that accompany the supremacy of Assyria. If Judah will be content in reliance upon its God to keep clear of all foreign complications and to live in quietness, prosperity and peace will be its portion. This was the prophet\u2019s programme. But the king had already committed himself to the opposite policy. The Assyrian, therefore, as Isaiah sees, will certainly come and desolate the country, bringing privation, darkness, and destruction in his train.
\nDuring the thirty years that followed the Syro-Ephraimitic war a new antagonist of Assyrian oppression came upon the scene, in the person of the Ethiopian king of Egypt, who intrigued with the subject nations of the West to induce them to throw off the yoke of Assyria and unite with Egypt in war with the nation on the Tigris. Unfortunately Egyptian promises were not fulfilled. The Ethiopian armies were no match for the Assyrian. The rebellious nations, relying on Egypt, were put down with a strong hand and with cruel punishment. Western Asia was a scene of turmoil. As one outcome of it, the kingdom of northern Israel perished in 722 B.C., and the leading classes among its people were deported to the far East. Several Assyrian expeditions advanced to the very border of Egypt, and severely punished rebellious Philistine cities.
\nIsaiah has left few memorials of his work during this time. He seems to have succeeded in holding Judah under Ahaz and under his son and successor, Hezekiah, to allegiance to the Assyrian. Chapter 28:1\u20136 appears to belong some time before 722 B.C. Micah\u2019s first three chapters belong about 722 B.C., or a few years later. Isaiah\u2019s twentieth chapter, dated somewhere about 711 B.C., illustrates a characteristic prophetic mode of enforcing truth, and reveals Isaiah\u2019s insight into the folly of trusting to Egypt for help. It may be that in this period the events occurred which are narrated in chapters 38 and 39. If so, Hezekiah entered into an alliance with the Chald\u00e6an usurper in Babylonia, Merodachbaladan, and may have had to suffer with other rebels when Sargon brilliantly overcame all enemies in East and West. This invasion and punishment of Judah will have occurred in 711 B.C., and there are those who have assigned Isaiah\u2019s sermons in chapters 10; 11; 12; and 22 to this date. The evidence, however, is not sufficient to prove the fact of Sargon\u2019s attack upon Judah, and these chapters more probably belong to a later period.
\nBut even the genius and persuasion of the great prophet were not at last able to hold the somewhat weak king faithful to his oath against the pressure of Egyptizers at his court. There was a change of rulers on the throne of Assyria\u2014a signal for revolts in the dependencies. Egypt redoubled her efforts and Hezekiah yielded. Unknown to Isaiah, but not unsuspected by him, a secret treaty was arranged with the Egyptian king. The yoke of Assyria was thrown off. What Isaiah thought of the move may be read in chapters 29 to 32, which were delivered in or before 702 B.C. They have abandoned his policy of trust in Jehovah and quietness; they are depending on a broken reed in relying on Egypt; the devices of the politicians are well known to Jehovah, though they seek to conceal them with all cunning; a terrible humiliation shall fall upon the city and nation as the outcome of all this folly.
\nSennacherib\u2019s Invasion. Sennacherib came in 701 B.C. His onward march is pictured by the prophet in the brilliant description of the tenth chapter. In chapters 18 and 22 the terrible situation in Judah is probably also described. Just what Sennacherib\u2019s man\u0153uvres were in his advance to the border of Egypt cannot be clearly made out from the varying accounts given in the Old Testament and the Assyrian texts. He certainly received the submission of Hezekiah, who purchased the sparing of Jerusalem with a great tribute. Then marching southward he may have felt the danger of leaving so important a place in the hands of a vassal of whose fidelity he could not be sure, and therefore, apparently in violation of his agreement, demanded the surrender of Jerusalem, sending a detachment of his army to secure it. The consternation which this move caused in Jerusalem, together with the heroic stand of the prophet and the marvellous outcome, is described in chapters 36 and 37. The thirty-third chapter has preserved a sermon which seems to disclose Isaiah\u2019s view of the situation. Assyria, which is the rod in the hands of Jehovah, has forfeited its place by treachery, and Jehovah shall certainly destroy it, and his people shall be protected and preserved.
\nThe Prophetic View of the Future. III. It is evident from the review of his work that Isaiah was profoundly interested in the political life of his nation, and played a large part in it. He lived in a time of great political disturbance. His place was in the court circle at Jerusalem. Like Elijah and Elisha before him, and like Samuel, the founder of the prophetic order and office, he was a statesman. The religious truths which he preached were adapted to the political exigencies of the national life. If ever a prophet was intimately and entirely alive to the demands and tendencies of his own state and times, that prophet was Isaiah. It was in considering the future of the people of his day that visions rose before him which after generations have cherished, and which Christianity has been able to incorporate into its higher revelation.<\/p>\n
1. FUTURE PROSPERITY, PURITY, AND PROTECTION (about 736 B.C.)<\/p>\n
(2) In that day shall the branch of Jehovah be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped from Israel.
\n(3) And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem,
\nShall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
\n(4) When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion,
\nAnd shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgement, and by the spirit of burning.
\n(5) And Jehovah will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies,
\nA cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night:
\n(6) For over all the glory [shall be spread] a canopy. And there shall be a pavilion
\nFor a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain.\u2014ISA. 4:2\u20136.<\/p>\n
2. IMMANUEL THE SIGN OF DELIVERANCE (about 734 B.C.)<\/p>\n
(10) And Jehovah spake again unto Ahaz, saying, (11) Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. (12) But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah. (13) And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also? (14) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (15) Butter and honey shall he eat, when he knoweth to refuse the evil, and choose the good. (16) For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken. (17) Jehovah shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father\u2019s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; [even] the king of Assyria.\u2014ISA. 7:10\u201317.<\/p>\n
3. THE DELIVERER IS BORN (about 734 B.C.)<\/p>\n
(2) I. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
\nThey that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
\n(3) Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy:
\nThey joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
\n(4) For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder,
\nThe rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as in the day of Midian.
\n(5) For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood,
\nShall even be for burning, for fuel of fire.<\/p>\n
(6) II. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given;
\nAnd the government shall be upon his shoulder:
\nAnd his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
\n(7) Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end,
\nUpon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,
\nTo establish it, and to uphold it with judgement and with righteousness
\nFrom henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall perform this.\u2014ISA. 9:2\u20137.<\/p>\n
4. THE RULER COMING FROM BETHLEHEM (perhaps about 701 B.C.)<\/p>\n
(2) But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah,
\nOut of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;
\nWhose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
\n(3) Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth:
\nThen the residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
\n(4) And he shall stand, and shall feed [his flock] in the strength of Jehovah,
\nIn the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God:
\nAnd they shall abide;
\nFor now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
\n(5) And this [man] shall be [our] peace.
\n\u2014MICAH 5:2\u20135a.<\/p>\n
5. THE RIGHTEOUS KING OF UNIVERSAL PEACE (about 701 B.C.)<\/p>\n
(1) I. And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit:
\n(2) And the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him,
\nThe spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
\nThe spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah;
\n(3) And his delight shall be in the fear of Jehovah:
\nAnd he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
\n(4) But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:
\nAnd he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
\n(5) And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.<\/p>\n
(6) II. And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
\nAnd the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
\n(7) And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together:
\nAnd the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
\n(8) And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk\u2019s den.
\n(9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain:
\nFor the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
\n\u2014ISA. 11:1\u20139.<\/p>\n
6. JEHOVAH\u2019S FOUNDATION STONE IN ZION. (before 702 B.C.)<\/p>\n
(14) I. Wherefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem:
\n(15) Because ye have said,
\nWe have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement;
\nWhen the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us;
\nFor we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:<\/p>\n
(16) II. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD,
\nBehold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner [stone] of sure foundation:
\nHe that believeth shall not make haste.
\n(17) And I will make judgement the line, and righteousness the plummet:<\/p>\n
(18) III. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
\nAnd your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand;
\nWhen the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
\n\u2014ISA. 28:14\u201318.<\/p>\n
7. JEHOVAH THE SAVIOUR AND KING OF PURIFIED JUDAH (about 701 B.C.)<\/p>\n
(14) I. The sinners in Zion are afraid;
\nTrembling hath surprised the godless ones.
\nWho among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?
\nWho among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
\n(15) He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly;
\nHe that despiseth the gain of oppressions,
\nThat shaketh his hands from holding of bribes,
\nThat stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood,
\nAnd shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil;
\n(16) He shall dwell on high:
\nHis place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks:
\nHis bread shall be given [him]; his waters shall be sure.<\/p>\n
(17) II. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty:
\nThey shall behold a far stretching land.
\n(18) Thine heart shall muse on the terror:
\nWhere is he that counted, where is he that weighed [the tribute]?
\nWhere is he that counted the towers?
\n(19) Thou shalt not see the fierce people,
\nA people of a deep speech that thou canst not perceive;
\nOf a strange tongue that thou canst not understand.<\/p>\n
(20) III. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities:
\nThine eyes shall see Jerusalem
\nA quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed,
\nstakes whereof shall never be plucked up,
\nNeither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
\n(21) But there Jehovah will be with us in majesty,
\nplace of broad rivers and streams;
\nWherein shall go no galley with oars,
\nNeither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
\n(22) For Jehovah is our judge,
\nJehovah is our lawgiver,
\nJehovah is our king;
\nHe will save us.<\/p>\n
(23) IV. Thy tacklings are loosed;
\nThey could not strengthen the foot of their mast,
\ncould not spread the sail:
\nThen was the prey of a great spoil divided;
\nThe lame took the prey.
\n(24) And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick:
\nThe people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.\u2014ISA. 33:14\u201324.<\/p>\n
8. ZION THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD\u2019S FEDERATION. (after 701 B.C.)<\/p>\n
(1) But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of Jehovah\u2019s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills;
\nAnd peoples shall flow unto it.
\n(2) And many nations shall go and say,
\nCome ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob;
\nAnd he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:
\nFor out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.
\n(3) And he shall judge between many peoples, and shall reprove strong nations afar off;
\nAnd they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks:
\nNation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
\n(4) But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken it.
\n(5) For all the peoples will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and ever.
\n\u2014MICAH 4:1\u20135.<\/p>\n
Isaiah\u2019s Expectations. Isaiah\u2019s contributions to messianic prophecy are not only primarily national, but they take their special direction by reason of the strenuous and stirring age in which Isaiah found himself. They may be gathered up under three words: Isaiah declared that from all her difficulties and distresses, occasioned by nations on every side, Judah would surely obtain deliverance; he was assured in every circumstance, however dark, of the permanence of Zion; he looked forward, after the struggle was over, to a glorious age of peace.
\nDeliverance. 1. Isaiah\u2019s doctrine of deliverance occupies, naturally, a large place in his utterances, for in the face of the nearer approach of the Assyrian, deliverance was the one thing which could encourage the nation.
\n(a) In his thought it comes primarily through Jehovah. One finds this aspect of it in every sermon. In this there is little more than what is offered by Amos and Hosea. An important phase of Isaiah\u2019s conception of this truth, however, is that to him the deliverance which Jehovah grants is seen in affliction and disaster. To the earlier prophet disaster means the vengeance of Jehovah upon sinners, and that being past, the brighter days will come. But Isaiah declares (perhaps not with entire understanding of the import and scope of his statements) that Jehovah saves in the punishment; that he is as really present to deliver in the calamity as he will appear after the calamity to restore and to bless. This might be said to be the first emergence of the higher Hebrew conception of the significance of suffering which reaches its culmination in the mind of the author of Job, and in the unknown writer of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. It is worth while to stop and observe the various shades of this conception of the prophet. In 4:2 it is in the very day of the humiliation of the people described in chapter 3 that the land is, in reality, most prosperous and fruitful. The appearance of the symbolical name of Immanuel in 7:14 and 8:8 is co\u00ebxistent with the dark and desolate experiences of Assyrian invasion. \u201cGod is with us,\u201d not after these pass away, but in them. In 9:1, 2 she that is in anguish is at the same time not in gloom. They that walk in darkness see also a great light. The experiences are contemporaneous. The same doctrine lies beneath the various statements of the reversal of human conditions, accompanied with blessings therein; so in 30:14, 17\u201321 Jehovah is to do a marvellous work in order to manifest his presence. It is, however, not merely a work of punishment, falling upon those who are evil, but the new conditions are to be felt as beneficent and glorious, though ordinarily they would be regarded as lamentable (cf. also 33:15\u201320). The doctrine appears in the most definite form in 30:20\u201321; there the adversity produces insight and piety.
\n(b) Another instrument of deliverance is seen by Isaiah to lie in the human sphere. His close relations, social and political, to the monarchy, appear in his teaching that by it Jehovah will save the state. This interest in the monarchy he shares, as we have seen, with earlier teachers, and he offers nothing new or original in that respect; so, for example, in 32:1, 2. In 33:17 (and perhaps in 28:16) he teaches hardly more than this. To him, also, the line of David is the true source of deliverance and blessing. With the sprout of Jesse in 11:1\u20135 the bright future is connected. Micah, his contemporary, develops the same thought in bringing the future King and Saviour from the old Davidic home (Micah 5:2\u20135).
\nA peculiar development of these general thoughts of Isaiah is, however, seen in the so-called \u201cchild prophecies,\u201d 7:14\u201319; 9:6, 7. In the brilliant picture of chapter 9 the child who occupies the throne of David is to overthrow the enemy, and to rule forever and ever. The names which are given to him describe a personage more glorious than any prophet has hitherto mentioned, except, perhaps, the writer of Psalm 45. Whether the famous Immanuel passages, 7:14\u201317; 8:8, are to be interpreted in the light of this passage as being the preliminary essays toward this more fully developed conception, or whether the child there mentioned merely offered to the prophet a convenient mark of time and symbol of the great new truth of \u201cGod with us\u201d in the hour of darkness and disaster, is a question. The passages, strictly speaking, seem to favor the latter view. There is no definite reference in them to this child Immanuel as the instrument of deliverance.
\nWhich of these two conceptions of deliverance, through Jehovah or through a human instrument, was predominant in Isaiah\u2019s mind is an interesting question, but one on which not very satisfactory light can be thrown. It is, of course, true that they are intimately related, since the human deliverer is only an instrument in the hand of Jehovah, revealing his power. Yet it is significant that the \u201cchild prophecies\u201d gather about the earlier nucleus of Isaiah\u2019s prophetic activity in 732 B.C., while the conception of Jehovah as the source of blessing and hope is the persistent one in both periods, and especially prominent in the sermons preached during the Sennacherib crisis.
\nPermanence. 2. In the contribution of Isaiah to the doctrine of the permanence of the nation and its institutions, especially the religious foundations, there is also nothing essentially new; but the conceptions are more detailed and more definitely presented. It is remarkable how this notion that Zion will endure, that Jerusalem is not to perish, persists throughout all the prophet\u2019s career. It appears in one of his earliest prophecies, 2:2\u20134. It is involved, indeed, in his call, 6:13. In his last sermon it is maintained in a most glowing picture, 33:20\u201322. Connected with it is, of course, the idea of the permanence of the monarchy in passages of which a typical one is 9:7. In 4:5 Jehovah is to reveal himself in Zion in fire and cloud, and to spread over her a canopy for protection. In connection with the invasion of Sennacherib, 31:4, 5, the prophet declares that Jehovah of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and will protect Jerusalem, deliver it, and preserve it. It is probable that the foundation of rock laid in Zion (28:16) is that relation between Jehovah and his people which is revealed to his prophet as assuring the future of Israel and the abiding of his habitation. And in 33:13\u201324 the onset of the enemy has been repulsed, his armies have disappeared, and there rises before the vision of the prophet the Holy City, quiet, permanent, in which the majesty of Jehovah shall be revealed, where they divide the spoil, where all evil has passed away. Psalms 46 and 48 are filled with the same thought. Whether written before or after the critical moment of Jerusalem\u2019s deliverance, they disclose the profound conviction that Jerusalem shall never be destroyed.
\nThe Remnant. 3. In working out the practical details of this permanence of the nation, Isaiah reached one of his most characteristic doctrines, that of the remnant. That the idea was most important to Isaiah appears from the fact that it takes shape in his call, chapter 6, and that one of his sons was named \u201ca remnant shall return.\u201d Again and again reference is made to it in his sermons. There are two points in which he practically contributes to the doctrine: (a) The punishment which the nation is certain to suffer is to draw out, to assist in forming, such a remnant. It is to be made up, not only of those who abide faithful in the midst of general corruption, but also of those who, by the evidence of the divine wrath and vengeance, shall be turned from their evil ways unto Jehovah. The punishment, therefore, is a divine blessing, since, in all these respects, it clears the way and prepares a nucleus for the revelation of the true Israel. (b) Isaiah is not merely content to announce that such a remnant exists, which will be the nucleus of the future nation, but in his practical way he sets about preparing it. The passage, 8:16\u201318, is very significant in this connection. There have been those who have held that here is the beginning of the idea of the church, the body of selected believers. At least this new move of Isaiah is among the first of those endeavors to realize in a particular age of the world the union of the more devoted and faithful of the people of God for the preservation of his truth, and for the spreading abroad of the knowledge of his name.
\nPeace. 4. All the seers of Israel look forward out of their present, whether gloomy or bright, to a golden age of peace. Isaiah is no exception. He, like them, sees this new epoch accompanied by immensely increased fertility in the sphere of nature. The land of Palestine is to be the favored land of all the earth, and there the nation is to dwell in prosperity and peace. His own experience and observation, in the light of the times in which he lived and worked, determine for him the more definite details of his own picture. The greatness of the oriental monarchies on the Tigris and the Nile were manifest to him as not to those who preceded him, and he perceived the comparative insignificance of the kingdom of Judah from the point of view of material resources. This perception determines the form of his vision of the future. To him Israel is not to be a nation conquering the world and ruling all nations with a rod of iron by the might of victorious armies. It will be delivered, indeed, from the tyranny of the enemy, however great his power may seem to be, but the peace which is to ensue is to be mediated through the efforts of God\u2019s people as teachers of the nations.
\nSuch is the profound significance of that which stands in the forefront of the prophet\u2019s sermons, 2:2\u20134, though its original is probably in Micah and its date in the years following on the invasion of Sennacherib. To the purified land swept clean of its enemies, to Mount Zion where Jehovah dwells, nations of the earth will come to learn his law, to accept his judgments, and as the result profound peace shall reign. Nowhere does Isaiah reveal his prophetic insight more clearly or gloriously than in the prospect he holds forth in 19:19\u201325, where Egypt and Assyria, the great antagonists of the people of God, shall be joined together with Israel in holy alliance. \u201cIn that day shall Israel be third, with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.\u201d
\nSummary. IV. The Prophetic Ideals of this age may be characterized as follows:\u2014
\n1. Isaiah\u2019s view of the future was supremely national. The essential element is the permanence of the state. This is both an advantage and a defect. It narrows his outlook, but at the same time it increases the intensity with which he realizes the future. It gives an outwardness to all his ideals, while it makes more vivid the colors in which they are presented. He had clear insight into the sins that affected the body politic, and assailed them with irresistible force. The ideal of salvation was a purification involving the removal of social and political corruption. Law should prevail, justice should be done. A righteous state should come into being.
\n2. The future was bound up with the continuance and glorification of the monarchy. The line of David shall sit upon the throne and rule in righteousness and peace. The days of united Israel seem to have returned. The dark prospect held forth by Amos and Hosea, who say so little about monarchy, is gone. This is again a limitation of Isaiah\u2019s vision. The prophetic order, the priesthood, have no place except as they are a part of the state and instruments of the throne. But the limitation is offset by the most splendid picture of the future monarch that prophet ever gave.
\n3. The days that are to come are days when righteousness shall prevail. The prophet\u2019s soul is aflame with this thought. Jehovah is, for him, the \u201cHoly One of Israel.\u201d The present constitution of things must be shattered because it is corrupt. The remnant that shall come forth is to be holy. Jehovah himself shall purify his people. Nation and ruler shall have their right to be by virtue of revealing and exercising justice. The future world shall be organized around that principle.
\n4. Closely knit as are all these general attitudes of mind, and this insight into realities to the elements of the life in which the prophet found himself, it is perfectly evident that he transcended these in his magnificent visions. He himself supplied, out of the hidden depths of his own communion with the Holy and Majestic One, a foreign, a higher element. Throughout his long ministry he cherished and developed these greater expectations. Disappointed he doubtless was by the slow and painful progress which they seemed to make in the world, yet he never despaired. These visions embodied eternal realities, for whose fulfilment ages were needed. Their form was temporal, and has dropped away; their significance is abiding. The kingly figure whom he discerned on the ever receding horizon at last became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth. The hopes and aspirations centering in him were, in part at least, realized. Immanuel, light in darkness, strength in anguish, the eternity and triumph of righteousness, the glory of the saints, the coming of the King, the reign of peace,\u2014some of these the world has already come to know, for others we, too, still wait.<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. An admirable piece of work preparatory and supplementary to the study of the particular passages which this chapter presents would be the study of Isaiah and Micah as a whole; the forms of presentation, order of sermons, fundamental ideas and teachings, etc. Help to this end will be found in the Inductive Studies of Isaiah and Micah found in the O. T. Student, Vol. VII, and in Kirkpatrick\u2019s Doctrine of the Prophets.
\n2. Other passages of Isaiah dealing with the future collected, studied, and compared with those already taken up, e.g. in chs. 8; 29; 30; 31; 32, etc. Cf. Stearns, Syllabus of Mess. Passages, etc.
\n3. A special study of the Immanuel prophecies in Isaiah (cf. p. 120): (1) collection of passages; (2) organization and analysis; (3) investigation of special problems: (a) the personality of Immanuel, (b) his messianic character and work, (c) Isaiah\u2019s doctrine as gathered from all the passages. Cf. Driver, Isaiah (Men of the Bible) Ch. IV; Orelli, O. T. Proph., p. 264 ff.; W. R. Smith, Proph. of Isr., Lect. VII; G. A. Smith, Isaiah 1\u201339. Cf. Bibliography at end of volume.
\n4. A special investigation of Psalms 46 and 48 as to their fitness to illustrate phases of messianic prophecy of this period. Cf. Briggs, Mess. Proph., p. 213 ff.
\n5. The \u201cForeshadowings\u201d of this age studied in their New Testament citations: (a) the New Testament use of these prophecies analyzed in detail, (b) the relation of the original significance to the New Testament use traced, (c) formulation of principles.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER VI<\/p>\n
MESSIANIC HOPES FROM THE TIME OF JEREMIAH<\/p>\n
The Literature. I. After the brilliant age of Isaiah, his disciples, forced to think and work in quiet during the reign of Manasseh, sowed seeds which ripened into a splendid literary growth in the years that followed. One book, produced in that half century of silence, both indicates the direction in which thought was moving, and also exercised an immense influence upon all the literature that followed. This was what might be called the first edition of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy. the heart of the present book, chapters 5\u201326, whose discovery and its consequences are told in 2 Kings 22 and 23.
