Ex Libris
C. K. OGDEN
CLABK'S
FOEEIGN
THEOLOGICAL LIBRAllY.
NEW SERIES.
VOL. XXII.
relli'g to ^Testament
EDINBUEGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEOEGE STEEET.
1885.
PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB,
FOR
T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.
LONDON, .... HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.
DUBLIN GEO. HERBERT.
NEW YORK, * SCR1BNER AND WELFORD.
THE
CONSUMMATION OF GOD'S KINGDOM,
TRACED IN ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT.
BY
C. VON ORELLI,
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY, BASEL.
STranglatefc 6g
REV. J. S. BANKS,
HEADINGLEY COLLEGE, LEEDS.
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.
1885.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
following work aims at ascertaining the meaning which
a certain section of Old Testament prophecy must have had
for its first hearers and readers. The tendency of Christians has
ever been to read the New Testament into the Old. However
natural this tendency may be, it is not without injurious effects
on the intelligent study of Scripture. Under its influence the
difference between the two dispensations is overlooked ; type and
antitype, promise and fulfilment, childhood and maturity are con-
founded; ancient believers are credited with knowledge and
ideas which go far beyond their circumstances ; a weight of
meaning is put upon Old Testament passages which they are too
weak to bear. Evidently our first effort should be to ascertain
what the earlier Scriptures meant in the age to which they
spoke ; and this is what Dr. Orelli tries to do in the present
volume. While doing ample justice to the Christian fulfilment,
he first considers every prophecy of the divine kingdom in its
relation to speaker, hearers, and the general historical circum-
stances out of which it arose. The student is placed at the Old
Testament standpoint, as far as this is possible to us. We need
not fear the results of such an investigation. Even granting that
on single points the author may have gone too far, and that
some details of his exposition cannot be regarded as fully
2000628
vi TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
established, enough remains to demonstrate the divinity of Old
and New Testament alike. Prophecy and fulfilment correspond
as bud to flower. Neither is intelligible without the other. It
is refreshing to note the energy with which the author, who
certainly cannot be charged with ignorance or prejudice, main-
tains at his special standpoint the miraculous element in
prophecy. In this respect the new method of interpretation is
far preferable to the old. We do not need to read Christian
ideas into prophecy in order then to bring them out again.
Eeduce the teaching of prophecy to its most literal form, and
yet the image of the future undeniably shines through it. The
unity of subject pervading the whole from first to last, the
uninterrupted progress both in the form and matter of revela-
tion, the correspondence between prophecy and fulfilment, are
evidences of divinity which nothing can explain away.
I thought at one time of retaining the author's spelling of
Jewish proper names. I found, however, that to do this con-
sistently would give the pages a very repulsive look, at least to
English readers, and the compensation would not be great.
" Yahveh " is the only exception. This more accurate form of
the word has now become tolerably familiar.
I only wish to note further that the term " authorities " is used
in Part I. for the German Quellen (sources), to denote the original
documents on which the early books of the Old Testament are
supposed to have been based. Perhaps a better English term
might have been found.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION, 1
SEC.
1. Biblical Prophecy, 4
2. Are Phenomena analogous to Biblical Prophecy found in Heathenism ? . 13
3. The Kingdom of God as the Subject of Biblical Prophecy, ... 25
4. Influence of the Age on the Prophecy of God's Kingdom, ... 31
5. The Office of Type in the Development of God's Kingdom, . . . 37
6. Are Phenomena analogous to the Prophecy of God's Kingdom found
in Heathenism ? 41
7. Fulfilment in general, 50
8. Fulfilment in the New Covenant, 54
9. The Treatment of the Subject in Christian Theology 62
FIRST PAET.
THE PROPHETIC WORD HERALDING THE RISE AND ACCOMPANYING THE
DEVELOPMENT OF A NATIONAL KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH.
FIRST SECTION. PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE.
10. General View, 77
11. The Primitive Divine Capacity and Destiny of Man, .... 82
12. Man's Common State of Sin (the Protevangelium), .... 86
13. The Threefold Development of Mankind, 93
14. The Promises to the Fathers of the Covenant People, .... 104
15. The Leading Tribe, Judah, . . 115
SECOND SECTION. MOSAISM.
16. The Law of Moses, 125
17. Mosaic Outlooks, 130
18. Balaam's Oracles, 134
THIRD SECTION. THE LORD'S ANOINTED.
19. The Prophetic Testament to the Davidic Royal House, . . . .148
20. The Echo of the Prophetic Word in the Songs of the Anointed One, . 158
21. Typical Significance of David, Solomon, and the Davidites, . . . 167
22. The Dwelling of Yahveh on Zion, 186
7
viii CONTEXTS.
SECOND PART.
TUK PROPHETIC WORD AS THE HERALD OF THE NEW BIRTH OF GOD'S KINGDOM
AND THE SECURITY FOR ITS FUTURE CONSUMMATION.
FIRST SECTION. THE PROPHETS OF THE PRE-ASSYRIAN AGE.
SEC. PAGE
23. General Character of Prophecy in the Pre-Exilian Period, . . .191
24. Obadiah 196
25. Joel 204
SECOND SECTION. THE PROPHETS OF THE ASSYRIAN AGE IN THE NORTHERN
KINGDOM.
26. Amos, 224
27. Hosea 228
28. Zechariah ix.-xi 244
THIRD SECTION. THE PROPHETS OF THE ASSYRIAN AGE IN THE SOUTHERN
KINGDOM.
29. Isaiah and Micah : The exalted Zion 255
30. Isaiah's Oracles of Immanuel, 264
31. Further Omcles of Isaiah respecting Zion (chaps, xxviii.-xxxix.), . 285
32. Isaiah's Visions respecting the Gentiles and the World Judgment, as well
as the glorifying of the World from Zion, 295
33. Micah, Nahum, 305
FOURTH SECTION. THE PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALDJEAN PERIOD).
34. Zephaniah, 314
35. Habakkuk, 323
36. Jeremiah's Prophecies of the New Covenant, 329
37. Zechariah xiL-xiv 345
FIFTH SECTION. THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE.
38. Ezekiel's Oracles and Visions, 361
39. The Prophecies of the Servant of Yahveh, Isa. xl.-lxvi., . . .376
SIXTH SECTION. THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS (PERSIAN PERIOD).
40. Haggai and Zechariah, 419
41. Zechariah's Visions, 426
42. Malachi's Sayings respecting the Herald of the Lord, .... 447
43. Daniel's Apocalypse, 454
CONCLUSION, 467
OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
INTRODUCTION.
IN the whole of creation there dwells a profound longing after
perfection, a noble instinct for completeness. By degrees
nature has brought forth more and more perfect creatures upon
earth. In considering the structures of past aeons, when man as I
yet was not, we seem to see the creative spirit struggling after!
something perfect, without reaching it. And where the formative
force has spent itself for a time, and the contradiction between the
imperfection of existence and the perfect idea makes itself felt,
the instinct for completion changes into longing for redemption.
Whoever is able to catch the innermost tones vibrating through
nature hears issuing from it sad, yearning voices, beseeching
redemption from the burden of imperfection a sighing of the
creature, as the apostle calls it, more plainly in the plant-world
than in inorganic nature, more audibly in the animal kingdom
than in the plant-world.
Man, then, as the most perfect creature of earth, feels all the
more powerfully the instinct for completion. The desire for i
likeness to God grows stronger in him, the nearer he stands to
God, the nobler he is. This instinct is a mighty factor in history,
impelling to the creation of new forms, when things are ripe for
further advance. Although the passion for innovation is a morbid
excrescence, it is still the caricature of something noble and divine
in man ; it testifies to a striving after completeness that is never
satisfied. And when all the lauded, hardly- won steps in advance
bring one no nearer to the goal, which rather seems to recede farther
and farther away, the yearning after a better world arises among
all uncorrupted peoples. Among many this yearning takes the
form of lamentation over a far-distant happy past. Presages of
the future also are heard, as if there were a golden age to come.
ORELLI. A
2 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
But as nations grow more rational and mature, such dreams are
given up, and the completion which life fails to supply is sought
in the region of art and idea. That both are powerless to satisfy
the inmost craving of man's heart was confessed reluctantly by
Goethe, the last of the Hellenes, who, if any one could, would
have reconciled the contradictions of life by harmony of form.
After he, in his masterwork, had pictured, but not really healed,
the anguish of the human spirit in its utter impotence to com-
pass perfection, the antagonisms became still fiercer, the discords
more painful. Sorrow for the imperfection of existence is felt all
the more keenly when the hope that has been placed in advancing
culture turns out on the whole illusory in every field. Twenty
years ago liberalism preached on every house-top its favourite
dogma, man's capacity for eternal progress. To-day in the most
advanced circles this is looked down on with scorn. An actual
progress of real value is no longer believed in. The pessimism
which in our days has gained so large a following, learned and
unlearned, is itself a witness to the imperfection under which
man groans. It yearns for release from the ban, without believing
in a future consummation. Instead of redemption, nothing but a
dissolution of existence will satisfy it, so strongly does it feel its
burden. This, then, is the end of modern intellectual progress, as
it was the end of ancient heathenism, even of buoyant-spirited,
idealistic Hellenism an unsatisfied turning away from the world
with nothing to take its place, despair of reaching the ideal w r hich
man instinctively cherishes as his best possession. Are we
nowhere to find any solution but this despair, which cuts the knot
of fate and at the same time the sacred life-thread of humanity ?
One nation in the human family felt this drawing to perfection,
to God-likeness, in a peculiarly powerful way, the nation of
Israel, to which the true God revealed Himself. In the revela-
tion of this God the goal of its effort stood clearly before its eyes
to be holy like God, to keep His commandments perfectly, and
thus to be made partaker of the highest good perfect peace.
That the perfection, for which man's soul thirsts, has complete
subjection to the holy God for its indispensable condition, and
fellowship with Him for its essential contents, dominion over
creation being the natural consequence, the knowledge of this
truth distinguished Israel from all nations of antiquity, and was
not so much a fruit of its own musing and reflection as rather the
INTRODUCTION. 3
result of the miraculous converse this nation had with its God, and of
the legal discipline to which God subjected it above all other nations.
But while this nation was chosen before others to experience
the blessing of the divine rule, it was also compelled to look
deeper than any other into the abyss separating sinful man from
the holy God. The divine law that privilege of Israel was
also a thorn in its flesh. In the light of revelation it saw human
imperfection in all its depth to be sin, sin in all its gravity to be
deadly guilt, and all unhappiness in the creature to be punishment.
Hence a yearning for redemption, for a complete transforming of
humanity in God's service and of all creation, goes hand in hand
with a desire for the establishing of the divine rule. The con-
viction is more and more definitely expressed, that no simple
improvement of the existing can lead to perfection, but a total
change must take place, a new creative act of God.
But what we find in Israel is more than a deep, holy longing
for completion and redemption. It is the actual certainty that
both will be realized. As the law presents itself to the nation
with sovereign independence as God's demand, so the nation
receives prophecy as a positive pledge, which with the seal of the
divine veracity stands secure above the vacillation of ages and
nations and the vicissitudes of circumstance. The prophecies
are not ideals, such as men fashion for themselves to strive
after but can never reach ; they are ideas which God purposed
to Himself to realize. What is it that gives us a right, nay,
compels us, to assert the divine reality of these words of the
future ? The answer is simple.
In one man the perfection which prophecy sets before us has
been actually realized, in a Son of man, who was also Son of God.
Through Him also the felt need of reconciliation with God has
found its full satisfaction. In these marvellous facts \ve have
security that the divine rule thus founded will spread over the
earth and thoroughly permeate the world, that through it redemp-
tion from evil, inward and outward, will be perfected, as
announced already by the prophecies of the Old Covenant. Thus
the sacred voices of the prophets are an answer, not merely to 5 .'
the inquiry of their people and age, but also to the noblest seek-
ing and searching of man's heart, to the longing and sighing of
the whole creation. They point to Christ, and proclaim to the
world to-day what it may find in Him. They remind the Chris-
4 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
tian how wondrously in the long period of waiting the morning
stars bore witness to the coming sun, until at last it rose. But they
also point him beyond our days to the days of the consummation
of that kingdom of God, to behold which is our deepest longing.
Let us then, before bringing forward these prophetic oracles of
the Old Testament, take account of the source from which they
spring, the peculiarity of nature and contents distinguishing them
(in contrast with everything of a like kind presented by the extra-
Israelitish world), of their fulfilment already accomplished or still
future, and of the different attitudes which the Church and theology
of Christian times have assumed to them and their fulfilment.
1. Biblical Prophecy. 1
Prophecy is the product of prophesying. In answering the
question, What is to be understood by it on Biblical ground ? we
start from the definite, uniform statements of the Bible. Accord-
ing to these, prophesying is in general the speaking of individuals
under the influence of the Spirit of God. And by the Divine
Spirit we do not understand the general potency of life dwelling
in all men and giving breath to living beings generally, 2 but the
supramundaue Spirit of God, who only comes on man exceptionally
to qualify him for work beyond his natural powers, and only
settles in permanence upon him extraordinarily, and, moreover, is
clearly distinguished from man's natural life-spirit (note A).
In accordance with the free working of this Divine Spirit, pro-
phecy is not bound to office and order. Even those who were
not organs of God by their life-calling might be seized momen-
tarily by Him, obtain glimpses into hidden things, and under the
1 Cf . with this section especially : A. Knobel, Der Prophetismus der Hebrder,
1837. Fr. Koster, Die Propheten des A. und N. T., 1838. Redslob, Der Begri/
des Nabi, 1839. Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament, vol. iv. p. 396.
A. Tholuck, Die Propheten des alten Bundes, 1860. H. Ewald, Die Propheten des
alien Bundes, 2nd ed. Bd. i. 1867. A. Dillmann, art. " Propheten," in Schenkel's
Bibellexicon, 1872. G. F. Oehler, Theology of the Old Testament, 1873 (T. & T.
Clark) ; cf. his art. " Prophetenthum," in Herzog's R.-E. H. Schultz, Alttesta-
mentliche Theologie, 2nd ed. 1878, p. 187 if. F. Hitzig, Biblische Theologle des
A. T. und messianischeWeissagungen, herausg. von Kneucker, 1880 (cf. also Hitzig's
Commentar zu Jesaja, the Introduction). Kleinert, art. "Prophet," in Riehm's
Handworterluch des biblischen Alterthums, 1880.
* Isa. xlii. 5 ; Job xxxiii. 4, xxxiv. 14 f. ; Ps. civ. 29 f. ; cf. Gen. ii. 7 ; Xura.
xvi. 22, xxvii. 16.
INTRODUCTION. 5
impulse of the same Spirit publish what they saw. In Genesis,
for example, such illuminations are related of the patriarchs,
especially before death. Prophetic words were uttered by
Balaam the heathen seer, by David the king, and in the New
Testament by Caiaphas the high priest. On the other hand, the
Old Testament prophecies come as a rule from the lips of those
who enjoyed in abiding converse with the Lord the gift of the
prophetic spirit more frequently and served as His standing
instruments. 1 Still they clearly distinguished their natural sub-
jectivity from revelation, and even as to time believed they heard
the word of the Lord and were empowered to speak in His name
only in stated hours.
The work of the prophet in prophesying is twofold, as is
expressed by his two most common appellations. He is called
n&p (seer), 2 and N 11 ^ (speaker^) (note B). The first name implies
the receptive, the second the productive side of his attitude.
On the former point Isidorus Hispal. (Etymol. viii. 1) says
not amiss : " Qui a nobis prophetae, in V. T. videntes appellantur,
quia videbant ea quae ceteri non videbant et prsespiciebant quae
in mysterio abscondita erant." Their endowment consists chiefly
in an extraordinary heightening of the perceptive faculty.
Whether the sensuous organs are or are not concerned in this is
primarily indifferent. But the essential element to be maintained
in prophecy 3 is, that it sees its contents before announcing them,
although as to time the two acts may be combined. For not merely
where the contents take sensuous forms, as in the vision proper,
but even where the more abstract medium of speech obtains, the
Hebrew designedly uses nth to express how the prophet came by
1 Such an one is called rpfin E^K, Hos. ix. 7 ; more generally
1 Sam. ix. 6.
2 According to 1 Sam. ix. 9 his earliest popular name. This passage proves that
the idea of n&\'~l an d fcfQj is substantially identical. Synonymous with it is nfh
beholder. But the verbs n&O an( l !"ltn must be distinguished to this extent, that
the former denotes simply the relation of the eye to an object which it sees, the
latter the dwelling of the glance on the form of an object, therefore on an image.
Accordingly, they are related to each other as our "seeing" and "beholding."
3 "We use the word "prophecy" in the more general sense, according to which it
is not so much the product of prophetic activity as rather a designation of this
activity itself. Both uses of the word are warranted linguistically. Cf. Rom.
xii. 6, 1 Cor. xii. 10, xiii. 2, with 1 Cor. xiii. 8, and -rpixfnTii* (from vptQtiTtv*)
with pnroptia. (from pnroptuu), the gift of rhetoric, then the artistic discourse itself.
Thus we do not need to take refuge in Knobel's phrase " prophetism. "
6 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
his knowledge. 1 The contents of prophecy are, consequently, not
sonic-thing thought out, inferred, hoped, or feared by the prophets,
but something directly perceived. This explains the categorical
certainty with which they announce their oracles. They know
these oracles to be independent of their own subjectivity. The
revelation comes before their gaze as something independent, nay,
belonging to another.
It is God who discloses 2 these things to them things with-
drawn from human gaze (fivartjpia in N. T. language). The
fundamental assumption always is, that the attitude of the
genuine prophet to the contents of his discourse, if not passive,
is primarily receptive. 3 Only false prophets announce what they
themselves have thought out or inferred on grounds of proba-
bility. 4 The heathen wonder-workers or diviners are called B^H
or D^irr " wise men " or " experts," because they fabricate
oracles by certain arts and devices. 5
What has thus forced itself on the seer in direct intuition as
divine certainty, lie then feels himself compelled by the same
power of the Spirit to utter. This divine causality, compelling
the seer not merely to see, but also to tell what he sees, is
pictured most vividly in Amos iii. 8 : " The lion hath roared,
who will not fear ? The Lord God hath spoken, who will not
prophesy ? " Just as involuntarily as one starts in terror when
the mighty voice of the king of beasts roars, must the prophet
prophesy when God's revealing word comes to him. 6 Only false
prophets are led by outward human considerations to proclaim
what pleases others or brings gain to themselves. 7 But when a
word has issued from that living stream of thought which the
prophet plainly distinguishes from his own thoughts and feelings,
he proclaims it not as his own conviction, but as a word of the
Lord, demanding correspondent obedience and the trust due to
1 Cf. the general headings, Amos i. 1 ; Isa. i. 1, ii. 1, xiii. 1 ; Micah i. 1 ; Bab.
i. 1, etc.
1 ^N VriD !"6ji Amos iii. 7 ; in N. T. language, a<n>x<rAi/'rTi< ftufripia*. It is
only another expression for the same circumstance to say, " God declares such things
to them, the word of the Lord came to them," or to introduce their discourse directly
with "Thus saith the Lord," or to accompany it with the clause, "the decree of
the Lord is" <" Q{<3
3 Cf. Isa. 1. 4 f. Cf. Jer. xxiii. 31 ff.
5 Cf. Ex. vii. 11 ; 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 9. 6 Cf. Jer. xx. 7, 9 ; 1 Kings xxii. 14 ff.
7 Cf. Micah ii. 11 f., iii. 5, 11 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 2, and elsewhere.
INTRODUCTION. 7
God. He is God's speaker, the organ through which the Invisible
One speaks audibly to His people. This lies directly in the
word N'23, which is interchanged in Ex. vii. 1, iv. 16, with
ns (mouth), the organ of speech. 1
Whilst it is a necessary part of the character of the true
prophet to be a seer and speaker of God in the way just ex-
plained, on the other hand it is not equally necessary that what
he sees and announces should relate to the future. Even the
historians, who illumined the foretime with the light of revelation,
wrote prophetically, because they made known God's ways in
the past. And what did not fall, locally or by its nature,
within the prophet's natural field of vision, might be revealed to
him in that way. 2 We may instance Ezekiel, who sees as
present what is far distant in space, and also the deep insight of
the prophets into their times and the hearts of their fellow-men. 3
But, of course, not only is the prophetic word always significant
for the future, because it announces divine truth, and because it
has the kingdom of God for its subject, having reference chiefly
to its future completion, but the divine mission of its bearers is
proved to the contemporary world most obviously by the fact
that they are able even, to lift the veil of the future. 4 The
Deuteronomic law expressly proposes this criterion for discrimi-
nating true and false prophets, that the result should confirm the
predictions of the former and falsify those of the latter. 5 Un-
doubtedly the prophets, whose writings we still have, owed their
high reputation in great part to the fulfilment of their oracles in
reference to the future, while later prophets laid great stress on
the fulfilment of earlier predictions. 6
1 Apuleius (De mundo, p. 288) : Prophetae deorum majestate completi effantur
caeteris, quse divino beneficio soli vident.
2 Chrysostom (in Tholuck, Die Propheten, 2nd ed. p. 23) : Ov /* Si T p.i\Koira.
TptQnTtias ifriv livrsTi, i/./.a xcci to, vrapi/.&o*Ta iffTi oi *ai <ra xttp'oiTO. irpo$r,Tiia,; ii-ruy,
O'TZV TI yinnTai f*i*, xfinrTr,Tou it.
3 Cf. 2 Kings vi. 12 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 24. Just as little does ^33 imply an express
T
reference of the utterance to the future. Prophetic discourse (K2J, S33Dn) which
was ecstatic especially in more ancient times, was often more distinguished by this
feature than by its contents from ordinary human discourse (cf. 1 Sam. x. 10 if., xix.
20 ff.). The Greek rpefnrtis also denotes, not one who foretells, but one qui profatur,
who expressed the obscure tones of the Pythia in the form of human language.
4 Cf. 1 Sam. ix. 6.
5 Deut. xviii. 22 ; cf. Jer. xxviii. 9, 14-17 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 33.
6 Isa. xxxiv. 16, xli. 21 ff., 26 ff., xlii. 9, xliii. 9.
8 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
If, then, we ask how this peculiar form of life which we call
prophecy is to be explained and estimated, certainly in a formal
respect the Shemitic- Hebrew disposition and temperament has
much to do with it, and must have its due weight in the ex-
planation. 1 To the Shemites (i.e. the Hebrews) and the tribes
akin to them in race, language, and character, a certain directness
of intuition is peculiar. While viewing a phenomenon in its
isolation, they bring it into direct connection with the supreme
cause dominating their thoughts. Whereas the Indo-Germans
strive to analyse the object by reflection and inquire into its
special nature, to subsume it under the next general idea and
refer it to its proximate causes, the Shemite directly sees the
divine in nature and history as well as in his own inner life, sees
the absolute in the particular and finite, and has little taste
for ideal abstraction and dialectic methods. His perception is
intuitive, not systematizing. He does not distinguish universally
valid truths from passing phenomenal forms ; but the truth
which (because it is divine, i.e. absolute) dominates him, seems
to him the absolutely essential thing in the particular concrete
form. Hence the undivided, undiluted certainty in a particular
judgment, which is not disturbed by the remembrance of diverse
dialectic cross-lines. This entire mode of thought, in com-
parison with that of Indo-Germans, is naive and childlike. This,
however, does not lessen its worth in regard to the perception of
the highest truths. The child that thinks it hears God's voice
in the rolling of the thunder, hits the mark more easily and
surely than the scientist, who must reason his way back through
a crowd of physical second causes to a supreme one, and just
here finds himself left in suspense by his infallible scientific
method. But comparative psychology plainly teaches this much,
namely, that the Shemites were more adapted by nature than other
peoples their equals or superiors in culture to see the absolute
in the finite, the working of God in nature, His action in history,
and to hear His words in the inner spiritual life of individuals.
1 Attempts to characterize Shemitism (or Hebraism) as natural genius, on the
basis of which Biblical prophecy rises with more or less independence, may be seen
in F. Hitzig, Der Prophet Jesaja, 1833, p. ix.-xxxiii., and in his Vorlesungen iiber
A. T. Theologie. E. Renan, Histoire gtnercde et systeme compart des langues
*em\tiques, prem. partie : Histoire generate des langues semitiques, Paris 1855, 4th
eil. 1864. G. Banr, Geschichte der A. T. Weisagung, ! Vorgeschichte, 1861,
p. 33 ff. R. F. Gran, Urtprunge und Ziele unstrer Cutturenticickelung, 1875.
INTKODUCTIOX. 9
As the ethnological factor is to be recognised in explaining
prophecy generally, so is the personal, individual factor in tracing
the derivation of particular oracles. The prophet is not a blank
mirror, on which divine images are cast that have no sort of exist-
ence in time and no connection with his peculiar character.
Formally, revelation joins on to existing conceptions, and is partly
determined in the shape it assumes by the temperament of the
prophet, the liveliness and cast of his imagination, his mental
training and calling in life. Dreams may serve as a comparison,
where our own conceptions occur to us, without our being masters
of them. Thus, Ezekiel sees the buildings of the temple, with
whose circumstances he was most familiar. An Amos brings
images from his shepherd-life.
But the question is, whether Biblical prophecy can be referred
to this natural genius of nations and individuals, without an un-
explained remnant being left. Even in a formal respect we must
deny this. We may indeed be reminded, by way of explaining
the conception of a divine agent in the prophet's consciousness of
other mental circumstances and conditions which are derived from
special divine causation, e.g. the melancholy of Saul, 1 Sam.
xvi. 14 ff., which is natural, as shown by the remedies applied to
it, and is yet said to be caused by an evil spirit sent by God, 1 or
the natural wisdom of Solomon, 2 or the technical skill of Bezaleel. 3
But, to say nothing of the fact that the Hebrews would not
ascribe these cases to nature, even measured by our standard, the
prophet's inner relation to his revelation remains still a psycho-
logical enigma. It is not a question here of a peculiar state of
mind or a permanent mental gift, but of particular previsions,
which are distinguished to a hair's-breadth from the prophet's
own thinking and feeling. Hebrew naivete did not go so far, as
one might suppose according to Hitzig's representation (ut ante,
p. 24), that among this people "the spirit was still unconscious
of its own internality (Innerlichkeit), and was still external to
itself, so that it could regard its own products, purposes, and
thoughts as something external and obtained from without." 4
The conscious, sharp severance between the prophet's human
feeling and opinion on one hand, and his word of revelation on
1 So Spiuoza, Tractatus Theologico-pol., cap. 1. * So Spinoza, ibid.
3 Ex. xxxi. 3 ; so Eedslob, as above.
4 Cf. his Biblische Theologie des A. T. p. 11 ff., 76 ff.
10 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
the other, is altogether inexplicable on this view. How differ-
ently Nathan is instructed by divine inspiration from what his
individual opinion suggested, 2 Sam. vii. 3, 4 ! A factor is
always lacking to the explanation of such discrimination and
immovable subjective certainty. The insufficiency of the old
rationalistic explanation, which made the prophet a man of
distinguished gifts of head and heart, an observer of life, a friend
of virtue and therefore of Deity, a predicter of bright or cloudy
days through that sure gaze into the future which escapes the
thoughtless worldling, 1 is self - evident. Moreover, the higher
intelligence and feeling as explained by Knobel, 2 and the native
conception, which Eedslob makes the basis, 3 are here seen to be
inadequate.
The clearer, in distinction from Shamanism, the intelligent
consciousness of the prophets remains in receiving their prophecies,
and the more their entire bearing is pervaded by moral, holy
earnestness, the less can their assertion of the divinity of the word
they announce be understood psychologically, unless a higher
power is present in their consciousness. An analogy to such
a power is furnished by the voice of conscience in its most
emphatic utterances, and by the spiritual life in its inmost, purest
converse with God. We are thus led to the explanation, which
is the only one known to the Bible itself, the theory of a super-
natural agent, who is the principle of prophecy. Of course from
the Deistic standpoint a living intervention of God is negatived
at once. The Pantheistic theory, it is true, does not cast doubt
on the divinity of these spiritual transactions, but it regards them
simply as products of heightened nature-power. "Whoever, on the
other hand, has mastered the Biblical idea of God, according to
which an entrance of the Divine Spirit who transcends nature into
the limits of finitude is the very essence of revelation, will discern
in prophetic communication the form in which the living God
made Himself known to His people in the preparatory age of the
Old Covenant.
Certainly the decisive proof of the divinity of prophecy must
always be sought in its contents. The value we put on these will
determine whether we are compelled and disposed to refer prophecy
T Hufnagel ; similarly Eichhorn, Griesinger. Cf. even Stutzmann in Knobel,
Proplietismus der Hebrder, i. p. 184.
* Ibid. I p. 179, 215 f. s Der Begri/des Nabi, p. 18.
INTRODUCTION. 1 1
to a supernatural cause. Before entering on the spirit and con-
tents of biblical prophecy, let us first search for phenomena of
analogous form in the extra-Israelitish world.
NOTE A. This current conception plainly follows from the expres-
sions with which the coming of this prophetic Spirit upon a man is
described : hy rvn, Num. xxiv. 2 ; 1 Sam. xix. 20, 23 ; 2 Chron.
xv. 1, xx. 14 ; or more violently hy btt, Ezek. xi. 5 ; and ^y rfaf,
1 Sam. x. 6, of sudden piercing, penetrating. Because it is a
power seizing man powerfully, often violently, riirp "P also stands
instead of nvi, 2 Kings iii. 15 ; Ezek. i. 3, iii. 14, 22, xxxiii. 22,
xxxvii. 1, xl. 1. It is also said of this Spirit : He puts on (B^>), a
man like a dress, thus making him His bodily veil (Judg. vi. 34 ;
1 Chron. xii. 18 ; 2 Chron. xxiv. 20). Along with this, hy rw is
found of the Spirit : to settle on one, rest on him (Num. xi. 26 ;
2 Kings ii. 15 ; Isa. xi. 2). In consequence of this the
Spirit of God is upon a man (Num. xi. 25 ; Isa. Ixi. 1). This
expression points to a permanent state of inspiration, in which,
however, its higher origin is also distinctly intimated. The dis-
penser of these extraordinary gifts is still more conspicuous, where
it is said of God : He gives (^J? jru, Num. xi. 29 ; Isa. xlii. 1) or
pours out (Joel ii. 28 f.) this Spirit on men. Accordingly it is
everywhere something new and higher that must come upon man
if his words are to be divine. And even where this Spirit has
become his permanent possession, this relation has taken its rise
from a divine, creative act, w T hich does not coincide with the
imparting of the general spirit of life, either as a rule in regard to
time, or in any case in regard to substance.
NOTE B. The signification of the word x^ cannot be obtained from
the Hebrew verbal stem K33, because of the latter only the denomi-
native formations niph. and hithp. occur : to act or behave as a &023-
On the other hand, the kal of the nearly-related JD3 occurs, at least in
the participle (Prov. xviii. 4) JD3 ^H3, bubbling brook, which mean-
ing is confirmed by the more frequent hiph. J^an, to make to gush
forth, pour forth abundantly, sounds or words for the most part
forming the object (Prov. xv. 2, 28 ; Ps. xix. 2, cxix. 171). With
this agrees also the signification of the Hebrew and Arabic root
23, to rise, come to light, swell, with many variations. The ques-
tion whether in 5033 the form ^Jp[5 is active or passive in meaning
has indeed been answered by most in the latter sense, because in
Hebrew it is almost always passive; cf. vpx, K^|5, roasted grain, along-
side "6i3 ; also Vjps, overseer, properly, one appointed to oversee,
alongside *npB. Accordingly Eedslob interprets : one made to
12 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
bubble (der Angcsprudclte), namely, with God's Spirit, who is
thought of originally as fine fluid, one inspired. Similarly Keil
(on Gen. xx. 7) : the God-addressed or inspired. With this may
be compared <i mn D3^> yaK (Prov. i. 23), although this very place
shows that ran means not to bubble, with accusative of person,
but can only be joined with the accusative of the thing. Just
tit
as passively Kb'ster : instructed, taught; he appeals to ljJ> and
Hupfeld. But such a passive derivation is plainly unjust to the
sense of the Hebrew word, which may be most clearly seen by
comparing Ex. vii. 1 with iv. 16. Also the compromises
between the passive and active sense, attempted by Oehler and
previously by Schultz, are unnatural. On the other hand, the
matter assumes a perfectly simple shape when the active, or at
least intransitive, signification of the form ^DP is recognised from the
first. That this signification occurs in Hebrew, is proved by 7*01^
locusts, properly devourers, T'pn, which Hupfeld wrongly interprets
in the passive : favoured, B^B, fugitive, P'ny, glistening, synonymous
with pny D!?B, Ewald, Ausf. L. R 149 e. Cf. also Hitzig on
Sefarya, i. 11. Katil so intensifies the active participle as to
make it express a permanent quality. In Arabic the form
stands far oftener in the active sense ( J^Ull L5 -**t), and Fleischer
(Delitzsch, Comm. zu Genesis, 4th ed. p. 551 ff.) has proved that
s
especially the ;, exactly corresponding to our word, is to be so
regarded. Cf. also Marti, Jahrb. fur protcstantische Theologie, 1880,
i. p. 147. If there can no longer be any doubt respecting the
active signification of this word (which is also acknowledged by
Delitzsch, von Hofmann, Ewald, Dillmann, and now by Schultz),
the question at most is, whether the word describes the prophetic
discourse as breaking forth involuntarily, violently (the bubbler),
in which case the peculiarity distinguishing the Nabi from other
speakers would lie in the utterance itself, or whether we should be
content with the meaning divulger, announcer, speaker, and then
supply conventionally : of God and divine secrets. The latter is
*.' i
favoured by the Arabic Ijj, as well as by the parallels quoted by
Ewald (on Jesaja, p. 7) : Sanscrit vddi or fddica, Latin votes, from
vad, to speak, Moses = <dll J and (J^u among the Druses =
prophet. At all events, the Assyrio-Babylonian God Nebo,
so called as the speaker, revealer, has his name from the
INTRODUCTION. 1 3
same word. See Schrader, Jahrb. fur prot. Theol. 1875,
p. 338 ff.
2. Are Phenomena analogous to Biblical Prophecy to be found in
the Field of Heathenism ? *
The possibility of Deity speaking directly to and through man
is often assumed in antiquity outside the Bible. We find there
a widespread opinion, that man has the capacity, in virtue of his
spiritual nature, of hearing the voice of Deity. 2 And in particular,
it is supposed that individuals are endowed with capacity for so
doing, and enjoy closer converse with the gods, so that, initiated
into their counsel, they are able to foreannounce it. This presci-
ence of the future is not acquired through the intellect, but the
soul is made directly aware of the future. 3 Such knowledge is
the result of divine power and gift. 4 More precisely, it is the
Divine Spirit who comes upon and fills man in order to speak
through him, so that, possessed by a higher power, he is detached
from his subjective thinking and feeling (note A).
Thus the main general conditions of prophecy seem present
here also. Nor can it be asserted without qualification that this
inspiration, in distinction from that of the Israelitish prophets, is
one that completely annihilates the moral individuality of the
recipient. Alongside such phenomena as are presented in Shaman-
ism we find also the higher conception, approximating more
1 Cf. with this section, especially : In Pauly's Realencyklopadie der classischen
Alterthumsmssenschaft, Metzger's art. " Divinatio," ii. p. 1113-1185 (1842). Nagels-
bach, Homerische Theologie, 2nd ed. 1861, p. 149-194, his Nachhomerische Theo-
logie, 1857, p. 157-191. Tholuck, Die Propheten und ihre Weissagungen, 2nd ed.
1860, p. 1 ff. G. F. Oehler, Ueber das Verhdltniss der A. T. Prophelie, zur held-
nischen Mantik, Oliickwunschschreiben, Tubingen, 1861. P. Scholz, Gtitzendienst
und Zauberwesen bei den alten Hebrdern und den benachbarten Volkern, 1877.
Lenormant, DieMagie und Wahrsage-Kunst der Chaldder, 1878, especially p. 421 ff.
2 Cf. the beautiful passages in Ovid, the first describing rather man's relation to
the transcendent, the second that to the immanent Deity : Est deus in nobis et sunt
commercia coeli. Sedibus setheriis spiritus ille venit (Ars Amat. iii. 549 ff. ). Est
deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo. Impetus hie sacrse semina mentis habet
(Fast. vi. 5f.).
3 Cf. Plato, Phcedrus, p. 242, c. 20 (pavrixov n n ^v^n) : Cicero, De divinatione,
i. p. 1, 6. Plato calls such knowledge inurvhu.* vp/>(r'$i*.u'rixt> aviv u<riti>.tt<.u;. Plutarch
also remarks expressly : auruXXay/Wa/j K,VT'.TO,I rou ^sAXovros (De def. orac. c. 40).
4 etitf l!rtt S.Sa^snj, Plato, Phcedr. 244. Cf. Cicero, De divinat. i. 6, ii. 63 ; De
Leg. ii. 13.
14 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
closely to Israelitish prophecy, that man receives oracles with
a certain personal independence, and these oracles are partly
conditioned by his individual peculiarities. 1
But, first of all, it is to be noted, that both the direct intercourse
of the gods with men, and also their revelation through individual,
spiritually illuminated seers, where these things occur, scarcely
ever belong to historical times, but to that happier age when gods
and men lived together in more intimate and unconstrained inter-
course. Eich as the mythical period everywhere is in such
intercourse, much as fable has to relate (e.g. among the Hellenes)
of the elect favourites of the gods, 2 to whom it was granted to
behold past, present, and future, these noble figures remain on the
threshold of the nation's historical life. In Homer, the seer
Tiresias, Calchas(//. a. 69 ff.), Helenas (II rj. 44 f.), Polydamas
(II. or. 250), Amphiaraos (Od. o. 244 ff.), Halitherses (Od. a>. 451),
still stand in high esteem ; but already they rely in part on out-
ward signs, which they have only to interpret (cf. Halitherses, Od.
/3. 157ff.). And while traces of doubt respecting such divine
gifts are found even thus early (//. o>. 220 ff. ; Od. a. 415 ff.), the
seers sometimes appearing in historical times, who prophesied
extempore in accordance with an inner spiritual communication,
were regarded as adventurers, at least by the educated. 3 Apart
from the spiritual import of the divine oracles, we see a funda-
mental antithesis in this respect to the Israelitish literature, where
the prophets, sustained by the bare power of the Spirit, appeared in
every period of the classical history, and were able to maintain
their reputation in presence of a critical age.
And yet the whole of heathen antiquity thirsted for divine
revelation, and listened and looked for every intimation of the
Deity. Even the precarious substitutes sought and found in
place of prophecy exercised incredible influence on the entire life
of heathen nations, both cultured and uncultured. We have now
to consider somewhat more closely the variety of means by which
men sought to place themselves in contact with Deity.
The less a divinely superior power positively entered into con-
sciousness, the greater the attention given in the heathen world
1 See Plutarch's account, De defectu orac. 21, 22.
2 Cf. as to the Chinese, in Victor v. Strauss, Schi-kiny (1880), p. 7, the words of
the supreme God to King Wen.
3 Cf. Nagelsbach, Nachhomerische Theologie, p. I74f.
INTKODUCTION. 1 5
to such utterances as at least did not seem to be under the control
of man's reflective consciousness. Involuntary, inevitable present^
ment was regarded as a reflection of the divine will. Nor was it
always illusory, but often inexplicably fitted in to the connection
of events. So far as such feeling is of moral character, divine
dignity cannot be wholly refused to it. Compare the Bamoviov of
Socrates in its affinity with conscience. Presentiments at the
moment of death seemed least deceptive, 1 since man was then all
but released from bodily life and its limiting influences.
In particular, dreams were marked out by their relative indepen-
dence of conscious thought as inspirations of a higher power. In
ancient Egypt as in the Homeric world, among the ancient Eomans
as among the Germans, among the Babylonians as among the
Chinese 2 (and where not ?), they were often held of the highest
importance. 3 Experience indeed showed that their reality could
not be trusted without reserve. Already in Homer (Od. r. 560 ff.)
dreams are divided into such as issue from the ivory gate and
befool men (as intended occasionally by the gods), and such as
issue from the gate of horn and are trustworthy. No criterion
by which to distinguish them is known. In dream a deity or a
departed spirit may appear and speak to the sleeper, so that he
receives intelligible information. But the dream-image is also
often symbolic, needing interpretation, as in the Egyptian story
in Joseph's life and the Babylonian in Daniel's. Hence an
important branch of ancient mantism is always dream-interpreta-
tion, which, of course, degenerated into wilful trickery, unless a
spirit possessing control over the system of nature inspired the
interpretation as well as the dream (Gen. xl. 8, xli. 16). For the
rest, the Bible, while placing dreams at God's service, draws a
clear distinction between dream -vision and prophetic vision.
Zechariah's night-visions are no dreams. The Arabs also keep
the two apart, placing the dream, which always has something
sensuous about it, far below the vision. 4
The significance attributed to dreams led to express efforts to
produce dreams by artificial means, 5 and to the setting up of
1 Cf. Plato, Apol. Socr. 30. 2 Strauss, Schi-king, p. 11.
3 Cf. H. a.. 63, xxi ya.f r / tx Ait; tffny ; /3. 22. 56. Od. |. 495, &'.7e; evupos. See
especially Cicero, De, divinatione, i. 29.
4 Cf. Fleischer's remark in Delitzsch's Biblical Psychology, p. 332. T. & T.
Clark.
5 Cf. as to the ancient Egyptians, Ebers, Mfjijpten und die Biicher Hose's, i. 321 f.
16 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
dream-oracles. 1 We find this wilful inducing of an unconscious
state, in order to obtain higher revelation, especially in ecstasy,
which seemed all the more favourable to higher influence, because it
was always regarded as a momentary possession by a higher power.
Even the settled state of lunacy was explained by the sway of a
demon, on which account lunatics were sacred, as they still are
among the Bedouins. 2 But in temporary ecstasy the inspired
state differed still more from the natural. Of course there are
countless gradations in it, from the rational self-control which is
laid hold of by inspiration, up to complete loss of self-control,
where a real alienatio mentis intervenes. Cicero describes the
furor, where the spirit, withdrawn from the body, is excited
by divine impulse (instinctus), as a heightening of the presentient
faculty natural to man. 3 Elsewhere also with respect to this
enthusiasm, which has something in common with the state of
drunkenness, release from the ties of the body, unshackling the
soul, is held to condition the revelation of the divinity slumbering
within. 4
The exalted state then (pavta) being regarded as a voucher for
supernatural discourse, attempts were made to induce it by arti-
ficial means. Thus arose mantism (divination) in the proper sense
of the word (fiavn/cij, sc. re-^vrf]. Stupefying vapours, herbs,
movements, conduced to this end. In this way a mysterious
state was brought about, such as not seldom presents itself in the
diseased human organism (somnambulism, etc.). What was said
in this state was no longer under the control of reflection, and
often went beyond the field of ordinary perception in a surprising
manner.
1 Kings xviii. 26 depicts a dance designed to induce the state
of madness, similar to the conduct of dervishes to-day. The
opposite to this is beautifully seen in Elijah, who without artificial
intensity of feeling, relying on bare faith in the living God,
accomplishes more by his simple prayer than the whole crowd of
Baal's prophets. It is true, even the K*2J is in a sense released
from bodily life and the limits of his surroundings ; nay, some
1 See in Pauly, as above, ii. 1124 f. ; and as to the Babylonians, Lenormant, p. 404.
1 Cf. v. Orelli, DurcWs heilige Land, 2nd ed. p. 140 f.
3 De divinatione, i. 31 f., and especially i. 50.
4 So especially by Plato and Plutarch. Cf. the latter's utterance, De def. orar.
39 : r, $ux>l Tilt ftatrix.*!* eux itixra.Ta.1 ltitap.it tKf>a.ffa. TOU ffup.a.rt>s, uttrif v'ifcu;, aXX'
i-^auffet Kxt i;y, rvQKovTati 3< Tj irpif r fttiron a.\Kfiis,n a,VTr,s nai ffv-y%vfin.
INTEODUCTION. 1 7
hints in the older history show us prophets in a state of stupor,
like that of possession (cf. the casting away of clothes, 1 Sam.
xix. 24). But if inspiration took this violent form in the disciples
of the prophets and in a Saul, this was not the case in a Moses,
in Samuel, in an Isaiah or Jeremiah. Those indeed who had to
convey the Word to men appear more or less in a state of unusual
excitement and enthusiasm, which is seen even in the form of
their written oracles. But the security for the divinity of their
message does not lie in their speaking in a half-conscious or un-
conscious state, but they heard the voice of the Lord and saw His
visions with clear consciousness. 1 Balaam is rather an example
of a clairvoyant. The emphasizing of his state in his account of
himself should be observed, Num. xxiv. 3 f. Nearly allied to this
example is the Shamanism still flourishing among the Tunguse. 2
Here by outward incitements the physico-mental torpor is induced,
which makes a man the channel of words, whose meaning he
himself does not know.
Among the Hellenes also such artificial inspiration is found.
The Pythian oracle has such an origin. Vapours rising from a
rift in the earth were used to stupefy the Pythia, her words or
sounds being then expounded by priests (-nyjo^Tai). 3 Such
interpretation gave still larger play to human influence. The
interpreting priests were of necessity regarded as inspired by
the Deity. But, in any case, something human inheres in the
artificial character of every oracle, since the initiative belongs
to man.
If, in a state of emancipation from the limits of reflection,
such as occurs in dreams, lunacy, and at the approach of death,
special disclosures were expected from man's spirit respecting
what was concealed from it in the normal state, they were espe-
cially expected from the spirits of the departed, to whom of
necessity insight was granted into the other world where the
roots of earthly events lie. As the demons were supposed to
know what was hidden from man, 4 so also the souls of the
1 The LXX. rightly translate the Hebrew 5033 invariably by v/>o$nm{, never by
/ttavr/j.
2 See Tholuck as above, p. 8 ff.
3 Cf. Justin, xxiv. 6 : Profundum terrse foramen, quod in oracula patet, ex quo
frigidus spiritus, vi quadam velut vento in sublime expulsus, mentes vatum in
vecordiam vertit, impletasque deo responsa consulentibus dare cogit.
4 Cf. Dieterici, Thier und Mensch vor dem Kdnig der Genien, Leipzig 1879,
OKELLI. B
18 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
departed, to whom a demon-like existence was ascribed. Hence
necromancy (calling up and questioning the dead) is found
among the most diverse nations, Babylonians, 1 Egyptians,' 2
Canaanites (Deut. xviii. 12), Persians, 3 Thracians, 4 Greeks, 5 Etrus-
cans, and Romans. 6 In the Old Testament this mode of ascertain-
ing future events is not seldom mentioned, of course as a gross
abuse altogether in opposition to the Divine Spirit. We thus see
that this gift of summoning spirits was not a general one, but was
only in the power of certain media who had a divining demon
(note B).
The strict prohibition in the divine law, which directs all its
severity against such over-curious arts that were held criminal
even among the Babylonians, 7 was fully justified by their ungodly
character. Not merely was the imposture connected with these
things condemned, while the folly of the superstition is also
emphasized, 8 but still more the guilty licence with which man
transgresses the limits of the sphere allotted to him, in which
divine revelations enough were granted. In 1 Sam. xxviii. we
see that this art was not always ineffectual, but that occasionally
it might lead man to knowledge, although never to salvation.
That conscious deceit played a part in these inquiries from
the first and everywhere, is a quite untenable supposition. The
wide extension and the high importance attributed to these
oracles imply of necessity that, if nothing substantial lay beneath
apparitions of the dead, the deception was originally at least a
universal self-deception, in which even the media were involved.
As in magic everywhere, art was resorted to afterwards, and so
the superstition was purposely turned to profit. Ventriloquism
often produced the voices ; yet the beginning of the superstition
is not to be sought in mere art. How far demonic influences
were actually at work, is a question we need not examine here,
and one which lies beyond the reach of scientific examination.
p. FT i_^jui!l ^Lii' >^J (jyuJ^I ^y ( .^\ l^-O l^j (the demons persuaded
men that they knew what is hidden).
1 Cf. Lenormant, p. 508 ff. ; Scholz, p. 89 ff. * Cf. Isa. xix. 3.
3 Cf. Strabo, xvi. 2. * Cf. Herod, iv. 94 If.
6 Cf. Odyss. xi. 29 fF. ; Argonaut, iii. 1030 ff. ; Ovid, Met. vii. 240 ff. ; see Greek
or.icles of the dead in Nagelsbach, Nachhom. Theol. p. 189.
6 See on Etruscans and Romans, Lenormant, p. 512.
7 Lenormant, p. 517. Isa. viii. 19.
INTRODUCTION. 1 9
In the case mentioned in 1 Sam. xxviii., a divine interposition is
to be supposed, such as may occur also in dreams.
But the yearning of all ancient nations for living intercourse
with the Deity, and inquiry into His will, early attached itself
to other revelations than to speech springing from the human
spirit in those of its emotions which were regarded as divine.
As the Deity Himself was believed to be most directly known in
nature, so His intimations were there most certainly apprehended.
In lightning and thunder, in the flight of birds, in the rustling
of the wind, in the state of the stars, divine voices, hints, and
signs were recognised from the earliest days. Certainly special
inner illumination was needed rightly to understand such repara
and o-?7//,eta, and thus, in Homer, their interpretation was
practised by the seers, or a definite class of seers, at least pre-
eminently. Signs and interpretation were also often exposed
to the attacks of scepticism by reason of their ambiguity and
untrustworthiness. 1 And in this field mantism proper developed
into a profession, observing and interpreting natural phenomena
by certain rules of art apart from all inspiration.
But even where, in the noblest, because most direct manner,
the secrets of Deity are discovered in the sighing of the wind,
the rustling of the grain, the murmur of the fountain, something
obscure, indefinite clings to such intimations, plainly distinguish-
ing them from clear prophetic speech. An enigmatic character
belongs essentially to such natural revelation as the Hellenes
and Romans under Oriental influence personified in the Sibyl. 2
And where, as at Dodona or Delos, in some sanctuary of nature
a standing oracle was established, 3 of necessity in the course of
time purely rational observation, or even calculation that avails
itself of any kind of help, and in the best case the moral con-
sciousness, take the place of immersion in nature. Most of the
oracles, even the one at Delphi, 4 although somewhat differently,
1 Cf. Nagelsbach, Homerische Theologie, p. 177 ff.
3 Cf. H. Ewald, Abhandlung iiber Entstehung und Werth der Sibyllinischen Biicher,
1858, p. 8.
3 At Dodona the natural media of divination were the motion of the leaves in the
sacred oak (<pyxx<j/*av<r/a), the murmur of the spring, and the sound of the wind
beating against the brazen cymbals ; at Delos the rustling of the laurel.
4 It is disputed whether at Dodona originally a personal medium was put into
a state of mania, or oracles were constructed from the whistling of the outrushiiu;
wind.
20 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
appealed to the intimate union of man with nature, and were
able long to maintain their reputation partly by this means,
partly by the co-operation of the moral sense, which owes not a
little to the stimulus of natural surroundings. Still men like
Socrates, Xenophon, Plato (especially in the Timseus) speak in
high terms of them, and the Stoics as well ; whilst the Peripa-
tetics, Cynics, Epicureans, and in the same way for different
reasons a Lucian, Aristophanes, Demosthenes, hold them in little
esteem. Even the symbolic obscurity, nay, ambiguity, of the
oracular utterances gave little offence, from the right feeling that
such features had their reason in the nature of the Deity.
Occasionally the purpose was recognised of provoking the
inquirers in this way to reflection, and so of appealing to the
revelation in the human breast (Herod, i. 53, 55). But here an
essential distinction is obvious between the groping and feeling
after the Deity who reveals himself only in dim twilight, and
the God who really speaks like one spirit to another in clear
speech.
If a sort of inspiration by the spirit of nature underlies these
mantic oracles, this inspiration fell into the shade the more that
attention was directed to mere observation of the outward
phenomenon. There were not wanting indeed, on the soil of
heathenism, acute observation and research into nature, under-
taken for the purpose of learning the divine will and work.
Exact knowledge of the stars and calculation of their course
grew out of the effort to discover the powers ruling in life, and
to foresee what was to be expected from them. The Chaldcea)is l
were the most successful labourers in this field, and won the fame
among all ancient nations of the best and most systematic
acquaintance with divination. By the priestly caste, which went
by the name of " Chaldseans " among other nations, divination
was carried on in higher style, in accord with their higher con-
ception of nature and Deity. Philo 2 excellently characterized
their theory of the world in saying that they identify God and
nature, making everything to be determined by fate and necessity.
Cf. Diodor. Sic. ii. 30 : No phenomenon or event on earth is
accidental or spontaneous, every one is determined beforehand by
the gods. The system pervading the universe, according to their
view, necessarily made it possible to discover natural as well as
1 Cf. Lenormant, p. 421 ff. De Migr. Abr. 32.
INTRODUCTION. 2 1
human events from the indications given in nature. Continued
observation might lead to some degree of certainty, e.g., in
weather-omens. It was especially the stars to which, as higher
powers, a determining influence upon earthly events was
ascribed, and from their state accordingly conclusions were
drawn respecting the course of human transactions. The more
systematic the observation of nature, especially of the stars, the
more must the thought of law, instead of capricious chance, have
occurred to man ; only in subordinating human events to natural
law the theory of the world became of necessity fatalistic.
Even where alongside this more scientific divination, and
partly among the same nations, more isolated natural phenomena,
having less of a cosmical character, were explained as presages,
the basis assumed is the connection between visible nature and
man's invisible, still unaccomplished destiny. If not a science,
at least a fixed method was taken as guide, the signs having to
be interpreted according to definite rules. Here comes in the
interpretation of extraordinary natural phenomena, such as earth-
quakes, untimely births, etc., observation of the lightning and
clouds, of the flight of birds, of the pecking of fowl, 1 inspection of
entrails, all which auguries are found in specially elaborated
forms among the Babylonians, Etruscans, Romans, and to some
extent among the Greeks. To the same class belongs also the
observation of tortoise-shells among the Chinese. 2 In all this
men saw symptoms of the life of nature, from which, because of
the intimate connection of the latter with man's life, conclusions
might be drawn respecting that life, provided one understood the
method to be followed, which soon became the business of a special
guild (e.g. the Etruscan Lucumones) and formed the subject of a
special sacred literature. At first, the unexpected flight of a bird
seemed significant. Later, such observation was reduced to rule.
At first men interpreted by the instinct of the moment, then by
rules, last of all by a code of rules embodied in written tradition.
In particular, the Stoic school, in order to justify the whole
system of divination, pointed to the (rvfnrddeia binding the
universe together, the cognatio, concentus or consensus naturcef in
1 Cf. the Slavic horse-oracle in Riigen, Jul. Lip pert, Die Rdigionen der europ-
ilinchen Culturvolker, 1881, p. 99.
2 Cf. Strauss, Scld-king, p. 10 ; Faber, Licitts, p. 72.
3 Cf. Cicero, De divinatione, ii. 14, 58, 60, 69; De natura deorum, ii. 7, iii. 11, 28.
22 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
virtue of which the individual being, and not least the animal,
feels instinctively along with all nature, and has presentiments of
much that happens. 1 But it is evident how easily popular conscious-
ness might lose this connection and persist in blind adherence to
single auguries, whilst philosophical speculation was of necessity
just as easily led astray by this popular faith.
Next in order to this prophetic application of single natural
phenomena comes the use of certain apparatus to arrive at unknown
results. Such was the hydrornancy of the Egyptians, prophecy
by means of the water in a cup, whose rising bubbles were
the material of interpretation, etc. The lot appealed more
directly to the Deity. Here the ruling principle is, that what is
not determined by man is determined by the Deity. The lot
was cast with various instruments dice, arrows, wands, etc.,
among the Babylonians, 2 Arabians, 3 and others. Of the lot, as of
the dream, it is true that God may employ it. 4 On the other
hand, he has not given man the right to consult Him at pleasure.
Whether the Uriin and Thummim was a special privilege of the
people of God, a kind of lot, or whether the answer was read in
the shining of the precious stones, 5 or the medium was of another
kind, is matter of dispute. But the import of the answers given
by this oracle is as different from 0. T. prophecy as its character.
It served an essentially different end from the standing institute.
In it the will of God of course the relation of God and the
nation being in a normal state might be ascertained in doubtful
cases. It was a supreme court of appeal in grave decisions
affecting the commonwealth. The answer was always a direction
in reference to the particular case, without further explanation.
No spiritual illumination of man was connected with it.
Let us return to the appliances of heathen divination. Like
the primitive lot, chance also as a divine ordinance, and conse-
quently the incidental circumstances of an action (especially a
religious one), appeared presignificant to the piety of ancient
times. Not merely meeting certain animals and meeting men,
but a word addressed to one without intention, and the like, had
1 Cf. the suggestive reasoning in Cicero, De div. i. 15, cf. 48, ii. 14, 34, 35, 72.
* Cf. Lenormant, p. 430 ff. ; Ezek. xxiv. 6 f., and Jerome on the passage.
3 Cf. the details in Scholz, p. 75. Respecting the Slavs, cf. Lippert, p. 100 ; the
Germans, p. 189.
* Cf. Jonah L 7 ; Acts i. 24 ff.
5 Cf. the oracle in the Libyan Ammonium, Diod. xxvii. 50 ; Curt. iv. 7.
INTRODUCTION. 23
the force of an omen. In distinction from auguries, these omens
presented themselves unsought. Human caprice is the more
evident in them as the individual might accept or decline the
omen he encountered or even interpret it in his favour, if he
only had the necessary presence of mind, which freedom Pliny
(xxviii. 4) describes as a great prerogative bestowed by God on
man. As the higher unity of nature is presupposed in the
auguries mentioned before, so in these omens the presupposition
is a unity of events that excludes chance. Thus it is wrong to
speak of a " fetishism of chance" (de Wette) in the original
teaching of religions, although adherence to single signs degene-
rated into this.
Let us sum up. The universal search of the nations for
revelations of the Deity and indications of His will proves a
vividly - felt need of self - revelation on His part, a need
making itself directly felt in man as he stands with childlike
simplicity in presence of God and nature. But although points
of attachment were given to the nations in nature and history,
intellect and conscience, in which they might discern the Deity,
still the uncertain, superstitious, inquisitive, and insane feeling
after divine revelations beyond the sphere in which God was
pleased to make Himself known to them, shows how little these
revelations could satisfy the natural man with his nature
corrupted and power of perception weakened by sin. But great
as was the error and selfishness of the course man took, it was
the outcome of the noble hunger for God implanted in him and
nowhere fully satisfied in heathenism. With this the revelation
of the Lord to Israel stands in powerful contrast. He announces
His ways, usually unsought, in clear speech, through His Spirit,
who is essentially distinct from the spirit of nature, a free,
moral power, and distinct also from the national spirit, a holy,
chastening, and redeeming power of God.
This contrast loses nothing of its greatness when we take
into account the nations bordering on and allied to Israel. No
doubt a common spiritual inheritance is traceable among the'
Edomites, Arabians, Moabites, etc. ; but whilst these tribes more
and more blended the knowledge of God transmitted to them
with heathenism, and thus became involved in the errors
described above, in Israel alone a converse with God was main-
tained, worthy of the majesty and condescension of the Supreme
24 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Spirit, and conducive to His farther revelation. Of prophecy
there is little sign in these tribes. The " wise men " are there
the depositories of the knowledge of God, inherited from
antiquity. Of a future plan of God they have nothing to tell.
To say nothing of individual poets in Mohammed's age, almost
the sole remnant of prophetic discourse is preserved to us in the
Koran, which claims to be inspired by God. But although
points of similarity even in form are not to be overlooked
between the admonitions of the Biblical seers and those of the
prophet of Mecca, the latter is destitute of the originality which
must be postulated in an epoch-making prophet, and still more
in a religious founder. The inspiration also is rather morbidly
sought than one that bursts forth by inner constraint. At
the same time, religious enthusiasm is not to be denied
to Mohammed's discourses. Especially in the older Suras it is
present in a high degree. But his language is related to that
of the prophets pretty much as the confused tirades of a
spiritualistic medium, made up of motley reminiscences, and
held together by mere pathos, are related to the works of the
spirits whom he professes to represent. Mohammed is through-
out an epigonus of Biblical literature, and what he has of
national character in common with the prophets of the Old
Covenant is too little to raise him to the height from which
they bear their testimony through the sovereign Spirit of
God.
We come to the conclusion that no phenomenon analogous
to Biblical prophecy, even in form, is anywhere to be found
in the world of nations. It is true, all nations sought after
special divine revelations beyond what reason and conscience
taught them of the working of the Deity in nature and history,
and expected to succeed by the intensifying of human suscepti-
bility and by immersion in the unconscious nature-power. But
such means of becoming acquainted with the divine, such
morbid self-enhancing of the human spirit, artificially enfeebling
it up to the point of unconscious surrender to the dominion
of nature, is opposed to the true nature of God, and can only
lead farther away from Him ; whereas His Spirit reveals Himself
in Israel by clear speech in keeping with His dignity.
NOTE A. A furor divinus, a tff-o'oeuffroj opw, overpowers the
seer. Cf. Plato, Timaus, p. 71, 72 (also Liicke, Ojfenbar/ /////
INTRODUCTION. 2o
JoJiannis, i. 32 f.) ; Cicero, De divin. i. 6, 18, 49. De natura
deorum, ii. 6 ; Livy, v. 15. More general expressions are agitari
Deo, xars'^idSai rov &so\J. Hence, too, the name pavrtg, from
fta!vo/jt.ai (on the etymon, see Curtius, Grundzuge, i. n. 429), which
expression is then certainly transferred to every kind of divina-
tion. In Cicero (De div. i. 6) we find a twofold genus divinandi
distinguished, the first of which was artificial, the second natural.
To the former technical class belong all mechanical observations
of signs ; to the latter, among others, mantism proper, in which
the spirit is excited by higher power. Only the latter will bear
comparison, to a certain extent, with Hebrew prophecy.
NOTE B. Such a demon is called nix or. ^yT, the Knower,
minister of knowledge, yet not the same as JU = diviner, cf.
wise woman, etc. (Gesenius, Delitzsch), but originally (like
applying to the spirit (so Fiirst, Concordance) who conveys
knowledge (cf. Bafauv, according to Plato = duqpuv, cf. nvduv), and
then transferred to the 2ix bj?3, 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 9, and often. 2iN
is variously derived, from 21S, to be holloio (whence skin-bottle),
then to sound dull (Gesenius, Delitzsch), because the departed
spirit has a hollow, dull voice, speaking from the bowels of the
earth. Cf. Isa. xxix. 4. On the other hand, according to Lenor-
mant, 516 f., Scholz, 91 : the Accadian ubi. In Deut. xviii. 11 the
interrogating the dead is distinguished from the ob and yid'oni.
Still, according to 1 Sam. xxviii. (cf. Isa. viii. 19), the two are so
closely connected that the ob or yid'oni (i.e. the conjuring spirit)
formed the medium through which its possessor could conjure up
the dead at pleasure.
3. The Kingdom of God as the Subject of Biblical Prophecy.
The material characteristics of Biblical prophecy are in
harmony with the formal ones specified in 1. If the prophet
sees what the Lord reveals to him and speaks to men as God's
organ, it is to be expected that his announcement will have the
will of God for its subject, so far as God sees fit to make it
known to His Church, but may also contain everything received
by the Church as God's will. In point of fact, God's entire
revelation to Israel is traced back to the message of prophets.
This is the case above all with the fundamental Torah, by which
God regulated and ordered the life of the nation in accordance
with His will. Moses is first of all a prophet. 1 And all the
1 Hos. xii. 13.
2G OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
many-sidedness of the Torah, containing indiscriminately general
ethical commands alongside judicial and ritual laws, precepts
for personal life alongside public ordinances, finds its unity
precisely in the principle of the theocracy, which is absolutely
supreme over civil as well as religious life, over individuals as
well as the community, over externals as well as over the inner
life of every member of the sacred nation. As certainly as this
legislation, traced back by the whole of tradition to primitive
prophetic revelation, was regarded as an expression of God's
will, so certainly must subsequent prophecy be based upon it
and essentially agree with it. 1 Of. Deut. xiii. 1-3 : If a
prophet, legitimatized even by miracles, set himself in opposition
to the fundamental law of the theocracy, his word was to go
for nothing. The will of God, who had planted His kingdom
among this people, could only remain in force, reveal and realize
itself more and more fully, by the Lord raising up through His
Spirit further witnesses to the same, who should vivify, com-
plete, and deepen the incomplete and often misunderstood law.
Moreover, the rule of God was to prevail in a very different extent
and intensity from what was the case in that establishment of
the divine nationality which was always imperfectly carried out,
and always to some extent remained an ideal. None but these
speakers of God could discern and announce God's will beyond
those limits.
As prophecy had God's previous revelations for its basis, so
it had the glory of the Supreme and the carrying out of His
will (i.e. His rule, His kingdom) for its goal. "What is made
known to the seers can never be knowledge devoid of this divine
ground and aim. 2 A clairvoyance without such consecration,
a divination 3 in the service of human curiosity or earthly gain,
would be as different from Biblical prophecy as heathenism
from God's kingdom. The Bible is so far from regarding all
1 In reference to the relation of prophecy to the law, cf. C. J. Bredenkamp, Geactz
und Propheten, ein Seitrag zur A. T. Kritik, 1881.
2 A certain overlooking of the specific cause and higher aim of the miraculous
vision of the prophets might perhaps not seldom be found among the great super-
ficial crowd ; cf. 1 Sam. ix. 9. The same thing meets us in our Lord's miracles.
3 Our phraseology distinguishes the "prophesying" that is the product of
noble, divine inspiration from the mechanical "divining," that in any case is not
inspired by any ideal power. This distinction certainly has no etymological ground ;
cf. Hofmaun, Weissaijinnj und ErfiiUung, i. p. 12.
INTRODUCTION. 2 7
supernatural knowledge and power as truly divine that it is
aware of demonic divining and diabolic miracles. But the
same divine causality and purpose in prophecy that excludes
everything having no reference to the rule of God, gives it also
a breadth of action in correspondence with the absoluteness of
its author. The prophet is able to receive disclosures respecting
Israel and heathen nations, the past and future, nature and
history, inasmuch as all space and time are under the control of
his God. He can announce the general moral law obligatory on
all men, as well as foreannounce the fate of a particular person.
Thus in prophecy the outward is not severed from the inward,
the spiritual from the physical, the particular from the general.
As a rule, the general appears in the form of the particular, the
spiritual in concrete embodiment. Events are foretold in definite
form ; their time and place are foredetermined.
Just these particular details in prophecy, inaccessible by
inference from general principles or other rational means, have
always seemed to apologists of special importance in proving
the supernatural origin of prophecy. The predictions of single
incidental circumstances seemed the most striking. Since
Schleiermacher, 1 the course pursued has been different. He
distinguishes in the 0. T. prophesyings a prediction proper,
which in its more or less definite statements possessed, now
a higher, now a lower degree of accuracy, from the Messianic
prophecy, in which the prophets had risen above the particular
to set forth the universal, and in which the particular state-
ments were more or less mere clothing. In the same manner
in our days only the ethico-religious ideas and views are acknow-
ledged as the real divine purport of prophecy, whilst the
predictions, which cannot be deduced from these generalities, are
supposed to have no theological worth, but rest at most upon an
inexplicable faculty of presentiment. 2
Now, except by an abuse of criticism, it cannot be denied
that definite predictions, whose fulfilment was matter of fact,
even as regards their supposed indifferent form, are frequently
found in 0. T. prophecy ; and we have already seen that
the authority of the prophets, their reputation as divine
1 Der christliche Glaube, 4th ed. 103, 3.
2 Cf. e.g. H. Sclmltz, A. T. Thcologie, 2nd ed. p. 231 ff. ; A. Dillmann in
SchenkePs Bibdlexikon, iv. 613 ff.
28 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
speakers, depended as a rule on such fulfilment, even as they
were also attested by miraculous signs. Examples of such con-
crete predictions are not merely to be met with in ancient times,
when prophecy had " not yet purged itself of its magical elements,"
but run through the entire history of prophecy. 1 In the same
way the prophets appear as miracle-workers, not merely in times
" obscured by myths " (Moses), or in " narratives adorned with
myths " (Elijah, Elisha), but also in the properly classical period
of prophecy and in passages unassailable by criticism ; cf. Isa.
vii. 11, viii. 18.
The latter point concerns us no further here. On the other
hand, in presence of the former fact we are confronted with the
question : Can we in Hebrew prophecy distinguish two quite
heterogeneous powers first, the genuinely prophetic spirit resting
on deep, ethico - religious conviction, and then alongside it a
mantic faculty of presentiment having nothing to do with
religion ? Such a severance is impracticable, because to the
prophetic seer the vision is thoroughly homogeneous. He has
neither first of all settled by rational methods his general prin-
ciples, nor received any information outside his ethico-religious
fellowship with God. Instead, then, of resolving this unity into
a dualism of inexplicable composition, it is in any case more
pertinent to seek a higher unity between what seems to our
modern modes of thought to belong to heterogeneous spheres.
This unity is found in the God, who is not only the source
of the truth, but also controls its realization in all its parts,
the living God, to whom there is no difference of outward and
inward, necessary and accidental, who just as much rules nature
and history in their apparently accidental details as He is the
legislator of universal morality, and the author of the inmost,
holiest feelings. This unity is the vital condition of prophecy.
On it rests the truth of its entire contents. For by no means
is its aim merely to deduce general intellectual and moral
truths from particular, and, in their form, accidental facts. But
its main purport is to seek the realization in fact of the entire
truth of God. The meaning of "the kingdom of the Lord"
is, that He will prove Himself ruler in the whole domain of life,
1 Cf. e.g. Moses (Ex. vii. ff.), Elijah (1 Kings xvii.), Amos (vii. 17), Isaiah
(vii. 8, 16, xvi. 14, xxi. 16, xxxvii. 33, xxxviii., xxxix.), Micah (iii. 12, iv. 10)
Jeremiah (xxv., xxvii. , xxviii.), Ezekiel (xii., xxi.).
INTRODUCTION. 29
thoroughly penetrating and controlling His people and the world.
In this process even the phenomenal form cannot be accidental.
But if the Bible is right in its position, that the contents of
prophecy are not the result of merely finite factors, such as
are found in the prophet as an individual gifted with intelligence
and moral consciousness, but that a higher spiritual factor, not
bound to human limits, fructifies him, it cannot be required that
the inner unity of the phenomenal form of the divine kingdom
shall be known to him. Certainly the divine dignity of a
particular prophecy does not lie in its foreannouncing something
beyond the reach of man's knowledge, just as little as the divine
character of a miracle is proved by its violating natural laws.
As the miracles wrought by God are no isolated, arbitrary viola-
tions of the earthly order of life, but have their internal grounds,
in virtue of which they fit into a higher plan, so is it with the
disclosures which prophecy makes about the future. They must
be rooted in the supreme will, which expresses itself also in
ethical laws and revelations. The mistake is only when this
unity is postulated in the consciousness of the prophet, i.e. when
everything that does not follow of necessity from those general
principles and maxims in accordance with the prophet's human
perception is disparaged as non-essential in the prophecy and
accidental in the fulfilment. It is essentially the same mistake
as when a particular miracle, for which sufficient internal reasons
are not found, is critically rejected, as if its higher justification
must always approve itself to our limited, subjective perception.
If, then, prophecy in general is an announcing of the divine
will, and has the realizing of that will for its contents, it is clear
that no sharp severance is practicable between past, present, and
future, or between special and general, Messianic and other
prophetic oracles. The theocracy, which comes into external
existence with Moses, and which reached a provisional conclusion
in the occupation of the land designed for it and the installa-
tion of the God-anointed king, is the subject of all prophecy.
But, thanks to prophecy, its development never halts, but is
always the goal of promise in still more perfect form. And
although from the multitude of divine oracles, announcing the
carrying out of God's will on the basis of the existing form of
God's kingdom, a selection may be made of such as relate to the
real building up of that kingdom, still the latter grow out of the
30 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
former, because God's revealed will is one at every stage. For
example, a single judgment by its inner unity is a member of the
general one, and judgment in general paves the way for a higher
revelation. And in virtue of this inner unity it is permissible to
combine oracles that indicate an advance in the realization of
God's kingdom or depict it in its future development and com-
pletion. These have usually been called " Messianic," because
the Messiah (i.e. the anointed king of David's house) is the medium
through whom the perfect state of this kingdom will be introduced.
Certainly in this case one is compelled to give the word a more
general meaning alongside the obvious one, since the person of
the Messiah by no means appears in all the oracles, where the
completion of God's kingdom is spoken of. For this reason we
prefer the designation chosen in our title, " The Prophecy of the
Completion of the Kingdom of God."
As from the beginning the divine will encounters in the world
resistance, which it has first to overcome in order to work itself
out, this conquest forms an essential ingredient in the prophecy of
God's kingdom. It is the judgment of the world. But as the
proper end of the divine ways is the salvation of His people under
His rule, every judgment can only serve as a means to make
room for the redemption which from the beginning is the subject
of the promise. Nevertheless, menace of judgment and promise of
redemption are not so distributed that the former applies only to
the heathen world, the latter exclusively and unconditionally to
the chosen people. On the contrary, Israel, because of its actual
state, falls more and more under prophetic condemnation, whilst
at the same time the outer world, so far as it turns to the salva-
tion of the God of Israel, is more and more definitely received
into God's purpose of grace. The completion of the former era is
summed up in the favourite phrase, " Day of the Lord." This
includes the perfect revelation of the Lord to the world, above all
in His retributive justice ; on which account the Day of the Lord
is the reckoning-day for all nations, when their sins will be
repaid them, while upon Israel also the righteous will of its Lord
will be carried out in punishment. The goal of God's gracious
purpose, which enters in close connection with that judgment-
day, is expressed by the designation " Kingdom of the Lord" or
by the dwelling of Yahveh in the midst of His Church. The
kingdom of the Lord is the full working out of His will in the
INTRODUCTION. 3 1
world, the dwelling of God among His people in most intimate
fellowship with them. Both coincide in so far as the ultimate
aim of God's will is to live in fullest communion with His Church
upon earth, into which all mankind destined to salvation have
been received, and so to wield upon earth an undisputed sway.
4. Influence of the Age on the Prophecy of God's Kingdom.
As the individuality of the prophet is not without a shapin^
influence on prophecy (p. 9), so also his prophecy clothes itself in
conceptions common to him with his contemporaries. It bears
the stamp of the age. While this is a limit to it on one hand,
on the other it is the indispensable condition of the fulfilment of
its design. Prophecy is meant in the first instance to serve God's
will in the present, to contribute to its realization. But this is
only possible if, and in so far as, it is intelligible to contem-
poraries. Thus it links its promises to existing circumstances
and tendencies, sometimes to living persons, causing them to see
God's kingdom through their own experiences. It serves its own
age, although not exhausted in it, but stretching beyond it.
Thus it pictures God's perfected kingdom still with national
limits and colours. Mount Zion is the centre to which all
nations journey to worship, because at the time God's kingdom
was national and local in character, and in the first instance the
chief point was that all nations should do homage to the God
then worshipped on Zion. Just so the prophecy of the coming
divine ruler attached itself in the post - exilian age (Hag.,
Zech.) to Zerubbabel as the actual Davidic ruler. The old
hereditary foes Egypt, Moab, Edom, etc. are named as the
foes who will fall before God's kingdom. Nor are these temporal
forms to be regarded as a conscious accommodation of the prophet
to his hearers ; but they were the forms in which the future
presented itself even to him. An artificial dress is nowhere
found. On this point what was said in 1 about the nature of
prophetic perception should be recalled. The prophet sees the
future generally, but not always, in visions. These are homo-
geneous figures, made up more or less of sensuous elements. But
this fact necessitates the use of temporally given forms, with their
inevitable limitation. Nor is it the way of these seers to add
reflections respecting such visions and their significance. The
32 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
very intensity, indeed, of the figure, too feeble to sustain its idea,
points beyond it. And again, the limitation is supplemented and
corrected by other views of the same thing, often granted to the
same seer. The case is the same here as in the parabolic
presentation of the kingdom of heaven in the New Testament.
There one figure can only present the subject on one side, and
needs to be supplemented by other figures. Thus, since the
N. T. parables treating of the kingdom of heaven only exhibit it
on one side, they must be put together if a correct view of the
whole is to be obtained, When, e.g., the kingdom of heaven
(Matt. xiii. 47) is compared to a Fishing-net, in which at first
good and bad fish are caught indiscriminately, the intended
teaching is, that not merely those finally chosen partake in the
kingdom at first. But it would be an error to think that the
partakers in it are quite passive in receiving it, as might be con-
cluded from following the figure out in a one-sided way. The
correction is supplied by parables like that of the Banquet
(Matt. xxii. 2 ff.), where we learn that all the invited do not obey
the call. The case is similar with prophecy. According to Isa.
xi. 14, Zech. ix. 13 ff., and many other passages, we might
think that the perfecting of God's kingdom will be brought about
by force of arms. But other visions, perhaps of the same prophet
(Isa. ix. 6 f. ; Zech. ix. 9 f.), which picture the Perfecter of the king-
dom as simply a Prince of peace, show that these martial images
denote the triumph of the power of the Divine Spirit. Thus these
prophecies need to be combined, that they may supplement
each other and even correct their own one-sided representations.
But in order to understand its concrete form, the visionary
character of prophecy dwelt on in 1 needs to be taken into
account. Since the concrete form offered itself naturally to the
seer in his presentation even of spiritual things, one may some-
times be in doubt how far he himself regarded his plastic
description as symbolic, or unconsciously supplied a more sen-
suous conception as a substratum to the abstract idea. For
example, in Zech. ix. 9, apart from the fulfilment, one might be
in doubt whether the prophet really expected the Davidic king
upon an ass, or consciously viewed this trait as a mere symbol
of a King of peace. But, in general, it must be remembered that
in prophecy proper reflection remained in the background. The
prophet relates what he sees, without himself intending to dis-
INTRODUCTION. 33
tinguish between contents and means of presentation. How far
what is described will literally be fulfilled, tbe event only can
show.
In the same way, later times must show how far what is seen
will take shape in the precise local or temporal unity in which it
was presented to the prophet. Obadiah sees a complete devas-
tation and destruction of Edom. Whether, now, this will take
place in the special form in which he sees it, or whether only
the idea is to be retained, that this hostile nation will utterly
disappear, whilst imperilled Israel will live on, on this point no
information is to be expected from the seer. In the same way,
whether the doom of annihilation will be executed at a blow, or
distribute itself over a series of catastrophes, a Persian, Macca-
bsean, Eoman one, the fulfilment only can tell. To the import of
the message of retribution it is indifferent. The message becomes
even more emphatic and effective when that which in reality
spreads itself over a longer space of time is compressed into one
picture.
Hence the so-called perspective character of prophecy. As the
low-lying intervals are concealed from the bodily eye, only the
heights of a district combining into a picture bounded by the
highest peaks, so the seer beholds the lofty points of history in
their harmonious connection, and indeed only up to a certain
horizon, which represents the termination of the course of spiritual
development in the midst of which ths prophet stands. This
horizon is called E^'D n<l "!D.^, not = the following age, the
future, but = the end of the days, the last age. The idea relates
rather to things than time : the termination of the course of
things surrounding the prophet ; for this reason also the " end "
is nearer or farther according to the range of the motive engaging
the prophet ; but the prophecy is always exhausted within these
limits. Now, in the prophetic picture nearer heights touch this
highest peak of consummation ; only when they emerge in
history is it seen that an interval lies between them and the
final consummation.
As, then, all the words and work of the prophets obtain their
unity through their reference to the divine rule, so also the
prophecies relating to the consummation in the future are bound
together by the living idea of the coming of God's perfected rule.
But this idea unfolds itself gradually out of seminal beginnings to
OKELLI. c
34 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
more and more definite and rich, but also more pure, forms. Thus
prophecy has a history, which implies two things its progressive
growth and abiding unity.
Not at once was the news of a future kingdom of God com-
municated to the believing people as a complete doctrine. To
this the people would not have been at all receptive. But that
particular aspect of the Messianic future was always disclosed
to them which they needed to know, the discovery being in
proportion to their sense of need. But the need was not always
the same. The receptiveness, indicative of advance or growth,
rose and fell from time to time, while the highest, boldest thoughts
of God always had to make way for what could be understood by
a generation of more limited spiritual culture.
Between the outward history of the nation and the develop-
ment of its most sacred hopes an intimate connection existed,
the two being bound up with the nation's spiritual life and
ordered by the same God. Hofmann, indeed, goes too far in
making the prophecy so dependent on the history, that the former
is merely the interpreter of the latter i.e. puts into words the
knowledge which ought at any time to be gathered from God's
historical revelation. On the contrary, prophecy, issuing freely
from the Divine Spirit, is often far in advance of history, an-
nouncing really new things. But the outward experiences of
Israel negatively prepared the ground for prophecy, and posi-
tively furnished it with material. Positively they enlarged its
range of vision. As long, e.g., as geographical and ethnological
knowledge was narrowly limited, only a limited conception of
the divine rule upon earth could be formed. But when the
great world-empires the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian came
on the stage before the eyes of Israel, prophecy first really
gained wings, and the future of God's kingdom, before which all
this power and glory was to fade, shone all the brighter to the
eyes of believers. In the same way, familiarity with nobler
heathens like the Persians exerted a fructifying influence on
prophecy, the hearts of the people now becoming more receptive
to the thought expressed long before, that Israel had a lofty
mission to discharge even to the heathen. In Israel itself the
erection of the Davidic kingdom laid the historic foundation
for a new upbuilding of prophecy. But every mighty act of
God, every conquest, every conflict of deeper significance, served
INTRODUCTION. 35
as a finger-post in the ways of God, broadening and facilitating
the insight both of seers and hearers into His leadings and
judgments.
Such events as made inroads on the wellbeing of the theo-
cracy and community, or seemed to make an end of it, had
negative effects, opening the way for prophecy. When the whole
existence of the commonwealth was in question, and its destruc-
tion was certain to the enlightened after brief respite, prophecy
was moved to its boldest utterances. The ruins of the old theo-
cracy awakened painful longing for the building of the new one.
Mourning over past glory turned into yearning for a glorious
future. Moreover, the sense of inadequate fulfilment impelled
to new hopes of a perfecting future e.g. after the exile. Even
the Christian Church is driven to the word of prophecy chiefly
in times when it is made painfully conscious how little present
conditions correspond to God's perfect will.
Under the joint operation of all these motives the prophetic
voices spoke now louder, now softer now more clearly, now
more obscurely. But their discourses were not the work of the
spirit of the age, but of the one Spirit of God. For the prophets
were always conscious to themselves of carrying forward some-
thing begun long before, of developing further something existing.
Hence they frequently resumed oracles of predecessors ; and cer-
tain fundamental ideas like the Day of the Lord, the Kingdom
of God and His Coming were transmitted from one generation
to another, only gaining in significance with time. Thus a
progress from indefinite to definite, from mere intimation to
declaration, from sensuous to spiritual, is evident in prophecy.
The promise is specialized ; it is linked first to Shem, next to
Abraham, then to Isaac, Jacob, the tribe of Judah, and finally to
the Davidic royal house, and is last of all transferred to a par-
ticular scion of the same. According to Jacob's blessing the
kingdom of God was still altogether external, distinguished by
external power and external abundance at God's hand. But
the idea of the future holy land and people, the city of Zion, etc.,
grew more and more profound, until the outward form became too
weak to bear its weight, and the sensuously fashioned concep-
tions were no longer tenable. Such is the case in Isa. xi., where
in the mountain of the Lord the wolf dwells with the lamb, etc..
and (Isa. Ix.) where it is said of the city of God : The sun shall
36 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
no more be thy light by day, and the light of the moon shall
no longer shine on thee, but Yahveh shall be thy everlasting
light. Here the sensuous veil bursts under the spiritual glory
streaming through it. So in many other visions. If we concede
a progress to more perfect spiritual heights, we would not, on the
other hand (like G. Baur, p. 27), describe it as progress from
error to truth. As certainly as prophecy is a divine word, it
always contains divine truth, so far as truth can and ought to be
comprehended at the existing standpoint. All genuine pedagogy
takes this course. It does not indeed teach the truth from the
beginning in adequate form, but it never inculcates error as
the initial stage of higher knowledge.
After what has been said on the inner connection of the
development of the prophecy of God's kingdom with the outward
history of the nation, it is of course to be expected that the great
epochs of the nation's history will be epoch-making for prophecy,
and that the several periods of the outward will be distinguishable
in the inner development. In fact, the most suitable division of
our subject is according to the chief phases of Israelitish history.
First of all the long period of the forming of the people and
kingdom is to be marked off, reaching a climax with the comple-
tion of the kingdom in the Davidic-Solomonic age. From this
point the decline of the regal power begins. In prophecy these
two periods are distinguished in the most marked way. In the
former are found merely single oracles, addresses, songs of pro-
phetic import, which sing and speak of a future glorious consum-
mation passages about whose date critics differ widely. In the
second appear entire prophetic books, the kernel of which is
Messianic prophecy. In the former period it is more the shaping
and completing of the kingdom that floats before the gaze of the
prophetic seers ; while in the second redemption forms the bright
background of the destroying judgment, which must precede the
true consummation. In the earlier period divine deeds prepon-
derate over divine words ; the types are far more elaborate than
the prophecy, the outer history has the advantage over the inner.
