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+Project Gutenberg's Introduction to the Old Testament, by John Edgar McFadyen
+
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+Title: Introduction to the Old Testament
+
+Author: John Edgar McFadyen
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7168]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 19, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Anne Folland, Tiffany Vergon, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
+
+By
+
+JOHN EDGAR McFADYEN, M.A. (Glas.) B.A. (Oxon.)
+
+
+_Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis, Knox College,
+Toronto_
+
+
+
+To My Pupils Past and Present
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+This _Introduction_ does not pretend to offer anything to
+specialists. It is written for theological students, ministers, and
+laymen, who desire to understand the modern attitude to the Old
+Testament as a whole, but who either do not have the time or the
+inclination to follow the details on which all thorough study of it
+must ultimately rest. These details are intricate, often perplexing,
+and all but innumerable, and the student is in danger of failing to
+see the wood for the trees. This _Introduction_, therefore,
+concentrates attention only on the more salient features of the
+discussion. No attempt has been made, for example, to relegate every
+verse in the Pentateuch[1] to its documentary source; but the method
+of attacking the Pentateuchal problem has been presented, and the
+larger documentary divisions indicated.
+[Footnote 1: Pentateuch and Hexateuch are used in this volume to
+indicate the first five and the first six books of the Old Testament
+respectively, without reference to any critical theory. As the first
+five books form a natural division by themselves, and as their
+literary sources are continued not only into Joshua, but probably
+beyond it, it is as legitimate to speak of the Pentateuch as of the
+Hexateuch.]
+
+It is obvious, therefore, that the discussions can in no case be
+exhaustive; such treatment can only be expected in commentaries to
+the individual books. While carefully considering all the more
+important alternatives, I have usually contented myself with
+presenting the conclusion which seemed to me most probable; and I
+have thought it better to discuss each case on its merits, without
+referring expressly and continually to the opinions of English and
+foreign scholars.
+
+In order to bring the discussion within the range of those who have
+no special linguistic equipment, I have hardly ever cited Greek or
+Hebrew words, and never in the original alphabets. For a similar
+reason, the verses are numbered, not as in the Hebrew, but as in the
+English Bible. I have sought to make the discussion read continuously,
+without distracting the attention--excepting very occasionally-by
+foot-notes or other devices.
+
+Above all things, I have tried to be interesting. Critical
+discussions are too apt to divert those who pursue them from the
+absorbing human interest of the Old Testament. Its writers were men
+of like hopes and fears and passions with ourselves, and not the
+least important task of a sympathetic scholarship is to recover that
+humanity which speaks to us in so many portions and so many ways
+from the pages of the Old Testament. While we must never allow
+ourselves to forget that the Old Testament is a voice from the
+ancient and the Semitic world, not a few parts of it--books, for
+example, like Job and Ecclesiastes--are as modern as the book that
+was written yesterday.
+
+But, first and last, the Old Testament is a religious book; and an
+_Introduction_ to it should, in my opinion, introduce us not
+only to its literary problems, but to its religious content. I have
+therefore usually attempted--briefly, and not in any homiletic
+spirit--to indicate the religious value and significance of its
+several books.
+
+There may be readers who would here and there have desiderated a
+more confident tone, but I have deliberately refrained from going
+further than the facts seemed to warrant. The cause of truth is not
+served by unwarranted assertions; and the facts are often so difficult
+to concatenate that dogmatism becomes an impertinence. Those who know
+the ground best walk the most warily. But if the old confidence has
+been lost, a new confidence has been won. Traditional opinions on
+questions of date and authorship may have been shaken or overturned,
+but other and greater things abide; and not the least precious is
+that confidence, which can now justify itself at the bar of the most
+rigorous scientific investigation, that, in a sense altogether unique,
+the religion of Israel is touched by the finger of God.
+
+JOHN E. McFADYEN.
+
+ENGELBERG, SWITZERLAND.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+THE ORDER OF THE BOOKS
+
+GENESIS
+
+EXODUS
+
+LEVITICUS
+
+NUMBERS
+
+DEUTERONOMY
+
+JOSHUA
+
+THE PROPHETIC AND PRIESTLY DOCUMENTS
+
+JUDGES
+
+SAMUEL
+
+KINGS
+
+ISAIAH
+
+JEREMIAH
+
+EZEKIEL
+
+HOSEA
+
+JOEL
+
+AMOS
+
+OBADIAH
+
+JONAH
+
+MICAH
+
+NAHUM
+
+HABAKKUK
+
+ZEPHANIAH
+
+HAGGAI
+
+ZECHARIAH
+
+MALACHI
+
+PSALMS
+
+PROVERBS
+
+JOB
+
+SONG OF SONGS
+
+RUTH
+
+LAMENTATIONS
+
+ECCLESIASTES
+
+ESTHER
+
+DANIEL
+
+EZRA-NEHEMIAH
+
+CHRONICLES
+
+
+
+
+THE ORDER OF THE BOOKS
+
+In the English Bible the books of the Old Testament are arranged,
+not in the order in which they appear in the Hebrew Bible, but in
+that assigned to them by the Greek translation. In this translation
+the various books are grouped according to their contents--first the
+historical books, then the poetic, and lastly the prophetic. This
+order has its advantages, but it obscures many important facts of
+which the Hebrew order preserves a reminiscence. The Hebrew Bible
+has also three divisions, known respectively as the Law, the
+Prophets, and the Writings. _The Law_ stands for the Pentateuch.
+_The Prophets_ are subdivided into (i) the former prophets, that
+is, the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings,
+regarded as four in number; and (ii) the latter prophets, that is,
+the prophets proper--Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve
+(i.e. the Minor Prophets). _The Writings_ designate all the rest
+of the books, usually in the following order--Psalms, Proverbs, Job,
+Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel,
+Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles.
+
+It would somewhat simplify the scientific study even of the English
+Bible, if the Hebrew order could be restored, for it is in many ways
+instructive and important. It reveals the unique and separate
+importance of the Pentateuch; it suggests that the historical books
+from Joshua to Kings are to be regarded not only as histories, but
+rather as the illustration of prophetic principles; it raises a high
+probability that Ruth ought not to be taken with Judges, nor
+Lamentations with Jeremiah, nor Daniel with the prophets. It can be
+proved that the order of the divisions represents the order in which
+they respectively attained canonical importance--the law before 400
+B.C., the prophets about 200 B.C., the writings about 100 B.C.--and,
+generally speaking, the latest books are in the last division. Thus
+we are led to suspect a relatively late origin for the Song and
+Ecclesiastes, and Chronicles, being late, will not be so important a
+historical authority as Kings. The facts suggested by the Hebrew
+order and confirmed by a study of the literature are sufficient to
+justify the adoption of that order in preference to that of the
+English Bible.
+
+
+
+
+GENESIS
+
+
+The Old Testament opens very impressively. In measured and dignified
+language it introduces the story of Israel's origin and settlement
+upon the land of Canaan (Gen.--Josh.) by the story of creation,
+i.-ii. 4_a_, and thus suggests, at the very beginning, the
+far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and
+religion of Israel. The narrative has not travelled far till it
+becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and
+moral; for, after a pictorial sketch of man's place and task in the
+world, and of his need of woman's companionship, ii. 4_b_-25,
+it plunges at once into an account, wonderful alike in its poetic
+power and its psychological insight, of the tragic and costly[1]
+disobedience by which the divine purpose for man was at least
+temporarily frustrated (iii.). His progress in history is, morally
+considered, downward. Disobedience in the first generation becomes
+murder in the next, and it is to the offspring of the violent Cain
+that the arts and amenities of civilization are traced, iv. 1-22.
+Thus the first song in the Old Testament is a song of revenge,
+iv. 23, 24, though this dark background of cruelty is not unlit by a
+gleam of religion, iv. 26. After the lapse of ten generations (v.)
+the world had grown so corrupt that God determined to destroy it by a
+flood; but because Noah was a good man, He saved him and his household
+and resolved never again to interrupt the course of nature in judgment
+(vi.-viii.). In establishing the covenant with Noah, emphasis is laid
+on the sacredness of blood, especially of the blood of man, ix. 1-17.
+Though grace abounds, however, sin also abounds. Noah fell, and his
+fall revealed the character of his children: the ancestor of the
+Semites, from whom the Hebrews sprang, is blessed, as is also Japheth,
+while the ancestor of the licentious Canaanites is cursed, ix. 18-27.
+From these three are descended the great families of mankind (x.)
+whose unity was confounded and whose ambitions were destroyed by the
+creation of diverse languages, xi. 1-9.
+[Footnote 1: Death is the penalty (iii. 22-24). Another explanation of
+how death came into the world is given in the ancient and interesting
+fragment vi. 1-4.]
+
+It is against this universal background that the story of the
+Hebrews is thrown; and in the new beginning which history takes with
+the call of Abraham, something like the later contrast between the
+church and the world is intended to be suggested. Upon the sombreness
+of human history as reflected in Gen. i.-xi., a new possibility breaks
+in Gen. xii., and the rest of the book is devoted to the fathers of
+the Hebrew people (xii.-l.). The most impressive figure from a
+religious point of view is Abraham, the oldest of them all, and the
+story of his discipline is told with great power, xi. 10-xxv. 10.
+He was a Semite, xi. 10-32, and under a divine impulse he migrated
+westward to Canaan, xii. 1-9.
+
+There various fortunes befell him--famine which drove him to Egypt,
+peril through the beauty of his wife,[1] abounding and conspicuous
+prosperity--but through it all Abraham displayed a true magnanimity
+and enjoyed the divine favour, xii. 10-xiii., which was manifested
+even in a striking military success (xiv.). Despite this favour,
+however, he grew despondent, as he had no child. But there came to
+him the promise of a son, confirmed by a covenant (xv.), the symbol
+of which was to be circumcision (xvii.); and Abraham trusted God,
+unlike his wife, whose faith was not equal to the strain, and who
+sought the fulfilment of the promise in foolish ways of her own,[2]
+xvi., xviii. 1-15. Then follows the story of Abraham's earnest but
+ineffectual intercession for the wicked cities of the plain--a story
+which further reminds us how powerfully the narrative is controlled
+by moral and religious interests, xviii. 16-xix. Faith is rewarded
+at last by the birth of a son, xxi. 1-7, and Abraham's prosperity
+becomes so conspicuous that a native prince is eager to make a
+treaty with him, xxi. 22-34. The supreme test of his faith came to
+him in the impulse to offer his son to God in sacrifice; but at the
+critical moment a substitute was providentially provided, and
+Abraham's faith, which had stood so terrible a test, was rewarded by
+another renewal of the divine assurance (xxii.). His wife died, and
+for a burial-place he purchased from the natives a field and cave in
+Hebron, thus winning in the promised land ground he could legally
+call his own (xxiii). Among his eastern kinsfolk a wife is
+providentially found for Isaac (xxiv.), who becomes his father's
+heir, xxv. 1-6. Then Abraham dies, xxv. 7-11, and the uneventful
+career of Isaac is briefly described in tales that partly duplicate[3]
+those told of his greater father, xxv. 7-xxvi.
+[Footnote 1: This story (xii. 10-20) is duplicated in xx.; also in
+xxvi. 1-11 (of Isaac).]
+[Footnote 2: The story of the expulsion of Hagar in xvi. is
+duplicated in xxi. 8-21.]
+[Footnote 3: xxvi. 1-11=xii. 10-20 (xx.); xxvi. 26-33=xxi. 22-34.]
+
+The story of Isaac's son Jacob is as varied and romantic as his own
+was uneventful. He begins by fraudulently winning a blessing from
+his father, and has in consequence to flee the promised land,
+xxvii.-xxviii. 9. On the threshold of his new experiences he was
+taught in a dream the nearness of heaven to earth, and received
+the assurance that the God who had visited him at Bethel would
+be with him in the strange land and bring him back to his own,
+xxviii. 10-22. In the land of his exile, his fortunes ran a very
+checkered course (xxix.-xxxi.). In Laban, his Aramean kinsman, he
+met his match, and almost his master, in craft; and the initial
+fraud of his life was more than once punished in kind. In due time,
+however, he left the land of his sojourn, a rich and prosperous man.
+But his discipline is not over when he reaches the homeland. The past
+rises up before him in the person of the brother whom he had wronged;
+and besides reckoning with Esau, he has also to wrestle with God. He
+is embroiled in strife with the natives of the land, and he loses his
+beloved Rachel (xxxii.-xxxv.).
+
+Into the later years of Jacob is woven the most romantic story of
+all--that of his son Joseph (xxxvii.-l.)[1] the dreamer, who rose
+through persecution and prison, slander and sorrow (xxxvii.-xl.) to
+a seat beside the throne of Pharaoh (xli.). Nowhere is the providence
+that governs life and the Nemesis that waits upon sin more dramatically
+illustrated than in the story of Joseph. Again and again his guilty
+brothers are compelled to confront the past which they imagined they
+had buried out of sight for ever (xlii.-xliv.). But at last comes the
+gracious reconciliation between Joseph and them (xlv.), the tender
+meeting between Jacob and Joseph (xlvi.), the ultimate settlement of
+the family of Jacob in Egypt,[2] and the consequent transference of
+interest to that country for several generations. The book closes
+with scenes illustrating the wisdom and authority of Joseph in the
+time of famine (xlvii.), the dying Jacob blessing Joseph's sons
+(xlviii.), his parting words (in verse) to all his sons (xlix.), his
+death and funeral honours, l. 1-14, Joseph's magnanimous forgiveness
+of his brothers, and his death, in the sure hope that God would one
+day bring the Israelites back again to the land of Canaan, l. 15-26.
+[Footnote 1: xxxvi. deals with the Edomite clans, and xxxviii. with
+the clans of Judah.]
+[Footnote 2: In one version they are not exactly in Egypt, but near
+it, in Goshen (xlvii. 6).]
+
+The unity of the book of Genesis is unmistakable; yet a close
+inspection reveals it to be rather a unity of idea than of execution.
+While in general it exhibits the gradual progress of the divine
+purpose on its way through primeval and patriarchal history, in
+detail it presents a number of phenomena incompatible with unity of
+authorship. The theological presuppositions of different parts of
+the book vary widely; centuries of religious thought, for example,
+must lie between the God who partakes of the hospitality of Abraham
+under a tree (xviii.) and the majestic, transcendent, invisible
+Being at whose word the worlds are born (i.). The style, too,
+differs as the theological conceptions do: it is impossible not to
+feel the difference between the diffuse, precise, and formal style
+of ix. 1-17, and the terse, pictorial and poetic manner of the
+immediately succeeding section, ix. 18-27. Further, different
+accounts are given of the origin of particular names or facts:
+Beersheba is connected, e.g. with a treaty made, in one case,
+between Abraham and Abimelech, xxi. 31, in another, between Isaac
+and Abimelech, xxvi. 33. But perhaps the most convincing proof that
+the book is not an original literary unit is the lack of inherent
+continuity in the narrative of special incidents, and the occasional
+inconsistencies, sometimes between different parts of the book,
+sometimes even within the same section.
+
+This can be most simply illustrated from the story of the Flood
+(vi. 5ff.), through which the beginner should work for himself-at
+first without suggestions from critical commentaries or introductions--as
+here the analysis is easy and singularly free from complications;
+the results reached upon this area can be applied and extended to
+the rest of the book. The problem might be attacked in some such way
+as follows. Ch. vi. 5-8 announces the wickedness of man and the
+purpose of God to destroy him; throughout these verses the divine
+Being is called Jehovah.[1] In the next section, _vv_. 9-13, He
+is called by a different name--God (Hebrew, _Elohim_)--and we
+cannot but notice that this section adds nothing to the last;
+_vv_. 9, 10 are an interruption, and _vv_. 11-13 but a
+repetition of _vv_. 5-8. Corresponding to the change in the
+divine name is a further change in the vocabulary, the word for
+_destroy_ being different in _vv_. 7 and 13. Verses 14-22
+continue the previous section with precise and minute instructions
+for the building of the ark, and in the later verses (cf. 18, 20)
+the precision tends to become diffuseness. The last verse speaks of
+the divine Being as God (Elohim), so that both the language and
+contents of _vv_. 9-22 show it to be a homogeneous section.
+Note that here, _vv_. 19, 20, two animals of every kind are to
+be taken into the ark, no distinction being drawn between the clean
+and the unclean. Noah must now be in the ark; for we are told that
+he had done all that God commanded him, _vv_. 22, 18.
+[Footnote 1: Wrongly represented by _the Lord_ in the English
+version; the American Revised Version always correctly renders by
+_Jehovah_. _God_ in v. 5 is an unfortunate mistake of A.V.
+This ought also to be _the Lord_, or rather _Jehovah_.]
+
+But, to our surprise, ch. vii. starts the whole story afresh with a
+divine command to Noah to enter the ark; and this time, significantly
+enough, a distinction is made between the clean and the unclean-seven
+pairs of the former to enter and one pair of the latter (vii. 2). It
+is surely no accident that in this section the name of the divine
+Being is Jehovah, _vv_. 1, 5; and its contents follow naturally
+on vi. 5-8. In other words we have here, not a continuous account,
+but two parallel accounts, one of which uses the name God, the other
+Jehovah, for the divine Being. This important conclusion is put
+practically beyond all doubt by the similarity between vi. 22 and vii. 5,
+which differ only in the use of the divine name. A close study of the
+characteristics of these sections whose origin is thus certain will
+enable us approximately to relegate to their respective sources other
+sections, verses, or fragments of verses in which the important clue,
+furnished by the name of the divine Being, is not present. Any verse,
+or group of verses, e.g. involving the distinction between the clean
+and the unclean, will belong to the _Jehovistic_ source, as it is
+called (J). This is the real explanation of the confusion which
+every one feels who attempts to understand the story as a unity. It
+was always particularly hard to reconcile the apparently conflicting
+estimates of the duration of the Flood; but as soon as the sources
+are separated, it becomes clear that, according to the Jehovist, it
+lasted sixty-eight days, according to the other source over a year
+(vii. 11, viii. 14).
+
+Brief as the Flood story is, it furnishes us with material enough to
+study the characteristic differences between the sources out of
+which it is composed. The Jehovist is terse, graphic, and poetic; it
+is this source in which occurs the fine description of the sending
+forth of the raven and the dove, viii. 6-12. It knows how to make a
+singularly effective use of concrete details: witness Noah putting
+out his hand and pulling the dove into the ark, and her final return
+with an olive leaf in her mouth. A similarly graphic touch,
+interesting also for the sidelight it throws on the Jehovist's
+theological conceptions is that, when Noah entered the ark, "Jehovah
+closed the door behind him," vii. 16. Altogether different is the
+other source. It is all but lacking in poetic touches and concrete
+detail of this kind, and such an anthropomorphism as vii. 16 would
+be to it impossible. It is pedantically precise, giving the exact
+year, month, and even day when the Flood came, vii. 11, and when it
+ceased, viii. 13, 14. There is a certain legal precision about it
+which issues in diffuseness and repetition; over and over again
+occur such phrases as "fowl, cattle, creeping things, each after its
+kind," vi. 20, vii. 14, and the dimensions of the ark are accurately
+given. Where J had simply said, "Thou and all thy house," vii. 1,
+this source says, "Thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons'
+wives with thee," vi. 18. From the identity of interest and style
+between this source and the middle part of the Pentateuch, notably
+Leviticus, it is characterized as the priestly document and known to
+criticism as P.
+
+Thus, though the mainstay of the analysis, or at least the original
+point of departure, is the difference in the names of the divine
+Being, many other phenomena, of vocabulary, style, and theology, are
+so distinctive that on the basis of them alone we could relegate
+many sections of Genesis with considerable confidence to their
+respective sources. In particular, P is especially easy to detect.
+For example, the use of the term Elohim, the repetitions, the
+precise and formal manner, the collocation of such phrases as "fowl,
+cattle, creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth," i. 26 (cf.
+vii. 21), mark out the first story of creation, i.-ii. 4_a_, as
+indubitably belonging to P. Besides the stories of the creation and
+the flood, the longest and most important, though not quite the only
+passages[1] belonging to P are ix. 1-17 (the covenant with Noah),
+xvii. (the covenant with Abraham), and xxiii. (the purchase of a
+burial place for Sarah). This is a fact of the greatest significance.
+For P, the story of creation culminates in the institution of the
+Sabbath, the story of the flood in the covenant with Noah, with the law
+concerning the sacredness of blood, the covenant with Abraham is sealed
+by circumcision, and the purchase of Machpelah gives Abraham legal
+right to a footing in the promised land. In other words the interests
+of this source are legal and ritual. This becomes abundantly plain in
+the next three books of the Pentateuch, but even in Genesis it may be
+justly inferred from the unusual fulness of the narrative at these
+four points.
+[Footnote 1: The curious ch. xiv. is written under the influence of
+P. Here also ritual interests play a part in the tithes paid to the
+priest of Salem, v. 20 (i.e. Jerusalem). In spite of its array of
+ancient names, xiv. 1, 2, which have been partially corroborated by
+recent discoveries, this chapter is, for several reasons, believed
+to be one of the latest in the Pentateuch.]
+
+When we examine what is left in Genesis, after deducting the
+sections that belong to P, we find that the word God (Elohim),
+characteristic of P, is still very frequently and in some sections
+exclusively used. The explanation will appear when we come to deal
+with Exodus: meantime the fact must be carefully noted. Ch. xx.,
+e.g., uses the word Elohim, but it has no other mark characteristic
+of P. It is neither formal nor diffuse in style nor legal in spirit;
+it is as concrete and almost as graphic as anything in J. Indeed the
+story related--Abraham's denial of his wife--is actually told in
+that document, xii. 10-20 (also of Isaac, xxvi. 1-11); and in
+general the history is covered by this document, which is called the
+Elohist[1] and known to criticism as E, in much the same spirit, and
+with an emphasis upon much the same details, as by J. In opposition
+to P, these are known as the prophetic documents, because they were
+written or at least put together under the influence of prophetic
+ideas. The close affinity of these two documents renders it much
+more difficult to distinguish them from each other than to
+distinguish either of them from P, but within certain limits the
+attempt may be successfully made. The basis of it must, of course,
+be a study of the duplicate versions of the same incidents; that is,
+such a narrative as ch. xx., which uses the word God (Elohim) is
+compared with its parallel in xii. 10-20, which uses the word
+Jehovah, and in this way the distinctive features and interests of
+each document will most readily be found. The parallel suggested is
+easy and instructive, and it reveals the relative ethical and
+theological superiority of E to J. J tells the story of Abraham's
+falsehood with a quaint naïveté (xii.); E is offended by it and
+excuses it (xx.). The theological refinement of E is suggested not
+only here, xx. 3, 6, but elsewhere, by the frequency with which God
+appears in dreams and not in bodily presence as in J (cf. iii. 8).
+Similarly the expulsion of Hagar, which in J is due to Sarah's
+jealousy (xvi.), in E is attributed to a command of God, xxi. 8-21;
+and the success of Jacob with the sheep, which in J is due to his
+skill and cunning, xxx. 29-43, is referred in E to the intervention
+of God, xxxi. 5-12. In general it may be said that J, while
+religious, is also natural, whereas E tends to emphasize the
+supernatural, and thus takes the first step towards the austere
+theology of P.[2]
+[Footnote 1: In this way it is distinguished from P, which, as we
+have seen, is also Elohistic, but is not now so called.]
+[Footnote 2: A detailed justification of the grounds of the critical
+analysis will be found in Professor Driver's elaborate and admirable
+_Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament_, where
+every section throughout the Hexateuch is referred to its special
+documentary source. To readers who desire to master the detail, that
+work or one of the following will be indispensable: _The Hexateuch_,
+edited by Carpenter and Battersby, Addis's _Documents of the Hexateuch_,
+Bacon's _Genesis of Genesis_ and _Triple Tradition of the Exodus_,
+or Kent's _Student's Old Testament_ (vol. i.)]
+
+J is the most picturesque and fascinating of all the sources-attractive
+alike for its fine poetic power and its profound religious insight.
+This is the source which describes the wooing of Isaac's bride (xxiv.),
+and the meeting of Jacob and Rachel at the well, xxix. 2-14; in this
+source, too, which appears to be the most primitive of all, there are
+speaking animals--the serpent, e.g., in Genesis iii. (and the ass in
+Num. xxii. 28). The story of the origin of sin, in every respect a
+masterpiece, is told by J; we do not know whether to admire more the
+ease with which Jehovah, like a skilful judge, by a few penetrating
+questions drives the guilty pair to an involuntary confession, or
+the fidelity with which the whole immortal scene reflects the eternal
+facts of human nature. The religious teaching of J is extraordinarily
+powerful and impressive, all the more that it is never directly
+didactic; it shines through the simple and unstudied recital of
+concrete incident.
+
+It is one of the most delicate and not the least important tasks of
+criticism to discover by analysis even the sources which lie so
+close to each other as J and E, for the literary efforts represented
+by these documents are but the reflection of religious movements.
+They testify to the affection which the people cherished for the
+story of their past; and when we have arranged them in chronological
+order, they enable us further, as we have seen, to trace the
+progress of moral and religious ideas. But, for several reasons, it
+is not unfair, and, from the beginner's point of view, it is perhaps
+even advisable, to treat these documents together as a unity:
+_firstly_, because they were actually combined, probably in the
+seventh century, into a unity (JE), and sometimes, as in the Joseph
+story, so skilfully that it is very difficult to distinguish the
+component parts and assign them to their proper documentary source;
+_secondly_, because, for a reason to be afterwards stated,
+beyond Ex. iii. the analysis is usually supremely difficult; and,
+_lastly_, because in language and spirit, the prophetic
+documents are very like each other and altogether unlike the
+priestly document. For practical purposes, then, the broad
+distinction into prophetic and priestly will generally be
+sufficient. Wherever the narrative is graphic, powerful, and
+interesting, we may be sure that it is prophetic,[1] whereas the
+priestly document is easily recognizable by its ritual interests,
+and by its formal, diffuse, and legal style.
+[Footnote 1: If inconsistencies, contradictions or duplicates appear
+in the section which is clearly prophetic, the student may be
+practically certain that these are to be referred to the two
+prophetic sources. Cf. the two derivations of the name of Joseph in
+consecutive verses whose source is at once obvious: "_God_
+(Elohim) has taken away my reproach" (E); and "_Jehovah_ adds
+to me another son" (J), Gen. xxx. 23, 24. Cf. also the illustrations
+adduced on pp. 13, 14.]
+
+The documents already discussed constitute the chief sources of the
+book of Genesis; but there are occasional fragments which do not
+seem originally to have belonged to any of them. There were also
+collections of poetry, such as the Book of Jashar (cf. Josh. x. 13;
+2 Sam. i. 18), at the disposal of those who wrote or compiled the
+documents, and to such a collection the parting words of Jacob may
+have belonged (xlix.). The poem is in reality a characterization of
+the various _tribes; v_. 15, and still more plainly _vv_.
+23, 24, look back upon historical events. The reference to Levi,
+_vv_. 5-7, which takes no account of the priestly prerogatives
+of that tribe, shows that the poem is early (cf. xxxiv. 25); but the
+description of the prosperity of Joseph (i.e. Ephraim and Manasseh),
+_vv_. 22-26, and the pre-eminence of Judah, _vv_. 8-12,
+bring it far below patriarchal times--at least into the period of
+the Judges. If _vv_. 8-12 is an allusion to the triumphs of
+David and _vv_. 22-26 to northern Israel, the poem as a whole,
+which can hardly be later than Solomon's time--for it celebrates
+Israel and Judah equally--could not be earlier than David's; but
+probably the various utterances concerning the different tribes
+arose at different times.
+
+The religious interest of Genesis is very high, the more so as
+almost every stage of religious reflection is represented in it,
+from the most primitive to the most mature. Through the ancient
+stories there gleam now and then flashes from a mythological
+background, as in the intermarriage of angels with mortal women, vi.
+1-4, or in the struggle of the mighty Jacob, who could roll away the
+great stone from the mouth of the well, xxix. 2, 10, with his
+supernatural visitant, xxxii. 24. It is a long step from the second
+creation story in which God, like a potter, fashions men out of
+moist earth, ii. 7, and walks in the garden of Paradise in the cool
+of the day, iii. 8, to the first, with its sublime silence on the
+mysterious processes of creation (i.). But the whole book, and
+especially the prophetic section, is dominated by a splendid sense
+of the reality of God, His interest in men, His horror of sin, His
+purpose to redeem. Broadly speaking, the religion of the book stands
+upon a marvellously high moral level. It is touched with humility-its
+heroes know that they are "not worth of all the love and the faithfulness"
+which God shows them, xxxii. 10; and it is marked by a true inwardness-for
+it is not works but implicit trust in God that counts for righteousness,
+xv. 16. Yet in practical ways, too, this religion finds expression in
+national and individual life; it protests vehemently against human
+sacrifice (xxii.), and it strengthens a lonely youth in an hour of
+terrible temptation, xxxix.
+9.
+
+
+
+
+EXODUS
+
+
+The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of
+Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different
+from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel
+is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in
+Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption.
+Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates
+largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a
+deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, early training, and fearless love
+of justice mark him out as the coming man (ii.). In the solitude and
+depression of the desert, he is encouraged by the sight of a bush,
+burning yet unconsumed, and sent forth with a new vision of God[1]
+upon his great and perilous task (iii.). Though thus divinely
+equipped, he hesitated, and God gave him a helper in Aaron his
+brother (iv.). Then begins the Titanic struggle between Moses and
+Pharaoh--Moses the champion of justice, Pharaoh the incarnation of
+might (v.). Blow after blow falls from Israel's God upon the
+obstinate king of Egypt and his unhappy land: the water of the Nile
+is turned into blood (vii.), there are plagues of frogs, gnats,
+gadflies (viii.), murrain, boils, hail (ix.), locusts, darkness
+(x.), and--last and most terrible of all--the smiting of the first-born,
+an event in connexion with which the passover was instituted. Then
+Pharaoh yielded. Israel went forth; and the festival of unleavened
+bread was ordained for a perpetual memorial (xi., xii.); also the
+first-born of man and beast was consecrated, xiii. 1-16.
+[Footnote 1: The story of the revelation of Israel's God under His
+new name, Jehovah, is told twice (in ch. iii. and ch. vi.).]
+
+Israel's troubles, however, were not yet over. Their departing
+host was pursued by the impenitent Pharaoh, but miraculously delivered
+at the Red Sea, in which the Egyptian horses and horsemen were
+overwhelmed, xiii. l7-xiv. The deliverance was celebrated in a
+splendid song of triumph, xv. 1-21. Then they began their journey
+to Sinai--a journey which revealed alike the faithlessness and
+discontent of their hearts, and the omnipotent and patient bounty
+of their God, manifested in delivering them from the perils of
+hunger, thirst and war, xv. 22-xvii. 16. On the advice of Jethro,
+Moses' father-in-law, God-fearing men were appointed to decide for
+the people on all matters of lesser moment, while the graver cases
+were still reserved for Moses (xviii.)[1]The arrival at Sinai
+marked a crisis; for it was there that the epoch-making covenant
+was made--Jehovah promising to continue His grace to the people,
+and they, on their part, pledging themselves to obedience. Thunder
+and lightning and dark storm-clouds accompanied the proclamation
+of the ten commandments,[2] which represented the claims made by
+Jehovah upon the people whom He had redeemed, xix.-xx. 22. Connected
+with these claims are certain statutes, partly of a religious but
+much more of a civil nature, which Moses is enjoined to lay upon the
+people, and obedience to which is to be rewarded by prosperity and
+a safe arrival at the promised land, xx. 23-xxiii. 33. This section
+is known as the Book of the Covenant, xxiv. 7. The people unitedly
+promised implicit obedience to the terms of this covenant, which was
+then sealed with the blood of sacrifice. After six days of
+preparation, Moses ascended the mountain in obedience to the voice
+of Jehovah (xxiv.).
+[Footnote 1: This chapter is apparently misplaced. In Deut. i. 9-18
+the incident is set just before the _departure from_ Sinai (cf.
+i. 19). It may therefore originally have stood after Ex. xxxiv. 9 or
+before Num. x. 29.]
+[Footnote 2: Or rather, the ten words. In another source, the
+commands are given differently, and are ritual rather than moral,
+xxxiv. 10-28 (J).]
+
+At this point the story takes on a distinctly priestly complexion,
+and interest is transferred from the fortunes of the people to the
+construction of the sanctuary, for which the most minute directions
+are given (xxv.-xxxi.), concerning the tabernacle with all its
+furniture, the ark, the table for the shewbread, the golden
+candlestick (xxv.), the four-fold covering for the tabernacle, the
+wood-work, the veil between the holy and the most holy place, the
+curtain for the door (xxvi.), the altar, the court round about the
+tabernacle, the oil for the light (xxvii.), the sacred vestments for
+the high priest and the other priests (xxviii.), the manner of
+consecration of the priests, the priestly dues, the atonement for
+the altar, the morning and evening offering (xxix.), the altar of
+incense, the poll-tax, the laver, the holy oil, the incense (xxx.),
+the names and divine equipment of the overseers of the work of
+constructing the tabernacle, the sanctity of the Sabbath as a sign
+of the covenant (xxxi.).
+
+After this priestly digression, the thread of the story is resumed.
+During the absence of Moses upon the mount, the people imperilled
+their covenant relationship with their God by worshipping Him in the
+form of a calf; but, on the very earnest intercession of Moses they
+were forgiven, and there was given to him the special revelation
+of Jehovah as a God of forgiving pity and abounding grace. In the
+tent to which the people regularly resorted to learn the divine will,
+God was wont to speak to Moses face to face, xxxii. 1-xxxiv. 9.
+Then follows the other version of the decalogue already referred
+to--ritual rather than moral, xxxiv. l0-28--and an account of the
+transfiguration of Moses, as he laid Jehovah's commands upon the
+people, xxxiv. 29-35. From this point to the end of the book the
+atmosphere is again unmistakably priestly. Chs. xxxv.-xxxix,
+beginning with the Sabbath law, assert with a profusion of detail
+that the instructions given in xxv.-xxxi. were carried out to the
+letter. Then the tabernacle was set up on New Year's day, the divine
+glory filled it, and the subsequent movements of the people were
+guided by cloud and fire (xl.).
+
+The unity of Exodus is not quite so impressive as that of Genesis.
+This is due to the different proportion in which the sources are
+blended, P playing a much more conspicuous part here than there.
+Without hesitation, more than one-fourth of the book may be at once
+relegated to this source: viz. xxv.-xxxi., which describe the
+tabernacle to be erected with all that pertained to it, and xxxv.-xl.,
+which relate that the instructions there given were fully carried out.
+The minuteness, the formality and monotony of style which we noticed
+in Genesis reappear here; but the real spirit of P, its devotion to
+everything connected with the sanctuary and worship, is much more
+obvious here than there. This document is also fairly prominent in
+the first half of the book, and its presence is usually easy to detect.
+The section, e.g., on the institution of the passover and the festival
+of unleavened bread, xi. 9-xii. 20, is easily recognized as belonging
+to this source. Of very great importance is the passage, vi. 2-13,
+which describes the revelation given to Moses, asserting that the
+fathers knew the God of Israel only by the name El Shaddai, while the
+name of Jehovah, which was then revealed to Moses for the first time,
+was unknown to them. The succeeding genealogy which traces the descent
+of Moses and Aaron to Levi, vi. 14-30, and Aaron's commission to be
+the spokesman of Moses, vii. 1-7, also come from P. This source also
+gives a brief account of the oppression and the plagues, and the
+prominence of Aaron the priest in the story of the latter is very
+significant. In E the plagues come when _Moses_ stretches out
+his hand or his rod at the command of Jehovah, ix. 22, x. 12, 21; in
+P, Jehovah says to Moses, "Say unto _Aaron_, 'Stretch forth thy
+hand' or 'thy rod,'" viii. 5, 16.
+
+The story to which we have just alluded, of the revelation of the
+name Jehovah, is also told in ch. iii., where it is connected with
+the incident of the burning bush. Apart from the improbability of
+the same document telling the same story twice, the very picturesque
+setting of ch. iii, is convincing proof that we have here a section
+from one of the prophetic documents, and we cannot long doubt which
+it is. For while one of those documents (J), as we have seen, uses
+the word Jehovah without scruple throughout the whole of Genesis,
+and regards that name as known not only to Abraham, xv. 7, but even
+to the antediluvians, iv. 26, the other regularly uses Elohim. This
+prophetic story, then, of the revelation of the name Jehovah to
+Moses, must belong to E, who deliberately avoids the name Jehovah
+throughout Genesis, because he considers it unknown before the time
+of Moses. This very fact, however, greatly complicates the
+subsequent analysis of the prophetic documents in the Pentateuch;
+because, from this point on, both are now free to use the name
+Jehovah of the divine Being, and thus one of the principal clues to
+the analysis practically disappears.[1] Considering the affinity of
+these documents, it is therefore competent, as we have seen, to
+treat them as a unity.
+[Footnote 1: Naturally there are other very important and valuable
+clues. e.g, the holy mount is called Sinai in J and Horeb in E.]
+
+The proof, however, that both prophetic documents are really present
+in Exodus, if not at first sight obvious or extensive, is at any
+rate convincing. In one source, e.g. (J), the Israelites dwell by
+themselves in a district called Goshen, viii. 22 (cf. Gen. xiv. 10);
+in the other, they dwell among the Egyptians as neighbours, so that
+the women can borrow jewels from them, iii. 22, and their doors have
+to be marked with blood on the night of the passover to distinguish
+them from the Egyptians, xii. 22. Again in J, the people number over
+600,000, xii. 37; in E they are so few that they only require two
+midwives, i. 15. Similar slight but significant differences may be
+found elsewhere, particularly in the account of the plagues. In J,
+e.g., Moses predicts the punishment that will fall if Pharaoh
+refuses his request, and next day Jehovah sends it: in E, Moses
+works the wonders by raising his rod. In Exodus, as in Genesis, J
+reveals the divine through the natural, E rather through the
+supernatural. It is an east wind, e.g., in J, as in the poem, xv.
+10, that drives back the Red Sea, xiv. 21a (as it had brought the
+locusts, x. 13); in E this happens on the raising of Moses' rod,
+xiv. 16. Here again, as in Genesis, we find that E has taken the
+first step on the way to P. For this miracle (in E) at the Red Sea,
+which in J is essentially natural, and miraculous only in happening
+at the critical moment, is considerably heightened in P, who relates
+that the waters were a wall unto the people on the right hand and on
+the left, xiv. 22.
+
+These three great documents constitute the principal sources of the
+book of Exodus; but here, as in Genesis, there are fragments that
+belong to a more primitive order of ideas than that represented by
+the compilers of the documents (cf. iv. 24-26); there is, besides
+the two decalogues, a body of legislation, xx. 23-xxiii. 33; and
+there is a poem, xv. 1-18. _The Book of the Covenant_, as it is
+called, is a body of mainly civil but partly religious law,
+practically independent of the narrative. The style and contents of
+the code show that it is not all of a piece, but must have been of
+gradual growth. The 2nd pers. sing., e.g., sometimes alternates with
+the pl. in consecutive verses, xxii. 21, 22. Again, while some of
+the laws state, in the briefest possible words, the official penalty
+attached to a certain crime, xxi. 12, others are longer and
+introduce a religious sanction, xxii. 23, 24, and a few deal
+definitely with religious feasts, xxiii. 14-19, obligations, xxii.
+29-31, or sanctuaries, xx. 23-26. In general, the code implies the
+settled life of an agricultural and pastoral people, and the
+community for which it is designed must have already attained a
+certain measure of organization, as we must assume that there were
+means for enacting the penalties threatened. A remarkably
+humanitarian spirit pervades the code. It mitigates the lot of the
+slave, it encourages a spirit of justice in social relations, and it
+exhibits a fine regard for the poor and defenceless, xxii. 21-27. It
+probably represents the juristic usages, or at least ideals, of the
+early monarchy.
+
+_The Song of Moses_, xv. 1-18, also appears to belong to the
+monarchy. The explicit mention of Philistia, Edom and Moab in
+_vv_. 14, 15 imply that the people are already settled in
+Canaan, and the sanctuary in _v. 17b_ is most naturally, if not
+necessarily, interpreted of the temple. The poem appears to be an
+elaboration of the no doubt ancient lines:
+
+  Sing to Jehovah, for He hath triumphed gloriously;
+  The horse and his rider He hath thrown into the sea (xv. 21).
+
+The religious, as opposed to the theological, interest of the book
+lies entirely within the prophetic sources. Here the drama of
+redemption begins in earnest, and it is worked out on a colossal
+scale. From his first blow struck in the cause of justice to the day
+on which, in indignation and astonishment, he destroyed the golden
+calf, Moses is a figure of overwhelming moral earnestness. Few books
+in the Old Testament have a higher conception of God than Exodus.
+The words of the decalogue are His words, xx. 1, and the protest
+against the calf-worship (xxxii.-xxxiv.) is an indirect plea for His
+spirituality. But the highest heights are touched in the revelation
+of Him as merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in
+goodness and truth, xxxiv. 6--a revelation which lived to the latest
+days and was cherished in these very words by the pious hearts of
+Israel (cf. Pss. lxxxvi. 15; ciii. 8; cxi. 4; cxlv. 8).
+
+
+
+
+LEVITICUS
+
+
+The emphasis which modern criticism has very properly laid on the
+prophetic books and the prophetic element generally in the Old
+Testament, has had the effect of somewhat diverting popular
+attention from the priestly contributions to the literature and
+religion of Israel. From this neglect Leviticus has suffered most.
+Yet for many reasons it is worthy of close attention; it is the
+deliberate expression of the priestly mind of Israel at its best, and
+it thus forms a welcome foil to the unattractive pictures of the
+priests which confront us on the pages of the prophets during the
+three centuries between Hosea and Malachi. And if we should be
+inclined to deplore the excessively minute attention to ritual, and
+the comparatively subordinate part played by ethical considerations
+in this priestly manual, it is only fair to remember that the hymn-book
+used by these scrupulous ministers of worship was the Psalter-enough
+surely to show that the ethical and spiritual aspects of religion,
+though not prominent, were very far from being forgotten. In xvii.-xxvi.
+the ethical element receives a fine and almost surprising prominence:
+the injunction to abstain from idolatry, e.g., is immediately preceded
+by the injunction to reverence father and mother, xix. 3,4. Indeed,
+ch. xix. is a good compendium of the ethics of ancient Israel; and,
+while hardly to be compared with Job xxxi., still, in its care for the
+resident alien, and in its insistence upon motives of benevolence and
+humanity, it is an eloquent reminder of the moral elevation of Israel's
+religion, and is peculiarly welcome in a book so largely devoted to the
+externals of the cult.
+
+The book of Leviticus illustrates the origin and growth of law.
+Occasionally legislation is clothed in the form of narrative--the
+law of blasphemy, e.g., xxiv. 10-23 (cf. x. 16-20)--thus suggesting
+its origin in a particular historical incident (cf. I Sam. xxx. 25);
+and traces of growth are numerous, notably in the differences
+between the group xvii.-xxvi. and the rest of the book, and very
+ancient heathen elements are still visible through the
+transformations effected by the priests of Israel, as in the case of
+Azazel xvi. 8,22, a demon of the wilderness, akin to the Arabic
+jinns. Strictly speaking, though Leviticus is pervaded by a single
+spirit, it is not quite homogeneous: the first group of laws, e.g.
+(i.-vii.), expressly acknowledges different sources--certain laws
+being given in the tent of meeting, i. 1, others on Mount Sinai,
+vii. 38. The sections are well defined--note the subscriptions at
+the end of vii. and xxvi.--and marked everywhere by the scrupulous
+precision of the legal mind.
+
+There is no trace in Leviticus of the prophetic document JE. That
+the book is essentially a law book rather than a continuation of the
+narrative of the Exodus is made plain by the fact that that
+narrative (Ex. xl.) is not even formally resumed till ch. viii.
+
+
+I. LAWS OF SACRIFICE (i.-vii.)
+
+_(a) For worshippers_, i.-vi. 7. Laws for the burnt offering of
+the herd, of the flock, and of fowls (i.). Laws for the different
+kinds of cereal offerings--the use of salt compulsory, honey and
+leaven prohibited (ii.). Laws for the peace-offering--the offerer
+kills it, the priest sprinkles the blood on the sides of the altar
+and burns the fat (iii.) For an unconscious transgression of the
+law, the high priest shall offer a bullock, the community shall
+offer the same, a ruler shall offer a he-goat, one of the common
+people shall offer a female animal (iv.). A female animal shall be
+offered for certain legal and ceremonial transgressions; the poor
+may offer two turtle doves, or pigeons, or even flour, v. 1-13.
+Sacred dues unintentionally withheld or the property of another man
+dishonestly retained must be restored together with twenty per cent.
+extra, v. 14-vi. 7.
+
+_(b) For priests_, vi. 8-vii. 38. Laws regulating the daily
+burnt offering, the cereal offering, the daily cereal offering of
+the high priest, and the ordinary sin offering, vi. 8-30. Laws
+regulating the guilt offering, the priests' share of the sacrifices,
+the period during which the flesh of sacrifice may be eaten, the
+prohibition of the eating of fat and blood (vii.).
+
+
+II. THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD (viii.-x.)
+
+This section is the direct continuation of Exodus xl., which
+prescribes the inauguration of Aaron and his sons into the priestly
+office. Laws regulating the consecration of the high priest and the
+other priests--washing, investiture, anointing, sin offering, burnt
+offering, with accompanying rites (viii., cf. Exod. xxix.). The
+first sacrificial service at which Aaron and his sons officiate--the
+benediction being followed by the appearance of Jehovah's glory
+(ix.). The first violation of the law of worship and its signal
+punishment, x. 1-7. Officiating priests forbidden to use wine,
+x. 8-11. Priests' share of the meal and peace offerings, x. 12-15.
+An error forgiven after an adroit explanation by Aaron (law in
+narrative form), x. 16-20.
+
+
+III. LAWS CONCERNING THE CLEAN AND THE UNCLEAN (xi.-xvi.)
+
+This section appropriately follows x. 10, where the priests are
+enjoined to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. Laws
+concerning the animals which may or may not be eaten--quadrupeds, fish,
+birds, flying insects, creeping insects, reptiles--and pollution
+through contact with carcasses (xi.). Laws concerning the purification
+of women after childbirth (xii.). Laws for the detection of leprosy
+in the human body, xiii. 1-46, and in garments, xiii. 47-59. Laws for
+the purification of the leper and his re-adoption into the theocracy,
+xiv. 1-32. Laws concerning houses afflicted with leprosy, xiv. 33-57.
+Laws concerning purification after sexual secretions (xv.). The laws
+of purification are appropriately concluded by the law for the great day
+of atonement, with regulations for the ceremonial cleansing of the high
+priest and his house, the sanctuary, altar, and people (xvi.). Two
+originally independent sections appear to be blended in this chapter-one
+(cf. _vv._ 1-4) prescribing regulations to be observed by the high
+priest on every occasion on which he should enter the inner sanctuary,
+the other with specific reference to the great day of atonement.
+
+
+IV. LAW OF HOLINESS (xvii.-xxvi.)
+
+This section, though still moving largely among ritual interests,
+differs markedly from the rest of the book, partly by reason of its
+hortatory setting (cf. xxvi.), but especially by its emphasis on the
+ethical elements in religion. It has been designated the Law of
+Holiness because of the frequently recurring phrase, "Ye shall be
+holy, for I, Jehovah, am holy," xix. 2, xx. 26--a phrase which,
+though not peculiar to this section (cf. xi. 44), is highly
+characteristic of it. Animals are to be slaughtered for food or
+sacrifice only at the sanctuary xvii. 1-9; the blood and flesh of
+animals dying naturally or torn by beasts is not to be eaten, xvii.
+10-16. Laws regulating marriage and chastity with threats of dire
+punishment for violation of the same (xviii.). Penalties for Moloch
+worship, soothsaying, cursing of parents and unchastity (xx.), with
+a hortatory conclusion, xx. 22-24, similar to xviii. 24-30.
+
+Ch. xix. is the most prophetic chapter in Leviticus, and bears a
+close analogy to the decalogue, _vv_. 3-8 corresponding to the
+first table, and _vv_. 11-18 to the second. The holiness which
+Jehovah demands has to express itself not only in reverence for
+Himself and His Sabbaths, but in reverence towards parents and the
+aged; in avoiding not only idolatry and heathen superstition, but
+dishonesty and unkindness to the weak. The ideal is a throroughly
+moral one. A modern reader is surprised to find in so ethical a
+chapter a prohibition of garments made of two kinds of stuff mingled
+together _v_. 19; no doubt such a prohibition is aimed at some
+heathen superstition--perhaps the practice of magic.
+
+Laws concerning priests and sacrifices (xxi., xxii.). The holiness
+of the priests is to be maintained by avoiding, as a rule (without
+exception in the case of the high priest), pollution through corpses
+and participation in certain mourning rites, and by conforming to
+certain conditions in their choice of a wife. The physically
+deformed are to be ineligible for the priesthood (xxi.). Regulations
+to safeguard the ceremonial purity of the sacred food: imperfect or
+deformed animals ineligible for sacrifice (xxii.). In ch. xxiii.,
+which is a calendar of sacred festivals, the festivals are
+enumerated in the order in which they occur in the year, beginning
+with spring--the passover, regarded as preliminary to the feast of
+unleavened bread; the feast of weeks (Pentecost) seven weeks
+afterwards; the new year's festival, on the first day of the seventh
+month; the day of atonement; and the festival of booths. There are
+signs that the section dealing with new year's day and the day of
+atonement, _vv_. 23-32, is later than the original form of the
+rest of the chapter dealing with the three great ancient festivals
+that rested on agriculture and the vintage. Of kindred theme to this
+chapter is ch. xxv.--the sacred years--(_a_) the sabbatical
+year: the land, like the man, must enjoy a Sabbath rest, _vv_.
+1-7; _(b_) the jubilee year, an intensification of the Sabbatical
+idea: every fiftieth year is to be a period of rest for the land,
+liberation of Hebrew slaves, and restoration of property to its
+original owners or legal heirs, _vv_. 8-55. In xxiv. 1-9, are
+regulations concerning the lampstand and the shewbread; the law, in
+the form of a narrative, prohibiting blasphemy, _vv_. 10-23, is
+interrupted by a few laws concerning injury to the person,
+_vv_. 17-22.
+
+The _laws of holiness_ conclude (xxvi.) with a powerful
+exposition of the blessing which will follow obedience and the curse
+which is the penalty of disobedience. The curse reaches a dramatic
+climax in the threat of exile, from which, however, deliverance is
+promised on condition of repentance.
+
+Ch. xxvii. constitutes no part of the Law of Holiness--note the
+subscription in xxvi. 46. It contains regulations for the commutation
+of vows (whether persons, cattle or things) and tithes-commutation
+being inadmissible in the case of firstlings of animals fit for
+sacrifice and of things and persons that had come under the ban.
+
+Special importance attaches to the Law of Holiness, known to
+criticism as H (xvii.-xxvi.). In its interest in worship, it marks a
+very long advance on the Book of the Covenant (Exod. xxi.-xxiii.),
+and it would seem to stand somewhere between Deuteronomy and the
+priestly codex. It is profoundly interested, like the former, in the
+ethical side of religion, and yet it is almost as deeply concerned
+about ritual as the latter. But though it may be regarded as a
+preliminary step to the priestly code, it is clearly distinguished
+from it, both by its tone and its vocabulary: the word for idols,
+e.g. (things of nought), xix. 4, xxvi. 1, does not occur elsewhere
+in the Pentateuch. It specially emphasizes the holiness of Jehovah;
+as has been said, in H He is the person _to whom_ the cult is
+performed, while the question of _how_ is more elaborately
+dealt with in P. There are stray allusions which almost seem to
+point to pre-exilic days; e.g. to idols, xxvi. 30, Moloch being
+explicitly mentioned, xviii. 21, xx. 2; and the various sanctuaries
+presupposed by xxvi. 31 would almost seem to carry us back to a
+point before the promulgation of Deuteronomy in 621 B.C.; but on the
+other hand the exile appears to be presupposed in xviii. 24-30,
+xxvi. 34. This code, like all the others in the Old Testament, was
+no doubt the result of gradual growth--note the alternation of 2nd
+pers. sing. and pl. in ch. xix.--but the main body of it may be
+placed somewhere between 600 and 550 B.C. The section bears so
+strong a resemblance to Ezekiel that he has been supposed by some to
+be the author, but this is improbable.
+
+It is easy to see how the minuteness of the ritual religion of
+Leviticus could degenerate into casuistry. Its emphasis on externals
+is everywhere visible, and its lack of kindly human feeling is only
+too conspicuous in its treatment of the leper, xiii. 45, 46. But
+over against this, to say nothing of the profound symbolism of the
+ritual, must be set the moral virility of the law of holiness--its
+earnest inculcation of commercial honour, reverence for the aged,
+xix. 32, and even unselfish love. For it is to this source that we
+owe the great word adopted by our Saviour, "Thou shalt love thy
+neighbour as thyself," xix. 18, though the first part of the verse
+shows that this noble utterance still moves within the limitations
+of the Old Testament.
+
+
+
+
+NUMBERS
+
+
+Like the last part of Exodus, and the whole of Leviticus, the first
+part of Numbers, i.-x. 28--so called,[1] rather inappropriately,
+from the census in i., iii., (iv.), xxvi.--is unmistakably priestly
+in its interests and language. Beginning with a census of the men of
+war (i.) and the order of the camp (ii.), it devotes specific
+attention to the Levites, their numbers and duties (iii., iv.). Then
+follow laws for the exclusion of the unclean, v. 1-4, for
+determining the manner and amount of restitution in case of fraud,
+v. 5-10, the guilt or innocence of a married woman suspected of
+unfaithfulness, v. 11-31, and the obligations of the Nazirite vow,
+vi. 1-21. This legal section ends with the priestly benediction, vi.
+22-27. Then, closely connected with the narrative in Exodus xl., is
+an unusually elaborate account of the dedication gifts that were
+offered on the occasion of the erection of the tabernacle (vii.).
+This quasi-historical interlude is again followed by a few sections
+of a more legal nature--instructions for fixing the lamps upon the
+lampstand, viii. 1-4, for the consecration of the Levites and their
+period of service, viii. 5-26, for the celebration of the passover,
+and, in certain cases, of a supplementary passover, ix. 1-14. Then,
+with the divine guidance assured, and the order of march determined,
+the start from Sinai was made, ix. 15-x. 28.
+[Footnote 1: In the Greek version, followed by the Latin. This is
+the only book of the Pentateuch in which the English version has
+retained the Latin title, the other titles being all Greek. The
+Hebrew titles are usually borrowed from the opening words of the
+book. The Hebrew title of Numbers is either "And he said" or "in the
+wilderness"; the latter is fairly appropriate--certainly much more
+so than the Greek.]
+
+At this point, the old prophetic narrative (Exod. xxxii.-xxxiv.),
+interrupted by Exodus xxxv. 1-Numbers x. 28, is resumed with an
+account of the precautions taken to secure reliable guidance through
+the wilderness, x. 29-32, and a very interesting snatch of ancient
+poetry, through which we may easily read the unique importance of
+the ark for early Israel, x. 33-36. The succeeding chapters make no
+pretence to be a connected history of the wilderness period; the
+incidents with which they deal are very few, and these are related
+rather for their religious than their historical significance, e.g.
+the murmuring of the people, the terrible answer to their prayer for
+flesh, the divine equipment of the seventy elders, the magnanimity
+of Moses (xi.), and the vindication of his prophetic dignity (xii.).
+Before the actual assault on Canaan, spies were sent out to
+investigate the land. But the people allowed themselves to be
+discouraged by their report, and for their unbelief the whole
+generation except Caleb (and Joshua)[1] was doomed to die in the
+wilderness, without a sight of the promised land (xiii., xiv.). The
+thread of the narrative, broken at this point by laws relating to
+offerings and sacrifices, xv. 1-31, the hallowing of the Sabbath,
+xv. 32-36, and the wearing of fringes, xv. 37-41, is at once resumed
+by a complicated account of a rebellion against Moses, which ended
+in the destruction of the rebels, and in the signal vindication of
+the authority of Moses, the privileges of the tribe of Levi, and the
+exclusive right of the sons of Aaron to the priesthood (xvi.,
+xvii.). Again the narrative element gives place to legislation
+regulating the duties, relative position and revenues of the priests
+and Levites (xviii.) and the manner of purification after defilement
+(xix.).
+[Footnote 1: Caleb alone in JE, Joshua also in P.]
+
+These laws are followed by a section of continuous narrative. Moses
+and Aaron, for certain rebellious words, are divinely warned that
+they will not be permitted to bring the people into the promised
+land--a warning which was followed soon afterwards by the death of
+Aaron on Mount Hor. Edom haughtily refused Israel permission to pass
+through her land (xx.). Sore at heart, they fretted against God and
+Moses, and deadly serpents were sent among them in chastisement, but
+the penitent and believing were restored by the power of God and the
+intercession of Moses. Then Israel turned north, and began her career
+of conquest by defeating Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of
+Bashan (xxi.). Her success struck terror into the heart of Balak, the
+king of Moab; he accordingly sent for Balaam, a famous soothsayer,
+with the request that he would curse Israel (xxii.). Instead, however,
+he foretold for her a splendid destiny (xxiii., xxiv.). But the reality
+fell pitifully short of this fair ideal, for Israel at once succumbed
+to the seductions of idolatry and impurity,[1] and the fearful punishment
+which fell upon her for her sin was only stayed by the zeal of Phinehas,
+the high priest's son, who was rewarded with the honour of perpetual
+priesthood, xxv. 1-15. Implacable enmity was enjoined against Midian,
+xxv. 16-18.
+[Footnote 1: Moabite idolatry, and intermarriage with the Midianites--
+ultimately, it would seem, the same story. JE gives the beginning of
+it, _vv_. 1-5, and P the conclusion, _vv_. 6-18.]
+
+From this point to the end of the book the narrative is, with few
+exceptions, distinctly priestly in complexion; the vivid scenes of
+the older narrative are absent, and their place is taken, for the
+most part, either by statistics and legislative enactments or by
+narrative which is only legislation in disguise. A census (xxvi.)
+was taken at the end, as at the beginning of the wanderings (i.),
+which showed that, except Caleb and Joshua, the whole generation had
+perished (cf. xiv. 29, 34). Then follow sections on the law of
+inheritance of daughters, xxvii. 1-11, the announcement of Moses'
+imminent death and the appointment of Joshua his successor, xxvii.
+12-23, a priestly calendar defining the sacrifices appropriate to
+each season (xxviii., xxix.), and the law of vows (xxx.). In
+accordance with the injunction of xxv. 16-18 a war of extermination
+was successfully undertaken against Midian (xxxi.). The land east of
+the Jordan was allotted to Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of
+Manasseh, on condition that they would help the other tribes to
+conquer the west (xxxii.). Following an itinerary of the wanderings
+from the exodus to the plains of Moab (xxxiii.) is a description of
+the boundaries of the land allotted to the various tribes (xxxiv.),
+directions for the Levitical cities and the cities of refuge
+(xxxv.), and, last of all, a law in narrative form, determining that
+heiresses who possessed landed property should marry into their own
+tribe (xxxvi.).
+
+Even this brief sketch of the book of Numbers is enough to reveal
+the essential incoherence of its plan, and the great divergence of
+the elements out of which it is composed. No book in the Pentateuch
+makes so little the impression of a unity. The phenomena of Exodus
+are here repeated and intensified; a narrative of the intensest
+moral and historical interest is broken at frequent intervals by
+statistical and legal material, some of which, at least, makes hardly
+any pretence to be connected with the main body of the story. By far
+the largest part of the book comes from P, and most of it is very
+easy to detect. No possible doubt, e.g., can attach to i.-x., 28, with
+its interest in priests, Levites, tabernacle and laws. As significant
+as the contents is the style which is not seldom diffuse to tediousness,
+e.g., in the account of the census (i.), the dedication gifts (vii.),
+or the regulation of the movements of the camp by the cloud, ix. 15-23.
+Ch. xv., with its laws for offerings, sacrifices and the Sabbath,
+ch. xvii., with its vindication of the special prerogatives of the
+tribe of Levi, and chs. xviii., xix., which regulate the duties and
+privileges of priests and Levites, and the manner of purification, are
+also unmistakable. Chs. xxvi.-xxxi., as even the preliminary sketch of
+the book would suggest, must, for similar reasons, also have the same
+origin. To P also clearly belong xxxiii. and xxxiv. with their statistical
+bent, and xxxv. and xxxvi. with their interest in the Levites and
+legislation. Besides these sections, however, the presence of P is
+certain--though not always so easily detected, as it is in combination
+with JE--in some of the more distinctively narrative sections, e.g. in
+the account of the spies (xiii., xiv.), of the rebellion against the
+authority of Moses and Aaron (xvi.), of the sin of Moses and Aaron,
+xx. 1-13, and of the settlement east of the Jordan (xxxii.). About
+such narratives as the death of Aaron, xx. 22-29, or the zeal and
+reward of Phinehas, xxv. 6-18, there can be no doubt.
+
+With the exception of a few odd verses, all that remains, after
+deducting the passages referred to, belongs to the prophetic
+narrative (JE). The radical difference in point of style and
+interests between JE and P occasionally extends even to their
+account of the facts. The story of the spies furnishes several
+striking illustrations of this difference. In JE they go from the
+wilderness to Hebron in the south of Judah, xiii. 22, in P they go
+to the extreme north of Palestine, xiii. 21. In JE Caleb is the only
+faithful spy, xiii. 30, xiv. 24, P unites him with Joshua, xiv.
+6,38. In JE the land is fertile, but its inhabitants are invincible,
+in P it is a barren land. The story of the rebellion of Korah,
+Dathan and Abiram is peculiarly instructive (xvi.). It will be
+noticed that Dathan and Abiram are occasionally mentioned by
+themselves, _vv_. 12, 25, and Korah by himself, _vv_. 5,
+19. If this clue be followed up, it will be found that the rebellion
+of Dathan and Abiram is essentially against the authority of Moses,
+whom they charge with disappointing their hopes, _vv_. 13, 14.
+On the other hand, the rebellion headed by Korah is traced to two
+sources:[1] it is regarded in one of these as a layman's protest
+against the exclusive sanctity of the tribe of Levi, _v_. 3,
+and, in the other, as a Levitical protest against the exclusive
+right of the sons of Aaron to the priesthood, _vv_. 8-11.
+Perhaps the most striking difference between JE and P is in the
+account of the ark. In JE it goes before the camp, x. 33 (cf. Exod.
+xxxiii. 7), in P the tabernacle, to which it belongs, is in the
+centre of the camp, ii. 17, which is foursquare.
+[Footnote 1: Two strata of P are plainly visible here.]
+
+Much more than in Genesis, and even more than in Exodus have J and E
+been welded together in Numbers--so closely, indeed, that it is
+usually all but impossible to distinguish them with certainty; but,
+here, as in Exodus, there are occasional proofs of compositeness.
+The apparent confusion of the story of Balaam, e.g. (xxii.), in
+which God is angry with him after giving him permission to go, is to
+be explained by the simple fact that the story is told in both
+sources. This duplication extends even to the poetry in chs. xxiii.