\nZephaniah. Zephaniah\u2019s prophecy exhibits the influence of the school of thought represented in Deuteronomy. It belongs to the time of King Josiah, among whose efficient helpers in the work of reformation the prophet was probably one of the earliest. A later writer has added the passage 3:14\u201320, the ideas and point of view of which are those of the last years of the Exile.
\nHabakkuk. Habakkuk appears to have prophesied somewhat later in this age. The so-called \u201cprayer\u201d in the third chapter has so few points of connection with the previous chapters and such elements of similarity to lyrics of the exilic or post-exilic time that it may have been attached to the book by an editor in these periods.1
\nJeremiah. The Book of Jeremiah was in part put together under the immediate direction of the prophet by his helper Baruch (cf. Jer. 36:22). But editorial activity has been exercised upon it so that according to Driver it passed through at least five editions, the later ones produced some time after the prophet\u2019s own day. Historical matter was added and the original prophecies subjected to expansions and glosses. Chapter 10:1\u201316 and chapters 50 and 51 are the most evident examples of material not belonging to Jeremiah. The chronological order of the sermons is not always easy to determine, though the dated chapters are numerous enough to make the material of great value in the study of the history of the times.
\nThe Historical Situation. II. The century that intervened between the last of the messianic addresses of Isaiah and the time of Jeremiah was one full of stirring events in the political world. Assyria, while extending the boundaries of her empire under the leadership of two of her most brilliant kings, was in reality standing still, if not beginning to decline. Esarhaddon undertook the conquest of Egypt, and Ashurbanipal achieved it. The one pierced far into the northeastern mountains. The latter subjugated Elam. Throughout the years of these two kings Judah, doubtless, remained for the most part in a state of vassalage to Assyria. Within the state a lamentable reaction had followed the death of Hezekiah. A Century of Gathering Gloom. Manasseh, his successor, from causes which it is now difficult to discover, the chief being, perhaps, the failure of the great expectations connected with the retirement of Sennacherib from the West, took a religious position in direct antagonism to the higher principles of the prophets, and disclosed what is rare in the history of ancient religions\u2014a spirit of persecution. The disciples of Isaiah were silenced. Tradition has it that the old prophet himself was a victim of the king\u2019s wrath. The lower forms of the worship of Jehovah were favored in all respects and the king\u2019s dependence upon Assyria opened the way for the popularity of Assyrian cults of every sort.
\nIt was not until the accession of Josiah that the violence of the persecution wore itself out and a new order of things was manifest. This new order had its counterpart and perhaps its cause in the course of events outside the nation. After the death of Ashurbanipal Assyria went rapidly to its fall. The dependent province of Babylon fell away, and its Chald\u00e6an ruler united with the king of the newly appearing nation of Media in opposition to the old Assyrian power. Meanwhile, a horde of nomadic peoples came down from the northern mountains and seemed likely to spread destruction over the entire field of western Asia. These were the Scythians. It is not certain how deeply they penetrated into the heart of this region, or how widespread were their devastations, but the fear of them fell upon all the peoples and their presence helped to dissolve the disordered frame of the Assyrian Empire.
\nThe Reformation. Naturally in Judah things Assyrian were at a discount, and among them, Assyrian religion. The persecuted Jehovah prophets of the school of Isaiah came forth to maintain the truth of their master\u2019s words. A reformation began under the new king, and, like all reformations instituted after a period of persecution, was extreme in all its provisions, and rigorously enforced. A programme for it was found when a law book (see p. 129) was discovered and brought to the notice of the king. All things seemed to favor the movement, Assyria was hard pressed by her foes, and her heavy hand was lifted from the countries on the Mediterranean coast. Judah was free. Josiah brought northern Israel under the influences of the reformation.
\nThe End of Judah. When Necho, king of Egypt, who took advantage of the situation to better his fortunes in these regions, started on his march to the Euphrates, Josiah, with the consciousness of divine approval, stopped him with an army on the plain of Esdraelon. But, alas for his faith! his army was smitten, he himself was slain, and Judah became an Egyptian tributary, to be passed in turn into the hand of the Chald\u00e6an, Nebuchadrezzar, who drove Necho back into his own land. Naturally the reformation came to an end, the old popular faith resumed its place, and Judah hastened with rapid steps to its destruction.
\nThe spiritual hero and representative of these last sad years was Jeremiah, the prophet. Times had changed since the court statesman and prophet Isaiah preached deliverance, permanence, and peace. There was to Jeremiah\u2019s outlook no deliverance for this corrupt people now. The holy city and its temple are certain to fall into the hands of the conqueror and be destroyed. The prospect of a captivity in a foreign land or of obscurity and poverty at home stands in the forefront of the seer\u2019s horizon.
\nThe Prophet\u2019s Larger Outlook. III. The immediate present and impending future are not, however, all that Jeremiah sees. After the dark cloud of destruction, dissolution, and captivity is passed, he beholds a happier day to come.<\/p>\n
THE BRANCH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS<\/p>\n
(5) 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 judgement and justice in the land. (6) 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. (7) Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that they shall no more say, As Jehovah liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; (8) but, As Jehovah liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.\u2014JER. 23:5\u20138.<\/p>\n
2. THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL<\/p>\n
(1) I. At that time, saith Jehovah,
\nWill I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
\n(2) Thus saith Jehovah,
\nThe people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness;
\nEven Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.<\/p>\n
(3) II. Jehovah appeared of old unto me, [saying,]
\nYea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.<\/p>\n
(4) III. Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel:
\nAgain shalt thou be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
\n(5) Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria:
\nThe planters shall plant, and shall enjoy [the fruit thereof].<\/p>\n
(6) IV. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the hills of Ephraim shall cry,
\nArise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God.
\n(7) For thus saith Jehovah,
\nSing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish ye,
\nPraise ye, and say, Jehovah, save thy people the remnant of Israel.<\/p>\n
(8) V. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth,
\n[And] with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together:
\n(9) A great company shall they return hither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them:
\nI will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble:
\nFor I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.\u2014JER. 31:1\u20139.<\/p>\n
3. JEHOVAH\u2019S NEW COVENANT<\/p>\n
(31) Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah,
\nThat I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
\n(32) Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
\nIn the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt;
\nWhich my covenant they brake, although I was an husband to them, saith Jehovah.
\n(33) But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israelafter those days, saith Jehovah;
\nI will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it;
\nAnd I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
\n(34) And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah:
\nFor they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah:
\nFor I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.\u2014JER. 31:31\u201334.<\/p>\n
4. A LATER VOICE OF RESTORATION AND COVENANT<\/p>\n
(17) For thus saith Jehovah: David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; (18) neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn oblations, and to do sacrifice continually. (19) And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying, (20) Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season; (21) then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. (22) As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.\u2014JER. 33:17\u201322.<\/p>\n
Jeremiah\u2019s Faith and Hope. a. Jeremiah\u2019s unquestioning faith in the all-embracing, all-foreseeing, all-energizing Jehovah lies at the basis of his picture. Just as to the vision of Isaiah Jehovah held in his hand the rod of the Assyrian for the punishment of his people, but broke it in pieces at his own good pleasure, so now in the thought of the prophets of this troubled time he brings the Chald\u00e6an as the scourge to punish, as the flood to overwhelm, the nation, its king and its temple. But he who thus is present wielding the world powers in punishment will also bring about the restoration and the salvation of his people, both Israel and Judah, from their calamities and sins. The prophet urges with great force that the very calamities and punishments which have been brought to bear by Jehovah are proofs that he can restore. They reveal the measure of blessing which he will ultimately bestow (32:42).
\nBut what leads Jehovah to this marvellous manifestation of mercy toward a wretched and unworthy nation? Here Jeremiah reminds us of Hosea. It is Jehovah\u2019s love, an everlasting love, that constrains him to deliver (31:3). He is a father to Israel. Ephraim is his firstborn (31:9). He cannot refrain from blessing even the erring people of northern Israel as well as those of Jerusalem.
\nRestoration. b. Jeremiah\u2019s outlook, starting as it does from the certainty of the utter destruction of the national life, and dependent upon the assurance of the divine love, finds its central thought in the prospect of restoration. He cannot think, as Isaiah did, of the deliverance of the people. It is too late. There is no hope. The unbroken continuance of the national life, which was the main plank in the platform of the earlier prophet, quite disappears. But the overthrow is not the end of the state. Jehovah having brought this about is constrained also by the irresistible might of his own affection to bring the people together again and re\u00ebstablish their nationality. The prophet also expects as the concomitant of the divine redemption a repentance of the people. Israelites shall return in tears, declaring their sin (31:9, 15\u201319). This great and crowning work of restoration is the culminating evidence of the might of Jehovah (23:7, 8). This is the great and difficult thing which he will show (33:3\u20136). This is a world event to be announced to the nations, and to cause them to fear (31:7\u201310; 33:9). We observe some elements in the picture:\u2014
\nGlorification of the Past. (1) The restoration which presents itself to the prophet is one which implies the preservation and heightening of many elements of their past life. (a) They are to be restored to their home and city. (b) It is to be glorified, enlarged so as to take in its suburbs (30:18; 31:38\u201340; 23:3, 8). (c) Two institutions of the past are especially mentioned as to be revived. The priesthood is to be an element in the new life, and to enjoy great prosperity (31:14). Ephraim shall go up as before to Zion. The monarchy shall resume its place, one of the house of David taking his seat upon the throne. He shall be a righteous ruler, and under him Israel and Judah shall prosper exceedingly, full of joy and gladness (26:5, 6; cf. 33:15\u201317, 21). Thus in the purified and glorious state the old life will be renewed (31:12\u201314).
\nThe importance of these institutions was felt by none more deeply in this age than by the author of Deuteronomy who in studying the Mosaic period and reproducing its deepest thoughts in the mirror of his own day saw in prophecy and in the monarchy permanent and fruitful elements of Israel\u2019s life (cf. pp. 39 ff.).
\nA New Programme. (2) But the real contribution of Jeremiah to the thought of the future does not lie in these pictures of the revival of old conditions wherein he is at one with those who have gone before him, but rather in the expectation which he cherishes that in some respects the new community will make an essential and complete break with the past.
\n(a) In his description of the glorified city and its revived monarchy he declares that city and king will both bear the name \u201cJehovah, our righteousness.\u201d
\nJehovah our Righteousness. This phrase suggests more than can well be put into a few words. We should hardly see in Jeremiah\u2019s employment of it the New Testament doctrine of imputed righteousness, for probably no such thought lay in the mind of the prophet. Yet it seems clear that the prophet expected the righteousness characteristic of the new age to be brought about by the act of Jehovah himself. Not merely would Jehovah be accepted as the standard of righteousness, but the impulse and energy to reach this standard would come from him. Even if this doctrine were involved in what earlier prophets had said about Jehovah\u2019s cleansing and purifying his people, their suggestions contemplated rather a sifting process whereby those who were already righteous or who might of their own accord turn from their iniquity for fear of the divine vengeance would make up the people of the new age. But Jeremiah meant more than this. To him there was little hope that enough of the righteous remnant remained to be of any avail. If there were not enough to save the nation from destruction, how could it be hoped that there were enough to form the nucleus of the future state? And so, out of these gloomy and apparently hopeless conditions Jeremiah rose to the high and heavenly thought of Jehovah himself producing righteousness in his people.
\nForgiveness of Sins. (b) Naturally the first condition of this was the forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness which Isaiah had already suggested as an element of the new social order (Isa. 33:24) was repeated and enlarged by Jeremiah (31:20, 34). Closely associated with this pardon was the assurance that it covered all the past, so that henceforth punishment would be inflicted for one\u2019s own sins. One was not to suffer for those of his ancestors.
\nThe New Covenant. (c) And Jeremiah summed this all up in his declaration that the new state would be founded upon a new covenant with Jehovah, the old having been dissolved (31:34). Herein Jehovah agrees not merely to give them a law and statutes by which they are to regulate their action and relation to him, but promises to plant this law deep down in their hearts, so that it will be a part of themselves. It will be a matter of inward knowledge and possession. Thus with their duty at one with their impulses and their knowledge, there will be no further need of teachers to instruct them as to the will of Jehovah. This covenant will be everlasting (32:40).
\nIt seems as though with these words Jeremiah had transcended the limits of his own previous teaching, for surely in such a day as the one in prospect here neither prophets nor priests will be required to mediate between the people and Jehovah. And while no reference is made to any messianic person as the medium of Jehovah\u2019s deed, who can doubt that the teaching embodies one of the most remarkable foreshadowings of the Christian faith?<\/p>\n
5. THE RESTORATION OF THE FAITHFUL REMNANT<\/p>\n
(11) In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain. (12) But I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of Jehovah. (13) The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.\u2014ZEPH. 3:11\u201313.<\/p>\n
Another prophetic utterance of this time, while it does not reach the height of Jeremiah\u2019s insight, still bears testimony in harmony with his. Zephaniah looks forward to a similar glorious future when only the faithful shall remain, purified and at peace. He, too, ascribes all this consummation to Jehovah.
\nTo this time belong also the prophetico-legal passages in the Book of Deuteronomy which foretell the coming institutions of royalty (Deut. 17:14\u201320) and the prophetic order (Deut. 18:15\u201319). They combine the results of Israel\u2019s experience of these institutions with the inspired ideals of the age of Isaiah and Jeremiah (cf. pp. 39 ff.).
\nSummary. IV. Some concluding reflections may be made upon these utterances:\u2014
\nThe national Expectation. (1) In comparison with the teachings of Isaiah regarding the future those of Jeremiah show (a) a similar limitation to the nation Israel. It is in the forefront of their vision and the object of their interest. Jeremiah\u2019s is the more passionate as his nature is the more emotional and the crisis of the nation\u2019s life more terrible and gloomy. The prospect that opens before both finds its completion in the beatific glorification of the nation. But (b) the nature of the gulf that stretched for Jeremiah between the present and the future forced him to a more ideal and sublime, a more spiritual, solution than was revealed to Isaiah. As outward permanence seemed impossible, the thought of the future centred on the inward life which Jehovah from his own fulness would revive in his own time. Only thus far did the prophet reach in the idea of the relation of the individual to Jehovah, that he conceived the nation as an individual in whose heart the divine law would be placed. But the employment of this image would suggest the other and richer thought. Here Jeremiah touches an essential element of the gospel, the relation of God to the soul.
\nJeremiah a Typical Figure. (2) Jeremiah himself, in the manifold experience and wonderful development of his personal and public character, is after all the most striking \u201cforeshadowing.\u201d He carried Israel and Jehovah in his own heart. The one was broken and revived in him. The other revealed his love and power through him. There was the nation in the individual. There was the communion of God and man, the suffering, the redemption, the restoration, which were accomplished within,\u2014the prophecy of the sorrow and triumph of the Cross.<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. THE REFORMATION OF JOSIAH (2 Ki. 22:1\u201323:25): (a) its occasion; (b) its instrumentalities; (c) its course; (d) its character; (e) its results. Cheyne, Jeremiah (Men of the Bible), Chs. II\u2013VIII; Kent, Hist. of Heb. People, II, Pt. 4, Ch. 2.
\n2. THE \u201cBOOK OF THE LAW\u201d (2 Ki. 22:8): (a) its contents as illustrated by the words and actions mentioned in 2 Ki. 22; 23.; (b) Jeremiah and this \u201cBook\u201d; (c) comparison with Deuteronomy. Driver, Deuteronomy (Int. Crit. Comm.), Int. \u00a7 4, and literature cited, p. 129).
\n3. FURTHER \u201cFORESHADOWINGS\u201d IN JEREMIAH: (a) a more complete collection of messianic passages in the Book of Jeremiah than those given in Chapter VI; (b) comparison with and enlargement of the ideas suggested in this chapter. Cf. a Study of Jeremiah in the O. T. Student, VII, p. 32 f., and the commentaries.
\n4. JEREMIAH AS A \u201cTYPE\u201d: an expansion of the final paragraph in Chapter VI in view of (a) the life and experiences of Jeremiah as illustrated in his book; (b) a comparison with the life of Christ. Cf. Cheyne, Jeremiah (Men of the Bible); Bennett, Jeremiah, Ch. 35.
\n5. The New Testament references to Jeremiah and his teachings collected and studied in comparison with the original import of Jeremiah and his words.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER VII<\/p>\n
THE IDEALS OF THE EXILE<\/p>\n
The Literature. I. The faithful of Judah, exiled to Babylonia, deprived of their temple and cut off from the public observances of their religion, found in religious contemplation and aspiration a solace for their misfortunes. The expression of these spiritual activities was found in literature. They gathered the literary memorials of their past and rewrote them under the influences of their present situation. They composed new works, inspired with the feelings and expectations aroused by the experiences through which they were passing. No wonder, therefore, that the exile period discloses a great outburst of literary activity.
\nExilic Literary Activity. It is unnecessary for our purpose to describe in detail this varied literature in its several branches of history, law, wisdom, and prophecy. Earlier narratives, like those contained in the Books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings, were put together in their final form. Old prophecies were re\u00ebdited and received additions required by the enlarged outlooks of the exile. Laws were codified, their content expanded, and new codes composed under the same influence. The ritual of the temple was reduced to writing. The voice of original prophecy rose once more, clearer and more potent than ever, in the interest of a purer worship and a higher conception of Jehovah. Lyric and elegiac poetry from many anonymous singers testified to the inextinguishable devotion of the pious to their God.
\nUnquestionably the most important of the productions that have their roots in the exile period are the Books of Ezekiel, Isaiah, chapters 40\u201366, and Job. Of less significance, though most valuable for illustration of the thought and tendencies of the time, are the Book of Lamentations and the so-called \u201cHoliness Code,\u201d Leviticus 17\u201326
\nEzekiel. The Book of Ezekiel contains material, some of which was originally spoken by the prophet, and some probably never uttered, but intended, from the first, to be read by the prophet\u2019s contemporaries. It is very simply and clearly arranged, presumably by the prophet himself, and published as a whole, though chapter 29:17\u201321 may have been added by him afterwards. Later editors have added little, or nothing, to it.
\nIsaiah 40\u201355. The latter half of the Book of Isaiah (chs. 40\u201366) has been the subject of much study and discussion among scholars. That it is not the work of Isaiah, son of Amoz, has already been noted (cf. p. 101). But it is not itself a unity, the production of a single great prophet of the Exile. Editors have collected into it writings which have come from different writers of the age and from those of the following period. The general theme is the same; the points of view differ. A point of cleavage lies between chapters 55 and 56. Chapters 40\u201355 may well be, in the main, the work of the Isaiah of the Exile. But the later material seems to come from a returned exile and to reflect the conditions of the later Jerusalem; hence chapters 56\u201366 have been assigned to the next age.
\nJob. The literary organization of the Book of Job is not yet settled among scholars. The fact that the Prologue (chs. 1:1\u20132:13) and the Epilogue (ch. 42:7\u201317) are in prose, while the bulk of the remainder of the book is in poetry, has suggested a composite origin. The speeches of Elihu (chs. 32\u201337), introduced by a prose Prologue, are regarded as a later addition to the book, both by reason of their linguistic peculiarities and the inferiority and redundancy of the thought. That the kernel of the book belongs to the exile seems still to be the most tenable position, in view of all the evidence. The final form which it assumed was due to editors living in the post-exilic period.
\nBesides the Book of Lamentations and the \u201cHoliness Code,\u201d occasional prophecies, such as Isaiah, chapters 13.; 14:1\u201323; 21:1\u201310; 24\u201327; Amos 9:9\u201315, etc. (cf. p. 78 f.), are ascribed to exilic prophets. Psalmody, as the reflection of experience, may well have flourished among the exiles. The core of Psalms like the twenty-second and the fortieth is characteristic of the suffering \u201cservant\u201d of this age, though similar situations in the following period may have been the occasion of their composition. The essential point of view, however, was gained already in the exile.
\nThe Historical Background of the Exile Period. II. The time of the exile was coincident with one of the most decisive and critical epochs of the world\u2019s history. It was also the period in which the people of Israel passed through a great spiritual revolution. Its duration is somewhat indefinite. There was a gradual dispersion of the people, beginning from the last years of the northern kingdom. It is evident that Hebrews found refuge during the troubled times of the last century of the state in all parts of the Oriental world, upon the western seacoast and the islands, in Egypt, in northern Syria, in Mesopotamia, and in the lower Euphrates Valley. It is usual to regard the \u201cexiles\u201d as those who were removed to Babylonia by Nebuchadrezzar and to accept the prophetic number of seventy years as the time of their sojourn there. But it is impossible to settle upon any one event in the history of the time from which seventy years can be counted to a second definite event closing the exile. Six deportations of sections of the Jewish people into the region of Babylonia seem to be referred to in the narratives. As introductory to the study of the \u201cforeshadowings\u201d of this period, therefore, it is necessary to take a survey of the history of the age of the Jewish exile in its larger scope.
\nThe Last Days of Judah. 1. The transfer of the kingdom of Judah from Egypt to Babylon consequent upon the defeat of Necho at the battle of Carchemish, 604 B.C., may have been the occasion of a deportation which is mentioned in Daniel 1:1. Jehoiakim remained faithful to Nebuchadrezzar for some years, but in 598 B.C. he rebelled at the instigation of Egypt. The rebellion was promptly suppressed and the offenders punished, though Jehoiakim probably died before Nebuchadrezzar or his army reached the city of Jerusalem. His son Jehoiachin had to suffer the penalty in his stead, and with him, in 597 B.C., the best of the citizens were carried to Babylonia and there settled. Among them was the prophet Ezekiel. Nebuchadrezzar gave the throne to Zedekiah, whom he expected to prove faithful. Once in the course of his reign Zedekiah must needs go to Babylon to assure the king of his fidelity, but finally the pressure became too great for him, and in 587 B.C. he seems to have revolted. Again the imperial army led by Nebuchadrezzar in person appeared before the rebellious city. This time the people recognized the desperate character of their situation and defended the city with great obstinacy for some months, but at last, in 586 B.C., it was captured, the walls and temple demolished, the city fired, and the great mass of the inhabitants removed to Babylonia. Jeremiah, who had expected this condition of things and predicted it, chose to remain with the lowest class of the population for the purpose of preserving, if possible, the continuity of the national life. But the Israelite prince, Gedaliah, placed in authority by the Chald\u00e6ans, was murdered by a fanatic or a freebooter, and those who were left in authority, fearing the consequences, fled to Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with them.