In the later period the reverse is the case : prophecy is in
advance of history ; the types are more and more absorbed into
the prophecy ; word is mightier than deed. 1 The transition cer-
tainly is not sudden. E.rj. Elijah and Elisha, although belonging
1 Cf. Auberlen, Jahrb. fur daitsche Theologie, iii. 4, p. 779 f.
INTRODUCTION. 37
to the period of the decline of the Israelitish royalty, are still
men of deeds, not of words.
We thus distinguish two main periods. In the first the pro-
phetic word inaugurates the origin and shaping of the concrete
rule of God on earth. From the grey fore-time we catch
patriarchal benedictions transmitted by tradition. In the Mosaic
epoch we observe forward glances into the future of the theo-
cracy. Then Samuel crowned his work in Israel by giving the
nation the " Anointed of the Lord," whose prophetic significance
is also reflected in many psalms. The second main period again
divides itself according to political epochs. First, we have
prophetic writings from the pre-Assyrian age, Obadiah, Joel ;
then from the Assyrian, Amos, Hosea, Zech. ix.-xi., Isaiah, Micah,
Nahum. Zephaniah and Habakkuk form the transition to the
period of the Chaldsean rule ; then follows the time when the
kingdom of Judah is in full course of decline. To this belong
Jeremiah and Zech. xii.-xiv. Ezekiel and Isa. xl.-lxvi. speak in
the exile. The dissolution of the sacred commonwealth again
introduces a turning-point. From the beginning of prophecy
in the stricter sense, that is, from the age which gives us entire
prophetic books up to that catastrophe, the announcement of
judgment stands everywhere in the foreground, the promise form-
ing merely the bright background, since the redemption of God's
people can only appear after the overthrow of the previous
theocracy. On the other hand, after the catastrophe the promise
emerges without anything to obscure it, forming the main subject
of prophecy. So in the later visions of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, as
well as in Isa. xl.-lxvi. After the exile the promise remains in
the foreground (Haggai, Zechariah) ; still the earnest warning
against the judicial severity of the " Day of the Lord " is not
wanting (Malachi). The apocalypse of Daniel fills a special posi-
tion, unfolding in grand perspective the triumph of the kingdom
of God over the world-empires.
5. The Office, of Type, in the Development of God's Kingdom.
Besides prophecies, types also bear witness in the Old
Testament to the future completion of the kingdom of God on
earth. Prophecy and type must be distinguished from each
other. By Type (note A) we understand the inadequate pre-
38 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
sentation of a divine idea, which is to be more perfectly realized
afterwards. The Spirit of God not only reveals Himself in
definite words, which He suggests to consecrated seers. He also
rules in history, shaping it with significant reference to the future.
In modern days natural philosophers have established in detail
the designed connection in the structures of different periods.
Thus the most perfect being man presents himself first in im-
perfect preformation in the animals which, the higher their grade,
so much the more plainly prefigure the structure of man. Just
so there are types in history. Not at once does an idea appear
in complete realization. Hofmann says : " Every triumphal
procession that marched through the streets of Eome was a
prophecy " (in our view rather a type) " of Cffisar Augustus ; for
what the latter represented always, this the Triumphator repre-
sented on his festival-day God in man, Jupiter in the Roman
citizen. In according this pageant to its victors, Eome pro-
claimed as its future, that it would rule the world through its
divinely-worshipped imperator." ] This very example shows the
essential distinction between type and prophecy. For a Roman
rhetorician or poet to greet in such a triumphator the future
ruler of the world on the Tiber, might perhaps be regarded as
prophecy. But, dumb and unconscious as such a type is in
reference to the very fact that it is a type, it lacks an essential
mark which, according to 1, cannot be wanting to prophecy.
Not merely is speech, the proper element of prophecy, absent,
on which account the type has been called concrete prophecy 2
in distinction from verbal prophecy (Kurtz) ; the profounder
contrast lies in this, that the type is still unrecognised by con-
temporaries in its reference to the future, the necessity of a more
perfect embodiment of the idea it contains not being declared.
Utterances also may be typical, so far as their contents will only
attain complete realization afterwards in a way unknown to the
speaker.
Although now in human history such preformations are as
little purely accidental as in the history of nature, they have yet
deeper reasons in the history of redemption, according to w r hat
was said of its character in 3. Of course it is a mistake to
assume a type on the ground of mere outward similarity, as the
ancient Church often did. Both phenomena the typical and
1 Weissaguny und Erfiillung, i. 1 5. 2 Realweissayung.
INTRODUCTION". 39
perfect must have received from the same Spirit their distinctive
character, by which they resemble each other, so that an inner
relation obtains between them. And as certainly as the form of
the Israelitish nationality was meant by God's will to present
a preliminary reign of God, so an inner relation must exist
between this still imperfect kingdom of God and the perfect one,
which always remained future in the Old Testament. And this
inner affinity will necessarily find expression also in the outer life
of this nationality, so far as that life is determined by God.
Not merely the ritual and polity of Israel, so far as they are
ordered by God, its experiences also, so far as these befall it as
God's people, will by inner necessity present beforehand what
awaits God's perfected people, provided it is the same God who
reveals His will, here preliminarily, there finally. Accordingly
different classes of types may be conceived archaeological and
historical, personal and national. To the archaeological belongs in
particular the whole complex of ritual types. The Israelitish
ritual, as practised generally from the days of Moses, is pre-
dominantly symbolic. And as the symbol always expresses an
idea but imperfectly, so it is here. But the ideas, partially
veiled, partially announcing themselves plainly, are those of
God's perfect revelation ; a truth which cannot surprise us if we
receive the testimony, according to which this form of divine
worship was not of natural growth or arbitrary institution, but
rested on divine revelation. Only the typical action did not
necessarily give to human consciousness the thought of a future,
more complete method of salvation. The idea of vicarious
expiation is central to Christianity. It is imaged already in the
0. T. expiatory sacrifice, of course but inadequately, inasmuch
as animal life can be no valid substitute for man's. But the
Levitical priest might long continue to lead his sacrificial animal
to the altar, before becoming aware that his act was inadequate,
having its justification only in something future to which it
pointed. Israel's symbolic ritual is pervaded by such ideas,
which had to acquire their full import afterwards. On the other
hand, there is an historic type (e.g.] in the departure of Israel from
Egypt, joined with the destruction of the hostile army, inasmuch
as here the deliverance of God's holy Church from the yoke of
the ungodly world-power is first presented. Moreover, personal
types not seldom occur. David presents the idea of a ruler
40 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
standing in filial relation to God and governing in His name.
But the divine-human government of David is still a thoroughly
imperfect realization of this lofty idea.
Such types are meant first of all in their imperfection to
render familiar the idea expressed in them, and thus to prepare
for their adequate manifestation. But a mediate stage between
the beginning and completion is found when these types are
seen in their prefigurative significance, and pass over into
prophecy. Thus Isa. liii. 10 speaks of a sin-offering, and (ver. 7)
of a lamb atoning for guilt by voluntary suffering. Here the
idea of this sacrificial lamb is transferred to a more perfect
bearer the Servant of God. Just so prophecy often applied the
departure from Egypt to the future, promising a final deliverance
of the Church from bondage, and setting forth this divine act
with the well-known features taken from the Egyptian days.
Cf. the antitype of the Egyptian plagues, Rev. viii., ix. Finally,
David was so well known as a type of the Messiah icar
e^o^v, that the prophets expressly call the king of the final
perfecting age David, Hos. iii. 5 ; Jer. xxx. 9. Here therefore
the type, lending a voice to the prophetic word, enters into our
proper province. And as the express prophetic word had led
the way in applying the past to the future, the thought of the
Church felt itself called upon to understand the historic form
of the God-anointed king in general typically, and to interpret
his experiences as mirroring future experiences, turning his songs
and words into prophecies.
NOTE A. The expression is borrowed from K T. phraseology,
where it often occurs in this special application, rvxos, properly
Now (from T-JXTU), signifies primarily the impression of a bloi'\
mark (John xx. 25) ; hence definite stamp (therefore also the
style of a letter, Acts xxiii. 25 ; of a doctrine, Rom. vi. 17 ;
image, figure, copy, idol, Acts vii. 43). Then especially type, and
both (a) the ideal model, Acts vii. 44, Heb. viii. 5, and (b) the
ethical pattern, type of virtue, Phil. iii. 17 ; 1 Thess. i. 7 ; 2 Thess.
iii. 9 ; 1 Tim. iv. 12 ; Tit. ii. 7; 1 Pet. v. 3; but finally also (c) the
historic type of something future, Rom. v. 14; 1 Cor. x. 6, 11 ; and
according to these passages the design of the type is to prefigure
the future, therefore to point to it as something more complete.
The correlative idea to rucoj is rb WTITUKOV, the antitype, and may
either denote a secondary copy of lower value, corresponding to
the type (a) (Heb. ix. 24), or the more perfect counterpart to
the type (c) (1 Pet, iii. 21).
INTRODUCTION. 41
6. Are Phenomena analogous to the Prophecy of God's Kingdom
to be found in the field of Heathenism ?
Before going further, we raise this question, which is well
adapted to give us a true conception of the difference of Biblical
prophecy from all other literature. The ancient Church was
fond of adducing the Sibyls of the heathen world alongside the
prophets of Israel as witnesses to the future kingdom of God.
Did mantism, then, really produce anything like the seers of
Yahveh ? On the contrary, the complete superiority of the
latter is seen most plainly when we compare the products of
their prophesying, the spirit and substance of their communications,
with what the heathen oracles and prophets produced. Even the
prevailing form of the oracle is indicative of the spirit of such
revelation. No doubt it was a pious desire which the heathen
felt for divine revelations. Their Seia-iBai/jiovta left them no
rest until they had inquired into the will of the gods, and
assured themselves of their assistance in every undertaking.
Sine divino numine nihil this principle ruled their hearts. But
in the mantism current almost everywhere in ancient heathenism,
as described 2, the initiative significantly belonged to man ; he
asked whenever he pleased ; he managed the communications of
the deity ; whereas the genuine prophets of Israel as a rule
raised their voices unasked and unsought, and very often made
themselves heard when and where it was least expected and
desired, on the other hand always returning negative answers to
questions of curiosity and impatience. As it is a general
characteristic of heathenism, especially the Indo-Germanic, for
the normal relation between God and man to be gradually
inverted, what is divine being made subservient to human ends,
so we find in the case of oracles. The entire oracle-system was
far more serviceable to human, perhaps political interest, than to
the deity, and readily became an instrument of mere political
craft. And although in favourable circumstances it might be the
minister of a healthy moral sense, as the Delphic oracle was for
a long time, still it only represented the natural conscience of
the people, not a spiritual power independent of this as Biblical
prophecy did, 1 which against princes and peoples, and without
respect of person and regard to ordinary interests, often assumed
1 Jer. i. 17 ff.
42 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
an attitude to the questions of life incomprehensible to the
natural order of thought. It did this, because it represented
simply and solely the cause of God, whose organ it was. The
utterances of these prophets often stand in boldest antithesis to
the spirit of their age, to the moods of their people, nay, even of
their own hearts. In appearance they withstand patriotism, the
advantage of their country, the honour of their nation. They
bow down before no human greatness, not before the most famous
kings of the present and past, judging everything inexorably by a
uniform standard loftier than the natural conscience of the nation.
They are conscious of one aim which they all proclaim with one
accord and immovable certainty in the most diverse ages and
circumstances, despite all differences of individual inclination and
gifts. " This unison," says Delitzsch, 1 " is the seal of divine
revelation as the work of one and the same Spirit in the labora-
tories of many individuals." Criticism has the right and the
scientific task of classifying these prophetic voices according to
the character of the age and individual. But if it does not
detect the grand elevation and unity of the spiritual force
which set in motion all these tongues in the course of the
centuries, it is dull and incapable of discerning the divine.
Compared with this, what sort of products are offered by
heathenism, which likewise boasts of divine revelations ? What
disorder and uncertainty, what a mingling of truth and deception
meets us everywhere, directly we seek information respecting the
divine ! And how insignificant the little offered us as a specially
memorable product of the Delphic god or CumaBan sibyl !
If all unprejudiced examination of 0. T. prophecy proves its
unique character, it may still be asked whether the Sibyl is
altogether disqualified as a witness to the kingdom of God.
Certainly what the ancient Church used under the name of the
" sibylline books " as a witness of heathenism to Christ, was not
a product of heathen mantism, but an almost worthless imitation
of Biblical prophecy, such as was practised by Jews in the last
centuries before Christ and then passed over to Christians. 2 At
most, some remnants of the lost sibylline (i.e. heathen) oracles
may be interwoven therein. Such an oracle is found in Virgil's
fourth Eclogue, which will be spoken of afterwards. Moreover,
1 Comm. on Habakkuk, p. 119.
2 Cf. the article " Sibyllinen," in Herzog's R.E.
INTRODUCTION. 43
the other literature of heathen nations, distinguished by such
great works, should be examined to see whether it can supply a
substitute for what 0. T. prophecy was to the Israelites and then
to the Church of the New Covenant. Above all, the comparison
may be made with respect to historians. If an unrivalled
moral independence must be ascribed to the Biblical narrators,
their style is also quite specially distinguished by the way in
which they connect earthly things with the divine government.
History to them, owing to the divine plan ruling in it, is really
homogeneous, and moves towards a definite goal. An Herodotus,
Plutarch, Tacitus, know indeed of a higher pragmatism than that
of mechanical occurrence ; they point out, each one in his own
way, higher laws coming into play in history. But in how much
loftier a style do the prophetic historians of the Bible write
history ! Here is found a uniform derivation of all human
history from one origin, a uniform standard of judgment, here
only the consciousness of a uniform positive progress in the
whole course of the world's development. Whilst ancient Egypt
in its monuments sought to deify the existing, and ancient India
regarded the dissolution of existence as the highest goal of move-
ment, thus seeking salvation in going back to nonentity, these
prophets, who view the past as a revelation of the living God,
proclaim that the future will see a consummation, to which all
history will serve as the way to the goal.
If to-day we hear so much of a uniform progress of the
human race and of its unceasing advance to a goal of perfection,
we do not sufficiently consider that such knowledge and hope is
no heirloom of classical antiquity, but a fruit of the prophetic
spirit of the Bible. We also too little remember that this hope
finds adequate security in supernatural revelation alone. Neither
empiric reality, nor dialectic truth, nor iesthetic idealism can raise
the hope to certainty. Plato, indeed, and Aristotle sketched a
State, which floated before them as an ideal ; but that such a
relatively perfect condition would ever become fact, they nowhere
taught on good grounds. Plato, in a well-known passage (note A),
gave so striking a description of the perfectly just man, who as
such must be tested by the heaviest sufferings, that the Church
from the earliest days 1 saw therein a prophetic picture of the
1 From Clemens Al. (Strom. 1. v. 14, 1. vi. 7) to Db'llinger, who calls it at least a
" presageful glance into the future " (The Gentile and the Jew, vol. i. p. 328). Such
44 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
suffering Son of man. But, passing by the fact that the entire
conception of the Just One in Plato is essentially different from
that given in the Bible, it must be conceded that some traits
are drawn with great truth, and to some extent found a literal
fulfilment in Christ. But it must be observed, to say nothing
of the inner difference just mentioned, that at most we have here
only a type, standing in a line with the type of the suffering,
misunderstood Job. For Plato scarcely thought of such a just
man ever appearing on earth, and in any case laid no stress on
such appearing. His image of the perfectly Just One, or the
sketch which the Stoics give of the true sage, according to their
view loses nothing of its truth, even if such an one never 1
actually appears, or appears but once every 500 years (according
to Seneca). On the contrary, prophecy stands or falls according
as it does or does not find an adequate fulfilment. The actuality
of the fulfilment forms an essential element in its truth. This is a
distinction between the heathen ideal-world and Biblical realism
that is not sufficiently considered. The element wanting to the
former (the certainty that the perfection seen will appear in
realization) prophecy possesses from first to last, thanks to the
experience of God's self-revelation, which theologians again and
again confound with conceptual knowledge ; whereas the mere
idea of a perfect Spirit is not equivalent to His " reign " in the
Biblical sense, i.e. His adequate revelation in the finite world.
In comparison with Plato, the Stoic school certainly shows
greater confidence in the realization of its ideas. Zeiio does this
first of all. He also gives his ideal State of the future a more
comprehensive range, perhaps not without Oriental influence.
This State was to unite all nations into one flock, governed only
by the law of reason. This was the goal of the world's progress,
after which wise men were to strive. Here a view is given,
which we do not encounter elsewhere in Hellenic antiquity. On
the other hand, a comparison of the Stoic ideal with what is
promised by the prophets shows at once that in it justice is not
done to the Deity in His distinction from every creature, while the
a glance, in far higher measure, is seen in the positive Chinese expectation of a
" Holy One/' who will restore complete harmony between heaven and earth. See
Confucius, Tchong-Yong, translated by Planckner, 1878. The entire translation
has certainly been attacked (by Strauss, Essays, 1879, p. 109).
1 Cicero, Tusc. ii. 22.
INTRODUCTION. 45
mere enhancement of the human ends in Utopias. That the
ideal, even apart from its realization, is inferior to the true
perfection taught in the Bible, is evident directly we examine the
Stoa as to its chief motive. Here it is self-righteousness, not the
divine compassion and divine-human love, of which the wise man
boasts, and by which perfection is sought (note B). History
teaches that the goal will not be reached by this path, even if it
is seen. How it is reached is shown by the New Covenant
established ii the way described beforehand by Biblical prophecy,
which will be treated of afterwards.
But although since Justin Martyr's days Messianic prophecies
and types have been often wrongly drawn from the heathen
world by overlooking the essential distinctions in superficial
similarities, that world is by no means without presentiments of
the redemption that in God's counsel was to be imparted to it.
As the reminiscence of a golden age of unruffled peace, like
a beautiful dream, was preserved among the nations, so they
cherished the hope that one day the vanished paradise would
again open to them, and popular fancy painted to the best of its
power a state in which this longing of man's heart would find
rest. This land is either conceived as existing in some remote
place (note C), or it is the special abode of the departed (note D),
or the earth awaits a future glorification (note E).
Among all the religions of civilised antiquity, it is the Parsi
which comes nearest to the Bible, owing to its serious conception
of life as a far-reaching, ceaseless conflict between the good and
the evil principle. According to the teaching of Zarathushtra,
the good conquers in the end, after the evil in the last (fourth)
world-age had gained the upper hand, and unfolded all its
power and enmity. 1 Here, plainly, the moral postulate asserts
itself, which elsewhere also moves human reason to demand
a future reconciling of the contradiction between moral and
physical relations. Like the heart that pines for redemption, so
conscience also requires a state of loftier order and harmony
than is to be found during the course of earth. On the other
hand, in distinction from the Bible, Parsism with all its ethical
character shows a physical taint in its dualism, and hence is
unable to take as its goal the pure glorification of everything
earthly by the good Spirit. But in general this whole doctrine
1 Cf. Spiegel's art. " Parsismus," in Herzog.
46 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
rather gives the impression of an artificially elaborated system
than of a living faith. These expectations by no means enter
into the development of history and life with such real power as
we find to be the case in Israel. Not Sosiosch, the expected
" Saviour " of the seed of Zarathushtra, but the Kedeeiner of
the seed of David, appeared to set up the divine kingdom. Still
the eschatology of the Parsis remains a powerful witness to
man's need of a revelation of righteousness in the world, and a
noteworthy example of presentiment of future consummation.
If we turn to the land of the speculatively gifted Hindus,
there the cheerful view of life, meeting us in the Rig- Veda, soon
gives place to a pessimism which, as in scarcely any other religion,
proclaims to us the pining of all creation for redemption from the
burden of existence. But neither Brahmanism nor Buddhism
was able to supply a positive redemption. Just here lies the great
weakness of these religions, even of Buddhism, which is so much
praised in our days. A morality so self-denying without faith in
the God who is the supreme Lawgiver, a love of the creature so
comprehensive, but without hope, can never conduct man's heart
to true peace. And it is well known that a reaction against
overstrained demands without corresponding reward and promise
very soon followed in Buddhism, Buddha himself, in complete
opposition to his teaching, being made the object of deification,
and a paradise in the future being put in place of Nirvana, of
simple extinction. Buddha himself, as history describes him, to
say nothing of legends, reminds us in several respects of the
Eabbi of Nazareth ; many traits, if we may so speak, are here
typically prefigured. The king's son, by his mere preaching,
which is addressed to all castes and designed for all nations,
founding a new community of enlightened ones, who give them-
selves up completely to the service of others, is one of the most
notable and glorious figures in all heathendom. But in order to
speak of a real type in the Biblical sense, of a type of Christ, the
spirit in which the one and the other came to redeem the world
from its evils would need to be less divergent. Bringing no
revelation of the heavenly Father and His love, Buddhism lacks
basis and goal for its work upon earth. It points man, like
Brahmanism, to the path of self-redemption ; and the only fruit
of this redemption it can promise him is dissolution. In its most
ideal representatives it labours under this defect.
INTRODUCTION. 47
In the deifying of the person of Buddha we saw a testimony
to man's longing for fuller union with the divine. The later
development of Brahmanism is a proof of the same. Here we
have, plainly under the influence of Buddhism, a series of ava-
taras (incarnations) of the deity (Vishnu). The eighth of these,
where Vishnu takes bodily form in Krishna, is here of special
interest, because this genius, skilful in war and peace, is wor-
shipped as the saviour of the Brahmans in the proper sense, and
certain external points (such as the rhythm of the name with
Christ, etc.) have often provoked comparison. It has seemed
specially significant, that Krishna crushed the head of the evil
serpent Kaliya. But on closer examination it appears that a
cosmical, not ethical opposition is meant, and in certain parti-
culars a borrowing from Christian tradition seems to have taken
place. And this applies also to the treatise of the Indian sages
showing most resemblance to Christian ideas, the Bhagavad-
Gita. 1 If in many passages the freedom of the gospel is taught,
in opposition to work - righteousness, the main thing is still
wanting the gospel itself. Here, too, in this late production,
which has often been thought to exhibit the influence of Chris-
tianity, the old Indian spirit is to be perceived, presenting only
a path of self-redemption.
In this place the Norse and German mythology, as con-
tained in the Edda, also deserves mention, inasmuch as there not
merely a state of glorious life is set forth in true German taste,
but also the end of the present world-age is contemplated. It
is a testimony to the depth of the German spirit, that it did not
ascribe eternal duration to its gods, with their finite, physical
character. At the end of the days there follows a " twilight of
the gods," when even they are overtaken by the fate of the
transitory. Nevertheless, on the destruction of the world, then
occurring, follows its rejuvenescence. But the ideal state, then
introduced, is only intimated in several features. All evil is
banished, and the descendants of the Asen live in harmony with
men under the rule of the gentle Balder. The All-father is
supreme over all.
It would be easy to give illustrations from other religions of
what we said at the beginning of this work of the universal
1 Cf. the parallels, to be examined cautiously, which Lorinser gives in his
edition, 1869.
48 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
longing for a better state of peace with God, and for the sup-
pression of the world's evil. But the more closely we compare
the hope of Israel with these poetical dreams or systematic
teachings, the more striking appears the contrast, here an un-
certain seeking and groping, there a firm possession ; here a
vague, fickle surmising, there a firm, prophetic word ; here the
most diverse views of the goal and the way leading thereto,
there the goal clearly described from the first and the way more
and more clearly illuminated, until He came who described Him-
self as the Way and the Truth.
Examination of the import of Biblical prophecy, combined
with its fulfilment, will always prove its higher origin and
divine character to all who believe in Jesus Christ. E. Kenan
describes "prophetism" as an essential feature in the spiritual
life of the Shcmitic race, as the form in which all great move-
ments work themselves out among the Shemites. Where then,
we ask, are the Shemitic prophets whose productions can be
placed beside the Bible, nay, who deserve to be called prophets
beside the Biblical ones ? Where are the oracles and books,
coming from any other Shemitic race, that with any literary
right could be added to the collection of 0. T. prophecies
which belong to such diverse periods ? The Arabians, who are
usually, and not unjustly, regarded as the unsophisticated,
original type of the Shemitic nature what have they to show
that compares with the prophetic literature of the Old Testa-
ment ? Compared with it, how little original, how poor and
insipid, appears the one Koran, that secondary imitation of true
prophecy ! Moreover, the genuineness of this divine word is
proclaimed not merely in outward excellences of style and living
inspiration, but in its profound insight into the human heart
and into the course of history, in its moral elevation above the
stream of the age and current natural feeling, in its wonderful
unity, binding into one products of such different persons, ages,
and circumstances, finally in its fulfilment in that perfect revela-
tion in Christ, which is seen to be the ripe fruit of this growing
organism, because, although itself a gift to humanity from above,
its way was unmistakably prepared for in those witnesses. Thus
O. T. prophecy is a unique product among the works of the
nations, and still less than faith in the one living God can it-
be derived from merely finite, national, and psychological factors.
INTRODUCTION. 49
It is more than the purest expression of the Shemitic nature,
more than the noblest flower of the Hebrew national spirit it
issued from the fructifying of diverse human characters, which
certainly had some elements in common, by the one Divine Spirit,
who, while raised above humanity, has in the course of tinie
brought His work to maturity in it.
NOTE A. De Repub. ii. p. 361 s. : " Such being our unjust man,
let us place the just man by his side, a man of true simplicity
and nobleness, resolved, as ^Eschylus says, not to seem, but to be
good. We must certainly take away the seeming ; for if he be
thought to be a just man, he will have honours and gifts on the
strength of this reputation, so that it will be uncertain whether
it is for justice's sake, or for the sake of the gifts and honours,
that he is what he is. Yes, we must strip him bare of everything
but justice, and make his case the reverse of the former. With-
out being guilty of one unjust act, let him have the worst reputa-
tion for injustice, so that his virtue may be thoroughly tested,
and shown to be proof against infamy arid all its consequences ;
and let him go on to the day of his death, stedfast in his
justice, but with a lifelong reputation for injustice. . . . They
(who prefer injustice above justice) will say that in such a
situation the just man will be scourged, racked, fettered, will have
his eyes burnt out, and at last, after suffering every kind of
torture, will be crucified ; and thus learn that it is best to resolve,
not to be, but to seem, just." (Trans, by Davies and Vaughan.)
NOTE B. See the careful treatise of Ed. Miiller : Parallelen zu
dem messianischen Weissagungen und Typen des alien Testaments
aus dem hellenischen Alterthum, 1875, where also other passages
of the classics, which one would fain regard as products of the
Adyog ffKtppanKoc, are subjected to a necessary criticism. On
p. 30 ff. it is shown how different the kingly, priestly, and
prophetic office, which has been supposed to be found in the
sage of the Stoa, is from the threefold dignity of the Messiah.
When, on p. 66, Zeno's State, with its character of universal
humanity, is contrasted with the particularism of the Messianic
prophecies, we, on the contrary, are unable in the former to
recognise a higher standpoint. We shall see that Isaiah, for
example, includes all nations in the organism of God's kingdom,
while salvation proceeds from Zion.
NOTE C. Of. e.g. the notions of the Chinese respecting such
ideal lands and states, in Ernst Faber, Der Naturalismus bei
den alien Chinesen, oder die sammtlichen Werke, des Philosophen
Licius, 1877, p. 17.
NOTE D. So in the Eig - Veda, where the departed in the
ORELLI. D
50 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
kingdom of Yama lay aside all imperfection and partake in
divine enjoyment. Respecting the old Egyptians (Germans,
Parsis), cf. Edm. Spiess, Entwickelungsgeschichte der Vorstellunyen
vom Zustande nach dem Tode, 1877. Also, according to the faith
of manj- wild races, as the Indians, the departed reach the land of
the blessed.
NOTE E. Here comes in the fourth Eclogue of Virgil, where
the poet, referring to an oracle of the sibyl of Cuma (of uncer-
tain origin), announces the dawn of the last world - age as a
blissful kingdom of peace, where strife among men and in
nature will cease, as well as the wearisome tilling of the ground
and perilous voyaging. Cf. Piper, Evangelischer Kalender, 1862,
p. 55 if.
7. Fulfilment in General.
As prophecy rests on a historic basis, so it is an essential mark
of its character to aim at a historic realization. Every true
prophecy needs fulfilment, without which it would be a mere
sound, not a word of the living God. In distinction from human
ideals and hopes which may be genuine and noble without being
realized, prophecy is spurious and a product of human ingenuity
unless it is fulfilled ; for God's counsel, such as the prophetic
word claims to be, must be realized. Even the biblical expression
" fulfilment " or " establishment " (note A) implies that some-
thing is lacking to the completeness of prophecy until it gains
reality by the occurrence of what is foretold. If, in prophecy,
the living God has pledged His word to history, He will redeem
it by fulfilment He is everywhere regarded as the real Ful-
filler ; men are mere instruments in working out His decree.
As relates to the mode of fulfilment, its diversity is grounded
in the diversity of the prophecies. Where in the prophecy itself
the chief stress was placed on the form of the outward occurrence,
where e.g. the prophet expressly made this the criterion of the
genuineness of his oracle, there, of course, the exact accomplish-
ment of the events foretold became the "sign" by which his
contemporaries recognised the messenger of the true God. If
such a sign was not fulfilled, the prophet was convicted of im-
posture (Deut. xviii. 22 ; cf. Jer. xxviii. 9 ; Ezek. xxxiii. 13).
(See ante, p. 7.) That such predictions of single historical
events are found in the Biblical literature and also in the classical
prophetic books proper, whose literal fulfilment is either expressly
INTRODUCTION. 51
testified or must be assumed as an indispensable condition of the
acknowledgment of the prophets in question, we have emphasized
on p. 2 7. Here the view of prophecy maintained by H. Schultz *
is certainly insufficient. Not merely is it impossible to foretell
names and numbers from mere " ethico-religious conviction," it
is also an illusion to suppose that the catastrophe of Sennacherib
or the fate of King Zedekiah could have been suggested to the
consciousness of an Isaiah or Ezekiel in the concrete definiteness,
in which they were foretold by these seers and happened in his-
tory, by " the knowledge of the eternally valid laws of the divine
nature." Now in all such cases which, with the best will, it is
impossible to expunge, must we talk of divination a descent
from the height of pure prophecy ? Such an explanation would be
as perverse as it is audacious. We must take prophecy as it was
according to the authentic testimonies of history, not as it ought
to be according to abstractions of the present day. Nor do we
see anything " magical " or " unnatural " in such coincidence, but
a supernatural manifestation of God, who thus revealed Himself as
the sovereign director of history in the little as well as in the
great.
But just because God is not a blind nature - power, but
voluntarily assumes a reciprocal moral relation to men, His
words are no unalterable fate ; their realization depends on men's
moral attitude to Him. In urgently summoning men to fore-
stall the threatened judgment by repentance, and by faithful
devotion to the holy God to fulfil the condition of participation
in the promised blessings, the prophets plainly intimate that
their threatening or promise is itself conditional ; and where
its fulfilment is wanting or postponed in consequence of men's
changed attitude to God, its divine character does not suffer
on this account. God's holy justice remains consistent witli
itself, for the very reason that it speaks in one way to him who
defies its law, and in another to the sinner who bows in peni-
tence to the divine will. 2 In this way God makes known His
personal ethical freedom ; no unalterable destiny, no physical
system of nature guides the course of human history.
In such cases there can be no question of unfulfilled prophecy
in the proper sense, because the divine utterance had its effect
and exhibited its power, even though the prophet in human
1 A. T. Theologie, 2nd ed. p. 230 ff. * Cf. ibid. p. 243 f., 247 f.
52 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
weakness might regret the suspension of the carrying out of the
divine decree. The latter case meets us in the classical example
of Jonah. Jonah iv. 2 shows that the prophets often had like
experiences of the divine mercy. In this case, indeed, the pro-
phet precisely and definitely proclaimed the will of the Lord
respecting Nineveh, " overthrown in forty days," such as would
have been realized if the city had persisted in its ungodly life ;
but the universal repentance, brought about by the preaching of
judgment, restrained God's avenging arm. If the prophet under-
stood his vocation, he rejoiced in such repentance, like Joel.
Another example, in which the Lord repented of His word,
this anthropopathism is to be understood as above, is men-
tioned in Jer. xxvi. 18 f. Of. Micah iii. 12 : the prophecy
of Micah of the overthrow of Jerusalem was followed by Heze-
kiah's earnest repentance, and the fruit of this repentance was
the remission of the judgment. In the same way, Ahab owed
it to his repentance that the sentence threatened him by
Elijah was only realized in his son (1 Kings xxi. 29). Where
great guilt awaits vengeful expiation, the Lord, as the last
example teaches, may be moved at least to delay retribution
by the penitence of individuals. The retribution may strike
other generations, other individuals. But at last everything
must find its due punishment. The " Day of the Lord," as
the day of general reckoning, may be kept back by God's
mercy, but at last it strikes in with its universal judgment.
Such a prophecy of doom, e.g., respecting a nation like Edom,
Moab, a city like Tyre, is first fulfilled when the guilt of these
tribes and cities is revenged in their fate. But this doom may be
delayed for centuries by God's compassion and their own con-
duct. And such an oracle as that of the Day of the Lord, which
is to come upon these nations, is only finally fulfilled when there
are no longer any of the kindred and confederate enemies of God,
in whom it has not been realized.
Moreover, salvation as the subject of prophetic promise is
bound, according to the definite statements of the Bible, to
certain ethical conditions in regard to its realization. Where
the individual or a whole generation proved unfaithful to God,
God could not bestow the blessings promised to it. Failing the
ethical disposition, the salvation promised to Israel could not
1 Cf. the resumption of older oracles by later prophets.
INTRODUCTION. 53
appear, or could not appear as it would have done at the time
described by the seer. Thus the prophets see the coming of the
Lord or of the Davidic king in the form of a subjection of the
foes of Israel to this people. The reasons why salvation did
not then come, why when it came Israel did not attain this
glorious position, nay, even remained in great part at a distance
from the kingdom of God, at least for a time, are to be sought
primarily in Israel's conduct, its lack of readiness and receptive-
ness for the salvation promised it. Of course this positive aim
of the divine plan could not be frustrated by human guilt. All
the oracles pointing to the blessed completion of God's kingdom
must be fulfilled. They were fulfilled when their full import
attained realization.
If, then, we combine what was formerly remarked on prophecy
(p. 31), that it borrows the colours and forms with which it sets
forth the future from the past and present, with what has just
been said, that its realization depends in part on man's voluntary
conduct, which may postpone, where it cannot prevent, the exe-
cution of God's purpose, we shall expect, not a mechanical, but
an organic agreement between prophecy and history. The con-
crete image of the future, sketched by the seer in accordance
with the inner and outer condition of the age, will be changed
even outwardly, if an inner change occurs in those concerned,
without its losing in true reality on this account. It will
be fulfilled only successively and gradually, perhaps in other
subjects and objects, which meantime have taken the place of the
former ones in both an outward and inward respect.
Finally, we need not remark that it would be intolerable pedantry
to say that the prophecies of Israel's dispersion among all nations
of the earth are unfulfilled, because it cannot be proved that
Israelites have lived among, the Lapps or Patagonians, or to find
fault with the saying of Luke xix. 41, because the Komans left
some layers of stones standing in the south-west haram-wall.
But it is not otherwise with many prophecies which are often
described as unfulfilled, because no account is taken of the poetical
style of expression peculiar to the East. The limits between
form and contents, expression and import, are certainly not easily
drawn. In many prophetic pictures the fulfilment only reveals
how far they were apt prefigurings, how far inadequate shadows
of the future, their outlines not squaring with the reality. But
54 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
this we must maintain, that the realization itself is an essential
element in prophecy. The rule for the relation of prophecy to
fulfilment is : A prophecy can only be regarded as fulfilled wlien
the whole body of truth included in it has attained living realization.
As to the type, the rule, as we have seen in 5, is, that it is
known as such only by the appearance of the antitype, in which
it is fulfilled, except where it has been explained in its prefigura-
tive significance by prophetic speech. It is fulfilled when the
idea imperfectly hinted in it has found its adequate exposition in
realization.
NOTE A. The expression " fulfilment" is found, although more
rarely, already in the Old Testament : tfta piel, 1 Kings ii. 27,
viii. 24 = 2 Chron. vi. 15 and xxxvi. 21. Occurring in reference to
vows (Jer. xliv. 25), to counsel and prayer (Ps. xx. 4 f), the word
affirms that the prophetic word is without its full import until it
has received that import through realization. In the New Testa-
ment, as is well known, x7.r t po\Jv is exceedingly common in this sense.
Instead of it the Old Testament generally uses other designations,
like Kia, to come about, Hab. ii. 3, Jer. xxviii. 9, or transitively,
where God is the subject: nbty, to carry out what has been said
(Num. xxiii. 19 ; Jer. xxviii. 6), Jfl?3, to accomplish (Lain. ii. 17),
but chiefly the specially expressive D'pn, to establish, bring to pass.
In opposition to prophecy falling to the ground (?S3, Josh. xxi. 45,
xxiii. 14 ; 1 Kings viii. 56), genuine prophecy is first called to life
by fulfilment. This is implied in Dip, of which the kal stands in
this sense, Jer. Ii. 29, piel, Ezek. xiii. 6, but as a rule the hiph. (which
is also used elsewhere of the performing of vows, Num. xxx. 14,
Jer. xliv. 25, and commands, 1 Sam. xv. 11, 13; Deut. xxvii. 26,
2 Kings xxiii. 24; Neh. v. 13; Jer. xxxiv. 18, xxxv. 16; cf. the
hoph., ver. 14) : Num. xxiii. 19 ; Deut. ix. 5 ; 1 Sam. i. 23 ; 1 Kings
ii. 4, vi. 12, viii. 20 (=2 Chron. vi. 10), xii. 15 (=2 Chron. x. 15) ;
Neh. ix. 8 ; Ps. cxix. 38 ; Isa. xliv. 26 ; Jer. xi. 5, xxviii. 6, xxix. 10,
xx xiii. 14. In the LXX the word is expressed, not by -JTATJ/XJUV, but
mostly by /Vs-jj/u and its compounds. It stood also in Ecclus.
xxxvi. 20 (cf. Fritzsche, Comm. p. 201), where the Greek translation
gives lyupw. In the New Testament uKoxaditfrdvai corresponds to
it, Matt. xvii. 11 =Mark ix. 12 ; Acts i. 6 ; cf. aKoxardaraffis, Acts
iii. 21, out of which a " restitution of all things " has been wrongly
made.
8. The Fulfilment in the New Covenant.
The entire prophetic and typical prophecy of the Old Covenant,
INTRODUCTION. 5 5
so far as it pointed to a perfect setting up of the divine rule upon
earth after a previous judgment and redemption, found its essential
fulfilment in the appearance of the Mediator of the New Covenant.
Jesus of Nazareth presented Himself as the Messiah announced
in the Old Covenant, who, according to prophecy, was to make
this kingdom of God a fact ; and in harmony with His own claim,
the Christian Church has seen in Him the One in whose person
all the lines of prophecy meet. In the person of the Son of God
and Son of man the relation towards humanity which God has
always been aiming at is purely and perfectly realized. In His
work the service which God asks of the true Servant of the Lord
is perfectly rendered, and thus the fundamental condition of the
divine-human reign on earth fulfilled. In a word, Jesus is the Christ,
in whom the central idea of the Old Covenant has been realized
under every aspect. Law and prophecy are fulfilled in Him, and
can desire no further extension of which He is not the ground
and medium. On the other hand, of course, it ought not to be
forgotten that this realization exists in perfect form only in His
parson, not in the world. The kingdom which He founded has
not yet been revealed in its complete form. And as long as this
is not done, according to the above canon, the oracles of the Old
Covenant, which require that God's kingdom shall fill the whole
earth with undisputed supremacy, are not satisfied ; for the fulfil-
ment cannot contain less than the prophecy. Only, these statements
must not be referred to the future at once, without being brought
into the light of Christ's revelation. But the several rays of
prophecy, which without exception meet in the person of Christ
as their focus, thence divide again in all directions. Christ Him-
self and the apostles again expressly resumed them. Thus
prophecy of judgment and salvation opens anew. But such
judgment is merely the outward effect of the inner attitude that
has been and will be assumed by nations and individuals to the
salvation offered in Christ's historic person. Cf. the saying of
Christ, John iii. 18, xii. 48: "He that believes not in me is
condemned already." And the salvation still future is merely the
actual appearance of the blessed kingdom of God introduced in
Christ and already virtually existing in the believer.
If the person and earthly \vork of Christ thus form the
centre of its historical fulfilment, we cannot call it " accidental "
that in His history prophecy has been realized not merely as to
56 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
its ideas, but also in respect of its form, as in no other history.
Prophecy, indeed, is not a mechanical copy of the fulfilment,
in the way in which the artificial " sibylline " oracles narrate
beforehand the history of Christ. 1 But innumerable undesigned
coincidences, apparently of a merely formal kind, point to the
organic connection of prophetic and typical prophecy with the
lite of the true Messiah, divine hints indicating in the historic
Jesus the long-promised Christ. We shall meet with many such
traits, some expressly emphasized by the Lord, the apostles, and
evangelists, and others made clearly evident in other ways. As
modern rationalism stumbles at all such shaping of outward life
according to divine counsel as it is unable to derive from general
maxims, and it cannot here avail itself of mtieinia post eventum,
while the supposition of mere accident does not satisfy reason,
it here after the example of Strauss suspects the fulfilment of
having copied the prophecies. And yet it is clear how differently
a life of the Messiah must have turned out, if it had been arbi-
trarily sketched by the apostles according to their own Messianic
conceptions.
In the fact that the fulfilment by Christ presents a wondrous
agreement with the word of prophecy even in outward reality
we see something more than adminicula for the weak, which is
the utmost that some even believing theologians would allow such
coincidences to pass for. We discern therein an intimation that
" the end of the ways of God is corporeity." Even in outward
form the Lord will at last reveal His glory. And while it is
certain that we ought not again to transfer to the future any part
of 0. T. prophecy which the gospel has shown to be mere transient
limitation, as is done to some extent by a too realistic theology,
still, on the other hand, it is perverse to maintain that the only
permanent elements in those oracles are certain abstract ideas,
while the form has no enduring significance. As little as
the agreement of the form with the appearance of the person
of Christ was accidental, so little will it be unrelated to
the shape of God's kingdom that is to come. Only this is
certain, that the fulfilment will always contain something far
higher than could be pictured with the aid of prophecy. Even
the truest Israelites, who waited for the consolation of Israel,
following prophecy, conceived the Messiah quite differently from
1 Tholuck, Die Propheten, p. 146 f.
INTRODUCTION. 5 7
what He actually was when He came. But when they had
come to know Him, they wondered to see how exactly everything
was fulfilled in Him. In the same way, no doubt, all who under
the guidance of prophecy have formed a concrete conception of
the future kingdom of God have a very inadequate, and in part
mistaken conception thereof. But this does not make it impos-
sible that, when the kingdom shall appear, we shall be astonished
at the wondrous coincidence between God's word and work even
in outward details.
In considering more closely the attitude which Jesus Himself
took to the 0. T. revelation, 1 we see first of all that He placed
Himself in subordination to it, because it contained His Father's
will : " Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the
prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil" (Matt. v. 17).
He speaks thus in the very beginning of the discourse, in which
He opposes to the commands of the old law a " But I say unto
you," uttered in divine self-consciousness. For by that which
He contrasts as His own demand and action with the old
command, He by no means destroys the latter, but clearly brings
out and perfectly realizes its full divine import. 2 But certainly
in such a treatment of the Mosaic law is seen at once the claim,
that He alone is called and empowered to disclose in its full
truth and clearness the expression of God's holy will once given
imperfectly by Moses, and at the same time to convert it into
reality. Jesus puts Himself under the law so far as it is
divine, above it so far as it is Mosaic. We find a similar con-
trast in the attitude of Jesus to prophecy. On the one hand,
He subjects Himself completely to the course there prescribed to
Him, and considers His life and death in all its details as some-
thing that must so take place, because it is so written in God's
word ; on the other hand, He views Himself as the culminating
point to which the whole of prophecy, nay, the entire Old Testa-
ment was meant to lead. While He nowhere sets Himself in
opposition to the letter of prophecy, as found at least formally in
the law 7 , He first gives the words of prophecy their true import (e.g.
to ideas like "righteousness "and "God's kingdom "),and,indeed, such
an import as of itself abolishes the formal limits of the prophetic
1 Cf. Lechler, Das alte Testament in den RedenJesu, Stud. u. Krit. 1854, Heft 4.
2 C. J. Riggenbach, Jesus Christus, der Erf idler von Oesetz und Propheten (Vor-
trag, 1878), p. 4 ff.
58 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
oracles, their local and national boundaries. But the " sovereignty "
of the Lord Jesus in relation to the prophets shows itself chiefly
in His making His own person tlw centre of what they foretold of
God's kingdom, and treating it all as fulfilled in Himself^ More
than once He solemnly and expressly declared Himself to be
" the Christ," the Messiah, and thus laid emphasis on the regal
divine dignity belonging to Him as the true " Anointed of the
Lord," 2 and raising Him far above David and Solomon, Abraham,
and the prophets from Moses to John. 3 But at the same time
He alluded to His humiliation and passion as something belonging
of necessity to His mission, since it was just as emphatically set
forth in Scripture. 4 He thus applied entirely to Himself the two
images of the glorious Son of God and the suffering Servant of God,
ideas which in the Old Testament were merely tending towards
unity in certain hints, and thus disclosed a deeper connection in
Scripture little known to the ancients. But still more. From the
first He declared His appearing to be a coming of the kingdom
of God, 6 thus claiming for His own person also the prophecies
that referred, not to the " Messiah," but to the " coming of
Yahveh." He designated His forerunner John the voice which,
in Isa. xl. 3, makes itself heard before Yahveh, or Elijah who
comes before the day of the Lord to prepare everything. 6 The
two lines of prophecy, one of which speaks of the coming of
Yahveh, the other of a future ruler from David's house, thus
blend in Him. And if everything great and essential that had
been said of the completion of God's kingdom is combined in
Christ, and only obtained its true greatness and essence in His
person, it follows, of course, that the whole Old Covenant bore
witness and pointed to Him, that the reign of God in Israel,
viewed from a higher standpoint, aimed at this consummation,
and that all God's previous revelations were but a prelude of the
one given in His Son in the fulness of time. Here type reaches its
adequate completion, just as prophecy its full realization. From
the N". T. standpoint the two are not essentially different. Here
1 Cf. Gess, Die Souverdnitat des Herrn Jesu gegeniiber von den Propheten
(Vortrag), 1879.
1 Cf. His self-designation " Son of man," according to Dan. vii. 13, and especially
Mark xiv. 61 f.
3 Mark xii. 35-37 ; Matt. xii. 42 ; John viii. 58 ; Luke vii. 28.
4 Matt. xii. 40, xvi. 21 ; Mark viii. 31 ; Luke xxiv. 45 f.
5 Mark i. 15. 6 Matt. xi. 10.
INTRODUCTION. 5 9
it is a subordinate question how far the reference to the com-
pletion in the future was present to man's consciousness. Even
if David or any other man of God in the Passion-psalms spoke
primarily of his own experiences and feelings, the idea of the
suffering King and Servant of God is first realized in Christ ; the
words apply to Him, are fulfilled in Him, i.e. receive their full
meaning first in the experiences of His life. "We choose an
example, in which the Lord Himself sees His death foretold :
" Ye all shall be offended in me this night ; for it is written, I
will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered " (Matt.
xxvi. 31). The citation is from Zech. xiii. 7, where it is said:
"Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man
that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts : smite the shepherd,
and the sheep shall be scattered : and I will turn my hand against
the little ones." Even if this oracle applied to a pious shepherd
of the prophet's days, to himself, or a king of his days, it was
verified in an incomparably higher degree in Christ. He is the
" Good Shepherd," who with full right and consciousness claims
for Himself everything of this idea found in the Old Covenant.
And as He can call Himself the " fellow " of God with incom-
parably more reason than all other shepherds, so also what is
said of the violent end of the best Shepherd, causing such bitter
woe to the poor flock, will have its most terrible fulfilment in
Him and His disciples.
Only by pondering and appreciating in all its bearings the
attitude which the Lord assumed to the Old Covenant in His
witness to Himself, can we understand the exposition and appli-
cation which the N. T. authors, apostles and evangelists, give to
the prophetic word, and indeed to the Old Testament generally,
as a prophecy of Christ. It is impossible to deny that the view
of Scripture current in those days, the training of the authors of
the Gospels and Epistles, as well as that of their readers, had
some influence on the exposition, more, indeed, on the remarks
of the evangelists than on the discourses of the Lord, in one
form in the case of the author of the Hebrews with his Alex-
andrian culture, and in another in the case of Paul with his
Rabbinical training. The Jews of those days were fond of a
free application of Scripture, not always professing to be a
proper exposition, 1 and even where it professes to be expository,
1 Cf. the excellent treatise of Tholuck, Das Alte Testament im Neuen Testament
60 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
not always governed by the grammatico-historical principle. But
such a reference to the subjective modes of conception in those
days, which had their influence on the authors of the New Testa-
ment, or the supposition of an accommodation on their part to
their readers, would not do justice to the facts of the case.
The objective ground, justifying the messengers and witnesses of
Christ in what they did, lies in the above-stated relation of
Christ to the Old Covenant. Not only did the divine thoughts
made known in that covenant first find their true expression in
Christ, and in Him without exception, but the agreement between
the form of prophecy and the appearance of Jesus Christ made
an overwhelming impression on contemporaries, so far as they
were enlightened by the Spirit of God, an impression which they
strove by their testimony to impart to others. In the first and
the fourth Gospel the aim throughout the story of the life of
Jesus is to show that He is "the Christ," the promised Messiah.
To those who saw with their own eyes, and handled with their
own hands, the Word of life, no detail seemed accidental or in-
significant. In the least, as in the greatest, they discovered a
wondrous harmony with what God had said of old, and mention
it when referring to the Old Covenant. They do so as those
who stand entirely in the light of the new, and for whom the
entire significance of the old lies in its bearing testimony to the
new. In the full confidence that their Master is the Yea and
Amen to everything God ever said and promised, they seize
without anxious inquiry upon the wealth of the prophetic word,
and place the entire garland on His head, careless whether single
flowers and leaves are thus removed from the place that bore
them, they all grew for Him alone !
Finally, from what has been said the question will answer
itself, whether and how far the N. T. fulfilment must govern us in
discussing 0. T. prophecy. In opposition to the course followed
in the Church formerly, which will be treated of in the next
section, preference is rightly given in our days to the grammatico-
historical method, according to which every prophecy is to be first
considered in the meaning which it must have had for its con-
temporaries, and which, therefore, the speaker himself intended.
The N. T. authors by no means wish to exempt us from this
(1861), and the literature there given on Rabbinical hermeneutics and the relation
of N. T. authors thereto.
INTRODUCTION. 6 1
scientific labour ; their business lies elsewhere than in the historic
indication of the original context and character of a passage.
Hence we do not detract from their reputation by first inquiring
into the human conditions of a saying, as to which they consider
the absolutely divine import alone. It is easily possible for such
a saying to go through a long course of development, only attain-
ing a greater range of meaning at a higher stage of revelation.
But, on the other hand, it must not be overlooked that the
single prophetic oracle is not a chance product of momentary
circumstances and moods, but professes to come from the Divine
Spirit ; and that this origin is confirmed by the inner unity of
prophecies originating in the most diverse circumstances and
individuals, and separated by centuries ; finally, that the reve-
lation of Christ claims to be the one centre, in which all the
arteries of this organism meet. Thus a mode of treating single
oracles is demanded, which does not consider them as isolated
atoms, but regards them in their inner connection. And since
every organism can only be truly understood in all its members
from the completion of its development, the connection and full
significance of the prophecy of the Old Covenant can only be
duly appreciated in all its members from its fulfilment in the
New Covenant. We cannot content ourselves with the dualistic
dismemberment we meet with in Eiehm : " The contents of the
prophecies i.e. the sense in which the prophets themselves
understood them, and would have them understood by their con-
temporaries must be distinguished from the reference, intended
by God and historically revealed, to the fulfilment ly Christ!' l
In many passages, indeed, the two things need to be distinguished.
But, in general, the reference to the completion of the divine
kingdom by Christ is part of the contents of prophecy, nay, forms
its essential, although often veiled contents. It is to be noted
that the prophetic word usually has an enigmatic remnant, a
mysterious something, before which the consciousness of the
prophet and of the hearers stands in hushed reverence. Therefore
we must not merely reckon what was perfectly clear to the under-
standing of prophet and hearers as forming part of the contents
of prophecy. Prophecy, as a rule, contains a mysterious germ,
whose unfolding was only surmised, but which was nevertheless
1 Messianic Prophecy, p. 151 (Eng. trans.) [Riehm criticizes the phrase "dual-
istic dismemberment," Stud. u. Krit. 1883, 4 Heft, p. 804.]
62 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
part of its contents. A satisfactory, though still historic, treat-
ment will take account of this germ, and at least indicate its
future unfolding. Thus will the organic unity with the N. T.
fulfilment be spontaneously established. But the witnesses of
the New Covenant show us only the ultimate goal for which
we are to look. We must take our stand altogether in the age
of the origin of these oracles, and simply make clear the way
thence to the goal. In other words, the history of the fulfilment
has indeed an essential influence on our consideration of prophecy,
but a merely regulative one.
9. The Treatment of the Subject in Christian Theology.
In Christian theology, one of whose postulates is the fulfilment
of 0. T. prophecy, the mode of treating this subject has been
very different, according to the idea of revelation governing the
writers, and their scientific skill in philological and historical
research. Here we desire to point out merely the main lines
that come to light as theology developes, remitting the
reader to the more specific investigations of Tholuck * and
Diestel. 2
We have seen that Christ and the apostles, on the best inner
grounds, transferred the divine ideas of the Old Testament and
its divinely-ordered types into the New Covenant, in order in its
light to show their complete realization. On the other hand,
the ancient Church, from the first centuries down to the Middle
Ages, almost ignoring the distinction of Old and New Covenant,
imported the N. T. revelation directly into the Old Testament,
and thought only of establishing the complete harmony of the
two. The things wanting to an historic appreciation of the
genetic process were first of all, philological knowledge, the
foremost Church Fathers, with the exception of Jerome, being
unacquainted with the Hebrew tongue ; secondly, the critical
eye, able to distinguish what belongs to different periods ; and,
in general, the delicate historical sense, skilled to discern in that
development the organic control of the Divine Spirit. The Fathers
therefore sought references to Christ's life and teaching at
random in the Old Testament, dwelling much on mere details.
1 Das Alte Testament im 2?eucn Testament.
3 Geschichte dta Alien Testaments in der christlichen Kirche, 1869.
INTRODUCTION. 63
Even the arts of literal Cabbalistic symbolism were not despised, 1
the text being often wrested from its original meaning. Where
it seemed quite impossible to obtain a Christian meaning, the
allegorical mode of explanation was applied. In 1 Cor. x. 4,
GaL iv. 21 ff., Paul had apparently given authority for this.
But, apart from the consideration that greater freedom belonged
to the inspired witnesses of the N. T. revelation in applying the
written word than to the later Church, and that the former
passage does not impose a foreign meaning on the words, but
alludes to a mystery hidden under the outward occurrence,
apart from this, the moderate, judicious way in which the apostle
makes use of such interpretation was not taken for a pattern.
The manifold sense of the letter was elevated into a principle,
all secure ground for Bible interpretation being thus cut away.
Still the ancient Church was not without more unsophisticated
perception of the real facts of the case. "Whilst the allegorical
method, borrowed from the Hellenistic Jews, flourished in the
Alexandrine school (Origen), far more important results were
achieved for historic interpretation by the Antiocliian, viz. by
Diodorus of Tarsus and his greater scholar Theodore of Mopsuestia,
who referred only three of the psalms, which were nearly all
regarded as Messianic, to Christ, applying most of them to David,
Solomon, Zerubbabel, Hezekiah, etc. He fought zealously against
the Allegorists. On the other hand, he lays special stress on the
type ; he really includes even verbal prophecies under this idea ;
to him they are not germs of something future, but imperfect
preformations, whose import is always transcended by the fulfil-
ment. Here we have the beginning of a rational explanation of
prophecy, which, of course, might degenerate into Eationalism.
But this mode of view, like the freer method of handling Scrip-
ture in general, forthwith fell into discredit, and this corrective
to the unhistoric spirit of the Church was soon lost Moreover,
Theodore knew no Hebrew or Syriac, and in his interpretation was
not always faithful to his own principles. A middle position be-
tween the Alexandrians and Antiochians is occupied by Chrysostom,
who filed off the edges of Theodore's hermeneutics, and knew how
to turn Bible language to account in the most pleasing manner.
1 Cf. the so-called Epistle of Barnabas, chap, ix., where the name of Jesus is read
out of the 318 servants of Abraham. I = 10, H = 8, are the initial letters of 'intraus ;
T = 300, has the form of the cross, etc.
G4 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
He also busies himself much with types; only the Messianic
prophecies proper are to him not merely typical, but directly
Messianic.
In the earliest ages the interest felt in 0. T. prophecy was
very great. It formed a main argument of the Apologists against
the Jews. Justin Martyr especially, in his treatises against the
Jews, makes use of it, laying the greatest emphasis on the
harmony between prophecy and its fulfilment (in Christ). He
calls this harmony the peyt<TTr) icai aXtjOevTaTr) a-TroSetft? of
Christianity. He describes prophecy as the kernel and chief
import of the Israelitish religion. It states what will be done to
Christ, througli Christ and with Christians. But his interest in
it is far less historic than apologetic. Thus the national element
in prophecy is more and more ignored, and everything receives
a Christian colouring. The allegorizing of an Origen achieved
great things in this line. All oracles, for example, treating of
Jerusalem, according to this Church Father are to be referred
to the heavenly Jerusalem. The facts announced therein
have no historical meaning, but denote supersensuous events
The oracles respecting foreign peoples apply to the souls of these
peoples in heaven. Israel also is always to be spiritually under-
stood. Augustine states his hermeneutic principles in reference
to the prophets in de civitate Dei, 1. xvii. chap. 3 : One class of
prophecies applies to the earthly Jerusalem, another to the
heavenly Church, to which all believers belong; a third species
refers to both. In the same work Augustine is the first to give
a systematic exposition of the development of prophecy, as well
as a review of the prophets existing in literary form, L xviii.
chap. 27-35.
After the age of persecution was past, the attitude of the
Church to prophecy changed in a marked way, its fulfilment
being no longer looked for so eagerly. In opposition to the
chiliastic expectations of the sects, the prophecy of the Old
Covenant was regarded as finally fulfilled and done with. The
canon of Jerome (on Isa. xl. 14) at once became current:
Prudens et christianus lector hanc habeat repromissionum
prophetalium regulam, ut quse Judsei et nostri, immo non
nostri, Judaizantes carnaliter futura contendunt, nos spiritualiter
jam transacta doceamus, nee per occasionem istiusmodi fabu-
larum et inextricabilium juxta apostolum qutestionum juda'izare
INTRODUCTION. 6 5
<
cogamur. Ever} 7 thing was held to be fulfilled, and where the
language of prophecy accorded too little with the actual appear-
ance of Jesus and His Church (as e.g. in the delineations of the
Messianic kingdom), it was thought the expressions should be
interpreted spiritually. Indeed, such a spiritual interpretation
was attributed to the prophets, as if they had understood their
oracles in no other way. The literal (reale) interpretation, that
sees a preliminary but not yet fully revealed fulfilment in Christ's
first appearing, and expects the perfect one at His second coming,
was discredited by the extravagances of the chiliasts, and looked
on as heretical. Just so this spiritualistic interpretation did
not scruple to refer the promises, applying to the future of the
people of Israel, to the Church as the spiritual posterity of
Abraham according to Gal. iii. 7. But the prospect opened out
by the same apostle (Kom. xi. 12), that by the conversion of
the whole of Israel the prophecies will one day be fulfilled
entirely, was ignored by the Gentile- Christian Church.
Thus we must say in general of the ancient Church, that it
imported the New Testament directly into the Old, using in a
one-sided manner the maxim of Augustine, correct in itself:
Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus in Novo patet, to bind
the two Testaments closely together, and leaving out of sight the
essential diversity expressed in the latere. That the prophecies
and discourses of the prophets generally were full of references
to their own age, was altogether overlooked (except by the
Antiochian school). Characteristic is Chrysostom's view, that
the prophets often spoke in appearance only of the past, and
mixed historical matters in their discourses in order to veil their
true meaning ; for if they had put everything into plain language,
they would have been slain by their contemporaries and their
books burnt, as the example of Jeremiah proves. The conditions
of the age which limited even the prophet's gaze are thus ignored.
According to 2 Pet. i. 19, prophecy is like a lamp shining in a
dark place. Instead of paying regard to this, the clear light of
day was presupposed in the Old Testament.
No scientific treatment of the subject was possible until the
Bible could be again read and examined in the original text.
Throughout the Middle Ages the only uses of the Old Testament
were the practical and the scholastic. Finally, Humanism and
the Eeformation took in hand philological study, and thus opened
ORELLI. E
66 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
the way for an historical treatment. The important conclusion
was arrived at, that the meaning of a passage can at bottom only
be one. But the new path was entered on only gradually and
not without many exceptions. It was in reference to the
prophecies that historic interpretation was at its weakest, because
here too great haste was made to reach the N. T. revelation.
The Reformers took too little account of the difference between the
two Testaments, borrowing from the early Church the common
spiritualizing method in interpreting the Messianic prophecies.
Yet here and there we see a freer view, acknowledging that the
sense of an 0. T. passage is not exactly the same which it
receives in the New Testament. It was gradually seen that the
idea in prophecy arises out of an historic ground. So Zwingle
comments on the peculiar passage (Matt. ii. 18), which also
gives us an example of the exceedingly free manner in which
Matthew especially finds references in the Gospel history to
prophecy. Th6 passage in Jer. xxxi. 15, where Rachel, the
mother of the deported tribe Ephraim, mourns over the loss of
her children, is cited in reference to the slaughter of the Beth-
lehemite children, and indeed is introduced by the formula : rore
eTrXrjpwdT) TO ptjOev 8ia 'lepepiov TOV Trpo^Tov. Thus in this
incident of the history of Jesus Matthew sees a fulfilment in some
way of the prophetic oracle. On this Zwingle aptly remarks :
Evangelista detorquet haec verba ad Christum; omnia enim
quae in Vetere Testamento etiam sunt gesta, in figura tamen
contigerunt et figurae fuerunt, in Christo omnia consummantur et
vere implentur. The detorquet should be noticed, plainly
intimating that there is a certain violence in the association.
Nor is the reason assigned incorrect. 1 Matthew, indeed, did not
assume a direct prophecy wherever he speaks of a Tr^ijpova-Oai.
And as certainly as the mourning of Rachel was typical of the
mourning of these mothers robbed of their children, so certainly
everything in the Old Covenant was typical, and everything in
the New had its type there.
Luther, who saw, like no one else since Paul the apostle, the
1 It is better than Calvin's : Non intelligit Matthseus illic prsedictum fuisse,
quid factums esset Herodes, sed Christi adventu renovatum esse ilium luctum.
Less happily Bengel on Matt. ii. 15, 18 : Uniua dicti sensui minor et major rion
unius temporis erentus respondere potest, donee vaticinium exhauritur, a rule
correct in itself, but more suitable elsewhere than here.
INTRODUCTION. 6 7
depth of the antithesis between law and gospel, had not, on the
other hand, the historic sense to separate enough the Old
Testament from the New. He is too eager to find Christ in the
Old. The Psalms, e.g., are to him " a little Biblia, because they
speak ' s so clearly of Christ's kingdom, death, resurrection, and
ascension." In this respect Calvin, altogether the greatest exegete
of his age, has indicated the right way. His first effort is to
discover the sense which the author himself gave to his words,
and he by no means lifts this sense at once out of its historical
sphere by adducing its N. T. parallel, which is often rather
an application or borrowing than an exposition. We take
an example at random. Calvin refers Ps. xxii. to David, who
is there speaking of his own sufferings, and then rightly observes :
Minime vero dubium est, quin illo clamore palam ostenderit
Christus, quamvis hie suas miserias deploret David, psalmum
hunc tamen prophetico spiritu de se fuisse compositum, there-
fore a divinely-ordered type, unknown to David, of words as
well as of events. 1
In Zwingle, Calvin, (Ecolampadius, and the Reformers generally,
we meet with the first attempts to do justice to the historic
sense. The imperfection of their attempts cannot surprise us.
In the following age of orthodoxy, alongside certain efforts to
understand the history of redemption more thoroughly, we see
many steps backward in consequence of dogmatic prepossession.
The Eeformed Church (and in it the Netherland portion chiefly)
earned special merit by its research into the 0. T. language
and theology. Alongside Grotius, who with his fine humanistic
culture did not enter thoroughly into theological questions, stood
the school of Cocceius, who tried to put the two Testaments into
a right relation to each other. The latter divine founded a purely
Biblical theology, which took for its aim the tracing the course
of the redemptive history. Theologia prophetica appears henceforth
as a special discipline. But the types were treated in preference
to the Messianic prophecies proper. The rules laid down for
typology were certainly insufficient to form an effectual barrier
1 We have every reason to admire the historical acuteness and severe truthfulness
of Calvin shown in this view, which diverges from the traditional one ; and the
Reformed Church especially cannot be thankful enough to him for it. Instead of
this, Bohl reproaches him with historical prepossession (Christologie des Alien
Testaments, p. 33 f.).
68 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
against subjective caprice in its treatment. Hence, although the
teaching of the Cocceians contains much that is true and
beautiful, the overgrowth of the typical element obstructs their
vision. The highest place belongs to Campegius Vitringa, who
attempts a middle course between Grotius and Cocceius. His
commentary on Isaiah is one of the foremost achievements of
Christian exegesis. He is careful first to leave the prophecies
in their historical significance, and not to refer them directly
to the time of Christ and the Christian Church. That, despite
this correct insight into the nature of prophecy, he is often
seen to be inconsistent in the application of these principles
and infected with the failings of the theological theories of his
age, cannot lessen his merit.
It was inevitable that the structure of dogmatics should first
be shattered by the negative one-sidedness of rationalism before
men could see how much of this structure was really built on
the rock of truth. Even in the age of orthodoxy there were
harbingers of this school of opinion. Standing outside the Church
indeed, but exercising no slight influence on the science of the
next age, B. Spinoza had treated the Bible from the naturalistic
standpoint. In particular, he brought an acute criticism to bear on
prophecy, 1 although without any intelligence for ethico-religious
life. According to him, the superiority of Israel consisted, not
in any special gracious relation of God to it or in any religious
vocation, but simply in the fact that for a long time it abode
happily in its country in a well-ordered commonwealth. Its
relation to God was not different from that in which the
Canaanites stood to Him so long as they possessed the land.
The aim of the whole Mosaic revelation is secure ct commode
vivere! But within the Protestant Church a rationalistic
tendency existed from the first, although not such naked
naturalism. It originated in humanism. The attitude of
Grotius (t 1645), with his humanistic culture, and the Arminians
towards prophecy and type was mainly negative ; with overdone
sobriety they dwelt exclusively on grammar and history. The
Arminians early suggested that the Jewish authors also cited
passages of the Old Testament very arbitrarily, without any
justification from the sense and context of the passages. This
tendency was the ruling one in the 18th century. The transi-
1 Tractatus theologico-politicus (appeared 1670), cap. I. -III.
INTRODUCTION. 69
tion to the age of Illuminism is represented by a work of the
Genevan theologian, A. Turretin (De S. S. Interpretatione, 1728),
which expresses itself very freely respecting the N. T. citations ;
they are said to be meri lusus ingenii, and to rest on an
accommodation to Jewish conceptions. The next age went
farther. Rationalism strove generally to establish inconsistency
between 0. T. prophecy and the historic appearance of Christ,
as well as the truth revealed in Him, by external historical
interpretation, overlooking the internal development which joins
the two Testaments together. If the mistake formerly was fond-
ness for emphasizing the coincidence of prophecy and fulfilment
in formal particulars, the aim of Rationalism now was to show
these particular references to be futile and unwarranted, think-
ing that in this way it did away with supernatural prophecy
itself, which was as offensive to it as miracle. The great
religious ideas, of which those particulars are merely symptoms,
were left unnoticed in the Old Testament. Still the early
Rationalism was devout As it sought to evade miracles,
while leaving the dignity of Scripture intact, so it did with
predictions. It made use of the accommodation-hypothesis
already mentioned. J. S. Semler used it very extensively. For
example, the parallel drawn by the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews between Christ and the 0. T. high priest is to him
merely an accommodation to Jewish readers. Not that the
same idea of priestly representation lies in the two places, but
the author desired all the more surely to emancipate his readers
from this common idea by setting forth Christ as the true High
Priest. So little intelligence was there for deeper religious
ideas ! One cannot wonder that less devout rationalists went a
step farther (note A), and found in the apostles themselves (and
in Christ), not merely in their readers, the ground of the illusion
that led to the recognition of prophecy and fulfilment. The
apostles were placed on exactly the same footing as other
Jewish writers who so often quote the letter of the Bible without
inner reason. A gulf was now made apparent between the
grammatico-historical significance of those 0. T. passages and the
sense given them in the N. T., and no reasonable mode of explana-
tion was seen. Men could no longer bring themselves with
Hamann to sacrifice " the pet child " of the grammatico-historical
sense in order to obtain the life-blood.
70 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
On the present century lies the task of rising above the
rationalistic theory, and yet learning something essential from it
in reference to the grammatico-historical character of prophecy.
Schleiermacher, who is in general rightly regarded as the con-
queror of Bationalism, remained entangled in many of the pre-
judices of that school in respect to his treatment of the Old
Testament. We spoke before (p. 27) of his limiting the theo-
logical import of prophecy to universal ethico-religious convictions.
The influence of this arbitrary abstraction is strongly felt in
modern theology. The same is true of the theory of the world
received from Eationalism, in deference to which supernatural
coincidence is eliminated from prophecy by literary criticism, or,
where the prophecy cannot be put chronologically after its fulfil-
ment, is rendered suspicious by doubts cast on the fulfilment. Still
even the bald rationalistic works of modem days have made cer-
tain valuable contributions to philological interpretation. Less
in the wake of Schleiermacher than of J. A. Bengel (t 1752)
and Chr. A. Crusius l (f 1775), the view has gained favour, that
prophecy is to be treated as systematic and anticipating fulfil-
ment, and thus the true reconciliation is to be found between the
mere grammatico-historical and the pneumatic exposition. But
certainly this problem is solved in very different ways. 2 Even
among decidedly orthodox theologians the method of treatment is
extremely different according to the view taken of the relation
between spirit and form in prophecy. The spiritualistic tendency
aims rather at indicating everywhere the eternally valid truths
and laws of God's kingdom. This was done first of all, in
opposition to the reigning rationalism, from the standpoint of
faith in revelation, by Hengstenberg's Cliristology of tJie Old Testa-
ment (note B). In characteristic contrast to it stands Hofmann's
Weissagung und Erfilllung (1841-44), where the organic inter-
connection of God's word and work, the uniform advance of
redemptive history and prophecy, is emphasized so strongly, that
really the latter merely expresses what the former always implies.
1 Cf. F. Delitzsch, Die biblisch-prophetlsche Theologie, Hire Fortbildung durch
Chr. A. Crusius und Hire neueste Entwickelung sett der Christologie. Hengstenberg's,
1845.
* Cf. e.g. J. T. Beck, Bemerlcvngen uber mesxianische Weissagitngen ah geschicht-
liches Problem und uber pneumatische Schriftaudegung, in the Tubinger Zeitschrift
fur Theologie, 1831, Heft 3 (reprinted since), with H. Schultz, Ueber doppelten
Schriftninn, Theol. Stud. it. Krit. 1866, Heft 1.
INTRODUCTION. 71
Yet the two are by no means to be explained by finite, external
factors, but in the greatest as in the least serve to delineate
the plan of the divine kingdom. With all its one-sidedness, this
grand conception was an admonition not to depreciate the his-
toric growth of God's kingdom in the interest of dogma. This
holds good in respect to the past as well as the future. The
spiritualizing method, which would only retain ideas, easily
infringes on the vital import of prophecy, whilst certainly the
realistic method is in danger of repristiuating in a Judaistic
spirit what has long been consigned to oblivion. 1 The difference
here is one of degree. The same holds good for the most part of
the adherents of the school that criticizes the traditional canon.
This criticism influences in a large, but still very unequal degree,
the expositions of J. J. Stahelin (note C), G. Baur (note D),
E. Anger (note E), H. Ewald (note F), E. Biehm (note G),
H. Schultz (note H), F. Hitzig (note I), and Kuenen (note J).
Others, again, more or less conservative in the exposition itself,
accept the traditional canon as it is, and take up a negative
attitude towards all literary criticism of it. So Hofmann (note
K), Hengstenberg, Bohl (note L). On the other hand, Francis
Delitzsch (note M) and G. F. Oehler (note N), while thoroughly
maintaining the supernatural character of revelation, and rejecting
tbe naturalistic criteria of the moderns, by no means assume the
infallibility of the Jewish tradition of Scripture, and acknowledge
the right to exercise criticism on the present form of the Bible in
its own spirit. With these two theologians we are at one in
this respect, despite differences in the application of principles in
particular cases.
NOTE A. To the gross rationalists, who denied all relation
between prophecy and fulfilment, belonged, e.g., Eeimarus, the
Wolfenbiittel Fragmentist. See his utterance in Tholuck (Das
A. T. im N. T. p. 1) : " So much every one sees, that, unless we
assume the proposition, ' This oracle speaks of Jesus of Nazareth,'
on trust from the New Testament, no single oracle proves any-
thing ; but, on the contrary, they naturally speak of quite other
persons, times, and incidents."
1 In a different form from Hengstenberg, theologians of free critical leanings
emphasize the obsoleteness of the 0. T. form of prophecy, after the ideas it contains
have been fulfilled in Christ. Here, of course, all depends on how much is included in
that form. Cf. E. Bertheau, Die A.T. Weissagung von Israels Reichsherrlichkeit
in seinem Lande, Jahrb. fur deutsche Theologie, Bd. iv. and v., and Elehm, below.
72 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
NOTE B. E. \V. Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament,
4 vols. (T. & T. Clark), an epoch-making work, that courageously
and successfully vindicated the divine character of prophecy, and
did much towards reviving reverence for the Old Testament and
the confidence in it which had declined in the Church, a merit
which the many defects of the work, only partially amended in the
2nd edition, ought not to obscure. See the excellent criticism on
Hengstenberg and Hofmann in Delitzsch, infra.
NOTE C. J. J. Stahelin, Die mtssianischen Weissagungen des
Alien Testaments in ihrer Entstehung, Entwickdung und Ausbildung,
1847, endeavours with all critical freedom to establish an organic
connection between the two Testaments.
NOTE D. G. Baur, Geschichte der A. T. Weissagung, 1861,
1 Theil alas, not continued. The investigation of the " Vor-
geschichte," here treated of, corresponding to the subject of our
First Part, leads the author, indeed, for the most part to negative
results. But it seems as if the further development would have
been more satisfactory. The exposition is distinguished above the
majority of works of the kind by clearness and pleasantness,
notwithstanding the abundance of material.
NOTE E. E. Anger, Vorlesungen uber die Geschichte der messian-
ischen Idee, published after the author's death by Max Krenkel.
Doubtless if the work had been edited by the author himself, this
meagre summary would have been expanded in an instructive
way.
NOTE F. See his commentaries on the Prophets of the Old
Covenant, 2nd ed., 1867-68. (Translated into English in 5
vols.)
NOTE G. Ed. Riehm, Messianic Prophet*/, its Origin, Historical
Character, and Relation to New Testament Fulfilment, 1876 (T. & T.
Clark), a treatise suggesting a third element alongside those to be
gathered from Hengstenberg and Hofmann, namely, the unpre-
judiced critico-historical view, in which certainly the author seems
to us to go too much into minutiae. On the other hand, we miss in
him the appreciation of the intuitive character of prophecy. His
exposition gives far too much the impression of prophecy having
arisen through dialectic reflection out of the fundamental ideas of
the 0. T. religion. But the fundamental ideas themselves, with
their living energy, are a fruit of prophetic revelation. The treat-
ment of the theocratic kingdom (p. 59 ff.) is perhaps the best part
of the work. See p. 61, respecting our divergent view of the
relation of prophecy to the N. T. fulfilment.
NOTE H. Cf. his Alttestammtliche Theologie, 2nd ed., 1878.
NOTE I. F. Hitzig, Vorlesungen uber biNische Theologie und
messianische Weissagungen des Alien Testaments, edited by J. J.
Kneucker, 1880 (cf. his commentaries on Isaiah, Jeremiah, the
INTRODUCTION. 73
Minor Prophets, Psalms), while instructive by its acute philology
and criticism, in theological respects gives nothing but arid
rationalism.
NOTE J. Kuenen's work, The Prophets and Prophecy in Israel,
1877, presents the logical working out of the modern critical
principles which exclude the supernatural. In Bernh. Duhm,
Die Theologie der Propheten (1875), there is in addition an
active imagination, that substitutes a political pragmatism for all
prophetic ideas.
NOTE K. Cf. besides Weissagung und Erfullung (1841-44), his
Schriffbeweis (2nd ed. 1857-60). Everywhere original exegesis
and striking combination, the latter, however, being subjective
in many respects, the former often violent.
NOTE L. Ed. Bohl, Christologie des Alien Testaments, oder
Auslegung der wichtigsten messianischen Weissagungen, 1882. This
latest discussion of the subject returns to abandoned traditional
methods, not merely in its dogmatizing manner and conservative
aversion for literary criticism, biit also in detailed exegesis.
NOTE M. See his commentaries, especially on Genesis, Psalms,
Isaiah ; also the above-quoted work, Biblisch-prophetische Theologie ;
finally, see his lectures, Messianic Prophecies, 1880 (T. & T. Clark),
a free outline of the material, suitable for academic lectures ; and
of a like kind, Old Testament History of Redemption, 1881 (T. & T.
Clark).
NOTE N See his Old Testament Theology, 2 vols. 1874 (T. & T.
Clark), as well as his articles, "Messias," " Prophetenthum," in
Herzog's Real-Encyklopadie.
FIRST PART.
THE PEOPHETIC WOED HEEALDING THE EISE AND
ACCOMPANYING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A
NATIONAL EULE OF GOD ON EAETH.
75
FIEST SECTION.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE.
10. General View.
IN the Pentateuch (or Genesis), lying before us as a whole,
there meets us the remarkable phenomenon, that the word
of prophecy accompanies the growth of the holy nation out of
the common beginnings of human development, from one stage
to another, and specializes itself as it advances, inaugurating,
and always characterizing briefly and aptly, every new phase of
the process. Even if we see in this nothing but a view of the
origin of Israel's history that grew out of knowledge acquired
later, to this organic mode of considering history, with its fore-
sight of the goal, we must ascribe the palm among all the
historical conceptions of antiquity. And as certainly as the
goal which those oracles have in view is one raised above
common, national aims, so certainly shall we concede higher
prophetic dignity to the spirit by which later observers are
supposed to have shed light on the beginnings of their nation.
Nor can it be denied that if the goal, which these words assign
to the history, was in truth divinely ordained, it must have
been prior to the outward events. Behind the actual facts the
enlightened mind of man discerns a preceding divine word, as e.g.
the account of Creation shows, where each special work reveals
to man's gaze, enlightened by the Creator, a creative divine word.
Just so certain occurrences in nature and history bring to light
divine thoughts conceived before, Gen. vi. 3, 5 ff., viii. 21 f.
Still the narrative certainly claims something more for these
prophetic words, namely, that they were audibly spoken to men
before, so that at the initial points of these phases their significance
was recognised as God's will by the rational representatives of
the divine thought.
77
78 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Generally speaking, there are two forms in which during this
first period the divine will is declared. In the first place, God
(or His angel) speaks directly to man, imparting to him blessing
or curse, promise or penalty. In the Israelitish tradition, as
among other nations, this immediacy of intercourse is one of
the characteristic peculiarities of the primitive age. " Walking
with God" in extraordinary intimacy is ascribed to Enoch and
Noah. 1 Words of God to Adam, Eve, Cain, Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, words of an angel to Hagar, etc., are given.
But along with this, during the same period, the form of
prophetic blessing (or curse) through the mouth of an ancestor
is common. Whereas words of God specially appear where some-
thing quite new is to be created, the patriarchal blessing is the
medium by which an inheritance already bestowed is transmitted.
It is so first in the case of Noah ; and then, within the line of
promise, in the case of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. When one of
these men of God distributes the blessing among his sons, he
thereby makes his mental and spiritual testament. In doing so,
he disposes of blessings not in his possession externally, but of
those which he has a claim to through his relation to God. But
the most precious thing he has to bequeath is the special
attitude in which he stands to God, and which again may pass over
to one of his sons in special degree, along with the specific,
gradually-unfolding promises linked with that relation. The
most natural course was for the eldest, the first-born, to have the
place of privilege in this respect also. But, on one hand, God
sometimes arranged the matter otherwise, assigning this supreme
blessing to another, as in the blessing of Isaac ; and, on the other
hand, the father (like Jacob, Gen. xlix.) might deviate from the
order of nature, if the first-born had shown himself unworthy
of the sacred privilege. But a decisive effect was always ascribed
to such solemnly-uttered blessings of a progenitor, because no
doubt was felt concerning his inspiration by the Spirit of God.
The course of development then is as follows. First of all,
at the Creation, the thought of God respecting humanity is
declared in unsullied ideality, Gen. i 26 : As God's image, man
is to rule the earth in divine dignity. Next, in Gen. iii. 1 5 ff.,
divine words define the empirical state of the human race, as it
has been since the sin of our first parents, to whom a certain lot
1 Gen. v. 22, 24, vi. 9.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 79
is announced, with special characteristics in the case of each sex ;
while a certain superiority over evil is held out to the hope of
their posterity. Whereas these first oracles treat humanity col-
lectively, a later one (Gen. ix. 25-27) characterizes it by the
diverse developments of its several lines. Here among the sons
of Noah, who after the Flood takes the position of universal
progenitor, the divergent directions are characterized which the
human race will take in its differentiation, while a divine
privilege is assigned to the one main branch of humanity. In
this race of Shem, Abraham is set apart in a unique position,
since he is to stand in a peculiar relation to God, while he
receives specific promises for himself and his posterity. The
stream of these blessings is carried over to his son Isaac, and from
him to Jacob. Finally, the prophetic blessing of Jacob inaugu-
rates the existence of the organized nation in its twelve tribes,
with their special spheres, privileges, and faults, while the place
of leader is assigned to one tribe (Judah). Thus gradually
things proceed by more and more specific designation towards
perfection. The goal of this development is the holy nation in
possession of the holy land, crowned by its God with various
blessings.
But is not this harmonious progress of prophecy disturbed in
its homogeneous connection by the criticism that resolves the
" books of Moses " into various authorities, and thus refers the
oracles under consideration to various hands ? No doubt, if the
current supposition that such oracles of blessing owe their origin
to the author or redactor of the historical work in which they
are found were proved, their historic value would be utterly
gone. We should then have to see in them merely subjective
reflections of these comparatively recent authors, although even
then their inner harmony would necessarily point to an objective
ground. But those oracles, as will be shown in detail, announce
themselves as a legacy of the foretime, transmitted by tradition
and given into the hand of the late narrator. It is only the
setting of this legacy that has felt the narrator's influence in the
way of arrangement, and at most of some formal redaction, where
it was not fixed. Looked at closely, the value of this inner
unity is enhanced by the fact that several members were not
shaped and welded into a whole by one hand, but came to their
present position from various authorities. Moreover, the question
80 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
as to the age of these authorities, respecting which criticism is less
than ever agreed, is for us of secondary importance, considering
the above-stated circumstance, that their age does not coincide
with that of the oracles of blessing contained in them.
Let us see how the prophetic oracles contained in Genesis
may possibly be distributed among the authorities indicated in
the Pentateuch, a process in which certainly conjecture has wide
scope.
The account of Creation (Gen. i. 1 ii. 3), describing God's first
plan in respect to humanity, it is self-evident, cannot be
regarded in the light of a history handed down by contemporaries.
Here Job xxxviil 4 applies. Nor is there any trace of a
prophetic revelation respecting the act of creation to one living
later. But perhaps we have here a monument of what the
earliest humanity, standing nearest to God and nature, read out
of nature respecting its relation to God. That we have to do,
not with a late didactic fiction, but with a primeval legacy of the
world of nations, is shown by the parallels among other nations,
especially by the closely-allied Babylonian version in the stone-
inscriptions, beside which the Hebrew version in its simplicity
looks so much more antique that a borrowing of the matter in
the Babylonian exile is inconceivable. These traditions are older
than the Hebrew nationality itself, which, however, does not
preclude their having undergone a sifting and purifying in the
spirit of the theocracy.
The oracle of Destiny (Gen. iii.) is so closely connected with
the history of the Fall, related in that chapter, that it must
necessarily be assigned to the same authority as the latter ; and
indeed it is the so-called Yahvistic authority (so named after
the predominating use of the divine name njrr, but in the
present section D^% ^V^) tna ^ nas narrated the primeval
history and Israel's earlier history in prophetic style and spirit.
