According to this table, the times when the prophets flouished may be referred to three periods, viz. 1. Before the Babylonian captivity;-2. Near to and during that event; -and, 3. After the return of the Jews from Babylon. And f, in these three periods, we parallel the prophetical writings with the historical books written during the same times, they will materially illustrate each other. The second volume of Mr. Townsend's Harmony of the Old Testament will be Found of considerable service in studying the writings of the prophets. For a sketch of the profane history of the East, from the time of Solomon to the Babylonian captivity, illustrative of the Prophetic Writings, see the articles Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Media, and Persia, in the Historical and Geographical Index in this volume. SECTION II. OF THE PROPHETS WHO FLOURISHED BEFORE THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. § 1. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JONAH. I. Title and author.-II. Occasion of the prophecy of Jonah. 1. THIS book is, by the Hebrews, called D (SEPHER JONAH), or the Book of Jonah, from its author Jonah, the 1 Professor Jahn and Dr. Ackermann divide the prophets into four periods; viz. 1. Those who prophesied under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah;-2. Prophets whose age has not been recorded;-3. Prophets, from the age of Josiah to the end of the captivity; and, 4. Prophets who lived after the captivity. The arrangement above given is preferably adopted, as being more simple and comprehensive. son of Amittai, who was a native of Gath-Hepher in the tribe of Zabulon, which formed part of the kingdom of Israel, and afterwards of Galilee. (Jon. i. 1. with Josh. xix. 13. and 2 Kings xiv. 25.) He is supposed to have prophesied to the ten tribes according to Bishop Lloyd, towards the close of Jehu's reign, or in the beginning of Jehoahaz's reign; though Witsius, Blair, and Bishop Newcome, Jahn, and others, with greater probability, place him under Jeroboam II. about forty years later. With the exception of his sublime ode in the second chapter, the book of Jonah is a simple narrative. II. It is very probable, that, at the time Jonah promised the restoring and enlarging of the coasts of Israel in the days of Jeroboam II. (2 Kings xiv. 25.), when both the king and people were exceedingly wicked, he also invited them to repentance and reformation. But the Israelites still continuing impenitent and obdurate, God took occasion to send him to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, to denounce the impending divine judgments against its abandoned in habitants. Jonah, declining the commission, was cast into the sea from the vessel in which he was sailing to Tarshish, and was swallowed by a large fish; not, says Irenæus, that he might be swallowed up, but that, by his miraculous deliverance (preparing Jonah to preach more dutifully, and the Ninevites to hear more effectually), the people of Israel might be provoked to repent by the repentance of Nineveh.3 The time of Jonah's continuance in the belly of the fish was a type of our Lord's continuance in the grave. (Luke xi. 30.) The fame of the prophet's miraculous preservation was sc widely propagated as to reach even Greece: whence, as Grotius, Huet, Bochart, and other learned men have remarked, the story was derived of Hercules having escape alive out of the fish's belly.4 III. The SCOPE of this book is to show, by the very striking example of the Ninevites, the divine forbearance and long-suffering towards sinners, who were spared on their sincere repentance. From the conduct of the Ninevites, Jesus Christ takes occasion to reprove the perfidiousness of the Jews. (Matt. xii. 41.) The evidence offered by Jonah was sufficient to convince and lead the former to repentance; while the Jews, who had the greater evidence of miracles, and the more convincing evidence of our Saviour's doctrine, continued obstinately impenitent. Some critics have imagined that the prophecy of Jonah is a parabolic history; but from the manner in which the sacred historians and Jesus Christ speak of him (2 Kings xiv. 25. Matt. xii. 39. 41. xvi. 4. and Luke xi. 29.) it is evident that this book is a true narrative of a real person, and that Jonah was a prophet of considerable eminence.5 IV. The book of Jonah consists of two parts; viz. PART I. His first mission to Nineveh, and his attempt to flee to Tarshish, and its frustration, together with his delivery from the stomach of the great fish which had swallowed him. (ch. i. ii.) PART II. His second mission, and its happy result to the Ninevites, who, in consequence of the prophet's preaching, repented in dust and ashes (iii.); and the discontent or Jonah, who, dreading lest his veracity as a prophet should be questioned in consequence of God's merciful change of purpose, repined at the sparing of the Ninevites whose destruction he seems to have expected. (iv.) No reproof can be more gentle than that given by God to the murmuring prophet (10, 11.), or present a more endearing picture of Him" whose tender mercies are over all his works." 2. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET AMOS. I. Author.-II. Occasion of his prophecy.