\nThe New Babylonian, or Chald\u00e6an, Empire. 2. The deported Jews found themselves planted in the great centre of the world\u2019s life and under the control of a ruler than whom in all preceding history none was greater. The task which lay before Nebuchadrezzar as ruler of Babylonia was one of restoration and consolidation, and he performed it with vigor and success. Babylonia, as the prize between the contending Assyrians and Chald\u00e6ans, had suffered terribly. Its capital had been utterly destroyed by one Assyrian conqueror, rebuilt by another, and was the centre of a fierce revolt under the last great Assyrian king Asshurbanipal. Nebuchadrezzar\u2019s work, as his inscriptions indicate, was devoted to the rebuilding of the ruined city and the restoration of trade and agriculture throughout his land. It is not unlikely that the Jews were transported to the very heart of his dominions in order that they might occupy depopulated lands and assist in carrying out the king\u2019s policy. As the representative of a new dynasty, and of the victory of a new people, the Chald\u00e6ans, over the ancient Semitic Babylonians, it was also the purpose of Nebuchadrezzar to consolidate the two peoples into one nation. With this end in view he devoted himself to the propagation of a special form of religious faith, viz., the worship of the city god of Babylon, Marduk (Merodach), and expressions concerning this deity in his inscriptions by their fervor and devotion have reminded scholars of the Hebrew psalms. During his long reign it is probable that the commerce and trade of Babylonia reached their highest point, and the fame of the great king as a builder, an administrator, and a warrior extended into all the earth.
\nIts Decline. But there were two difficulties in the way of the accomplishment of his purpose. At his death the amalgamation of the two peoples was not sufficiently strong to endure, and his successors were unequal to the task of carrying out his policy. Intrigues and murders characterized the few years that followed him, while in the person of the last king of the empire, Nabonidus, the Semitic Babylonian element appears again to have laid hold of the reins of government. But besides this internal weakness a more threatening difficulty was apparent from without. The Median kingdom, which had united with the Babylonian in the overthrow of Assyria, and had received as its portion of the spoils the lands to the north and east of the Tigris, had gained new life and was pushing on in every direction to conquest under the rule of the young and energetic Persian Cyrus. The conflict could not be long delayed. The other world powers, Lydia, Sparta, Egypt, and Babylon, allied themselves against him in vain. Lydia was the first to fall. Then followed Babylon, which in 538 B.C. opened its gates to the conqueror. The old Semitic empires disappeared; a new race, the Aryan, took up the reins of government, and a new era in the world\u2019s history began.
\nAll these wonderful changes took place and culminated in that very land in which the Jews were settled. One of the first events which followed the conquest of Cyrus was the promulgation of the decree by which the Jews were permitted to return to their old home.
\nThe Inner History of the Exiles. 3. What were the Jews thinking and doing during these eventful years passed by them among the rivers of Babylon? This is a most important question; but the answer to it is equally difficult. The only source of direct knowledge comes from the historical records of the Jews which illumine the beginning and end of the period. They tell of the destruction and the deportation, they tell of the return, but except for one or two facts there is silence concerning the life of the exiles between these points.
\nBut there are records of what prophets taught them during these years, and from these may be inferred with a reasonable degree of success the course of their life. The two great unquestionably historic figures are Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Jeremiah\u2019s later life during those sad years of Zedekiah\u2019s reign and the entire active career of Ezekiel was spent in what may be called the period of the exile. Jeremiah, however, devoted himself primarily to the people of Jerusalem. Only once does he seem to have concerned himself with the affairs of the exiles. Ezekiel is pre\u00ebminently the prophet of the exile.
\nChapters 40\u201355 of the Book of Isaiah, whether we hold that it is the production of Isaiah of Jerusalem or of an unknown second Isaiah of the exile, are concerned with the fortunes and prospects of Israel in exile, and thus throw light upon their thoughts and condition. Songs from the Psalter are ascribed to this period and illustrate its character. The most difficult problem in this connection is to determine the use to be made of the Book of Daniel. There is a general consensus of opinion that the book in its present form belongs to a much later period, and that the narratives of the first six chapters and the prophecies of the rest of the book bear the stamp of a writer addressing Israel suffering from the cruelties of Antiochus IV. But it seems reasonable to hold that the experiences of Daniel and his companions were in essential harmony with the traditions which rooted in the exilic period, and may be employed, therefore, in a general way to elucidate and confirm the undoubted utterances and experiences of the exiled people.
\nThe Three Stages. Gathering together all this information and analyzing it, several periods may be distinguished in the spiritual history of the exiles. (1) Those who were deported in 597 B.C. cherished in their captivity the confident expectation that they would soon return. It was a false hope, against which Ezekiel preached with all his might, though in vain, until the actual overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar in 586 B.C. confirmed his teaching, destroyed the false confidence, and reduced the people to utter despair. (2) After the first shock of grief was over they were the more ready to listen to the demand of the prophet for repentance, and we have much evidence going to show that the middle period of the exile was a time of profound repentance among them. It is to this repentant and chastened community that Ezekiel preached in his later period, and for them he unrolled the vivid and detailed panorama of the restored nation and temple. The echo of the prophet\u2019s preaching during these years is heard in those elegies which make up the pathetic Book of Lamentations. But Ezekiel\u2019s voice was hushed while Nebuchadrezzar still reigned, and while the yoke of Chald\u00e6an authority still pressed. For ten years longer there was no light. The promises remained unfulfilled. (3) What wonder that the community again began to despair, that many fell away, and emphasized their apostasy by the persecution of those who remained faithful! Nebuchadrezzar died, and the troubles of the following years and the appearance of Cyrus brought matters to a climax. The apostates were yet more bitter, the Babylonian yoke more severe, but also the faithful hoped anew and looked for speedy release. Unable to understand altogether the meaning of Jehovah\u2019s permitting them to suffer, they yet endured, cheered and enlightened by the message that has been preserved in the second part of Isaiah. At last the hour came. They rejoiced in the fulfilment of Jehovah\u2019s promises to his servant and prepared for the homeward journey.
\nOutlooks for the Future. III. The material in the writings of this period which might justly be laid under contribution in the discussion of the \u201cforeshadowings\u201d is so considerable and important that it cannot be successfully considered in a few pages. It will be necessary, therefore, to select the most salient points, the most typical passages, and endeavor to group about them that which, though worthy of special consideration, must be regarded as subordinate.<\/p>\n
1. RESTORATION<\/p>\n
(11) I. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen,
\nAnd close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins,
\nAnd I will build it as in the days of old;
\n(12) That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations,
\nWhich are called by my name,
\nSaith Jehovah that doeth this.<\/p>\n
(13) II. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah,
\nThat the plowman shall overtake the reaper,
\nAnd the treader of grapes him that soweth seed;
\nAnd the mountains shall drop sweet wine,
\nAnd all the hills shall melt.<\/p>\n
(14) III. And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel,
\nAnd they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them;
\nAnd they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof;
\nThey shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
\n(15) And I will plant them upon their land,
\nAnd they shall no more be plucked up out of their land
\nWhich I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God.
\n\u2014AMOS 9:11\u201315.<\/p>\n
(11) For thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. (12) As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. (13) And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. (14) I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. (15) I myself will feed my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
\n(23) And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. (24) And I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David prince among them; I Jehovah have spoken it. (25) And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. (26) And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing. (27) And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. (28) And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the earth devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. (29) And I will raise up unto them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. (30) And they shall know that I Jehovah their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. (31) And ye my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.\u2014EZEK. 34:11\u201315, 23\u201331.<\/p>\n
2. THE EARTH\u2019S GREAT ONES SERVE ISRAEL\u2019S RETURN<\/p>\n
(22) Thus saith the Lord GOD,
\nBehold, I will lift up mine hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples:
\nAnd they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
\n(23) And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers:
\nThey shall bow down to thee with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet;
\nAnd thou shalt know that I am Jehovah, and they that wait for me shall not be ashamed.
\n\u2014ISA. 49:22, 23.<\/p>\n
The Return and Restoration. I. One might almost say that the predominant note struck by the writings of this time is the expectation of return to the old land and the restoration of the old institutions. Earlier prophets had already promised it. The voices of this time repeat with renewed emphasis the joyful message (Ezek. 11:17; 36:24; Isa. 43:5; 45:13).
\nIn Isaiah 40\u201355, where this return is as it were at the door, the most vivid pictures are given of the homeward march. As they pass through the desert, Jehovah leading them, springs of water appear to refresh them; verdure starts up on every side. The stunted growth is transformed into the splendid forest, and with rejoicings upon their lips they move onward into the promised land (Isa. 40:3\u20135, 10; 41:15\u201320; 48:20, 21; 49:6\u201313; 51:9\u201311; 52:1\u201312).
\nTo this evangelical prophet the restoration is a redemption. Jehovah hath bought back his people, forgiven their sins, and returns them to their home (Isa. 40:2; 45:25; 48:20; 52:9).
\nA typical passage of restoration is that of Ezekiel 34:11\u201331. Jehovah is the good shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, who divides between the true and the false, who brings the flock back to its old pasture. The land becomes fruitful once more, the inhabitants live independent of all surrounding peoples, in security. The form of the government is the old kingdom. At its head is placed a prince of the line of David or one reproducing his character and activity. In Ezekiel 37:15\u201328 Israel is to return as well as Judah. There is to be but one kingdom under the old Davidic king. Compare also the parable of the cedar twig (Ezek. 17:22\u201324).
\nA central thought in all this is the re\u00ebstablishment of the worship of Jehovah in the temple. The exiles did not know how to worship God aright after the destruction of his temple and their removal from Zion. The ancient idea was still strong with them that Jehovah, the nation\u2019s God, could not be rightly served after the destruction of his nation and the removal of his people from their homes. So they ardently longed for restoration on this account, that they might properly render to him that service which was his due in the way which he had appointed. Ezekiel and the second Isaiah refer again and again to this, and Ezekiel, especially, has devoted his last chapters to an imaginary picture of the restored temple and its worship, about which the new community is gathered (Ezek. 20:40; 40\u201348; Isa. 44:28; 52:1, 11).<\/p>\n
3. JEHOVAH GATHERS AND RENEWS ISRAEL<\/p>\n
(14) And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, (15) Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel, all of them, [are they] unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from Jehovah; unto us is this land given for a possession: (16) therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come. (17) Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. (18) And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. (19) And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: (20) that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.\u2014EZEK. 11:14\u201320.<\/p>\n
4. UNITED ISRAEL RESTORED IN ETERNAL COVENANT WITH JEHOVAH<\/p>\n
(21) Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: (22) and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: (23) neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. (24) And my servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgements, and observe my statutes, and do them. (25) And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children\u2019s children, for ever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. (26) Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them: it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. (27) My tabernacle also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (28) And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah that sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
\n\u2014EZEK. 37:21\u201328.<\/p>\n
5. JEHOVAH\u2019S EVERLASTING COVENANT<\/p>\n
(1) Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
\nYea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
\n(2) Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?
\nHearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
\n(3) Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live:
\nAnd I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
\n(4) Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.
\n(5) Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and a nation that knew not thee shall run unto thee,
\nBecause of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
\n\u2014ISA. 55:1\u20135.<\/p>\n
The New Community. 2. The nation has perished. How shall it be revived and be prepared for its return and restoration? This was the great problem of the exilic prophets. The vision that they beheld was as strange as it was splendid. Reference has already been made to the development of Isaiah\u2019s thought of the \u201cremnant\u201d by Jeremiah. Jehovah would write his statutes upon their hearts. The new nation would spontaneously obey Jehovah\u2019s will. Ezekiel goes a step farther. With him the implied individualism of Jeremiah becomes explicit. Jehovah deals with every man according to his deeds (Ezek. 3:16\u201321; 18:1\u201332; 33:10\u201320). Thus the community which is built up under his inspiration is composed of individuals who enter into personal relation with Jehovah and are united together by being united to him. And for such a community as this Jehovah promises to remove the unresponsive stony heart and to supply the heart of flesh, inspired with his spirit. With them is an everlasting covenant made and Jehovah takes up his abode with them (Ezek. 36:25\u201327; 11:19, 20; 37:26, 27). This covenant with the renewed nation takes the place of that sworn to David. All the promises to him, all the achievements to be performed by him, are transferred to the restored people (Isa. 55:3\u20135).<\/p>\n
6. JEHOVAH\u2019S SERVANT AND HIS MISSION TO THE WORLD<\/p>\n
(1) I. Behold my servant, whom I uphold;
\nMy chosen, in whom my soul delighteth:
\nI have put my spirit upon him;
\nHe shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles.<\/p>\n
(2) II. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
\nNor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
\n(3) A bruised reed shall he not break,
\nAnd the smoking flax shall he not quench.<\/p>\n
III. He shall bring forth judgement in truth.
\n(4) He shall not fail, nor be discouraged,
\nTill he have set judgement in the earth;
\nAnd the isles shall wait for his law.\u2014ISA. 42:1\u20134.<\/p>\n
(1) I. Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples, from far:
\nJehovah hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name:
\n(2) And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me;
\nAnd he hath made me a polished shaft, in his quiver hath he kept me close:
\n(3) And he said unto me, Thou art my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.<\/p>\n
(4) II. But I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and vanity:
\nYet surely my judgement is with Jehovah, and my recompense with my God.<\/p>\n
(5) III. And now saith Jehovah that formed me from the womb to be his servant,
\nTo bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered unto him:
\n(For I am honourable in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God is become my strength:)
\n(6) 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:
\nI will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.\u2014ISA. 49:1\u20136.<\/p>\n
A LATER VOICE OF THE SERVANT<\/p>\n
(1) The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me;
\nBecause Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
\nHe hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
\nTo proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening [of the prison] to them that are bound;
\n(2) To proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God;
\n(3) To comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
\nTo give unto them a garland for ashes,
\nThe oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
\nThat they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he might be glorified.\u2014ISA. 61:1\u20133.<\/p>\n
The \u201cServant.\u201d This body of the faithful assumes in the pages of the second Isaiah a position of wonderful dignity. Its title with him is \u201cthe Servant\u201d (41:8; 44:1; 49:3). To it a lofty mission is assigned, first that of bringing back the exiles to Jerusalem, and second that of teaching to all nations the knowledge and service of the true God (42:1\u20137; 49:5, 6; 61:1). In wonderful imagery the nations are pictured coming with their gifts, yielding up their treasure, offering their services in behalf of Jehovah\u2019s servant (43:3; 44:5; 45:14; 49:22, 23; 52:15).<\/p>\n
7. JEHOVAH\u2019S SERVANT SUFFERING FOR THE WORLD<\/p>\n
(52:13) I. Behold, my servant shall deal wisely,
\nHe shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.
\n(14) Like as many were astonied at thee,
\n(His visage was so marred more than any man,
\nAnd his form more than the sons of men,)
\n(15) So shall he startle many nations;
\nKings shall shut their mouths at him:
\nFor that which had not been told them shall they see;
\nAnd that which they had not heard shall they understand.
\n(53:1) Who hath believed our report?
\nAnd to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed?<\/p>\n
(2) II. For he grew up before him as a tender plant,
\nAnd as a root out of a dry ground:
\nHe hath no form nor comeliness;
\nAnd when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
\n(3) He was despised, and rejected of men;
\nA man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
\nAnd as one from whom men hide their face
\nHe was despised, and we esteemed him not.<\/p>\n
(4) III. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
\nAnd carried our sorrows:
\nYet we did esteem him stricken,
\nSmitten of God, and afflicted.
\n(5) But he was wounded for our transgressions,
\nHe was bruised for our iniquities:
\nThe chastisement of our peace was upon him;
\nAnd with his stripes we are healed.
\n(6) All we like sheep have gone astray;
\nWe have turned every one to his own way;
\nAnd Jehovah hath laid on him
\nThe iniquity of us all.<\/p>\n
(7) IV. He was oppressed, yet he humbled himself
\nAnd opened not his mouth;
\nAs a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
\nAnd as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb;
\nYea, he opened not his mouth.
\n(8) By oppression and judgement he was taken away;
\nAnd as for his generation, who [among them] considered
\nThat he was cut off out of the land of the living?
\nFor the transgression of my people was he stricken.
\n(9) And they made his grave with the wicked,
\nAnd with the rich in his death;
\nAlthough he had done no violence,
\nNeither was any deceit in his mouth.
\n(10) Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him: he hath put him to grief.<\/p>\n
V. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
\nHe shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong his days,
\nAnd the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand.
\n(11) He shall see of the travail of his soul,
\n[And] shall be satisfied:
\nBy his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
\nAnd he shall bear their iniquities.
\n(12) Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
\nAnd he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
\nBecause he poured out his soul unto death,
\nAnd was numbered with the transgressors:
\nYet he bare the sin of many,
\nAnd made intercession for the transgressors.
\n\u2014ISA. 52:13\u201353:12.<\/p>\n
8. THE SUFFERER CALLS UPON JEHOVAH AND BEHOLDS HIS KINGDOM<\/p>\n
(1) I. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
\n[Why art thou so] far from helping me, [and from] the words of my roaring?
\n(2) O my God, I cry in the day-time, but thou answerest not;
\nAnd in the night season, and am not silent.<\/p>\n
(3) II. But thou art holy,
\nO thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
\n(4) Our fathers trusted in thee:
\nThey trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
\n(5) They cried unto thee, and were delivered:
\nThey trusted in thee, and were not ashamed.
\n(6) But I am a worm, and no man;
\nA reproach of men, and despised of the people.
\n(7) All they that see me laugh me to scorn:
\nThey shoot out the lip, they shake the head, [saying,]
\n(8) Commit [thyself] unto Jehovah; let him deliver him:
\nLet him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him.<\/p>\n
(9) III. But thou art he that took me out of the womb:
\nThou didst make me trust [when I was] upon my mother\u2019s breasts.
\n(10) I was cast upon thee from the womb:
\nThou art my God from my mother\u2019s belly.
\n(11) Be not far from me; for trouble is near;
\nFor there is none to help.<\/p>\n
(19) But be not thou far off, Jehovah:
\nO thou my succour, haste thee to help me.
\n(20) Deliver my soul from the sword;
\nMy darling from the power of the dog.
\n(21) Save me from the lion\u2019s mouth;
\nYea, from the horns of the wild oxen thou hast answered me.
\n(22) I will declare thy name unto my brethren:
\nIn the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.<\/p>\n
(23) IV. \u201cYe that fear Jehovah, praise him;
\nAll ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him;
\nAnd stand in awe of him, all ye the seed of Israel.
\n(24) For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
\nNeither hath he hid his face from him;
\nBut when he cried unto him, he heard.
\n(25) Of thee cometh my praise in the great congregation:
\nI will pay my vows before them that fear him.
\n(26) The meek shall eat and be satisfied:
\nThey shall praise Jehovah that seek after him:
\nLet your heart live for ever.\u201d
\n(27) All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah:
\nAnd all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.<\/p>\n
(28) V. For the kingdom is Jehovah\u2019s:
\nAnd he is the ruler over the nations.
\n(29) All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship:
\nAll they that go down to the dust shall bow before him,
\nEven he that cannot keep his soul alive.
\n(30) A seed shall serve him;
\nIt shall be told of the Lord unto the [next] generation.
\n(31) They shall come and shall declare his righteousness
\nUnto a people that shall be born, that he hath done it.\u2014Ps. 22:1\u201311, 19\u201331.<\/p>\n
The Sufferer. But the servant is not without his trials also. There was an Israel, a \u201cServant,\u201d which was slow to accept Jehovah\u2019s way, which was despairing and hopeless under its accumulated misfortunes, as well as a \u201cServant\u201d that accepted in faith and hope the will of its God and sought to obey him in the darkness as well as in the light. How shall the prophet explain the misery and torture of the exile life with its separation from Jehovah, with its despair, its suffering occasioned by the pride of the captor and the arrogance of the apostate (Isa. 50:5, 6; 51:17\u201323; 48:1\u201311)? For there was still another Israel besides the \u201cServant\u201d\u2014a false Israel, who had departed from Jehovah and accepted the idols. These were the more willing to prove their fidelity to their new gods by persecution of the faithful servants of him whom they deserted. To this faithful, suffering community the prophet explains the meaning of their condition, and holds forth a sublime prospect of their future. As they are the messengers of Jehovah to reveal his character to those who are about them, so their sufferings patiently endured are to be a means whereby Jehovah\u2019s name shall be exalted and Jehovah\u2019s character vindicated. They are punished on behalf of others. That which is inflicted upon them is what should be borne by their enemies. But out of their sufferings and by means of them they, too, shall rise to a more glorious future. They will be vindicated, and Jehovah shall highly exalt them. This will become clear, indeed, only later to those who have been redeemed through the obscure and suffering \u201cServant.\u201d They will understand it and wonder and glorify him (Isa. 52:13\u201353:12; Ps. 22.).
\nSuch was the ideal community which before the inspired vision of the exiled prophets appeared as the consummation of Jehovah\u2019s grace. As has been suggested, its character is above all else spiritual. A new heart has been bestowed upon it. Jehovah\u2019s spirit dwells with it. It is free from evil doing. Idolatry has disappeared from it. Jehovah alone is its God and Saviour.
\nSummary of Messianic Ideals. IV. The points of view and outlooks thus presented suggest some definite messianic applications and determinations.
\nThe Temporal Element. 1. One cannot help noticing the combination of high spiritual anticipations with local and temporal expectations. The prophet who saw the ideal Israel as endowed with a new heart and inspired with Jehovah\u2019s spirit looks for an immediate restoration, the rebuilding of the temple, and the revival of the ritual worship in a purified and more highly developed form. How strange! How incomprehensible, indeed, unless one looks at it from the historical point of view! Then it is clear how, in view of the concurrent testimony of the prophets of old to this outcome, the seer, hampered by the exilic environment, must needs behold these large truths in their temporal form. Unfortunately, it was this narrow and material element which dominated the succeeding ages, which turned the whole current of Jewish life into formalism and ritualism, and blinded the spiritual vision of the generations that followed, even to the present day, when interpreters draw from the temporary form of the revelation symbolical and fantastic pictures of what is still to come.
\nThe Era of Grace. 2. The prophecy of this age and its outlooks into the future caught in large, vague outline a vision of the era of grace. Already, indeed, earlier prophets had here and there touched upon it\u2014Hosea, in his matchless pictures of divine love, Isaiah, in his message of deliverance in the midst of disaster, Jeremiah, pre\u00ebminently, with his insight into Jehovah\u2019s relation to the individual soul and his assurance of the divine forgiveness.
