4. The Sacred Books written after the return from cap tivity, viz.: Esdras. Aggeus. Zacharias. Esdras II. or Nehemias. Malachias, the last prophet. 5. A sketch of the history of the Jews under the Ptolemies and as a Syrian province, B.C. 420-B.C. 168. 6. The history of the Jews under the Macchabees, B.C. 168-B.C. 63. 7. The history of the Jews under the Romans, B.C. 63A.D. 1. B.C. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF PART IV. 606. Captivity begins. Daniel taken to Babylon. 588. Jerusalem destroyed. Third and last captivity. 561. Release of Joachin from prison. 539. Belshazzar's feast. 536. Cyrus gives leave to the Jews to return. 520. Rebuilding of the Temple. Aggeus and Zachariah. 515. Dedication of the Temple. 458. Queen Esther. 457. Esdras sent to Jerusalem by Artaxerxes. 445. Nehemias goes to Jerusalem. 420. Malachias, the last prophet. 335. Alexander the Great. 323. Ptolemy Soter takes Jerusalem. 283. The Septuagint completed at Alexandria. 200. Conquest of Palestine by Antiochus the Great. 168. Revolt of Mattathias. 166. Judas Macchabeus. 63. Pompey takes Jerusalem. 37. Herod the Great. NOTE ON THE PROPHETS. By a prophet is commonly understood to mean one who, under divine inspiration, foretells future events. But in the Holy Scripture those also are called prophets who taught or warned men in God's name. Even those who sang divine praises were said to prophesy. (See Sect. lviii.) King David, we are told, appointed the sons of Asaph to prophesy with harps and with psalteries and with cymbals. But the gift of prophesying was always considered to be a divine inspiration or illumination. When Moses gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, we are told that God took of the spirit that rested on him and gave it to them; and it came to pass when the spirit rested upon them they prophesied, and did not cease. And S. Peter (2 Epist. i.) says expressly that prophecy came not by the will of man at any time, but holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost. In the time of Samuel we read of companies or colleges of the prophets, and again repeatedly in the time of Eliseus, when they are called sons of the prophets. These seem to have been young men who were prepared by the training of solitude and a hard life for receiving divine illumination. These sons of the prophets, or young prophets, were sent on special missions in obedience to the older prophets. Thus we find Eliseus sending one of them to warn the king of Israel, and another to anoint Jehu to be king. Yet though the prophets spoke and acted under divine impulse, and were for the most part themselves holy men, yet they were not always so. Balaam is a remarkable instance of this. S. Peter speaks of him as one who loved the wages of iniquity; yet he spoke as God inspired him, and felt that he could not do otherwise. If Balac, he says, would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God to utter anything of my own head, either good or evil; but what the Lord shall say that will I speak. (Num. xxiv.) There is again the instance of the prophet sent by God to warn Jeroboam, who was disobedient to God's commands, and killed by a lion in consequence. There was Jonas, who, though inspired by God to preach to the Ninivites, was dis obedient and rebellious. Our Lord speaks of such when He says that in the last day many will say to Him, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and He will say to them, Depart from Me all you that work iniquity. Then, besides the true prophets who were not good men, there were false, lying prophets. Such was Micheas, who persuaded Achab to go out to battle. And in the last days of Jerusalem, before the captivity, there were many such, who advised and warned the king and the people in God's name, though the Lord had not sent them. Jeremias was persecuted by these false prophets. The prophets were very numerous. All through the history of the kings there are continual notices of different prophets. We read of Nathan and Gad in the reign of David, of Ahias in Roboam's time, of Oded in the reign of Achaz, and of many others. But few comparatively of the prophets have committed their warnings and prophecies to writing. The greatest of them, Elias and Eliseus, have left nothing behind them. Those whose writings are contained in Scripture lived, all but three of them, in the last 250 years of the kingdom of Juda and in the captivity, i.e. from B.C. 800 to B.C. 550. They are divided into the four major and twelve minor prophets. The four greater prophets, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezekiel, and Daniel, are so called because their writings are much greater in quantity, and for the most part in importance, than those of the others; for they predicted the coming of Christ, His preaching, His sufferings, and the establishment of His Church. The twelve minor prophets are Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, and Malachias. The last three