-III. Its scope.IV. Synopsis of its contents.-V. Observations on its style. BEFORE CHRIST, 810-785. I. AMOS is the third of the minor prophets, according to the order adopted in our modern Bibles: he is supposed to have been a native of Tekoah, a small town in the kingdom of Judah, situate about four leagues to the south of Jerusa lem. There is, however, no proof of his being a native of this place, except his retiring thither when driven from Bethel 2 Adversus Hæres. lib. iii. c. 22. Roberts's Clavis Bibliorum, p. 667. See Grotius de Veritate, lib. i. c. 16. in notis. Huet, Demonstr. Evan gelica, prop. iv. vol. i. p. 433. 8vo. edit. Bocharti Opera, tom. iii. p. 742. et seq. Pfeiffer in Difficiliora Loca Scripturæ, Centuria 4. Locus lxxxvi (Opp. tom. i. pp. 447, 448.) The reality of the history and prophecy of Jonah is fully proved against the modern neologians by Alber, Institutiones Hermeneuticæ, Vet. Tout tom. iii. pp 399-407. by Amaziah, the high-priest of Bethel. (Amos vii. 10. 13.)| Calmet thinks he was born in the territories of Israel. We have more certain information of his rank and condition in life; for he himself tells us that he was "no prophet, neither a prophet's son:" in other words, that he was not educated in the schools of the prophets, but was called to the prophetic office from being a herdsman and a gatherer (or cultivator) of sycamore fruit. That he prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah king of Judah, and of Jeroboam II. son of Joash, we are not only informed from the first verse of his predictions, but we also have internal evidence of it from the argument or subject-matter of his book. For the prophet describes the state of the kingdom of Israel, particularly in chap. vi. 12-14., to be precisely such as is recorded in 2 Kings xiv. 23. et seq. We further learn from Amos i. 1., that he began to prophesy in the second year before the earthquake, in the reign of Uzziah; which is, by Josephus and most commentators, referred to that prince's usurpation of the sacerdotal office when he attempted to offer incense. Consequently Amos was contemporary with Hosea (though he is supposed not to have lived so long as the last-mentioned prophet), with Jonah, and probably also with Joel. II. The OCCASION on which Amos delivered his predictions, was the oppression of the Jews and Israelites by the neighbouring nations, and the state of the two kingdoms under Uzziah and Jeroboam II. (Amos i. compared with 2 Kings xiv. 25-27. and 2 Chron. xxvi. 6-15.) But as the inhabitants of those kingdoms, especially the Israelites, abandoned themselves to idolatry, effeminacy, avarice, and cruelty to the poor, contrary to the divine command, the prophet takes occasion thence to reprove them with the utmost severity for their wickedness. III. The SCOPE of the book is to certify to the twelve tribes the destruction of the neighbouring nations; to alarm those who "were at large in Zion," living in a state of carnal security, by the denunciation of imminent punishment, to lead them to repentance; and to cheer those who were truly penitent with the promise of deliverance from future captivity, and of the greater prosperity of the Messiah's kingdom, of which we have a particular prediction in ch. ix. 11. IV. The book of Amos contains nine chapters or discourses. of which Calmet thinks that the seventh is first in order of time it may be divided into three parts; viz. PART I. The Judgments of God denounced against the neighbouring Gentile Nations: as the Syrians (ch. i. 1-5.), which see fulfilled in 2 Kings xvi. 9.; the Philistines (i. 6-8.), recorded as accomplished in 2 Kings xviii. 8. Jer. xlvii. 1. 5. and 2 Chron. xxvi. 6.; the Tyrians (i. 9, 10.); the Edomites (i. 11, 12. compared with Jer. xxv. 9. 21. xxvii. 3. 6. and 1 Macc. v. 3.); the Ammonites (13-15.); and the Moabites. (ii. 1-3.) ART II. The divine Judgments denounced against Judah and Israel (ii. 4. ix. 1-10.); and herein we have, SECT. 1. The divine judgments against Judah (ii. 4, 5.) which were literally executed about two hundred years afterwards. SECT. 2. Against Israel, to whom the prophet's mission was chiefly directed, and to whom we have four distinct sermons delivered by him; viz. DISCOURSE I. A general reproof and aggravation of their various sins cular enumeration of the several causes. (iii.) DISCOURSE IV. A lamentation over the house of Israel, with an earnest exhortation to them to repent, and to seek the Lord; and to abandon their idolatry, luxurious ease, and sinful alliances with their idolatrous neighbours. (v. vi.) In ch. v. 6. the carrying of the Israelites into captivity, beyond Damascus into Assyria, is explicitly announced: see its fulfilment in 2 Kings xv. 29. and xvii. 5-23. The certainty, nearness, and severity of the judgments thus denounced are confirmed by several prophetic visions, contained in chapters vii. viii. and ix. 1-10. PART III. Consolatory or Evangelical Promises describing the Restoration of the Church by the Messiah, first, under the type of raising up the fallen tabernacle of David (ix. 11, blessings; viz. great abundance, return from captivity, 12.); and, secondly, announcing magnificent temporal 1 An eminent commentator is of opinion that the prophet Amos in viii. 9, 10. foretells that, during their solemn festivals, the sun should be dark ened by an eclipse, which in those days was accounted ominous, and should turn their joy into mourning. According to Archbishop Úsher (A. M. 3213.), about eleven years after Amos prophesied, there were two great eclipses of the sun, one at the feast of tabernacles, the other at the time of the passover. This prophecy, therefore, inay be considered as one of those numerous predictions which we have already shown have a dou ble meaning, and apply to more than one event. See Lowth's Commentary on the Prophets, p. 453. 