Respecting the age of this redaction views differ widely, since
this prophetic mode of thought continues in the nation down
through centuries, especially from Samuel's days. But how
mistaken it would be to think that the " myth " of the Fall
could be invented in such an age, is proved by the connection of
this history with the Babylonian inscriptions. True, no parallel
has been found in the stone-inscriptions specifically to Gen. iii.,
as to the history of Creation or the Flood. But the entire
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 81
material of the history of the Temptation confronts us so com-
pletely and unmistakably in those monuments, that there can be
no doubt of a connection with the Babylonian mythology. The
tree of life, the cherubim, the demonic serpent, Paradise are
plainly conceptions belonging to the primeval Babylonian circle. 1
This history, therefore, is not a didactic fiction, thought out in
the prophetic age, but is borrowed from the store of traditions
brought by Israel's forefathers from Ur Chasdim. 2
In the same way the blessing of Noah, which the Yahvist also
seems to have received into his work, is in no sense a creation of
his, but was already found in existence by him. The attempts
to derive this oracle from specific circumstances of historical times
have fallen through.
Greater influence on the form of the oracles of blessing must
be conceded to the authorities in the promises to Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob ; and here too variations are seen in each narrator.
But the variants are of no importance for the contents. To the
prophetic narrator (Yahvist) appear to belong : Gen. xii. 1-3, 7,
xiii. 14-17 (xv. 1-7, 13-21), xviii. 17-19 (xxii. 16-18);
Isaac, xxvi. 2-5 (xxv. 23) ; Jacob, xxviii. 13 f . ; he also intro-
duces Isaac's blessing, xxvii. 27 ff. On the other hand, Gen.
xvii. 48 (15-21), addressed to Abraham, and xxviii. 3 f.,
xxxv. 11 f., to Jacob, are Elohistic. Jacob's blessing (xlix.) has a
thoroughly original stamp. Chiefly on account of the oracle
respecting Dan, applying to the judge Samson, criticism has
transferred its origin to the later age of the Judges (Bleek, Tuch,
Ewald, G. Baur, Steiner, etc.). On the other hand, in the oracle
respecting Judah, Knobel, Wellhausen, and others see the
Davidic epoch ; others come still farther down. For the internal
grounds on which the possibility of real prophecy is contested, see
G. Baur, i. p. 219 ; H. Schultz (2 ed.), p. 666 f . : The blessing
is too ecstatic for a dying old man ; the prediction of the
geographical and historical position of the tribes is too exactly
defined (certainly only up to a certain limit of time), and also
too unimportant, to be the subject of genuine prophecy ; the
transmission of such oracles through a space of centuries is
inconceivable, and so on. On the other hand, it must be remem-
bered that in the aged Jacob there was a twofold natural basis
1 George Smith, Genesis in Chaldaic.
* Bredenkamp, Gesetz und Propheten, 1881, p. 75 f.
ORELLI. F
OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
for such distant vision : first, he knew from many years' residence
the land to which his hope was turned ; secondly, a father's keen
vision enabled him to see through the character of his sons.
Modern theology, perhaps, may think that the geographical
distribution of his sons in Canaan had no moral importance.
But to Jacob the sight of the settlement of his children in the
Promised Land was the necessary conclusion of his life. With
it the promises made to him were fulfilled. Finally, as to
transmission, no one will expect the words of Jacob to be
protocolled with the precision of a notary. But such prophetic
oracles were certainly handed down as a sacred legacy from
generation to generation with great tenacity. The seriousnt
the historical style of the Bible is security that they did not
originate in the muse of a later poet, but were always handed
down in the tradition of the race as an honourable inheritance.
In confounding such productions of native power with the wticinia
of the Book of Enoch and Esdras iv., Schultz denies the difference
between original and copy. Had there never been genuine
prophecy and genuine oracles of blessing, artificial imitation
would have been unknown. Moreover, it is certain that no
historic time can be shown when the picture sketched by Jacob
for the final age was fully realized, and when, therefore, the
" fabricating " of this blessing might be understood. How, e.g.,
would the portionless dismissing of Levi, the priestly tribe, which
stood in high esteem even in the stormy days of the Judges, and
still more after David's days, be explained ? l In general, all
these patriarchal oracles are so elementary in character, that they
by no means give the impression of vatidnia post eventum, or of
productions of an intellectually advanced period.
11. The Primitive divine Capacity and Destiny of Man
(Gen. i 26-30).
Nature itself, if viewed with an eye open to what is noble,
shows the high, exceptional position that God assigned to man
among the creatures. The account, Gen. i. 1-ii. 3, given through
divine illumination, and reading the Creator's ideas in the laws
pervading nature and His words in the works of creation, has
1 Cf. Diestel, &ym Jacob's, 1853. Oehler, Theology of 0. T., yoL L p. 96.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 83
sketched man's position in relation to God and the world with
incomparable brevity and sharpness :
Gen. i. 2 6 : " Then spake God : Let us make (note A) men in
the character of our image, after our likeness (note B). And
they shall rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of
the heaven, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and
over every reptile creeping on earth."
This saying contains two things : Man's primitive God-created
capacity and God-willed destiny, his God-likeness and world-
rulership. Certainly the latter is virtually conferred on man in
the former ; but the two are not to be at once identified, as if
the iTp. specified the whole import of the preceding expressions
E? and fiiE" 1 }, and the outward superiority over creation consti-
tuted man's divine nobility. On the contrary, in himself, apart
from his relation to the world, man bears in his attributes the
image of God specifically distinguishing him from all lower
creatures ; just as it is peculiar to the plant in distinction from
preceding inorganic structures to propagate itself by seed
(ver. 12), and to the animal to have a "living soul," a sensitive
life-focus, where all impressions meet, and whence all impulses
flow. By the image of God, therefore, we are to understand the
essence and sum of that which distinguishes man from the
creation subject to him. It is impossible here to think of a mere
corporeal attribute, since the divine spirit of life (L 2, c ii, 7)
must inhere in this image of God in special degree. Man's
corporeity, indeed, is far from indifferent. It is so constituted as,
like that of no other earthly creature, to express the divine
spirituality inherent in man, forming, as it does, an unsurpassable
harmonious whole, equally furnished with every organ for receiving
divine impressions and every member for expressing volition, and
at the same time by its erect build hinting the authority man is
designed to exercise. But not merely in his outward appearance,
still more in the fact that as an ethical, personal being, man
deliberates and speaks and acts consciously like God, whilst
plants and animals merely represent species without personality, 1
does the peculiar excellence of man expressed in those phrases
his affinity with God come clearly out ; and from this
affinity follows his calling to rule on the earth like God. Despite
the signs of comparative divine life visible in plants and animals,
1 Cf. the o characteristic of them.
84 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
they are expressly subordinated to man (vers. 29, 30), who not
merely gives glimpses of the working of divine powers in him, but
whose being and work seem a reflex of the divine.
The fact that man's true essence, his specific peculiarity, is
declared to be likeness to God, involves both his dependence on
God and his elevation above the world. What he has more than
the lower creatures he inherits from the Deity, as something in
the highest degree peculiar to and essentially distinctive of the
Deity. For that the image presents but a faint reflex of the
archetype, is evident of itself. Only so far as man is and
remains a reflection of God's glory does he possess his special
dignity and his lordship on earth. But from the first this lord-
ship is proposed as the reward of labour, the goal of a course of
development. The summons of ver. 28 especially renders it
certain that man will not become ruler of the earth apart from
his own effort, although his patent of nobility, as old as the
primal beginning, secures to him the right to this rule over the
world. As men multiply gradually until they fill the earth
intended for their dwelling-place, so by degrees they will attain
more and more perfect power over it, while of course they are to
seek their chief greatness in likeness to God. This is man's
true destiny in the world : He is to prove himself lord of nature
~by culture,, and this culture is to be an all-sided reflection of his
relation to God.
It is impossible to express the significance of man more truly
and profoundly than is done in the childlike words that announce
the divine consultation respecting him. All that natural history
teaches respecting man's relation to the universe confirms in full
the account of Gen. i. First, the ground was prepared for him,
his support and environment, first his form was made ready in
more imperfect structures, but structures gradually aspiring after
perfection during entire periods, until in man this perfection was
reached and the new creation ceased in man, who, however, is
not merely distinguished from the lower creatures in degree, but
represents essentially a higher principle that finds expression in
no other creature. But as man is the goal of nature, so in
virtue of that higher principle the aim of his own efforts, as the
history of civilisation proves, is everywhere and always to make
the forces of nature more and more completely his subjects.
And the history of religion shows how the fulfilling of his voca-
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 85
tion in the world has always been determined by his relation to
God. Although, in consequence of overlooking his dependence
on God or of defacing the divine image, he has very often
striven after an arbitrary, self-willed, and therefore impious rule
over the world, still even this perverted effort, with its immense
struggles, partial successes, and final miscarriages, is a witness to
the primitive divine purpose, that man is to rule on earth as an
image of his Creator. But the realization of this lofty aim was
reserved for the history of redemption. For when corruption had
penetrated into human nature, there was needed in order to this
result the higher life-force bestowed on humanity in Jesus Christ,
in whom the kingdom of God has come on earth, and by whom it
will be perfected. Thus, on the first leaf of the Bible the germ
of the end is contained ; the first word of God respecting man
involves His entire plan for humanity, which will be all the
more gloriously realized the more numerous the hindrances in
the way.
It is from the standpoint of this ideal primitive destiny that
the eighth Psalm views man the lord of nature, outwardly
insignificant, but raised by God's grace above every earthly
creature, ver. 3 ff. :
" When I behold Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the
moon and the stars, which Thou hast prepared ; what is man,
that Thou thinkest of him, and the son of man, that Thou
takest interest in him ? And Thou didst put him little below
divine beings, with honour and glory Thou crownedst him, thou
madest him ruler over the work of Thy hands, all things didst
Thou put under his feet," etc.
Clearly the psalm speaks of the dignity of ruler conferred on
man generally in distinction from all visible creatures, having its
root in God's relation of intimate communion with him (ver. 5).
Since, however, the divine idea of humanity on both sides (in
relation to God as well as to the world) has attained full reality
only in one " Son of man," or awaits full realization through
him, the author of the Hebrews (ii. 6 ff.) is fully justified in
raising the psalm an octave higher, and referring it to the true,
perfected Son of man. 1 Only the reference to the future Adam 2
must not be imported into the translation, as is done by Luther,
who has also misunderstood ver. 5.
1 Cf. also 1 Cor. xv. 47 ; Eyli. i. 22. - I Cor. xv. 45 ; Rom. v. 12.
86 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
NOTE A. The plural n ^'W is neither to be regarded as plur.
majest (Knobel), nor as plural of resolve, self-summoning, reflection
(Hitzig on Isa. vi. 8 ; Tuch, H. Schultz). Nor can the three persons
of the Godhead be imported directly into the Old Testament, as
is done by the exposition of the early Church. And the angels
cannot be introduced, at least as working along with God. On the
contrary, this plural is explained here as in the neighbouring rrnbtf
(Dillmann). The Godhead in its fulness of distinctions compre-
hends many organs of service, activity, and revelation. These
together with God form over against man a unity of a divine kind.
Cf. Gen. iii. 22 ; Isa. vi. 8 ; Ps. viii. 5. After the image of this" divine
kind man was created.
NOTE B. The patristic and then the ecclesiastical exposition
attempted to draw an essential distinction between the ideas D^>
and niDI, referring the former to the substance, the latter to the
accidents, making the former denote the inalienable affinity of
essence, the latter the likeness to God defaced by the Fall. It
is true, indeed, that man's likeness to God was sullied by the Fall
without being destroyed, as his lordship over nature was disturbed,
without, however, coming to an end. But it is wrong to distribute
this twofold reference between the two expressions which are
substantially synonymous in Hebrew idiom, as Calvin rightly
perceived. Cf. Zockler, Die Lehre vom Urstand des Menschen
(1879), p. 54-73.
12. Man's Common State of Sinfulness (the Protevangdium).
"Whereas in Gen. i. 1-ii. 3 the ordering of the Cosmos, of
which man is the crown, is brought before us in an articulated
series of daily works, at the conclusion of which man is appointed
ruler over the earth, on which " everything is very good," the
separate narrative ii. 4 ff. passes at once to the relation of man
to the natural creatures as well as to God ; and in a free order,
determined simply by the necessities of the narrative, it depicts
the contrast between the primitive state of blissful innocence and
the common life of man in a state of sin and suffering closed by
death. The state of paradisaic happiness was really the object
of the Creator's gracious will. But as the existence of heaven
and earth, the existence of plants, animals, and man each discloses
a divine word, so the resistance of nature to man's labour, the
suffering and death from which he will never be free, each discloses
another. These woes, however, are not instituted by a primal word
of God, coeval witli the creative words of the beginning. "What
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 87
God said at first brought forth life, and everything created was
good. The evil, culminating in death and summed up in it, is
at first only instituted by God conditionally (ii. 1 7) ; suffering
and death first became a general law of nature through man's
fall, through his presumptuous disobedience to God's ordinance ;
man is excluded from his primitive state of life-fellowship with
God (iii. 22 ff.). This penal state, that has become man's com-
mon lot, is more precisely specialized (iii. 16 ff.) in accordance
with the universal distinction of male and female. The suffering
bound up with human nature dates from the divine judgment
upon the original Fall of man. Hence spring the sorrow and
dependence inseparably joined with the nature of woman; since
only through suffering, in dependence on man, can she fulfil her
destiny of motherhood, ver. 16; hence the passive resistance of
nature, making man's work of tillage so burdensome (verTl 7 ff.),
since the rule over the earth promised to him (i. 28) can only be
won at the cost of constant toil. The destiny of man to till the
earth remains, but the privilege has become a servitude.
If we cast a glance at the first of the three divine words
referring to the serpent, iii. 14, 15, it seems natural at first sight
to take this oracle in a purely physical sense :
" Then spake Yahveh God to the serpent : Because thou
hast done this thing, cursed art thou above (note A) all
cattle, and above all beasts of the field. On thy belly shalt
thou go, and dust shalt thou eat (note B) all the days of thy
life. And enmity will I put between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed. It shall crush to pieces
thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel " (note C).
Is not the serpent's walking on its belly just as natural to it
as it is to the woman to bring forth in suffering, or to the ground
to bear thorns and thistles ? What is said further of the heredi-
tary enmity l between the serpent and the seed of the woman
might be supposed to refer merely to the natural aversion and
enmity of the two races, in consequence of which they injure and
destroy each other wherever possible. This interpretation would
also perhaps include the fact that clearly in this struggle for life
and death the serpent is worsted. Indeed, in this oracle the
1 As here the enmity of the serpent and its seed is spoken of, the whole serpent-
race being included, so the Arabs to-day practise charms against the bite " of the
serpent and its brother " in this sense (v. Orelli, Durch's Heilige Land, p. 48).
88 OLD TESTAMENT PKOFHECY.
serpent as the most guilty is said to receive the severest sentence.
And in point of fact it is degraded to the dust, whilst man
remains erect. The consequence of this is that he is able to
crush its head, whilst at most it strikes his heel. Generally, the
victory is assured to man, although not without painful suffering ;
defeat to the serpent, although not without revenge. Accordingly
this subjection of the serpent to man, required by justice, finds its
expression in the physical order of things. According to the
literal words, therefore, the oracle in itself might simply contain
the explanation of the strange fact that the serpent so fair and
clever, and abject beyond other creatures is forced to go on its
belly in the dust, 1 and is hateful and hostile to man as nothing
else is. That the unhappy state resulting from this enmity will
ever cease, there is nothing to indicate, but it would be first
learnt from oracles like Isa. Ixv. 25.
But the context would forbid our stopping at this singular
natural fact, even if the Babylonian mythology did not put
the demonic character of the serpent beyond doubt. 2 As the
entire account is plainly not exhausted in the literal meaning of
the words, as the trees and fruits of Paradise are embodiments
of something spiritual, so is this especially the case with the
creature condemned as a tempter (ver. 14 : nsT 9W <3). 3 The
poisonous serpent, with its glistening, rainbow colours, its tortuous
windings, its duplicity and bewitching gaze, is the embodied
temptation, as afterwards in its ignominious abasement and
hatefulness it represents the embodied curse. 4 True, in the
childishly naive representation so thoroughly in keeping with the
conceptions of the first men, the demonic tempter is not yet
distinguished from the sensible temptation ; but the very fact
that, in and with the animal, the power tempting man to evil,
the power that has proved fatal to man, is at the same time
abased to the dust, involves a promise. First of all it is signi-
' ficant that man is to be in constant conflict with this power ; he
is therefore destined to maintain a sterner conflict than the one
for daily bread the conflict with evil, against which he must
1 Cf. the Sanscrit name for serpent : uraga, breast-goer.
2 Cf. Smith, Genesis in Chaldaic.
3 That the Hebrews did not understand this myth, coming to them from without,
in a spiritual sense (Hitzig, Bibl. Theol. p. 141), is a daring assertion in view of the
psychological truth and delicacy by which the Hebrew narrative is distinguished.
* Cf. Delitzsch, Comm. zurQenesis, 4th ed. p. 147.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 89
be always on his guard, since otherwise it will cause him bitter
woe; cf. Gen. iv. 7. Even this divinely-established hostility//
between him and the evil power is a blessing ; for what would
become of man, if he only knew the glistening serpent of tempta-
tion, working him constant ill, and did not also know the serpent
under the curse ? And in the struggle with this power of evil a II
certain superiority is conferred on him, so that he is able to
conquer the foe, who has brought all sorrow on earth, although
the victory is not won without grievous suffering. For he
the tempted one remains erect, whilst the tempter must needs
crawl at his feet. This implies that God designs him to prevail
over the animal, and so over the power that robbed him of inno-
cence and blessedness. Man's aim must consequently be, not
merely to rule over the earth, to break its passive resistance, I
but in particular to tread under his feet the evil so perilous to him ;'/
cf. Gen. iv. 7.
From this point the interpretation of the early Church goes a
step farther : The seed of the woman will bear off the victory, not
merely in single conflicts, but, compressed into a personal unity,//
in a definitive decisive conflict. So the Jerusalem Targum. In
this case the ^^ no longer predicts something merely customary
and common to man ; it foretells something historical, destined
one day to happen. Here the explanation, looking from the
standpoint of historical fulfilment, sees greater definiteness in the
general language than is expressed therein or could be evident to
the first hearers. It is not definitely said whether the prolonged
conflict between the woman's seed and serpent's seed will ever
find a conclusive, final decision in time. But it is implied in the
language that, should such a crisis occur, the issue will be in
favour of the woman's seed.
On the other explanation, greater definiteness is given to the
word JHT than belongs to it, according to the obvious meaning
and context. The early Church understood it directly of the
Messiah in the individual sense. 1 Calvin, 2 however, and the
Eeformed divines in his train, acknowledged the collective sense of
JHT as well as of Kin ; whereas the older Lutherans, 3 for the most
1 Irenseus, Clemens Al., Cyprian ; see G. Baur, p. ]65.
2 See Calvin on the passage : Generaliter semen interpreter de posteris.
3 According to Luther, Flacius, the Formula of Concord. In recent days Bohl of
the Eeformed side advocates the view generally given up by the Lutherans. He
90 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
part, maintained the individual signification. 1 Of course the col-
lective notion, which as such has also its mental unity (cf. Gal.
iii. 16), does not preclude the abstract becoming a personal unity,
or preclude posterity in a single person obtaining perfect victory
over the power of evil. But all that is certain from the quite
general terms of the oracle is, that if a single person should bring
this severe struggle to a triumphant end, and so fulfil the destiny
of the entire race, he will be a son of the woman. That all men
will not be stedfast in this life-struggle and share in the victory,
but many of them will succumb and even adopt the nature of the
evil one, 2 is not as yet indicated in this universal promise.
Accordingly a real promise lies in the oracle, and with deep
spiritual insight the Church has found in it the Trp&rov evay-
<ye\iov. Certainly the promise is not couched in the form of a
blessing, but of a curse. The entire history of redemption takes
its start from the Fall of man, and begins with a judgment
governing his whole state of life. But a beam of grace towards
fallen humanity shines unmistakably through the gloom of divine
retribution. For 1. Man's wearisome labour is not without
fruit for him, but is the way to the sustenance and enjoyment of
life. 2. Woman's suffering is not without result to her, but the
way to the perpetuation of life and the joy of motherhood. 3.
The perilous, painful conflict against the power of evil is no
hopeless, useless one, but the way to victory.
Here in the present passage is the first reference to the future
development of the human species, to the woman's seed so full
of hope. To the latter, not to the woman herself, is the real
conflict and victory over the serpent assured. To the woman's
seed belongs the future; whereas no higher development, no
fuller energy, awaits the serpent's seed. Hence the old serpent
itself remains the subject and object of the future conflict.
Henceforth man's gaze is no longer turned backwards in longing
after a lost Paradise, but is directed hopefully to the future, 3
also revives the Messianic translation of iv. 1, which the facts make impossible : I
have gained a man, Yahveh (instead of : with Yahveh's aid), where Eve is supposed
to designate her first-born the God-man promised to her !
1 The Catholics refer even the subject-pronoun to Mary, the Vulgate giving :
" ipsa conteret," which Bellarmine earnestly defends, De Vtrbo Dei, ii. 12 ;
whereas Calvin waxes wroth at this unwarranted interpolation.
2 Matt. iii. 7, xxiii. 33 ; John viii. 44 ; Wisd. ii. 24.
3 Gen. iii. 20, iv. 1, v. 29.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 91
which in undreamed richness and variety will unfold the theme
of man's conflict with the evil one, tending from the first towards
a conclusion lying beyond human thought.
As regards the mode of the final redemption, we learn from
the N. T. revelation that this divine word of the beginning,
as yet undeveloped, carried in it the germ of the finally revealed
salvation. The woman's seed was to find its consummation in
one person - the Son of man, so called because in Him the jj
idea of man is perfectly realized (see p. 85). By Him, who
always victoriously trod the tempter under foot, the decisive
victory has been won, 1 not without the victor being wounded
by the serpent's bite, i.e. experiencing in fullest measure the
death that is the bitterest import of the curse which is the
fruit of sin. In Him, and with Him, men also are victors over
the evil one, 2 and may be delivered from the entire curse
descending from Adam to the race. 3 For the consummation
of the state which He initiates will also bring to an end the
resistance man meets with from the soil, the plant and animal
world, as well as bring redemption from the doom of death
(Eom. viii. 19 ff.). It is a noteworthy coincidence, that the
serpent-conqueror was in special sense the woman's seed, born
of woman, without being the offspring of a man. Here, too,
it holds good : Where the transgression abounded, grace showed
itself still mightier. As the woman was more accessible to the
tempter than the man, so, being the weaker vessel, she showed
herself more receptive to divine grace. As misery was broiight
into the world by woman, so the Eedeemer also was born of
her. In the same way from the perfect revelation in Christ a
clearer light falls on the nature of the tempter embodied in the
animal. The tempting power, encountered by the first human
beings in sensuous shape, and to their thoughts inseparable
i'rom it, is there revealed in its spiritual nature and indepen-
dence. 4 Herein lies the capacity of the visible creation for
redemption. Thus the outlines of the divine plan of salvation
glimmer through the veil of the first oracle. That oracle establishes
not only all men's need of redemption, but also their capacity
for redemption. For the evil inherent in all had not its primal
seat in man ; for which reason also the divine curse proper is
1 1 John iii. 8 ; Heb. ii. 14 f. ; Col. ii. 15. 2 Eom. xvi. 20.
3 Horn. v. 12 ff. 4 Rev. xii. 9, xx. 2.
92 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
not laid on him. The grand revelation implied in the fact
that sin, suffering, and death are not set forth as something
necessarily bound up with human nature, but something that
came on man in consequence of his degeneracy, is all the more
important as this universal need of redemption and its satis-
faction are at first thrown into the background by a provisional
realization of the rule of God in a portion of the sinful world.
NOTE A. |p is a particle of distinction, eminence. By its
subjection to the curse the serpent is distinguished from all
animals, marked off from all. Quite similarly it is said in Judg.
v. 24 : Blessed above women (D^3O) blessed like none else. Cf.
Deut. xxxiiL 24 and Gen. iii. 1. The word does not include other
animals being cursed, but also does not exclude it. In any case
they are not like the serpent.
NOTE B. isy ^ox does not refer to the food of the serpent in
the proper sense, but is an expression meant to picture vividly
the humiliation involved in its mode of motion. Cf. Micah
vii. 17 and our " to bite the dust." Hofmann (Schriftbeiveis,
i. 574) : " Eating dust is joined to its prostrate position, and
serves along with the latter to picture the state of abasement in
which it is found in contrast to man who stands erect on his feet."
Still it is not to be denied that many nations have believed that
the serpent really eats dust, Bochart, Hicrozoicon, t. iii. p. 245,
ed. Eos. According to Isa. Ixv. 25, in the future ideal state of
peace the serpent is content with dust, and therefore no longer
bites. For the rest, the narrative must not be pressed to mean
that before the condemnation the serpent had another form of
motion (Josephus, Targ. Jonathan, etc.). As man first perceived
his nakedness after the Fall, so the serpent's mode of life first
seemed an ignominious humiliation to it after the curse.
NOTE C. The meaning catch at, pursue after (= e lSU'), is not
sufficiently assured to *)!> by Job ix. 17, although the LXX.
(rqpfTv) and Onkelos give a similar sense. On the other hand,
Jerome rejects servabit and prefers conteret. Hence the Vulgate
has first conteret and then insididberis. Cocceius, Umbreit, v.
Bohlen, Ewald, Knobel, Hupfeld, Dillmann, and others revive
the association with e]KtP: pant for, catch at, pursue after, in
which case it would express the bare conatus. Delitzsch, Heng-
stenberg, Tuch, Wright, G. Baur (" strike at " ?), Keil, and others,
after Rom. xvi. 20, and the Rabbins, with the Syriac (o^OyJ and
and Samaritan versions, adhere to the meaning secured to
3
the root f)t? by the dialects (Syriac ... ^^ an d _a~K, Aramaic
spB>, K2E>. S)BE>) : grind, bruise, crush. Inaptly Lange : grasp, lay
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 93
hold of, hit. The conjunction of the word with 2py also makes
no difficulty. It is explained first by the intended rhythm, and
again by the custom of the Sheuiites to express such thrusts by
verbs of striking. Cf. nan, Jonah iv. 7, the Arabic c_j.J of the
scorpion, and also the Latin ictus serpentis, feriri a serpente,
Greek cXjj<r<j/v, which the Grcec. Ven. uses both times. Respecting
the double accusative with the verb, see Gesenius, Grammar,
139. 2.
13. T/ie TJireefold Development of Mankind (Noah's Blessing),
Gen. ix. 25-27.
The development of mankind, as might be expected from the
oracle just examined, was interrupted by the breaking in of
unnatural depravity, having for its consequence an extraordinary
intervention of divine justice. After the human race had been
checked in its extension by the judgment of the great Flood, it
appears again, so far at least as it lies within the horizon of the
Bible, comprised in a personal unity that of the sole-surviving
Noah. 1
Noah, with his family, is placed by God in a covenant relation,
ix. 8 ff. But the Biblical idea of " covenant " by no means
implies equal rights, and in consequence of this similar reciprocal
conditions, in the two contracting parties, JV"]3 denotes properly
settlement, adjustment, solemn conditioning, arranging, 2 but
especially a conditioning by which God puts Himself in a special
relation to men, more closely specializes the relation existing
already between Him and all men. On this understanding of the
word and idea it is obvious that the initiative proceeds entirely
from God, and we see why the obligations of men are not always
expressly set forth as covenant conditions. God makes such an
arrangement in sovereign grace, and only in the second place is the
new relation to God to take .shape in human life. Thus in vi. 18,
ix. 11 ff., nothing is said of conditions to be observed by Noah.
Rather it is a covenant of grace, in which God binds Himself by
1 According to ver. 29, this name expresses the longing for a comforter under the
divinely-inflicted weariness of tilling the land. Thus the human race, groaning
under the curse of Gen. iii., to say nothing of the Flood, set its hope of alleviation on
his divinely promised posterity.
2 Cf. 2iattxi, LXX., testamentum. See Hos. ii. 20.
94 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
promise. Certainly in ix. 1 ff . a new order of life is enjoined,
but the covenant relation is not expressly made dependent on the
keeping of these precepts. In the rainbow God gives a covenant
sign to remind both sides of the promise He had given.
The substance of the divine covenant made with Noah, and in
him with all mankind, consists in the promise that God will not
again bring a judgment of universal destruction on mankind after
the manner of the great Flood. The Yahvist, also, while not
using the form m2, gives eloquent expression to this divine
decree of love respecting rescued humanity, making the Lord say
to Himself in response to Noah's thank-offering :
" Henceforth I will not again curse the ground for man's sake,
because the imagining of man's heart is evil from his youth, 1
and henceforth I will not again smite every living thing as I
have done. As long as the earth endures, sowing and reaping,
and frost and heat, and summer and winter, and day and
night, shall not be interrupted," viii. 2 1 ff.
It is an exceedingly profound and true thought, that the
normal succession of days and years, on which the existence of
the earth and the welfare of man's life depend, and therefore the
regular course of nature, by reason of the radical sinfulness of the
human race, are no fixed and self-evident course of things, as is
usually supposed, but a voluntary gift of divine grace. The
continuance of creation in beautiful harmony, the unbroken
development of the history of humanity, is a fruit of divine
grace, which will not let God's glorious plan in reference to
creation and humanity be frustrated by man's sin. And that
gracious decree is linked to Noah's name. It was carried out
in the sparing of Noah, and again especially in the unchecked
growth of his posterity, which, though without Noah's
disposition, and in great part inwardly estranged from God,
was destined to fulfil outwardly the end of man's creation,
and to spread without limit in space and time. God's grace
does not deprive the world's history of its basis, but leaves
it free scope.
In reference to the duration of this development of humanity,
1 "2^> "IV "G does not belong to P^piX N^ but developes the Qixn "Wyz
belonging to f);Jj5^ Thus it is not a ground of palliation to pacify the Lord, but
rather a reason that might move Him to destroy the creature, if His grace did not
restrain strict justice.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 95
the definitions ttyy Tfrk (ix. 12, cf. 16,JElokis) and p.Kn '9!^? ^
(viii. 22, Ydhvist] are synonymous. A time is meant of which
no end is visible. No temporal limit of this covenant rela-
tion enters into view ; which certainly does not mean that an
end of this state is absolutely out of the question. The
possibility of its duration being unlimited in a merely relative
degree is even suggested by the last expression ; and with this
the usage of D?ty is reconcilable, inasmuch as no positive limit
of duration is within sight. 1
Thus, after the divine covenant concluded with Noah,
humanity was to go on developing without interruption.
Noah's prophetic oracle then describes this development as
threefold. Gen. ix. 25-27 characterizes the races of man-
kind, so to speak, according to their theological diversity, as
the one in Gen. iii. does according to their natural unity.
Noah's blessing speaks of a historical development, as the former
oracle of a natural one.
Here also the oracle of blessing arises out of a curse on
sin, but a curse having a reverse side of promise. This time,
however, we have not an arrangement made directly by God, but
a prediction of an inspired ancestor respecting his posterity,
the outcome of prophetic prevision (cf. p. 78). This long vista
opens before him on an occasion that gives him deep insight
into the inner character of his sons ; and their varied
character will impress a differing stamp on the main branches
of mankind. The fact that God's relation to all nations, as
previously His attitude to all creatures, is here traced back to
an ethical ground, forms a worthy introitus to the history of
the world and redemption ; in which God of His free grace will
indeed choose a particular nation, yet not without the co-opera-
tion of ethical grounds, and not without the ethical conduct
of this chosen nation reacting on the covenant relation.
The qualities which were conjoined in man generally, and in
Noah specifically, found separate and characteristic expression in
his sons. The evil which in the form of sensuousness had over-
come even Noah, rose in Ham to shameless vice and flagitious,
unnatural sensuality. Hence the curse of sin, encircling all
1 Cf. on Q$>iy v. Orelli, Hebrdische Synonyma tier Ze.it und Eivigkeit, p. 68 ff. ;
ibid, on "riy (properly "perpetuity of all the days of the earth "), p. 31.
96 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
mankind, smites him more directly. On the other hand, in
the filial reverence and obedient love of his eldest son, Shem,
Xoah sees his own piety. To him, accordingly, he promises
his best blessing, that of the divine friendship in higher degree.
The middle son, Japhet, followed the pious initiative of his
elder brother, thus showing true human feeling, and fulfilling
his duty as a son. To him, therefore, the blessing promised to
man generally is imparted in richest measure, Gen. ix. 2527:
" And he spake : CURSED be CANAAN ! A servant of servants
let him be to his brethren ! And spake : Blessed be YAHVEH, the
God of SHEM ! And let Canaan be a servant to him ! Wide
room let God make for JAPHET ! And let his dwelling be in
tents of glory ! And let Canaan be a servant to him ! "
It is an aggravation of the divine displeasure, that in ver. 25
the divine curse is directly inflicted on a man (as first in
Cain's case, Gen. iv. 11, differently from Adam's case before).
But this is only done to a portion of mankind in distinction
from the other portions to which the divine blessing is assured
in different forms. The fact that Ham is not mentioned in
the curse is strange, 1 seeing that " his brothers " plainly are
not the brothers named in Gen. x. 6, but Shem and Japhet.
Thus in some sense Canaan stands as representative of Ham
and all his race, in contrast to Shem and Japhet with their
posterity. But why this substitution ? Certainly the chief
consideration is that Canaan is the branch of Ham which
came into most direct contact with the Israelites, and in which
they saw the character of that progenitor most decidedly
expressed, and the curse pronounced on him most openly
fulfilled. Thus the curse was not executed forthwith on the
progenitor, nor on all his posterity. But the rule of ignoble
impulse, the absence of all nobler feeling, which showed itself in
him, was in the course of history to develop on a large scale
in a race given up to sensual sin, and this race will suffer the
curse of slavery. So much is implied in this prophetic word
of the patriarch.
Not all Ham's posterity show moral decay in the same degree,
1 One might be tempted to read straight away jpa i^N Dn "IVIK since the
first member of the mashal seems too abrupt. : In any case in the twice-recurring
refrain, which there is no reason whatever to question (in opposition to Olshausen),
Canaan appears as bearing the curse which should fall on Ham.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 97
and not all fall an inglorious prey to slavery. Nimrod (Gen.
x. 8 f.) was no "n?J. Egypt long enjoyed independence before
succumbing to Shem and Japhet, and owed its culture principally
to the good moral discipline it maintained in comparison with
many heathen nations. But certainly neither the bringing salva-
tion to the world, nor rule over the world, was granted to a
Hamitic people. And in the Phoenicians, whose descendants
were the Canaanites (note A) previously inhabiting the Promised
Land, the Israelites saw the full development of sin up to utter
depravity, as well as God's severity in punishing it. These
Phoenicians were proverbial in antiquity for their craft, effeminacy,
cruelty, and licentiousness. On this account retribution fell on
this people in fullest measure. Its sway was never great in
extent, nor was it able anywhere to maintain itself long against
its foes. With its trade and its inventions, its mission in the world
was perhaps to be a servile people. As the Shemites, especially
the Israelites, robbed it of its lands and reduced it to bondage, so,
despite all the strength of its cities and all the heroism of its
warriors, it succumbed in turn to the Persian, Macedonian, and
Eoman arms. The " fate of Carthage " was to yield, as that of
Eome was to conquer.
That the Negroes of Africa are to be classed with the Hamites
is contested, 1 but scarcely with reason. That the black races
came very early within the horizon of the ancient Israelites may,
in view of the abode of the latter in Egypt, be assumed with
certainty. Obviously they were then regarded as Hamites. Nor,
considering the representative position in which Canaan stands
to Ham, can it be maintained that in any case they were not
included under the curse falling on Canaan. Eather the negro
tribes are among the very peoples who exhibit Ham's character in
its most aggravated form, and on this account fall a prey to the
hardest slavery. That this is no justification of slavery, with its
dishonour to human dignity and its outrages, such as have been
practised even by Christians, would scarcely need to be said, if the
present oracle had not been appealed to in this sense. 2
Then in ver. 26 follows the blessing upon Shem, who had
given the real impulse to the act of filial piety in concealing the
1 E.g. by J. G. Miiller, Die Semiten in ihreva Verhaltniss zu Chamiten und
Jctphetiten, 1872.
2 See Diestel, Geschichte des Alten Testaments, p. 777.
ORELLI, G
98 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
father's shame. This may be inferred from his age, since he
appears as the first-born, and agrees with the large reward that
he receives. 1
Instead of blessing Shem himself, the aged father, with prophetic
glance at Shem's future salvation, blesses (note B) Yahveh, the
God of Shem, whom he sees in intimate union with Shem. The
oracle of blessing is thus turned into praise of Him who is the
source of blessing, and has proved Himself such. 2 Shem's highest
happiness is that he has this God for his God. Here for the
first time, as Luther notes, we find the genitival combination
common afterwards : God of a man, nation, etc. For when
humanity parts into different branches, the universal Deity also
is specialized. To one portion of humanity the true, living God
stands in a relation of mutual possession.
For God, thus making Himself known in living, special revela-
tion, the passage uses the name nirp as a proper name, whereas
DTita has an appellative significance. DTi^x 3 signifies the Deity
in the rich diversity of aspect (hence the plural) in which He
manifests Himself to man in the sphere of creation and history,
claiming man's reverence, mrr signifies the absolute God in His
unconditional sovereignty, 4 not as one intuitively known to all men
from daily experience, but as one to be made known to a small
portion of mankind by special revelation. It is thus evident
that D'nta might with a certain justice be applied to the gods
of all nations, since the elementary manifestations of the Supreme
Being underlie all the heathen conceptions and representations
of God ; whereas, on the other hand, mil 11 became necessarily the
proper name of the God of revelation, who made Himself known
only to a portion of mankind, and in all His greatness only to
one people. Yahveh, indeed, is not a particular God ; He is the
alone true Being, of whom all DNI^N are merely outbeamings or
mutilated shadows; He is crntan tear e^o^v, but in a more
1 Perhaps also the singular in nj5'1 (ver. 23) alludes to this, so that 1 in riD" 1 ! would
only express accompaniment. In any case, Shem stands first in this action.
2 Gen. xiv. 20 ; Ex. xviii. 10 ; Dtmt. xxxiii. 20 ; 2 Sam. xviii. 28 ; 1 Kings x. 9.
,t
3 From fita, to fear, cf. <t^ ; cf. "jriS, Gen. xxxi. 42.
- T( - T
4 ITTIK "ltJ>K fVnX, Ex. iii. 14. The hiphil derivation, preferred by many in
recent days, " He who calls into existence," is in any case foreign to Hebrew
thought, nor can it be verified on linguistic grounds. See Delitzsch in the
ftir lutherisclie Theologie, 1877, p. 593 tf.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 99
glorious revelation of His nature than the latter name expressed.
He is the God of the history of redemption, as the former is of
the history of nature and the world. While it is said that the
curse will be fully realized in a branch of the tribe of Ham
(Canaan), there is no intimation of this kind in the case of Shem,
because the progress of the patriarchal promise and history shows
of itself that Yahveh's perfect revelation was granted to a
particular people. Although we must repudiate the exaggeration
of Renan, that the root of monotheism is to be sought in the
peculiar temperament of the Shemites, the fact remains, that the
specific Yahveh-religion of Israel was built up on the basis of a
monotheism prevailing over a wider area, and already contrasting
favourably with heathenism. Moreover, the three great mono-
theistic religious Judaism, Christianity, Islam issued from the
tents of Shem.
Then the curse, which was at first put in the foreground,
follows as the gloomy background, against which the blessing
shines all the brighter : " And let Canaan be a servant to him," l
words which remind us chiefly of the ignominious extermination
and subjugation (Josh. ix. 23) of the Canaanites by the Israelites.
Ver. 27. To the third son, Japhet, also a happy omen is given
by way of reward. This is done with an allusion to his name, a
favourite course in oracles of blessing, 2 as the name Canaan
previously, suggesting meanness, stooping, humiliation, introduces
the lot of slavery. The name na^ leads to the oracle "&&, where,
indeed, a verb of unusual form and signification is chosen for
the sake of the rhythm : Wide room may God make (note C) for
Japhet ! certainly an outlook rich in promise for his descendants.
For wide room, in which it may spread, is to his race the con-
dition of prosperous development, and also its consequence. As
matter of fact, Japhet has extended in breadth. He has
spread, not merely over an important part of Asia, but also
over the distant, broad island-continent of JEurope. And to this
geographical extension correspond his conquests in the intel-
lectual field. In all branches of culture he has borne off the
1 ID? might perhaps refer as a plural suffix to the collective idea " Shem" (and
his posterity, Tuch), or be an echo of VnK^> hut is rather to he regarded as a
singular form=i^. Cf. Gesenius, Grammar (23rd ed.), 108, 2, note 2 ; Ewald,
Gram. 247 d. 1. 3.
2 Cf. Jacob's blessing.
100 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
p;ilm. The Indo-Germans have attained world-wide supremacy
in the intellectual as well as physical sphere. This is the work of
D'nta, " the Deity to be feared," who has deposited His revelation
in nature and human history, and even rewards the 8ei(ri8ai/j.ovia
of the heathen with rich benedictions, which, however, are chiefly
of a natural order. The fair flowers put forth in Hellenic civilisa-
tion owed their ideal consecration to the loving nurture of divine
intimations in nature and human life, and quickly withered away
on the entrance of moral corruption. Just so the matchless
development of power in ancient Rome had the secret of its
strength in pious reverence for the divine, and rapidly fell to
pieces when this serious spirit vanished away.
But the second hemistich **H*l** fr&] is difficult. The
chief question in dispute is, who is to be considered the subject
of pB*i. Among moderns, von Hofmann, Baumgarten, H.
Schultz, 1 after the example of Onkelos and other Jewish ex-
positors and also Theodoret, have taken God as the subject, which
would give an attractive and highly significant sense : Japhet
gains the wide world, but Shem's distinction consists in this, that
God dwells in his midst. pB> is used specially of the dwelling
of God (Num. xxxv. 34). By the later Jewish theologians His
gracious presence is called directly the <"UW, a reminiscence of
Onkelos. Nor is there any weight in the objection usually urged
against this interpretation, that the parallelism requires Japhet
as the subject in this verse, since Shem has been dismissed in
the preceding one ; for, just as the curse on Canaan recurs, so
the blessing on Shem may recur, and we should thus obtain the
pleasing arrangement: 1. Curse on Canaan; 2. Blessing of first-
born on Shem and its antithesis in the curse on Canaan ; 3. The
second blessing of the middle brother, with reminiscences of the
higher blessing of the first and the curse on the third. Neverthe-
less, the majority of ancient and modern expositors give up the
reference of pen to God, as it seems to us rightly. For it cannot
be denied that in the first hemistich the emphasis lies on the
repeated ns% not on D\I$>K, on which account the harmony of
style is best preserved by referring what follows to Japhet. An
antithetical relation of the two clauses (but He will dwell) would
of necessity have been noted in the language used. 2 More
1 A. T. Theologie, 2nd ed. 677 f.
* See the form in Stahelin and Dillmann, Comrn, zur Oenesis.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 101
especially we should expect to find the name mrp, seeing that
God dwells in Shem's tents as Yahveh. The plural designation
of place would also be strange, since God elsewhere always
dwells in His ?nfc ; yet this might perhaps be explained by
the indefinite generality of the oracle. But supposing Japhet
to be taken as the subject, his dwelling " in the tents of Shem " l
makes no less difficulty. Some, not without anti-Jewish tendency,
have after Justin M. (c. Tryp. 139) understood a hostile occupa-
tion of the Shemitic country, 2 which would introduce a quite
incomprehensible infringement of Shem's birthright-blessing. Par
more in keeping with the connection would be the interpretation
to the effect that Japhet is to acquire a share in this birthright-
blessing, entering into brotherly fellowship with Shem by peace-
able residence with him, just as the two joined with brotherly
feeling in the pious act to their father. But certain as it is that
the historical fulfilment proves that Japhet was to be received
into spiritual fellowship with Shem, and so to share as his guest
in the highest blessings, still it is more than doubtful whether
such a thought could be so expressed. The dwelling of this
race in the tents of the former seems to give the impression,
if not of conquest, 3 still of a crowding inconvenient to both in
strange contrast with the n%\ The use of the phrase to denote
peaceful, hospitable relation cannot be proved. And even if this
meaning were usual, the absence of all intimation of any bless-
ing which Japhet was to seek and expect there, would be strange.
Nor does the uniform refrain, in which the 1O^> above was to be
taken as a singular, favour any reference to Shem in this phrase.
Accordingly, since the days of J. D. Michaelis many 4 have taken
DB> in ver. 2 7 as an appellative : 5 renowned tents, properly tents
towering above space and time, of which fama tells far and wide,
early and late. Certainly in this association the word Dvns
looks very modest ; still it harmonizes with the notions of
primeval simplicity. The strongest objection that can be raised
against this interpretation is the ambiguity occasioned by the
double use of DE> in vers. 26, 27. But precisely in this asso-
1 LXX., Calvin, Delitzsch, Tuch, G. Baur, Hengstenberg, Dillmann, J. P.
Lange, G. Fr. Oehler (A. T. Theology, i. 82).
2 So Bochart, Clericus, Eosenmiiller, and still Hengstenberg, Sorensen.
3 The phrase is so used in 1 Chron. v. 10.
* Vater, Schott, Gesenius, de "Wette, Winer, Stahelin, Schumann, Knobel, Anger.
5 As in Gen. vi. 4 ; Num. xvi. 2; cf. 1 Chron. v. 24 ; Job xxx. 8.
102 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
nance, according to our view, lies the explanation of the surprising
expression. As the oldest Hebrew mashals are fond of assonance,
especially at the close of the strophe, so here not only is the
refrain on Canaan purposely repeated with like sounds, but
in DK> 7HX3 the CB> *r6 is echoed with very slight variation in
sound.
Japhet is to have the lion's share, not only of the possession
of the world, but also of the glory of history. Canaan can dis-
pute neither with him, but on the contrary is subject to him.
Shem's prerogative is more internal, intellectual, divine ; he has
indeed his Ii33, his special glory, but this is more than mere
worldly renown (D { always refers to consideration in men's eyes,
and has a profane character) ; its root is simply in his special
relation to the God of revelation.
Thus a threefold development of humanity is foreseen in this
oracle. One portion of it will be received into a specially
intimate relation to God, who reveals Himself to it as Yahveh.
It will be the depository of the history of revelation and redemp-
tion. Another will extend prosperously in the world and
acquire lasting renown, by the favour of the God who makes
everything go well with all who fear and honour him by right
conduct. It will be the depository of culture, and the heroic
race of history. A third for its ungodliness, in addition to
the curse of the ground, will bear the curse of history, subjected
and enslaved by its brethren, lowest in the world's history as in
that of redemption, laden with the world's ban. These are the
different attitudes which the several branches of humanity will
henceforth assume to God. If these branches are here attached
to the sons of Noah, it is not meant that all Shemitic nations
will be united with Yahveh and all Hamitic nations laden with
the curse, and still less that all individuals among these nations
will assume their ancestors' attitude to God. This is opposed
by the solitariness of Canaan in the curse, and still further by the
solitariness of Israel in the blessing. But regarding history as a
whole, we see that certain characteristics are hereditary, not
merely in nations, but even in families of nations. On these
leading types, which will be more or less reproduced in their
posterity, blessing and curse are here pronounced. Thus this
pithy oracle, whenever it arose and by whomsoever spoken,
contains the grand programme of the development of mankind
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 103
in its separate lines. The brief saying to Japliet opens out a
wide prospect of a general history rich in external and intellectual
results, while the still briefer one to Shem carries in its bosom
the germ of the history of redemption.
The question from whom such an oracle sprang or received
its present form, is one of extraordinary difficulty. It is clear
from the above interpretation how great was the influence of the
Hebrew language on the form of Noah's blessing, and of course
the Hebrew language was just as little spoken by the patriarchs
as by Adam in Paradise. In its contents also the oracle is con-
ditioned by the revelation given to the people of Israel after
Moses. Compare the emphatic use of the name Jahveh and the
description of Canaan as cursed by the progenitor. On the
other hand, it is out of harmony both with the spirit of antiquity
and in particular with the moral earnestness of the Biblical
authors, to invent such oracles of set purpose and publish them
as words of an ancestor. Rather in this old Hebrew oracle we
have to deal with a primitive tradition, the kernel of which reaches
back beyond the Hebrew nationality, but which received its
present form from the spirit of the Israelitish theocracy (as in
the account of Creation). The greatness of its contents makes
it certain that it was a prophetically deep and far-seeing seer
who put down Noah's word as the Alpha of the world's history.
Such a saying cannot be explained as a limited reflection of the
view of a particular time, or as the product of certain political
relations and moods (note D).
NOTE A. $53, properly lowland, applies to the low tract on
the Phoenician coast, and therefore quite properly denotes the
Phoenicians, and next the Canaanites, who meanwhile had pene-
trated into Palestine. That this people was of Hamitic descent
the Israelites had no doubt, despite the Shemitic language so called
which it spoke. Cf. Kautzsch in Riehm's Handworterbuch, art.
" Phonizien." On the moral depravity of this people, see Miinter,
Religion der Carthager, p. 150 ff. ; on their licentious worship,
Scholz, ut ante.
NOTE B. We have no verb corresponding to 7p3 under both its
aspects, the best still is " bless." It has God for its object in the
sense of praising as well as man in the sense of blessing, i.e.
invoking God's good- will on one, conveying God's blessing. Only
in the latter sense does Heb. vii. 7 hold good, that the less is
104 OLD TESTAMENT PKOPHECY.
*> /
always blessed of the greater. Cf. the Arabic l^,, properly the
cross (^), to bend, hence to pray ; moreover, of God it is said : to
lend graciously over ( J^c) one, to bless him. Cf. Borhdn ed-din.
LJ
Enchirid. Stud. ed. Caspar, p. f , line 2 ff. of the Commentary.
NOTE C. From nna (root ns, to be open), the hiphil means here :
to make wide, give wide scope (not allure, persuade, like the piel
with accusative, after which Calvin in the present passage accepts
the meaning allicere, blande reducere ; with gentle voice God will
allure Japhet to reunion with Shem, as has been done by the
gospel). Cf. b 3'CHn, Gen. xxvi. 22; Ps. iv. 1. Because breadth
of room to extend in was the first condition of prosperity in
nomadic life, designations of happiness generally have been formed
from this idea of space ; cf. if^n. Yet it would not be in place in
the present passage to generalize the meaning of nnan into that of
making happy (Tuch, Hengstenberg).
NOTE D. That an oracle so natural in character is not to be
regarded as a mere expression of national hate and a justification
of that hate (Tuch, p. 147), is self-evident. Of the aberrations
into which the so-called scientific interpretation falls, which
labours to find the roots of all prophetic vision and speech in
historical occasions, a shocking example is given in the present
passage, alas ! by G. Baur (p. 176 ff.), who sees in Noah's
blessing a political and indeed anti-Isaianic manifesto, written in
favour of an alliance with the Assyrians, who are supposed to figure
as Japhet ! (Ewald here led the way in error, Geschichte Isr. iii.
643.) Such attempts at least show how hard it is to point out
pragmatic motives for these oracles in the political history of
the age. According to our interpretation of ver. 27, shared by
most exegetes of critical skill, a noteworthy element is, that
Japhet's fame in the world was far below that of Shem and Ham
during the whole history of ancient Israel, and at all events
first appeared on the horizon of the Jewish nation in unimagined
greatness long after the composition of these sayings ; and, indeed,
in earlier days little enough indication could be seen of any
subjugation of Ham, specifically of Canaan, by Japhet.
14. The Promises to the Fathers of the Covenant-nation
(Abraham, Isaac, Jacob).
The promise given to Shem of a closer relation into which
God will enter with him is further specialized l to the effect that
1 Cf. in Isa. xxix. 22 the redemption and severance of Abraham from heathenism.
PATRIAECHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 105
Abraham and his posterity specifically, more precisely the seed
of Isaac, and still more definitely the seed of Jacob, will stand in
this covenant, i.e. in distinctive relation to God. This is made
known to the forefathers of Israel themselves by divine utterances.
Whereas God's talking with men is presupposed in primitive
days more generally, in the patriarchal period it has already
become exceptional. The pious patriarchs themselves, although
only in special solemn moments of their life, are deemed worthy
of divine communications, and their spiritual greatness consists
in their trusting this voice of God. Take away from an
Abraham this believing trust in God's promise, which is the
sinew of all his acts, and his spiritual significance is gone. The
different authorities, distinguishable in the narrative respecting
Abraham, agree in this, that he received from God special
assurances respecting the future of his posterity.
The form of these revelations is subordinate. It is simply
said : the Lord spake to Abraham, or : He appeared to Abraham
and spake. Nevertheless the different authorities testify that
the communicating of the promise was accompanied by a
visible appearance of the holy God. 1 Other secondary circum-
stances are, that the revelation often takes place by night, 2 once
also the covenant - promise is given in a dream, 3 and once
(xxv. 22 f.) an oracle in reference to nations is given on an
inquiring of the Lord, while it is not said in what way the
answer was given. Of subordinate interest also is the more pre-
cise designation, met with occasionally, of the revealing Deity as
m,T ytbo or DTiiJK 1JW&D, Angel of the Lord. 4 For this difference
is more one of form. God Himself speaks in and through the
angel, so that the two subjects are constantly interchangeable
the subject who is the proper author of the revelation, and the
one that is only its representative medium. See xvi. 7-13,
where Hagar is sure she saw God Himself in the angel
1 Cf. xii. 7, xv. 17, xvii. 1, xxvi. 2, 4.
2 The still night is specially favourable to the reception of divine revelation ;
cf. Job iv. 13, xxxiii. 15 ; Zech. i. 8.
3 Gen. xxviii. 12 ff. See p. 15. The dream as a form of revelation is usually
regarded as a characteristic of the second Elohistic authority ; but Gen. xxviii. is
probably Yahvistic, at least the splitting up of the narrative is in the highest
degree arbitrary.
4 So in the Yahvistic authority, and the Elohistic closely allied to it ; cf. xvi. 7,
13, xviii. 1 ff., xxi. 17, xxii. 11, 14, 15.
106 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
(cf. xxi. 1 7) ; just so the interchangeable relation between God
and the three men, xviii. 1 ff. ; further, xxii. 11, 14, 15, and
xlviii. 1C, where Jacob calls an angel the Saviour of his life.
This interchangeable relation has its ground in the old conception
of angels, according to which they only come into view as
organs through whom God manifests Himself. Where God
reveals Himself in time and space, this revelation may always be
described as that of an angel (cf. too Gal. iii. 19). And it is
noteworthy that the angel is first mentioned in the divine
appearance to Hagar, not as if this favourite instrument of God
appeared now in consequence of the making of the covenant,
in which, however, Hagar had no part, but just here the
mediateness of God's manifestation forced itself on the reflection.
No doubt distinctions are made in certain narratives between
one order of angels and another (Ex. xxxiii. 15 ; Isa. Ixiii. 9),
but not more than between the arm and the face of
the Lord. The error of the opinion so much in favour in
the Church, that among the angels one towers as an uncreated
divine being above the other created ones, and that where
"n ixta stands, and the interchange of persons with God occurs,
the covenant-angel is always meant, lies in this, that the
individual angel is contemplated alongside or under God as an
independent hypostasis in the style of a much later age ;
whereas for the Biblical books, especially of the earliest age,
he comes into view simply in his working. The particular
work or revelation of God shows a particular angel, who is
its medium, and who in this special form and act sets forth God
Himself.
Let us now consider the contents of the divine promises to the
patriarchs.
The first one that meets us is that given to Abraham
(xii. 13, 7), accompanying the divine summons to depart from
his native land :
" And Jahveh spake to Abrarn : Remove from thy land and
acquaintance and father's house to a land, which I will show
thee. Then will I make thee a great nation and bless thee
and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I
will bless those who bless thee, and whoever utters imprecation
on thee, him will I curse. And through thee all kindreds on the
face of the earth shall be blessed."
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 107
The two main points, recurring uniformly in all the autho-
rities, are land and people. The whole patriarchal history looks
forward to the holy people in the Promised Land, a prospect already
made known to the pious fathers themselves by divine illumina-
tion. The present saying to Abraham also looks in that direction,
although he was the progenitor of a wider group of tribes. His
intimate relation to God was transmitted in its blessed signifi-
cance to a particular nation. First of all (vers. 2, 3) the divine
blessing is attached to Abraham's person, of whom it is said
expressly nana iT|iTi which by no means signifies merely
that he himself will be blessed (Hitzig), or that his name will be
a formula of blessing, but extols him as the medium and source
of the divine blessing. 1 How Abraham himself, in virtue of his
special relation to God, was a mediator of blessing to those about
him, is shown in Gen. xx. 7 ; that his people in the same way
were to convey the divine blessing, the dispensation of God's grace
to the whole world, see in Isa. xix. 24; Zech. viii. 13. In the
present passage the import of the brief saying is expounded in
ver. 3, according to which God's relation to men depends on their
attitude to Abraham (cf. xx. 7), and the Lord will deal well with
those who wish well to him and do homage to the divine grace
revealing itself in him ; and, on the other hand, will make him
feel His displeasure who despises and scorns one whom God has
blessed. The singular number here is significant. It can only be
single hardened sinners who so misunderstand one who is a
source of blessing to all about him, as to contemn and hate him,
and in him his God. The world, as a whole, will not withhold
homage, and will therefore enjoy the benefit of this source of
blessing. The latter is implied in the final words, which puts
the crown on the promise, nD"isn nins^D ^>b ^a "nai. But
whether the subjective act of homage or the objective act of
divine blessing lies in the niphal, exegetes are not agreed. That
one involves the other follows, however, from the preceding
words. The niphal, as is well known, is primarily reflexive. In
accordance with this its original signification, which, however,
mostly vanished in the idiom of later days, earlier Jewish
expositors, not without a polemical interest, opposed the ordinary
Christian interpretation (shall be blessed in thee, LXX., N. T.) ;
1 Cf. Prov. xi. 25 : n3~13 B>33 a soul that finds pleasure iu blessing, from which
T T: :,:>
accordingly streams of blessing flow.
108 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
and, according to Gen. xlviii. 20, only found therein the sense :
All nations shall bless themselves in thy name, i.e. wish them-
- thy good fortune. 1 Thus the niphal is said to be
synonymous with the hithpael occurring in like connection in
xxii. 18, xxvL 4, 2 the seed of Abraham or of Isaac, however,
standing as the means, whereas the niphal, again, is joined
(xviii. 18) with Abraham himself, and (xxviii. 14) with Jacob
along with his seed. We are certainly of opinion that the
niphal here must have a meaning of its own, distinct from the
hithpaeL 3 In distinction from the piel (xlviiL 20) and hithpael,
it expresses more the objective experience of the divine blessing.
Only, even where the hithpael is used, the significant position of
the word at the end of the promise requires even there more
than a mere ceremonial honour to be meant. The distinction
therefore is not material The act of blessing is no mere
formality, for which reason also the name of God or of a man
used in it is of high importance. The former shows from whom
the highest good is to be expected, the latter in whom it is to
be found, and through whose mediation it may be attained.
Therefore it is not something trifling that is affirmed, even in the
reflexive sense. Xot merely will Abraham's good fortune be
proverbial throughout the world, but all nations of the earth will
see that in Abraham the highest good is to be found ; and thus
he will be the priestly mediator of salvation between God and
the world, since Abraham's blessing will bring to those farthest
off the knowledge of the true God, and in praying for such
blessing they will use the name of Abraham who prevailed with
God. They would not do the latter (hithpael), unless the
blessing and virtue of his person and name had been attested to
them (niphal).
This promise was ratified to Abraham in important moments
of his life. Such a moment, according to chap, xiii., was the
agreement with Lot, the progenitor of the Moabites and
Ammonites. After the proof of self-denying love of peace given
by Abraham, the Lord spoke to him (xiii. 14-17), and assured
him that his earthly blessing should not be less on this account,
1 So Raschi (in G. Baur, p. 209), afterwards Clericus, and now the majority (de
. Gesenins, Anger, Stahelin, Hitzig, etc.).
* Cf. Ps. IxxiL 17.
3 Bo also Tuch, G. Baor, Hengstenberg, Keil, Kautzsch, etc.
PATEIAECHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE, 109
nay, would be measureless. Here also possession of land and a
great posterity are the two chief points in the promise referring
to the people of God ; save that here the extent of the land is
more definitely indicated, and a posterity countless (like the dust
of the earth) is predicted for him.
Chap. xv. also, a section somewhat peculiar in the style of its
narrative, moves around these two promises. The posterity of
Abraham countless (like the stars of heaven) will appear, despite
the fact that he has no proper heir ; and he will take possession
of the land from the brook of Egypt (not the Nile, but the Wadi
el Arisch) to the Euphrates (ver. 18 ft), although as yet he
possesses not a foot's- breadth in it, and his posterity must first go
into a strange land.
The Elohistic version of the promise given to Abraham is
found in xvii 1 f, where we at once (despite the nvr, ver. 1,
which must spring from another hand) recognise the narrator,
who in Ex. vi. 3 makes God say : And I appeared to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob as ^ ?*<, in the character and with the
appellation of the "Almighty God," but in my name mm I
did not make myself known to them. By the former name He
calls himself God in fact : He is God as feared (n^nfoe, vers,
7, 15, 19, 23) by all nations as the strong One (*) ; but as
the true, alone mighty One, He enters into a special, distinctive
relation to Abraham. Here, also, we find the divinely-established
covenant '"Hr, 1 as before in Xoah's case (also in the Elohist",
ix. 8. But whereas there God's gracious arrangement extends
to all mankind, here a portion of mankind is marked off,
Abraham and his seed (.. his posterity). At the same time
this posterity is regarded, not under a physical aspect, but as a
spiritual whole, and the crude, physical element is to be further
sifted and cleansed. Since the race chosen by God is to bear
a character correspondingly distinctive, the rro has here a
twofold aspect ; it consists first and chiefly in God's choosing
for Himself this tribe, and making known the election by
His acts of blessing ; on the other hand, it is an arrangement
by which God determines how the tribe on its part is to give
expression to this relation to its God. Accordingly the obligatk
contained in the terms of the covenant consists in the ret
i See p. 93. The irinaiit-faa, btmem, is not merely Elofcntie, tat
most decidedly in a Yahvistic authority, Gen. XT.
110 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
of circumcision (ver. 9 ff.), the symbol of the purifying of man's
nature from its innate impurity. 1
The blessings promised to Abraham in this covenant-act are
substantially the same as in the passages of the other narrators
already discussed. They are, first of all, temporal, earthly blessings,
in appearance not essentially different from those enjoyed by
other nations. But the peculiarity from the first is this, that
Israel owes these blessings to its special relation to the God who
made the world. As the goal of God's gracious purpose appears
chiefly (as before) the multiplication of Abraham (of which this
name itself, a modification of Abram, is a reminder, ver. 5) :
" And I will make thee very fruitful and multiply thee into
nations, and kings shall proceed from thee." Here is not merely
the promise of a countless host of descendants (as before), but
a number of nationalities and kings is distinguished therein. If
this language suggests the thought of all the Arab nations in
the line of Keturah (xxv. 1 ff.) and Ishmael, whose progenitor
Abraham is, as well as of the Edomites, who according to
xxxvi. 31 had kings even before the Israelites, in ver. 16 the
horizon in the case of Sarah, to whom (her name also being
modified) the like is promised, is narrower. This covenant
promise is specialized to the effect that the sou of Sarah
represents the promised seed, xvii. 19, 21. And in xxxv. 11,
in plain allusion to the present chapter, it is said to Jacob :
"I am El Shaddai, be fruitful and multiply, a nation and a
community of nationalities (Q^3 <>nj?) shall proceed from thee
and kings from thy loins." This passage shows, that even in
the present chapter the promise refers to the Israelitish complex
of nations and its kings ; and also in xvii. 7, 8, which passes on
to the second part of the promise, viz. the possession of the land
of Canaan, there can be no doubt on this point. In xvii. 7 the
inner nature of this covenant is revealed. The Almighty God
will be specifically the Deity of this nation (cf. ver. 8 ff.). He
puts Himself in a closer mutual relation to it. Of this the land,
which He gives it for a possession, is an outward sign ; a second,
by which Israel will consecrate itself as God's elect to His service,
is the symbol of circumcision, performed on the flesh of all male
members of the nation.
This ordinance, like the whole act of the covenant, is expressly
1 Herzog's Real-Encyklopiidie, " Hcschneidung. "
PATEIARCHAL PKELUDES OF PROMISE. Ill
declared to be eternal (ohy Jinn). Certainly it would not
satisfy the emphasis of the divine saying to regard D^iy l here
simply as a hyperbolical designation of a time of indefinite
length. D^iy in prophetic speech signifies "long time," as
little as D<pn nnnts " following time," instead of " final time."
Rather it simply negatives the cessation of the covenant. Such
cessation is absent from the speaker's as well as the hearer's
thought. In the case of a promise or precept the word expresses
the divine absoluteness, which pledges itself that its will is
no mere momentary one. But of course this will, though not
influenced by time, is influenced by the free conduct of man.
According to the attitude of the people, the divine covenant is
turned into blessing or cursing; it will unfold in unimagined
fulness and more pregnant meaning. Unfaithful Israel, just
because the covenant remains stedfast, will lose its land ;
faithful Israel will know its God more perfectly, and lay aside
its natural impurity more completely than was done in circum-
cision. We see here that we ought not mechanically to transfer
the initial form of the promise to a quite different stage of the
divine economy, and without regard to the specific value of a
promise to adhere to a particular chronology. Have we a right,
without more ado, to infer from the present passage the future
possession of the outward Canaan by Israel, while rejecting the
perpetual observance of outward circumcision ?
Compare, further, xviii. 1 8 (Yahvistic) : " Since Abraham
will certainly become a great and strong nation, and in him
all nations of the earth will be blessed " (niph.).
xxii. 1 61 8 : " By myself have I sworn, said the Lord :
Because thou hast done this thing and hast not spared thy
son, thine own (son), verily I will bless thee and multiply
thy seed abundantly as the stars of heaven, and like the
sand that is on the sea-shore, and thy seed shall occupy
the gate of its foes. And in thy seed all nations of the
earth shall bless themselves, because thou didst listen to my
voice."
Here also, where the re warding of Abraham's believing obedience
is in question, a posterity countless (like the stars and sand)
stands in the first line, and to this its victorious, awe-inspiring
position is added. Finally, again, the highest reward of his
3 Cf. p. 95, Synonyma der Zeit und Eivigkeit, p. 74.
112 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
trustful surrender to God is, that all nations of the earth will
wish themselves the highest good in the name of his posterity.
jn.T is here also a single, abstract idea, but not a personal one.
That is, it is not expressly said that one particular individual
among Abraham's descendants will be the channel of blessing to
all nations. But if a son of man should discharge this highest
function, in accordance with the promise he must be a descendant
of Abraham.
In xxvi. 3-6 the entire blessing promised to Abraham is
transferred to Isaac, and in xxviii. 13 f. is promised in a dream
at Bethel to Jacob. Cf. also xlvi. 1-4, and especially the
Elohistic revelation of xxxv. 9 ff.
Whilst the undivided stream of covenant - blessing is thus
conducted to Jacob, in whose house it begins to attain its
national breadth, the subordinate lines are plainly excluded.
Much, indeed, of the blessing bestowed on Abraham passes over
to them ; but in the covenant proper, and therefore in the cove-
nant land and people, they have no share. Thus in chap, xiii., Lot,
the progenitor of Moab and Ammon, voluntarily separates from
Abraham, to whom he gladly surrenders the rest of Canaan, choos-
ing the rich Jordan valley. Abraham's son by Hagar, Ishmael, is
excluded, not without an important future being assured to him,
certainly of a mere earthly, profane kind, xvi. 10 ff. He too
is assigned a countless posterity ; but instead of being a blessing
to all, he is the adversary of all, and of the land of promise he
will have as little as he will be an heir of the divine covenant,
xvii. 18 ff., xxi. 12. The real spiritual seed of Abraham,
according to God's plan, is perpetuated in Isaac. 1 Isaac has two
apparently equal sons ; although very different individually, they
are even twin-brothers. But here it was to be seen how it is
God's free choice, following spiritual affinity, not physical descent,
that qualifies for the inheritance. As divine appointment from
the beginning (cf. xxv. 22 f., the struggle in the womb and the
word of the Lord), and human adjustments in keeping with the
character of the tribal representatives concerned (cf. xxv. 29 ff.,
the sale of the birthright-privilege), led to this result, so at last the
patriarch, without his own knowledge and will, uttered his decisive
oracle, to the effect that to the younger belonged the Promised
Cf. xxi. 12: JHT ^ K-lj!
' *
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 113
Land with all its treasures, whereas to the older w r as left a mere
shadow of blessing, in reality no blessing. To the former was
also given the rightful dominion, to the latter only the possibility
of freeing himself by rude force from the yoke of his heaven-
favoured brother, chap, xxvii.
Since we have to do here, not with a new divine institution,
but merely with the designation of the true heir to the promises
of grace, Jacob is first of all designated by his father's blessing
(the testament l of Isaac) as the depositary of the covenant-grace
and the representative of the covenant-people. This oracle of
blessing is diverted by the cunning mother to her favourite, not
without deception of the blind father. Thinking that he has Esau
before him, whose savoury food stimulates him (as outward things
often do, e.g. the sound of a name) to prophetic utterance, he
exclaims :
" Behold, the perfume of my son is as the perfume of the
field, which Yahveh blessed ! God give thee of the dew of
heaven and of the fatness of the earth, and fulness of wheat
and wine ! Let nations serve thee and peoples fall down
before thee ! Be a commander to thy brethren, and let the
sons of thy mother do homage to thee ! Cursed be they
who curse thee, and blessed they who bless thee ! " (xxvii.
27-29).
As the seer's gaze in such oracles rises prophetically above the
ordinary horizon, so his language is loftier than usual. 2 The sus-
tained harmony, rising in animation up to the close and culminating
in the three pairs of clauses (ver. 29), corresponds to the import
of the train of thought which ascends from vivid description
of natural blessings to more and more extraordinary glory and
distinction. Hence, too, the blessing on Esau, in import so much
below this elevation, is far from exhibiting such inspiration of
form. The oracle treats substantially of the heirlooms already
familiar to us from xii. 2 ff. The land extolled in the present
1 See p. 78.
2 Cf. ver. 27, the poetical nsO for nan ( cf - ver - 39 )> perhaps also for the sake of
the rhythm with fpl ; further pitfn <I 319B' (pinguedines terrse), only found aguin
in ver. 39, perhaps chosen in this passage also because of the rhythm with D"G>$n ;
further, nin for iTTI, and -|i33 only here and ver. 37. "Whoever objects that it is
unusual to poetize in old age and in presence of death is to be pitied, as knowing
neither prophecy nor true poetry.
ORELLI. II
114 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
passage is undoubtedly Canaan (in opposition to the barren land
of the Edoinites), which Isaac received from Abraham, although
only in ideal possession. That Jacob will become a great nation
is not actually said, but is as self-evident as that the description
of Esau (ver. 40) applies to the nation springing from him.
Only as a nation can he have a land richly blessed for his own,
and occupy among the nations a position inspiring fear and
respect. The lordship belonging to the covenant nation is
emphasized more strongly here than previously (cf. xxii. 17).
Although the indefinite D^x^i D'Dl? is not expressly equivalent
to 'T?"!^? rrinsBT? <>3, still it makes Israel lord over the nations
surrounding it, even over those of kindred descent (O^).
And the concluding sentence shows that the attitude of the
nations to Israel will determine God's friendly or hostile attitude
to them. What held good of the patriarchs personally (cf. xxvi.
26 ff.), that God would bless their friends and chastise their foes,
so that every one courted their favour, was to be extended
to the nations who favoured Israel for the sake of its God.
Here is seen the objective side expressed in ^~]^, and assumed
in the hithpael. Respecting the way in which Israel will rule
the nations, this glance into its spiritual power and the homage
to be done it on that account, gives us at least some intimation.
By this oracle, the grey, blind father has plainly disposed of
the entire blessing, one and indivisible, given to Abraham and
devolving on himself as its heir by God's appointment. Because
inspired by a higher spiritual power, such a blessing once uttered
is no longer in the personal power of man to revoke. It is
unalterable and irrevocable. This Isaac declares in ver. 33,
after he perceives to his terror that a higher will has here
crossed his own, and used him as an instrument in an arrange-
ment not according to his own mind. Gladly as he would have
done it, he can bequeath to his favourite Esau nothing more of
the sacred heritage already disposed of. What he further gives
Esau on his importunate urgency, is a mere shadow of the
blessing already uttered, unworthy in comparison to be called a
blessing :
" Behold, without l fatness of the earth shall be thy dwelling-
place, and without dew of heaven from above, and by favour
1 jo here privative, not partitive.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 115
of l thy sword thou shalt live and serve thy brother. And
it shall come to pass : as thou roamest there, thou shalt break
his yoke from thy neck."
Even the land which Esau inhabits will form a sad contrast to
Jacob's blooming fields. In point of fact, the mountain-range of
the Edomites is extraordinarily bare and barren. If, then, he is
to lack the abundance of the gifts of heaven and earth, which
are God's gifts, he still retains his sword with which to make
himself a living. Just so he can only win his independence
by force ; for his normal condition, fixed by God and reason, will
be one of subjection to his brother, although, considering his
native wildness and irrepressible passion for independence, it
may be foreseen that he will break loose from the yoke of one
who is his superior in spiritual dignity. What he wins, there-
fore, he will gain, not by divine right, but by right of might, in
opposition to God's legal ordination and expressed will. To this
resistance God will allow scope to a certain degree, the conse-
quence of which to Israel will be, that God's people will only be
able to maintain its position with trouble and hard conflict. To
this extent a shadow rests on Jacob's blessing, and as matter of
fact throughout the whole of the ancient history of Israel, Edom
embittered the existence of its brother-nation.
15. Tlie Leading Tribe of Judah (Jacob's Blessi-ng, Gen. xlix.).
Jacob also makes his testament at the end of his life. He,
too, has Canaan to bestow. But in doing this, he does not hand
over the land to one individual in unshared possession, while the
others, like Ishmael and Esau, go empty away ; but Jacob sees
in spirit all his twelve sons settled in the land of promise, so
familiar to him. We learn from this that the promise is not
for the present more precisely defined, but all Jacob-Israel is to
share in it. But each one of the twelve sons has a peculiar
temperament, from which their father starts in foretelling what
position they will take as members of the whole.
Gen. xlix. 1 : " And Jacob called his sons and spake : Gather
yourselves together, and I will declare to you what will befall
you AT THE END OF THE DAYS." 2
1 On thy sword i.e. putting it down as a basis, supported on it.
2 Respecting this definition of time, see p. 33.
116 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
The dying patriarch does not refer his sons indefinitely to
" after days " (Herder), but to " the end of the days," i.e. to the
completion of the stage of development now proceeding. For
Jacob the horizon, bounding his field of vision, lies where, accord-
ing to the promise given him, his posterity has grown into
tribes and taken up its abode in the Promised Land ; for at this
point the idea of the kingdom of God has reached its provisional
realization, which again contains germs that ensure a higher
development. Moreover, Jacob's blessing contains in the oracle
respecting Judah a significant blossom that will further unfold
itself.
On this point a distinction of rank is to be observed among
the sons. One must have the primacy, but which one ? Accord-
ing to Gen. xlviii., Joseph, the offspring of the beloved Rachel,
the saviour of Jacob's whole family, was distinguished by the
patriarch with a special blessing, 1 to the effect that his two sons
were to be on a level with the sons of Jacob in the division of the
land. The two grandsons are thus in a sense adopted by Jacob,
while Joseph is honoured by a double share in the inheritance.
On this account it is said in 1 Chron. v. 1, the right of first-born
(rnb 3) passed to Joseph's sons. This can only refer to the
double inheritance, for the chronicler adds, Judah became TM
among his brethren, received the supremacy among them. But
the supremacy was a chief part of the rnb? ; here, on the con-
trary, is meant thereby (as perhaps also in Gen. xxvii. 36) merely
the larger (i.e. double) possession.
Gen, xlix. shows how Judah attained the leadership, which he
possesses even in preference to Joseph, who certainly is called
(ver. 26) the most noble p\T3) among his brethren. In age,
indeed, Judah is only fourth. But the three preceding him were
declared to have lost the birthright by unpardonable trans-
gressions, of which their father must perforce remind them even
on his deathbed Reuben on account of his dishonouring his
father's couch (xxxv. 22), Simeon and Levi on account of their
outrageous, cunning revenge on the Sichemites (xxxiv. 13 ff.).
Instead of the expected special blessing, the eldest received severe
rebuke. Jacob does not expressly curse them, but he solemnly
1 xlviii. 14, 17 shows what outward gesture was usual in such patriarchal benedic-
ions : Imposition of hands expressive of transference, which confirms what was said
of the meaning of that act.
PATEIAECHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 117
disavows their thoughts and ways. And now the stream of
benediction gushes without check on Judah, who was not indeed
without stain (cf. Gen. xxxviii.), but who had shown a noble,
energetic character towards his father and brethren (e.g. in the
history of Joseph), and whose moral energy became the abiding
excellence of this tribe.
Israel has no reason for withholding the birthright from
Judah. As he mentions his name, its high significance strikes
him : He is not called " Praise " l in vain, his brethren shall
praise him, as once his mother praised the Lord when she bore
him (xxix. 35) :
xlix. 8-12 : "Judah, verily thee thy brethren shall praise,
verily thy hand (shall be) on the neck of thy foes, before
9 thee thy father's sons fall down ! A lion's cub is Judah ;
from ravening, my son, thou hast ascended : he crouched, lay
down like a lion, and like the lioness : who can arouse him ?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the general's
staff from between his feet, until he come into his own, and
1 1 nations are subject to him, who binds his foal to the vine-
stem, and to the choice vine his ass's colt. He washed his
12 garments in wine and his apparel in grape-juice, his eyes
dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk."
The meaning of the whole oracle is : Thanks to its prowess in
offence and defence, Judah will be the real princely tribe, able to
maintain its supremacy over its brethren as well as superiority
over its foes. Thanks to the terror of its valour, it will enjoy
undisturbed a land rich in milk and wine.
Compared with xxvii. 29, ver. 8 shows that Jacob's supremacy
is transmitted to Judah. Among the kindred tribes it is the
leader, whose moral worth and physical superiority they willingly
acknowledge. Prepared for by ver. 8&, in ver. 9 the regal lion
appears as Judah's emblem. After hunting his prey in the
plains, this lion has ascended 2 to his lofty dwelling (alluding to
the lofty situation of Judah's territory). There he now settles
down comfortably ; he knows, however, that no one will venture
to disturb him in his rest or dispute his spoil with him. Ver. 1
a name formed from the impf. hoph. ^ also is similar in sound. The
expression is taken from a beast of prey, which strikes its claws into the neck of the
fleeing prey.
2 JV^y> n t : thou hast grown up (Luther).
118 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
speaks again of Jndah's princely function. BSK', sceptre, and
Pi?.'" 1 *?, are synonymous ; the latter here is not personal : commander
or lawgiver (Hengstenberg), but according to Num. xxi. 18, com-
mander's staff, general's baton, which insignia on sitting down are
put between the feet. 1
Leaving aside for a time the disputable words, ver. lOc and
10r?, we cannot doubt that vers. 11 and 12 apply to Judah, and
depict the rich abundance of his land, which he will enjoy as the
prize of victory. The image of Judah, given in antique, poetic
speech, 2 is in the highest degree picturesque. We see him bind-
ing his beast to the vine, which is the blessing of his land. The
choice red sap flows for him in such abundance, that he has
washed his garments in it, which therefore show the royal
purple. 3 Nay, we only need look at him to see the profuse
abundance yielded by his land. The dark fire, peculiar to wine,
streams from his eyes, 4 the dazzling white of milk from his teeth ;
so that we see at once with what his land overflows. Wine and
milk are so much the special pride and wealth of Judah's
territory, otherwise not very fertile, that this characteristic is
eminently in place, 5 and no reference of these words to Judah's
Egyptian relations 6 is to be thought of. Thus the verses give
the impression that Judah will secure rich spoil in lion-like con-
flict, in order then to enjoy its full possession in unbroken peace.
In this connection, the clause nVc' Niapa ty cannot indicate the
termination of Judah's influential position, but seems to denote
the transition from the conflict for that position to its undisputed
possession. But the reading and meaning of the word r6'B> are
1 To interpret with the ancients : "a ruler from thy loins," would be awkward.
D^3T T3O XTT denotes, indeed, in prosaic speech (Deut. xxviii. 57) the issuing from
the mother's womb (cf. Iliad, xix. 110) ; but this local definition nowhere refers to
paternal begetting. The Targum has &OSD f r ppflD : the chancellor sitting at the
king's feet.
2 Cf. the forms ^DN, "J2, Gesenius, Oramm. 88, 3a ; F. W. M. Philippi, Wesen
nnd Ursprung des Status Constr. p. 11, 97, 101 ; further, jrvy and nhlD.
Gesenins, Gramm. 91, n. 2 ;*p^>, 93, 2. 1.
3 Cf. Isa. Ixiii. 2 : blood-red as the colour of wine.
4 "Wan, dark (fr ni ^On, to be dark) in the above sense, jo is not to be taken
comparatively in either instance, but states the cause from which his blooming
appearance arises.
6 v. Orelli, DurcKs hell'iye. Land, 2nd ed. p. 84 f.
So Diestel, Segen Jacob's, p. 56.
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 119
questionable. As it stands, it seems most natural to take the
word as the name of a place, as everywhere else, 1 and to translate :
until he comes to Shiloh? The " coining to Shiloh " would then
denote the end of the journeying and conquest, during which
Judah had held the leadership. Now in point of fact it is said
in Josh, xviii. 1 : " And the whole congregation of the children
of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle
there ; and the land was subdued before them." According to
Delitzsch, the passage forms " a boundary-line between two periods
in Israel's history." At that time, indeed, the conflict was not yet
fought out, and Judah's championship was still only to begin in
the true sense (Judg. i. 1). But the period of the great march in
common was in fact concluded.
We confess, however, that this interpretation little contents
us. Apart from the fact that, although the tribe of Judah led
the van in conflict during the desert-march (Num. ii.), the
sceptre and staff of command were quite wanting to it, the
tribe had no special relation to Shiloh ; it did not there bind
its foal to the vine ; nor did it there receive any homage,
either from the other tribes or from foreign peoples. The
mention of this place therefore remains in any case enigmatical.
But although one might accept under pressure the explanation
given by Delitzsch, namely, that the aged Jacob in spirit saw
Shiloh, known to him by name, as the resting-place of his people ;
on the other hand, from the " critical " point of view which
makes these oracles later compositions formed in the time of the
Judges or Kings out of history, 3 no reason is conceivable why
the arrival at Shiloh should be regarded as the terminus ad quern
of Judah's leadership ! This long-past epoch could in no way
be regarded as the satisfying conclusion " at the end of the days."
The embarrassment of the critics next led to a desperate " stroke
of perplexity," as Diestel rightly calls it, first made by Hitzig, 4
and confidently repeated by Bleek, Tuch, Maurer, G. Baur, etc.
^3 *TJ? is said here to mean, not " until," but " as long as " they
come to Shiloh, which, spoken at a time when men resorted to
1 SMloh is the central place, where under Joshua the tabernacle was set up.
2 Ibn Ezra, Teller, Herder, Roseumiiller, Eichliorn, Tuch, Ewald, Rb'diger,
Delitzsch, Diestel, et al.
3 See p. 81.
4 Die Psalmen, 1836, ii. p. 2, note; BibUsclie T/teologie, 153.
120 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
God's tabernacle there, is said to signify : for ever ! That *W
properly denotes " continuance of something," and hence may
on occasion correspond to our " as long as," l must be conceded.
'a ny certainly is never so found, and "^ ny (SoL Song i. 12)
cannot be quoted for the above interpretation. That parallel
would rather require the interpretation : " as long as he shall
be on the point of coming to Shiloh " (and therefore found on
the way thither), which would give substantially the usual sense,
but not : " as long as one usually comes thither." Moreover,
that the latter was a proverbial phrase for perpetual duration, is
preposterous. The tabernacle stood far too short a time in
Shiloh to allow such an idiom to arise ; in the thoughts of the
Israelites its stay there was always something provisional ; else
the abode of the sanctuary would not have been changed without
necessity.