prophesied after the Captivity. Besides the prophecies contained in the books of the prophets, there are many others not less striking in the books of Moses and in the Psalms of David. Psalm II. THE BOOK OF PSALMS. The Psalms are sacred canticles or hymns of praise, which were used from ancient times by the Israelites in the worship of God. They are generally quoted in the name of David, who is marked as the author in the inscriptions of about eighty of them; whilst many of them have no name inscribed, and several bear the name of Asapb, some of Heman and Ethan, two of Solomon, and one of Moses. The chief subjects of the Psalms are the persecutions which David suffered from Saul and Absalom, and other events in his life. Others are a review of the works of God, and His special favours to His chosen people. But no Christian can doubt that the sufferings and glory of Christ are portrayed prophetically in the Psalms, as this is expressly declared by our Lord Himself, who says (Luke xxiv.): All things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me. KENRICK. SECT. CV. THE VAIN EFFORTS OF PERSECUTORS AGAINST CHRIST AND WHY have the Gentiles raged: and the people devised vain 1-18. things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together against the Lord, and against His Christ. Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: and the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak to them in His anger and trouble them in His rage. But I am appointed by Him king over Sion His holy mountain preaching His commandments. The Lord hath said unto Me: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, ye that judge the earth. Serve the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto Him with trembling. Embrace discipline: lest at any time the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the just way. When His wrath shall be kindled in a short time: blessed are all they that trust in Him. SECT. CVI. GOD IS WONderful in HIS WORKS; ESPECIALLY IN MANKIND O LORD our Lord: how admirable is Thy name in the whole Psalm VIII earth! For Thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise, because of Thy enemies: that Thou mayest destroy the enemy and the avenger. For I will behold Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers: the moon and the stars which Thou hast set. What is man that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that Thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour and hast set him over the works of Thy hands. : Thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and all the beasts of the field. The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea. O Lord our Lord: how admirable is Thy name in all the earth! SECT. CVII. WHAT KIND of men shall dwell IN THE HEAVENLY SION. 1-10. LORD, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle? or who shall rest Psalm XIV. in Thy holy hill? He that walketh without blemish and worketh justice: : He that speaketh truth in his heart: who hath not used deceit in his tongue : BB 1-5. Psalm xv. Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours. In his sight the wicked is despised: but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his neighbour, and deceiveth not: he that hath not put out his money to usury, nor taken bribes against the innocent: He that doeth these things: shall not be moved for ever. SECT. CVIII. CHRIST'S FUTURE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD AND death. PRESERVE me, O Lord, for in Thee I have put my trust: I 1-11. have said to the Lord, Thou art my God, for Thou hast no need of my goods. To the saints who are in His land: He hath made wonderful all my desires in them. Their infirmities were multiplied: afterwards they made haste. I will not gather together their meetings for blood-offerings: nor will I make mention of their names with my lips. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is Thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me. The lines are fallen unto me in goodly places: for my inheritance is goodly to me. I will bless the Lord, who hath given me understanding: moreover my reins also have corrected me even till night. I set the Lord always in my sight: for He is at my right hand, that I be not moved. Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope. Because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell: nor wilt Thou give Thy holy one to see corruption.* Thou hast made known to me the ways of life: Thou shalt fill me with joy with Thy countenance; at Thy right hand are delights for evermore. SECT. CIX. THE WORKS OF GOD SHOW FORTH HIS GLORY: HIS LAW IS Psalm THE HEAVENS Show forth the glory of God: and the firmaXVIII. 1-15. ment declareth the work of His hands. Day to day uttereth speech: and night to night showeth knowledge. There are no speeches nor languages: where their voices are not heard. *See Acts ii., in which S. Peter shows that these words must refer to the resurrection of Christ. |