\nRevealed in Jehovah\u2019s Character. But now, as never before, are these thoughts conceived and these hopes entertained in clear and definite forms, and developed into articles of faith. This may be said to be one of the especial elements in Ezekiel\u2019s vision. It is the secret of his delineation of Jehovah, who by some students is thought to have been presented by the prophet as utterly separate from man, as a despot, carrying out with unyielding rigor his self-centred purposes. They fail to grasp, however, that these elements of Jehovah\u2019s character only reflect all the more clearly that which lies beneath them, viz., the supreme purpose of this mighty and incomparable Jehovah to bestow salvation of his own free grace upon his people. \u201cThat ye may know that I am Jehovah,\u201d the refrain which sounds so monotonously through the prophet\u2019s messages, is the motto of the new dispensation, in which Jehovah will save even to the uttermost, raising his people from the dead and bestowing upon them the Divine Spirit. Likewise the prophet brings the whole history of Israel\u2019s past under contribution to illustrate and emphasize the same splendid assurance. And this manifestation of grace is unspeakably wondrous in its achievements. It transforms human life. It brings the individual into immediate spiritual relation to God. It purifies and hallows his character. With such logical insight is this thought developed that Davidson\u2019s words are not too strong when he says that such a passage as Ezekiel 36:24\u201329 \u201creads like a fragment of a Pauline epistle.\u201d
\nThe same thoughts are suggested from a different point of view in the second Isaiah. To the crushed and ruined exiles comes the voice of the herald proclaiming the advent of Jehovah, who is to lead them on, sustaining them by his strength, inspiring and guiding them by his spirit, purifying them by his presence, who is the High and Holy One, sending them forth thus redeemed, to be in their turn the heralds of his advent to the nations.
\nThe Faithfull. 3. The supreme messianic \u201cforeshadowing\u201d of this age considered in its more definite aspect is the idea of the holy community depicted by these prophets. It cannot but be observed by any student who examines with unprepossessed judgment these prophetic utterances that there is a lack of definite reference to a personal Messiah, or at least a want of emphasis upon such a thought. David is mentioned once or twice; a parable or so like that of the cedar twig is given. But in the place of the individual appears the community. The very fact that these exilic prophets conceived of a religious body separate from national life, united by an individual relation to Jehovah, is a remarkable prefiguring of the Church. The various details which gather about this conception are equally striking. Earlier prophets, indeed, had already looked forward to the restored nation as the religious centre of the world. But while the same thoughts appear here also, yet in the conception of the \u201cServant\u201d by the second Isaiah a great step forward was taken, in that Israel now goes forth to the nations with its message of Jehovah. It becomes a prophet, preaching the message of righteousness and obedience to the holy God in all the earth.
\nA remarkable turn, also, is given in representing this same community of the faithful as a victim slain on behalf of sinners. It is the culmination of the priestly and the ritual conceptions of the past, but at the same time a wonderful transformation of them, so that Israel is not merely a priestly nation mediating on behalf of men, but offering itself as the acceptable and potent sacrifice. And as a result of its work in both these directions it is glorified and exalted beyond all expectation and imagination.
\nWho can fail to be impressed with the \u201cpreparation\u201d in these prophetic ideals? And they have been conceived under forms of speech so individualistic that, though the author did not so intend it, they have been in the consciousness of the faithful and devout in all ages centred upon Him who is above all others the \u201cServant of Jehovah.\u201d<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. CRITICAL PROBLEMS OF ISAIAH, 40\u201366: (a) problem of the relation to Isaiah, 1\u201339, arguments pro and contra: (b) analysis of 40\u201366\u2014various views, (1) G. A. Smith\u2019s, (2) Cheyne\u2019s, (3) Driver\u2019s; (c) significance of the solution of the critical problems. Cf. literature cited on p. 150; Cheyne, Isaiah in Polychrome Bible, p. 130 ff., and Jewish Religious Life after the Exile, e.g. pp. 22, 82\u201392.
\n2. SPECIAL INVESTIGATION of the \u201cServant\u201d passages in Isa. 40\u201366: (a) gathering and arrangement of passages: (b) formulation of various representations; (c) summary of conclusions; (d) comparison with views of various writers, e.g. G. A. Smith, Cheyne, Skinner (in Comm. on Isaiah in Cambridge Bible for Schools); Delitzsch, Comm. on Isaiah; Briggs, Mess. Proph., Ch. XI; Orelli, O. T. Proph., p. 376 ff.; K\u00f6nig, The Exiles\u2019 Book of Consolation; cf. also, literature in Bibliography.
\n3. THE EXILE PERIOD IN ITS INFLUENCE ON THE JEWS: (a) various experiences; (b) various effects; (c) influence upon, (1) social life and occupations, (2) religious practices, (3) religious ideas, (4) priests and prophets. For an excellent outline for study of the exile period as a whole, cf. O. T. Student, VII, p. 330 ff. See also Stanley, Jewish Church, III, pp. 27\u201350; Montefiore, Religion of the Ancient Hebrews, Lect. V.
\n4. EZEKIEL AS A TYPE OF THE THOUGHT AND LITERATURE OF THE EXILE: (a) the union of law and prophecy; (b) the conception of Jehovah; (c) the apocalyptic element. Cf. Davidson, Comm. on Ezekiel, Introduction; Montefiore, ibid.
\n5. OTHER MESSIANIC PASSAGES in Ezekiel and Second Isaiah; gathering and organizing of material not discussed in the chapter. Cf. Briggs, Mess. Proph., Chs. IX\u2013XII.
\n6. THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES OF THE PERIOD from the N. T. point of view: (a) the N. T. references collected and compared; (b) light thrown on conceptions of the N. T. time; (c) principles and permanent value of the N. T. conception.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER VIII<\/p>\n
THE EXPECTATION OF POST-EXILIC TIMES<\/p>\n
The Literature. I. The literary impulse given to Israel in exile was felt throughout the succeeding period in even greater measure. The Old Testament books in their present form almost without exception show marks of the post-exilic age due either to the working over of editors or to additions by writers of the time. Continuous and zealous study of the venerated writings which the past had handed down was not only not inconsistent with a free dealing with these texts on the part of post-exilic scribes; it even encouraged correction, revision, combination, and addition to them from the higher point of view reached by such pious students. Old laws were newly codified, interpreted, and expanded in the direction pointed out by the thought and experience of the exile. Old prophecies were rounded out in accordance with recent evidences and larger expectations of Jehovah\u2019s blessing. The past was reviewed and reinterpreted in the light of the present. Old histories were reorganized and revised. New historical works were partly compiled and partly composed by the teachers of the day. Contemporary psalmists and prophets gave forth their poems and prophecies for the warning, edification, and comfort of the community, or voiced the experience of the faithful in forms so individual as to lead the student to question their application to the congregation at large. It was a time of intense literary life.
\nThe chief characteristic works of the post-exilic age are at least five: the Psalms; the priestly Document lying at the foundation of the Pentateuch, and known as the Priest Code, or P; the priestly history of Israel made up of the three books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah; the Book of Proverbs; and the Book of Daniel. Less significant, yet not without great value, are the various prophetic writings, most of them of less extent, and appearing at various epochs in the long period. These are the Book of Haggai, the Book of Zechariah, the Book of Jonah, Isaiah 56\u201366, Ruth, the Book of Joel, Isaiah 24\u201327 and additions to various prophecies such as Zephaniah 3:14\u201320; Isaiah 12, etc., and the Book of \u201cMalachi.\u201d
\nThe Historico-Priestly Narratives. The historical narratives describing the life of the Persian age are contained in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. These books formed originally one book, and with the books of Chronicles contained an outline of the history of Israel parallel with that contained in the earlier books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings, but permeated with the priestly conceptions of the people\u2019s past. The author or compiler employed much valuable material, notably a series of official documents, and the memoirs of Ezra and Nehemiah. His arrangement and interpretation of this material and his own contributions have occasioned serious difficulties whose solution has been sought in various ways, none of which at present has obtained general assent.
\nThe Psalms. There is no question that the five books of the Psalms as at present organized in our Old Testament Scriptures are a product of Israel\u2019s post-exilic literary activity. Though competent scholars differ as to whether any number of the poems were produced before the exile, all agree that they were gathered after that time and adapted to the liturgical service of the second temple, and a steadily growing tendency is discernible to ascribe the origin of an increasingly larger number of the poems to the same period.
\nZechariah. The Book of Zechariah has been for critical scholarship a stumbling block whose removal from the way is not yet accomplished. It is agreed by the majority of students that the book falls into at least two parts, (1) chapters 1\u20139; (2) chapters 9\u201314. The problems of the dating of the latter part are under discussion. The more satisfactory body of argument favors a post-exilic date, though these chapters cannot come from the hand of the author of chapters 1\u20139, but belong probably to a later time.
\nDaniel. A date for the Book of Daniel in the Maccab\u00e6an period (ca. 168 B.C.) is becoming more and more acceptable. It is the latest prophetical book of the Old Testament. The statement has already been made (p. 157) that historical traditions of an earlier time may be embodied in it. But the prophetical outlook is of the Greek age.
\nSome general characteristics of the literature of this fruitful period may be mentioned:\u2014
\n(1) Fervent piety is exhibited in the Psalms, the reflex of the prophetic teachings, and the response of the community to the events and experiences of the time. In turn joyous, hopeless, trustful, sceptical, devoted to the law and the temple, or preferring obedience to sacrifice, these songs are a faithful picture of the religious fervor of the post-exilic community.
\nGeneral Characteristics of the Literature. (2) The priestly ideal of life, that which seeks to bring all life under law and rule, and which in this particular case exalts the worship of the Temple and the position and privilege of the priest, receives its strongest representation and impulse in this age. Both law and prophecy, history and poetry, unite to glorify this conception of the past, this hope for the future.
\n(3) The cosmopolitan and philosophical view of life is strongly developed in the writings of the sages whose Book of Proverbs illustrates their attitude. Many psalms exhibit the same tendencies. Practical wisdom, dealing with life and its problems from the point of view of general principles, the study of man as man and of the world as an organism, coupled sometimes with a mystical (Prov. 1\u20139), sometimes with a sceptical temper (Ecclesiastes), are the characteristics of this literature.
\n(4) Prophecy of the time discloses several tendencies. On the one hand it is dominated by the priestly influence (Zechariah), an inheritance of the time when in Deuteronomy the priest and the prophet came together. On the other hand it is broad in its outlook and sympathies for other peoples than the Jews (Ruth, Jonah), an inheritance of the time of the second Isaiah. In its form it is tending more toward the apocalypse, the vision, the reception of its knowledge through external means, the delineation of the future in definite and vivid colors (Joel, Daniel, Isa. 24\u201327).
\nThe Historical Situation. II. The time of blessing of which all prophets had testified was now come. The period of distress, of suffering, and of punishment through which the sinful nation must pass had been accomplished, and the redeemed people could now expect the fulfilment of that which had been promised them.
\nHopes realized and disappointed. (a) The first element of the programme was realized when the Babylonian Empire was overthrown by Cyrus the Persian in 538, and the exiles were permitted by the decree of the conqueror to return to their old home. A party of about fifty thousand set forth and accomplished the journey successfully. This was of course only a part of the exiles in the East, but it consisted naturally of those who were both supremely interested and least encumbered with material hindrances. A very significant number of them were priests. It was no doubt expected that others would follow as rapidly as circumstances would permit. The first acts of the newly arrived company were performed with alacrity and with zeal. Preparations were made for the building of the temple, the altar was set up and worship established, and the beginnings of settlement were made.
\nBut at this point the fulfilment of the prophetic anticipations seemed to halt. The country was desolate, the city in ruins. The expected fertility of the land must needs be a matter of slow growth. Houses must be built, homes made, and the comparatively small number of available workers made progress difficult. The years of devastating war conducted by the great armies of the East, or the marauding bands of the petty nations adjacent, had reduced the available resources of the land to their lowest state. No miraculous outpouring of fertility, no divine manifestations of recuperative forces, gladdened and encouraged their hearts. The fulfilment fell far short of the anticipation.
\n(b) The one great aim and hope of the exiles in returning to their native land was to restore their nationality and to revive their worship. The central element in the latter expectation was the building of the temple. It was understood that they who had returned were to set about this work at once, but the very things in which they were disappointed with respect to the restoration on its material side hindered the fulfilment of their plans in this respect. They must have houses to shelter them, food to keep them alive. These were not easy to obtain, and so the higher and more ideal element in their expectation faded away. The temple was not built, and that which was to accompany and follow its erection did not appear.
\nThe New Temple. Under the inspiration of two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, the returned exiles did set about building the temple in the year 520. The enterprise was favored by the Persian king Darius, who provided materials and money, and it was completed in 516. So in this respect, at least, the hopes of the fathers had been fulfilled, even though the temple thus erected was less splendid than that of Solomon, and the means of carrying on the worship properly must be provided by the Persian government.
\nThe New Nation. (c) A third almost equally essential element in the programme of the return and the reestablishment of the worship was the revival of the national life, the seating of the son of David upon the throne, the recovery of independence, and the glorification of Israel among the nations. It was this, perhaps, which was dearer to the hearts of the prophets than anything else. A son of David did, indeed, lead the exiles back, and as governor under the Persians he managed the affairs of the community. But there were no signs of any larger future until the occasion came which stirred the prophets to call upon the people to build the temple. Then, indeed, they believed the hour was arrived for the son of David to receive his right, and they declared, in statements which were sufficiently clear to those who lived in hope, that the prince would take the crown and the kingdoms of the world yield to him. But such was not to be the case. The Persian Empire withstood all shocks, and the organization established by Darius made it firmer than ever. In the new arrangements made by him the prince of David\u2019s line passed out of sight. A Persian governor took his place at the head of the community, and the national independence was spoken of no more.
\nIt is this appalling difference between the confident expectations as to the post-exilic age and its actual circumstances and events that makes this period the most dreary of all the epochs of the people\u2019s life. This may also account, at least in part, for the few memorials that have come down to us in most unsatisfactory form from this period. Nevertheless it was an age of the utmost significance, equal in this respect, if not superior, to the exile period, because the adjustment of the people to this new condition of things, their solution of the riddle of their future, was accomplished in so marvellous a way and had so important an influence upon the future.
\nCritical Moments of the Age. III. Upon the critical events of this period of the post-exilic age light is thrown only at intervals. Besides what is told about the return, the narrative of which, indeed, in Ezra, chapters 1\u20133, comes from a very late date, there are three epochs concerning which something more than inference and general knowledge is possible. These are the work of Haggai and Zechariah, the prophetic activity of Malachi, the times of Ezra and Nehemiah.
\nHaggai and Zechariah. (a) The moment in the history of the Persian Empire taken by these prophets to stir up the Jews to their duty was a most critical one. Cambyses had died on his return march from Egypt. A usurper, pretending to be a brother of Cambyses, had seized the Persian throne. Darius, a distant relative of the royal house, by the aid of devoted nobles, had succeeded in reaching the castle in which the usurper was holding court and had slain him. Darius was thereupon proclaimed king, but his accession was the signal for a tremendous convulsion in the empire, province after province revolting. It was necessary for him in the first two or three years of his reign to engage in what was practically a struggle for the unity of the empire (521\u2013519 B.C.). Babylon twice revolted. The West seems to have remained faithful, or at least indifferent, but the news of the great eastern commotions produced its effect there. It was a world-crisis such as would have stirred Amos or Isaiah, and it did rouse into religious enthusiasm two of the religious leaders, prophets of Judah. All of Haggai\u2019s sermons were preached in 520, from the sixth to the ninth month, and in the same year, in the eighth month, Zechariah\u2019s voice was heard. They called upon the people to begin at once upon the temple, with the assurance that Jehovah was with them. Only thus could the divine promises be fulfilled which the prophets of old had uttered. These prophecies involved the restitution of the old independence and glory of the nation, as well as the re\u00ebstablishment of the temple service. The beginning of the fulfilment of all this Haggai and Zechariah saw in the commotions of the great empire of Persia. These world-shakings would only fill the temple with the desirable things of the nations. Zerubbabel, the Davidic prince, was to be preserved, exalted, crowned. In the general breaking up of the empire these prophets saw the assurance that Jehovah was taking the initiative, and that the people must do their part if the programme was to be carried out in full.
\nIn the midst of the renewal of energy secured by their prophetic exhortations, the satrap of Syria appeared at Jerusalem to investigate the new movement. He would naturally ask himself whether this meant the beginning of rebellion in the West, and, while he did not forbid the continuance of the work when the Jews gave their authority for carrying it on, he yet sent a message to Darius inquiring as to the authenticity of the Jewish claim of permission from Cyrus, and also as to whether it was advisable to permit further activity in this line. There is a story in one of the apocryphal books that Zerubbabel was at the court of Darius at this time and pleaded the Jewish cause. He seems to have remained there. At any rate it is remarkable that nothing more is heard of him. In Zechariah\u2019s series of visions found in Zech. 1:7\u20136:15, announced to the people while the temple was building, and possibly in the interval of the waiting for the answer from Darius, while it is promised that Zerubbabel shall finish the temple, the crowns are placed, not upon his head, but upon that of Joshua, the high priest, with the strange saying that between him and the occupant of the throne there shall be peace. Whatever may be the explanation of details the the whole situation points to the expectation of both prophets that Zerubbabel is to be the king of the new state about to come into being. This, however, as has been remarked, did not come to pass. The Persian Empire remained intact, and, under the organization of Darius, stronger than ever. The temple, to be sure, was completed in 516, and with its completion darkness settled down upon the life at Jerusalem.
\nMalachi. (b) We have from the hand of the prophet who is called Malachi a prophecy which suggests a critical moment in the history of the community, and also illustrates the manner of life at Jerusalem. Scepticism and indifference were at work within. The offerings for the temple were grudgingly given and imperfect in quality. The leaders of the people had begun to cultivate alliances with non-Jewish families about them, even divorcing their own wives for this purpose. Against all these the prophet raises his voice in denunciation, announcing the certainty and immediateness of divine judgment. A bit of narrative suggests that there was a genuine revival among the faithful, perhaps as a result of the work of the prophet.
\nIt is a suggestive conjecture which places the time and work of Malachi in connection with Ezra 4:6. The reins had fallen from the hand of Darius, and the youthful Xerxes had just come to the throne. Egypt was in revolt, and the provinces were naturally ready to break away. Such a time as this would be particularly stimulating for the community at Jerusalem, and suitable for a prophet to appear in denunciation and exhortation. The reformation thus begun in the time of Malachi may have led to an attempt to build the wall of Jerusalem,\u2014a thing which was the occasion of the accusation lodged with Xerxes who promptly stopped all proceedings of that sort. And thus the work of Malachi seemed in vain.
\nEzra and Nehemiah. (c) Malachi had spoken of a messenger, another Elijah, who was to come. Such an one did appear when Ezra came to Jerusalem in 458 with the law of Jehovah in his hand, by virtue of the authority of King Artaxerxes, to impose it upon the community at Jerusalem. The story of the beginning of his work is given in his own words in the Book of Ezra, chapters 7\u20139. The account of how he freed the community from the curse of the mixed marriages is told in the tenth chapter. While nothing more directly is told of him and his work until much later, it is probably correct to place in the interval that attempt to build the wall which is described in Ezra 4:8\u201323. Ezra, too, found it impossible to realize his plans and carry out the law unless the city was protected from outsiders by a wall. But Artaxerxes would not permit this extension of privileges, and doubtless Ezra\u2019s work for the time was intermitted. It was, however, later brought to a splendid conclusion when Nehemiah came in 445 from the East with the king\u2019s express permission to build the walls and with grants of aid with which to do it. The enterprise was carried through, and in 445\u20134 the community as a body entered into covenant to obey the law of Jehovah which Ezra had brought.
\nThe Law and its Influence. This was the birthday of Judaism. It meant for the people the opportunity and the obligation to carry out the will of Jehovah regarding his own proper worship and regarding the life of the community as regulated by him. Now, as never before, did Judah know how to be holy, and now, as never before, did it undertake to realize that holiness. Prophets had called upon the people to obey Jehovah, to practise righteousness, to depart from sin: but now they had before them plain and clear directions from Jehovah himself as to what his will was, in what righteousness consisted, how they might definitely fulfil his commands. It was a wonderful transformation of the religion of Jehovah forced upon the people by its situation, illustrating the marvellous vitality of those fundamental religious truths which, impressed upon Israel\u2019s life from the beginning, could reappear in this new and strange guise to run a long and splendid course.
\nThe reflection of the work of Ezra and Nehemiah is found in a body of literature which contains some of the loftiest utterances of Israel\u2019s aspiration. The confidence in Jehovah and the belief in his forgiveness and purification of his people, the assurance of its possession of Jehovah\u2019s teaching and its joy therein, the recognition of Israel\u2019s mission to the world and the world\u2019s subjection to Jehovah and his Israel\u2014all found expression in prophetic utterances like Isaiah, chapters 56\u201366, and ringing songs of joy and trust such as Psalms 103\u2013106; 89; 120\u2013134, and others of like sentiment.
\nThe importance of the priestly ideal of Israel\u2019s life has its basis in this period. It was at this time that the priestly seers exercised their imaginative insight upon the past and produced those priestly interpretations of Israel\u2019s history which appear in the Pentateuch (cf. pp. 38, 42).
\nThe Age of the Scribes. IV. From the time of Ezra and Nehemiah to the Maccab\u00e6an uprising includes the second period of the post-exilic age. No Old Testament historical book deals with it. Knowledge of Jewish affairs from non-biblical writings is scanty and limited to isolated points. Yet for Judaism it was anything but a \u201cperiod of silence\u201d or one void of critical events. Much biblical literature was produced. The decisive epochs were at least two.
\nAlexander in Palestine. (a) The Macedonian conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great (334\u2013323 B.C.) was a turning point in Jerusalem\u2019s history. Greek rule and Greek influences supplanted the Persian. The last years of Persian domination had been grievous for the Jews. Such experiences as lie at the heart of the Book of Joel, the plague of locusts, the drought, and the aggressions of the nations, lay in these years and bred in the community that fierce and narrow temper which the same book discloses. They greeted with satisfaction the new developments. They hoped that the long-expected age of freedom was come. Prophets and psalmists united in hailing the new day.
\nIsaiah, chapters 24\u201327, contains the message for the time with its combination of confusion and tumult with the ultimate overthrow of all enemies and the restoration and glorification of Jehovah\u2019s people. Perhaps somewhat later, the prophet or prophets of Zechariah, chapters 9\u201314, reflect the times of the Greek kingdoms that succeeded to Alexander\u2019s Empire when Palestine again became, as in the eighth century and after, the prize contended for by sovereigns from Egypt and Mesopotamia. The condition of the Jews thus situated was wretched in the extreme, alternately blessed and cursed, pillaged and prospered by the tyrants ironically entitled \u201cshepherds.\u201d Yet the seers looked forward to the removal of these bonds and the exaltation of the community.