+and xxiv. (cf. xxiv. 8, 9, xxiii. 22, 24).
+
+There is not a trace of P in the Balaam story. All the romantic and
+religious, as opposed to the legal and theological interest of the
+book, is confined to the prophetic section (JE); and it greatly to
+be regretted that more of it has not been preserved. The structure
+of the book plainly shows that it has been displaced in the
+interests of P, and from the express reference to the "ten times"
+that Israel tempted Jehovah, xiv. 22, we may safely infer that much
+has been lost. But what has been preserved is of great religious,
+and some historical value. Of course, it is not history in the
+ordinary sense: a period of thirty-eight years is covered in less
+than ten chapters (x. II-xix.). But much of the material, at least
+in the prophetic history JE, rests on a tradition which may well
+have preserved some of the historical facts, especially as they were
+often embalmed in poetry.
+
+The book of Numbers throws some light on the importance of ancient
+poetry as a historical source. It cites a difficult fragment and
+refers it to the book of the wars of Jehovah, xxi. 14, it confirms
+the victory over Sihon by a quotation from a war-ballad which is
+referred to a guild of singers, xxi. 27, it quotes the ancient words
+with which the warriors broke up their camp and returned to it
+again, x. 35, 36, and it relieves its wild war-scenes by the lovely
+Song of the Well, xxi. 17, 18. Probably other episodes in the books
+of Numbers, Joshua and Judges (e.g. ch. v.) ultimately rest upon
+this lost book of the wars of Jehovah. The fine poetry ascribed to
+Balaam, which breathes the full consciousness of a high national
+destiny, may belong to the time of the early monarchy, xxiv. 7,
+perhaps to that of David, to whom xxiv. 17-19 seems to be a clear
+allusion. The five verses that follow Balaam's words, xxiv. 20-24,
+are apparently a late appendix; the mention of Chittim in _v_.
+24 would almost carry the passage down to the Greek period (4th
+cent. B.C.), and of Asshur in _v_. 22 at least to the Assyrian
+period (8th cent.), unless the name stands for a Bedawin tribe (cf.
+Gen. xxv. 3).
+
+Historically P is of little account. This is most obvious in his
+narrative of the war with Midian (xxxi.), in which, without losing a
+single man, Israel slew every male in Midian and took enormous
+booty. It is suspicious that the older sources (JE) have not a
+single word to say of so remarkable a victory; but the impossibility
+of the story is shown by the fact that, though all the males are
+slain, the tribe reappears, as the assailant of Israel, in the days
+of Gideon (Jud. vi.-viii.). The real object of the story is to
+illustrate the law governing the distribution of booty, xxxi. 27--a
+law which is elsewhere traced, with much more probability, to an
+ordinance of David (I Sam. xxx. 24). From this unhistorical, but
+highly instructive chapter, we learn the tendency to refer all
+Israel's legislation, whatever its origin, to Moses, and the further
+tendency to find a historical precedent, which no doubt once
+existed, for the details of the legislation. It is from this point
+of view that the narratives of P have to be considered. The story of
+the fate of the Sabbath-breaker is simply told to emphasize the
+stringency of the Sabbath law, xv. 32-36, the particular dilemma in
+ix. 6-14 is created, as a precedent for the institution of the
+supplementary passover, the case of the daughters of Zelophehad
+serves as a historical basis for the law governing the property of
+heiresses (xxxvi.). In other words, P is not a historian; his
+narrative, even where it is explicit, is usually but the thin
+disguise of legislation.
+
+As in Genesis and Exodus, almost every stage in the development of
+the religion of Israel is represented by the book of Numbers.
+Through the story in xxi. 4-11 we can detect the practice of
+serpent-worship, which we know persisted to the time of Hezekiah (2
+Kings xviii. 4); and the trial by ordeal, v. 11-31, though in its
+present form late, represents no doubt a very ancient custom. P
+throws much light on the usages and ideas of post-exilic religion.
+But it is to the prophetic document we must go for passages of
+abiding religious power and value. Here, as in Exodus, the character
+of Moses offers a brilliant study--in his solitary grandeur, patient
+strength, and heroic faith; steadfast amid jealousy, suspicion and
+rebellion, and vindicated by God Himself as a prophet of
+transcendent privilege and power (xii. 8). Over against the narrow
+assertions of Levitical and priestly prerogative (xvi., xvii), which
+reflect but too faithfully the strife of a later day, is the noble
+prayer of Moses that God would make all the people prophets, and put
+His spirit upon them every one, xi. 29.
+
+
+
+
+DEUTERONOMY
+
+
+Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between
+consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to
+present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first
+section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the
+people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel,
+earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding
+them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the
+appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. xix. 1-l3)--of three
+cities of refuge east of the Jordan.
+
+The second section, v.-xi., with its superscription, iv. 44-49, is a
+hortatory introduction to the more specific injunctions of xii.-xxviii.,
+and deals with the general principles by which Israel is to be governed.
+The special relation between Israel and Jehovah was established on the
+basis of the decalogue (Ex. xx.), and with this Moses begins, reminding
+the people of their promise to obey any further commands Jehovah might
+give (v.). But as the source of all true obedience is a right attitude,
+Israel's deepest duty is to love Jehovah, serving Him with reverence,
+and keeping His claims steadily before the children (vi.). To do this
+effectively, Israel must uncompromisingly repudiate all social and
+religious intercourse with the idolatrous peoples of the land, and
+Jehovah their God will stand by them in the struggle (vii). In the
+past the discipline had often indeed been stern and sore, but it had
+come from the hand of a father, and had been intended to teach the
+spiritual nature of true religion; worldliness and idolatry would
+assuredly be punished by defeat and destruction (viii.). And just as
+deadly as worldliness is the spirit of self-righteousness, a spirit
+as absurd as it is deadly; for Israel's past has been marked by an
+obstinacy so disgraceful that, but for the intercession of Moses, the
+people would already have been devoted to destruction,[1] ix. 1-x. 11.
+True religion is the loving service of the great God and of needy men,
+and it ought to be inspired by reverent fear. Obedience to the
+divine commands will bring life and blessing, disobedience will be
+punished by the curse and death, x. 12-xi.
+[Footnote 1: Ch, x. 6-9 is an interpolation; _vv_. 6, 7 a
+fragment of an itinerary relating the death of Aaron, and _vv_.
+8, 9 the separation of the tribe of Levi to priestly functions.]
+
+This hortatory introduction is succeeded by the specific laws which
+form the main body of the book (xii.-xxvi., xxviii.). Roughly they
+may be classified as affecting (_a_) religious (xii.-xvi.),
+(_b_) civil (xvii.-xx.), and (_c_) social (xxi.-xxv.)
+life, the religious being made the basis of the other two.
+
+(_a_) As the true worship is jeopardized by a multiplicity of
+sanctuaries, these sanctuaries are declared illegal, and their
+paraphernalia are to be destroyed; worship is to be confined
+henceforth to one sanctuary (xii.), and every idolatrous person and
+influence are to be exterminated (xiii.). The holiness of the people
+is to be maintained by their abstaining from the flesh of certain
+prohibited animals[1] xiv. 1-21, and the sacred dues such as the
+tithes, xiv. 22-29, and firstlings, xv. 19-23, are regulated.
+Religion is to express itself in generous consideration for the poor
+and the slave, xv. 1-18, as well as in the three annual pilgrimages
+to celebrate the passover, the feast of weeks, and the feast of
+booths, xvi. 1-17.
+[Footnote 1: This section is not altogether in the spirit of Deut.
+and is found with variations in Lev. xi. If it is not a late
+insertion in Deut. from Lev., probably both have borrowed it from an
+older code.]
+
+(_b_) Besides the local courts there is to be a supreme central
+tribunal, xvi. 18-20, xvii. 8-13. No idolatrous symbols are to be
+used in the Jehovah worship; idolatry is to be punished with death,
+xvi. 21-xvii. 7. The character and duties of the king are defined,
+and his obligation to rule in accordance with the spirit of Israel's
+religion, xvii. 14-20; the revenues and privileges of the Levitical
+priests are regulated and the high position and function of the
+prophets are defined in opposition to the representatives of
+superstition in heathen religion (xviii.). Following the laws
+affecting the officers of the theocracy are laws--which finely
+temper justice with mercy--concerning homicide, murder and false
+witness[1] (xix.). A similar combination of humanity and sternness
+is illustrated by the laws--whether practicable or not--regulating
+the usages of war, xx., with which may be taken xxi. 10-14.
+[Footnote 1: Kindred in theme is xxi. 1-9, dealing with the
+expiation of an uncertain murder.]
+
+(_c_) The laws in xxi-xxv. are of a more miscellaneous nature
+and deal with various phases of domestic and social life--such as
+the punishment of the unfilial son, the duty of neighbourliness, the
+protection of mother-birds, the duty of taking precautions in
+building, the rights of a husband, the punishment of adultery and
+seduction, the exclusion of certain classes from the privilege of
+worship, the cleanliness of the camp, the duty of humanity to a
+runaway slave, the prohibition of religious prostitution, the
+regulation of divorce, the duty of humanity to the stranger, the
+fatherless and the widow, and of kindness to animals, the duty of a
+surviving brother to marry his brother's childless widow, the
+prohibition of immodesty, etc.
+
+By two simple ceremonies, one of thanksgiving, the other a
+confession of faith, Israel acknowledges her obligations to
+Jehovah[1] (xxvi.), and the great speech ends with a very impressive
+peroration in which blessings of many kinds are promised to
+obedience, while, with a much greater elaboration of detail,
+disaster is announced as the penalty of disobedience (xxviii.). In
+chs. xxix,, xxx., which are of a supplementary nature, Moses briefly
+reminds the people of the goodness of their God, and warns them of
+the disaster into which infidelity will plunge them, though--so
+gracious is Jehovah--penitence will be followed by restoration. In a
+powerful conclusion he sets before them life and death as the
+recompense of obedience and disobedience, and pleads with them to
+choose life.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. xxvii., which, besides being in the 3rd person,
+interrupts the connection between xxvi. and xxviii., can hardly have
+formed part of the original book. It prescribes the inscription of
+the law on stones, its ratification by the people, and the curses to
+be uttered by the Levites.]
+
+The speeches are over, and the narrative of the Pentateuch is
+resumed. In a few parting words, Moses encourages the people and his
+successor Joshua, who, in xxxi. 14, 15, 23, receives his divine
+commission, and finally gives instructions for the reading of the
+law every seven years, xxxi. 1-13. Verses 16-30 (except 23)
+constitute the preface to the fine poem known as the _Song of
+Moses_, xxxii. 1-43, which celebrates, in bold and striking
+words, the loving faithfulness of Jehovah to His apostate and
+ungrateful people.[1] This poem, after a few verses in which Moses
+finally commends the law to Israel and himself receives the divine
+command to ascend Nebo and die, is followed by another known as the
+_Blessing of Moses_ (xxxiii.). In this poem, which ought to be
+compared with Gen. xlix., the various tribes are separately
+characterized in language which is often simply a description[2]
+rather than a benediction, and the poem concludes with an
+enthusiastic expression of joy over Israel's incomparable God. The
+book ends with an account of the death of Moses (xxxiv.).
+[Footnote 1: The song must be much later than Moses, as it describes
+the effect, _v_. 15ff., on Israel of the transition from the
+nomadic life of the desert, _v_. 10, to the settled
+agricultural life of Canaan, and expressly regards the days of the
+exodus as long past, _v_.7. It is difficult to say whether the
+enemy from whom in _vv_. 34-43, the singer hopes to be divinely
+delivered are the Assyrians or the Babylonians: on the whole,
+probably the latter. In that case, the poem would be exilic;
+_v_. 36 too seems to presuppose the exile.]
+[Footnote 2: These descriptions--to say nothing of _v_.4 (Moses
+commended _us_ a law)--are conclusive proof that the poem was
+composed long after Moses' time. Reuben is dwindling in numbers,
+Simeon has already disappeared (as not yet in Gen. xlix). Judah is
+in at least temporary distress, and the banner tribe is Ephraim,
+whose glory and power are eloquently described, _vv_.13-17.
+Levi appears to be thoroughly organized and held in great respect,
+_vv_. 8-ll. The poem must have been written at a time when
+northern Israel was enjoying high prosperity, probably during the
+reign of Jeroboam II and before the advent of Amos (770 B.C.?).]
+
+Deuteronomy is one of the epoch-making books of the world. It not
+only profoundly affected much of the subsequent literature of the
+Hebrews, but it left a deep and abiding mark upon Hebrew religion,
+and through it upon Christianity.
+
+The problem of its origin is as interesting as the romance which
+attached to its discovery in the reign of Josiah (621 B.C.).
+Generally speaking, the book claims to be the valedictory address of
+Moses to Israel. But even a superficial examination is enough to
+show that its present form, at any rate, was not due to Moses. The
+very first words of the book represent the speeches as being
+delivered "on the other side of the Jordan"--an important point
+obscured by the erroneous translation of A.V. Now Moses was on the
+east side, and obviously the writer to whom the east side was the
+other side, must himself have been on the west side. The law
+providing for the battlement on the roof of a new house, xxii. 8,
+shows that the book contemplates the later settled life of cities or
+villages, not the nomadic life of tents; and the very significant
+law concerning the boundary marks which had been set up by "those of
+the olden time," xix. 14, is proof conclusive that the people had
+been settled for generations in the land.
+
+The negative conclusion is that the book is not, in its present
+form, from the hand of Moses, but is a product, at least several
+generations later, of the settled life of the people. But it is at
+once asked, Do the opening words of the book not commit us expressly
+to a belief in the Mosaic authorship, in spite of the resultant
+difficulties? Is it not explicitly said that these words are his
+words? The answer to this question lies in the literary freedom
+claimed by all ancient historians. Thucydides, one of the most
+scrupulous historians who ever wrote, states, in an interesting
+passage, the principles on which he composed his speeches (i. 22):
+"As to the various speeches made on the eve of the war or in its
+course, I have found it difficult to retain a memory of the precise
+words which I heard spoken; and so it was with those who brought me
+reports. But I have made the persons say what it seemed to me most
+opportune for them to say in view of each situation; at the same
+time I have adhered as closely as possible to the general sense of
+what was actually said." This statement represents the general
+practice of the ancient world; the conditions of historical veracity
+were satisfied if the speech represented the spirit of the speaker.
+And this, as we shall see, is eminently true of the book of
+Deuteronomy, which is an eloquent exposition and application of
+principles fundamental to the Mosaic religion. If, on the other
+hand, it be urged that the book contains deliberate assertions that
+it was written by Moses--e.g., "when Moses had made an end of
+writing the words of this law in a book," xxxi. 24, cf. 9--the
+simple reply is that this very phrase, "all the words of this law,"
+is elsewhere used of a body of law so small that it can be inscribed
+upon the memorial stones of the altar to be set up on Mount Ebal,
+xxvii. 3.
+
+We are free, then, to consider the date of Deuteronomy by an
+examination of the internal evidence. The latest possible date for
+the book, as a whole, is determined by the story of its discovery in
+621 B.C. (2 Kings xxii., xxiii.). There can be no doubt that the
+book then discovered by the priest Hilkiah, and read by the
+chancellor before the king, was Deuteronomy. It is called the book
+of the covenant (2 Kings xxiii. 2), but it clearly cannot have been
+the Pentateuch. For one thing, that was much too long; the book
+discovered was short enough to have been read twice in one day (2
+Kings xxii. 8, 10). And again, the swift and terrible impression
+made by it could not have been made by a book so heterogeneous in
+its contents and containing romantic narratives such as the
+patriarchal stories. Nor again can the discovered book have been
+Exodus xxi.-xxiii., though that is also called the book of the
+covenant (Exod. xxiv. 7); for some of the most important points in
+the succeeding reformation are not touched in that book at all. It
+is clear from the narrative in 2 Kings xxii. ff. that the book must
+have been a law book; no other meets the facts of the case but
+Deuteronomy, and this meets them completely. Point for point, the
+details of the reformation are paralleled by injunctions in
+Deuteronomy--notably the abolition of idolatry, the concentration of
+the worship at a single sanctuary (xii.), the abolition of
+witchcraft and star-worship, and the celebration of the passover.
+Some of these enactments are found in other parts of the Pentateuch,
+but Deuteronomy is the only code in which they are all combined. 621
+B.C. then is the latest possible date for the composition of
+Deuteronomy.
+
+It is possible, however, to fix the date more precisely. The most
+remarkable element in the legislation is its repeated and emphatic
+demand for the centralization of worship in "the place which Jehovah
+your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there,"
+xii. 5. Only by such a centralization could the Jehovah worship be
+controlled which, at the numerous shrines scattered over the
+country, was being stained and confused by the idolatrous practices
+which Israel had learned from the Canaanites. This demand is
+recognized as something new, xii. 8. In the ninth and eighth
+centuries, when the prophetic narratives of Genesis were written,[1]
+these shrines, which were the scenes of an enthusiastic worship, are
+lovingly traced back to an origin in patriarchal times. As late as
+750-735 B.C., Amos and Hosea, though they deplore the excesses which
+characterized those sanctuaries, and regard their worship as largely
+immoral, do not regard the sanctuaries themselves as actually
+illegal; consequently Deuteronomy must be later than 735. But the
+situation was even then so serious that it must soon have occurred
+to men of practical piety to devise plans of reform, and that the
+only real remedy lay in striking the evil at its roots, i.e. in
+abolishing the local shrines. The first important blow appears to
+have been struck by Hezekiah, who, possibly under the influence of
+Isaiah, is said to have removed the high places (2 Kings xviii. 4),
+and the movement must have been greatly helped by the immunity which
+the temple of Jerusalem enjoyed during the invasion of Judah by
+Sennacherib in 701 B.C. But the singular thing is that no appeal was
+made in this reformation to a book, as was made in 621, and as it is
+natural to suppose would have been made, had such a book been in
+existence. Somewhere then between Hezekiah and Josiah we may suppose
+the book to have been composed.
+[Footnote 1: See below]
+
+The most probable supposition is that the reformation of Hezekiah
+gave the first impulse to the legislation which afterwards appeared
+as Deuteronomy. But in the terrible reign of his son Manasseh, the
+efforts of the reformers met with violent and bloody opposition.
+Judah was under the iron heel of Assyria, and, to the average mind,
+this would prove the superiority of the Assyrian gods. Judah and her
+king, Manasseh, would seek in their desperation to win the favour of
+the Oriental pantheon, and this no doubt explains the idolatry and
+worship of the host of heaven which flourished during his reign even
+within the temple itself. It was just such a crisis as this that
+would call out the fierce condemnation of the idolatrous high places
+which characterizes Deuteronomy (cf. xii.) and create the imperative
+demand for such a control of the worship as was only possible by
+centralizing it at Jerusalem. During this period, too, such a book
+may very well have been hidden away in the temple by some sorrowing
+heart that hoped for better days. It is improbable in itself (cf.
+xviii. 6-8), and unjust to the narrative in 2 Kings xxii., xxiii.,
+to suppose that the book was written by those who pretended to find
+it. It was really lost; had it been written during the earlier part
+of Josiah's reign, there was nothing to hinder its being published
+at once. In all probability, then, the book was in the main written
+and lost during the reign of Manasseh (_circa_ 660 B.C.). It
+has been observed that in some sections the 2nd pers. sing, is used.
+in others the pl., and that the tone of the plural passages is more
+aggressive than that of the singular; the contrast, e.g., between
+xii. 29-31 (thou) and xii. 1-12 (you) is unmistakable. We might,
+then, limit the conclusion reached above by saying that the passages
+in which a milder tone prevails probably came from Hezekiah's reign,
+and the more aggressive sections from Manasseh's.
+
+This date agrees with conclusions reached on other grounds
+concerning other parts of the Pentateuch. The prophetic narratives J
+and E were written in or before the eighth century B.C., the
+priestly code (P) is, broadly speaking, post-exilic.[1] Now if it
+can be proved that Deuteronomy knows JE and does not know P, the
+natural inference would be that it falls between the eighth and the
+sixth or fifth century. But this can easily be proved, for both in
+its narrative and legislative parts, Deuteronomy rests on JE. As an
+illustration of the former, cf. Deuteronomy xi. 6, where only Dathan
+and Abiram are the rebels, not Korah as in P (cf. Num. xvi, 12, 25);
+as an illustration of the latter, cf. the law of slavery in Exodus
+xxi. 2ff. with that in Deuteronomy xv. 12-18, which clearly rests
+upon the older law, but deliberately gives a humaner turn to it,
+extending its privileges, e.g., to the female slave.
+[Footnote 1: See below.]
+
+Again in many important respects the legislation of Deuteronomy
+either ignores or conflicts with that of P. It knows nothing, e.g.,
+of the forty-eight Levitical cities (Num. xxxv.); it regards the
+Levite, in common with the fatherless and the widow, as to be found
+everywhere throughout the land, xviii. 6. It knows nothing of the
+provision made by P for the maintenance of the Levite (Num. xviii.);
+it commends him to the charity of the worshippers, xiv. 29. Above
+all it knows nothing of P's very sharp and important distinction
+between priests and Levites (Num. iii., iv.); any Levite is
+qualified to officiate as priest (cf. the remarkable phrase in
+xviii. 1, "the priests the Levites"). Deuteronomy must, therefore,
+fall before P, as after JE.
+
+A not unimportant question here arises: What precisely was the
+extent of the book found in 621 B.C.? Certainly the legislative
+section, xii.-xxvi., xxviii., possibly the preceding hortatory
+section, v.-xi., but in all probability not the introductory
+section, i. i-iv. 40. These three sections are all approximately
+written in the same style, but i. i-iv. 40 has more the appearance
+of an attempt to provide the legislation with a historical
+introduction summarizing the narrative of the journey from Horeb to
+the borders of the promised land. Certain passages, e.g. iv. 27-31,
+seem to presuppose the exile, and thus suggest that the section is
+later than the book as a whole. The discrepancy between ii. 14,
+which represents the generation of the exodus as having died in the
+wilderness, and v. 3ff. hardly makes for identity of authorship; and
+the similarity of the superscriptions, i. 1-5, and iv. 44-49, looks
+as if the sections i.-iv. and v.-xi. were originally parallel.
+Whether v.-xi. was part of the book discovered is not so certain.
+Much of the finest religious teaching of Deuteronomy is to be found
+in this section; but, besides being disproportionately long for an
+introduction, it repeatedly demands obedience to the "statutes and
+judgments," which, however, are not actually announced till ch.
+xii.; it seems more like an addition prefixed by one who had the
+commandments in xii.-xxvi. before him. Ch. xxvii., which is
+narrative and interrupts the speech of Moses, xxvi, xxviii., besides
+in part anticipating xxviii. 15ff., cannot have formed part of the
+original Deuteronomy. On the other hand, xxviii. was certainly
+included in it, as it must have been precisely the threats contained
+in this chapter that produced such consternation in Josiah when he
+heard the book read (2 Kings xxii.). The hortatory section that
+follows the legislation (xxix., xxx.), is also probably late, as the
+exile appears to be presupposed, xxix. 28, xxx. 1-3. On this
+supposition, too, the references to the legislation as "this book,"
+xxix. 20, 21, xxx. 10, are most naturally explained.
+
+The publication of the book of Deuteronomy was nothing less than a
+providence in the development of Hebrew religion. It was
+accompanied, of course, by incidental and perhaps inevitable evils.
+By its centralization of worship at the Jerusalem temple, it tended
+to rob life in other parts of the country of those religious
+interests and sanctions which had received their satisfaction from
+the local sanctuaries; and by its attempt to regulate by written
+statute the religious life of the people, it probably contributed
+indirectly to the decline of prophecy, and started Israel upon that
+fatal path by which she ultimately became "the people of the book."
+But on the other hand, the service rendered to religion by
+Deuteronomy was incalculable. The worship of Jehovah had been
+powerfully corrupted from two sources; on the one hand, from the
+early influence of the Canaanitish Baal worship, practically a
+nature-worship, which set morality at defiance, xxiii. 18; and on
+the other, from her powerful Assyrian conquerors. Idolatry not only
+covered the whole land, it had penetrated the temple itself (2 Kings
+xxiii. 6). The cause of true religion was at stake. There had been
+sporadic attempts at reform, but Deuteronomy, for the first time,
+struck at the root by rendering illegal the worship--nominally a
+Jehovah, but practically a Baal worship--which was practised at the
+local sanctuaries.
+
+Again Deuteronomy rendered a great service to religion, by
+translating its large spirit into demands which could be apprehended
+of the common people. The book is splendidly practical, and formed a
+perhaps not unnecessary supplement to the teaching of the prophets.
+Society needs to have its ideals embodied in suggestions and
+commands, and this is done in Deuteronomy. The writers of the book
+legislate with the fervour of the prophet, so that it is not so much
+a collection of laws as "a catechism of religion and morals."
+Doubtless the prophets had done the deepest thing of all by
+insisting on the new heart and the return to Jehovah, but they had
+offered no programme of practical reform. Just such a programme is
+supplied by Deuteronomy, and yet it is saved from the externalism of
+being merely a religious programme by its tender and uniform
+insistence upon the duty of loving Jehovah with the whole heart.
+
+The love of Jehovah to Israel--love altogether undeserved, ix. 5,
+and manifested throughout history in ways without number--demands a
+human response. Israel must love Him with an uncompromising
+affection, for He is one and there is none else, and she must
+express that love for the God who is a spirit invisible, iv. 12, by
+deeds of affection towards the creatures whom God has made, even to
+the beasts and the birds, xxv. 4, but most of all to the needy--the
+stranger, the Levite, the fatherless and the widow. Again and again
+these are commended by definite and practical suggestions to the
+generosity of the people, and this generosity is expected to express
+itself particularly on occasions of public worship. Religion is felt
+to be the basis of morality and of all social order, and therefore,
+even in the legislation proper (xii.-xxviii.), to say nothing of the
+fine hortatory introduction (v.-xi.), its claims and nature are
+presented first. The book abounds in profound and memorable
+statements touching the essence of religion. It answers the
+question, What doth thy God require of thee? x. 12. It reminds the
+people that man lives not by bread alone, viii. 3. It knows that
+wealth and success tend to beget indifference to religion, viii.
+13ff., and that chastisement, when it comes, is sent in fatherly
+love, viii. 5; and it presses home upon the sluggish conscience the
+duty of kindness to the down-trodden and destitute, with a sweet and
+irresistible reasonableness--"Love the sojourner, for ye were
+sojourners in the land of Egypt," x. 19.
+
+
+
+
+JOSHUA
+
+
+The book of Joshua is the natural complement of the Pentateuch.
+Moses is dead, but the people are on the verge of the promised land,
+and the story of early Israel would be incomplete, did it not record
+the conquest of that land and her establishment upon it. The divine
+purpose moves restlessly on, until it is accomplished; so "after the
+death of Moses, Jehovah spake to Joshua," i. 1.
+
+The book falls naturally into three divisions: (_a_) the
+conquest of Canaan (i.-xii.), (_b_) the settlement of the land
+(xiii.-xxii.), (_c_) the last words and death of Joshua
+(xxiii., xxiv.). This period seems to be better known than that of
+the wilderness wanderings, and, especially throughout the first
+twelve chapters, the story moves forward with a firm tread. On the
+death of Moses, Joshua assumes the leadership, and makes
+preparations for the advance (i.). After sending men to Jericho to
+spy and report upon the land (ii.), the people solemnly cross the
+Jordan, preceded by the ark (iii.); and, to commemorate the miracle
+by which their passage had been facilitated, memorial stones are set
+up (iv.). After circumcision had been imposed, v. 1-9, the passover
+celebrated, v. 10-12, and Joshua strengthened by a vision, v. 13-15,
+the people assault and capture Jericho (vi.). This initial success
+was followed by a sharp and unexpected disaster at Ai, for which
+Achan, by his violation of the law of the ban, was held guilty and
+punished with death (vii.). A renewed assault upon Ai was this time
+successful.[1] (viii.). Fear of Israel induced the powerful
+Gibeonite clan to make a league with the conquerors (ix.). Success
+continued to remain with Israel, so that south (x.) and north, xi.
+1-15, the arms of Israel were victorious, xi. 16-xii.
+[Footnote 1: The book of Joshua describes only the southern and
+northern campaigns; it gives no details concerning the conquest of
+Central Palestine. This omission is apparently due to the
+Deuterouomic redactor, who, in place of the account itself, gives a
+brief idealization of its results in viii. 30-35.]
+
+Much of the land remained still unconquered, but arrangements were
+made for its ideal distribution. The two and a half tribes had
+already received their inheritance east of the Jordan, and the rest
+of the land was allotted on the west to the remaining tribes.
+Judah's boundaries and cities are first and most exhaustively given;
+then come Manasseh and Ephraim, with meagre records, followed by
+Benjamin, which again is exhaustive, then by Simeon, Zebulon,
+Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Dan (xiii.-xix.). Three cities on
+either side of Jordan were then set apart as cities of refuge for
+innocent homicides, and for the Levites forty-eight cities with
+their pasture land, xx. 1-xxi. 42. As Israel was now in possession
+of the land in accordance with the divine promise, xxi. 43-45,
+Joshua dismissed the two and a half tribes to their eastern home
+with commendation and exhortation, xxii. 1-8. Incurring the severe
+displeasure of the other tribes by building what was supposed to be
+a schismatic altar, they explained that it was intended only as a
+memorial and as a witness of their kinship with Israel, xxii. 9-34.
+
+The book concludes with two farewell speeches, the first (xxiii.)
+couched in general, the second xxiv. 1-23, in somewhat more
+particular terms, in which Joshua reminds the people of the goodness
+of their God, warns them against idolatry and intermarriage with the
+natives of the land, and urges upon them the peril of compromise and
+the duty of rendering Jehovah a whole-hearted service. The people
+solemnly pledge themselves to obedience, xxiv. 23-28. Then Joshua's
+death and burial are recorded, and past was linked to present in the
+burial of Joseph's bones (Gen. 1. 25) at last in the promised land,
+xxiv. 29-33.
+
+The documentary sources which lie at the basis of the Pentateuch are
+present, though in different proportions, in the book of Joshua, and
+in their main features are easily recognizable. The story of the
+conquest (i.-xii.) is told by the prophetic document JE, while the
+geographical section on the distribution of the land (xiii.-xxii.)
+belongs in the main to the priestly document P. Joshua, in common
+with Judges, Samuel (in part) and Kings, has also been very plainly
+subjected to a redaction known to criticism as the Deuteronomic,
+because its phraseology and point of view are those of Deuteronomy.
+This redactional element, which, to any one fresh from the study of
+Deuteronomy, is very easy to detect, is more or less conspicuous in
+all of the first twelve chapters, but it is especially so in chs. i.
+and xxiii., and it would be well worth the student's while to read
+these two chapters very carefully, in order to familiarize himself
+with the nature of the influence of the Deuteronomic redaction upon
+the older prophetico-historical material. Very significant, e.g.,
+are such phrases as "the land which Jehovah your God giveth you to
+possess," i. 11, Deuteronomy xii. 1: equally so is the emphasis upon
+the law, i. 7, xxiii. 6, and the injunction to "love Jehovah your
+God," xxiii. 11.
+
+The most serious effect of the Deuteronomic influence has been to
+present the history rather from an ideal than from a strictly
+historical point of view. According to the redaction, e.g., the
+conquest of Canaan was entirely effected within one generation and
+under Joshua, whereas it was not completely effected till long after
+Joshua's death: indeed the oldest source frankly admits that in many
+districts it was never thoroughly effected at all (Jud. i. 27-36). A
+typical illustration of the Deuteronomic attitude to the history is
+to be found in the statement that Joshua obliterated the people of
+Gezer, x. 33, which directly contradicts the older statement that
+Israel failed to drive them out, xvi. 10. The Deuteronomist is, in
+reality, not a historian but a moralist, interpreting the history
+and the forces, divine as well as human, that were moulding it. To
+him the conquest was really complete in the generation of Joshua, as
+by that time the factors were all at work which would ultimately
+compel success. The persistency of the Deuteronomic influence, even
+long after the priestly code was written, is proved by xx. 4-6,
+which, though embodied in a priestly passage, is in the spirit of
+Deuteronomy (cf. Deut. xix.). As this passage is not found in the
+Septuagint, it is probably as late as the third century B.C.
+
+P is very largely represented. Its presence is recognized, as usual,
+by its language, its point of view, and its dependence upon other
+parts of the Pentateuch, demonstrably priestly. While in the older
+sources, e.g., it is Joshua who divides the land, xviii. 10, in P
+not only is Eleazar the priest associated with him as Aaron with
+Moses (Exod. viii. 5, 16), but he is even named before him (xiv. 1,
+cf. Num. xxxiv. 17). It is naturally also this document which
+records the first passover in the promised land, v. 10-12. The
+cities of refuge and the Levitical cities are set apart (xx., xxi.)
+in accordance with the terms prescribed in a priestly chapter of
+Numbers (xxxv.). The prominence of Judah and Benjamin in the
+allocation of the land is also significant. The section on the
+memorial altar, xxii. 9-34, apparently belonging to a later stratum
+of P, is clearly stamped as priestly by its whole temper--its
+formality, _v_, 14, its representation of the "congregation" as
+acting unanimously, _v_. 16, its repetitions and stereotyped
+phraseology, and by the prominence it gives to "Phinehas the son of
+Eleazar the priest," _vv_. 30-32. That this document in Joshua
+was partly narrative so well as statistical is also suggested by its
+very brief account of Achan's sin in ch. vii., and of the treachery
+and punishment of the Gibeonites, ix. l7-2l--an account which may
+well have been fuller in the original form of the document.
+
+The most valuable part of Joshua for historical purposes is
+naturally that which comes from the prophetic document, which is the
+oldest. It is here that the interesting and concrete detail lies,
+notably in chs. i.-xii., but also scattered throughout the rest of
+the book in some extremely important fragments, which indicate how
+severe and occasionally unsuccessful was the struggle of Israel to
+gain a secure footing upon certain parts of the country.[1] Many of
+the difficulties revealed by a minute study of i.-xii. make it
+absolutely certain that the prophetic document is really composite
+(JE), but owing to the thorough blending of the sources the analysis
+is peculiarly difficult and uncertain. That there are various
+sources, however, admits of no doubt. The story of the crossing of
+the Jordan in chs. iii., iv., if we follow it carefully step by
+step, is seen to be unintelligible on the assumption that it is a
+unity. In iii. 17 all the people are already over the Jordan, but in
+iv. 4, 5, the implication is that they are only about to cross. Ch.
+iv. 2 repeats iii. 12 almost word for word. In iv. 9 the memorial
+stones are to be placed in the Jordan, in iv. 20 at Gilgal. In vii.
+25_b_, 26_a_, Achan alone appears to be stoned, in
+_v_. 25_c_ the family is stoned too. A similar confusion
+prevails in the story of the fall of Jericho (vi.). In one version,
+Israel marches six days silently round the city, and on the seventh
+they shout at the word of Joshua; on the other, they march round
+seven times in one day, and the seventh time they shout at the blast
+of the trumpet.
+[Footnote 1: Cf. xv. 14-19, 63; xvi. 10; xvii. 11-18; xix. 47.]
+
+Enough has been said to show that the prophetic document, as we have
+it, is composite, though there can seldom be any manner of certainty
+about the ultimate analysis into its J and E constituents. There is
+reason to believe that most of the isolated notices of the struggle
+with the Canaanites scattered throughout xiii.-xxii. and repeated in
+Judges i. are from J, while ch. xxiv., with its interest in Shechem
+and Joseph, and its simple but significant statement, "They
+presented themselves before _God_ (Elohim)," xxiv. 1, is almost
+entirely from E.
+
+It used to be maintained, on the strength of a phrase in v. 1--"until
+_we_ were passed over"--that the book of Joshua must have been
+written by a contemporary. But the true reading there is undoubtedly
+that given by the Septuagint--until _they_ passed over-which
+involves only a very slight change in the Hebrew. On what, then, do
+the narratives of the book really rest? The answer is suggested by
+x. 12, 13, where the historian appeals to the book of Jashar in
+confirmation of an incident in Joshua's southern campaign. Doubtless
+the whole battle was described in one of the war-ballads in this
+famous collection (cf. Jud. v.), and it is not unreasonable to suppose
+that other narratives in the book of Joshua similarly rest upon other
+ballads now for ever lost. The capture of Jericho, e.g., may well have
+been commemorated in a stirring song which was an inspiration alike
+to faith and patriotism.
+
+If, however, it be true that the book of Joshua has thus a poetic
+basis, it is only fair to remember that its prose narratives must
+not be treated as bald historical annals; they must be interpreted
+in a poetic spirit. There is the more reason to insist upon this, as
+a later editor, by a too inflexible literalism, has misinterpreted
+the very passage from the book of Jashar to which we have alluded.
+What the precise meaning of Joshua's fine apostrophe to sun and moon
+may be, is doubtful--whether a prayer for the prolongation of the
+day or rather perhaps a prayer for the sudden oncoming of darkness.
+The words mean, "Sun, be thou still," and if this be the prayer, it
+would perhaps be answered by the furious storm which followed. But,
+in either case, the appeal to the sun and moon to lend their help to
+Israel in her battles is obviously poetic--a fine conception, but
+grotesque if literally pressed. This, however, is just what has been
+done by the editor who added x. 14, and thus created a miracle out
+of the bold but appropriate imagery of the poet. Similarly it is not
+necessary to suppose that the walls of Jericho fell down without the
+striking of a blow on the part of Israel, for this too may be
+poetry. It may be just the imaginative way of saying that no walls
+can stand before Jehovah when He fights for His people. That this is
+the real meaning of the story, and that there was more of a struggle
+than the poetical narrative of ch. vi. would lead us to believe, is
+made highly probable by, the altogether incidental but very explicit
+statement in xxiv. 11, "The men of Jericho _fought_ against
+you."
+
+With its large geographical element the book of Joshua is not
+particularly rich in scenes of direct religious value; yet the whole
+narrative is inspired by a sublime faith in the divine purpose and
+its sure triumph over every obstacle. In particular, the story of
+the Gibeonites suggests the permanent obligation of reckoning with
+God in affairs of national policy, ix. 14, while Gilgal is a
+reminder of the duty of formally commemorating the beneficent
+providences of life (iii., iv.). The story of Achan reveals the
+national bearings of individual conduct and the large and disastrous
+consequences of individual sin. The valedictory addresses of Joshua
+are touched by a fine sense of the importance of a grateful and
+uncompromising fidelity to God. But perhaps the greatest thing in
+the book is the vision of the heavenly leader encouraging Joshua on
+the eve of his perilous campaign, v. 13-15, a noble imagination,
+fitted to remind those who are fighting the battles of the Lord that
+they are sustained and aided by forces unseen.
+
+
+
+
+THE PROPHETIC AND PRIESTLY DOCUMENTS
+
+
+Of the three principal documents, J, E and P, to whose fusion is due
+the account of Israel's origin and early history contained in the
+Hexateuch, nothing can be known except by inference; but within
+certain limits their date and origin may be fixed. In Genesis, J and
+E alike love to trace the sacred places of the Hebrews to some
+revelation or incident in the life of the patriarchs. Now from the
+prominence assigned to Hebron in J, together with the rôle assigned
+to Judah in the story of Joseph, xxxvii. 26, and the special
+interest in Judah displayed by Genesis xxxviii., it may be inferred
+that J originated in Judah; while the special attention paid in E to
+the sanctuaries of the northern kingdom, such as Shechem and Bethel,
+is not unreasonably held to imply that E originated in Israel.
+
+It is impossible to assign more than an approximate date to the
+origin of these documents, but they can hardly be earlier than the
+monarchy, which is clearly alluded to in Genesis xxxvi. 31. Such
+incidental statements as that the Canaanite was _then_ in the
+land, xii. 6, xiii, 7, imply that by the author's time the situation
+had changed; and, as their subjection was not attained till the time
+of Solomon (1 Kings ix. 21) the documents can hardly be earlier than
+that. The sanctuaries glorified in the Pentateuch are the very
+sanctuaries at which a sumptuous but misguided worship was practised
+as late as the eighth century, in the days of Amos and Hosea (cf.
+Amos iv. 4; Hosea xii. II); but, generally speaking, the conception
+of God found in the prophetic history, though as robust and intense
+as that of the early prophets, is more primitive. It is not afraid
+of anthropomorphisms (Gen. iii. 8; Exod. iv. 24), and theophanies,
+and it has not very clearly grasped the idea that God is spirit. On
+these grounds alone it would not be unfair to place the prophetic
+documents somewhere between Solomon and Amos. J probably belongs to
+the ninth century, and E, which, as we saw reason to believe, was
+later, to the eighth.
+
+P takes us into a totally different world. The witchery of the
+prophetic documents has disappeared; poetry has given place to
+legislation, theophany to ritual, religion to theology. From the
+late historical books, such as Ezra-Nehemiah, we learn that legalism
+dominated post-exilic religion to an extent out of all proportion to
+what can be proved, or what is probable, for pre-exilic times; and
+it would be natural to suppose that another writing, such as P,
+dominated by precisely the same spirit, is a product of the same
+time. This supposition becomes a practical certainty in the light of
+two or three facts. Firstly, in not a few respects P is at variance
+with the legislative programme drawn up by the exilic prophet
+Ezekiel (xl.-xlviii.). Now if P had been in existence, such a
+programme would have been unnecessary, and, in any case, Ezekiel
+would hardly have ventured to contradict a code which enjoyed so
+venerable a sanction and bore the honoured name of Moses. It is
+easier to suppose that Ezekiel's programme is a tentative sketch,
+which was modified and improved upon by the authors of P. Again
+there was every inducement during and immediately after the exile to
+formulate definitely the ritual practice of pre-exilic times, and to
+modify it in the direction of existing or future needs. So long as
+the temple stood, custom could be trusted to take care of the ritual
+tradition, but the violent breach with their country and their past
+would impose upon the exiles the necessity of securing those
+traditions in permanent and accessible form. P is therefore referred
+almost unanimously by scholars to the exilic and early post-exilic
+age, and may be roughly put about 500 B.C.
+
+The documents J, E and P, which, for convenience, we have treated as
+if each were the product of a single pen, represent in reality
+movements which extended over decades and even centuries. The
+Jehovist, e.g., who traces the descent of shepherds, musicians, and
+workers in metal to antediluvian times (Gen. iv. 19-22), cannot be
+the Jehovist who told the story of the Flood, which interrupted the
+continuity of human life. These distinctions are known to criticism
+as Jl, J2, etc.; but, though they stand for undoubted literary
+facts, it is altogether futile to attempt, on this basis, an
+analysis of the entire document into its component parts. The
+presence of several hands may also be detected, though not so
+readily, in E. Most scholars suppose J to precede E, but one or two
+reverse the order. The truth is that there are passages in J
+inspired by splendid prophetic conceptions, which must be later than
+the earliest edition of E; and the moment it is recognized that a
+long period elapsed before either document reached its present form,
+the question of priority becomes relatively unimportant.
+
+P is even more obviously the result of a long process marked by
+repeated additions and refinements. Numbers xviii. 7, e.g., implies
+that ordinary priests might pass within the vail, whereas in
+Leviticus xvi. this is possible only to the high priest, and even to
+him only once a year. Exodus xxix. 7 represents only the high priest
+as anointed, Exodus xxviii. 41 the other priests as well. The
+section in Exodus xxx. 1-10 on the altar of incense must be later
+than the list in xxvi. 31-37, where it is not mentioned. The age,
+too, at which the Levites might enter upon their service appears to
+have been repeatedly changed; in Numbers iv. 3 it is put at thirty
+years, in viii. 24 at twenty-five (and i Chron. xxiii. 24 at
+twenty). All this only shows the unceasing attention that was paid
+by the priests to the problem of worship; and the length of the
+period over which this attention was spread may be inferred from the
+fact that, even in the third century B.C., as we know from the
+Septuagint, the Hebrew text of Exodus xxxv.-xl. was not absolutely
+fixed.
+
+We may conceive the composition of the Pentateuch to have passed
+through approximately the following stages. Earliest of all and
+fundamental to all come the ancient traditions and the ancient
+poetry, such as the book of the wars of Jehovah, and the book of
+Jashar. Upon this basis, during the monarchy men of prophetic spirit
+in both kingdoms--not improbably at the sanctuaries--wrote the
+history of the Hebrew people. These documents, J and E, were
+subsequently combined into a single history (JE), possibly in the
+seventh century, though how long, if at all, J and E continued to
+enjoy an independent existence we have no means of knowing. During
+the exile, the book of Deuteronomy was added (JED). Its influence,
+as we have seen, is very prominent in Joshua, and occasionally
+traceable even in the earlier books (cf. Gen. xviii. 19, xxvi. 5).
+After the exile P was incorporated, and the Hexateuch had assumed
+practically its present form about the middle of the fifth century
+B.C.
+
+
+
+
+JUDGES
+
+
+For the understanding of the early history and religion of Israel,
+the book of Judges, which covers the period from the death of Joshua
+to the beginning of the struggle with the Philistines, is of
+inestimable importance; and it is very fortunate that the elements
+contributed by the later editors are so easily separated from the
+ancient stories whose moral they seek to point. That moral is most
+elaborately stated in ii. 6-iii. 6, which is a sort of programme or
+preface to iii. 7-xvi. 31, which constitutes the real kernel of the
+book of Judges--chs. xvii.-xxi., as we shall see, being a supplement
+and i. 1-ii. 5 an introduction. Briefly stated, the moral is this:
+in the ancient history, unfaithfulness to Jehovah was regularly
+followed by chastisement in the shape of foreign invasion, but when
+the people repented and cried to Jehovah He raised up a leader to
+deliver them. Unfaithfulness, chastisement; penitence, forgiveness.
+This philosophy of history, if such it can be called, had of course
+the practical object of inspiring the people with a sense of the
+importance of fidelity to Jehovah. Both the ideas and the
+phraseology of this passage, ii. 6-iii. 6, are unmistakably those of
+Deuteronomy: therefore here, as in Joshua, we speak of the
+Deuteronomic redaction.
+
+The moral expressed in the preface and repeated in a less elaborate
+form elsewhere, vi. 7-10, x. 6-16, is amply illustrated by the
+stories that follow--the stories of Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and
+Barak, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. This does not exhaust the list
+of judges, but it exhausts the list of those whose stories are used
+to illustrate the Deuteronomic scheme. The story of Abimelech, e.g.
+(ix.), has no such preface or conclusion as these six have; neither
+has the notice of Shamgar in iii. 31; the preface is also lacking in
+the very bald notices of the five minor judges, x. 1-5, xii. 8-15.
+It is clear, therefore, that they fell without the original
+Deuteronomic scheme; but it is equally clear that the later editors
+of the book intended to represent the period by twelve judges,
+Abimelech being apparently reckoned a judge, though he is not called
+one. Another computation, which ignored Abimelech, reached the
+number twelve by adding Shamgar, iii. 31, whom a comparison of iii.
+31 with iv. 1 shows not to have belonged to the original book; the
+name was probably suggested by v. 6_a_.
+
+Chs. xvii.-xxi., which consist of two appendices (xvii., xviii, the
+origin of the sanctuary at Dan, and xix.-xxi., the vengeance of
+Israel on Benjamin for the outrage at Gibeah), also clearly fell
+without the Deuteronomic redaction: the section is untouched either
+by the language or ideas of Deuteronomy. Further, these chapters are
+clearly out of place where they stand; for, generally speaking, the
+order of the book is chronological, beginning with the death of
+Joshua and ending with the Philistine invasion which lasted on into
+the days of Samuel, whereas both stories in the appendix refer to
+quite an early period, two of the characters named being the
+grandsons of Moses and Aaron respectively (xviii. 30, xx. 28).[1]
+[Footnote 1: In ch. xviii. 30 the word now read as Manasseh was
+originally Moses.]
+
+The introduction, i. I-ii. 5, also plainly falls without the scheme,
+for the book proper, ii. 6ff., is a direct continuation[1] of Joshua
+xxiv. 27, and i. i-ii. 5 really duplicates, in the main, accounts
+and isolated notices scattered through Joshua xv., xvi., xvii., xix.
+The incidents related in these chapters are assigned to Joshua's
+lifetime; the phrase with which the book of Judges begins--"It came
+to pass _after the death of Joshua_"--is clearly a later
+attempt to connect the two books, and inconsistent with ii. 6ff.,
+which carries the story back to a period before Joshua's death.
+[Footnote 1: 2 Ch. ii. 6, 7=Josh. xxiv. 28, 31; Jud. ii. 8, 9=Josh.
+xxiv. 29, 30.]
+
+The original book of Judges, then, as edited by the Deuteronomist,
+is represented[1] by ii. 6-xv., minus the notices of Shamgar,
+Abimelech and the minor judges. The moral pointed by the redaction,
+valuable as it may be, is not always suggested by the history. The
+redaction assigns the national misfortunes to idolatry, though only
+once is idolatry mentioned with reprobation in the ancient stories
+themselves, vi. 25-32. The redaction shows a further indifference to
+history in giving a national[2] turn to the tale of apostasy and
+deliverance, whereas the original stories show that the interests
+are really not as yet national, but only tribal. The chronology of
+the book--which is also part of the redaction--with its round
+numbers, 20, 40, 80, etc., appears to contain an artificial element,
+and to form part of the scheme indicated in i Kings vi. 1, which
+assigns 480 years, i.e. twelve generations, to the period between
+the exodus and the building of the temple. Many considerations make
+it practically certain that the periods of the judges, which are
+represented as successive, were often really synchronous, and that
+therefore the period covered by the entire book is only about two
+centuries.
+[Footnote 1: Note that ch. xv. 20 was apparently designed to
+conclude the story of Samson, raising the suspicion that ch. xvi.
+(with a similar conclusion) was added later.]
+[Footnote 2: Cf. iii. 12. The children of Israel did evil again in
+the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah strengthened Eglon the King of
+Moab against _Israel_; so _vv_. 14, 15, etc.]
+
+There is reason to believe that the original Deuteronomic book of
+Judges included the stories of Eli and Samuel, and ended with I
+Samuel xii. It is expressly said in Judges xiii. 5 that Samson is to
+_begin_ to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines,
+and it is reasonable to suppose that the completion of the
+deliverance was also related; besides, Samuel's farewell address
+contains many reminiscences of the familiar formulae of the book of
+Judges (I Sam. xii. 9ff.) and an appropriate summary of the teaching
+and some of the facts of that book (cf. _v_. 11). It is easy to
+imagine, however, why the stories of Eli and Samuel were ultimately
+separated from the book of Judges: partly because they were felt to
+be hardly judges in the old sense of defenders, deliverers--Eli was
+a priest, and Samuel a prophet--and still more because the story of
+Samuel, at any rate, was bound up with the history of the monarchy.
+
+The book received its present form from post-exilic redactors. This
+is rendered certain by the unmistakable marks of the influence of
+the priestly code in chs. xx., xxi. The unanimity with which Israel
+acts, the extraordinarily high numbers,[1] the prominence of such
+words as "congregation," constitute indubitable evidence of a
+priestly hand. Some post-Deuteronomic hand, if not this same one,[2]
+added the other appendix, xvii., xviii., the introduction, i.-ii. 5,
+and the sections in the body of the book already shown to be
+late.[3]. The motives which prompted these additions were varied.
+With regard to the minor judges, e.g., some suppose that the object
+was simply to make up the number twelve; but generally speaking, the
+motive for the additions would be the natural desire to conserve
+extant relics of the past. The introduction, and appendix, though
+added late, contain very ancient material. Many of the historical
+notices in ch. i. are reproductions of early and important notices
+in the book of Joshua, though with significant editorial additions,
+usually in honour of Judah; [Footnote: Cf. ch. i. 8, which
+contradicts i. 21; and i, 18, which contradicts i. 19.] and the
+story of the origin of the sanctuary at Dan, with its very candid
+account of the furniture of the sanctuary and the capture of the
+priest, is obviously very old. Doubtless also there is a historical
+element in xix.-xxi., though it has been seriously overlaid by the
+priestly redaction--possibly also in the notices of the minor
+judges.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. xx. 2 (of. Num. xxxi.). Contrast Jud. v. 8.]
+[Footnote 2: Note the phrase in both stories. "In those days there
+was no king in Israel," xviii. i, xix. I.]
+[Footnote 3: Shamgar iii. 31; Abimelech (ix); minor judges, x. 1-5,
+xii. 8-15; Samson (xvi.)]
+
+This raises the question of the sources and historical value of the
+stories in the body of the book, which, as we have seen, are very
+easily separated from the redactional elements. Indeed, as those
+elements are confined to the beginning and the end of the stories,
+we may assume that the stories themselves were not composed by the
+redactors, but already reached them in a fixed and finished form.
+Further, it is important to note that, just as in the prophetic
+portions of the Hexateuch, duplicates are often present--very
+probably in the stories of Ehud, iii. 12ff., Deborah and Barak
+(iv.), Abimelech (ix.), and Micah (xvii., xviii.), but certainly in
+the story of Gideon[1] (vi.-viii.). According to the later version,
+Gideon is the deliverer of Israel from the incursions of the
+Midianites, and the princes slain are Oreb and Zeeb, vii. 24-viii.
+3; according to the earlier version, viii. 4-21, which is on a
+smaller scale, Gideon, accompanied by part of his clan, takes the
+lives of Zebah and Zalmunna to avenge his brothers, whom they had
+slain. In the case of duplicated stories, the Deuteronomic redactors
+apparently found the stories already in combination, so that the
+original constituent documents must be further back still. As the
+narratives, with their primitive religious ideas and practices and
+their obvious delight in war, are clearly the echo of an early time,
+we shall be safe in relegating the original documents, at the
+latest, to the eighth or ninth century B.C. It is a point on which
+unanimity has not yet been reached, whether these documents are the
+Jehovist and Elohist of the Hexateuch; but considering the fact that
+the older notices in i.-ii. 5, on account of the prominence of Judah
+and for other reasons, are usually assigned to J, and that some of
+the characteristics of these two documents recur in the course of
+the book, the hypothesis that J and E are continued at least into
+Judges must be regarded as not improbable.
+[Footnote 1: In the story of Jephthah, ch. xi. 12-28, which
+interrupt the connexion and deals with Moab, not with Ammon, is a
+later interpolation.]
+
+Fortunately we are able in one case to trace the source of a story.
+The story of Deborah and Barak is told in chs. iv. and v. Ch. 5, which
+is so graphic that it must have come from a contemporary-one had almost
+said an eye-witness--is undoubtedly the older form of the story, as it
+is in verse. Partly on the basis of this poem ch. iv. has been built
+up, and the account of Sisera's death in this chapter, iv. 21, which
+differs from that in v. 26, 27, rests on a misunderstanding of the
+situation in v. 26. Here we see the risks which the ballads ran when
+turned into prose, but more important is it to note the poetical origin
+of the story. Probably ch. v. originally belonged to such a collection
+as the book of the wars of Jehovah or the book of Jashar, and it is
+natural to suppose that other stories in the book of Judges--e.g. the
+exploits of Gideon--may have similarly originated in war-ballads.
+
+The religion of the book of Judges is powerful but primitive. The
+ideal man is the ideal warrior. Grim tales of war are told with
+unaffected delight, and the spirit of God manifests itself chiefly
+in the inspiration of the warrior. Gideon and Micah have their
+idols. Chemosh and Dagon are as real, though not so powerful, as
+Jehovah. Unlike the redaction, the earlier tales are not given to
+moralizing, and yet once at least the moral is explicitly pointed,
+ix. 56ff. But elsewhere the power of religion in life is suggested,
+not by explicit comment, but rather by the naturalness with which
+every interest and activity of life are viewed in a religious light.
+Nowhere is this more obvious than in the priceless song of
+Deborah[1] (v.). Israel's battles are the battles of Jehovah; her
+triumph is His triumph. The song is inspired by an intense belief in
+the national God, but there was little that was ethical in the
+religion of the period. Jephthah offers his child in sacrifice. Jael
+is praised for a murder which was a breach of the common Semitic law
+of hospitality. By revealing, however, so candidly the meagre
+beginnings of Israel's religion, the book of Judges only increases
+our sense of the miracle which brought that religion to its
+incomparable consummation in the fulness of the times.
+[Footnote 1: The song is not necessarily and not probably composed
+by Deborah. In v. 12 she is addressed in the 2nd person, and
+_v_. 7 may be similarly read, "Till _thou_, Deborah, didst
+arise."]
+
+
+
+
+SAMUEL
+
+
+Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the
+book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the
+book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of
+Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.;
+while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two
+chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very
+happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part
+to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate, as Samuel had much
+to do with the founding of the monarchy. The Jewish tradition that
+Samuel was the author of the book is, of course, a palpable fiction,
+as the story is carried beyond his death.
+[Footnote 1: Two books in the Greek translation, as in modern
+Bibles; originally one in the Hebrew, but two from the year 1517
+A.D.]
+
+The book deals with the establishment of the monarchy. Its ultimate
+analysis is very difficult; but, if we regard the summary notices in
+1 Samuel xiv. 47-51 and 2 Samuel viii. as the conclusion of
+sections--and this seems to have been their original intention--the
+broad outlines are clear enough, and the book may be divided into
+three parts: the first (1 Sam. i.-xiv.) dealing with Samuel and
+Saul, the second (i Sam. xv.-2 Sam. viii.) with Saul and David, and
+the third (2 Sam. ix.-xx., concluding with I Kings i., ii.) with
+David, xxi.-xxiv. being, like Judges xvii.-xxi., in the nature of an
+appendix.
+
+The book opens in the period of the Philistine wars. Samuel's birth,
+call and influence are described (I Sam. i.-iii.), and the
+disastrous defeat which Israel suffered at the hand of the
+Philistines. Jehovah, however, asserted His dignity, and the ark,
+which had been captured, was restored to Israel (iv.-vii.). But the
+peril had taught Israel her need of a king, and, by a providential
+course of events, Saul becomes the chosen man. He gains initial
+successes (viii.-xiv.).
+
+But, for a certain disobedience and impetuosity, his rejection by
+God is pronounced by Samuel, and David steps upon the arena of
+history as the coming king. His successes in war stung the
+melancholy Saul, who at first had loved him, into jealousy; and the
+tragedy of Saul's life deepens. Recognizing in the versatile David
+his almost certain successor, he seeks in various ways to compass
+his destruction, but more than once David repays his malice with
+generosity. Saul's persecution, however, is so persistent that David
+is compelled to flee, and he takes refuge with his country's enemy,
+the Philistine king of Gath. At the decisive battle between Israel
+and the Philistines on Gilboa, Saul perishes. Soon afterwards, David
+is made king of Judah; and emerging successfully from the subsequent
+struggle with Saul's surviving son, he becomes king over all Israel,
+seizes Jerusalem, and makes it his civil and religious capital (1
+Sam. xv.-2 Sam. viii.).
+
+ The story of his reign is told with great power and candour, and is
+full of the most diverse interest--his guilty passion for Bathsheba,
+which left its trail of sorrow over all his subsequent career, the
+dissensions in the royal family, the unsuccessful rebellion of his
+son Absalom, the strife between Israel and Judah (2 Sam. ix.-xx.).
+The story is concluded in 1 Kings i., ii., by an account of the
+intrigue which secured the succession of Solomon, and finally by the
+death and testament of David. The appendix, which interrupts the story
+and closes the book of Samuel (xxi.-xxiv.) consists of (_a_) two
+narratives, with a dominant religious interest, which chronologically
+appear to belong to the beginning of David's reign--the atonement by
+which Jehovah's anger, expressed in famine, was turned away from the
+land, xxi. 1-14, and the plague which, as a divine penalty, followed
+David's census of the people (xxiv.); (_b_) two psalms--a song
+of gratitude for God's gracious deliverances (xxii.=Ps. xviii.), and
+a brief psalm expressing confidence in the triumph of justice,
+xxiii. 1-7; (_c_) two lists of David's heroes and their deeds,
+xxi. 15-22, xxiii. 8-39.
+
+In the book of Samuel, even more distinctly than in the Hexateuch,
+composite authorship is apparent. Little or no attempt has been made
+by the redactor[1] to reduce, by omissions, adaptations, or
+corrections, the divergent sources to a unity, so that we are in the
+singularly fortunate position of possessing information which is
+exceedingly early, and in some cases all but contemporary, of
+persons, events and movements, which exercised the profoundest
+influence on the subsequent history of Israel. The book has been
+touched in a very few places by the Deuteronomic redactor--not to
+anything like the same extent as Judges or Kings. The few points at
+which he intervenes, however, are very significant; his hand is
+apparent in the threat of doom pronounced upon Eli's house (1 Sam.
+ii. 27-36),[2] in the account of the decisive battle against the
+Philistines represented as won for Israel by Samuel's intercession
+(1 Sam. vii. 3-16), in Samuel's farewell address to the people (1
+Sam. xii.) and--most important of all--in Nathan's announcement to
+David of the perpetuity of his dynasty (2 Sam. vii.). A study of
+these passages reveals the didactic interest so characteristic of
+the redactors.
+[Footnote 1: "Come and let us _renew_ the kingdom," 1 Sam. xi.
+14, is a redactional attempt to reconcile the two stories of the
+origin of the monarchy.]
+[Footnote 2: Cf. 2 Kings xxiii. 9; Deut, xviii. 6-8.]
+
+Such a book as Samuel offered little opportunity for a priestly
+redaction, but it has been touched here and there by a priestly
+hand, as we see from 1 Samuel vi. 15, with its belated introduction
+of the Levites to do what had been done already, v. 14, and from the
+very significant substitution of "all the Levites" for "Abiathar" in
+2 Samuel xv. 24, cf. 29.
+
+The composite quality of the book of Samuel could hardly fail to
+strike even a careless observer. Many of the events, both important
+and unimportant, are related twice under circumstances which render
+it practically impossible that two different incidents are recorded.
+Two explanations are given, e.g., of the origin of the saying, "Is
+Saul also among the prophets?" I Sam. x. 11, xix. 24. Similarly, the
+story of David's magnanimity in sparing Saul's life is twice told (1
+Sam. xxiv., xxvi.), and there is no allusion in the second narrative
+to the first, such as would be natural, if not necessary, on the
+assumption that the occasions were really different. There are also
+two accounts of David's sojourn among the Philistines and of his
+speedy departure from a situation fraught with so much peril (1 Sam.
+xxi. 10-15, xxvii., xxix.). Of course there are not unimportant
+differences between these two narratives: the voluntary departure of
+the one story becomes a courteous, though firm, dismissal in the
+other; but in the light of so many other unmistakable duplicates, it
+is hard to believe that these are not simply different versions of
+the same story. There are two accounts of the death of Saul:
+according to the one, he committed suicide (1 Sam. xxxi. 4),
+according to the other he was slain by an Amalekite (2 Sam. i. 10).
+The Amalekite's story may, of course, be fiction, but it is not
+necessary to suppose this.