4th edit. and re-establishment in their own land, all of which were prophetic of the blessings to be bestowed under the reign of the Messiah. (ix. 13-15.) In order to illustrate the supernatural character of the predictions contained in this book, they ough. to be compared with the history of the times; from which it appears, that, when they were made, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were in a very flourishing condition. See 2 Kings xiv. 1-17 xvi. 1-7. 2 Chron. xxv. xxvi.; also 2 Kings xiii. 1-9. 23. 10-20. 25. 2 Chron. xxv. 17-24. and 2 Kings xiv. 23-28.2 V. Jerome calls Amos "rude in speech, but not in knowledge," applying to him what St. Paul modestly professes of himself. (2 Cor. xi. 6.) Calmet and many others have followed the authority of Jerome, in speaking of this prophet as if he were indeed quite rude, ineloquent, and destitute of all the embellishmen's of composition. The matter, however, as Bishop Lowth has remarked, is far otherwise :-"Let any person who has candour and perspicuity enough to judge, not from the man, but from his writings, open the volume of his predictions, ad he will, I think, agree that our shepherd is not a whit be hind the very chief of the prophets. (2 Cor. xi. 5.) He will agree, that as, in sublimity and magnificence, he is almost equal to the greatest, so, in splendour of diction, and ele gance of expression, he is scarcely inferior to any. The same celestial spirit, indeed, actuated Isaiah and Daniel in the court, and Amos in the sheepfolds: constantly selecting such interpreters of the divine will as were best adapted to the occasion, and sometimes from the mouth of babes and suck lings perfecting praise,'-constantly employing the natural eloquence of some, and occasionally making others elo quent."4 Many of the most elegant images employed by Amos are drawn from objects in rural life, with which be was, from his avocations, most intimately conversant I. CONCERNING the family of Hosea, we have no certain information, except what is furnished to us by the first verse of his prophecy, which states that he was the son of Beeri, whom some Jewish commentators confound with Beerah, a prince of the Reubenites, who was carried into captivity with the ten tribes by Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. He and in the third year of Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz, during the reign of Jeroboam II. king of Israel; and it is most probable that he was an Israelite, and lived in the kingdom of Samaria or of the ten tribes, as his predictions are chiefly directed against their wickedness and idolatry. But, with the severest denunciations of vengeance, he blends promises of mercy; and the transitions from the one to the other are frequently sudden and unexpected. Rosenmüllet and Jahn, after Calmet, are of opinion that the title of this book is a subsequent addition, and that Hosea did not pro phesy longer than from forty to sixty years, and that he died, or at least wrote his predictions, before the year 725 before the Christian æra. His writings unquestionably were, originally, in a metrical form, although that arrangement is now, perhaps, irrecoverably lost. II. The ten tribes (whom this prophet often collectively terms Ephraim, Israel, and Samaria) having revolted from Rehoboam the son of Solomon to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who set up the two idol calves at Dan and Bethel, conse quently deprived themselves of the pure worship of Jehovah Jeroboam II. the son of Joash was equally wicked with the at Jerusalem, and speedily fell into the grossest idolatry, first sovereign of that name; and the Israelites were but too of Jeroboam II. were. (Compare 2 Kings xiv. 25—27.) In prone to follow the bad examples of their wicked kings, especially if their affairs were prosperous, as we learn those his days, therefore, Jehovah raised up the prophet Hosea, to convince them of their apostacy, and recover them to the worship of the true God. Bishop Horsley, however, is of opinion that Hosea's principal subject is that, which is the 2 Professor Turner's translation of Jahn's Introduce ɔn, p. 325 principal subject of all the prophets, viz. "the guilt of the judgments which were to fall, and accordingly have fallen upon the two distinct kingdoms of Israel and Judah, typified by Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi."2 The SCOPE of this prophet's prediction is, 1. Partly to detect, reprove, and convince the Jewish nation generally, and the Israelites in particular, of their many and heinous sins, especially of their gross idolatry; the corrupt