\nThe Maccab\u00e6an Uprising. (b) The second critical moment was the Maccab\u00e6an uprising (167 B.C.) in connection with which Old Testament prophecy makes its final utterance. In the year 168 B.C. Antiochus IV, the Syrian ruler of Palestine, embittered against the Jews, took special measures to uproot their religion and turn Jerusalem into a community thoroughly Hellenized in manners and religion. All observance of the Jewish law or of customs dependent on it was punishable with death, and all Jews must assist at heathen religious ceremonies. While at first some submitted, others suffered martyrdom for their fidelity. A spirit of heroic resistance was stirred into life by the example of Mattathias, priest at Modein, who with his five sons raised the standard of revolt. After his death the struggle was carried on under the leadership of his sons, one of whom, Judas, called Maccab\u00e6us, has given the name to the movement which was finally successful after a series of tremendous conflicts. The religion was not only saved, but gloriously vindicated.
\nThe prophets and psalmists whose writings echo the events of this stirring time are found in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Psalms. They illustrate the misery into which the pious were brought by the fierce persecution of these heathen oppressors, the unyielding obstinacy of their resistance, their implacable thirst for vengeance upon their tyrants, and their steadfast faith that Jehovah would at last deliver and glorify them. The prophetic author of Daniel closed his visions on the threshold of victory (165\u20134 B. C.) when the Syrian king was dead, his army beaten back, the temple purified and consecrated, and a new era of the nation\u2019s history dawning on the horizon.
\nThe Expectations of these Periods. V. It is of course in one sense fulfilment and not expectation that should come in this age. But the slow course of the fulfilment during its earlier years stirred prophets to new promises and expectations. And when the fulfilment came, it was so far short of what was expected, and was wanting in so many particulars, that there was still room for hope. To this hope the age responded with marvellous power. It rose with undiminished faith and aspiration, after each reverse, through the years of foreign tyranny, to nobler heights of expectation, to clearer visions of the happy future. Sometimes these hopes were fired with righteous passion against persecutors, sometimes they gleamed with a sad radiance from the background of undeserved suffering, sometimes they shone with a calm and holy light from the face of a tranquil and constant trust.<\/p>\n
1. THE WORLD SHAKEN; ZION GLORIFIED<\/p>\n
(6) For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; (7) and I will shake all nations, and the desirable things of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts. (8) The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of hosts. (9) The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith Jehovah of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts.\u2014HAGGAI 2:6\u20139.<\/p>\n
The Coming of Jehovah. (a) Through the prophetic writings of the age runs a strong expectation of the advent of Jehovah. The second Isaiah had described his triumphal advance to lead the exiles home, and to take up his abode upon his holy hill. But the temple was not built, and it remained for the prophetic voices of Haggai and Zechariah to declare that if only the people would build the temple Jehovah would come to dwell therein; that, indeed, he was already with them in their efforts; that the temple would be more glorious now than ever before; and that from it Jehovah would send forth peace (Haggai 1:13; 2:6\u20139; Zech. 2:5, 12). Both prophets promise in connection with his advent the prosperity of the land. Jerusalem shall grow so great that any walls which may be built will be too narrow, since the dispersed of Israel in other lands are to flock home, and the wealth of foreign peoples is to flow into the land (Haggai 2:7; Zech. 2:1\u20135; 1:17; 8:1\u20138, 12, 20\u201323).<\/p>\n
2. ISRAEL\u2019S FINAL GLORY<\/p>\n
(1) I. Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee.
\n(2) For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples:
\nBut Jehovah shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
\n(3) And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
\n(4) Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to thee:
\nThy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be carried in the arms.
\n(5) Then thou shalt see and be lightened, and thine heart shall tremble and be enlarged;
\nBecause the abundance of the sea shall be turned unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee.<\/p>\n
(6) II. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; they all shall come from Sheba: they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah.
\n(7) All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee:
\nThey shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
\n(8) Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
\n(9) Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first,
\nTo bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them,
\nFor the name of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.<\/p>\n
(10) III. And strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee:
\nFor in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
\n(11) Thy gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night;
\nThat men may bring unto thee the wealth of the nations, and their kings led [with them].
\n(12) For that nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
\n(13) The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together;
\nTo beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
\n(14) And the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet;
\nAnd they shall call thee The city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.<\/p>\n
(15) IV. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through thee,
\nI will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
\n(16) Thou shalt also suck the milk of the nations, and shalt suck the breast of kings:
\nAnd thou shalt know that I Jehovah am thy saviour, and thy redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
\n(17) For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver,
\nAnd for wood brass, and for stones iron:
\nI will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.
\n(18) Violence shall no more be heard in thy land,
\nDesolation nor destruction within thy borders;
\nBut thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.<\/p>\n
(19) V. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee:
\nBut Jehovah shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
\n(20) Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself:
\nFor Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
\n(21) Thy people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever;
\nThe branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
\n(22) The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation:
\nI Jehovah will hasten it in its time.\u2014ISA. 60.<\/p>\n
3. THE NEW WORLD<\/p>\n
(17) For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. (18) But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. (19) And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. (20) There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.<\/p>\n
(21) And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
\n(22) They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat:
\nFor as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people,
\nAnd my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
\n(23) They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for calamity;
\nFor they are the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring with them.
\n(24) And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
\n(25) The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
\nAnd the lion shall eat straw like the ox: and dust shall be the serpent\u2019s meat.
\nThey shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith Jehovah.\u2014ISA. 65:17\u201325.<\/p>\n
The splendor of Israel consequent upon the dwelling of Jehovah with his people is conceived of in the most glowing pictures of the prophet whose work appears in the last chapters of Isaiah. Jehovah is the light of his people, brighter than the sun. Thither the nations hasten and the dispersed of the people with their riches. So utterly changed will all be that it is as though a new universe had come into being, the centre of whose life and joy will be Jerusalem (Isa. 60; 65, etc.).<\/p>\n
4. JEHOVAH\u2019S SPIRIT UPON ISRAEL<\/p>\n
(28) And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
\nAnd your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
\nYour old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
\n(29) And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
\n\u2014JOEL 2:28, 29.<\/p>\n
In harmony with these anticipations Joel looks forward to a time when Jehovah\u2019s spirit would be poured out upon the community. The form of the utterance is suggested by the promised welcome rain which sinks into the parched earth and revives the drooping verdure. So Jehovah\u2019s vigorous, energizing spirit will permeate the weary and waste masses of men and inspire them to prophetic visions and tasks. The surest evidence of Jehovah\u2019s nearness and activity in those days was the ecstatic experience, when one\u2019s own self was possessed by the mightier divine afflatus. Nothing higher was conceivable. This experience was to be confined no longer to a few; all were to enjoy it, even slaves. It is not likely that the prophet\u2019s outlook reached beyond his own people, though \u201call flesh\u201d would suggest the broader view. Within these limits the prophetic gift would be universal. All would hold immediate communication with Jehovah.<\/p>\n
5. JEHOVAH THE SAVIOUR AND JUDGE<\/p>\n
(1) O sing unto Jehovah a new song;
\nFor he hath done marvellous things:
\nright hand, and his holy arm, hath wrought salvation for him.
\n(2) Jehovah hath made known his salvation:
\nHis righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the nations.
\n(3) He hath remembered his mercy and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel:
\nAll the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
\n(4) Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah, all the earth:
\nBreak forth and sing for joy, yea, sing praises.
\n(5) Sing praises unto Jehovah with the harp;
\nWith the harp and the voice of melody.
\n(6) With trumpets and sound of cornet
\nMake a joyful noise before the King, Jehovah.
\n(7) Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;
\nThe world, and they that dwell therein;
\n(8) Let the floods clap their hands;
\nLet the hills sing for joy together;
\n(9) Before Jehovah, for he cometh to judge the earth:
\nHe shall judge the world with righteousness,
\nAnd the peoples with equity.\u2014Ps. 98.<\/p>\n
These expectations are echoed in a series of wonderful Psalms which have been assigned to the period of the completion of the temple. They are the response to the voice of the prophet. Jehovah\u2019s world-wide sovereignty is proclaimed. He is God of Israel, he rules upon Zion over man and nature. His rule is one of justice and equity. He loves righteousness and will see it prevail. The righteous, therefore, are objects of his special care. He saves and glorifies them. \u201cLet him, then, be worshipped by us, for he is our God. Let us be glad before him, for all things make for our salvation\u201d (Pss. 93\u2013100).<\/p>\n
6. THE SON OF MAN AND HIS EVERLASTING KINGDOM<\/p>\n
(9) I beheld till thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, [and] the wheels thereof burning fire. (10) A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgement was set, and the books were opened. (11) I beheld at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and he was given to be burned with fire. (12) And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. (13) I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (14) And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (15) As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. (16) I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. (17) These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. (18) But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.\u2014DAN. 7:9\u201318.<\/p>\n
7. THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT<\/p>\n
(1) And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. (2) And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (3) And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.<\/p>\n
(10) Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand: but they that be wise shall understand. (11) And from the time that the continual [burnt offering] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. (12) Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. (13) But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days.\u2014DAN. 12:1\u20133, 10\u201313.<\/p>\n
8. THE ABOLISHMENT OF DEATH<\/p>\n
(6) And in this mountain shall Jehovah of hosts make unto all peoples
\nA feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees,
\nOf fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
\n(7) And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples,
\nAnd the veil that is spread over all nations.
\n(8) He hath swallowed up death for ever;
\nAnd the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces;
\nAnd the reproach of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it.\u2014ISA. 25:6\u20138.<\/p>\n
The Crisis and Upturning. (b) This age looks forward to a great change which is to accompany Jehovah\u2019s advent. Such critical epochs of overthrow are, indeed, part of the prophetic expectation in all periods. But now it is not so much a particular people whose fate is to be decided before the glory of Jehovah is revealed. The vision of this age is extended. Only a world-catastrophe involving peoples not immediately concerned with Israel can satisfy its outlook. Ezekiel had some such thought as this in mind when he brought up King Gog with his hosts to be annihilated before Jerusalem. Judah in Babylon was rather a passive spectator of the contest of the nations which was to free her from captivity. So, in this age, we have the pictures of universal war from Zechariah and the convulsions of contending kingdoms described by Haggai, all of which were to usher in the era of Jerusalem\u2019s glory, the age of peace. These general anticipations are usually called \u201capocalyptic.\u201d They are the beginning of a long series of such forms of predictive utterance. A splendid example of them is given in Isaiah 24\u201327. Highly colored visions of this sort are found in Zechariah, chapters 12\u201314, and in the prophecies of Daniel.
\nThey represent in one sense the least satisfactory element in the expectations of this age, since the descriptions of the overthrow and ruin of the heathen world are shot through with an element of severity and relentlessness and are conceived in forms sometimes so repulsive as to shock and pain the religious sense (cf. Zech. 14:12). Yet one cannot but acknowledge the force of the grand and impressive imagery with which the prophet in the latter chapters of Daniel sets forth the consummation of the future. The pictures of chapters 7 and 12 seem to be parallel. The last days see Jehovah fitly entitled the \u201cAncient of Days,\u201d seated upon his fiery throne, pronouncing judgment which involves the establishing of the kingdom of the \u201cSon of Man\u201d forever. Another feature of the judgment is the resurrection to a life of eternal joy on the part of those who have been constant and valiant in the time of trial, while apostates awake to a life of shame. The new kingdom of the faithful is set up upon the earth and all peoples and nations are subject to it. Out of such representations as these, diligent but literalistic students have set about constructing a programme of the end of the world. But apart from affording forms of thought which by vividness and concreteness have ever been found helpful to many minds in picturing the future, it is clear that these representations are either local and individual, or characteristic of a mode of thinking that sprang up in this period and can be properly understood only from the historical conditions of the times.<\/p>\n
9. THE CHOICE OF ZERUBBABEL<\/p>\n
(21) Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth: (22) and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. (23) In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith Jehovah, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith Jehovah of hosts.\u2014HAGGAI 2:21\u201323.<\/p>\n
10. THE ROYAL BRANCH AND HIS PRIESTS<\/p>\n
(6) And the angel of Jehovah protested unto Joshua, saying, (7) Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee a place of access among these that stand by. (8) Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee; for they are men which are a sign: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch. (9) For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; upon one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. (10) In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.\u2014ZECH. 3:6\u201310.<\/p>\n
11. THE KING AND PRIEST<\/p>\n
(9) And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, (10) Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither they are come from Babylon; (11) yea, take [of them] silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest; (12) and speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah: (13) even he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and 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 both. (14) And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah. (15) And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of Jehovah, and ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto you. And [this] shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of Jehovah your God.\u2014ZECH. 6:9\u201315.<\/p>\n
12. THE COMING OF THE MESSENGER<\/p>\n
(3:1) Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts. (2) But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner\u2019s fire, and like fullers\u2019 soap: (3) and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto Jehovah offerings in righteousness. (4) Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. (5) And I will come near to you to judgement; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers; and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts. (6) For I Jehovah change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
\n(4:1) For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (2) But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall. (3) And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do make, saith Jehovah of hosts. (4) Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and judgements. (5) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. (6) And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
\n\u2014MAL. 3:1\u20136; 4:1\u20136.<\/p>\n
The Past Revivified. (c) The old hope of the revival of the ancient institutions of Israel was felt in this last age. How the two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, looked forward to the crowning of Zerubbabel as the messiah of Jehovah, the king of the new nation! He is the one whom Jehovah regards with intense solicitude, who is his signet ring, who is the \u201cbranch\u201d of the Davidic house upon whom the hopes of all depend (Haggai 2:23; Zech. 3:8, 10). The prophet, too, reappears. He is to be the \u201cmessenger,\u201d in Malachi\u2019s words, who will prepare the way for the coming of Jehovah. A second Elijah will come to bring about a great revival and reconciliation between God\u2019s people, and thus usher in the era of blessing (Mal. 3:1; 4:5). The same prophet who desired the king saw also a great place for the priest. \u201cThe high priest is already the religious representative of his people\u201d in the visions of Zechariah. Israel is sanctified in him. In the day of the revived kingdom he was to be an ally and helper of the monarchy (Zech. 3:7, 8; 6:12, 13).<\/p>\n
13. THE REPENTANT AND FORGIVEN ISRAEL<\/p>\n
(10) And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (11) In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. (12) And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; (13) the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; (14) all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.<\/p>\n
(13:1) In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
\n\u2014ZECH. 12:10\u201313:1.<\/p>\n
14. THE SUFFERER OBEYS JEHOVAH\u2019S CALL AND TRUSTS<\/p>\n
(1) I. I waited patiently for Jehovah;
\nAnd he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
\n(2) He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay;
\nAnd he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
\n(3) And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:
\nMany shall see it, and fear,
\nAnd shall trust in Jehovah.<\/p>\n
(4) II. Blessed is the man that maketh Jehovah his trust,
\nAnd respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
\n(5) Many, O Jehovah my God, are the wonderful works which thou hast done,
\nAnd thy thoughts which are to usward:
\nThey cannot be set in order unto thee;
\nIf I would declare and speak of them,
\nThey are more than can be numbered.
\n(6) Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in;
\nMine ears hast thou opened:
\nBurnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
\n(7) Then said I, Lo, I am come;
\nIn the roll of the book it is written of me;
\n(8) I delight to do thy will, O my God;
\nYea, thy law is within my heart.
\n(9) I have published righteousness in the great congregation;
\nLo, I will not refrain my lips,
\nO Jehovah, thou knowest.
\n(10) I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart;
\nI have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation:
\nI have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
\n(11) Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Jehovah:
\nLet thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.<\/p>\n
(12) III. For innumerable evils have compassed me about,
\nMine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
\nThey are more than the hairs of mine head, and my heart hath failed me.
\n(13) Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me:
\nMake haste to help me, O Jehovah.
\n(14) Let them be ashamed and confounded together
\nThat seek after my soul to destroy it:
\nLet them be turned backward and brought to dishonour
\nThat delight in my hurt.
\n(15) Let them be desolate by reason of their shame
\nThat say unto me, Aha, Aha.
\n(16) Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:
\nLet such as love thy salvation say continually,
\nJehovah be magnified.
\n(17) But I am poor and needy;
\n[Yet] the Lord thinketh upon me:
\nThou art my help and my deliverer;
\nMake no tarrying, O my God.\u2014Ps. 40.<\/p>\n
15. THE SECURITY OF JEHOVAH\u2019S FAITHFUL ONE<\/p>\n
(1) He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
\nShall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
\n(2) I will say of Jehovah, he is my refuge and my fortress;
\nMy God, in whom I trust.
\n(3) For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
\nAnd from the noisome pestilence.
\n(4) He shall cover thee with his pinions,
\nAnd under his wings shalt thou take refuge:
\nHis truth is a shield and a buckler.
\n(5) Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night,
\nNor for the arrow that flieth by day;
\n(6) For the pestilence that walketh in darkness,
\nNor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
\n(7) A thousand shall fall at thy side,
\nAnd ten thousand at thy right hand;
\n[But] it shall not come nigh thee.
\n(8) Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold,
\nAnd see the reward of the wicked.<\/p>\n
(9) For thou, Jehovah, art my refuge!<\/p>\n
Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation;
\n(10) There shall no evil befall thee,
\nNeither shall any plague come nigh thy tent.
\n(11) For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
\nTo keep thee in all thy ways.
\n(12) They shall bear thee up in their hands,
\nLest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
\n(13) Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder:
\nThe young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample under feet.<\/p>\n
(14) Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him:
\nI will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
\n(15) He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;
\nI will be with him in trouble:
\nI will deliver him, and honour him.
\n(16) With long life will I satisfy him,
\nAnd shew him my salvation.\u2014Ps. 91.<\/p>\n
16. JEHOVAH\u2019S SERVANT DELIVERED FROM DEATH<\/p>\n
(5) Jehovah is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup:
\nThou maintainest my lot.
\n(6) The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places;
\nYea, I have a goodly heritage.
\n(7) I will bless Jehovah, who hath given me counsel:
\nYea, my reins instruct me in the night seasons.
\n(8) I have set Jehovah always before me:
\nBecause he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
\n(9) Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth:
\nMy flesh also shall dwell in safety.
\n(10) For thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol;
\nNeither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
\n(11) Thou wilt shew me the path of life:
\nIn thy presence is fulness of joy;
\nIn thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
\n\u2014Ps. 16:5\u201311.<\/p>\n
The Hopes Centred in \u201cOne.\u201d (d) The conception of an individual in whom the hopes of the age centred attains greater clearness in this period. It has already been remarked how the pathetic figure of Jeremiah gave the impulse to this mode of thinking, and how the teachings of Isaiah 42\u201355 developed it, though the individual reference in the prophecies of the second Isaiah is not demonstrable. Similar indefiniteness continues to characterize expectations after the Exile, such as those of Isaiah 61. (see p. 171), where the individualistic representation passes by degrees into a characterization of the people and a thanksgiving for national blessing. The \u201cson of man\u201d of Daniel 7:13 may likewise be the glorified Israel, just as in chapter 12 the \u201choly people\u201d stand in the seer\u2019s vision.
\nThe Significance of Zerubbabel. Not without reason, however, did the position assigned to Zerubbabel by Haggai and Zechariah give a strong support to the gathering of messianic ideas about an individual. His high birth and official rank, the remarkable series of events in the outer world accompanying his career, and his sudden disappearance from off the scene, may well have made him a sign and a rallying point for all sorts of prophetic oracles. The mysterious and unexpected silence concerning him that falls upon Zechariah\u2019s pages has suggested the view that he was removed and suffered a martyr\u2019s death at the hands of the Persian ruler. Such an event would immensely have stimulated the conception of the \u201csuffering servant\u201d and contributed to the individualizing of it. The trial and the triumph, with their world-wide issues, became the themes of prophet and poet alike. The martyrdom of the sufferer was portrayed in Zechariah 11:4\u201317; 13:7\u20139; 12:10\u201313:1 as the killing of the shepherd by his own people, or in Daniel 9:24\u201327, as his cutting off by a foreign oppressor. The triumph after the suffering is the theme of Psalms that follow in the track of Psalm 22, like the fortieth, the ninety-first, or the sixteenth. Suffering and Triumph. These Psalms deal with individual experience; however, this may have been idealized for their use as community Psalms. In the sixteenth, for example, the singer, from what threatens to be his death-bed, utters words of supreme faith and calm assurance. He has been faithful to Jehovah in life and has chosen those who were like minded. Prosperity has attended him, and therefore the future is bright. The realm of the dead is not to be his dwelling place. He by whom Jehovah stands is to be restored to life. The expressions are so general and indefinite that it is difficult to say whether the psalmist declares that though he enter the gates of death he shall not abide there, but shall pass triumphantly through the realm of Sheol unto Jehovah, or merely that the disease shall not prove fatal. He is, however, assured that to have God at one\u2019s right hand is to abide at His right hand forever hereafter. Here is the kernel of the psalm\u2014the permanence of Jehovah\u2019s servant.
\nThe relation of the triumphant individual to Jehovah is one of absolute dependence and humility in many utterances of the time. He is, indeed, the \u201cservant.\u201d In Zechariah 9:9 he comes, vindicated by Jehovah rather than triumphant. It is a humble entry upon the ass, symbol of peace. His mission is to do Jehovah\u2019s will. He has made Jehovah his refuge; God\u2019s right hand upholds him.
\nThe Result. The issue of the suffering and triumph of the individual is a wider blessing to mankind. It was still thought of by some as confined to Israel, or even to the righteous within Israel. A remarkable outcome is suggested in Zechariah 12:10\u201313:1. After the deliverance of Jerusalem by Jehovah, the inhabitants shall be moved to deep mourning for having slain their shepherd; as a result of their penitence, Jehovah will remove their sin. The largest expectation is seen in the Book of Jonah, where, in consequence of the prophet\u2019s preaching, all Nineveh is turned to Jehovah. But that this issue was not altogether acceptable to some teachers of Israel is shown by Jonah\u2019s anger and Jehovah\u2019s defence of himself. The narrow view of Jonah prevailed more and more as the community came in contact with the imperial powers of the day and suffered from them. In its eyes Jehovah would crush the nations for Israel\u2019s sake rather than convert them.<\/p>\n
17. JEHOVAH\u2019S EXALTATION OF MAN<\/p>\n
(1) O Jehovah, our Lord,
\nHow excellent is thy name in all the earth!
\nWho hast set thy glory upon the heavens.
\n(2) Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established strength,
\nBecause of thine adversaries,
\nThat thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
\n(3) When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
\nThe moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
\n(4) What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
\nAnd the son of man, that thou visitest him?
\n(5) For thou hast made him but little lower than God,
\nAnd crownest him with glory and honour.
\n(6) Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
\nThou hast put all things under his feet:
\n(7) All sheep and oxen,
\nYea, and the beasts of the field;
\n(8) The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
\nWhatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
\n(9) O Jehovah, our Lord,
\nHow excellent is thy name in all the earth!