+
+The differences between the duplicate accounts are sometimes so
+serious as to amount to incompatibility. In one document, e.g.,
+teraphim are found in the house of a devout worshipper of Jehovah, 1
+Sam. xix. 13, in another they are the symbol of an idolatry which is
+comparable to the worst of sins, 1 Sam. xv. 23. Again, there is no
+reason to doubt the statement in the apparently ancient record of
+the deeds of David's heroes, that Elhanan slew Goliath of Gath, 2
+Sam. xxi. 19. But if this be so, what becomes of the elaborate and
+romantic story of i Samuel xvii., which claims this honour for
+David? The difficulty created by this discrepancy was felt as early
+as the times of the chronicler, who surmounts it by asserting that
+it was the brother of Goliath whom Elhanan slew (1 Chron. xx. 5).
+Connected with this story are other difficulties affecting the
+relation of David to Saul. In this chapter, Saul is unacquainted
+with David, 1 Samuel xvii. 56, whereas in the preceding chapter
+David is not only present at his court, but has already won the
+monarch's love, xvi. 21. The David of the one chapter is quite
+unlike the David of the other; in xvi. 18 he is a mature man, a
+skilled and versatile minstrel-warrior, and the armour-bearer of the
+king; in xvii. 38, 39, he is a young shepherd boy who cannot wield a
+sword, and who cuts a sorry figure in a coat of mail. Many of these
+undoubted difficulties are removed by the Septuagint[1] which omits
+xvii. 12-31 ,41, 50, 55-xviii. 5, and the question is raised whether
+the Septuagint omitted these verses to secure a more consistent
+narrative, or whether they were wanting, as seems more probable, in
+the Hebrew text from which the Greek was translated. In that case
+these verses, which give an idyllic turn (cf. ch. xvi.) to the story
+of David, may have been added after the Greek version was written,
+i.e, hardly earlier than 250 B.C., and a curious light would thus be
+shed upon the history of the text and on the freedom with which it
+was treated by later Jewish scholars. Equally striking and important
+are the conflicting conceptions of the monarchy entertained in the
+earlier part of the book. One source regards it as a blessing and a
+gift of Jehovah; the first king is anointed by divine commission "to
+be prince over my people Israel, and he shall save my people out of
+the hand of the Philistines," 1 Sam. ix. 16; the other regards the
+request for an earthly king as a rejection of the divine king, and
+the monarchy as destined to prove a vexation, if not a curse
+(viii.). Centuries seem to separate these conceptions--the one
+expressing the exuberant enthusiasm with which the monarchy was
+initiated, the other--perhaps about Hosea's time (cf. Hosea viii.
+4)--reflecting the melancholy experience of its essential
+impotence.[2]
+[Footnote 1: The Greek text of Samuel is often of great value. In 1
+Sam. xiv. 18 it preserves the undoubtedly original reading, "bring
+hither _the ephod_, for he carried the ephod that day before
+Israel," instead of "Being hither the ark of God." and in _ v_.
+41 the Greek version makes it clear that the Urim and Thummim were
+the means employed to determine the lot.]
+[Footnote 2: If other proof were wanted that the book is not an
+original literary unit, it might be found in the occasional
+interruption of the natural order. 2 Sam. xxi.-xxiv. is the most
+extensive and obvious interruption. But 2 Sam. iii. 2-5 is also out
+of place, it goes with v. 6-16. So I Sam. xviii. 10, 11, which is
+really a duplication of xix, 9, 10 is psychologically inappropriate
+at so early a stage.]
+
+These considerations suggest that at any rate as far as 2 Samuel
+viii.--for it is universally admitted that 2 Samuel ix.-xx. is
+homogeneous--there are at least two sources, which some would
+identify, though upon grounds that are not altogether convincing,
+with the Jehovist and Elohist documents in the Hexateuch. One of
+these sources is distinctly early and the other distinctly late, and
+the early source contains much ancient and valuable material. Its
+recognition of Samuel as a local seer willing to tell for a small
+piece of money where stray asses have gone, its enthusiastic
+attitude to the monarchy, its obvious delight in the splendid
+presence and powers of Saul, its intimate knowledge of the ecstatic
+prophets, its conception of the ark as a sort of fetish whose
+presence insures victory--all these things bespeak for the document
+that relates them a high antiquity. The other document represents
+Samuel as a great judge and virtual regent over all Israel, it has a
+wide experience of the evils of monarchy, it idealizes David, and it
+regards Saul as a "rejected" man. It is possible that these
+documents, in their original form, were biographical--Saul being the
+chief hero in the one and David in the other. A biography of Samuel,
+which may or may not have included the story of the war with the
+Philistines (I Sam. iv.-vii. 2), possibly existed separately, though
+in its present form it is interwoven with the story of Saul.
+
+It would be difficult to overpraise the literary and historical
+genius of the writer who in 2 Samuel ix.-xx. traces the checkered
+course of David's reign. He has an unusually intimate knowledge of
+the period, a clear sense of the forces that mould history, a
+delicate insight into the springs of character, and an estimable
+candour in portraying the weakness as well as the strength of his
+hero. The writer's knowledge is so intimate that one is tempted to
+suppose that he must have been a contemporary; and yet such a phrase
+as "to this day," 2 Sam. xviii. 18, unless it be redactional, almost
+compels us to come lower down. Probably, however, it is not later
+than the time of Solomon, whose reign appears to have been marked by
+literary as well as commercial activity.[1]
+[Footnote l: The Book of Jashar, whose latest known reference comes
+from the reign of Solomon (cf. p.102), is supposed by some to have
+been edited in that reign.]
+
+The last four chapters, which interrupt the main narrative, contain
+some ancient and some late material. The two tales, xxi. 1-14,
+xxiv., which have much in common, were preserved because of their
+religious interest; and although part of ch. xxiv. (cf. _vv_.
+10-14) is in the later style, both stories throw much welcome light
+on the early religious ideas of Israel. Of the poems 2 Samuel xxii.
+in its present form can hardly be David's,[1] and the same doubt may
+be fairly entertained with regard to xxiii. 1-7. Even if _v_. 1
+be not an imitation of Numbers xxiv. 3, 15, it is hardly likely that
+David would have described himself in terms of the last clause of
+this verse. The eschatological complexion of _vv_. 6, 7 also
+suggests, though perhaps it does not compel, a later date; further,
+it is not exactly in favour of the Davidic authorship of either of
+these psalms that they are found in a section which was obviously
+interpolated later.[2] On the other hand, there can be no reasonable
+doubt that the incomparable elegy over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel
+i. 19-27 is David's. Poetically it is a gem of purest ray; but,
+though its position in the book of Jashar[3] shows that it was
+regarded as a religious poem, it strikes no distinctively religious
+note. The little fragment on the death of Abner, 2 Sam. iii. 33ff.,
+is also no doubt his.
+[Footnote 1: See pp. 247, 248.]
+[Footnote 2: The song of Hannah, 1 Sam. ii. 1-10, is proof that later
+editors inserted poems at points which they deemed appropriate. If
+the "anointed king," for whom prayer is offered in _v_. 10, be
+one of the historical kings, then the Ps. is pre-exilic; if the
+Messianic king of the latter days, post-exilic. But in neither case
+could the prayer be Hannah's, as there was no king yet. The clause in
+_v_. 5--"the barren hath borne seven"--suggested the interpolation
+of the poem at this point.]
+[Footnote 3: This may either mean the book of the upright or brave,
+i.e. the heroes of Israel, or it may mean the book of Israel herself.]
+
+The book of Samuel offers a large contribution to our knowledge of
+the early religion of Israel. It presents us with a practical
+illustration of the rigorous obligations of the ban (1 Sam. xv.), of
+the effects of technical holiness (1 Sam. xxi. 4, 5), of the
+appearance of the images known as teraphim (1 Sam. xix. 13), of the
+usages of necromancy (1 Sam. xxviii.), of the peril of unavenged
+bloodshed (2 Sam. xxi.), of the almost idolatrous regard for the ark
+(1 Sam. iv.), of the nature of the lot (1 Sam. xiv. 41, lxx.), of
+the place of fasting and the inviolability of oaths (1 Sam. xiv.).
+To the student of human nature, the book is peculiarly rich in
+material. The career of David and still more that of Saul--David
+with his weakness and his magnanimity, and Saul, a noble character,
+ruined by jealousy and failure combined working upon a
+predisposition to melancholy--present a most fascinating
+psychological study. The ethical interest, too, though seldom
+obtruded, is always present. In the parable of Nathan, it receives
+direct and dramatic expression; but the whole story of David's reign
+is haunted by a sense of the Nemesis of sin.
+
+
+
+
+KINGS
+
+
+The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical
+narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with
+some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the
+most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large
+measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than
+four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession
+of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable
+fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), then carries on the history of the
+monarchy in both countries from the disruption to the fall of the
+northern kingdom (1 Kings xii.-2 Kings xvii.), and traces the story
+of Judah from that point to the exile (2 Kings xviii.-xxv.).
+[Footnote 1: Originally and till 1517 A.D. Kings was reckoned in the
+Hebrew Bible as one book. The Greek translation reckons it as two
+books, which it entitles the third and fourth books of the kingdoms,
+the first two being represented by the two books of Samuel.]
+
+During this period events of epoch-making importance in politics and
+religion were taking place. In it literary prophecy was born, trade
+and commerce arose with their inevitable cleavage of society into
+the rich and the poor, the northern kingdom disappeared as a
+political force, and many of her people were carried into exile.
+Judah was dominated in turn by Assyria and Babylonia, with the
+result that her religious usages were profoundly affected by theirs.
+But of all this we learn very little from the book of Kings. Most of
+what we do know of the inner history of the period comes from the
+prophets. To understand the state of society, e.g. in the time of
+Jeroboam II, we go not to the book of Kings but to Amos and Hosea.
+
+Again the perspective is strange. It is not only that brief reigns
+like those of Shallum and Pekahiah (2 Kings xv.) are dismissed in a
+verse or two, but even long and very important reigns, such as that
+of Jeroboam II. (2 Kings xiv. 23-29). Omri, the father of Ahab, was,
+we know, a much more important person than the few verses devoted to
+him in I Kings xvi. 21-28 would lead us to suppose. The reign of
+Ahab himself, on the other hand, is dealt with at considerable
+length (I Kings xvi. 29-xxii. 40), and Solomon receives no less than
+nine chapters (I Kings iii.-xi.). The stories of Jeroboam I (I Kings
+xii.), Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii.-xx.), Josiah (2 Kings xxii. ff.) are
+told with comparative fulness. Whenever the narrative begins to
+expand it is plain that the interest of the author is predominantly
+and almost exclusively religious; in other words, his aim is to
+write not a political, but an ecclesiastical history. This at once
+explains his insertions and omissions. Omri's reign was not marked
+by anything of conspicuous importance to religion, while it was
+under Ahab that the great struggle of Jehovah worship against
+Baalism took place. Solomon is of unique importance, as he was the
+founder of the temple. Hezekiah's career touches that of the prophet
+Isaiah, while his reign and Josiah's are marked by attempts at
+religious reform. The author is writing for men who have access to
+records of the political history, and to these "chronicles of the
+kings of Israel and Judah," as they are called, he repeatedly refers
+readers who are interested in the political facts.
+
+Finally, though some of the narratives--notably the Elijah group-are
+dramatic and powerful to the last degree, the book has not, generally
+speaking, that flexibility and movement which we are accustomed to look
+for in a modern historian. It has been artificially conformed to a
+scheme. The various kings are introduced and dismissed and their reigns
+are criticized, in set formulae, and these formulae are Deuteronomic.
+With the exception of Hezekiah, all the kings before Josiah are implicitly
+condemned for worshipping upon the high places; and the centralization of
+the worship at Jerusalem was, as we have already seen, the chief feature
+of the Deuteronomic legislation. The book of Kings, like Joshua, Judges
+and Samuel (in part), has been subjected to a Deuteronomic redaction, of
+which the most obvious feature is the summary notice and criticism
+of the various kings. This redaction cannot have taken place earlier
+than 621 B.C. (the date of the publication of Deuteronomy) nor later
+than 597 B.C., as the reference to the chronicles of the kings of
+Judah ceases with the reign of Jehoiakim, 2 Kings xxiv. 5. Parts of
+the book presuppose that the temple is still standing, I Kings viii.
+29, and the exile not yet an accomplished fact. There was, however,
+a later redaction some years after the pardon of Jehoiachin in 561
+B.C. (2 Kings xxv. 27), and sporadic traces of this are seen
+throughout the book, parts of which clearly imply the exile, 1 Kings
+viii. 46, 47, and the destruction of the temple, 1 Kings ix. 7, 8.
+These redactions are known to criticism as D and D2 respectively.
+
+On none of the historical books has the influence of Deuteronomy
+been so pervasive as on Kings. The importance of the Deuteronomic
+law receives emphatic reiteration, 1 Kings ii. 3, 4, ix. 1-9, and
+once that law is cited practically word for word, 2 Kings xiv. 6;
+cf. Deut. xxiv. 16. Naturally the affairs of the temple as the
+exclusive seat of the true worship receive considerable attention.
+This explains the elaborate treatment accorded to the reign of
+Solomon, who founded the temple, and to the description of the
+temple itself (1 Kings vi.); and on his prayer of dedication the
+Deuteronomic influence is very conspicuous (1 Kings viii.). It is
+also unmistakable in the chapter which concludes the story of the
+northern kingdom and attempts to account for the disaster (2 Kings
+xvii.). The chapter presents what may be called a Deuteronomic
+philosophy of history, corresponding to the scheme which is thrown
+into the forefront of the book of Judges (ii. 6-iii. 6). Traces of a
+hand that is still later than the second Deuteronomic redaction are
+to be found here and there in the book; e.g., in 1 Kings viii. 4,
+the Levites are a later insertion to satisfy the requirements of the
+post-exilic priestly law--the words are not supported by the
+Septuagint. Here we see the influence of the priestly point of view,
+but the traces are far too few to justify us in speaking of a
+priestly redaction; the course which such a redaction would have
+taken we see from the book of Chronicles. But that the book was
+touched by post-exilic hands is certain; 1 Kings xiii. 32 actually
+speaks of "the cities of Samaria," a phrase which implies that
+Samaria was a province, as it was not till after the exile.
+
+It is fortunate that one of the longest, most important, and
+impressive sections of the book--the Elijah and Elisha narratives (1
+Kings xvii.-2 Kings viii., xiii. l4-2l)--has not been touched by the
+Deuteronomic redaction. The Elijah narratives not only recognize the
+existence of altars all over the land, 1 Kings xix. 10, but the
+great contest between Jehovah and Baal is actually decided at the
+sanctuary on Carmel, xviii. 20, a sanctuary which, by the
+Deuteronomic law, was illegal. Again, the advice given by Elisha to
+cut down the fruit trees in time of war, 2 Kings iii. 19, is in
+direct contravention of the Deuteronomic law (Deut. xx. 19). These
+narratives must precede the redaction of the book by a century and a
+half or more, and we have them pretty much as they left the hand of
+the original writers. A post-exilic hand, however, is evident in 1
+Kings xviii. 31, 32_a_. To a later age, which believed in the
+exclusive rights of Jerusalem, the altar on Carmel, which was said
+to be repaired by Elijah, _v._ 30, was naturally an offence; so
+the repairing of this old altar is represented as the erection of a
+new and special one, typical of the unity of Israel. The lateness of
+the insertion is further proved by its containing a quotation from P
+(Gen. xxxv. 10).
+
+As the book was redacted by Judean writers, it is not unnatural that
+the summary notices of the kings of Judah are more elaborate than
+those of Israel. In the former case, but not in the latter, the age
+of the king at his accession and the name of his mother are
+mentioned. One curious feature of these notices is that the
+statement of a king's accession, whether in Israel or Judah, is
+always accompanied by a statement of the corresponding year in the
+contemporary reign of the sister kingdom. The notices conform to
+this type: "In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam, king of
+Israel, began Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah, to reign," 2
+Kings xv. 1. It is practically certain that these synchronisms, as
+they are called, are not contemporary but the work of the redactors.
+There is no reason to suppose that the kings of either country would
+have dated their own reigns with reference to the other; besides,
+the synchronisms do not strictly agree with the other chronological
+notices of the reigns. The period between the division of the
+kingdoms and the fall of Samaria is estimated as 260 years in the
+story of the kings of Judah, but only as 242 in the case of Israel.
+Probably the original documents contained the number of years in the
+reign, and the dates of the more important events; but the
+synchronisms represent an artificial scheme created by the redactor.
+Traces of such a system are present in 1 Kings vi. 1, according to
+which 480 years, i.e. twelve generations of forty years each,
+elapsed between the exodus and the building of the temple.
+
+So much for the redaction; what, then, were the sources of the
+redaction? Three are expressly mentioned--the book of the acts of
+Solomon, 1 Kings xi. 41, the book of the chronicles of the kings of
+Israel, and the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. The
+nature of these books may be inferred, partly from the facts
+recorded in our book of Kings, and especially from the facts in
+support of which they are cited. They seem to have contained, e.g.,
+accounts of wars, conquests, conspiracies, buildings, 1 Kings xiv.
+19, xv. 23, xvi. 20, but it is not probable that they were official
+annals. There was indeed a court official whose name is sometimes
+translated "the recorder," 2 Sam. viii. 16, 1 Kings iv. 3. But
+besides the probable inaccuracy of this translation,[1] it is very
+unlikely that, in the northern kingdom at any rate, with its
+frequent revolutions, court annals were continuously kept; the
+annalist could hardly have recorded the questionable steps by which
+his monarch often succeeded to the throne, though doubtless official
+documents were extant, capable of forming material for the
+subsequent historian. But in any case, the chronicles to which the
+book of Kings refers cannot have been official annals; it is assumed
+that they are accessible to everybody, as they would not have been
+had they been official chronicles. They were in all probability
+finished political histories, something like the elaborate section
+devoted to Solomon in our present book of Kings. The chronicles of
+the kings of Israel and Judah probably formed, not one book, as has
+been supposed, but two; the same event, e.g., the campaign of
+Hazael, is sometimes mentioned in two distinct and independent
+connections, 2 Kings x. 32, xiii. 3, cf. xii. 18f.--a fact which
+further suggests that the redactor treated his sources with at least
+comparative fidelity.
+[Footnote 1: The word strictly means "one who calls to mind," and
+would appropriately designate an official who brought the affairs of
+the kingdom before the king.]
+
+The book of Kings, as we have seen, concentrates attention almost
+exclusively on the religious elements in the history, and these were
+determined largely by the prophets. It is not surprising, therefore,
+that many of the longer sections deal with the utterances or
+activities of prophets at critical junctures of the history. The
+part played by Ahijah at the time of the disruption of the kingdom,
+by Elijah in the great struggle between Baal and Jehovah worship, by
+Elisha during the Aramean assaults upon Israel, by Isaiah at the
+invasion of Sennacherib--these and similar episodes are dealt with
+so fully as to suggest that biographies of the prophets, written
+possibly by literary members of the prophetic order, were at the
+disposal of the redactors of the book of Kings. Temple affairs are
+also discussed, from the days of Solomon to Josiah (I Kings vi.
+vii., 2 Kings xi., xii., xvi., xxii., xxiii.), with a sympathy and a
+minuteness which almost suggest the inference that a regular temple
+history was kept; but occasional statements which are anything but
+flattering to the priests (2 Kings xii. 7, 15) render the inference
+somewhat precarious.
+
+Besides the chronicles and biographies, there are hints that the
+redactors had access to other sources. The words in which Solomon
+dedicated the temple, only partially preserved in the Hebrew, are,
+by a very probable emendation of the Greek text, taken from the book
+of Jashar:--
+
+  The sun hath Jehovah set in the heavens,
+  He himself hath determined to dwell in the darkness.
+  And so I have built Thee an house to dwell in,
+  Even a place to abide in for ever and ever.
+  (1 Kings viii. 12, 13; Septuagint, _v._ 53).
+
+Again, 1 Kings xx., xxii. appears to come from a different source
+from the Elijah narratives in 1 Kings xvii.-xix., xxi. The former
+section takes a distinctly more favourable view of Ahab than the
+Elijah stories do, and, unlike them, it alludes to Ahab seldom by
+name, but usually as "the king of Israel"; further, in it the great
+prophet of the period is Micah rather than Elijah. Both these groups
+of narrative belong no doubt to the northern kingdom.[1]
+[Footnote 1: Chs. xx., xxii. obviously so; but no less xvii.-xix.,
+xxi., for in 1 Kings xix. 3 Beersheba is described as belonging to
+Judah. A Judean writer would not have appended such a note.]
+
+It is important to consider the value of the sources of the book of
+Kings. We have already seen that the redactor occasionally deals
+with them in a spirit of praiseworthy scrupulousness, repeating the
+same fact from different sources, and making no attempt to dovetail
+the one narrative into the other. Sometimes the sources have been
+demonstrably followed word for word, phrases like _to this day_
+being used of situations which had passed away by the time the book
+was redacted.[1] The facts, though lamentably meagre, have usually
+the appearance of being thoroughly trustworthy; the quotation from
+the book of Jashar is no doubt as genuine as it is interesting, and
+the brief account of the submission of Hezekiah to the tribute
+imposed by Sennacherib, 2 Kings xviii. 14-16, is supported by the
+Assyrian records. But it is evident that the history does not always
+rest upon contemporary sources, and that early events and
+personalities are touched with the colours of legend or romance.
+Much of the story of Solomon, e.g., is unmistakably historical--his
+luxury, his effeminacy, his commerce, his unscrupulousness. But
+there are stories of another sort which, on the face of them, must
+be decades, if not centuries, later than Solomon's reign. "There
+came no more," we are informed, "such abundance of spices as those
+which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon" (1 Kings x. 10). The
+age of Solomon is clearly long past, and his glory has been enhanced
+by the lapse of time; for "silver was nothing accounted of in the
+days of Solomon," x. 21. Tales are told of his almost fabulous
+revenue, x. 14, which can hardly be reconciled with the story of his
+loan from Hiram, ix. 14. The story of Solomon is really a
+compilation, and its various elements are by no means all of the
+same historical value.
+[Footnote 1: E.g., 1 Kings xii. 19 implies the existence of Israel,
+and 2 Kings viii. 22 (Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah
+unto this day) ignores the later conquest of Edom by Amaziah, xiv.
+7.]
+
+The career of Elisha is also seen through the colours of a rich and
+reverent imagination. It is, in the main, intended to be a replica
+of Elijah's, and many of his miracles are obviously suggested by
+his. The story of Elisha's resuscitation of the dead child is an
+expansion of the similar story told of Elijah (2 Kings iv., 1 Kings
+xvii.), and his miracle wrought in behalf of the widow, 2 Kings iv.
+1-7, is modelled on a similar miracle wrought by Elijah, 1 Kings
+xvii. 8-16. There is further an element of magic in his miracles
+which differentiates them from Elijah's, and throws them more upon
+the level of mediaeval hagiography; such, e.g., as the floating of
+the iron upon the water, or the raising of a dead man by contact
+with the prophet's bones. The Elijah narratives, on the other hand,
+represent a higher type of religious thought. The figure of that
+great prophet may also have been glorified by tradition, but in any
+case his was a personality of the most commanding power. He was
+indeed fortunate in his biographer; his story is told with great
+dramatic and literary art. In its account of the struggle with the
+greed of Ahab and the licentiousness of Baalism, it sheds a
+brilliant light upon one of the most crucial epochs of Hebrew
+history. Even this story, however, is not all of a piece. There is
+linguistic and other evidence that the chapter (2 Kings i.), in
+which two companies of fifty men are consumed by fire from heaven at
+the word of Elijah, is very late. In the story, which is rather
+mechanical and lacks the splendid dramatic power of the other Elijah
+stories, the prophet is only a wonder-worker, and his action is not
+determined by any moral consideration. It was not so much the spirit
+of Elijah himself, but rather that of the late redactor, that Jesus
+rebuked, when He said to His disciples, who quoted the prophet's
+conduct for a precedent, "Ye know not what spirit ye are of."
+
+Perhaps the chapter of least historical value in the book of Kings
+is that in which Jeroboam I is condemned and denounced for his
+idolatry at Bethel (1 Kings xiii.). It contains an unparelleled
+instance of predictive prophecy: Josiah is foretold by name three
+centuries before he appears, _v._ 2. The difficulty of this
+prediction is so keenly felt that one orthodox commentator feels
+constrained to dispose of it by assuming that the name is to be
+taken, not as a proper name, but in its etymological sense as one
+whom "Jehovah supports," The sudden withering of the hand and its
+equally sudden restoration to health are hardly more surprising than
+the definite prediction of the fate of the idolatrous priests,
+_v._ 2,--a prediction which appears to be fulfilled to the
+letter, 2 Kings xxiii. 16-18. But when we examine the account of the
+fulfilment, we find that the passage is later than its context[1]
+and inconsistent with it. The conduct of the "old prophet," whose
+lying counsel is attributed to an angel, is, morally considered,
+disreputable, and it is surely no accident that the man of God,
+whose message and fate are thus strangely told, is anonymous,
+though, as the opponent of the famous Jeroboam I, the leader of the
+disruption, he ought to have been well known. The vagueness and
+improbabilities of the story can only be accounted for by its very
+late date. Fortunately we are able to show that the story is, at the
+earliest, post-exilic. As we have already seen, there is an allusion
+in _v_. 32 to the cities of Samaria, which implies that Samaria
+was a province, and stamps the passage at once as post-exilic. Even
+within the post-exilic period, it probably falls quite late--a
+precursor of the book of Chronicles. The historical spirit is in
+abeyance, and edification is the only consideration. The story is a
+late attempt to illustrate the great truth that God's word is
+immutable and must be uncompromisingly obeyed.
+[Footnote 1: Verse 16, in which the bones are burned on the altar,
+contradicts _v._ 15, in which the altar is already destroyed.]
+
+The religious value of the book of Kings is general rather than
+particular. There are individual sections of great religious power
+and value--most of all the great group of Elijah narratives; but the
+book has been shorn, by the thoroughness of the redaction, of much
+that would have been of the deepest interest to the modern student
+of Israel's religious no less than political development. Taken as a
+whole, it has a certain melancholy grandeur. Beginning in the
+splendid glitter of Solomon's reign, the monarchy passed with
+unsteady gait across the centuries, menaced by foes without and
+within, and ended at last in the irretrievable disaster of exile.
+But through the sombre march of history, a divine purpose was being
+accomplished. The disaster which swallowed up the nation renewed and
+spiritualized the religion, and thus the seeming loss proved great
+gain.
+
+
+
+
+ISAIAH
+
+
+CHAPTERS I-XXXIX
+
+Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are
+those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in
+which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a
+statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who
+read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary
+Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his
+long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he
+bore testimony, as unremitting as it was brilliant, to the
+indefeasible supremacy of the unseen forces that shape history, and
+to the quiet strength that comes from confidence in God.
+
+During this period three events stand out as of unique importance:
+the coalition--due to fear of Assyria--formed by Aram and Israel
+against Judah in 735 B.C. (vii. 1-ix. 6), the capture of Samaria by
+the Assyrians in 721 B.C., and the deliverance of Jerusalem in 701
+B.C. from the menace of Sennacherib. In these and in all crises,
+Isaiah's message was a religious one, but instinct, as the sequel
+showed, with political wisdom. It rested ultimately upon the vision
+with which his ministry had been inaugurated--the vision of the
+King, the Lord of hosts, upon a throne high and lifted up, whose
+glory filled the whole earth.
+
+The King was "holy," partly, no doubt, in the ethical sense--for the
+man of unclean lips is afraid in His presence--but also partly in
+the older sense of being separated, elevated, lifted above the
+chances and changes of humanity. Holiness here is almost equivalent
+to majesty, it is the other side of the divine glory; and it is this
+thought that inspires the message of Isaiah with such serene
+confidence. His God is on the throne of the universe: He is the Lord
+of hosts. His purposes concern not only Judah, but the whole world,
+xiv. 26, and His kingdom must eventually come. Therefore it is that
+when, at the news of the confederacy of Aram and Israel against
+Judah, "the heart of Ahaz and his people shook as shake the forest
+trees before the wind," vii. 2, Isaiah remains firm as a rock; for,
+to paraphrase his own great alliterative words, "Faith brings
+fixity," vii. 9b. This word of his early ministry is also one of his
+latest (701): "he who believeth shall not give way," xxviii. 16.
+That is the precious foundation stone that abides unshaken amid the
+shock of circumstance, and can bear any weight that may be thrown
+upon it. This, then, is Isaiah's great contribution to religion: he
+is before all things, the prophet of faith. "In quietness and
+confidence your strength shall be," xxx. 15.
+
+It is easy from this point of view to understand the scorn which
+Isaiah heaps upon the common objects of men's trust, whether ships,
+walls or towers (ii.), lip-worship, xxix. 13f., or the gorgeous
+services of the sanctuary, cunning diplomacy or the projected
+alliance with Egypt or Assyria (xxx.). Isaiah is the sworn foe of
+materialism: the contrast between human and divine resource is to
+him nothing less than infinite. "The Egyptians are men, and not God;
+and their horses flesh, and not spirit," (xxxi. 3). It is in harmony
+with this insistence upon the supremacy of the spiritual that Isaiah
+regarded religion as separable not only from political form, but
+even from ecclesiastical organization; for (if the text of viii.
+16_b_ can be trusted) he committed his message not to the
+contemporary church, but to a few disciples, transforming thereby
+the existing conception of the church, and taking a step of
+immeasurable significance for the development of true religion.
+
+The majesty and originality of Isaiah's thought have their
+counterpart in his language. Very powerful, e.g., is his description
+of the Assyrian army--
+
+  See! hastily, swiftly he comes,
+    None weary, none stumbling among them,
+  The band of his loins never loosed,
+    The thong of his shoes never torn.
+  His arrows are sharpened,
+    His bows are all bent.
+  The hoofs of his horses are counted as flint,
+    And his wheels as the whirlwind.
+  His roar is like that of the lioness.
+    And like the young lions he roars,
+  Thundering, seizing the prey,
+  And bearing it off to a place of security.
+  v. 26-29.
+
+The book is full of poetry as fine as this. Whether describing the
+mighty roar of the sea, xvii. 12-14, or Jehovah's power to defend
+Israel, xxxi. 4, or singing a tender vineyard song (v.); Isaiah is
+equally at home. He effects his transitions with consummate skill:
+note, e.g., the swift application he makes of the parable of the
+vineyard, v. 5-7, or the scathing retort he makes to those who
+complain of the monotony and repetition of his message (xxviii.
+11).[1]
+[Footnote 1: The real irony of this passage, xxviii. 10-13, can only
+be appreciated in the Hebrew.]
+
+The prophecies that fall within the first thirty-nine chapters are
+practically all on a very high religious and literary level; yet it
+is all but universally conceded that they are not entirely from the
+hand of Isaiah. Some prophecies, e.g. xiii., xiv., may be nearly two
+centuries later than his time, others, e.g. xxiv.-xxvii, four or six;
+indeed large sections or fragments of the book are relegated by the
+more radical critics to the second century B.C. and connected with the
+Maccabean times. But even the more conservative scholars admit that
+several oracles of Isaiah have been worked over by later hands,
+possibly by pupils, and that isolated sections, e.g. xxiv.-xxvii.,
+have to be relegated to the post-exilic age, and even to a comparatively
+late period within that age. These questions can only be settled, if at
+all, by exegetical, theological and historical considerations, for which
+this is not the place; but in sketching the contents of the various
+prophecies, the more probable alternatives will be indicated, where a
+solution is important.
+
+It is plain that the present order of the book is not strictly
+chronological; otherwise it would have begun with the inaugural
+vision which now appears in ch. vi. Generally speaking, there are six
+more or less sharply articulated divisions in the first thirty-nine
+chapters, i.-xii., xiii.-xxiii., xxiv.-xxvii., xxviii.-xxxiii.,
+xxxiv.-xxxv., xxxvi.-xxxix.
+
+
+Chs, i.-xii. _Prophecies concerning Judah, Jerusalem (and
+Israel_)
+
+The first division, like the fourth, deals in the main with Judah
+and Jerusalem. As the next division, xiii.-xxiii., deals with
+foreign peoples, i.1 can serve as a preface only to the first
+division and not to the whole book. The prophecy opens with an
+arraignment of Judah, intensely ethical in spirit. It was placed
+here, not because it was first in point of time, but as a sort of
+frontispiece; for, though the different sections of the ch., e.g.
+_vv_. 2-9, 10-20, may come from different times, the first at
+any rate implies the ravaging of Judah, i. 7, and appears to point
+to the invasion of Sennacherib in 701 B.C.: it would thus be one of
+the latest in the book. The land is wasted, the body politic
+diseased, i. 1-9; the people seek the favour of their God by
+assiduous and costly ceremony, which the prophet answers by an
+appeal for a moral instead of a ritual service, _vv_. 10-20.
+But, as injustice and idolatry are rampant, they will be surely
+punished, _vv_. 21-31.
+
+As a foil to this picture of the depravity of Zion, a foil also to
+the immediately succeeding description of her pride and idolatry, is
+the beautiful vision of Zion in the issue of the days, ii. 2-5, as
+the city to which all nations shall resort for religious
+instruction, and their obedience to the expressed will of the God of
+Zion will usher in a reign of universal peace. The passage appears,
+with an additional verse, in Micah iv. 1-5, where it seems to be
+preserved in a more original form; yet Isaiah can hardly have
+borrowed it from Micah, who was younger than he. It used to be
+supposed that both adopted it from an older poet. But the contents
+of the oracle, assigning as it does a world-wide significance to
+Zion, its temple, and its _torah_, while not absolutely
+incompatible with Isaianic authorship, rather point to a post-exilic
+date. We are the more at liberty to assume that the passage was
+later inserted as a foil to the preceding description of Zion as
+Sodom, as neither in Isaiah nor in Micah does it fit the context.
+
+The general theme of ii.-iv. is the divine judgment which will fall
+on all the foolish pride of Judah. How it will come, Isaiah does not
+say--the prophecy is one of the earliest (735?)--but the storm that
+will sweep across the land will reveal the impotence of superstition
+and idolatry and material resources of every kind, ii. 6-22. All the
+supports of Judah's political life will be taken away: indeed, the
+leaders are either so weak or rapacious that the country is already
+as good as ruined, iii. 1-15; and the women, who are as guilty as
+the men, will also be involved in their doom, iii. 16-iv. 1.
+Strangely enough, this eloquent threat of judgment ends in a vision
+of comfort and peace, iv. 2-6. The land is one day to be wondrously
+fruitful, her people to be cleansed and holy, and the glory of
+Jehovah will be over Zion as a shelter and shade. The theological
+implications of this last passage seem late, and it was probably
+appended by another hand than Isaiah's as a contrast and
+consolation.
+
+Then follows a lament, in the form of a vineyard song, which
+skilfully ends in a denunciation of Judah, the vineyard of Jehovah,
+v. 1-7, merging thereafter into a sixfold woe, pronounced upon her
+rapacious land-holders, drunkards, sceptics, enemies of the moral
+order, worldly wise men, besotted and unjust judges, v. 8-24. This
+is fittingly followed by the announcement that Jehovah will summon
+against Judah the swift, unwearied and invincible hosts of Assyria,
+v. 25-30.
+
+In the noble vision (740 B.C.) which inaugurated his prophetic
+ministry (vi.), Isaiah saw the glorious Jehovah attended by seraphim
+and received from Him the call to go forth and deliver his message
+to an unbelieving people. This vision appropriately introduces the
+prophecies proper in vii.-xii.; but it is practically certain that
+though the vision itself was early, the account of it is later. The
+hopelessness of his prospective ministry looks rather like the
+retrospect of a disappointing experience. Though Isaiah elsewhere
+expresses his faith in the salvation of a remnant, this chapter
+asserts the utter annihilation of the people, _vv_. 11-13_ab_.
+An attempt has been made to relieve the gloom in the last clause of
+the chapter, _v_. 13 _c_, by a comparison of the stump of
+the tree that remained, after felling, to the holy seed; but this
+clause, which is wanting in the Septuagint, and utterly blunts the
+keen edge of the prophecy, is no part of the original chapter.
+
+The next section, vii. i-ix. 6, plunges us into the war which the
+allied arms of Aram and Israel waged against Judah in 735, doubtless
+in the desire to force her to join a coalition against Assyria.
+Isaiah, vii. 1-17, seeks to reassure the faith of the trembling king
+Ahaz; and when Ahaz refuses to put the prophetic word to the test,
+Isaiah boldly declares that the land will be delivered from the
+menace before two or three years are over; and many a child--or it
+may be some particular child--soon to be born, will be given the
+name Immanuel, and will thereby bear witness to the faith that,
+despite the stress of invasion, God will not forget His people, but
+that He "is with us."[1] To the same period, but probably not the
+same occasion, belongs the prophecy of the devastation of Judah by
+Assyria, vii. 18-25. But the blow is to fall first, and within two
+or three years, on Aram and Israel, with their respective capitals.
+It did not fall so quickly as Isaiah had expected: Damascus was
+indeed taken in 732, but Samaria not till 721: in spirit, however,
+if not in the letter, the prophecy was fulfilled, viii. 1-4. The
+unbelief of Judah will also be punished by the hosts of Assyria, but
+the ultimate purpose of Jehovah will not be frustrated, viii. 5-10.
+He alone is to be feared, and no combination of confederate kings
+need alarm, viii. 11-15. The prophet commits his message to his
+disciples, and with patience and confidence looks for vindication to
+the future, viii. 16-18. Desperate days would come, viii. 19-91, but
+they would be followed by a brilliant day of redemption when Jehovah
+would remove the yoke from the shoulder of His burdened people by
+sending them a glorious prince with the fourfold name.
+[Footnote 1: vii. 8_b_]
+
+This latter prophecy, ix. 2-7, has been denied to Isaiah, but
+apparently with insufficient reason. The passage falls very
+naturally into its context. The northern districts of Israel (ix. 1)
+had been ravaged by Assyria in 734 B.C. (2 Kings xv. 29), and upon
+this darkness it is fitting that the great light should shine; and
+the yoke to be broken might well be the heavy tribute Judah was now
+obliged to pay. There are undoubted difficulties, e.g. the mention
+of a Davidic king, ix. 7, after a specific reference to the fortunes
+of Israel over which the Davidic king had no jurisdiction; and it is
+probable that we do not possess the oracle in its original form or
+completeness. But, in any case, the vision of the righteous and
+prosperous king ruling over a delivered people fittingly closes this
+series of somewhat loosely connected oracles.
+
+The next section, ix. 8-x. 4, forms a very artistic whole,
+consisting of four strophes, each of four verses,[1] concluding with
+the refrain--
+
+  For all this His wrath is not turned,
+  And His hand is stretched out still.
+
+The poem, which falls about 734, lashes the pride and ambition of
+_Israel_ (not Judah) and threatens her people with loss of
+territory and population, anarchy and civil war. The passage was
+probably originally followed by v. 26-29, which has a similar
+refrain, and which, with its vivid description of the terrible
+Assyrian army, would form an admirable climax to this poem.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. ix. 8 is an introduction and _v_. 13 an
+interpolation.]
+
+Chs. x. 5-xii. 6. Assyria, then, is the instrument with which
+Jehovah chastises Israel. But because she executes her task in a
+spirit of presumption and pride, she in her turn is doomed to
+destruction; but the remnant of Jehovah's people will be saved, x.
+5-27. The gradual approach of the Assyrians to Jerusalem is then
+described in language full of word-play, _vv_, 28-32, which
+forcibly reminds us of a very similar passage in Isaiah's
+contemporary Micah, i. 10-15. This chapter is probably about twenty
+years later than those that immediately precede it. There is an
+obvious advance in the prophet's attitude to Assyria, and the boast
+in _vv_. 9-11 carries the chapter later than the fall of
+Samaria (721) and Carchemish (717). It is even possible that the
+description of the Assyrian advance in vv. 28-32 implies
+Sennacherib's campaign in Judah in 701.
+
+After the destruction of the enemy before Jerusalem in x. 33, 34
+follows an enthusiastic description of the Messianic king--of his
+wisdom and justice, and of the universal peace which will extend
+even to the animal world, xi. 1-9. It is the counterpart of ix. 2-7,
+though here again, and perhaps with more reason, the Isaianic
+authorship has been doubted. The peculiar emphasis upon the equipment
+with the spirit is hardly, in these ethical relationships, demonstrably
+pre-exilic, and the "stem" out of which the shoot is to grow suggests
+that the monarchy had fallen, but the word may possibly be used to
+indicate its decadent condition. In any case, there seems very little
+doubt that the rest of the section, xi. 10-xii. 6, strikingly appropriate
+as it is in this place, is post-exilic. It describes how in the Messianic
+days just pictured, theexiles of Israel and Judah will be gathered from
+the ends of the earth to their own land, where their near neighbours will
+all be vanquished, xi. 10-16. Then follows a simple song of gratitude for
+the redemption Jehovah has wrought, xii. The presuppositions of the
+dispersion here described are not such as fit into Isaiah's time; they
+would not even apply to the conditions after the fall of Jerusalem and
+the exile of Judah in 586, still less to the fall of Samaria and the
+exile of Israel in 72l--the passage must be post-exilic. But though much
+later than Isaiah's time it forms a very skilful conclusion to the first
+division of his book, and is an admirable counterpart to the gloomy
+scenes of ch. i.
+
+
+Chs. xiii.-xxiii. _Prophecies concerning foreign nations_
+
+Chs. xiii. 1-xiv. 23. The Downfall of Babylon. The oracle concerning
+Babylon, the first of the series of oracles concerning foreign nations,
+is one of the most magnificent odes in literature. A day of destruction
+to be executed by the Medes is coming upon Babylon the proud (xiii.)
+and the exiles will return to their own land, xiv. 1-3. The triumph
+song that follows discloses a weird scene in the underworld, where the
+fallen king of Babylon receives an ironical welcome from the shadow-kings
+of the other nations. There can be no doubt that this prophecy is not by
+Isaiah. It glows with a passionate hatred of Babylon; but the Babylon
+which figured in the days of Isaiah (xxxix.) was only a province of
+Assyria, not an independent and oppressive world-power; nor would its
+destruction have meant the return of the exiles of northern Israel. The
+situation is plainly that of the period during the later exile of
+Judah _before_ the capture of Babylon by Cyrus in 538, as the
+horrors which the poet anticipated (xiii. 15f.) did not take place.
+
+In the spirit of ch. x., xiv. 24-27 proclaims the invincible triumph
+of Jehovah's purpose and the destruction of the Assyrians in the
+land of Judah. The assassination of Sargon in 705 B.C. was the cause
+of wild rejoicing throughout the western vassal states: the joy of
+Philistia is rebuked by the prophet in _vv_. 28-32 with the
+warning that worse is yet in store--an allusion, no doubt, to an
+expected Assyrian invasion. If this be the theme of the passage,
+_v_. 28 can hardly be correct, as Ahaz had died ten or twenty
+years before.
+
+Chs. xv., xvi. Oracle concerning Moab. The subscription to this
+prophecy, xvi. 13, indicates that we have here an older prophetic
+oracle, given "heretofore." Strictly speaking, it is not so much a
+prophecy as an elegy over the fate of Moab whose land had been
+devastated by an invader from the north. The fugitives, arriving in
+Edom, send in vain for help to the people of Judah. Who the invader
+was it is hard to say--possibly Jeroboam II of Israel, whose
+conquests were extensive (2 Kings xiv. 25; Amos vi. 14). The oracle,
+besides being diffuse, is altogether destitute of higher prophetic
+thought, and is certainly not Isaiah's, though he adapted it to the
+existing situation and foretold a similar and speedy devastation of
+Moab, no doubt at the hands of the Assyrians, xvi. 14.
+
+Ch. xvii. I-II. This prophecy concerning Aram and Israel falls, no
+doubt, within the period when these two countries were leagued
+against Judah, about 735. The doom of Aram is to be utter
+destruction; that of Israel, all but utter destruction.
+
+In the next two passages, xvii. 12-14, xviii., Isaiah appears to
+return to his favourite theme of the sure destruction of the
+Assyrians, though they are not mentioned by name. In xvii. 12-14
+their hosts are compared to the noise of many waters, while in
+xviii. their doom is announced by the prophet in answer to an
+embassy sent by the Ethiopians, who were alarmed at the prospect of
+an invasion by the Assyrians, doubtless under Sennacherib.
+
+Ch. xix. Oracle concerning Egypt. For Egypt the prophet announces a
+doom of civil war, oppression at the hands of a hard master, and
+public and private distress which will issue in despair, _vv_.
+1-17. In their terror, however, the Egyptians will cry to Jehovah,
+who will reveal Himself to them and be in consequence honoured and
+worshipped on Egyptian soil. Then a triple alliance will be formed
+between Egypt, Assyria and Israel, and they shall all be Jehovah's
+people, _vv_. 18-25.
+
+The dream of such an alliance is very attractive and not too bold for so
+original a thinker as Isaiah. But the passage is beset by difficulties.
+The attitude to Egypt appears to be much friendlier in _vv_. 18-25
+than in _vv_. 1-17; and it seems quite impossible to find within
+Isaiah's age a place for five (=several?) Hebrew-speaking cities in
+Egypt, _v_. 18, whereas such a reference would excellently fit the
+later post-exilic time when there were extensive Jewish colonies in
+Egypt. If the city specially mentioned at the end of the verse be, as
+it seems to be, either Sun-city (Heliopolis) or Lion-city (Leontopolis)
+then it would not be unnatural to find, in the next verse, with its
+worship of Jehovah upon Egyptian soil, a reference to the founding of a
+temple at Leontopolis by Onias in 160 B.C. In that case, Assyria in
+_v_. 23 stands, as occasionally elsewhere, for Syria, from which
+Israel had suffered more severely during the second century B.C. than
+the earlier Israel from Assyria; and the dream of Palestine, Syria,
+and Egypt, united in the worship of the true God, would be just as
+striking and generous in the second century as in the eighth. At
+first, _v_. 19 seems to tell powerfully in favour of the
+Isaianic authorship, as the massebah (pillar) here regarded as
+innocent was proscribed a century after Isaiah by the Deuteronomic
+law (Deut. xii. 3). But the Egyptian Jews may not have been so
+stringent as the Palestinian, or we may even suppose that the
+"pillar" has here nothing to do with worship, but stands, for some
+other purpose, on the boundary line. There is no adequate reason,
+however, why _vv_. 1-17, or at least _vv_. 1-15, should
+not be assigned to Isaiah.
+
+In ch. xx. (711 B.C., cf. _v_. 1, capture of Ashdod) Isaiah indicates
+in symbolic prophecy--which, however, was not fulfilled--that the people
+of Egypt and Ethiopia would be deported by the Assyrians. The prophet's
+object was to dissuade the people of Judah from the Egyptian alliance
+which they were contemplating.
+
+The theme of xxi. 1-10 is the same as that of xiii., xiv.--the
+impending fate of Babylon--and the passages may be almost
+contemporary. Warriors of Elam and Media are sent against Babylon,
+and the issue is awaited with tremulous excitement, till at last the
+watchman proclaims the welcome news, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen."
+The importance here aligned to Babylon and her fall, the express
+mention of Elam and Media, _v_. 2, as her assailants, and the
+description of Jehovah's people as "threshed" point unmistakably to
+the last years of the exile, after the rise of Cyrus in 549, and
+before the fall of Babylon in 538, so that the passage cannot be
+from Isaiah. With this seems to go the next little enigmatic oracle
+concerning Edom, xxi. 11, 12, whose fate, as affected by the fall of
+Babylon, is as yet uncertain. The desert tribes, xxi. 13-17, will
+also be affected by the general upheaval and be driven from the
+regular caravan routes.
+
+Ch. xxii. is the only chapter in this division (xiii.-xxiii.) which is
+not concerned with foreign nations. It probably owes its place here to
+its peculiar superscription which conforms to the other superscription
+in xiii.-xxiii. In this chapter the prophet laments and very sternly
+rebukes the frivolity of the people of Jerusalem--whether shortly before
+the invasion of Sennacherib or after his retreat, it is hard to say.
+Trusting in their armour and fortifications they give the rein to their
+appetites, but he solemnly declares that their sin will be punished with
+death.
+
+Unique among the oracles of Isaiah are the two pieces, xxii. 15-18
+and 19-25, which deal with persons. Shebna, one of the court
+officials and probably a foreigner, is threatened with exile and the
+consequent loss of his office: probably he championed the policy of
+an Egyptian alliance. His place will be taken, according to Isaiah,
+by Eliakim, who, curiously enough, is threatened in his turn.
+Probably _vv_. 19-23 are an adaptation of 2 Kings xviii. 18,
+where Eliakim is holding an office here held by Shebna, while Shebna
+is only a scribe.
+
+A prophetic lament over Tyre (xxiii.) concludes the oracles dealing
+with the foreign peoples. The glad ancient merchant city will be
+brought to silence, _vv_. 1-14, though after seventy years she
+is to be revived, and the proceeds of her traffic are to be enjoyed
+by the people of Jerusalem, _vv_. 15-18. There was a siege of
+Tyre during Isaiah's time, but it is probably not that which is
+celebrated here, as the poem lacks the nobility and grandeur of the
+prophet's style. If the oracle is held to imply the conquest of
+Tyre, it would require to be brought down to the time of Alexander
+the Great; but it may well be only an anticipatory lament and
+therefore earlier, contemporary perhaps with a similar oracle of
+Ezekiel concerning the siege of Tyre (Ez. xxvi.-xxviii.) Verses 15-18
+are clearly dependent on Jeremiah's view of the duration of the
+Chaldean oppression (Jer. xxv. 11, xxix. 10); and the whole chapter
+may be exilic.
+
+
+Chs. xxiv.-xxvii. _Late prophecy concerning the glorious issue of
+some world-catastrophe_.
+
+This section is very peculiar, obscure, and in the Old Testament
+altogether unique. Contemporary historical facts are seen now in the
+lurid light of fear, more often in the more brilliant light of
+eschatological hopes. In ch. xxiv. a great catastrophe is impending.
+The world is weary, and joy has vanished. The city (Jerusalem?) is
+desolate. Something has happened to revive Jewish hopes and kindle
+high expectations as to the issue of the coming calamity, but in the
+immediate future new woes are impending--the earth will reel; on that
+day, however, Jehovah will suddenly punish the powers supernatural and
+terrestrial, and come down to reign in glory on Mount Zion. Then (xxv.)
+follows an enthusiastic song of praise, because a certain strong city
+(unnamed) has been laid low. A great banquet is prepared on Zion for
+all the sorrow-ridden nations of the world--emblem of their reception
+into the Kingdom of God--tears are wiped from every eye, and, with their
+reproach removed, the Jews praise their God for the victory. Another
+song of praise follows in xxvi. 1-xxvii. 1 for the power with which
+Jehovah has defended His own city, and laid her proud rival low. The
+wicked will not learn from the divine judgments; but, while they are
+destroyed, not only do Jehovah's own people increase, but their dead are
+restored to life, to participate in His glorious kingdom; and the dragon
+is smitten. Then follows xxvii. 2-6, a song of the vineyard-counterpart
+to v. l-7--which praises Jehovah's care for Judah, with whom He is angry
+no more. Her rival shall become a desolation, but she herself shall be
+forgiven and re-established, if only she remove all signs of heathen
+worship, and from the ends of the earth her exiled sons shall gather
+to worship at Jerusalem.
+
+The origin of this piece is wrapped in obscurity; and it would seem
+that the author, for some reason, deliberately concealed the
+historical situation. It is not even certain that the piece is a
+unity: the song, e.g., in xxv. 1-5 interrupts the description of
+judgment, and the connection is occasionally loose. There is no clue
+to what is meant by the strong city which is to be overthrown. It is
+plain, however, that the writer lived in Palestine, doubtless in or
+near Jerusalem, xxv. 6, 7, at a time when the Jews were scattered
+throughout many lands, xxiv. 14-16, xxvii. 12, 13, and when there
+were at least three great world powers, xxvii. 1. This could hardly
+have been earlier than the end of the Persian period, and probably
+the tidings that rang from the isles of the sea, xxiv. 14, 15, were
+those of the victorious advance of Alexander the Great. No earlier
+date would suit the theological implications of the passage: e.g.
+the judgment upon the hosts of heaven, xxiv. 21, 22 (cf. Dan. xi.),
+the resurrection from the dead, xxvi. 19, the banquet of the nations
+on Zion, xxv. 6. The style of the passage is nearly as peculiar as
+its thought, it abounds in assonance and alliteration. It is
+assigned by some to the close of the second century B.C.; but, in
+any case, it can hardly be earlier than the later half of the fourth
+century B.C., and may well express the wild expectations to which
+disappointed Jewish hearts were lifted by the conquests of
+Alexander.
+
+
+Chs. xxviii.-xxxiii. _Prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem
+_
+
+We now return to the undoubted prophecies of Isaiah. This group
+begins with a woe, xxviii. 1-4, pronounced not long before the fall
+of Samaria in 721 B.C., ending in two verses, 5, 6, presenting
+another outlook, apparently by a later hand. In _vv_. 7-22,
+probably about the time of the Egyptian alliance, Judah is also
+threatened for the drunkenness of her leaders, and for the false
+confidence which leads the people scornfully to close their ears to
+prophetic instruction. The interesting little section which follows,
+_vv_. 23-29, shows how the farmer adapts his methods to the
+particular work he has to do. The connection, however, is anything
+but obvious: it may be intended as a reminder to the sceptics of
+Judah that the divine penalties, though slow, v. 19, are sure; or it
+may be meant to suggest that God's judgments are tempered with
+mercy. To the same period belongs the prophecy of the distress that
+is to be inflicted on Ariel, i.e. Jerusalem, by "a great multitude
+of all the nations," clearly Sennacherib's army, xxix. 1-15; but in
+a prophecy, probably much later, which is dramatically appended to
+it, a promise of redemption and restoration is held out, xxix. 16-24.
+
+In xxx., xxxi., also before the invasion of Sennacherib, the prophet
+denounces the folly of trusting the impotent aid of Egypt, when
+their real strength lay in quietly trusting their God: for Jehovah
+will smite the Assyrian with a mysterious blow and defend his dear
+Jerusalem. Though such promises undoubtedly fall within the range of
+Isaiah's message, the ideas and the general tone of xxx. 18-26 are
+sufficient to place that passage almost certainly in the post-exilic
+period. Against the background of calamity in the two preceding
+chapters, xxxii. 1-8 throws up a picture--whether from Isaiah's or a
+later hand--of the Messianic age, when rulers would be just and
+character transformed. The imminent desolation of Jerusalem, with
+which the women are threatened, is again immediately contrasted with
+the fruitfulness and security of the land, when the spirit will be
+poured out from on high, xxxii. 9-20.
+
+This group is closed by a song of triumph (xxxiii.) over the
+prospective annihilation of the foreign foes who have crushed
+Israel, by the glorious God who defends Jerusalem. There is much in
+the passage, especially towards the end, _vv_. 19-21, which
+looks as if the Assyrians were the enemy, and the prophecy, like
+most of those in this group, fell shortly before Sennacherib's
+invasion. But, besides lacking the vigour of Isaiah's acknowledged
+prophecies, the passage contains ideas which are hardly his: e.g.
+the sinners in Zion, _v._ 14, are not to be destroyed but
+forgiven, _v_. 24. The allusion to the king in _v_. 17, if
+the text is correct, helps us little, as the king may be Jehovah.
+There is a growing conviction that the passage is post-exilic, some
+scholars even bringing it down to the Maccabean times, about 163
+B.C.
+
+
+Chs. xxxiv., xxxv. _Prophecy concerning the redemption and return
+of Israel._
+
+A fitting conclusion to the whole book--ignoring xxxvi.-xxxix.,
+which is an historical appendix--is afforded by the picture of the
+world-judgment, the redemption of Israel, and the destruction of her
+enemies in xxxiv., xxxv. Edom is singled out as the special object
+of Jehovah's vengeance, xxxiv. 5-17; and, in contrast to her
+desolation, is the blessedness of Israel, returning to her own land
+across the blossoming wilderness with exceeding joy. Ch. xxxv., at
+any rate, seems to point to the return of the exiles from Babylon,
+and ch. xxxiv. may also without violence be fitted into this time.
+The Jews never forgot or forgave the Edomites for their cruelty on
+the occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem (Lam. iv. 21ff., Ps.
+cxxxvii. 7) and the joy of their own redemption would be heightened
+by the ruin of Edom (Mal. i. 2-5). If, however, xxxiv. 16 implies,
+as we are not bound to believe, a fixed prophetic canon, the
+chapters would be very late, falling somewhere within the second
+century B.C. More probably they were written, like xiii., xiv.,
+towards the end of the exile.
+
+
+xxxvi.-xxxix. _Historical Appendix_
+
+Separating the earlier from the later of the two great divisions of
+the book of Isaiah (i.-xxxv., xl.-lxvi.) stands a purely historical
+section, practically identical with and probably borrowed from 2
+Kings xviii. l3-xx. 19, which finds its place here, no doubt simply
+because of its connection with the prophet Isaiah. It tells the
+story of Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, his insulting demands,
+whether transmitted through the Rabshakeh (xxxvi.) or by letter
+(xxxvii.), of Hezekiah's terror and Isaiah's divine word of
+reassurance, and of the ultimate departure of the Assyrian army. Ch.
+xxxviii. contains Isaiah's prophecy to Hezekiah of his recovery from
+sickness, with the king's song of gratitude. This is followed by
+another prophecy of the Babylonian exile, occasioned by an embassy
+sent to Hezekiah by Merodach Baladan, king of Babylon (xxxix.).
+
+This account omits the very important statement in 2 Kings xviii.
+14-16 of the heavy tribute paid by Hezekiah to the King of Assyria,
+and inserts the psalm of Hezekiah, xxxviii. 9-20, which is no doubt
+later than the redaction of the book of Kings as it is not found
+there, and is, in all probability, a post-exilic psalm. It is not
+certain whether the accounts in xxxvi. 1-xxxvii. 9_a_ and
+xxxvii. 9_b_-37 are simply parallel versions of the same
+incident, or refer to two different campaigns. In the distinctly
+prophetical portion, xxxvii. 22ff, though there is much that recalls
+Isaiah, the passage in its present form can hardly be his. Ch.
+xxxvii. 26, e.g. would be a pertinent appeal to Israel, but hardly
+to Sennacherib; it rests, no doubt, on the later Isaiah (xl. 28,
+xlvi. 11). The prophecy of exile to _Babylon_, xxxix. 6, 7, is
+not natural at a time when Assyria, not Babylon, was the enemy.
+Again, xxxvii. 33, which denies that even an arrow would be shot, is
+hardly reconcilable with Isaiah's prophecy of an arduous siege for
+the city, xxix. 1-4. Further, the minute prediction that Hezekiah's
+life would be prolonged for fifteen years is not in the manner of
+Isaiah, nor indeed of any of the great prophets, whose precise
+numbers, where they occur, are to be interpreted as round numbers
+(e.g. seventy years in Jer. xxv. 11, xxix. 10); and the story of the
+reversal of the shadow on the sun-dial reflects the later conception
+of the prophet as a miracle-worker (cf. I Kings xiii. 3-6). The
+section, in its present form, must be post-exilic.
+
+
+CHAPTERS XL.-LV.
+
+With ch. xl. we pass into a different historical and theological
+atmosphere from that of the authentic prophecies of Isaiah. The very
+first word, "Comfort ye," strikes a new note: in the main, the
+message of Isaiah had been one of judgment. Jerusalem and the cities
+of Judah are in ruins, xlv. 13. The people are in exile in the land
+of the Chaldeans, xlvii. 5, 6, from which they are on the point of
+being delivered, xlviii. 20. The time of her sorrow is all but over,
+xl. 2; and her redemption is to come through a great warrior who is
+twice expressly named as Cyrus, xliv. 28, xlv. 1, and occasionally
+alluded to as a figure almost too familiar to need naming, xli. 25,
+xlv. 13. He it is who is to overthrow Babylon, xlviii. 14. Such,
+then, is the situation: the exile is not predicted, it is
+presupposed, and the oppressor is not Assyria, as in Isaiah's time,
+but Babylon. Now it is a cardinal, indeed an obvious principle, of
+prophecy that the prophet addresses himself, at least primarily, to
+the situation of his own time. Prophecy is a moral, not a magical
+thing; and nothing would be gained by the delivery of a message over
+a century and a half before it was needed, to a people to whom it
+was irrelevant and unintelligible.
+
+The literary style of these chapters also differs widely from that
+of Isaiah. No doubt there are points of contact, notably in the
+fondness for the phrase, "the holy One of Israel"--a favourite
+phrase of Isaiah's and rare elsewhere. The influence of Isaiah is
+unmistakable, but the differences are no less striking. Isaiah
+mounts up on wings as an eagle: the later prophet neither mounts nor
+runs, he walks, xl. 31. He has not the older prophet's majesty; he
+has a quiet dignity, and his tone is more tender. Nor has he
+Isaiah's exuberance and fertility of resource: the same thoughts are
+repeated, though with pleasing and ingenious variations, over and
+over again. All his characteristic thoughts already appear in the
+first two chapters: the certainty and joy of Israel's redemption,
+the omnipotence of Jehovah and the absurdity of idolatry, the call
+of Cyrus to execute Jehovah's purpose, the ultimate design of that
+purpose as the bringing of the whole world, through redeemed Israel,
+to a knowledge of the true God.
+
+The theological ideas of the prophecy are different from those of
+Isaiah. Unique emphasis is laid on the creative power of Jehovah,
+and this thought is applied to the case of forlorn Israel with
+overwhelming effect; for it is none other than the eternal and
+omnipotent God that is about to reveal Himself as Israel's redeemer,
+in fulfilment of ancient words of prophecy, xliv. 7, 8. This very
+attitude to prophecy marks the book as late; it would not be
+possible in a pre-exilic prophet. But the most original conception
+of the book is one which finds no parallel whatever in Isaiah, viz.
+the suffering servant of Jehovah. This servant is the exclusive
+theme of the four songs, xlii. 1-4, xlix. 1-6, l. 4-9, lii. l3-liii.
+12; but more or less he is involved in the whole prophecy. The
+function of the servant is to give light to the Gentiles--in other
+words, to bring the world to a knowledge of Jehovah (cf. xlii. 1,
+xlv. 14).
+
+Who is the servant? The difficulty in answering this question is
+twofold: (i.) while the servant is often undoubtedly a collective
+term for the people of Israel, xli. 8, xliv. 1, 2, the descriptions
+of him, especially in the songs alluded to, are occasionally so
+intimately personal as to seem to compel an individual
+interpretation (cf. liii.). But in this connection we have to
+remember the ease with which the Oriental could personify, and apply
+even the most personal detail to a collective body. "Grey hairs are
+upon him," says Hosea, vii. 9, not of a man but of the nation; and
+Isaiah himself, i. 6, described the body politic as sick from the
+crown of the head to the sole of the foot (cf. Ezek. xvi., xxiii).
+Clearly, therefore, individual allusions do not necessarily compel
+an individual interpretation; and there is no reason in the nature
+of the case, and still less in the context, to assume a reference to
+any specific individual. The songs are an integral part of the
+prophecy: the function of the servant is the same, and the servant
+must also be the same in both. Indeed one passage in the second
+song, xlix. 3, expressly identifies the servant with Israel; and in
+liii., an intensely personal chapter, where the servant, after
+death, is to rise again and take his place victoriously in the
+world, the collective interpretation of the servant as Israel,
+emerging triumphantly from the doom of exile, is natural, if not
+necessary.