But an important circumstance is that the form ri^K' is rela-
tively recent, and in any case rbw stood previously. It is true
the name Shiloh was very frequently written defectively, but the
word was early read differently. LXX., Aq., Symm., Pesch., Onk.,
Saady., read rf?'^=^=\? "i^ which the majority took personally :
He to whom it belongs, namely, the sceptre, the rule. Here
Jews as well as Christians thought of the Messiah. Nay, to
all appearance even Ezekiel took the rb& personally, and, indeed,
of the Messiah. In xxi. 32, where the words BBfen tHefc so"iy
recall the phrase in question, he is referring to the time of
redemption. 2
Linguistically this translation is possible, 3 although very preg-
nant ; theologically, not impossible. Let it not be said that such
a sudden emergence of a future holder of national rule from
the tribe of Judah goes beyond the limits of prophecy. These
limits are not to be fixed on rationalistic principles. For the
rest, the rationalizing view always has the resource of making
the saying to have been spoken after David, to whom it would
refer in the first case. 4 Unfavourable, on the other hand, to such
1 Cf. in Latin donee erisfelix, etc.
1 Cf. Smend, Commentar zu Ezech. p. 1 47.
3 -{? for "IK'K is found in all periods of Hebrew literature, nor can it be main-
tained that it occurs merely in sections belonging to North Palestine. Cf. Judg.
v. 7 ; Sol. Song i. 7 ; and also Gen. vi. 3 ; Job xix. 29.
4 So Wellhauseu, Geschichte, i. 375. He (and after him Stade, Gesch. i. 160)
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 121
an intrusion of a ruler into the general tribal blessing, is the
fact that his relation to the tribe would not be indicated. True,
the whole style of the oracle does not suggest that Judah's
greatness is to come to an end with the coming of a greater
ruler, but the "o *iy points to the culmination and full realization
of Judah's dignity as ruler. But one would then expect some
such words as fe' wsp s^. '3 *W. Add to this, that the following
words (ver. 11), depicting Judah's peaceful prosperity, only follow
naturally, provided he is the subject in what precedes and 'nn^ Wf
applies to him.
These objections apply also, in all their weight, to every
interpretation that would stamp the word n^B> in any other way
as a name of the Messiah. Not to speak of the rendering qui
mittendus est (Jerome), which takes np5J> as the root, r6'B>, derived
from HA^, i s said as a proper name to signify rest-bringer, rich, in
peace (Hengstenberg). At all events this is better than to take
the word with the same derivation appellatively : until rest
comes; or until he comes to rest (Kurtz, Hofrnann) which
indeed would be very suitable to the context, but is forbidden by
the fact that no formations of appellative nouns of this kind
from verbs n"i> or i"j? fay) occur. On the other hand, the local
name ni^e> (place of rest), shortened from Jv 11 ^, 1 rfe6tf from P&V,
are found. As to form, therefore, it might in the present passage
be a nomen proprium of a prince in a symbolic sense ; but the
context, as remarked before, is against this. Ver. 11 was only
interpreted of the Messiah by means of such artificial allegorizing
as robbed the forceful description of its meaning. 2
The context on one hand, the oldest authorities in respect of
the reading 3 on the other, conduct us to our translation. n>^
was the reading handed down from antiquity, and the LXX.
render this neutrally : eco? av e\dy ra aTTOKeifj.eva aurw. 4
Instead of this abstract neuter subject we take the personal
would expunge \y), thus spoiling the entire beautiful rhythm of the oracle. Also
his critical attack on ver. 10 is no permissible means of escape from an exegetical
difficulty awaiting investigation.
1 Cf. Stade, Hebr, Gramm. i. p. 177.
2 Clemens Alexandrinus applied the vine to the Logos, the ass to the nation.
The washing of the garment in the blood of the grape required a reference to the
suffering of Christ. 3 Ezekiel, LXX.
4 According to a weakly attested reading, u affxu-ai, like the other versions
in a personal sense.
122 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
subject predominating everywhere here, and render : until lie
come into that which belongs to him, therefore into his own, his
possession described in the sequel. Cf. especially the blessing
of Moses on Judah, Dent, xxxiii. 7 : ws'an iV"?xl. As champion
of the other tribes, he will display untiring energy until he has
won his territory without curtailment ; and then not merely will
the tribes of Israel do homage to him, but other nations also
will bow to his rule. For the B'E>y nrij^ i^i l cannot apply to the
Israelites merely, who already always followed Judah's sceptre
and staff, but must refer to the more general national rule, which
according to xxvii. 29 is part of Jacob's heritage, and will be
Judah's special portion.
What then is the import of this oracle of blessing and prophecy
respecting Judah ? At all events, according to the entire Jacob-
blessing, the promise received by this progenitor passes in a
certain degree to all his sons, who are to dwell together as
brethren under the one God of their father (cf. xlix. 24, 25) in
the Promised Land. But they need a leader, to whom they will
willingly bow and the nations must perforce submit; and this
leader, this head, will be Juddk. To him therefore the quint-
essence of the blessing falls. As the land designed for him
brings forth the noblest and richest fruit, the royal vine, so
he himself is comparable in lofty energy to the royal lion, and as
such he will bear the sceptre. Here plainly (whether H$
or "W be read) two stages are distinguished in Judah's future,
a stage of conflict and one of peace. In the conflict for the
attainment of his high destiny he will be the resistless conqueror,
in peace the ruler unsurpassed in glory. That a definite person
is announced here as the perfecter of this victorious conflict or
as prince of peace, we have not been able to find in the course of
our exposition. But should one individual as Israel's chief lead
it to final victory and peace, he must belong, according to the
present passage, to the tribe of Judah.
History has brought the fulfilment. Not only was Judah in
the van on the desert-march, not only was he the unwearied
(still only stat. constr. ) with dagesh dirimens, from flp\ after the Arabic
,
' io ^' obedience. Jerome
as though it were connected with nip-
J. <L J ' io ^' obedience. Jerome translates : " et ipse erit expectatio gentium, "
PATRIARCHAL PRELUDES OF PROMISE. 123
champion of the rest in the conquest of the land, but in other
ways also he showed his lion-like superiority. The age of
greatest triumph and glory was ushered in by David, the
Judean, when he assumed the sceptre and staff, which were no
more to depart from his house, and went up in lion-like style to
Jerusalem. Who is not reminded by the calmly couching lion
of Solomon, under whom followed the most peaceful epoch of
abundant prosperity as under a true ricw, Prince of Peace ?
This was the climax of Israelitish national life. The ideal,
however, was not reached then, and still less afterwards. On
this account prophecy speaks again and again of a new
setting up of the tabernacle of David (Amos ix. 11), of a future
David, to whom it belongs to administer the law (Ezek. xxxiv. 23),
who will subjugate all nations and bring in eternal peace. This
king will enter Zion riding on the animal of peace (Zech. ix. 9); and
under him men will enjoy the abundance of the land undisturbed,
sitting under their own vine and fig-tree (Joel iv. 18; Micah
iv. 4, etc.). Not the least significant echoes of the present oracle
are found in Isaiah, the prophet from Judah, a circumstance
to which Herder has alluded. 1 The final fulfilment of this
patriarchal saying we can only find, with the apostolic Church
(Rev. v. 5), in Christ, who has overcome as " the lion of the
tribe of Judah," and now extends His kingdom in undisturbed
peace, and rejoices in its glory.
If we look back on the oracles contained in this and the
previous paragraph, they all point to a concrete establishment
of God's kingdom on earth. The seed (i.e. the posterity) of
Abraham, set apart spiritually by divine election of grace, is
to live in Canaan as the people of the true God, and so to form
the centre of the world, this people being the medium of divine
blessing to all peoples. The concrete form must not offhand be
declared non-essential, as is done by Hengstenberg, 2 who finds in
the call of Abraham nothing essentially different from what
occurs in every divine call imposing self-denial on man. Little
as we would deny that general rules of divine ethics and
pedagogy are contained even in this history and its words
of promise, still the significance of these events is not exhausted
therein. It is a special design that God has in view in His
dealings with this race, a unique relation into which He will enter
1 Briefe iiber das Studium der Theologie, 1 Br. 5. 2 Christology, i. 47.
124 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
with this people. Not merely will He enter into a peculiar spiritual
relation to it, but its outward existence, its outward abode in the
land of Canaan, will be a fruit of this covenant-relation. These
externalities therefore are essential, inseparable from the spiritual.
Here the bases are laid for a divine kingdom that is to have
outward existence, as indeed its history is in fact confined, up to
the end of the Old Testament, to the limits of one nation and
bound to a definite territory. Hence the outward realization of
this kingdom appears in these earliest oracles not as a mere
means, but as an end and goal.
There shall be a people of the Lord, chosen by God's grace to
be a blessing also to others. This conception would be of high
significance even if we learned it as a divine thought first from
its realization. But according to the many-voiced witness of
tradition, it was not merely in God's counsel before its realization,
but was known to men through divine revelation. The fore-
fathers of the nation, who migrated from the east to Canaan and
dwelt there as strangers amid many vicissitudes, obeyed on that
journeying a higher voice, and during the sojourn on foreign soil
were assured by the same voice of a future, when they should
not only possess this land, but also in consequence of their
unique relation to God occupy an extraordinary position in the
world of nations. Thus they obtained in spirit a glimpse into
the consummation of the divine work just then beginning. To
this John viii. 56 alludes: 'A/3paa/j, 6 irarijp vpwv ^aXXtacraro
'iva iSy rov r)p.epav rrjv efirfv, KOI elSev real e^dprj. In genuine
Johannine style the words rise to a climax : he exulted that
he should see he actually saw and rejoiced in it. What,
according to the promise, he rejoiced in as future, nay, what the
promise made present and visible to him, was in reality nothing
but the day of Christ. Accordingly, what is meant is not a
seeing with bodily eyes, as if the saying referred specifically to
the birth of Isaac (von Hofmann), nor a seeing after Abraham's
bodily life, but a glimpse of faith that gladdened Abraham.
What he beheld present with this eye of the spirit, was the
Day of Christ, regnum Christi, as Calvin interprets the passage.
For in point of fact only through the coming of this kingdom did
the gracious covenant with Abraham gain its true realization and
completion, the Lord not allowing it to fall to the ground even
through the unfaithfulness of His people (2 Kings xiii. 23).
SECOND SECTION.
M S A I S M.
16. TJie Law of Moses.
AS we found that divine promise heralded the origin of a
divine rule on earth, so now also a prophetic word
brought about its realization, nay, begot the national kingdom of
God. For Moses, the mediator of this covenant between God and
the nation, was himself a prophet and a prophet first of all, 1 i.e. an
organ of divine revelation in the sense stated in the Introduction
(p. 4). If that covenant-transaction, along with the redemption
of the nation preceding it, was really effected by a single person
divinely called and illumined, then as matter of fact prophecy
formed the beginning. " In the beginning was the Word " is
true here also the Word of God to an individual, and through
him to the multitude. But in this potent beginning of the work
of establishing the kingdom of God the creative act was joined
with the word.
In word and deed Moses showed himself an instrument of
the Lord, unapproached by any other. He was the prophet
without rival in respect of his intercourse with God and of what
the Lord did and revealed by him. Of Moses it is said more
frequently than of all other prophets together : " God talked
with him," or "God spake to him." He is not only called
mrp "nj^ " Servant of the Lord," and, indeed, most frequently of
all the men of God in the Old Testament, and DTita nay,
" Servant of God," a designation used of him exclusively ; 2
but he is also called NUJ icar etfoxyv, the greatest among the
1 Cf. Ewald, History of Israel, ii. 47 : " He was indeed leader, lawgiver, and
worker of miracles to his people, but all these additional attributes fade before the
primary one of prophet ; only as a prophet was he leader, lawgiver, and worker of
miracles, and all his greatness belongs to him as a prophet alone."
2 Cf. Knobel, Prophetismus der Hebraer, ii. 2. Herzog's Real-Encyk., art.
"Hose."
125
126 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
prophets on account of the intimacy and familiarity of the inter-
course he enjoyed with God, and on account of the clear directness
which in consequence distinguished the revelation given to him. 1
Moreover, his mission consisted, not merely in being a channel of
the divine word, but in a unique, creative work it was Moses
who, through the divine word, introduced the divine rule in Israel.
The condition and means of this instituting of the theocracy
was the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. This deliverance was
accomplished through Moses the prophet. " By a prophet
(N^J) Yahveh brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was
it preserved," says Hos. xii. 13. Moses possessed no title to
which he could appeal, before the heads of the people sojourning
and enslaved in Egypt, but his divine call, the special revelation
of the holy God imparted to him on the Sinaitic peninsula*
By this divine word, attended with signs, he then set free his
people. And when it was set free, he led it by that word and
arranged its constitution.
Thenceforward the calling of the people was to serve the God
who had appeared to Moses. Before this people He called
Himself mrr, 2 announcing Himself, indeed, as the same who
appeared to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, but at the
same time proclaiming a new name, which disclosed his nature
on a new side and with greater depth, and was destined to be
a sacred motto for the divine kingdom, whose first form was now
seen in actual existence, Ex. vi. 3. It is true, certain traces are
discernible, from which we might gather that the name mrv was
used even before Moses. 3 The Yahvist also says (Gen. iv. 26)
that even in the time of Enoch men began to call on the name of
Yahveh, which, of course, is not to be understood strictly of the
name as such, since the Hebrew language did not then exist. The
same applies to Gen. ix. 26. In order to reconcile the pre-Mosaic
use of that divine name with Ex. vi. 3, the passage has not seldom
been interpreted : " As to my name nirv I was not made known
to them," means, " As to the import of this name I did not reveal
myself to them." 4 We adhere to the more natural exposition,
i Num. xii. 6 ff. ; Deut. xxxiv. 10 ff. * Cf. p. 98.
* Cf. the name of the mother of Moses 133^, which, if the analogy of so many
other names is decisive, would be compounded of niiT- But is it really older than
tin- Mosaic revelation?
4 Hence we might attempt to understand the name in the hiphil sense : He who
MOSAISM. 127
and believe that here we have a thoroughly exact tradition of the
Elohist. Whilst the Yahvist, without hesitation, uses the name
of the holy covenant-God from the time of the Creation, in which
he is justified by the intrinsic unity of that God with the Creator
(D'nta) or the mighty God (Ht? ta), the other narrator uses the
specifically theocratic name only from the point where it passes
into the speech of his nation.
The name niiT, with its explanation rpn IB>'S PPPIS, is certainly
more pregnant in meaning than any to be found in any other
language. Hereupon those who will endure nothing uncommon
in the Bible, nothing towering above the "level of develop-
ment " prescribed by them to the sacred history, at once reject
the authentic interpretation and degrade the alone possessor of
true being to a " Creator." But they do not in this way explain
the other phrases moving on just the same height, such as Ex.
iii. 14, a wonderful passage, considering how little gifted the
Hebrews were in philosophy, and how plainly the thought here
comes out, that the nature of God strictly taken can only be
expressed by itself, every other definition detracting from it.
There are other passages where God is called " He " simply, for
the same reason. 1 It is poor comfort to the anxious worshipper
of the development-process to say that these reflections were first
made subsequently, an assumption incapable of proof, and which
fails to explain the chief matter.
For the rest, we do not hold it altogether impossible that the
form Din 11 was introduced among the Israelitish people by Moses's
mediation from the wisdom of the Egyptians. 2 Brugsch has
found in Egyptian writings the formally analogous designation
of the Deity, " nuk pu nuk " " I am I " (Die aegyptische
Graberwelt, 1868, p. 38).
Such a formal borrowing in the history of revelation need not
surprise us. If Egypt (of course not Hamitic, but Shemitico-
calls into existence, namely, what he has said ; therefore the God who fulfils His
word. But, as remarked above (p. 98), this interpretation is impossible ; DTIN
!"PriK "IK>N can under no circumstances be read as hiphil.
1 Deut. xxxii. 39 ; Isa. xliii. 10.
2 Wellhausen and Stade certainly speak very slightingly of this supposition,
which would show the Elohist to be specially trustworthy. But, to say the least, it
is more justifiable scientifically than the arbitrary assertion of Stade, that Moses
introduced among the Israelites the Kenite worship of Yahveh (Gesckichte Israels,
i. 2, 129 ff.).
128 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Japhetic Egypt) coined for the revelation of the New Covenant
the most adequate expression, of which John's Gospel first dis-
cerned the true application, is the evangelist on this account less
original ? At all events the word \6yos received its true import,
not from Philo, but through the revelation of Christ. So the
Egyptian formula, describing the Deity as the absolutely existing
One, is only a shadow ; Moses beheld the living God, the God
to whom alone the name really belongs, seeing that He alone is a
supernatural, absolutely sovereign Being.
Moreover, the God of the Egyptian priests was a mere abstrac-
tion, a theoretical notion. Moses beheld the absolute God as
living absolute, not merely in His metaphysical being, but
just as much in His holiness ; and to bring God into the life
of His people was the aim of his whole work. The knowledge of
the true Deity was not to be the secret treasure of a caste, but
the common treasure of the whole nation ; and not a mere theo-
retical possession, but the centre of all life. As Yahveh was to
belong to this people, so this people was to belong only and
wholly to Him, Ex. vi. 7.
The relation of possession, in which Israel stands to God, is
described as one of childship, sonship, Deut. xxxii. 6. More
precisely Israel is called significantly God's first-born son (Ex.
iv. 22), which implies two things, God's universal proprietary
right (the lofty significance of the word protesting already against
the conception of God as a particularistic God), and His provisional,
special appropriation of this people. But as God's property the
nation is bound to serve Him. And because its king is God, the
nation's service must be a priestly one, its character Jwly, Ex.
xix. 6. How it was to be moulded after God's will, the law of
Moses teaches.
Think as we may of the origin of the Torah in its present
written form, it is impossible to deny that the nation always
regarded the exodus from Egypt under Moses's divine leading
as its birth-hour, 1 that in the covenant at Sinai it always saw
the climax of divine revelation, 2 and gloried in having received
throuh Moses's mediation a divine law (n-iin. 8 It is true that
1 Ex. xv. 13, xx. 2 ; Hos. xi. 1, xii. 13; Mic. vi. 4 ; Jer. ii. 6 f. ; cf. Deut.
xvi. 1, etc.
- Judg. v. 4 f. ; Deut. xxxiii. 2 ; Ts. Ixviii. 7 f. ; Hab. iii. 3, etc.
3 Deut. xxxiii. 4 ; Mai. iv. 4.
MOSAISM. 129
originally nnto has somewhat less of a juristic sense than our
"law." The word signifies instruction generally. So in the
Chokma literature it is used of general moral rule and dis-
cipline, Prov. vi. 23, xxviii. 4, 7, 9, etc. But in the theocratic
sphere it always applies to a revelation of the divine will in the
form of a norm and permanent rule. As sovereign, God is also
lawgiver of His people. Hence the Torah is the theocracy in
practice ; it appears claiming immediate observance. It demands
obedience from every individual, because the entire nation is
subject to it CL priori. Hence the legal character of this revela-
tion. Moreover, its claims cover the entire life of the nation,
putting everything in relation to the will of God. On this
account, beside intrinsically ethical precepts there are found
ordinances 'of civil and criminal justice, beside ritual laws those
relating to public policy or domestic custom. 1 Precisely in the
fact of its affecting the entire life, private as well as national,
civic as well as religious, the character of the Torah is seen as a
revelation of the ruling will of Yahveh, to whom everything
relating to His people is to be subject.
Certainly in different parts of the legislation of the Pentateuch,
now the ethical, then the juristic, again the ceremonial, character
predominates ; but this distinction is not absolute. Even the
covenant-book, Ex. xx.-xxiii. 33, usually regarded as the oldest
part, contains laws of each of the kinds mentioned. And just
because the primal, fundamental law, that gave shape to the holy
nation in every direction, sprang from Moses, no law whatever
could afterwards be proclaimed in any other name than that of
Moses. But Moses was simply the mediator, speaking in the
name of the covenant-God.
Thus Mosaism exhibits an epoch - making advance in the
development of the 'kingdom of God. The covenant made with
the patriarchs is now, after the latter in accordance with the
promise have grown into a numerous people, made in national
form. Herewith the divine rule is seen in actual existence for
the first time, since the whole life of Israel, so far as it is
governed by the divine Torah, bears witness that Israel is God's
1 Herzog, vii. 171. A particular Levitical direction is called miD (Lev. vii. 37,
xiv. 54 ; Hag. ii. 11, etc.; also the king's law, Dent. xvii. 18 f.) in the above sense,
just in the same way as the whole Mosaic law with its general ethical principles
(Ps. Ixxviii. 5 ; Deut. i. 5, xxxiii. 4; 2 Chron. xv. 3, etc.).
OKELLI. I
130 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
people, and Yahveh is its God. The relation of the Lord to a
national commonwealth necessarily found expression in more
precise definition of holy places, times, persons, actions. In this
externality lay a great defect. But so far as the divine rule
appeared in a mighty, comprehensive, though still imperfect
realization, Mosaism, which brought a nation under the rule of
the true God, is the type of the future subjection of the world to
God's kingdom.
17. Mosaic Outlooks.
Through the covenant transaction at Sinai and the Mosaic law-
giving, the divine rule entered on a state of direct, present exist-
ence. On this account references to the future retire into the
background. The significance of Moses lay, not in prediction,
but in exhibiting in preliminary form God's perfect kingdom.
On this account we find scarcely any oracles of the future ascribed
to him, the friend of God, except such as related to the con-
quest of Canaan immediately impending, and the arrangements
to be made there. Even the song of Moses (Deut. xxxii.), echoes of
which are heard throughout subsequent prophecy, has to do rather
with the future issues of the Mosaic covenant, which despite all
interruptions by the nation's disobedience will be indestructible.
This is also evident from Lev. xxvi. 40 ff., Deut. xxx. 1 ff., where
certainly repentance always appears as the condition of salvation.
But nothing is said here of a perfecting of the covenant in after
times. Almost the only respect in which the blessing of Moses
(Deut. xxxiii.) adds to the picture beheld by Jacob (Gen. xlix.) is
in the new lustre to be added to the priestly tribe of Levi. Only
cursorily does the divine saying in Num. xiv. 21 open the pro-
spect of the whole earth being filled with the glory of Yahveh,
i.e. of the whole human world acknowledging Him, and so being
incorporated in His kingdom. This thought, indeed, is a note-
worthy index of the wide aim which the Lord set Himself. As
Lord of heaven and earth He could have no other. But for the
time the central-point of the sacred cause lies in the present
work of revelation, the institution of the " royal priesthood."
Certainly the Mosaic form of the Church and of its intercourse
with God greatly needed spiritualizing and perfecting, and so
points to the future. Much in it is mere shadow, and seems
MOSAISXI. 131
to us at first sight essentially precarious, only intelligible as a
means of setting forth an idea to be realized more perfectly
afterwards. But in transporting ourselves back to that historical
period we are not to suppose this reference to the future to be
known. No single appointment of the Mosaic law is explicitly
of a mere provisional character ; they are ordinances eternally
valid, belonging as they do to divine revelation. No detail of
the cultus is ordained primarily as a mere symbolic sign ; rather
form arid idea are not yet separated, they condition each other.
This entire system is indeed typical, but it is not felt meantime
to be a mere type of God's final kingdom on earth, but is con-
templated as the intended form of His kingdom.
Therefore, however rich in meaning the system of symbols and
types in the forms of life and worship established by Moses, 1 we
must not, wherever the future has brought a greater perfection of
what is here aimed at, ascribe offhand to Moses and his age a
conscious reference to the future. For example, that the expia-
tion of human sin is not accomplished satisfactorily by animal
sacrifice, was for the time hidden from consciousness. 2 Expia-
tion was really viewed as a fruit of these sacrifices. Also, the
extension of God's kingdom over the whole earth at first fell
into the background, men's minds being dominated by the actuality
of the kingdom then existing. That the law could not per-
manently unite God and man in covenant, was not yet perceived.
Bather in it was recognised the only sure bond between God and
every Israelite. We must therefore guard against ascribing to
Mosaism the conscious possession of what it carried in its bosom.
Certain as it was that Mosaic law owed its origin to a higher,
superhuman Spirit, man's spirit was not yet complete master of
the divine truths deposited therein, and hence at first was scarcely
conscious to itself of the inadequacy of the actuality.
It is, however, significant that the legally-ordained theocracy
did not remain without an organ for its further development and
transformation, nay, was possessed of power to entirely recreate
itself. The prophecy that had given birth to Mosaism was still to
remain a precious prerogative of God's people ; its original inter-
course with its Lord was never to end. If Moses himself did
1 Cf. p. 38.
2 Certainly the inadequacy is already intimated in the VHTUi Lev. xvii. 11, which
expresses condescension on God's part. ,,
132 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
not edit the law found in Deut. xviii. 15 ff., it was at least
spoken quite in the spirit of Mosaism. After necromancy,
divination, and the like have been strictly forbidden, it is there
said : " Yahveh, thy God, has not so allowed thee. Rather a
prophet, of thy brethren, like to me will Yahveh, thy God, raise
up to thee out of thy midst. Him ye shall hear."
The early Christian Church (except Origen) found in this oracle
a direct, personal Messianic prediction. So Justin M., Tertullian,
Athanasius, Eusebius, Augustine, followed by Luther also and
most of the older Protestants (not Calvin, however). The New
Testament itself shows that in the days of Jesus the coming of a
prophet of extraordinary greatness was expected on the basis of
this passage, who, however, as a rule was not identified with the
Messiah, John i. 21, vii. 40. According to John iv. 25, the Samari-
tans expected from the Messiah prophetic disclosures, and since
they relied on the Pentateuch only, it is probable that this ex-
pectation depended chiefly on the present passage. (Soon after
the destruction of Jerusalem the sectarian leader Dositheus gave
himself out as the prophet promised in Deut. xviii. 18.) Heng-
stenberg collects a number of sayings, according to which Jesus
professed to be this prophet, John v. 45-47, vers. 38, 43 ; John
xii. 48-50; in the same way testimonies of the apostles in
this sense, Acts iii 22 f., vii. 37. To this Hofmann skilfully
replies : l In John v. 46 the Lord does not mean a particular
passage in the Torah, but the whole of it ; what Moses wrote is
a prophecy of Him, and whoever really believed in this prophecy
would believe in Him in whom it was fulfilled. In Peter's dis-
course, Hofmann continues, vers. 22 and 23 are not Moses's
testimony concerning the Messiah alongside that of the other
prophets, but Moses's testimony to the prophets, to whose
message a hearing is due. Finally, Stephen rebukes disobedience
to the prophets who were commended by Moses.
Although there may be difference of opinion respecting the
use made by Jesus and the apostles of this saying, there can be
no doubt that the exegetical interpretation of Deut. xviii. 15
endorsed by Hofmann is the only right one. If the personal
Messiah were here predicted, it would be strange for Moses to
describe Him as like himself. Was not the Messiah to be greater
than he ? It may be said : The reference is to the special pre-
1 Schriftbeweis, ii. 1, 138 ff.
MOSAISM. 133
rogative of the Messiah like Moses as mediator of a new
covenant ; but according to the context the '33 applies not so
much to the rank as to the nature of the divine revelation ;
it more precisely defines the prophet as such, in opposition to
magicians and necromancers. And if we include the sequel,
where the criteria are given for distinguishing true from false
prophets, it is evident that the subject is just as little a single
prophet as in the law of the king in Deut. xvii. the subject is a
single king. It is out of the question to take the JOi: as a
collective, nowhere is it joined with the plural, rather it refers
to the particular prophet whom the Lord will raise up from time
to time, and thus indicates the Lord's ordinary mode of revela-
tion. That according to later predictions * the Messiah will
appear as prophet is true ; but in the present passage the
prophet does not yet figure as Messiah, and no one definite
prophet is meant (note A).
Consequently the significance of this passage lies in the advance
of divine revelation being foreseen, nay, certainly affirmed, by
Mosaism ; so that the theocracy was not to remain limited to
laws of rigid finality, but living intercourse between the Lord
and His Church was to continue. But here attention is directed
more to the blessings of the present than to the greater blessings
of the future.
Nevertheless we cannot get rid of the impression, that the
apostolic citations (Acts iii. 22 1, vii. 37) really understood this
7rpo</>^T7/9 in the individual sense ; and perhaps John v. 46 also
refers specifically to the present passage. This application is
explicable partly from the current acceptation of that age, which
looked for a definite, extraordinary prophet, and therefore came
prepared with this personal explanation; partly from the principles
laid down respecting the relation of prophecy and fulfilment in
the Introduction, p. 55, 59. The Lord was fully justified in
describing Himself as the Fulfiller of the saying of Moses,
because in Him the revelation announced by Moses culminated ;
and the apostles had the more reason to appeal to the passage,
because many were startled by the appearance of their Master
being more of a prophetic than kingly hue.
1 Especially Deutero- Isaiah, where, however, the personal union between the
Davidic King and the prophetic Servant of the Lord is scarcely present to con-
sciousness.
134 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
NOTE A. As a parallel to this oracle of Moses, Ed. Miiller
(Parcdlelen zu den Messianischen Weissayunyen, p. 7) adduces the
presentiment of Socrates, to the effect (Apoloyy, c. 18) that after
his death the Deity would send the Athenians another teacher to
rouse them from slumber. But, to say nothing of the profound
difference between the sage with his stimulating, disturbing
influence on commonplace natures and the prophetic dispenser
of divine utterances, there is a vast interval, felt also by the
author, between the confident promise of Moses and the alto-
gether hypothetical prospect sketched by Socrates as scarcely
probable, since he rather impresses the Athenians with the idea
that they will hardly again obtain another like him.
18. Balaam's Oracles.
Whereas elsewhere in the Mosaic age the prophetic spirit
was more occupied with organizing the actual theocracy than
with looking forward to an ideal future, one oracle has come
down from that age, which, falling from the lips of a stranger,
is well adapted to make us feel the glory of the theocracy, and
at the same time give a glimpse into its future ; it belongs to
the last days of the desert-march. Eesting from its victory
over the powerful Amorites, Israel encamps in the fields of
Moab over against Jericho, but according to divine direction
(Deut. ii. 9) without encroaching at all on that people. How-
ever, Balak, son of Zippor, is uneasy at seeing these strange
guests on his soil. He is sensible of a divine superiority in
them, and knows not how to deal with it. The Midianites, who
are on good terms with him, advise him, as it seems, to paralyse
this divine power by demonic might. Balaam, son of Beor, 1 a
sorcerer dwelling on the Euphrates, and, according to Num.
xxxi. 8, in alliance with the Midianites, credited, moreover, with
the power to bless and curse effectually, is summoned by the
Midianites from his home to render the divine strength harm-
less by the ban of his sorcery. But although this man, dwelling
in the native home of magic, does not disclaim the heathen arts
of the soothsayer, 2 still he has long been acquainted with the
power of Yahveh, 3 and anxiously avoids opposing it ; on the
1 Num. xxii. 2 ff. ; cf. Deut. xxiii. 4 ff.
2 Josh. xiii. 22 : DDIpn ; cf. p. 16.
* Num. xxii. 8, 13. He even calls Him with ostentation \"6x HirP ; neverthe-
MOSAISM. 135
other hand, he is reluctant to forego the rewards of the king
of Moab. This inner contradiction having come to light in a
characteristic way, he so acts that in the moment when he is
about to utter the curse agreed on, the Spirit of the Lord comes
upon him and changes his curse into blessing.
FIRST OKACLE OF BALAAM, Num. xxiii. 7-10.
" And he lifted up his oracle (note A), and said :
From Aram Balak brings me, Moab's king from the moun-
tains of the East :
Go, curse me Jacob and go, to chide Israel.
How should I curse him whom God does not curse and
how chide him whom Yahveh does not chide ?
For from the summit of the rocks I see him and from
the heights I perceive him :
Behold a nation that shall dwell by itself alone and among
the nations is not reckoned.
Who counts the dust of Yakob and reckons up l the fourth
part of Israel ?
Let my soul die the death of the just and let my end be
like his ! "
The nation which he is forbidden to injure by a higher
power than that of Balak, whom he would fain please, will
" dwell apart " and not let itself be numbered among the other
nations. This concrete expression speaks, in the first place, of
its isolated abode ; but the separate spiritual position, of which
the former is merely the outward side, is forthwith emphasized :
In virtue of its peculiar character, Israel will not be ranked among
the other nations. This is the first feature which the clear-
eyed heathen finds strange in it a feature remaining peculiar
to Israel still. On the inner excellency that makes this isolation
a distinction this first oracle does not yet touch. On the contrary,
in ver. lOa it mentions a second outward excellency, which
every heathen nation would envy Israel its immense numbers,
which means, of course, not the numbers of the people at present
encamped in the desert, which it needed no seer to estimate, but
the far greater increase awaiting it in the future. These numbers
less his business falls under the ban, Deut. xviii. 10, just because it was a business.
A similar divided state of heart is seen in Simon Magus, Acts viii. Cf Hengsten-
berg, Geschichte Bileams, p. 15.
1 Instead of nSDDI read "1SDB1, or better 12D 'GV
136 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
are expressed by a metaphor used already in the patriarchal
promise (Gen. xiiL 16), but without verbal reference to that
passage.
Ver. 10& gives a first example of a heathen blessing himself
by this nation, i.e. wishing himself the prosperity and salvation
peculiar to the nation in virtue of its special relation to God,
who rewards pious, sincere service, in life and in death. 1
Oehler observes: 2 "And just as little is Num. xxiii. 10,
' Let my soul die the death of the righteous/ a testimony to
belief in eternal life (for which the passage was formerly often
taken). The meaning of these words is rather that Balaam
wishes he might be allowed to die after a life as richly blessed
as was the case with the righteous in Israel." This explanation,
however, is not just to the literal meaning, which lays the chief
stress on the manner of dying, nay, is quite silent about the
blessings of life, supposed by Oehler to be chief. Bather the
speaker is here thinking of his soul's welfare, and can wish
nothing better for himself than that his soul may fare in death
as the souls of these pious ones (he makes no distinction within
Israel). Certainly it is here signified that in his opinion
man's relation to God is revealed in death, piety rewarded,
ungodliness punished a faith so widespread among the heathen
that it may rightly be ascribed to this seer. Instead of cursing
the people, in this first oracle he has intimated how dis-
tinguished above all peoples Israel will become, not merely
in rank and numbers, but above all in piety, so that for his
soul's well-being one could wish nothing better than to belong
to it.
SECOND ORACLE OF BALAAM, Num. xxiii. 18-24. Balak is
naturally dissatisfied with the first oracle, nor will he listen
to what the seer says respecting the power of the greater Lord,
to which he is subject. On the contrary, he thinks the great
multitude of Israel has influenced the seer too much. He there-
fore leads him where merely the end of the Israelitish camp
was visible, for to be able to see something of it seemed
necessary to effectual cursing. How runs the oracle now ?
1 For to a heathen the entire physiognomy of this nation must seem one well-
pleasing to God. With D^ltJ* comp. the name }}"lp*, used in the Mosaic song
and blessing (Deut. xxxii. 15, xxxiii. 5, 26), found elsewhere only in Isa. xliv. 2.
3 Theol. of Old Test. i. 253.
MOSAISM. 137
" Arise, Balak, and hear hearken to me, thou son of Zippor. 1
Not a man is God that He should lie 2 nor a son of Adam
that He should repent. 3
Should He speak and not perform it or say, and not bring
it to pass ?
Behold, to bless I have received and He has blessed, I can-
not prevent it.
No iniquity is discerned in Jacob no oppression is seen in
Israel.
Yahveh his God is with him and the jubilation of a king
is in him.
God it is that brought them out of Egypt He has horns 4
like the antelope.
For there is no divining in Jacob and no oracling in
Israel.
At the (right) time it shall be announced to Jacob and to
Israel what God performs.
Behold, a people, like a lion rising up and a young lion
raising itself.
He will not lie down until he has devoured the prey and
drunk the blood of the torn."
This oracle pierces deeper into the inner life of the Israelitish
people, and describes the blessings accruing to it from the divine
rule and intercourse with the living God. I.V* and ?y are not
found there. 5 No one sees in Israel those things which are
inevitable among heathen peoples : wickedness and oppression.
PS is moral laxity of spirit, and especially the unhappy delusion
of superstition ; tay is wrong inflicted on the weak. The latter
is the consequence of the former ; for reckless oppression and
plunder of men is the fruit of the dark superstition and un-
principled unbelief that knows not the true God. Both vices
1 Here, too, the language is extraordinary in several particulars. On ^2,
cf. Gesenius-Kautzsch, Gramm. 90, 36. pTNH seldom stands with 1JJ.
2 Ewald, Ausf. Lehrbuch, 347.
3 CnjJJTV On the vocalization, see Stade, Gramm. i. p. 76, 280.
4 niDyin might be derived from fjy* (to uc weary), in the sense of fatigues,
forced toils (Parforcetouren) ; then the sense would be : He is unweariable as the
antelope. But the other passages in which the noun occurs, especially Ps- xcv. 4,
suggest that it comes from P]y, to be high, referring here to the llty
(symbols of strength and honour, LXX. 3o|) of the gazelle.
4 Cf. the combination of the two, Job iv. 8, v. 6 ; Isa. x. 1.
138 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
are inseparable marks of heathenism. Israel owes its freedom
from both to the hallowing presence of its God, in whom it
exults as its king. 1 What honour, to have Him as commander
and ruler in the camp ! He leads the people safely in its
wanderings, and under this leading it is strong and proud as the
lofty -horned antelope. In ver. 23 a new excellency is mentioned,
accruing to this people from its intimate relation to God, and
especially striking the eye of the heathen seer : There no vn?
and DDj? are found, no conjuring and magic art, i.e. artificial sooth-
saying (of which two kinds are here named), such as was common
among the heathen, but, as Balaam well knows, often most
deceptive. 2 Israel need not have recourse to such evil, uncertain,
futile arts, because what God purposes to do is announced to it
in plain, unmistakable words. This costly privilege belongs to
God's dear covenant-people. Moreover, this close union with
God gives His people unconquerable strength towards the world
without. Its victorious superiority over its foes is symbolized
by a second animal figure the twofold lion, already familiar to
us from Gen. xlix. 9. It is pictured to us as just risen up
to fetch its prey. It will not lie down to rest until it has
won rich booty. Just so stands Israel, ready for battle, on
the threshold of the promised land.
Thus this oracle depicts the source of Israel's peculiar happi-
ness, which is to be sought in its exceptional relation to God.
Thanks to the divine law it is a holy, thanks to divine revelation
an enlightened, thanks to God's royal leading an unconquerable
people, for whom a glorious future is reserved.
THIRD BALAAM-ORACLE, xxiv. 3-9. A third time Balak
attempts to draw from the seer an oracle hostile to Israel. He
chooses a new standing-ground for him, this time Mount Peor,
with the idea that locality most powerfully influences the
import of the oracle. But Balaam, who, as is remarked, now
knew God's intention, forbore this time to go for the B'trro, i.e.
the voices or signs that were to inspire him. On the contrary,
he directed his gaze directly to the tents of Israel spread out
before him to draw inspiration from the sight, and took up his
mashal and said :
' * In 7]ta nyviri. therefore, the second word is the genitival object : the joyous
tumult, jubilant acclamation, with which a king is greeted.
* Cf. p. 14, 20, 23.
MOSAISM. 139
" Thus speaks Balaam, Beor's son l the man speaks, whose eye
is closed (note B).
Thus speaks he who hears God's words who beholds visions
of the Almighty,
Falling clown, with eye unveiled
How lovely are thy tents, Jacob thy dwellings, Israel !
Like brooks stretched out 2 like gardens by the stream !
Aloes that Yahveh planted like cedars by the water !
Water drips from his buckets 3 and his seed is in many waters.
And loftier than Agag let his king be 4 and his kingdom on
the increase.
God it is who brought them out of Egypt He has horns like
the antelope. 5
He will consume nations, His foes and gnaw their bones,
and crush his loins. 6
He has couched, lain down like a lion and like a she-lion :
who will rouse Him up ? 7
Blessed they who bless thee and cursed they who curse
thee!" 8
As the seer looks on Israel encamped in the order of its
tribes, the Spirit comes upon him, and by an inner sense he
beholds the tribes in the promised land that region which in
comparison with the desert-abodes of Moab, Midian, and Edom
was a very garden. There stretch, like brooks, the long lines
of Israel's tents, planted in fact by fresh waters, vers. 6, 7.
The thirsty eye of the Oriental rejoices in nothing so much
as in water. Where this is, there is life, growth, wealth, joy.
1 "IJD 133 form as in xxiii. 18.
- Vi3J- The niphal ,1123 is used of a measuring-line stretched out (Zech. i. 16) ;
here of the tents or dwellings forming a long line, like brooks in the valleys.
3 His water-buckets are full to overflowing, in contrast with the dearth of water
among the surrounding peoples.
4 DY1 5 the passive is not quite equivalent to the indicative (against Gesenius) ;
rather : let his king become higher than Agag.
5 Ver. 8a like xxiii. 22.
6 VP1D* VSfHi He breaks his arrows. The suffix refers to the foe. But in accord-
ance with the Syriac translation VV^n is to be read : Jus loins, as the seat of
strength along with the bones. Otherwise LXX., Kimchi : with his arrows (zee.
instr.).
7 Ver. 9a like Gen. xlix. 9 ; there merely pji instead of 22 tT-
8 Ver. 96 like Gen. xxvii. 29.
140 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Hence this blessing of God is promised in fullest measure to
Israel, which in consequence will grow up like most stately
trees. From this peaceful prosperity ver. 7 then passes to
the power of military expansion dwelling in the people, by
which it will be raised above the mightiest nations. Even
Agag will be put into the shade by it. An Amalekite king of
this name was taken captive by Saul (1 Sam. xv.) and killed by
Samuel. Many consider this humbling of Amalek by Saul as
the event here referred to post eventum. But according to ver.
20 the oracles spring from a time when Amalek still held a
position in the van of the nations, and just for this reason Agag
is named here ; this was probably a common name of the
Amalekite princes, as Abimelech among the Philistines, Pharaoh
among the Egyptians (so also Winer). According to xxiii. 21,
one might be inclined to refer ?]!? and mapo here to God and the
divine rule founded in Israel. But the jussive form and the tense
Ntwn require us to think of a future human dynasty, since the
superiority of the divine king above Agag could not be represented
as in course of growth. This physical superiority in attack and
defence will be shown (as the fourth oracle will expressly state,
here it is only intimated) when the nation has a king of its own.
Here, too, the superiority is set forth by the image of the lofty-
horned antelope (verbatim as before) and the majestic lion. In
the latter comparison a verse of the blessing pronounced on
Judah (Gen. xlix.) is exactly reproduced; just as in the expressive
closing saying we have an important part of the patriarchal
blessing (Gen. xii. 3, and especially xxvii. 29, etc.), according to
which this people will be the mediator of the blessing or dis-
pleasure of God to other nations, according to the attitude these
assume towards it. See p. 107, 114.
FOURTH BALAAM- ORACLE, Num. xxiv. 15-24. King Balak
would now fain check the stream of blessings which the seer
is pouring out on enviable Israel But he cannot arrest the
spirit he has called forth. Balaam, dismissed in anger, says
to him, ver. 14 : "And now, behold, I will go to my people:
come, I will inform 1 thee what this people will do to thy
people in the end of the days." The end of the days, which
to Jacob was the time when his sons would grow into tribes
1 H?S elsewhere to give counsel, here information about the future (cf. I.-a.
xli. 28)'
MOSAISM. 141
and dwell peacefully in Canaan, 1 to this heathen seer is the
time when the whole heathen world shall feel the powerful
superiority of the kingdom of Israel.
" And he took up his oracle and said :
Thus speaks Balaam, Beor's son thus the man, whose eye
is closed :
Thus speaks he who hears God's words and knows of the
knowledge of the Most High, 2
Who sees visions of the Almighty falling down with
unveiled eye :
I see Him, but not now I perceive Him, but not near :
There goes a star out of Jacob and a sceptre arises out of
Israel,
And it crushes the sides of Moab and the crown of all the
sons of revolt.
And Edom shall be for a conquest and Seir shall be a
conquest, his foes,
And Israel does valiantly and out of Jacob one comes to
destroy the remnant out of the city."
This oracle, in which Balaam's prophecy culminates, is a true
example of the language of seers. Everything is concrete, as
presented to the senses ; for at first even the inner sense sees in
the outlines and form supplied by the outer senses. A star pro-
ceeds from Jacob ; respecting the meaning of this the parallel
leaves no doubt : a sceptre rises aloft from Israel. Among the
most diverse nations the star is a common symbol of ruling great-
ness and glory. Hence the prevalent faith in the ancient world,
that the birth or coronation of great kings is announced by the
appearing of stars, to which belief Matt. ii. 2 alludes. In xxiii. 21,
where a king in the camp of Israel is spoken of, we must under-
stand God dwelling in its midst. The present passage, on the
contrary, speaks, like xxiv. 7, of the rise of a human dominion,
which, it is true, must stand in close relation to the divine one.
The question, whether by this star and sceptre is meant a single
king or a whole dynasty, goes beyond the horizon of the seer.
1 Cf. p. 115, and on the idea in general, p. 33.
2 In this introduction, otherwise pretty literally the same as in xxiv. 3 ff., there
is an additional member which plainly affirms that the seer knows of things other-
wise known only to the omniscient God. It is not impossible that this member has
dropped out of the former passage, since there the symmetry is defective by a
half-verse.
142 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
He sees but one star, one sceptre, which does not preclude the
possibility of several persons being prefigured by this symbol, but
in this case they must form a united power.
That star Balaam sees in sure ascent, but still far off in time,
and not near in space. Thus the seer himself shows the con-
sciousness of a distance between what he sees and its realization.
The kingdom, promised in the patriarchal oracles, but which had
not begun to be realised in the Mosaic age, is reserved for the
future. Only when it arrives will Israel's full power be displayed
in the evil fate of its foes. It is characteristic of the heathen
conception ruling in these oracles, that the only effect of the
ideal kingdom described is the hostile one on surrounding nations.
This is primarily its exoteric bearing. It will then fare ill with
the rebellious hordes of the Moabites, Edomites, and with all of
whatsoever name who ought in the name of God and right to
submit to Israel, 1 but who are never quiet, and always ready for
revolt. 2 That sceptre smites them heavily on both sides and on the
crown (note C). Their land will become a conquered province.
The remnant of their hostile population will be rooted out of
their cities.
But the seer does not stop here. He holds a fatal review of
the nations, in which it appears that they are all devoted to
destruction.
Ver. 20. " And he looked on Amalek, and lifted up his oracle
and spake :
First-born of the nations is Amalek, and his end inclines to
destruction."
Amalek presents itself full of pretension as the first-born (pro-
perly " beginning " in the abstract 3 ) of the nations ; it can boast of
high rank and age as no other can ; what does that avail it ! Its
end is to be destroyed, 4 i.e. its ultimate fate is to pass away,
leavin no trace behind
1 Cf. Gen. xxvii. 29 ; respecting Edom especially, Gen. xxvii. 40, p. 115.
the rugged land, is the bushy, hilly land of Edom. The Edomites always belonged
to the "sons of revolt ; " hence they are mentioned next to Moab.
s For this reason they are called n^33, which is to be explained by the related
passage, Jer. xlviii. 45, which calls the Moabites jixt?' ^33, sons of tumult. Thus
fit? is for nStT frm HKB>.
3 Cf. Job xl. 19.
4 The i>articiple stands where we should expect the infinitive, as in xxiv. 24.
MOSAISM. 143
Ver. 2 1 f. " And he looked on the Kenites, 1 and lifted up his
oracle and spake :
Thy abodes last for ever, and thy nest is hidden in the rock.
But Kain 2 awaits devastation. How long ? when Asshur leads
thee captive ! "
As the Kenites form a branch of the Midianites, probably they
here represent them. With a play on the name the seer praises
their impregnable rnountain-nests, defying the teeth of time (i^K).
But these will not avail them for ever ; their days also are num-
bered. Until when ? How long will it last ? Until Asshur
lead thee captive. Whereas the mountain-nests rather suggest
the Kenites dwelling in the rocky south-land of Judah, who, like
the Edomites, had their strong cities on steep heights (1 Sam.
xxx. 29), the carrying away by Assyria suggests that a branch
of the tribe was also settled in the north of Palestine (Judg.
iv. 11). But this branch in any case played too slight a part in
the deportation by Assyria for the oracle to have arisen post
eventum (in reference thereto). The chief emphasis lies on the
thought that the great power, Assyria, will bring to an end the
independence of these tenacious small tribes. Then the prospect
before the seer assumes large dimensions, as he sketches in a few
faint strokes the decline of the next great world-power.
Ver. 2 3 f. " And he lifted up his oracle and spake :
Woe, who shall live before that which God brings about ? 3
And ships (arrive) from the parts of the Chittites,
And oppress Asshur, and oppress Eber,
And he too leans to destruction."
Assyria's star also the seer sees wane. It is outstripped by a
mightier empire coming by ship from the west, from Chittim, i.e.
Cyprus ; 4 but it is not said, ships of Cyprus come, but a fleet
comes from that direction. Thus it is a Western power, the island
of Cyprus having always played a special part in voyages from
the West into the East and the opposite. This Western power,
1 According to an exceedingly common Hebrew idiom in such mention of nations
or tribes, the singular is used, as in our own popular language it is said : the French-
man stands on the Ehine, Gesenius, Or. 109.
2 The tribe is also called Kain in Judg. iv. 11.
3 ^N iftVtsJD) properly before the fact that God does it. But Q-|t> is not to in-
tend, determine (cf. 37 ->y Q^, -ritiiviti l <ppi<r!), but applies to the carrying out of
a determination ; its realization ; cf. Ex. x. 2.
* Cf. the later usage, which applies it to Macedonia, 1 Mace. i. 1.
144 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
emerging without name or more precise indication, humbles the
entire East, and first of all world-ruling Assyria, as well as Eber
subject to the latter, by which is meant the cis-Euphratic Shemites
(Israel, Edom, Moab, etc.). Then follows the oracle of doom :
wrrDtt H3N nj| f recurring as a refrain, since it states the lot of all
heathen nations. We might be tempted to refer this ton to
Assyria, this world-power having been just mentioned ; but in
this case i^y would come awkwardly between. Moreover, in
this oracle Assyria is already in decay, and the mysterious
Western power rules. But even the latter (designedly indicated
by xin) tends to destruction. Then with this fact of the final
world-power going the way of all flesh the seer's fatal review
closes, as it ought. Heathenism nowhere has permanence. The
great powers dissolve in rapid succession, their mere physical
might makes no stand against the judgment of time. Along
with this perception of the frailty of his own power and greatness,
which this heathen here betrays, just as remarkable is the pre-
sentiment of the Eastern seer, that the dominion will fall at last
to the West, which fills him with special horror. Who will
endure to live, when the most gigantic power of the East is cast
down by a still mightier power from the West ? This catastrophe
took place under Alexander the Great. But the subjection of
the East to the West became more enduring with the conquests
of the Romans. The oracle as little distinguishes Macedonia from
Rome as Assyria from Babylon ; it sees only a great Eastern and
Western power. History has brought the more precise distinction
in what is seen here in general outlines (note D).
Reviewing these oracles, we see that they materially enrich
the patriarchal benedictions, while also partially coinciding with
them. That Balaam knew of those promises to Abraham and
Judah (Hengstenberg), is not indeed to be supposed. As he did
not speak in Hebrew, his words in any case have been put here
also into a Hebrew dress. Oral tradition for a long time perhaps
moulded these oracles, while written redaction settled their
formal shape. But is this fourfold blessing simply a later
Jewish product ? This we must expressly deny. Their
whole substance bears witness to the unusual source from
which these mashals spring. First and chiefly, we have an
original and circumstantial sketch of the exoteric develop-
ment of God's kingdom, such as no Israelite, even of the
MOSAISM. 145
age of Isaiah, could foresee without extraordinary revelation. "We
can understand how a heathen seer, coming from the Euphrates, 1
followed the political effects of the divine kingdom with special
interest. Elsewhere a similar panorama is first found in Daniel.
Again it is to be observed that, in opposition to the prophetic
discourses of every age, a bright picture without shade is here
given of Israel. The explanation is that the speaker is not an
Israelitish prophet but a heathen, who sees before him not the em-
pirical people whom he had to admonish and chide, but Israel
the people of God, the depositary of revelation, in opposition to the
heathen world. Just the Mosaic age, when this people was in
the promising beginning of its mission and gave the first proofs
of its divine strength, must have produced the strongest
impression of its superiority over the heathen world.
The enrichment of the patriarchal benedictions in the Balaam
oracles consists precisely in what Israel had become through the
Mosaic covenant at Sinai. We see there the people countless in
numbers, in a fruitful land, thanks to the covenant with Yahveh,
who brought it out of Egypt, and continually dispenses His
revelation in its midst. This sacred nationality stands there an
impregnable, victorious power, full of blessing, unfolding into
true royalty, whilst every worldly power and force is sinking
into dust.
NOTE A. This oracle is named >B>, chiefly on account of its
symmetrical form and beautiful finish, which comport well with
its lofty inspiration. The language is peculiar and antique. Of.
(ver. 7) the poetic t| n")n > rnK = -ik with He parag. from TIN, like
nojrt for npyr, and rnjj (as in xxii. 11, 17) for nap from anp.
See Gesenius, Gframm., ed. by Kautzsch, 67, Anna. 2 ; Bottcher,
Ausfuhrliches Lehrbuch, i. p. 160; Ewald, Ausf. Leh/rb. 22S&;
>
B. Stade, Lehrb. d. ffebr. Gframm. i. p. 324 (explains rns and
>
nzjp from being pronounced like 6).
NOTE B. The man of " closed eye " is he whose bodily eye is
withdrawn from the sensuous, whilst from his inner one the veil is
lifted, which hides secrets from human vision. Hence he is also
1 Such an one might certainly in the Mosaic age he acquainted with Asshur,
which conquered Babylon about 1270 (Maspero, Geschichte der moryenlandischen
Viilker im Alterthum, 1877, p. 275). His foresight of the future greatness of this
Eastern empire is not more wonderful than his prediction of the final rise of a
"Western empire.
ORELLI. K
146 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
called &?y ^71. To this $>ab adds a still stronger feature : He who
falls down unconscious in the manner of the Shamans, in order
then to speak in a clairvoyant state. Herder recalls the unmis-
takable similarity in the case of Balaam to the modern Shamans.
As this state marks a lower stage of prophecy (see p. 17), so in
general the air of ostentatious mystery, with which Balaam puts
forward his own person, contrasts with the unconscious manner
in which the Israelitish prophets act. These use the form mrr DM.
On the other hand, the last solemn oracle of David agrees in form
with Balaam's mashal, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1.
NOTE C. "TINS, dual from nxa (cf. Stade, Grarnm. i. p. 139),
properly fades, then the side of the body. The crown comes in
as the centre. Jeremiah (xlviii. 45) read Ypnp instead of "ijpip. ;
so in the present passage also Koster, Ewald, Gesenius, Baur, etc.
Considering the great similarity which already existed in the
ancient Hebrew writing between n and -i, a confusion is easily
conceivable. It is true, the present reading has the greater difficulty
in its favour ; but this "ip/)P_ (reduplicated stem from n^p, to bury),
which is said to signify " to disturb " (LXX. -rpovo^e-jsti, to plunder),
does not really suit the object and has the context against it.
NOTE D. The rationalistic Criticism, which will hear of no
prediction, but would infer the date of the oracles from the things
predicted, finds itself here in no slight perplexity. That these
oracles sprang from the age of the early kings, may be rendered
plausible by xxiv. 7, 17 f. (cf. xxiv. 9 with Gen. xlix. 9). But on
those principles the mention of Assyria (xxiv. 22) would compel
us to descend (G. Baur) to the Assyrian age (8th cent.), when the
ideal description of Israel and the picture of its superiority to all
heathen nations would be in sorry keeping with other prophetic
announcements. But what shall be done with xxiv. 24, the oracle
of the fall of the East under the dominion of the West ? Yet the
existence of Balaam's oracles in the age of Micah (vi. 5) and
Jeremiah (xlviii. 45) is beyond all doubt. That the oracle in
xxiv. 24 is an addition from the age after Alexander, the three
preceding utterances respecting the heathen world on the other
hand being very ancient (Koster), is far too arbitrary, and
inconsistent with what is admitted as to the age of the entire
Pentateuch. Respecting the embarrassment of de Wette and
Bleek, see in Tholuck, Die PropJieten und ihre Weissagungen,
2nd ed. p. 102 f. No better than the expedient of these scholars,
who would fain refer the agreement of the oracle with its
incalculable, grand fulfilment to chance or later interpolation, is
the evasion resorted to by Ewald and Hitzig to make the
words intelligible. The former (Hist. i. 109) adduces a passage
of Menauder, preserved in Josephus (Antiq. ix. 14. 2), according
MOSAISM. 147
to which the Cyprians in Salmanassar's days had rebelled against
the Tyrian king Elulaeus, just at the time when that Assyrian
ruler invaded Tyrus. What has this to do with Balaam's oracle ?
Ewald thinks a piratical fleet must (!) then have visited the Hebrew
(= Canaanite - Phoenician !) and the Assyrian (= Syrian !) coasts.
Of such a fleet Josephus and Menander know nothing (on the
contrary, they say the Tyrian fleet went to Cyprus) ; and yet this
visit of the Phoenician coast is the event under the fresh impression
of which the oracle arose ! By this fleet, not worth naming,
Assyria's power was put in the shade, whereas in Ewald's own
opinion "Salmanassar wished to use this quarrel in his own
favour in the war against Tyrus."
This makeshift is so precarious that it has found no favour.
And the same may be said of the somewhat more popular
explanation of Hitzig, which is just as pretentious as Ewald's.
Hitzig avails himself of a passage in the Armenian Chronicon
Eusebii (ed. Ven. p. 21), according to which Sennacherib hurried
to Cilicia to repel an attack of the turbulent Greeks, which he
succeeded in doing, not indeed without loss, so that he had a
monument built there to immortalize his name. Von Lengerke,
v. Bohlen, Knobel seize eagerly on this Cilician expedition, of
which the rich prophetic literature of that period, for intelligible
reasons, takes not the least notice. And this is the catastrophe so
perilous to Asshur and Eber, which an Israelite scarcely hoped
to survive ! Plainly the prophet is credited with the most
pitiable shortsightedness, instead of a gaze stretching far beyond
the common horizon. But the meagreness of these explanations
is too patent to expose anything but the perplexity here falling
on rationalistic criticism. 1
1 Cf. also Sclmltz, A. T. Theologie, ed. 2, p. 681 : "The peculiar obscurity of
the section makes it hard to say when the poet wrote certainly in an age when
Asshur stood in the foreground, cand European buccaneering hosts figured in the
history of Hither- Asia " (!).
THIED SECTION.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD.
19. The Prophetic Testament to the Davidic Royal House.
AS Jacob's blessing held out before the tribe of Judah the
prospect of eternal dominion in the land of God, so now
this dominion is promised to a single family. Meanwhile in
Israel the monarchy had taken shape, late indeed, but all the
more longed for by the people. The theocrats, it is true,
received it at first reluctantly, regarding it as an infringement of
the theocracy ; and the motives for its introduction were also of a
lower character than the great Mosaic ideas of God's direct rule,
which the commonwealth was meant to realize. But this breach
with Israel's sacred prerogative of having no king but God was
designed, as His prophets saw afterwards, to pave the way for
a loftier plan of the Lord, and to conduct the divine kingdom to
a higher stage of consummation. 1 Even Saul receives his king-
dom from a prophet's hand, and by anointing with oil; he is
therefore called nirv rvK>E. 2 His dignity was the gift of
God's grace ; hence its reception was a consecration as in the
case of a priest, 3 who was also anointed, and in the case of a
prophet, who also received this symbol. 4 The pure, golden,
gently flowing oil, where used in worship, is in general a symbol
of the Divine nature and Spirit. In the regal consecration, it
1 In opposition to the notion that the contradiction in Samuel's bearing is to be
traced to different, mutually exclusive accounts, of which one regarded the monarchy
as a purely beneficial advance, while the other regretted it as a purely lamentable
relapse (so Wellhausen, Geschichte, i. 265 f.), see Riehm, Messianic Prophecy, p.
62 ff.
2 1 Sam. xxiv. 6, 10, xxvi. 9, 16, 23 ; 2 Sam. i. 14, 16.
3 Ex. xxix. 7, 21 ; the high priest is called "the anointed priest," Lev. iv. 4.
4 1 Kings xix. 16. But here DE'D is perhaps used only for the sake of uni-
formity, since in ver. 19 another symbol of consecration is mentioned.
148
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 149
sets forth the unimpeachable divine majesty transferred to the
person of the anointed one. Only the king is called absolutely
" the Lord's anointed," 1 and, indeed, the king of Israel, of God's
people. 2 As certainly as God stood to this people in a special
covenant-relation, must its rightful king stand in nearer relation
to Yahveh, being the depositary and representative of divine
majesty. Certainly we have here a complete contrast to the
deification of kings, such as we often meet with on heathen soil.
Israel's king is never the personification or incarnation of Deity,
but always remains accountable to his God, and is called to
account by God's messengers, since this God is holy, and gives
living revelations of Himself. 3 The Lord who conferred this
dignity can also take it away again, but of course only He. 4
This Saul was forced to learn, as he became less and less
content with the position of a mere servant of the Lord, and fell
into ruin through the heathenish self-exaltation to which he
was prone. Already during his life another was set apart by
anointing; and from the prophet's lips he had to hear the
sentence of rejection, which God Himself confirmed in due time
by the course of events. It was Samuel who was the instrument
in the Lord's hand in assigning to the king in Israel his true
position, his divine and human vocation. He then sought out
the "man after God's heart" (1 Sam. xiii. 14), who was fitted
to understand and realize this vocation David, the son of Jesse
the Bethlehemite. Only in such a ruler could the divine idea
unfold itself more richly. This was carried out by the prophetic
words, which bound the future of God's kingdom to David's house.
1 By transference in Ps. cv. 15, the patriarchs are called TVK>)0> m y anointed,
consecrated, as they are also called S'Q}.
2 King Cyrus also as a divinely-called ruler (Isa. xlv. 1 ; cf. 1 Kings xix. 15).
Subsequently the word became the name of the great Davidite from whom the com-
pletion of God's kingdom was expected ; so especially in Aramaic NITB>D> Targum
of Onkelos on v Gen. xlv. 10 ; Num. xxiv. 17 ; Targum of Jonathan, Hos. iii. 5,
and elsewhere ; in the New Testament either Ms<r<r/j, John i. 42, iv. 25, or trans-
lated o Xfio-ros, i. 20, 25.
3 Cf. e.g. the Egyptian conception of king, the product of pantheistic blending
of divine and human being, where in truth the power of nature is adored, while
the divine holiness is ignored. See Brugsch-Bey, Gesch. Aegyptens unter den
Pharaonen, 1877, p. 82 f., 124 f., 481 f.
4 That in Israel the regal dignity must depend on the choice of the sovereign
God, is determined by Deut. xvii. 15 (see the opposite of the kingdom by God's
grace, Hos. viii. 4), and is strongly emphasized in the history of Saul and David.
150 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
It is true, such a testament was not entrusted to that house
at the anointing of David by Samuel At first he was only
chosen for himself, like Saul previously, to be ruler in God's
place over Israel. But on the occasion related in 2 Sam. vii., a
promise extending to his race was given him, a hereditary
monarchy being thus established by God's grace. "\Vith this
act the promise pointing to the realization of God's kingdom in
Canaan comes to a conclusion. For when the people of God has
His law, possession of His land, a permanent prophethood and
monarchy, and finally, a local centre where God dwells, what
more does it need ? Then a new stage of development opens.
Outwardly a far-reaching world-mission lies before this divine
kingdom, inwardly a great task of refining and spiritualizing. lu
its actual state it is unable to fulfil either task without first
undergoing the doom of dissolution.
This testament, dictated by the prophet, was made over to King
David when he formed the pious, magnanimous resolve to erect
a fixed temple to the Lord instead of the provisional pilgrim-
tent, 1 2 Sam. vii. 1 ff. = 1 Chron. xvii. 1 ff. The prophet Nathan,
one of those true servants of God who discharged the prophetic
office in Samuel's spirit, and perhaps came from his school,
judging by human rules, could not conceive other than that the
Lord would give His blessing to the resolve. But he was soon
taught differently by the word of the Lord, which came to him
the same night, and told him to announce to the king that the
carrying out of the glorious work was reserved for his posterity.
God the Lord needs no princely dwelling, and never sought one,
but bestowed His high favour on David of free grace. Still his
self-denying spirit and ardent desire to see the Lord dwelling
abidingly with him shall not go unrewarded. Instead of the
king building a house for Yahveh, Yahveh will build an abiding
house for the king, 2 Sam. vii 11&-16 :
" And the Lord commands to tell thee, that the Lord will
prepare thee a house. And it shall come to pass - when thy
1 Respecting the time in which that resolve and the message of Xathan are to be
put, see Herzog R.E., 2nd ed. iii. 520. The genuineness of this oracle cannot
reasonably be disputed. Even Anger (p. 30) describes it as "having arisen pro-
bably from true tradition. "
; ,Tni is to be read before 13, after LXX. ; 1 Chron. xviL 11. So also Wellhausen,
Text der Bucher Samufl, p. 171.
TIIE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 151
days are fulfilled and thou art laid to sleep with thy fathers,
I will make thy seed arise after thee, who shall go forth from
thy body, and will make his kingdom to continue. He shall
build a house to my name, and I will make the throne of his
kingdom endure for ever. I will be a father to him, and he
shall be to me a son ; so that, when he does wrong, I will
chastise him with rods of men and blows of the children of
men, 1 but my favour shall not depart from him, 2 as I withdrew
it from Saul, whom I made give way before thee. And thy
house and thy kingdom shall be unchangeable before thee 3 for
ever. Thy throne shall endure for ever."
It is very significant that the gaze is here directed from the
present to the future, nay, the establishing of the kingdom of God
is there seen. Not David himself, but his posterity, will carry
out the work of temple-building. Thus Yahveh will obtain a
fixed house, but David's own house will be still firmer. For
God promises that his posterity will inherit the throne of David
for ever. Consequently the monarchy will be hereditary ; the
Lord Himself guarantees the inheritance. Thus the top-stone is
put upon the former promises, and at the same time the founda-
tion-stone is laid for the subsequent promises, the Messianic in
the stricter sense. The seed (jnt) is here a homogeneous but
collective idea. What is said of the temple-building was ful-
filled in Solomon ; but the " unchangeable mercies of David "
(Isa. Iv. 3 : B^nsa.n in <l "ipn), first assured in this testament,
point much farther. They are indestructible, on which account
the suppliant in Ps. Ixxxix., in a time of heavy misfortune, with
good reason takes the Lord at His word, reminding Him that,
according to His testament, He cannot cast off the house of
David for ever.
But the present oracle makes us see still deeper into the rpa
BTijJ (2 Sam. xxiii. 5), made by Nathan's revelation between God
and the Davidic house. According to ver. 14, David's seed is to
stand in the relation of son to God : " I will be to him a father,
1 That is, not with destructive judgment, but with rods such as men use on their
children.
2 The better reading of the LXX. is TDK instead of yiD' 1 , as in 1 Chron. xvii. 13.
Saul's name was perhaps not mentioned in the original text as in LXX. ; it may have
run as in 1 Chron. xvii. 13 : 7p3Q^5 rvn TJ'Ntt ; so also Bertheau, Wellhausen.
3 i}s? is the better reading, after LXX. and Syr.
152 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
and he shall be to me a son." This is the most intimate relation
of possession conceivable, and for this reason inalienable. One
may be angry with a son, and a wise, just father, especially n
holy one, like God, will not let his son's ill-conduct and per-
verseness go unpunished ; but one cannot deny a son, nor will
one kill him, but in chastising will always keep his well-being in
view. Thus God will not so give rein to His holy wrath as
to consume David's house, but will only afflict him in the same
degree and with the same purpose as a human father his son. 1
Now the relation of sonship in which David's house is placed
to God is no new one. The whole of Israel was already placed
by the Mosaic revelation in this relation to God. 2 But, like
Israel among the peoples, so the regal house within this people
is God's accepted, acknowledged child. It thus appears that this
idea, in which divine revelation expresses men's most intimate
belonging to God, is narrowed in order to be deepened ; it is
made personal in order to be perfected. Not merely the house
collectively, but each single ruling Davidite stands in this
relation of son to God ; he sets forth in more intense potency
what Israel in union with God is in general Ver. 14, indeed,
along with this lofty divine idea, contains a strong reminder of
the fact that, in consequence of the human sinfulness of David's
seed, this relation will not be without disturbance, which must
needs mar its purity and perfection. 3 Nor is it expressly said
that a single Davidite will realize purely and perfectly this lofty
idea of divine sonship. But if in the future one person should
ever fully verify that relation, and should rule as God's son over
Israel, according to this divine oracle it must be a son of
David. 4
1 On the application of this divine decree, cf. 1 Kings xi. 34.
* Ex. iv. 22 ; Deut. xxxii. 6 ; cf. Hos. xi. 1, etc. See p. 128.
3 The chronicler, who abridges the oracle somewhat, has left out this feature,
because in his time the monarchy, with its weaknesses and sins, no longer existed ;
but for him David's kingdom came into view in past and future merely iii its
greatness. For the rest, the feature is characteristic of the true religion. Com-
pare how differently heathen kings were regarded in their character as sons of
the gods.
4 That with the declarations respecting the collective seed of David (ver. 13) a
declaration is joined applying personally to Solomon (Wellhausen would expunge
the verse, were it not for 1 Kings v. 18), is a direct proof of the age and genuineness
of the oracle, since, to the speaker's view, the temple-building pertained still to
David's posterity, not to himself. In addition, Keil, with Hengstenberg, reminds us
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 153
A second prophetic message to David, more richly unfolding
the glory of the covenant made with him, is contained in Ps. ex.
The most accurate explanation of this remarkable song is that of
Ewald, 1 who makes it a kind of oracle ("Tin 11 DKJ) addressed by a
prophet to David, perhaps when he came with offerings to the
sanctuary at the beginning of a war :
" A song of David :
Thus speaks Yahveh to my ruler : Sit at my right hand
Until I put thy foes as the footstool of thy feet !
The staff of thy power will Yahveh stretch out from Zion :
Eule in the midst of thy foes !
Thy people is (full of) willingness on thy army-day. 2
With holy ornament 3 from the womb of the dawn thy youth 4
arises to thee.
Yahveh has sworn and He will not repent :
Thou art a priest for ever after the manner 5 of Malki Zedek !
The Lord at thy right hand shatters kings on the day of
His wrath.
He will judge among the heathen 'it is filled with corpses
he shatters the head on a broad field. 6
From the brook in the way he shall drink, Therefore shall he
lift high the head."
The heading, as we believe, is historically right, since the
psalm is in fact Davidic, i.e. springs from David's time, and its
that the building of the temple also waited for its real execution until Christ, and
consequently formed a part of that mission of David's seed which outlasted 0. T.
history, John ii. 19.
1 Dichter des Alien Bundes, i. 2, p. 39.
2 =: on the day when thou marchest forth ; then thy people comes of free
impulse, without force.
3 Knp~ l| "nri3, with holy ornament (cf. jnp min. Ps. xxix. 2, xcvi. 9 ; 2
Chron. xx. 21). Thus it is no profane army, but a priestly people.
* intJ'D is related to iriB' like TwriD to TIEJ'!"!- The dew of thy youth, of course,
T : - - IT -: - .
is not to be understood of the king's youthful age, but D^T 1 is abstr. pro concr.
The juventus denotes the youthful manhood appearing suddenly in the freshness of
morning, comparable to the dewdrops that glitter in countless numbers, born of the
womb of the dawn.
5 MVQT^ not "on account of Malki Zedek" (Hupfeld after a later idiom), but,
" in keeping with the relation or state of Malk Zedek."
6 H3T may contain a play on the hostile metropolis of Ammon, Rabba (2 Sam.
T ~
xi. 1). But in any case by nZH f*~lX, "the broad land," is meant the battlefield
where the Lord holds iudgment.
154 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
contents refer primarily to David's person. On the other hand,
we cannot persuade ourselves to accept the lamed auctoris, and
to consider David as the prophet speaking, on which view another
higher ruler would be addressed by him, namely, the perfect
Messiah to come. 1 Such a conscious distinction between his
own person and the true Messiah, to whom David was so con-
stantly subject that he could call him his ruler, finds no sufficient
support either in 2 Sam. xxiii. or in any other psalm. This view
would scarcely have been adhered to so tenaciously, if the proof
adduced by Jesus to the Pharisees for the superiority of the
Messiah over David did not presuppose this distinction and
subjection on David's part. 2 But the presupposition of Davidic
authorship, universal then, cannot give the law to our historic
understanding of the psalm. Looked at closely, the appeal
thereto is merely the form in which Jesus brought home to the
scribes the incomparableness of the true Messiah, well attested in
the Old Testament. In distinction from the account of Nathan
which announced a vision received by night, this psalm, with its
solemn form and enigmatic, abrupt ending, is to be regarded as an
oracle bursting directly from prophetic inspiration. It may have
been by Nathan himself. But it may also possibly spring from
another seer of that age, struck with the divine greatness of the
new kingdom on Zion, and depicting it in prophetic tones. This
panegyric, just because it is prophetic, applies not to the earthly
ruler as such, but to the sacred dignity and glory conferred on
him by God. This glory is so great that the most renowned
monarchy (that of David) is but a weak vessel, scarcely able to
contain it. But it was such a vessel. God would have His
condescension in dwelling beside David on Zion regarded as
His Son taking the place of honour at His right hand. David's
victorious campaigns would display the power of God that would
fight for him against all foes. Nay, God acknowledged him, the
pious singer of Israel, as priest, his care for and management of
the sanctuary being shown in many ways. Although his priest-
hood was not realized, yet God's word and oath promised him
one. The completed monarchy would not fall behind the one
that Melchisedek once possessed in David's city, who wore the
priestly fillet along with the crown. And like his kingdom, his
1 So still Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, v. Hofmann (in his last statement).
- Matt. xxii. 41-46 ; Mark xii. 35-37 ; Luke xx. 41-44.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 155
priesthood should be eternal. The psalm closes with images of
war and triumph. Ver. 3 exhibited the divine king as he
marched forth, voluntarily attended by countless hosts of youthful,
priestly warriors, and ver. 4 hinted how he himself, the devout
suppliant, did not disdain to draw near to God as priest before
going to meet the foe ; and at the close, where God Himself fights
by his side (ver. 5), we see him victoriously ruling on the blood-
drenched, corpse-covered field, and, after sharing every toil with
his warriors (" of the brook in the way he shall drink " *),
victoriously lifting up his head.
How far this picture of victory and triumph through God's
power was realized in David, Ps. xviii. = 2 Sam. xxii. shows,
where he sings to us how by God's help he leaped over walls,
and the Lord made his foes the footstool of his feet. But just
as clearly we see the incongruity between God's oracle and the
actuality, when we compare the lofty Ps. ex. with the entire
government of David. That government is far from being the
glorified priestly kingdom pictured in the song. With all its
victories it falls far short of the utterances of the prophetic
singer, so that we have to choose between two views : Either we
have here an enthusiastic idealization dealing in hyperboles and
above criticism, or David's greatness and dignity had in God's
eye a significance that went far beyond its empirical form. The
latter supposition alone is worthy of a prophetic oracle. It is
confirmed by the further development of Messianic prophecy,
the life and sinew of which is just this, that divine thoughts,
realized at first imperfectly, must reach complete development.
Instead, therefore, of " idealizing " actuality, this oracle utters a
creative word of God, which reveals the Anointed of the Lord in
His heaven-willed glory.
There he sits beside God in abiding fellowship, sharing in God's
honour. Consequently all his foes must become subject to him
(vers. 1, 2). And His own people does not serve him by con-
straint, but in pure willingness ; it offers itself in a moment,
countless and fresh as the dew of morning, clad in holy,
festal attire. It is not a common army that is in question.
The whole host is made up of ministers and priests, holy like its
Lord, ver. 4. Let us note how the priestly dignity elevates the
king. He has no common conflict to wage. God Himself
1 See David's fatigues and marches as in 2 Sam. xxiii. 17.
156 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
vanquishes his foes ; but he bears the consecration conferred 1 > y
the presence and high service of God. Thus his triumph is
certain, in God's strength he inflicts judgment on the heathen
the hostile nations around, and his voluntary abasement becomes
the path to greatness.
Thus this prophetic oracle adds something of high import to
what was said of the Davidic monarchy in 2 Sam. vii. It
unfolds what is implied in the divine sonship conferred there,
on one hand in reference to its power which no foe can resist,
and on the other in reference to its relation to God. To the king
on Zion a double crown is promised, a double sacred dignity
secular as well as religious supremacy, dominion as well as
priesthood. As the nation, nay, all nations, are in this king to
honour the ruler set in God's place, so God will acknowledge in
him the priestly representative of the nation, nay, of the whole
world. And like the Davidic monarchy according to 2 Sam. vii.,
so according to Ps. ex. the Davidic priesthood l is to have eternal
existence. This does not preclude the possibility of the Davidic
king for a time forgetting his priestly dignity, and, as far as he
himself is concerned, losing it ; but on God's part the arrange-
ment is irrevocable (BniP &) and matter of solemn oath, as the
Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes (vii. 21). He will not
definitively detach this dignity from his person. According to
our explanation, the psalm does not indeed expressly say that
only a future Davidite will perfectly realize the divine decree
of a priestly monarchy on Zion, and maintain this dignity in
His own person for ever. Only the power of the divine decree
and the fact of human imperfection involve of necessity that a
greater than David should verify this utterance. But if a ruler
from David's house should answer perfectly to God's word of
promise, he must so the psalm determines unite the high-
priestly with the kingly dignity ; and his people must not only
be voluntarily subject to him, but also render to God priestly
service.
The psalm is not merely typical, but prophetic, since it speaks
expressly of the future. On the other hand, David, through the
medium of whose person the psalm beholds the future, is a type.
1 But observe that in this psalm not David's house, but only himself (or, the
reigning king) is spoken of. He himself will rule for ever as priest. This personal
strain corresponds to the ideal character of the oracle.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 157
The high theological import of the psalm would not be materially
lowered, even if the promise were given to a later Davidic ruler
as the temporary representative of the Davidic monarchy. But
in point of fact it is not easily conceivable that the union of
royalty and priesthood was seen, at first typically, in any other
than David who stood nearer to God than any one else, and
presided over the sanctuary. And the whole language breathes
a high antiquity. We here follow Ewald, who remarks : " Since
the language also offers no opposition, it is to be regarded as
certain that the king is David, for king and kingdom appear
here still at the highest stage of greatness and glory."
The fulfilment of this psalm in its highest significance was
claimed by Jesus in the passages quoted above as something
raising Him above David. And certainly as those expressions
were inspired by the Spirit of God, they first found their fulfil-
ment in David's perfect Son. Him has God exalted above
everything earthly, making Him sit down " at His right hand."
The latter phrase, common in the New Testament, 1 originates in
the present psalm. Expressly citing the words of this psalm,
the Epistle to the Hebrews asserts the super - angelic majesty
of the Son of God (i. 13) and the eternal High Priest (v. 6,
vii. 17, 21, viii. 1, x. 12 f.). If de Wette, Hupfeld, d al, think
that the king who crushes heads and fills the land with corpses
cannot be the Christian Messiah, Christ Himself and His apostles
judged otherwise. In the wondrous prophetic picture they saw
the divine-human head of God's kingdom on earth. And this
with good reason. The image goes far beyond the actuality of
the Old Covenant, glorifying its brightest forms with unwonted,
loftier splendour. On the other hand, the N. T. Christology does
not lack the wealth of realistic revelation which modern theology
despises. As matter of fact, the powers of the outer world are at
the service of the exalted Christ. And the bloodshed and fields
of corpses of which history tells, are in truth divine judgments
designed to place everything at last at the feet of His Anointed
One.
1 Acts ii. 32 ff., v. 31, vii. 55 f. ; Rom. viii. 34 ; Eph. i. 20 ; Col. iii. 1 ; 1 Pet.
iii. 22 ; cf. Acts iii. 21.
158 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
20. Echo of the Prophetic Word in the Songs of the
Anointed One.
In the poetry of the psalins generally we hear a hundred -
voiced and yet harmonious lyrical echo of the acts and words of
divine revelation. The prophetic messages to the Lord's Anointed,
just noticed, found a many- voiced echo in these songs, proving
that the import of the oracles was received into the understanding
of king and people. But all the more must this he the case in the
Psalms, as David, the chosen ruler, was, according to unanimous
tradition, also the creator of this class of song. 1 From his lips
also we first hear the sound of thanks and sacred rejoicing for
the salvation vouchsafed to him. The first, most direct feelings
of profoundly humble thankfulness, which the oracle of Nathan
(2 Sam. vii.) awakened in David, find expression in the thanks-
giving (ver. 1 8 ff.), in which the king acknowledges as the last and
greatest, unmerited benefit of the Lord, that God spoke with him
of the far future, and promised an eternal kingdom to his house
after him.
Another royal song, namely, Ps. ii., a loftier outburst of the
prophetic spirit, must be regarded as an echo of the divine
messages in 2 Sam. vii. and Ps. ex., whether it was the direct
sequel of such a prophetic oracle or the fruit of an inner revela-
tion, which gave the king closer and deeper insight into the
meaning of the divine covenant. The Messianic King here
declares the import of the divine Sonship conferred on Him, and
that in reference to His relation to the world : As God's Son He
claims rule over the world. Thus we assume that the Messianic
King is Himself the singer. At all events His divine, kingly
feelings find expression here. And although, as in Ps. ex., the
significance and worth of the song do not depend on the ruler of
that house under or by whom it was sung, still the consciousness
of the divine-human greatness conferred on him is so vigorous
that it is hard to ascribe it to a later king of Judah after the
division of the kingdom, when the heir of David did not even
reign over his own land. Ewald suggests Solomon ; Hofmanu,
still better, David himself. The absence of Ttp is the less to be
urged against this view as the heading of this psalm seems lost
altogether. Whether, then, the song is by David himself or some
1 2 Sam. xxiii. 1 ; cf. Amos vL 5 ; 2 Sam. xxii., etc.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 159
one afterwards, at all events it speaks of the divine adoption con-
ferred on David and his house. And whereas the thanksgiving in
2 Sam. vii. 1 8 ff. rather takes into view the eternal continuance of
David's house, this psalm illustrates the divinely-established filial
relation of the person of the reigning Messiah.
" Why do the peoples rage and the nations meditate vain
things ? l
The kings of the earth take stand 2 and the rulers consult
together against Yahveh and His anointed
' Let us rend asunder their bonds and cast from us their
cords ! ' 3
He that sitteth in the heaven laughs the Lord derides them.
Then will He speak to them in His wrath and in His fury
He will terrify them :
' Yet have I established my king on Zion my holy moun-
tain.'
I will make announcement concerning Yahveh's decree : 4 He
spake to me:
' My son art thou ! I have to-day begotten thee. 5
Demand of me and I will give peoples to be thy inheritance
and the ends of the earth for thy possession.
Thou wilt dash them in pieces with iron sceptre like a
potter's vessel wilt shatter them.' 6
And now, ye kings, be prudent be instructed, ye judges of
the earth.
Serve Yahveh with fear and exult with trembling.
1 By tjvn, to bluster, roar, is meant the stormy unrest, tumult, which announces
- T
revolt ; by n3!"l> properly to hum, buzz, and then to muse, when one murmurs to
himself half-aloud the unhappy mood which bespeaks evil designs, which,
however, as p^ says beforehand, will be in vain.
2 35FTin, defiantly to offer battle, challenging to enter the lists, as in 1 Sam.
xvii. 16.
3 Only the plural flilDiO (and Q^IDID, Ps. cxvi. 16) occurs, from a singular
1DiO = 1DNO from "^DN, cf- P S - c ^ii. 14. Observe the sonorous poetical suffixes.
4 "ISO with ">X is to make announcement in regard to a thing (as in Ps. Ixix. 26) :
" circumstantially and therefore solemnly " (Delitzsch). ph, statute, fixed decree.
5 Tpm^N see vocalization in Gesen. Gramm. 44, 2.
6 Djnn fr m Vin> to break ; on the other hand, the LXX. (*oi/u,avi7s alrous I* /5a/3S
fftinpS.) read Qjnn from njn, which, however, in view of the parallels must be
rejected. VQ3, allied to ps, signifies : to scatter, burst, rend asunder.
160 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Kiss the Son (note A), lest He be angry and ye perish in
the way !
For soon His wrath will burn Well for all that trust in Him."
The poet sees the princes and peoples around him in commo-
tion. The newly - arisen, divinely - founded monarchy on Zion
stands in their way. True, they will be quickly vanquished and
taken captive, but they already roar and rage like the ocean at
the rising of a storm. The keen eye of the enlightened poet sees
that the great ones are preparing for rebellion and planning
alliances, and the nations only wait for the signal to break out in
open revolt against the Lord, whose anointed representative is the
king on Zion. Already is heard here and there the wild cry for
deliverance from his rule as an unworthy yoke. But with the
first words judgment is passed on this mad spirit of rebellion.
In vain is all this consulting and arming, for really the enmity
that would set aside God's chosen ruler is directed against the
God of heaven and earth. As the king looks out upon this wild
tumult a feeling of holy pride comes over him, whereas in God's
presence he was overcome by the sense of his own lowliness and
nothingness. Looking at these worldly kings, he learns who lie
is and who they are. Why, for what end cries he to the
blinded rebels do they rage and brood over empty, vain things ?
With like confidence Isaiah (viii. 9 f.) addresses the heathen
nations : " Equip yourselves, but tremble ; form a purpose, and
it shall be broken ! take counsel, and it shall not come to pass ! "
To disclaim obedience to the Lord Himself and try to get rid of
His bonds is a desperate undertaking.