\n\u2014Ps. 8.<\/p>\n
The Ideal Man. (e) The counterpart of this individualistic ideal is a thought of man as man, apart from all national ideals or limitations, as a being of Jehovah\u2019s creation, abiding under Jehovah\u2019s blessing. Thus, as has been observed, to this age belongs the interpretation of creation which appears in Genesis 1. (cf. p. 14). A similar ideal picture is given in the eighth Psalm. The wonderful contrasts in man are dwelt upon, his insignificance and his magnificence, his greatness and his littleness. It is in the picture of his wondrous exaltation that the poet finds inspiration for his lofty flight. Created by Jehovah, to all else than God he is superior. To God alone he yields, and to him he is but a little inferior. All the majesty and glory and greatness of one who is but just a step below the mighty one gather about him. Such is man in his ideal state as the creation of Jehovah.
\nSummary. VI. In the two considerations last mentioned centre the truly and permanently characteristic foreshadowings of the time. The outcome of the era of divine grace was for the exilic seers the holy community in its various aspects (cf. p. 168). But now out of the community, at its head, raised up and glorified by Jehovah, appears the holy individual. His characteristic marks are humility, righteousness, and service, by which he leads his people on to their supreme achievement.
\nThus a new era dawns, in which man realizes his original divine character and attains his true place near to God and at the head of creation. Yet he is man purified, redeemed, justified, in whom dwells Jehovah\u2019s spirit, or who abides in Jehovah\u2019s presence. The leader is identified with his followers, and together they enter and occupy a new world.
\nIn this age, therefore, the longest step is taken out of the shadow of expectancy into the substance of realization. Other steps were taken in the same time of very doubtful wisdom and with sad consequences to the progress of Jehovah\u2019s cause in the future. The humble leader was to disappear behind the conquering king. Righteousness was to decline before worldly position. The rule of the nations was to be preferred to the rule of the spirit. Universal peace was to be sought by planting Jerusalem\u2019s foot upon the necks of kings. But these ideals were at last to perish, or rather to be realized only after the sufferer had trodden his bloody path to the end in a world where meekness and purity and love had made all men one.
\nEstimate. VII. In looking back over the expectations of this age, what strikes one forcibly is not so much the scantiness of the material or the comparative narrowness of the outlook, but rather the persistence of hope for the future which was able to outlive the great disappointments of the return. In the midst of discouragements Judah persevered in hoping for the coming of Jehovah and the realizing of the promises of the past. From one point of view the post-exilic age may be regarded as the great and crowning period of messianic expectation. The reasons for this, not far to seek, are at least two: (1) the union of disappointment at the realization of past hopes with the recurrence of critical epochs in the outward history of the people served to direct and hold alert its forward look; (2) the introduction of the legal system with its devotion to the will of Jehovah, and the rise of Scribism with its interest in Israel\u2019s old literature, kept the former promises fresh in mind whereby the community in view of its conscious effort after obedience felt ever more certain of Jehovah\u2019s favor and ultimate intervention for salvation and victory. The same factors which kept these hopes alive and strong would also tend to preserve and emphasize their spiritual nature. This they never lost for the best of the Jewish teachers, but the entrance of political forces and the degeneration of piety into formalism or scepticism materialized and degraded them for the leaders of parties and the mass of the community. That Jesus restored and heightened their spiritual character and found lodgement for them in this higher form in the minds of his followers is evidence that the old teaching had not wholly perished.<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. THE RELATION OF THE LAW TO THE MESSIANIC HOPE: (a) note the fact of the existence and vigor of these two elements of Jewish life in this age; (b) consider whether there is any relation between them, and, if so, develop it (cf. p. 231). Sch\u00fcrer, Hist. of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, II, Div. II, p. 128; Montefiore, Religion of the Ancient Hebrews (Hibbert Lectures, 1892), Lect. IX.
\n2. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE DANIEL PROPHECIES: (a) note the various views on this point\u2014Babylonian or Maccab\u00e6an elements; (b) apply them in detail to characteristic passages; (c) determine whether this is \u201cprophecy of the present\u201d; (d) consider the relation of the whole to the reality and meaning of the Messianic Hope. Sayce, Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments, p. 490 ff.; Driver in Authority and Arch\u00e6ology, p. 126 f.; Sch\u00fcrer, Hist. of the Jewish People, etc., II, Div. II, p. 137, Div. III, p. 49 ff.; Hastings, Bible Dict., art. \u201cDaniel\u201d; Ency. Biblica, art. \u201cDaniel\u201d; cf. p. 188, note 2.
\n3. MESSIANIC PSALMS: (a) search the Psalter for these; (b) classify them; (c) formulate the problem as to the individual and the community element in the Psalter and attempt an answer; (d) bearing of this problem and its solution on the messianic element. Perowne, The Psalms, I, Ch. III; Cheyne, Jewish Religious Life, etc., p. 104 ff.; Kirkpatrick, The Psalms (Camb. Bible), I, Int., Ch. VIII.
\n4. THE INDIVIDUAL ELEMENT IN THE POST-EXILIC LITERATURE: (a) from the history of the age and its reflection in the literature trace the growth of individualism: (1) as a heritage from Jeremiah and the Exile, (2) as intensified in the Restoration, (3) as affected by Law, (4) as appearing in Psalmody and Wisdom; (b) bearing of it on the messianic ideas of the age. Toy, Judaism and Christianity, p. 396 f.; Ottley, Aspects of the O. T., p. 90 f.
\n5. THE NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES TO THE LITERATURE OF THIS PERIOD: (a) gathered, (b) studied critically from the historical point of view; (c) conclusions formed; (d) principles formulated.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER IX<\/p>\n
THE EXPECTATION OF THE YEARS FROM THE MACCAB\u00c6AN UPRISING TO JESUS<\/p>\n
The Literature. I. The literary activity described in the last chapter (p. 185 ff.) widened and intensified during and after the age in which the latest books of the Old Testament were written. A large part of the writings of this time is found in the semi-canonical collection known as the Apocrypha. Others exist as separate works to which is given the name of Pseudepigrapha because they appear under the names of saints and heroes of the past. If characterized according to its content all this literature may be roughly grouped as (1) histories or narratives in historical form; (2) writings based on prophecy, either as additions to existing prophecies or as independent works which for the most part take the form of apocalypses; (3) writings of the \u201cwisdom\u201d type, teaching ethical and religious truth directly by exhortation and principle. Examples of the first class are First Maccabees; First Esdras; Judith and Tobit. Among those of the second are the additions to Daniel and Esther, the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, the Sibylline Oracles, and the Psalms of Solomon. To the third belong Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus Sirach, and the Wisdom of Solomon.
\nOf this literature some works deserve special mention in view of their contribution to messianic thought.
\nEnoch. 1. The Book of Enoch should really be called a compilation of Enoch literature, since in this period the use of the name of Enoch appears to have been a favorite method of recommending apocalyptic writings to the favor of the faithful. One of these compilations has come down to us in a Slavonic version. Another much more important exists in entirety in an Ethiopic translation with fragments in Greek and Latin. The original was probably written in Hebrew and is a Palestinian work, while the Slavonic Enoch comes mainly from a Greek original intended for Hellenistic Jews. The latter is also of a later date than the former, whose latest portions are pre-Christian while the latter belongs to the first Christian century; according to the most recent results of investigation there are at least five apocalypses gathered together in the 107 chapters of the Ethiopic Enoch, distinguishable as follows: (1) chapters i.\u2013xxxvi. belonging to the early years of the second century B.C., (2) chapters lxxxiii.\u2013xc., of a little later date, (3) chapters xci.\u2013civ., assigned to the latter half of the same century, (4) chapters xxxvii.\u2013lxx., called the \u201cSimilitudes,\u201d belonging to the first half of the first century B.C., (5) chapters lxxii.\u2013lxxix., lxxxii. Besides these a series of passages which seem to belong to a so-called Book of Noah and a few other sections appear as interpolations.
\nIn general these apocalypses resemble one another in form and content. As Enoch was one who \u201cwalked with God\u201d (Gen. 5:24), it was concluded that, as he had enjoyed exceptional opportunities of knowing the secrets of God\u2019s will, so he had revealed to his descendants this knowledge which they in their turn handed down to be made known in times of doubt and distress. Hence these apocalypses hailing from him have to do with the divine determination of human history, the interpretation of the past, the certainties of the future, the final consummation of all things, and the ultimate victory of righteousness. The details of the realization of the divine purposes are various, the order and importance of the events are not the same, and these differences constitute the significant grounds for the analysis and differentiation of the various parts of the book. The style of these, as of the other apocalypses, is diffuse, enigmatic, technical, repetitious, and wearisome. But they reflect even in this particular, as in their content and form, the spirit, aspirations, and thinking of the two centuries which precede the coming of Christ, and even supply some forms of thought and representations to Christian literature.
\nSibylline Oracles. 2. The Sibylline Oracles are a melange of predictions in Greek hexameters, chaotic in arrangement, interpolated and corrupted by Jewish and Christian hands. They mask under the name of the mysterious Sibyl whose fateful books played so large a part in the traditions of republican Rome. Some Jewish Hellenist of Egypt assumed the Sibyl\u2019s r\u00f4le to utter oracles which reflect an historical philosophy which made the fate of Israel the turning point of universal history. About this nucleus have been gathered all sorts of similar utterances whose origin is undiscoverable and whose significance is uncertain. But the vein of Jewish messianic thought is traceable in several of the fourteen (or twelve) books of which the volume is composed and constitutes its earliest and most valuable portion. This Jewish element is probably pre-Christian.
\nEcclesiasticus. 3. Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, a book of fifty-one chapters, is the pearl of the Apocrypha. It is a Greek translation from a Hebrew original, some considerable fragments of which have been recently discovered. In spirit and content it resembles the Book of Proverbs, dealing as it does with such subjects as wisdom, its being, relations of man and God, the law, exhortations to wisdom, right living, the history of God\u2019s people, God in creation and in history, etc. From statements in the book itself, it is concluded that its author wrote before the Maccab\u00e6an struggle, and the calmness and serenity in the point of view and discussions substantiate this conclusion. He delights equally in the priest and the scribe, and praises the temple as well as the law. The background is Palestinian.
\nWisdom of Solomon. 4. The Wisdom of Solomon is a Hellenistic wisdom book and its Greek dress is original. Its author is unknown and its date can be only approximately determined as in the first pre-Christian century. It was intended to recommend Jewish wisdom and ideals of living to Greek readers, and contains distinct traces of acquaintance with Greek philosophy. The first nine chapters deal with the abstract value of wisdom; the following ten chapters clinch the argument by an appeal to Israelitish history as illustrative of wisdom\u2019s power. The representation of Solomon, Israel\u2019s philosophic king, as the speaker, is characteristic of the age, and reminds us of Ecclesiastes.
\nPsalms of Solomon. 5. The Psalms of Solomon, eighteen in number, are written in Greek, and reflect a definite historical situation, viz. the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans under Pompey (63 B.C.). They occupy the point of view of a pious Pharisee mourning over the degradation of his country as a result of foreign conquest and the degeneracy of national leaders. Why the name of Solomon is attached to them is uncertain, as well as whether they are from one author and are the translation of a Hebrew original. Psalms 17 and 18 contain the chief messianic elements. As coming from the latter half of the first pre-Christian century and reflecting the Pharisaism of these years, they are of unique value for the knowledge of the Jewish thought which directly affected the beginnings of Christianity.
\nNational Independence achieved and lost, 164 B.C.\u20136 A.D. II. With the Maccab\u00e6an uprising the Jewish community comes forth from its religious seclusion into the current of the world\u2019s history, and its silence is broken to tell of its achievements and its struggles. The chapter of Jewish history that unrolls is both brilliant and gloomy, inspiring and disheartening. The main features are clear, though there is much detail that is uncertain and the causes and growth of forces that affect the course of things lie sometimes too deep for analysis. Three epochs or moments in the history sum up its significance: (1) The struggle for independence; (2) The clash of national and religious ideals; (3) The Roman and the Idum\u00e6an.
\n1. The heroic period of the Maccab\u00e6an uprising reached its culmination in 162 B.C. The Syrian kingdom in that year granted to the Jews religious freedom in the observance of their own law and the celebration of their own ceremonial.
\nThe Struggle for Independence. Was not this achievement all that could be desired? Perhaps all Jews would have replied in the affirmative and acquiesced in the political supremacy of Syria had not the Maccabees led the way to the attainment of political independence. At first they had little success or following, but this new rallying cry in time drew after them the majority of the Jews, though many of the \u201cPious\u201d could not follow. The result was finally accomplished. The Syrian kingdom was in decay, the Maccabees, Jonathan and Simon, were shrewd statesmen, and played off the various Syrian kings against one another to perfection until in 143\u2013142 B.C. Demetrius II made the formal acknowledgment of Jewish independence.
\nThus the Jewish community swings out again as a free and independent state into the world of oriental politics after nearly five hundred years of vassalage to successive empires of the East. How many changes had it seen, how many splendid dynasties outlived, how much suffering and humiliation undergone, how many fair hopes blighted, since Nebuchadrezzar had hurled down Jerusalem\u2019s walls and burned her palaces and temples! No wonder the people were transported with joy and burst forth in psalms and songs. Even the somewhat undemonstrative author of First Maccabees cries exultingly, \u201cThus the yoke of the heathen was taken away from Israel,\u201d and relates how at the removal of the Syrian garrison from the citadel of Jerusalem the people \u201centered into it \u2026 with thanksgiving and branches of palm trees, and with harps and cymbals, and with viols and hymns and songs; because there was destroyed a great enemy out of Israel\u201d (13:51). No wonder that in gratitude they ordained in 141 B.C. \u201cthat Simon should be their governor and high priest forever.\u201d
\n2. The high-priesthood of Simon was the beginning of a period of expansion for the new state which in time made its boundaries almost coextensive with those of the old Hebrew kingdom under David. A new era of prosperity dawned when, as the writer of First Maccabees expressed it, \u201cthey did till their ground in peace, and the earth gave her increase and the trees of the field their fruit. The ancient men sat all in the streets, communing together of good things and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel.\u2026 He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy; for every man sat under his vine and his fig tree, and there was none to fray them\u201d (1 Macc. 14:9\u201312).
\nThe Clash of National and Religious Ideals. But the era of peace and communing together was not without its dangers. The times of struggle and stress that had preceded, while they had put into the background the inner discords of religious thought and sentiment that existed among the people, had yet intensified those differences. The \u201cPious\u201d especially had grown more than ever devoted to the \u201cLaw\u201d in all its length and breadth, and the breach between them and the Hellenizing aristocracy became wider. And now when the religious and national victory had been won, they looked about them to find that they and their leaders, the Maccabees (or Asmon\u00e6ans, as they are now called), had been gradually parting company, the latter with their national and political ambitions inclining to the side of the aristocracy. Thus two parties sprang into being, each with definite and antagonistic aims, Pharisees and Sadducees. the \u201cPious\u201d under the new name of Pharisees or \u201cSeparated,\u201d pushing to the extreme their type of piety which consisted in the demand for a literal avoidance of impurity by utter obedience to the \u201cLaw\u201d\u2014and the Sadducees, willing to abide by the written Mosaic code, but supremely interested in the administration of the state, its offices, its emoluments, and its political success. The national ideals of the Asmon\u00e6ans, with their plans for placing Israel again among the states of the world, could not but be distasteful to the Pharisees, whose antagonism was also manifested in the claim that the Maccab\u00e6an high priest had, strictly speaking, no legal right to his position. The latter naturally in this situation gravitated toward the Sadducees until finally he broke with the Pharisees, persecuted them, and renounced their ideals. Thus the state was shaken and undermined by the strife of parties throughout the days of John Hyrcanus and Alexander. Meanwhile the theocratic dignity of the Asmon\u00e6an, which had been threatened by Pharisaic nationalism, tended to assert itself and thereby to assume a monarchical character. Soon the high priest deliberately took the royal title and Israel was again a monarchy under Aristobulus or Alexander (104 B.C.) For a brief period under Alexandra (78\u201369 B.C.) the Pharisees came to the front, but like all partisans and fanatics overplayed their part, and the queen\u2019s death was the signal for the renewal of factional difficulties.
\nThe Roman and the Idum\u00e6an. 3. The strength of the new state lay along three lines: the outburst of religious zeal, the weakness of the Syrian Empire, and the wisdom and vigor of the Asmon\u00e6an rulers. The first of these elements had been turned into party spirit and religious faction. The last was lost in the struggle of parties and in family quarrels. The second, at first favorable, finally became a menace in opening the way for the coming forward of new nationalities and at last in compelling the interference of Rome in the affairs of the East.
\nPompey. Down from the north, into the midst of a dreary dynastic dispute between two Asmon\u00e6an brothers, came the Roman legions, and the Roman sword hewed down the tottering structure of Jewish independence. Pompey advanced into Syria, captured Jerusalem in 63 B.C. and turned the state again into a religious community under the high-priesthood of Hyrcanus II, subject to the Roman governor of the province of Syria. The distress of a faithful Pharisee of the time, humiliated by this overwhelming disaster, is poured out in the Psalms of Solomon (see p. 239) in such words as the following:\u2014<\/p>\n
The heathen went up against thine altar;
\nThey trampled it down [yea] with their sandals in their pride.
\nBecause the sons of Jerusalem defiled the holy things of the Lord,
\n[And] polluted the gifts of God with iniquities.
\nFor this cause said he, \u201cCast ye them afar off from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her sons and her daughters were in grievous captivity;
\nTheir neck [was marked] with a seal, with the brand [of slavery] among the Gentiles;
\nAccording to their sins he dealt with them,
\nFor he gave them up into the hands of oppressors.
\n\u2014Ps. 2:2\u20137.<\/p>\n
While conscious of the iniquity of the people, he yet exults at the vengeance fallen upon the enemy, the great Pompey, \u201cthat insolent one, lying pierced upon the high places of Egypt,\u201d with \u201cnone to bury him.\u201d His wrath bursts out equally against the lax religionists of his own people.<\/p>\n
Wherefore sittest thou, O profane one, in the assembly,
\nWhen thy heart is far removed from the Lord,
\nAnd provokest the God of Israel by thy transgressions?
\nLet dishonour be his portion, O Lord, in thy sight.
\n\u2014Ps. 4:1, 6.<\/p>\n
But he is not altogether cast down and driven to imprecations upon the wicked. He hopes in God and beholds a bright future.<\/p>\n
When I was in trouble I called upon the name of the Lord;
\nI trusted in the God of Israel for help, and I was preserved,
\nFor thou art the hope and refuge of the needy, O God.\u2014Ps. 15:1, 2.<\/p>\n
Herod. But Israel was to endure yet one more strain before going down in final night. Out of Idum\u00e6a, made a part of the Jewish commonwealth by the first Hyrcanus, came the trusted adviser of the second Hyrcanus, Antipater, who befooled his royal patron, courted the Romans, and obtained high office in their gift. He left behind him two sons, Phasael and Herod, the latter of whom through various vicissitudes of fortune became by Roman appointment king of the Jewish state in 37 B.C. He reigned till 4 B.C. in an age of political turmoil, when the wisest politicians might be excused for blundering, but through it all he maintained himself successfully and gave the state a peaceful and prosperous life. He was a strange character, a combination of genius and brutality, with the passion, cunning, and cruelty of a savage joined to the superficial refinement of a Gr\u00e6co-Roman citizen and man of letters. His people hated him, and he despised them, though he ruled them well. Their national and religious fanaticism, which had resented even a native king, flamed out the more fiercely before an Idum\u00e6an upstart backed by Roman power. Of those who were religious leaders the majority sought to realize in individual life that separateness of purity which it seemed impossible to secure in the state; others were content to fall in with the Herodian domination and receive the material rewards; still others plotted in secret to restore independence to the people and overthrow the hated foreigner. Between them all the land was constantly on the verge of anarchy where only Herod\u2019s strong hand kept order. After him from 6 A.D. the Romans ruled again, until at last the fury of the Zealot burst out, and in the fire of rebellion the nation perished in an awful destruction.
\nThe Expectations. III. Never was the intensity of Israel\u2019s forward look greater than in the century and a half preceding the birth of Jesus. In no period are the details of the future pictured more variously. The thought-forms of all the sacred past mingle with the living experiences of the present to produce a weird mixture of old phrases with new meanings and new phrases with old suggestions.
\nNow, as before, the form and measure of the utterances vary with the historical situation, and yet that situation is so complex and its elements so shifting and indefinite as to make quite difficult the securing of a consistent and intelligible summary of the ideas presented. The most significant passages illustrating them are discussed in the following paragraphs.
\nThe Work of the Lord. I. The activity of the Lord in the life of his people is constantly emphasized and is the basis of the entire body of representations. They are pervaded by a strong faith rising at times into exultant confidence. This is illustrated in the attempts to explain what seems to be neglect on God\u2019s part. If sinners sin with impunity, yet \u201cthey will write down all your sins continually every day,\u201d Enoch warns them (civ. 7); and that record will finally condemn them. A striking theodicy is found in Enoch, ch. lxxxix. The suffering of the faithful under their princes is explained as due not to the indifference of the Lord, but to his having deliberately put them in charge of seventy shepherds (angels) who are responsible for their well-being, and are held strictly to account. It is they who have proved faithless and plunder the sheep. Their punishment, however, is sure at the hand of the Lord.<\/p>\n
1. THE VENGEANCE OF THE LORD<\/p>\n
(18) And the Lord will not be slack,
\nNeither will he be longsuffering toward them,
\nTill he have crushed the loins of the unmerciful,
\nAnd he shall repay vengeance to the heathen;
\nTill he have taken away the multitude of the haughty,
\nAnd broken in pieces the sceptres of the unrighteous;
\n(19) Till he have rendered to [every] man according to his doings
\nAnd [to] the works of men according to their devices;
\nTill he have judged the cause of his people,
\nAnd he shall make them to rejoice in his mercy.
\n\u2014ECCLESIASTICUS 35:18, 19.<\/p>\n
2. GOD SETTETH UP HIS KINGDOM<\/p>\n
And then a kingdom over all mankind
\n(955) Shall he raise up for ages, who once gave
\nHoly law to the pious, unto whom
\nHe pledged to open every land, the world
\nAnd portals of the blessed, and all joys,
\nAnd mind immortal and eternal bliss.
\n(960) And out of every land unto the house
\nOf the great God shall they bring frankincense
\nAnd gifts, and there shall be no other house
\nTo be inquired of by men yet to be,
\nBut what God gave for faithful men to honour;
\n(965) For mortals temple of the mighty God
\nShall call it. And all pathways of the plain
\nAnd rough hills and high mountains and wild waves
\nOf the deep shall be easy in those days
\nFor crossing and for sailing; for all peace
\n(970) On the land of the good shall come; and sword
\nShall prophets of the mighty God remove;
\nFor they are judges and the righteous kings
\nOf mortals. And there shall be righteous wealth
\nAmong mankind; for of the mighty God
\n(975) This is the judgment and also the power.