+
+But (ii.) admitting that the servant is everywhere Israel, a new
+difficulty emerges. The terms in which he is described are often
+apparently contradictory. At one time he is blind and deaf, xlii. 18, 19;
+at another he is Jehovah's witness and minister to the blind and deaf,
+i.e. to the heathen world, xliii. 8-10, xlii. 7. This contrast, which
+runs through the prophecy, is simply to be explained as a blending of
+the real and the ideal. The people contemplated are in both cases the
+same; but, at one time, the prophet contemplates them as they are,
+unreceptive and irresponsive to their high destiny; at another, he
+regards them in the light of that destiny--called, through their
+experience of suffering and redemption, to bring the world to a saving
+knowledge of the true and only God.
+
+_Chapters xl.-xlix._ fall somewhere about 540 B.C.-between
+the decisive victories of Cyrus over the Lydians in 546 (cf. xli. 1-5)
+and the capture of Babylon in 538. The prophecy opens with a word
+of consolation. The exile of Judah is all but over, her redemption
+is very nigh; for the eternal purpose of Jehovah must be fulfilled,
+xl. 1-11, He is a God whose power and wisdom are beyond all imagining,
+and He will be the strength of those who put their trust in Him
+(xl. 12-3l).[1] For He has raised up a great warrior from the north-east
+(cf. xli. 2, 25), i.e. Cyrus, through whom Israel's happy return to
+her own land is assured (xli. 1-20). Israel's God is the true God; for
+He alone foretold this day, as no heathen god could ever have done,
+xli. 21-29. The mission of His servant Israel is to spread the knowledge
+of His name throughout the world, and that mission must be fulfilled,
+xlii. 1-9. Let the world rejoice, then, at the glorious redemption
+Jehovah has wrought for His people, xlii. 10-17; for their sorrow,
+xlii. 18-25, and their redemption alike, xliii. 1-7, spring from a
+deep purpose of love. Israel is now fitted to be Jehovah's witness
+before the world, for her impending deliverance from Babylon is more
+marvellous than her ancient deliverance from Egypt, xliii. 8-21. Her
+grievous sins are freely forgiven, xliii. 22-28, and soon she shall
+enter upon a new and happy life, xliv. 1-5, for her God, the eternal
+and the only God,[2] forgives and redeems, xliv. 6-23.
+[Footnote 1: Between xl. 19 and 20 probably xli. 6, 7 should be
+inserted.]
+[Footnote: Ch. xliv. 9-20, though graphic, is diffuse, and
+interrupts the context: it is probably a later addition.]
+
+The deliverance of Israel is to be effected through Cyrus, who is
+honoured with the high titles, "Shepherd and Messiah of Jehovah,"
+xlv. 1, and assured by him of a triumphant career, for Israel and
+the true religion's sake, xliv. 24-xlv. 8. Those who are surprised
+at Jehovah's call of the foreign Cyrus are sternly reminded that
+Jehovah is sovereign and can call whom He will, xlv. 9-13, and the
+ultimate object of His call is that through the redemption of Israel,
+which he is commissioned to effect, all men shall be saved, and the
+worship of Jehovah established throughout the whole world, xlv. 14-25.
+In xlvi. the impotence of the Babylonian gods to save themselves when
+the city is taken by Cyrus is contrasted with the incomparable power
+of Jehovah as shown in history, and in His foreknowledge of the future,
+and made the basis of a warning to Israel to cast away despondency.
+Then follows a song of triumph over Babylon, the proud and luxurious,
+whose doom all her magic and astrology cannot avert (xlvii.). Ch. xlviii.
+strikes in places a different note from that of the previous chapters.
+They are a message of comfort; and, where the people are censured, it
+is for lack of faith and responsiveness. In this chapter, on the other
+hand, the tone is in places stern, almost harsh, and the people are
+even charged with idolatry. Probably an original prophecy of
+Deutero-Isaiah has been worked over by a post-exilic hand. This chapter
+is in the nature of a summary. It emphasizes Jehovah's fore-knowledge
+as witnessed by the ancient prophecies and their fulfilment in the
+coming deeds of Cyrus; and the section fittingly closes with a ringing
+appeal to Israel to go forth out of Babylon.[1]
+[Footnote 1: Ch. xlviii. 22 is probably borrowed from lvii. 21,
+where it is in place, to divide xl.-lxvi. into three equal parts.]
+
+_Chapters xlix.-lv._ presuppose the same general situation as
+xl.-xlviii.; but whereas the earlier chapters deal incidentally with
+the victories of Cyrus and the folly of idolatry, xlix.-lv. concentrate
+attention severely upon Israel herself, which is often addressed as
+Zion. The group begins with the second of the "servant" songs, xlix. 1-6,
+its theme being Israel's divine call, through suffering and redemption,
+to bring the whole world to the true religion. In earnest and beautiful
+language Israel is assured of restoration and a happy return to her own
+land, of the rebuilding of her ruins, and the increase of her population;
+and no power can undo this marvellous deliverance, for Jehovah, despite
+His people's slender faith, is omnipotent, xlix. 7-l. 3. In l. 4-9 the
+servant tells of the sufferings which his fidelity brought him, and his
+confidence in Jehovah's power to save and vindicate him.[1] The glorious
+salvation is near and sure; let Israel but trust in her omnipotent God
+and cast away all fear of man, li. 1-16. Bitter has been Jerusalem's
+sorrow, but now she may break forth into joy, for messengers are
+speeding with good tidings of her redemption, li. l7-lii. 12. The fourth
+and last song of the servant, lii. l3-liii. 12, celebrates the strange
+and unparalleled sufferings which he bore for the world's sake-his
+death, resurrection, and the consequent triumph and vindication of his
+cause. In fine contrast to the sufferings of the servant acquainted
+with grief is the joy that follows in ch. liv.--joy in the vision of
+the restored, populous and glorious city, or rather in the everlasting
+love of God by which that redemption is inspired.[2] Nothing remains
+but for the people to lay hold, in faith, of the salvation which is
+so nigh, and which is so high above all human expectation (lv.).
+[Footnote 1: Ch. 1. 10, 11 are apparently late.]
+[Footnote 2: From liv. 17 and on we hear of the "_servants_ of
+Jehovah," not as in xl.-liii., of the _servant_.]
+
+
+CHAPTERS LVI.-LXVI.
+
+The problem of the origin and date of this section is one of the
+most obscure and intricate in the Old Testament. The general
+similarity of the tone to that of xl.-lv. is unmistakable. There is
+the same assurance of redemption, the same brilliant pictures of
+restoration. But, apart from the fact that, on the whole, the style
+of lvi.-lxvi. seems less original and powerful, the situation
+presupposed is distinctly different. In xl.-lv., Israel, though
+occasionally regarded as unworthy, is treated as an ideal whole,
+whereas in lvi.-lxvi. there are two opposed classes within Israel
+itself (cf. lvii. 3ff., 15ff.). One of these classes is guilty of
+superstitious and idolatrous rites, lvii. 3ff., lxv. 3, 4, lxvi. 17,
+whereas in xl.-lv. the Babylonians were the idolaters, xlvi. 1.
+Again, the kind of idolatry of which Israel is guilty is not
+Babylonian, but that indigenous to Palestine, and it is described in
+terms which sometimes sound like an echo of pre-exilic prophecy,
+lvii. 5, 7 (Hos. iv. 13)--so much so indeed that some have regarded
+these passages as pre-exilic.
+
+The spiritual leaders of the people are false to their high trust,
+lvi. 10-12. This last passage implies a religious community more or
+less definitely organized--a situation which would suit post-exilic
+times, but hardly the exile; and this presumption is borne out by
+many other hints. The temple exists, lvi. 7, lx. 7, 13, but religion
+is at a low ebb. Fast days are kept in a mechanical spirit, and are
+marred by disgraceful conduct (lviii.). Judah suffers from raids,
+lxii. 8, Jerusalem is unhappy, lxv. 19, her walls are not yet built,
+lx, 10. The gloomy situation explains the passionate appeal of
+lxiii. 7-lxiv. to God to interpose--an appeal utterly unlike the
+serene assurance of xl.-lv.: it explains, too, why threat and
+promise here alternate regularly, while there the predominant note
+was one of consolation.
+
+In its general temper and background, though not in its style, the
+chapters forcibly recall Malachi. There is the same condemnation of
+the spiritual leaders (lvi. 10-12; Mal. i. ii.), the same emphasis
+on the fatherhood of God (lxiii. 16, lxiv. 8; Mal. i. 6, ii. 10,
+iii. 17), the same interest in the institutions of Judaism (lvi.),
+the same depressed and hopeless mood to combat. From lx. 10 (lxii.
+6?) it may be inferred that the book falls before the building of
+the walls by Nehemiah--probably somewhere between 460 and 450 B.C.
+This conclusion, of course, is very far from certain; it is not even
+certain that the chapters constitute a unity. Various scholars
+isolate certain sections, assigning, e.g., lxiii.-lxvi. to a period
+much later than lvi.-lxii., others regarding xlix.-lxii. as written
+by the same author as xl.-xlviii., but later and other different
+conditions, others referring lvi.-lxii. to a pupil of Deutero-Isaiah,
+who wrote not long after 520 (cf. Hag., Zech.).
+
+To complicate matters, the text of certain passages of crucial
+importance seems to be in need of emendation (cf. lxiii. 18); and it
+is practically certain that there are later interpolations. One can
+see how intricate the problem becomes, if Marti is right in denying
+so important a passage as lxiv. 10-12 to the author of the rest of
+the chapter, and assigning it to Maccabean times. But, though there
+are undoubted difficulties in the way, it seems not impossible to
+regard lvi.-lxvi. as, in the main, a unity, and its author as a
+contemporary of Malachi. In that case, the superstitious and
+idolatrous people, whose presence is at first sight so surprising in
+the post-exilic community, would be the descendants of the Jews who
+had not been carried into exile, and who, being but superficially
+touched, if at all, by the reformation of Josiah, would perpetuate
+ancient idolatrous practices into the post-exilic period.
+
+ This prophecy begins with a word of assurance to the proselytes and
+eunuchs that, if they faithfully observe the Sabbath, they will not
+be excluded from participation in the temple worship, lvi. 1-8. But
+the general situation (in Judah) is deplorable. The spiritual
+leaders of the community are indolent and fond of pleasure, men of
+no conscience or ideal (cf. Mal. ii.), with the result that the
+truly godly are crushed out, lvi. 9-lvii. 2, and the old immoral
+idolatry is rampant, lvii. 3-13. The sinners will therefore be
+punished, but the godly whom they have persecuted will be comforted
+and saved, lvii. 14-21. The people, who have been zealously keeping
+fast-days, are surprised and vexed that Jehovah has not yet honoured
+their fidelity by sending happier times: the prophet replies that
+the real demands of Jehovah are not exhausted by ceremonial, but lie
+rather in the fulfilment of moral duty, and especially in the duty
+of practical love to the needy (lviii.). It is not the impotence of
+Jehovah, but the manifold sins of the people, that have kept back
+the day of salvation, lix. 1-15; but He will one day appear to
+punish His adversaries and redeem the penitent and faithful, lix.
+16-21. Then the city of Jerusalem shall be glorious: her scattered
+children shall stream back to her, her walls shall be rebuilt by the
+gifts of the heathen nations, and she shall be mistress of the
+world, enjoying peace and light and prosperity (lx.). Again the good
+news is proclaimed: the Jews shall be, as it were, the priests of
+Jehovah for the whole world, Jerusalem shall be secure and fair and
+populous (lxi., lxii.). But if Judah is thus to prosper, her enemies
+must be destroyed, and their[1] destruction is described in lxiii.
+1-6, a unique and powerful song of vengeance.
+[Footnote 1: The enemy is not Edom alone. Instead of "from Edom and
+Bozrah" in lxiii. 1_a_ should be read, "Who is this that comes
+_stained with red_, with garments redder than a _vine-dresser's_?"]
+
+A very striking contrast to all this dream of victory and
+blessedness is presented by lxiii. 7-lxiv. 12, in which the people
+sorrowfully remind themselves of the brilliant far-off days of the
+Exodus when the Spirit was with them--the Spirit whom sin has now
+driven away--and passionately pray that Jehovah, in His fatherly
+pity, would mightily interpose to save them.[1] The devotees of
+superstitious cults are threatened with destruction, lxv. 1-7, while
+brilliant promises are held out to the faithful--long and happy life
+in a world transformed, lxv. 8-25. Again destruction is predicted
+for those who, while practising superstitious rites, are yet eager
+to build a temple to Jehovah to rival the existing one in Jerusalem;
+while the faithful are comforted with the prospect of victory,
+increase of population and resources, and the perpetuity of their
+race (lxvi.).
+[Footnote 1: Professor G. A. Smith refers this prayer to the period
+of disillusion after the return and before the new religious impulse
+given by Haggai and Zechariah--about 525 B.C. ]
+
+
+
+
+JEREMIAH
+
+
+The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it
+is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of
+history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy
+in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a
+strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and
+passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and
+inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than
+650. The political and religious atmosphere of his ministry was
+alike depressing. When it began, the Scythians were overrunning
+Western Asia, and Judah was the vassal of Assyria, as she continued
+to be till the fall of Nineveh in 606 B.C. Josiah, in whose reign
+Jeremiah began his ministry, was a good king; but the idolatries of
+his grandfather Manasseh had only too surely left their mark, and
+the reformation which was inaugurated on the basis of Deuteronomy
+(621) had produced little permanent result. Idolatry and immorality
+of all kinds continued to be the order of the day, vii. 9 (about
+608). The inner corruption found its counterpart in political
+disaster. The death of Josiah in 609 at Megiddo, when he took the
+field, probably as the vassal of Assyria, against the king of Egypt,
+was a staggering blow to the hopes of the reformers, and formed a
+powerful argument in the hands of the sceptics. The vassalage of
+Assyria was exchanged for the vassalage of Egypt, and that, in four
+years, for the vassalage of Babylonia, whose supremacy over Western
+Asia was assured by her victory on the epoch-making field of
+Carchemish (605).
+
+There was no strong ruler upon the throne of Judah during the years
+preceding the exile. Jehoahaz, the successor of Josiah, deposed by
+the Egyptians and exiled after a three months' reign, xxii. 10-12,
+was succeeded by the rapacious Jehoiakim (608-597), who cared
+nothing for the warning words of Jeremiah (xxxvi.), and his
+successor Jehoiachin, who was exiled to Babylon after a three
+months' reign, was followed by the weak and vacillating Zedekiah,
+who reigned from 597 to 586, when Jerusalem was taken and the
+monarchy perished. The priests and prophets were no more faithful to
+their high office than the kings. The prophets were superficial men
+who did not realize how deep and grievous was the hurt of the
+people, xxiii. 9-40, and who imagined that the catastrophe, if it
+came, would speedily be reversed, xxviii.; and the priests reposed a
+stubborn confidence in the inviolability of the temple (xxvi.) and
+the punctiliousness of their offerings, vii. 21, 22.
+
+Jeremiah, though he came of a priestly family, knew very well that
+there was no salvation in ritual. He saw that the root of the evil
+was in the heart, which was "deceitful above all things and
+desperately sick," xvii. 9, and that no reformation was possible
+till the heart itself was changed. It was for this reason that he
+called upon the people to circumcise their heart, iv. 4, and to
+search for Jehovah with all their heart, xxix. 13.
+
+It would be interesting to know what was Jeremiah's attitude to the
+law-book discovered and published in 621, but unfortunately the
+problems that gather round the authenticity of the text of Jeremiah
+are so vexatious that we cannot say with certainty. On the one hand,
+we know that, though at that time a prophet of five years' standing,
+he was not consulted on the discovery of the book (2 Kings xxii.
+14); on the other hand, xi. 1-14 explicitly connects him with an
+itinerant mission throughout the province of Judah for the purpose
+of inculcating the teaching of "the words of this covenant," which
+can only be the book of Deuteronomy. But there is fairly good reason
+for supposing that this passage, which is diffuse, and very unlike
+the poems that follow it, _vv_. 15, 16, 18-20, is one of the
+many later scribal additions to the book. Even if Jeremiah did
+support the Deuteronomic movement, he must have felt, in the words
+of Darmesteter, that "it is easier to reform the cult than the
+soul," and that the real solution would never be found in the
+statutes of a law-book, but only in the law written upon the heart,
+xxxi. 31-33. Here again, this great prophecy of the law written upon
+the heart, has been denied to Jeremiah--by Duhm, for example: but at
+any rate, it is conceived in the spirit of the prophet.
+
+It is unfortunate that some of the noblest utterances on religion in
+the book of Jeremiah have been, for reasons more or less convincing,
+denied to him: e.g. the great passage which looks out upon a time
+when the dearest material symbols of the ancient religion would no
+longer be necessary; days would come when men would never think of
+the ark of the covenant, and never miss it, iii. 16. But even if it
+could be proved that these words were not Jeremiah's, it was a sound
+instinct that placed them in his book. He certainly did not regard
+sacrifice as essential to the true religion, or as possessing any
+specially divine sanction, vii. 22, and the thinker who could utter
+such a word as vii. 22 is surely on the verge of a purely spiritual
+conception of religion, if indeed he does not stand already within
+it. If the temple is not indispensable, vii. 4, neither could the
+ark be.
+
+This severely spiritual conception of religion is but the outcome of
+the intensely personal religious experience of the prophet. There is
+no other prophet whose intercourse with the divine spirit is so
+dramatically portrayed, or into the depths of whose heart we can so
+clearly see. He speaks to God with a directness and familiarity that
+are startling, "Why hast Thou become to me as a treacherous brook,
+as waters that are not sure?" xv. 18. He has little of the serene
+majesty of Isaiah whose eyes had seen the king. His tender heart,
+ix. 1, is vexed and torn till he curses not only his enemies, xi.
+20ff., but the day on which he was born, xx. 14-18. He did not
+choose his profession, he recoiled from it; but he was thrust into
+the arena of public life by an impulse which he could not resist.
+The word, which he would fain have hidden in his heart, was like a
+burning fire shut up in his bones, and it leaped into speech of
+flame, xx. 9.
+
+As a poet, Jeremiah is one of the greatest. He knows the human heart
+to its depths, and he possesses a power of remarkably terse and
+vivid expression. Nothing could be more weird than this picture of
+the utter desolation of war;--
+
+  I beheld the earth,
+    And lo! it was waste and void.
+  I looked to the sky,
+    And lo! its light was gone.
+  I beheld the mountains,
+    And lo! they trembled.
+  And all the hills
+    Swayed to and fro.
+  I beheld (the earth)
+    And lo! there was no man,
+  And all the birds of the heaven
+    Had fled.
+  iv. 23-25.
+
+A world without the birds would be no world to Jeremiah. Of singular
+power and beauty is the lament which Jeremiah puts into the mouths
+of the women:--
+
+  Death is come up at our windows,
+    He has entered our palaces,
+  Cutting off the children from the streets
+    And the youths from the squares.
+
+Then the figure changes to Death as a reaper:--
+
+  There fall the corpses of men
+    Upon the face of the field,
+  Like sheaves behind the reaper
+    Which none gathers up.
+  ix. 21, 22.
+
+The book appropriately opens with the call of Jeremiah, and
+represents him as divinely preordained to his great and cheerless
+task before his birth. In two visions he sees prefigured the coming
+doom (i.) and the prophecies that immediately follow, though but
+loosely connected, appear to come from an early stage of his
+ministry, and to be elicited, in part, by the inroads of the
+Scythians--the enemy from the north.
+
+False to the love she bore Jehovah in the olden time, Israel has
+turned for help to Egypt, to Assyria, and to the impotent Baals with
+their licentious worship, ii, 1-iii. 5; but[1]if in her despair and
+misery she yet turns with a penitent heart to Jehovah, the prophet
+assures her of His readiness to receive her, iii. 19-iv. 4. The rest
+of ch. iv. contains several poems of remarkable power. The Scythians
+are coming swiftly from the north, and Jeremiah's patriotic soul is
+deeply moved. He sees the desolation they will work, and counsels
+the people to gather in the fortified cities. The scene changes in
+v. and vi. to the capital, where Jeremiah's tender and unsuspecting
+heart has been harrowed by the lack of public and private
+conscience; and again the land is threatened with invasion from the
+swift wild Scythian hordes.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. iii. 6-18 contains much that is altogether worthy
+of Jeremiah, especially the great conception in v. 16 of a religion
+which can dispense with its most cherished material symbols. It
+interrupts the connection, however, between vv. 5 and 19, and
+curiously regards Israel as the northern kingdom, distinct from
+Judah, whereas in the surrounding context, ii. 3, iii. 23, Israel
+stands for Judah. The difference is suspicious. Again, v. 18 would
+appear to presuppose that Judah is in exile or on the verge of it,
+which would make the passage among the latest in the book. If it is
+Jeremiah's, it must be much later than its context.]
+
+The following chapter (vii.) introduces us to the reign of
+Jehoiakim.[1] The prophet strenuously combats the confidence falsely
+reposed in the temple and the ritual: the former is but a den of
+robbers, the latter had never been commanded by Jehovah, and neither
+will save them. With sorrowful eyes Jeremiah sees the coming
+disaster, and he sings of it in elegies unspeakably touching (viii.-x.:
+cf. viii. 18-22, ix. 21, 22).[2]
+[Footnote 1: The scene in ch. vii. is very similar to, if not
+identical with that in ch. xxvi., which is expressly assigned to the
+beginning of Jehoiakim's reign (608).]
+[Footnote 2: Ch. ix. 22 is directly continued by x. 17. Of the three
+passages intervening, ix. 23, 24 (the true and false objects of
+confidence) and ix. 25, 26 (punishment of those uncircumcised in
+heart or flesh) are both in the spirit of Jeremiah, but they cannot
+belong to this context. Ch. x. 1-16, on the other hand, can hardly
+be Jeremiah's. Its theme is the impotence of idols and the
+omnipotence of Jehovah--a favourite theme of Deutero-Isaiah (cf. Is.
+xl.), and it is elaborated in the spirit of Is. xliv. 9-20. The
+warning not to fear the idols is much more natural if addressed to
+an exilic audience than to Jeremiah's contemporaries. It may be
+taken for granted that the passage is later than Jeremiah.]
+
+In ch. xi. Jeremiah is divinely impelled to undertake an itinerant
+mission throughout Judah in support of the Deuteronomic legislation,
+but he is warned that, for their disobedience, the people will be
+overtaken by disaster, which he must not intercede to avert, xi. 1-17.
+A cruel conspiracy formed against him by his own townsmen raises
+perplexities in his mind touching the moral order, but he is
+reminded that still harder things are in store, xi. l8-xii. 6. Then
+follows a poem, xii. 7-13, lamenting the desolation of the land,
+though who the aggressors are it is hard to say; but, in vv. 14-17,
+a passage possibly much later, there is an ultimate possibility of
+restoration both for Judah and her ravaged neighbours, if they adopt
+the religion of Judah. In ch. xiii. which possibly belongs to
+Jehoiachin's short reign, 597 B.C. (cf. v. 18 with 2 Kings xxiv. 8),
+the utter and incurable corruption of the people is symbolically
+indicated to Jeremiah, who announces the speedy fall of the throne
+and the sorrows of exile.
+
+The elements that make up chs. xiv.-xvii. are very loosely
+connected. Generally speaking, the situation of the people is
+desperate. The doom--already inaugurated in the form of a drought-is
+hastening on; no excuse will be accepted and no intercession can avail.
+In a bold and striking poem, xv. 10-21, Jeremiah complains of his
+bitter and lonely fate, and is reassured of the divine support. In view
+of the impending misery he is forbidden to marry, and more and more he
+is thrown back upon Jehovah as his absolute and only hope.[1]
+[Footnote 1: Ch. xvii. 19-27 is almost certainly post-exilic, and
+probably belongs to Nehemiah's time (about 450). Jeremiah nowhere else
+emphasizes the Sabbath, and it would be very unlike him to represent
+the future prosperity of Judah as conditional upon the people's
+observance of a single law, especially one not distinctively ethical.
+Such emphasis on the Sabbath suggests the post-exilic church
+(cf. Neh. xiii.; Is. lviii.).]
+
+Chs. xviii.-xx. A chance sight of a potter refashioning a spoiled
+vessel suggests to Jeremiah the conditional nature of prophecy. But
+as Judah remains obstinate, the threat must be irretrievably
+fulfilled. The proclamation of this truth in the temple court led to
+his imprisonment. On his release he distinctly and deliberately
+announces the exile to Babylon, and then breaks out into a
+passionate cry, which rings with an almost unparalleled sincerity,
+over the misery of his life, especially of that prophetic life to
+which he had been mysteriously but irresistibly impelled.
+
+Ch. xxi. 1-10, one of the latest pieces in the book, contains
+Jeremiah's answer to the question of Zedekiah relative to the issue
+of the siege of Jerusalem, which had already begun (588). Then
+follow two sections, one dealing with kings, xxi. 11-xxiii. 8, the
+other with prophets, xxiii. 9-40. The former, after an introduction
+which emphasizes the specific functions of the king, deals
+successively with Jehoahaz (=Shallum), Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin,
+Jehoiakim's oppressive methods being pointedly contrasted with the
+beneficent regime of his father Josiah; and against the present
+incompetence of the rulers and misery of the monarchy is thrown up a
+picture of the true king and the Messianic days, xxiii. 5-8. The
+latter section, xxiii. 9-40, denounces the prophets for their
+immorality, their easy optimism and their lack of independence.
+
+In ch. xxiv., which falls in Zedekiah's reign, after the first
+deportation (about 596 B.C.), it is symbolically suggested to
+Jeremiah that the exiles are much better than those who were allowed
+to remain in the land, and their ultimate fate would be infinitely
+happier. The battle of Carchemish in 605 showed that Babylonian
+supremacy was ultimately inevitable; to this year belongs ch. xxv.,
+in which Jeremiah definitely announces the duration of the exile as
+seventy years. Many lands beside Judah would be included in the
+doom, and finally Babylon itself would be punished.
+
+Chs. i.-xxv. represent in the main the words of Jeremiah; we now
+come to a group of narratives by Baruch, xxvi.-xxix. Ch. xxvi.
+relates how a courageous sermon of Jeremiah's (608 B.C.) provoked
+the hostility of the professional clergy, and nearly cost him his
+life. Chs. xxvii.-xxix. show how the calm wisdom of Jeremiah met the
+ambitions and hopes cherished by his countrymen at home and in exile
+during the reign of Zedekiah.[1] In view of a coalition that was
+forming against Babylon in Western Asia, he announces that the
+supremacy of Nebuchadrezzar is divinely ordained, and any such
+coalition is doomed to failure (xxvii.). That supremacy will last
+for many a day; and a strange fate overtakes the shallow prophet who
+supposes that it will be over in two years (xxviii.). The exiles are
+therefore advised by Jeremiah in a letter to settle down contentedly
+in their adopted land, though the letter naturally rouses the
+resentment and opposition of the superficial prophets among the
+exiles (xxix.).
+[Footnote 1: In ch. xxvii. 1, for "Jehoiakim" read "Zedekiah," cf.
+_vv_. 3, 12. ]
+
+The next four chapters, xxx.-xxxiii., are full of promise: they look
+out upon the restoration, in which, despite the seeming hopelessness
+of the prospect, Jeremiah never ceased to believe. It is a voice
+from the dark days of the siege of Jerusalem, 587 (xxxii. 1ff.); but
+the present sorrow is to be followed by a period of joy, when the
+city will be rebuilt, and the mighty love of Jehovah will express
+itself in the restoration not only of Judah but of Israel, a love to
+which there will be a glad spontaneous response from men who have
+the divine law written in their hearts. This prophecy of the new
+covenant is one of the noblest and most daring conceptions in the
+Old Testament, very naturally appropriated by our Lord and the
+author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (xxx., xxxi.). So confident was
+Jeremiah in the divine assurance that Palestine would one day be
+freed from the Babylonian yoke that, even during the siege of the
+city, he purchased fields belonging to a kinsman, and took measures
+to preserve the title deeds (xxxii.). Ch. xxxiii. still further
+confirms the assurance of restoration.
+
+There can be no doubt that Jeremiah both believed in and announced
+the restoration: the very straightforward story in ch. xxxii., which,
+by the way, throws considerable light on the psychology of prophecy,
+is proof enough of that. But there can be equally little doubt that
+the section xxx.-xxxiii. did not come, as it stands, from the hand
+of Jeremiah. Many verses have no doubt been needlessly suspected:
+the attitude to northern Israel in ch. xxxi., especially vv. 4, 5,
+practically forbids a reference of these verses to post-exilic
+times. But xxxi. 7-l4--the glad return--is exactly in the spirit of
+Deutero-Isaiah, and appears to be dependent upon him. Whatever doubt,
+however, may be attached to these sections, it is practically certain
+that the concluding section, xxxiii. 14-26, which has a special word
+of promise, not only for the house of David, but for the Levitical
+priests, is not Jeremiah's. The verses are wanting in the Septuagint,
+and so were not in the Hebrew copy from which that translation was
+made; but more fatal still to their authenticity is their attitude to
+the priests and offerings. The religion advocated by Jeremiah was a
+purely spiritual one, which could dispense with temple and sacrifice
+(ch. vii.). "To the false prophets," as Robertson Smith has said, "and
+the people who followed them, the ark, the temple, the holy vessels,
+were all in all. To Jeremiah they were less than nothing, and their
+restoration was no part of his hope of salvation." It is very significant
+in this connection that the Septuagint omits the restoration of the holy
+vessels in xxvii. 22.
+
+From the ideal pictures of the last group, ch. xxxiv. flings us back
+into the stern reality. The city and the king alike are doomed, and
+their fate is thoroughly justified by the treachery displayed
+towards the Hebrew slaves, who were compelled by their masters to
+return to the bondage from which, in the stress of siege, they had
+emancipated them.
+
+The next chapter, xxxv., carries us back to the reign of Jehoiakim,
+and, in an interesting and important passage, contrasts the
+faithfulness of the Rechabites to the commands of their ancestor
+Jonathan with the popular disregard of Jehovah.
+
+The long section which follows (xxxvi.-xlv.) is almost purely
+historical. It comes in the main from Baruch, but it has been
+expanded here and there by subsequent writers; e.g. xxxix. 4-13 is
+not found in the Septuagint; the importance of Jeremiah is
+heightened in this passage by his being the object of the special
+care of Nebuchadrezzar, vv. 11ff., whereas in all probability his
+fate was decided, not by the king, but by his officers (ci. 3, 13,
+14). But after making every deduction, these chapters remain as a
+historical source of the first rank. The section begins by revealing
+the reckless impiety of Jehoiakim in burning the prophecies of
+Jeremiah in 605 B.C., but the other chapters gather round the siege
+of Jerusalem, eighteen years later, and the events that followed it.
+They describe the cruel and successive imprisonments of the prophet
+for his fearless and seemingly unpatriotic proclamation of the
+Babylonian triumph, the pitiful vacillation of the king, the final
+capture of the city, the appointment of Gedaliah as governor of
+Judah, his assassination and the attempt to avenge it, the
+consequent departure of many Jews to Egypt against the advice of
+Jeremiah, who was forced to accompany them, the prophet's
+denunciation of the idolatry practised in Egypt and announcement of
+the conquest of that land by Nebuchadrezzar. The section closes
+(xlv.) with a word of meagre consolation to Baruch, whose courage
+was giving way beneath the strain of the times.
+
+The interest attaching to the oracles against the foreign nations
+(xlvi.-li.) is not very great, as, for good reasons, the
+authenticity of much--some say all--of the section may be disputed,
+and with the exception of the oracle against Egypt, they are
+lacking, as a whole, not only in distinctness of situation, but also
+in that emotion and originality so characteristic of Jeremiah.
+
+The whole group (except the oracle against Elam, xlix. 34-39, which
+is expressly assigned to Zedekiah's reign) is suggested by
+reflection on the decisive influence which the battle of Carchemish
+was bound to have on the fortunes of Western Asia, xlvi. 2.
+Nebuchadrezzar is alluded to, either expressly, xlix. 30, or
+figuratively, xlviii. 40, as the instrument of the divine vengeance.
+In the Septuagint, this group of oracles appears between xxv. 13 and
+xxv. 15, a chapter likewise assigned to the year of the battle of
+Carchemish, xxv. 1. Ch. xlvi. contains two oracles against Egypt,
+the first of which, at least vv. 1-12, is graphic and powerful, and
+the second, _vv._ 13-26, announces the conquest of Egypt by
+Nebuchadrezzar, which took place in 568 B.C. The vengeance upon
+Egypt, _v._ 10, in which the writer evidently exults, may be
+vengeance for the defeat of Josiah at Megiddo.[1] A certain vigour
+also characterizes the oracle against the Philistines (xlvii.), and
+the conception of the enemy "out of the north," _v._ 2, is a
+familiar one in Jeremiah.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. xlvi. 27, 28, hardly in place here, were borrowed
+from xxx. 10f. and doubtless added later.]
+
+Even if, however, these oracles could be rescued for Jeremiah, those
+that follow are, in all probability, nothing but later literary
+compilations resting upon a close study of the earlier prophetical
+literature. The oracle against Moab (xlviii.) besides being
+unpardonably diffuse, is essentially an imitation of the old oracle
+preserved in Isaiah xv., xvi. The oracle against Ammon, xlix. 1-6,
+is followed by another against Edom, _vv._ 7-22, which again
+borrows very largely from Obadiah. Doom is further pronounced on
+Damascus, _vv._ 23-27, Kedar and Hazor, _vv._ 28-33, and,
+about seven years later, on Elam, _vv._ 34-39. It is not,
+indeed, impossible that Jeremiah should have uttered a prophetic
+word concerning at least some of these nations--witness his reply to
+the ambassadors of the neighbouring kings in ch. xxvii.--though the
+relevance of Elam in such a connection is hard to see; but it is
+very improbable that a writer and thinker so independent as Jeremiah
+should have borrowed in the wholesale fashion which characterizes
+the bulk of this group of oracles. The oracle against Egypt might be
+his, not impossibly the oracle against the Philistines also; but the
+group as a whole, consisting of seven oracles--omitting the oracle
+against Elam, which, by its date, falls outside--appears to be a
+later artificial composition, utilizing the more familiar names in
+xxv. 19-26, and expanding the hint in vv. 15-17 that the nations
+would be compelled to drink of the cup of the fury of Jehovah.
+
+The climax of the foreign oracles is that against Babylon (l.-li.
+58). This prophecy is written with great vigour and intensity and
+characterized by a tone of triumphant scorn. A nation from the
+north, l. 3, explicitly designated as the Medes, li. 11, is to
+assail Babylon and reduce her to a desolation. Jehovah's people are
+urged to leave the doomed city; with sins forgiven they will be led
+back by Jehovah to their own land, and the poet contemplates with
+glowing satisfaction the day when Babylon the destroyer will be
+herself destroyed.
+
+This oracle purports to be a message which Jeremiah sent with an
+officer Seraiah, who accompanied King Zedekiah to Babylon (li. 59).
+There is no probability, however, that the oracle was written by
+Jeremiah. Doubtless the prophet foretold the destruction of Babylon,
+xxv. 10, but his attitude to that great power in this oracle is
+altogether different from what we know it to have been, judging by
+other authentic oracles of this period (xxvii.-xxix.). There he
+counsels patience--it is the false prophets who hope for a speedy
+deliverance--here there is an eager expectancy which amounts to
+impatience. But the contents of the oracle show that it cannot
+belong to the year to which it is assigned. The temple is already
+destroyed, l. 28, li. 11, so that the exile is presupposed, and
+indeed the Medes are definitely named as the executors of vengeance
+upon Babylon. All this carries us down to the conquests of Cyrus and
+the close of the exile, indeed to the time of Isaiah xl.-lv. The
+oracle bears a striking resemblance both in spirit and expression to
+Isaiah xiii., and might well come from the same time (about 540). It
+may, however, be later. Not only is it diffuse in expression and
+slipshod in arrangement, but it borrows extensively from other
+exilic or post-exilic parts of the book of Jeremiah (cf. li. 15-19
+with x. 12-16, l. 44-46 with xlix. 19-21), late exilic parts of
+Isaiah (cf. Jer. l. 39ff, with Isa. xiii. 19-22), and from Ezekiel
+(cf. Jer. li. 25 with Ezek. xxxv. 3). Besides, the author appears to
+have no clear conception of the actual situation, as he seems to
+regard Israel and Judah as living side by side in Babylon, l. 4, 33.
+In all probability the oracle against Babylon is a post-exilic
+production inspired by the yearning to see the ancient oppressors
+not only humbled, but destroyed.
+
+The oracle just discussed is supposed to be an expansion of the
+message given by Jeremiah, in writing, to Seraiah, li. 60a, when he
+went with the king to Babylon. But though this narrative, li. 59-64,
+possibly rests on a basis of fact, it cannot have come, in its
+present form, from Jeremiah, for it presupposes the preceding oracle
+against Babylon, which has just been shown not to be authentic.
+
+With the composition of ch. lii., which narrates the capture of
+Jerusalem and the exile of the people, Jeremiah had nothing whatever
+to do. The chapter, except _vv._ 28-30, which is additional, is
+simply taken bodily from 2 Kings xxiv. 18-xxv. 30, with the omission
+of the account of the appointment and assassination of Gedaliah (2
+Kings xxv. 22-26) as that story had already been fully told in
+Jeremiah xl.-xliii.
+
+The Greek version of Jeremiah is of more than usual interest and
+importance. It is about 2,700 words, or one-eighth of the whole,
+shorter than the Hebrew text, though it has about 100 words or so
+not found in the Hebrew. The order, too, is occasionally different,
+notably in the oracles against the foreign nations (xlvi.-li.),
+which in the Septuagint are placed between xxv. 13 and xxv. 15
+(verse 14 being omitted). After making every deduction for the usual
+number of mistakes due to incompetence and badly written
+manuscripts, it has to be admitted that, in certain respects, the
+Greek text is superior to the Hebrew. This is especially plain if we
+examine its omissions. Considering the later tendency to expand, its
+relative brevity is a point in its favour; but, when we examine
+particular cases, the superiority of the Septuagint, with its
+omissions, is evident at once.
+
+Ch. xxvii., e.g., is considerably longer in the Hebrew than in the
+Greek text; but the additions in the Hebrew text represent Jeremiah
+as interested in the temple vessels and prophesying their
+restoration to the temple when the exile was over, in a way that is
+utterly unlike what we know of Jeremiah's general attitude to the
+material symbols of religion. Similarly, xxxiii. 14-26, which
+promises, among other things, that there would never be lacking a
+Levitical priest to offer burnt offerings, is wanting in the
+Septuagint; here again the Greek must be regarded as more truly
+representing Jeremiah's attitude to sacrifice (vii. 22). It would,
+of course, be unfair to infer from this that the briefer readings of
+the Septuagint were invariably superior to the longer readings of
+the Massoretic text, for it can be shown that the Greek translators
+often omitted or passed lightly over what they did not understand;
+nevertheless, their omissions often indicate a better and more
+original text.
+
+With regard to the oracles against the foreign nations, there can be
+little doubt that their position in the Hebrew text is to be
+preferred to that of the Greek. A certain plausibility attaches to
+the Greek text which places them after xxv. 13, the last clause of
+which--"that which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations"--is
+taken as a title; but, besides completely breaking up the
+surrounding context, whose theme is altogether Judah, the Greek
+position of the oracles is exceedingly clumsy, preceding as it does
+the enumeration in xxv. 15-29, which it might indeed follow, but
+could not reasonably precede. Further the Hebrew arrangement of the
+oracles within this group is much more probable than the Greek. The
+former appropriately reserves the oracle against Babylon to the end,
+the latter places it third, i.e. among the nations which are to be
+punished by Babylon herself, xxv. 9.
+
+We possess some direct information about the composition of the book
+of Jeremiah, but the present arrangement is marked by considerable
+confusion, and can in no case be original. A glance at the contents
+of consecutive chapters is enough to show that the order is not
+rigorously chronological. Ch. xxv., e.g., falls in 605 B.C., whereas
+the preceding chapter is at least eight years later (cf. xxiv. 1,
+8). Ch. xxi. 1-10, which reflects the period of the siege of
+Jerusalem, is one of the latest passages in the book (587 B.C.).
+There are occasional traces of a topical order: e.g. chs.
+xviii., xix., give lessons from the potter, xxi. 9-xxiii. 8 is a
+series of prophecies concerning kings, xxiii. 9-40 another
+concerning prophets. Chs. xxx.-xxxiii. gather up the prophecies
+concerning the restoration. Chs. xxxvii.-xliv. constitute a
+narrative dealing with the siege of the city and events immediately
+subsequent to it. Here we touch one of the striking peculiarities of
+the book of Jeremiah that much of it is purely narrative. Again, in
+the narrative portion, sometimes the prophet speaks himself in the
+first person, as in the account of his call (i.), sometimes he is
+spoken of in the third, xxviii. 5.
+
+This suggests that some passages are more directly traceable to
+Jeremiah than others, and the clue to this fact is to be found in
+the interesting story told in ch. xxxvi. There we are informed that
+Jeremiah dictated to his disciple Baruch the scribe the messages of
+his ministry since his call twenty-one years before. After being
+read before the public gathering at the temple, and then before the
+court, they were destroyed by the king, Jehoiakim; but the messages
+were rewritten by Baruch, and many similar words, we are told, were
+added, xxxvi. 32. It is clear that the book written by Baruch to
+Jeremiah's dictation cannot have been very long, as it could be read
+three times in one day, but it is impossible to say what precisely
+were its constituent elements. Roughly speaking, they must be
+confined to chs. i.-xxv., as the following chapters (except xlvi.-li.)
+are either narrative, like xxvi.-xxix., xxxvii.-xliv., or, if
+prophetic words of Jeremiah, come from a later date (cf. xxx.-xxxiii.,
+xxxii. 1). But the book cannot have included all of i.-xxv.,  for,
+as we have seen, parts of this section are later than 605, when the
+book was first dictated (cf. xxiv., xxi. 1-10), and some are very
+late (cf. x. 1-16, exilic at the earliest, and xvii. 19-27, post-exilic).
+The difficulty of determining the constituents is increased by the
+fact that several of the chapters are undated (e.g. xiv. 1-xvii. 18).
+No doubt most of chs. i.-xii. and much of xiii.-xxv. were included
+ within the original book dictated.
+
+It is further important to note that the book was dictated; that is
+to say, it was not written by Jeremiah's own hand, and it was
+dictated from memory, though very possibly on the basis of notes.
+Obviously we cannot in any case have in these few chapters more than
+a summary of the words spoken during a ministry which at that time
+had already covered twenty-one years. The strong personal feeling
+which animates so much of Jeremiah's early prophecies, especially
+the poetry, we owe directly to his own dictation. The narrative
+sections, in which he is spoken of in the third person, but most of
+which obviously came from some one who was thoroughly conversant
+with the prophet's life, we owe, no doubt, to the faithful Baruch,
+who clearly held the prophet's words not only in respect, but in
+reverence, xxxvi. 24. The biography, which, in its earlier chapters,
+assumes a somewhat annalistic form, xxvi. i, xxviii. i, xxix. i,
+develops an easy and flowing style when it comes to deal with the
+siege of Jerusalem (xxxvii.-xliv.). Speaking very generally, the
+biography covers chs. xxvi.-xlv. (except xxx., xxxi., xxxiii.).
+
+But long after Baruch was in his grave, the book of Jeremiah
+continued to receive additions. Some of these, from exilic and
+post-exilic times, we have already seen (of, 1., li.). A relatively
+large literature grew up around the book of Jeremiah: 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21
+even quotes as Jeremiah's a prophecy which does not occur in our
+canonical book at all. (cf. Lev. xxvi. 34f). Often those who added
+to the book had no clear imagination of the historical situation
+whatever; one of them represents Jeremiah as addressing the
+_kings_ of Judah--as if they had all lived at the same time--on
+the question of the Sabbath day (xvii. 20, cf. xix. 3). The extent
+of these additions has already been illustrated by comparison with
+the Septuagint, and very often the passages which are not supported
+by the Greek text are historically the least trustworthy, cf. xxxix.
+11, 12. These different recensions of the original text attest the
+wide popularity of the book; an Aramaic gloss in x. 11 shows the
+liberties which transcribers took with the text, the integrity of
+which suffered much from its very popularity. The interest of the
+later scribes was rather in homiletics than in history, and very
+probably most of the writing that seems tedious and diffuse in the
+book of Jeremiah is to be set down to the count of these teaching
+scribes. Jeremiah was a very gifted poet, with unusual powers of
+emotional expression, and it is greatly to be regretted that his own
+message has been so inextricably involved in the inferior work of a
+later age.
+
+
+
+
+EZEKIEL
+
+
+To a modern taste, Ezekiel does not appeal anything like so
+powerfully as Isaiah or Jeremiah. He has neither the majesty of the
+one nor the tenderness and passion of the other. There is much in
+him that is fantastic, and much that is ritualistic. His
+imaginations border sometimes on the grotesque and sometimes on the
+mechanical. Yet he is a historical figure of the first importance;
+it was very largely from him that Judaism received the
+ecclesiastical impulse by which for centuries it was powerfully
+dominated.
+
+Corrupt as the text is in many places, we have in Ezekiel the rare
+satisfaction of studying a carefully elaborated prophecy whose
+authenticity is practically undisputed and indisputable. It is not
+impossible that there are, as Kraetzschmar maintains, occasional
+doublets, e.g. ii. 3-7 and in. 4-9; but these in any case are very
+few and hardly affect the question of authenticity. The order and
+precision of the priestly mind are reflected in the unusually
+systematic arrangement of the book. Its general theme might be
+broadly described as the destruction and the reconstitution of the
+state, the destruction occupying exactly the first half of the book
+(i.-xxiv.) and the reconstitution the second half (xxv.-xlviii.).
+
+The following is a sketch of the book. After five years of residence
+in the land of exile, Ezekiel, through an ecstatic vision in which
+he beholds a mysterious chariot with God enthroned above it,
+receives his prophetic call to the "rebellious" exiles (i., ii.),
+and is equipped for his task with the divine inspiration; that task
+is partly to reprove, partly to warn (iii.). At once the prophet
+addresses himself thereto, announcing the siege of Jerusalem and the
+captivity of Judah--Israel has already been languishing in exile for
+a century and a half (iv.).[1] The threefold fate of the inhabitants
+is described (v.), and a stern and speedy fate is foretold for the
+mountain land of Israel (vi.) and for the people (vii.). How
+deserved that fate is becomes too pathetically plain in the
+descriptions of the idolatrous worship with which the temple is
+desecrated (viii.) and in chastisement for which the inhabitants are
+slain (ix.) and their city burned (x.). Jehovah solemnly departs
+from His desecrated temple (xi.).
+[Footnote 1: For 390 in iv. 5 the Septuagint correctly reads 190,
+and this includes the forty years of Judah's captivity.]
+
+This general theme of the sin and fate of the city is continued with
+variations throughout the rest of the first half of the book. The
+horrors of the siege and exile are symbolically indicated, xii. 1-20,
+and the false prophets and prophetesses, xiii. 17, are reproved and
+denounced for encouraging, by their shallow optimism, the unbelief
+of the people, xii. 21-xiv. 11. For the judgment will assuredly come
+and no intercession will avail, xiv. 12-23. Israel, in her misery,
+is like the wood of the vine, unprofitable to begin with, and now,
+besides, scarred and burnt (xv.); her whole career has been one of
+consistent infidelity--Israel and Judah alike (xvi.). And her kings
+are as perfidious as her people-witness Zedekiah's treachery to the
+king of Babylon (xvii.). But contrary to prevalent opinion, the present
+generation is not atoning for the sins of the past; every man is free
+and responsible and is dealt with precisely as he deserves--the soul
+that sinneth, _it_ shall die (xviii.). Then follows a beautiful
+elegy over the princes of Judah--Jehoahaz taken captive to Egypt, and
+Jehoiachin to Babylon (xix.).
+
+The third cycle (xx.-xxiv.) is, in the main, a repetition of the
+second. From the very day of her election, Israel has been
+unfaithful, giving herself over to idolatry, immorality, and the
+profanation of the Sabbath (xx.). But the devouring fire will
+consume, and the sharp sword of Nebuchadrezzar will be drawn, first
+against Jerusalem, and then against Ammon (xxi.). The corruption of
+Jerusalem is utter and absolute--princes, priests, prophets, and
+people (xxii.); and this corruption has characterized her from the
+very beginning--Samaria and Jerusalem, the northern and southern
+kingdoms alike (xxiii.). So the end has come: the filth and rust of
+the empty caldron--symbolic of Jerusalem after the first deportation
+in 597 B.C.--will be purged away by a yet fiercer fire. The besieged
+city is at length captured, and, like the prophet's wife, it
+perishes unmourned (xxiv.).
+
+The ministry of judgment, so far as it concerns Jerusalem, is now
+over, and Ezekiel is free to turn to the more congenial task of
+consolation and promise. But a negative condition of the restoration
+of Israel is the removal of impediments to her welfare, and next to
+her own sins her enemies are the greatest obstacle to her
+restoration; it is with them, therefore, that the following
+prophecies are concerned.
+
+The seven oracles in chs. xxv.-xxxii. (587-586 B.C., cf. xxvi. 1,
+except xxix. 17-21 in 570 B.C.) are directed against Ammon, Moab,
+Edom, Philistia (xxv.), Tyre, xxvi. 1-xxviii. 19, Sidon, xxviii. 20-26,
+and Egypt (xxix.-xxxii.). Tyre and Egypt receive elaborate attention;
+the other peoples are dismissed with comparatively brief notice. The
+general reason assigned for the destruction of the smaller peoples in
+xxv. is their vengeful attitude to Israel. Ammon in particular is
+singled out for her malicious joy over the destruction of the temple
+and her mockery of the captive Jews. The destruction of these people
+is no doubt to be brought about indirectly, if not directly, as in the
+case of Tyre, xxvi. 7, and Egypt, xxix. 19, by Nebuchadrezzar. The
+oracle against Tyre is one of Ezekiel's most brilliant compositions. The
+glorious city is to be stormed and destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar (xxvi.),
+and her  fall is celebrated in a splendid dirge, in which she is
+compared to a noble merchant ship wrecked by a furious storm upon the
+high seas (xxvii.); her proud prince will be humbled to the ground
+(xxviii.). Egypt is similarly threatened with a desolating invasion
+at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar; the conquest of that country is to be
+his recompense for his failure, contrary to Ezekiel's expectations, to
+capture Tyre (xxix.). The day of Jehovah draws nigh upon Egypt (xxx.);
+like a proud cedar she will be felled by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar
+(xxxi.), and her fall is celebrated in two dirges--one in which Pharaoh
+is compared to a crocodile; the other, weird and striking, describes
+the arrival of the slain Egyptians in the world below (xxxii.).
+
+With the disappearance of Israel's enemies, one of the great
+obstacles to her restoration has been removed; but the greatest
+obstacle is in Israel herself. She has been stiff-necked and
+rebellious: now that the prophet's words have proved true,[1] each
+individual for himself must give heed to his warning voice, not
+merely consulting him, but obeying him (xxxiii.). Then Jehovah will
+manifest His grace in many ways. He will send them an ideal king,
+unlike the mercenary rulers of the past, who had plundered the flock
+(xxxiv.). He will destroy the unbrotherly Edomites (xxxv.) and bless
+His people Israel with the peaceful possession of a fruitful land,
+and with the better blessing of the new heart (xxxvi.). Finally, He
+will wake the people, who are now as good as dead, to a new life,
+and unite the long sundered Israel and Judah under one sceptre for
+ever (xxxvii.). In the final assault which will be made against His
+people by the mysterious hordes of Gog from the north, He will
+preserve them from danger, and multitudes of the assailants will
+fall and be buried in the land of Israel (xxxviii., xxxix.).
+[Footnote: In xxxiii. 21 the _twelfth_ year should be the
+eleventh (cf. xxvi. 1). The news of the fall of Jerusalem would not
+take over a year to travel to Babylon.]
+
+Probably the book originally ended here: but from Ezekiel's point of
+view, the remaining chapters (xl.-xlviii.) are thoroughly integral
+to it, if indeed they be not its climax. The people are now redeemed
+and restored to their own land: the problem is, how shall they
+maintain the proper relations between themselves and their God? The
+unorganized community must become a church, and an elaborate
+organization is provided for it. The temple, with its buildings, is
+therefore first minutely described, as that is to be the earthly
+residence of the people's God; then the rights and duties of the
+priests are strictly regulated: and lastly the holy land is so
+redistributed among the tribes that the temple is practically in the
+centre.
+
+Chs. xl.-xliii. embrace the description and measurement of the
+temple, with its courts, gateways, chambers, decorations, priests'
+rooms and altar. When all is ready, Jehovah solemnly enters, xliii.
+1-12, by the gate from which Ezekiel had in vision seen Him leave
+almost nineteen years before, x. 19. The sanctity of the temple
+where Jehovah is henceforth to dwell must be scrupulously
+maintained, and this is secured by the regulations in xliv.-xlvi.
+The menial services of the sanctuary, which were formerly performed
+by foreigners, are to be henceforth performed by Levites. Then
+follow regulations determining the duties and revenues of the
+priests, the territory to be occupied by them, also by the Levites,
+the city and the prince; the religious duties of the prince, and the
+rite of atonement for the temple. The whole description is a
+striking counterpart to the earlier vision of the desecration of the
+temple (viii.). The last section (xlvii., xlviii.) deals with the
+land which in these latter days is to share the redemption of the
+people. The barren ground near the Dead Sea is to be made fertile,
+and the waters of that sea sweet, by a stream issuing from
+underneath the temple. The land will be redistributed, seven tribes
+north and five south of the temple, and the city will bear the name
+"Jehovah is there"--symbolic of the abiding presence of the people's
+God.
+
+Whatever be the precise meaning of the much disputed "thirtieth
+year" in i. 1, Ezekiel was born probably about or not long before
+the time Jeremiah began his ministry in 626 B.C. As a young man, he
+must have heard Jeremiah preach, and this, coupled with the fact
+that some of Jeremiah's prophecies were in circulation about eight
+years before Ezekiel went into exile (605-597) explains the profound
+influence which the older prophet plainly exercised upon the
+younger. With Jehoiachin and the aristocracy, Ezekiel was taken in
+597 to Babylon, where he lived with his wife, xxiv. 16, among the
+Jewish colony on the banks of the Chebar, one of the canals
+tributary to the Euphrates, i. 3.
+
+Never had a prophet been more necessary. The people left behind in
+the land were thoroughly depraved, xxxiii. 25ff., the exiles were
+not much better, xiv. 3ff.--they are a rebellious house, ii. 6; and
+even worse than they are the exiles who came with the second
+deportation in 586, xiv. 22. Idolatry of many kinds had been
+practised (viii.); and now that the penalty was being paid in exile,
+the people were helpless, xxxvii. 11. For six years and a half--till
+the city fell--Ezekiel's ministry was one of reproof; after that, of
+consolation. The prophet becomes a pastor. His ministry lasted at
+least twenty-two years, the last dated prophecy being in 570 (xxix.
+17); for thirteen years before the writing of chs. xl.-xlviii. in
+572 B.C. there is no dated prophecy, xxxii. 1, 17, so that this
+sketch of ecclesiastical organization, pathetic as embodying an old
+man's hope for the future, stands among his most mature and
+deliberate work. His absolute candour is strikingly shown by his
+refusal to cancel his original prophecy of the capture of Tyre by
+Nebuchadrezzar, xxvi. 7, 8, which had not been fulfilled; he simply
+appends another oracle and allows the two to stand side by side,
+xxix. 17-20.
+
+It is obvious that in Ezekiel prophecy has travelled far from the
+methods, expressions and hopes that had characterized it in the days
+of Amos and Isaiah, or even of Ezekiel's immediate predecessor and
+contemporary, Jeremiah. In these books there are visions, such as
+those of Amos, vii. 1, viii. 1, ix. 1, and symbolic acts like that
+of Isaiah, xx. 2, walking barefoot; but there such things are only
+occasional, here they abound. Their interpretation, too, is beset by
+much uncertainty. Some maintain that the symbolic actions, unless
+when they are obviously impossible, were really performed; others
+regard them simply as part of the imaginative mechanism of the book.
+The dumbness, e.g., with which Ezekiel was afflicted for a period,
+iii. 26, xxiv. 27, xxxiii. 22, and which has been interpreted as "a
+sense of restraint and defeat," may very well have been real, and
+connected, as has been recently supposed, with certain pathological
+conditions; but it is hardly to be believed that he lay on one side
+for 190 days[1] (iv. 5). Again, though the curious action
+representing the threefold fate of the inhabitants of the city in
+ch. v. is somewhat grotesque, it is not absolutely impossible; but
+it is difficult to see how the command to eat bread and drink water
+"with trembling" can be taken literally, xii. 18. As the first
+symbolic action in the book--the eating of the roll, iii. 1-3--must
+be interpreted figuratively, it would seem not unfair to apply this
+principle to all such actions. It is even applied by Reuss to the
+very circumstantial story of the death of the prophet's wife, xxiv.
+15ff., which he characterizes as an "easily deciphered hieroglyph."
+[Footnote 1: So the Septuagint.]
+
+Again, in spite of their highly elaborated detail, the visions
+appeal, and are intended to appeal, rather to the mind than to the
+eye. Such a vision as that of the divine chariot in ch. i. could not
+be transferred to canvas; and if it could, the effect would be
+anything but impressive. Regarded, however, as a creation of the
+intellectual imagination, suggesting as it does certain attributes
+of God, and clothing them with a mysterious and indefinable majesty,
+it is not without an impressiveness of its own.
+
+A similar sense of unreality has been held to pervade the speeches.
+It has been asserted that they are simply artificial compositions,
+never addressed and not capable of being addressed to any audience
+of living men. Certainly one can hardly conceive of the last
+chapters, with their minute description of the temple buildings,
+officers and ceremonies, as forming part of a public address; and
+some even of the earlier chapters, e.g. xvi., xxiii., do not suggest
+that living contact with an audience which invests the earlier
+prophets with their perennial dramatic interest. At the same time,
+to regard him simply as an author and in no sense as a public man
+would undoubtedly be to do him less than justice, cf. xi. 25. He was
+in any case a pastor--a new office in Israel, to which he was led by
+his overwhelming sense of the indefeasible importance of the
+individual (iii. 18ff., xviii., xxxiii.). But--especially in his
+earlier ministry, till the fall of the city--he was prophet as well
+as pastor, with a public message of condemnation very much like that
+of his predecessors. His reputation as a prophet naturally rose with
+the corroboration which his words had received from the fall of the
+city, xxxiii. 30, but even before this it must have been high, as we
+find him frequently consulted, viii. 1, xiv. 1, xx. 1; and though
+behind the real audience he addresses, we often cannot help feeling
+that his words have in view that larger Israel of which the exiles
+form a part (cf. vi.), the chapters, as they now stand, are no doubt
+in most cases expansions of actual addresses. This view is
+strengthened by the precision of the numerous chronological notices,
+cf. viii. 1.
+
+There is another important aspect in which the contrast between
+Ezekiel and the pre-exilic prophets is very great: viz. in his
+attitude to ritual. Every one of them had expressed in emphatic
+language the relative, if not the absolute, indifference of ritual
+to true religion (Amos v. 25, Hos. vi. 6, Isa. i. 11ff., Mic. vi. 6-8).
+No one had expressed himself in language more strong and unmistakable
+than Ezekiel's contemporary, Jeremiah. Yet Ezekiel himself devotes no
+less than nine chapters to a detailed programme for the ecclesiastical
+organization of the state after the return from exile (xl.-xlviii.).
+With some justice Lucien Gautier has called him the "clerical" prophet,
+and Duhm goes so far as to say that he annihilated spontaneous and
+ethical religion. This, as we shall see, is a grave exaggeration; but
+there can be no doubt that in Ezekiel the centre of gravity of prophecy
+has shifted. He threw ritual into a prominence which, in prophecy, it
+had never had before, and which, from his day on, it successfully
+maintained (cf. Hag., Zech., Mal.).
+
+It is difficult to estimate justly the importance to Hebrew religion
+of the new turn given to it by Ezekiel: it seems to be, and in
+reality it is, a descent from the more purely spiritual and ethical
+conception of the earlier prophets. But two things have to be
+remembered (1) that, for the situation contemplated by Ezekiel, such
+a programme as that which he drew up was a practical religious
+necessity. The spiritual atmosphere in which Jeremiah drew his
+breath so freely was too rare for the average Israelite. Religious
+conceptions had to be expressed in material symbols. The land and
+the temple had been profaned by sin (viii.); after the return, their
+holiness must be secured and guaranteed, and Ezekiel's legislation
+makes the necessary provision by translating that idea into specific
+and concrete applications.
+
+But (2) though ritual interests are very prominent towards the close
+of the book, they do not by any means exhaust the religious
+interests of Ezekiel. If not very frequently, at any rate very
+deliberately and emphatically, he asserts the ethical elements that
+are inseparable from true religion and the moral responsibility of
+the individual (iii., xviii., xxxiii.). Indeed, the background of
+xl.-xlviii. is a people redeemed from their sin. The worshippers are
+the redeemed; and even in this almost exclusively ritual section
+ethical interests are not forgotten, xlv. 9ff. In interpreting the
+mind of the man who sketched this priestly legislation, it is surely
+unfair to ignore those profound and noble utterances touching the
+necessity of the new heart, xviii. 31, xxxvi. 26, and the new
+spirit, xi. 19, utterances which have the ring of some of the
+greatest words of Jeremiah.
+
+It must be admitted, however, that Ezekiel did not fully realize the
+implications of these profound words: he at once proceeds to apply
+them in a somewhat mechanical way, which suggests that his religion
+is a thing of "statutes and judgments," if it is also a thing of the
+spirit, xxxvi. 27 (cf. xx. 11, 13), and this tendency to a
+mechanical view of things is characteristic of the prophet. Even in
+the great chapter asserting the responsibility of the individual
+(xviii.) something of this tendency appears in the isolation of the
+various periods of the individual life from each other. It shows
+itself again in his description of the river that issues from under
+the threshold of the temple, xlvii. 3-6. His imagination, which was
+considerably influenced by Babylonian art, is undisciplined. Images
+are worked out with a detail artistically unnecessary, and
+aesthetically sometimes offensive (xvi., xxiii.). On the other hand
+the book is not destitute of noble and chastened imaginations. The
+weird fate of Egypt in the underworld, xxxii. 17-32, the glory of
+Tyre and the horror which her fate elicits (xxvii.) are described
+with great power. Nothing could be more impressive than the vision
+of the valley of dry bones--the fearful solitude and the mysterious
+resurrection (xxxvii.). Ezekiel's imaginative power perhaps reaches
+its climax in his vision of the destruction of Jerusalem and her
+idolatrous people. On the judgment day we see the corpses of the
+sinners, slain by supernatural executioners, lying silently in the
+temple court, the prophet prostrate and sorrowful, and the angel
+departing with glowing coals to set fire to the guilty city, ix. i-x. 7.