state of the kingdom is also incidentally noticed;-2. Partly to denounce the imminent and utter rejection, final captivity, and destruction of the Israelites by the Assyrians (if the former persisted in their wicked career), notwithstanding all their vain confidence in the assistance to be afforded them by Egypt;-and, 3. Partly to invite them to repentance with promises of mercy, and evangelical predictions of the future restoration of the Israelites and Jews, and their ultimate conversion to Christianity.3 III. The prophecy of Hosea contains fourteen chapters, which may be divided into five sections or discourses, exclusive of the title in ch. i. 1.; viz. DISCOURSE 1. Under the figure of the supposed infidelity of the prophet's wife is represented the spiritual infidelity of the Israelites, a remnant of whom, it is promised, shall be saved (i. 2 -11.), and they are exhorted to forsake idolatry. (ii. 1-11.) Promises are then introduced, on the general conversion of the twelve tribes to Christianity; and the gracious purposes of Jehovah towards the ten tribes, or the kingdom of Israel in particular, are represented under the figure of the prophet taking back his wife on her amendment. (ii. 11–23. iii.) DISCOURSE 2. The prophet, in direct terms, inveighs against the bloodshed and idolatry of the Israelites (iv. 1-14. 17-19.), against which the inhabitants of Judah are exhorted to take warning. (15, 16.) In chap. v. 1-14. the divine judgments are denounced against the priests, the people, and the princes of Israel, to whom are held out promises of pardon in v. 15. which are continued through verses 1-3. of chap. vi. The metaphors used by the prophet on this occasion are remarkably strong and beautiful. The resurrection, the morning, and the refreshing showers, in their season, supply them; in a more immediate sense they denote a speedy and gracious deliverance, but in a remote sense they refer to the resurrection of Christ (compare Hosea vi. 2. with 1 Cor. xv. 4.) and the blessings of the Gospel. DISCOURSE 3. The prophet's exhortations to repentance proving ineffectual, God complains by him of their obstinate iniquity and idolatry (vi. 4—11. vii. 1—10.), and denounces that Israel will be carried into captivity into Assyria by Sennacherib, notwithstanding their reliance on Egypt for assistance. (vii. 1116. viii.) DISCOURSE 4. The captivity and dispersion of Israel is further threatened (ix. x.); the Israelites are reproved for their idolatry, yet they shall not be utterly destroyed, and their return to their own country is foretold. (xi.)5 Renewed denuncia. tions are made on account of their idolatry. (xii. xiii. 1—8.) DISCOURSE 5. After a terrible denunciation of divine punish ment, intermixed with promises of restoration from captivity (xiii. 9-16.), the prophet exhorts the Israelites to repentance, and furnishes them with a beautiful form of prayer adapted to their situation (xiv. 1-3.); and foretells their reformation from idolatry, together with the subsequent restoration of all the tribes from their dispersed state, and their conversion to the Gospel. (4-9.) IV. The style of Hosea, Bishop Lowth remarks, exhibits the appearance of very remote antiquity; it is pointed, ener getic, and concise. It bears a distinguished mark of poetical composition, in that pristine brevity and condensation which is observable in the sentences, and which later writers have in some measure neglected. This peculiarity has not escaped the observation of Jerome, who remarks that this prophet is According to this view of the subject, the general argument of Hosea's prophecy "appears to be the fortunes of the whole Jewish nation in its two great branches; not the particular concerns (and least of all the particular temporal concerns) of either branch exclusively. And to this grand opening the whole sequel of the prophecy corresponds. In setting forth the vices of the people, the picture is chiefly taken, as might naturally be expected, from the manners of the prophet's own times; in part of which the corruption, in either kingdom, was at the greatest height; after the death of Jeroboam, in the kingdom of Israel; in the reign of Ahaz, in the kingdom of Judah. And there is occasionally much allusion, sometimes predictive allusion, to the principal events of the prophet's times. And much more to the events. n the kingdom of Israel, than to those in Judah. Perhaps, because the danger being more immediately imminent in the former kingdom, the state of things in that was more alarming, and the occurrences, for that reason, more interesting. Still the history of his own times in detail in either kingdom is not the prophet's subject. It furnishes similes and allusions, but it makes no considerable part, inod it makes no part at all, of the action (if I may so call it) of the poem. The action lies in events beyond the pro-that the prophet's marriage was a real transaction, and a type of the whole phet's times; the commencement, indeed, within them; but Jewish nation, distinct parts of which were typified by the three children the termination, in times yet future; and although we may Jezräel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi. hope the contrary, for aught we know with certainty, remote. Hosea, pp. viii.