The reply to this declaration of war is right worthy of the
divine King : " He that sitteth in the heavens laughs." It is
the laughter of divine irony, smiting the senseless bearing of the
weaklings who act as if they would storm heaven ; cf. Ps.
xxvii. 12 f. But this laughter is the forerunner of the divine
wrath, and is therefore terrible. " Then will He speak to them in
His wrath." This IX often answering to " now," often to " one
day " fixes a definite moment, here the hour beheld by the inner
eye as near, when He will reckon with them as a judge and
avenger, whereupon all their courage will collapse. Without
preface His decree strikes into their talk ; to their obstinacy
He simply opposes His sovereign will : " And / have established
my king on Zion, my holy mountain." Here it stops.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 161
In ver. 7 the king himself speaks, which is most natural if he
is the singer. To all the world he proclaims the decree of God
made known to him by revelation. Yahveh has spoken to him in
solemn asseveration : " My son art thou ; to-day have I begotten
thee." In these words He has acknowledged him as belonging most
intimately to Himself, investing Him even with personal kinship
to God. The " I have begotten thee " suggests still more strongly
than the simple " My son art thou," that the Messianic king has
received a higher life from above. The conferring of this dignity
was bound in the speaker's case to a definite point of time. The
" to-day " was his Messianic birthday, whether on this day he first-
entered outwardly on his office, or its inner greatness was then
revealed to him by prophet's message or personal inspiration.
In virtue of his new divine dignity everything is virtually sub-
ject to him, as certainly as heaven and earth belong to his Father.
Everything also will fall to him, when he desires it of his
Father. In his mediatorial position he is lord of the world.
With sovereign authority he rules at pleasure in the world of
nations, as ver. 9 says in drastic style. His power is to that of
worldly kings as iron to clay.
In such circumstances ( n W) these kings are exhorted for their
own good to give up their resistance, ver. 10 f., and to submit
willingly to Yahveh, because their own welfare demands it.
" .Rejoice with trembling ! " is the charge to those doing homage.
This charge, like the following kiss of homage, implies that not
only fear, but inclination also, should lead them to submit to this
lofty God and His great vicegerent. The feeling meant is the
mixed feeling of shrinking and delight awakened in mortals by
the glorious revelations of the holy and merciful God, Hos. iii. 5,
xi. 10 f. Subjection to the Lord is at the same time subjection
to His Messiah ; nay, the service required by God consists in
obedience to the latter. Therefore " kiss the Son," that " He,"
namely God, who requires this, " may not be angry." That God
Himself, not the Messiah, is the subject in the last words of the
song, is evident from the to "'pin^ which is a standing phrase for
taking refuge with the Lord.
It is high time to anticipate the divine wrath, since the measure
will soon be full l that will bring about its outbreak. But the
1 This is the meaning of the t3J?O3- Little more is needed for His wrath to burn.
Hence the element of time also lies in the expression.
OKELLI. L
1G2 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
psalm closes in cheerful tones. Happy they who, instead of proudly
building on their own counsel and on fleshly power, seek their
strength and refuge in the Lord ! The greatest benefit for the world
is the rule of God and His Anointed, against which it strives.
The view taken of this psalm as a whole differs among
expositors. As with Ps. ex., modern writers (Hengstenberg,
Oehler) suppose that David spoke of another, ideal personality,
more precisely, spoke here in his name. But this view, as well
as that of Hupfeld, according to which a later writer personated
David in thought in order to set forth the bare idea of Messiah-
ship, is refuted by the direct vividness of the piece, which points
plainly to the attitude of earthly princedoms towards an actually
visible king on Zion, 1 so that except with violence we can only think
of the present King-Messiah, and in any case of the Messiah.
That the state of the world set forth in the song fits no part of
David's reign, cannot be maintained. David's early government
was encircled by foes, who only submitted to his authority on
compulsion (see Ps. xviii. 42 ff.). After Solomon's time few
princes and rulers can be named who were subject to the
Davidic king. To think, with Ewald, of Solomon's anointing on
Zion, is needless. For, apart from the consideration that the
anointing in Solomon's case did not really take place on Zion, it
is not expressly spoken of. 2 We therefore prefer the Davidic to
a later date, David giving utterance to his joyous rapture in these
inspired words either immediately after Nathan's oracle respecting
his house, or which is more probable after a revelation
respecting his own person such as Ps. ex. contains.
In any case, the Messianic dignity peculiar to the heaven-
chosen king of Israel is here set before our eyes in its
intrinsic grounds and outward significance. In both respects it
is altogether extraordinary. The peculiarity distinguishing the
Messiah from all other men and princes is this, that he is
to be called and to be God's Son. How great the range of this
dignity, appears from the fact that the right of universal rule
is promised him. It is thoroughly out of keeping with the
seriousness of such intimations of the Divine Spirit to speak of
mere poetical hyperboles or extravagances which, falling from
1 Cf. H. Schultz in the Theol. Stud, und Krii. 1866, p. 29 f.
2 TOD3 Joes not signify : / have anointed ; ypj is rather : to pour, pour out,
: - T .*
hence here : to establish, instate.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 163
the lips of a singer friendly to the king, did not agree with the
reality, and so were made by a later age into an ideal, whose
realization was expected in the future. No, every word here is
well considered ; divine utterances form the basis ; hence the
great idea is worked out to its boldest consequences. But its
representative is meanwhile imperfect. That a future king will
realize it fully and completely, we do not find expressly foretold
in the psalm. But if One in the future shall exhibit this divine
kingdom in complete fashion, according to this psalm He must be
God's Son in a unique sense ; and in consequence, dominion over
the whole earth must fall to Him to the earth's advantage.
In whom these divine words found their true fulfilment, has
never been matter of doubt to the Christian Church. One alone
could call Himself in the deepest and fullest sense " Christ, the
Son of the living God" (Matt. xvi. 16), a dignity raising Him, as
Heb. i. 5 asserts, above the angels. 1 In Him alone person and
Messianic dignity were completely one, a pure effulgence of God,
so that He was the true representative to the world of the Father
in heaven (John xiv. 7, 9). To Him, then, belongs dominion on
earth, Matt, xxviii. 18 ff. But as in Ps. ii. the Lord's Anointed
becomes the object of hostile sentiment on every side, so also
Christ, as Acts iv. 25 ff. reminds us, became the object of hate to
Jews and Gentiles. While this was the case even during the
time of His earthly walk, after His exaltation to God's right
hand His rule on earth is still a mark for fierce assaults and ever
new storms (Luke xix. 14). Not merely kings and nations seek
to shake off this yoke. Princes in the intellectual realm have
also not seldom given the signal, the thoughtless crowd taking it
up : " Let us cast away their bands ! " Through struggles meant to
serve the cause of progress and freedom there shrieks not seldom
the watchword, springing from stubborn, rebellious hearts : " We
will not have this man to reign over us ! Let us shake off their
bands," i.e. God's holy government revealed by Christ in its per-
fection. This passion for rebellion is foolish, the real folly of
the world. Against the Mighty One, whose throne is in heaven,
this storm-flood of earth's strong ones avails nothing. The foes
of God prepare their own destruction, because, instead of sub-
1 In Acts xiii. 33, also, Ps. ii. 7 is quoted to confirm the divine Messianic dignity,
according to Codex D as a saying of the first Psalm, because Ps. i. was regarded
as an introduction to the book, and was therefore not numbered.
164 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
mitting to God's Son as Prince of Peace, they become His prey
as Judge. In particular this world-spirit is foolish, because it
takes so little account of its own welfare, which would be secure
in the service of this much-hated prince. " Blessed are they who
submit to Him from love ! "
Further, a kind of answer to the victory-promising oracle of
Ps. ex. is given in the unquestionably Davidic thanksgiving after
victory, Ps. xviii. = 2 Sam. xxii., which also at the end makes
reference to the covenant-promise remaining to his seed.
The "last words" of David, 2 Sam. xxiii. 17, with a reference
to 2 Sam. vii., also relate to the bright future of his house, an
oracle mysteriously introduced, prophetic in form, and so far
similar to Balaam's oracles, for the rest, like those oracles of
original, antique speech, and unimpeachable authenticity. These
last words run :
" Thus speaks David, Jesse's son ; thus speaks the man placed
on high, 1
The anointed of the God of Jacob the lovely one in the
anthems of Israel : ' 2
The Spirit of Yahveh has spoken in me 3 and His word is
on my tongue.
The God of Israel said to me the Piock of Israel spoke : *
A Euler over men, just a Ruler in God's fear
And it is like morning-light, when the sun rises, a moming
without clouds ;
By sunny brightness, by rain verdure (springs up) from the earth !
For is not my house thus with God ? 5 for an eternal
covenant He has made for me :
1 ^JJ, properly substantive.: heiyht in the local accusative, stands here iu pau.sil
form $jy, as in Hos. vil 16 ; cf. Hos. xi. 7. Q^n for Dpi!"!, see Stade, Gramm.
i. p. 234.
2 Properly, the lovely one, the charmer of the songs,
3 Ver. 2 announces generally that he has received divine revelations ; ver. 3, on the
other hand, proclaims what was told him by inspiration. 3 -Qrj is used properly
of the "divine suggestion " (Keil), which must precede the prophetic announcement,
Hos. i. 2. 2 in such cases is not merely 3 instr. ( = -p^), but denotes : (to speak)
into one.
4 Ver. 3, ^ is to be joined with 1QX, contrary to the Masoretic division.
5 '131 X^ ^3, according to the context, is to be understood interrogatively, just as
at the end of the verse rVDV i6 '3 ; therefore yfe for j&-|.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 165
Well furnished with everything and made sure ; for all my
welfare and all satisfaction, should He not make it
spring forth ?
And the good-for-nothing like thistles, which one shuns, are
they all l for one seizes them not with the hand,
And if one touches them, he arms himself with iron and spear-
shaft and with fire they are consumed just where
they abide." 2
It is owing to the solemn form of this testament of David
that vers. 3& and 4a have no verbs, nor is the logical relation
of the two sentences indicated. On this account the beginning
has been variously understood. Many complete ver. 3 thus : "A
ruler over men will be or come" etc., " then shall it be like light
of the morning," etc. (Hengstenberg, Keil, Tholuck, Oehler, et al.}.
The ellipsis would be strong, but not impossible in so pathetic
an oracle. In this case the oracle would announce a ruler in
future days (of course from David's house, ver. 5), in whom
justice, fear of God, and power over the world would be perfectly
united, so that his empire would be greeted as the welcome
dawn of divine light. In support of this prophetic interpretation
appeal is made to the solemnity of the entire oracle, which must
perforce contain a significant look into the future. It might also
be thought that if David did not during his life consciously
contrast the true person of the God-anointed one with himself,
at least at his death he attained the higher knowledge that the
true and real kingdom of God and its king belonged entirely to
the future. But decisive against this interpretation of the first
verses, in our opinion, is the antithesis of vers. 6 and 7, which
describe how the wicked who do pure harm inspire pure aversion,
and so will be destroyed root and branch. This mashal-like
oracle requires just as general a meaning to be given to vers.
3 and 4, which are then aptly followed by the great, definite
1 Di"l;>3, the ancient, uncontracted form, of which QSj3 is a contraction. Gesenius,
Gram. ''91, 1, 2.
2 Vers. 6 and 7 describe in a few drastic touches how one avoids even coming
near the ungodly, the bad (^JJ'^3, opposite of just and God-fearing). Even while
seeking to exterminate, one cannot touch them. One burns them on the spot
where they dwell (rQBQ), so as not to spoil other places with seeds of thistles and
thorns. According to Wellhausen, indeed, r>3$3 has crept in from the following
line.
166 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
example, ver. 5. We therefore complete the sense thus (like Ewald,
Thenius, Bunsen, et al.} : " If a ruler over men is just, a ruler in
God's fear," or " If one rules justly over men, God-fearing, then
is it like morning light, when the sun rises ; " i.e. from his
government pure blessing and satisfaction proceed ; it is like a
promising daybreak, when the bright rays after refreshing rain
gloriously lure forth every green thing. This general rule, a
testament worthy of the great king, in whom it was proved most
gloriously true, is then confirmed by his own example, ver. 5 :
" Is it not so with my house ? " What holds true generally on
earth (cf. the general onsa) is shown most palpably in his govern-
ment. Moreover, the house of him who is ever intent on justice
and God's fear has been glorified by God for all future time, and
made sure by an " eternal covenant." Or, must not in fact all
well-being and satisfaction spring up for him in the future from
his house, according to the promise of the Lord ? The true
servant of God, the man after God's heart, thus declares when
dying, that fidelity brings rich reward, and that from justice and the
fear of God pure blessing springs beyond hope and understanding.
Here, certainly, his gaze is directed to the future. What he
leaves behind is a crop full of promise, which has yet to grow ;
for now when he, the old king, is departing, the sun is not going
down, but the morning is only breaking in undreamed-of splendour.
The salvation assured to him by God's grace will yet blossom.
If, indeed, P^V xpo were understood of a future ruler an-
nounced by David, the reference to the future would be more
definite and personal. We should then have the considerable
advance that, as Oehler puts it, " the knowledge of the idea of
monarchy advances to the individualizing of an ideal." Nay, a
definite ruler would be announced, marked by justice and piety
in fullest measure, in whom all the glory of his house would be
unfolded. On the other hand, according to our more general
interpretation, we do not find in the words any more personal
view than in 2 Sam. vii. But David's gaze rests when dying,
like Jacob's, on the future, where first the salvation will spring
iip, which he has only seen in germ, but which is secured to him
by God's inviolable promise. The gaze also of the good among
his people is henceforth fixed hopefully on the future days of the
house of David, which, built on such firm ground, promises to
culminate in greater glory than now belongs to it.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 167
NOTE A. 13, standing absolutely, applies to the Son of Him who
is spoken of in the other words : " that He be not angry," etc. The
solemn isolation of the word intimates the loftiness of the idea it
contains. On the etymology of 13=}3 (in Hebrew again, Prov.
xxxi. 2, also poetic), see Gesenius, Handworterluch, newly revised
by F. Miihlau and W. Volck, sub voce 13. P^J (kal and piel] with
personal accusative means nothing but to kiss, Sol. Song i. 2. The
kiss of homage is meant (1 Sam. x. 1) ; and, indeed, the word is used
chiefly in reference to the homage done to divine beings, 1 Kings
xix. 18 ; Job xxxi. 27. The other acceptations of the passage
proposed (cf. Hupfeld, Comm. zu den Psalmen) are unsatisfactory ;
so, too, the impersonal acceptation of the 13 as adverb, purely,
sincerely (Aq., Syrnm., Hier.), and the reading 13 (Hupfeld) : unite
yourselves to Him, a construction without linguistic warrant.
21. The Typical Significance of David, Solomon, and the
Davidites in Prosperity and Adversity.
Although David exhibited the Messianic idea in his person and
kingdom but imperfectly, and Solomon realized the hopes at
first set upon him yet more imperfectly, still their reign formed
the zenith of the Israelitish kingdom, and no kings were so
worthy as they of the high dignity with which they were invested.
Hence their life and songs, especially those of David, were after-
wards regarded as typical of the greater Messiah to follow. Thus
a series of psalms became in a manner prophetic, although in
themselves they contained no reference to the future. These
are the properly Typical Psalms. On one hand, in the life of
those princes or the later Davidites there are conspicuous
epochs (coronation, marriage, victory, deliverance) well suited
to cause their divine dignity to be celebrated in songs which
were afterwards interpreted of the future ; while, on the other
hand, there were dangers, assaults, and persecutions calculated
to bring vividly out the hostility of the world to the Lord's
Anointed, the sufferings of the elect saint and the divine help
and exalted honour bestowed on him after humiliation. The latter
picture, alongside the pictures of Messianic glory, bore abiding
witness to a mysterious necessity of suffering in the supreme
Servant of God, which suffering also pointed to a purer consumma-
tion of the idea of the Servant in the future. Finally, David the
devout suppliant and Psalmist became a type of the sincere,
168 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
believing souls who stand in living intercourse with their Lord
and pour out their inmost thoughts before Him. On this
account his name has been assigned to many songs of this class.
And not a few sayings of such songs seemed afterwards to be a
prophecy of the greater Son of David, who was to exhibit still
more perfectly than His ancestor the ideal of true saintliness.
We have seen that the Messianic idea, traceable in its root
to the revelations imparted to David and unfolded in the songs
first sung by the Anointed one, is as follows. The Davidic king
stands in most direct relation to Yahveh, who in virtue of His
covenant is really king of this people. Chosen and appointed by
the Lord, he represents before the people, nay, before the world,
the almighty, sovereign ruler of heaven and earth. But at the
same time the vocation of the holy people to be at once God's
servant and son culminates in his person. Thus before the
Lord the Davidic king represents his people in priestly
fashion. The national form of the covenant-idea here becomes
personal, without the thought of the national kingdom of God
being given up ; for the person thus intimately one with God
is the national king, the mediator between God and His people.
It is self-evident that this idea was bound to make itself heard
in the songs and other utterances of the Church under prophetic
stimulus. This is the case in the so-called Regal psalms, where
the Davidic kingdom is celebrated as God-chosen, or the Lord
is invoked on its behalf, or on behalf of the reigning king
(cf. Psalms like xx., xxi., xlv., etc.). But the ideal element of
the Davidic kingdom was especially prominent where any
epoch in the government of special lustre set its divine dignity
in bright relief. Possibly Ps. xx. was sung on going forth to
war, Ps. xxi. on the king's birthday (Ewald). Ps. xlv. is,
in any case, a song extolling the ruler on the day of his
marriage with a king's daughter, who is led to him in festal
procession. What prince is here celebrated cannot be made out
with certainty. But the prophetic style of the hymn and its
reception into the Canon perhaps requires us to think of a Davidite. 1
1 This against Hitzig, who would refer the psalm to the marriage of Ahah with
Jezebel, and de Wette, who would refer it to a Persian king, as well as against Ewald,
who suggests Jeroboam II. Ewald's inference from ver. 8, that the kingdom must
have been an elective kingdom, where the king was merely the first among equals,
is completely refuted by ver. 17. Since the fathers of the king reigned previously,
THE ANOINTED OF THE LOED. 169
Since "iJrna (joined with vav) cannot be an address, it is not
said that the bride was Tyrian (so Hupfeld, who supposes a
daughter of Hiram, of whose union with Solomon history says
nothing). The entry of the well-known Egyptian consort of
Solomon might be the subject of the song, whose reference to
the Solomonic kingdom there is much to favour, if ver. 17 did
not presuppose a line of reigning ancestors of the king which
does not suit Solomon. Delitzsch regards the marriage of Joram
of Judah with Athaliah of Israel as the occasion of the song. 1
In this case the exhortation to the queen to forget her
people and father's house would get all the deeper signifi-
cance ; the pious marriage-wishes were, of course, not fulfilled ;
the hortatory praises 2 addressed to the king and queen were not
laid to heart.
The near relation to God implied in Ps. xlv. 6 a Messianic
echo of the prophetic sayings considered in the last sections
should be observed. Still in ver. 6 the personage celebrated is
addressed directly as D'nhtj which is not a forbidden apotheosis,
only because in virtue of his dignity he stands in God's place.
Even the judges of the people of Israel represented God ; to
come before the judge is to come before God. 3 But here more
is affirmed. It is said :
" Thy throne, God, endures for ever and ever ; a sceptre
of straightness is the sceptre of Thy rule."
Here a certain identity with the Deity is ascribed not merely
to the actual bearer of the office, but to the person of the king, or
to his house, his dynasty, so that it will rule for ever (like God) ;
cf. vers. 16 1, 2. As this rule, in virtue of its divine character,
far exceeds all other earthly powers in age, so its splendour is
immeasurably extended in space. The nations cannot with-
stand this glorious prince (ver. 5) ; foreign kings seek his favour
the divine anointing with the oil of delight, distinguishing the king from his
companions, cannot be the call to the regal office, but refers to the salvation and
prosperity with which God distinguished him above his fellow-rulers.
1 See the reasons in his Commentary.
2 Cf. the Egyptian custom of exhorting kings by daily eulogistic intercessions for
them.
3 Ex. xxi. 6, xxii. 8, 9, 28 ; cf. Ps. Ixxxii. 1 ff., where even unjust judges are
solemnly so named by the Lord (ver. 6). Jesus adduced this passage (ver. 6) to the
Jews to prove that His claim to divine Sonship was no blasphemy, since He could
boast of Deity with far more right than they to whom it was ascribed in a certain
sense in the law (in Holy Writ).
170 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
and send to him their daughters (ver. 9) ; the treasures of the
richest cities are offered to him and to his consort (ver. 13), who
will gladly exchange the glory of her native court for the higher
glory of David's. The sons will rule as gloriously as their pre-
decessors, and as sub-kings will represent everywhere on earth
the majesty of the house until they come to reign, ver. 16.
This at all events supposes a vast enlargement of the modest
Israelitish domain ; for, limited to Israelitish territory, especially
when divided, the pKn~?33 Dnb> would be ridiculous. Even in
adverse days the Davidic king makes lofty claims (Ps. lx.).
Moreover, looking at Ps. ii., viii., and Ixxii. 11, these boundless
hopes of glory in the future are by no means unwarranted. But,
of course, they can only be understood on the supposition that to
the singer's consciousness the kingdom celebrated had a glory
superior to every earthly power. Thus a brilliant epoch in the
history of the Davidic house was sung ; the after-world has
referred this song of a king surrounded with god-like doxa to the
future ruler on David's throne, who would be warranted in
claiming Deity with greater right (cf. Isa. ix. 5).
Ps. Ixviii., the great hymn of war and triumph, which sees-
in Israel's contests against the hostile kingdoms of the world the
Parousia of God, as on Sinai and in Deborah's conflict, a sort
of expansion of Ps. ex., owed its origin to a solemn moment
of another kind. The uncertainty of its date has become a
proverb. 1 But whether it originated under David or later, it
has found a well-merited place in the psalm-book for all time,
as a testimony to God's victorious kingdom in Israel, which
out of Zion made all nations feel its greatness.
The development of concrete Messianic glory culminates in a
psalm bearing Solomon's name (Ps. Ixxii.). In it the Church
speaks, not the ruler himself. If, then, we wish to retain the
Solomonic authorship in accordance with the heading, we must
suppose that the wise, poetic (1 Kings v. 12) king, at the
beginning of his reign so full of promise, 2 put this prayer into
the mouth of the people. At all events the character of the song
throughout suits Solomon's days and person. Whereas the
1 Cf. E. Reuss, Der achtundsechzigste Psalm, ein Denkmal exegetischer Noth und
Kunst zu Ehren umtrer ganzen Zunft, Jena 1851.
See prayers composed at the installation of a pre-Solomonic ruler of China in
the Schi-king (translated by V. v. Strauss), p. 483- 489.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 171
Davidic psalms, ex., xviii., Ixviii., ii., etc., have to tell of conflict
and victory over menacing hostile powers, it is a broad kingdom
of untroubled peace that floats as an ideal before this ruler.
Instead of martial valour, his most brilliant virtue is the justice
which gladly succours the just and defenceless (cf. 1 Kings iii.
5 ff., 16 ff.). The blessing of such peaceful government falls on
the land like God's fertilizing rain (2 Sam. xxiii. 4). To this
peaceful ruler spontaneous homage is done by Tarshish and the
isles of the West, brought near to Solomon by his alliance with
the Phoenicians ; and in the same way by the kings of Sheba and
Seba, with whom he is allied by trade, on the south (Ophir,
1 Kings ix. 28, x. 22), as well as by literary commerce (x. 1 ff.).
Thus the divine blessings in nature join with the tribute
(gold, ver. 15 ; cf. 1 Kings x. 10) brought by the farthest nations
to make his land the most fortunate in the world. But the
king's best reward is found in the intercessions of his subjects,
who owe their being and well-being to his justice and gentle-
ness. 1 His fame brightens as long as the sun shines and the
moon endures. 2 In his name all nations bless themselves
(with ver. 17, cf. Gen. xxii. 18, xxvi. 4 ; p. 107, ante), so that in a
special sense he will be the heir of the supreme patriarchal
promise !
" May his name endure for ever as long as the sun shines
may his name put forth shoots ;
And let them bless themselves in him all nations call him
blessed."
This, too, Solomon was permitted to experience in a certain
measure (1 Kings x. 9, 24 f., v. 14). But no doubt even his
kingdom remained in extent and glory far behind what this
psalm wishes him as the heritage belonging to God's anointed.
Ver. 15 : " And so he (the one delivered) will remain alive and offer to him what is
better than Saba-gold, and make intercession for him continually, bless him at every
opportunity. " This strangely misunderstood verse is plain enough, directly the j in
2!"!ttD is taken as the comparative, in which sense it also elsewhere stands before
nouns expressing specially a pre-eminent quality.
2 In ver. 5 it is disputed whether God is addressed (so e.g. Calvin, Delitzsch) or
the king (e.g. Hupfeld, Hitzig) ; but the latter answers better to the context. Thus
the Messianic character of the king appears, owing to which he remains to all
generations an object of grateful reverence. Qy (Dan. iii. 33) and ^3*5 (cf. ver. 7)
are temporal, not: as far as the sun shine*. In ver. 17 the imperishable is more
definitely separated from the mortal personality of the king.
172 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
After the rapid decline of Solomonic glory this psalm also was
regarded, with complete justice, as a prophecy awaiting its
fulfilment.
Here, too, is the place to mention the Song of Solomon, which,
according to our opinion explained elsewhere, 1 celebrates origin-
ally the noblest, purest love of this king, but on account of
Solomon's Messianic dignity was soon understood of the most
sacred love with which the Lord woos His Church, and of which
the prophets, especially Hosea, had spoken so gloriously.
Little as the view of the synagogue and early Church, according
to which this poem originated in allegorical intent, corresponds to
its vivid, natural freshness, still the reference to the loving rela-
tion between the Lord and His Church is so far justified in that,
according to unvarying prophetic and apostolic teaching, pure
bridal love is an image of God's love, and Solomon is a type of
the greater Messiah. Of this conception also the true Son of
David brought the consummation, exhibiting the most profound
condescension on the part of the heavenly King, and establishing
the most intimate and living fellowship with His Church on
earth. As, therefore, the marriage-song Ps. xlv. points typically
to the completion of God's kingdom, so often set forth in the New
Testament as a marriage-solemnity, so also is it with this song,
which chants the Messianic king and his peerless bride, and
illustrates still more strongly the tender love binding the two
together, bridal love with its longing and hoping, seeking and
finding, the chaste affection which as a divine flame brooks
nothing impure, and ignores all earthly disparity.
Among the typical songs we have to name in the second line
the Passion-psalms. In keeping with God's wondrous redeeming
plan it was typical of the Messiah in high degree that David
rose to glory only through the heaviest persecutions, and was
forced during the course of his eventful life to drink the cup of
affliction to the dregs. Of the sufferings he had to undergo in
his persecution by Saul and by Absalom a series of unimpeach-
able psalms speaks. Many early Christian expositors thought
that David is not here always singing of his own sufferings, but
occasionally of those of the future Messiah. But these songs
spring so plainly from personal experience of affliction, that the
1 Herzog's Real-EncyL, 2nd ed. vi. 245 ff., especially p. 249. In this we follow
Delitzsch, Comm.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 1*73
view which makes the poet transport himself into another's soul
is altogether excluded by the directness of feeling exhibited.
David sings of suffering and sorrow, anguish and distress, actually
experienced. Out of woe and peril he struggles upward in
prayer to God. But this suffering saint, familiar with the Lord
like none else on earth, and yet so beset by heavy affliction, was
intended to set forth beforehand a divine decree, which was only
to be completely realized in the perfectly Just One, who endured
the hardest treatment. No conscious reference to the future lies
in these songs, so far as they complain of suffering ; they are
all but without the prophetic stamp, which cannot be mis-
taken in Ps. ex., ii., etc. ; but in the objective divine plan
certainly there is a connection between the imperfect types in
which the divine purpose is barely hinted and the complete
image which was yet to appear. Later prophecy (e.g. Deutero-
Isaiah) then recognised such a connection, took up the features of
the martyr-image sketched in the psalms, and embodied them in
its perfect image of the future. But on many points, where the
language went beyond existing facts, the actual fulfilment brought
a literal fulfilment. The hyperbolical character adhering to the
suffering of the Old Testament saint was to become fact.
In this class of psalms their prophetic significance does not
essentially depend on the question whether they originate with
David himself, or with a later heir of his crown, or issued
from the Church. The divine idea of the suffering saint might
also be exhibited beforehand in another; as in fact Job and
Jeremiah, although no Davidites, were typical of Christ's suffer-
ings, and were so used by Deutero-Isaiah. But in any case it
was of essential significance that the same David, who in the unique
consciousness of his divine kingship could boast of a relation to
God inconceivably close, was also obliged, beyond every one
else of his age and nation, to complain of unmerited, malignant
suffering. In his person we see united the two figures which
to later Jewish thought fell apart in dualistic fashion -the
image of the glorious king and the image of the mysterious martyr.
That David's troubles and persecutions gave rise to psalms, in
which he poured out his inner misery before God, and at the same
time fought his way to firm trust in the answering, delivering
God, is also proved by the fact that later songs of this kind were
referred to David, the bold suppliant in distress. By way of
174 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
example we name as psalms which undoubtedly spring from him,
and show how in bitter assaults from men he was conscious of
his close relation to God, Ps. iii., iv., vl, vii., xi. xvii., cf. the
opening of Ps. xviii. Ps. xli. we also assign to this class, and
indeed to the time when Absalom's rebellion and the treachery of
his best friend pressed heavily on the king suffering from sick-
ness. That it is a person politically powerful, a king, who in
these circumstances comforts himself with his God, is clear
from vers. 5, 7, 10. How typical this sharp anguish was
of the greatest Sufferer, the latter himself emphasizes, John
xiii. 18 : 'iva r) ypa<f>r) 7r\rjpa)6f)' 'O rparywv fier e/zou rov aprov
eTrfjpev eV e/*e rrjv irrepvav avrov. Of course David is depicting
his own experience : Ahithophel, whose counsel was to him like
God's oracle, has basely betrayed him and secretly made common
cause with the foe, as he well sees. Yet it is not a perfect saint
who prays this psalm. Despite the confession of sin in ver. 5,
he is hated without right and reason ; in the last resort he is so
attacked on account of his piety ; compare the declaration of his
innocence, ver. 12. For this reason his suffering is typical. And
the bitter experience of faithless betrayal by a trusted favourite
could not be wanting in the cup of Him in whom the full measure
of sacred endurance for God's sake was to be seen. This feature
is also found in the suffering image of other Old Testament
saints ; so Ps. Iv. (vers. 12-14, 20 f.), which we do not regard as
Davidic (see ver. 14).
Because it was David who in deepest tribulation first struck
his harp in such a way that its tones became prophetic beyond
his dreaming and understanding, men thought they heard his
voice in kindred songs of other devout, sorely-tried suppliants,
and sought in his life for occasions which might have given rise
to particular songs. In the case of Ps. liv., Ivi., Ivii., lix., indeed,
no valid objection can be raised against the view that they
originate, as the inscriptions state, in the days of Saul's persecu-
tion. On the other hand, the Davidic origin of Ps. Iii. (cf. ver. 10),
despite a similar statement, is very unlikely.
Ps. xxii., the most notable of the Passion-psalms, is scarcely
by David himself, as the inscription states and Delitzsch tries to
prove. But the author was an eminent leader of the theocratic
Church. 1 At present he seems banished or rather a prisoner, utterly
1 Hitzig suggests Jeremiah.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 175
helpless, given over to hate and scorn. This undeserved suffering,
having its ground essentially in the suppliant's close relation to
God (ver. 8), at last humbles him to the lowest point. He feels
himself no longer a man, merely a worm (ver. 6). Even if, like
Delitzsch,we call to mind the time of severest affliction which David
passed through (1 Sam. xxiv. 15, xxvi. 20), and at the same time
take into account David's sensitive temperament, which felt enmity
and affliction in keenest measure, no adequate reason for the
special wails of the psalm readily offers itself. At the time of
Saul's persecution David was no broken man, such as the sup-
pliant of the psalm seems to be. Thus we have to suppose a
saint perhaps of the next age, who experienced suffering in the
severest degree. In him David's sufferings appear in aggravated
form, and just so the consciousness of martyrdom, i.e. of a good
confession as the reason of the hostility of men.
He begins at once with the memorable words : " My God, my
God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " in which a strong contradic-
tion is evident between the devotion of one who can call God Ms
God and his fate, which is that of one forsaken by God. As is
well known, Jesus on the cross made this saying His own, 1
intimating that this intrinsic contradiction was realized in Him
in highest measure Him, the Son of God, abandoned by God to
the most ignominious of deaths ! If the Psalmist could only
address God as his in a limited sense, our Lord could do this
with fullest justice. And what the former complains of in mere
figurative, though highly-coloured terms, befell the Son of God
in veritable fact. This applies to several statements in the
psalm, which are not to be pressed literally, but were literally
fulfilled in Christ. Herein we see the objective connection
established of set purpose by God's Providence, which so framed
even the phrasing of the pious prayer that without know-
ledge of the suppliant it became prophecy, and again so controlled
even what was outward, and seemingly accidental, in the history
of Jesus, that the old prophetic oracles appear incorporated in it.
As ver. 1 furnished the words in which the Lord in His mortal
agony gave expression to His feeling of deepest dismay, so ver. 6 ff.
seem to describe the situation and surroundings of the Crucified.
1 Mark xv. 34 ; Matt, xxvii. 46, the latter of which gives the old Hebrew word-
ing, the former the Aramaic, Palestinian country-speech, in which the prayer ou the
cross was uttered.
176 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
With ver. 7 cf. Mark xv. 29 ; with ver. 8, Matt, xxvii. 43 ; with
vers. 1315, the exposure of the worn, anguished sufferer, especially
John xix. 28. In ver. 16 the reading is uncertain. 1 But the
Masoretic reading ^xa is utterly impracticable despite ver. 21,
and perhaps arose out of the latter. Hence, apart from all
dogmatic prepossession, which Hupfeld holds alone capable of
taking our view, the verbal 11K3 of the versions is preferable,
which afterwards ceased perhaps to be understood, "ixa = 112,
to dig, dig through. It seems to refer to the ill-treatment of a
prisoner who, robbed of his clothes, and nailed fast by hands and
feet, is abandoned to the derision of the rabble surrounding him.
That the suppliant literally suffered this extreme outrage, is per-
haps not to be supposed ; his animal metaphors also show that
he paints his desperate situation in drastic colours. But all
these features were to find their realization in the martyr-form
on Golgotha the exposure of the victim, the painful nailing of
hands and feet, His nakedness, 2 the division of His garments and
casting lots for His cloak (Matt, xxvii. 35 ; cf. Mark xv. 24;
Luke xxiii. 35 ; John xix. 24). The oracle is one of those which
were fulfilled even in the seemingly accidental form of the
Hebrew parallelism, where one member differs scarcely per-
ceptibly from the other, as the fourth Gospel especially points
out, where also Ps. xxii. 18 is expressly quoted.
From ver. 22 onwards the urgent prayer, to which the previous
complaints lead up, passes into confident praise of the delivering
grace which the suppliant is confident of experiencing. But the
manner in which he describes the public thanksgiving for his
deliverance is no less noteworthy than the picture of his sufferings.
Not only will he, like a David, Hezekiah, and other pious kings,
pay his thank-offering before all the people, so that they who fear
God may enjoy this sacramental feast ; the conclusion of the song,
vers. 27-31, speaks even of the heathen coming from the ends
of the earth and worshipping the Lord ; " for the kingdom is the
Lord's, and He will rule among the heathen" (ver. 28). Nay,
it seems that the deliverance of this sufferer and his praise of
1 The Hebrew MSS. almost without exception give ^1X3, n t Y1X3- The LXX.,
on the other hand, have pv%*,, and therefore read VlfcO ; just so Syr. Vulg.
Jerome. See particulars in the commentaries of Hupfeld and Delitzsch.
s Ver. 17 a seems, on account of ver. 176, to apply to this feature, which does not
preclude the "counting of the bones" being at the same time a sign of emaciation
in consequence of great anguish.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 177
the Lord will bring about this conversion; cf. ^r., ver. 27, to
which W>nn is to be supplied. As he invites his own brethren,
in accordance with his vow, to a great sacrificial feast, so too he
expects the heathen there as guests.
As, then, the beginning and middle of the psalm are typical,
so the conclusion is prophetic. And it is just the prophetic
conclusion which proves that we have before us here, not an
imaginary type, but one that is the work of the Spirit. The
suppliant was an intelligent leader of the Church ; his prayer
ends with an oracle of prophetic illumination ; thus even in his
bitter complaints he was directed by a higher Spirit, and not
unworthy to be a prophetic type of Him who by His unique
martyrdom founded the kingdom of God over the world.
Presumably Ps. xl. springs from the same author l as Ps. xxii.
It also has the appearance of being a prayer of an eminent
saint of the Church, perhaps a king ; and stands related to the
previous song of complaint and prayer as a grateful response
after deliverance from the greatest distress and danger. 2
Pondering, then, what thank-offering is most acceptable to God,
the lofty suppliant comes to see that all words of gratitude are
too little to praise the Lord's wondrous grace (ver. 6), while no
sacrifices can really satisfy God. The only true, God-pleasing
sacrifice is the surrender of one's own person in complete obedience
to God's will revealed in word and writing.
Ver. 6 ff. :
" In slain-offering and dedicated gift Thou hast no pleasure
my ears Thou hast digged !
Burnt-offering and sin-offering Thou requirest not then I
said : Behold, I am ready in the roll
of the book it is written concerning me !
I delight to perform what pleases Thee and Thy law is in
my inmost heart."
The sentence " my ears hast Thou digged " is not introductory
to a disclosure afterwards made to him by God, but in contrast
with what precedes : God prefers an obedient servant who
listens to His voice, to one who brings many offerings. Just
so ver. 7 is to be explained as an expression of complete readi-
1 Cf. especially 31 ^np2, xxii. 25, and xl. 9 f., as well as in the related Ps.
xxxv. 18.
2 Cf. xl. 3, 9 f., with xxii. 22, 25.
ORELLI. M
178 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
ness to observe the divine law. To take this also, \vith Hupfeld,
as merely introductory to the public praise of the Lord, as if all
obedience consisted in this, does not agree with the emphasis of
the words in ver. 8 ; although, certainly, according to Ps. Ixix. 3 f.,
public thanksgiving is the best sacrifice, and the most pleasing
to God. Against this view ver. 9 f. also tells, speaking as they
do plainly of the past. Thus "w *0 K ?" n H i ? '$ T ? applies to
the writer's resolve to place himself, his own person, completely at
God's disposal. As the servant, when his lord calls him, says ^an
(1 Sam. iii. 4), so here the delivered saint : " Lo, I am come to do
what Thou wishest." How he knows the Lord's wish the further
sentence tells : " In the book-roll it is written concerning me ;
there it is prescribed to me what I have to do " (2 Kings xxii. 13).
For the rest, this sentence gives the impression that it is an
eminent personage who speaks thus (which is already evident
from ver. 3), nay, one of whom the book of the divine law
specifically treats. It is a king, so we must conclude, one
whose conduct was there specially described, not merely in " the
law of the king" (Deut. xvii. 14 ff.), but in all that is said in
the Torah respecting government and judgment. Ps. li. 17
would naturally suggest David himself, 1 where the latter has
spoken in similar terms of the value of sacrifice, in exact corre-
spondence with the great principle uttered by his paternal
friend Samuel, 1 Sam. xv. 22 f., according to which obedience is
better than sacrifice. We shall, however, see presently in the
case of Ps. Ixix. that it is rather a later confessor, jealous for
his Lord's honour, who sung these songs. Moreover, the anti-
thesis between sacrifice and obedience is not an absolute
one, as if God had no pleasure at all in sacrifice, and in no
case required it. On the contrary, the harsh form of the con-
trast is to be explained by the Shemitic idiom, which prefers
absolute to relative modes of expression. In 1 Sam. xv. 22 is
found the relative mode of speech, which explains the present
passage. 2
Although the worst danger is escaped for the time, the devout
suppliant is by no means out of all danger. On the contrary,
the conclusion of ver. 12 shows that much still threatens him,
against which he would fain assure himself of the Lord's abiding
1 So most recently, Bredenkamp, Oesetz und Propheten, p. 69 ff.
2 Cf. Marti in the Jena Jahrb. f. protest. Theoloyie, 1880, p. 309 ff.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 179
help. The psalm which had begun with the thanksgiving of one
delivered, concludes with request for further protection. But we
should be just as little warranted in cutting it in two on this
account as in the case of Ps. xxii., where the certainty of being
heard turns complaint into joyous thanksgiving.
If, then, Ps. xl., rightly understood, forms an unquestionable
unity, of course we have no right to refer the passage quoted
above (ver. 6 ff.) to any other subject than the one who every-
where else in the psalm describes his painful and elevating
experiences, and in ver. 13 confesses that his afflictions are not
undeserved. The speaker everywhere is a saint, closely united
indeed with God, yet humanly imperfect. When the Epistle to
the Hebrews applies Ps. xl. 6 ff. to Christ, this is only right,
because such an one might, of course, be a type of Jesus, even if
he was not David himself. Especially the passage in which he
describes his full surrender to obey the Lord as the true sacrifice,
makes him well adapted to serve as a type of the obedient Sufferer,
who came to fulfil the whole law implanted deeply within Him,
and into whose mouth therefore, as into no other's, these words
might be put, as is done in Heb. x. 5 ff., " on his entrance into
the world." l
In a line with Ps. xxii. and xl. stands Ps. Ixix., which,
like Ps. xl. especially, refers to the person of the suppliant, and
touches on the circumstances of his suffering, the tenor of his
thoughts, and his mode of expressing his feelings. Here the cause
of his sufferings and their nature come out still more plainly.
It is fidelity to God, zeal for the house of the Lord, that has
drawn on the sufferer the bitter hate of many foes, and estranged
his neighbours from him (vers. 6, 7 ff.). 2 His mourning for the
decline of godliness has exposed him to the grossest mockery
(ver. 10 f.). His suffering, therefore, is that of a stedfast con-
fessor who, although not free from wandering and sin in God's
1 The citation is marked by exact adherence to the LXX., even where the LXX.
deviate from the Hebrew text. Instead of "iny ears hast Thou digged," the Epistle
to the Hebrews puts the more general nupa. 1\ xarvpTiiru p./>t, which acquires a special
sense in its context. So its author read in the LXX. , who did not understand the
Hebrew phrase, and found it too hard. Hence they generalized it, referring it to
the forming of man's body in general. Hupfeld, de Wette, Bleek take a different
view. They think that a clerical error 2fiMA, instead of 2 nxiA, crept in. But
the KXTripTi/fu, which is also a generalization, tells against this view.
* Ver. 9 : " Zeal for Thy house consumed me, and the revilings of those who
reviled Thee are fallen upon me ! " Cf. John ii. 17.
180 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
sight (ver. 5), is yet unjustly * persecuted by men for his piety
and stedfast testimony. They have no sympathy with him, but
unmercifully aggravate his torments. " And they offered me
poison for my food, and for my thirst gave me vinegar to drink "
(ver. 21). Still he does not despair, but, as one who waits for
his God (ver. 3 ; Ps. xxii. 1), builds on the help of the Lord, and
in spirit sees himself again exalted ; whereupon he intends to
glorify God's name in song, which is an offering more acceptable
to God than high-horned bullocks (cf. Ps. xl.). That it is David
who so prays, as the inscription says, is not directly confirmed
in the psalm. For David could not well speak according to the
terms of vers. 8, 9 ; ver. 33 also implies an actual imprison-
ment. This may also be decisive against the Davidic authorship
of Ps. xl. and xxii. On the other hand, the author must, as is
true too of Ps. xxxii. and xl., be a conspicuous member, if not
the head, of the believing Church (Ixix. 6, 32). 3
On p. 167 we have described even the personal relation of
David in his capacity as a devout believer, apart from the high
position assigned him by God and the humiliation and trial
through which the Lord led him, as possessing a typical character
which was to be consummated in David's greater Son. This
relation between God and the soul inseparably one with Him
and happy in Him, certainly finds expression often enough in
the lofty regal songs that sing of the Messiah's dignity; in a
remarkable way, with special intensity and vigour, it is expressed
in the Passion-psalms of David and his like-minded companions
in suffering of a later day. But along with these the songs are
significant, in which David bears testimony, more as a man than
as a king, to his salvation in God, without such testimony being
wrung from him by distress and tribulation. A glorious example
of this kind is Ps. xvi., in which David commends the happy lot
that has fallen to him, the blessedness of which consists, not in
any earthly greatness or outward fortune, but in fellowship with
1 The citation John xv. 25, l/n!<rnf pi S^iav, refers to ver. 4 ; the saying is also
found in the similar psalm, xxxv. 19.
* Cf. John xix. 28 ff. ; Matt, xxvii. 34, 48 ; Mark xv. 23, 36 ; Luke xxiii. 36.
3 Several features suit the imprisoned Jeremiah (Hitzig), as in Ps. xxii., xl.
Vers. 2, 14 (cf. xl. 2) might be an allusion to the miry pit in which he was
imprisoned (Jer. xxxviii. 6), but no inference can be drawn from this. Vers. 12 and
22 do not agree with the position of Jerusalem then, nor ver. 26 with Jeremiah's
fate.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 181
Yahveh. It is not a cry for deliverance from special affliction,
but a prayer for preservation from such evil as may befall any
mortal. In the Lord he knows himself safe from this, even
from the danger of death, Ps. xvi. 8-11 :
" I have set Yahveh ever before me ; for at my right hand
(He stands) ; I shall not totter !
On this account my heart rejoices and my glory exults my
flesh also dwells in security.
For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to the underworld nor
give up Thy saints to see the pit.
Thou wilt make known to me the way of life fulness of
joy is before Thy face blessednesses
in Thy right hand for ever."
It is true, the New Testament may easily lead to our reading
something more definite in this testimony than it originally
affirms. A prophecy of the resurrection of Christ, who " cannot
see corruption," uttered expressis verbis, is obtained at best on
the scarcely tenable assumption of the LXX., that nnp here
denotes corruption, 1 and that the keri TT 1 ?!!! 1 (sing.) is to be pre-
ferred ; even then a resurrection from the grave would not
necessarily be spoken of, but rescue from the state of death
generally. But, on the other hand, to find in the passage merely
the hope of long life does not do justice to the words. Observe
the categorical form : " Thou wilt not 2 forsake my soul, that it
should fall victim to the underworld ; Tliou wilt not give up Thy
saints, so that they should see the pit." Would it be doing justice
to these words to make them mean : The good shall live longer
than others ? Is it not said directly : They shall not fall a
prey to the underworld, shall not see the pit ? It is a word of
bold faith that we have here, as in Ps. Ixxiii. 23 ff. In closest
fellowship with God, 3 David is conscious of triumph over the
grave and death. For whoever is inseparably one with the
Most High, over him death has no power. With the Lord he
ever finds life and bliss. How the Lord will preserve His
familiar friend from the power of death and grant him eternal
1 So certainly Bottcher, Ausf. Lehrbuch, i. p. 419, who distinguishes this
as masc. from the fern, coming from niB> an( i attributes to it the meaning
" corruption, destruction." The fl would then be radical.
' 2 $, not ^K> is used.
3 Cf. Hupfeld on Ps. xvi. 10.
182 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
life is not declared ; this does not trouble one united with God
and joyfully certain of his heritage. In another psalm (xlix. 15)
the same confidence appears in a more definite form : God will
rescue the pious one, even him who in appearance falls a prey
to the underworld, from its power, and prepare for him another
dwelling. Ps. xvi. 10 f. gives no indication of the mode in
which God will save His people from the bitterness of death.
Put that He will do it the singer is certain from his intercourse
with the living God. For one who has chosen God for his
portion to fall a prey to the world of shades (observe the ^
in /KB?) and taste the destruction of the grave (nntr n ^), would
be an impossible abandonment on God's part (3TV), an act of
forsaking (103) irreconcilable with God's faithfulness.
As certainly, then, as Jesus is the Christ, of whom David, the
Messiah of his age, was the inadequate type, as certainly as the
ruling feature of this psalm heartfelt union between God and
the soul of one whom God has chosen and who has chosen God
was perfectly realized in Jesus, so certainly must the conquest
of death and the grave attain complete realization in Him. The
passage is one of those, even apart from its quotation in the
Acts, which would convince any one enlightened by God's Spirit
of the intrinsic necessity of Christ's resurrection, and by which
the Lord proved the resurrection to His disciples. A fuller
examination of the passage is found in the Pentecost-discourse
of Peter (Acts ii. 25 ff.) and in the synagogue-discourse of Paul
at Antioch (xiii. 34 ff.). It is evident from these two citations
that the passage was a principal authority in the proof of Jesus'
Messiahship before Israel itish hearers. And according to what has
just been said, rightly. The variation of wording in the LXX.,
suggesting a still more definite reference to the resurrection
(from the grave) on the third day, is a secondary matter ; the
argument of the apostles by no means stands or falls with it ;
apart from this point, they are quite in the right when they
mention the imperfection of David, seen in the fact that he died
and was buried, whereas according to David's own words the
perfectly Just One should not be given up to the underworld. It
is just as pertinent when they point out Christ as the one who
verified the saying of David. And Peter's description of the
saying of the Israelitish king as prophetic, as spoken in foresight of
the true Messiah and His resurrection, is well justified by ii. 30,
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 183
God's standing in so intimate a relation to David was a
preparation for the far more intimate one of David's Son ; what
David beheld in moments of elevated devotion was a foresight
of what God would afterwards reveal of His grace and truth.
Thus this psalm-word was prophetic, awaiting a future fulfil-
ment of unimagined glory, even if the suppliant was not aware
that another only instead of himself would enjoy perfect religious
fellowship, and prove it by perfect conquest over death.
If we look back on the typical psalms, their common mark is,
that the reference to another person than that of the suppliant
is not present in the latter's consciousness. They treat of the
Messiah not expressly but implicitly, so far as in the singers, or
in those sung of, the future Messiahship has already acquired life
and provisional shape in its different aspects. True, the specific-
ally prophetic cannot be entirely severed from the typical element,
inasmuch as these songs not seldom speak consciously of things
which will only obtain perfect shape in the future. Moreover,
even in 0. T. days these psalms had a history. The more
that experience showed the human fragility of the typical
Messiahship, the more loudly and definitely that the prophets
spoke of a future perfect shaping of the divine ideas, so much
the more certainly must these announcements have seemed
prophetic to the typical representatives of these ideas ; the super-
abundant import detached itself from their persons, and found its
unity and the security for its realization in the person of the
Messiah expected in the future. Schultz calls this transforming
of the typical into the prophetic a fruit of the Church's thought. 1
Xo doubt it was still more a fruit of the prophets' thought. But
the main question is, whether this reference of the testimonies
of the suppliants to the future was predominantly subjective
or was thoroughly justified on objective grounds ; in other words,
whether the ideal blessings that became afterwards the possession
of the Church were arbitrarily clothed in past forms, imported
into the old sayings, or whether those types and their utterances
1 Stud, und Krit. 1866, p. 42, Ueber doppellen Schriftsinn. This title is mis-
leading, since it suggests the notion of a second sense superposed without organic
connection ; whereas the prophetic sense grows organically out of the historico-
psychological one, its germ lying already in the latter. For the rest, even the
author acknowledges (p. 12) an inner relation, an essential affinity between the
import of such psalms and what happened to Christ ; in such a way, indeed, that the
words gained their full sense and import, their deepest significance, first in Christ.
184 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
were meant by the will of the Spirit, whose work they were, to
point to the perfect future. Only one who knows the livin-
Spirit of God that, raised above human consciousness, controls
human existence, thinking and speaking, and designedly moulds
them into one vast system only he will recognise prophecy in
these songs of a David, Solomon, Jeremiah, as Christ and the
apostles did. Moreover, only this view of history can lay claim to
the name of Christian.
With Ps. xvi. a saying of the Chokma, prophetic in a certain
sense, may be combined. We mean Job xix. 25-27. As in
that song the popular conception of a state bordering on non-
existence in the kingdom of the dead is transcended by the con-
sciousness of blessed fellowship with God, so here that negative
theory of a deeply unfortunate man is seen to be vanquished by
the certainty that an adjustment of the contradictions of this
life must ensue after death.
" But I am certain that my Eedeemer is living, and as
Afterman (Nachmann) He will arise upon the dust. 1 And
after my skin which is there destroyed, 2 and free from my
flesh shall I behold Eloah, whom I shall behold for my good,
and my eyes shall see Him, not another's." 3
As modern philosophy (Kant's Kritik dcr praktischen Ver-
nunft} asserted immortality as a postulate of justice, so the
Israelitish Chokma, from its knowledge of the living God, came to
postulate an adjustment after death of the moral contradiction found
in the temporal destinies of men. Such a case is that of the
unutterably afflicted, pious Job, who is falling victim to death
apparently without remedy, misunderstood and condemned for
his misfortune even by his friends. He knows the just God too
well not to be sure that his innocence and upright disposition
towards God will come to light after death, if not before, and
1 God Himself arises as ^3, Vindicator and Afterman, upon the dust, under which
the one unjustly condemned lies buried. Qip> in the Kal cannot signify raising up,
but intimates the new vital power arising on the scene of death.
2 "inSi not of place : behind, but time : after my skin. This requires fuller
explanation, which is given in JINPlDi-tf- "H^SD must be parallel with this ;
therefore not : out of my flesh (recovered or risen again), but free from it.
3 Others explain : not as a stranger, but as a friend shall I behold God. But *yy
requires the antithesis above. He himself will enjoy the satisfaction of seeing God
as his avenger and vindicator ; not merely will others be forced to see God's revela-
tion in Job's favour.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LOKD. 185
indeed in such a way that he himself will be present in personal
vitality. We see here how the certainty of a life after death is
born out of painful conflict. What in xiv. 13 ff. was mere longing
desire, in xvi. 18 took the shape of bold demand, and in xix. 25
has become joyous certainty, namely, that even death cannot
bury the right. In ver. 23 f., Job wished that his words (i.e.
the assertions of his good right) were graven in stone, so that he
might appeal to after ages. But there is no need of this ; he
has another, higher confidence. Even if he dies, a Goel will
maintain his right after death. Since xvi. 18 speaks of blood
innocently shed, in this Goel we have to think first of a blood-
avenger. Still this expression, like the blood - shedding, is
figurative. It is his Vindicator, who after death redeems him
from the unjust ban pressing heavily upon him. This Goel is
none else than Eloah (xvi. 19), his seeming opponent. Thus he
has a representative who is living, i.e. not subject to death. 1
And the satisfaction which God grants him is, that he will
behold Him after death the God who now hides Himself from
him and will not suffer him to approach Him. Then the dark
riddle is solved and the ban broken. The greatest bliss a
believer can conceive is this beholding of God.
Grand as is this inward conquest of death through the
certainty of righteousness in God's sight and fellowship with
Him, still the passage does not contain a direct Messianic
prophecy, as has been often thought, the raising of the flesh by
the Redeemer in the N. T. sense having been- expressly found
here. 2 The function of the Chokma in general is not the further
prophetic development of the revelation received, but its applica-
tion to practical life. But a weighty consequence, which we
encounter also in prophecy, is here drawn from the knowledge of
the true God. If, as Job shows, God's truth and justice do not
find expression in individual life in this world (which constitutes a
demand for a revelation after death), then prophecy brings the
certainty that God's glory, which otherwise would lack complete
manifestation on earth, will be revealed even to the dead.
And if Job, the pattern saint and also pattern sufferer, mis-
1 This reminds of the living God, from whom Jesus proves the resurrection of the
dead, Mark. xii. 26 f.
? Also Holemann's attempt (Bibelstudien, v. p. 178) to consider Job himself as
the afterman and Goel rising up on the dust, must be rejected.
186 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
understood by every one, because he seems condemned by God
Himself, whereas his suffering is martyr-suffering, by which God
refutes the Accuser if Job was a type of the alone really Sinless
One, who had to suffer the more in virtue of an obscure but
blessed decree of God, then in the latter also, who went to death
unvindicated, the power of the holy, living God will be most
gloriously revealed, since God could not leave His most faithful
Servant in the dust of death. Thus the intrinsic necessity of
the resurrection of Christ follows in point of fact from passages
like the present one, although it does not speak consciously of the
resurrection of One to come. The New Testament nowhere
expressly brings this saying of Job into association with Christ,
although it may have found its place in a pneumatic " opening
of the Scriptures," such as is told of in Luke xxiv. 44-46.
22. The Dwelling of Yahveh on Zion.
When the God of redemptive history bound Himself to the
Davidic house by His covenant with it, thus giving His kingdom
on earth a human and personal centre, His rule on earth at the
same time gained a local centre. Part of the mission of His
Anointed One was to build a house to the Lord (2 Sam. vii. 13),
part of his dignity to be a priest for ever at Jerusalem (Ps. ex. 4).
It is thereby declared that the gracious presence of God among
His people, promised to them ever since the making of the Mosaic
covenant, is to receive an abiding character. The Lord chose
Zion 1 to be His holy mountain, where the idea of God's Church
is to acquire full and complete form.
Ps. xxiv. celebrates the entry of the Lord into the proud
gates of the citadel of Zion, probably on the transference of the
ark to the residence of David, 2 Sam. vi. 12 ff. (vers. 7-10),
and also directs how the people are to behave to the "holy
mountain" now rising in their midst (vers. 1-6). The two
halves of the song form a unity. To the dwellers in Jerusalem
and the neighbourhood it is something new to have Yahveh
1 The exceedingly frequent mention of Zion as the residence of the Lord is aptly
explained by the opinion recently come into favour, that by it is meant, not the
broad south-west hill of Jerusalem, as tradition would have, but the km/it--
mountain, so that the rare name Moriah then merely designates the rib of Ziou
supporting the sanctuary. See my journal, Durch's heilige Land, 1879 (2nd e<l. \
p. 91, 98.
THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD. 187
dwelling within their walls ; on this account they are reminded
of the sacredness of the spot. True, the God who takes up His
abode here is the Lord of heaven and earth, to whom everything
belongs that He has made (vers. 1, 2). But He has chosen for
Himself a hallowed spot, where He desires to be visited by a
sanctified Church, and to bestow on it special blessing. The
sanctity He requires is not mere Levitical purity, but purity of
hands, heart, and lip. After such a Church is gathered on the
mount of the Lord, Yahveh can make His entry, and the hoary,
venerable gates are summoned to lift up their heads, even their
lofty lintels being too low to admit so lofty a Lord, " the King
of glory," " Yahveh of hosts," so called as God of the heavenly
legions. 1
Henceforth, therefore, the Lord of the world has His seat in an
extraordinary sense on Zion, whence He judges the whole world
(Ps. ex. 2) and bestows wondrous blessings on His people and
Church ; on which account Jerusalem is celebrated in so many
psalms as the city of the great king, i.e. of God. 2 If Sinai was the
mountain where divine majesty proclaimed amid the terrors of
God's appearing over the people an inviolable law, Mount Zion,
on the other hand, represents His gracious presence within His
Church, a view whose influence is felt in the New Testament
(Gal. iv. 24-26), the idea of Zion, the city of God, no doubt growing
more and more spiritual. But we believe we ought, in opposition
to modern criticism, definitely to assert, that even in the Davidic-
Solomonic age unique significance was ascribed to the temple on
this hill, because it was regarded as the dwelling of the God of
redemption, as David and his successors were regarded as the
Anointed of Yahveh. Not first in the age of Isaiah did Zion
rise before the prophetic vision above all mountains, although
certainly then prophecy asserted its eternal significance with
special emphasis. Even the pre-Isaianic prophets (Obad. ver. 1 7 ;
Joel iii. 16 ; Amos i. 2) presuppose this local centre of the
1 If in the divine name Yahveh Zebaoth the hosts of Israel were meant, the
latter name would probably be found. Of course Israel may be called "the hosts
of Yahveh " (Ex. xii. 41), since He is pleased to call Israel His Zebaoth, Ex.
vii. 4; cf. Ps. xliv. 9=lx. 10, cviii. 11. But it would be too trifling to honour
God by calling Him God of hosts in the sense : God of our army. The heavenly
army no doubt as a rule stands in the sing., as in Josh. v. 14 ; but see Ps. ciii. 21
(cf. 20), where the plural occurs (certainly not with fern, ending).
2 Cf. Ps. xlvi., xlviii., Ixxxvii. (of which afterwards), xciii., xcvii., xcix., etc.
138 OLD TESTAMENT PKOPHECY.
theocracy, this starting-point of judgment and salvation ; thus
confirming the testimony of the Davidic psalms, according to
which at the same time when He chose David's person and house,
He was pleased to take up His abode on Zion for ever. Even
the prophecies which do not speak expressly of the Davidic
Messiah, but describe God's perfect condescension to His Church
and His dwelling in it, represent the Lord as throned on Zion.
The New Testament first strips off this local dress (John iv. 21),
while verifying the substance of the O. T. Zion-idea in all its
completeness and purity.
SECOND PART.
THE PROPHETIC WORD AS THE HERALD OF THE SECOND BIRTH
OF GOD'S KINGDOM AND THE PLEDGE OF ITS
FUTURE CONSUMMATION.
189
FIBST SECTION.
THE PKOPHETS OF THE FEE-ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL.
23. General Character of Prophecy in the Pre-exilian Period.
WITH the founding of the Davidic monarchy and Solomon's
temple-building, the divine rule the subject of the
previous promises had reached a provisional conclusion in its
course of development. The Messiah, i.e. the reigning monarch
of David's house, was the ruler representing God upon earth,
to whom all nations must in time submit, and the high priest
representing the people before God. God had what He had long
aimed at : He dwelt in the midst of a people w r hich, according to
His law and testament, did Him priestly service as His servant
and also His son. One might now expect that from this point
prophecy would limit itself to the further developing of this
divine rule, and therefore merely announce its extension over the
whole world. This claim of God is grounded in His nature, and
from the first was intimated in His word as His goal ; it was
also declared with full consciousness by His Messiah as we saw
in his psalms. The historically-existing kingdom of God, even
in its greatest extension under Solomon, was still capable of
vast local expansion, and in fact such expansion constantly
appears henceforth in the programme of the prophets.
But from the first the divine idea of God's kingdom was of far
too great ethical depth to allow the prophets, flattering the
national feeling, to direct their gaze to a mere extension and
perfecting of the empirical divine rule, and to predict a progressive
enlargement of the existing divine rule and aggrandizement of
God's people. On the contrary, God's faithful speakers were
obliged first to rebuke the inner apostasy of Israel from its
God, and from that time to foretell the dissolution of the present
form of God's kingdom. Here, too, it is said : " Judgment must
191
192 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
begin at the house of God" (1 Pet. iv. 17). Nay, it began at
David's house, distinguished as it was above all the people.
For how little the existing national kingdom of the Lord
corresponded to God's will, was shown most glaringly in the
Messiah Himself king by divine grace. The flash of the
menacing prophetic word smote David himself, and only by
immediate and humble submission to that word was he able to
soften the penalty into one of a temporary character. Solomon,
whose response to the voice of conscience was persistent obstinacy,
brought on the revolt of the northern tribes from the house
of David, which soon saw itself reduced to the one tribe of
Judah. 1
This event was of high significance for the development of pro-
phecy. Not without effect was a prophet obliged to foretell this
dismemberment, the beginning of the ruin of the kingdom,
which seemed to contradict every promise and hope. At one
blow the entire realization of God's great plan seemed to be
compromised, or at least postponed for a long period. The
people and its king had shown themselves not only incompetent,
but unworthy to take the lofty position assigned them by God ;
and the Lord showed His holy severity, which will not let
itself be trifled with, least of all by His own people. The
Lord cannot and will not renounce the lordship which He
reserved to Himself in His law. Therefore He Himself over-
turns what He had built up. Nor did this overturning judg-
ment stop at the dismemberment of the kingdom. In view
of the still increasing corruption of the people, prophecy fore-
tells their banishment for centuries, first that of the northern,
then also of the southern kingdom. We here see how deep-seated
to the eye of the prophets the evil is ; the entire national life is
corroded by it, so that the political nationality must first be
broken utterly to pieces before any healing of Joseph's wound
can be thought of. Notwithstanding all God's grace and favour,
the sinful king and people cannot be spared a doom bordering
on annihilation.
But God's decree is not frustrated by such guilt. The
covenant of promise made with Abraham and affirmed to David
is too firmly based to render a complete and final rejection of
the people of Israel and the house of David conceivable. The
1 1 Kings xi. 13, 32, xxxvi. 12, 20 ; cf. Herzog, vii. 184.
PROPHETS OF PEE- ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 193
inexorable severity and incorruptible truthfulness of the prophets
are not of more divine sublimity than the confidence with which,
despite the storm of judgment directly impending, they expect
the appearing of a glorious salvation. Thus, up to the Baby-
lonian exile (i.e. up to the complete dissolution and destruction
of the visible theocracy) the promise of salvation forms the bright
fringe on the dark judgment-cloud, which the host of prophetic
seers saw hanging over Israel-Judah.
Thus, at the time of the division of the kingdom, we stand at
an epoch-making crisis of religious development, after which an
essentially new phase of prophecy begins. In the Introduction
(p. 36) we briefly indicated the formal and material distinction
existing between the stage of development considered so far and
the one now opening. True, it is incorrect to date prophecy
generally from the ninth or eighth century, or even to make
the Messianic idea merely appear first at this period. The very
origin and outward evolution of the Israelitish commonwealth
took place under the auspices of the prophetic word. And the
idea of the Anointed of Yahveh, as we have found, after being
announced in the form of intimation long before, was uttered
with divine sublimity already in David's days. But what had
been heard hitherto of the glory of Israel and its king referred
still to immediate realization and applied to the nation as it
was, to the kingdom in its actuality, in its representatives at the
time. Now a far-reaching crisis intervened more and more in
the consciousness of the prophets themselves between promise
and consummation. It was declared with increasing defmiteness,
that the people of God will first be dissolved in the crucible of
judgment, and then, redeemed therefrom, fulfil its true destiny.
Instead of a perfecting of the present divine institution, the true
seers announced more and more inflexibly its approaching end,
which would of course be followed by a new creation, the
making of a new covenant.
In closest connection with this fact is the n edification which
prophecy underwent as to its form. True, even after the division
of the kingdom we see Elijah and Elisha in the northern half
acting directly and intervening in the political condition of the
theocracy. On this account their history is the essential thing ;
their speaking is occasional rather than a testimony reaching beyond
the present, though telling powerfully on events. Longer dis-
ORELLI. N
194 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
courses of theirs are not given us. Elijah represents in person
the divine judicial power, which once more confronts the
rebellious people, restrains them with wholesome violence from
the abyss, and brings them back to the one true God. Hence
prophecy (Malachi) makes him appear again before the final
judgment; and, in point of fact, the N. T. fulfilment presents
the form of the preacher of repentance terrifying and arousing
the whole nation. In Elisha we see the man of God in the
main dispensing blessing at a time when the people had repented.
Thus in his kindly bearing and acts he was in high degree typical
of the Saviour Himself, in whom was revealed all the love and
grace of God, given to all who trust Him in time of need. But
the work of the prophets who come next, whether we assign
Obadiah and Joel, or Amos and Hosea to this period, bears another
character. Their element is not outward action, certainly of
deep inner significance, but rational speech, certainly not merely
theoretical, but practically effective in high degree. And since
this speech of theirs, more and more giving up the present, appeals
to the future, it is readily understood why greater importance is
laid on its being fixed in writing than formerly. The prophetic
preachers also attend to the recording of their testimonies. Whole
prophetic books appear and are carefully preserved.
The contents of prophecy during this period have been in-
dicated in general in what has been already said, and the
discussion will furnish special details. Still we may refer to
certain main conceptions mentioned cursorily in the Introduction,
which emerge in this period and govern the prophetic field of
view throughout. Above all, it is the rule of God, the kingship
of Yahveh, which these prophecies contemplate, p. 30. Even in
the Mosaic age this idea had found realization, although im-
perfectly ; in the Davidic it had presented itself in new shape.
Now it became the subject of oracles pointing to the remoter
future. 1 The entry of God's perfected rule is denoted both
by a temporal and local designation. The first is the " Day of
the Lord" the second the " Corning of the Lord" The former
denotes, as stated before, the point of time when the Lord will
reveal Himself to all the world in the righteousness character-
istic of Him. It is therefore the day of final judgment, when
God's enemies, with everything evil, will be given over to
1 Cf. even Ex. xv. 18.
PROPHETS OF PEE- ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 195
destruction, at least to retributive punishment, whilst the good,
the true Israel, will be saved. But it is the former conception,
that of judgment, which is predominantly connected with the
phrase. It is the day of reckoning, when the time of divine
forbearance and human caprice comes to an end, when the
contradiction between demerit and destiny is done away, when
the will of God, hitherto only contained in word, is put in perfect
harmony with actuality. The idea is plainly more positive,
more definite in contents than that of D^'n nnnx ( se e p. 33),
but has this in common with the latter, with which as to fact it
often coincides, that the essential thing in it is not the temporal
form, but the temporal contents. Hence we ought not to press
the phrase to mean that these things must be transacted within
twenty-four hours. The prophet sees the totality of the final
judgment within the framework of a day. But the conjunction
is more in contents than time, just as prophecy generally sees
together things conjoined in contents, whilst in the outward
reality they may be spread over different periods of time. When
the judgment of God enters, the final judgment draws nigh, the
day of the Lord, for the former is a herald of the latter. But
although the final reckoning may at first fall only on a
small fragment of mankind, it still forms a portion of the great
general reckoning which concludes the present course of the
world.
While the heathen are principally affected by this judgment-
day, Israel- Judah also must pass through the tire of judgment,
arid that first ; if and so far as it has not then repented, it also
falls victim to the final judgment. But to purified Israel a
promise is given, in a phrase borrowed from space, of a revela-
tion of God's grace in highest perfection : He will come to take
up His abode anew on Zion and dwell there for ever in all the
fulness of the manifestations of His love. His dwelling in the
midst of His people was always one of the ruling aims of the
divine dispensations. " He has made His dwelling on Zion." To
Israel this is the highest boast and ground of confidence. But
the more that ungodliness gains the mastery there, the more the
Lord withdraws from His temple and land. His glorious return
to a blessed dwelling in His Church will take place when
judgment has cleansed the place.
As these ideas generally contemplate a new, a more spiritual
196 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
and holy consummation of the kingdom of God, the properly
Messianic idea also enters on a new stadium. Even in the out-
ward dissolution of the monarchy this idea is still retained, and
assumes a purer and more ideal form the more it becomes the
object, not of sight, but of faith and future expectation. As the
nation itself must be again gathered from captivity that God's
plan concerning it may be realized, so too David's house, though
sunk into a shattered hut, must be again built up. And as in
the prophetic founding of the monarchy a personal head was
created in order to immediate contact of the nation with its
God, so the later promise of salvation reached its climax in the
announcement of a coming ruler of David's house, who would
perfectly realize the Messianic dignity. Still here also the
pyramid is built up gradually. There are prophets in whose
oracles, so far as they are preserved to us, the hope of the future
does not take this personal character, but dwells more on the
national restoration in general ; those also who, keeping more to
the theological side, promise the day of the Lord, His taking up
His abode on Zion, without touching on the human mediation
that was to embody itself in David's son. But, starting from
the human as from the divine side, the promise tends towards a
personal union in the Son of David and Son of God.
How the prophetic writings of the pre-exilian period group
themselves chronologically according to the world-powers dominant
at the time, see p. 37.
24. Obadiah.
The older prophetic writings preserved to us proclaim still more
strongly their origination out of the living prophetic word. They
were perhaps written down directly after their oral delivery. At
all events their rhetorical, poetical style betrays an inner, natural
mobility, such as is characteristic of the true seer. Among the
earliest products (belonging to the pre- Assyrian age) we reckon
the oracles of Obadiah and Joel, whose near relationship in point
of time is beyond doubt, whatever the answer given as to the
date of the two (note A).
Obadiah' s Prophecy of the Day and Kingdom of God. In the
vision of Obadiah the seer beholds, in the first place (vers. 1-9),
the divine judgment on Edom, to whose execution the Lord
PROPHETS OF PRE-ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 197
summons the nations. Its pride is humbled to the lowest point,
its riches thoroughly plundered, its craft ignominiously baffled, its
defensive power utterly broken. Thus its treachery, its love of
wrong, its sordid selfishness, the bloodthirsty hate it showed
against Judah-Jerusalem in its day of misfortune, are revenged
(10-14). But from ver. 15 the seer's gaze expands into a view of
the general judgment. Vengeance must come to Edom, for the
Day of the Lord, i.e. of retribution, draws nigh for all nations alike.
15" For near is the day of the Lord upon all nations : like as
thou didst, it shall be done to thee. What thou didst
16 perpetrate shall return upon thy head. For as you drank
on rny holy mountain, all nations shall drink perpetually,
17 and drink and gulp and become as if they were not. And
on Mount Zion shall be a community of deliverance, and the
18 house of Jacob shall conquer its possessions. And Jacob's
house shall become fire, and Joseph's house flame, and Esau's
house stubble, and they encircle them and consume them,
and there shall be no escaped one from the house of Edom,
19 for the Lord has spoken it. And they of the south capture
the mountains of Esau and the plain the Philistine's land,
and they (of the mountain) capture the fields of Ephraim
20 and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin Gilead, and the
captives of this army of the children of Israel what belongs
to the Canaanites up to Zarephath. And the captives of
Jerusalem dwelling in Sepharad conquer the cities of the
2 1 south. And redeemers rise up on Mount Zion to judge the
mountains of Esau, AND THE LORD'S SHALL BE THE KINGDOM."
As Edom has made itself like the heathen, it shall receive no
better treatment from the Lord than they. Like them, it shall
experience the retribution of the Judge on the day of the Lord.
We find the phrase "Day of the Lord" (p. 30, 194) here for the
first time in prophetic literature. 1 Not that it was newly coined
by Obadiah. Still the context in him brings out the proper
significance of the day as the day of reckoning and retribution
with special force. It is the day of requital for all the iniquities
committed by the nations in the world's history (ver. 15),
especially for those perpetrated on the people of the Lord, and
consequently on Himself. The Nemesis, as depicted in the case
1 According to Ewald also, it belongs to the older oracle of Obadiah (the time of
Uzziah). It is found also in striking passages in Joel i. 15, iii. 14.
198 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
of Edom, gives an example of the way in which every nation,
when the divine justice is carried out, is punished with what
constituted its sin. Especially does punishment overtake the
nations for the indignities committed on Zion. As they have
drunk there without limit, in gross indulgence disregarding the
sanctity of the place, so in the same place they shall drink to
excess until they lose their senses. This is a well-understood
euphemism for the bloody end awaiting them. Whether this
doom strikes them on the mountain itself, is not to be learnt
from the passage with perfect certainty, but it is doubtless the
author's meaning. We see this idea taken up afterwards. In
Jer. xlix. 12 is found only a figurative drinking of the cup of
God's wrath, a trope which had become familiar at that time (after
Hab. ii. 1 6). The thought in Obadiah is independent of this.
In contrast with this destruction of the nations an escaped
community l stands on Zion as a positive result of the " Day of
the Lord." Zion (= temple-mountain, p. 186) figures as the
centre of the divine kingdom, impregnable henceforth, because
set apart by and for God. No vengeful foe, no unclean heathen
shall again tread it. This divine seat is certainly narrow in
extent. But the divine sway will extend itself over all the
possessions belonging by right and promise to the house of Jacob
and Joseph. These are the provinces mentioned vers. 18-20,
which were but partially ruled by David and Solomon, and after-
wards were all lost. This description does not seem to be based
on any direct verbal promise ; the extent is rather indicated
freely by the prophet himself.
Then, when the old divine energy revives in every part of the
nation, the retribution on Edom comes, ver. 1 8 ff. In ver. 1 8 the
co-operation of the house of Jacob 2 (= the kingdom of Judah) and
the house of Joseph (= the kingdom of Ephraim or Israel) in the
judgment on Edom does not seem to agree with the following
verse (19), according to which Joseph's territory itself must first
1 nt3B> not ) lit t^np, referring to place : asylum, but according to the usage
elsewhere (cf. especially Joel iii. 5 andlsa. xxxvii. 32, where it is parallel with JVlXJJJ) :
body of escaped ones, escaped remnant. The word implies the unity, interconnection
of those escaped from the judgment, in distinction from D*tD;>3> which denotes
escaped individuals. Cf. Bottcher, Au.-f. L<-hrbuch, 663, 3. Observe also the
antithesis, ver. 18 : T"1E> iTTP Np.
* So also Amos ix. 8.
PKOPHETS OF PRE-ASSYEIAN PERIOD: OBADIAH, JOEL. 199
be conquered by Judali. 1 But each supplements the other. The
new expansion of the kingdom of God will start from Zion,
extend first over the ancestral possessions in Canaan, and then
also beyond the limits of the Promised Land, where hostile
peoples, who have no part in this kingdom, are to be subjugated,
nay, annihilated. A punctilious collation might also show a con-
tradiction between ver. 1 and ver. 18, all nations being there
summoned against Edom, here Jacob and Joseph appearing as
avengers. The judgment is to be inflicted by both parties, by
the heathen friendly to Edom and the Jews who suffer from it.
As the kingdom of God has its centre and starting-point in
Zion, so it embodies itself first of all in Judah-Benjamin, the
house of Jacob ; its several parts extend themselves (1) The
Negeb = south of Judah, conquers the adjacent mountains of
Edom ; (2) The Shephela, the plain of Judah, conquers the Philis-
tine-country on its border ; (3) and in common 2 they conquer
the territory of Ephraim and Samaria ; 3 (4) Benjamin, Judah's
faithful comrade (wrongly taken by LXX. as object), occupies
Gfilead, the name of a part standing for the east-Jordan country
generally; (5) Ver. 20, "and this captive Israelitish army (con-
quers) what is Canaanite-country as far as Zarephath " (note B) ;
(6) Finally, the captive Jerusalemites in Sepharad conquer the
cities of the south (note C). Thus the kingdom of Yahveh rounds
itself off on every side, even those driven into banishment con-
tributing to bring the alien or disobedient territory into subjection
to Him. God so orders it that the very dispersion of Israel must
help to restore His rule. What shape this rule will take is
intimated merely by a few touches in ver. 21. The phraseology
here reminds strongly of the age of the Judges : " deliverers
shall hold the judgment," human D'^IJ'te, exercising the office of
1 So Ewald, Propheten, I. 491 (2nd ed. 1867).
2 But probably, with Ewald, "inn is to be inserted as subject after the second
T T
Jltjrpl ; the mountain-land of Judah, the chief seat of the tribe, attacks Ephraim on
its northern border. The LXX. seem to have read the lost word TO Spos, but to have
referred it wrongly to Ephraim.
3 No. 3 might seem to countenance a later date of origin, when Ephraim-Samaria
was in hostile hands. But at all events it was alienated from the legal king, and
must therefore first be reconquered. Moreover, the hostile attitude of the two
kingdoms led to constant wars from the time of 1 Kings xv. 6f., 16. Ver. 18 also
intimates the division of the two kingdoms, which is one day to give place to the
opposite. According to this verse, they both seem to be in existence, but in a
depressed condition.
200 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
D'EEC?, as in the age before the erection of the monarchy the
" Judges " with divine energy delivered the land from the enemy's
oppression, thereby proving themselves God's organs, further
judicial authority over the land being given them on that account.
They establish their seat on Zion. For there is the centre of the
divine rule, whence Edom also is judged. And Yahveh's shall be
tlie kingdom, is the significant close of the oracle. Here the goal
of prophecy is reached. The final purpose of God, according to
these words, is not the rehabilitation of Israel, but the rule of God
Himself. This is the end of all history, the goal of all judg-
ments ; this the destiny of Israel and the whole world : to become
and be God's. It is true the divine rule in this oracle, with an
allusion to the old promise, is still confined to narrow local limits ;
but the oracle by its nature is designed to undergo spiritualiza-
tion ; cf. vers. 15, 17, 21. Its few lineaments tend of themselves
to grow into an outline of the divine world-plan.
As to the fulfilment, it leaves nothing to be desired in reference
to the doom of annihilation threatened to Edom and to be carried
out by heathens and Jews. After Edom, without laying to heart
the prophet's warning, had filled up its measure of iniquity in the
overthrow of Jerusalem, 588 B.C. (Ezek. xxxv. 5, 10 ; Lam. iv. 22;
Ps. cxxxvii 7), on which account Obadiah's prophecy is taken up
anew by Jeremiah (xlix.) and Ezekiel, its punishment followed,
probably at the hands of the Chaldeans. At least Mai. i. 3 pre-
supposes a righteous devastation of Edom, and also announces
that if they build again the Lord will again cast down. This, too,
happened. It is known from history how the Maccabees, the
last successful heroes who drew sword for the national theocracy,
real DTB>i and D s t?Bb>, waged a war of victorious revenge against
Edom, 1 Mace. v. 3, 65; Joseph. Ant. xii. 18. 1. Judas
Maccabseus vanquished them ; then, according to Ant. xiii. 9. 1,
John Hyrcanus completely subjugated them, even compelling
them to receive the law (circumcision). Alexander Janmuus
brought the remnant of the Idumaeans under the yoke, Ant.
xiii. 15. 4. In the conflicts of the Zealots against Rome the
tribe utterly perished, Bell. Jud. iv. 9. 7.
Thus were the prophetic threatening? realized. Only, they
combine in one picture what history splits up into different periods
and events. But according to Obadiah, all peoples who war
against the temple on Ziou will fare like Edom. This general
PROPHETS OF PRE-ASSYRIAX PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 201
threat, as well as the bright side of promise in the oracle, takes us
far beyond the time of the Edomite conflicts. According to the
oracle, Israel's superiority to the hostile kindred nation and all the
heathen has its roots in the dwelling of God in its midst. At
the general judgment of the world a saved community remains
on Ziou, from which judgment and dominion go forth over the
lands. The fulfilment of this has taken a form of unimagined
greatness. In Jerusalem deliverance from the divine judgment
was revealed. Salvation went forth from the Jews. Among
them arose the true JPBJiO and BSB>. Not that circumcision was
forced on the heathen, but that they received the gospel from the
Jews, is the true Israel's supreme triumph. And the extension
of this divine rule has also surpassed all conception. The king-
dom of the God who dwelt on Zion, the kingdom viewed by the
prophet, in keeping with the horizon and vision of his time, as a
kingdom of Israel with enlarged limits, in virtue of the spiritual
might inherent in it, necessarily burst all limits, extended towards
every quarter of heaven, and spread over all nations in a way
quite different from what it was permitted him to see or neces-
sary for his contemporaries to know. But as he surmised, it was
allotted to the Jews scattered throughout the world to bring all
nations into subjection to their God.
NOTE A. As relates first to Obadiah's date, it is plain enough
from his oracle that he vents his displeasure on the Edomites in
lively indignation at their conduct in a catastrophe which befell
Jerusalem. The most obvious course seems to be, to refer this
" day of Jerusalem's calamity" to the overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar
(588 B.C.), in which the Edomites in fact took an active part, Lam.
iv. 21 f. ; Ezek. xxxv. 1 ff., especially ver. 5 ; Isa. Ixiii. 1 ff. ; Ps.
cxxxvii. 7 ; 1 Esdr. iv. 45, 50. But to this is opposed the fact
that Jeremiah's oracle against Edom (xlix. 7 ft'.), written to all
appearance in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and in any case
before the overthrow of the city, seems to be a copy of Obadiah's
oracle. See especially the detailed proof in Caspari, Der Prophet
Obadja, 1842. Obadiah's oracle is original, homogeneous, charac-
teristic ; in Jeremiah the bold turns of speech are smoothed down ;
he starts again and again, whereas his original is struck off at one
blow. The analogy also of the other Jeremiah-oracles against
foreign nations favours this relation of dependence. Cf. especially
how Jeremiah's oracle against Moab (xlviii.) leans on Isa. xv.
xvi. ; also Jer. xlix. 1-7 (against Ammon) on Amos i. 13-15 ; xlix.
23-27 (against Damascus) on Ainos i. 3-5. In consideration of this
202 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
state of the case, Ewald has distinguished in Obadiah's oracle two
authors, an older one speaking in Uzziah's days (where he
wrongly refers Obad. ver. 1 ff. to the past), whom Jeremiah took for
a pattern, and whom some one still later, after the overthrow
of Jerusalem, enlarged by adding Obad. vers. 11-14, 16, 19-21. l
"We rather hold by the outer and inner unity of the passage, recog-
nising in the very fact of the prophet first seeing the judgment
in clear lines as if it lay before his eyes, and only then bring-
ing himself to speak of the well-known crime of which Edom
had been guilty, 2 a sign of his high poetic afflatus. Moreover, exe-
getical considerations are here decisive. The question is, whether
Obad. ver. 10 ff. must refer to that overthrow of Jerusalem, whether
ver. 20 f. can refer to the Babylonian exile. In the latter passage,
indeed, a great body of exiles is presupposed in the north among
the Canaanites ( = Phoenicians), conquering the territory of the
latter up to Zarephath, and one in the west (Sepharad) capturing
the cities of the south. But any exile in the east (Assyria,
Babylon) or fugitives in Egypt are as little mentioned as a judg-
ment on the Babylonians. For the land "nsp, in which the
captives of Jerusalem pine, according to the stone-inscriptions,
where it figures alongside Jauna, Greece, is to be sought in the west,
and, indeed, perhaps in Asia Minor (according to others = Sparta).