+
+The two chief elements in later Judaism practically owe their origin
+to Ezekiel, viz. apocalypse and legalism. The former finds
+expression in chs. xxxviii, xxxix., where, preliminary to Israel's
+restoration, Gog of the land of Magog--an ideal, rather than, like
+the Assyrians or Babylonians, an historical enemy of Israel--is to
+be destroyed. We have already seen how prominent the legalistic
+interest is in xl.-xlviii., but it is also apparent elsewhere.
+Ezekiel, e.g., lays unusual stress upon the institution of the
+Sabbath, and counts its profanation one of the gravest of the
+national sins, xx. 12, xxii. 8, xxiii. 38. The priestly interests of
+Ezekiel are easily explained by his early environment. He belonged
+by birth to the Jerusalem priesthood, i. 3, xliv. 15, and he
+received his early training under the prophetico-priestly impulse of
+the Deuteronomic reformation.
+
+From the critical standpoint, the book of Ezekiel is of the highest
+importance. Chs. xl.-xlviii. fall midway between the simpler
+legislation of Deuteronomy, and the very elaborate legislation of
+the priestly parts of the Pentateuch. This is especially plain in
+the laws affecting the priests and the Levites.
+
+In Deuteronomy no distinction is made between them; there the phrase
+is, "the priests the Levites" (Deut. xviii. 1); in the priestly code
+(cf. Num. iii., iv., v.) they are very sharply distinguished, the
+Levites being reserved for the more menial work of the sanctuary.
+Now the origin of this distinction can be traced to Ezekiel,
+according to whom the Levites were the priests who had been degraded
+from their priestly office, because they had ministered in
+idolatrous worship at the high places, xliv. 6ff., whereas the
+priests were the Zadokites who had ministered only at Jerusalem. The
+natural inference is that, at least in this respect, the priestly
+legislation of the Pentateuch is later than Ezekiel. A close study
+of chs. xl.-xlviii. enables us to extend this inference. Between
+Ezekiel and that legislation there are serious differences (cf.
+xlvi. 13, Exod. xxix. 38, Num. xxviii. 4), which, as early as the
+beginning of the Christian era, gave much perplexity to Jewish
+scholars. "According to the traditional view," as Reuss has said,
+"Ezekiel would be reforming, not Israel, but Moses, the man of God,
+and the mouth of Jehovah Himself." We have no alternative, then, but
+to suppose that Ezekiel is earlier than the priestly legislation of
+the Pentateuch, and that this sketch in xl.-xlviii. prepared the way
+for it.
+
+In Ezekiel the older prophetic conception of God has undergone a
+change. It has become more transcendental, with the result that the
+love of God is overshadowed by His holiness. It is of His grace, no
+doubt, that the people are ultimately saved; but, according to
+Ezekiel, He is prompted to His redemptive work not so much out of
+pity for the fallen people, xxxvi. 22, but rather "for His name's
+sake," xx. 44--that name which has been profaned by Israel in the
+sight of the heathen, xx. 14. The goal of history is, in Ezekiel's
+ever-recurring phrase, that men may "know that I am Jehovah."
+Corresponding to this transcendental view of God is his view of man
+as frail and weak--over and over again Ezekiel is addressed as
+"child of man"--and history has only too faithfully exhibited that
+inherent and all but ineradicable weakness. While other prophets,
+like Hosea and Jeremiah, had seen in the earlier years of Israel's
+history, a dawn which bore the promise of a beautiful day, to
+Ezekiel that history has from the very beginning been one unbroken
+record of apostasy (xvi., xxiii.). On the other hand, Ezekiel laid a
+wholesome, if perhaps exaggerated, emphasis on the possibility of
+human freedom. A man's destiny, he maintained, was not irretrievably
+determined either by hereditary influences, xviii. 2ff., or by his
+own past, xxxiii. 10f. Further, Jeremiah had felt, if he had not
+said, that the individual, not the nation, is the real unit in
+religion: to Ezekiel belongs the merit of supplementing this
+conception by that other, that religion implies fellowship, and that
+individuals find their truest religious life only when united in the
+kingdom of God (xl.-xlviii.).
+
+
+
+
+HOSEA
+
+
+The book of Hosea divides naturally into two parts: i.-iii. and iv.-xiv.,
+the former relatively clear and connected, the latter unusually
+disjointed and obscure. The difference is so unmistakable that i.-iii.
+have usually been assigned to the period before the death of Jeroboam II,
+and iv.-xiv. to the anarchic period which succeeded. Certainly Hosea's
+prophetic career began before the end of Jeroboam's reign, as he predicts
+the fall of the reigning dynasty, i. 4, which practically ended with
+Jeroboam's death.[1] But i.-iii. seem to be the result of long and
+agonized meditation on the meaning of his wedded life: it was not at
+once that he discovered
+Gomer to be an unfaithful wife, i. 2, and it must have been later
+still that he learned to interpret the impulse which led him to her
+and threw such sorrow about his life, as a word of the Lord, i. 2.
+These chapters were probably therefore written late, though the
+experiences they record were early.
+[Footnote 1: Zechariah his son reigned for only six months.]
+
+Of the date, generally speaking, of iv.-xiv. there can be no doubt:
+they reflect but too faithfully the confusion of the times that
+followed Jeroboam's death. It is a period of hopeless anarchy. Moral
+law is set at defiance, and society, from one end to the other, is
+in confusion, iv. 1, 2, vii. 1. The court is corrupt, conspiracies
+are rife, kings are assassinated, vii. 3-7, x. 15. We are
+irresistibly reminded of the rapid succession of kings that followed
+Jeroboam--Zechariah his son, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah.
+Gilead, however, is still part of the northern kingdom, vi. 8, xii.
+11, so that the deportation effected by Tiglath Pileser in 734 B.C.
+has not yet taken place (2 Kings xv. 29). Further, there is no
+mention of the combination of Israel and Aram against Judah; and, as
+Hosea was a very close observer of the political situation, his
+silence on this point may be assumed to imply that his prophecies
+fall earlier than 735. The date of his prophetic career may safely
+be set about 743-736 B.C. In chs. i. and iii. Hosea reads the
+experiences of his wedded life as a symbol of Jehovah's experience
+with Israel. Gomer bore him three children, to whom he gave names
+symbolic of the impending fate[1] of Israel, i. 1-9. The faithless
+Gomer abandons Hosea for a paramour, but he is moved by his love for
+her to buy her out of the degradation into which she has fallen, and
+takes earnest measures to wean her to a better mind. All this Hosea
+learns to interpret as symbolic of the divine love for Israel, which
+refuses to be defeated, but will seek to recover the people, though
+it be through the stern discipline of exile (iii.). Ch. ii. elaborates
+the idea, suggested by these chapters, of Israel's adultery, i.e. of
+her unfaithfulness to Jehovah, of the fate to which it will bring her,
+and of her redemption from that fate by the love of her God.[2]
+[Footnote 1: Chs. i. 10-ii. 1 interrupts the stern context with an
+outlook on the Messianic days, considers Judah as well as Israel,
+presupposes the exile of Judah, and anticipates ii. 21-23. It can
+hardly therefore be Hosea's; nor can i. 7, which is quite irrelevant
+and appears to be an allusion to the deliverance of Jerusalem from
+Sennacherib in 701 B.C.]
+[Footnote 2: It is much more satisfactory to interpret i., iii. as a
+real experience of Hosea, and not simply as an allegory. If it be
+objected, on the one hand, that the names of the last two children
+are not probable names, it may be urged, on the other, that Gomer
+seems to be an actual name, for which no plausible allegorical
+meaning has been suggested.]
+
+It is quite impossible even to attempt a summary of iv.-xiv., partly
+because of the hopeless corruption of the text in very many
+passages, partly from the brevity and apparently disjointed nature
+of the individual sections. Possibly this is due, in large measure,
+to later redactors of the book, or to the fragmentary reports of the
+prophet's addresses; perhaps, however, it also expresses something
+of the abrupt passion of his speeches, which, as Kautzsch says, were
+"more sob than speech." The general theme of this division appears
+in its opening words, "There is no fidelity or love or knowledge of
+God in the land," iv. 1.
+
+That knowledge of God is in part innate and universal: it is
+knowledge of _God_, and not specifically of Jehovah--not
+knowledge of a code, but fidelity to the demands of conscience. It
+was, however, the peculiar business of the priests to proclaim and
+develop that knowledge; and for the deplorable perversity of Israel,
+they are largely held responsible, iv. 6. The worship of Jehovah,
+which ought to be a moral service, vi. 6, is indistinguishable from
+Baal worship (ii.) and idolatry. Upon the calf, the symbol under
+which Jehovah was worshipped, and upon those who worship Him thus,
+Hosea pours indignant and sarcastic scorn, viii. 5, 6, x. 5, xiii.
+2. Ignorance of the true nature of God is at the root of the moral
+and political confusion. It is this that leads the one party to
+coquet with Egypt and the other with Assyria, vii. II, viii, 9, xi.
+5, xii. 1, and the price paid for Assyrian intervention was a heavy
+one (2 Kings xv. 19, 20, cf. Hosea v. 13). The native kings, too,
+are as impotent to heal Israel's wounds as the foreigners, vii. 7,
+x. 7; and though it might be too much to say that Hosea condemns the
+monarchy as an institution, viii. 4, the impotence of the kings to
+stem the tide of disaster is too painfully clear to him, x, 7, 15.
+
+Whether Hosea ever alludes to Judah in his genuine prophecies is
+very doubtful. Some of the references are obvious interpolations
+(cf. i. 7), and for one reason or another, nearly all of them are
+suspicious: in vi. 4, e.g., the parallelism (cf. _v_. 10)
+suggests that _Israel_ should be read instead of _Judah_.
+But there can be no doubt that the message of Hosea is addressed in
+the main, if not exclusively, to northern Israel. It is her land
+that is _the_ land, i. 2, cf. 4, her king that is "our king,"
+vii. 5, the worship of her sanctuaries that he exposes, and her
+politics that he deplores.
+
+If Amos is the St. James of the Old Testament, Hosea is the St.
+John. It is indeed possible to draw the contrast too sharply between
+Amos and Hosea, as is done when it is asserted that Amos is the
+champion of morality and Hosea of religion. Amos is not, however, a
+mere moralist; he no less than Hosea demands a return to Jehovah,
+iv. 6, 8, v. 6, but he undoubtedly lays the emphasis on the moral
+expression of the religious impulse, while Hosea is more concerned
+with religion at its roots and in its essence. Thus Hosea's work,
+besides being supplementary to that of Amos, emphasizing the love of
+God where Amos had emphasised His righteousness, is also more
+fundamental than his. There is something of the mystic, too, in
+Hosea: in all experience he finds something typical. The character
+of the patriarch Jacob is an adumbration of that of his descendants
+(xii.), and his own love for his unfaithful wife is a shadow of
+Jehovah's love for Israel (i.-iii.).
+
+His message to Israel was a stern one, probably even sterner than it
+now reads in the received text of many passages, e.g., xi. 8, 9. He
+represents Jehovah as saying to Israel: "Shall I set thee free from
+the hand of Sheol? Shall I redeem thee from death? Hither with thy
+plagues, O death! Hither with thy pestilence, O Sheol! Repentance is
+hidden from mine eyes," xiii. 14. But it is too much to say with
+some scholars that the sternness is unqualified and to deny to the
+prophet the hope so beautifully expressed in the last chapter. There
+were elements in Hosea's experience of his own heart which suggested
+that the love of Jehovah was a love which would not let His people
+go, and ch. xiv. (except _v_. 9) may well be retained, almost
+in its entirety, for Hosea. His passion, though not robust, like
+that of Amos, is tender and intense, xi. 3, 4: as Amos pleads for
+righteousness, he pleads for love (Hos. vi. 6), _hesed_, a word
+strangely enough never used by Amos; and it is no accident that the
+great utterance of Hosea--"I will have love and not sacrifice," vi.
+6--had a special attraction for Jesus (Matt. ix. 13, xii. 7).
+
+
+
+
+JOEL
+
+
+The book of Joel admirably illustrates the intimate connection which
+subsisted for the prophetic mind between the sorrows and disasters
+of the present and the coming day of Jehovah: the one is the
+immediate harbinger of the other. In an unusually devastating plague
+of locusts, which, like an army of the Lord,[1] has stripped the
+land bare and brought misery alike upon city and country, man and
+beast--"for the beasts of the field look up sighing unto Thee," i.
+20--the prophet sees the forerunner of such an impending day of
+Jehovah, bids the priests summon a solemn assembly, and calls upon
+the people to fast and mourn and turn in penitence to God. Their
+penitence is met by the divine pity and rewarded by the promise not
+only of material restoration but of an outpouring of the spirit upon
+all Judah,[2] which is to be accompanied by marvellous signs in the
+natural world. The restoration of Judah has as its correlative the
+destruction of Judah's enemies, who are represented as gathered
+together in the valley of Jehoshaphat--i.e. the valley where
+"Jehovah judges"--and there the divine judgment is to be executed
+upon them.
+[Footnote 1: Some regard the locusts as an allegorical designation
+for an invading army. But without reason: in ii. 7 they are
+_compared_ to warriors, and the effect of their devastations is
+described in terms inapplicable to an army.]
+[Footnote 2: The sequel, in which the nations are the objects of
+divine wrath, shows that the "all flesh," ii. 28, must be confined
+to Judah.]
+
+The theological value of the book of Joel lies chiefly in its clear
+contribution to the conception of the day of Jehovah. As Marti says,
+"The book does not present one side of the picture only, but
+combines all the chief traits of the eschatological hope in an
+instructive compendium"--the effusion of the spirit, the salvation
+of Jerusalem, the judgment of the heathen, the fruitfulness of the
+land, the permanent abode of Jehovah upon Zion. These features of
+the Messianic hope are, in the main, characteristic of post-exilic
+prophecy; and now, with very great unanimity, the book is assigned,
+in spite of its position near the beginning of the minor prophets,
+to post-exilic times.
+
+A variety of considerations appears to support this date. Judah is
+the exclusive object of interest. Israel has no independent
+existence, and, where the name is mentioned, it is synonymous with
+Judah, ii. 27, iii. 2, 16. Further, the people are scattered among
+the nations, iii. 2, and strangers are not to pass through the
+"holy" Jerusalem any more, iii. 17. The exile and the destruction of
+Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar in 586 B.C. appear therefore to be
+presupposed. But the temple has been rebuilt; there are numerous
+allusions to priests and to meal and drink offerings, i. 9, 13, ii.
+14,17, and an assembly is summoned to "the house of Jehovah your
+God," i. 14: the reference to the city wall, ii. 9, would bring the
+date as late as Nehemiah in the fifth century. Other arguments,
+though more precarious, are not without weight, e.g., the ease and
+smoothness of the language, the allusion to the Greeks, in. 6, the
+absence of any reference to the sin of Judah,[1] the apparent
+citations from or allusions to other prophetic books.[2]
+[Footnote 1: Though it may be implied in ii. 12f ]
+[Footnote 2: Obad. _v_. 17, Jo. ii. 32; Amos i. 2, Jo. iii. 16;
+Amos ix. 13, Jo. iii. 18; Ezek. xlvii. 1ff., Jo. iii. 18.]
+
+The effect of this cumulative argument has been supposed to be
+overwhelming in favour of a post-exilic date. Recently, however,
+Baudissin, in a very careful discussion, has ably argued for at
+least the possibility of a pre-exilic date. Precisely in the manner
+of Joel, Amos iv. 6-9 links together locusts and drought as already
+experienced calamities. Both alike complain of the Philistine and
+Phoenician slave-trade. The enemies--Edom, Phoenicia, Philistia,
+iii. 4, l9--fit the earlier period better than the Persian or Greek.
+In the ninth century, Judah was invaded by the Philistines and
+Arabians according to the Chronicler (2 Chron. xxi. 16ff.), whose
+statements in such a matter there is no reason for doubting, and
+Jerusalem may then have suffered: in any case, we know that the
+treasures of temple and palace were plundered as early as Rehoboam's
+time (1 Kings xiv. 25ff.), and this might be enough to satisfy the
+allusion in Joel iii. 17. Again, if Joel is smooth, Amos is not much
+less so; and linguistic peculiarities that seem to be late might be
+due to dialect or personal idiosyncrasy. With regard to the argument
+from citations, it would be possible to maintain that Joel's simple
+and natural picture of the stream from the temple watering the
+acacia valley, iii. 18, was not borrowed from, but rather suggested
+the more elaborate imagery of Ezekiel, xlvii. For these and other
+reasons Baudissin suggests with hesitation that a date slightly
+before Amos is by no means impossible.[1]
+[Footnote 1: It is interesting to note that Vernes, Rothstein and
+Strack have independently reached the conclusion that chs. i., ii.
+have a different origin from iii., iv. In the former, the state
+still exists, and the calamity is a plague of locusts; in the
+latter, no account is taken of the locusts--it is a time of national
+disaster. The reasons, however, are hardly adequate for denying the
+unity of the book.]
+
+
+The question is much more than an academic one, for on the answer to it
+will depend our whole conception of the development of Hebrew prophecy.
+Sacerdotal interests, e.g., here receive a prominence in prophecy which
+we are accustomed to associate only with the period after the exile.
+Here again, the promises are for Judah, the threats for her enemies--an
+attitude also characteristic of post-exilic prophecy: it is customary
+to deny to the pre-exilic prophets any word of promise or consolation
+to their own people. Obviously if the priest and the element of promise
+have already so assured a place in the earliest of the prophets, the
+ordinary view of the course of prophecy will have to be seriously
+modified. The lack of emphasis displayed by Joel on the ethical aspect
+of religion, which has been made to tell in favour of a late date,
+might tell equally well in favour of a very early one. Indeed, the
+book is either very early or very late; and, if early, it represents
+what we might call the pre-prophetic type of Israel's religion, and
+especially the non-moral aspirations of those who, in Amos's time,
+longed for the day of Jehovah, and did not know that for them it meant
+thick darkness, without a streak of light across it (Amos v. 18). On
+the whole, however, the balance leans to a post-exilic date. The Jewish
+dispersion seems to be implied, iii. 2. The strange visitation of
+locusts suggests to the prophet the mysterious army from the north,
+ii. 20, which had haunted the pages of Ezekiel (xxxviii., xxxix.);
+and in this book, prophecy (i., ii.) merges into apocalyptic (iii.,
+iv.).
+
+
+
+
+AMOS
+
+
+Amos, the first of the literary prophets, is also one of the
+greatest. Hosea may be more tender, Isaiah more serenely majestic,
+Jeremiah more passionately human; but Amos has a certain Titanic
+strength and rugged grandeur all his own. He was a shepherd, i. 1,
+vii. 15, and the simplicity and sternness of nature are written deep
+upon his soul. He is familiar with lions and bears, iii. 8, v. 19,
+and the terrors of the wilderness hover over all his message. He had
+observed with acuteness and sympathy the great natural laws which
+the experiences of his shepherd life so amply illustrated, iii. 15.,
+and his simple moral sense is provoked by the cities, with the
+immoral civilization for which they stand. With a lofty scorn this
+desert man looks upon the palaces, i. 4, etc., the winter and the
+summer houses, iii. 15, in which the luxurious and rapacious
+grandees of the time indulged, and contemplates their ruin with
+stern satisfaction.
+
+Those were the days of Jeroboam II, i. 1, and, as the period is
+marked by an easy self-assurance, and the ancient boundaries of
+Israel are restored, vi. 14 (cf. 2 Kings xiv. 25, 28), Amos belongs,
+no doubt, to the latter half of his reign, probably as late as 750
+B.C., for he knows, though he does not name, the Assyrians, vi. 14,
+and he finds in their irresistible progress westwards an answer to
+the moral demands of his heart, Israel's exhausting wars with the
+Arameans were now over. Aram herself had been weakened by the
+repeated assaults of Assyria, and Israel was enjoying the dangerous
+fruits of peace. Extravagance was common, and drunkenness, no less
+among the women than the men, iv. 1. The grossest immorality is
+associated even with public worship, ii. 7, and religion is being
+eaten away by the canker of commercialism, viii. 5. The poor are
+driven to the wall, and justice is set at defiance by those
+appointed to administer it, ii. 6, v. 7. Such was the society,
+brilliant without and corrupt within, into which Amos hurled his
+startling message that the God who had chosen them, iii. 2, guided
+their history, ii. 9, and sent them prophets to interpret His will,
+ii. 11, would punish them for their iniquities, iii. 2.
+
+It is not certain whether the unusually skilful disposition of the
+book of Amos is due to himself or to a much later hand.[1] It has
+three great divisions: (_a_) the judgment (i., ii.), (_b_)
+the grounds of the judgment (iii.-vi.), (_c_) visions of judgment,
+with an outlook on the Messianic days (vii.-ix.). In chs. i., ii., with
+his sense of an impartial and universal moral law, Amos sees the
+judgment sweep across seven countries in the west--Aram, Philistia,
+Phoenicia, Edom, Ammon, Moab and Israel.[2] The sins denounced are,
+e.g., the barbarities of warfare and the cruelties of the slave trade;
+but Amos dwells with special emphasis and detail on the sins of Israel,
+as that is the country to which, though a Judean, he has been specially
+sent, vii. 10, 15.
+[Footnote 1: Note the refrains in i., ii., cf. i. 3, 6; iii.-vi. are
+held together by three "hears," iii. 1, iv. 1, v. 1, and apparently
+by three "woes," v. 7 (emended text), v. 18, vi. 1; so the visions
+in vii.-ix. are introduced by "Thus hath (the Lord Jehovah) shown
+me."]
+[Footnote 2: It is difficult to believe that the colourless oracle
+against Judah, ii. 4, 5, couched in perfectly general terms, is
+original. Doubts that are not unreasonable have also been raised
+regarding the oracle against Edom, i. 11, 12.]
+
+In the next section (_b_) he begins by asserting that Israel's
+religious prerogative will only the more certainly ensure her
+destruction, and justifies his threat of doom by his irrepressible
+assurance of having heard the divine voice, iii. 1-8. The doom is
+deserved because of the rapacity, luxury, iii. 9-15, and
+drunkenness, iv. 1-3, nor will their sumptuous worship save them,
+iv. 4, 5. Warnings enough they have had already, but as they have
+all been disregarded, God will come in some more terrible way, iv.
+6-13. Then follows a lament, v. 1-3, and an appeal to hate the evil
+and seek God and the good, v. 4-15; otherwise He will come in
+judgment and the "day of Jehovah," for which the people long, will
+be a day of storm and utter darkness, v. 16-20. To-day, as in the
+time of the Exodus, Jehovah's demands are not ritual but moral, and
+the neglect of them will end in captivity, v. 21-27. The luxury and
+self-assurance of the people are again scornfully denounced, and the
+doom of exile foretold (vi.).
+
+(_c_) Then follow visions of destruction from locusts and
+drought, vii. 1-6, the vision of the plumbline, symbolical of the
+straightness to which Israel has failed to conform, vii. 7-9, the
+vision of the summer fruit, which, by a play upon words, portended
+the end, viii. 1-3, and the vision of the ruined temple, ix. 1-7.
+These visions are interrupted by the exceedingly interesting and
+instructive story of the encounter of the prophet with the
+supercilious courtier-priest of Bethel, and Amos's fearless
+reiteration of his message, vii. 10-17; and also by the section
+viii. 4-14, with its exposition of the evils and its threats of
+judgment--a section more akin to iii.-vi. than to vii.-ix. The book
+concludes with an outlook on the redemption and prosperity which
+will follow in the Messianic age, ix. 8-15. It is hardly possible
+that this outlook can be Amos's own. In one whose interest in
+morality was so overwhelming, it would be strange, though perhaps
+not impossible, that the golden age should be described in terms so
+exclusively material; but the historical implications of the passage
+are not those of Amos's time. It is further an express contradiction
+of the immediately preceding words, ix. 2-5, in which, with dreadful
+earnestness, the prophet has expressed the thought of an inexorable
+and inevitable judgment from which there is no escape. Besides,
+while Amos addresses Israel, this passage deals with Judah,
+presupposes the fall[1] of the dynasty (cf. _v_. 11) and the
+advent of the exile (ix. 14, 15).[2]
+[Footnote 1: Even if only the decay were pre-supposed, the words
+would be quite inapplicable to the long and prosperous reign of
+Uzziah, i. 1.]
+[Footnote: The authenticity of a few other passages, cf. viii. 11,
+12, has been doubted for reasons that are not always convincing.
+Most doubt attaches to the great doxologies, iv. 13, v. 8, 9, ix. 5,
+6. The utmost that can be said with safety is that these passages
+are in no case necessary to the context, while v. 8, 9 is a distinct
+interruption, but that the conception of God suggested by them, as
+omnipotent and omnipresent, is not at all beyond the theological
+reach of Amos.]
+
+Amos must have had predecessors, ii. 11; but even so the range and
+boldness of his thought are astonishing. History, reflection and
+revelation have convinced him that Israel has had unique religious
+privileges, iii. 2; nevertheless she stands under the moral laws by
+which all the world is bound, and which even the heathen
+acknowledge, iii. 9--Amos has nothing to say of any written law
+specially given to Israel--and by these laws she will be condemned
+to destruction, if she is unfaithful, just as surely as the
+Philistines and Phoenicians (i.). Indeed, so sternly impartial is
+Amos that he at times even seems to challenge the prerogative of
+Israel. The Philistines and Arameans had their God-guided exodus no
+less than Israel, and she is no more to Jehovah than the swarthy
+peoples of Africa, ix. 7. The universal and inexorable claims of the
+moral law have never had a more relentless exponent than Amos; and,
+though there is in him a soul of pity, vii. 2, 5, it was his
+peculiar task, not to proclaim the divine love, but to plead for
+social justice. God is just and man must be so too. Perhaps Amos's
+message is all the more daring and refreshing that he was not a
+professional prophet, vii. 14. His culture, though not formal, is of
+the profoundest. He is familiar with distant peoples, ix. 7, he has
+thought long and deeply about the past, he knows the influences that
+are moulding the present. The religion for which he pleaded was not
+a thing of rites and ceremonies, but an ideal of social justice--a
+justice which would not be checked at every step by avarice and
+cruelty, but would flow on and on like the waves of the sea, v. 24.
+
+
+
+
+OBADIAH
+
+
+The book of Obadiah--shortest of all the prophetic books--is
+occupied, in the main, as the superscription suggests, with the fate
+of Edom. Her people have been humbled, the high and rocky fastnesses
+in which they trusted have not been able to save them. Neighbouring
+Arab tribes have successfully attacked them and driven them from
+their home (_vv_, 1-7).[1] This is the divine penalty for their
+cruel and unbrotherly treatment of the Jews after the siege of
+Jerusalem, _vv_. 10-14, 15_b_. Nay, a day of divine
+vengeance is coming upon all the heathen, when Judah will utterly
+destroy Edom, and once again possess all the land, north, south,
+east and west, that was formerly theirs, and the kingdom shall be
+Jehovah's, _vv_. 15_a_, 16-21.
+[Footnote 1: Verses 8, 9, which imply that the catastrophe is yet to
+come, and speak of Edom in the third person, appear to be later than
+the context. For "thy mighty men, O Teman," in _v_. 9_a_,
+probably we should read, "the mighty men of Teman."]
+
+
+The date of the prophecy seems to be fixed by the unmistakable
+allusion in _vv_. 11-14 to the capture of Jerusalem by
+Nebuchadrezzar in 586 B.C.--an occasion on which the Edomites
+abetted the Babylonians (Ezek. xxxv.; Lam. iv. 21 ff.; Ps. cxxxvii.
+7). But the case is gravely complicated by the similarity, which is
+much too close to be accidental, between Obadiah 1-9 and the oracle
+against Edom in Jeremiah, xlix. 7-22 (especially _vv_. 14-16,
+9, 10, 7, 22); and, though in one or two places the text of Obadiah
+is superior (cf. Ob. 2, 3; Jer. xlix. 15, 16), the resemblance is
+such that the passage in Jeremiah must be dependent on Obadiah. Now
+the date assigned to Jeremiah's oracle is 605 B.C. (xlvi. 2); but
+obviously Jeremiah could not adopt in 605 a prophecy which was not
+written till 586. A way out of this difficulty has usually been
+sought in the assumption that both prophets have made use, in
+different ways, of an older oracle against Edom, _vv_. 1-9 or
+10. But there is no adequate reason for separating _vv_. 11-14,
+which must refer to the capture of Jerusalem in 586, from _vv_.
+1-7. The assumption just mentioned becomes quite unnecessary when we
+remember that Jeremiah xlix. 7-22, as we have already seen, is
+probably, at least in its present form, from a period very much
+later than Jeremiah. The priority therefore rests with Obadiah,
+whose prophecy has been utilized in Jeremiah xlix.
+
+In _vv_. 1-7 the catastrophe is not predicted for Edom, it has
+already fallen: it was probably an earlier stage of the Bedawin
+assaults, whose desolating effect upon Edom is described in Malachi
+i. 1-5, and must therefore be relegated to a period about the middle
+of the fifth century. We are probably not far from the truth in
+dating Obadiah 1-14 about 500 B.C. The memory of Edom's cruelty
+would still rankle a generation after the return.
+
+But in _vv_. 15_a_, 16-21 the literary and religious
+colouring is different; _vv_. 1-14 is marked by a certain
+graphic vigour, _vv_. 15-21 is diffuse. The judgment of Edom in
+_vv_. 1-14 is in _vv_. 15-21 made only an episode in a
+great world-judgment. Above all, in _v_. 1 the nations are to
+execute this judgment, in _v_. 15 they are to be the victims of
+it. Further, _vv_. 19, 20 seem to imply an extensive dispersion
+of the Jews. Probably, therefore, this passage expresses the bold
+eschatological hopes of a later time, when Judah was to be finally
+redeemed and the heathen annihilated. The section may be later than
+the oracle in Jeremiah xlix, as no use is made of it there.
+
+
+
+
+JONAH
+
+
+The book of Jonah is, in some ways, the greatest in the Old
+Testament: there is no other which so bravely claims the whole world
+for the love of God, or presents its noble lessons with so winning
+or subtle an art. Jonah, a Hebrew prophet, is divinely commanded to
+preach to Nineveh, the capital of the great Assyrian empire of his
+day. To escape the unwelcome task of preaching to a heathen people,
+he takes ship for the distant west, only to be overtaken by a storm,
+and thrown into the sea, when, by the lot, it is discovered that he
+is the cause of the storm. He is immediately swallowed by a fish, in
+the belly of which he remains three days and nights (i.). Then
+follows a prayer: after which the prophet is thrown up by the fish
+upon the land (ii.). This time he obeys the divine command, and his
+preaching is followed by a general repentance, which causes God to
+spare the wicked city (iii.), whereat Jonah is greatly displeased;
+but, by a new and miraculous experience, he is taught the shame and
+folly of his anger, and the infinite greatness of the divine love
+(iv.).
+
+On the face of it, the narrative is not meant to be strictly
+historical. Its place among the prophetic books shows that its
+importance lies, not in its facts, but in the truths for which it
+pleads. Much detail is wanting which we should expect to find were
+the narrative pure history, e.g. the name of the Assyrian king, the
+results of Jonah's mission, etc. Other circumstances stamp it as
+unhistorical: considering the poor success the Hebrew prophets had
+in their own land, such a wholesale conversion of a foreign city,
+even if such a visit as Jonah's were likely, must be regarded as
+extremely improbable, to say nothing of the impossibility of the
+animals fasting and wearing sackcloth, iii. 7, 8. The miraculous
+fish and the miraculous tree which grew up in a single night forbid
+us to look for history in the book. Nineveh's fame is a thing of the
+past, iii. 3; the book is written after, probably long after, its
+fall in 606 B.C. The lateness of the book and its remoteness from
+the events it records, are proved in other ways. Its language has
+the Aramaic flavour of the later books, and such a phrase as "the
+God of heaven," i. 9, only occurs in post-exilic literature. It
+contains several reminiscences of late books[1] (e.g. Joel?), and
+its ideas are most intelligible as the product of post-exilic times,
+especially if it be regarded as a protest against a loveless and
+narrow-hearted type of Judaism. All the conditions point to a date
+not much, if at all, earlier than 300 B.C.
+[Footnote 1: There are many points of contact between the prayer in
+Jonah ii. and the Psalter; but the prayer must be later than the
+original book of Jonah. It is in reality not a prayer but a psalm of
+gratitude, and is quite inappropriate to Jonah's horrible situation
+in the belly of the fish. Even if the metaphors from the sea were
+interpreted literally, they would not be applicable to Jonah's case;
+e.g., "the weeds were wrapped about my head," _v_. 5. The
+Psalm, which is partly, but not altogether, a compilation, must have
+been inserted here by a later hand, hardly by the author of the
+book, who would have noticed the impropriety of it.]
+
+Jonah is himself a historical character; there is no reason to doubt
+that the prophet, in whose time Nineveh is standing, i. 2, is
+contemporary with the Jonah mentioned in 2 Kings xiv. 25 as living
+in the reign of Jeroboam II, and prophesying the restoration of
+Israel to its ancient boundaries. It may have been as the
+representative of an intense and exclusive nationalism that he was
+chosen as the hero of this book. Here and there the story trenches
+on Babylonian and Greek legend, but the spirit, if not also the
+form, is altogether the author's own.
+
+The book abounds in religious suggestion; even its incidental
+touches are illuminating. It suggests that man cannot escape his
+divinely appointed destiny, and that God's will must be done. It
+suggests that prophecy is conditional; a threatened destruction can
+be averted by repentance. It is peculiarly interesting to find so
+generous an attitude towards the religious susceptibilities and
+capacities of foreigners: in this we are reminded of Jesus' parable
+of the good Samaritan. The foreign sailors cry, in their perplexity,
+to their gods, and end by acknowledging the God of Israel; the
+people of Nineveh repent at the prophet's preaching. All this forms
+a splendid foil to the smallness and obstinacy of Jonah. With his
+mean views of God, he would not only exclude the heathen from the
+divine mercy, but rejoice in their destruction. In this the prophet
+is typical of later Judaism, with its longing for the annihilation
+of the nations as the obverse of the redemption of Zion. This
+attitude was greatly encouraged by the rigorous legislation of Ezra;
+and Jonah, like Ruth, may be a protest against it, or at least
+against the bigotry which it engendered. If Israel is, in any sense,
+an elect people, she is but elected to carry the message of
+repentance to the heathen; and the book of Jonah is indirectly,
+though not perhaps in the intention of the author, a plea for
+foreign missions.
+
+The greatest lesson of the book is skilfully reserved to the end,
+iv, 2, 10, 11. It is that God is patient and merciful, that He loves
+all the world which He created, that His love stretches not only
+beyond the Jews and away to distant Nineveh, but even down to the
+animal creation. He hears the prayer of the foreign sailors, He
+delights in the repentance of Nineveh, He cares for the cattle, iv.
+11. This book is the Old Testament counterpart to "God so loved the
+world."
+
+
+
+
+MICAH
+
+
+Micah must have been a very striking personality. Like Amos, he was
+a native of the country--somewhere in the neighbourhood of Gath; and
+he denounces with fiery earnestness the sins of the capital cities,
+Samaria in the northern kingdom, and Jerusalem in the southern. To
+him these cities seem to incarnate the sins of their respective
+kingdoms, i. 5; and for both ruin and desolation are predicted, i.
+6, iii. 12. Micah expresses with peculiar distinctness the sense of
+his inspiration and the object for which it is given; he is
+conscious of being filled with the spirit of Jehovah to declare unto
+Jacob his transgression and unto Israel his sin, iii. 8. In his
+ringing sincerity, he must have formed a strange contrast to the
+prophets who regulated their message by their income, iii. 5, and
+preached to a people whose conscience was slumbering, a welcome
+gospel of materialism, ii. 11.
+
+The words of Micah must have burned themselves into the memories, if
+not the consciences, of his generation; for more than a hundred
+years after--though doubtless by this time the prophecy was written--we
+find his unfulfilled prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem
+alluded to by the elders who pled for the life of Jeremiah, xxvi.
+17ff. It is certain from this reference that he prophesied during
+the reign of Hezekiah; whether also under Jotham and Ahaz (Mic. i.
+1) is not so certain, and depends upon whether his prophecy of the
+destruction of Samaria, i. 6, was made before, or as seems equally
+possible, after the capture of that city in 721 B.C. At any rate his
+message was addressed to Judah, and must have fallen (at least i.-iii.)
+before 701 B.C.--the year in which the city was saved beyond all
+ expectation from an attack by Sennacherib, iii. 12.
+
+Micah begins by describing the coming of Jehovah. He is coming in
+judgment upon Samaria and Jerusalem, the wicked capitals of wicked
+kingdoms, i. 1-9; and in the difficult verses, i. 10-16, the
+devastating march of the enemy through Judah is allusively described.
+The judgment is thoroughly justified--it is due to the violent and
+grasping spirit of the wealthy, who do not scruple to crush the poor
+and defenceless, ii. 1-11. The prophet then[1] brings his charge in
+detail against the leaders of the people--officials, judges, priests,
+prophets--accuses them of being mercenary and time-serving, and ends
+with the terrible threat that the holy hill will one day be made a
+ desolation (iii.).
+[Footnote 1: Ch. ii. 12, 13, which interrupt the stern address of
+the prophet, ii. 11, iii. 1 with a promise which implies that Israel
+is scattered, are probably exilic; they can hardly be Micah's.]
+
+These chapters are assigned almost unanimously to Micah. But serious
+critical difficulties are raised in connection with the rest of the
+book. Chs. iv. and v. constitute a section by themselves, and may be
+considered separately. Their general theme is the certainty of
+salvation, but it is quite clear that they do not form an original
+unity; iv. 1-4, e.g., with its generous attitude to the foreign
+nations, is inconsistent with iv. 11-13, which predicts their
+destruction. Again, iv. 10 describes a siege of Jerusalem, which is
+to issue in exile, iv. 11-13, a siege which is to end in the
+annihilation of the besiegers. Similar difficulties characterize ch.
+v; in _vv_. 7-9, 15 the enemies are to be destroyed.
+
+No consecutive outline of the chapters is possible in their present
+disconnected form. Ch. iv. 1-5 describes the Messianic age, in which
+the nations will come to Jerusalem to have their cases peacefully
+arbitrated, iv. 6-8 promise that those scattered (in exile) will be
+gathered again, and the kingdom of Judah restored. Siege of
+Jerusalem, exile, and redemption, iv. 9, 10. Unsuccessful siege of
+Jerusalem and annihilation of the enemy, iv. 11-13. Another siege:
+Israel's suffering, v. 1. Promise of a victorious king, v. 2-4.
+Judah's victory over Assyria, v. 5, 6 and all her enemies, v. 7-9.
+All the apparatus of war and idolatry will be removed from the land,
+v. 10-14, and vengeance taken on the enemy, v. 15.
+
+The summary shows how disjointed the chapters are. They may not
+impossibly contain reminiscences or even utterances of Micah; e.g.
+the prediction of the fatal siege, v. 1, or of the overthrow of
+idolatry, v. 10-14. But many elements could not possibly be Micah's:
+e.g. iv. 8 implies that the kingdom of Judah is already a thing of
+the past. iv. 6 postulates the exile,[1] and the prophecy of exile
+to Babylon, iv. 10, would be unnatural in Micah's time, when Assyria
+was the dominant power.[2]  Again it is exceedingly improbable that
+Micah would have blunted the edge of his terrible threat in iii. 12
+by following it up with so brilliant a promise as iv. 1-4,
+especially as not a word is said about the need of repentance. The
+story in Jeremiah xxvi. 17ff. raises the legitimate doubt whether
+Micah's prophecy, which was certainly one of threatening, iii. 12,
+also contained elements of promise. On the whole it seems best to
+assume that the fine picture of the glory and importance of Zion in
+the latter days, iv. 1-4, was set by some later writer as a foil to
+the stern threat with which the original prophecy closed, cf. Isaiah
+ii. 1-4. Chs. iv. and v. may be regarded as a collection of
+prophecies emphasizing the certainty of salvation and intended to
+supplement i.-iii.
+[Footnote 1: This might conceivably, though not very naturally,
+refer to the deportation of _Israel_ in 721.]
+[Footnote 2: Some retain iv. 9, 10 for Micah, and assume either that
+the Babylon clause is a later interpolation, or that Babylon has
+displaced another proper name.]
+
+Chs. vi. and vii. take us again into another atmosphere, more like
+Micah's own. The people, who attempt to defend themselves against
+Jehovah's charge of ingratitude on the plea that they are ignorant
+of His demands, are reminded that those demands are ancient and
+simple: justice, love as between man and man, and a humble walk with
+God, vi. 1-8. But instead, dishonesty and injustice are rampant
+everywhere, and the judgment of God is inevitable, vi. 9-16. The
+prophet laments the utter and universal degradation of the people,
+which has corrupted even the intimacies of family life, vii. 1-6. In
+the rest of the chapter the blow predicted has already fallen; in
+their sorrow the people await the fulfilment of Jehovah's purpose in
+patience and faith, pray to Him to restore the land which once was
+theirs on the east of the Jordan, and thus to compel from the
+heathen an acknowledgment of His power. He is the incomparable God
+who can forgive and restore, vii. 7-20.
+
+The accusations and laments of these two chapters come very strangely
+after the repeated promises of chs. iv. and v.; and if the whole book
+had been by Micah, it is hardly possible that this order should have
+been original. Probably these chapters were appended to Micah's book
+because of several features which they have in common with i.-iii.:
+notice, e.g., the prominence of the word "hear," i. 2, iii. 1, 9,
+vi. 1, 9, Most scholars agree with Ewald in supposing that these
+chapters--at any rate vi. i-vii. 6--come from the reign of Manasseh.
+The situation is that of i.-iii., only aggravated: the reference to
+Ahab, vi. 16, with whom Manasseh is compared in 2 Kings xxi. 3, points
+in the same direction. Even if written in this reign, Micah may still
+have been the author; but the general manner of the chapters and the
+individuality they reveal appear to be different from his. But,
+considering their noble insistence upon the moral elements in religion
+(esp. vi. 6-8) they are, if not his, yet not inappropriately appended
+to his book. The concluding section, however, vii. 7-20, is almost
+certainly post-exilic. The punishment has come, therefore the exile is
+the earliest possible date. But there are exiles not only in Babylon,
+but scattered far and wide throughout the world, vii. 12, and there is
+the expectation that the walls of Jerusalem will be rebuilt, vii. 11.
+As this took place under Nehemiah, the section will fall before his
+time (500-450 B.C.). This passage of promise and consolation is a foil
+to vi. 1-vii. 6, intended to sustain the same relation to that section
+as iv., v. to i.-iii.
+
+Thus many hands appear to have contributed to the little book of
+Micah, and the voices of two or three centuries may be heard in it:
+earlier words of threatening and judgment are answered by later
+words of hope and consolation. But wherever else the true Micah is
+to be found--and his spirit at any rate is certainly in vi. 6-8--he
+is undoubtedly present in i.-iii. It is a peculiar piece of good
+fortune that we should possess the words of two contemporary
+prophets who differed so strikingly as Micah the peasant and Isaiah
+the statesman. Unlike Isaiah, Micah has nothing to say about foreign
+politics and their bearing upon religion; he confines himself
+severely to its moral aspects, and like Amos, that other prophet of
+the country, hurls his accusations and makes his high ethical
+demands, with an almost fierce power, iii. 2, 3. His prophecy
+justifies his claim to speak in the power and inspiration of his
+God, iii. 8.
+
+
+
+
+NAHUM
+
+
+Poetically the little book of Nahum is one of the finest in the Old
+Testament. Its descriptions are vivid and impetuous: they set us before
+the walls of the beleaguered Nineveh, and show us the war-chariots of
+her enemies darting to and fro like lightning, ii. 4, the prancing
+steeds, the flashing swords, the glittering spears, iii. 2,3. The
+poetry glows with passionate joy as it contemplates the ruin of cruel
+and victorious Assyria.
+
+In the opening chapter, i., ii. 2, Jehovah is represented as coming
+in might and anger to take vengeance upon the enemies of Judah, whom
+He is to destroy so completely that not a trace of them will be
+left; and Judah, now delivered, will be free to worship her God in
+peace. In ch. ii. the enemy, through whom Assyria's destruction is
+to be wrought, is at the gates of Nineveh, _v_. 8, in all the
+fierce pomp of war. The city is doomed, the defenders flee,
+everywhere is desolation and ruin, the ravenous Assyrian lion is
+slain by the sword. It is because of her sins that this utter ruin
+is coming upon her, iii. 1-7, nor need she think to escape; for the
+populous and all but impregnable Thebes (No-Amon) was taken, and
+Nineveh's fate will be the same. Already the people are quaking for
+fear, some of the strongholds of Assyria are taken; it is time to
+prepare to defend the capital. But there is no hope, her doom is
+already sealed, iii. 8-19.
+
+From the historical implications of the prophecy, which belongs, as
+we shall see, to the seventh century, and also from definite
+allusions (cf. i. 15), Nahum must have been a Judean; and, of the
+three traditions concerning Elkosh his birthplace, which place it
+respectively in Mesopotamia, in Galilee, and near Eleutheropolis in
+southern Judah, the last must be held to be very much the most
+probable. Within certain limits, the date is easy to fix. Ch. iii.
+8-10, which are historically the most concrete verses in the
+prophecy, imply the capture of Thebes, which we now know to have
+been taken by the Assyrians in 663 B.C. On the other hand, Nineveh
+has not yet fallen: the theme of the prophecy is just the certainty
+of its fall. It was taken by the Medians under Kyaxares, leagued
+with Nabopolassar of Babylon in 606 B.C. The prophecy therefore
+falls between 663 and 606.
+
+The fixing of the precise date depends on two considerations: (1)
+whether the allusion to Thebes in iii. 8-10 implies that its capture
+was very recent, and (2) whether we must suppose that the prophecy
+was inspired by a definite historical situation. It is usually felt
+that the reference to Thebes implies that the memory of its capture
+is fresh, and that the prophecy must stand very near it--not later
+perhaps than 650; and just about this time there was a Babylonian
+rebellion against Assyria. This date must be regarded as by no means
+impossible. On the whole, however, a later date appears to be
+distinctly more probable The last few verses, iii. 12f., 18f., imply
+the thorough weakness, disorganization and impending dissolution of
+the Assyrian empire, and so early a date as 650 hardly meets the
+case. We must apparently come down to the time when the fate of
+Nineveh was obviously inevitable and her conqueror was on the way,
+ii. 1. Probably Marti is not far from the truth in suggesting 610
+B.C. The reference to Thebes is intelligible even at this later
+date, when we remember that the capture of so strong a city, already
+famous in Homer's time, must have left an indelible impression on
+the mind of Western Asia. It is no doubt abstractly possible that
+the prophecy is not intimately connected with any historical
+situation, and therefore might be much earlier; but to say nothing
+of the concreteness of the detail, such a supposition would be
+altogether contrary to the analogy of Hebrew prophecy. When Jehovah
+reveals His secret to the prophets, it is because He is about to do
+something (Amos iii. 7).
+
+The concreteness of detail just alluded to is characteristic only of
+the second and third chapters. Ch. i., however, is confessedly
+vague, and moves for the most part along the familiar lines of
+theophanic descriptions. It is not plain in i. (cf. ii. 8) who are
+the enemies to be destroyed, as i. 1 is probably a later addition.
+Further, as far as _v_. 10 the prophecy is alphabetic: this
+circumstance has given rise to the view that i., ii. 2 originally
+formed a complete alphabetic psalm whose second half has either been
+worked over, or displaced by i. 11-15, ii. 2, the object of the
+psalm being to present a general picture of the judgment into which
+the particular doom of Nineveh is fitted, and to give the prophecy a
+theological complexion which it appeared to need. The acknowledged
+vagueness of the chapter and the demonstrably alphabetic nature of
+at least part of it, certainly render its authenticity very
+doubtful.
+
+The theological interest of Nahum is great. It is the first prophecy
+dealing exclusively with the enemies of Judah. There is a hint of
+the sin of Nineveh, but little more than a hint, iii. 1, 4; she is
+the enemy and oppressor of Judah, and that is enough to justify her
+doom. Whether we accept the earlier or the later date for the
+prophecy, the reign of Manasseh or that of Josiah, the moral
+condition of Judah herself was deplorable enough, and so clear-eyed
+a prophet as Jeremiah saw that her doom was inevitable. Nahum
+probably represents the sentiment of narrowly patriotic party, which
+regarded Jerusalem as inviolable, and Jehovah as a jealous God ready
+to take vengeance upon the enemies of Judah.
+
+
+
+
+HABAKKUK
+
+
+The precise interpretation of the book of Habakkuk presents unusual
+difficulties; but, brief and difficult as it is, it is clear that
+Habakkuk was a great prophet, of earnest, candid soul, and he has
+left us one of the noblest and most penetrating words in the history
+of religion, ii. 4_b_. The prophecy may be placed about the
+year 600 B.C. The Assyrian empire had fallen, and by the battle of
+Carchemish in 605 B.C., Babylonian supremacy was practically
+established over Western Asia. Josiah's reformation, whose effects
+had been transient and superficial, lay more than twenty years
+behind. The reckless Jehoiakim was upon the throne of Judah, a king
+who regarded neither the claims of justice (Jer. xxii. 13-19) nor
+the words of the prophet (Jer. xxxvi. 23), and his rebellion drew
+upon him and his land the terrible vengeance of Babylon, first in
+601 B.C., then in 597.
+
+The prophet begins by asking his God how long the lamentable
+disorder and wrong are to continue, i. 1-4. For answer, he is
+assured that the Chaldeans are to be raised up in chastisement, who,
+with their terrible army, will mockingly defy every attempt to check
+their advance, i. 5-11, But in i. 12-17 the prophet appears to be
+confounded by their impiety; they have been guilty of barbarous
+cruelty--how can Jehovah reconcile this with His own holiness and
+purity? The prophet finds the answer to his question when he climbs
+his tower of faith; there he learns that the proud shall perish and
+the righteous live. The solution may be long delayed, but faith sees
+and grasps it already: "The just shall live by his faithfulness,"
+ii. 1-4. Then follows a series of woes, ii. 5-20, which expand the
+thought of ii. 4_a_--the sure destruction of the proud. Woes
+are denounced upon the cruel rapacity of the conquerors, their
+unjust accumulation of treasure, their futile ambitions, their
+unfeeling treatment of the land, beasts and people, and finally
+their idolatry. In contrast to the stupid and impotent gods
+worshipped by the oppressor is the great God of Israel, whose temple
+is in the heavens, and before whom the earth is summoned to silence,
+ii. 20. For He is on His way to take vengeance upon the enemies of
+His people, as He did in the ancient days of the exodus, when He
+came in the terrors of the storm and overthrew the Egyptians. His
+coming is described in terms of older theophanies (Jud. v., Deut.
+xxxiii.); and this "prayer," as it is called in the superscription,
+concludes with an expression of unbounded confidence and joy in
+Jehovah, even when all customary and visible signs of His love fail
+(iii.).
+
+Simple and coherent as this sequence seems to be, it is, in reality,
+on closer inspection, very perplexing. Ch. i. 1-4 reveals a picture
+of confusion within Judah, but it is impossible to say whether it is
+foreigners who are oppressing Judah as a whole, or powerful classes
+within Judah itself that are oppressing the poor. Perhaps the latter
+is the more natural interpretation. In that case, the Chaldeans are
+raised up to chastise the native oppressor, i. 5-11. This section,
+however, has fresh difficulties of its own; _vv_. 5, 6 suggest
+that the Chaldeans are not yet known to be a formidable power, they
+are only about to be raised up, _v_. 6, and what they will do
+is as yet incredible, _v_. 5. The minute description which
+follows, however, looks as if their military appearance and methods
+were thoroughly familiar. Assuming that i. 12-17 is the continuation
+of i. 5-ll--and the descriptions are very similar--the Chaldeans,
+whose coming was the answer to the prophet's prayer, now constitute
+a fresh problem; they swallow up those who are more righteous than
+themselves, _v_. 13, i.e. Judah. It cannot be denied that such
+a characterization of Judah sounds strange after the charge levelled
+at her in i. 1-4, unless we assume an interval of time between the
+sections, or at least that in i. 12-17, Judah is regarded as
+relatively righteous, i.e. in comparison with the Chaldeans.
+
+The situation is further complicated by the very close resemblance
+that prevails between i. 1-4 and i. 12-17. The very same words for
+_righteous_ and _wicked_ occur in i. 13 as in i. 4; do they
+or do they not designate the same persons? If they do, then, as in
+i. 12-17, the wicked oppressor is almost certainly the Chaldean and
+the righteous is Judah, and we shall have to interpret the confusion
+pictured in i. 2-4 as due to the Chaldean suzerainty, and perhaps to
+assign the section to a period after the first capture of Jerusalem
+in 597 B.C. In that case, as it is obvious that the Chaldeans could
+not be raised up to execute divine judgment upon themselves, the
+section, i. 5-11, would have to be regarded as an independent piece,
+whether Habakkuk's or not, announcing the rise of the Chaldeans, and
+not inappropriately placed here, considering that the sections on both
+sides of it have the Chaldeans for their theme. On the other hand,
+however, it may be urged that the identification of the righteous and
+wicked in i. 13 with i. 4, though natural,[1] is not necessary; and by
+denying it the prophecy becomes distinctly more coherent. The wrong done
+by Judah, i. 1-4, is avenged by the coming of the Chaldeans, i. 5-11;
+they, however, having overstepped the limits of their divine commission,
+only aggravate the prophet's problem, i. 12-17, and he finally finds the
+solution on his watch-tower, in the assurance that somehow, despite all
+ seeming delay, the purpose of God is hastening on to its fulfilment, and
+that the moral constitution of the world is such as to spell the ultimate
+ruin of cruelty and pride and the ultimate triumph of righteousness,
+ii. 1-4. His faith was historically justified by the fall of the
+Babylonian empire in 538 B.C.
+[Footnote 1: Some scholars feel so strongly that the historical
+background of i. 1-4 and i. 12-17 is the same, that they regard the
+latter section as the direct continuation of the former. Budde,
+followed by Cornill, ingeniously supposes that the oppressor in
+these two sections is the Assyrian (about 615 B.C.), and it is this
+power that the Chaldeans, i. 5-11, are raised up to chastise. These
+scholars put i. 5-11 after ii. 4 as a historical amplification of
+its moral and more indefinite statement. But the strength of
+Habakkuk rather seems to lie in this, that he abandons the immediate
+historical solution, i. 5, and is content with the moral one, ii. 4,
+though no doubt he believes that the moral solution will realize
+itself in history.]
+
+The authenticity[1] of some of the woes in ch. ii. may be contested,
+e.g. _vv._ 12-14, which appears to be a partial reproduction of
+Jer. li. 58, Isa. xi. 9. It is very improbable that ch. iii. is
+Habakkuk's: it is not even certain that the poem is a unity. The
+situation in _vv._ 17-19 (especially _v._ 17) seems
+different from that in the rest of the chapter: there an enemy was
+feared, here rather infertility. Again the general temper of the ode
+is hardly that of ii. 3, 4. There the vision was to be delayed, here
+the interposition seems to be impatiently awaited and expected soon.
+If "thine anointed" in iii. 13 refers to the people--and the
+parallelism makes this almost certain--then the days of the monarchy
+are over and the poem cannot be earlier than the exile. Probably, as
+the superscription, subscription, and threefold _Selah_
+suggest, we have here a post-exilic psalm. The psalm, however, is
+fittingly enough associated with the prophecy of Habakkuk. Its
+belief in the accomplishment of the divine purpose and its emphasis
+on a faith independent of the things of sight, are akin in spirit,
+though not in form to ii. 4.
+[Footnote 1: Marti explains the book thus: (_a_) i. 2-4,
+12_a_, 13, ii. 1-4, a psalm, belonging to the fifth or perhaps
+the second century, giving the divine answer to the plaint that
+judgment is delayed; (_b_) i. 5-11, 12_b_, 14-17, a
+prophecy about 605 B.C. dealing with the effect of the battle of
+Carchemish; (_c_) ii. 5-19, the woes: about 540, when the
+Chaldean empire is nearing its end; (_d_) iii., a post-exilic
+psalm.]
+
+Patience and faith are the watch-words of Habakkuk, ii. 3, 4. There
+was a time when he had expected an adequate historical solution to
+his doubts in his own day, i. 5; but, as he contemplates the immoral
+progress of the Chaldeans, he recognizes his difficulty to be only
+aggravated by this solution, and he is content to commit the future
+to God. He is comforted and strengthened by a larger vision of the
+divine purpose and its inevitable triumph--if not now, then
+hereafter. "Though it tarry, wait for it, for it is sure to come, it
+will not lag behind." That purpose wills the triumph of justice, and
+though the righteous may seem to perish, in reality he lives, and
+shall continue to live, by his faithfulness.
+
+
+
+
+ZEPHANIAH
+
+
+If the Hezekiah who was Zephaniah's great-great-grandfather, i. 1,
+was, as is probable, the king of that name, then Zephaniah was a
+prince as well as a prophet, and this may lend some point to his
+denunciation of the princes who imitated foreign customs, i. 8. He
+prophesied in the reign of Josiah, i. 1, and the fact that he censures
+not the king but the king's children, i. 8, points to the period when
+Josiah was still a minor (about or before 626 B.C.). With this
+coincides his description of the moral and religious condition of
+Judah, which necessitates a date prior to the reformation in 621.
+Idolatry, star-worship and impure Jehovah-worship are rampant,
+i. 4, 5, 9. The rich are easy-going and indifferent to religion,
+supposing that God will leave the world to itself, i. 12. The people
+of Jerusalem are incorrigible, iii. 2, reckless of the lessons that
+God has written in nature and history, iii. 5ff.; their leaders--princes,
+prophets, priests--are immoral or incompetent. The prophecy may be
+placed between 630 and 626, and the prophet must have been a young man.
+
+To this idolatrous and indifferent people he announces the speedy
+coming of the day of Jehovah, whose terrors he describes with a
+certain solemn grandeur (i.). The judgment is practically
+inevitable, i. 18, but it may perhaps yet be averted by an earnest
+quest of Jehovah, ii, 1-3. That judgment will sweep along the coast
+through the Philistine country, ii. 4-7, and on to Egypt, and
+afterwards turn northwards and utterly destroy Assyria with her
+great capital Nineveh, ii. 12-15. Again the prophet turns to
+Jerusalem, and for the sins of her people and their leaders
+proclaims a general day of judgment, from which, however, the humble
+will be saved, iii. 1-13 (except _vv_. 9, 10.). The book ends
+with a fine vision of the latter days, when the dispersed of Judah
+will be restored to their own land, and rejoice in the omnipotent
+love of their God, iii. 14-20.
+
+The prophecy presents a very impressive picture of the day of Jehovah,
+but it cannot all be from the pen of Zephaniah. Besides adopting a
+very different attitude towards Jerusalem from the rest of the prophecy,
+iii. 14-20 clearly presupposes the exile, _v_. 19, towards the end
+of which it was probably written. Ch. ii. 11, iii. 9, 10, containing
+ideas which are hardly earlier than Deutero-Isaiah, are also probably
+exilic or post-exilic. The oracle against Moab and Ammon, ii. 8-10,
+countries which lay off the line of the Scythian march southwards from
+Philistia, _v_. 7, to Egypt, _v_. 12, are for linguistic,
+contextual, and other reasons, also probably late.
+
+Prophecy has practically always an historical occasion, and the
+thought of the black and terrible day of Jehovah was no doubt
+suggested to Zephaniah by the formidable bands of roving Scythians
+which scoured Western Asia about this time, sweeping all before them
+(Hdt. i. 105). They do not seem to have touched Judah; but it is not
+surprising that men like Jeremiah and Zephaniah should have regarded
+them as divinely ordained ministers of vengeance upon Jehovah's
+degenerate people.
+
+
+
+
+HAGGAI
+
+
+The post-exilic age sharply distinguished itself from the pre-exilic
+(Zech. i. 4), and nowhere is the difference more obvious than in
+prophecy. Post-exilic prophecy has little of the literary or moral
+power of earlier prophecy, but it would be very easy to do less than
+justice to Haggai. His prophecy is very short; into two chapters is
+condensed a summary, probably not even in his own words, of no less
+than four addresses. Meagre as they may seem to us, they produced a
+great effect on those who heard them.
+
+The addresses were delivered between September and December in the
+year 520 B.C. The people were suffering from a drought, and in the
+first address, i. 1-11, Haggai interprets this as a penalty for
+their indifference to religion--in particular, for their neglect to
+build the temple. The effect of the appeal was that three weeks
+afterwards a beginning was made upon the building, i. 12-15. The
+people, however, seem to be discouraged by the scantiness of their
+resources, and a month afterwards Haggai has to appeal to them
+again, reminding them that with the silver and the gold, which are
+His, Jehovah will soon make the new temple more glorious than the
+old, ii. 1-9. Two months later the prophet again reminds them that,
+as their former unholy indifference had infected all their life with
+failure, so loyal devotion to the work now would ensure success and
+blessing, ii. 10-19; and on the same day Haggai assures Zerubbabel a
+unique place in the Messianic kingdom which is soon to be ushered
+in, ii. 20-23.
+
+The appeals of Haggai and Zechariah were successful (Ezra v. 1, vi.
+14), and within four years the temple was rebuilt (Ezra vi. 15). It
+was now the centre of national life, and therefore also of prophetic
+interest. Haggai was probably not himself a priest, but in so short
+a prophecy his elaborate allusion to ritual is very significant, ii.
+11ff. This prophecy, like pre-exilic prophecy, was no doubt
+conditioned by the historical situation. The allusion to the shaking
+of the world in ii. 7, 22, appears to be a reflection of the
+insurrections which broke out all over the Persian empire on the
+accession of Darius to the throne in 521 B.C.; and probably the Jews
+were encouraged by the general commotion to make a bold bid for the
+re-establishment of an independent national life. That they
+cherished the ambition of being once more a political as well as a
+religious force, seems to be suggested by the frequency with which
+Haggai links the name of Zerubbabel, of the royal line of Judah,
+with that of Joshua the high priest; and, in particular, by the
+extraordinary language applied to him--in ii. 23 he is the elect of
+Jehovah, His servant and signet. Clearly he is to be king in the
+Messianic kingdom which is to issue out of the convulsion of the
+world.
+
+It cannot be safely inferred from ii. 3 that Haggai was among those
+who had seen the temple of Solomon and was therefore a very old man.
+Simple as are his words, his faith is strong and his hope very bold.
+Considering the meagre resources of the post-exilic community, it is
+touching to note the confidence with which he assures the people
+that Jehovah will bring together the treasures of the world to make
+His temple glorious.
+
+
+
+
+ZECHARIAH
+
+
+CHAPTERS I-VIII
+
+Two months after Haggai had delivered his first address to the
+people in 520 B.C., and a little over a month after the building of
+the temple had begun (Hag. i. 15), Zechariah appeared with another
+message of encouragement. How much it was needed we see from the
+popular despondency reflected in Hag. ii. 3, Jerusalem is still
+disconsolate (Zech. i. 17), there has been fasting and mourning,
+vii. 5, the city is without walls, ii. 5, the population scanty, ii.
+4, and most of the people are middle-aged, few old or young, viii.