-xxv. Witsius, however, has shown that the whole was a figurative representation. Miscell. Sacr. lib. i. pp. 90-92. The deposition of Jehu's family, by the murder of Zedekiah, The prediction in Hosea xi. 10, 11., respecting the return of the Israel. the son and successor of Jeroboam, was the commencement: ites to their own country, was partly fulfilled in consequence of Cyrus's the termination will be the restoration of the whole Jewish decree (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23. Ezra i. 1-4.); but, in its fullest extent, it remains to be accomplished in the future restoration of the Jews to their nation under one head, in the latter days, in the great day own land. This is one instance, among many, in which the language of the We have the authority of an of Jezräel; and the intermediate parts of the action are the prophets is adapted to two or more events. inspired writer to extend this remark to another part of the same chapter (Compare xi. 1. with Matt. ii. 15.) Smith's Summary View of the Prophets, p. 177. ▲ Bishop Horsley's Hosea, Preface, pp. vii. viii. Bishop Horsley's Hosea, Preface, p. xxvii. Bishop Horsley contends at great length, contrary to most interpreters, See the Preface to his version of recorded in the Scriptures concerning the wife of Isaiah, we find two of his sons mentioned in his prophecy, who were types or figurative pledges of God's assurance; and their names and actions were intended to awaken a religious attention in the persons whom they were commissioned to address and to instruct. Thus, Shearjashub (vii. 3.) signifies “a remnant shall return," and showed that the captives, who should be carried to Babylon, should return thence after a certain time; and Maher-shalal-hashbaz (viii. 1. 3.), which denotes "make speed (or, run swiftly) to the spoil," implied that the kingdoms of Israel and Syria would in a short time be ravaged." altogether laconic and sententious.! "But this very circum- quality of their husbands. Although nothing further is stance, which anciently was supposed to impart uncommon force and elegance, in the present state of Hebrew literature, is productive of so much obscurity, that although the general subject of this writer is sufficiently obvious, he is the most difficult and perplexed of all the prophets. There is, however, another reason for the obscurity of his style. Hosea, we have seen, prophesied during the reigns of the four kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah: the duration of his ministry, therefore, in whatever manner we calculate it, must include a very considerable space of time. We have now only a small volume of his remaining, which, it seems, contains his principal prophecies; and these are extant in a continued series, with no marks of distinction as to the times when they were published, or of which they treat. It is, therefore, no wonder if, in perusing the prophecies of Hosea, we sometimes find ourselves in a similar predicament with those who consulted the scattered leaves of the sybil."2 4. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. I. Author and date.-II. Genuineness of Isaiah's prophecies.III. Scope.-IV. Analysis of the contents of this book. V. Observations on its style. BEFORE CHRIST, 810-698. THOUGH fifth in the order of time, the writings of the prophet Isaiah are placed first in order of the prophetical books, principally on account of the sublimity and importance of his predictions, and partly also because the book, which bears his name, is larger than all the twelve minor prophets put together. I. Concerning his family and descent nothing certain has been recorded, except what he himself tells us (i. 1.), viz. that he was the son of Amotz, and discharged the prophetic office in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, who successively flourished between A. M. 3194 and 3305. There is a current tradition that he was of the blood-royal; and some writers have affirmed that his father Amotz or Amos was the son of Joash, and, consequently, brother of Uzziah king of Judah. Jerome, on the authority of some rabbinical writers, says, that the prophet gave his daughter in marriage to Manasseh king of Judah; but this opinion is scarcely credible, because Manasseh did not commence his reign until about sixty years after Isaiah had begun to discharge his prophetic functions. He must, indeed, have exercised the office of a prophet during a long period of time, if he lived in the reign of Manasseh; for the lowest computation, beginning from the year in which Uzziah died, when he is by some supposed to have received his first appointment to that office, brings it to sixty-one years. But the tradition of the Jews, which has been adopted by most Christian commentators, that he was put to death by Manasseh, is very uncertain; and Aben Ezra, one of the most celebrated Jewish writers, is rather of opinion that he died before Hezekiah; which Bishop Lowth thinks most probable. It is, however, certain, that he lived at least to the fifteenth or sixteenth year of Hezekiah; which makes the least possible term of the duration of his prophetic office to be about forty-eight years. The name of Isaiah, as Vitringa has