\n\u2014SIBYLLINE ORACLES, iii. 954\u2013975 (Terry2).<\/p>\n
(3) And he answered me and said: \u201cThis high mountain which thou hast seen, whose summit is like the throne of the Lord, is His throne, where the Holy and Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when He shall come down to visit the earth with goodness. (4) And no mortal is permitted to touch this tree of delicious fragrance till the great day of judgement, when He shall avenge and bring everything to its consummation for ever; this tree, I say, will [then] be given to the righteous and humble. (5) By its fruit life will be given to the elect: it will be transplanted to the north, to the holy place, to the temple of the Lord, the Eternal King. (6) Then will they rejoice with joy and be glad: they will enter the holy habitation: the fragrance thereof will be in their limbs, and they will live a long life on earth, such as thy fathers have lived: and in their days no sorrow or pain or trouble or calamity will affect them.\u201d\u2014ENOCH xxv. 3\u20136.<\/p>\n
The faithful look to him for requital of the sufferings of the nation inflicted by foreigners. The time is coming when their cruelties will be repaid to them. Steadily and persistently the seers proclaim in a bewildering variety of forms the overthrow of the heathen. Rise up and oppress God\u2019s people as often as they may, God will raise up deliverers, will come himself in catastrophic vengeance, will hurl them to destruction, will punish them after death, or at the last judgment condemn them to darkness and eternal pain. Thus his people will be vindicated. He it is who will come in a time known only to himself (Ps. Sol. 17:32) to dwell among his people, to set up his righteous rule among them, to bestow life upon them, to give them to judge the earth and to enjoy eternal bliss (Sibyl. Orac. iii. 954 ff.; Enoch xxiv. 5, 6).
\nThe Past to live again. 2. True to their sacred past the oracles of the future recalled the ancient promises and hopes centering about the old institutions of Israel.<\/p>\n
3. THE GLORIFICATION OF JERUSALEM<\/p>\n
(10) Give thanks to the Lord with goodness,
\nAnd bless the everlasting King,
\nThat his tabernacle may be builded in thee again with joy,
\nAnd that he may make glad in thee those that are captives,
\nAnd love in thee for ever those that are miserable.<\/p>\n
(13) Rejoice and be exceeding glad for the sons of the righteous:
\nFor they shall be gathered together, and shall bless the Lord of the righteous.<\/p>\n
(16) For Jerusalem shall be builded with sapphires, and emeralds, and precious stones;
\nThy walls and towers and battlements with pure gold.
\n(17) And the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl and carbuncle and stones of Ophir.
\n(18) And all her streets shall say, Halleluia, and give praise,
\nSaying, Blessed is God, which hath exalted [thee] for ever.\u2014TOBIT 13:10, 13, 16\u201318.<\/p>\n
4. PROSPERITY AND PEACE<\/p>\n
(17) And then will all the righteous escape and will live till they beget a thousand children, and all the days of their youth and their old age (lit. sabbath) will they complete in peace. (18) And in those days will the whole earth be tilled in righteousness and will all be planted with trees and be full of blessing. (19) And all desirable trees will be planted on it, and vines will be planted on it: the vine which is planted thereon will yield wine in abundance, and of all the seed which is sown thereon will each measure bear ten thousand, and each measure of olives will yield ten presses of oil.\u2014ENOCH x. 17\u201319.<\/p>\n
5. THE EXPECTED PROPHET<\/p>\n
And [they] laid up the stones in the mountain of the house in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to give an answer concerning them.\u20141 MACC. 4:46.<\/p>\n
And that the Jews and the priests were well pleased that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever, until there should arise a faithful prophet.\u20141 MACC. 14:41.<\/p>\n
6. THE DAVIDIC KING<\/p>\n
(23) Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David, in the time which thou, O God, knowest, that he may reign over Israel thy servant;
\n(24) And gird him with strength that he may break in pieces them that rule unjustly.
\n(25) Purge Jerusalem from the heathen that trample her down to destroy her, with wisdom [and] with righteousness.
\n(26) He shall thrust out the sinners from the inheritance, utterly destroy the proud spirit of the sinners, [and] as potters\u2019 vessels with a rod of iron shall he break in pieces all their substance.
\n(27) He shall destroy the ungodly nations with the word of his mouth, [so that] at his rebuke the nations may flee before him, and he shall convict the sinners in the thoughts of their hearts.
\n(28) And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness; and shall judge the tribes of the people that hath been sanctified by the Lord his God.
\n(29) And he shall not suffer iniquity to lodge in their midst; and none that knoweth wickedness shall dwell with them.
\n(30) For he shall take knowledge of them, that they be all the sons of their God,
\n(31) And shall divide them upon the earth according to their tribes, and the sojourner and the stranger shall dwell with them no more.
\nHe shall judge the nations and the peoples with the wisdom of his righteousness. Selah.
\n(32) And he shall possess the nations of the heathen to serve him beneath his yoke;
\n(33) And he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen of the whole earth; and he shall purge Jerusalem and make it holy, even as it was in the days of old.
\n(34) So that the nations may come from the ends of the earth to see his glory, bringing as gifts her sons that had fainted,
\n(35) And may see the glory of the Lord, wherewith God hath glorified her.
\n\u2014Ps. SOL. 17:23\u201335a.<\/p>\n
(a) Jerusalem is to abide as the holy city, the centre of the world\u2019s worship, the seat of God\u2019s throne. To Tobit, the exile, the city shines in fair splendor, adorned with jewels and gold (13:16, 17). The heart of Jerusalem is the temple, and about it gather high hopes. The sibyl beholds them from every land coming to it with gifts (iii. 822 f., 960), the only place of worship. The tree of life is transported thither (Enoch xxv. 5).
\n(b) The land is to share in the blessings of the new era. The earth yields boundless stores of food. Vines and fruit-trees bear abundantly. Heaven bestows a honey-like ambrosia. Fountains run milk. No pestilence or drought or tempest afflicts the world (Sibyl. Orac. iii. 928 ff.). The righteous enjoy long and happy lives blessed with numerous offspring (Enoch x. 17).
\n(c) The prophet has his part to perform. Jesus Sirach remembers that Elijah was ordained \u201cto restore the tribes of Israel\u201d (Ecclus. 48:10). Twice during the early days of the Maccabees was the limit set at the time when \u201ca prophet\u201d should come (cf. above). In the new kingdom which God sets up, the prophets put away the sword and become judges of mankind (Sibyl. Orac. iii. 970 f.).
\n(d) David is the expected king to those who look for the revival of the old state. Both First Maccabees and Ecclesiasticus (47:11) remind their readers that to David belongs by divine promise an \u201ceverlasting kingdom.\u201d The Solomonic Psalm contains the fullest confession of faith in the Davidic line, the raising up of the son of David who shall purge Jerusalem, destroy heathen nations, reunite the tribes, and rule the world (cf. Ps. 17:2\u20133 ff. above).
\nThe Hope of Heaven. 3. The looking for heavenly blessedness occupies a large place in the anticipations of the age.<\/p>\n
7. THE RECOMPENSE OF IMMORTALITY<\/p>\n
(15) But the righteous live for ever;
\nAnd in the Lord is their reward,
\nAnd the care for them is with the Most High.
\n(16) Therefore shall they receive the crown of royal dignity,
\nAnd the diadem of beauty from the Lord\u2019s hand;
\nBecause with his right hand shall he cover them,
\nAnd with his arm shall he shield them.
\n\u2014WISDOM 5:15, 16.<\/p>\n
8. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS<\/p>\n
(4) And here I saw another vision, the mansions of the holy and the resting-places of the righteous. (5) Here mine eyes saw their dwellings with His righteous angels, and their resting-places with the holy, and they petitioned, and interceded and prayed for the children of men, and righteousness flowed before them as water, and mercy like dew upon the earth: thus it is they fare for ever and ever. (6) And in that place mine eyes saw the Elect One of righteousness and of faith, and how righteousness shall prevail in his days, and the righteous and elect shall be without number before him for ever and ever. (7) And I saw his dwelling-place under the wings of the Lord of Spirits, and all the righteous and elect before him are beautifully resplendent as lights of fire, and their mouth is full of blessing, and their lips extol the name of the Lord of Spirits, and righteousness before Him never faileth, and uprightness never faileth before Him.
\n\u2014ENOCH xxxix. 4\u20137.<\/p>\n
(3) That all goodness and joy and glory are prepared for them and are written down for the spirits of those who have died in righteousness, and that manifold good will be given to you in recompense for your labours, and that your lot is abundantly beyond the lot of the living. (4) And your spirits\u2014(the spirits) of you who die in righteousness, will live and rejoice and be glad, and their spirits will not perish, but their memorial will be before the face of the Great One unto all the generations of the world: wherefore then fear not their contumely.\u2014ENOCH ciii. 3, 4.<\/p>\n
The Immortality of the Saints. These years saw the domestication among Jewish thinkers of the idea of immortality. This was naturally thought of primarily as the reward of the righteous and as such came as a precious boon to the harassed hopes of the faithful. Persecuted by their own princes, who were in league with the impure heathen, they abandoned the idea of deliverance by earthly power in favor of a divine recompense which would be bestowed beyond the grave. In this blessedness the wicked man would not share. Indeed, it was a question whether he would attain immortality; if he did, it would be an eternity of punishment. The author of the Book of Wisdom glorifies the future state of the godly. Their souls are in the hand of God; they shall judge the nations; they shall understand the truth; they shall abide with Him; the kingdom and crown shall be theirs (Wisdom 3:8, 9; 5:16).
\nEnoch portrays more vividly their occupations and privileges. They dwell in the heavenly mansions with the angels, the Messiah and the Lord. They shine like fire. They glorify God. They pierce hidden secrets of righteousness, \u201cthe heritage of faith,\u201d and dwell in eternal light (Enoch xxxix. 4\u20137; lviii. 4\u20136).
\nThe Expected \u201cOne.\u201d 4. Chief among the anticipations was that of the chosen individual who should establish the promised age of righteousness and peace. He appears in clear outline, though the position and relations in which he stands are different.<\/p>\n
9. APPEARANCE OF THE SON OF MAN<\/p>\n
(1) And there I saw One who had a head of days, and His head was white like wool, and with him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels. (2) And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was, and whence he was, and why he went with the Head of Days? (3) And he answered and said unto me, \u201cThis is the Son of Man who hath righteousness, with whom dwelleth righteousness, and who reveals all the treasures of that which is hidden, because the Lord of Spirits hath chosen him, and his lot before the Lord of Spirits hath surpassed everything in uprightness for ever.\u201d\u2014ENOCH xlvi. 1\u20133.<\/p>\n
10. THE SON OF MAN AS JUDGE<\/p>\n
(27) And he sat on the throne of his glory, and the sum of judgement was committed unto him, the Son of Man, and he caused the sinners and those who have led the world astray to pass away and be destroyed from off the face of the earth. (28) With chains shall they be bound, and in their assemblage-place of destruction shall they be imprisoned, and all their works vanish from the face of the earth. (29) And from henceforth there will be nothing that is corruptible; for the Son of Man has appeared and sits on the throne of his glory, and all evil will pass away before his face and depart; but the word of the Son of Man will be strong before the Lord of Spirits.
\n\u2014ENOCH lxix. 27\u201329.<\/p>\n
11. THE KINGDOM OF THE ELECT ONE<\/p>\n
(1) And in those days will the earth also give back those who are treasured up within it, and Sheol also will give back that which it has received, and hell will give back that which it owes. (2) And he will choose the righteous and holy from among them, for the day of their redemption has drawn nigh. (3) And the Elect One will in those days sit on My throne, and all the secrets of wisdom will stream forth from the counsels of his mouth: for the Lord of Spirits hath given it to him and hath glorified him. (4) And in those days will the mountains leap like rams and the hills will skip like lambs satisfied with milk, and they will all become angels in heaven. (5) Their faces will be lighted up with joy because in those days the Elect One has appeared, and the earth will rejoice and the righteous will dwell upon it, and the elect will go to and fro upon it.
\n\u2014ENOCH li.<\/p>\n
12. THE MESSIAH\u2019S RULE<\/p>\n
And then shall God send from the East a king,
\nWho shall make all earth cease from evil war,
\nKilling some, others binding with strong oaths.
\nAnd he will not by his own counsels do
\nAll these things, but obey the good decrees
\nOf God the mighty.
\n\u2014SIBYLLINE ORACLES iii. 817\u2013822 (Terry2).<\/p>\n
(35) And a righteous king and taught of God [is] he [that reigneth] over them;
\n(36) And there shall be no iniquity in his days in their midst, for all [shall be] holy and their king is the Lord Messiah.
\n(37) For he shall not put his trust in horse and rider and bow, nor shall he multiply unto himself gold and silver for war, nor by ships shall he gather confidence for the day of battle.
\n(38) The Lord himself is his King, and the hope of him that is strong in the hope of God.
\nAnd he shall have mercy upon all the nations [that come] before him in fear.
\n(39) For he shall smite the earth with the word of his mouth even for evermore.
\n(40) He shall bless the people of the Lord with wisdom and gladness.
\n(41) He himself also is pure from sin, so that he may rule a mighty people, and rebuke princes and overthrow sinners by the might of his word.
\n(42) And he shall not faint all his days, [because he leaneth] upon his God; for God shall cause him to be mighty through the spirit of holiness, and wise through the counsel of understanding, with might and righteousness.
\n(43) And the blessing of the Lord is with him in might, and his hope in the Lord shall not faint.
\n(44) And who can stand up against him? [he is] mighty in his works and strong in the fear of God,
\n(45) Tending the flock of the Lord with faith and righteousness; and he shall suffer none among them to faint in their pasture.
\n(46) In holiness shall he lead them all, and there shall no pride be among them that any should be oppressed.<\/p>\n
(50) Blessed are they that shall be born in those days, to behold the blessing of Israel which God shall bring to pass in the gathering together of the tribes.
\n\u2014Ps. OF SOL. 17:35b\u201346, 50.<\/p>\n
His Names. (a) The chief names applied to him are (1) the familiar one of the \u201cAnointed,\u201d the Messiah, which was given to the theocratic representatives of the old state, but now used technically of the person who would introduce the ideal state. He is the \u201cAnointed of the Lord\u201d (Ps. Sol. 18:6; Enoch xlviii. 10) and in one case the \u201cAnointed Lord\u201d (Ps. Sol. 17:36) the explanation of which is much disputed. (2) \u201cElect One\u201d (Enoch xl. 5 and often) which emphasizes the Divine choice of the person who is to rule among the \u201celect ones.\u201d (3) \u201cRighteous one\u201d (Enoch xxxviii. 2), the supremely righteous person in the company of the saints. (4) \u201cHoly Lord\u201d (Sibyl. Orac. iii. 58) who rules over all the earth forever. (5) \u201cSon of Man\u201d (Enoch xlvi. 3 and often in chapters xxxvii.\u2013xc.) This most significant and important title, reminiscent of the Book of Daniel, indicates the expected person in whom the activity of the Lord for his people takes form and color. From the vague parallelism with the \u201choly people\u201d (cf. p. 226) as used by the seer of Daniel chapter 7, it has come to be applied to an individual with definite characteristics; it is a title rather than a description, and derives its meaning from the attributes of the person in question.
\nHis Attributes. (b) The attributes which the expected person exhibits are twofold: (1) as a human being he is a king coming from the East, appointed by God to rule his people, purify them, and bring peace to the world, one under whose sceptre all men are gathered (Sibyl. Orac. iii. 817 f., 55 f.; Ps. Sol. 17:32). In Enoch he appears under the symbol of a white bull born from among the other animals, feared and worshipped by them, and into whose likeness they are transformed (xc. 37 f.). He is strengthened by God to overthrow the ungodly; by the word of his mouth he slays them; upon them, also, he has mercy, a pure and holy leader under divine guidance (Ps. Sol. 17:27, 38, 41, 47).
\n(2) He is also represented with supernatural attributes, and in this respect the period makes a unique contribution to the ideal of Israel. The \u201cSon of Man\u201d in Enoch xxxvii.\u2013xc. is pre\u00ebxistent and eternal (xlviii. 3, 6b), his glory is forever and ever (xlix. 2), all judgment is committed to him (xli. 9), he sits upon God\u2019s throne (xlvii. 3), he dwells among his people in the transformed world (xlv. 4), all bow down before him (xlviii. 5).
\nThe Programme of the Future. 5. Characteristic of the period is the gathering of its expectations into a formal arrangement, a programme of the future. The chief events in this programme are such as these: the oppression of God\u2019s people, the divine appearance, the messianic kingdom, the resurrection, and the final judgment. Their order and emphasis vary according to the judgment of the writers.<\/p>\n
13. THE WORLD\u2019S CLOSING WEEKS<\/p>\n
(12) And after that there will be another week, the eighth, that of righteousness, and a sword will be given to it that judgement and righteousness may be executed on those who commit oppression, and sinners will be delivered into the hands of the righteous. (13) And at its close they will acquire houses through their righteousness, and the house of the Great King will be built in glory for evermore. (14) And after that in the ninth week the righteous judgement will be revealed to the whole world, and all the works of the godless will vanish from the whole earth, and the world will be written down for destruction, and all mankind will look to the path of uprightness. (15) And after this, in the tenth week in the seventh part, there will be the great eternal judgement, in which He will execute vengeance amongst the angels. (16) And the first heaven will depart and pass away, and a new heaven will appear, and all the powers of the heavens will shine sevenfold for ever. (17) And after that there will be many weeks without number for ever in goodness and righteousness, and sin will no more be mentioned for ever.\u2014ENOCH xci. 12\u201317.<\/p>\n
14. THE OLD HOUSE AND THE NEW<\/p>\n
(28) And I stood up to see till he folded up that old house; and all the pillars were taken away, and all the beams and ornaments of the house were folded up with it, and it was taken off and laid in a place in the south of the land. (29) And I saw the Lord of the sheep till he brought a new house greater and loftier than that first, and set it up in the place of the first which had been folded up: all its pillars were new, and its ornaments were new and larger than those of the first one which He had taken away, and the Lord of the sheep was within it. (30) And I saw all the sheep which had been left, and all the beasts on the earth, and all the birds of the heaven, falling down and doing homage to those sheep, and making petition to and obeying them in every word.\u2014ENOCH xc. 28\u201330.<\/p>\n
(37) And I saw that a white bull was born, with large horns, and all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air feared him and made petition to him all the time. (38) And I saw till all their [different] kinds were transformed, and they all became white oxen; and the first among them became the buffalo, and that buffalo became a great animal and had great black horns on its head: and the Lord of the sheep rejoiced over them and over all the oxen.\u2014ENOCH xc. 37, 38.<\/p>\n
A Sibylline Oracle describes a state of utter desolation over the whole earth, the result of universal war, and announces the establishment thereupon of the messianic kingdom which brings peace and great prosperity. Envy of this kingdom stirs up evil kings to war upon it and bring it low, but in the midst of their victory God visits them with terrible judgments, involving man and beast in common destruction. God\u2019s people, protected by him in this turmoil, enter upon a period of peace and happiness. God himself establishes the eternal kingdom of universal righteousness into which repentant heathen nations shall enter; its centre is Mount Zion, and God\u2019s prophets shall be judges and kings of mankind, while all nature shares in the peace and joy (Sibyl. Orac. iii. 794\u2013975).
\nThis sequence of the rule of Messiah, judgment, and God\u2019s eternal kingdom of righteousness is represented also in the Enoch Apocalypse contained in the chapters xci.\u2013civ. To this writer as to the author of Daniel chapters 2 and 7, the messianic period is established by the work of the saints to whom sinners are given over to be devoured by the sword. After the final judgment the eternal kingdom is set up by God\u2019s raising the righteous from the dead. It is, therefore, a spiritual kingdom (Enoch ciii. 3, 4). The programme is arranged by weeks (Enoch xci. 12\u201317).
\nAn earlier representation without the Messiah is found in Enoch i.\u2013xxxvi. Here various judgments precede the final judgment, and the dead awaiting it are placed in their proper places in Sheol. After the great judgment God sets up his kingdom with Jerusalem as its centre, the elect raised from the dead and restored to the earth will live long and happy lives without sorrow, pain, or calamity.
\nIn yet another section, chapters lxxxiii.\u2013xc., the messianic kingdom comes after the great judgment. God makes all things new, the heathen are converted, the righteous dead and the dispersed faithful are gathered, and the Messiah comes forth from among them to receive their homage (xc. 19\u201338). The same order is observed in chapters xxxvii.\u2013lxx., where the Lord and the Messiah suddenly appear to institute the judgment. After it in a new heaven and a new earth the Messiah will rule over men and angels in an eternal heavenly kingdom (xlv. 4, 5).
\nSummary. IV. In summing up these expectations and estimating their character certain points deserve special mention:\u2014
\nThe Background of History. 1. The close relation of history and expectation. The Sibylline Oracles are full of allusions to historical events in the world of the seer\u2019s vision, and his outlooks start from them and return to them. The background of the Apocalypses is the present situation of difficulty and despair. The age was one of conflict and degeneration; the oriental world, Semitic and Greek alike, was outworn; all the more violent, brutal, shameless, base traits of human nature were let loose; the political career of the great empires was played out; the new Roman power rising in the West was about to sweep all away in deserved destruction. Out of such a welter of blood, hypocrisy, and selfishness came the Apocalypses with their lurid pictures, their confused programmes, their mixture of natural and spiritual elements, their fire, sword, earthquakes, ecstasies, and judgments. The character of the expected messianic kingdom corresponds in a measure to the particular situation. In the first stages of the Maccab\u00e6an struggle, as in all periods of distress in Old Testament times, the sufferer looked to God for help and the thought of an individual deliverer was not prominent. The kingdom of righteousness was to be established by God himself. But the rise of the Maccab\u00e6an leaders, men not belonging to the old Davidic or Zadokite line, emphasized anew the thought of the Messiah and individualized it. Hence the later seers bring him forward. To some the grievous situation is alleviated by the hope of a human deliverer, whose kingdom of peace on earth will be temporary. To others the distress is so acute and the trouble so deep-seated that they look for a heavenly Messiah, whose reign will be eternal and the members of whose kingdom will be the risen saints. Thus everywhere thought working on the future is conditioned upon the living present.
\nProminence of the Unearthly. 2. Closely connected with the preceding is the supramundane character of these anticipations. The continuance of the older forms of expectation along the line of prophet and king, land and the nation, has already been noted, but they are in the minority. The popular and influential forms of the realization of deliverance were those which dealt with the unusual, unearthly, superhuman forces and events. This tendency, already discernible in the Old Testament writings (see p. 213 f.), came to honor in these days. Sudden divine catastrophes, violent changes, annihilation of the wicked, the activity of angels, slaughterings, transformations of heaven and earth, are characteristic. God is transcendent, the \u201cLord of Spirits.\u201d The Messiah becomes a heavenly being. The kingdom is beyond the grave and the members are angels and the blessed dead. Where the kingdom is not dwelt upon, the reward of the righteous is personal immortality, glory, and honor in the sphere of the divine life.