+4, 5. The message they need is one of consolation and encouragement,
+and that is precisely the message that Zechariah brings: "I have
+determined in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of
+Judah; fear not," viii. 15.
+
+The message of Zechariah comes in the peculiar form of visions, some
+of them resting apparently on Babylonian art, and not always easy to
+interpret. After an earnest call to repentance, i. 1-6, the visions
+begin, i. 7-vi. 8. In the first vision, i. 7-17, the earth, which
+has been troubled, is at rest; the advent of the Messianic age may
+therefore be expected soon. The divine promise is given that
+Jerusalem shall be graciously dealt with and the temple rebuilt. The
+second is a vision, i. 18-21, of the annihilation of the heathen
+world represented by four horns. The third vision (ii.)--that of a
+young man with a measuring-rod--announces that Jerusalem will be
+wide and populous, the exiles will return to it, and Jehovah will
+make His abode there.
+
+These first three visions have to do, in the main, with the city and
+the people; the next two deal more specifically with the leaders of
+the restored community on its civil and religious side, Zerubbabel
+the prince and Joshua the priest. In the fourth vision (iii.) Joshua
+is accused by the Adversary and the accuser is rebuked--symbolic
+picture of the misery of the community and its imminent redemption.
+Joshua is to have full charge of the temple, and he and his priests
+are the guarantee that the Branch, i.e. the Messianic king (Jer.
+xxiii. 5, xxxiii, 15), no doubt Zerubbabel (Zech, iii. 8, vi. 12;
+Hag. ii. 23), is coming. In the fifth vision (iv.)[1] the prophet
+sees a lampstand with seven lamps and an olive tree on either side,
+the trees representing the two anointed leaders, Zerubbabel and
+Joshua, enjoying the divine protection.
+[Footnote 1: Except vv. 6b-10a, which appears to be a special
+assurance, hardly here in place, that Zerubbabel would finish the
+temple which he had begun.]
+
+The next two visions elaborate the promise of iii. 9: "I will remove
+the iniquity of that land,"--and indicate the removal of all that
+taints the land of Judah, alike sin and sinners. The flying roll of
+the sixth vision, v. 1-4, carries the curse that will fall upon
+thieves and perjurers; and in the somewhat grotesque figure of the
+seventh vision, v. 5-11, Sin is personified as a woman and borne
+away in a closed cask by two women with wings like storks, to the
+land of Shinar, i.e. Babylon, there to work upon the enemy of Judah
+the ruin she has worked for Judah herself. In the last vision, vi.
+1-8, which is correlate with the first--four chariots issuing from
+between two mountains of brass--the divine judgment is represented
+as being executed upon the north country, i.e. the country opposed
+to God, and particularly Babylonia.
+
+The cumulative effect of the visions is very great. All that hinders
+the coming of the Messianic days is to be removed, whether it be the
+great alien world powers or the sinners within Jerusalem itself. The
+purified city will be blessed with prosperity of every kind, and
+over her civil and religious affairs will be two leaders, who enjoy
+a unique measure of the divine favour. In an appendix to the visions
+vi. 9-15, Zechariah is divinely commissioned to make a crown for
+Zerubbabel (or for him and Joshua)[1] out of the gold and silver
+brought by emissaries of the Babylonian Jews, and the hope is
+expressed that peace will prevail between the leaders--a hope
+through which we may perhaps read a growing rivalry.
+[Footnote 1: It seems practically certain that the original prophecy
+in _v_. 11 has been subsequently modified, doubtless because it
+was not fulfilled. The last clause of _v_. 13--"the counsel of
+peace shall be between them _both"_--shows that two persons
+have just been mentioned. The preceding clause must therefore be
+translated, not as in A. V. and R. V., "and _he_ shall be a
+priest upon his throne," as if the office of king and priest were to
+be combined in a single person, but "and _there_ shall be" (or,
+as Wellhausen suggests, "and _Joshua_ shall be") "a priest upon
+his throne," (or no doubt more correctly, with the Septuagint, "a
+priest _at his right hand_"). As two persons are involved, and
+the word "crowns" in v. 11 is in the plural, it has been supposed
+that the verse originally read, "set the crowns _upon the head of
+Zerubbabel and_ upon the head of Joshua." On the other hand, in
+_v_. 14 the word "crown" must be read in the singular, and
+should probably also be so read in _v_. 11 (though even the
+plural could refer to one crown). In that case, if there be but one
+crown, who wears it? Undoubtedly Zerubbabel: he is the Branch, iii.
+8, and the Branch is the Davidic king (Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15).
+The building of the temple here assigned to the Branch, vi. 12, is
+elsewhere expressly assigned to Zerubbabel, iv. 9. It is, therefore,
+he who is crowned: in other words, v. 11, may have originally read,
+"set it _upon the head of Zerubbabel._" Whether we accept this
+solution or the other, it seems certain that the original prophecy
+contemplated the crowning of Zerubbabel. As the hopes that centred
+upon Zerubbabel were never fulfilled, the passage was subsequently
+modified to its present form.]
+
+The concluding chapters of the prophecy (vii., viii.), delivered two
+years later than the rest of the book, vii. 1, are occupied with the
+ethical conditions of the impending Messianic kingdom. To the
+question whether the fast-days which commemorated the destruction of
+Jerusalem are still to be observed, Zechariah answers that the
+ancient demands of Jehovah had nothing to do with fasting, but with
+justice and mercy. As former disobedience had been followed by a
+divine judgment, so would obedience now be rewarded with blessing,
+fast-days would be turned into days of joy and gladness, and the
+blessing would be so great that representatives of every nation
+would be attracted to Jerusalem, to worship the God of the Jews.
+
+In Zechariah even more than in Haggai it is clear that prophecy has
+entered upon a new stage.[1] There is the same concentration of
+interest upon the temple, the same faith in the unique importance of
+Zerubbabel. But the apocalyptic element, though not quite a new
+thing, is present on a scale altogether new to prophecy. Again, the
+transcendence of God is acutely felt--the visions have to be
+interpreted by an angel. We see, too, in the book the rise of the
+idea of Satan (iii.) and of the conception of sin as an independent
+force, v. 5-11. The yearning for the annihilation of the kingdoms
+opposed to Judah, i. 18-21, has a fine counterpart in the closing
+vision, viii. 22, 23, of the nations flocking to Jerusalem because
+they have heard that God is there. The book is of great historical
+value, affording as it does contemporary evidence of the drooping
+hopes of the early post-exilic community, and of the new manner in
+which this disappointment was met by prophecy. But, though Zechariah's
+message was largely concerned with the building of the temple, and
+was delivered for the most part in terms of vision and apocalyptic,
+the ethical elements on which the "former prophets" had laid the
+supreme emphasis, were by no means forgotten, viii. 16, 17.
+[Footnote 1: Zechariah himself is conscious of the distinction, which
+is more than a temporal one, between himself and the pre-exilic
+prophets: notice the manner of his allusion to the "former prophets,"
+i. 4, vii. 7, 12.]
+
+
+CHAPTERS IX.-XIV.
+
+Practically all the distinctive features of the first eight chapters
+disappear in ix.-xiv. The style and the historical presuppositions
+are altogether different. There are two new superscriptions, ix. 1,
+xii. 1, but there is no reference to Zerubbabel, Joshua, or the
+situation of their time. There the immediate problem was the
+building of the temple; here, more than once, Jerusalem is
+represented as in a state of siege. A sketch of the contents will
+show how unlike the one situation is to the other.
+
+The general theme of ix. 1-xi. 3 is the destruction of the world-powers
+and the establishment of the kingdom of God. Judgment is declared at
+the outset upon Damascus, Phoenicia and Philistia, while Jerusalem is
+to enjoy the divine protection and to be the seat of the Messianic King,
+ix. 1-9. Greece, the great enemy, will be overcome by Judah and Ephraim,
+who are but weapons in Jehovah's hand, ix. 10-17. Then follows[1] a
+passage in which "the shepherds" are threatened with a dire fate. Judah
+receives a promise of victory, and Ephraim is assured that her exiles
+will be gathered and brought home from Egypt and Assyria to Gilead and
+Lebanon; the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan--types perhaps of
+foreign rulers--will be laid low, x. 3-xi. 3.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. x. 1, 2 appears to stand by itself. It is an
+injunction to bring the request for rain to Jehovah and to put no
+faith in teraphim and diviners.]
+
+The next section is of a different kind. In it the prophet is
+divinely commissioned to tend the flock which has been neglected and
+impoverished by other shepherds. To this end he takes two staves,
+named Favour and Unity, to indicate respectively the favour enjoyed
+by Judah in her relations with her neighbours, and the unity
+subsisting between her and Israel (or Jerusalem, according to two
+codices); and thus invested with the instruments of the pastoral
+office he destroyed three shepherds in a short time. But the flock
+grew tired of him, and, in consequence he broke the staves, i.e. the
+relations of favour and unity were ruptured. A foolish and careless
+shepherd is then raised up, who abuses the flock, and over him a woe
+is pronounced, xi. 4-17, more minutely defined in xiii. 7-9, which
+appears to have been misplaced. Jehovah will slay the shepherd and
+scatter the sheep; a third of the flock after being purified by fire
+will constitute the people of Jehovah.
+
+The next section, xii. 1-xiii. 6, introduces us to a siege of
+Jerusalem by the heathen, abetted by Judah. Suddenly, however, Judah
+changes sides; by the help of Jehovah they destroy the heathen, and
+Jerusalem is saved, xii. 1-8. Then the people and their leaders are
+moved by the outpouring of the spirit to confess and entreat
+forgiveness for some judicial murder which they have committed and
+which they publicly and bitterly lament, xii. 9-14. The prayer is
+answered; people and leaders are cleansed in a fountain opened, with
+the result that idolatry and prophecy of the ancient public type are
+abjured, xiii. 1-6.
+
+The theme of the last section also (xiv.) is a heathen attack upon
+Jerusalem, but this time the city is destroyed and half the
+inhabitants exiled. Then Jehovah intervenes, and by a miracle upon
+the Mount of Olives the rest of the people effect their escape, and
+Jehovah Fights with all His angels against the heathen. Those
+glorious Messianic days, when Jehovah will be King over all the
+earth, will know no heat or cold, or change from light to darkness.
+Jerusalem will be secure and the land about her level and fruitful,
+watered east and west by a living stream. Those who have made war
+against her will waste away, while the rest of the world will make
+pilgrimages to the holy city to worship Jehovah and celebrate the
+feast of booths. Then the mighty war-horses, once the object of His
+hatred, will be consecrated to His service, and the number of
+pilgrims will be so great that every pot in the city and in the
+province of Judah will be needed for ceremonial purposes.
+
+Few problems in the Old Testament are more perplexing than that of the
+origin and relation of the sections composing, ix.-xiv. to one another.
+The utmost that can be said with comparative certainty is that the
+prophecy, in its present form, is post-exilic, while certain elements
+in it, especially in ix.-xi., are, if not pre-exilic, at any rate
+imitations or reminiscences of pre-exilic prophecy. Many scholars even
+deny that ix.-xiv. is a unity and assign it to at least two authors.
+Though the superscription in xii. 1, which seems to justify this
+distinction, was probably added, like Malachi i. i, by a later hand,
+the presence of certain broad distinctions between ix.-xi. and
+xii.-xiv. can hardly be denied. In the former section, Ephraim is
+occasionally mentioned in combination with Judah, cf. ix. 13; in the
+latter, Judah alone is mentioned, and partly, on the strength of this,
+the former section is assigned to a period between Tiglath Pileser's
+invasion of the north of Palestine in 734 (xi. 1-3) and the fall of the
+northern kingdom in 721, while the latter is assigned to a period between
+the death of Josiah in 609, to which the mourning in Megiddo is supposed
+to allude, xii. 11, and the fall of the southern kingdom in 586.
+
+Even within these sections there are differences which are held to
+be incompatible with the unity of each section. The most notable
+difference is perhaps that affecting the siege of Jerusalem. In ch.
+xii. the heathen are destroyed before Jerusalem, while the city
+itself remains secure; in ch. xiv. the houses are rifled, the women
+ravished, and half of the people go into captivity before Jehovah
+intervenes to protect the remainder. These and other differences are
+unmistakable, yet it may be questioned whether they are so serious
+as to be fatal to the unity of the whole section, ix.-xiv. It is not
+impossible that they may be due to the eclectic spirit of an author
+who gathered from many quarters material for his eschatological
+pictures. Besides, the sections which have been by some scholars
+relegated to different authors, occasionally seem to imply each
+other. The general assault on Jerusalem in ch. xii., e.g., is the
+natural result of the breaking of the staves, Favour and Unity, in
+ch. xi. But, even if ix.-xiv. be a unity, it is well to remember, as
+Cornill reminds us, that there is "much in these chapters which will
+ever remain obscure and unintelligible, because our knowledge of the
+whole post-exilic and especially of the early Hellenic period is
+extremely deficient."
+
+This leads to the question of date. The last section (xii.-xiv.) at
+any rate is obviously post-exilic. The idea of the general assault
+on Jerusalem is undoubtedly suggested by Ezekiel xxxviii.; the
+curiously condemnatory attitude to prophecy in xiii. 2-6 would have
+been impossible in pre-exilic times; the phrase, "Uzziah _king of
+Judah_," xiv. 5, rather implies that the dynasty is past, and the
+reference to the earthquake in his reign has the flavour of a
+learned reminiscence.[1] These and other circumstances practically
+necessitate a post-exilic date, and the objection based upon xii. 11
+falls to the ground, as that verse alludes, in all probability, not
+to lamentations for the death of Josiah, which would no doubt have
+taken place in Jerusalem, but to laments which accompanied the
+worship of the Semitic Adonis. Nor can any objection be grounded
+upon the allusion to idolatry in xiii. 2, as idolatry persisted into
+post-exilic times.[2]
+[Footnote 1: Even if the earliest possible date (about 600) for this
+section be accepted, the earthquake had taken place a century and a
+half before.]
+[Footnote 2: Cf. Job xxxi. 2eff. and perhaps also Ps. xvi.]
+
+If ix.-xiv. be a unity, a definite _terminus a quo_ is provided
+in ix. 13 by the mention of the Greeks, whose sons are opposed to
+the sons of Zion. Such a relation of Jews to Greeks is not
+conceivable before the time of Alexander the Great, and this fact
+alone would throw the prophecy, at the earliest, into the fourth
+century B.C. But there are other facts which seem to some to make
+for a pre-exilic date: e.g. the mention of Judah and Ephraim
+together, ix. 13 (cf. ix. 10), seems to presuppose the existence of
+both kingdoms, and Egypt and Assyria are placed side by side, x. 10,
+11, precisely in the manner of Hosea (ix. 3, xi. 5). But these
+facts, significant as they may seem, are by no means decisive in
+favour of a pre-exilic date. Assyria was the first great world power
+with which Israel came into hostile contact, and the name was not
+unnaturally transferred by later ages to the hostile powers of their
+own day--to Babylon in Lam. v. 6, to Persia in Ezra vi. 22, and
+possibly to Syria in Isaiah xxvii. 13. Consequently, in a context
+which assigns the passage, at the earliest, to the Greek period,
+Assyria and Egypt would very naturally designate the Seleucid and
+Ptolemaic kingdoms respectively, and the prophecy might be safely
+relegated to the third century, B.C.[1] The allusion to Ephraim is
+not incompatible with this date, for the prophecy presupposes a
+general dispersion, x. 9, which must be later than the fall of Judah
+in 586, considering that residence in Egypt, x. 10, is implied (cf.
+Jer. xlii.-xliv.). Nothing more need be implied by the allusion to
+Ephraim than that there will be a general restoration of all the
+tribes that were once driven into exile and are now scattered
+throughout the world.
+[Footnote 1: Marti puts it as late as 160. One of the most important
+clues would be furnished by xi. 8--"I cut off the three shepherds in
+one month"--if the reference were not so cryptic. Advocates of a
+pre-exilic date find in the words an allusion to three successors of
+Jeroboam II. of Israel--Zechariah, Shallum and some unknown
+pretender (about 740); others, to the rapid succession of high
+priests before the Maccabean wars (about 170). One month probably
+signifies generally a brief time.]
+
+If chs. ix.-xiv. belong to the third century B.C., they give us an
+interesting glimpse into the aspirations and defects of later Judaism.
+They reveal an unbounded faith in the importance of Jerusalem, and in
+the certainty of its triumph over the assaults of heathenism; on the
+other hand, they are inspired by a fine universalism, xiv. 16ff. But
+this universalism has a distinctly Levitical and legalistic colouring,
+xiv. 21. Membership in the kingdom of God involves abstinence from
+food proscribed by the Levitical law, ix. 7; and even for the heathen
+the worship of Jehovah takes the form of the celebration of the feast
+of booths, xiv. 16. There is in the prophecy a noble appreciation of the
+world-wide destiny of the true religion, but hardly of its essentially
+spiritual nature.
+
+
+
+
+MALACHI
+
+
+It is not inappropriate that Malachi,[1] though not the latest of
+the prophets, should close the prophetic collection. The concluding
+words of this book, which predict the coming of the great prophet
+Elijah, iv. 5f, and the apocalyptic tone of Malachi, show that
+prophecy feels itself unable to cope adequately with the moral
+situation and is conscious of its own decline. Here, as in Haggai,
+interest gathers round ritual rather than moral obligation, though
+the latter is not neglected, iii. 5, and the religion for which
+Malachi pleads is far from being exhausted by ritual. He takes a
+lofty view, approaching to Jesus' own, of the obligations of the
+marriage relation, ii. 16; and perfunctory ritual he abhors, chiefly
+because it expresses a deep-seated indifference to God and His
+claims, iii. 8. The clergy or the laity who offer God their lame or
+blemished beasts are guilty of an offence that goes deeper than
+ritual. Their whole ideal of religion and service is insulting; they
+have forgotten that Jehovah is "a great King," i. 14.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. i. 1 is late, modelled, like Zech. xii. 1 on Zech.
+ix. 1. The word Malachi has no doubt been suggested by
+_Malachi_ in iii. i (= my messenger). The prophecy is really
+anonymous.]
+
+The prophecy of Malachi is closely knit together. Addressing a people
+who doubt the love of their God, he begins by pointing-strangely
+enough from the Christian standpoint, but intelligibly enough from
+that of early post-exilic Judaism--to the desolation of Edom, Judah's
+enemy (cf. Obadiah) in poof of that love, i. 2-5; and asks how Judah
+has responded to it. The priests present inferior offerings, thus
+forming, in their insulting indifference, a strange contrast to the
+untutored heathen hearts all the world over, which offer God pure
+service; they have put to shame the ancient ideals, i. 6-ii. 9. The
+people, too, are as guilty as the priests; for they had divorced
+their faithful Jewish wives who had borne them children, and married
+foreign women who were a menace to the purity of the national religion,
+ii. 10-16. Those who are beginning to doubt the moral order because
+Jehovah does not manifestly interpose as the God of justice, are
+assured by the prophet that the Lord, preceded by a messenger, is on
+His way; and He will punish, first the unfaithful priests, and then
+the unfaithful people, ii. 17-iii. 5. His apparent indifference to the
+people is due to their real indifference to Him; if they bring in the
+tithes, the blessing will come, iii. 6-12. As before, ii. 17ff., the
+despondent are assured that Jehovah has not forgotten them; He is
+writing their names in a book, and when He comes in judgment, the
+faithful will be spared, and then the difference between the destinies
+of the good and the bad will be plain for all to see. The wicked shall
+be trampled under foot, and upon the dark world in which the upright
+mourn shall arise the sun, from whose gentle rays will stream healing
+for bruised minds and hearts, iii. 13-iv. 4. Before that day Elijah
+will come to heal the dissensions of the home, iv. 5, 6. (cf. ii. 14).
+
+The atmosphere of the book of Malachi is very much like that of
+Ezra-Nehemiah. The same problems emerge in both--foreign marriages,
+neglect of payment of tithes, etc. But the allusion to the presents
+given the governor, i. 8, shows that the book was not written during
+the governorship of Nehemiah, who claims to have accepted no
+presents (Neh. v. 14-18). On the other hand, the state of affairs
+presented by the book is inconceivable after the measures adopted by
+Ezra and Nehemiah; therefore, Malachi must precede them. Probably
+however, not by much; it was Malachi and others like-minded who
+prepared the way for the reformation, and his date may be roughly
+fixed at 460-450 B.C. Consistently with this, the priests are
+designated Levites, ii. 4, iii. 3, as in Deuteronomy; the book must
+therefore precede the priestly code which sharply distinguishes
+priests and Levites.
+
+There is an unusual proportion of dialogue in Malachi. Good men are
+perplexed by the anomalies of the moral order, and they are not
+afraid to debate them. Malachi's solution is largely, though not
+exclusively, iii. 8-12, apocalyptic; and though in this, as in his
+emphasis on the cult, iii. 4, and his attitude to Edom, i. 2ff., he
+stands upon the level of ordinary Judaism, in other respects he
+rises far above it. Coming from one to whom correct ritual meant so
+much, his utterance touching heathen worship is not only
+refreshingly, but astonishingly bold. In all the Old Testament,
+there is no more generous outlook upon the foreign world than that
+of i. 11. Though the priests of the temple at Jerusalem insult the
+name of Jehovah and are wearied with His service, yet "from sunrise
+to sunset My name is great among the (heathen) nations, and in every
+place pure offerings are offered to My name; for great is My name
+among the heathen, saith Jehovah of hosts."
+
+
+
+
+PSALMS
+
+
+The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more
+clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the
+Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the
+divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or,
+rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal
+heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of
+the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and
+unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius of Hebrew
+poetry to lay little stress upon artifices of rhyme and rhythm. By
+its simple device of parallelism, it suggests a rhythm profounder
+than the sound of any words--the response of thought to thought, the
+calling of deep to deep, the solemn harmonies that run throughout
+the universe. Whether the second thought of a verse is co-ordinate
+with the first, as--
+
+  Let us break their bands asunder,
+  And cast away their cords from us, ii 3.
+
+or contrasted with it, as--
+
+  Jehovah knows the way of the righteous,
+  But the way of the ungodly shall perish, i. 6,
+
+the resulting parallelism is essentially simple, and the Hebrew poet
+can express his profoundest thoughts and feelings with lucidity and
+freedom. It is the depth and sincerity of its emotion, coupled with
+this unrivalled simplicity of expression that has given the Psalter
+its abiding-place in the religious history of humanity.
+
+With the partial exception of Psalm xlv., which is a marriage song,
+the songs of the Psalter are exclusively religious. Indeed most of
+the poetry of the Old Testament is religious; the Song of Deborah,
+e.g. (Jud. v.), or the Psalm of Hezekiah (Isa. xxxviii.). But, from
+scattered hints it is abundantly plain that, especially before the
+exile, Hebrew poetry must have ranged over a wide variety of themes.
+So far as we know, the Hebrews never had an epic; and though a
+certain epic power is occasionally suggested by the extant
+literature, it may be doubted whether the Hebrew genius, which was
+essentially lyrical, would have been capable of the long sustained
+effort demanded by a great epic. But the lyrical genius of the
+Hebrew found abundant opportunity in life's common joys, sorrows and
+activities. Victories in battle were celebrated in ballads, which
+made the blood leap, love songs were sung at weddings, and dirges
+were chanted over the dead. The labour of drawing water, of reaping
+the fields or gathering the vintage, was relieved by snatches of
+song. There was all this and more, but it has nearly all perished,
+leaving little more than an echo, because the men who compiled and
+edited the Old Testament were dominated by an exclusively religious
+interest.
+
+But if the interest of the Psalter be exclusively religious, we have
+no reason to complain of its variety. From the deepest despair to
+the highest exaltation, every mood of the soul is uttered there.
+Many a classification of the Psalter has been attempted, e.g. into
+(_a_) psalms of gladness, such as thanksgiving (xlvi.),
+adoration (viii.); (_b_) psalms of sadness, such as lamentation
+(lxxiv.), confession (li.), supplication (cii.); (_c_) psalms
+of reflection, such as the occasional didactic poetry (cxix.), or
+discussions of the moral order (lxxiii.). But in the nature of the
+case, no classification can ever hope to be completely satisfactory,
+if for no other reason than that the psalms, being for the most part
+lyrics, are often marked by subtle and rapid changes of feeling,
+passing sometimes, as in Psalm xxii., from the most touching laments
+to the most daring expressions of hope and gladness. The following
+classification, though exposed, as all such classifications must be,
+to the charge of cross-division, will afford a working basis for the
+study of the Psalter:--
+
+(1) Psalms of Adoration, including (_a_) adoration of God for
+His revelation in nature, viii., xix. 1-6, xxix., civ.; (_b_)
+adoration of Him for His love to His people, xxxiii., ciii., cxi.,
+cxiii., cxv., cxvii., cxlvii.; (_c_) praise of His glorious
+kingdom, cxlv., cxlvi., ending with the call to universal praise,
+cxlviii., cl.
+
+(2) Psalms of Reflection (_a_) upon the moral order of the
+world, ix., x., xi., xiv., xxxvi., xxxvii., xxxix., xlix., lii.,
+lxii., lxxiii., lxxv., lxxxii., xc., xcii., xciv.; (_b_) upon
+Divine Providence, xvi., xxiii., xxxiv., xci., cxii., cxxi., cxxv.,
+cxxvii., cxxviii., cxxxiii., cxxxix., cxliv. 12-15; (_c_) on
+the value of Scripture, i., xix. 7-14, cxix.; (_d_) on the
+nature of the ideal man, xv., xxiv. 1-6, l.
+
+(3) Psalms of Thanksgiving, most of them for historical
+deliverances, e.g. from the exile, or from the Syrians in the second
+century B.C., xxx., xl., xlvi., xlviii., lxv., lxvi., lxvii.,
+lxviii., lxxvi., cxvi., cxviii., cxxiv., cxxvi., cxxix., cxxxviii.,
+cxliv. 1-11, cxlix.
+
+(4) Psalms in Celebration of Worship, v., xxiv., 7-10, xxvi.,
+xxvii., xlii.-xliii., lxxxiv., cxxii., cxxxiv.
+
+(5) Historical Psalms (_a_) emphasizing the unfaithfulness of
+the people, lxxviii., lxxxi., cvi.; (_b_) emphasizing the love
+or power of God, cv., cxiv., cxxxv., cxxxvi.
+
+(6) Imprecatory Psalms, lviii, lix., lxix., lxxxiii., cix., cxxxvii.
+
+(7) Penitential Psalms, vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx.,
+cxliii.
+
+(8) Psalms of Petition (_a_) prayers for deliverance,
+preservation or restoration, iii., iv., vii., xii., xiii., xvii.,
+xxv., xxxi., xxxv., xli., xliv., liv., lv., lx., lxiv., lxxi.,
+lxxiv., lxxvii., lxxix., lxxx., lxxxv., lxxxvi., lxxxviii., cxx.,
+cxxiii., cxxxi., cxl., cxli., cxlii; (_b_) answered prayers,
+xxii., xxviii., lvi., lvii.
+
+(9) Royal Psalms (_a_) king's coronation, xxi.; (_b_)
+marriage, xlv.; (_c_) prayers for his welfare and success, xx.,
+lxi, lxiii.; (_d_) his character, lxxii., ci.; (_e_)
+dominion, ii., xviii., cx.; (_f_) yearning for the Messianic
+King, lxxxix., cxxxii.
+
+(10) Psalms concerning the universal reign of Jehovah, i.e.
+Messianic psalms in the largest sense of the word, xlvii., lxxxvii.,
+xciii., xcv., xcvi., xcvii., xcviii., xcix., c.
+
+The Psalter has plainly had a long history. In its present form it
+obviously rests upon groups, which in turn rest upon individual
+psalms, that are no doubt often far older than the groups in which
+they stand. Like the Pentateuch, and perhaps in imitation of it, the
+Psalter is divided into five books, whose close is indicated, in
+each case, by a doxology (xli., lxxii., lxxxix., cvi.), except in
+the case of the last psalm, which is itself a doxology (cl.). This
+division appears to have been artificially effected. Psalm cvii.,
+which starts the last book, goes naturally with cv. and cvi., which
+close the fourth book; and the circumstance that the number of
+psalms in the fourth book corresponds exactly with that of the
+third, raises a strong suspicion that the break was deliberately
+made at Psalm cvi. It is very probable, too, that the doxology at
+the close of Psalm cvi. (cf. 1 Chron. xvi. 36), which differs
+somewhat from the other doxologies, was originally intended as a
+doxology to that psalm only, and not to indicate the close of the
+book. In any case, the contents of books 4 and 5, which are very
+largely liturgical, are so similar that they may be practically
+considered as one book.
+
+Books 2 and 3 may also be similarly regarded; for whereas in books
+1, 4 and 5 the name of the divine Being is predominantly Jehovah, in
+books 2 and 3 it is predominantly Elohim (God), and there can be no
+doubt that these two books, at least as far as Ps. lxxxiii., have
+been submitted to an Elohistic redaction. Psalm xiv., _e.g._,
+reappears in the 2nd book as Psalm liii. in a form practically
+identical, except for the name of God, which is Jehovah in the one
+(xiv.) and Elohim in the other (liii.); the change is, therefore,
+undoubtedly deliberate. This is also made plain by the presence of
+such impossible phrases as "God, thy God," xlv. 7, 1. 7, instead of
+the natural and familiar "Jehovah, thy God." Whatever the motive for
+the choice of this divine name (Elohim) may be, it is so thoroughly
+characteristic of books 2 and 3 that they may not unfairly be held
+to constitute a group by themselves. In this way the Psalter falls
+into three great groups--book I (i.-xli.), which is Jehovistic,
+books 2 and 3 (xlii.-lxxxix.), which are Elohistic, and books 4 and
+5 (xc.-cl.), which are Jehovistic..
+
+These greater groups rest, however, upon other smaller ones, some formally
+acknowledged, e.g. the so-called Psalms of Ascent or Pilgrim psalms
+(cxx.-cxxxiv.), the Psalms of David, Psalms of the Korahites (xlii.-xlix.,
+etc.), Psalms of Asaph (lxxiii.-lxxxiii., etc.), and others not so obvious
+in a translation, e.g. the Hallelujah Psalms, cxi.-cxiii., cxlvi.-cl.
+These groups must often have enjoyed an independent reputation as
+groups, and even been invested with a certain canonical authority, for
+occasionally the same psalm appears in two different groups (xiv.=liii.,
+xl. 13-17=lxx., cviii.=lvii. 7-11 +lx. 6-12). Such repetition proves that
+the final editors did not consider themselves at liberty to make any
+change within the groups. The principle of the arrangement of individual
+psalms within the group was probably not a scientific one: e.g. xxxiv.
+and xxxv. seem to be placed together for no other reason than that both
+refer to "the angel of Jehovah," xxxiv. 7, xxxv. 5. Sometimes a psalm
+has been wrongly divided into two (cf. xlii., xliii., originally one
+psalm) and occasionally two psalms have been united, usually for
+reasons that are transparent (so perhaps xix., the revelation in the
+heavens and the revelation in the Scriptures, and xxiv., the entrance
+of Jehovah into His temple, and the essential conditions for the
+entrance of man).
+
+The original order of the groups themselves appears to have been
+dislocated. Whoever added the subscription to Psalm lxxii. can hardly
+have been aware of the eighteen psalms which, in the subsequent books
+of the Psalter, are ascribed to David; nor is it natural to suppose
+that the Asaphic (l.) and Korahitic psalms (xlii.-xlix.) stood in the
+second book when that subscription was written. It is not improbable
+that Psalms xlii.-l. originally belonged to the third book, along
+with the Asaphic group, lxxiii.-lxxxiii., and that lxxii. 20, "The
+prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended," was intended as the
+subscription of all the Davidic psalms that had then been collected
+(Book I, except Pss. i., ii., x., xxxiii., and book 2, Pss. li.-lxx.).[1]
+The first two books originally represented a Davidic hymn-book; they
+probably represent, as a whole, the oldest part of the Psalter.
+[Footnote 1: Psalms i. and ii. were placed at the beginning as
+prefatory to the whole Psalter. They deal with the two cardinal
+points of Judaism--the law and the Messianic hope. Psalms ix. and x.
+originally constituted _one_ alphabetic psalm, and xxxiii. is
+ascribed to David in the Septuagint.]
+
+The problem of the authorship of the Psalms is one of the thorniest
+in the Old Testament. One hundred psalms are ascribed to definite
+authors: one is ascribed to Moses (xc.), seventy-three to David, two
+to Solomon (lxxvii., cxxvii.); and yet there are not a few scholars
+who maintain that, so far from any psalm being Mosaic, or even
+Davidic, there is not a single pre-exilic psalm in the Psalter, and
+the less radical critics do not allow more than thirty or forty. The
+question must be settled entirely upon internal evidence, as the
+superscriptions, definite as they often are, are never demonstrably
+reliable, while some of them are plainly impossible. To begin with,
+doubt attaches to the meaning of the Hebrew preposition in the
+phrase, "Psalm _of_ David." It is the same preposition as that
+rendered by _for_ in the phrase, "For the chief musician," and
+as in this phrase authorship is out of the question, it may be
+seriously doubted whether it is implied in the phrase rendered
+"Psalm of David." This doubt is corroborated by the phrase, "Psalms
+of the sons of Korah." Plainly all the Korahites did not cooperate
+in the composition of the psalms so superscribed; and the most
+natural inference is that the phrase does not here designate
+authorship, but that the psalm is one of a collection in some sense
+belonging to or destined for the Korahitic guild of temple-singers.
+[1] In that case the phrase would have a liturgical sense, and the
+parallel phrase "of (or for) David," might have to be similarly
+explained. It must be confessed, however, that whatever the actual
+origin of the superscription, "of (or for) David," it certainly came
+to be regarded as implying authorship--the many historical notices
+in the superscriptions of Psalms li.-lx. are proof enough of that;
+and no other explanation is possible of the superscription "of
+Moses" in Psalm, xc (cf. Is. xxxviii. 9, the writing of Hezekiah).
+[Footnote 1: It is not absolutely impossible that the phrase might
+point to a collection composed by this guild, cf. "Moravian
+brethren." But the other supposition is more likely.]
+
+In later times, then, authorship was plainly intended by the
+superscriptions. But it is quite certain that the superscriptions
+themselves are no original and integral parts of the psalms. In the
+Septuagint they occasionally differ from the Hebrew, assigning
+psalms that are anonymous in the Hebrew (xcv., cxxxvii.) to David,
+or to other authors (e.g., cxlvi.-cxlviii. to Haggai and Zechariah.)
+The ease with which psalms were, without warrant, ascribed to David
+may be seen from the Greek superscription to Psalm xcvi. "When the
+house [i.e. the temple] was being built after the captivity; a song
+of David": in other words, an admittedly post-exilic psalm is
+ascribed to David. The superscriptions were added probably long
+after the psalms, and there is no reason to suppose that the Hebrews
+were exempt from the uncritical methods and ideas which
+characterized the Greek translators. That they shared them is
+abundantly proved by the historical superscriptions. One at least
+(Ps. xxxiv.) in substituting the name of Abimelech (Gen. xx.) for
+Achish (1 Sam. xxi.) shows either ignorance or carelessness, and
+casts a very lurid light on the reliability of the superscriptions.
+The contents of other psalms are manifestly irreconcilable with the
+assumed authorship: Asaph, e.g., whom the Chronicles regards as a
+contemporary of David (1 Chron. xvi 7), laments in Psalms lxxiv.,
+lxxix. the devastation of the temple, which was not at that time in
+existence. The principles on which the superscriptions were added
+were altogether superficial and uncritical. Psalm cxxvii. is
+ascribed to Solomon, chiefly because its opening verse speaks of the
+building of the house, which was understood to be the temple. So
+Psalm lxiii. is described as "a psalm of David when he was in the
+wilderness of Judah," simply on the strength of the words, "My soul
+thirsteth for thee in a dry and weary land where no water is"--words
+which are taken literally, though they were undoubtedly intended
+metaphorically. A parallel case is that of the psalm inserted in
+Jonah ii., obviously a church psalm whose figurative language has
+been too literally pressed.
+
+Enough has been said to show that the superscriptions are later than
+the psalms themselves, and often, if not always, unreliable; we are
+therefore wholly dependent upon internal evidence, and the criteria
+for Davidic authorship must be sought outside the Psalter. The only
+absolutely undisputed poems of David's are the elegy over Saul and
+Jonathan in 2 Samuel i. and the lament over Abner (2 Sam. iii. 33,
+34). There is no means of proving that 2 Samuel xxii. (=Ps. xviii.)
+and 2 Samuel xxiii. 1-7 are David's, as they are interpolated in a
+section of Samuel which is itself an interpolation (xxi.-xxiv.),
+interrupting as it does the continuity of 2 Samuel xx. and I Kings
+i. The data offered by the elegy are much too slender to enable us
+to decide whether any particular psalm is David's or not. Some have
+ventured to ascribe a dozen psalms or so to him on the strength of
+their peculiar vigour and originality, but obviously all such
+decisions must be altogether subjective. What is certain is that
+David was an accomplished musician (1 Sam. xvi. 18) and a great poet
+(2 Sam. i.), a man of the most varied experience, rich emotional
+nature and profound religious feeling, a devoted worshipper of
+Jehovah, and eager to build Him a temple; and it is not impossible
+that such a man may have written religious songs, but in the nature
+of the case it can never be proved that he wrote any of the songs in
+the Psalter. Psalm xviii. has been by many assigned to him with
+considerable confidence because of the support it is thought to
+receive from its appearance in a historical book; but besides the
+fact that this support, as we have seen, is slender, the psalm can
+hardly, at least in its present form, have come from David. The
+superscription assigns it to a later period in his life when he had
+been delivered from all his enemies; but at that time he could not
+have looked back over the past, stained by his great sin, with the
+complacency which marks the confession in vv. 20-24. Others have
+supposed that xxiv. 7-10, with its picture of the entrance of
+Jehovah through the "ancient gates," may well be his. It may be, if
+the gates are those of the city; but if, as is more probable, they
+are the temple gates, then the psalm must be long after the time of
+Solomon. In the quest for Davidic psalms we can never possibly rise
+above conjecture. Later ages regarded David as the father of sacred
+song, just as they regarded Moses as the author of Hebrew law.
+
+There can be little doubt, however, that there are pre-exilic psalms
+or fragments in the Psalter. From Psalm cxxxvii. 3, 4 we may safely
+infer that already, by the time of the exile, there were songs of
+Jehovah or songs of Zion. We cannot tell what these songs were like;
+but when we remember that for nearly two centuries before the exile
+great prophets had been working--and we cannot suppose altogether
+ineffectually, for they had disciples--it is difficult to see why,
+granting the poetic power which the Hebrew had from the earliest
+times, pious spirits should not have expressed themselves in sacred
+song, or why some of these songs may not be in the Psalter.
+
+We appear to be on tolerably sure ground in at least some of the
+"royal" psalms. Doubtless it is often very hard to say, as in Psalms
+ii., lxxii., whether the king is a historical figure or the
+Messianic King of popular yearning; and possibly (cf. lxxii.) a
+psalm which originally contemplated a historical king may have been
+in later times altered or amplified to fit the features of the ideal
+king. Other psalms, again (e.g., lxxxix., cxxxii.), clearly are the
+products of a time when the monarchy is no more. But there remain
+others, expressing, e.g. a wish for the king's welfare (xx., xxi.),
+which can only be naturally referred to a time when the king was on
+the throne. It is not absolutely impossible to refer these to the
+period of the Hasmoneans, who bore the title from the end of the
+second century B.C.; but the history of the canon renders this
+supposition extremely improbable. The contents of these psalms are
+not above pre-exilic possibility, and their position in the first
+book would, generally speaking, be in favour of the earlier date.
+Psalm xlv. also, which celebrates the marriage of a king to a
+foreign princess, seems almost to compel a pre-exilic date.
+
+Some scholars, struck by the resemblance between many of the
+sorrowful psalms and the poetry of Jeremiah, have not hesitated to
+ascribe some of them to him (cf. xl. 2). Such a judgment is
+necessarily subjective, but there can be little doubt that Jeremiah
+powerfully influenced Hebrew religious poetry. The Greek
+superscriptions, again, which assign certain psalms to Haggai and
+Zechariah, though doubtless unreliable, are of interest in
+suggesting the liturgical importance of the period following the
+return from the exile. This period seems to have produced several
+psalms. Psalm cxxvi,, with its curiously complex feeling, apparently
+reflects the situation of that period, and the group of psalms which
+proclaim Jehovah as King, and ring with the notes of a "new song,"
+were probably composed to celebrate the joy of the return and the
+resumption of public worship in the temple (xciii., xcv.-c., cf.
+xcvi. 1). The history of the next three centuries is very obscure,
+and many a psalm which we cannot locate may belong to that period;
+but the psalms which celebrate the law (i., xix. 7ff., cxix.) no
+doubt follow the reformation of Ezra in the fifth century.
+
+It is not probable that there are many, if any, psalms later than
+170-165 B.C. in the Maccabean period; some deny even this
+possibility, basing their denial on the history of the canon. But if
+the book of Daniel, which belongs to this same period, was admitted
+to the canon, there is no reason why the same honour should not have
+been conferred upon some of the psalms. The Maccabean period was
+fitted, almost more than any other in Israel's history, to rouse the
+religious passion of the people to song; and, as the possibility
+must be conceded, the question becomes one of exegesis. Exegetically
+considered, the claims of at least Psalms xliv., lxxiv., lxxix.,
+lxxxiii. are indubitable. They speak of a desolation of the temple
+in spite of a punctilious fulfilment of the law, a religious
+persecution, a slaughter of the saints, a blasphemy of the holy
+name. No situation fits these circumstances so completely as the
+persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 B.C., and
+these psalms betray many remarkable affinities with passages in the
+first book of the Maccabees. As long ago as the fifth century A.D.
+the sharp-sighted Theodore of Mopsuestia believed that there were
+seventeen Maccabean psalms; Calvin admitted at least three. It may
+be safely concluded, then, that the Psalter brings us within about a
+century and a half of the Christian era.
+
+The criteria for determining the date of a psalm are few and meagre.
+The Psalter expresses the piety of more than half a millennium, and
+even the century cannot always be fixed. The language is often
+general, and the thoughts uttered would be as possible and
+appropriate to one century as another. Nearly forty years ago
+Nöldeke maintained that there were psalms of which we could not say
+with any definiteness to what period they belonged between 900 and
+160 B.C. He himself referred Psalm ii. to Solomon, which had been
+referred by Hitzig to Alexander Jannaeus (105-78 B.C.). Even where
+the historical implications may seem fairly certain, there may be
+more than one legitimate interpretation. Psalm xlvi., e.g., which is
+usually regarded as a song of triumph sung after the departure of
+Sennacherib, is by some interpreted eschatologically; Zion is the
+ideal Zion of the latter days, and the stream that makes her glad is
+the stream of Paradise. Some psalms, of course, have their origin
+stamped very legibly upon them. Psalm cxxxvii. e.g., clearly implies
+that the exile is not long over. The presence of Aramaisms in a
+psalm is a fairly sure indication of a relatively late date. Within
+certain limits, also, its theological ideas may be a guide, though
+we know too little of the history of these ideas to use this
+criterion with much confidence. Still, so elaborate an emphasis on
+the omnipresence of God as we find in Psalm cxxxix. is only possible
+to a later age, and this inference is more than confirmed by its
+highly Aramaic flavour. Both these considerations render its
+ascription to David utterly untenable.
+
+The question was raised long ago and has been much discussed in
+recent times, whether the subject of the Psalter is the individual
+or the church; and till very recently the opinion has been gaining
+ground that the experience and aspiration of the Psalter are not
+personal and individual, but that in it is heard the collective
+voice of the church. Many difficulties undoubtedly disappear or are
+lessened on this interpretation, e.g., the bitterness of the
+imprecatory psalms, or the far-reaching consequences attached in
+other psalms (cf. xxii., xl.) to the deliverance of the singer. Till
+the exile, the religious unit was the nation, and the collective use
+of the singular pronoun is one of the commonest phenomena in Hebrew
+literature. The Decalogue is addressed to Israel in the 2nd pers.
+sing., in Deuteronomy the 2nd pers. sing, alternates with the pl.,
+in the priestly blessing (Num. vi. 24ff.) Israel is blessed in the
+singular. In Deutero-Isaiah, the servant of Jehovah is undoubtedly
+to be interpreted collectively, and in many of the psalms the
+collective interpretation is put beyond all doubt by the very
+explicit language of the context:
+
+  Much have they afflicted me from my youth up,
+  Let _Israel_ now say, cxxix. 11
+
+All this is true, and there are probably more collective psalms in
+the Psalter than we have been accustomed to believe. But it would be
+ridiculous to suppose that every psalm has to be so interpreted. Some
+of the psalms were originally written without any view to the temple
+service, and they must have expressed the individual emotion of the
+singer.[1] Besides, Jeremiah had shown or at least suggested that
+the real unit was the individual; the teaching of Ezekiel and the
+book of Job are proof that the lesson had been well learned; and,
+although the post-exilic church may have felt its solidarity and
+realized its corporate consciousness as acutely as the pre-exilic
+nation, the individual, as a religious unit, could never again be
+forgotten. He had come to stay; and if, in many psalms, the general
+voice of the church is heard, it is equally certain that many  others
+utter the emotions and experiences of individual singers.
+[Footnote 1: That Psalms, now collective, were originally
+individual, and subsequently altered and adapted to the use of the
+community is seen, e.g., in the occasional disturbance of the order
+in alphabetical psalms (ix., x.). ]
+
+The Psalter, or part of it, was used in the temple service[1]-witness
+the numerous musical and liturgical superscriptions (cf. superscr. of
+Ps. xcii.)--though the people probably did no more than sing or utter
+the responses (cvi. 48). It would be difficult to estimate the
+importance of the Psalter to the Old Testament Church. It was the
+support of piety as well as the expression of it; and, to a worship
+which laid so much stress upon punctilious ritual and animal sacrifice,
+the Psalter, with its austere spiritual tone, its simple passion for
+God, and its bracing sense of fellowship with the Eternal, would come
+as a wholesome corrective. Almost in the spirit of the older prophets
+(Hos. vi. 6) animal sacrifice is relegated to an altogether subordinate
+place (xl., l., li.), if it is not indeed rebuked: the sacrifice dear
+to God is a broken spirit. Thus the Psalter was a mighty contribution
+in one direction, as the synagogue in another, to the development of
+spiritual religion. It kept alive the prophetic element in Israel's
+religion, and did much to counteract the more blighting influences of
+Judaism. The place of the law is occasionally recognized (i., xix. 7ff.),
+once very emphatically (cxix.), but it is honoured chiefly for its moral
+stimulus. It is not, as in later times, an incubus; it is still an
+inspiration.
+[Footnote 1: The addition of the last verse to the alphabetic
+psalms, xxv. and xxxiv., adapts these psalms, whether originally
+individual or collective, to the temple service.]
+
+There are tempers in the Psalter which are anything but lovely-hatred
+of enemies, protestation of self-righteousness, and other utterances
+which prevent it from being, in its entirety, the hymn-book of the
+Christian Church. Historically these things are explicable and perhaps
+inevitable, but the glory of the Psalter is its overwhelming sense of
+the reality of God. The men who wrote it counted God their Friend; and
+although they never forgot that He was the infinite One, whose home is
+the universe and who fills the vast spaces of history with His
+faithfulness and His justice, He was also to them the patient and
+loving One, who preserves both man and beast, under the shadow of whose
+wings the children of men may rest with quietness and confidence, and
+before whom they could pour out the deepest thoughts and petitions of
+their hearts, in the assurance that He was the hearer of prayer, and
+that His tender mercies were over all His works. He was to them the
+source of all strength and consolation and vision. In His light they
+saw light; and in their noblest moments--whatever they might lose or
+suffer--with Him they were content. In Luther's fine paraphrase of
+Psalm lxxiii. 25, "If I have but Thee, I ask for nothing in heaven or
+earth."
+
+
+
+
+PROVERBS
+
+
+Many specimens of the so-called _Wisdom Literature_ are
+preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no
+means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters
+constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon;
+and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of
+enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife.
+
+All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which
+to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew wise man seldom
+or never gave himself to abstract speculation; he dealt with issues
+raised by practical life. Wise men are spoken of almost as an
+organized guild, and coordinated with priests and prophets as early
+as the time of Jeremiah (xviii. 18), but the general impression made
+by the pre-exilic references to the wise men is that they exercised
+certain quasi-political functions and hardly correspond to the wise
+men of later times who discussed issues of the moral life and
+devoted themselves to the instruction of young men (Prov. i. 4, 8).
+
+Most of the important types of thought of the wise men are represented
+in the book of Proverbs. There are proverbs proper, a few of the
+popular kind, but most of them bearing the stamp of deliberate art,
+and dealing with the prudent conduct of life (x.-xxix.); there are
+speculations of a more general kind on the nature that wisdom which
+is the guide of life (i.-ix.); and there is scepticism (cf. Eccles.)
+represented by the words of Agur (xxx. 1-4). The book, as a whole, might
+be described as a guide to the happy life, or, we might almost say, to
+the successful life--for a certain not ignoble utilitarianism clings
+to many of its precepts. The world is recognized as a moral and orderly
+world, and wisdom is profitable unto all things. The wisdom which the
+wise man manifests in contact with life and its exigencies is but a
+counterpart of the divine wisdom which, in one noble passage, is the
+fellow of God and more ancient than creation (viii.).
+
+There is not a little literary power in the book. Very beautiful is
+Wisdom's appeal to the sons of men, and her invitation to the
+banquet (viii., ix.). The isolated proverbs in x.-xxix. are usually
+more terse and powerful than they appear in the English translation.
+There are flashes of humour too:
+
+  As a ring of gold in a swine's snout,
+  So is a fair woman without discretion, xi. 22.
+  Withhold not correction from thy son,
+  Though thou smite him with the rod, he will not die, xxiii. 13.
+
+They deal with life upon its average levels: there is nothing of the
+prophetic enthusiasm, but they are robust and kindly withal.
+
+Not without reason has the book been called "a forest of proverbs,"
+for at any rate in the body of it it is practically impossible to
+detect any principle of order. Usually the sayings in x.-xxix. are
+disconnected, but occasionally kindred sayings are gathered into
+groups of two or more verses; and sometimes it would seem as if the
+principle of arrangement was alphabetic, several consecutive verses
+occasionally beginning with the same letter, e.g., xx. 7-9, xxii. 2-4.
+ There are eight divisions--
+
+(_a_) i.-ix. (of which i. 1-6 is no doubt designed as an
+introduction to the whole book, and vi. 1-19 is probably an
+interpolation): an impressive appeal to secure wisdom and avoid
+folly, especially when she appears in the guise of the strange
+woman. Wisdom's own appeal and invitation.
+
+(_b_) x.-xxii. 16. A series of very loosely connected proverbs
+in couplets, x.-xv. being chiefly antithetic (cf. x. 1, xv. 1) and
+xvi. 1-xxii. 16 chiefly synthetic (cf. xvi. 16).
+
+(_c_) xxii. 17-xxiv. 22, designated as "the words of the wise,"
+containing a few continuous pieces (cf. xxiii. 29-35 on drunkenness)
+and addressed, like i.-ix., to "my son," cf. xxiii. 15, 26.
+
+(_d_) xxiv. 23-34, probably little more than an appendix to
+(_c_), and also containing a continuous piece (cf. _vv._
+30-34 on sloth).
+
+(_e_) xxv.-xxix. A series, in many respects resembling
+(_6_), of loosely connected sayings. This section, especially
+xxv.-xxvii., contains more proverbs in the strict sense, i.e.
+sayings without any specific moral bearing, e.g. xxv. 25.
+
+(_f_) xxx. The words of Agur, of a sceptical and enigmatical
+kind, worked over by an orthodox reader (cf. _vv_. 5, 6, which
+reprove _vv_. 2-4).
+
+(_g_) xxxi. 1-9. Words addressed to king Lemuel (whom we cannot
+identify) by his mother.
+
+(_h_) xxxi. 10-31. An alphabetic poem in praise of the good
+housewife.
+
+Clearly the book makes no pretence to be, as a whole, from Solomon.
+If we except i. 1-6, which is introductory to the whole book, only
+(_b_) and (_e_) are assigned to Solomon: the other
+sections--except the last, are deliberately assigned to others,
+(_c_) and (_d_) expressly to "the wise." The ascription of
+the whole book to Solomon, which seems to be implied by its opening
+verse, and which, if genuine, would render the fresh ascription in
+x. 1 unnecessary, is no doubt to be explained as the similar
+ascription of the Psalms to David or the legislation to Moses. He
+was the "wise man" of Hebrew antiquity, and he is expressly said in
+1 Kings iv. 32 to have spoken 3,000 proverbs. The implication of
+that passage (cf. _v_. 33) is that those proverbs consisted of
+comparisons between men and trees or animals: that supposition is
+met by some (cf. vi. 6) but not by many in the book. There are not
+likely then to be many of his proverbs in our book; but not
+impossibly there may be some. Ch. xxv. 1 is indeed very explicit,
+but that notice is, on the face of it, late. The fact that Hezekiah
+is called not simply king, but king of Judah, seems to point to a
+time--at the earliest the exile--when the kingdom of Judah was no
+more; so that this notice would be about a century and a half after
+Hezekiah's time, and Hezekiah is more than two centuries after
+Solomon. Obviously many of the proverbs in x.-xxix. could not have
+been Solomon's. The advice as to the proper demeanour in the
+presence of a king (xxv. 6, 7) would not come very naturally from
+one who was himself a king (cf. xxiii.1ff.); nor, to say nothing of
+the praises of monogamy, would he be likely so to satirize his own
+government as he would do in xxix. 4: "He whose exactions are
+excessive ruins the land."
+
+The question may, however, be fairly raised whether the proverbs,
+though as a whole not Solomonic, may yet be pre-exilic; and here two
+questions must be kept apart--the date of the individual proverbs
+and the date of the collections or of the book as a whole. Now it is
+very probable that some of the proverbs are pre-exilic. The
+references to the king, e.g.--kindly in x-xxii., and more severe in
+xxv-xxix.--might indeed apply to the Greek period (fourth and third
+centuries B.C.), but are equally applicable to the pre-exilic
+period; and many of the shrewd observations on life might come
+equally well from any period. But there can be little doubt that the
+groups in their present form are post-exilic. The sages do their
+work on the basis of the achievements of law and prophecy.[1] The
+great prophetic ideas about God are not discussed, they are
+presupposed; while the "law" of xxviii. 4, 7, 9, as in Psalm cxix.,
+appears to be practically equivalent to Scripture, and would point
+to the fifth century at the earliest. True, there are sayings quite
+in the old prophetic spirit, to the effect that character is more
+acceptable to God than ritual and sacrifice, xxi. 3, 27, xv. 8, xvi.
+6; but this would be an equally appropriate and almost more
+necessary warning in post-exilic times, especially upon the lips of
+men whose profession was in part that of moral education.
+[Footnote 1: The text of xxix. 18_a_ is too insecure (cf.
+Septuagint) to justify us in saying that prophecy still exists. ]
+
+There is no challenge of idolatry, such as we should expect if the
+book were pre-exilic, and monogamy is everywhere presupposed. Indeed
+it is very remarkable that no mention is made of Israel, or of any
+institutions distinctly Israelitic. Its subject is not the nation,
+but the individual, and its wisdom is cosmopolitan. Now though this
+appeal to man rather than Israel, this emphasis on the universal
+conscience, can be traced as far back as the eighth century[1] (Amos
+iii. 9), the thoroughgoing application of it in Proverbs suggests a
+larger experience of international relationships, which could hardly
+be placed before the exile, and was not truly developed till long
+after it, say, in the Persian or Greek period. This is peculiarly
+true of chs. i-ix., which was probably an independent piece,
+prefixed to x.-xxix., to gather up their sporadic elements of wisdom
+in a comprehensive whole, and to secure an adequate religious basis
+for their maxims which were, in the main, ethical. It is not
+necessary to suppose that the personification of wisdom in ch. viii.
+is directly influenced by Greek philosophy, but the whole
+speculative manner of the passage points to a late, even if
+independent, development of Jewish thought. The last two chapters
+are probably the latest in the book, which, while it must be earlier
+than Ben Sirach (180 B.C.), who distinctly adapts it, is probably
+not earlier than 300 B.C.
+[Footnote 1: Micah vi. 8, "He that showed thee, _O man_, what
+is good," is also a saying of far-reaching significance in this
+connection.]
+
+The value of this much-neglected book is very great. It is easy of
+course to point to its limitations--to show that it hardly, if ever
+(ix. 18?) looks out upon another world, but confines its
+compensations and its penalties to this, xi. 31, or to discover
+utilitarian elements in its morality, in. 10, or mechanical features
+in its conception of life, xvi. 31. But it would be easy to
+exaggerate. The sages know very well that a good name is better than
+wealth, xxii. 1, and that the deepest success of life is its
+conformity to the divine wisdom (i.-ix.). While most of the maxims
+are purely ethical, it has to be remembered that to the Hebrew
+morality rests upon religion: the introductory section (i.-ix.)
+throws its influence across the whole book, the motto of which is
+that the fear of Jehovah is the basis of knowledge and its chief
+constituent, i. 7. Besides, many of the maxims themselves are
+specifically religious, e.g., "He that oppresseth the poor
+reproacheth his Maker," xiv. 31, "He that hath pity on the poor
+lendeth to Jehovah," xix. 17. On the more purely moral side, besides
+giving a welcome glimpse into ancient Hebrew society, it is rich in
+applications to modern life. Slander and revenge are severely
+denounced; and earnest and repeated warnings are lifted up in
+different parts of the book against wine and women (v., xxiii.,
+xxxi.). Care for animals is inculcated, xii. 10, and love to
+enemies, xxv. 21., in words borrowed by the New Testament--a notable
+advance on Leviticus xix. 18.
+
+In one or two respects the book is of peculiar interest and value to
+the modern world. It is more interested, e.g., in practice than in
+creed. Its creed is very simple, little more than a general fear of
+Jehovah; but this receives endless application to practical life.
+Again, the appeal of the book is, on the whole, not to revelation,
+but to experience, and it meets the average man and woman upon their
+ordinary level. Its appeal is therefore one which cannot be evaded,
+as it commends itself, without the support of revelation, to the
+universal moral instincts of mankind. Again, its emphasis upon the
+moral, as opposed to the speculative, is striking. Immediately after
+a passage which approaches as near to metaphysical speculation as
+any Old Testament writer ever approaches, viii. 22-31, comes a
+direct, tender and personal appeal. Lastly, there is an almost
+modern sense of the inexorableness of law in the solemn reminder
+that those who refuse and despise the call of wisdom will be left
+alone and helpless when their day of trouble comes, i. 22ff. But the
+sternness is mitigated by a gentler thought. Like a gracious lady,
+wisdom, which is only one aspect of the divine Providence, pleads
+with men, yearning to win them from their folly to the peace and
+happiness which are alone with her; and even suffering is but one of
+the ways of God, a confirmation of sonship, and even a manifestation
+of His love.
+
+  Whom Jehovah loveth, He reproveth,
+  Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth, iii. 12.
+
+This is perhaps the profoundest note in the book of Proverbs. A book
+so rich in moral precept and religious thought may well claim to
+have fulfilled its programme: "to give prudence to the simple, to
+the young man knowledge and discretion," i. 4.
+
+
+
+
+JOB
+
+
+The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's
+literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of
+superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The
+problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and
+his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological
+insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of
+resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been
+divided as to how the book should be classified, whether as epic,
+dramatic or didactic poetry. It is didactic at any rate in the sense
+that the poet, who wrote it with his heart's blood, intended to read
+his generation a much-needed lesson on the mysterious discipline of
+life; and it is dramatic, though not in the ordinary sense--for in
+the poetry proper there is no development of action--yet in the
+sense that it vividly pourtrays the conflict of minds, and the clash
+of conventional with independent opinion.
+
+The story of the book is easily told. The prologue (i., ii.)
+introduces Job as a pattern of scrupulous piety, and therefore, in
+accordance with the ancient view, a prosperous man. In the heavenly
+council, the Satan insinuates that, if the prosperity be withdrawn,
+the piety will also disappear. Jehovah, sure of His servant Job,
+grants the Satan permission to deprive Job of all that he
+_has_, in order that he may discover what he _is_. Job
+sustains the four fierce blows, which stripped him of all, with
+beautiful resignation. The Satan is foiled. He now insinuates that
+the trial has not been severe enough: only his property has been
+touched--not his person. With Jehovah's permission a second assault
+is made, and Job is smitten with the incurable and loathsome disease
+of leprosy, so that he is without hope in the world. He has nothing
+but God--will God be enough? Again Job sustains his trial in noble
+and ever-memorable words; and the Satan is foiled again. Then three
+of Job's friends--great sheikhs--come to express their sorrow.
+
+Then follow three cycles of speeches between Job and his friends
+(iii.-xiv.; xv.-xxi.; xxii.-xxxi).
+
+_First cycle_. Job begins by lamenting his birthday and longing
+for death (iii.). Eliphaz, a man of age and wisdom, with much
+courtesy and by an appeal to a revelation which had been given him
+in the night, seeks to reconcile Job to his lot, reminding him that
+no mortal man can be pure in the sight of God, and assuring him of
+restoration, if he accepts his suffering as discipline (iv., v.).
+Job rejects this easy optimism and expresses his longing for a
+speedy death, as life on the earth is nothing but a miserable
+warfare (vi., vii.). Bildad, annoyed at Job's challenge of God's
+justice, asserts the sure destruction of evildoers, but implicitly
+concedes, at the end, that Job is not an evil-doer, by promising him
+a bright future (viii.). Job then grows ironical. Of course, he
+says, God is always in the right. Might is right, and He is
+almighty, destroying innocent and guilty alike. He longs to meet
+God, and to know why He so marvellously treats the creature He so
+marvellously made (ix., x.). Zophar bluntly condemns Job's bold
+words and urges repentance, but, like his friends, foretells the
+dawn of a better day for Job, though his very last words are ominous
+and suggestive of another possibility (xi.). Job, with a sarcastic
+compliment to the wisdom of his friends, claims the right to an
+independent judgment and challenges the whole moral order of the
+world. Better be honest--God needs no man to distort the facts for
+Him. Job longs for a meeting, in which God will either speak to him
+or listen to him. But, as no answer comes, he laments again the
+pathos of life, which ends so utterly in death (xii.-xiv.).
+
+_Second cycle_. Eliphaz, concluding that Job despises religion,
+describes in vigorous terms the fate of the godless (xv.). Job
+complains of his fierce persecution by God, and appeals, in almost
+the same breath, against this unintelligible God to the righteous
+God in heaven, who is his witness and sponsor; but again he falls
+back into gloom and despondency (xvi., xvii.). Bildad answers by
+describing the doom of the wicked, with more than one unmistakable
+allusion to Job's case (xviii.). Job is vexed. He breaks out into a
+lament of his utter desolation, the darkness of which, however, is
+shot through with a sudden and momentary gleam of assurance that God
+will one day vindicate him (xix.). Not so, answers Zophar: the
+triumph of the wicked is short (xx.). Job, in a bold and terrible
+speech, assails the doctrine of the friends, challenges the moral
+order, and asserts that the world is turned upside down (xxi.).