remarked after several preceding commentators, is in some measure descriptive of his high character, since it signifies the Salvation-of-Jehovah; and was given with singular propriety to him who foretold the advent of the Messiah, through whom all flesh shall see the salvation of God. (Compare Isa. xl. 5. with Luke iii. 6. and Acts iv. 12.) Isaiah was contemporary with the prophets Amos, Hosea, Joel, and Micah. Isaiah is uniformly spoken of in the Scriptures as a prophet of the highest dignity: Bishop Lowth calls him the prince of all the prophets, and pronounces the whole of his book to be poetical, with the exception of a few detached passages. It is remarkable, that his wife is styled a prophetess in viii. 3., whence the rabbinical writers have concluded that she possessed the spirit of prophecy: but it is very probable that the prophets' wives were called prophetesses, as the priests' wives were termed priestesses, only from the 1 Præf. in xii. Proph. 2 Lowth's Prælect. xxi. vol. ii. p. 96. Bishop Horsley differs in opinion from Bishop Lowth, as to the cause of the obscurity which is observable in the prophecies of Hosea. Bishop Horsley ascribes it, not to the great antiquity of the composition, nor to any thing peculiar to the language of the author's age, but to his peculiar idioms, frequent changes of person, his use of the nominative case absolute, his anomalies of number and gender, and the ambiguity of pronouns. See the Preface to his version of Hosea, pp. xxix.-xliii Besides the volume of prophecies, which we are now to consider, it appears from 2 Chron. xxvi. 22. that Isaiah wrote an account of the Acts of Uzziah king of Judah: this has perished with some other writings of the prophets, which, as probably not written by inspiration, were never admitted into the canon of Scripture. There are also two apocryphal books ascribed to him, viz. "The Ascension of Isaiah," and "The Apocalypse of Isaiah;" but these are evidently forgeries of a later date; and the Apocalypse has long since perished. II. Until the latter part of the eighteenth century, Isaiah was universally regarded both by Jews and Christians as the sole author of the book which bears his name. Koppe was the earliest writer who intimated that Ezekiel, or some other prophet who lived during the exile, might have been the author; as Doederlein was the first of the German commentators and critics who expressed a definite suspicion against the genuineness of those predictions which were delivered against the Gentiles, but especially the last twenty-seven chapters. Justi, Eichhorn, Bauer, Paulus, Rosenmüller, Bertholdt, De Wette, and others, have adopted the notions of Doederlein; and by various arguments have endeavoured to prove that the chapters in question first originated during the Babylonian captivity. These arguments have been copi ously examined and refuted by Professor Jahn, whose obser vations may be arranged under the following heads:-viz. 1. Proofs that all the prophecies ascribed to Isaiah are really his productions;-2. An examination and refutation, in detail, of objections against particular predictions; and, 3. An examination of the questions whether Isaiah was the author of chapters xxxvi.-xxxix. 1. PROOFS THAT all the PredicTIONS ASCRIBED TO ISAIAH ARE REALLY HIS PRODuctions. i. "The STYLE differs scarcely any in the different prophecies. We find every where the same descriptions of particular objects, and the same images, taken from trees, especially cedars, firs, and oaks; from the pains of childbirth, from history, and from the golden age. The beginning of the prophecy constantly enters into the midst of the subject, and every where poetical passages are inserted; as v. 1—6. xii. 1-6. xiv. 4-20. xxv. 1-5.; so, exactly in the same manner, xlii. 10—13. lii. 9. s. lxi. 10. lxiii. 7. lxiv. 11. Every where the same clearness and obscurity, the same repetitions, and the same euphony of language, are observable. The visions are similar; comp. ch. xxi. and ch. xl. with ch. vi. Even the same phrases occur repeatedly: e. g. banen en occurs in the first part seventeen times, in the second twelve times. n, which occurs in all the rest of the Bible only nine times, is found in the first part of Isaiah four times, in the second six. DNNs, which is elsewhere only to be met with four times in the book of Job, is found here twice in the first part, and five times in the second. is used in lxv. 10. just as in xxxiii. 9. xxv. 2.: 77, in xl. 1. xli. 7. 21. lxvi. 9. just as in i. 11. 18. xxxiii. 10., instead of which the other prophets say N, OFTEN. The expressions applied to the Sabæans, o stretched out, or tall, xviii. 2. 7., and , men of measure, or tall men, are peculiar to our prophet, as well as many others, which we have not room a Gray's Key, p. 365. • Ibid. p. 372. Ascensio enim Isaiæ et Apocalypsis Isaia hoc habent testimonium Jerom. Comment. on Isaiah, ch. Ixiv. (Op tom. iii. p. 473.) See also tom iv. p. 344. The anabatieon or ascension of Isaiah is mentioned by Epiphanius, among the books received by Hierax, founder of the sect of the Hieracites, in the fourth century. Hæres. 