On the other hand, the catastrophe witnessed by Obadiah is
without doubt the same that Joel has in view (chap, iii.), where
Philistines and Canaanites are accused of having plundered
Jerusalem ahd sold its inhabitants to the distant DW ":?, and
(ver. 19) Edom is specially marked out for judgment. Insolent
carousings of the victors took place in Jerusalem, according to
iii. 3 as according to Obad. 15. The difference is merely this, that
whereas the last-named prophet has these misdeeds directly before
his eyes, in Joel they lie farther back, although the recollection
still burns as an unhealed wound, and the captives are still dwell-
ing afar. That Joel speaks after Obadiah also appears from his
citing Obad. 17 in ii. 32.
The most attractive view is that of von Hofmann (also Delitzsch,
Kleinert), that the event referred to is the plundering of Jerusalem
under Jehoram (2 Chron. xxi. 16 : 896-884 B.C.), since the later
ones under Amaziah and Ahaz (2 Chron. xxv. 23, xxviii. 5) were the
work, not of foreigners, but chiefly of Israelites. The former, again,
are Dn3J or Dnr, Philistines and Arabians, whom the designations
suit, just because of their indefmiteness, better than they suit the
Chaldseans. "With them are joined the Edomites, who also,
according to 2 Kings viii. 20 f., 2 Chron. xxi. 8 f., took advantage
1 Cf. also Graf, Der Prophet Jeremia, 1862, p. 553 ff.
2 To refer ver. 10 ff. to future crime (Caspar!, et al.) is too artificial
PROPHETS OF FEE-ASSYRIAN PEEIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 203
of Judah's weakness to revolt. Amos also (i. 6, 9, 11) has the
same or like circumstances in view, which must therefore have
transpired long before the Babylonian overthrow. Looked at
more closely, moreover, the complaint (Obad. 10 ff.) contains nothing
pointing of necessity to the Babylonian catastrophe. There is no
mention at all of an overthrow of the city or temple (quite other-
wise in Ps. cxxxvii.), only of a capture and plundering with
insulting excesses, 1 and especially of deportations to various
countries (cf. Joel iii. 2). In Obad. 18, also, the houses of Jacob
and Joseph seem to be in existence side by side, although in a
state of weakness and mutual variance. The promise exhibits
them again united, and indeed around Zion as the centre, but says
nothing of a rebuilding of the temple.
NOTE B. "We take *?n to be a defective form of fyft, power,
army (ver. 11). It is the captive elite of the children of Israel,
and refers either this is the most probable, according to ver. 11
to the captive soldiery of Judah in contrast with the captive
inhabitants of Jerusalem, or to a deported army of the northern
kingdom. At all events this army was taken northward ; on its
return thence it captures the Phoenician country, which as far as
Zarephath (lying south of Sidon, somewhat inland, at present
Sarafend) is added to the kingdom of Israel, run does not prove
that the prophet was among the deported soldiery, but perhaps
that this crowd of captives was in every one's thoughts, their
carrying away was vividly before the eyes. We take D 1| 3J|33~iK'K
(like Hitzig) as object to ^'Tl to be supplied from the previous
verse ; the latter is first repeated in the following clause.
NOTE C. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, carried away at the
capture of the city and dwelling in the west, conquer the south, as
the former army the north. They are perhaps to be thought of as
removed to Egypt or Philistia. Sepharad, where they sojourn at
present, is not Spain (so the versions and Eabbins), which is
only suggested by the sound, but is perhaps like Javan (Joel
iii. 6 in the same connection), a land in the west. For the
inscriptions of Darius mention often a land Cparda alongside
Jauna = Greece (used indefinitely). It must be a country in the
vicinity of Greece, either in Europe or Asia Minor. After Silv.
de Sacy had combined Cparda with our "nsp } it was more pre-
cisely identified with Sardes (in native speech Cvarda, Lassen)
or Sparta, a name to which the Jews, of course, would attach
1 Volck (Herzog, art. "Joel ") objects Joel iii. 2, which, however, applies better to
deportation of captives by different countries and annexation of portions of territory
by the same than to the Chaldeean catastrophe. Obad. 11 : " They cast lots upon
Jerusalem," may, in accord with the parallel sentences, be understood of the seizure
of what the city contained.
204 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
just as indefinite a notion as to " Ionia " (Hitzig, Delitzsch,
Kleinert). In any case, it refers to the districts of the
Mediterranean, whither the Phcenicians sold their captives.
Cf. Schrader, Keilinschriften und Altcs Testament, p. 284 f., who
certainly would rather find the district in Babylonia. See, on tin-
other side, Steiner in Hitzig's Comm. zu den kl. Proph. (4th ed.),
p. 168.
25. Joel (note A).
The occasion of Joel's prophecy is a terrible public calamity,
namely, a desolation of Judah by swarms of locusts repeated, per-
haps, for several years (i. 4, ii. 25). The devastation thus
caused, which turned the smiling land into barrenness, the prophet
describes in impassioned words (i. 2 ff.). He saw it before his
eyes a present fact, not something future. Only, a fresh swarm
seems just to have come ; hence the terror that has fallen on
prophet and people. 1 It is perverse in any case to interpret
these locusts allegorically (note B), to refer them, e.g., to heathen
armies, as though the destruction of all growth by those destructive
insects were not terrible enough to move the prophet to the cry
of alarm (ii. 1) : " Sound the trumpet on Zion, raise a cry on my
holy mountain, for the day of tlw Lord comes, for it is nigh, 2 a day
of obscurity and darkness, a day of cloudiness and thick gloom ; 3
a terrible Jay, such as none can endure" (ii. 11). This day of
general retribution spoken of already by Obadiah is imminent.
The Lord is coming to judgment. This wild army, darkening
the heavens (ii. 10), is in a certain sense His terrible vanguard
(ii. 25). Judah's fields are being utterly ravaged, and the
strength of the land consumed. Still there is hope that the
Lord may be moved to relent when He finds a penitent people,
seeking His mercy, "rending its heart, not its garments" (ii. 13).
1 Cf. on the different stages of hatching, Credner, Comm. zu Joel; Bochart,
Hierozoicon, iii. 251 ff. ; Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 416.
2 Cf. i. 15. The ^3> which might be taken as perfect : " It is here ! " would be
T
easily misunderstood and seem strange ; hence, by way of explanation, the more
precise : namely, it is near.
3 H^BX = ^DNi a more uncommon word, strengthening 7]{>n 5 in the same way
?Diy, a poetic addition to py ; ^Qiy, in Ex. xx. 21, is the impenetrable cloud-
darkness covering Yahveh at the lawgiving on Sinai. Cf. the dismal twilight on
the day of the Lord (Zech. xiv. 7). Travellers compare the gloom caused by a
swarm of locusts (cf. Ex. x. 15), and colouring the picture in the present passage,
to an eclipse of the sun.
PROPHETS OF PRE-ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 205
Not in vain does the prophet preach this. His word finds
response ; and in view of the general penitence and prayer of
the Church, he is able to assure it that the Lord will by a double
blessing abundantly make good all it has suffered (ii. 18-27).
At the close of the promise allusion is made to the spiritual
ground of this blessing. In the abundance of wheat, wine, and oil,
produced by the long-needed, fruitful rain, Israel is to learn
that Yahveh, its God, the only true one, dwells in its midst, just
as in the desolation of nature it was forced to recognise the anger
of its God. But the prophecy does not stop here. It is in special
degree the manner of this prophet to rise from nearest to highest,
from the outward and earthly to the spiritual and divine, and
to view particular occurrences in immediate connection with the
aim of the whole historic development. As he considered the
plague of locusts in the light of its inner meaning as God's
judgment, and therefore looked at it as an immediate forerunner of
the final judgment, so behind the temporal, earthly blessings
promised for the near future he discerns a fulness of heavenly
blessing ; on the natural he sees a spiritual, more heavenly rain
follow, one still more refreshing, and making the nation bear
fruit to the Lord :
ii. 2 8 f. : " And it shall come to pass after this, I will pour
out my Spirit upon all flesh : And your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy ; your old men shall dream dreams,
and your youths see visions. And even upon the servants and
upon the maids in those days I will pour out my Spirit."
The heavenly gift of the Spirit is well distinguished from the
earthly, physical blessing both in its nature and time ; l it follows
later, crowning the work of the Lord in Israel, and also intro-
ducing the end of the world's history.
Of course, although Joel sees the necessity of an inner refor-
mation of the people, he may think of it as near (in distinction
from later prophets). A revolution in the outward and the spiritual
atmosphere may bring it about.
To wish to refer ii. 28 ff. and chap. iii. to a different author
from chaps, i. and ii. (M. Vernes) is totally to overlook the mode
p-*-inKi indeed, leaves the duration up to the second epoch indefinite (cf. Isa.
i. 26) ; still the prophet is not thinking merely of "the immediate future" (Anger),
since a time of quiet prosperity (chap. ii. 26) precedes the world-crisis introduced
by ii. 23.
206 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
of viewing the mundane and supramundane in intimate connec-
tion characteristic of this prophet, as already mentioned. On the
contrary, the rain sent by the Lord of nature leads to a higher,
diviner one, by which He will fertilize His Church. The natural
rain suggests the expression, " outpouring " of the Spirit, 1 so well
adapted to intimate the rich fulness of this heavenly gift. Here
is something new, unheard before. Hitherto the Spirit of God
qame down on individuals, seizing and filling them ; but an out-
pouring, in which all must needs share, as in a shower of rain,
has never been. And yet this is the meaning, as the "^"ba
more precisely states, " upon all flesh."
On the one hand, this "it?;* certainly suggests the sensuousness
and frailty of the human creature in contrast with the Divine Spirit
(cf. Ps. Ixxviii. 3 9 ; Job xxxiv. 1 4 f . ; Isa. xl. 6 ; also Num.
xvi. 22, xxvii. 16). The divine life-spirit does not dwell in the
human creature by necessity. On the other hand, this "^"ba is
always used to express a sense as comprehensive as possible.
Sometimes even animals are included (Lev. xvii. 14; Gen. vii.
21), which, of course, is not the case in the present passage. 2 As
a rule, the whole of mankind is meant (Gen. vi. 12 f.; Ps. cxlv.
21, and often). In the present prophecy, the extent is deter-
mined by what precedes and especially by what follows, where the
general statement is specialized : " your sons and your daughters,"
etc. Consequently, all the inhabitants of the land (not of the
earth) are meant. 3 The prophecy is therefore limited in the first
instance to the covenant-people ; only no emphasis of any kind
rests on this national limitation ; the stress lies on the univer-
sality within the nation. There every one without exception
will be filled with the Spirit of God, young and old, the free,
and even the slaves, who in great part might not be of Israelitish
blood, on which account they are declared with special emphasis
to be included.
1 After Joel it became common (Isa. xxxii. 15, xliv. 3 ; Zech. xii. 10). To assert
that the prophets took the Spirit for a fine fluid, is just as unwarranted as to infer
from the N. T. phrase of the blowing of the Spirit that Jesus and the apostles
represented it as a stream of air. How can one set forth the operation of the Spirit
without sensuous expressions, or even speak of it ? The mobile water and the
unseen yet perceptible air are well adapted to give a conception of the nature and
working of the Spirit (cf. His attributes, Wisd. vii. 22-24).
* In opposition to Credner.
3 That such a limit may be assigned to "|K>2 ?3 by the context, is proved by
Jer. xii. 12 ; Ezek. xx. 43.
PROPHETS OF PEE- ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 207
The Spirit of God certainly dwells in every animate creature
as a breath of life (Ps. civ. 29 and elsewhere, see p. 4) ; but
here a higher potency of the Spirit is meant, in comparison with
which animated man, despite the divine breath, is still 1^2 : not
the Divine Spirit that since the creation dwells in every creature,
nor that which characterizes men, but the superhuman Spirit of
God, destined by God's gracious decree to become immanent in
the Church. It is the Spirit who conveys the Lord's special
revelations to His servants and handmaids, and is designated
(ii. 28) by this fruit of His operation. " Your sons and daughters
shall prophesy." ] Whereas this refers to the utterance of divine
revelation, the following expressions refer to its reception : " the
young see visions, the old have dreams," in harmony with imagina-
tive youth and slumber-loving age. Thus, what Moses mentioned
as a scarcely attainable ideal (Num. xi. 29) will be actually seen :
the entire people will participate in this high gift of grace. All
its members, not excepting the least, will stand in as immediate
relation to the Lord as the prophets, so that no mediation will be
necessary for them. It will be a nation not merely serving the
Lord as priests, but also testifying of Him as prophets a Church
of the Lord grown to maturity. This will be the consummation
of the Church of God on earth, when it has become the body in
which God's Spirit dwells, filling and animating every member, so
that its God will no longer stand over against it distant and alien,
but in accordance with His true nature will enter and dwell in it.
But this consummation of the Church is withal the inaugura-
tion of the end of the world. For in the world two develop-
ments run side by side, that of God's Church issuing in perfect
divine fellowship, and that of God-estranged humanity tending
to the final judgment redemptive history whose fruit is salvation
to the called, and the world-history whose goal is the world-
judgment. Judah, in its present state, must necessarily be put to
shame in the day of the Lord ; but repentance there effects a
spiritual change which, produced from above, creates a new
Church which supplies a refuge in the judgment. In the same
way from this Church goes forth before the judgment a warning
prophetic testimony, which in union with the tokens in heaven
and on earth announce to the world the approach of the
1 N23. denominative niphal : behave and bear oneself as
208 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
judgment-day. For the form in which the Spirit is made known
in ii. 28 is not unconnected with the mighty convulsions im-
pending. When the Church is filled with the Spirit, its eyes
are opened to the great things coming on all the world. Hence
the close conjunction of ver. 30 ff. with the foregoing:
ii. 30 f . : "And I show 1 miraculous signs in heaven and on
earth, blood and fire and vapour of smoke. 2 The sun shall turn
into darkness and the moon into blood, before the day of Yahveh
comes, the great and terrible day."
The approach of the judgment-day will be announced by all
kinds of fearful signs; one of these has just been witnessed,
other mightier ones will follow. There will be phenomena of
such form as involuntarily to remind of the terrors of the divine
judgment : heaven and earth will be fiery, blood-red, dark. The
several phenomena are not to be more closely defined. At all
events our prophet brings these natural phenomena into intimate
connection with the divine action and human history. Darken-
ings of sun and moon are events of a kind best adapted to shatter
men's security and fill them with horror. In the New Testament
also they appear among the heralds of the final judgment,
Matt, xxiv., Rev. vi. 1 2 f. How this " changing " of sun and
moon is to be brought about, is quite indifferent. Enough that
the clear daylight is turned into its opposite, and the gentle
moon is to be seen terrible, blood-red. Perhaps earthquakes and
tempests, volcanic outbursts and great conflagrations flitted before
Joel's mind. Nor was it mere superstition to recognise an inner
connection in such phenomena. With perfect justice, childlike faith
sees therein divine hints pointing to the judgment on all creation.
Thus the judgment-day (ii. 1 ff.), once again turned aside by
Judah's repentance, must yet one day come. But the Church of
God, blessed in those days with the fellowship of the Divine Spirit,
has no reason to fear the messengers of terror in the heavens,
the conflagrations and wars on earth :
1 tnj. also in Ex. vii. 9 with QTlDiD, miracula, astounding phenomena, by which
' - T :
God calls men's attention to His working, and here paves the way for His judg-
ments.
8 ni"lCn, from a sing. HIO'Tl, hut only occurring in theplur. in conjunction with
yjy (Cant. iii. 6), and denoting lofty columns of smoke. The more correct writing
according to the Massora is that with > ; nilOTli thus from the stem -)>
to rise aloft, whence also ion (~\'0r\, palm, etc.), a secondary stem.
PROPHETS OF PRE-ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAII, JOEL. 209
ii. 32. "And it shall come to pass: Every one that calls on
the name of Yahveh shall escape. For on Zion - hill and in
Jerusalem shall be a Church of deliverance, as Yahveh hath
said. And among the escaped (they) whom Yahveh calls
near."
This verse shows that the Jewish country is not safe in itself;
but deliverance, or belonging to the Church of deliverance, is
personally conditioned. Whoever in the universal krisis puts
his trust in Yahveh, the true God, shall be delivered. 1 From
Abraham's days invocation of Yahveh's name is also a con-
fession of the true God in distinction from the many gods of
the heathen; cf. Gen. iv. 2 6, but especially xii. 8, xiii. 4, xxi. 33,
etc. ; Micah iv. 5. " For where Yahveh makes His abode shall be
an escaped host, a Church of safety (p. 198), as Yahveh said."
Plainly an earlier divine oracle is cited ; what other can it be
than Obad. ver. 17 ? 2 " And among the escaped (they) whom
Yahveh calls." One might separate these words as an inde-
pendent sentence : " and among the escaped shall be those whom
Yahveh calls." Then the Dnnfc> might be identical with the
nDvQ ; adding by way of supplement to the forementioned condition
of salvation, that he who is to be delivered shall not merely call
on Yahveh, but also be called by Him. But the right view
rather is, that the idea of the no^a, at first confined to Jerusalem-
Judah, is extended to the individuals whom the Lord calls near,
as being still far from His Church. The prophet is scarcely
thinking of the exiles who need to be summoned by Yahveh's
powerful voice before the state of the Church reaches its com-
pletion, but of the heathen 5 who escaped the judgment.
This brings to mind the political visitations which the land
suffered some time before, and the scars of which still burn.
The shameful injustice inflicted on it by the heathen nations
1 tD?O3 properly to slip away, LXX. ffuffotreu. From such prophetic passages
ffiirnfix (so LXX. in Obad. ver. 17 for ntD^Q, whereas in Joeliii. 5 it has ivmnu^afista;
for this) becomes a positive fundamental idea of the New Testament. The positive
0. T. phrase for this is niWfl.
T
* Merx (6, 16) finds Isa. ii. 4, Micah iv. 1, Isa. iv. 2, x. 22, "cited " here in fact
an " unconstrained " form of citation !
* The 13 (iii. l)isto be connected with QH^ICP : on ^y individuals escape besides,
for Yahveh will judge and destroy all nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, cf.
Zech. xiv. 16.
ORELLI.
210 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
gives occasion to describe now the judgment-day itself, when the
Lord will reckon with them according to Obad. ver. 15.
iii. 1 f. "For behold in those days and at that time when I
shall bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, 1 then
I will sweep together all nations and bring them down into
the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there try issue 2 with them
respecting my people and my inheritance, Israel, which they
scattered among the nations, dividing my land," etc.
The bringing back of the scattered Israelites will be accom-
panied by the instituting of the great judgment on all nations,
set on foot by God, who guides the thoughts of the princes and
peoples, and to their destruction incites them to assemble together
against His city, 3 all which is set forth in detail in ver. 9 if. The
Vale of Jehoshaphat is named here and in ver. 1 2 as the place where
the Lord will enter into judgment with His foes. That this
valley is a mere fiction of the prophet 4 is not probable, considering
the realistic character of his prophecy. Since Ibn Ezra's days,
many with more right have thought of the valley where, according
to 2 Chron. xx. 16 ff., the noble king Jehoshaphat won a glorious
triumph over the confederated foes of Judah by God's miraculous
help, almost without drawing sword. But that valley is called ppj?
ron^ " valley of praise," from the anthems of the victorious people,
and the name belongs to it to this day. A ruined site, Bereikut,
has been found west of Tekoa. Accordingly, the place did not
lie in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem, where one must con-
jecture it in Joel's prophecy along with Obad. ver. 16, but
farther south (halfway, perhaps, to Hebron). Hence we sur-
mise that in Joel's days a valley between that scene and the
capital bore Jehoshaphat's name in memory of his famous
campaign, which took place about fifty years before. The later
tradition, first appearing in Eusebius, has perhaps not gone far
wrong in giving this name to the Valley of Kedron. The prophet
1 The apodosis first begins in ver. 2. For the chief emphasis rests now on the
general judgment of the nations. In itself certainly one might also, with Wiinsche,
take ver. 1 independently, as Zech. viii. 23 shows. The teri unnecessarily sub-
stitutes the hlphil for 3^, for the kal also may be transitive.
2 Nip/ial, because perhaps both parties put forward their claims at law. Cf. in
ver. 4 ff. how the Lord pleads with them.
1 Judg. iv. 7.
* Credner, Winer, et cd. Kleinert also (in Riehm, Handwdrterbuch, p. 759) :
" To Joel the name is not geographical, but the name of the great king."
PKOPHETS OF PRE- ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ODADIAH, JOEL. 211
was led to choose the place, first, by its nearness to Zion, which
the hostile armies intended to besiege ; and secondly, by its
name, which inevitably recalled God's great act in inflicting a
similar judgment, although on a smaller scale, on the combined
foes of Jerusalem, without His people lending a hand.
The guilt of these heathen nations having been recalled to
memory, and an apostrophe to them interposed, there follows,
ver. 9 ff., a description of the way in which they are brought into
the valley by a divine summons, there to fall a prey to the gory
harvesting of the warriors of God.
9 " Proclaim this among the nations : Sanctify a war ! Wake
up the heroes : let all men of war draw near and come up !
10 Beat your ploughshares 1 into swords, and your pruning-hooks
1 1 into spears. Let the weakling 2 say, I am a hero ! Hasten 3
and come, all ye nations round about, and assemble yourselves
1 2 thither bring thy heroes down, Yahveh ! Let all nations
bestir themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat ;
13 For there will I sit to judge all nations round about. Put
ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe ! 4 Come, tread, for
the wine-press is full. The vats overflow, for great is their
1 4 wickedness ! Heaps on heaps in the threshing- waggon vale. 6
For the day of the Lord is near in the threshing-waggon
1 5 vale ! Sun and moon grow dark, and the stars restrain
16 their brightness. And Yahveh roars from Zion, and from
Jerusalem He makes his voice thunder, that heaven and earth
quake. But a refuge is Yahveh to His people, and a guard
17 to the children of Israel. And ye shall learn that I am
Yahveh your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.
1 D^flK r DTIX) from n^, according to the versions = ploughshare. As in
1 Sam. xiii. 20, ntjhTO is distinguished from it ; many prefer the meaning "hoe,
mattock " (so Symm. ). Cf. Credner here.
2 K^n, only here, opposite of 133, from ^n, to be flaccid, weakly.
3 K*IJ?, only here = VftH, festinare : festlnare et venite =festinato venite. Not
so well LXX., Syr. : assemble themselves. This occurs first in W3j?31 which is not
imperative, but perfect of the third person, into which the summons passes.
4 ta'3> properly to seethe, boil well, then to ripen in the heat of the sun.
b pnn, explained usually : something cut off, then a divinely-determined decree,
fatum, cf. Isa. x. 22 thus valley of destiny. But as the word here concludes the har-
vest-figure, it is far more natural to take it like pnn 3~riQ ( so alread y Calvin) : thf
sharpened threshing sledge, for which pin alone occurs elsewhere (Isa. xxviii. 27 ;
Amos i. 3).
212 . OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
And Jerusalem shall be a temple, and strangers shall pass
1 8 over it no more. And it shall be on that day, the mountains
shall drop with new wine, 1 and the hills shall stream with
milk, and all the valleys of Judah flow with water. And a
fountain shall go forth from the house of Yahveh and water
19 the acacia-dale. Egypt shall be a desert, and Edom a waste
steppe, because of the outrage on the sons of Judah in
20 shedding innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall
remain for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 And I will cleanse them from their blood, from which I have
not cleansed them ; and YAHVEH DWELLS IN ZION."
Delitzsch remarks that the destruction of the locusts finds its
full counterpart in the destruction of the enemies of Jerusalem,
chap. iii. And, in fact, ii. 20 especially shows that those insects
are not described by the prophet without a side-glance at the
nations. The judgment upon them is brought about by a divine
summons issued to the heathen, for to them the words of ver. 9 ff.
are addressed. The Lord commands them, because He is the real
author of this movement. He causes them to give vent to their
hate against the city of God, really against the Lord Himself, by a
general rising to war against Jerusalem. That it is the enemies
of the Lord whom He commands, does not conflict with the
challenge : " Sanctify a war," for norpp tnp means : " Prepare for
war by ceremonial consecration," which was usual also among the
heathen. 2 Accordingly it is not said that it is really a holy war
in the Lord's service. Still the phrase is used of set purpose,
because this war, unknown to the heathen, is arranged by the
Lord, who is thus bringing on His judgment-day (cf. Isa. xiii. 3 ;
Jer. xxii. V).
An unusual martial enthusiasm, the work of a higher power,
now seizes on the heathen world. Everything fit for war is set
in motion. Not merely are the valiant heroes roused for the
decisive blow, even peaceful rustics are seized by battle-rage,
and beat the implements of their livelihood into deadly weapons.
Even the feeble and cowardly gather themselves together, take
courage, and play the man. Micah iv. 1 1 f. gives a commentary
1 Hitzig presses these expressions most nnpoetically to mean : "The new wine of
the vineyards will pour so abundantly into the grapes that it will burst the skins ;
the cattle will have so much milk that it will run out involuntarily."
2 Cf. Baudissin, Studien zitr stmitischen Retigionsgescldchte, ii. 66 f.
PROPHETS OF PEE- ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 213
on the passage. A daimonic excitement impels the nations to
march against Jerusalem. But their martial eagerness against
the city of God is kindled by the Lord Himself, who thus calls
them to judgment.
The seer beholds this wildly-raging sea approaching the limits of
the Holy Land on every side. " Come on ! " runs his challenge,
" Press close together ! " " Thither," he cries next, turning to God,
when he surmises what the Lord's purpose and wish is, " Thither,
where the hosts are all thick together, bring down Thy heroes,
Yahveh!" The passage recalls Judg. v. 13 (cf. ver. 23): Y~^T ' n
D'ntejQ. " Yahveh (Himself) came down to me among the heroes ! "
This parallel would suggest that by the " heroes " whom Yahveh
is to lead we should understand the Judseans, who must rush
down from Zion as the Israelites once from Tabor. The final
judgment would then be conceived as a decisive battle between
Judah and its foes, the Lord's intervention, of course, being the
decisive factor. In Obad. vers. 18-21 also, we see God's people
and their (human) leaders executing judgment on the heathen.
But in the present passage heavenly avengers are meant, commis-
sioned by God for the work, so that the people need lend no hand,
as in Jehoshaphat's victory and other great deliverances, e.g. the
destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. The phrase nnan,.
properly : let down, does not suit a human army ; also the suffix:
" thy heroes," points to celestial warriors; cf. Ps. ciii. 20.
Again, in ver. 1 2, as in ver. 2, the valley is named to which God
provokes the enemies to gather. The calm majesty lying ia3W*l
" There will I sit to judge," is in fine contrast with the excited
multitude which, without suspecting it, presses before the judgment-
seat of the Most High. Ver. 13 contains the judgment in the
form of a command for its execution. God tells His D^iaa to put in
the sickle, because the harvest is fully ripe, to tread the wine-press,
because it is overflowing a stately, twofold image of the general
judgment used here for the first time. It applies to a harvest
that comes after long waiting, when full ripeness has arrived.
That which has to ripen is wickedness ; of this the last words
leave no doubt; cf. Matt. xiii. 30. The harvest-image, in itself
so lovely and peaceful, is here full of terror. The sickle reminds
one of the sword, the overflowing wine-press of streams of blood.
This horrible harvest and vintage appears again in Isa. Ixiii. 1 ff.,
Rev. xiv. 15, passages modelled upon this one.
214 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
The fateful command of the Lord is uttered ill ver. 13. Next
it is to be carried out. Meantime the throng becomes greater
and greater in the "valley of the threshing- waggon," ver. 14.
And the heaven above grows dark, ver. 15. Yahveh's thunder-
voice is heard out of Zion. Now the tempest of judgment
bursts on the heathen. But it is veiled in gloom from the gaze
of the seer. There is no use in seeing or describing such judg-
ments. God Himself draws over it the veil of night. All the
brighter shines on the prophet the deliverance and safe hiding of
God's people (close of ver. 16), which sensibly experiences the
Lord's preserving care ; cf. ii. 2 7. For Zion in truth has shown
itself an inviolable sanctuary, and hereafter will be desecrated
by no hostile foot. As in Obad. ver. 17, Knp applies here to
impregnability respected in the future. 1
This terrible judgment-clay becomes to the Church of God a
mere storm clearing the air. Now every fount of blessing
streams stills more richly than after the locust-plague, ii. 21 ff.
In ver. 18 ff. the seer's gaze dwells with pleasure on the exuberant
wealth of wine and milk then seen in Judah (cf. Gen. xlix. 11),
and especially on the abundance of water vouchsafed then in
distinction from the present. The most parched-up wadis in the
broken country of Judah stream with water. And in particular
a fount, springing from the temple, will water the acacia-dale.
However one may stumble at the precise form of the symbolic
dress, the image before the eyes of the seer is concrete. He is
here also a realist, inasmuch as a physical basis for the spiritual
is indispensable to him. As the natural rain is really meant,
ii. 23, while at the same time it is a symbolic type and pledge of
the spiritual (ii. 28 ff.), so a glorified Judah after the judgment
really presents itself to him as well-watered in the significant
way, that its source is found in the temple. The spiritual
counterpart to this in a certain sense is seen in ver. 21. The
outer aspect of the land will then fully correspond to its
spiritual condition.
The " acacia-dale," whither the temple-spring sends its waters,
is in any case a waterless wadi, the acacia (acacia vera), especially
at home on the Sinai-peninsula, occurring just on dry, sandy
soil. The locality named after this kind of tree in Num. xxv. 1 ff.
is not to be thought of in this passage, because it lies east of
1 Baudissin, Studien, ii. 48.
PROPHETS OF PRE-ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 215
the Dead Sea, and the flowing of the temple-spring thither is
inconceivable. Credner thinks the Kedron-vale intended, and
there is no question that the seer contemplates this deep valley
waterless, mostly barren, lying near the temple-hill as in the
first instance watered by the temple-spring. But perhaps in his
day the name " acacia-dale " rather belonged to the farther course
of the valley toward the Dead Sea, perhaps a part of the
present Wadi en - Nar. With this agrees the description in
Ezek. xlvii. 1 ff., which clearly adds further details to the above
prophecy.
Whereas Judah then is cleansed and fertilized by a fountain
springing up in its temple, Egypt, a land so rich in the arts of
irrigation, is destitute of this blessing ; it is bare and barren as
hostile Edom. The former is mentioned as the old hereditary
foe, whose land had drunk much innocent Israelitish blood (cf. for
Rehoboam's time, 1 Kings xiv. 25), Edom as the kindred people
that had proved so faithless in later days. To both, but chiefly to
Edom, the justifying accusation applies : " because of the outrage
to the sons of Judah 1 in shedding innocent blood in their land."
Here the worst thing is selected with which Edom was to be
reproached. In the rising of the Edomites under Jehoram, to
all appearance the Judfeans settled among them were slain. The
innocent blood shed in these lands makes them from this time
unfruitful. Judah and Jerusalem will never more be disturbed
in their rest, Amos ix. 15. The judgment having been carried
out, nothing more threatens the security of the place where God
dwells. What ? Is there not even in Judah the curse of innocent
blood ? To this the last verse replies : " I will cleanse their
blood which I have not cleansed " (note C) = cleanse them from
their blood-guiltiness, provide them means of expiation to cancel
such guilt as hitherto I could not regard as cancelled. Even the
Holy Land needs purifying before it can become God's permanent
dwelling-place and partake in all His blessings. The temple-
fount is the physical expression for this expiating of the land's
guilt as well as for the blessing of the soil. In the former sense
Zech. xiii. 1, in the latter xiv. 8, allude to the present oracle.
" And Yahveh is dwelling on Zion ! " As Obadiah closes with
the sentence : " Yahveh's is the kingdom," so Joel stamps on his
1 The same word with genit. obj. as in Obad. ver. 10. Where Joel speaks of
Edom he falls back on Obadiah's words.
216 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
prophecy the seal of completion with this saying, a promise of
the Lord's permanent presence in His Church, now hallowed
and glorified.
This third chapter then foretells a general rising of the world
(which certainly figures, in a historically limited view, as an
alliance of the nations hostile to Israel) against the Holy
Land and city, really against the Lord Himself. This con-'
spiring of powers hostile to heaven leads straight to their de-
struction, which overtakes them near the sanctuary which they
are invading, the Lord causing His avenging hosts at last to
reap a bloody harvest; whereas Judah, secure in the guardianship
of its God, who has cleansed and fertilized His land by open-
ing a new fount of grace, will be henceforth His inviolable
abode.
If chaps, i. and ii. picture the coming day of the Lord more
from the view-point of nature, chap. iii. presents the comple-
tion of salvation more under a national and political aspect ;
for both stand in intimate union with the plan of the divine
kingdom. Like the entire life of nature, vegetable, animal,
sidereal, so political life must serve its ends. To bring about
the rule of God and the consummation of His Church all the
forces of heaven and earth are set in motion. For His judgment
plant-world and animal-world, stars equally with the human
world, must co-operate, even as they are all affected by it. And
like the judgment, so also the divine salvation is seen in every
sphere of the phenomenal world. There is nothing purely
spiritual, and also nothing grossly material; nothing physical
that is not animated by God, and nothing divine that is not
revealed in nature. Whoever thus contemplates creation and
history in connection with the kingdom of God is able to
prophesy, i.e. to announce the destiny of nature and the goal of
history]
Let us again recall the main thoughts which Joel, under the
illumination of God's Spirit, reads in the occurrences of nature
and the incidents of history.
1. There comes a Day of reckoning on God's part with all
lands, when He will make known His terrible supremacy over
nature. But for His people He will prepare an asylum on
Zion, chaps, i. ii.
2. Along with the approach of the world -judgment the
PROPHETS OF PKE-ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 2 1 7
Church of God is consummated, and that by an outpouring of
the Spirit filling all its members, chap. iii.
3. The history of the world will issue in a universal rising of
the nations against the people of God. In thus uniting in con-
flict against the Lord, the world-power delivers itself into the
hands of the Judge, iii. 9 ff.
4. Meanwhile a sacred paradise blossoms around Zion, where
the Lord dwells amid His own ; while reconciliation and blessing
stream forth thence upon ransomed heathen.
It is true these world-embracing ideas wear in many respects
a form of national limitation. But this does not injure their
universal character. To the prophet, Zion is the central spot
of the history of redemption and the world. Against it, against
God who dwells there, the whole world unites. There is the
origin of the world-judgment, as well as the source of purity
and grace. Instead of interfering with the range of these oracles,
this local unity is itself of eminent significance, 1 all the more so
that the prophet does not soothe himself with the illusion that
people and land in their present state are fit for the kingdom of
God. As the people needs sifting, spiritualizing, and sanctifying
in all its members, so the land needs cleansing and glorifying,
before God can take up His abode in it for ever. Thus we have
here a mighty advance in prophecy. It gives us, indeed, no
personal Mediator, but the divine action on the Church by which
the Church will be completed is here definitely sketched. While
this Church is not yet set free from national limits, the Church
of the future is plainly distinguished from the present national one.
First of all, it must be fertilized by the Spirit's regenerating
power from above, before it corresponds to what it is meant to
be, a God-filled people ; and again, the salvation which preserves
from the final judgment is made to depend on God's personal
relation to the individual and the individual's to God.
As regards the fulfilment of Joel's prophecies, we know how
the Apostle Peter (Acts ii. 1 6) has described Pentecost as the
fulfilment of the close of Joel's second chapter. 2 That no
1 Cf. Goethe's well-known saying: "The real, sole and deepest theme of the
history of the world and man, to which every other is secondary, is the conflict
between belief and unbelief. "
2 The oracle is there cited freely after the LXX. Instead of the p<.ra raura, which
the LXX. have in conformity with the Hebrew text, he puts ra7s ivx/xmis r,p.ifa.ij,
218 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
reference can be meant to any universal outpouring of the Spirit
in the previous history is clear. But there in fact the youthful
Church, consisting of Jews and associates of Jews of every kind,
was fertilized by a shower of the Divine Spirit such as had never
been before in the world, so that henceforth God's gifts of grace
(%ap ia fjun a) dwelt in it. Henceforth God's Holy Spirit was the
heritage of the Church. Since receiving the Spirit of divine
adoption and fellowship, the Church has attained maturity. It
no longer needs human mediation and representation before God
by prophets and priests ; it hears for itself the voice of God and
receives His revelation. This Spirit is not bound to a particular
order or age or generation ; He is the property of every living
member of God's people, made such by personal faith, so that in
the highest matters they have all equal standing and rights.
Certainly this people of God, this mature Church of saints, only
extends as far as the influence of the Divine Spirit reaches, so
that the well-known axiom of Irenseus holds good, not indeed of
Christendom, but of the true Christian Church as it has existed
since Pentecost, although not in local and constitutional unity:
Ubi ecclesia ibi et Spiritus Dei, et ubi Spiritus Dei illic ecclesia et
omnis gratia.
It may seem strange that Peter also in his discourse makes
the menaces of judgment (Joel ii. 30 ff.) follow immediately on
the above words of promise. But this is done in harmony with
the purpose of the prophet and the course of things. In the fact
that the Church now received its full consecration, and was to be
brought to its perfect state, the apostle recognised that now the
other development, that of the world-power, was approaching its
end the judgment. And for the Israel, which had decided for
this world, the two events fell very close together. A few decades
after the shower of the Spirit had shaken the disciples' house at
Jerusalem, the city burst into flames ; not perfume of sacrifice,
but vapour of smoke rose from the temple to heaven ; fire and
blood strove together. The doom of annihilation, foretold by
the possessors of Christ's Spirit, and announced by many fearful
tokens in heaven and on earth, was come. 1 Through this judg-
a phrase not without warrant, since even, according to Joel the previous event
introduces the conclusion of history.
1 Cf. Josephus, De Bello Jud. vi. 5. 3, which narratives show at least that the
consciences of the people were wrung not without reason !
PROPHETS OF PEE- ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 219
ment the Lord preserved to Himself certainly by unforeseen
means a Church of deliverance. This Church was formed, the
nation having been sifted, of all individuals who "called on the name
of the Lord," i.e. took refuge in the Lord revealed in Christ. The
fact that Joel lays down (ii. 32) such a purely personal, not
national, condition of salvation, Paul (Rom. x. 13) knows well
how to appreciate, for which of course he must submit to be taken
to task by Dr. Aug. Wiinsche ! Here without doubt a reason is
given to justify the reception of the heathen into God's kingdom,
whether Joel is here precisely thinking of the heathen or not.
But although in the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ
this prophecy was initially realized, its evolution, extension, and
spiritualization are not concluded. The Church of. God, to which
many from all peoples have been called, is still by no means
spiritually mature, and intimately one with its Head in all its
members. When the work of the Spirit approaches completion,
and the Church, filled with the Spirit, is fully prepared for the
dwelling of the Lord, then also will the world-judgment, already
provisionally accomplished on the Jews and the heathen, advance
to its conclusion. From a universal war of extermination waged
by the powers of this world against the Church, the Church will
issue saved, purified, and hallowed. Then also the Lord's dwelling
in His Church on earth will be realized outwardly. How far
the picture sketched by Joel of this kingdom on Zion is an
adequate likeness, how far a miniature outline, of what is to be,
only the future can show. In any case, the outer will correspond
to the inner glory of the Church.
NOTE A. Joel's Age. Joel, too, belongs to the southern kingdom
(Judah), like Obadiah, and the contemporaneousness of the two
prophets seems to us beyond doubt. What elements, then, may
be gathered from Joel's oracles in confirmation of this date ? The
natural occurrence to which his preaching refers the locust-
plague cannot be fixed chronologically from other authorities.
On the other hand, in the latter part of Joel's prophecy a clear
political horizon comes into view. There appear as Israel's foes
neither the Chaldseans nor Assyrians (as from Amos's days), nor
the Syrians, but Philistines, Idumeans, 1 Phoenicians, just as in
1 According to iii. 19, these especially have shed innocent blood, which seems to
refer, like Obadiah's accusation, to the revolt under Jehoram (889 B.C.), 2 Chron.
xxi. 16, 2 Kings viii. 20, which was avenged by Amaziah (825), 2 Kings xiv. 7. The
220 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Obadiah. Along with these, Egypt, the old hereditary foe, is
mentioned. Without doubt Joel iii. speaks of the same marauding
inroads of the heathen on Judah as Obadiah. According to Joel
also, Jerusalem was plundered, and the inhabitants made captive,
carried away, and sold to the distant Greeks. These occur-
rences are still painfully remembered, nor does the rr6a or rvar
dwell afar off; but clearly in Joel that calamity lies farther back
than in Obadiah's lively indignation at Edoin's treachery. To
all the misfortunes mentioned by the latter, a new one mean-
while is added, which fills up their measure ; not from men, but
from God Himself a new plague has come, not an army of heathen,
but God's fearful host the locusts.
(The oracles of Amos present a point of time still more advanced.
In him, indeed, also the Philistines, Phoenicians, and Edomites
appear as the foes who have invaded Israel, but in addition in
the first line the Syrians, who meanwhile have become troublesome.
How far Amos i. 6-11 has the same events in view as Obadiah
and Joel may be disputed, seeing that Amos brings together, in
his list of sins, occurrences of various periods. Amos also, like
Joel, speaks of the sale of captive Israelites by Philistines and
Phoenicians ; and as regards Edom, cf. i. 11 with Joel iii. 19. On
the other hand, in Amos i. 6, 9, the captives are handed over to
Edom; whereas in Obad. ver. 14, Edom hands them over toothers,
and according to Joel they are sold by the Phcenicians to the Greeks.
For JV ^3 (Joel iii. 6) are not a south- Arabian people (Hitzig) ;
cf. B. Stade, De Populo Javan, 1880. Thus it is probable that at
least in the Phoenician slave-dealing, Amos was thinking of an
occurrence lying nearer to him. They were, perhaps, Israelites or
Gileadites who were sold by the " Canaanites " in crowds south-
ward, to Edom.)
If Obadiah is rightly put in the time of Jehoram, the time of
Joash (877-833 ?), the second successor of Jehoram, would present
itself as that of JoeL Since, as already remarked, in Joel's dis-
courses the Syrians are not mentioned, who from 850 (2 Kings
xii. 18) pressed hard on Judah, this circumstance points us to the
first period of Joash, when this king was justifying the best hopes,
while the monarchy was inferior to the priesthood by which it was
held in tutelage, 2 Kings xii. 2 ; 2 Chron. xxiv. Credner first
vindicated for the prophet so early an age (870-865) ; similarly
Winer, Delitzsch (c. 860), Hitzig (870-860), Kleinert (875-850),
Wiinsche (860-850), Steiner. 1 In the same way Ewald puts
forward internal reasons for the great age of the book. The attitude
oracle then arose before this point of time; cf. also Joel iii. 4-6 with 2 Chron.
xxi. 16.
1 Hengstenberg and Bleek bring the oracle somewhat lower down, namely, to the
time of Amos, therefore c. 800.
PROPHETS OF PI! E- ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 221
of Joel to nature, to the people and cultus, points to an early time
(Ewald, Propheten, i. 89). For his view one may appeal to Joel's
language, and his simple, grand, luminous style. In point of
form his tractate belongs to the most perfect we possess in the
Old Testament. Prophecy and poesy so interpenetrate that
separation is impossible.
Finally, frequent allusions to Joel are found in the prophetic
literature. Amos adopted certain words of Joel. In i. 2 he
borrows his phraseology from Joel iii. 16 ; cf. Amos ix. 13 with
Joel iii. 18. Amos also speaks of the heavy plague, present to
Joel, as past (iv. 9), where DTJ is a designation of the locusts,
occurring elsewhere only in Joel (i. 4, ii. 25). In Amos v. 18, 20
the warning against the Day of the Lord, addressed to those
sick of the world who, in their self-righteousness, longed for that
catastrophe as if they had only good to expect from it, implies that
the expectation of that day was current among the pious, which
certainly was in the main a fruit of Joel's oracles. In the time of
Amos this prophetic truth was an object of abuse. That the
Zion - oracle, found both in Isa. ii. 2-4 and Micah iv. 1-4, was
originally Joel's (Hitzig, Ewald), is, on the other hand, an un-
proved conjecture. On the other side, Isa. xiii. 6, 9 f. leans on
Joel i. 15, ii. 1 f., 10. And Zeph. i. 14 is, perhaps, dependent on
Joel ii. 1 f. Joel iii. 18 is further expanded by Ezek. xlvii. 1 ff.
Cf. also Ezek. xxxviii. 17, xxxix. 8, with Joel iii. 9 ff.
Thus, in modern days, despite the objections of Vatke 1 and
Hilgenfeld, 2 who assign Joel to post-exilian times, we are pretty
generally accustomed to see in Joel the oldest prophet whose
oracles are preserved in literary form. On the other hand, more
recently, several critics 3 have joined the two just mentioned in
assigning Joel's oracles to post-exilian times. Duhm states the
reasons, p. 275. They do not, however, seem to us weighty
enough to rebut those on the other side. That this brief oracle
does not mention the kingdom of Israel, is explained by the fact
that the prophet has his dwelling in Jerusalem, and his work is
limited to Judah, to which also the eschatological future belongs.
That the monarchy is not referred to, while the priests are specially
prominent, is readily explained by the circumstances of the first
period of Joash, when, in fact, the priests were the real fathers of
the nation. The real reason, however, why those critics push the
oracle down to post-exilian days is something else : it contradicts
too openly a hypothesis regarded in recent days by many as the
unavoidable result of science. Were Wellhausen right in his
1 mblische Theologie, p. 462.
2 Zeitschr.f. wiss. Theologie, ix. p. 412 f.
* Seinecke, Der Evangelist des Alten Testaments, p. 44; Duhm, Theologie der
Propheten, p. 275 f. ; Merx, Die Prophetiedes Joel und ihre Ausleger, 1879, p. 1 ff.
222 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
assertion that only from Isaiah's days could the temple at Jeru-
salem lay claim to be the central sanctuary of the whole land,
nay, Yahveh's sole dwelling-place, how could a pre-Isaianic prophet
view Zion as the centre of the revelation of judgment and sal-
vation, as Joel does ? l Were it true that the pre-exilian prophets
thoroughly disparaged sacrifice and declaimed against it, how
would Joel, who complains of nothing so much as the forced
interruption of the sacrificial service in the temple, agree with
them ? Thus this " little, unimportant book," as Duhm calls it,
stands most inconveniently in the way of the Graf-Kuenen-Well-
hausen theory as to the development of the Israelitish cultus and
civilisation. For this reason it must be set aside, and the feeling of
astounding originality and freshness impressed on the unprejudiced
reader is dismissed with a phrase like the following: "Why
should not an epigonus, gifted with great talent for form, and not
troubled with much thought, by careful imitation of the best
models, write a good style ? " (Duhm, p. 276). Whereas all un-
prejudiced examination will allow priority to Joel iii. 16 over
Amos i. 2, the inverse relation must be asserted, 2 etc. I But we
will not, iu the interest of a critical hypothesis, which at best is
still infected with much error, and forced to support itself by so
much arbitrariness, degrade so vivid a prophecy into the artificial
product of an age of epigoni. See also Steiner in Hitzig's Comm.
zu den KL Proph. 1881, p. 73 f.
NOTE B. The four kinds of locusts are mostly referred to four
kingdoms. So already the Targum of Jonathan, and after him
nearly all Church Fathers, who differ, however, in interpreting the
four kingdoms. Still Jerome and Theodoret declare the proper,
natural acceptation not inadmissible. This acceptation, really his
only admissible one, was maintained in the Middle Ages by Ibn
Ezra, Kaschi, David Kimchi, and was approved in the Reformation
age by Luther and Calvin. Bochart ensured its victory in his
Hierozoican. He is followed by Credner, Hitzig, Ewald, Delitzsch,
Keil, Wunsche, and most moderns. On the other hand, Hengsten-
l>erg, Hiivernick, Hilgenfeld, Merx, et ai, have returned to the
artificial allegorical or symbolic exposition.
NOTE C. Gesenius, et al., instead of the first 'JTjM, would read
vnipjM, after the LXX. I* jnj ,<*<*/. But the two words are not synony-
mous at all, but are opposite in meaning. n|53 signifies " to declare
pure," insontem declaravit, synonymous with P^vn, elsewhere with
1 See p. 187.
2 Of course we do not mean that even thus Amos i. 2 suffices to refute the Well-
hausen account of the late acknowledgment of the temple on Zion as the only true-
sanctuary (Gesch. i. 23 If.). Still in this passage Amos already assumes as self-
evident that Yahveh dwells on Zion, and from Zion judges the world ; cf. Ps.
ex. 2.
PROPHETS OF PRE-ASSYRIAN PERIOD : OBADIAH, JOEL. 223
personal object, here with that of the offence. DEI, according to
Num. xxxv. 27 (cf. Deut. xxi. 8), is the blood lying on Judah,
blood-guiltiness, for which the plural is more common, Ex. xxii. 1,
and often. Merx explains differently (p. 26 ff.). He supposes that,
" I declare (make) their blood *|?3, pure, which (before) I did not
hold 'p:," means, as in Jonah i. 14, Deut. xxi. 8, Jer. xxv. 29 : "I
will let it not be shed with impunity, declare it inviolable." Even on
this acceptation an expiation, a purifying, and that of persons, is
presupposed. But ver. 19 favours the former explanation. Also
the meaning assigned by Merx to this piel (to declare inviolable)
cannot be confirmed by example.
SECOND SECTION.
THE PROPHETS OF THE ASSYRIAN PERIOD IN THE NORTHERN
KINGDOM : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECHARIAH IX.-XI.
26. Amos.
THERE follows a trio of prophets, Amos, Hosea, Zechariah
ix.-xi., all belonging to the northern kingdom, at least
doing their work there, and that at a time when the kingdom
was on the decline. The oldest of them, Amos, a born Judrean (of
Tekoa, i. 1), was called from his herd to prophetic preaching
amid the idolatrous " house of Israel," by the Lord's imperative
command, under the strong, prosperous rule of Jeroboam II.
Growing up in severe simplicity, a speaker in the spirit and power
of Elijah, he had to expose without fear the evils of the land,
glossed over with glittering tinsel, and to announce the approach-
ing judgment. He sees the judgment on the nations, not like
Joel in a comprehensive picture, but in a cycle of single judg-
ments. While he knows of the " Day of the Lord," his proclama-
tion of judgment is more historical than eschatological. And since
he cannot promise a future to the northern kingdom, the proper
object of his menaces, the prophecy of the completion of God's
kingdom with him falls into the background behind the announce-
ment of the work of destruction which Yahveh purposes on Israel.
The first half of the book in weighty discourses (i.-vi.), the second
(vii. ix.) in brief, simple, but pregnant visions, contains the
judicial sentence on a faithless nation bewitched by wanton
image-worship and forgetful of the most elementary moral duties.
The nation will be scattered among all lands, nay, completely
carried into exile, at which point the prophet sees Assyria rise before
him, which was beginning to appear threateningly on the horizon. 1
1 The whole historical field of view shows close affinity with that of Joel, but as
remarked, p. 220, is considerably in advance.
221
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 225
But although the present course of things can only lead to
judgment on Israel (not merely the heathen, as mainly in Joel),
instead of salvation, the book is not quite without bright features.
Here also and here in special degree applies what we said
(p. 193) of the contents of prophecy during this whole period :
The threat of judgment stands in the foreground, the promise of
salvation forms merely the bright fringe of the judgment-cloud
then ascending. Precisely in Amos judgment like a storm-cloud
makes the round of the nations to descend most heavily on Israel ;
and only through its last fringe does there appear a ray of divine
grace, in whose light a happy future opens.
In the fifth vision (ix. 1 ff.) the prophet has seen God's house
in Israel, the sanctuary of the northern kingdom, fall to pieces,
and the nation buried under its ruins. The Lord intends a
radical destruction of this sinful kingdom ; only He will not utterly
destroy the house of Jacob ( = kingdom of Judah, ver. 8). As
this limitation of the judgment recalls the patriarchal promises,
so the oracle recalls the inalienable mercies of David :
Amos ix. 11 f . " In that day will I set up THE COTTAGE OF
DAVID that is fallen to pieces, and will repair its rents and set up
its ruins, and build them as before, 1 that they may take in posses-
sion the remnant of Edom and all nations, over which my name
has been proclaimed, says Yahveh, who performs these things."
Whereas to the northern kingdom, powerful and vigorous as
it seems, the prophet can hold out no hope, God's covenant with
David will as little fall to the ground as the one concluded with
the fathers of the nation. The house of David is certainly at
present in a ruinous state, really no longer fit to be called a house,
but a mere hut (Isa. i. 8) ; soon it will tumble down altogether.
Not long before, Jeroboam II.'s predecessor, Joash, had van-
quished the Jewish King Amaziah ; the fame of the Davidic
dynasty seemed gone for ever. But despite this appearance of
things, the incorruptible, fearless prophet proclaims to the
Ephraimite land, that only this despised " cottage," i.e. the king-
dom of Judah, the soul of which is the race of David, has a bright
future before it, since God will restore its power to as glorious
1 The sudden change in the gender and number of the suffixes in ver. 116 is
strange. The suff. fern. plur. in jrT'X'IB seems not to refer to the cities of Judah,
but to a ni~n3 tying in the verb ; vnb'"tn to the j-p3 lying in ri3D ; rVJV331 refers
to nap.
OUELLI. P
226 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
a state as it had ever enjoyed. Disobedient Edora * must again
bend under its sceptre along with all the countries already
claimed for the Lord. This promise does not hover in the far
distance, but keeps within local limitation, at least as to the sense
it must have had for the hearers of Amos. The past greatness of
Judah floats before the prophet's eyes, as ver. 1 1 f. shows, as some-
thing reappearing hereafter. As Jeroboam 1 1. had just again restored
the limits of the northern kingdom according to the prophecy of
Jonah, son of Amittai (2 Kings xiv. 25), so according to the
oracle of Amos a like restoration of power in yet fuller measure
was to be granted to the house of David. Not merely every-
thing which David and Solomon actually possessed, but every-
thing already claimed by the Lord as His property * was to serve
it hereafter. To this head belongs in the strict sense, e.g., even
Phoenicia, which was never an Israelitish possession. In the wider
sense one might certainly remember that universal dominion has
been virtually promised to David as the Lord's Anointed, God's
son (Ps. ex. 2 and others) ; but the concrete conception of David's
future kingdom is still ruled here by the past (just as in Obad.
ver. 17). The evolution and expansion of the theocracy takes
place in this form, that the lands previously designated to its service
are all actually subjected to the house of David. This is said
and sealed by Yahveh, " who performs these things." How this is
to come about, is meantime incomprehensible ; enough that at last
it will so come to pass.
Then God's people and land have rest, peacefully enjoying
the blessings which the Lord has bestowed on them. In exactly
the same way as Joel, Amos closes with the joyous prospect of
a covenant - people in Canaan enriched by God's grace with
abundance of gifts and undisturbed by judgments :
13 " Behold, days come, saith Yahveh, when the ploughman
1 Cf. i. 11. Edom alone is named here, as the foe most hated, on whom the
house of David must wreak satisfaction, which agrees excellently with Obadiah
and Joel.
2 The explanation: "All nations over whom the name of the Lord has been
proclaimed " = preached, is contrary to idiom. According to Deut. xxviii. 10, jop3
^y /w DE>> tne name of the Lord is proclaimed over a nation in the sense that He
takes possession of it, makes it His property. But the perf. is not to be interpreted
as/u<. exactum : " all nations, to which I (the Lord) shall have proclaimed a right of
possession ; " rather what has been already promised to the house of David is meant.
The LXX. obtain a much more general sense by reading
PKOPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 227
overtakes the reaper, and the grape-treader the seed-sower :
and the mountains drop with new wine, and all hills melt.
14 And I maRe the captivity of my people Israel return home,
and they build again the desolated cities and dwell therein,
and they plant vineyards and drink their wine, and plant
15 gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them upon their
soil, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their soil,
which I gave them, saith Yahveh, thy God."
The physical blessing is depicted (ver. 13) in much the same
language as at the close of Joel's prophecy (iii. 18), with a
phrase, however, which points back to the Torah. The normal
state of agriculture, described in Lev. xxvi. 5, according to which
threshing-time is to reach to vintage and vintage to sowing-time,
is surpassed in the prophetic description of the happy future*:
the plougher overtakes the reaper, etc. One will scarcely be
done with ploughing when the crop will be ripe, and with
treading grapes when the sowing will have to begin, which
bespeaks just as wonderfully rapid growth as an exuberant wine-
harvest. Almost all the year through reaping and grape-treading
will go on. To this is added the same hyperbole as in Joel : the
" dropping," nay, " melting of the hills," which abound in wine
(and milk). Then strikes the hour, when the deported ones, whom
we have already seen in Obadiah and Joel (of. Amos i. 6, .9), but
who are far more numerous, according to the view of Amos, afte:
the whole of Israel has been " sifted " among the nations (ix. 9),
shall return (Joel iii. 1) at the Lord's instance, to enjoy with their
nation in undisturbed peace the fruit of their labour which the
Lord has blessed; whereas at present, in consequence of the absence
of His blessing, what has been built and planted with bitter sweat
falls a prey to strangers.
Thus we see that the prophecy of Amos only at the end turns
into a prophecy respecting the divine kingdom, setting forth its
future establishment, like Obadiah and Joel, under historical,
local, and political limitations. If Joel is richer in the historical
breadth and spiritual depth of his prophetic views, Amos, on the
other hand, on account of the scene of his labour, excels him in
insistence on the truth, that the divine promise given to David can-
not fall to the ground. 1 He does not, indeed, expressly attach the
1 That "the entry of the Davidic monarchy into the circle of the Messianic
prospects stands in causal connection with the new and promising beginning which
228 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
hope of future salvation to a particular ruler of David's house ; but
he calls attention to the promises bestowed on this house, which can
as little be abrogated by the sin of the nation and its rulers as
those given to the patriarchs. Both together assure the continu-
ance of the nation, at least of a vigorous remnant, right through
the judgment, as well as its future imperial glory amid Davidic
splendour.
The fulfilment of the promise of Amos does not admit of such
palpable proof in the following age as that of his threatenings
against Israel. Although under Uzziah an invigoration of the
southern kingdom took place, this does not satisfy the language
of Amos ix. 11 ff., if one keeps the kingdom within such historical
limits. The setting up of the Davidic kingdom, as later prophets
plainly show, was to take place on a grander scale, and the addition
of the heathen to it was to assume far wider dimensions than the
contemporaries of the herdsman of Tekoa were able to conceive.
In this wider and higher sense the Apostle James (Acts xv. 1 6 f.)
proclaimed the programme of God's kingdom in the words of
Amos, his kinsman in spirit (following the LXX.), after the
appearance of the Son of David, whom the synagogue after the
present passage had called Bar Nafli (^B3 "O), 1 because he was to
raise the cottage from its depth of degradation into a world-ruling
empire.
27. Hosea.
In the oracles of Hosea, a younger contemporary 2 of Amos, as
different from the latter in temperament, in his mode of viewing
and stating things, as he is one with him in the aim and nature of
the monarchy took after the accession of Uzziah a king as pious as he was energetic,
and adorned with every kingly virtue" (Riehm, Messianic Prophecy, p. 121) is not
to be asserted. Prophecy has proved that it can dispense with such pragmatic
supports, since it drew the Messiah-picture most completely and confidently in the
reign of Ahaz. (This seems also to be Riehm's view, according to the English
translation.)
1 Sanhedr. 766. Fr. Delitzsch, Messianic Prophecies, p. 59.
2 The Book of Hosea collects together discourses delivered throughout a long
space of time. The first of them were spoken without doubt under Jeroboam
1 1. 's rule, the later (vii. 7) describe the anarchy that arose after his death ; and his
work in any case extended to about the time of Menahem. On the other hand, it
can scarcely be supposed that he was still active under Hezekiah, as the inscription
states and x. 14 has been thought to prove.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 229
his prophecy, we encounter in still more triumphant form the
confidence that the Lord will at last turn everything to the good
of His people, after they have drunk the cup of judgment to the
dregs. If Amos is a rough herald of the righteousness of the
Lord (of course not without priestly sympathy for the judgment
falling on his people, as vii. 2, 5 shows), Hosea is the impassioned
singer of the Lord's love for His people. Even Hosea, indeed, is
obliged to deal mainly in rebuke, doing this without human regard
and indulgence. He is obliged to disclose still worse things, if
possible, than Amos ; for moral corruption, vice, and godlessness
have made rapid strides. The judgment must soon and terribly
be inflicted on Israel and its rulers ; nay, Judah also, as the seer
more and more perceives, will be involved in it. 1 This insight
into the nation's heinous inner corruption, joined with the pro-
spect of impending judgment, makes the lyre of this loving singer
quiver with tragic, Jeremiah-like sadness. But he has seen just
as deeply into God's bottomless compassion. On this account
often, after language of rebuke, the most glorious promise bursts
forth without any introduction. Despite all appearance to the
contrary, he knows that the Lord will do good to His people at
the end, and will verify His promises.
This prophet also, like Amos, is far from intending to intro-
duce a higher, more spiritual religion, as has recently been
attributed to him. The new element he brings is rooted in the
old revelation made to the people through Moses, but fallen, as
he bitterly complains, in his days into oblivion and neglect. But
certainly Hosea gives more profound glimpses than any one before
him into the mystery of the love of the God who brought His
people out of Egypt under Moses. The designation of Israel as
God's first-born son is Mosaic (Ex. iv. 22), 2 as well as the applica-
tion of the marriage-relation to the covenant existing between
Yahveh and His Church (Ex. xxxiv. 15 f.; Deut. xxxi 16). But
Hosea developed the latter analogy more elaborately and
spiritually than had been done before, nay, made it the soul of
his preaching, thereby suggesting a deepening of the covenant,
the full importance of which was only revealed to the IS". T.
Church. Marriage is a love-bond, not tied merely by nature
(like that between father and son) without regard to individual
assent ; it rests on a mutual choice, which again is determined
1 iv. 15, v. 10 ff., vi. 4, 11, xii. 2. * P. 128.
230 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
by sympathy of disposition. It is true that tins element is not
made so prominent in the Old Testament as in the New first,
because in antiquity the position of woman was still subordi-
nate, she was unconditionally dependent on the favour of man ;
and again, in harmony with this, because the Church itself was
not yet free, had not come to maturity. Hence in the passages
touching on this relation the Old Testament chiefly emphasizes
the absolute dependence of the woman on the man, of the Church
on its Lord and Master, its duty to submit wholly to Him ; its
first and best virtue is obedience, chaste fidelity to Him. The
relation (as in the Old Testament use of paternal right and filial
duty) is more legal than in the application of filial and bridal
love in the New Testament. But Hosea, if any one, is a pre-
cursor of the love-song echoing in the New Covenant. He has a
high, intense ideal of the tender bond which, according to God's
will, was to attach the Church to its Lord ; he insists unceasingly
that this relation must be exercised in reciprocal love, and gives
a certain prospect of the realization of this divine ideal in the
future. In this way, without doubt, he has contributed not a
little to the application of the songs, extolling the love of the
Anointed One, (Ps. xlv. ; Canticles,) 1 to that love of God for Israel
which was to form the crown of the future Messianic salvation,
and withal its innermost sanctuary. The present time sets before
the prophet's eyes nothing but the opposite of this blessed
union of the Lord with His people. The more tender and sacred
to the prophet the covenant into which the Lord entered with
His people, the more painfully he felt the shocking disturbance
of this fellowship by the gross sins of the people. But in order
that the people also, despite their dulness, may feel how glaring
is their unfaithfulness, Hosea was compelled to set this bad
state of things before their eyes in his personal household life.
The people's double-mindedness in God's service, their dalliance
with Canaanite nature-worship, is nothing but adultery (iv. 12,
15, v. 3 f., 7, vi. 10, ix. 1). Thus in chap. i. ff. we see the
prophet involved in heavy domestic misfortune. His wife is
untrue to him, she runs after strange paramours ; his children
are children of whoredom. How far the prophet relates actual
experience, how far he merely uses a didactic form, can scarcely
be made out with certainty. To us it appears most probable
1 P. 172.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 231
that Hosea really suffered from unfaithfulness in his wife, and
afterwards learnt that he (God's prophet and representative)
must needs endure this unhappy lot by God's will, in order that by
his domestic a-tcdv&a\ov, which only too surely drew the people's
attention to him, he might be able to hold before their eyes a mirror
in which they should learn how they stood to the Lord and the
Lord to them. On the other hand, it seems as if, after the prophet
and the Church had become used to that parallel, the account
of the third chapter were freely sketched by the prophet in order
to exhibit a particular element of the prophecy. The three
children of the adulteress (chap, i.) seem to be the prophet's actual
children, meant by their names (like those of Isa. vii. 3,
viii. 3) to remind the people of the misery and doom that would
ensue from their unfaithfulness. On the other hand, in ii. 1 ff.
the prophet is thinking of the children of the Church, i.e. its
several members who suffered under the burden of its guilt, and
were called to protest against its sinful conduct.
As the gloomy, vivid picture held by Hosea before the people's
eyes is almost strong enough without words to impress even a
race without conscience and insensible to divine things with a
sense of its guilt, so it serves also vividly to depict the chastise-
ment which the Lord purposes to inflict on His unfaithful
people. He will take away His help from His unfaithful
Church (ii. 6, 9 ff.) and withdraw His benefits, for which she
thanks only false gods, and thus by want and affliction bring her
to reflection ; He will also, as chap. iii. pictures, shut her up in a
place where intercourse with her paramours will be cut off, i.e. lead
her into exile, where she can no longer practise the Canaanitish
abominations attached to local conditions. Moreover, the pur-
pose of these punishments is to be made clear in the example of
the adulteress. The divine paedagogy leads her into exile as into a
new Egypt, and into the wilderness as to a second sojourn at Sinai,
in order to correct her and win back her love, to reawaken her
longing for salvation. There she will repent, i.e. change her mind
so as to desire to return to her former lord whom she faithlessly
forsook, ii. 7. There in the time of punishment the Lord desires,
as once in the wilderness, 1 to seek anew her love (ii. 14, what
unfathomable condescension is implied in this repeated wooing of
Israel's love by the Lord !) ; and when, as in the time of her first
1 Cf. also ix. 10, xi. 1 ff., xii. 10.
232 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
love, she joyfully .responds to Him, He will restore to her the
promised land (ii. 1 5). Or, as it is said in iii. 5 : " Afterwards
(when under the stress of exile they have come to reflection) the
children of Israel shall return and seek Yahveh their God and David
their king, and shall tremble at Yahveh and His goodness in the
end of the days." They shall return to the legitimate ruling-house,
to " their king David" as well as to the legal sanctuary. By
this (as in Ezek. xxxiv. 23) is not meant the deported king, but
the ruler of David's house at that time representing his rights
and mercies. Nothing more precise, indeed, is said of this king.
But at all events under his sway extraordinary salvation will be
revealed in the last days. The passage has in view rather the
Davidic house than the person of the king, like Amos ix. ; but
it is far nearer the personal concentration of the Messianic
promise than Amos. The mixture of feelings filling the return-
ing penitents is beautifully described: Irresistibly drawn by
fond desire, and yet trembling with a sense of their own un-
worthiness (cf. XL 10), they will draw near to the Lord and His
salvation, to the revelation of His goodness.
Moreover, the final state of happiness is more fully described
by the help of the comparison with the human marriage-covenant
as one of complete inner and outer harmony between heaven and
earth, God and His people. When the Church's first love to
her God is again revived in the time of her purifying in the
wilderness, she will call Him her consort (ii. 16 f.), not her
Baal (lord). The name of Baal will not again be heard from
her lips. Thus in delicate modesty she will avoid everything
offensive to the Lord. Her heart belonging exclusively to Him,
she will also study delicacy of speech, avoiding the ambiguity in
the name given to God which has so often proved the bridge to
apostasy. " My Baal " has an unsuspicious and reverent sound,
but it may easily become a cloak of unfaithfulness. " My husband,
my consort," expresses devotion as trustful as it is unreserved ;
it excludes all dalliance with the multiform heathen " lords," and
implies a bliss such as no heathen god can give. This bliss is
expressed even in the outward aspect of the laud and the people's
life :
ii. 18. "And I make a covenant with them in that day,
with the beast of the field and the birds of the air ami
what creeps on the earth ; and bow and sword and war I
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 233
will break out of the land, and will make them rest in
safety."
The peace, the secure rest, vouchsafed to the people that
belongs wholly to its Lord and God, is described on two sides.
It will enjoy happy rest from beasts and men. For God com-
mands the beasts, which may prove destructive to sinful men,
to spare His own. This is expressed thus : " I make with
them a covenant on behalf of men," i.e. a regulation which they
must observe. 1 Three classes of beasts are named : wild beasts
without, to which beasts of prey belong ; the birds above, among
which also are many birds of prey ; and reptiles beneath, which
include the cunning serpent.
But as the Lord forbids the powers of nature to inflict injury,
so also He wards off the attacks of men from His sanctified
people. War will have an end in the laud. 2 God Himself
shatters bow and sword and implement of war, and casts them
out of the land. 3 Thus, in contrast with the perpetual readiness
for war necessary at present, one will be able to give himself to
the calm enjoyment of peace. This physiognomy of the final
kingdom of God, according to which it is distinguished by a
truce of nature and truce of nations, is further elaborated by
Isaiah some decades later, in Tsa. ii. 2 ff., ix. 4, and elsewhere,
truce of nations ; in xi. 6 ff., truce of nature.
But this outer harmony of the last days has its inner ground
in the sacred covenant of love then established by the Lord
between Himself and His people, and become truly reciprocal.
ii. 19 f. "And I will marry thee to me for ever; and will
marry thee to me in righteousness and judgment and love and
compassion, and will marry thee to me in stedfastness, and thou
shalt know Yahveh."
The true love-covenant belongs only to the future. The Lord
as Bridegroom will marry* the Church as bride, of which He thrice
gives assurance with solemn repetition. And this New Covenant
shall not again be broken after brief duration ; it shall not be a
merely outward one ; it shall no longer remain one-sided ; the
1 Cf. Job v. 23 and p. 93.
2 That the apparently heterogeneous TOrTO is to be taken thus, is proved by
Hos. i. 7.
* Used pregnantly : frangam e terra forfrangam et ejiciam e terra.
said of the man who marries a woman (accus.), Deut. xx. 7, xxviii. 30.
234 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
spiritual fellowship into which the Lord enters with His Church
in imparting to it His own attributes secures to this covenant its
inner truth and inviolable permanence.
The divine attributes mediating the covenant, by the Church
participating in them, are righteousness (P!*) an< ^ l ve 09?)- The
former is exercised in judgment (BSITD), right utterance and
normal action, the latter in displays of mercy (Q'orn). Both are
attributes pertaining to God in the highest and fullest sense
(note A), but cannot be wanting to His people, if His people are
to be entirely one with their God. The two attributes are also
so chosen that they describe what must adorn the Church as
the Lord's bride, whereas in the Israel of the present their
absence is conspicuous. They are God's communicative virtues,
by which His union with the Church is effected. 1 At present Israel
lacks these fundamental virtues of righteousness and love, 2
because it stands in no spiritual fellowship with the Lord, no
"knowledge of the Lord" 8 belongs to it. But then those divine
attributes will be reflected in the Church, 4 by which the most inti-
mate fellowship with Him is conditioned and indicated. Finally,
this Xew Covenant is made n ^OX3 in stedfastness. Unchange-
ableness, that ring holding together God's attributes, will also
conclude the covenant with His people and secure its eternal
duration. In sincere, immovable fidelity will God join His
people to Himself, and this fidelity will be mutual. The
description of this divine bridal-love reaches its climax in the
clause : " Thou shalt know Yahveh." Knowing God is the chief
condition on which the people can keep the covenant ; and at
the same time such knowledge, as the mention at the close
shows, is the highest fruit of obedience to God rendered from
love. This verb JHJ elsewhere also denotes, as is well known,
far more than a mere intellectual apprehending. It has been
called a nosse cum affectu et effectu. It expresses the inner
appropriation of something, and when a person is the object,
appropriating insight into him, loving assimilation. So God
knew Israel long ago (xiii. 5) ; when, now, on its part it knows the
1 Xowack : "The gifts introduced by 2 are so to speak the bridal gifts, which
Yahveh makes over to Israel, His wife, on the making of the New Covenant," is not
quite pertinent. These attributes are not conceived as a gift by which the Lord
would acquire a right to the Church.
* iv. 1 f., T. 11, vi. 4 f., x. 4, 12, xii. 7. 3 iv. 1, v. 4.
Cf. Ps. Ixxii. 1 ; Jer. xxiii. 5.
PEOPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: AMOS, HOSEA, ZECII. IX.-XI. 235
Lord, it receives Him into its inmost heart. 1 Here, then, the
end is reached, which God had in mind from the first in
covenanting with sinful man perfect fellowship of life and love
between Him and His Church on earth. Then begins complete
harmony between heaven and earth.
ii. 21 f. "And it shall come to pass in that day, when I
shall answer, saith the Lord, I will answer the heavens and they
shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the wheat and
the new wine and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel ; and I
sow them to me in the land and have mercy on those without
mercy, and say to those not my people : ' My people art thou ! '
And it shall say : ' My God ! '"
This harmony is in contrast with the present, when disorders
of various kinds appear in the economy of nature. Here one
thing demands the other. Fruits demand sap from the earth,
the earth rain from heaven, 2 the heaven clouds from God. So,
finally, the asking and sighing of all creation turns upward to
the Lord of life. When He is in the covenant, blessing streams
upon all. His goodness makes one creature answer the demand
of another ( n ^)> and thus no prayer remains unheard. Again,
the glaring dissonances of the present turn into the opposite.
The name Jezreel, which Israel had received (i. 4), in ominous
recollection of Jehu's bloody deed, becomes of good omen, and
signifies its new implanting in the Promised Land ; instead of
Lo-Euhamah, as another child of the prophet is called, also repre-
senting Israel, this people will then be called the Favoured one,
to whom special compassion has been shown ; finally, the third
will again receive the name ^V, " my people," properly belonging
to Israel, but at present denied to it. God will again call Israel
His people, and Israel, (here also the reciprocity is to be observed,)
with full knowledge of what it says, will invoke Yahveh as its
God. Already in the Pentateuch under Moses, God had defined
1 The expression " to know the Lord " in this profound sense is a favourite phrase
of this profoundly inward prophet and herald of divine-human love.
2 The importance of rain in order to prosperity in the East is well known.
W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 91 : "In the East is a deep sense of
uncertainty and of entire dependence for their daily bread on the showers of heaven,
delayed nearly every year until much painful solicitude is felt by all classes. Very
often there is a universal cry from man and beast and bird and burning sky and
drooping fields, ere the Lord hears the heavens and the earth, hears the corn and
wine and oil."
236 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
the relation into which He will enter with this people thus : " It
shall be to Him a people, and He will be to it a God " (cf. p. 128).
In the time of consummation, this relation of possession shall be
perfectly realized on both sides.
Already in i. 10 the prophet has quite abruptly appended to
the foregoing sentence of rejection a similar promise. Only
afterwards comes the physical (ii. 6 ff., iii. 4) and ethical means
(ii. 2, 7, 14, v. 15), by which the transition from a state of enmity
to God to one of covenant with Him is brought about. In this
unlooked-for announcing of the promise (i. 1 ff.) appears the un-
fathomable mercy of God, which is the real ground of salvation.
In the former passage the promise has more of a political
character.
i. 1 " And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the
sand of the sea, which cannot be measured and numbered. And
it shall come to pass instead of it being said to them, ' Ye are
not my people,' one shall call them ' Sons of the living God.'
11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall
assemble together, and shall appoint themselves one head
and go up out of the land ; for great is the day of Jezreel."
ii. 1 " Say to your brethren, ' My people,' and to your sisters,
' Favoured.' "
Despite all guilt and punishment, what God promised to
Abraham remains sure, namely, the promise of a countless
posterity (Gen. xxii. 17, xv. 5 ; cf. xxxii. 13). And as it was
promised to the Father of the faithful that in his seed all nations
should be blessed, this people cannot always remain a witness to
the divine curse. As it now bears the stamp of estrangement
from God, so shall it unmistakably bear the stamp of divine
sonship. The Pentateuchal declaration, that God has received
the whole people into the place of a son (Ex. iv. 22 ; cf. Hos.
xi. 1), is here individualized : individual Israelites are sons of
the God who by His revelation proves Himself living.
The political consequence of this gracious act will be the
ceasing of the present division of the Davidic kingdom l and the
willing union of all the tribes under one head, of course under
a prince of the heaven-chosen royal house 2 (iii. 5). God's people,
countless as the sand by the sea, united under one head, will
then go up from the land to Jezreel. By this inarch a military
1 Zech. xi. 7, 14 : Ezek. xxxvii. 15 ff. 2 Cf. Amos ix. 11 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 23.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XL 237
advance is meant. The people will take position in the great plain,
so often the scene where the fates have come to a bloody issue,
and where, in particular, in the time of the Judges, Deborah and
Gideon, the Lord by His hosts smote to the ground the superior
might of the heathen. In this sense the day of Jezreel here
is the day of reckoning with the heathen, when Israel will finally
conquer, thus approving itself the people anew received into
God's favour. 1 Thus the members of the nation shall then be
greeted as belonging to and favoured of the Lord 2 (ii. 1).
Hosea sees this glorious exaltation as something that can only
follow on judgment and a protracted time of suffering (iii. 3), for
the people were then quite incapable and unworthy of it. But
he does not predict judgment as an unalterable fate. If the
people repented, the Lord would certainly call them back to life
from the death that had already partially overtaken them. Then
the prophet (vi. 1 f.) dictates to them a healing, penitential
prayer. As Joel summoned the Church to turn aside the ap-
proaching day of doom by sincere, inward sorrow (ii. 12 f.), so
also Hosea here and in xiv. 2 ff. points out the way of salvation,
waiting to see whether his people will take to heart his words,
or whether those words will only be received afterwards by a
Church judged, exiled, slain ; cf. the summons (Isa. ii. 5).
vi. 1 " Come, let us return to Yahveh, for He has torn and He
will heal us. He has smitten and He will bind us up.
2 He will make us live within two days, on the third day
3 He will raise us up, that we may live before Him. And
let us know hunt 3 after knowing, the Lord : Certain as the
dawn is His rising, 4 And He will come to us as the rain-
shower, as the latter rain which sprinkles the earth." 5
1 Without warrant, Hitzig specializes the prophecy, urging the local expression.
He understands it as if the prophet expected a great battle in the above valley
against the Syrians, which did not happen.
2 Here also the suffix in *y refers to God, not to the speaker greeting his brother
as a countryman, which would amount to a mutual acknowledgment of Judah and
Ephraim.
3 The Greek S/alxs/v, like this PjTi, is a favourite word of Paul in the New Testa-
ment (Rom. ix. 30 f. and elsewhere).
* His rising (cf. fc^O^n HXV) is "fixed" i.e. His appearing is as positive as that
of the dawn ; Ps. Ixxxix. 37.
5 Ver. 1. We would use the hypothetical form : "Has He torn? then will He
also heal ; has He smitten ?" etc. The omission of the copula in -rf is strange, but
238 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
If the people turned its thoughts back to God, 1 and sought Him
zealously and heartily (ver. 3), He would as certainly set aside the
judgment as He brought it about, and, what is more, make Himself
known, appear with His revelation of grace as certainly and uni-
formly as the most regular phenomena of nature occur. But of special
importance is the truth uttered in ver. 2 : Israel must die in order
to live ; really it is found at present in a state of death, and can
only be rescued from it by a creative act of God. We find this
idea developed more copiously in Ezekiel (xxxvii.), in whose time,
indeed, its state of death was far more obvious, the bones of the
Church lying scattered on the earth. And as there God's omni-
potence is dwelt on, which is able to make even the dead live
again, so in the present passage, where it is expressed by the
confident assurance U'>rv, and especially by the indication of time,
which is clearly meant to be the shortest space conceivable.
Within two days 2 it will come to pass in unexampled fashion
that divine life will come again into the people, so that on the
third day by God's gracious working it will rise again to a holy,
blessed life in God's sight. It is not really a rising of buried
bodies that is meant, but a work according to the prophet's con-
viction no less miraculous than this, and possible to omnipotence
alone : The raising a people from spiritual death, and from a
bodily state no better and really no other than death, 3 to true life
through God and before God, a life having its spiritual roots in
God, and drawing from Him its outward success.
For the rest, the discourses of Hosea (chaps, iv.-xiv.) give no
essentially new information about the future of God's kingdom.
They expound more fully the contents of chaps, i. iii. Above
all, the hopeless corruption of the people in its unfaithfulness to
Yahveh is laid bare, from ix. 10, with elegiac glances at the
period of first love. Having shown itself incorrigible, Ephraim-
was necessary to preserve the perspicuity of the periods. In ver. 3 also the first
words give hypothetically the presupposition of the sequel : "If we hunt after His
knowledge, His rising is certain."
1 "n ^S 3V^ or mrV ly, xiv. 2, or with 3, xii. 7, is like the N. T. ^try:v.
xi. 5 complains that this repentance did not take place.
8 JO in D^D'D is partitive. A distinction is made, chiefly indeed a formal one,
in the vivid description, between the making alive which falls on the second, and
the raising from the grave which falls on the third day.
3 Cf. xiii. 1, Ephraim, the most powerful tribe, died, said in reference to the time
of the Judges.
PEOPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 239
Israel goes into exile to Egypt and Assyria, 1 the lands with which
it carries on dalliance, promising itself help from them. 2 Still
the Lord in His unfathomable mercy cannot resolve to give them
up to the doom of destruction for ever, as once the cities of the
vale of Siddim, xi. 8 ff.
xi. 8 " How should I give thee up, Ephraim, surrender thee,
Israel ? How should I make thee like Admah, set thee
as Zeboim ? My heart turns within me, my compassions are
9 excited together (note B). I will not execute my fierce
wrath, nor again destroy Ephraini. For I am God, not man,
1 holy in thy midst, and will not yield to passion. They shall
go after Yahveh as after a roaring lion ; for He will roar, and
the children from the sea shall tremble, they shall flutter as
birds from the land of Egypt, and as doves from the land of
Assyria, and I will settle them in their houses."
Divine grace reaches beyond the judgment ; here also behind
the exile the prophet's gaze sees his people returning home. From
the midland sea, therefore from Javan, where many prisoners are
already found (Obad. ver. 20 ; Joel iii. 6), from Assyria and Egypt,
whither soon many will be led, the Lord will call and bring them
home. His call will be so powerful, that those alien to Him
both outwardly and inwardly, will be irresistibly drawn by it, and
will render obedience, partly from fear of the terrible might
He displays, partly from joy at His salvation and the love
breathing in it, and moving Him to seek His people again.
This mixture of feelings (as in iii. 5) is expressed in the beauti-
ful figure of the migratory birds and wandering doves, flying
from distant lands to their native seats, at first anxiously flutter-
ing, and then gaining confidence and nestling in their former
haunts.
The difficult passage (xiii. 12 ff.) affirms that Ephraim will
actually die, and yet the Lord will cherish thoughts of grace
towards it (cf. vi. 1 ff.). The trial of Ephraim is closed.
The judge is about to pronounce the fatal sentence. In the
case of a hardened, unwise people a passing visitation is use-
less. Figuratively expressed : When the pains of one in travail
overtake Ephraim, he is an unwise son who does not present him-
self at the opening of the womb. By this obstinacy he makes a
happy, easy birth impossible. So the people in its sufferings
1 viii. 13, ix. 3, 6 ; cf. x. 6, further xi. 5, 11. 2 vii. 11, viii. 9, xiv. 3.
240 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
is compared to one in travail ; while in so far as it frustrates a
salutary result of its sufferings, it is like a child refusing to come
to the birth. Thus pain and suffering fail to bring about a saving
repentance. The people must fall a prey to death.
xiii. 14. "From the hand of the underworld I will deliver
them, from death redeem them. Where are thy plagues, death ?
where is thy sting, underworld ? Repentance is hidden from
my eyes."
If the first two clauses of the verse are read interrogatively,
the passage is all rebuke, condemnation without hope. " Should
I deliver them from the power of Hades ? Nay, forward, ye
powers of death, I have no mercy ! " But the interrogative
acceptation is without support and little probable in point of
form. As to meaning, it is in contradiction to the character of
Hosea's prophecy, which always behind judgment discloses a
prospect of redemption. The sense, therefore, rather is : " Only
from the underworld will I redeem them." For this reason also
?W stands here before rno. That God will redeem His people at
last is certain to Hosea. But it is clear to him that no mere
passing, remedial suffering must come first, but the radical judg-
ment of death. Thus only from the realm of the power to which
it is now handed over will the Lord redeem His people. The
following apostrophe : " Where are thy plagues, death ? " might
perhaps be understood by the analogy of ver. 10 as meaning,
" Where, then, remains thy power ? Thou wilt have none over
them when I redeem them." But this does not suit the close of the
verse and the connection with what follows ; for the rendering,
" Death shall hide in penitence from my sight, death shall grieve for
having attacked my people," is not good sense. 1 Rather the phrase
" to hide from God's sight" means, in reference to a decree, that it
does not find favour with Him, is not acceptable to Him, is not to
His mind. Dnb, "repentance," is formed from the niphal in meaning,
it is used of God in Gen. vi. 6. God's fatal sentence is irrevocable.