+
+_Third cycle_. To the friends Job now seems to be condemned out
+of his own mouth, and Eliphaz coolly proceeds to accuse him of
+specific sins (xxii.). This drives Job to despair, and he longs to
+appear before the God whom he cannot find, to plead his cause before
+Him. Why does He not interpose? and again follows a fierce challenge
+of the moral order (xxiii., xxiv.). The arguments of the friends are
+being gradually exhausted, and Bildad can only reply by asserting
+the uncleanness of man in presence of the infinite majesty of God
+(xxv., xxvi.). In spite of this Job asserts his integrity, xxvii. 1-6.
+Zophar repeats the old doctrine of the doom of the wicked, xxvii. 7-23.
+Then Job rises up, like a giant, to make his last great defence. He
+pictures his former prosperity and his present misery, and ends, in a
+chapter which touches the noblest heights of Old Testament morality,
+with a detailed assertion of the principles that governed his conduct
+and character. With one great cry that the Almighty would listen to
+him, he concludes (xxix.-xxxi.).
+
+The Almighty does listen; and He answers--not by referring to Job's
+particular case, still less to his sin, but by questions that
+suggest to Job His own power, wisdom, and love, and the ignorance
+and impotence of man, xxxviii., xxxix., xl. 2, 8-14. Job humbly
+recognizes the inadequacy of his criticism in the light of this
+vision of God, xl. 3-5, xlii. 2-6, and with this the poem comes to
+an end.
+
+The epilogue, xlii. 7-17, in prose, describes how Jehovah severely
+condemned the friends for the words they had spoken, commended His
+servant Job for speaking rightly of Him, and restored him to double
+his former prosperity.
+
+It is obvious that we have here a religious and not a philosophical
+discussion. Indeed it is hardly a discussion at all; for, though the
+psychological interest of the situation is heightened by every
+speech, there is practically no development in the argument. The
+friends grow more excited and unfair, Job grows more calm and
+dignified; but so far as argument is concerned, neither he nor they
+affect each other--the author meaning to suggest by this perhaps the
+futility of human discussion.
+
+The problem of the book of Job has been variously defined. In one
+form it is raised by the question of Satan, i. 9, "Doth Job fear God
+for naught?" which is the Hebrew way of saying, "Is there such a
+thing as disinterested religion?" But the body of the book discusses
+the problem under a wider aspect: how can the facts of human life,
+and especially the sufferings of the righteous, be reconciled with
+the justice of God? With delicate skill the author has suggested
+that this problem is a universal one; not Israel alone is perplexed
+by it, but humanity. To indicate this, he puts his hero and his
+stage outside the land of Israel. Job is a foreign saint, and Uz is
+on the borders of the Arabian desert.
+
+The ancient theory of retribution was very simple: every man
+received what he deserved--the good prosperity, the bad misfortune.
+In its national application, this principle was obviously more or
+less true, but every age must have seen numerous exceptions in the
+life of the individual. The exceptions, however, were not felt to be
+particularly perplexing, because, till the exile, the individual was
+hardly seriously felt to be a religious unit: his personality was
+merged in the wider life of the tribe or nation. But the exile,
+which saw many of the best men suffer, forced the question to the
+front; and the explanation then commonly offered was that they were
+suffering for the sins of the fathers. Ezekiel denied this and
+maintained that the individual received exactly what he deserved
+(xviii.): it is well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. The
+friends of Job in the main represent this doctrine, Eliphaz
+appealing to revelation, Bildad to tradition, and Zophar to common
+sense. The author of the book of Job desires, among other things, to
+expose the inadequacy of this doctrine. Job, a good man--not only on
+his own confession (xxxi.), but on the express and repeated
+admission of God Himself, i. 8, ii. 3--is overwhelmed with
+calamities which cannot be explained by the imperfections which are
+inherent in all men, and which Job himself readily admits vii. 21.
+How are such sufferings to be reconciled with the justice of God?
+
+The problem had to be solved without reference to the future world.
+To a steady faith in immortality, which can find its compensations
+otherwhere, there is no real problem; but it is certain that, though
+there are scattered hints, xiv. 13, xix. 25ff.--which, however, many
+interpret differently--of a life after death, this belief is not
+held by Job (or by the author) tenaciously, nor offered as a
+solution, for the lamentations continue to the end. The solution, if
+there is any, the author must find in this world. It would seem that
+no definite solution is offered, though there are not a few profound
+and valuable suggestions.
+
+(1) The prologue, e.g., suggests that the sufferings of earth find
+their ultimate explanation in the councils of heaven. What is done
+or suffered here is determined there. (2) Again the prologue
+suggests that suffering is a test of fidelity. Job has proved his
+essential and disinterested goodness, besides glorifying the name of
+the God, who trusted him, by standing fast. (3) The friends make
+their shallow and conventional contribution to the solution: from
+the doctrine--whose strict and universal truth Job denied--that sin
+was always followed by suffering, they inferred the still more
+questionable doctrine that suffering was punishment for sin. In
+estimating the views of the friends, it should never be forgotten
+that Jehovah, in the epilogue, condemns them as not having spoken
+the thing that is right, xlii. 7, 8. Of course, though inadequate,
+they are not always absolutely wrong; and Eliphaz expresses a truth
+not wholly inapplicable to Job's case--at least to the Job of the
+speeches--when he insists on the disciplinary value of suffering, v.
+17 ff.
+
+(4) If a real solution is offered anywhere, one would most naturally
+look for it in the speeches of Jehovah (xxxviii. ff.); and at first
+sight they are not very promising. Their effect would most naturally
+be rather to silence and overwhelm Job than to convince him; and to
+some they have suggested no more than that the contemplation of
+nature may be a remedy for scepticism. But their object is
+profounder than that. By heightening the sense of the mystery of the
+universe, they show Job the folly, and almost the impertinence, of
+expecting an adequate answer to all his whys and wherefores. A man
+who cannot account for the most familiar facts of the physical world
+is not likely to explore the subtler mysteries of the moral world.
+But there is more. The divine speeches suggest that God is not only
+strong--Job knew that very well (ix.)--but wise, xxxviii. 2, and
+kind, feeding even the ravenous beasts, xxxviii. 39, and tenderly
+caring for the waste and desolate place where no man is, xxxviii.
+26. The universe compels trust in the wisdom and love of God. (5)
+The epilogue, too, shows how the suffering hero was rewarded and
+vindicated. The reward we shall discuss afterwards; but it is with
+fine instinct that the epilogue represents Job as a man so powerful
+with God that his prayer is effectual to save his erring friends,
+and four times within two verses, xlii. 7 f, Jehovah calls him "My
+servant Job." Therein lies his real vindication, rather than in the
+reward of the sheep and the oxen.
+
+The book clearly intends to suggest that in this world it is vain to
+look for exact retribution. From calamity it is unjust to infer
+special or secret sin: the worst may happen to the best. Again,
+there is such a thing as disinterested goodness, a goodness which
+believes in and clings to God, when it has nothing to hope for but
+Himself. But the book may also be fairly regarded as a protest
+against contemporary theology; and, in its present form, at any
+rate, it suggests that God loves the independent thinker. The
+friends are orthodox, but shallow; "Who ever perished, being
+innocent?" iv. 7. They are so wedded to their theories that even the
+oldest and wisest among them cruelly invents falsehoods to support
+them (xxii.). Job replies to theories by facts. He is a man of
+independent observation and judgment, his mouth must "taste for
+itself," xii. 11. He is bold sometimes almost to blasphemy, he
+accuses God of destroying innocent and guilty alike, ix. 22, and
+does not scruple to parody a psalm, vii. 17 f. Yet he does this
+because he must be true to facts, whatever comes of theories: he
+must cling to the God of conscience against the God of convention.
+
+In discussing the scheme of the book and the solution it offers of
+the problem of suffering, we have not yet taken into account the
+_speeches of Elihu_ (xxxii.-xxxvii.). The value and importance
+of these have been variously estimated, the extremes being represented
+by Duhm, who characterizes them as the childish effusions of some
+bombastic rabbi, and Cornill, who calls them "the crown of the book
+of Job." It is not without good reason that the authenticity of this
+section has been doubted. After the dramatic appeal at the close of
+Job's splendid defence, it is natural to suppose that Jehovah appears;
+and when He does appear (xxxviii.), His speech is expressly said to be
+an answer to Job. Elihu is completely ignored, as he is not only in
+the prologue but also in the epilogue, xlii. 7. The latter omission
+would be especially strange, if he is integral to the book. As his
+speech is not condemned, it is natural to infer from the silence
+that it is implicitly commended. In that case, however, we have two
+solutions--the Elihu speeches and the Jehovah speeches. But there is
+practically nothing new in the Elihu speeches: in emphasizing the
+greatness of God, they but anticipate the Jehovah speeches, and in
+emphasizing the disciplinary value of chastisement, they but amplify
+the point already made by Eliphaz in v. 17ff., and most summarily
+expressed in xxxvi. 15. Almost the only other assertion made is
+that, as against Job's contention, God does speak to men--through
+dreams, sickness, angels, etc. The lengthy description in which
+Elihu is introduced, and the mention of his genealogy, are very
+unlike the other introductions. The literary art of the section is,
+speaking generally, inferior to that of the rest of the book. It is
+imitative rather than creative. Elihu takes about twenty verses to
+announce the simple fact that he is going to speak, though there
+might be a dramatic propriety in this, as he is represented as a
+young man. Further, the language is more Aramaic than the rest of
+the book. Cornill, however, defends the section as offering the real
+solution of the problem. "If a man recognizes the educative
+character of suffering and takes it to heart, the suffering becomes
+for him a source of infinite blessing, the highest manifestation of
+divine love." But it seems rather improbable that the true solution
+should be put into the lips of a young man, who said he was ready to
+burst if he did not deliver himself of his speech, xxxii. 19. Apart
+from the fact that it is more natural to look for the solution in
+the speeches of Jehovah, and that the Elihu speeches, in condemning
+Job, disagree with the epilogue, which commends him, the arguments
+against their authenticity seem much more than to counterbalance the
+little that can be said in their favour; and in all probability they
+are an orthodox addition to the book from the pen of some later
+scholar who was offended by Job's accusations of God and
+protestations of his own innocence.
+
+The authenticity of the _prologue and epilogue_ has also been
+questioned, some scholars asserting that they really form the
+beginning and end of an older (pre-exilic) book of Job, the body of
+which was replaced by the speeches in our present book. The question
+is far from unimportant, as on it depends, in part, our conception
+of the purpose of the author of the speeches. Against the idea that
+the prologue and epilogue are from his hand are these
+considerations. They are in prose, while the body of the book is in
+verse. Again, the name of God in the prologue and epilogue is
+Jehovah; elsewhere, with one exception, which is probably an
+interpolation, xii. 9, it is El, Eloah, Shaddai, as if Jehovah were
+purposely avoided.[1] In xix. 17_b_, where the true translation
+is "Mine evil savour is strange to the sons of my body," the
+children are regarded as living:[2] while in the prologue they are
+dead. But more serious is the fact that the Job of the prologue
+seems to differ fundamentally from the Job of the speeches. The
+former is patient, submissive, resigned; the latter is impatient,
+bitter, and even defiant. Further, the epilogue represents Jehovah
+as commending Job and condemning the friends without qualification,
+whereas it may be urged that, in the course of the speeches, the
+friends were not always wrong, nor was Job always right, and that it
+is impossible that his merciless criticisms of the moral order could
+have passed without divine rebuke: much that Job said would have
+delighted the Satan of the prologue. These considerations have led
+to the supposition that, in the original book, Job maintained
+throughout the spirit of devout resignation which he showed in the
+prologue, while it was the friends who accused God of cruelty and
+injustice. A bolder and profounder thinker of a later age attacked
+the problem independently on the basis of the old story, and
+inserted his contribution, iii.-xlii. 6, between the prologue and
+the epilogue, thus giving a totally different turn to the story.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. xxxviii. i, being introductory to the speeches of
+Jehovah, should hardly be counted.]
+[Footnote 2: See, however, viii. 4, xxix. 5, so that xix. 17_b_
+may be due to forgetfulness.]
+
+This view is ingenious, but does not seem necessary.
+Psychologically, there is no necessary incompatibility between the
+Job of the prologue and the Job of the speeches. It must not be
+forgotten that months have elapsed between the original blow and the
+lamentations, vii. 3--months in which the brooding mind of the
+sufferer has had time to pass from resignation to perplexity, and
+almost to despair. Again, the words of Job are not to be taken too
+seriously; they are, as he says himself, the words of a desperate
+man, vi. 26, and the commendation in the epilogue may be taken to
+apply rather to his general attitude than to his particular
+utterances. Some kind of introduction there must undoubtedly have
+been; otherwise the speeches, and especially Job's repeated
+asseverations of his innocence, are unintelligible. The literary
+power and skill of the prologue is as great as that of the speeches:
+dramatically, the swift contrast between the happy family upon the
+earth and the council of gods in heaven, or the rapid succession of
+blows that rained upon Job the moment that Satan "went forth from
+the presence of Jehovah," is as effective as the psychological
+surprises in which the book abounds. The language is slightly in
+favour of a post-exilic date, and the conception of Satan appears to
+be somewhat in advance of Zechariah iii. 1 (520 B.C.). On the whole
+it seems fair to conclude that the great poet who composed the
+speeches also wrote the prologue, though of course his material lay
+to hand in a popular, and not improbably written story.
+
+With the prologue must go at least part of the epilogue, xlii. 7-9;
+for the author's purpose is to characterize the two types of thought
+represented by the discussion and to vindicate Job. More doubt may
+attach to the concluding section, _vv_. 10-17, which represents
+that vindication as taking the form of a material reward. A Western
+reader is surprised and disappointed: to him it seems that the
+author has "fallen from his high estate," and has failed to be
+convinced by his own magnificent argument. But, as we have already
+said, the real vindication of Job is the efficacy of his prayer, and
+the material reward is, in any case, not much more than a sort of
+poetic justice. It is indeed an outward and visible sign of the
+relation subsisting between Job and his God; but it is hard to
+believe that the genius who fought his way to such a solution as
+appears in xxxviii., xxxix., would himself have laid much stress
+upon it. Yet it is not inappropriate or irrelevant. Job's sufferings
+had their origin in Satan's denial of his integrity; and now that
+Satan has been convinced--for Job clings in the deepest darkness to
+the God of his conscience--it is only just that he should be
+restored to his former state.
+
+It is not certain that ch. xxviii. with its fine description of
+wisdom, which is neither to be found in mine nor mart, is original
+to the book. It does not connect well either with the preceding or
+the following chapter. The serenity that breathes through ch.
+xxviii. would not naturally be followed by the renewed lamentations
+of xxix., and it would further be dramatically inappropriate for a
+man in agony to speak thus didactically. It is a sort of companion
+piece to Proverbs viii.; it is too abstract for its context, and
+lacks its almost fierce emotion.
+
+Doubt also attaches to the sections descriptive of _the
+hippopotamus and the crocodile_, xl. l5-xli. The defence is that,
+as the earlier speeches of God, xxxviii. xxxix., were to convince
+Job of his ignorance, so these are to convince him of his impotence.
+But the descriptions, though fine in their way (cf. xli. 22), do not
+stand on the same literary level as those of xxxviii., xxxix. These
+are brief and drawn to the life--how vivid are the pictures of the
+war-horse and the wild ass!--those of xl., xli. are diffuse and
+somewhat exaggerated. Of course Oriental standards of taste are not
+ours; still the difference can hardly be ignored. It is worthy of
+note, too, that the word leviathan in xli. 1 is used in a totally
+different sense from iii 8, where it is the mythological (sea?)
+dragon. The author appears to have travelled widely and the book
+betrays a knowledge of Egypt (cf. pyramids, iii. 14; papyrus, viii.
+11; reed ships, ix. 26; phoenix, xxix. 18), but it is not without
+significance that all his other animal pictures are drawn from the
+desert--the lion (iv.), the wild ass, the war-horse. On the whole,
+it is hardly probable that these long descriptions, rather
+unnecessarily retarding, as they do, the crisis between Jehovah and
+Job for which the sympathetic reader is impatiently waiting, are
+original to the book.
+
+Certain redistributions of the speeches seem to be necessary. Ch.
+xxvi. is conceived in a temper thoroughly unlike that of Job at this
+stage, while it closely resembles that of xxv. As ch. xxv. would be
+an unusually short speech, it is probable that xxv. and xxvi. should
+both be given to Bildad. That there is something wrong is plain from
+the fresh introduction to xxvii. 1 (cf. xxix. 1), a phenomenon which
+does not elsewhere occur and which, if xxvi. is Job's, should be
+unnecessary. Again in xxvii. 7-23 Job turns completely round upon
+his own position and adopts that of the friends. It has been said
+that he "forgets himself sufficiently in ch. xxvii. to deliver a
+discourse which would have been suitable in the mouth of one of the
+friends." Surely such an explanation is as impossible as it is
+psychologically unnatural: in all probability _vv_. 7-23 ought
+to be given to Zophar--the more probably as xxvii. 13 is very like
+xx. 19, which is Zophar's. This would have the further advantage of
+accounting for the fresh introduction to xxix. (especially if we
+allow xxviii. to be a later addition).
+
+Probably xxxi. 38-40, which constitute, at least to an Occidental
+taste, an anticlimax in their present position, should be placed
+after _v_. 32, and xl. 3-5 (followed by xlii. 2-6) after xl. 6-14.
+
+The date of the book of Job is not easy to determine. Ch. xii. 17
+shows a knowledge of the dethronement of kings and the exile of
+priests and nobles which compels a date at any rate later than the
+fall of the northern kingdom (721 B.C.) more probably also of the
+southern. The reference in Ezekiel, xiv. 14, 20, to Job should not
+be pressed, as it involves only a knowledge of the man, not
+necessarily of any book, still less of our book. Nor can much be
+made of the parody of Psalm viii. 4 in Job vii. 17, as we have no
+means of fixing precisely the date of the psalm. Job's lament and
+curse in ch. iii. are strikingly similar to Jeremiah xx. 14-18, and
+there can be little doubt that the priority lies on the side of the
+prophet. Jeremiah was in no mood for quotation, his words are brief
+and abrupt. The book of Job is a highly artistic poem, and it is
+much more probable that Job iii. is an elaboration of the passionate
+words of Jeremiah than that Jeremiah adapted in his sorrow the
+longer lament of Job. This circumstance would bring us down to a
+time, at the earliest, very near the exile.
+
+At this point it has to be noted that the discussion of the moral
+problem in the book of Job is in advance of Jeremiah or Ezekiel.
+Against the explanation that the children's teeth are set on edge
+because their fathers have eaten sour grapes, Ezekiel has nothing to
+offer but a rather mechanical doctrine of strict retribution (ch.
+xviii.). The book of Job represents a further stage, when that
+doctrine was seen to be untenable; and the whole question is again
+boldly raised and still more boldly discussed. This would carry the
+date below Ezekiel. As the problem in Job is individual, and only
+indirectly, if at all, a national one--"there was _a man_ in
+the land of Uz"--the book cannot be earlier than the exile.
+
+But further, there is an unmistakable similarity between the temper
+of this book and that of the pious in the time of Malachi. "Every
+one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and He
+delighteth in them. Where is the God of justice?" Malachi ii. 17. We
+might fancy we heard the voice of Job; and almost more plainly in
+Malachi iii. 14, "It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it
+that we have kept His ordinance?" Equally striking is the similarity
+between the dialectic temper in Job and Malachi. Everywhere in
+Malachi occur the phrases, "Ye have said, yet ye say," etc. Good men
+have not only raised the problem of the moral order, as Habakkuk and
+Jeremiah had done: they are formally discussing it--exactly the
+phenomenon which we have in Job and do not have in pre-exilic times.
+If it be asked why, in that case, there is no trace of influence of
+Deutero-Isaiah's solution, the answer is that, in any case, that
+solution stands without serious influence on the subsequent
+development of religious thought in the Old Testament.
+
+Again, the peculiar boldness of the discussion suggests a post-exilic
+date. Jeremiah is also very bold, xii. 1, but it is a different type of
+audacity that expresses itself in the book of Job. Unlike Ecclesiastes
+in practically everything else, Job is like it in being a sustained and
+fearless challenge of the phenomena of the moral world. A post-exilic
+date, and perhaps not a very early one, would seem to be suggested by
+these phenomena. It is the product not only of an unhappy man, but of
+an unhappy time, when life is a warfare, vii. 1, and good men are
+bitter in heart. This date is borne out by the angelology of the book,
+v. 1, and by its easy use of mythology, iii. 8, xxvi. 5--a mythology
+which is felt to be completely innocuous, because monotheism is secure
+beyond the possibility of challenge. It is practically certain that the
+book falls before Chronicles (_circa_ 300 B.C.) as in 1 Chronicles
+xxi. 1, Satan is a proper name, whereas in Job the word is still an
+appellative--he is "the Satan.". Where the evidence is so slender
+certainty is impossible; but there is a probability that the book may
+be safely placed somewhere between 450 and 350 B.C. One could conceive
+it to be, in one sense, a protest against the legalistic conception of
+religion encouraged by the work of Ezra, and this would admirably fit
+the date assigned.
+
+
+
+
+SONG OF SONGS
+
+
+The contents of this book justify the description of it in the
+title, i. 1, as the "loveliest song"--for that is the meaning of the
+Hebrew idiom "song of songs." It abounds in poetical gems of the
+purest ray. It breathes the bracing air of the hill country, and the
+passionate love of man for woman and woman for man. It is a
+revelation of the keen Hebrew delight in nature, in her vineyards
+and pastures, flowers and fruit trees, in her doves and deer and
+sheep and goats. It is a song tremulous from beginning to end with
+the passion of love; and this love it depicts in terms never coarse,
+but often frankly sensuous--so frankly sensuous that in the first
+century its place in the canon was earnestly contested by Jewish
+scholars. That place was practically settled in 90 A.D. by the Synod
+of Jamnia, which settled other similar questions; and about 120 A.D.
+we find a distinguished rabbi maintaining that "the whole world does
+not outweigh the day when the Song of Songs was given to Israel;
+while all the _Writings_ are holy, the song is holiest of all."
+This extravagant language suggests that the canonicity of the song
+had been strenuously contested; and it may have been a latent sense
+of the secular origin of the song that led to the prescription that
+a Jew must not read it till he was thirty years of age. Its place in
+the canon was no doubt secured for it by two considerations, (i) its
+reputed Solomonic authorship, (ii) its allegorical interpretation.
+
+The reception of the book in the Canon led, as Siegfried has said,
+to the most monstrous creations in the history of interpretation. If
+it be by Solomon, and therefore a holy book, it must be a
+celebration of divine love, not of human. So it was argued; and the
+theme of the book was regarded as the love of Jehovah for Israel.
+Christian interpreters, following this hint of their Jewish
+predecessors, applied it to the love of Christ for His church or for
+the individual soul. The allegorical view of the poem has many
+parallels in the mystic poetry of the East, and it even finds a
+slender support in Hosea's comparison of the relation of Jehovah to
+Israel as a marriage relationship; but taking into account the
+general nature of the poem, and the tendencies of the Hebrew mind,
+it may be fairly said that the allegorical interpretation is
+altogether impossible. Any love poem would be equally capable of
+such an interpretation.
+
+Another view, first hinted at in a phrase of Origen, is that the
+book is a drama, a view which has held the field--not without
+challenge--for over a century. There is much in the language of the
+song to suggest this: it is obvious, e.g., that there is occasional
+dialogue, i. 15, 16, ii. 2, 3, but the actual story of the drama was
+very far from clear. The older view was that it was a story of
+Solomon's love for a peasant girl, and of his redemption from his
+impure loves by his affection for her. But as in viii. 11 f. and
+elsewhere, Solomon is spoken of by way of contrast, room must be
+made for a third person, the shepherd lover of the peasant maid;
+and, with much variety of detail, the supporters of the dramatic
+theory now adhere in general to the view that the poem celebrates
+the fidelity of a peasant maid who had been captured and brought to
+Solomon's harem, but who steadily resisted his blandishments and was
+finally restored to her shepherd lover. The book becomes thus not a
+triumph of love over lust, but of love over temptation. The story is
+very pretty; but the objections to it and to the dramatic view of
+the book are all but insuperable. It must be confessed that, to
+arrive at such a story at all, a good deal has to be read between
+the lines, and interpreters usually find what they bring; but the
+most fatal objection to it is that the text in vi. 12, on which the
+whole story turns--the maiden's surprise in the orchard by the
+retinue of the king--is so disjointed and obscure that the attempt
+to translate it has been abandoned by many competent scholars.
+
+Apart from that, the story can hardly be said to be probable. "She,
+my dove, is but one," vi. 9, would sound almost comical upon the
+lips of one who possessed the harem of vi. 8. But in any case, it is
+almost inconceivable that Solomon would have taken a refusal from a
+peasant girl: Oriental kings were not so scrupulous. Again, it is
+very hard to detect any progress on the dramatic view of the book.
+Ch. viii. with its innocent expression of an early love, follows ch.
+vii., which is sensuous to the last degree. Further, in the absence
+of stage directions, every commentator divides the verses among the
+characters in a way of his own: the opening words of the song, i.
+2_a_, may be interpreted in three or four different ways, and
+equal possibilities of interpretation abound throughout the song. Of
+course the difficulties are not quite so great in the Hebrew as in
+the English (e.g. i. 15 must be spoken by the bridegroom and i. 16
+by the bride), but they are great enough. Again, how are we to
+conceive of so short a play--ll6 lines--being divided into acts and
+scenes? for the scenes are continually changing, and the longest
+would not last more than two minutes. It would not be fair to lay
+too much stress upon the fact that there is no other illustration of
+a purely Semitic drama; that would be to argue that, if a thing did
+not happen twice, it did not happen once. Nevertheless, coupled with
+the untold difficulties and confusions that arise from regarding the
+song as a drama, the absence of a Semitic parallel is significant.
+
+The true view of this perplexing book appears to be that it is, as
+Herder called it, "a string of pearls"--an anthology of love or
+wedding songs sung during the festivities of the "king's week," as
+the first week after the wedding is called in Syria. Very great
+probability has been added to this view by the observations of
+Syrian customs made by Wetzstein in his famous essay on "The Syrian
+Threshing-board," and first thoroughly applied by Budde to the
+interpretation of the Song. Syrian weddings, we are told, usually
+took place in March, ii. 11ff. The threshing-floor is set on a sort
+of platform on the threshing-board covered with carpets and pillows;
+and upon this throne, the "king and queen," i.e. the bride and
+bridegroom, are seated, while the guests honour them with song, game
+and dance. This lasts for seven days (cf. Gen. xxix. 27; Jud. xiv.
+12); and the theory is that in the Song of Songs we have specimens
+of the songs sung on such an occasion. In particular, it is
+practically certain that vi. 13-vii. 9 is the song which
+accompanied the "sword-dance" (as the last words of vi. 13 should
+probably be translated) performed by the bride on the eve of her
+wedding day. This would explain the looseness of the arrangement, no
+special attempt being made to unify the songs, though it may be
+conceded that the noble eulogy of love in viii. 6, 7, as it is the
+finest utterance in the book, was probably intended as a sort of
+climax.
+
+The king, then, is not Solomon, but the peasant bridegroom, who
+enjoys the regal dignity, and even the name of Israel's most
+splendid monarch, iii. 7, 9, for the space of a week. Ch. iii. 11,
+with its reference to the bridegroom's crown (cf. Isa. lxi. 10), is
+all but conclusive proof that the hero is not king Solomon, but
+another sort of bridegroom. His bride, perhaps a plain country girl,
+counts for the week as the maid of Shulem, vi. 13, i.e. Abishag,
+once the fairest maid in Israel (vi. 1, I Kings i. 3). So throughout
+the "king's week" everything is transfigured and takes on the
+colours of royal magnificence: the threshing-board becomes a
+palanquin, and the rustic bodyguard appear as a band of valiant
+warriors, iii. 7, 8. There is a charming naivete, and indeed
+something much profounder, in this temporary transformation of those
+humble rustic lives. We are involuntarily reminded of scenes in _A
+Midsummer Night's Dream_. This view of the book has commended
+itself to scholars like Nõldeke, who formerly championed the
+dramatic theory, though two of the latest writers[1] have argued
+skilfully against it.
+[Footnote 1: Harper, in the Cambridge Bible "Song of Songs," and
+Rothstein, in Hastings' _Dictionary of the Bible_.]
+
+The following may be taken as an approximate division of the songs,
+though some of the longer sections might easily be regarded as a
+combination of two or three songs. The bride praises the bridegroom,
+modestly depreciates her own beauty, and asks where her bridegroom is
+to be found, i. 2-8. Each sings the other's praises: the happiness of
+the bride, i. 9-ii. 7. A spring wooing, ii. 8-17. The bride's dream,
+iii. 1-5. The bridegroom's procession, iii. 6-11. The charms of the
+bride, iv. 1-v. 1. The beauty of the bridegroom, v. 2-vi. 3. Praise of
+the bride, vi. 4-12. Praise of the bride as she dances the sword-dance,
+vii. 1-10. The bride's longing, vii. 11-viii. 4. The incomparable power
+of love, viii. 5-7. The bride's proud reply to her brothers, viii. 8-10.
+The two vineyards, viii. 11, 12. Conclusion, viii. 13, 14.
+
+The immortal verses in praise of love, viii. 6, 7, show that, in
+spite of its often sensuous expression, the love here celebrated is
+not only pure but exclusive; and the book, which once was regarded
+as a satire on the court of Solomon, would in any case make in
+favour of monogamic sentiment, and tend to ennoble ideals in a
+country where marriage was simply regarded as a contract.
+
+The mention of Israel's ancient capital Tirzah in vi. 4 (if the text
+be correct) as a parallel to Jerusalem, would alone be enough to
+bring the date below Solomon's time (cf. 1 Kings xiv. 17, xvi. 23).
+But it is no doubt much later. The Persian word _pardes_ in iv.
+13 appears to imply the Persian period, and is used elsewhere only
+in post-exilic books (Neh. ii. 8; Eccles. ii. 5). Indeed the word
+_appirion_ in iii. 9 appears to be the Hebraized form of a
+Greek word _phoreion_, and if so would almost necessarily imply
+the Greek period, though the Hebrews may have been acquainted with
+Greek words, through the Greek settlements in Egypt, as early as the
+sixth century B.C. Many of the words and constructions, however, are
+demonstrably late and Aramaic; and the linguistic evidence alone
+(unless we assume an earlier book to have been worked over in later
+times) would put the Song hardly earlier than the fourth century
+B.C. Yet the fact that though a secular writing, it is in Hebrew and
+not Aramaic, which was rapidly gaining ground, shows that it can
+hardly be brought down much later. On the whole, probably it is to
+be placed somewhere between 400 and 300; and its sunny vivacity thus
+becomes a welcome foil to the austerity of the post-exilic age. If
+this argument is sound, it follows that the book cannot have been by
+Solomon. The superscription, i. 1, was no doubt added by a later
+hand on the basis of the many references to Solomon in the book,
+iii. 7-11, viii. 11 f, and of the statement in 1 Kings iv. 32 that
+he was the author of 1,005 songs.
+
+Where the songs were composed we cannot tell. The scenes they
+reflect so vividly are rather those of Israel than of Judah, but the
+repeated allusions to the daughters of Jerusalem would be most
+naturally explained if the songs came from Jerusalem or its
+neighbourhood. With this agree the references to Engedi, Heshbon,
+Kedar, while the northern places mentioned, Lebanon, Hermon, Gilead,
+Damascus, are such as would be familiar, at any rate, by reputation,
+to a Judean.
+
+
+
+
+RUTH
+
+
+Goethe has characterized the book of Ruth as the loveliest little
+idyll that tradition has transmitted to us. Whatever be its didactic
+purpose--and some would prefer to think that it had little or none-it
+is, at any rate, a wonderful prose poem, sweet, artless, and persuasive,
+touched with the quaintness of an older world and fresh with the scent
+of the harvest fields. The love--stronger than country--of Ruth for
+Naomi, the gracious figure of Boaz as he moves about the fields with a
+word of blessing for the reapers, the innocent scheming of Naomi to
+secure him as a husband for Ruth--these and a score of similar touches
+establish the book for ever in the heart of all who love nobility and
+romance.
+
+The inimitable grace and tenderness of the story are dissipated in a
+summary, but the main facts are these. A man of Bethlehem, with his
+wife Naomi and two sons, is driven by stress of famine to Moab,
+where the sons marry women of the land. In course of time, father
+and sons die, and Naomi resolves to return home. Ruth, one of her
+daughters-in-law, accompanies her, in spite of Naomi's earnest
+entreaty that she should remain in her own land. In Bethlehem, Ruth
+receives peculiar kindness from Boaz, a wealthy landowner, who
+happens to be a kinsman of Naomi; and Naomi, with a woman's happy
+instinct, devises a plan for bringing Boaz to declare himself a
+champion and lover of Ruth. The plan is successful. A kinsman nearer
+than Boaz refuses to claim his rights by marrying her, and the way
+is left open for Boaz. He accordingly marries Ruth, who thus becomes
+the ancestress of the great King David.
+
+Why was this story told? The question of its object is to some
+extent bound up with the question of date; and for several reasons,
+this appears to be late. (1) In the Greek, Latin and modern Bibles,
+Ruth is placed after Judges; in the Hebrew Bible it is placed
+towards the end, among the _Writings_, i.e. the last division,
+in which, speaking generally, only late books appear. Had the book
+been pre-exilic, it is natural to suppose that it would have been
+placed after Judges in the second division. Some indeed maintain
+that this is its original position; but it is easier to account for
+its transference from the third division to the second, as a foil to
+the war-like episodes of the judges, than for its transference from
+the second to the third. (2) The argument from language is perhaps
+not absolutely decisive, but, on the whole, it is scarcely
+compatible with an early date. Some words are pure Aramaic, and some
+of the Hebrew usages do not appear in early literature, e.g.,
+"fall," in the sense of "fall out, issue, happen," iii. 18. (3) The
+opening words--"In the days when the judges judged," i. 1--suggest
+not only that those days are past, but that they are regarded as a
+definite period falling within an historical scheme. The book must
+be, at any rate, as late as David--for it describes Ruth as his
+ancestress, iv. l7--and probably much later, as the implication is
+that it is a great thing to be the ancestress of David. The
+reverence of a later age for the great king shines through the
+simple genealogical notice with which the story concludes.[1] (4)
+Further, the old custom of throwing away the shoe as a symbol of the
+abandonment of one's claim to property, a custom familiar in the
+seventh century B.C. (Deut. xxv. 9f.) is in iv. 7 regarded as
+obsolete, belonging to the "former time." The cumulative effect of
+these indications is strongly to suggest a post-exilic date. Not
+perhaps, however, a very late one: a book as late as the Maccabean
+period would hardly have reflected so kindly a feeling towards the
+foreigner (cf. Esther).
+[Footnote 1: Probably iv. 18-22 is a later addition, but that does
+not affect the general argument (cf. _v_.17).]
+
+The story probably rests upon a basis of fact. David's conduct in
+putting his parents under the protection of the king of Moab (I Sam.
+xxii. 3, 4) would find its simplest explanation, if he had been
+connected in some way with Moab, as the book of Ruth represents him
+to have been; whereas a later age would hardly have dared to invent
+a Moabite ancestress for him, had there been no tradition to that
+effect.
+
+The object of the book has been supposed by some to be to commend
+the so-called levirate marriage. This is improbable: not so much
+because the marriage was not strictly levirate, since neither Boaz
+nor the kinsman was the brother-in-law of Ruth--it would be fair
+enough to regard this as a legitimate extension of the principle of
+levirate marriage, whose object was to perpetuate the dead man's
+name--but rather because this is a comparatively subordinate element
+in the story.
+
+The true explanation is no doubt to be sought in the fact that Ruth
+the Moabitess is counted worthy to be an ancestress of David; and,
+if the book be post-exilic, its religious significance is at once
+apparent. It was in all probability the dignified answer of a man of
+prophetic instincts to the rigorous measures of Ezra, which demanded
+the divorce of all foreign women (Ezra ix. x, cf. Neh. xiii. 23ff.);
+for it can hardly be doubted that there is a delicate polemic in the
+repeated designation of Ruth as _the Moabitess_, i. 22, ii. 2,
+6, 21, iv. 5, 10--she even calls herself the "stranger," ii. 10. It
+would be pleasant to think that the writer had himself married one
+of these foreign women. In any case, he champions their cause not
+only with generosity but with insight; for he knows that some of
+them have faith enough to adopt Israel's God as their God, i. 16,
+and that even a Moabitess may be an Israelite indeed. Ezra's severe
+legislation was inspired by the worthy desire to preserve Israel's
+religion from the peril of contagion: the author of Ruth gently
+teaches that the foreign woman is not an inevitable peril, she may
+be loyal to Israel and faithful to Israel's God. The writer dares to
+represent the Moabitess as eating with the Jews, ii. l4--winning by
+her ability, resource and affection, the regard of all, and counted
+by God worthy to be the mother of Israel's greatest king. The
+generous type of religion represented by the book of Ruth is a much
+needed and very attractive complement to the stern legalism of Ezra.
+
+
+
+
+LAMENTATIONS
+
+
+The book familiarly known as the Lamentations consists of four
+elegies[1] (i., ii., iii., iv.) and a prayer (v.). The general theme
+of the elegies is the sorrow and desolation created by the
+destruction of Jerusalem[2] in 586 B.C.: the last poem (v.) is a
+prayer for deliverance from the long continued distress. The elegies
+are all alphabetic, and like most alphabetic poems (cf. Ps. cxix.)
+are marked by little continuity of thought. The first poem is a
+lament over Jerusalem, bereft, by the siege, of her glory and her
+sanctuary, i. 1-11, though the bitter and comfortless doom which she
+bewails in i. 12-22, is regarded as the divine penalty for her sin,
+i. 5, 8. Similarly in ii. 1-10 her sorrow and suffering are admitted
+to be a divine judgment. Her shame and distress are inconsolable,
+ii. 11-17, and she appeals to her God to look upon her in her agony,
+ii. 18-22. The third poem, probably the latest in the book,
+represents the city, after a bitter lament, iii. 1-21, as being
+inspired, by the thought of the love of God, to submission and hope,
+iii. 22-36. A prayer of penitence and confession, iii. 37-54, is
+followed by a petition for vengeance upon the adversaries, iii. 55-66.
+The fourth poem, like the second, offers a very vivid picture of the
+sorrows and horrors of the siege: it laments, in detail, the fate of
+the people, iv. 1-6, the princes, iv. 7-11, the priests and the prophets,
+iv. 12-16, and the king, iv. 17-20, and ends with a prophecy of doom
+upon the Edomites, iv. 21, 22, who behaved so cruelly after the siege
+(Ps, cxxxvii. 7). In the last poem the city, after piteously lamenting
+her manifold sorrows, v. 1-18, beseeches the everlasting God for
+deliverance therefrom, v. 19-22.
+[Footnote 1: In the Hebrew elegiac metre, as in the Greek and Latin,
+the second line is shorter than the first--usually three beats
+followed by two.]
+[Footnote 2: An unconvincing attempt has been made to refer the last
+two chapters to the Maccabean age--about 170 B.C.]
+
+A very old and by no means unreasonable tradition assigns the
+authorship of the book to Jeremiah. In the Greek version it is
+introduced by the words--which appear to go back to a Hebrew
+original--"And it came to pass, after Israel had been led captive
+and Jerusalem made desolate, that Jeremiah sat down weeping, and
+lifted up this lament over Jerusalem and said." This view of the
+authorship is as old as the Chronicler, who in 2 Chronicles xxxv. 25
+seems to refer the book to Jeremiah, probably regarding iv. 20,
+which refers to Zedekiah, as an allusion to Josiah. Chs. ii. and iv.
+especially are so graphic that they must have been written by an
+eye-witness who had seen the temple desecrated and who had himself
+tasted the horrors of a siege, in which the mothers had eaten their
+own children for very hunger. The passionate love, too, for the
+people, which breathes through the elegies might well be Jeremiah's;
+and the ascription of the calamity to the sin of the people, i. 5,
+8, is in the spirit of the prophet.
+
+Nevertheless, it is not certain, or even very probable, that
+Jeremiah is the author. Unlike the Greek and the English Bible, the
+Hebrew Bible does not place the Lamentations immediately after
+Jeremiah but in the third division, among the _Writings_, so
+that there is really no initial presumption in favour of the
+Jeremianic authorship. Again, Jeremiah could hardly have said that
+"the prophets find no vision from Jehovah," ii. 8, nor described the
+vacillating Zedekiah as "the breath of our nostrils," iv. 20, nor
+attributed the national calamities to the sins of _the
+fathers_, v. 7 Other features in the situation presupposed by ch.
+v. appear to imply a time later than Jeremiah's, v. 18,20, and it is
+very unlikely that one who was so sorely smitten as Jeremiah by the
+inconsolable sorrow of Jerusalem would have expressed his grief in
+alphabetic elegies: men do not write acrostics when their hearts are
+breaking. When we add to this that chs. ii. and iv. which stand
+nearest to the calamity appear to betray dependence on Ezekiel (ii.
+14, iv. 20, Ezek. xxii. 28, xix, 24, etc.) there is little
+probability that the poems are by Jeremiah.
+
+It is not even certain that they are all from the same hand, as,
+unless we transpose two verses, the alphabetic order of the first
+poem differs from that of the other three, and the number of
+elegiacs--three--in each verse of the first two poems, differs from
+the number--one--in the third, and two in the fourth. In the third
+poem each letter has three verses to itself; in the other three
+poems, only one.
+
+Ch. iii. with its highly artificial structure and its tendency to
+sink into the gnomic style, iii. 26ff., is probably remotest of all
+from the calamity.[1] Considering the general hopelessness of the
+outlook, chs. ii. and iv. at any rate, which are apparently the
+earliest, were probably composed before the pardon of Jehoiachin in
+561 B.C. (2 Kings xxv. 27) when new possibilities began to dawn for
+the exiles. 580-570 may be accepted as a probable date. The calamity
+is near enough to be powerfully felt, yet remote enough to be an
+object of poetic contemplation. The other poems are no doubt later:
+ch. v. may as well express the sorrow of the returned exiles as the
+sorrow of the exile itself. More than this we cannot say.
+[Footnote 1: The intensely personal words at the beginning of ch.
+iii. are, no doubt, to be interpreted collectively. The "man who has
+seen affliction" is not Jeremiah, but the community, Cf. _v_.
+14, "I am become the laughing stock of all nations" (emended text).
+Cf. also _v_. 45.]
+
+The older parts of the book, whether written in Egypt, Babylon, or
+more probably in Judah, are of great historic value, as offering
+minute and practically contemporary evidence for the siege of
+Jerusalem (cf. ii. 9-12) and as reflecting the hopelessness which
+followed it. Yet the hopelessness is by no means unrelieved. Besides
+the prayer to God who abideth for ever, v. 19, is the general
+teaching that good may be won from calamity, in. 24-27, and, above
+all, the beautiful utterance that "the love of Jehovah never
+ceases[1] and His pity never fails," iii. 22.
+[Footnote 1: Grammar and parallelism alike suggest the emendation on
+which the above translation rests.]
+
+
+
+
+ECCLESIASTES
+
+
+It is not surprising that the book of Ecclesiastes had a struggle to
+maintain its place in the canon, and it was probably only its
+reputed Solomonic authorship and the last two verses of the book
+that permanently secured its position at the synod of Jamnia in 90
+A.D. The Jewish scholars of the first century A.D. were struck by
+the manner in which it contradicted itself: e.g., "I praised the
+dead more than the living," iv. 2, "A living dog is better than a
+dead lion," ix. 4; but they were still more distressed by the spirit
+of scepticism and "heresy" which pervaded the book (cf. xi. 9 with
+Num. xv. 39).
+
+In spite of the opening verse, it is very plain that Solomon could
+not have been the author of the book. Not only in i. 12 is his reign
+represented as over--I _was_ king--though Solomon was on the
+throne till his death, but in i. 16, ii. 7, 9, he is contrasted with
+all--apparently all the kings--that were before him in Jerusalem,
+though his own father was the founder of the dynasty. There is no
+probability that Solomon would have so scathingly assailed the
+administration of justice for which he himself was responsible, as
+is done in iii. 16, iv. i, v. 8. The sigh in xii. 12 over the
+multiplicity of books is thoroughly inappropriate to the age of
+Solomon.
+
+Indeed the whole manner in which the problem is attacked is
+inappropriate to so early a stage of literary and religious
+development. But it was by a singularly happy stroke that Solomon
+was chosen by a later thinker as the mouthpiece of his reflections
+on life; for Solomon, with his wealth, buildings, harem,
+magnificence, had had opportunity to test life at every point, and
+his exceptional wisdom would give unique value to his judgment.
+
+Ecclesiastes is undoubtedly one of the latest books in the Old
+Testament. The criteria for determining the date are chiefly three.
+(1) _Linguistic_. Alike in its single words (e.g., preference
+for abstract nouns ending in _ûth_) its syntax (e.g., the
+almost entire absence of waw conversive) and its general linguistic
+character, the book illustrates the latest development of the Hebrew
+language. There are not a few words which occur elsewhere only in
+Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther: there are some pure Aramaic
+words, some words even which belong to the Hebrew of the Mishna.
+Even if we allow an early international use of Aramaic, the corrupt
+Hebrew of the book would alone compel us to place it very late. Some
+have sought to strengthen the argument for a late date from the
+presence of Greek influence on the _language_ of the book,
+e.g., in such phrases as "under the sun," "to behold the sun," "the
+good which is also beautiful," v. 18; but, probable as it may be, it
+is not certain that there are Graecisms in the language of
+Ecclesiastes.[1]
+[Footnote 1: Cf. A. H. McNeile, _Introduction to Ecclesiastes_,
+p. 43.]
+
+(2) _Historical_. There is much interesting detail which is
+clearly a transcript of the author's experience: the slaves he had
+seen on horseback, x. 7, the poor youth who became king, iv. 13-16
+(cf. ix. 14ff.). These incidents, however, are too lightly touched,
+and we know too little of the history of the period, to be able to
+locate them definitely. The woe upon the land whose king is a child,
+x. 16, has been repeatedly connected with the time of Ptolemy V.
+Epiphanes (205-181 B.C.), the last of his house who ruled over
+Palestine and who at his father's death was little over four years
+old. However that may be, the general historical background is
+unmistakably that of the late post-exilic age. The book bears the
+stamp of an evil time, when injustice and oppression were the order
+of the day, iii. 16, iv. 1, v. 8, government was corrupt and
+disorderly and speech dangerous, x. 20. The allusions would suit the
+last years of the Persian empire (333); but if, as the linguistic
+evidence suggests, the book is later, it can hardly be placed before
+250 B.C., as during the earlier years of the Greek period, Palestine
+was not unhappy.
+
+(3) _Philosophical_. The speculative mood of the book marks it
+as late. Though not an abstract discussion--the Old Testament is
+never abstract--it is more abstract than the kindred discussion in
+the book of Job. It is hard to believe that Ecclesiastes was not
+affected by the Greek philosophical influences of the time. If it be
+not necessary to trace its contempt of the world to Stoicism, or its
+inculcation of the wise enjoyment of the passing moment directly to
+Epicureanism, at least an indirect influence can hardly be denied.
+Greek thought was spreading as the Greek language was; and the
+scepticism of Ecclesiastes, though not without parallels in earlier
+stages of Hebrew literature, yet here assumes a deliberate,
+sustained and all but philosophic form, which finds its most natural
+explanation in the profound and pervasive influence of Greek
+philosophy--an influence which could hardly be escaped by an age in
+which books had multiplied and study been prosecuted till it was a
+burden, xii. 12.
+
+This "charming book," as Renan calls it, has in many ways more affinity
+with the modern mind than any other in the Old Testament. It  is weary
+with the weight of an insoluble problem. With a cold-blooded frankness,
+which is not cynical, only because it is so earnest, it faces the stern
+facts of human life, without being able to bring to their interpretation
+the sublime inspirations of religion. More than once is the counsel
+given to fear God, but it is not offered as a _solution_ of the
+riddle. The world is crooked, i. 15, vii. 13, and no change is possible,
+iii. 1-8. It is a weary round of contradictions, birth and death, peace
+and war, the former state annihilated by the latter; and by reason of the
+fixity of these contradictions and the certainty of that annihilation,
+all human effort is vain, iii. 9. It is all alike vanity--not only the
+meaner struggles for food and drink and pleasure (ii.) but even the
+nobler ambitions of the soul, such as its yearning for wisdom and
+knowledge. Whether we turn to the physical or the moral world it is
+all the same. There is no goal in nature (i.): history runs on and
+runs nowhere. All effort is swallowed up by death. Man is no better
+than a beast, iii. 19; beyond the grave there is nothing. Everywhere
+is disillusionment, and woman is the bitterest of all, vii. 26. The
+moral order is turned upside down. Wrong is for ever on the throne.
+Providence, if there be such a thing, seems to be on the side of
+cruelty. Tears stand on many a face, but the mourners must remain
+uncomforted, iv. 1. The just perish and the wicked live long, vii.
+15. The good fare as the bad ought to fare, and the bad as the good,
+viii. 14. Better be dead than live in such a world, iv. 2; nay,
+better never have been born at all, vi. 3. For all is vanity: that
+is the beginning of the matter, i. 2, it is no less the end, xii. 8.
+Over every effort and aspiration is wrung this fearful knell.
+
+Sad conclusion anywhere, but especially sad for a Jew to reach!
+Indeed he contradicts some of the dearest and most fundamental
+tenets of the Jewish faith. Many a devout contemporary must have
+been horrified at the dictum that man had no pre-eminence above a
+beast, or that the world, which he had been taught to believe was
+very good (Gen. i, 31) was one great vanity. The preacher could not
+share the high hopes of a Messianic kingdom to come, of resurrection
+and immortality, which consoled and inspired many men of his day. To
+him life was nothing but dissatisfaction ending in annihilation. If
+this is not pessimism, what is?
+
+But is this all? Not exactly. For "the light is sweet, and a pleasant
+thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun," xi. 7. Over and over
+again the counsel is given to eat and drink and enjoy good, ii. 24;
+and despite the bitter criticism of woman already alluded to, a wife
+can make life more than tolerable, ix. 9. Nor does the book display
+the thorough-going rejection of religion which the previous sketch of
+it would have led us to expect. It is pessimistic, but not atheistic;
+nay, it believes not only in God but in a judgment, iii. 17, xi. 9_b_,
+though not necessarily in the hereafter. There is considerable
+extravagance in Cornill's remark that "never did Old Testament piety
+celebrate a greater triumph than in the book of Ecclesiastes"; but
+there is enough to show that the book is, after its own peculiar
+melancholy fashion, a religious book. It is significant, however,
+that the context of the word God, which only occurs some twenty times,
+is often very sombre. He it is who has "given travail to the sons of
+men to be exercised therewith," i. 13, iii. 10, cf. esp. iii. 18.
+Again, if the writer has any real belief in a day of judgment, why
+should he so persistently emphasize the resultlessness of life and
+deny the divine government of the world? "The fate of all is the
+same-just and unjust, pure and impure. As fares the good, so fares the
+sinner," ix. 2. This is a direct and deliberate challenge of the law
+of retribution in which the writer had been brought up. It may be
+urged, of course, that his belief in a divine judgment is a postulate
+of his faith which he retains, though he does not find it verified by
+experience. But such words--and there are many such--seem to carry us
+much farther. Here, then, is the essential problem of the book. Can
+it be regarded as a unity?
+
+Almost every commentator laments the impossibility of presenting a
+continuous and systematic exposition of the argument in
+Ecclesiastes, or Qoheleth, as the book is called in the Hebrew
+Bible.
+
+The truth is that, though the first three chapters are in the main
+coherent and continuous, little order or arrangement can be detected
+in the rest of the book. Various explanations have been offered.
+Bickell, e.g., supposed that the leaves had by some accident become
+disarranged--a supposition not wholly impossible, but highly
+improbable, especially when we consider that the Greek translation
+reads the book in the same order as the Hebrew text. Others suppose
+with equal improbability that the book is a sort of dialogue, in
+which each speaker maintains his own thesis, while the epilogue,
+xii. 13f, pronounces the final word on the discussion. One thing is
+certain, that various moods are represented in the book: the
+question is whether they are the moods of one man or of several.
+Baudissin thinks it not impossible that, "apart from smaller
+interpolations, the book as a whole is the reflection of the
+struggle of one and the same author towards a view of the world
+which he has not yet found."
+
+Note the phrase "apart from interpolations." Even the most cautious
+and conservative scholars usually admit that the facts constrain
+them to believe in the presence of interpolations: e.g., xi. 9b and
+xii. la are almost universally regarded in this light. The
+difficulties occasioned by the book are chiefly three. (1) Its
+fragmentary character. Ch. x.; e.g., looks more like a collection of
+proverbs than anything else. (2) Its abrupt transitions: e.g., vii.
+19, 20. "Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten men that are in
+a city: for there is not a righteous man on the earth." This may be
+another aspect of (1). But (3) more serious and important are the
+undoubted contradictions of the book, some of which had been noted
+by early Jewish scholars. E.g., there is nothing better than to eat
+and drink, ii. 24; it is better to go to the house of mourning than
+to the house of feasting, vii. 2. In iii. 1-8 times are so fixed and
+determined that human labour is profitless, iii. 9, while in iii. 11
+this inflexible order is not an oppressive but a beautiful thing. In
+viii. 14, ix. 2 (cf. vii. 15) the fate of the righteous and the
+wicked is the same, in viii. 12, 13, it is different: it is well
+with the one and ill with the other. In iii. 16, which is radically
+pessimistic (cf. _vv_. 18-21), there is no justice: in iii. 17
+a judgment is coming. Better death than life, iv. 2, better life
+than death, ix. 4 (cf. xi. 7). In i. 17 the search for wisdom is a
+pursuit of the wind: in ii. 13 wisdom excels folly as light
+darkness. Ch. ii. 22 emphasizes the utter fruitlessness of labour,
+iii. 22 its joy. These contradictions are too explicit to be
+ignored. Indeed sometimes their juxtaposition forces them upon the
+most inattentive reader; as when viii. 12, 13 assert that it is well
+with the righteous and ill with the wicked, whereas viii. 14 asserts
+that the wicked often fare as the just should fare and vice versa;
+and that this is the author's real opinion is made certain by the
+occurrence of the melancholy refrain at the end of the verse.
+
+Different minds will interpret these contradictions differently.
+Some will say they are nothing but the reflex of the contradictions
+the preacher found to run through life, others will say that they
+represent him in different moods. But they are too numerous,
+radical, and vital to be disposed of so easily. There can be no
+doubt that the book is essentially pessimistic: it ends as well as
+begins with Vanity of Vanities, xii. 8; and this must therefore have
+been the ground-texture of the author's mind. Now it is not likely
+to be an accident that the references to the moral order and the
+certainty of divine judgment are not merely assertions: they can
+usually, in their context, only be regarded as protests--as
+protests, that is, against the context. That is very plain in ch.
+iii., where the order of the world, _vv_. 1-8, which the
+preacher lamented as profitless, _vv_. 9, 10, is maintained to
+be beautiful, _v_. 11. It is equally plain in iii. 17, which
+asserts the divine judgment, whereas the context, iii. 16, denies
+the justice of earthly tribunals, and effectually shuts out the hope
+of a brighter future by maintaining that man dies[1] like the beast,
+_vv_. 18-21.
+[Footnote 1: Ch. iii. 21 should read: "Who knoweth the spirit of
+man, _whether_ it goeth upward?" This translation involves no
+change in the consonantal text and is supported by the Septuagint.]
+
+Of a similar kind, but on a somewhat lower religious level are the
+frequent protests against the preacher's pessimistic assertions of
+the emptiness of life and the vanity of effort. For the injunction
+to eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of one's labour may, in their
+contexts, also be fairly considered not simply as statements, but as
+protests (cf. v. 18-20 with v. 13-17); for this glad love of life
+was thoroughly representative of the ancient tradition of Hebrew
+life (cf. Jeremiah's criticism of Josiah, xxii. 15.) Doubtless these
+protests could come from the preacher's own soul; but, considering
+all the phenomena, it is more natural to suppose that they were the
+protests of others who were offended by the scepticism and the
+pessimism of the book, which may well have had a wide circulation.
+
+It now only remains to ask whether books regarded as Scripture ever
+received such treatment as is here assumed. Every one acquainted
+with the textual phenomena of the Old Testament knows that this was
+a common occurrence. The Greek-speaking Jews, translating about or
+before the time at which Ecclesiastes was written, altered the simple
+phrase in Exodus xxiv. 10, "They saw the God of Israel," to "They saw
+the place where the God of Israel stood." In Psalm lxxxiv. 11 they
+altered "God is a sun (or pinnacle?) and shield" to "God loves mercy
+and truth." They altered "God" to "an angel" in Job xx. 15, "God will
+cast them (i.e., the riches) out of his belly"; or even to "an angel
+will cast them out of his house." These alterations have no other
+authority than the caprice of the translators, acting in the interests
+of a purer, austerer, but more timid theology. At the end of the Greek
+version of the book of Job, which adds, "It is written that Job will
+rise again with those whom the Lord doth raise," we see how deliberately
+an insertion could be made in theological interests. The liberties which
+the Greek-speaking Jews thus demonstrably took with the text of
+Scripture, we further know that the Hebrew-speaking Jews did not
+hesitate to take. A careful comparison of the text of such books as
+Samuel and Kings with Chronicles[1] shows that similar changes were
+deliberately made, and made by pious men in theological interests. We are
+thus perfectly free to suppose that the original text of Ecclesiastes,
+which must have given great offence to the stricter Jews of the
+second century B.C., was worked over in the same way.
+[Footnote 1: Cf., e.g., the substitution of Satan in 1 Chron. xxi. 1
+for Jehovah in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1.]
+
+It would be impossible to apportion the various sections or verses
+of the book with absolute definiteness among various writers; in the
+nature of the case, such analyses will always be more or less
+tentative. But on the whole there can be little doubt that the
+original book, which can be best estimated by the more or less
+continuous section, i.-iii., was pervaded by a spirit of almost, if
+not altogether, unqualified pessimism. This received correction or
+rather protest from two quarters: from one writer of happier soul,
+who believed that the earth was Jehovah's (Ps. xxiv. 1) and, as
+such, was not a vanity, but was full of His goodness; and from a
+pious spirit, who was offended and alarmed by the preacher's
+dangerous challenge of the moral order, and took occasion to assure
+his readers of the certainty of a judgment and of the consequent
+wisdom of fearing God. On any view of the book it is difficult to
+see the relevance of the collection of proverbs in ch. x.
+
+If this view be correct, the epilogue, xii. 9-14, can hardly have
+formed part of the original pessimistic book. The last two verses,
+in particular, are conceived in the spirit of the pious protest
+which finds frequent expression in the book; and it is easy to
+believe that the words saved the canonicity of Ecclesiastes, if
+indeed they were not added for that very purpose. The reference to
+the commandments in _v_. 13 is abrupt, and almost without
+parallel, viii. 5. Again, the preacher, who speaks throughout the
+book in the first person, is spoken of here in the third, _v_.
+9; and, as in no other part of the book, the reader is addressed as
+"my son" _v_. 12 (cf. Prov. i. 8., ii. 1, iii. 1).
+
+The value of Ecclesiastes is negative rather than positive. It is
+the nearest approach to despair possible upon the soil of Old
+Testament piety. It is the voice of a faith, if faith it can be
+called, which is not only perplexed with the search, but weary of
+it; but it shows how deep and sore was the need of a Redeemer.
+
+
+
+
+ESTHER
+
+
+The spirit of the book of Esther is anything but attractive. It is
+never quoted or referred to by Jesus or His apostles, and it is a
+satisfaction to think that in very early times, and even among Jewish
+scholars, its right to a place in the canon was hotly contested. Its
+aggressive fanaticism and fierce hatred of all that lay outside of
+Judaism were felt by the finer spirits to be false to the more
+generous instincts that lay at the heart of the Hebrew religion; but
+by virtue of its very intensity and exclusiveness it as all the more
+welcome to average representatives of later Judaism, among whom it
+enjoyed an altogether unique popularity, attested by its three Targums
+and two distinct Greek recensions[1]--indeed, one rabbi places it on
+an equality with the law, and therefore above the prophets and the
+"writings."
+[Footnote 1: It is probable also that the two decrees, one commanding
+the celebration for two days, ix. 20-28, the other enjoining fasting
+and lamentations, ix. 29-32, are later additions, designed to incorporate
+the practice of a later time.]
+
+The story is well told. The queen of Xerxes, king of Persia, is
+deposed for contumacy, and her crown is set upon the head of Esther,
+a lovely Jewish maiden. Presently the whole Jewish race is
+imperilled by an act of Mordecai, the foster-father of Esther, who
+refuses to do obeisance to Haman, a powerful and favourite courtier.
+Haman's plans for the destruction of the Jews are frustrated by
+Esther, acting on a suggestion of Mordecai. The courtier himself
+falls from power, and is finally hanged on the gallows he had
+prepared for Mordecai, while Mordecai "the Jew" is exalted to the
+place next the king, and the Jews, whom the initial decree had
+doomed to extermination, turn the tables by slaying over 75,000 of
+their enemies throughout the empire, including the ten sons of
+Haman. In memory of the deliverance, the Purim festival is
+celebrated on the 14th and 15th of the month Adar.
+
+The popularity of the book was due, no doubt, most of all to the
+power with which it expresses some of the most characteristic, if
+almost most odious, traits of Judaism; but also in a measure to its
+attractive literary qualities. The setting is brilliant, and the
+development of the incident is often skilful and dramatic, The
+elevation of Mordecai, due to the simple accident of the king's
+having passed a sleepless night, the unexpected accusation of Haman
+by Esther, the swift and complete reversal of the situation by which
+Haman is hanged upon his own gallows and Mordecai receives the royal
+ring--the general sequence of incidents is conceived and elaborated
+with considerable dramatic power.
+
+The large number of proper names, the occasional reference to
+ chronicles, ii. 23, vi. 1, and the precise mention of dates, combine
+to raise the presumption that the book is real history; but a glance
+at the facts is sufficient to dispel this presumption. The story falls
+within the reign of Xerxes--about 483 B.C., but the hero Mordecai is
+represented as being one of the exiles deported with Jehoiachin in
+597 B.C. This is a manifest impossibility. Equally impossible is it
+that a Jewish maiden can have become the queen of Persia, in the face
+of the express statement of Herodotus (iii. 84) that the king was
+bound to choose his consort from one of seven noble Persian families.