67. Dr. Lardner's Works vol. iii. p. 402. The arguments of the various neologian objectors against the genuine ness of Isaiah's predictions, and especially those of Professor Gesonius, are also very fully and ably renewed and refuted, first, by Professor Lee, in his Sermons and Dissertations on the Study of the Holy Scriptures, pp. 157-208.; and, secondly, by Dr. Hengstenberg in his "Christologie des Alten Testaments." (Christology of the Old Testament.) That part of Dr. H.'s treatise, which relates to the genuineness of Isaiah's predictions, has been translated into English by Professor Robinson of Andover (Massi chusetts), and will be found in the Biblical Repository for the year 131 (vol. i. pp. 700-733.) As the arguments of these learned writers do not admis of abridgment, the reader is necessarily referred to their publications. nere to specify.-The sublimity of the style does not vary more throughout all the prophecies, than is usual in poems which are written by the same author at different times, as for example, the different Psalms of David; and the style in all is such as could by no means be expected from writers of the age of the Babylonian captivity. It is granted that style does not depend entirely upon the age, but in some measure upon the cultivated genius of the writer; yet it does not, therefore, become probable that such poems should be composed in the age of the Babylonian captivity, so that we may assert this without any historical testimony or tradition: more especially as we find nothing similar in the writings of Jereiniah or Ezekiel, who wanted neither genius nor polish.-The language itself is not the same as that observable in Jeremiah and Ezekiel it is not probable that any one could have cultivated the knowledge of the Hebrew during the captivity more thoroughly than they, nor is such a state of the language discernible in Zechariah, who is usually cited as an Instance of it.-Lastly, the arrangement and method of treating the subject are the same in all these prophecies. Chap. vii. contains a prophecy interwoven with a history, which is followed, ch. viii.-xii. by prophecies without titles; so also in ch. xxxix. the prophecy is woven into the history, and prophecies without a title follow. As in the first part there are several prophecies concerning Sennacherib; so also in the second, there are several concerning the overthrow of the Chaldæan monarchy, and the return of the Hebrews from captivity. As in the vision in ch. vi. we read, that the prophet's efforts should not be accompanied by a happy result; so the prophet, ch. xlii. 16. 23. xliii. 8. xlv. 4., and especially xlix. 4. lix. 6., complains that his endeavours had been unsuccessful. ii. "What is said in ch. lxvi. 1-6. of the temple, does not suit the latter part of the period of exile, in which Haggai and Zechariah speak altogether differently on the same subject. Much less could any one during the captivity write, as in xlviii. 4-8., that the ruin and utter destruction of the city of Babylon had not yet been foretold, when Jeremiah 1. li. had plainly predicted it; or speak, as in lii. 4., of the Egyptians and Assyrians as the only enemies of the Hebrews, and pass over the Chaldæans.-The severe reproofs, Ivi. 9.-lix. 20. lxv. 11-16., especially those denounced against the shepherds, i. e. the kings, lvi. 11, &c.; the reproaches not only on account of idolatry, but also of the immolation of children, lvii. 1-13., and of enormous corruption of morals, lviii. 6—9. lix. 1—8., are entirely at variance with the times of the captivity. Then, we might rather expect mention to be made of the prophecies of Jeremiah, as in Dan. ix. 2. and that more should be said respecting the Magians or worshippers of Ormuzd, than that one allusion to the two principles of things, xlv. 7., which certainly were maintained by very many in an age older than that of the captivity. iii. "Jeremiah shows that he had read these prophecies, seven years before the destruction of Jerusalem, Jer. li. 4964.; for the connection of the prophecy of Jeremiah contained in Jer. 1. li. with the predictions of Isaiah is evident: nor can it be said, that the author of the controverted prophecies of Isaiah, living toward the end of the captivity, had read the book of Jeremiah; for he is an original and independent author, drawing entirely from his own resources, and never imitating others; while, on the contrary, it is well known that Jeremiah had read the older prophets, and borrowed much from them, especially in his prophecies against foreign nations. Some passages have been observed in other prophets also, which have been taken from the controverted prophecies of Isaiah: as Zeph. ii. 14, &c. from Isa. xiii. 21, &c.; Ezek. xxxiv. from Isa. lvii. 10, &c.; Ezek. xxvi. 20. xxxi. 14-17. xxxii. 18-33. from Isa. xiv. 8-28.; Ezek. xxvi. 13. from Isa. xxiii. 25.; Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix. from Isa. lxvi. 6-9. 24. That Habakkuk is indebted to Isaiah, has been long since observed: compare Hab. i. 6. with Isa. xxiii. 13. iv. "Cyrus, in his written proclamation (Ezra i. 2.), says, that the God of heaven had given him all kingdoms of the earth, and had charged him to build to Him a temple at Jerusalem.