\nThe Mechanical Element. 3. The conceptions partake in no small degree of the artificial and the mechanical. The use of figure and symbol to express religious ideas is characteristic of the Hebrew writers, and without it their writings would be dry and unattractive. But in these pictures the form has overborne the thought, the conception has been modified by the symbolism in which it is involved. Thus on the one hand it seems to have little vital connection with present life, and on the other to be valuable as being part of a scheme, a system, which is more important than the ideas which it embodies. To organize the divine plan on human lines, to estimate the heavenly chronology in human time, to lay down the succession of events in other-world history after the analogy of the annals of this world,\u2014such to many students of these visions and oracles seems to have been their main purpose, and they have written volumes in the defence of their own interpretations of these celestial programmes, or in the attack upon those of others. The responsibility for this estimate of the character of the work of these seers rests in large part upon the artificial and mechanical form in which they have expressed themselves.
\nThe More Valuable Contributions. 4. Yet they contributed valuable and permanent impulses and thoughts to the Hebrew ideal of the future. They kept alive in a degenerate age the hope in God and the courage of faith which inspired God\u2019s people to persevere and struggle. That they met the need of the time, that they roused responses in pious hearts and cheered the downcast and despairing, the popularity of their writings proves. They did this by calling the faithful to look forward to the divine deliverance, the promise of heavenly reward, and the coming of the Messiah. They were the prophets of the time.
\nRighteousness. Their teachings are permeated with the ideals of righteousness. The future belongs to the upright; without righteousness one cannot inherit the heavenly blessedness. The ungodly and sinners are to be destroyed. The Messiah is the \u201cRighteous One,\u201d his judgment is according to truth, and the renewed earth is cleansed \u201cfrom all oppression, and from all unrighteousness, and from all sin, and from all godlessness, and from all uncleanness\u201d (Enoch x. 20). It is true that this ethical attitude is tinged with the artificiality common to all this literature, and that everywhere the \u201crighteous\u201d are synonymous with the writer\u2019s sect or sympathizers, yet mechanical ethics are characteristic of the age, and it was precisely in the ranks of those to whom these writings appealed that existed the seeds of the moral renewal of the future.
\nSpiritual Ideals. In the individualizing and spiritualizing process through which these writers put the Hebrew messianic ideals lies their chief service. In an age when the world beheld the ideals of Roman life in the great men who fought with one another in the forum and on eastern battle fields, in a Sulla, a Pompey, and a C\u00e6sar, they pictured their hero, the Righteous One, the Son of Man. They lifted him and all that he represented into a higher world. They saw an eternity of personal immortality for the upright, an eternal kingdom of peace and righteousness for the devout and faithful, and a Messiah its eternal king, seated as righteous judge upon the divine throne. In this ideal they builded, as had all the prophets before them, better than they knew. They did not see all that the future kingdom was to be, nor discern all the traits in the coming Messiah. The Sufferer, the Sinbearer of the earlier years of the post-exilic period, was hidden from them. The supernatural, the spiritual which they looked for, was beyond the grave in a heavenly world. But the way was prepared for that finer conception of a spiritual kingdom, here and now, in the hearts of God\u2019s people, and for the recognition of him who royally conquered death and the grave, and who was and is and ever shall be the true spiritual King of humanity because he is the true \u201cSon of Man.\u201d<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. THE APOCRYPHA: (a) meaning and history of the term and application to particular collection; (b) grouping of books; (c) light thrown by them on literary activity and currents of thought; (d) the messianic element in them. Art. \u201cApocrypha\u201d in Hastings\u2019 Bible Dict.; Toy, Judaism and Christianity, Ch. I; Edersheim, Proph. and Hist., pp. 301\u2013315; Sch\u00fcrer, Hist. of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, II, Div. II, p. 138 f.
\n2. APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE: (a) meaning of term \u201capocalyptic\u201d; (b) illustrations of it in the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament; (c) other Jewish apocalypses; (d) its characteristics\u2014literary, historical, and religious\u2014as compared with Prophecy; (e) its value as a medium for messianic ideas. Art. \u201cApocalyptic Literature\u201d in Hastings\u2019 and Cheyne\u2019s Bible Dicts.; Schultz, O. T. Theol., I, p. 421 f.; Toy, Judaism and Christianity, Ch. I; J. E. H. Thomson, Books which influenced our Lord and His Apostles; Deane, Pseudepigrapha; Drummond, The Jewish Messiah; Stanton, The Jewish and the Christian Messiah, Pt. I, Chs. II, III; Edersheim, Proph. and Hist., Lect. X, XI; Sch\u00fcrer, Hist. of the Jewish People, etc., III, Div. II, p. 44 ff.; Porter, \u201cProphecy and Apocalypse,\u201d Bib. World, July, 1899.
\n3. THE BOOK OF ENOCH: (a) its origin, date, and analysis; (b) its form, content, and purpose; (c) messianic elements in the book; (d) the book in the New Testament. Art. \u201cEnoch,\u201d in Hastings\u2019 Bible Dict.; literature cited in the above, e.g. Charles, Book of Enoch, pp. 9\u201321.
\nThe latest and most thoroughgoing treatment of Hebrew and Jewish conceptions of the Future Life is given in the Jowett Lectures, just issued, of Rev. R. H. Charles, D.D., entitled A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, in Israel, in Judaism, and in Christianity. The book appeared too late to be referred to in detail on the topics treated in this volume.<\/p>\n
CHAPTER X<\/p>\n
THE MESSIANIC IDEAL AS A WHOLE<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of these chapters some more general points may be considered which concern no one period and its ideas, but need for their background the entire body of ancient Hebrew messianic teachings.
\nThe Method recalled. I. The task which was set forth at the beginning may be recalled. It was the study of the messianic ideals in Israel\u2019s literature from a particular point of view, the selection of one out of several methods of studying the subject. The method selected was the historical one, that is, the study of these teachings as they were connected with, and sprang out of, historical events in which the seers took part or in view of which they spoke. This choice necessarily involved limitation of the field. If disappointment is felt that some considerations which were legitimate and germane to the study of messianic prophecy have not appeared, and that emphasis has been laid too strongly upon certain other aspects of the subject, it is not unexpected in view of the definite lines which our study has laid down for itself. From this view of the case, however, objections of this kind should lose their force.
\nJustification of it. A word may be said in justification of the choice of the method. It has been amply demonstrated that messianic prophecy is historical in its development. It has been shown how each age had its outlook, each prophet or singer had his background, how this outlook in every case was conditioned by the historical forces and elements of the age, how the background of the speaker determined the direction, the emphasis, and the form of his thought. Isaiah foresaw as he did because he lived in the Assyrian period; Jeremiah looked forward to a future enlivened by his own experience and observation; Zechariah painted his brilliant pictures with colors of the Persian age; and all of these men in these messages sought to encourage, warn, and stimulate the people of their own day.
\nII. It may again be remarked that, while a limitation was thus set upon the study in one direction, in another respect the subject was extended far beyond what is ordinarily included under the term \u201cPreparation\u201d for the Christ, or \u201cMessianic Prophecy.\u201d Everything connected with the future, with the Kingdom of God to come, in all its aspects, has been regarded as coming within its scope. And in this broad view, how many have been the various elements contributing to this larger picture! Shall we recall them?
\nThe Broad Prospect sketched. There is given the most general conception of man in his ideal character and nature as created and inspired of God, ruler of creation, a little lower than the divine beings, under immediate divine protection, dwelling in Jehovah\u2019s presence, sitting at his right hand; and, when fallen from his high estate and doomed to suffer, enlivened and encouraged by the promise of redemption to be wrought out through his own seed, under the gracious forgiving mercy of God; or out of oppression lifted to a happy immortality in the presence of the Lord\u2014such is one great panel in this picture. Then appear all those details which have for their inspiration the nation and its career; the fruitful land in which it is to dwell, the gift of Jehovah; the nation, his \u201cson\u201d; the people of Jehovah, a chosen means of universal blessing to mankind, the messenger of the true God to the world, the centre of light, whither the nations shall come up, from which peace shall be proclaimed in all the earth; a conquering people, ruling the world, and, if faithless and punished, yet in its suffering repentant, and in its repentance suffering on behalf of those who sin, still the object of the Father\u2019s love, punished because loved, and then finally restored to its land, and realizing to the full its unity with Jehovah, its world-wide mission of salvation. And then comes the drawing out of the various institutions of this national life in their promise and potency, the priest as a permanent source of blessing, the mediator of divine mercy; the prophet speaking face to face with Jehovah; the king of the line of David ever abiding upon the throne, the leader of the victorious nation, the judge among the contending forces of earth, the intimate companion of Jehovah, yea, his son, behind whom he stands in all the infinite might of his majesty. And last of all is disclosed the concentration of one or another of these characteristics or functions of the community or the institutions upon an individual, the apotheosis of a lost leader or a present deliverer in an ideal figure, humble and kingly, saviour and saved, triumphant in defeat and death, because through these a deliverer of his people and a preacher of Jehovah to the nations. Or again, the person is Jehovah\u2019s chosen representative, an ideal superhuman hero and judge, whose kingdom is established among redeemed and glorified saints in a heavenly world. Such is a rough sketch of some of the details in the almost infinitely varied and shifting scenes of the prophetic outlook.
\nThe Spiritual Elements of the Ideal. III. If such are the external outlines of these varied pictures, not less wonderful are the spiritual elements which pervade them. One may well despair of grasping and portraying them otherwise than in the rudest and broadest fashion.
\nDivine Righteousness. (a) Central and vital is the thought of the righteousness of Jehovah, the scope and demands of which carry their realization constantly forward into the future. From the background of the imperfect present the prophets behold a brighter day, when the divine ideal and the human achievement shall unite, and Jehovah\u2019s will shall be done in earth. Nothing shall stand in the way of it, not heathen nations given to idols, not other gods that be no gods, not armies nor riches nay, not Jehovah\u2019s people themselves, if they shall be found wanting. Jehovah himself shall come to earth, if need be, that his righteousness may prevail, that the guilty may be punished, and that his saints may be vindicated. At last judgment shall be passed upon the quick and the dead, the final triumph of righteousness shall appear, and a heavenly world of truth and purity abide forever.
\nDivine Love. (b) Not less significant is the conception of Jehovah\u2019s love and the achievement of its objects. Sometimes appearing like arbitrary preference of his people, Jehovah\u2019s love vindicates itself by joining hands with his righteousness to realize redemption for the sinful and condemned nation. It uses the divine justice for the fulfilment of its purpose by pledging Jehovah\u2019s character to the accomplishment of his promises of blessing. These promises grow ever richer and deeper. The love appears more intense as the object of it seems the more unworthy or despised of men. Thus divine love becomes a prophecy, a prediction, an essential foreshadowing of the ultimate triumph of righteousness.
\nOneness of God and Man. (c) A crowning ideal is the union of Jehovah and Israel in realizing the reign of righteousness, the achievement of future redemption. It underlies the thought of the divine choice of Israel, at times imperfectly conceived as for its own sake, again delineated as the dwelling of Jehovah in Israel, involving therein the manifestation of his character and purposes, and finally represented most worthily as being fulfilled in the mission of the redeemed people to preach Jehovah to the world. Still higher and larger forms of the thought present man as in the divine image, or as an individual made fit through the divine Spirit to be the instrument of a wider redemption.
\nThese ideals play in and out through the sermons and writings of the prophets and the songs of the psalmists. They appear in manifold forms, and reach various degrees of clearness and intensity, but everywhere they form the trinity of fundamental truths that give power and beauty and unceasing significance to Israel\u2019s messianic hopes.
\nWhy these are not merely Ideals. IV. In limiting the subject to the historic point of view, one must be prepared to meet the question which here, more than in other modes of approaching and considering it, is forced upon his attention, viz., Is not all that has been thus gathered together and presented in its historical development only a series of splendid failures to grasp reality? From age to age prophetic anticipations gleam and glow, only to fade away and disappear; and the particular historic situation in each case which has determined the prophet\u2019s words only makes more clear the failure in realization. What shall be said to this? Why is there more in all this study than the testimony of failure?
\n(a) No one can fail to have observed from the background of the historic situation, in each instance, what might be called the large language of the speaker. The dress has been too ample for that which it clothed. These seers used words of wide import, which are not to be limited in concrete and immediate fulfilment. The very amplitude of their vocabulary, the brilliancy of their idealized situation, testify in themselves to the impossibility of adequate fulfilment in the conditions of their origin.
\n(b) The general unity of the conception in the midst of the bewildering variety of details must be considered. Wide stretches of time, marvellously varied conditions of life, different classes and characters of men\u2014from all this there comes out a philosophy of history and life, a view of the ideal conditions and relations of humanity, of the character and purposes of Deity and his relations to men, which is of one general type, and a type which, it may be added, is the highest presented by any nation of antiquity.
\n(c) What lies behind the two considerations already advanced is that all these expectations, these interpretations of the past and foreshadowings of the future, are infused with a spiritual element which is, after all, the essential thing in them, and which gives them their permanent significance. These seers felt within them the stirrings of that larger soul, their imaginations were quickened by supreme ideals, and hence they wrote so broadly and moved unconsciously toward a common goal. What the essence of these ideals was has already been indicated.
\n(d) The fact that this hope did persist from age to age in spite of disappointment, that the series of \u201csplendid failures\u201d was continued steadily, fearlessly, triumphantly, is testimony to the fact that they were not failures.
\n(e) The testimony of the New Testament as to the reality and permanence of the messianic outlook of the old dispensation is unspeakably important, since it is the testimony of those who lived in, and were a part of, the world\u2019s greatest spiritual movement. They shared its insight, breathed its inspiration, and were thus able, as were no others before them, to behold the reality and the triumph of these their predecessors in the vision of that which is to come. Their forms of expression and their methods of grasping the large and rich ideal of the Old Testament may have been of their own times, imperfect, human, but this does not affect their verdict as to its essential character.
\n(f) Besides the conscious reference of the New Testament to this element of the Old Testament, there is the unconscious and objective testimony furnished by the New Testament religion in its fundamental character and outlook. It came into existence because the Old Testament religion with its messianic expectations and teachings had prepared the way for it and furnished fundamental elements to its formation. It builds on the conception of the Kingdom of God revealed to the prophets. The atmosphere into which Jesus was born and in which his youth was passed, the thoughts on which he fed and which formed the basis of his spiritual education under the spirit of truth, were these lofty anticipations and inspiring interpretations of Jehovah\u2019s character and purposes contained in the Bible of Israel. That they entered so largely into the very centre of the Christian revelation is the evidence of their permanent worth.
\nThe Ideal and its Realization in Jesus. (g) The final vindication of the Hebrew ideal is indeed the person and work of Jesus Christ. The attachment to the messianic argument from the Old Testament which the Christian Church has shown in all its history, running into many absurdities of symbolism and errors of interpretation, has this tremendous conviction behind it, that the expectations of Israel are somehow amply realized in Jesus of Nazareth. His personality, his deeds, his teaching, his outlook, satisfy the fundamental aspirations aroused and stimulated by the Old Testament life. We enumerate some elements of that fulfilment, remembering that the argument is cumulative:\u2014
\nJesus the Jew. (1) Jesus, of the seed of Israel, of the house of David, was in the line of the messianic succession. He was a Jew, and therefore a legitimate heir of Jewish messianic honors. Are the old institutions of Israel to flourish again in that glorious future? Jesus is the supremest prophet of Israel, its eternal priest, its consummate king, and that in the deepest and truest sense of these institutions. Is Israel\u2019s land to flourish and bloom in those days? When these hopes are made realities, it will be under the protection and stimulus of a Christian power. The future of Israel is wrapped up ever more and more closely with the forces that centre in the Jew of Nazareth.
\nJesus the Teacher. (2) As a, teacher, Jesus realized the intellectual ideals of Israel. The Hebrew ideal of intellectual leadership emphasized, not speculative, but moral and practical qualities. To know the will of God and to make it prevail, to see aright in the midst of darkness and triumphantly to guide others into the light\u2014this was Messiah\u2019s mission as a teacher. Such was the mind of Jesus, and such his work as a teacher. In the sphere of politics, the favorite attribute of the future leader is the power of righteous judgment, keen to cut falsehood asunder and to discern the true. In this Jesus was easily supreme. None cared to question when he decided.
\nJesus the Son of Man. (3) As Son of Man, he rounded out the human side of the messianic hope. The kingly qualities, which the hopes centred in the monarchy depicted,\u2014vigor, uprightness, the defence of the weak, the righting of wrong, the putting down of violence, the establishment of harmony, and the exaltation of peace,\u2014were characteristic of him who faced the Pharisees, pardoned the sinning woman, healed the sick, and made Pilate acknowledge his kingship. He was equally strong in the passive virtues with which the later Judaism clothed the pathetic figure of the \u201cservant,\u201d in patience and faith, meekness that does not vaunt itself and gentleness that quenches not the flickering wick.
\nJesus the Saviour. (4) As the Saviour of men, he met the Hebrew longing for deliverance, for redemption. The early shadows of captivity falling upon the nation directed the thoughts of the prophets toward the better day of deliverance. The priesthood with its sacrifices spoke more clearly of atonement and reconciliation. When darkness shut down in the exile, and depression deepened amid the troubles caused by oppressive rulers, the expectation of salvation grew brighter. The argument from Jehovah\u2019s love was buttressed by the evidence of undeserved and vicarious suffering on the part of the faithful, and all pointed toward the coming light. Jesus came as that light in his life and death and resurrection, the priest and the sacrifice, \u201cto give himself a ransom.\u201d Deliverer and redeemer of the despairing and the sinful, he entered into the secret of those seers and solved the problem whose solution they had expected and forecast.
\nJesus the Son of God. (5) As the Son of God, he embodied the Hebrew expectations of the divine advent and the union of man and God. When king failed them and people were found wanting, when enemies rose up and hearts grew faint, the true Israel set their hopes on the coming of God, in power and righteousness, in mercy and might, for their deliverance and glorification, to dwell with them forever. The mission of Jesus upon earth was to manifest God among men, to reveal the Father and to dwell in the heart and life of humanity. He wrote the divine law upon the heart and inspired the soul with a divine spirit of life and love. It was the new covenant which he brought, the new promise and presence of God in history and in the human soul.
\nJesus and his Church. (6) As the Founder of the Church, Jesus fulfilled the social aspiration of the Old Testament seers and deepened in every way the Hebrew messianic ideal. The hopes of Israel were never solely individual. For long periods they were centred entirely in a renewed social system, and the ideal figures when analyzed are most frequently found to be symbols of the institutions, the monarchy, the priesthood or the nation. These expectations realize themselves in the community founded by Jesus to reveal his spirit and carry on his work. This is the true Zion, whither the nations come to hear the Word of the Lord. It has proved itself to be this in the passing of the centuries. By it Jesus realizes more fully those ideals of Israel which in his earthly and individual life he began to disclose. There he is the righteous King, the deep discerning Judge, the suffering Saviour, the ideal Man, the Revelation of God. Through the church of history and of experience he is taking up more and more of the beauty and power and passion of Israel\u2019s messianic hope.
\nThe Larger Realization yet to be. V. From this point of view, finally, it is possible to determine the importance of messianic prophecy in the history of the Jewish and Christian religion. It is not something tacked on, a kind of anomalous excrescence which is appended to the Old Testament religion, external to it, for the purpose of proving the divinity of Christ and the permanent and essential truth of the Christian religion. If it is only this, it is nothing. For, when looked at from this point of view alone and studied with this purpose, its contributions are meagre and ambiguous. No, it is the very essence and life of the Old Testament book. It is the vital breath, the ideal inspiration of the Old Testament life. It makes the Old Testament a book of permanent comfort, as it made the Old Testament religion a religion of hope, of high expectations, of divine trust and inspiration. It links Old and New Testament together in an indissoluble unity, not so much because the one is preparation and the other fulfilment, but because the same spirit pervades both, the spirit of aspiration and trust. The New Testament, from the vantage ground of the Saviour\u2019s advent, looks forward with clearer vision and more assured hope to the larger realizations whose foreshadowings Old and New Testaments alike record. Both meet in the higher messianic expectation of the Kingdom of God, which is the Kingdom of the Christ\u2014still only foreshadowed.<\/p>\n
TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY<\/p>\n
1. ELEMENTS OF THE MESSIANIC HOPE: Endeavor to analyze and work out in detail each element of Hebrew messianic thought on the basis of the historical development as already traced. Cf. Briggs, Mess. Proph., Ch. XV (criticise and correct); Woods, The Hope of Israel (passim); cf. also Index to this volume.
\n2. COMPARATIVE HISTORICAL PROMINENCE OF EACH: Taking the historical periods of Israel\u2019s history as already followed in this discussion, attempt a study of the comparative importance of the several elements as above noted in the several periods.
\n3. PROBLEM OF CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT: Decide whether a steady advance in these several elements can be traced through the entire period, and compare in each case the influence of the historical situation.
\n4. PRINCIPLES OF NEW TESTAMENT USE OF OLD TESTAMENT: Gather together and endeavor to organize the principles which govern the New Testament use of the Old Testament messianic passages.
\n5. MESSIANIC HOPES IN OTHER RELIGIONS: Gather material showing ideas corresponding to Hebrew messianic ideas in other religions, e.g. (a) general ideas of future peace and prosperity in the ancient religions; (b) the personal Messiah, in Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, etc. Cf. J. F. Clarke, Ten Great Religions, II; Menzies, History of Religion, Frazer, Golden Bough, chapter III; Pressens\u00e9, Ancient World and Christianity, pp. 211 f., 432 ff.; Jackson, \u201cPersian Doctrine of a Future Life\u201d in Bib. World, VIII, p. 156 ff.; Taylor, Ancient Ideals, 2 vols.; cf. Bibliography to this volume.
\n6. THE NEW TESTAMENT MESSIANIC IDEA compared with that of the Old Testament: (a) elements of O. T. idea taken up into the New; (b) transformations of these elements; (c) new elements added; (d) essential resemblances and differences of the two ideals. Cf. Bibliography.<\/p>\n
title Israel\u2019s Messianic Hope to the Time of Jesus
\nauthor Goodspeed, George Stephen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISRAEL\u2019S MESSIANIC HOPE INTRODUCTION Hebrew Optimism. The fundamental characteristic of Hebrew thought is its ethical optimism. However prosperous the wicked might be, Israel had no serious doubt that righteousness was better than wickedness, and that righteousness would ultimately prevail. Back of this certainty was Israel\u2019s God, whose character was involved in its reality; before it … <\/p>\n