+These impossibilities are matched by numerous improbabilities. It is
+improbable, e.g., that Mordecai could have had such free intercourse
+with the harem, ii. 11, unless he had been a eunuch, or in the palace,
+ii. 19, unless he had been a royal official. It is improbable that
+Xerxes would have announced the date of the massacre months beforehand,
+improbable that he would later have sanctioned so indiscriminate a
+slaughter of his non-Jewish subjects, and most improbable of all that
+the Jews, who were in the minority, should have slain 75,000 of their
+enemies, who cannot be supposed to have been defenceless. It is much
+more likely that this wholesale butchery took place chiefly in the
+author's imagination, though doubtless the wish was father to the
+thought. Clearly he wrote long after the events he claims to be
+describing, and the sense of historical perspective is obscured where
+it is not lost. The Persian empire is a thing of the relatively distant
+past, i. 1, 13, and though the author is acquainted with Persian
+customs and official titles, it is significant that the customs have
+sometimes to be explained. The book is, in fact, not a history, but
+a historical novel in miniature.
+
+Its date is hard to fix, but it must be very late, probably the
+latest in the Old Testament. In spite of its obvious attempt to
+reproduce the classic Hebrew style, the book contains Aramaisms,
+late Hebrew words and constructions, and the language alone stamps
+it as late. Still more decisive, however, is its sentiment. Its
+intensely national pride, its cruel and fanatical exclusiveness, can
+be best explained as the result of a fierce persecution followed by
+a brilliant triumph; and this condition is exactly met by the period
+which succeeded the Maccabean wars (135 B.C. or later). The book,
+with its Persian setting, may indeed have been written earlier in
+Persia; but it more probably represents a phase of the fierce
+Palestinian Judaism of the last half of the second century B.C. It
+has been suggested with much probability that Haman is modelled on
+Antiochus Epiphanes; between their murderous designs against the
+Jews there is certainly a strong resemblance, iii. 9, 1 Macc. i. 41,
+iii. 34-36.
+
+The object of the book appears to have been twofold: to explain the
+origin of the Purim festival, and to glorify the Jewish people. The
+real explanation of the festival is shrouded in mystery. The book
+traces it to the triumph of the Jews over their enemies and connects
+it with _Pur_, ix. 26, supposed to mean "lot"; but no such
+Persian word has yet been discovered. Doubtless, however, the book
+is correct in assigning the origin of the festival to Persia. A
+festival with a somewhat dissimilar name--Farwardigân--was held in
+Persia in spring to commemorate the dead, and there may be just a
+hint of this in the fasting with which the festival was preceded,
+ix. 31, cf. 1 Sam. xxxi. 13, 2 Sam. i. 12. The Babylonians had also
+held a new year festival in spring, at which the gods, under the
+presidency of Marduk, were supposed to draw the lots for the coming
+year: this may have been the ultimate origin of the "lot," which is
+repeatedly emphasized in the book of Esther, iii. 7, ix. 24, 26. In
+other words, the Jews adopted a Persian festival, which had already
+incorporated older Babylonian elements; for there can be little
+doubt that the ultimate ground-work of the book is Babylonian
+mythology. Esther is so similar to Istar, and Mordecai to Marduk,
+that their identity is hardly questionable; and in the overthrow of
+Haman by Mordecai it is hard not to see the reproduction of the
+overthrow of Hamman, the ancient god of the Elamites, the enemies of
+the Babylonians, by Marduk, god of the Babylonians. This supposition
+leaves certain elements unexplained--Vashti, e.g., is without
+Babylonian analogy, but it is too probable an explanation to be
+ignored; and it goes to illustrate the profound and lasting
+influence of Babylonia upon Israel. The similarity of the name
+Esther to Am_estr_is, who was Xerxes' queen (Hdt. vii. 114, ix.
+112) may account for the story being set in the reign of Xerxes.
+
+A collateral purpose of the book is the glorification of the Jews.
+In the dramatic contest between Haman the Agagite and Mordecai the
+Jew, the latter is victor. He refuses to bow before Haman, and
+Providence justifies his refusal; for the Jews are born to dominion,
+and all who oppose or oppress them must fall. Everywhere their
+superiority is apparent: Esther the Jewess is fairer than Vashti,
+and Mordecai, like Joseph in the old days, takes his place beside
+the king.
+
+What we regretfully miss in the book is a truly religious note. It
+is national to the core; but, for once in the Old Testament,
+nationality is not wedded to a worthy conception of God. Too much
+stress need not be laid on the absence of His name--this may have
+been due to the somewhat secular character of the festival with its
+giving and receiving of presents--and the presence of God, as the
+guardian of the fortunes of Israel, is presupposed throughout the
+whole story, notably in Mordecai's confident hope that enlargement
+and deliverance would arise to the Jews from one place, if not from
+another, iv. 14. But the religion of the book--for religion it is
+entitled to be called--is absolutely destitute of ethical elements.
+It is with a shudder that we read of Esther's request for a second
+butchery, ix. 13; and all the romantic glamour of the story cannot
+blind us to its religious emptiness and moral depravity. In a
+generation which had smarted under the persecution of Antiochus and
+shed its blood in defence of its liberty and ancestral traditions,
+such bitter fanaticism is not unintelligible. But the popularity of
+the book shows how little the prophetic elements in Israel's
+religion had touched the people's heart, and how stubborn a
+resistance was sure to be offered to the generous and emancipating
+word of Jesus.
+
+
+
+
+DANIEL
+
+
+Daniel is called a prophet in the New Testament (Matt. xxiv. 15). In
+the Hebrew Bible, however, the book called by his name appears not
+among the prophets, but among "the writings," between Esther and
+Ezra. The Greek version placed it between the major and the minor
+prophets, and this has determined its position in modern versions.
+The book is both like and unlike the prophetic books. It is like
+them in its passionate belief in the overruling Providence of God
+and in the sure consummation of His kingdom; but in its peculiar
+symbolism, imagery, and pervading sense of mystery it stands without
+a parallel in the Old Testament. The impulse to the type of prophecy
+represented by Daniel was given by Ezekiel and Zechariah. The book
+is indeed rather apocalyptic than prophetic. The difference has been
+well characterized by Behrmann. "The essential distinction," he
+remarks, "between prophecy and apocalyptic lies in this: the
+prophets teach that the present is to be interpreted by the past and
+future, while the apocalyptic writers derive the future from the
+past and present, and make it an object of consolatory hope. With
+the prophets the future is the servant and even the continuation of
+the present; with the apocalyptic writers the future is the
+brilliant counterpart of the sorrowful present, over which it is to
+lift them." This will be made most plain by a summary of the book
+itself.
+
+Chs. i.-vi. are narrative in form; chs. vii.-xii. are prophetic or
+apocalyptic--they deal with visions. Curiously enough ii. 4-vii. 28,
+for no apparent reason, are written in Aramaic. In ch. i. Daniel and
+his three friends, Jewish captives at the court of Babylon, prove
+their fidelity to their religion by refusing to defile themselves
+with the king's food. At the end of three years they show themselves
+superior to the "wise" men of the empire. Then (ii.) follows a dream
+of Nebuchadrezzar, in which a great image was shivered to pieces by
+a little stone, which grew till it filled the whole world. Daniel
+alone could retell and interpret the dream: it denoted a succession
+of kingdoms, which would all be ultimately overthrown and succeeded
+by the everlasting kingdom of God. Ch. iii. deals not with Daniel
+but with his friends. It tells the story of their refusal to bow
+before Nebuchadrezzar's colossal image of gold, and how their
+fidelity was rewarded by a miraculous deliverance, when they were
+thrown into the furnace of fire. The supernatural wisdom of Daniel
+is again illustrated in ch. iv., where he interprets a curious dream
+of Nebuchadrezzar as a token that he would be humbled for a time and
+bereft of his reason. Ch. v. affords another illustration of the
+wisdom of Daniel, and of the humiliation of impiety and pride, this
+time in the person of Belshazzar, who is regarded as
+Nebuchadrezzar's son. Daniel interprets the enigmatic words written
+by the mysterious hand on the wall as a prediction of the overthrow
+of Belshazzar's kingdom, which dramatically happens that very night.
+Ch. vi. is intended to teach how precious to God are those who trust
+Him and scrupulously conform to the practices of true religion
+without regard to consequences. Daniel is preserved in the den of
+lions into which he had been thrown by the cruel jealousy of the
+officials of Darius' empire.
+
+With ch. vii. Daniel's visions begin. Four great beasts are seen
+coming up out of the sea, which, according to Babylonian mythology,
+is the element opposed to the divine. The last of the beasts,
+especially cruel and terrible, had ten horns, and among them a
+little horn with human eyes and presumptuous lips. Then is seen the
+divine Judge upon His throne, and the presumptuous beast is judged
+and slain. Before this same Judge is brought one like a son of man,
+who comes with the clouds of heaven--this human and heavenly figure
+being in striking contrast to the beasts that rise out of the sea.
+Daniel is informed that the beasts represent four kingdoms, whose
+dominion is to be superseded by the dominion of the saints of the
+most High, i.e. by the kingdom of God, which will be everlasting. In
+a second vision (viii.) a powerful ram is furiously attacked and
+overthrown by a goat. The angel Gabriel explains that the ram is the
+Medo-Persian empire, and the goat is the king of Greece, clearly
+Alexander the Great. From one of the four divisions of Alexander's
+empire, a cunning, impudent and impious king would arise who would
+abolish the daily sacrifice and lay the temple in ruins, but by a
+miraculous visitation he would be destroyed. In ch. ix. Daniel,
+after a fervent penitential prayer offered in behalf of his sinful
+people, is enlightened by Gabriel as to the true meaning of
+Jeremiah's prophecy (xxv. 11f., xxix. 10f.) touching the desolation
+of Jerusalem. The seventy years are not literal years, but weeks of
+years, i.e. 490 years. During the last week (i.e. seven years) there
+would be much sorrow and persecution, especially during the last
+half of that period, but it would end in the utter destruction of
+the oppressor.
+
+In another vision (x.-xii.) Daniel is informed by a shining one of a
+struggle he had had, supported by Michael, with the tutelary angel
+of Persia; and he makes a revelation of the future. The Persian
+empire will be followed by a Greek empire, which will be divided
+into four. In particular, alliances will be formed and wars made
+between the kings of the north (no doubt Syria) and the south
+(Egypt). With great elaboration and detail the fortunes of the king
+of the north, who is called contemptible, xi. 21, are described: how
+he desecrates the sanctuary, abolishes the sacrifice, cruelly
+persecutes the holy people, and prescribes idolatrous worship. At
+last, however, he too perishes, and his death is the signal that the
+Messianic days are very soon to dawn. Israel's dead--especially
+perhaps her martyred dead--are to rise to everlasting life, and her
+enemies are also to be raised to everlasting shame. Well is it for
+him who can possess his soul in patience, for the end is sure.
+
+Two facts are obvious even to a cursory inspection of the contents
+of Daniel (1), that certain statements about the exilic period,
+during which, according to the book, Daniel lived, are inaccurate;
+and (2) towards the close of the book and especially in ch. xi.,
+which represents a period long subsequent to Daniel, the visions are
+crowded with minute detail which corresponds, point for point, with
+the history of the third and second centuries B.C., and in
+particular with the career of Antiochus Epiphanes (xi. 21-45).
+
+(1) Among the unhistorical statements the following may be noted.
+There was no siege and capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar in 605
+B.C., as is implied by i. 1 (cf. Jer. xxv. 1, 9-11), nor indeed
+could there have been any till after the decisive battle of
+Carchemish, which brought Western Asia under the power of Babylon.
+Again, Belshazzar is regarded as the son of Nebuchadrezzar (v.),
+though he was in reality the son of Nabunaid, between whom and
+Nebuchadrezzar three monarchs lay. Nor is there any room in this
+period of the history (538 B.C.) for "Darius the Mede," v. 31; the
+conquest of Babylon threw the Babylonian empire immediately into the
+hands of Cyrus, and the impossible figure of Darius the Mede appears
+to arise through a confusion with the Darius who recaptured Babylon
+after a revolt in 521, and perhaps to have been suggested by
+prophecies (cf. Isa. xiii. 17) that the Medes would conquer Babylon.
+Again, though in certain passages the Chaldeans represent the people
+of that name, v. 30, ix. 1, in others (cf. ii. 2, v. 7) the word is
+used to denote the wise men of Babylon--a use demonstrably much
+later than the Babylonian empire and impossible to any contemporary
+of Daniel. Such a seven years' insanity of Nebuchadrezzar as is
+described in Daniel iv. is extremely improbable; equally improbable
+is the attitude that Nebuchadrezzar in his decree (iii.) and
+confession (iv.) and Darius in his decree (vi.) are represented as
+having adopted towards the God of the Jews.
+
+(2) Concerning the immediately succeeding period--from Cyrus to
+Alexander--the author is apparently not well informed. He knows of
+only four Persian kings, xi. 2 (cf. vii. 6). Ch. xi. 5-20 gives a
+brief _résumé_ of the relations between the kings of the north
+and the kings of the south--which, in this context, after a plain
+allusion in _vv_. 3, 4 to Alexander the Great and the divisions
+of his empire, can only be interpreted of Syria and Egypt. From
+_v_. 21, however, to the end of ch. xi. interest is
+concentrated upon one particular person, who must, in the context,
+be a king of the north, i.e. Syria. The direct reference in
+_v_. 31 to the pollution of the sanctuary, the temporary
+abolition of sacrifice, and the erection of a heathen altar, put it
+beyond all doubt that the impious and "contemptible" monarch is none
+other than Antiochus Epiphanes. This conclusion is confirmed by the
+details of the section, with their unmistakable references to his
+Egyptian campaigns, _vv_. 25-28, and to the check imposed upon
+him by the Romans, _v_. 30, in 168 B.C.
+
+The phenomenon then with which we have to deal is this. A book
+supposed to come from the exile, and to announce beforehand the
+persecutions and ultimate triumph of the Jewish people in the second
+century B.C. is occasionally inaccurate in dealing with the exilic
+and early post-exilic period, but minute and reliable as soon as it
+touches the later period. Only one conclusion is possible--that the
+book was written in the later period, not in the earlier. _It is a
+product of the period which it so minutely reflects_, 168-165
+B.C. The precise date of the book depends upon whether we regard
+viii. 14 as implying that the dedication of the temple by Judas
+Maccabaeus in 165 B.C. is a thing of the past or still an object of
+contemplation. In any case it must have been written before the
+death of Antiochus in 164 (xi. 45). Like all the prophets, the
+author of Daniel addresses his own age. The brilliant Messianic days
+are always the issue of the existing or impending catastrophe; and
+so it is in Daniel. The redemption which is to involve the
+resurrection is to follow on the death of Antiochus and the
+cessation of the horrors of persecution--horrors of which the author
+knew only too well.[1]
+[Footnote 1: Daniel is fittingly chosen as the hero of the book and
+the recipient of the visions, as he appears to have enjoyed a
+reputation for piety and wisdom (Ezek. xiv. 14, 20, xxviii. 3).
+Ezekiel's references to him, however, would lead us to suppose that
+he is a figure belonging to the gray patriarchial times, rather than
+a younger contemporary of his own.]
+
+Thus the belief in the late date of the book is reached by a study
+of the book itself, and is not due to any prejudice against the
+possibility of miracle or predictive prophecy. But the late date is
+confirmed by evidence of other kinds, especially (1) linguistic, and
+(2) theological. (1) There are over a dozen Persian words in the
+book, some even in the Babylonian part of the story. These words
+would place the book, at the earliest, within the period of the
+Persian empire (538-331 B.C.). Further, within two verses, iii. 4,
+5, occur no less than five Greek words (herald, harp, trigon,
+psaltery and bagpipe), one of which, _psanterîn_, by its change
+of l (psa_l_terion) into n, betrays the influence of the
+Macedonian dialect and must therefore be later than the conquests of
+Alexander, and another, _symphonia_, is first found in Plato.
+Though it is not impossible that the names of the other musical
+instruments may have been taken over by the Semites from the Greeks
+at an early time, these words at any rate practically compel us to
+put the book, at the earliest, within the Greek period (i.e. after
+331 B.C.). Further, the Hebrew of the book has a strongly Aramaic
+flavour. It is not classical Hebrew at all, but has marked
+affinities, both in vocabulary and syntax, with some of the latest
+books in the Old Testament, such as Chronicles and Esther.
+
+(2) The theology of Daniel undoubtedly represents one of the latest
+developments within the Old Testament. The transcendence of God is
+emphasized. He is frequently called "the God of Heaven," ii. 18, 19,
+and once "heaven" is used, as in the later manner (cf. Luke xv. 18)
+almost as a synonym for "God," iv. 26. As God becomes more
+transcendent, angels become more prominent: they constitute a very
+striking feature in the book of Daniel--two of them are even named,
+Gabriel and Michael. Very singular, too, and undoubtedly late is the
+conception that the fortunes of each nation are represented and
+guarded in heaven by a tutelary angel, x. 13ff. 20.
+
+The view of the future life in xii. 2, 3 is the most advanced in the
+Old Testament: not only the nation but the individuals shall be
+raised, and of the individuals not only the good (cf. Isa. xxvi. 14,
+19) but the bad, to receive the destiny which is their due. These
+facts so conclusively suggest a late date for the book that it is
+unnecessary to emphasize Daniel's prayer three times a day with his
+face towards Jerusalem, vi. 10, though this is not without its
+significance.[1]
+[Footnote 1: It is worthy of notice that the reference to "the
+books" from which the prophecy of Jeremiah is quoted in ix. 2 seems
+to imply that the prophetic canon of Scripture was already closed;
+and this was hardly the case before 200 B.C.]
+
+The interpretation of this difficult book loses much of its
+difficulty as soon as we recognize it to be a product of the time of
+Antiochus Epiphanes. It is best to begin with ch. xi, for there the
+allusions are, in the main, unmistakable and undeniable. Antiochus
+is the last of the kings of the north, i.e. Syria, regarded as one
+of the divisions of the Greek empire of Alexander the Great. Without
+enigma or symbolism of any kind, the Persian empire is mentioned in
+xi. 2 as preceding the Greek, and in _v_. 1 as being preceded
+by the Median, which in its turn had been preceded by the
+Babylonian. Here, then, in the plainest possible terms, is a
+succession of four empires--Babylonian, Median, Persian, Greek--the
+last to be succeeded by the kingdom of God (ch. xii.); and with this
+key in our hand we can unlock the secret of chs. vii. and ii.
+
+In ch. vii. the four kingdoms, represented by the four beasts and
+contrasted with the humane kingdom which is to follow them, are no
+doubt these very same kingdoms, as are also the four kingdoms of ch.
+ii., symbolized by the different parts of the colossal image of
+Nebuchadrezzar's dream: the little stone which destroys the image is
+again the kingdom of God. In ch. viii. the ram with the two unequal
+horns is the Medo-Persian empire, and the goat which overthrows the
+ram is symbolic of the Greek empire, founded by Alexander.
+
+These great features of the book are practically certain. It is
+further extremely probable that, in spite of a noticeable difference
+in the context, the "little horn" of viii. 9 is the same as the
+little horn of vii. 8, 20: the detail of both descriptions--the war
+with the saints, the destruction of the temple, the abolition of the
+sacrifice--is an undisguised allusion to Antiochus Epiphanes in his
+persecution of the faithful Jews and his efforts to extirpate their
+religion. The one like a son of man in vii. 13 is almost certainly
+not the Messiah: coming as he does with the clouds of heaven, he is
+the symbol of the kingdom of God, in contrast to the beasts, which
+emerge from the ungodly sea and symbolize the empires of this world.
+Again, his being "like a man"--for this is probably all that the
+phrase means--is meant to suggest that the kingdom of God is
+essentially human and humane, in contrast to the four preceding
+kingdoms, which are essentially brutal and cruel. This
+interpretation, which the contrasts practically necessitate, is made
+as certain as may be by _vv_. 18, 22, 27, where the kingdom and
+dominion, which in _v_. 13 are assigned to one like a son of
+man, are assigned in similar terms to "the people of the saints of
+the most High," i.e. the faithful Jews.
+
+The passages whose interpretation is least certain occur in ch. ix.
+In each of two consecutive verses, _vv_ 25f., is a reference to
+an "anointed one"--a different person being intended in each case.
+The question of their identity involves the further question of the
+precise interpretation of the prophecy of the seventy weeks. In ix.
+2 Daniel is reminded by a study of Jeremiah (xxv. 11f., xxix. 10) of
+the prophecy that the desolation of Jerusalem would last for seventy
+years. But it is not over yet.[1] Gabriel then explains, _v_.
+24, that the years are in reality weeks of years, i.e. by the
+seventy years prophesied by Jeremiah are really meant 490 years. The
+period of seventy weeks, thus interpreted, is further subdivided in
+_vv_. 25, 26 (a passage almost unintelligible in the Authorized
+Version) into three periods, viz. seven weeks (=forty-nine years),
+sixty-two weeks, and one week (=seven years).
+[Footnote 1: Another incidental proof that the book is late. In the
+time presupposed by it for the activity of Daniel, the seventy years
+had not yet expired, and so there could have been no problem.]
+
+With the first and last periods there is no difficulty. Starting
+from 586 B.C., the date of the exile, forty-nine years would bring
+us to 537, just about the time assigned to the edict of Cyrus, which
+permitted the Jews to return and rebuild their city. Cyrus would
+thus be "the anointed, the prince," and it is an interesting
+corroboration of this view that Cyrus is actually called the
+anointed in Isaiah xlv. 1. Now, as the book ends with the
+anticipated death of Antiochus in 164 B.C., the last week would
+represent the years 171 to 164; and in 171 the high priest, who, as
+such, would naturally be an anointed one, was assassinated.
+Attention is specially called to the sorrows of the last half of the
+last week, when the sacrifice would be taken away. This corresponds
+almost exactly with the suspension of the temple services from 168
+to 165; and this period, again, is that which is elsewhere
+characterized as "a time, and times, and half a time," i.e. three
+and a half years (vii. 25, xii. 7), or "2,300 evenings-mornings,"
+i.e. 1,150 days (viii. 14) or 1,290 or 1,335 days (xii. 11, 12).
+These varying estimates of the period, not differing widely,
+probably suggest that the book was written at intervals, and not all
+at once. The beginning and the close of the seventy weeks or 490
+years are thus satisfactorily explained; but the period between 537
+and 171 represents 366 instead of 434 years, as the sixty-two weeks
+demand. Probably the simplest explanation of the difficulty is that
+during much of this long period the Jews had no fixed method of
+computing time. Also it ought not to be forgotten that the numbers
+are, in any case, partly symbolical, and ought not to be too
+strictly pressed. For the purposes of the author, the first and last
+periods are more important than the middle.
+
+The precise interpretation of the enigmatic writing on the wall
+(_mene_, _tekel_, _peres_, v. 28) is uncertain. It
+has been cleverly explained as equivalent to "a mina (=60 shekels),
+a shekel and a part" (i.e. about sixty-two) and regarded as a
+cryptogram for Darius, who, according to _v_. 31, was on the
+eve of destroying Belshazzar's kingdom. More probably it simply
+means "number, weigh, divide"--the ambiguity being caused by the
+different possibilities of pointing and therefore of precisely
+interpreting these words, which were of course unpointed in the
+original. Further, in the word _peres_ (divide), there is a
+veiled allusion to the Persians.
+
+It is difficult to account for the fact that part of the book, ii.
+4-vii., is written in Aramaic. It has been supposed that the author
+began to use that language in ii. 4, either because he regarded that
+as the language spoken by the wise men, or because they, being
+aliens, must not be represented as speaking in the sacred tongue;
+and that, having once begun to use it, and being equally familiar
+with both languages, he kept it up till he came to the more purely
+prophetic part of the book, in which he would naturally recur to the
+more appropriate Hebrew. Ch. vii., on this view, is difficult to
+account for, as it, no less than viii.-xii., is prophetic; and we
+should then have to assume, rather unnaturally, that the vision in
+ch. vii. was written in Aramaic because it so strongly resembled the
+dream of ch. ii. Besides it is not certain that the word "in
+Aramaic" in ii. 4 is meant to suggest that the wise men spoke in
+that language: it may have originally been only a marginal note to
+indicate that the Aramaic section begins here, just as vii.
+28_a_ may indicate the end of the section. Some have supposed
+that part of a book originally Hebrew was translated into the more
+popular Aramaic, or that part of a book originally Aramaic was
+translated into the sacred Hebrew tongue. The difficulty in either
+case is to account reasonably for the presence of Aramaic in that
+particular section which does not coincide with either of the main
+divisions of the book (narrative or apocalyptic), but appears in
+both (i.-vi., vii.-xii.). Probably, as Peters has suggested, the
+Aramaic portion represents old and popular folk-stories about Daniel
+and his friends, that language being retained because in it the
+stories were familiarly told, while for the more prophetic or
+apocalyptic message the sacred language was naturally used. Ch.
+vii., however, presents a stumbling-block on any view of the Aramaic
+section. The Aramaic of the book is that spoken when the book was
+written: it was certainly not the language spoken by the Babylonian
+wise men. It is most improbable that they would have used Aramaic at
+all; and if they had, it would not have been the dialect of the book
+of Daniel, which is a branch of western Aramaic, spoken in and
+around Palestine.
+
+In spite of its somewhat legendary and apocalyptic form, the
+religious value of Daniel is very high. It is written at white heat
+amid the fires of persecution, and it is inspired by a passionate
+faith in God and in the triumph of His kingdom over the cruel and
+powerful kingdoms of the world. Its object was to sustain the tried
+and tempted faith of the loyal Jews under the fierce assaults made
+upon it by Antiochus Epiphanes. Never before had there been so awful
+a crisis in Jewish history. In 586 the temple had been destroyed,
+but that was practically only an incident in or the consequence of
+the destruction of the city; but Antiochus had made a deliberate
+attempt to exterminate the Jewish religion. It was to console and
+strengthen the faithful in this crisis that the book was written.
+The author reminds his readers that there is a God in heaven, and
+that He reigns, iv. 26. He bids them lift their eyes to the past and
+shows them how the fidelity of men like Daniel and his friends was
+rewarded by deliverance from the lions and the flames. He bids them
+lift their eyes to the future, the very near future: let them only
+be patient a little longer, xii. 12, and their enemies will be
+crushed, and the kingdom of God will come--that kingdom which shall
+know no end.
+
+It is of especial interest that Antiochus died at the time when our
+author predicted he would, in 164 B.C., though not, as he had
+anticipated, in Palestine, xi. 45. In the kingdom that was so
+swiftly coming, the lives that had been lost on its behalf would be
+found again: the martyrs would rise to everlasting life. The
+narrative parts have an application to the times not much less
+immediate than the apocalyptic. The proud and mighty, like
+Nebuchadrezzar, are humbled: the impious, like Belshazzar, who drank
+wine out of the temple vessels, are slain. Any contemporary, reading
+these tales, would be bound to think of Antiochus, who had
+demolished the temple and suspended the sacrifices. So Daniel's
+refusal to partake of the king's food was well calculated to
+encourage men who had been put to the torture for declining to eat
+swine's flesh.
+
+Man's extremity is God's opportunity. However cruel the sufferings
+or desperate the outlook, yet the Lord is mindful of His own, and He
+will Himself deliver them. For one of the most impressive features
+of the book is its utter confidence in God and its refusal to appeal
+to the sword (Ps. cxlix. 6). It counsels to patience, xii. 12.
+Without human hands, God's kingdom comes, ii. 34, and His enemies
+are destroyed, viii. 25. In the most skilful way, the book reaches
+its splendid climax. It moves steadily on, from a distant past in
+which God's servants had been rewarded and His enemies crushed, down
+through the centuries in which successive empires were all
+unconsciously working out His predetermined plan, and on to the
+darkest days in history--so dark, because the glorious and
+everlasting kingdom of God was so soon to dawn.
+
+
+
+
+EZRA-NEHEMIAH
+
+
+Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as
+in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the
+books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know
+of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are
+our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have,
+as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be,
+written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent
+shape and direction to Judaism, then the importance and interest of
+these books is without parallel in the Old Testament, for nowhere
+else have we history written by a contemporary who shaped it.
+
+It is just and practically necessary to treat the books of Ezra and
+Nehemiah together. Their contents overlap, much that was done by
+Ezra being recorded in the book of Nehemiah (viii.-x.). The books
+are regarded as one in the Jewish canon; the customary notes
+appended to each book, stating the number of verses, etc., are
+appended only to Nehemiah and cover both books; the Septuagint also
+regards them as one. There are serious gaps in the narrative, but
+the period they cover is at least a century (538-432 B.C.). A brief
+sketch of the books as they stand will suggest their great
+historical interest and also the historical problems they involve.
+
+In accordance with a decree of Cyrus in 538 B.C. the exiled Jews
+return to Jerusalem to build the temple (Ezra i.). Then follows a
+list of those who returned, numbering 42,360 (ii.). An altar was
+erected, the feast of booths was celebrated, and the regular
+sacrificial system was resumed. Next year, amid joy and tears, the
+foundation of the temple was laid (iii.). The request of the
+Samaritans for permission to assist in the building of the temple
+was refused, with the result that they hampered the activity of the
+Jews continuously till 520 B.C. (iv, 1-5, 24). Similar opposition
+was also offered during the reigns of Xerxes and Artaxerxes, when
+the governor of Samaria formally accused the Jews before the Persian
+government of aiming at independence in their efforts to rebuild the
+city walls, and in consequence the king ordered the suspension of
+the building until further notice, iv. 6-23. Under the stimulus of
+the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah, the real work of building the
+temple was begun in 520 B.C. The enterprise roused the suspicion of
+the Persian governor, who promptly communicated with Darius. The
+Jews had appealed to the decree of Cyrus granting them permission to
+build, and this decree was found, after a search, at Ecbatana.
+Whereupon Darius gave the Jews substantial support, the buildings
+were finished and dedicated in 516 B.C., and a great passover feast
+was held (v., vi.).
+
+The scene now shifts to a period at any rate fifty-eight years later
+(458 B.C.) Armed with a commission from Artaxerxes, Ezra the scribe,
+of priestly lineage, arrived, with a company of laity and clergy, at
+Jerusalem from Babylon, with the object of investigating the
+religious condition of Judah and of teaching the law (vii.). Before
+leaving Babylon he had proclaimed a fast with public humiliation and
+prayer, and taken scrupulous precautions to have the offerings for
+the temple safely delivered at Jerusalem. When they reached the
+city, they offered a sumptuous burnt-offering and sin-offering
+(viii.). Soon complaints are lodged with Ezra that leading men have
+been guilty of intermarriage with heathen women, and he pours out
+his soul in a passionate prayer of confession (ix.). A penitent mood
+seizes the people; Ezra summons a general assembly, and establishes
+a commission of investigation, which, in about three months,
+convicted 113 men of intermarriage with foreign women (x.).
+
+The history now moves forward about fourteen years (444 B.C.).
+Nehemiah, a royal cup-bearer in the Persian palace, hears with
+sorrow of the distress of his countrymen in Judea, and of the
+destruction of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. i.). With the king's
+permission, and armed with his support, he visited Jerusalem, and
+kindled in the whole community there the desire to rebuild the walls
+(ii.). The work was prosecuted with vigour, and, with one exception,
+participated in by all (iii.). The foreign neighbours of Jerusalem,
+provoked by their success, meditated an attack--a plan which was,
+however, frustrated by the preparations of Nehemiah (iv.). Nehemiah,
+being interested in the social as well as the political condition of
+the community, unflinchingly rebuked the unbrotherly treatment of
+the poor by the rich, appealing to his own very different conduct,
+and finally induced the nobles to restore to the poor their
+mortgaged property (v.). By cunning plots, the enemy repeatedly but
+unsuccessfully sought to secure the person of Nehemiah; and in
+fifty-two days the walls were finished (vi.). He then placed the
+city in charge of two officials, taking precautions to have it
+strongly guarded and more thickly peopled (vii.).
+
+At a national assembly, Ezra read to the people from the book of the
+law, and they were moved to tears. They celebrated the feast of
+booths, and throughout the festival week the law was read daily
+(viii.). The people, led by the Levites (under Ezra, ix. 6, lxx.),
+made a humble confession of sin (ix.), and the prayer issued in a
+covenant to abstain from intermarriage with the heathen and trade on
+the Sabbath day, and to support the temple service (x.).
+
+The population of the city was increased by a special draft,
+selected by lot from those resident outside, and also by a body of
+volunteers (xi.). After a series of lists of priestly and Levitical
+houses, one of which[1] is carried down to the time of Alexander the
+Great, xii. 1-26, the walls were formally dedicated, and steps were
+taken to secure the maintenance of the temple service and officers,
+xii. 27-47. On his return to Jerusalem in 432 B.C. Nehemiah enforced
+the sanctity of the temple, and instituted various reforms,
+affecting especially the Levitical dues, the sanctity of the
+Sabbath, and intermarriage with foreigners, xiii.
+[Footnote 1: According to Josephus, Jaddua (Neh. xii. 22) was high
+priest in the time of Alexander (about 330 B.C.?).]
+
+The difficulties involved in this presentation of the history are of
+two kinds--inconsistencies with assured historical facts, and
+improbabilities. Perhaps the most important illustration of the
+former is to be found in Ezra iii. There not only is an altar
+immediately built by the returned exiles--a statement not in itself
+improbable--but the foundation of the temple is laid soon after,
+iii. 10, and the ceremony is elaborately described (536 B.C.). The
+foundation is also presupposed for this period elsewhere in the book
+(cf. v. 16, in an Aramaic document). Now this statement is at least
+formally contradicted by v. 2, where it is expressly said that,
+under the stimulus of the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah, who did
+not prophesy till 520 B.C., Zerubbabel and Joshua _began_ to
+build the house of God. This is confirmed by the very explicit
+statements of these two prophets themselves, whose evidence, being
+contemporary, is unchallengeable. Haggai gives the very day of the
+foundation, ii. 18, and Zechariah iv. 9 says, "The hands of
+Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house." It is not
+impossible to surmount the difficulty by assuming that the laying of
+the foundation in 536 B.C. was a purely formal ceremony while the
+real work was not begun till 520; still, it is awkward for this view
+that the language of two contemporary prophets is so explicit. And
+in any case, the statement in Ezra v. 16 that "since that time (i.e.
+536) even until now (520) hath the temple been in building" is not
+easy to reconcile with what we know from contemporary sources; the
+whole brunt of Haggai's indictment is that the people have been
+attending to their own houses and neglecting Jehovah's house, which
+is in consequence desolate (Hag. i. 4, 9).
+
+The most signal illustration of the improbabilities that arise from
+the traditional order of the book lies in the priority of Ezra to
+Nehemiah. On the common view, Ezra arrives in Jerusalem in 458 B.C.
+(Ezra vii. 7, 8), Nehemiah in 444 (Neh. ii. 1). But the situation
+which Ezra finds on his arrival appears to presuppose a settled and
+orderly life, which was hardly possible until the city was fortified
+and the walls built by Nehemiah; indeed, Ezra, in his prayer,
+mentions the erection of the walls as a special exhibition of the
+divine love (Ezra ix. 9). Further, Nehemiah's memoirs make no
+allusion to the alleged measures of Ezra; and, if Ezra really
+preceded Nehemiah, it is difficult to see why none of the reformers
+who came with him from Babylon should be mentioned as supporting
+Nehemiah. Again, the measures of Nehemiah are mild in comparison
+with the radical measures of Ezra. Ezra, e.g. demands the divorce of
+the wives (Ezra x. 11ff.), whereas Nehemiah only forbids
+intermarriage between the children (Neh. xiii. 25). In short, the
+work of Nehemiah has all the appearance of being tentative and
+preliminary to the drastic reforms of Ezra. The history certainly
+gains in intelligibility if we assume the priority of Nehemiah, and
+the text does not absolutely bind us. Ezra's departure took place
+"in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king" (Ezra vii. 7). Even if
+we allow that the number is correct, it is just possible that the
+king referred to is not Artaxerxes I (465-424), but Artaxerxes II
+(404-359). In that case, the date of Ezra's arrival would be 397
+B.C.; in any case, the number of the year may be incorrect.
+
+Any doubt which might arise as to the possibility of so serious a
+transformation is at once met by an indubitable case of misplacement
+in Ezra iv. 6-23. The writer is dealing with the alleged attempts of
+the Samaritans to frustrate the building of the temple between 536
+and 520 B.C. (Ezra iv. 1-5), and he diverges without warning into an
+account of a similar opposition during the reigns of Xerxes (485-465)
+and Artaxerxes (465-424) (Ezra iv. 6-23), resuming his interrupted
+story of the building of the temple in ch. v. The account in iv. 6-23
+is altogether irrelevant, as it has to do, not with the temple, but
+with the building of the _city_ walls, iv. 12.
+
+Such peculiarities and dislocations are strange in a historical
+writing, and they are to be explained by the fact that the book of
+Ezra-Nehemiah is not so much a connected history as a compilation.
+The sources and spirit of this compilation we shall now consider.
+First and of surpassing importance are (_a_, _b_) what are
+known as the I-sections--verbal extracts in the first person, from
+the memoirs of Ezra and Nehemiah:--
+
+(_a_) Ezra vii. 27-ix., except viii. 35, 36.
+
+(_b_) Neh. i.-vii. 5, xii. 27-43, xiii. 4-31.
+
+(_c_) Other sections, though they are not actually extracts from
+the memoirs, appear to rest directly on them: cf. Ezra vii. 1-10, x.,
+Neh. viii.-x. In these sections Ezra is spoken of in the third person.
+
+(_d_) Of great interest and importance are the Aramaic
+sections, Ezra iv. _7b_-vi. 18 and vii. 12-26, involving
+correspondence with the Persian court or royal rescripts.
+
+(_e_) Finally, there are occasional lists, such as Neh. xii. 1-26_a_,
+or Neh. vii. 6-69, a list of the returning exiles, incorporated in the
+memoirs of Nehemiah from some earlier list and borrowed in Ezra ii.
+
+These are the chief sources, but there can be no doubt that they
+were compiled--that is put together and in certain cases worked
+over--by the Chronicler. That suspicion is at once raised by the
+fact that Ezra-Nehemiah is a strict continuation of the book of
+Chronicles,[1] though in the Hebrew Bible Chronicles appears last,
+because, having to compete with Samuel and Kings, it won its
+canonical position later than Ezra-Nehemiah. But apart from this,
+the phraseology, style and point of view of the Chronicler are very
+conspicuous. There is the same love of the law, the same interest in
+Leviticalism, the same joy in worship, the same fondness for lists
+and numbers. He must have lived a century or more after Ezra and
+Nehemiah; he looks back in Neh. xii. 47 to "the days of Nehemiah,"
+and he must himself have belonged to the Greek period. One of his
+lists mentions a Jaddua, a high priest in the time of Alexander the
+Great. He speaks of the king of _Persia_ (Ezra i. 1), and of
+Darius _the Persian_[2] (Neh. xii. 22), as one to whom the
+Persian empire was a thing of the past; contemporaries simply spoke
+of "the king," Ezra iv. 8.
+[Footnote 1: Note that the opening verses of Ezra are repeated at
+the end of Chronicles to secure a favourable ending to the book--the
+more so as that was the last book of the Hebrew Bible.]
+[Footnote 2: In Ezra vi. 22 Darius is even called the king of
+Assyria.]
+
+Many of the peculiarities of the book are explained the moment it is
+seen to be a late compilation. The compiler selected from his
+available material whatever suited his purpose; he makes no attempt
+to give a continuous account of the period. He leaves without
+scruple a gap of sixty years or more[1] between Ezra vi. and vii. He
+interpolates a comment of his own in the middle of the original
+memoirs of Nehemiah.[2] He transcribes the same list twice (Ezra
+ii., Neh. vii.), which looks as if he had found it in two different
+documents. He gives passages irrelevant settings (cf. Ezra iv. 6-23).
+He passes without warning from the first person in Ezra ix. to the
+third person in Ezra x., showing that he does not regard himself
+as the slave, but as the master, of his material. Whatever may be
+thought of the view that he has reversed the chronological order of
+Ezra and Nehemiah, the book undoubtedly contains misplaced passages.
+Ezra x. is a very unsatisfactory conclusion to the account of Ezra,
+whereas Neh. viii.-x., which deal with the work of Ezra and its
+issue in a covenant, form an admirable sequel to Ezra x., and have
+almost certainly been misplaced.
+[Footnote 1: Unless we take into account the brief misplaced section
+in iv. 6-23.]
+[Footnote 2: Cf. especially xii. 47 with its reference to "the days
+of Nehemiah," whereas in xii. 40, xiii. 6, etc., Nehemiah speaks in
+the first person. Ch. xii. 44-47 at least belongs to the
+Chronicler.]
+
+We cannot be too grateful to him for giving intact the vivid and
+extremely important account of the activity of Nehemiah the layman
+in Nehemiah's own words (i.-vii. 5); at the same time, his own
+interests are almost entirely ecclesiastical. Unlike Ezra (viii.
+15ff.), he says little of the homeward journey of the exiles in 537,
+but much of the temple vessels (Ezra i.) and of the arrangements for
+the sacrificial system, iii. 4-6. He dwells at length on the laying
+of the foundation stone of the temple, iii. 8-13, on the Samaritan
+opposition to the building, iv. 1-5, on the passover festival at the
+dedication of the temple when it was finished, vi. 19-22. He
+amplifies the Nehemiah narratives at the point where the services
+and officers of the temple are concerned.
+
+The influence of the Chronicler is unmistakable even in the Aramaic
+documents, whose authenticity one would on first thoughts expect to
+be guaranteed by their language. Aramaic would be the natural
+language of correspondence between the Persian court and the western
+provinces of the empire, and these official documents in Aramaic one
+might assume to be originals; but an examination reveals some of the
+editorial terms that characterize the Hebrew. A decree of Darius is
+represented as ending with the prayer that "the God that hath caused
+His name to dwell there (i.e. at Jerusalem) may overthrow all kings
+and peoples that shall put forth their hand to destroy this house of
+God which is at Jerusalem" (Ezra vi. 13). To say nothing of the
+first clause, which has a suspicious resemblance to the language of
+Deuteronomy, such a wish addressed to the God of the Jews is
+anything but natural on the lips of a Persian. Again, there are
+several distinctively Jewish terms of expression in the rescript
+given by Artaxerxes to Ezra, e.g. the detailed allusion to
+sacrifices in Ezra vii. 17. This, however, might easily be explained
+by assuming that Ezra himself had had a hand in drafting the
+rescript, which is not impossible.
+
+The question, however, is for the historian a very serious one: how
+great were the liberties which the Chronicler allowed himself in the
+manipulation of his material? It is interesting in this connexion to
+compare his account of the decree of Cyrus on behalf of the Jewish
+exiles in Ezra i. 2-4 with the Aramaic version in vi. 3-5, which has
+all the appearance of being original. The difference is striking.
+Cyrus speaks in ch. i. as an ardent Jehovah worshipper; but the
+substance of the edict is approximately correct, though its form is
+altogether unhistorical and indeed impossible. The Chronicler's
+idealizing tendency is here very apparent; and it is not impossible
+that this has elsewhere affected his presentation of the facts as
+well as the form of his narrative. In the light of the very plain
+statements of the contemporary prophets Haggai and Zechariah, we are
+justified in doubting whether, in Ezra iii., the Chronicler has not
+antedated the foundation of the temple. To him it may well have
+seemed inconceivable that the returned exiles should--whatever their
+excuse--have waited for sixteen years before beginning the work
+which to him was of transcendent importance.
+
+It is possible, too, that prophecy may have influenced his
+presentation of the history. He throws into the very forefront a
+prophecy of Jeremiah (xxv. 12), and regards the decree of Cyrus as
+its fulfilment (Ezra i. 1). He may also have had in mind the words
+of the great exilic prophet who had represented Cyrus as issuing the
+command to lay the foundation of the temple (Isa. xliv. 28); and he
+may in this way have thrown into the period immediately after the
+return activities which properly belong to the period sixteen years
+later. But it is perfectly gratuitous, on the strength of this, to
+doubt, as has recently been done, the whole story of the return in
+537 B.C. Those who do so point out that the audience addressed by
+Haggai, i. 12, 14, ii. 2, and Zechariah viii. 6, is described as the
+remnant of the people of the land--that is, it is alleged, of those
+who had been left behind at the time of the captivity. No doubt the
+better-minded among these would lend their support to the efforts of
+Haggai and Zechariah to re-establish the worship, but this community
+as a whole must have been too dispirited and indifferent to have
+taken such a step without the impulse supplied by the returned
+exiles. The devotion of the native population to Jehovah, not great
+to begin with--for it was the worst of the people who were left
+behind--must have deteriorated through intermarriage with heathen
+neighbours (Neh. xiii., Ezra ix. x.); and without a return in 537 on
+the strength of the edict of Cyrus, the whole situation and sequel
+are unintelligible. The Chronicler's version of the decree of Cyrus
+throws a flood of light upon his method. It cannot be fairly said
+that he invents facts; he may modify, amplify and transpose, but
+always on the basis of fact. His fidelity in transcribing the
+memoirs of Nehemiah is proof that he was not unscrupulous in the
+treatment of his sources.
+
+It remains to consider briefly the value of these sources. The
+authenticity of the memoirs of Nehemiah is universally admitted.
+Similar phrases are continually recurring, e.g. "the good hand of my
+God upon me," ii. 8, 18, and the whole narrative is stamped with the
+impress of a brave, devout, patriotic and resourceful personality.
+The authenticity of the memoirs of Ezra has been disputed with
+perhaps a shadow of plausibility. The language of the memoirs
+distinctly approximates to the language of the Chronicler himself,
+though this can be fairly accounted for, either by supposing that
+the spirit and interests of Ezra the priest were largely identical
+with those of the Chronicler, or that the Chronicler, recognizing
+his general affinity with Ezra, hesitated less than in the case of
+Nehemiah to conform the language of the memoirs to his own. But more
+serious charges have been made. It has been alleged that the account
+of the career of Ezra has been largely modelled on that of Nehemiah,
+as that of Elisha on Elijah, and that legendary elements are
+traceable, e.g. in the immense wealth brought by Ezra's company from
+Babylon (Ezra viii. 24-27). These reasons do not seem altogether
+convincing. The Chronicler stood relatively near to Ezra. Records
+and lists were kept in that period, and he was no doubt in
+possession of more first-hand documentary information than appears
+in his book. There is no obvious motive for the writer who so
+faithfully transcribed the memoirs of Nehemiah, inventing so vivid,
+coherent and circumstantial a narrative for Ezra in the first person
+singular (Ezra vii. 27-ix.).
+
+The question of the Ezra memoirs raises the further question of the
+Aramaic documents. The memoirs are immediately preceded by the
+Aramaic rescript of Artaxerxes permitting Ezra to visit Jerusalem
+for the purpose of reorganizing the Jewish community (Ezra vii. 12-26).
+Doubt has been cast upon the authenticity of this document on the
+strength of its undeniably Jewish colouring; but this, as we have seen,
+is probably to be explained by the not unnatural assumption that Ezra
+himself had a hand in its preparation. Its substantial authenticity
+seems fully guaranteed by the spontaneous and warm-hearted outburst of
+gratitude to God with which Ezra immediately follows it (Ezra vii. 27ff):
+"Blessed be Jehovah, the God of our fathers, who hath put such a thing
+as this in the king's heart," etc. A similar criticism may be made in
+general on the Aramaic document, Ezra iv. _7b_-vi. 18. It is certain,
+as we have seen, that the document has been retouched by the Chronicler;
+but the whole passage and especially the royal decrees are substantially
+authentic. Attention has been called to the Persian words which they
+contain, though this alone is not decisive, as they might conceivably
+be due to a later author; but the authenticity of the decree of Cyrus
+is practically guaranteed by the story that it was discovered at
+Ecbatana (Ezra vi. 2). Had it been a fiction, the scene of the discovery
+would no doubt have been Babylon or Susa.
+
+After making allowance, then, for the Chronicler's occasionally
+cavalier treatment of his sources, we have to admit that the sources
+themselves are of the highest historical value, though in order to
+secure a coherent view of the period, they have, in all probability,
+to be rearranged. No rearrangement can be considered as absolutely
+certain, but the following, which is adopted by several scholars,
+has internal probability:--
+
+Ezra i.-iv. 5, iv. 24-vi., followed by about seventy years of
+silence (516-444 B.C.). Neh. i.-vi., Ezra iv. 6-23, Neh. vii. 1-69
+(= Ezra ii.), Neh. xi., xii., xiii. 4-31, Ezra vii., viii., Neh.
+vii. 70-viii., Ezra ix.-x. 9, Neh. xiii. 1-3, Ezra x. 10-44, Neh.
+ix., x.
+
+Despite their enormous difficulties, Ezra-Nehemiah are a source of
+the highest importance for the political and religious history of
+early Judaism. The human interest of the story is also great--the
+problems for religion created by intermarriage (Neh. xiii. 23ff.,
+Ezra ix., x.), and the growth of the commercial spirit (Neh. xiii.
+15-22). The figure of Ezra, though not without a certain devout
+energy, is somewhat stiff and formal; but the personality revealed
+by the memoirs of Nehemiah is gracious almost to the point of
+romance. Seldom did the Hebrew people produce so attractive and
+versatile a figure--at once a man of prayer and of action, of clear
+swift purpose, daring initiative, and resistless energy, and endowed
+with a singular power of inspiring others with his own enthusiasm.
+He forms an admirable foil to Ezra the ecclesiastic; and it is a
+matter of supreme satisfaction that we have the epoch-making events
+in his career told in his own direct and vigorous words.
+
+
+
+
+CHRONICLES
+
+
+The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in
+modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been
+shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand
+as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a
+continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew
+Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt
+points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than
+they. Nor is this unnatural. The book of Kings had brought the history
+down to the exile of Judah; and the natural desire to see the history
+carried from its new starting point in the return and restoration
+through post-exilic times is met by the book of Ezra-Nehemiah, to
+which there was no rival, whereas Chronicles had a rival in the
+existing and popular books of Samuel and Kings.
+
+The book, whose name _Chronicles_ is borrowed by Luther from
+Jerome, is very late. Ezra-Nehemiah with which Chronicles goes must
+be, as we have seen,[1] as late as Alexander the Great; but the
+lateness of Chronicles can be proved without going beyond the book
+itself. The Hebrew text of 1 Chron. iii. 19ff. carries the date six
+generations beyond Zerubbabel (520 B.C.), that is, at the earliest,
+to 350 B.C., while the Greek text postulates eleven generations,
+which would compel us to come as late as 250 B.C. We shall not go
+far astray if we consider the date as roughly 300 B.C. It is thus
+seven centuries later than the reign of David, with whose
+ecclesiastical enterprises it deals so elaborately, and about two
+and a-half centuries from the exile, with which it closes. The
+distance of the record from the events has to be borne in mind when
+estimating its religious spirit and historical value.
+[Footnote: See p. 355.]
+
+The book of Chronicles is an ecclesiastical history in a sense very
+much more severe than the book of Kings; on every page it reflects
+the ritual interests which were predominant when the book was
+written. To it the only history worth recording is the history of
+Judah. The first ten chapters are occupied with the preparation for
+that history, and the rest of the book (i Chron. xi.-2 Chron.
+xxxvi.) with the history itself from the coronation of David to the
+exile. Israel is the apostate kingdom; she had revolted alike from
+Judah and Jehovah, and had been swept for her sins into exile, from
+which she never emerged again. The Chronicler makes a man of God say
+to Amaziah, "Jehovah is not with Israel," 2 Chron. xxv. 7, and this
+exactly represents his own attitude. He therefore all but absolutely
+ignores the history of the northern kingdom, touching upon it only
+where it is in some special way implicated in the history of Judah.
+
+This practically exclusive attention of the Chronicles to Judah is
+based upon her unique religious or rather ecclesiastical importance.
+In Judah God made Himself known as nowhere else (cf. Ps. lxxvi. 1,
+2); she was the religious metropolis of the world (Ps. lxxxvii.);
+Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, and the temple was the centre of
+Jerusalem. Therefore the temple and its affairs completely dwarf all
+other interests. Not only is the story in Kings of its building and
+dedication by Solomon repeated and expanded (2 Chron. i.-ix.), but
+the story of David's reign (1 Chron. xi.-xxix.) is almost entirely
+monopolized by an account of the arrangements which he made for the
+temple ordinances and the material which he collected for the
+building. He is said to have given Solomon a plan of the temple with
+all its furniture and sundry other details, the pattern of which he
+is said to have himself received from the hand of God (xxviii).
+Every opportunity is taken in the course of the history to dwell
+with an affectionate elaboration of detail on the temple services or
+festivals; and the resultant contrast between the corresponding
+accounts of the same reign in Kings and Chronicles is often very
+singular--nowhere more so than in the story of Hezekiah, most of
+which is devoted to an account of the great passover held in
+connexion with the reformation (2 Chron. xxix., xxx.).
+
+The Chronicler betrays, if possible, even more interest in the
+Levites than in the priests. It is a Levite who is moved by the
+Spirit to encourage Jehoshaphat before the battle (2 Chron. xx. 14),
+and special attention is called to their enthusiasm at the
+reformation of Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxix. 34). The Chronicler also
+displays exceptional interest in the musical service--in his
+account, e.g., of the inauguration of the temple and of the
+passovers of Hezekiah and Josiah; so that it has been not
+unreasonably conjectured that the author was himself a Levite and
+member of one of the guilds of temple singers or musicians.
+
+Since, then, the interests of the Chronicler are so undeniably
+ecclesiastical, the question may be fairly raised how far his
+narrative is strictly historical. It must be confessed, e.g., that
+the impression made by his account of David is distinctly unnatural
+and improbable, in the light of the graphic biography in 1 and 2
+Samuel. It is not a supplementary picture, but an altogether
+different one. The versatile minstrel-warrior of the earlier books
+is transformed into a saint, whose supreme aim in life is the
+service of religion; and this transformation is thoroughly
+characteristic of the Chronicler. He deals with his literary sources
+in the most sovereign fashion, and adapts them to his theories of
+Providence. His omissions, e.g., are very significant. He has
+nothing to say of David's adultery, nor of Solomon's idolatry, nor
+of the intrigues by which he succeeded to the throne, nor of the
+tribute of silver and gold which Hezekiah paid Sennaccherib (2 Kings
+xviii. 14-16). It may be urged in extenuation of his silence that
+his public were already familiar with these stories in the books of
+Samuel and Kings; but he repeats so many sections from these books
+word for word that his failure to repeat the sections which militate
+against his heroes can only be regarded as part of a deliberate
+policy. Especially must this be maintained in the light of his
+numerous modifications or contradictions of his sources. David's
+sons, he tells us, were chief about the king (1 Chron, xviii. 17);
+he cannot allow that they were priests, as 2 Sam. viii. 18 says they
+were. Nor can he allow that Solomon offered his dedicatory prayer
+before the altar (1 Kings viii. 22)--that was the place for the
+priest--so he erects for him a special platform in the midst of the
+court, from which he addresses the people (2 Chron. vi. 13).
+
+The motive of these changes is obviously respect for the priestly
+law. Sometimes the motive is to glorify his heroes or to magnify
+their enthusiasm or devotion. Where, e.g. in 2 Sam. xxiv. 24 David
+pays Araunah fifty shekels of silver for the ground on which the
+temple was afterwards built, in 1 Chron. xxi. 25 he pays 600 shekels
+of gold. Similarly, in 1 Kings ix. 11 Solomon gives Hiram certain
+cities in return for a loan; in 2 Chron. viii. 2 it is Hiram who
+gives Solomon the cities. David accumulates 100,000 talents of gold
+and 1,000,000 of silver for the building of the temple (1 Chron.
+xxii.)--a fabulous and impossible sum when we remember that Solomon
+himself had only 666 talents of gold yearly (1 Kings x. 14). In 2
+Sam. xxi. 19 Elhanan is the hero who slays Goliath; the Chronicler
+sees that this conflicts with the romantic story of David (1 Sam.
+xvii.) and therefore makes Elhanan slay the brother of Goliath (1
+Chron. xx. 5). In 2 Kings xxii., xxiii., the reformation of Josiah
+follows very naturally upon the finding of the law in the eighteenth
+year of the king, but the Chronicler represents the reformation as
+taking place in his twelfth year, i.e. as soon as he came of age (2
+Chrori. xxxiv. 3). He still, however, dates the finding of the law
+in his eighteenth year (cf. 8), i.e. _six years after the
+reformation_, and thus throws the history into an impossible
+sequence, apparently for no other object than to illustrate the
+youthful devotion of his hero-king. He is not even always consistent
+with himself; following Kings (1 Kings xv. 14, xxii. 43) he says
+that Asa and Jehoshaphat did not remove the high places (2 Chron.
+xv. 17, xx. 33), and yet he had just before told us that they did (2
+Chron, xiv. 5, xvii. 6) as, on his theory,--being good kings, they
+should. The motive for the change is usually obvious. In 2 Sam.
+xxiv. 1 Jehovah had tempted David to number the people. This is
+intolerable to the more advanced theology of the Chronicler, so he
+ascribes the impulse to Satan (1 Chron. xxi. 1). A similar
+transformation may be seen in his notice of the doom of Saul. In 1
+Sam. xxviii. 6 it is implicitly said that Saul earnestly sought to
+discover the divine will; in 1 Chron. x. 14 this is roundly denied-he
+did not inquire of Jehovah.
+
+These and similar transformations, amounting sometimes to
+contradictions of the original sources, are due to a religious
+motive, and they appear to be made in perfectly good faith. The
+Chronicler is a religious man who, unlike Job, finds no perplexities
+in the moral world, but everywhere a precise and mechanical
+correspondence between character and destiny. Not only is piety
+rewarded by prosperity, but prosperity presupposes piety. The most
+pious kings have the most soldiers. David has over a million and a
+half, Jehoshaphat over a million, while Rehoboam has only 180,000.
+Manasseh's long reign of fifty-five years--a stumbling-block, on the
+Chronicler's theory--has to be explained by his repentance (2 Chron.
+xxxiii. 11ff.). Religious explanations are everywhere assigned for
+facts. Josiah's defeat and death are the penalty of his disobedience
+to the word of God which came to him through the Egyptian king (2
+Chron. xxxv. 21ff). So Uzziah's leprosy is the divine punishment of
+his pride in presuming to offer incense despite the protests of the
+priests (2 Chron. xxvi. 16ff.), The Chronicler sees the hand of God
+in everything; He is the immediate arbiter of all human destiny.
+That is why rewards and punishments are so swift and just and sure.
+The divine control of human affairs is most conspicuously seen in
+the Chronicler's account of battles, where the human warriors count
+for nothing. God fights or causes a panic among the enemy; the
+warriors do little more than shout and pursue (2 Chron. xiii. 15,
+xx.). The battle-scenes show how little imagination the Chronicler
+possessed; clearly he had never seen a battle, and he has no
+conception of one (cf. Num. xxxi.). He thinks nothing of describing
+a conflict between 400,000 Judeans and 800,000 Israelites, in which
+half a million of the latter were slain (2 Chron. xiii.). It is all
+so different from the stirring and life-like tales of the Judges or
+the Maccabees.
+
+In the face of these historical improbabilities, what are we to make
+of the Chronicler's continual appeal to his sources? These are
+ostensibly of two kinds: (_a_) historical, (_b)_
+prophetical. (_a_) He frequently refers to the book of the
+kings of Israel and Judah, the book of the kings of Judah and
+Israel, the book of the kings of Israel, and the history of the
+kings of Israel. No doubt one book is cited under these different
+titles. The history of Manasseh, e.g., is said to be recorded in the
+history of the kings of Israel (2 Chron. xxxiii. 18); clearly this
+cannot be northern Israel, as Manasseh was a king of Judah. What,
+then, was this book of the kings of Israel and Judah? At first we
+are strongly tempted to regard it as our canonical book of Kings.
+That book was already over two centuries in existence and must have
+been familiar; not only are whole sections copied from it by the
+Chronicler verbatim, but occasionally passages which he adopts
+presuppose other passages which he has omitted; e.g. he follows 2
+Sam. v. 13 in asserting that David took _more_ wives (1 Chron.
+xiv. 3), though the word "more" has no meaning in his context; in
+his source it points naturally enough back to 2 Sam. iii. 2-5. There
+can be no doubt, then, that the canonical books of Samuel and Kings
+constituted one of his sources.
+
+Yet it is almost equally certain that that is not the book to which
+he continually refers his readers. The "book of Jehu," which
+recorded the history of Jehoshaphat, is said to be incorporated in
+the book of the Kings of Israel (2 Chron. xx. 34); it is not,
+however, in our canonical Kings. Neither is the prayer of Manasseh
+(2 Chron. xxxiii. 18), nor are the genealogies referred to in 1
+Chron. ix. 1. Again, for further information about Jotham the reader
+is referred to the book of the kings of Israel and Judah (2 Chron.
+xxvii. 7), when, as a matter of fact, the Chronicler has more to
+tell about him than our book of Kings (2 Kings xv. 32-38). Clearly,
+then, the book so frequently cited is not the canonical book of
+Kings. What sort of production it was may be inferred from the
+reference in 2 Chron. xxiv. 27 to the "_midrash_ of the book of
+the Kings." Doubtless the book in question was a midrash, i.e. an
+edifying commentary on the history, of the sort preserved in the
+very late story of 1 Kings xiii. The tendency towards midrash, which
+so powerfully affected the later Jewish mind, appears as early as
+the stories of Elisha. (_b_) Prophetic sources are also
+frequently cited or alluded to, e.g. the books of Samuel, Nathan,
+Gad (1 Chron. xxix. 29), the prophecy of Ahijah, the book of
+Shemaiah, the book of Iddo (2 Chron, xii. 15), the vision of Isaiah
+(2 Chron. xxxii. 32), etc. Probably, however, these were not
+independent prophetic works. The reference to the "_midrash_ of
+the prophet Iddo" (2 Chron. xiii. 22) suggests that these works,
+like the history of the kings, were midrashic; in all probability
+they were simply extracts from the midrashic book of Kings already
+alluded to. Practically all the prophets to whom books are ascribed
+in Chronicles are mentioned in the canonical books, and probably
+they were regarded as the authors of the sections in which their
+names occur, so that the books of Samuel, Nathan and Gad would be
+none other than the relevant portions of Samuel and Kings, or of the
+midrash of these books. Thus the Chronicler's imposing array of
+citations may be without injustice reduced to two books--the
+canonical book of Kings (or Genesis to Kings) and the midrash to
+those books.
+
+These facts have led many to deny all value whatever to the
+Chronicler's unsupported statements. But such a condemnation is too
+sweeping. The genealogies in 1 Chron. i.-ix., though they no doubt
+received many later additions, probably rest on good sources, and
+there are other notices bearing, e.g., on the fortifications of
+Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi.), Jotham (2 Chron. xxvii.), etc., on Uzziah's
+enterprise in peace and war (2 Chron. xxvi. 5-15), on Judah's border
+warfare (2 Chron. xvii. 11, xxi. 16, xxvi. 7, xxviii. 17f), etc.,
+which do not display the Chronicler's characteristic tendencies and
+appear to be authentic. On the whole, however, the historical value
+of Chronicles must be rated low. Nor is its religious value high.
+Its attitude to the problems raised by the moral order is
+exceedingly mechanical, and with one noble exception (2 Chron. xxx.
+18, 19), its general conception of religion is ritualistic. But it
+is a valuable monument of the Judaism of the third century B.C., and
+we learn from it to appreciate the daring independence of such books
+as Job and Ecclesiastes.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Introduction to the Old Testament
+by John Edgar McFadyen
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT ***
+
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