To its execution the plagues of death are summoned, i.e. those
which deliver men to death ; the " sting of the underworld " is
the means by which it brings men into its realm ; thus they will
strain every nerve to extinguish the prosperity of Ephraim. Only
this extinction is not a hopeless one, since, according to vi. 2,
1 Just as little the reading of Hitzig, QH3, instead of Qnb.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 241
the Lord both can and will raise His people even from a state of
death. He will one day do it, because His love cannot finally
depart from His people (xi. 8). And according to vi. 1 ff., He
would do it without delay, if His people only turned to Him
sincerely. Hence at the close of his book the prophet once more,
as in chap, vi., addresses it in winsome tones, putting in its mouth
right, God-pleasing desires, xiv. 2-4. Let it heartily turn to
God, and, beseeching forgiveness, look for salvation and help from
Him alone, and He will "heal its backsliding," and be to His
people a fertilizing dew, that will breathe into it new life, making
it fair as the lily and firm as Lebanon. Then only will it expe-
rience God's eternal truth and goodness. Still, the last verse
reminds us, wisdom and docility are necessary, if God's ways are
to be understood to one's own salvation.
This truth escaped Hosea's people. Superficially regarded, his
work was a failure. Ephraim had to descend into the jaws of
the underworld. But all the more precious was and is the testi-
mony left behind by him, drawn from the depths of the Spirit
who spans time and eternity. The fate of the nation has stamped
on his word the seal of attestation. The Lord cast it off, to seek
it again and win back its love. The return which Hosea pro-
mised after the exile fell short of the prophecy. Judah was
indeed really cured of idolatry ; but the conversion which then
took place was not of the inner character meant by the prophet.
Even in outward respects the people could not attain the glory
promised. The Davidic monarchy blossomed no more ; the ban
was not wholly abrogated, nay, it soon became the universal lot
of Israel and Judah, and lasts to this day. But to the Israel
that truly turned to the Lord His salvation (nits) was revealed out of
David's house (iii. 5) in undreamt-of blessedness. And still we are
not at the end of the days. The call of God's unwearied grace to
this people continues. With the apostle (Eom. xi.) we await the day
when, after long blindness, it will come to itself, and, making Hosea's
motto (vi. 1 ff., xiv. 2 ff.) its own, do homage to its lawful King.
Hosea's profound gaze saw that the present form of the
theocracy must be dissolved in judgment and the nation pass
through the ordeal of death before God's true kingdom could
find place. But the Lord will call His Church to life from a
state of death within "three days," as soon as the right attitude of
heart to Him is present. To this alludes the saying of Jesus
ORELLI. Q
242 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
(John ii. 19), which also does not apply in the first instance to a
buried human body, but to the temple standing before the e\> s,
the embodiment of the 0. T. Church of God. The sign givt u
by Jesus to the Jews is that, when they in their blindness
shall soon give up this temple to destruction, He Himself in the
briefest space will recall to life the Church of God and rebuild
the temple in purer and truer shape. Yet the evangelist is
not wrong in remarking (ver. 21) : "He said this of the temple
of His body." For between the body of Christ and the Church
of God there is an inner and outer connection. Christ's body
was the perfected temple, in which God had taken up His
abode. In laying hands on this sacred body, the Jews devoted
their own temple and nation to destruction. And when
Christ arose bodily on the third day the new Church of God
was raised to life ; for its Head was alive. This connection
is indicated symbolically by Christ rising just on the " third
day" and thus literally fulfilling the saying in Hos. vi. 2.
For not merely Jonah's type (Matt. xii. 40), but certainly
also this oracle of Hosea belongs to those sayings of Scripture,
according to which the Messiah was to rise precisely on the
third day as Jesus Himself taught. 1 We see here again the
literal fulfilment of a declaration seemingly accidental in its
particular form, something which seemed a figurative utterance
passing into outward actuality. For there obtains here an
intimate connection between details, that excludes chance, and a
mighty action and reaction of the spiritual and the physical,
such as forbids their separation.
But Hosea not merely saw that by God's infinite mercy a new
Church of the future must be miraculously called into life, he
was also granted a profound glance into the hidden glory of this
future Church of God. To him, the " Minnesinger among the
prophets," as Delitzsch once called him, that unfathomable mercy
appeared the deepest mystery of God's ways ; the blissful love-
communion between the Lord and His Church, adorned in bridal
beauty and wholly and solely devoted to him, appeared the
ultimate aim of those ways. In this issue only will God's
decree be fully and purely realized ; thus only will full
harmony between heaven and earth, nature and man, be brought
1 Mutt. xvii. 23, xx. 19, xxvii. 63 ; Mark viii. 31, ix. 31, x. 34 ; Luke ix. 22
xviii. 33, xxiv. 7, 46.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 243
about. We know who changed this promise into glad tidings. No
fanatical audacity led the prophet to such lofty utterances, a bright
ray of the coming sun illumined him. The Son of God, in whom
the love-communion between God and man is seen in perfection,
is security that such is the aim of God's ways with mankind.
And the world's history will not end until this aim is reached.
NOTE A. As Kautzsch (Die Derivate des Stammes p*TC im A. T.
Sprachgebrauch, 1881) has proved, the root meaning of the word
pi>' is that of conformity to norm, righteous character. Used of
man, it denotes agreement with the norm given by God, and is
therefore from the first broader than the juristic idea of righteous-
ness. Still the latter is, of course, included, and stands in the
foreground where the matter in question is national life and
government and BBB>p is spoken of. When the word is used of
God, the meaning cannot be that He is subject to a moral norm,
since this would be opposed to the absoluteness of the 0. T.
idea of God. Where God's P"t is praised, it refers to the agree-
ment of His action with the norm established and revealed by
Himself. But God's normal root-relation to man is that of good-
will, the goodness of the Creator to His creature (not merely
to Israel). This does not seem sufficiently taken into account
in the treatise referred to in explaining passages like Isa. xli. 2.
Certainly in presence of sin this righteous character of God must
become j udicial righteousness ; the latter is a specification of the
idea. In reference to the covenant-people (or the good man) that
divine " conformity to norm " again becomes grace, because the dis-
order is abolished, the normal relation restored, to which, of course,
God appears as one who acts in harmony with His proclaimed
covenant. In the present passage, then (cf. Kautzsch, p. 35), P*1X
and DQSJra are by no means synonymous with ion and D'om ; nor
do they refer merely to God's punitive righteousness, either in the
form of a purifying judgment on Israel or a punitive judgment
on its foes; but they apply to God's inalienable righteousness,
which He will preserve, nay, first fully reveal, in this covenant.
God will join Himself to Israel in accordance with His true
nature, which is grace; but He will endure this lies in pis and DatTD
in distinction from ion and D'nm no violation of His holiness.
NOTE B. The root meaning of this "ilMJ is perhaps : to kindle,
become hot ; cf. Nowack (Comm. p. 208). The D'piru, emotions of
sympathy (like D^m, Gen. xliii. 30), swell into burning pain when
a father or mother sees a child suffer. This is here transferred to
God, who cannot bear to look on the suffering of His people. The
prophet, who sees God's union with His people under the figure
of holy love, does not shrink from anthropopathy. How such
transferences of human affections to God are to be justified
24-4 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
according to the Bible itself, ver. 9 shows. God's love and
holiness can forgive and forget, for it is free from all passion even
in its wrath.
28. Zechariah ix.-xi. (note A).
The prophecy of Zechariah ix.-xi. (issuing from a prophet who
appeared in the northern kingdom not long after Hosea) also
announces judgment in general terms, in such a form, however,
that the promise of a future, brought about by God and rich in
grace, forms the bright background. Gradual advance is to be
observed in the prophecy. The first discourse (chap, ix.)
announces the divine judgment to the nations of the world
hateful neighbours ; whereas the glorious sun rises on Israel in
Jerusalem, whither the seer would fain turn the gaze of the
whole people. But before the true king can come to rule there,
the Lord must first hold judgment upon Israel's kings and leaders,
and in His visitation carry them away into exile among the
heathen (chap. x.). Finally, in chap. xi. the prophet relates how
his efforts to gather under his leading the community of the
quiet in the land, the last remnant worthy of preservation,
miscarried in consequence of their obstinacy and fickleness.
Then he gave up the two ends he was seeking, the wellbeing
of the Church and the fraternizing of Judah and Ephraim ; where-
upon at once the divine ban compelling the nations to spare
Israel was cancelled. But even this manifest visitation, con-
firming the power of the prophet's words, only led the sheep of
his flock to make him an unworthy return, on which account a
cruel shepherd shall rule over them instead of the Lord.
If much in this prophetic passage will always remain obscure
in consequence of our defective knowledge of the history of the
times, an incontestable importance is secured to it by its
Messianic import. If our chronological view is correct, it is the
first passage, at least among extant prophetic writings, in which
the future human representative of the divine kingly dignity is
described in his personal characteristics ; whereas in Amos and
Hosea he was presented only under a dynastic aspect. This is
done in the glorious description of chap, ix., which is brilliantly
set off by its contrast with the heathen world under condemnation.
Whilst amid universal astonishment wealth vanishes from Tyre,
its king from Gaza, their inhabitants from Ashkelon and Ashdod,
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 245
the destined king enters Zion with all the insignia of peace, of
divine favour and human homage,
ix. 9 " Exult greatly, daughter of Zion ! Shout, daughter of
Jerusalem ! l
Behold, thy king comes to thee 2 just and having
salvation is he,
Lowly and riding on an ass and on a colt, the foal of
she-asses. 3
10 And I will exterminate the chariot-team from Ephraiiu
and the steed from Jerusalem,
And the battle-bow is exterminated and He will pro-
claim peace to the nations,
And His dominion shall go from sea to sea and from
the river to the ends of the earth."
Zion may justly appear in jubilant chorus like a festive virgin.
For her King comes, no strange conqueror, but her native lord,
evidently of David's house ; the true ruler destined for her by
God, whom she has long missed, comes. He comes with every
virtue belonging to the Lord's Anointed, a perfect son of David.
Foremost among his beneficent attributes stands righteousness, as
the cardinal virtue of a ruler, and the chief condition of his
acceptableness to God, and also of the welfare of the people he
has to judge, according to Ps. Ixxii. 1 ff., cf. Isa. xi. 5. As a just
ruler he enjoys God's salvation and help, which tends again to
his people's good. Such is the meaning of yw), not active,
aa>a)v (LXX., Targ., Pesch., Vulg.), which must have been expressed
by the hiphil, as God Himself is called JT^to P*w, Isa. xlv. 21.
The participle niphal means one who experiences deliverance,'!
help* namely, constantly from God ; to him is given what the
hosanna invokes from God for the Messianic King. Receiving
the divine salvation, he also dispenses it to his people, to whom
he condescends in gracious humility.
1 ji'VVQ is genitive of apposition. By a personification common in Eastern
lands the city herself is represented as a female, here as a daughter, elsewhere as a
mother. Thus the population is perhaps not distinguished from the city as its daughter.
2 7p = 7] ySj not dat. comuiodi.
3 The seer's gaze rests with emotion on the animal, hence the second pleonastic
parallel hemistich : on a colt, the foal of she-asses. The latter is the plural of
species : "a foal such as she-asses bear."
4 The Arabic .4^2X0 victorious, fortunate (Steiner), is analogous.
246 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
This is seen in his outward appearance, his entire bearing,
which is described as *W, properly " bowed," hence usually " lowly,
mean, mournful, wretched," applied to subjects suffering under
oppression, Ps. Ixxii. 2 f. ; Zech. xi. 7. This one word charac-
terizes in a remarkable way a ruler making a triumphal entry.
Forswearing royal pomp, he puts himself, in his humility and
meekness, on a level with the meanest subject. 1 A feature of
this condescending modesty of bearing is further indicated : He
makes his entry into the royal city on an ass. The ass indeed
is not a contemptible animal in the East ; in the time of the
Judges, nobles rode on it in peace and war; but since Solo-
mon's days the warlike horse had taken its place, and no king
was ever seen entering his capital otherwise than on a proud
steed or steed - drawn chariot. 2 For the most renowned of
kings, true to the saying of the ancient law, to make his entry
on a lowly, peaceful colt, is something unheard of, but of
pregnant meaning. He will not acquire reputation by outward
splendour and might of arms, but will win hearts and gladden
Zion by lowliness and condescension. Nor will he gain vic-
tories abroad by shedding blood like David, or buy martial
glory with his people's lives, but will conquer the earth by
the power of the Divine Spirit, and with weapons of peace
erect an empire of peace. That the ass here (cf. Gen. xlix.
11) is to be regarded as an animal of peace, is clear enough
from ver. 10, where the destruction of horses as animals of
war is announced. Instruments of war are to vanish altogether.
This is promised in Isa. ix. US' also. But what the present
passage, from which Micah v. 9 perhaps arose, specially points
out is, that Ephraim and Judah-Jerusalem will be weaponless.
Not with fleshly arm will its king take the field, he will rule
the nations by peaceful words. DW "tai is not to " command "
peace (Hitzig), which "2n never means, but to " proclaim, speak
peace." His simple word suffices to establish and preserve
peace; cf. Isa. ii. 4. As Messianic prophecy here rises to
the height of consummation in reference to the spiritual
1 The relation of jy to liy usually is that the former applies to a state of abase-
ment, the latter to the disposition answering to it ("still, modest innocence,
gentleness "). In the present passage also the first denotes the outward habitus, while
the second gives security for the corresponding disposition.
* Cf. Jer. xvii. 25, xxii. 4.
PKOPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PEEIOD : AMOS, HO SEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 247
nature of the means by which that royal power will be set
up and guided, so also as regards extent a universal kingdom
of the Son of David is foretold. This is also implied, as we
saw, in the idea of a divinely-anointed covenant king, current
since David's days. He will reign " from sea to sea, and from
the river to the ends of the earth." This definition of limit,
taken from Ps. Ixxii., is meant to abolish all limits, as plainly
appears from Ps. Ixxii. 11, 19. The sea (Mediterranean) was
the western, the Euphrates the eastern, limit of the Solomonic
kingdom. From the existing western limit it will extend to
the sea again (the Hebrews conceiving the earth as encircled
by seas), and from the extreme eastern limit then in force to
the ends of the earth westward, where the earth is lost in the
archipelago. But what in Solomon's days was a pious wish, fed
by the prophetic Messiah-idea, grows now in the prophet's
mouth into a categorical prediction in relation to the perfected
Messiah of the future.
But if his rule brings peace and salvation to all nations,
much more will it do so to the covenant-people, whose captives
then return and receive double recompense for all the wrong
they have suffered, ix. 11 f. Their redemption is effected
"through the blood of thy covenant." The gracious covenant
made at Sinai and solemnly sealed with blood secures to the
people of God that their captives, dwelling far off (cf. x. 8 ff.)
but not abandoned, nay, called by a beautiful turn " prisoners of
hope," shall regain freedom. The Lord Himself will lead His
people to victory against their foreign tyrants (cf. x. 5 ff.), the
latter being neither Assyria nor Babylon nor Persia, but the
children of Javan, as in Joel iii. 6 ; cf. Obad. ver. 20. The
Lord will set free the flock of His people and guard like the
crown-jewels glittering on His territory, so that a period of joyous
security and prosperous growth in the sacred land is granted it.
The transition from the oppression of Israel by the heathen
to this state of peace (ix. 13 ff.) is set forth, with a bold-
ness rare even in the prophets, as a bloody conflict, the Lord
Himself, armed with Judah and Ephraim as bow and quiver,
storming along as champion, hovering over the warriors of His
people, and causing them to trample down all weapons and drink
blood in full draughts. We have here a characteristic proof that
the prophetic oracles are to be adjusted together and are mutually
248 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
complementary (see p. 32). The prophet who in the same
chapter gives so peaceful a picture of the final conqueror and
ruler cannot mean that the earth will be subjected to the Lord 1 > y
the martial exploits of His people. But a fearful conflict must be
fought and streams of blood must flow before the world's resistance
is subdued. The Lord will fight out this conflict victoriously and
tread down all the enemy's power. This prospect is a necessary
complement to the one disclosed in ix. 9 ff.
As relates to the latter prospect, a word is required about its
fulfilment, not merely because Matt. xxi. 4, 5 and John xii.
14-16 say that this oracle was fulfilled in a specific incident,
but because it is well adapted to illustrate the connection of
prophecy and fulfilment. The ideas here put forth Jesus
Christ realized in a perfect manner, coming as He did in unique
dignity and lowliness to set up His Father's kingdom among
His people, and transforming the world by word alone, a word
bringing true peace. The great paradox lying in the outward
lowliness of this supreme monarch has been already hinted by
the prophet. But is the form of his description non-essential,
fortuitous ? * The N. T. fulfilment teaches us otherwise. The
lowliness and dignity, mysteriously interlacing in this oracle, are
no less strangely blended in an event of the life of Jesus, which
gives the speaking counterpart of this figurative language : in His
entry into Jerusalem when the people did homage to Him as
their king, whilst He entered on the modest animal of peace, not
without bearing the woe of His people. Here, too, while the
literal coincidence is not the chief thing, just as little ought it to
be disregarded. It is a divine thought uttered in the prophetic
word and finding embodiment in the after history. The exact
coincidence is meant by a higher divine intention to make known
the unity of the divine plan. In the present case this agreement
is also a revealing of the consciousness of Jesus. In choosing
this form of entry the Lord made Himself known with all possible
plainness as King, and thus received on His way to most shameful
suffering the homage due to Him alone.
The New Testament has also found a Messianic prophecy in
Zech. xi., which, although not immediately, yet by means of
types, stands in real connection with the Messiah. After the
Lord had announced in chap. x. that the time of victory and free-
1 See p. 32.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 249
dom for Israel could only come when He had assumed the lead
and arranged the government of the nation altogether after His
mind, we learn in chap. xi. that He was beginning in fact to exercise
the office of shepherd (ix. 16), that He set aside in brief space
bad rulers by the word of His prophet, and gave the latter charge
to assume the guidance of the people in His name. It seems
that the prophet exercised this guidance a long time, in what
form we do not know. At all events the poor and defenceless,
the quiet in the land, joined themselves to him, having acquired
confidence in his word. He tended the sheep committed to him
with two staves Dp and Ey?'V " delight" and " confederacy "; the
former denoting the wellbeing and happiness of the people,
which this good shepherd had in view, whilst bad shepherds cared
only to despoil them, the latter, according to ver. 14, denoting
the brotherhood, the close union of Ephraim with Judah the
1 irother-kingdom, which this theocratic policy strove after in order
to conduct the whole nation back again to the legitimate house of
David. At all events this original representation of his work by
two shepherd-staves intimates more than a political programme
which he had followed. He acted with prophetic inspiration and
authority. The staves are symbols of the power he wielded in
his capacity of God's representative ; hence the breaking of the
staves (vers. 10, 14) had a perilous consequence partially under-
stood at once (ver. 10). It meant that the prophetico-theocratic
government was not of long duration. Shepherd and flock were
weary of each other, so that he no longer felt called to guard
them from destruction. When he sought his release from the
Church, he put it to the Church whether it thought his service
worthy of reward or not. It then weighed to him thirty shekels
of silver. This seems to refer to an actual incident unknown to
us. The Church professed to be fulfilling all righteousness in
thus paying God's prophet and dismissing him. " Then said the
Lord to me : Cast it to the potter, the valuable price at which
I was valued by them." It is clear, according to this passage,
that the Lord considers Himself dismissed by the people in the
person of His representative, and regards His own merits, nay,
His own person, as thus estimated. The WJvffr? intimates with
what contempt the " glorious price," ironically so called, is regarded
by God. It was the sum paid for a slave (Ex. xxi. 32) !
1 Plural of abstraction,
250 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Even without the evangelist's express declaration, Matt.
xxvii. 9 f., to every one who believes in a divine connection in
the great as in the little events of sacred history, what here befell
a prophet not more fully known to us is a significant type. For it
was just the fate of Him who could call Himself the Good Shepherd,
and who like none else had tended the little ones of the people
in God's stead with loyal devotion and divine authority. In
Him as in none else Israel rejected God Himself, and even His
price was assessed at thirty silver pieces. But Matt, xxvii. 9
alludes to a second detail in the history which recalls the
prophecy, and so must cast light on the import of the treachery. 1
It is the phrase "^'rr^N. The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is
certainly open to dispute. If the word is read participially and
understood as elsewhere of a potter, it probably means that the
money is to be used indeed for divine worship, the Lord claims
the reward as His own, but for its lowest offices, namely, for
providing the earthen vessels used in the neighbourhood of the
temple in great numbers for cooking the sacrificial meals. With
this Matthew connects the peculiar circumstance, that Judas'
reward came " to the potter," i.e. was paid for a piece of land
called a " potter's field," which was applied to the meanest
service, the burying of strangers. This parallel assumes the correct-
ness of the reading and the reference of ivvn ta to a potter.
Matthew, translating freely, has more closely determined this
indefinite statement, ei<? rov dypov TOV /cepa/ie&>9. Another ancient
interpretation, with which most moderns agree, in any case deserves
all attention : " The word means rather the temple-treasure or
treasurer." 2 According to the context of the Hebrew passage, this
is neither impossible nor improbable. The casting into the trea-
sure, by which, of course, the temple-treasure is to be understood
(as the prophet himself adds : " I cast them into the house of the
Lord, into the treasure "), would declare in the strongest manner
that the Lord regarded the reward as given to Himself. The
1 In thinking that the parallel must be limited in the sense of Matthew to the
purchase of a potter's field, Steinmeyer (Leidensgeschichtc, p. 106) too much isolates
the parallel between prophecy and fulfilment. This local detail, taken along with
the amount of the price, is rather meant to suggest who was here sold for money.
2 So the Targum : N^ncs, treasurer; Peschito : "jl A . n. treasury; Kimchi :
n^V = "WK treasurer. Others take it as another form of 1V1S, treasure, or a
copyist's error arising out of the latter.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 251
confusion in sound of K with ^ in -iwn for "unsn between two
vowels is easily comprehensible. 1 This confusion would then
early bring about the exchange as if the word came from "UP,
Jingcre ; so already in the LXX., who translate et9 TO ^(ovevrrjpiov,
" into the smelting furnace." What especially favours this view is
the circumstance that the phrase, " to the potter," would almost
necessarily require some explanation or reason in the context.
Matthew follows the text as it was understood in his days, finding
in it an outward sign for his contemporaries. While we ought
neither to stumble at this outward detail, nor overvalue it, the
citation in Matthew otherwise reminds us of the human imper-
fection of the sacred letter; for this prophecy is ascribed to
Jeremiah instead of Zechariah, perhaps in confusion with Jer.
xviii. 1 if., where the potter plays a different part. Thus it is
questionable whether we have to do here with an inexact citation
of the evangelist or an error of a copyist, or whether the state-
ment arose in some other way. 2 Although, according to the more
probable reading, an outward handle by which the evangelist takes
hold of this oracle and seeks to make it intelligible to his gene-
ration falls away for us, Zech. xi. remains a prelude of the
rejection of the Good Shepherd, in whose person the Lord Him-
self fed His people ; and instead of ascribing the Judas-reward,
with Strauss, 3 to fiction, we see in the thirty silver pieces an outward
sign stamped, not by the evangelist, but by the finger of God, on
the sacred history (note B).
NOTE A. A section of the book, now united with the post-
exilian Zechariah, and probably owing its origin to a younger
contemporary of Hosea in the Assyrian period, has many points of
contact with Hosea's book. We therefore treat of it here. In
favour of separating these oracles from the post-exilian Zech. i.-viii.,
we appeal less than others have done to the difference in style and
outer prophetic dress, or in the circle of conceptions and ideas, in
which the parts of the book in question move. On the other hand,
decisive importance seems to us to belong to the pre-exilian impress
marking the circumstances of the prophet, ix.-xi. Among the
menacing foes of Israel rebuked by the prophet appear (as in Joel
and Amos) Syria, Phoenicia, Philistia, whose almost autonomous
1 Cf. y<\i for JNyri, 1 Sam. xxii. 18.
2 On this point Luther expresses himself more freely than some modern theologians,
as Kliefoth, Bohl. See Kohler, Sackarja, ii. 166 f.
b Leben Jem, 1836, ii. 395 f.
252 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
cities (Damascus, Tyrus, Sidon, Ascalon, Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod) are
in opposition to Jerusalem. Egypt and Assyria are mentioned as
lands whither God will send His people into banishment (x. 9 f.),
exactly as in Hos. xi. 11, cf. Isa, vii. 18 ; Javan, as the land where
many captives already pine at a distance from home, ix. 13, as in
Joel iii. 6. See p. 203, 219. As consequently the outer political
situation appears much more that of Hosea than post-exilian, so the
inner one is the same. 1 Chap. ix. 8 does not necessarily imply the
destruction of the temple ; it applies much better to such plunder-
ing of the temple as had often occurred even before the Assyrian
age. But not merely the southern, even the northern kingdom,
Ephraim, seems still existing. For not merely is it remembered
as in Zech. viii. 13, to which Hengstenberg appeals, or a fut un-
assured to it as in Ezek. xxxvii. 15-28, but passages like ix. 10 (13),
x. 6 f., and xi. 14, assume the existence of this kingdom as a present
pow r er. There are already many captives in the far heathen
country, while a more general exile only impends, x. 2, 9. The
heathen pest of oracle-gods (Teraphim), soothsayers, and interpreters
of dreams (x. 2) is still in full force as in Hos. iii. 4, whereas after
the exile the nation is seen to be cured of it. That the prophet
moves artificially in an " archaic schematism," describes the foes of
God's kingdom with pre-exilian names, characterizes the sins of
later times metaphorically as " idolatry," are unsatisfactory sup-
positions, by which some have tried to render the post-exilian
origin possible. 2
If asked what was the occasion of the oracle ix.-xi. having been
ascribed to the post-exilian Zechariah, we should point especially
to the similarity of ix. 9 to ii. 10. Still Berthold's conjecture, that
the author of chap. ix.-xi. may also have borne the name Zechariah
and been identical with the one named Isa, viii. 2 (cf. 2 Chron.
xxvi. 5), does not deserve the contemptuous dismissal it received
1 In face of these instances the proofs of the dependence of this prophet on Ezekiel,
Micah, Jeremiah, etc. , which Stade has recently tried to make good (Ztitechr. fur
A. T. Wissemchaft, 1881, Heft 1), seem to us unconvincing. On the contrary, we
think the origination of the oracles Zech. ix.-xi. in such patchwork, as Stade sup-
poses, impossible.
2 The post-exilian origin is maintained by Jahn, Kb'ster, Stahelin, Umbreit,
Hengstenberg, de Wette (in later editions of his Introd. to the, 0. T.), Hofmann,
Kbhler, Keil, Kliefoth, Delitzsch (Messianic Prophecies, p. 99 ff. ), Stade, An/any
des dritten Jahrhunderts vor Chriato, etc. (similarly already Vatke, Gramberg). On
the other hand, the second part of Zechariah (ix.-xiv.) is regarded as pre-exilian (to
some extent with a further distinction of the authors of ix.-xi. and xii.-xiv.) by
Bertholdt, Rosenmiiller, Hitzig, Knobel, Maurer, Ewald, Bleek, v. Ortenberg (Die
Bestandtheile, des Baches Sacharja, 1859), Schrader (Einleit. von de Wette, 8th ed.),
Riehm (Messianic PropJiecy, p. 129), Steiner (Hitzig's Kleinen Proplieten, 4th ed. ),
H. Schultz (.4. T. Theologie, 2nd ed. p. 198), E. Reuss (Gesch. der heil. Schrift
des A. Testaments, i. 266 f.).
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : AMOS, HOSEA, ZECH. IX.-XI. 253
from Ewald. It is especially favoured by the circumstance that
that friend of Isaiah also had a Berechiah for father. Cf. Bleek's
conjecture (Einleit. in das A. T., 4th ed. p. 449). This prophet,
according to his prophecy very probably a Judsean who, like Amos,
had betaken himself to the northern kingdom for the sake of his
work there (x. 4 ff.), must in this case have returned to Jerusalem
and reached a great age. His oracles testify to a movement, due to
prophetic impulse, which had gained ground in the northern king-
dom amid the sanguinary confusion of the eleven years' anarchy
that intervened after Jeroboam II.'s death (783), but was of
short duration. The bad shepherd, who is announced in chap. xi.
to the nation that despises the guidance of its God, is probably
Menahem. 1 The three shepherds, whom the prophet set aside by
divine authority in a month, were three rulers or pretenders of the
anarchical period, most probably Shallum, to whom only a month's
government is ascribed (2 Kings xv. 13 f.), his predecessor
Zechariah, and a third, unnamed, who had acquired a momentary
position of authority.
NOTE B. Before leaving the prophets who laboured in the
kingdom of Ephraim during the gradual rise of the Assyrian power,
we mention also the prophet Jonah, of whom a highly pregnant
story is told us, whilst no epoch-making prophecies come to us
from him. We only hear (2 Kings xiv. 25) that he foretold the
restoring of the limits of Israel, which took place under Jeroboam
II.; cf. Obad. ver. 17 ; Amos ix. 12. In time, therefore, he belonged
to Obadiah and Joel. But the significant thing in him is his
relation to the Assyrian capital. In the highest degree noteworthy
(i.e. when we combine therewith what Obadiah, Joel, Amos, etc.,
said about the heathen world) is the mission of Jonah to the
heathen city Nineveh. This mission the Lord carries through
with the utmost energy (following the prophet in the storm,
preserving him by means of a sea-monster), and it has an unheard-
of result. Although the present Book of Jonah may have beer-
written considerably later and not without didactic purpose, several
features pointing to an exilian or post-exilian composition, such a
mission to Nineveh was certainly contained in the tradition coming
from this early period ; and this, as Delitzsch remarks, involves a
miracle, when we compare with it the particularism of divine
salvation even in the prophetic writings. We have here a weighty
precedent for communicating the divine revelation to the heathen
world and for its reception by the latter. In the centre of the
world-empire the message of the true God was heard and believed ;
the city repented, and experienced merciful forbearance.
This history was typical in high degree of God's ways in the
New Covenant. As the Lord (John ii. 18 f.) proposes the sign of
1 Hitzig compares xi. 2 f. with 2 Kings xv. 16.
254 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
His raising up the temple in three days (in allusion to Hos. vi. 2),
so in Matt. xii. 38 ff. (xvi. 4) and Luke xi. 29 ft'., He proposes the
sign or miracle of Jonah ; which, however, ought not to be limited
to mean that Jesus like Jonah was to remain three days in the
bosom of the earth, which here is merely an attendant circum-
stance, of course a significant one. We have especially to con-
sider the wonderful occurrence exclusively emphasized by Luke,
that the heathen accorded faith to the prophet sent to them by
divine grace and certainly accredited before them by the miracle.
Thus this typical prediction supplements the prophetic one of
Hosea. The latter promised the revival of the Church by God's
act ; the former at least gives hints of the raising of a new Church
out of the heathen world by God's word and act. But the next
prophet to be spoken of announced this plan of God in reference
to the heathen world, not merely in typical form, but with full
prophetic consciousness.
THIRD SECTION.
THE PROPHETS OF THE ASSYRIAN PERIOD IX THE SOUTHERN
KINGDOM : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUH.
29. Isaiah and Micah : The Exalted Zion.
IN the period of the highest splendour of the Assyrian power,
which was preparing an abrupt end for the northern king-
dom, great prophets were at work in the southern one, the greatest
of whom once more held the aegis of the divine word over
threatened Jerusalem. While Isaiah, by thus defending God's
city, which in human opinion was lost, against the arrogant
world-power, proved to his and our contemporaries the wonderful
greatness and force of God's revealed word, the supreme value of
the revelation given him lies in what he was permitted to see of
the future divine kingdom which was only to enter after judg-
ment. What he sees is supplemented by the oracle of Micah,
his somewhat later contemporary. Both prophets speak of the
future Messiah, Isaiah in particular depicting the rule of the
future Son of David more clearly and vividly than all who came
before and after him. In both, Zion is the glorious centre of the
divine rule, the significance of which Isaiah especially puts in
the clearest light.
The present Book of Isaiah may, we admit, very naturally be
regarded as a collection made up of different, even heterogeneous,
parts. But the Messianic prophecies in the proper sense, as well
as the great Zion-oracles, belong without doubt to the prophet,
under whose name they stand, and with whose personality they
are inseparably bound up. Isaiah, the son of Amos (P D ?), a
prophet labouring in Jerusalem, according to the heading which is
confirmed by the contents of the book, from the time of King
Uzziah to that of Hezekiah, spent a long life in this ministry ; and
Judah's being once more spared in the Assyrian judgment was due
255
256 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
in large measure to his persistent toil. Isaiah, indeed, knew from
the day of his call to this office (in the year of Uzziah's death,
chap, vi.), that his preaching would not thoroughly cure the dec])
infatuation of his people or permanently turn aside the doom of
exile impending over it (cf. vi. 11 f.). For this reason also his
preaching is primarily an announcing of judgment, accompanied
by severe, unsparing exposure of the moral corruption which no
forms of worship could conceal (chap. i.). But like Hosea he
sees a return from the exile. Although but a remnant, the
Church of the Lord will at last experience a wonderful salvation.
This salvation proceeds from David's house, and already in the
presence of the prophet the Lord gives that house unmistak-
able signs of His favour and protection. Such was the case
according to the prophet's prediction under the worldly-minded
Ahaz, who is delivered from his foes, Syria and Ephraim,
certainly not without his feeling the clanger he incurred by his
alliance with Assyria ; and again gloriously in Hezekiah, the
pious king, under whom Assyria's ascendancy comes to an end
before Jerusalem's walls. The prophet is conscious of the com-
plete superiority and glorious future of the Davidic house in
conflict with these world-powers ; he sees the renown to be con-
ferred on this house and nation when its true heir appears. Bat
certainly his call to repentance, the reception of which would at
once secure God's favours and remove the misery of the times
(ii. 5, i. 18 f.), finds as little intelligence and obedience as the
analogous one of Hosea. Judgment must first refine even Jiulali
(i. 25), exile swallow up the nation, and thus the glorious
Messiah grow up out of the deepest humiliation of His house
and people. Thus in Isaiah we see in especially striking fashion
a contrast between insight into the deep corruption of his people
on its way to dissolution, and rock-like certainty that a future,
divinely brought about, will realize in actual life the mission
which the Lord entrusted to the nation in an ideal form through
His prophets.
The glorious final state, that will see God's plan realized, is
described in ii. 1 ff. as a theocracy, having Jerusalem (or the
temple of Yahveh) for its centre, from that point drawing all
nations into its sphere, and thus bringing in universal peace. 1
Isa. ii. 2. " And it shall come to pass at the end of the days :
1 On the question of the origin of this passage, see afterwards in Micah.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 257
the mountain of the house of Yahveh shall tower up at the
head of the mountains, 1 and shall be exalted above the hills,
3 and to it shall all the heathen walk. And many nations
shall go and say : Come, let us go up to the mountain of
Yahveh, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will
instruct us in His ways, 2 and we will walk in His paths.
For from Zion shall law go forth and the word of Yahveh
4 from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations,
and impart instruction to many peoples, and they beat
their swords into ploughshares, 3 and their spears into
vintage-knives. Nation lifts not sword against nation, nor
do they practise war any more."
In the phrase " at the end of the days " 4 the seer strikes
beyond the nearer future. At present neither Israel nor Judah
can be saved from the judgment, scarcely the temple itself.
Directly before proclaiming again this oracle of Isaiah, Micah
at least says (iii. 12), Zion must be ploughed into arable
land, Jerusalem turned into a heap of stones, the temple
become a wooded hill. 5 But the history of the people and
temple chosen of God cannot conclude with this well-merited
judgment. The end must be a quite different one. Zion, at
present oppressed and despised in its abasement, shall then
tower above every proud mountain and hill. The dispute
whether this is meant in a physical, topographical sense, the
nature of the ground undergoing a mighty change, in order
that Zion, now encircled by higher hills, may tower above
all, or in a purely religious sense, the value of the mountain for
worship coming exclusively into view, is an idle one. As seer
the prophet actually saw Mount Zion, the site of the temple,**
higher than all the rest, just as in fact he saw the nations
journeying to this centre of the world under God's rule, or
discerned Zion overshadowed with divine cloud and flame
(iv. 5 f.) ; and it was not his business to convert such concrete
1 Not " as head of the mountains ; " 3 is strictly local. Only, the meaning
still less is that it is placed on the top of the other mountains ; but it rises at their
head, towers above their head ; the conception therefore is quite parallel with that
of the following clause : " exalted from the heights," therefore above them.
2 V3TIO, partitive jp.
3 SeeVn Joel iii. 10, p. 211. 4 See p. 33, 194.
s Cf. a literal fulfilment, 1 Mace. iv. 38. 6 Zion=Moriah, see p 186.
ORELLI. K
258 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECV.
intuitions into abstract thoughts. But he must have been well
aware of the spiritual import presented in and served by
such representations. According to our Christian conscious-
ness this import is the essential thing ; what shape it will assume
in the final fulfilment, is an open question. At all events the
revelation of the God dwelling on Zion must be acknowledged
by all nations, and the world's whole physiognomy even in
outward respects will assume a shape in harmony with this sub-
jection to Yahveh.
If Joel has shown us the negative end of the heathen world,
here as in Zech. ix. 10 we have a significant prospect of the
positive future of that world, when it becomes aware that
salvation consists in willing subjection to Israel's God. The
nations will all betake themselves to the Lord and receive
instruction ( iT V^) from Him, i.e. the revelation of His will.
Thus their life will be governed by His word. In particular,
their quarrels will be settled by His judicial decision. "\Yith
the words P % 5&? '3 the prophet's own discourse begins again.
Zion-Jerusalem will be the source whence divine revelation
goes forth to all lands, so that from this loftiest mountain
spiritual waters will water the whole earth. Then, too, nations
numerous and strong (Q'? 1 ] B^V) will acquiesce without resist-
ance in the divine direction, instead of asserting their rights
by force. Thus war ceases of itself, universal peace begins,
and there appears the true converse of what Joel saw among
the heathen (iv. 9 f.). There, they turned all implements of
tillage into weapons against God and His people ; here, they
change all weapons of war, which they once used against each
other, into instruments of peaceful, life-preserving toil. In
(loci's kingdom on earth labour will not cease, but will be
hallowed by Him and therefore fruitful. And the peace,
everywhere promised to God's people for the last days (Zech.
iii. 10), is here promised to the whole world (Micah iv. 4).
This prophecy belongs to the most glorious treasures in the
world of human thought. Eeally it contains what human thought
held and still holds impossible, but what is certain truth to God's
seer. What supernatural confidence was necessary, in the very
age when God's true servants were compelled to announce ruth-
less judgment on the temple, and it seemed as if everything ever
said of God's kingdom in Israel was a beautiful dream lacking
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 259
confirmation, to promise such a position in the world to this
very temple ! What consecration of the Spirit it bespeaks,
when at the very time that all nations were whetting their swords
to make God's people feel their edge, the seers of God proclaimed
to these very heathen that they will one day grow weary of this
sanguinary game and flock to Zion to obtain light and right !
Here also we have a confirmation of what was said about the
prophetic oracles necessarily supplementing each other. In
Zech. ix. it is the Messiah who sets up the kingdom of peace in
the world. In the present oracle He is as little mentioned as in
Micah iv., and yet it is Isaiah and Micah especially in whom the
glory of God's final kingdom is concentrated in His person. 1 The
opposite representations of the end of the heathen world in Joel
and Isaiah-Micah are one-sided views, which are only contradic-
tory in appearance. Isa. xxiv. xxvii. exhibits their combination.
The judgment and the conversion of the nations have been
fulfilled and will be further fulfilled. For the latter is by no
means complete. Zion, the city of God celebrated by countless
peoples, from which light and salvation have gone out to all
quarters of the world, has witnessed unexampled triumphs.
The watchword : " To the holy mountain of Yahveh ! Let us
there learn the revelation of the Lord ! " has been the watchword
of all important nations and races for centuries. They have
fetched their law thence and confess the doctrine there
preached, a doctrine establishing peace on earth and God's
goodwill to men. But certainly the realization of this doctrine
remains to-day far short of what the prophet depicts. Does
the fault lie in revelation ? Or is it not powerful enough to
abolish national differences ? We Christians know the opposite.
Although the worldly kingdoms that have become " Christian "
still engage in strife, and the learning of war still exhausts most
of the forces of civilised States, we know a divine spirit-power
proclaimed to us from Zion which overcomes the world, and which,
when fully developed, will dictate universal peace. The end
must include such a peace even according to our observation.
And it can only heighten our reverence for the prophetic word,
1 In presence of such facts it seems to us premature for Riehm to remark
(Messianic Prophecies, p. 129), that because Messiah is not found here, Isa.
xxiv. -xxvii. must have been written at a time when the idea of the theocratic
monarchy had lost much of its importance in the consciousness of the devout.
2GO OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
when we find that to-day, after all our boasted advances in culture
and humanity, mankind, because it has not more sincerely and
completely taken to heart and reduced to practice the teaching
from the holy mount of grace, has not yet risen to the height of
the goal that stood before the eyes of God's holy seers more than
twenty-five centuries ago. Contemplating words of living truth,
to which such age-long compass belongs, we shall not stumble at
the local form demanded by the Old Testament mode of view.
If Zion was the chosen seat of God's temple, the submission of
the nations to God could not be more strikingly set forth than
in the beautiful picture of the prophet, who sees all nations pil-
griming thither. That Zion is wherever God's people are found,
could only be taught in the New Testament, with its purely
spiritual principle of fellowship with God. For the rest, the
New Testament also teaches that God's kingdom must take visible
shape ; only when this takes place will the oracle of our seer
altogether give place to its fulfilment.
If the oracle just considered shows us the world as God's
kingdom of the future, Isa. iv. 2-6 describes the God-filled
Church that will form the centre of that kingdom. It also
forms a transition to the prophecies of Isaiah treating of the
personal centre of the Church of those days, the Messiah of
David's house. This second oracle, again, is a glance at the
shining height in which the way of God terminates, although
leading through judgment. It forms the brief conclusion of a
long, fearful discourse of judgment (ii. 6-iv. 1). Judgment goes
forth on Judah and Jerusalem so thoroughly, that everything on
which in their fleshly mind they put confidence their gods,
their princes, their priests and prophets, their power and wealth,
everything which exalts and is precious in their eyes is smitten
down and carried oft', the Lord alone remaining exalted (ii. 11, 17).
On that day, when against the false, wanton Zion judgment shall
have gone forth, the holy Zion of God shall be revealed,
iv. 2. " On that day shall the plant of Yahveh be for ornament
and honour, and the fruit of the land for pride and pomp to
3 the escaped of Israel. 1 And it shall be, whoever remains in
Zion and is left in Jerusalem shall be called holy, every
4 one written among the living in Jerusalem, when the
Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of
1 See p. 198.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 261
Zion, and cleansed the blood-stains of Jerusalem from its
midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of cleansing.
5 And Yahveh creates on every spot of Mount Zion and on
her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and blazing fire-
6 radiance by night ; for over all glory shall be a vault. And
there shall be a habitation for a shadow from the heat by
day, and for a refuge and covert from tempest and rain."
Ver. 4 shows the close antithetical connection in which this
promise stands with the preceding threatening. The glorifying
of Zion must be preceded by a cleansing, which purges away
what it now regards as its ornament and pride. Also in the
expressions used in ver. 2 (V?X> "N23, iiNji' rpKSn) the antithesis to
that which Zion now glories in is unmistakable. Not that
with which they now in carnal vanity adorn themselves, but
that which the Lord makes to sprout will suffice to be an
honour and ornament to the Church brought safely through the
judgment. What is the meaning of this '" HOS ? In any case
not the aftergrowth of the nation, 1 or its then existing remnant. 2
This comes afterwards in the dative. Eather one might under-
stand the blessing of nature, which the Lord makes to sprout and
the earth bears as fruit. 3 Hofmann says (Schriftbeweis, ii. 2,
p. 542 f.) : " What Jehovah makes to grow and the land brings
forth the prophet opposes to the thousand products of human art,
with which the vanity previously rebuked, especially in the
women, adorns itself." But Hofmann and Schultz (A. T. Theologic,
p. 730 f.) both acknowledge that in this context we cannot be
satisfied with the mere blessing of nature, such as is contained
in the products of the soil. Rosenmiiller rightly remarks : huic
interpretationi obstat totius sermonis magnificentia (cf. Delitzsch,
ad loc.}. Is then the " Sprout of Yahveh " the Messiah simply,
and is He also described as the fruit of the earth, so that, as in
Micah iv. 1, He would be contemplated in His divine and earthly
origin ? 4 As matter of fact, the Messiah is afterwards called a
Sprout, or directly " the Sprout," 5 and there can be no question
that these passages lean on Isaiah's. But this does not imply
1 Grotius, Gesenius, Knobel. * Eichhorn.
* So most moderns, even Hitzig, Diestel. Cf. Joel iii. 18 ; Hos. iii. 5 ; Zech.
ix. 17 ; Isa. Ixi. 11.
* So Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, et al.
* Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15 ; Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12.
262 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
that the word here has the same personal force as later on, when
it had become a proper name of the Messiah. Considering the
general character of the present passage, this is improbable. 1
What Yahveh causes to sprout and the earth brings forth will
be a glory to the preserved nation. Altogether extraordinary
displays of grace are meant, as ver. 5 also speaks of miraculous
phenomena ; but the Son of David is not exclusively referred to,
since nov had not yet become a fixed designation for Him. The
expression, intentionally left in such indefinite mystery, corre-
sponds to the iaia of Hos. iii. 5. The land will sparkle gloriously
with the divine gifts which the Lord of His grace and power
there causes to spring up and the earth produces. Since, accord-
ing to the following chapters, the Messiah is the mediator of
these benefits, nay, He Himself grows up the greatest, most
mysterious among them, it is easily intelligible how the later
prophets applied this no* to the living, personal centre of these
blessings in the last days, coining this word, so finely ex-
pressive of God's wondrous dealings, into a symbolic name
for the expected King, whose existence would be a pure gift
of divine omnipotence, a miracle of grace. In the present
passage the chief emphasis lies on the thought, that the future
glory will be altogether a work of God, on which account
also Yahveh Himself is called the glory of the Church, xxviii. 5.
The Church itself, issuing in safety from the judgment, is
described (ver. 3) as holy in all her members. After the sifting,
to use a Christian phrase, the visible coincides with the invisible
Church. Whoever is entered as living in the burgess-roll of
Jerusalem (cf. Ezek. xiii. 9), 2 bears also the mark of belonging to
the Church of God, and this mark is holiness. But the question
1 Nagelsbach also wrongly : " Growth of Jehovah and growth of the land are
opposed to each other ; the former denotes conscious personal life (as a fruit of
(rod), the latter impersonal bodily life as a product of the earth." Untenably, too,
Schultz respecting rtDV: " It is meant to describe the spiritual fruit of the land,
the life of the last days springing from God, that is to adorn the Israelites." This
limitation of the promised glory to the spiritual is just as unwarranted as its
exclusive reference to the material.
* The idea of a burgess-roll, like that of Zion, is capable of being spiritualized.
In Ex. xxxii. 32 we find the notion of a covenant-book which the Lord keeps ; so
again in Dan. xii. 1. But in Isaiah, the emphasis lies on the fact that the city-
book and the Lord's book coincide ; every one entered on the list of inhabitants is
also an actual member of God's holy Church. In Ps. Ixxxvii. this burgess-roll is
enlarged in an extraordinary manner.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 263
is, on what element of this attribute the emphasis here rests. In
our view it is not moral purity, which certainly according to
ver. 4 is presupposed, nor official qualification as fitness and
authority to serve God, though, in fact, this side is of course
included, and the entire citizenship of Jerusalem in the last age
forms a lepdrevfia aytov (" Israel's national calling (Ex. xix. 6)
is thus personally and universally realized," Delitzsch). But
the statement of this verse is meant rather to ascribe inviolable-
ness to this priestly community, morally purified and consecrated
to Yahveh's service. Every one will be .regarded as consecrated
to the Lord, which implies that the Lord Himself acknowledges
him as His elect possession. 1 Thus the citizen of Jerusalem,
secured against all injustice, thanks to his uncontested priestly
dignity, is miraculously guarded by God like the temple itself;
for, according to ver. 5 f., by a creative act the Lord will put
the Church that serves Him in a position to do so without
interruption day and night, summer and winter. As the pilgrim-
Church in the desert (Num. xiv. 14) was visibly accompanied
by God's presence, shaded by day and illumined by night, so
the Church of Zion, in which the Lord has taken up His
dwelling, will be guarded in such a way, that no part of the
temple will be unprotected, the oppositions of day and night,
summer-heat and winter-rain, will cause no disturbance in the
unbroken worship of the Lord. The fire - radiance is the
outbeaming of the glory of the Lord, the smoke - cloud its
veiling. It forms a nan, a baldachin, over all His glory that
dwells in Zion. Already in Ex. xiv. 19 f. the pillars of cloud
and fire formed a protecting wall against the foe ; now it shields
the city of God against all violence of the elements. Men no
longer do it hurt. But the glory of the Lord is represented as
immanent in the Church, more than was the case in the desert
marchings; cf. p. 188.
Whilst, then, ii. 1 ff. presented to us the whole world as an
extended forecourt of the heathen, chap. iv. gives us a glance
into Yahveh's sanctuary in Zion itself, where every member of
the population shares in the dignity and invio^bleness of the
holy place, and God's majesty guards itself and its dwelling against
all changes of time. Here for the first time the perfected Church
is more precisely described as a glorified Jerusalem, an idea recur-
1 Cf. 7 "1ES in Hos. ii. 1. The name expresses the state of things.
264 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
ring again and again up to the Eevelation of John. What the
Davidic Jerusalem represented typically in empirical imperfection,
will be realized, according to Isaiah, hereafter in its full ideal
import. In a spiritual sense this prophecy is already fulfilled, a
wondrous " Sprout of the Lord " having grown up, and by His
mediation sifted the Church and clothed every member of it
with priestly dignity, while this community has been made
safe against all the storms of the world. But the Johannine
Apocalypse again pushes the final fulfilment of our vision into
the future, because the outer and inner consummation of this
Jerusalem is not accomplished even in the New Covenant, but
is only prepared for. The sifting of the Church still continues ;
and only when its outward condition corresponds to the divine
ideal will it be raised above all assault, and its glory revealed
to the world.
30. Isaiah's Oracles of Immanud.
The " Sprout of the Lord " of the previous oracle, left
indefinite and general, is unfolded in chap, vii. xi. in personal
distinctiveness. A Sprout will the Lord cause to grow
up from David's house, which as divine Head of the Church
will bring it to completion. Chap. vii. 1 ff. tells us the his-
torical occasion on which the prophet first alluded to the
future Immanuel. In the critical moment of Judsean history,
when the confederate kings of Syria and Ephraim, Rezin and
Pekah (about 741 B.C.), advanced against Judah to put an end to
the rule of the Davidic house, 1 and all hearts in Jerusalem were
shaking as the trees of the wood before the wind, the prophet
Isaiah 2 appeared before king Ahaz with the categorical prediction
that nothing would come of this project, and summoning to calm,
immovable confidence in the Lord : " Unless ye believe, ye shall
not remain ! " In support of a faith so opposed to probabilities he
offered Ahaz a sign, which he might freely choose from Hades
below or heaven above. By this is meant a sign occurring
suddenly, of the kind referred to in chap, xxxvii. 7, a phenomenon
by which the invisible God, to whom not only the earth, but also
the world above and beneath is subject, would have verified His
1 Of. 2 Kings xv. 37, xvi. 5.
1 Cf. Isa. xxx. 15.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAII, NAHUM. 265
power and purpose. Of course the citation of a spirit of the
dead from Sheol * would have been as illegal as it was unprophetic
(viii. 19). The matter in question here is not the consulting of
such a spirit, hut a miraculous sign from the Lord, which points
rather to earthquakes and the like, and in the heavenly sphere
to astral phenomena, lightning, etc.
But king Ahaz, really an unbeliever, expected little from
Yahveh's help. On the contrary, he put his confidence in the
support of Assyria, which he was secretly seeking (2 Kings
xvi. 7 ff.), and cleverly evaded the fanatic (whom he took the
prophet to be, like our modern theologians) by the courteous
disclaimer, which seemed superficially more religious than the
prophet's daring faith : " I will not request it, nor tempt Yahveh."
Then the prophet answers sharply : The God whose patience they,
the members of the royal house, were trying so severely, will
give them a sign unasked :
vii. 14. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin conceives and bears a son, and she
1 5 calls 2 his name IMMANUEL (God with us) ; buttermilk and
honey will he eat at the time when he knows to despise
the evil and choose the good."
As this is to be a sign, it must contain a public act on God's
part. It cannot, indeed, be as directly visible as in xxxviii. 7,
and according to the purpose in view (vii. 11), cannot be the
same. According to ver. 16, it extends over several years, 3 and
yet, according to the same verse, over only a few years, reckoning
from the present. The nnn nnppn nan may, indeed, apply to
something future, whereas in the passage, Gen. xvi. 1 1 (analogous
in point of syntax), Hagar has already conceived, but something
immediately impending is to be thought of. The analogy of
that passage, however, suggests that the chief emphasis lies on
the child's name. The name Immanuel shall be given to the
child, because God's assistance is visibly experienced at the time
1 ripNB'. ver. 11, according to the parallelism, is a second pausal form for
(Ewald, Delitzsch), not imper. from ^x$ (Targuni, Hupfeld, Nagelsbach).
- T
2 ntflpl. 3rd pers. fern., from DtOp ; cf. Gesen. Gram. 74, note 1.
3 The stage when moral consciousness begins separates innocent childhood from
boyhood, when moral responsibility already exists. The limit of time in viii. 4
does not go so far. Isaiah's sign, xxxvii. 30, stretches analogously over several
years.
266 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
of his birth. Yer. 16 assigns the reason of the name, for
before the boy shall understand to avoid the bad and choose the
good, " the land shall be forsaken, whose two kings thou abhorrest."
Ver. 17, on the other hand, gives the reason for the 15th verse.
In the boy's conscious age there will be nothing but butter-
milk and honey to eat in the land. 1 " Yahveh will bring on thee,
and thy people, and thy father's house, such days as have not
been since the day when Epbraim fell away from Judah will
bring the king of Assyria," etc. According to the statements
of these and the following verses, the sign given to this genera-
tion is of a political kind. In the period within which from the
present time a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, a complete
revolution shall take place in the circumstances of the world.
His name will be called Immanuel, as a sign of glorious help
experienced, and of perfect confidence. But when he arrives
at years of reason, Judah itself is devastated by a worse foe
the Assyrians, 2 from whom good is at present expected. Thus,
in this at first somewhat enigmatical dress, which, however, as a
real sign must have been imprinted on the memory, a prediction
I is given, definite in point of time, of the course of political
[ events, the prophet himself supplying the interpretation in clear
words. It is a sign which that generation for the most part
soon saw ; 3 and here, as in the case of Isaiah's oracle, which
afterwards foretold the fall of the Assyrians before the walls of
Jerusalem, it is impossible to escape with a mere reference to
the prophet's political sagacity, or his religious insight, or his bold
faith. It would have been abominable arrogance or fanatical
superstition thus to sketch the ways of God beforehand, and
stake the faith of others on the occurrence of the events pro-
1 That is, in consequence of the devastation, agriculture and vine-culture will be
unknown ; only cattle-keeping will be left, ver. 20 ff.
2 The -ft^K ?pD OS forestalls the following verse in a suspicious manner, and
may be a gloss from viii. 7. Substantially the point is indifferent, as Isaiah does
not leave it in doubt what foe he expects.
* After a few years followed the campaign of Tiglath-Pileser against Damascus,
ending with the capture of the city, and the death of Rezin the king (732 ?),
2 Kings xvi. 9 ; cf. Schrader, Keillnschrlfttn und Altes Testament, p. 152 f. Pekah
also was at that time conquered by Tiglath-Pileser, and many people were
deported, 2 Kings xv. 29; Samaria itself fell somewhat later (722 B.C.). The
prediction of the ceasing of Ephraim in sixty-five years (Isa. vii. 8), attacked on
critical grounds, refers not to the destruction of the capital, but to the settling of
foreign colonists in the land, 2 Kings xvii. 24 ff. ; Ezra iv. 2.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAH, NAIIUM. 267
phesied, unless the prophet had been under the immediate
influence of a higher power giving him certain knowledge, not
only of ethico-religious truths, but also of the outward course
of history. That naturalistic criticism has a hard position to
maintain in face of this chapter, which is unassailable on
literary grounds, is self-evident in relation to vii. 7, where it has
to take the side of the king and his worldly policy.
But although the oracle of Immanuel, according to the further
explanation, is meant primarily to inform the hearers of Judah's
fate in the impending months and years, we have still to ask,
whether it is exhausted in this application, whether the growth
of a child is chosen as a measure of time only by chance, and
whether a particular child and his mother are used for this
purpose. In the latter respect it is said definitely AD&9R, the
virgin. The word denotes a marriageable maiden, a virgin ripe
for marriage (from D?J?, to be strong sexually] ; on the other
hand, the emphasis in this passage does not lie on the negative
element of virginity. If the sign to the hearers consisted in a
virgin conceiving without aid of man, 1 nTiro must have been
used. But still less could ne6y be used of the prophet's wife,
as asserted by many, 2 who point to the fact that Isaiah's children
bore significant names, meant as signs to remind him and the
people of the chief import of his preaching. 3 The prophetess
(nx'oan, mentioned viii. 3), who had been a mother several years,
since her son Shear-Jashub accompanied his father to the king,
can never be described again as nc&yn ; and to suppose her to be
dead, in order to be able to foist a young maiden on the prophet
as his wife, is a foolish makeshift. Moreover, it would have
been unbecoming for the prophet to proclaim in such grand
terms a sign to David's royal house taken from the circle of his
own family. 4
1 So still Bredenkamp, Vatidmum quod de Immanude edidit Jesajas, 1880.
2 Gesenius, Hitzig, Knobel, et al.; even Tholuck, A. T. im N. T., p. 43, Proph.
p. 170 ; and J. P. Lange, Genesis, p. 89.
3 Isa. vii. 3, viii. 3, 18.
4 How great the perplexity attending the rationalistic explanation is shown by
Knobel's difficulty, that Isaiah certainly could not know that his pregnant wife
would bear a eon ; which he solves by supposing that the name Immanuel would
also suit a girl, the prophet in his oral announcement perhaps speaking simply of a
child, and post eventum interpolating the more definite son ! This is verily : " I am
no prophet, nor a prophet's son ! "
268 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
It would be much more likely to take no^yn quite indefinitely
in the sense : l " When now the virgin (i.e. any virgin) conceives,
she will have reason after the birth has taken place (i.e. in nine
months) to call her son Immanuel," according to the ordinary
custom of naming children after domestic or public circum-
stances happening at the time of their birth. In this case the
child along with its mother is nothing but a clock-finger in
Judah's history. But one must concede that on this explana-
tion the very opening of the oracle does not seem natural. That
opening seems to point to a birth full of promise, despite all
adverse circumstances. And the following chapters are decisive
in this sense. When in ix. 5 the prophet exults: A child is
born to us, a son is given us, meaning thereby the Messiah of
David's house, we cannot avoid the impression, that it is he
of whose conception and approaching birth the present passage
speaks so circumstantially. And were any doubt left, it would
be removed by viii. 8, where it is said: "Thy land, Im-
manuel ; " consequently the son of the no^y is addressed as
the prince of the land; cf. viii. 10. And whom would this name
suit better than the Messiah, in whom God's presence is given
most directly to the Church ?
But although the Messianic dignity of the boy utterly
excludes the notion that he may have been Isaiah's son, we
cannot perhaps assume that the prophet alluded to a definite
woman, belonging to David's Messianic house, as the mother of
the Messiah. This is as improbable as that in ix. 5 he alluded
to a particular new-born child. It would be preferable to refer
to the son of Ahaz, the devout Hezekiah, whose mother Abi,
daughter of Zechariah, is mentioned in 2 Kings xviii. 2. But
this old Jewish interpretation 2 does not suit chronologically, as
Hezekiah must have been already nine years old at the time
when Isaiah spoke to Ahaz. Altogether unhappy is Nagelsbach's
suggestion, according to which an unmarried princess is supposed
to be denounced as pregnant by the prophetic saying. Bather-
is '~!D?yn (just as general as rnh in Micah v. 2), not indeed the
house of David (Hofmann), but the elect Church, from whose
womb the Messiah proceeds. The prophet discerns in its
1 So Stahelin, recently also Reuss (Gesch. d. heil. Schr. A. T., 1881, p. 308).
* The idea of the Messiah was, in several ways, brought into connection with
the person of Hezekiah. F. Weber, Altsynagogale Theologie, p. 341.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 269
present affliction the pains of a pregnancy, which will not be
unfruitful, like those of the house of Israel, Hos. xiii. 13, but
from which the Messiah will proceed. In the abasement and
devastation now impending, He will grow up. This is parallel
to the statement of Micah, that He is to go forth from Beth-
lehem. This prospect of the glorious fruit that will grow up,
in mean circumstances, in the time of impending calamity,
forms the bright obverse of the oracle, whose hard, dark upper
side would be more intelligible to its hearers. There is some-
thing mysterious in the appellation of the mother of the
Messiah. Whether it is the house^ of David. o^Zion, or the
community of the devout, or Judah, in any case she is a virgin ;
she is not here called the Lord's wife, as in Hosea, but a virgin
in the sense above mentioned, 1 as one who was destined to be
a mother, but had not yet fulfilled this destiny. The Church
of the Lord is destined to conceive something quite new, divine ;
she will conceive it amid the tribulation now beginning. The
rendering irapdevos (LXX.), according to the idiom stated above,
is more in the right than certain tasteless modern ones ; 2 and
Matt. i. 2 2 f., who refers it to the virgin birth of the Lord, does
not do this without intrinsic right. For the oracle implies that
the Messiah will come into the world through a new miraculous
influence of the Lord on the Church, and just the same is shown
in the history of the fulfilment in relation to His mother.
We find, then, in the present oracle two chief thoughts inter-
twined : 1. Before a child now conceived is born, the foes are
judged, Jerusalem delivered ; before the child becomes a youth,
Judah also is laid waste. Herein, in this rapid, unexpected
sequence of political events, lies the sign for the present genera-
tion, i.e. a public testimony to Yahveh's conscious, almighty rule
in the world's history. 2. In these pains the birth of a child,
of Immanuel, is made known. In the extraordinarily unhappy
state in which the land is placed, the Messiah grows up.
But the question, How are these two thoughts related to each
other ? is difficult. Did the prophet expect the Messiah's birth
and the setting up of His kingdom in the time immediately
impending ? We would not contend against such a view on
1 Hofmann rightly observes : "She only could rationally be called marriageable
(mannbar) who was capable of knowing, but had not known a man."
2 Cf. even Segond: Void, lajeunefemme deviendra enceinte!
270 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
dogmatic grounds, if it were exegetically established. But, first
of all, Isaiah everywhere, 1 like his contemporary Micah, pre-
supposes a judgment and sentence of exile on Judah-Jerusalem,
and a near approach of the glorious Messianic age would be in
contradiction to this. Again, one cannot mistake that in ix. 5
he speaks of a child that does not belong to contemporary
history, but is only present to his seer-vision. Here also we must
distinguish between the prophet's picture and his reflective thought.
In the former, Immanuel is actually born in the Syrian-Ephraim
tribulation, and grows up in the Assyrian trouble. But this does
not imply that the event also took this shape temporally in the
consciousness of the reflecting Isaiah, for other visions cut him
off from the hope of witnessing such an epoch. Intrinsically
regarded, however, the form of the prophecy is not without reason.
The sufferings which then befell Judah were, in fact, the beginning
of the end, of the judgment by which the old kingdom would be
dissolved and give place to a new one ; and in the degradation,
in which people and monarchy were found after the Assyrian
period, the new ruler grew up. But, at the same time, the
superiority of Judah, such as was gloriously displayed in the days
of Ahaz and Hezekiah, had its deepest reason in the fact that it
was God's people, the mother of the Messiah. Hence God's
wondrous way could not be more graphically described to that
generation than was done in this oracle, where the Messiah,
bringing comfort after its humiliation, was held up before its eyes
as a token of what lay before it.
As in Isa. vii. so in Isa. ix., the promise rises as a light out
of the night of doom ; only that here the light, at least for a
moment, quite pushes back the dark shadows. In the discourse
principally in question (chap. viii. 5 ff.) the entire import is still
.condemnatory, until in ix. 2 a morning-ray suddenly shoots up.
Uncomprehended and unheard, the seer stands there with his
children, who are the living tokens of the message of doom. The
nation seeks counsel in forbidden quarters instead of from the
living God, and refuses to assent to the motto : " To the law and
testimony !" i.e. will not bow before the divine Torah and accept
the testimony of judgment and promise. Hence it is encircled
by comfortless night, which grows darker and darker. The most
natural explanation of the difficult ver. 20 seems to us to be this:
1 Isa. iii. Iff., v. 1 ff., vi. 11 ff., vii. 20 ff., viii. 1, etc., xxxir. 6,
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 271
If they do not say, To the law and testimony, they are such as
have no morning-dawn, a desperate state of God-forsakenness
expounded in ver. 21 f. Chap. ix. 1 joins on to this, assigning
the reasons. It indicates why the opposite happy condition is
to be expected in adherence to the law and the testimony. This
testimony contains the wonderful promise :
ix. 1. " For the district, where tribulation is, does not remain
dark ; at the first time He humbled the land of Zebulon and the
land of Xaphtali. And in the last time He brings to honour
the way by the sea, the land beyond Jordan, the region of the
heathen."
The portion of country in the east and north (2 Kings xv. 29),
most exposed to foes, has according to God's decree a glorious
future. The tribe of Zebulon and Naphtali is named, whose
northern portion bore the name " district of the heathen," because
the latter here always outnumbered the Israelitish population.
To this tribe also belonged " the way by the sea," i.e. the west
side of the sea of Tiberias (Eashi), finally, the strongly paganized
Gilead. These districts had always been regarded by the sacred
history with stepmotherly feelings, and now under Tiglath-Pileser
were about to become altogether the prey of the heathen. But
just here the prophet in a notable manner sees the light shine
earliest and brightest. In his wondrous righteousness God has it
in mind to bring just this despised portion of His inheritance to
special honour. For a prophet of Jerusalem to speak thus is
wonderful. Here also the fulfilment requires us with the evan-
gelist (Matt. iv. 1 3 ff.) to acknowledge the working of God, who
has fulfilled this saying literally, making the true light first to
shine and the world's morning-dawn to break in Galilee, so that
this despised country became partaker in the highest honour. On
the ground of the present passage, without doubt, Galilee is
regarded by the Jews as the place where the Messiah will
emerge. 1
The discourse shows us further the blessed metamorphosis
that comes over the unhappy people, as well as Him who brings
it about :
ix. 2. " The people that walk about in darkness see a great
light. They who dwell in the land of the shadow of death,
3 upon them light beams. Thou multipliest the nation which
1 Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenthum (1711), ii. 747.
272 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Thou modest not great (note A). The joy with which they
rejoice before Thee is like the joy in harvest, like as men
4 exult when they share spoil. For the yoke of its burden l
and the beam of its neck, the rod of its driver Thou hast
5 broken to pieces as on the day of Midian. For every boot of
the booted in the tumult 2 (of battle) and garment rolled in blood
G this shall be for burning, for fuel of fire. For a child was
born to us, a son was given us. And the rule came on His
shoulder. And His name is called : Wonder of Counsellor,
7 Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, for the in-
crease 3 of the government, and for peace without end, 4 on
David's throne and on his kingdom, to establish and support
it by law and righteousness, henceforth for ever and ever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform these things."
In bold antithesis to the present time the prophet describes
how the unhappy people, sunk in the gloom of God-forsakenness
(and he understands by the people now no longer particular
tribes, but the whole of degenerate Israel), will be made partakers
in divinely - given freedom and joy. The nation, at present
diminished by foreign conquerors, will be abundantly multiplied
by God's blessing. To set forth its happiness the prophet
chooses the joy of harvest, the purest and most blessed, in which
the feelings of men are enhanced by the sense of God's goodness,
which does not leave hard toil unrewarded (Ps. cxxvi. 6). Nay,
it is a jubilee as after victory won, when men share the booty
1 From ?3b, burden, in formed ^73D as a secondary form of i">2D with Dasjeth
diriment i^ao. or on account of the fainter sound P3D-
2 |NDt according to the Syriac and Chaldee, boot, soldier's boot, not equipment
(Knobel). ETTO refer* not directly to the tumult caused by the boots, but to the
din of battle, where men go booted.
3 nsnDi a verbal noun (according to the form niPJJD), in the meaning, "to multi-
ply" (i"Q~l)- The Mem clautum in this word springs from an incorrect but rather
old reading : (n3"l) H3T D^ where Q^> was taken for QH7, as Elias Levita states.
According to the Jewish Midrash, the Mem is said to have been closed when
Hezekiah did not answer to the Messianic hopes cherished respecting him !
4 naiO^J and Di^e6 do not depend on Y&T& ("^ ^ e greatness of the rule and
prosperity there is no end," Knobel), but ou the facts implied in the preced-
ing verse. The ruler born suffices, in accordance with the attributes lying in his
name, for increasing the government, and for peace without end. He is also the
subject of the declarations : "On David's throne, and on his kingdom, to establish
it," etc.
PKOPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 273
after hard conflict (Judg. v. 11). For the Lord has brought about
a complete deliverance from the hand of the heathen world-power,
as on the day of Midian, when the harsh tyrants who had
degraded the whole people into bond-slaves were vanquished by
Gideon, and their yoke was shattered at a blow (Judg. vii.). A
simple victory over foes, however, is not to be thought of. 1 The
exultant joy of the saved and freed people can only be compared
to the joy of harvest and victory. "When the world-power, built
on blood and iron, has fallen, every implement of war is laid
aside as something impure which is to vanish from the
face of the earth, and is committed to the fire like con-
demned spoil (Dent. xiii. 16), with every soldier's boot and
bloody mantle an allusion to the faultless military equipment
of the Assyrians, whose rigid bearing imposed not a little on the
Israelites.
It is a grand thing for the seer just now, amid the turmoil of
preparation and the clash of weapons, now when the invincible
world-power is emerging with its armies, to promise that all this
will be swept away for ever. "What gives him such confidence ?
According to ver. 6. the birth of a child ! The same without
doubt from which (chap, vii.), although it was not yet born, a ray
of hope shot through the whole oracle of judgment. Now the
seer beholds it born, hence his triumphant joy. For GooVs
gracious presence, of which this child is the pledge, is migjitier
than the whole world. The next moment the prophet sees the /*
child clothed with the government ; and already from his work
and rule it is plain who he is. But no name will suffice to
express this. The name Inmiaimel, given even before birth as a
pledge to the mother, expands here into a plurality which, with-
out exhausting itself in its terms, suggests more than it expresses.
Four pairs of words* describe this ruler as towering divinely
1 See x. 26 f. The divine lash, which the Assyrians felt, was different from that
which fell on Midian.
3 Quite unnatural are all the explanations which, referring some of the predicates
to God, apply only the remnant to the Messiah. Thus, he who is wonderful cw
Counsellor, the strony God, the eternal Father calls hi* name Prince of Peace ;" or
so that even iy ^2X would still be joined with DvC'~"lb' as a name of the Messiah.
So the majority of the Rabbins, following the Targum of Jonathan. Moreover, }<?3
must not be separated from j'yv, so that five names would arise : Wonderful,
Counsellor, etc. (Delitzsch), since the analogy in form of the following appellations
is against this, and J'yV after 5^2 is too weak to stand alone.
OKELLI. S
274 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
above all others, and exuberant in blessing to his people. The
first pair calls him : Miracle of Counsellor} The word N^B,
miracle, denotes what goes beyond human power of compre-
hension, divine acts and leadings, which confound human
wisdom, Isa. xxix. 14. God is the nxy Nvso, one who deals in
wonderful counsel. The miraculous is a mark of divine being
and action; cf. Judg. xiii. 18. When in the first name a
miraculous, divine character is ascribed to the ruler in his capa-
city of counsellor, planning for his people's good, this is saying
more than that his wisdom far exceeds that usual among rulers ;
it is affirmed that his wisdom is related to the human as divine.
Just so the second predicate attributes to him energy^ in action.
He is called ii23 ?K, strong God, not merely divine hero ; a god of
a hero ; 2 for ">i2| is an adjective, and the phrase cannot be under-
stood differently than in x. 21, where it is used of the Lord Him-
self. In this second name also, doubtless, a definite expression
of his dignity, one side of his working, is taken into view, namely,
his divine energy in action, as.jn_the first^the superhuman
grandeur of his counsel ; but his person itself is thereby raised
to divine greatness. He is called strong God in a way that
would be inapplicable to a man, unless the one God, who rightly
bears the name nui !>N, were perfectly set forth in this his
Anointed One. In such passages the Old Testament revelation
falls into a self-contradiction, from which only a miracle has been
able to deliver jus, the Incarnation of the Son oj^God. Else-
where it draws the sharpest limit between the holy God and the
sinful child of man, and its superiority to heathen religions de-
pends in great part on this limit. Prophecy gradually lets this
limit drop in proof that the aim of God's action is to transcend
it, and to unite himself most closely with humanity. In such
oracles we Christians find no deification of the human, such as is
the order of the day on heathen soil. Otherwise prophecy w r ould
1 sbfi (to be so pointed, according to the text of Baer and Delitzsch, p. 68)
is status const, (not ace. of obj.), after the analogy of mx SOS. G en - xvL 12
(Ewald) ; fJ?V frequently stands substantially (Job iii. 14, etc.) for the minister as
counsellor of the king, with whom as such he takes part in the government.
* Still less : Strong Hero (Gesenius, de Wette), as no adjective ~>#, strorg, occurs,
and such an adjective must have stood after the noun ; the current idiom "1133 7X
has another meaning. This idiom also forbids Luther's separation : strength, hero ;
similarly Aquila, Symm., Theodotion.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAH, XAHUM. 275
be a retrogression from the teaching of the law into naturalism
and heathen idealism. But in such oracles we find a clear proof,
that even in the time of the Old Covenant the Spirit of God was
consciously striving after the goal that we see reached in the
Xew.
Of the last two names : Eternal Father and Prince of Peace,
the first one creates difficulty. The word "W occurs as noun in
two very different significations, according to the choice of which
the interpretation here differs very widely. Hitzig, Knobel,
Diestel translate " Booty-Father," which is perhaps capable of
defence linguistically 1 and in its import. In ver. 2 sharing of
booty was spoken of (certainly only by way of comparison).
Was not the Messiah meant to be described in this oracle as the
deliverer of His people, who after wise counsel smites down the
foe with heroic action as Gideon did the Midianites, so that after
his victory rich booty would be enjoyed and a government of
peace follow ? 2 With respect to the first attributes, with which
the Messiah is adorned, we have seen that they far surpass the
measure even of the consecrated heroism of a Gideon or David,
and amid names of such divine dignity " Booty-Father " would
look too freebooter-like. Nor would full justice be done to this
predicate were it limited to a single victory, and did it not, like
the other names, denote an attribute permanently active. But
" Booty-Father " cannot be a permanent attribute of the Messiah
because of the following " Prince of Peace ; " for the latter plainly
affirms, that He is able without drawing sword to maintain His
reputation at home and abroad, a true Solomon, not bloodstained
like David, and yet a hero greater than he (cf. Zech. ix. 9 f. ;
Micah v. 3). We believe, therefore, we ought to hold fast by the
common interpretation of ny, according to which here as in Gen.
xlix. 26, Hab. iii. 5, Isa. Ivii. 15, it denotes uninterrupted dura
tion. 3 Only by the translation " Father of eternity " one muse
not per se attribute to this definition of time a substantiality nou
belonging to the Hebrew iy, and altogether foreign to the ancien'u
Hebrew mode of conception, The genitive noun expresses pure
quality. Even the paraphrase " Possessor of eternity," suggested
1 The word is so used Gen. xlix. 27 ; Isa. zxxiii. 23 ; Zeph. iii. 8.
* Cf. Gen. xlix. 8-1'.].
* See more respecting 1JJ in this sense in my dissertation on Die hdtriiischtn
Synonyma der Zelt und Ewlgkeit, 1871, p. 86 ff.
276 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
by the Shemitic employment of names of affinity, would be
consonant to Arabic, 1 but not to old Hebrew thought. It is true
that even in Hebrew we find this use of father, brother, etc., where
an attribute is meant to be described as inseparably joined with
the person in question, and it would be perverse in proper
names, like TWMf, ByiUK, etc., to lay specific stress on the rela-
tion of producer. 2 But TV is too dependent an idea to allow
ax to be taken by such an analogy as a mere word of rela-
tion (possessor of something). We therefore follow Delitzsch
in laying the chief substantive emphasis on "as (after xxii. 21) :
" He is a father to his people for ever," one who will never leave
them without fatherly counsel and helpful act. And as every
individual has in Him a father, especially the poor, according to
the description of Ps. Ixxii., so the nation and the whole world
(cf. ii. 3 f. ; Zech. ix. 9 f. ; Micah v. 3 f.) have in him a Prince of
Peace.
In virtue of these attributes made known in his name He
suffices for enlarging the government as a true augmenter of the
kingdom, and at the same time for peace without end. The 6th
verse also proves that the enlargement of dominion is not con-
ceived as taking place through sanguinary wars such as other
conquerors wage, but that this Immanuel, thanks to his divine
superiority, makes the nations submit to him by more rational
means. He will use the power he has as David's heir, first
thoroughly to set up his kingdom, and then to support it for all
time by the weapons of law and righteousness. These are the
pillars on which he founds his dominion, Hos. ii. 21. His
superiority then maintains itself and works by moral means. If
Solomon's wise and righteous policy secured him the homage of
distant princes and nations, this Anointed One of the future, who
must be infinitely greater than Solomon, will bring the earth
into subjection to himself by displaying a higher, divine righteous-
1 The Arabs have a time-god, whom they call ,p*z. A with which Movers
compares Isaiah's expression. See my dissertation, p. 10".
* In Arabic there are innumerable cases to prove that language here acts more freely.
The jackal is not called "father of howling," but "son of howling" (^c.l .J\)',
milk, "father of whiteness " (,..j>- *$\ jl), not because it produces whiteness, but
because whiteness is distinctive of it ; the husband, "father of the wife," because
she belongs to him (<j^ \\ jl).
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, XAHUM. 277
ness. " The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform these things."
The reference is to the zealous love for his people that removes
all barriers standing in the way of the consummation of his
kingdom.
Thus the name Immanuel assigned to the child of the future
has unfolded itself. Divine wisdom, divine strength, paternal
love faithful as God's, divine righteousness and peace, are ascribed
to him, in such a way, indeed, that his person also appears divine ;
he perfectly exhibits God to the world, consequently his dominion
is really God's dominion on earth. Certainly Nagelsbach on this
passage rightly remarks that we must distinguish between the
Old and New Testament standpoint : Considered from the former,
the language did not possess the full dogmatic definiteness in
which it appears to us who stand in the light of the fulfilment.
But every Judaizing and rationalizing attempt to adapt the
insignia conferred on the Messiah here to a man of our nature
degrades them, and with them the Spirit who framed them. One
alone could claim them as his, and for him they were already
designed.
Did Isaiah then think that the perfect Son of David promised
was already born at the time when he uttered these words ? Had
he in view a young scion of this house, like Hezekiah ? This
cannot be inferred from ver. 5 with any sort of right. If the
passage were relating what had taken place, then also the govern-
ment must already have come to the child of promise. Bather
the preterites belong to just the same category as those of ver. 1.
The prophet announces what he sees in spirit. But that he
actually expected the dawn of the Messiah's glorious kingdom in
the next age, is a supposition running counter to all his other
predictions of judgment. No doubt the Messianic salvation finds
points of attachment in the age of the prophet. He contemplates
it from the horizon of his age ; but the image of the Messianic
salvation is so sharply severed from the images which his dis-
courses unroll of the present and future of his contemporaries,
that it is impossible to combine them in time. He was far from
holding out hopes to his contemporaries which could not be theirs,
and the failure of which would have ruined his influence for ever.
Not the when, but the that, was immovably certain to the prophet
in regard to the coming of the divine rule on earth through the
perfect Davidite. But in any case a radical judgment must first
278 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
go forth on the nation, only a remnant of which, the prophet
unceasingly insists (x. 21 f.), will be converted to the Lord and
share in His salvation. For even to the arrogant heathen whom
the Lord uses as a rod, the Assyrian, a day is set, when the Lord
will reckon with him. He falls before the walls of Jerusalem, as
a miraculous vision informs the prophet (x. 28 ff.). And from
rescued Judah, from the humbled house of David, grows up the
world-wide power of the future, painted in xi. 1 ff. in new
colours.
xi. 1. "And there comes up a twig out of the stump 1 of Jesse,
2 and a shoot from its roots bears fruit. And there rests upon
him the Spirit of Yahveh, the spirit of wisdom and of
understanding, the spirit of counsel and of strength, the spirit
3 of knowledge and of the fear of Yahveh. And his delight he
has in the fear of Yahveh, and not according to what his
eyes see does he speak judgment, and judges not according
4 to what his ears hear. And he pronounces judgment in
righteousness to the needy, and passes sentence in equity for
the defenceless in the land; and smites the earth with the
staff of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he slays
5 the wicked ; And righteousness shall be the girdle of his hips,
6 and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. And the wolf dwells
with the lamb, and the panther lies down beside the kid, and
calf and lion and stalled ox together, a little boy driving
7 them. And cow and bear pasture, their young lie down
8 together. And the lion eats straw like the bullock. And the
suckling plays by the hole of the otter, and to the basilisk's
9 hole the weaned one stretches its hand. 2 They hurt not and
destroy not in all my holy mountain ; for the land is full of
1 J,'T3> the stump left standing after the tree is felled ; from yfj, to cut of, fell.
CL Job xiv. 8 f., and Pliny, xvi. 44: Inarescunt rursiisque adolescunt,senescunt quidem,
sed e radicibux repullulant. Of the whole nation only such a root-stock is left,
according to vi. 13.
a pilpel form (from yy\y, to stroke), in the sense : to dandle, play.
is probably, as the parallelism suggests, a hole, properly light hole (cf.
i Judg. vi. 2) ; following the Targum, on the other hand, Delitszch pre-
fers the meaning: "pupil of the eye," with which Prov. xv. 30 may be compared.
mn only occurring here, "to stretch out," is found in the Arabic and Svriac in
T T
the sense " to lead ; " cf. manum ducere. 'OJJQY is a serpent name (so called from
hissing) ; according to Aquila, /Jz^/x^xa; ; Vulg. nerpens reyulus, a small but very
poisonous kind of viper.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 279
the kuowledge of Yahveh like the waters which cover the
sea." l
While Assyria's power lies prostrate, judged by the prophetic
word, slowly and at first insignificantly there rises before the
seer's eyes a new power out of the house of David, which also like
Assyria lies under judgment and deeply humbled. It is no
longer a royal cedar ; of the felled tree only a root-stock is left,
but this strikes out again ; and it is on a lowly twig from this tribe
which has fallen back into the old pre-Davidic obscurity, a tender
sprig from the remaining root, that God's entire good pleasure
rests. From it the nation is to expect all salvation, and the
world a divine rule such as has never been seen. The lowliness
of the Messiah's beginnings, already intimated in vii. 15, and
according to that passage connected with the judgment bursting
over Judah and its royal house, is here explained much more
definitely. The regal power no longer exists, when its true heir
grows up out of humble soil. How true Isaiah's knowledge on
this point was, we know from the history of the fulfilment,
where the Son of David, scarcely known as such, grew up among
the least of his nation, and, on a far mightier scale than David,
traversed the path from unnoticed lowliness to highest honour. 2
For it is not a fresh growth, a new upcoming that is promised
to David's house, but the appearance of a particular branchlet,
the production of which was the divine destiny of the whole
tree from the beginning. The twig, the shoot of the 1st verse,
as the 2nd verse proves, is meant in an altogether personal
sense. 3 Without doubt it is the same person as in vii. 14 f. and
ix. 5 ff. But whereas in the first passage only his significant
Immanuel-name and his growth amid the affliction of his people
were told, while the second unfolded his power based on right and
aiming at peace, this third time, where his form appears, the pro-
phetic eye lingers on the intrinsic character of his personality, and
describes first of all, not his relation to the world, but his relation
1 As a verbal noun HJH here governs the accusative ; HD3 stands with dative : to
furnish covering.
2 The lowly roots of the stem of Jesse had strayed as far as despised Galilee (see
before on viii. 23). In the fact that Jesus must be a " Nazarene," Matthew (ii. 23)
sees a literal fulfilment of the present passage, where he is called a Nezer, a twiy, a
branchlet. In both at least His lowliness is indicated, so that the phonetic type
has an inner point of support.