-These words, as well as the acts of Cyrus, namely, his dismission of the Jews to their own country, his grant of a sum of money for the building of the temple, and his restitution of the valuable holy vessels, can only be explained on the supposition that he had seen the prophecies of Isaiah concerning him, as Josephus states, and was nduced, by their manifestly divine origin, to confer such great benefits upon the Jews. Nor was Cyrus the man to suffer recent prophecies scarcely yet published to be palmed upon him for ancient; not to mention that there were many who would have been glad to discover to him the fraud, if any had existed. Neither would Cyrus the Magian, who built nothing but pyres to Ormuzd, have been so easily led to construct a magnificent temple to the God of the Jews. "It may, indeed, seem strange that the prophet should say so much concerning the return from Babylon, and yet make no express mention of the carrying away. But he certainly does say something concerning this subject, as xxxix 4-7. vi. 11-13. v. 5—9. xi. 11–16.; and Micah, the contemporary of Isaiah, speaks clearly of this carrying away, and of the overthrow of Jerusalem; so that it would seem probable that Isaiah had said more on this subject, which has not been preserved to us. If this were the case, the prophet who sings the glad return would no more con tradict himself by predicting the carrying away, than Jeremiah does, who has predicted both events. To all this, analogy is said to be opposed, according to which, it is thought, prophets do not foretell such remote events as those concerning the Chaldæans, the Medes and Persians, Cyrus, and the return of the Hebrews, which Isaiah has predicted. But this analogy is by no means universal. Besides, in this objection it is supposed that the Chaldæans, Medes, and Persians, were in the age of Isaiah obscure nations, or entirely unknown; whereas, in fact, the Medes, almost 100 years before Isaiah and Hezekiah (826 before Christ, 149 after the division), had, under their king Arbaces, joined an alliance with Belesis the governor of Babylon, and overthrown the first Assyrian monarchy. It is true that the Median anarchy of seventy-nine years followed, but in the tenth of Hezekiah (728 before Christ, 257 after the division), they elected Dejoces king, who founded Ecbatana, and whose son Phraortes (665-643 before Christ, 310332 after the division), attacking the new kingdom of the Assyrians, was slain while besieging Nineveh; and under Cyaxares I., Zoroaster found the kingdom of the Medes again flourishing.2-Elam was a celebrated kingdom even in the most ancient times, Gen. ch. xiv., and it is always by the ancient name oy, Gen. x. 22. xiv. 1. that Isaiah mentions it, and never by the modern appellation D, which is given it, Dan vi. 28. Ezra i. 1, 2. iv. 5. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22. s. The Elamites are mentioned as a part of the army of the Assyrians, Isa. xxii. 6., which prophecy is certainly Isaiah's, as appears from v. 8-11. compared with 2 Chron. xxxii. 2-5. Esarhaddon sent some Elamites among his other colonists to Samaria. (Ezra iv. 9. s.) At a later period Jeremiah, chap. xxv. 25. xlix. 24, &c. mentions Elam among the powerful kingdoms which should be conquered by the Chaldæans, and Ezekiel, ch. xxxii. 24. beholds Elam overthrown. It is only by a long succession of time and victories, that nations are enabled to conquer the surrounding people, and spread themselves so widely as to obtain sufficient celebrity to entitle them to an eminent place in history. It was not, therefore, in a short space of time that the Chaldæans, Medes, and Elamites or Persians, emerged from their obscurity into so great a light as to become conspicuous to the world when before they had been utterly unknown. If, then, Isaiah foretells the overthrow of the Chaldæans by the Medes and Elamites, his prophecy in that age would have been neither more nor less obscure than Zechariah's (ix. 13.) concerning the wars of the Jews against the Greeks in Syria. Isaiah might easily have used the name Cyrus, 1 (or Koresh), xliv. 28. xlv. 1., since it means nothing more than king; for in the language of the Parsees KHOR means the sun, and SCHID splendour, whence is compounded KORSCHID, the splendour of the sun, and with the addition of the word PAE or PAI, habitation, KORSCHIDPAI, the habitation of the splendour of the sun, which was a customary appellation of the kings of Persia. This appellation corrupted into 913 (Koresh), might become known to the Hebrews by means of merchants travelling between Judæa and Persia; and Isaiah, who did not hesitate to call Cyrus the anointed, wo, may have called him by the appellative of the kings of Prophets are not, like historians, confined to the order of chronology in announcing future events. This is plain from their writings, which always give perspective views. Zechariah predicted a kingdom for the high-priest, without noticing the destruction of the Persian monarchy and ites from the Assyrian captivity, without saying any thing of the interven ing revolutions by the Chaldæans, Medes, and Persians. In prophecy the more remote events are often introduced, while the intermediate are unno ticed. the division of the Greek power. Isaiah foretold the return of the Israel Comp. Prideaux, Conn. Part I. Book I.. |