1 It is the Messiah, who is also called Sprout.
280 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
to God. As \ve saw there how the true God appears to the world
in his person, so here the Messiah appears as true man, perfect
in godliness and fulfilling the highest destiny of the human race.
As man he is distinct from God, but the Spirit of God has settled
upon him. In this lies the mystery of His fellowship with God.
" Resting upon him is the Spirit of Yahveh." This verb, espe-
cially when it stands in the participial form, 1 implies that the
Spirit of God does not come on him intermittently, but has taken
up his abode permanently with him and become his higher life-
principle (p. 4). That the Bible by this Spirit denotes, not a
mere potentiation of creaturely life, but a supernatural life, which,
however, may and will enter into man, we have seen in the
Introduction (p. 4). This Sprout of David is seen to be
thoroughly penetrated and fertilized by the Divine Spirit. All
his attributes and capacities are fruits of this Spirit, and through
the one Spirit who confers diverse gifts he unites all the virtues
adorning a ruler in God's sight and salutary to His people. Here
follows the enumeration in pairs. The series is opened by wisdom
and understanding, both together forming Solomon's high pre-
eminence (1 Kings v. 9 f.), which he besought from God as the
highest good (iii. 5 ff.). Whilst """pan denotes generally rational
insight and knowledge, ethical in its grounds and aims, nra more
specifically is the gift of discrimination, judgment, which dis-
tinguishes between good and evil, an aspect of the faculty of
knowledge especially important to a king in his judicial duties. 2
As he is thus divinely qualified to be a judge, so the same Spirit
supplies him with the insight in counsel and energy in action so
requisite for a ruler; see ix. 5 : pyv fc6a and nuj ta. But such
wisdom and power as he exercises in the world come to him from
the fact that Yahveh Himself is the goal of his life and effort.
The spirit of the knowledge and fear of God fills him. The njn,
to which mrp belongs as object, here and in ver. 9 as in Hosea, is
not merely intellectual, but refers to deep spiritual fellowship with
the Lord. And to this is added reverence for the Lord, the piety
which was not faultless in David, but in Solomon was altogether
lost. Here plainly the Messiah is not half-Deity or deified man,
but true man, taking in all respects the position befitting man in
God's presence. And just because he fulfils all God's will, he
1 Otherwise in Num. XL 26 ; 2 Kings ii. 15.
2 Cf. the use of pan, |i3i, along with can. 1 Kings iii. 9, 11, 12.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 281
stands far above the most religious kings who sat on David's
throne, and bears worthily the divine dignity bestowed on him.
Thus the Divine Spirit parts in a sense into three pairs. Delitzsch
compares the "" nn to the shaft of the seven-branched lamp, from
which three pairs of branches project. In any case the number
seven, the number of divine perfection, does not occur here
by accident. 1
How this heaven-inspired king treats his subjects is told in
ver. 3 f. As he is himself the impersonation of the fear of God,
so also such fear in them is to him a perfume 2 in which he
delights. And since he is wisdom and judgment in embodied
form, he does not give sentence according to outward appear-
ance, often so deceitful, or according to mere hearsay, often so
unfounded, but reads the heart and detects the true state of
things, even where it is not obvious. He will help to their rights
those without influence and without means of obtaining any, the
friendless poor and the defenceless or harmless ( a ^j?, see p. 246),
who lie at the mercy of their foes, whereas otherwise they are
always worsted, Ps. Ixxii. 2, 4 ; for the righteousness that knows
no respect of persons is the only rule by which he judges. On
this very account all wickedness must receive its sentence from
his mouth. His Spirit-filled mouth is in a sense the royal staff,
with which he smites the earth ; the breath going forth from his
lips slays the reprobate. Consequently it is a spiritual authority
by which he establishes, extends, and maintains his power (cf.
ix. 6), namely, his spotless righteousness. His weapon is his
word (cf. Zech. ix. 10), which suffices everywhere to secure
victory for righteousness and execute judgment. Ver. 5 con-
cludes the portrait of Jesse's great Son : " the girdle about his
hips," i.e. always encircling him, 3 in a certain sense holding
together his glorious armour, endowing him with firm, energetic
mien, is righteousness, fidelity, stedfastness. In this latter
virtue immovable fidelity to God the best rulers of Israel
at times showed themselves wanting. Only to One does the
description apply, to Him who, growing up in the deepest lowli-
ness, showed unexampled love to the poor and needy, while from
His mouth goes forth a two-edged sword (Rev. i. 16), that judges
1 Cf. Zech. iii. 8 ; Rev. iv. 5, v. 6.
H'nn with 3, in the same meaning as in Amos v. 21.
8 Cf. the trope, Job xxix. 14.
282 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
all wickedness on earth. The V^7- nere * s quite general. X<i
doubt, according to the N. T. revelation, 1 all wickedness also
will be concentrated in one person, the Antichrist, who opposes
himself to the Messiah. And to him Paul applies this term,
2 Thess. ii. 8.
The future ruler having been thus described, the peaceful state
under his rule is pictured ; the sequence of thought is therefore
here the reverse of what it is in chap. ix. There, first the abolition
of war was promised, and the birth of the Messiah assigned as
the cause; here, first the Messiah is described, then His peaceful
kingdom. And how is this done? Not political peace, as in
chaps, ii. and vii., but a truce of nature is depicted. "Wolf and
lamb, panther and kid, dwell together ; the lion lets itself be
driven to pasture between calf and stalled ox, and is satisfied
with the fodder of the bullock. Even from the most deadly
serpent a venturesome child lias nothing to fear. Thus the most
dangerous beasts of prey have become harmless ; the nature of
the most ravenous beasts is completely changed in the holy
mount of Yahveh, i.e. in His holy territory, which, according to
ver. 9, embraces the whole land.
This passage, the rival of ii. 1 ff. in simplicity and grandeur,
reminds first of Hos. ii. 20, 2 but is more than an enlargement of
that promise, according to which the animal world is to be put
under a divine ban to do no harm to God's people. The detailed
account of the good understanding prevailing among the beasts,
the most feared being no longer terrible, the weakest being no
longer the prey of the strong, implies that the peace proceeding
from this ruler will be shared in by the whole of nature, from
which, of course, calm and security accrue to men. No hurtful,
destructive powers are found in the land, so richly will it flow
with the knowledge of the Lord, so permeated will it be by the
Divine Spirit, who dispenses life and love. The conclusion (ver. 9)
leaves no doubt that the human world is included in the divine
peace proceeding from the blessed transformation of nature, and
what is to be seen most vividly in the animal world will appeal-
above all in men. They need an analogous transformation. For
human, like animal life, supports itself commonly by a conflict
for existence. Men have by nature something animal in them ;
and this reinforced by sin provokes them against each other. All
1 Cf. the Book of Daniel. J Cf. the opposite, Hos. ii. 14. See p. 233.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, XAHUM. 283
the world's civilisation does not abolish this animal nature ; it
simply clothes its immoral struggle for existence in finer garb,
and furnishes it with more intellectual weapons, but at last makes
the baseness of its aims come out all the more nakedly. 1 There
is but one power that miraculously lifts men above this inborn
selfishness, that is, the revelation of God, spiritual fellowship with
Him. If man is not transformed into divinity, he sinks into
bestiality. And the miracle of this transformation is quite as
great as for the lion, whose teeth and jaws are intended for eating
llesh, to feed on straw. But the miraculous takes place when
God's kingdom is established. There the selfish nature gives
place to a higher spirit, and thus peace comes on earth. Not
without reason, therefore, has the Messiah in the New Covenant
laid down a complete new birth as the condition of partaking in
His kingdom. Moreover, He has been true to His promise.
The Spirit whom He promised conquers in point of fact the most
stubborn and powerful, the most selfish and interested natures,
producing in them the fruits enumerated in Gal. v. 22.
But if in this description of Isaiah its reference to the human
world and its inner as well as outer transformation forces itself
irresistibly on us, was the oracle meant to exhaust itself in this
reference, and only to speak allegorically of the irrational crea-
tion ? Or did the prophet expect also a metamorphosis of the
latter ? It is true here as in Joel, that in the prophet's vision
there is an interpenetration of concrete and abstract, nature and
spirit, human world and earthly creation, which the prophet does
not analyse by a process of reflection, but gives in conjunction,
just as he saw it. And no explanation is perfectly satis-
factory that does not yield this unity. Until the destructive
nature-powers really become harmless, and the sad struggle
for existence comes to an end in the whole of nature, this pro-
phecy stands as a hieroglyph pointing to the future of God's ways.
When once the divine rule is firmly established in the human
world, then creation also, which is designed to be man's servant,
will be redeemed from the ban of baleful conflict and death
1 Think only of the modern science that treats men as mere animals. According
to what has been said before, there is much truth in this view. But the fearfully
immoral consequences of such a theory are as yet rightly apprehended by few,
although those are not wanting who shamelessly avow them, and would erect animal
egoism, according to which the strong are to destroy the weak, into the principle of
private and civil life.
284 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
burdening it, as the apostle, resuming Old Testament prophecy,
teaches in Rom. viii. 19 ff. Then only does the bite of the
serpent cease to be deadly to man, as is promised here and in
Isa. Ixv. 25, not without a backward glance at Gen. iii. The
woe which the world inflicts upon the sinner terminates. The
world itself has become new.
True, the beatifying of God's Church is extended in the oracle
just considered to the irrational creation, always with a local
limitation to the holy mountain of God, as the land of Canaan is
here called in a wider sense. Only so far as the rule of the
Messiah goes can there be peace, and only where He dwells can
the entire glory of God's grace be revealed. But this glory will
be so great that the nations will set out thither to enjoy it.
xi. 10. " And it will come to pass in that day : the root-sprout l
of Jesse, which stands as a banner to the nations, the heathen
will seek after it. 2 And its resting-place will be glorious."
Thus the banner, the signal, is the Davidic shoot, visible to the
nations around; it beckons them to Zion, whither they eagerly
journey to partake in the saving blessings there dispensed. Of
what nature these are is more fully stated in ii. 1 ff., which
passage, however, receives its necessary complement from the
present one, inasmuch as we are told here that it is the divinely
unique Davidite who is the occasion of the pilgrimage of the
nations, and through whom the whole world receives God's law
and judgment by peaceful means. By the resting-place, which
is glory, honour, i.e. altogether glorious and honourable, is of
course understood, not his grave, as the Vulg. 3 renders (giving
the Romish Church a welcome handle for worshipping the Holy
Sepulchre), but the residence of this much-sought king, which will
be more stately and glorious than that of Solomon.
Finally, in Isaiah also the return of the exiles is not wanting
as an essential feature in the picture of the Messianic future.
From all lands they are gathered, ver. 11 f. Then the saved
" remnant " of the people will sing a new song to the Lord, which
in chap. xii. forms the harmonious conclusion of the cycle of
1 Here uh{jj stands briefly for this. Also observe here the contrast of lowliness
and dignity in tjnb? and DJ.
2 PX E^n, not : to inquire (Knobel), but : to seek after, certainly for the purpose
of obtaining counsel and direction, as in Deut. xii. 5.
3 Et erit sepulcrum ejus gloriosum.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 285
Messianic oracles. The Book of Imrnanuel ends with this choral
echo from the bosom of the ransomed Church.
NOTE A. The correct division of the words is seen neither by
the Masoretes nor expositors. Hence many incorrectly prefer the
keri b. inob> is a relative sentence (Knobel), but not: "Thou
increasest to him the joy, which they rejoice before thee," where
the rhythm would ent'irely vanish. Also Studer's emendation
( Jalirl. fur prot. Theol, 1881. i. 160 f.) : ^an for ^n, is unsatisfac-
tory. The antithesis of JVa"]? and fi/HJn fcO is the same as in
ver. 23 : between the poor, wretched present and the glorious future,
nnptfn is not ace. obj. (so Masora, Steudel, Delitzsch, Gesenius,
Ewald, Nagelsbach), but nominative. One would certainly expect
here "1B>K as after determined nouns. It may, however, be absent
in Hebrew even after such nouns (otherwise in Arabic), Ewald,
Gram. 332a. Gaudium gaudere, says the Hebrew, like n3jp N3P,
Zech. viii. 2.
31. Further Oracles of Isaiah respecting Zion, chap, xxviii.-xxxix.
The series of oracles considered in the last section pre-
sents in personal setting the theocratic Davidic monarchy
emerging safely from the judgment, and shows how it will
pass from the humiliation of the age of punishment into
glory never before seen. A further series of genuine Isaianic
oracles comes to us from the days of Hezekiah, in which not the
personal, but the local cry stall izing-point of God's kingdom is
most conspicuous. God's dwelling in Zion, inseparably joined
with David's Messianic royalty, will be indestructible as that
royalty, and despite all judgments will but assume a more
divine and perfect form. The divine arrangement revealed in
David's time had two sides, the raising of a human royal house
to divine honour, and the descent of God to dwell for ever in an
earthly place (pp. 148, 186). The significance of the one as of the
other trait for the future was seen by Isaiah in new grandeur. He
was led by the circumstances of the time to proclaim the divine
dignity and significance of Zion, inasmuch as this abode of God
was threatened by the Assyrians with the destruction which had
actually overtaken the neighbouring Samaritan adulteress. The
miraculous preservation of Zion, foretold by our prophet, from
this overwhelming foe, was to be a sign to all the world of the
power of Yahveh, who had taken His seat on the holy hill of
286 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Jerusalem. But as the sayings respecting Iramanuel, despite
their comforting nature, presented a keen edge to the present
generation, so the Zion-oracles are not without severity for the
Jerusalem of the day, which must pass through judgment before
God's dwelling there in His Church can be consummated. It is
true, Isaiah promises to the city God's gracious protection in the
impending Assyrian catastrophe, but the judgment on its inhabit-
ants, formerly announced by him and also threatened under
Hezekiah, will not fail. The prophet at last foretells this
judgment in definite form as a deportation to Babylon, to which,
however, he adds the promise of return, the true Church of Zion
being imperishable.
Isa. xxviii., uttered in the first years of Hezekiah 's govern-
ment, while proud Samaria was yet standing (therefore before
722 B.C.), announces the abrupt end of the latter (due to the
Assyrians) ; yet here the rebuke turns against the great at
Jerusalem, as in chap. vii. against Ahaz. As the latter trusted
secretly in Assyria instead of in the true God, so the nobles
trusted in an alliance secretly and illegally made with Egypt. 1
In such false trust in a worldly power they abandoned them-
selves to wanton lust, disregarding and violating right in the
teeth of the prophet's admonitions and the divine judgments
announced by him, fancying that they were secured against
death and Hades by their covering of lies and shelter of deceit,
xxviii. 16. "Therefore thus speaks Yahveh, Lord of all:
Behold, I have founded 2 in Zion a stone, a stone of trial, a
corner-stone, precious, in founding well-founded. 3 "Whoever
17 trusts shall not need to flee. And I make right the plumb-
line and righteousness the level, and hail sweeps away the
covering of lies, and waters wash away the shelter."
Thus the worldly power, the human place of refuge, built up
of lies and deceit, will furnish no shelter against the judgment
1 With xxviii. 15, cf. xxix. 15, xxx. 2 ff., xxxi. 1 ff.
a Construction as in xxxviii. 5.
3 fi3S is to be taken, with Delitzseh, as the beginning of a new phrase (not joined
gfiiitivally to what precedes). After being called a touchstone, the stone is called
a "corner of precious quality," i.e. 2^ecious corner-stone. The preciousness is
characteristic of it, it is a gem (1 Kings v. 31) ; and at the same time it is adapted
to be the corner-stone by reason of its firmness, which is especially emphasized by
the repeated 1D1D (the former a noun, the latter part, hoph.), properly "precious
corner-stone of well-founded founding."
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 287
raining down from above, its foundation cannot resist the down-
rushing flood of doom ; but the foundation laid in Zion by the
Lord Himself does this that immovable foundation-stone and
corner-stone, on which all adverse power is broken and judgment on
Zion's foes is executed. By this stone, whose firmness and divine
preciousness the seer cannot find words enough to praise, is not to
be understood the city or citadel itself, 1 for, on the contrary, the
dwellers in Jerusalem are to be shattered in their false confidence,
nor the temple (Ewald), which is just as little a foundation, but
the beginning of the divine rule on this mountain, which bore the
citadel of David as well as the temple. We understand the
divine act of foundation, not of the divine decree passed long
ago, but of its historical realization (as in Ps. ii. 6), which belongs
in Isaiah's eyes to the past, because it falls within the Davidic
epoch. That one divine act, to which Davidic monarchy and
Solomonic temple owed their origin, alone was an irrevocable
foundation-laying, on which all the Lord's further work would
rest, and by which all men were to be guided, if their building
and work were not to be condemned in the final judgment.
Thus not Jerusalem in itself is impregnable, nor the Davidic
royal power in itself unconquerable, nor the temple indestructible;
but the decree of the divine election of Zion, made known long
ago by prophetic word, forms the imperishable beginning of the
dwelling and rule of God on earth, which must needs be com-
pleted. Well then for those who base their trust thereon.
This stone is called a stone of trial, touchstone, i.e. not one that
is itself chosen, tested, but by which everything must be tested
and tried, according to viii. 14, where the Lord Himself is called
a stone of stumbling and rock of offence, etc. ; whereas here the
stone denotes His revelation and personal work in the world.
Thus the oracle, like the sign of Immanuel, has a double aspect :
Something immovable is set forth as the object of true confidence,
but also as a contrast to every other refuge having no per-
manence. Ver. 17 deals further with both sides, but points
especially to the negative side : The Lord continues building on
His stone, His line being straightness and His level righteousness.
The conduct of the men who are to share in the salvation of the
God who dwells on Zion, must, as already taught in Ps. xxiv. 3 ff.,
agree with the ethical character of His fundamental revelation
1 Hitzig, Knobel, Reuss, et al., after xiv. 32.
288 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY".
(Isa. xxxiii. 15). Else they are rejected along with their work.
Whatever proves not straight when measured by that line and
level His judgment sweeps away, a result described further after
the analogy of the general Flood : Torrents of rain congealed into
hail from above, billows from beneath, the prophet at the same
time alluding (ver. 21 f.) to such divine judgments as the
national history furnished in the victories of a David and Joshua
over the heathen.
But the disposition forming the main condition on man's part
of God's favour and help, according to the last words of
xxviii. 16, as well as vii 9, xxx. 15, is believing trust in the God
of salvation, who has already laid His foundation-stone, on which
we may and should build. It is early said of Abraham (p. 105),
Gen. xv. G : "He believed, trusted (PP.*? 1 ! 1 ), 1 and God reckoned it
to him for righteousness " ( n ^V). While such a believer is not
perfectly righteous in every respect, the normal disposition
towards God is seen in such trust in the divine promise. After-
wards Hab. ii. 4 especially emphasizes this, and again the New
Testament most effectively. That faith, as full inward surrender
to the Lord, is on man's side the condition of salvation this
fundamental part of evangelical truth was already revealed to
the prophets of the Old Covenant, and Isaiah in particular pro-
poses such faith as the mark of the genuine Church of Zion
that cleaves to the divine foundation and outlives the judgment.'-'
Isaiah's discourses xxix.-xxxiii. unfold further the theme given
(chap, xxviii.) in the divine foundation-stone on Zion and the
relation of the inhabitants to it ; xxxvi.-xxxix. give the applica-
tion of this revelation to the great events transpiring under
Hezekiah. Moreover, chaps, xxxiv. and xxxv. must not be denied
to be the prophet's. They form the indispensable key-stone of
his prophecy of the city of God.
As the Lord took up His abode long ago in Jerusalem, so now,
in the age of the prophet, the energy of His gracious presence on
Zion is at work a power superior to all the world, and guarding
1 }TDS to be or make firm, forms a hiph., expressing firm disposition in relation to
something, firm faith (of. part. nlph. |OSJ, faithful, stedfast), like the Arabic
\ ; hence the LXX. rightly rendered it by r<rrivi<.
\ff*
* See afterwards the preliminary fulfilment of the oracle of Isa. xxviii. 16,
celebrated in Pa. cxviii. 22 if. after the exile.
PHOPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 289
His own city, provided its inhabitants, especially its princes, are
filled with confident faith and observe the divine law. For this
reason the prophet exhorts to immovable confidence in the promise
of divine protection, and protests above all against seeking refuge in
the world-power (Egypt). The invisible power dwelling on Zion
is the sole rock of salvation. It will prove itself all-sufficient.
Although Isaiah sees in spirit the city 1 girdled by countless foes,
they will come to shame before it. So xxix. 18. The Lord will
descend, like a lion that fears not a crowd of shepherds, to fight
for His holy mountain against the besieging heathen. He will
hover protectingly round Jerusalem, like a bird round its brood,
xxxi. 4 f. Assyria will fall by the sword, but not by that of a
man (ver. 8). If Isaiah spoke so confidently even before the
invasion of the Assyrians, he could do so still more boldly
after the fearful danger had come home to the minds of all,
inspiring wholesome terror, chap, xxxiii. The message he sent
to Hezekiah on the appearance of the Assyrians before the walls
of the city is told in xxxvii. 6 f., 21-35. What is meant by the
protection of Yahveh and the revelation of His salvation in
behalf of His chosen city, the God-trusting Hezekiah was per-
mitted to experience in wondrous fashion, when in those days
Sennacherib's army succumbed to an invisible power before
Jerusalem's walls.
But as already in chap, xxviii. the unbelieving, unrighteous
generation at Jerusalem was threatened with the inexorable
justice of the Lord, so also this threat runs through the Hezekiah-
discourses of Isaiah, becoming more and more definite in form,
until finally, when the good Hezekiah also gave way to worldli-
ness, it passed into an unambiguous prediction of the Babylonian
exile. See xxix. 9 ff., xxx. 1 ff., xxxi. 1 ff., xxxii. 9 ff., especially
xxxii. 13, 14, and finally, xxxix. 5 ff.
But it is impossible for such a judgment to be the end of
God's ways in relation to His city. The divine foundation-stone
on Zion was laid irrevocably and immovably. As the prophet
1 ta'HN it is called xxix. 1 f., which according to xxxi. 9 (xxxiii. 14) and Ezek.
xliii. 15 f. is to be explained : hearth of God (not : lion of God] ; cf. Arabic -c,|,
to burn, whence y .\, focus. Jerusalem is God's fire-place, where His altar burnc,
*
thus His native abode.
ORELLI. T
290 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
looks (xxix. 9 ff.) on a nation blind and deaf to his glorious
promises, the certainty grows on him that the Lord must deal
with it in strange fashion before it will understand his revela-
tion for its own good. But the time of conversion will come,
xxix. 17 ff.
17 "Is it not yet a little, and Lebanon is turned into
a fruit-garden, and the fruit-garden is esteemed a forest ?
18 And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
and out of obscurity and darkness the eyes of the blind shall
19 see, and the lowly shall increase in joy in Yahveh, and the
poorest of men rejoice in the Holy One of Israel," etc.
A blessed transformation of the Holy Land and people is here
promised. Ver. 17 (like xxxii. 15) is not a proverbial phrase
to express the exalting of the low and the humbling of the high,
but like xxx. 26, a prophetic hyperbole, to picture the divine
fertilizing and glorifying of the land. Lebanon is changed into
a fruit-bearing orchard ; and what is now called an orchard will
be regarded as a mere forest in view of the enhanced fertility
then witnessed. But side by side with this divinely-caused
metamorphosis of the land will go a corresponding one of tlie
people. Now it is dull and unreceptive to the book of prophetic
revelation, then the deaf shall hear and the blind see. And the
divine mystery of salvation, to which they are then receptive,
will make the lowly, the poor, the harmless, defenceless and
destitute in the world, rich in joy ; while the mockery of un-
belief is silenced, and the oppression of injustice put down. Then
God's people, seeing the work of the Lord in its midst, is saved
lor ever, vers. 22-24.
In this description of the removal of grievous human infir-
mities (where xxxii. 3 f. and xxxv. 5 f. are to be taken into
account), spiritual blindness, deafness, etc., are first considered.
But in these chapters, as in the similar ones in Deutero-Isaiah,
physical and spiritual again pass into each other very conspicu-
ously ; in xxxv. 5 f. especially, bodily defects are not excluded.
Christ did this gracious work for His Church by opening the
eyes and ears of men, that they might know God's revelation.
But not only did He enlighten them spiritually, but gave living
expression to this redemption of His by the bodily healings
which quite specifically constituted His miraculous activity. By
these miraculous deeds, which were not merely works of mercy,
PKOPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAII, NAHUM. 291
bat in the intention of Jesus were meant to be " signs," He also
in a spiritual sense opened the eyes and ears of the people that
knew the Scripture, making known to them who He was : namely,
He by whom God's people was to be consummated. 1 But it is
important that the fulfilment should show in the work of Christ
the same interblending of spiritual and physical that the prophecy
does. Christ by no means brought a merely spiritual truth pre-
sented by 0. T. prophecy in a more external form, but, as
comparison with the present passage shows, he realized the letter
of prophecy still more completely than was meant. For man is
not mere spirit ; if he is to be completely redeemed, he must be
saved body and soul. And the God of the Bible works not
merely in the ideal, invisible sphere, but just as much in the out-
ward and real.
The " lowly and poor," who under the existing unjust govern-
ment cannot get their rights, have special cause, according to
Isa. xxix. 19, to exult over the revelation of the gracious God.
By these is not meant merely a certain social class, but one
ethically disposed in a special way to receive salvation, 2 the class
of the meek and poor in spirit, as Matt. v. 3, 5 calls them ;
whilst Luke vi. 20 is content with using the 0. T. phrase
D'^K. Even outward poverty belongs, according to prophecy
and fulfilment, to the qualities disposing favourably to God's
kingdom. As Jesus performed most of His deeds on the lame
and blind, so He mostly gathered His Church, to which He
promised the kingdom of heaven, from the poorest of the
children of men. 3 But in doing the latter, and that from the
beginning of His ministry, He made known unmistakably that
He had brought about that completion of God's kingdom, to
which the prophets bore witness. Thus the Sermon on the
Mount in its very first words is of pre-eminent Christological
significance.
In Isa. xxx. 1826 also a blessed future of Zion is promised,
the range of which extends beyond the deliverance of the city
1 Matt. xi. 4 f. ; Luke vii. 22. In John ix. 3, Jesus declares (cf. ver. 39) what He
wished to make known by the healing of the man born blind. Cf. on the symbolic
meaning of the several miracles of Jesus, Steinmeyer, The Miracles of our Lord
(Clark).
2 On uy, cf. p. 246.
3 Cf. a'lso 1 Kings i. 26 ff. ; Jas. ii. 5 f.
292 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
from the Assyrian army first treated of. By the Lord's mercy,
safety and wellbeing will follow on tribulation, when the nation
has learnt to mark the teachings of revelation, and to set aside
idolatry. There follows a state of peace and abundance
(described as in Joel iii. 18 ; Hos. ii. 23, etc.), after the bul-
warks of the land, on which fleshly confidence relied, 1 have
fallen, and a sanguinary judgment has gone forth on its martial
power :
25 "On every high mountain and every lofty hill there
shall be brooks gushing with water, 011 the day of the
26 great carnage, when the towers fall, and the moonlight shall
be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be
sevenfold as the light of seven days, on the day when
Yahveh binds the breach of His people and heals its scars."
Whilst heaven and earth are thus glorified for God's purified
people, according to xxx. 27 ff. the Lord comes to judge the
heathen with a mighty revelation of His wrath, whereas joyous
festal songs echo in Zion. As often as the rod descends on
Assyria (the world-power), there drums beat and harps play.
In xxxii. 1 ff. also a bright picture is unrolled of God's future
people, in which, in contrast with the present time, just rule on
the part of the great and docility to God's revelation on the part
of the people, form the chief features. Because things are now so
utterly different, the doom of desolation and captivity must first
come (vers. 9-14).
15 "Until the Spirit is poured out on us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fruit-garden, and fruit-garden is
16 reckoned a forest, and right takes up its dwelling in the
desert, and righteousness takes its seat in the fruit-garden ;
17 and the gain of righteousness will be peace, and the wages
18 of righteousness rest and security for ever. And my people
shall settle in peaceful pasture, and in secure dwellings, and
cheerful resting-places."
The end then cannot be the overthrow and humbling of the
Holy Land and God's city, 2 but an exalting and glorifying of
the abode of God's people, such as Joel promised. The latter's
prophecy of a physical and spiritual rain (Joel ii. 23, 28)
1 Cf. Isa. ii. 15 ; Micah v. 9 f.
8 Ver. 19, like ver. 13 f., is to be referred to Jerusalem. A protracted desolation
of the city will precede the new birth from above.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAIT, MICAH, NAHUM. 293
explains the above passage, where the two features, the physical
and the spiritual glorifying of the land, are combined as the effect
of one dispensing of the Spirit. Judgment and righteousness form
the soul of this landscape, in a sense possess it as inhabitants
and cultivators. Hosea especially foretold this as the blessed
final state (Hos. ii. 21 ff.).
Also the glorious description of Zion in chap, xxxiii., which
refers primarily to the deliverances from the Assyrian crisis, 1
speaks of an imperishable glory of the city of God, that will
first dawn when God has cleansed it from sin and sinners. A
prelude of this the city enjoys at present, unbelieving frivolity
having been banished by severity of suffering, and sinners con-
fessing the holiness of the God who rules among them.
xxxiii. 5. " Exalted is Yahveh, for He dwells in the height,
He fills Zion with judgment and righteousness. And there
shall be stedfastness of thy 2 times, a store of experiences of
salvation, wisdom, and knowledge ; the fear of Yahveh, it is
its treasure."
The cleansing that proceeds from the holy fire dwelling in
the city, therefore from God revealing Himself in His holiness,
according to ver. 14 will so purify the Church that it will
assume the character prescribed in Ps. xxiv. Then dishonour
of the king and beleaguerment are no longer known,
xxxiii. 17. "Thine eyes shall behold the King in His
20 beauty, 3 they shall look upon a land of breadths. 4 Behold
Zion, the city of our assembly : 5 thine eyes shall see Jeru-
salem a cheerful home, a tent that wanders not, whose pegs
are never drawn out, and none of its ropes are broken.
21 Rather is Yahveh there glorious for us in a place of
streams, canals broad on both sides : 6 No rowing-vessel may
22 go thereon, nor any stately ship sail over it. For Yahveh
is our Judge, Yahveh our Captain, Yahveh our King : He
1 On the date of this oracle see the Commentary of Knobel ami Diestel.
2 The suffix, like that of il^ix> applies to the nation.
3 Cf. Ps. xlv. 3.
4 A territory of broad, free expanse, in opposition to the present state of be-
leaguerment.
5 Technical term for a holy festal gathering ; cf. xxx. 29.
* Yahveh takes the place of the streams and canals guarding other great
cities, especially Nineveh and Babylon. On such a stream no warship ventures.
Jerusalem is therefore unapproachable by the foe.
204 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
2 4 will deliver us. And no inhabitant shall say : I am sick.
The people settled in it is freed from guilt." ]
Here, too, the local city of God remains the comprehensive
framework for the perfect Church of the future. But its earthly
character has been greatly spiritualized. It is guarded, not by
walls and towers, but by the Lord Himself, who surrounds it like
an impassable stream. And no inhabitant is without forgiveness,
so that the sickness that is a penalty of special sin, and that so
disturbs the normal course of life, no longer exists.
The revenge inflicted on the world, on all nations, and chiefly
on Edom, for the injury done to Zion, is described in chap, xxxiv.
It is in harmony with the unique dignity of the city of God, that
the world-judgment comes on its account (from which it alone is
spared, according to xxviii. 22) ; it is therefore the spiritual
starting-point of God's judicial work on earth, cf. Joel iii. And
this judgment is so universal that even the heavens, as belonging
to the visible creation, are drawn with their starry host into
sympathy.
xxxiv. 4. " And the whole army of heaven moulders away
and the heaven is rolled up like a book, and all its army
withers as a leaf withers from the vine and withered leaves
5 from the fig-tree. For my sword revels in heaven," etc.
The latter passage refers not to a preceding judgment of the
nations, but to one on heavenly powers, as xxiv. 21 proves, to be
spoken of afterwards. Chap. xxx. 26 already hinted at a new
creating of the heavens.
Finally, chap. xxxv. speaks of the return of those banished (to
Babylon) through the desert to Zion. Then when the Lord
appears in the desert to lead His people back to Canaan, as
once before, the desert shall bloom with beauty. Then the
healing announced before of all the ills of the people will
take place, ver. 5 f. ; here spiritual and bodily ailments are not
distinguished; then a sacred pilgrimage will be made to Zion,
whither none that is impure journeys.
xxxv. 10. " And the redeemed of the Lord will return and
come to Zion with shouting, with eternal joy on their head.
They obtain gladness and joy, and lamenting and complaining
have given way."
Chapters xxxiv. and xxxv. are often denied to be by the
1 Properly " removed from guilt," i.e. its guilt is removal.
PEOPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 295
prophet Isaiah. In point of fact they show close affinity to
Deutero-Isaiah. This, however, is not decisive, since their con-
nection with xxviii.-xxxii. is as close as possible, and they
form a necessary conclusion to the series of Isaiah's Zion-
oracles. As this prophet most emphatically announced the
immovableness of the city of God, and as undeniably predicted
the overthrow of Jerusalem and the banishment of its inhabit-
ants (xxxii. 1114, xxxix. 6), his prophecy must necessarily
conclude with the return of the Church of Zion and its elevation
above the world. 1 Here Isaiah gave the theme which a later
prophet expanded further (chaps, xl.-lxvi.), who for this very
reason seemed to be no other than Isaiah himself, but in reality
built on his oracles, unfolding their import, which events were
beginning gloriously to confirm, before the eyes of his banished
contemporaries.
32. Isaiah's Visions respecting the Nations and the Judgment of
the World, as well as respecting the glorifying of the World
out of Zion, chap, xiii. xxvii.
Between the discourses of Immanuel (from the time of Ahaz)
and the oracles about Zion (from the days of Hezekiah) there is
interposed in our present Book of Isaiah a collection of Isaianic
oracles about foreign nations (chaps, xiii. xxiii.). Since these for
the most part only contain elements of a subordinate character
for Messianic prophecy, we need not discuss the critical attacks
on several of them, which are denied to be by Isaiah. Here
naturally the negative side of the divine rule predominates.
Judgment prepares the ground for it, going forth on all proud
world-powers. But judgment also leads the heathen, as Isaiah
shows, to the knowledge of the true God and even to incorpora-
tion in His kingdom. In the oracle against Babylon (xiii.-xiv.
23), which as we saw came within Isaiah's horizon as Judah's
last and most dangerous foe, nay, conqueror, the " Day of the
Lord " that will come on this world - power is described in
allusion to Joel 2 as a dark judgment-day, when all the nations
will fall on Babylon, above which the heavens gather blackness.
1 See the literary and critical proofs in favour of the Isaianic composition of chap,
xxxiv. and xxxv. in Delitzsch's Commentary (3rd ed.), p. 356 f.
* Cf. xiii. 6, 9 f., with Joel i. 15, ii. 1 f., 10 (Amos v. 20).
29G OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Chap. xiv. 24-27 announces to Assyria the judgment of the
Lord of hosts, chap. xiv. 28-32 to the Philistines, where the
imperishable and mighty future of the Davidic rule is made
prominent despite the humiliations suffered under Ahaz from the
Philistines (2 Chron. xxviii. 18 f.). Although the people of
God are poor, they stand under God's protection. And the
shattered sceptre of David will grow to unimagined strength :
From the root of the serpent a basilisk will come forth, and its
fruit will be a flying dragon. In the oracle against Moab
(chaps, xv., xvi.) xvi. 1 if. are noteworthy. Deeply humbled and
sorely afflicted, Moab submits to the judge throned in David's
tent, who has won its confidence and homage by humanity and
righteousness ; whereas the ravaging world-power only drove it
to despair, since it found no help in its god against that power.
Chap. xvii. pictures the visitation coming on Damascene Syria
and Ephraim in alliance with it, the result of which will be that
Jacob, turning its back on false gods, will again look to the
Holy One of Israel. According to the remarkable oracle in chap,
xviii., even the Ethiopians, brought to the knowledge of the true
God by the impending overthrow of the greatest world-empire
(Assyria), will bring gifts of homage to Mount Zion. By these
presents are not meant scattered Israelites, as in Isa. Ixvi. 20.
The far-stretching, smooth Ethiopian people itself seems to be
offered as a gift to the Lord, whereas in Zeph. iii. 10 it offers
gifts.
If thus already in the oracles about Moab and Ethiopia we
see God's plan to bring these heathen by the now imminent
world-judgments to acknowledge His greatness, in the oracle about
Egypt (chap, xix.) this fact comes out with wonderful clearness.
There is no sufficient reason for denying this oracle to be Isaiah's,
since his authorship is confirmed from every quarter. 1 The
judgment falling on Egypt by Assyrian invasion is a visitation of
Yahveh, the God of Judah, who foretold it (see chap, xx.), and
proves Himself alone superior to the conqueror. Hence a sacred
terror will come on the Egyptians at the thought of what they
have witnessed :
xix. 16. "In that day shall the Egyptians be like women
and tremble and shake at the swinging of the hand of
17 Yahveh, that He swings against them, and the land of
1 See Caspar! in the Luth. Ze'tuchrift, 1841, Heft 3.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN 1 PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NA1IUM. 297
Judah shall be a terror to Egypt. As oft as one mentions it
before it, it shall quake because of the decree of Yahveh of
18 hosts that He makes concerning it. On that day shall five
cities be in the land of Egypt, speaking Canaan's language
and swearing to Yahveh of hosts. Ir-ra-Heres shall one of
10 them be called. On that day an altar to Yahveh shall stand
in the midst of the land of Egypt, and an obelisk on its
20 border to Yahveh. And this 1 shall be for a sign and testi-
mony to Yahveh of hosts in the land of Egypt ; when they cry
to Yahveh against oppressors, He will send a deliverer and a
2 1 champion who will save them. And Yahveh makes Himself
known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians know Yahveh on
that day, and they serve Him with slain-offering and meat-
22 offering and vow vows to Yahveh and perform them. And
Yahveh smites Egypt, smiting and healing, and when they
turn again to Yahveh He lets Himself be entreated for them
23 and heals them. On that day a street will run from Egypt
to Assyria, and Assyria comes to Egypt and Egypt to
24 Assyria, and Egypt serves along with Assyria. 2 On that day
will Israel be the third to Egypt and to Assyria, a blessing
in the midst of the earth, so that the Lord of hosts blesses
it, saying : Blessed be thou, my people, Egypt I and the
work of my hands, Assyria ! and mine inheritance, Israel ! "
Terror at the judgment will drive Egypt to do homage to
Yahveh. The five cities speaking the language of Canaan are
placed by the prophet in the north-east of the land, where many
Shemites had always been settled. The friendly Israelites also will
be able to settle there and serve their God undisturbed, thanks
to the reverence paid to Him. One of the five is the ancient,
renowned Heliopolis, otherwise called fix, also D"inn "Vy, here
modified into OV}? T'y, city of pulling down, as a sign that the
stately sun-temples and sanctuaries there will be previously
destroyed by the ravagers. Instead of these an altar dedicated
to the God of Israel will stand in the centre of the land, and at
its entrance obelisks will bear witness to Him. Monuments of
1 These two memorials (niX refers to the altar, "|jj to the obelisk) will remind the
Egyptians whom they are to invoke in affliction. They will not invoke Yahveh
in vain.
FIX cannot be taken as nota ace., since it is impossible for any subjection of
Egypt to Assyria to be meant. V12J7 nas rather the same sense as in ver. 21.
298 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Yahveli's deeds will remind the Egyptians, from whom their
plagues and deliverance came, so that in the future they may
turn to Him under the oppression of foes. If they do this in
penitent spirit, they will be heard by Him, just as Israel has
been for centuries. He will send them a rescuer, saviour (JWiO),
a deliverer of the land, 1 and so will heal the wounds He has made.
On that day (i.e. in Isaiah's usual style : in that epoch when, as
ver. 21 still more definitely says, not merely a great number of
Yah veh- worshippers will dwell in Egypt, but the Egyptians
themselves will serve Him in consequence of the revelation of the
true God made to them), friendly intercourse will take place
between the two great powers, which at present would devour
each other. A nation - uniting road will invite Egypt and
Assyria to visit each other, and one service will unite the
rulers of the world : The service of Yahveh dwelling on Zioii.
Thus Israel, His favourite people, comes between the two on
equal terms. If hitherto, hemmed in between and equal to
neither of its mighty neighbours, it had to suffer from both,
now in virtue of its divine dignity as the central-point of
Yahveh's revelation it will be a source of blessing on both sides.
In fulfilment of the primeval patriarchal promises 2 it will be " a
blessing," i.e. mediator of the divine blessing ; for its God will so
bless it that the gifts of salvation bestowed on it will stream
from it on the countries of the earth. This is made plain in
the benediction put into the mouth of Yahveh, ver. 25, in
which Egypt bears the name long since given to Israel, " my
people," and Assyria is called affectionately " the work of my
hands," whilst Israel, in a certain sense Yahveh's mother-
country on earth, is called His " inheritance " as before.
The way in which the Old Covenant puts all nations on equal
footing before Yahveh is among its most wonderful features.
Prophecy here gazes on the height of the New Covenant with
uncovered face. When the prophet shows us the specific
representatives of the world-power Egypt, Israel's hereditary
foe, and Assyria, the chief heathen foe against whom Isaiah's
word had to contend united alongside Israel in the service of
Yahveh as members of a great league of peace and blessing,
1 CDS? is to be noticed. It is not said Q'pn as if the Lord would raise up the
deliverer from among the Egyptians themselves.
* Gen. xii. 2 f., xxii. 18, xxvi. 4, etc.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, N AHUM. 299
it would be folly to stop at the formal limits of this pro-
gramme. When these deadly foes are reconciled to each other
by knowledge of the true God, the whole earth has become
the Lord's, and the goal is reached that was afterwards pro-
claimed by angel-tongues to the world: "Glory to God in the
highest, peace on earth, good-will towards men ! "
Whereas chaps, xxi. and xxii. threaten single judgments on
certain cities and lands (Babylon, Tyre, etc.), the section chaps,
xxiv.-xxvii. forms an apocalyptic whole, in which the world-
ju.clyment, also announced in xxviii. 22 and chap, xxxiv.,
especially in connection with the city of God presents itself under
every aspect to the gaze of the seer. It is not by accident that
this passage stands at the close of the single oracles of judgment
on the nations. It forms to these, as Delitzsch says, a grand
finale, where all the trumpets of judgment peal together, pro-
claiming the dies irce, dies ilia of the whole world ; while at the
same time the salvation issuing from God's kingdom even for the
heathen under judgment is here unveiled in the most glorious
manner. Oil account of the universal character and lofty ideal
tenor of this prophecy its historic basis is less clearly seen than
in the Isaianic oracles previously considered. The critics also
refuse to ascribe this brilliant vision to the great prophet in
whose book it is found, assigning it to the most various periods.
We cannot follow them in such a course. Apart from the many
formal references to Isaiah's prophecy, we hold, with Maspero, 1
that the Assyrian invasion under Sennacherib forms the historical
scenery to xxiv. 1 if. Those movements of the Assyrian empire
exhibited a more comprehensive sweep than any former conflicts
of the nations. Hence here the Day of the Lord, when He reckons
with all, presents itself before the prophet's gaze. Certainly we
cannot think, with Gesenius, Knobel, and the majority, that P.?0
in this section (vers. 1, 3, 4, 5, etc.) refers to the land of Judah.
Such a view should have been precluded by the parallel sift of
ver. 4. Ver. 5 also refers to earth-dwellers generally, because
they have changed the divine commands and laws, broken the
eternal ordinances. These expressions, intentionally general, point
to the statutes embodied in primitive tradition and hallowed by
their age and divine origin, to which even the conscience of the
heathen bears witness (Born. ii. 14 f.). The judgment of God
1 Geschichte der morgtnlandischen Yolker, 1877, p. 402.
300 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
comes on the heathen, because they have forsaken and violated
this moral basis of their existence. Therefore not merely par-
ticular lands are affected by the catastrophe, but all are ravaged,
depopulated, and judged, until only a remnant of inhabitants
exists (ver. 13). Nay, the judgment is so universal that it
moves even the heavenly hosts to sympathy. Not merely does
the earth reel as a drunken man, but it is said at last :
xxiv. 21. "And it shall come to pass, on that day Yahveh
will visit the host of the heights on high, and the kings of
22 the earth on the ground. And the} 7 are confined, as captives
are confined 1 in prison, and shut up in custody and visited
23 after many days. And the moon blushes and the sun grows
pale, for Yahveh of hosts becomes King on Mount Zion and
in Jerusalem, and before His elders is glory."
Thus the heavenly powers are judged like the earthly. It is
clearly supramundane beings that are here contemplated, not,
however, in their divine, but in their creaturely aspect. They
form a portion of the world related to man, as the firmament with
its stars to the earth. As creaturely beings they are not fault-
less in God's sight (Job iv. 18). Nay, perhaps a connection
exists between them and the sinful powers of earth ; hence they
are judged together. Such a connection is at least apparent in
the Book of Daniel. In the present passage, as in chap, xxxiv.,
where (ver. 4) the visible host of heaven, the stars, are meant,
while in ver. 5a living powers also are hinted at, the emphasis lies
simply on the fact that the whole sphere of creation is affected
by the judgment, the highest powers being humbled and indicted
like common criminals. After long waiting they receive their
sentence, which is pronounced on them by the God throned in
Zion and His glorious judicial assembly. Sun and moon lose their
brightness in token of the divine displeasure. The opposite befalls
the saved Church of Zion, according to xxx. 26.
But as the storms falling on Israel in the Assyrian period, the
first of a really world-historical character, were in our opinion the
occasion of Isaiah's painting at full length the Day of the Lord on
all nations in the train of Joel's hints, so at the same time the
preserving of Zion in that tempest promised by the same prophet,
the wonderful deliverance of the sanctuary from the flood of the
1 We should expect HBDK to bo in the status conttr., but in the case of a verbal
noun the object may also stand ui the accusative.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD: ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 301
heathen, and the honour done it by the heathen nations on this
account, became to him the pledge of a far higher and more
glorious preserving of the Church and unfolding of the kingdom
of God from Zion. Chap. xxv. 4 speaks of the preserving of the
poor people of God (cf. iv. 6), ver. 6 ff. of the unspeakably rich
salvation to be prepared for all nations on Zion after it has out-
lived the judgment :
xxv. 6. "And Yahveh of hosts prepares for all nations in this
mountain a feast of fat morsels, a feast of wines of strength, 1
of fat morsels full of marrow, 2 of wines of strength that have
7 been refined. And He destroys in this mountain the extended
veil veiling all nations, 3 and the covering with which all the
8 heathen are covered. He swallows up death for ever, and
the Lord, Yahveh, will wipe away the tear from every coun-
tenance, and make the shame of His people depart from the
earth, for Yahveh has spoken it."
The Lord prepares a joyous banquet for all nations in Zion,
where He entertains them sumptuously. The rhythm of the sixth
verse sounds like accompanying music. The surprise is truly
divine. At a stroke the Lord takes away the covering that has
too long veiled the eyes of the nations, 4 so that they knew not
Him, their God, and saw not what belonged to their peace.
When this veil falls, they see themselves invited to the divine
feast in the city they had despised and abused. Although the
covering was not without fault on their part, still their eyes being
holden implies a certain excuse for their conduct. God will sud-
denly and entirely remove this covering, and in consequence they
will know Him as the author of life and grace. This is implied
in the feast prepared by the Lord in His temple. It is a sacri-
ficial feast (like the DwB'), at which the Lord entertains men, and
thus expresses the fellowship into which the Lord admits them by
?i properly dregs, here wine of dreys, i.e. wine left on the dregs to give it
greater strength and colour. Afterwards it was filtered.
2 DTIDE instead of DTIDO f r the sake of the rhythm ; cf. Gesenins, Gram.
93, 3, note 3. The force of the piel (or pual) here is not privative : "deprived of
strength," but " endowed with strength."
3 Di;>n *3S. The word Q^jg here, as in T*^KH 'JS, applies to a broadly extend-
ing surface, namely, that of the veil spread over the nations. The second t31;>n
stands for \fi\ for the sake of the rhythm, Gesen. Gram. 72, 1.
4 Cf. the similar covering over Israel, 2 Cor. iii. 15.
302 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
His bestowal of grace. The teaching of Christ also avails itself
in word and symbolic action of this idea of a banquet to portray
the communication of salvation, of life through God and in God.
Ver. 8 adds a further glorious trait. Just as energetically and
thoroughly as He abolishes the covering of ignorance, does the
Lord abolish death and all the sorrow condensed and culminating
in death, everything finding expression in tears, therefore all
sorrow and suffering. Complaining comes to an end for ever.
Accordingly, in the time of consummation even the curse is
abolished that burdens the entire human race, making mortality
part of its nature (Gen. iii.). The power of sin and consequently of
death is altogether set aside. Here again Isaiah's prophecy sees
with certain gaze the final goal of God's dealings with humanity,
a goal the path to which has been revealed in the New Covenant,
but which has not been reached even yet, a fact the apostle confirms,
citing (1 Cor. xv. 54) this passage before Hos. xiii. 14 to show
what is still lacking to a blessed consummation. 1 Death is abolished
(xv. 26) as the last foe, who has ruled over humanity from the
beginning. Eev. xxi. 4 is in perfect harmony with this teaching.
What distinguishes this prophecy is the synthesis of two views
hitherto found apart : Judgment on the heathen, and their intro-
duction into God's kingdom. It was intimated and prepared for
by what was announced in detail respecting Moab (xvi.), Ethiopia
(xviii.), and especially Egypt along with Assyria (xix.). Of the
whole heathen world we now hear that it will be sifted by
judgment until only a remnant is left, but that this remnant will
be brought to reflection by judgment and healed of its blindness
by the Lord's gracious revelation on Zion. Thus two stages of
divine knowledge are described, corresponding to the law and the
gospel. Every nation that has rejected the teaching of the divine
law given to it (xxiv. 5) must first pass through the judgment so
fearfully carried out in the world's history, before the grace of
God is revealed to it, the invitation to the divine banquet and
fellowship. Every nation must first attain knowledge of the
righteous God through a certain legal discipline, before it can be
received into full communion of salvation and spirit with the
holy God ; cf. xxvi. 2, 9 f.
1 Ketn-rifi o 6a.ia.Tot tif i7xs, Paul translates freely and independently, taking PIVJ
in the Aramaic signification "victory." Cf. v. Oielli, Synortyma der Zeit n>u(
Ewi'jkeit, p. 95 ff.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MIC AH, XAIIUM. 303
The hymn (chap, xxvi.) pictures Zion with indestructible walls,
to whose gates the nation of the just and upright journeys. Its
inhabitants have again become numerous. The sufferings it has
endured are forgotten. But one thing is still wanting to the
Church. Death, indeed, no longer thins its ranks, xxv. 8. But it
has thinned them ; it has swallowed up many of the faithful
(xxvi. 14), who did not deserve the universal lot of death.
Hence amid its devout prayer the Church confidently exclaims :
xxvi. 19. "Thy dead ones become alive, my corpses will rise
again ! Wake up and exult, ye that dwell in the dust ! For thy
dew is dew of the lights, and the earth will spontaneously give
up the shades."
" Thy dead ones " are God's dead ones (Bottcher, Oehler), who
sleep in Him, and for this reason may also be called by the true
Church " my dead ones." They are not given over to destruction
(ver. 14), for their God is a God of life. This is expressed by
the poetic and mysterious " dew of the lights is thy dew." The
dew is God's fertilizing gift from heaven, eliciting the riches of
the earth. Here the quickening energy that issues from Him is
called with special emphasis " dew of the lights," to remind of its
heavenly origin and miraculous operation. Coming down from
the lights of heaven, which as such are viewed in close relation
to life, God's energy bedews the earth, so that the earth in
consequence gives forth the shades, i.e., the souls of the departed
which it hides. God, " the Father of lights " (Jas. i. 1 7), is also
the giver of every good gift, and especially of life that is in
affinity to light. God's miraculous, life-giving energy is security
that His dead ones will rise again.
We see that as deliverance from death is necessary to perfected
fellowship with God (xxv. 8), so the return of those already
swallowed up by death is necessary to the perfecting of God's
Church. This is definitely and clearly the sense of this prophecy
of Isaiah. Whereas in the passage of Hosea formerly considered
(vi. 2) and Ezek. xxxvii. the resurrection can only be taken
improperly as a quickening of the aggregate of the Church, with-
out any rising of its buried members being thought of; here
plainly enough the reference is to the dwellers in the dust, whom
the earth has swallowed up, but must again restore. 1
1 T'Bn. properly to cast, used also in other languages at least of animals. Cf.
the kal in the corresponding sense, ver. 18.
304 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Looking back on Isaiah's oracles, we see that on the busi-
given in the former prophets, from the foundation-laying in
David's age, the building has gone vigorously on. Through the
humbling of Israel and the judgment of the world the path will
lead to the establishment of a divine rule, having the converted
nation for its mother-Church, Zion for its local centre, and a unique
scion of David's house for its personal mediator, and not merely
subduing all nations, but also making them partakers in its
divine blessings and saving privileges. Psalm Ixxxvii., a song of
the children of Korah, is like an echo, issuing from the Church,
of Isaiah's prophecy of the universal extension of God's kingdom.
Zion is addressed in it :
Ps. Ixxxvii. 3. " Glorious things are spoken about thee, thou
4 city of God. ' I will name Eahab and Babylon as those who
know me, behold, Philistia and Tyre along with Cush this
5 one is born there.' And to Zion it will be said : ' Each
one 1 is bom in her,' and he himself upholds her, the Most
6 High ; Yahveh will count, when registering the nations :
7 ' This one was born there,' while they sing as in chorus :
' All my springs are in thee.' " 2
According to the correct interpretation given by Delitzsch and
Hupfeld (the latter except in ver. 7), this song sung in honour
of Zion declares, that it will be the mother city of all nations.
God will mention Rahab (that is, Egypt, Isa. xxx. 7) and P>abylon as
numbered among those acquainted with him, will say of Philistia,
Tyrus, Cush : " This one is born there," namely, in Zion, the
residence of Yahveb. Thus " man by man," i.e. here nation by
nation (for in ver. 4 also the nations are personified), they will
be considered as natives of Zion. When the Lord registers His
subjects He will enter them as springing thence. And they will
confess exultingly that all their life-springs are in this city.
The ever-recurring " This one was born there " intimates that
the nations will not only receive citizenship there as belonging
to Zion, but that they will receive there a new existence, experi-
1 Cf. Esth. L 8. .
* D^H from ^n, thus part. p'd. for D^TO- In rj,Q the pointing is not
to be changed, as Hnpfeld supposes : *J'yQ (or *yyt2, my indicellers), by which he
obtains the meaning : "All that dwell in thee sing and spring.'* For this ;;';
must have been used. According to the usual reading, the main thought recurs at
the close with much more emphasis, and, indeed, now as a thankful confession.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 305
ence a new birth. The divine springs flowing in the city (ver. 7)
impart to them a new life (cf. Isa. xii. 3), so that henceforth
with joy they ascribe their origin to the place whence they have
received salvation.
33. Micah, Nahum.
Another Jewish prophet, Micali the Morasthite, was at work,
contemporaneously to some extent with Isaiah (note A).
As Isaiah foretold the judgment of exile and devastation on
Judah-Jerusalem in the most definite terms, so his younger
contemporary Micah still more definitely predicted the desolation
of Zion with its temple, iii. 12; cf. iv. 1 0. But are the great
outlooks opened in prophecy before this place to be regarded on
this account as wishes, pious indeed, but far too bold ? On the
contrary, Micah makes the boldest oracle of Isaiah follow directly
on the unmistakable sentence of punishment just mentioned, in
token that he was not merely, like that great prophet, a servant
of a higher Lord, but that the path to the exalting and glorifying
of the temple lay right through the destruction foretold. 1
Like Isaiah, but in greater detail, he adds an exhortation to
his people to walk in the name, i.e. in the light of the revelation,
of its God. Then its captives and its dominion will return in
due time.
Micah iv. 6. " On that day, saith the Lord, I will gather that
which limps, 2 and that which is cast out I will collect, and
7 that which I treated ill. And I make that which limps a
remnant, and that which is far removed 3 a great nation, and
Yahveh will be king over them, on Mount Zion henceforth
8 and for ever; and thou, tower of flocks, hill of the
daughter of Zion, to thee will it come, 4 and the former
1 This judgment is represented (i. 3 ff.) as a descent of God from heaven, a
parousia analogous to the one at Sinai, to which appearance also the prophetic
picture of Hab. iii. 3 ff. (besides Judg. v. 4 f. ; Ps. xviii. 9 ff. ) alludes.
2 That which limps, is cast out, etc., stands collectively, not of a single sheep.
* nfc^n-jn, peculiar niphal formation from K/TI (Amos v. 27) : that which in
thrown far away ; thus the nrn3H above recurs in a stronger form.
4 From the accentuation (athnach with nOND) it has been erroneously inferred
that |VS~ri3 is the subject of this verb. This is rather found in the second half of
the verse. Luther : "Thy golden rose shall come," thinking of ^iy, ornaments.
ORELLI. U
306 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
sovereignty will come, the kingdom to the daughter of
Zion." 1
" On that day " points with emphasis to the epoch described in
ver. 1 as the end of the days. In this indication of time lies the
difference between a divine oracle and the otherwise similar talk
of false prophets, ii. 1 1 f. 2 What carnal hope expects prematurely
comes only, according to God's word, at the end after purifying
judgment. The human heart is always inclined to forestall the
glorifying and ignore the judgment of the world. Also the
" henceforth " (^Vp at the end of ver. *7) refers, of course, not
to the present, but to that time contemplated prophetically
With ver. 8, as with v. 2, a new paragraph begins. If iv. 1 ff.
referred to Zion as the seat of the temple, ver. 8 f. contemplates
David's citadel on Zion, the Davidic rule (v. 2 ff.), and again still
more distinctively the true Davidite. The Tower of flocks here
is the local representative of the Davidic sovereignty, and belonged
presumably to David's stronghold on Zion. " Hill " of the
daughter of Zion is perhaps added to distinguish it from other
towers of this name. 3 Moreover, this ?B'y was a conventional
proper -name of a particular height on Zion (probably on the
south-east edge). This royal residence will again behold the
former glory of David and Solomon, of course not in the imme-
diate future. On the contrary there await it, as vers. 9 ff.
describe, pure anguish and pain, beleaguerment, deportation to
Babylon, profound humiliation of the ruling house. But these
are the pains of a travailing woman, and so not without fruit.
Out of all these sufferings the future glory will grow, such as is
shown in v. 2 to ver. 5a in a more definite and personal Messianic
prophecy.
v. 2. " And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, 4 small to be counted
1 Not : upon the daughter of Jerusalem (Hitzig, after Num. xxii. 4), but accord-
ing to Zech. ix. 9, which the passage resembles, 7 here indicates direction.
* Like Hofmann, Kleinert, ft al., we believe, in opposition to most expositors, that
ii. 11 f. describes how the false prophets, audaciously copying oracles like Hos. i. 11 ff.,
promise speedy victory to the people. On the other hand, Hitzig would put ii. 11 f.
after iv. 8.
3 Gen. xxxv. 21.
* mEK> " fruitfulness, fruit-field," agrees with the appellation Qfi? JV2> house
of bread, as well as with the fertile situation of the village in barren surroundings
(v. Orelli, Durch's hei'ige Land, 2nd ed. p. 154). The fonns Ephrath and Ephratah
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 307
(note B) among the country - towns of Judah, out of thee
comes forth to me l he who is to be a ruler in Israel. And
his goings forth are from the foretime, from days immemorial.
3 On this account he gives them up until the time when she
that travaileth has brought forth, then will the remnant of his
4 brethren return to the sons of Israel. And he stands and
pastures in the might of Yahveh, in the majesty of the name
of Yahveh, his God, and they have rest, for now 2 will he be
5 great unto the ends of the earth. And he shall be PEACE."
The nrisi, v. 2, corresponds to the nriNi o iv. 8. Alongside the
Tower of Flocks, the proof of Davidic glory, appears the place of
Davidic lowliness, that had seen a shepherd's son rise to a throne.
For a Son of Jesse will again traverse the path from obscure
lowliness to lofty glory. Out of Bethlehem, with scarcely the
rank of a country-town, will come forth One whose name is here
mysteriously suppressed, only the dignity that awaits him being
mentioned. He it is who is destined in God's plan to be ruler
in Israel. The name of the entire people, whom, like David,
lie is to unite under his sceptre, is intentionally used. Moreover,
the next mysterious feature forms a significant contrast to the
obscure birthplace of the Messiah : " His going forth from the gray
foretime, from days immemorial." Does this only mean that His
extraction is. traceable to the earliest age, that He is thus of good
race, as in fact (Ruth iv. 11 ff.) David's ancestors are traced back
to Perez, son of Judah ? Although it must be conceded that o?W
in poetico-prophetic discourse has not always an unlimited range
(cf. Amos ix. 11), it would yield here a very tame sense, especially
to the Hebrew, to think only of physical descent from Jesse the
humble ancestor, or from Judah. The descent of every genuine
Israelite even from Jacob-Abraham was understood as matter of
course. Or does this weighty description, containing a twofold,
far-reaching definition of time, teach the pre-temporal existence
of the Messiah, so that we should have here, as in John i. 1 ff.,
viii. 58, an irrefutable testimony to Christ's pre-existence ? The
are found Gen. xlviii. 7 ; cf. xxxv. 19. But there the n indicates direction. On
T
the other hand, in the present passage the second, more solemn form stands
absolutely, as in Ruth iv. 11.
1 The saying : "will come forth to me," implies that he comes to fulfil a divine plan.
2 The reference to Ps. ii. 7, Ixxii. 7, here is beyond doubt. What in tbat passage
was still ideal has now become reality.
308 OLD TESTAMENT PKOPHECY.
expressions D"ip, afiy, and the general conceptions of the Israelites,
are too little metaphysical to warrant such an inference. Moreover,
strictly speaking, a premundane existence is not affirmed, but a
coming from time immemorial. In Micah vii. 20, Dip is used in
reference to the patriarchal promises. We therefore do most
justice to the statement by taking it to mean that the future ruler
from Bethlehem is he who has long been in God's view in the
development of things. Because from the beginning of redemption
everything tended to him, he was in course of coming from the
beginning. His beginnings are rooted in God's primeval redeem-
ing plan. The prophet is thinking not merely of pedigrees of
genealogy, but just as much of those of prophecy. We agree
with Hofmann when he remarks : " The ruler who at last will
come forth from Bethlehem proceeds and is in course of coming
from times of inconceivable length. For since it is he who is
the goal of the history of humanity, of Israel, of the Davidic house,
all advances in that history are beginnings of His coming, goings
forth of the second son of Jesse." That our prophet usually takes
into view the whole history of God's redemption and kingdom
back to the early period of preparation of which Genesis treats,
is shown, for example, in v. 6 ; cf. iv. 1 0. The fulfilment, indeed,
has carried still farther this coming from of old, this going forth
from the beginnings of history, disclosing the supramundane and
premundane origin of the Messiah beyond primeval history, and
in this way discovering the profoundest reason of the fact that
the whole history of creation tends towards Him.
To the features literally realized in the fulfilment belongs also
the rise of the Messiah out of Bethlehem, a fact which Matthew
emphasizes with perfect right (ii. 6). This is not the place to
discuss the credibility of the account of the birth of Jesus in
David's city. On the other hand, we must differ from Hitzig when
he denies that the prophet thought that the Messiah would be
born in Bethlehem. The prophet sees the glorious Prince of Peace
issuing, not out of David's stronghold on Zion, but out of the
obscure shepherd-town, from which the first David was called by
God to the throne. And we have no right to convert this vivid
intuition into an abstract thought, as if such a thought were the
prius to the seer, and the concrete form in his consciousness a mere
dress. The fact that he did not see the thought of the supreme
ruler's ascent from the obscurest lowliness otherwise than in and
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 309
with the local form in which it was realized, is a proof, to those
who do not ascribe everything to the arbitrary fetish of chance, of
the express control of God.
Therefore, ver. 3 proceeds, because the coming of the true
ruler over Israel is still future, the casting away of this people
can only be temporary, continuing up to the definite point of
time when its grievous sufferings issue in a blissful birth.
According to the connection with vers. 2 and 4, he who is born to
bring the suffering to an end can only be the ruler from Bethlehem.
But who is the travailing mother ? Since iv. 9 f. speaks of the
pains of Zion, and in v. 3 even the dispersed Israelites are called
the brethren of the Messiah (to whom the suffix in vns points
back), it is intimated that the Church, at present in grievous
affliction and expecting still more grievous, is to be regarded as
his mother ; and with this Hos. xiii. 13 and Isa. vii. 14, according
to our interpretation, agree. 1
The fact that then even the remnant found among the heathen
returns, shows how what is said in iv. 6 f. is brought about by the
Messiah, whose rule is further described in v. 4 : Divine power
and gentleness are united in Him. " He stands and pastures in
the power of Yahveh, in the majesty of the name of Yahveh."
The expression " He pastures," without the addition given to it in
Ps. ii. (5J"|3 E2>2), is uncommonly peaceful in sound. He will be
altogether a shepherd, a prince from Bethlehem, even as His
ancestor grew up amid the flock. Yet He is strong and beautiful
with the divine glory, the majesty of the name of Yahveh. Thus
in Him the Lord reveals Himself in His essence. Then will His
people " be settled," enjoy rest ; for His greatness is then acknow-
ledged over the whole earth ; cf. Ps. ii. 8, what David there says
virtually of himself will be realized in the Messiah ; only that in
the present passage the peaceful side of His rule, there the
terrible side towards rebellious princes and nations, comes into
view.
It is said, in the last place : And He shall be peace. This puts
the seal on the description of the Son of David. He is peace, i.e.
peace is concluded in Him, so that not only does His coming
bring peace on earth, but His whole being is peaceful, and works
peace. He is thus the means by which that pacification of the
world is effected which was spoken of in iv. 3 ff. as a divine
1 So after Calvin many moderns, like Kleinert.
310 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
work. Such a word as Ci'E' is capable of unlimited intensifica-
tion, and has found it in the Bible. Only the completed revela-
tion has disclosed all its depths of meaning. In the Hebrew
language ci^t? was an everyday word, a common greeting, a trivial
wish. It denoted whatever any one desired for himself and
wished for any one with whom he was on good terms : freedom
from harm and disturbance, peace, rest, wellbeing. Among the
peace-loving Orientals peace was and is, in the profane sphere of
thought, the highest good. And in the religious life the sum of
salvation may be comprised in it. When prophecy promises
peace in the time of consummation, and calls the Messiah Peace
absolutely, it means peace in inner and outer perfection, man
being completely at one with God, and men having become through
His revelation one with each other. This will be the Messiah's
gift. Such peace, in fact, the Prince of Peace from Bethlehem
brought to the world, only far more gloriously than human heart
could conceive under the Old Covenant. And in the sense in
which He established peace, it is also the highest good to the
Christian. Hence everything we have in Christ may be summed
up in the word borrowed by the apostle from our prophet : auro?
fo-riv 77 elprjvrj 77/4001; (Eph. ii. 14).
Even in this prophet, who so strongly emphasizes the peaceful
character of God's kingdom, there is not wanting at the same time
a warlike picture of the superiority which the Messianic Zion
will display among the nations. Already in iv. 11 ff. Micah
foretells the judgment of the nations : According to the Lord's
plan (Joel iii. 1 ff.), the heathen will assemble against Jerusalem
to desecrate the holy city, but will be gathered there like sheaves
on the threshing-floor to be threshed. 1
iv. 13. "Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; I will make thy
horn iron and thy hoofs brass, that thou mayest crush to pieces
many nations ; and I consecrate their spoil to Yahveh, and their
property to the Lord of all the earth."
A type of this final catastrophe to the heathen was given
in the fall of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem. Also in
v. 5 ff., where in a similar way the victorious might of God's
people is seen by Micah, it is the Assyrian, the mighty world-
conqueror, who first passes before him. Seven, nay, eight victo-
rious princes will encounter him, and they will waste his land
1 Cf. the harvest figure, Joel iii. 9 ff.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, XAHUM. 311
with the sword. The power of feeble Israel will thus be seven-
fold superior. 1 And in v. 8, 9 f. again the double aspect of God's
kingdom conies out, its human form, the Israelitish Church, being-
compared, on the one hand, to the fruitful dew, and on the other,
to the most terrible beast of prey. Under both aspects the world
of nations will come to know the people of God.
v. 7. " And the remnant of Jacob shall be amid many nations as
the dew from Yahveh, as dropping rain on the grass, that
8 waits for uo one, and tarries not for children of men. 2 And
the remnant of Jacob shall be amid many nations as a lion
among the forest beasts, as a lion among the flocks of sheep,"
etc.
The first of these figures, viz. the dew, suggests not merely the
idea of countless numbers, but also, as in the second figure, the
effect produced (which certainly here is exceedingly beneficent),
and at the same time the idea of higher origin. As the dew falls
from heaven without being dependent on any man, so God's
people comes on the world as a blessing of unworldly origin, and
also with the irresistible power peculiar to the kingly lion above
all beasts. If a sufficient corrective to the carnal and sensuous
view of vers. 8 and 9 were not contained in iv. 1 ff., v. 2 ff., it
would be found immediately in ver. 10, where, as we found in
Zech. ix. 10, the setting aside of martial power is foretold (pp. 245,
247). Even the strong cities, in which false confidence had hitherto
been placed, will vanish, for the Lord Himself will be the bulwark
of His people (Zech. ix. 8). But before that time comes (vii. 11)
Jerusalem must undergo judgment ; and before the nations draw
near to do homage to the Lord mighty judgments will fall
upon them, vii. 12 ff., such as befell Egypt, so that trembling
with terror and dumb with shame (vers. 16, 17), they will at
last come to do reverence to the true God. Thus here also, as in
Isaiah, the path of Israel, as of the heathen world, lies through
judgment to salvation and peace.
The oracle of Nahum the Elkoshite takes us to the close of
the Assyrian period. It also was spoken under King Hezekiah,
1 The number seven is again transcended, after the manner of oracles of number
(Amos ii. 1, etc.), by eight.
2 This is not to be inverted, as if it meant : " For which no one waits," as though
the unexpected, unhoped-for coming of the dew were meant ; but: " The coming of
.the dew is dependent on no man," whereas conversely the children of men are very
dependent on its coming and await it with anxiety.
o!2 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
luit after Sennacherib's departure; in any case, before the fall of
Nineveh, against which it is directed. Still, filled with indigna-
tion at all the outrage the Assyrians had inflicted on the land,
the prophet foretells, in the name of the God who is jealous for
His inheritance, the approaching overthrow of the imperial city.
The obverse of this judgment is comfort for God's people, who
hitherto could not keep their feasts without trembling before the
overwhelming foe. Hence the good news of its fall is heard in
Jerusalem with rapture. This evangel is indeed chiefly negative,
banishing anxiety and solicitude in presence of the world-power.
Paul has applied the oracle, Nah. ii. 1, to a far more positive
message of peace. But see also Isa. lii. 7.
NOTE A. According to the heading, Micah's work likewise
belongs to the time of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. The.
latter date is confirmed by Jer. xxvi. 18; for when Jeremiah
was accused of high treason in foretelling the fall of Jerusalem and
the temple, the elders defended him by appealing to Micah's
example, who, under Hezekiah, had done the same without molesta-
tion. There Micah iii. 12 is plainly alluded to ; but to make the
passage in Jeremiah a strict proof that the discourse of Micah iii.
was composed under Hezekiah is to attribute too great critical value,
to it. In any case Micah spoke in great part before the fall of
Samaria (cf. especially chap. i.). But after a long term of labour
he put his oracles together in book form, so that they read like a
work struck off' at one blow (especially chaps, ii.-v.).
In Micah \ve find (iv. 1-4) almost literally the same oracle of
the exalting of Mount Zion and the peaceful pilgrimage of the
nations thither, that we read in Isa. ii. 2 ff. Only, at the end Micah
has an addition (ver. 4) : " And they shall sit, every one under
his vine and his fig-tree, none frightening them ; for the mouth of
Yahveh of hosts has spoken it."
This second form of the oracle is held by many to be the original
one (Hitzig, Caspari, Keil, etc.). They appeal especially to the
fact that the oracle is not disconnected from the context as in Isaiah.
This would imply that Micah spoke under Jotham, and Isaiah
borrowed from him (Caspari, 1 Keil). This, however, having little
probability, since the historical horizon in the context of Micah is
that of the latest prophecies of Isaiah* (e.g. xxxix. 6 f.), others sup-
pose that the oracle springs from an earlier prophet (Hitzig, Ewald :
Joel), and was reproduced by Isaiah and afterwards by Micah (by
the latter more faithfully). This hypothesis deserves notice, but
1 C. P. Caspari, Ueber Micha den Morasthiten und seine prophetische Schrift, 1851.
* Cf. also Jer. xxvi. 18 ("in the days of Hezt-kiah") with Micah iii. 12.
PROPHETS OF ASSYRIAN PERIOD : ISAIAH, MICAH, NAHUM. 313
is neither capable of proof nor necessary to explain the facts. That
Micah repeats an oracle already given, he perhaps intimates in
the sentence : " For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." But
he has rounded off the oracle and woven it into his book with
most beautiful antithesis. On the other hand, there seems to us
no cogent reason for refusing to assign it to Isaiah, who sets it
before us abruptly in the manner of a divine vision suddenly
received. 1
NOTE B. vjre, masc., referring to JV3, is usually taken as predi-
cate ; but then we should expect nrix -vyx and a copula before IEO.
It is rather in apposition to the apostrophe, so that the sentence
proper only begins with ^QO. Hitzig requires the article "Vyjn, and
takes over the n from nrnss. But nrr6 does not rightly suit such
determination of the adjective. Nor is the article necessary in
such a qualitative apposition. For the rest, it is not said nvnrp :
too small to l>e able. Bethlehem was really the centre of an fpN,
the seat of an *H?x, country prince (Zech. ix. 7, xii. 5 f.), but small
even for this subordinate position, as we say : small for a
kingdom. Matthew cites (ii. 6), with some deviation from the
LXX. : xai <r<) B?)$?.,. yj 'loiJ^a &u3,'z&)g eXa^larri s7 tv 7oT; fiyspoffiv
'loiiBa, ex eov yap t%i/.svffsrai, which is not essentially different from
the original text.
1 B. Stade (Zeitschr. fur A. T. Wft. 1881, i. p. 161 ff.) would also assign the
grand oracles, Micah iv. 1-4, 11-14, v. 2-4, 7-15, to a post-exilian "epigon," and affirms
that hereafter Micah of Moresheth, Isaiah's contemporary, has no role to play in the
history of the Messianic idea ! No wonder if by such epigon-like abuse of the most
venerable writings even lawful criticism falls into discredit.
FOURTH SECTION.
THE PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALDJEAN PERIOD) :
ZEPHAXIAH, IIABAKKUK, JEREMIAH.
34. Zeplianidh.
T^HE prophets who come next, of whom Jeremiah is chief,
differ in a marked way from those considered in the last
section, of whom Isaiah is the chief representative. If the latter
sketched a brilliant picture of the ruler growing up from Jesse's
root, now that picture, as well as the figure of Jerusalem pre-
served and glorified, retires again into the background. Scarcely
any room is left for language of promise, since even Judah, to
which comfort might still be offered in the Assyrian period, is
now advancing rapidly to the Chaldaean judgment, and the
prophets themselves are forced to deny it all hope for the
nearer future. Yet the age gives all the more occasion for a
new proclaiming of the world-judgment. The Day of the Lord
is pictured. And in the same way confident hopes of a glorious
end are afresh promised to the remnant of Judah, and the narrow
way of repentance and humble trust is pointed out to it. The
conception of the city of God is spiritualized and refined in the
fires of judgment.
ZepJianiak, whose tractate, according to the unimpeachable
heading, belongs to the period of Josiah (note A), is among the
most eloquent heralds who announce the Day of the Lord as the
day of general reckoning, such as Joel already more precisely
described. But Zephaniah emphasizes far more strongly than
Joel the universality of the judgment, foretelling the conversion
of the nations as its salutary fruit. In this twofold respect lie
has a place beside Isaiah, whose oracles 1 he to some extent
1 So especially the oracles discussed in 32, Isa. xiii., xxiv. -xxvii., also
chap, xxxiv.
314
PKOPIIETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PEKIOD): ZEPIL, HAB., JEK. 315
guards against the criticism of to-day, not merely by points of
contact in words, but by coincidence in the main thoughts,
which are thus shown to be the fruit of the Assyrian period.
Zephaniah forms a transition from the Assyrian to the
Chaldsean period, still like Nahum threatening Nineveh (ii. 13 ff.),
(which consequently has not yet succumbed to the Chaldseans),
but having new foes in view and no longer able to promise
Jerusalem gracious preservation. As on the appearance of this
prophet everything within the land lies in the wicked one. so
also near movements announce themselves to the prophet's gaze
in the world of nations, movements going beyond ordinary limits
and preparing for a general divine judgment. It has been rightly
remarked that about this time the Scythians were moving from
the north through Hither-Asia towards Egypt. 1 These northern
barbarians, grazing the borders of Palestine, made a deep impres-
sion on the Israelites, as we see from Jeremiah, and especially
from Ezekiel's description of " Gog from the land of Magog,"
taken line by line from those hordes. The Scythians treated the
Philistine country at that time with special harshness. The rapid
fulfilment in this way of Zephaniah's threats against these cities
may have founded or greatly enhanced his reputation. But he has
far more comprehensive events in view. He begins his oracles
at once with the saying (i. 2 f.) :
" I will carry away, sweep away 2 everything from the surface
of the earth is the oracle of the Lord ; will carry away man
and beast, carry away the birds of the heaven and the fish of
the sea, the ruins 3 along with the evil-doers, and exterminate the
men from the surface of the earth ! is the oracle of the Lord."
^3 stands first with emphasis : " Everything," more fully
illustrated by the following words, where man (just as universal)
comes first as the real sinner, on whose account judgment goes
forth on every earthly creature. To him, as the chief object in
view, ver. 3 recurs. But it is especially surprising that ver. 4
1 Herodotus, i. 103 ff.
3 With S]pN (hiph. from P)}D) is joined the infin. abs. tJDS, akin in sense and
derivation, for the sake of the fuller rhythm. Just so Jer. viii. 13. Butteher,
Amf. Lehrbuch, 988, 1.
3 ni^Cbsn, not synonymous with /53B, <r*avSXav, in which case it would have
applied to the idols, but according to Isa. iii. 6 : tottering ruins. All dwellings are
mere tumbling ruins, which God easily sweeps away along with those dwelling in
them.
316 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
turns specifically against Jerusalem, which is therefore not spared,
on the contrary is first smitten by the judgment, and that without
exception. Both those who practise heathen worship (Baal-
worship, star - worship, etc.) without shame, and those who
carry the holy name of Yahveh on their lips, fall a prey to
judgment. Consequently, alongside the dwellers of the city
engaged in heathen practices without disguise, there were those
who at least maintained the name and ritual system of the
Old Covenant-God, thus securing for themselves some good.
But between the two parties, who in appearance differed to some
extent from each other, the prophet can scarcely make a difference.
His words show that God cannot be bribed by such partisanship
in His cause, and the genuine prophet has to announce the
judgment with equal severity to all parties, even to those who
would fain stand well with the true God, if the service of God
and the life of true holiness are wanting.
Already the Judge approaches, before whom the whole world
must be dumb with reverence :
i. 7. " Be still before Yahveh, Lord of all ! For the day of
Yahveh is near ! For Yahveh has prepared a slam-sacrifice, has
hallowed His invited ones."
This passage, alluding to Isa, xiii. 3, speaks of the judgment-
day as a sacrificial feast, where blood will flow copiously. The
sacrifice is already prepared ; the invited guests are ready, or as
it is said in sacrificial language, hallowed. These guests are the
wild foes whom the Lord will summon against His people. The
people are the sacrifice to be slain, as the following verses show,
where in particular the princes dressed in friendly garb (ver. 8),
the priests acting like heathen (ver. 9), the unbelieving and
thoroughly materialistic triflers (ver. 12) are censured, while
everywhere the population of Jerusalem is thought of. The
capture of the city is described with a picturesqueness (ver. 10 f.)
which, as Jerome early notices, vividly recalls the actual fate of
the city (A.D. 70) as depicted more at length (than the Chaldean
catastrophe) by Josephus. The description of the judgment-
day, i. 14 ff., is based on Joel ii. 1 f . ; Amos v. 18, 20. It
smites the whole earth, as the close of the chapter again
insists.
Humility, penitent submission to God alone can save from the
universal judgment.
PROPHETS OE.THE DECLINE (dlALD. PEKIOB) : ZEPH., HAB., JEK. 31 7
ii. .1. " Press and crouch together, 1 people, that despairs
2 of nothing, before what is decreed comes to the birth
time flies past like chaff before the burning wrath of
Yahveh comes upon you, before the day of Yahveh's wrath
3 comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all ye humble of the earth,
who have done His law, seek after righteousness, seek after
humility; perhaps ye shall be hid in the day of Yahveh's
wrath."
The judgment is a thing already settled, needing only to come
to light (to be born). Hence " the nation of the insolent" 2 should
know better than to behave arrogantly. The time before the
execution of the judgment flies as rapidly as the chaff before the
wind. And only the modest, the humble before God, who have
submitted obediently to God's commands, can then hope to be
spared. Thus the nation of the " humble of the earth " (ver. 3)
is opposed to the hardened nation of the insolent (ver. 1). Both
designations apply to men, inhabitants of the earth according to
their disposition, without regard to race ; thus they include Jews
and heathen. 3 For even of the latter it may be said, that they
know God's law and do or neglect it. Here, too, Zephaniah is
in accord with Isa. xxiv. 5 (p. 299). But it is significant that
even those (whether Jews or heathen) who have been diligent in
observing God's elementary precepts must first inquire after
righteousness which God will accept on that day, and especially
seek the true humility that is alone susceptible to grace. The
judgment will terribly punish the arrogance of the world, in
particular of the heathen world, that is antagonistic to God's
people ; and in consequence the worship of Yahveh will extend
over the whole earth :
ii. 11. "Yahveh makes Himself terrible upon them; for He
makes all the gods of the earth vanish, and they pray to Him,
every one from his place, all the isles of the heathen."
1 K'C'p i verbum denom. from jj>p, to gather stubble ; hence the rendering " to
assemble." But it is stronger : press, stoop together. Instead of spreading out as
now, they are to "crouch together," since the judgment rushes over all, infallibly
striking all who stretch out their neck.
2 In lijn the insolence of the people is hinted, and still more in the phrase : "that
loses not heart," i.e. is not terrified in any of its evil acts. The nation of the
insolent dwelling on the earth are meant, not a national people, as Judah.
3 Otherwise Hitzig : " Pious of the land." But the prophet speaks here universally
as in i. 2, 18, and then at once goes on to speak to the surrounding lands.
318 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
In Isaiah first we found l the paedagogic significance of the
general judgment for the heathen to be a leading thought of pro-
phecy, especially in Isa. xxiv.-xxvii., on which visions Zephaniah
plainly builds. The latter, looking to the west, first names the
" isles of the heathen " as an immeasurable territory which,
though at present sunk in idolatry, will do homage to Israel's
God. The isles and coasts of the Mediterranean are meant (cf.
Isa. xxiv. 15). The world was conceived as projecting without
limit into the ocean in this direction. The fact of the " isles "
playing so prominent a part here, and again in Deutero-Isaiah,
(they occasionally represent the less known heathen world),
seems like a presentiment of the truth, that the moral
centre of the heathen world is found in the nations of the
west dwelling round the Mediterranean (cf. Num. xxiv. 24).
But it is especially noteworthy that Zephaniah affirms of these
island-dwellers that they will pray to Yahveh " every one from
his place," a statement by no means, with Keil and Kleinert, to
be supplemented to the effect that they will resort to Yahveh's
temple in Jerusalem for worship, but hinting at most that in
their prayer they will look from their place toward Jerusalem.
The emphasis lies just on the fact that in their place, where they
are at home, they will pay adoring homage to the Lord. We
have here a notable effort to break through the localized concep-
tion of God's kingdom. This view, indeed, is so far from being
in essential contradiction to the pilgrimage of the nations to
Zion, Micah iv. 1 ff., that on the contrary the same Zephaniah
also in spirit sees that pilgrimage, iii. 10, since according to him
the farthest nations bring meat-offerings to Jerusalem ; 2 but a
weighty supplement to the thought, that everything must bring
tribute to the God dwelling on Zion, is given in this glimpse
of the farthest heathen praying reverently to Yahveh in
their yet scarcely discovered lands (ii. 11). In Isaiah also we
found such a hint of the latter view, to the effect that in the
heathen lands themselves the name of the true God will be
invoked, xix. 19 ff, alongside the pilgrimage of the nations,
Isa. ii. 2 ff. The latter therefore is simply a way of contemplat-
1 Pp. 295, 302.
2 Even the Israelite prayed everywhere to Yahveh, which did not preclude his
bringing offerings to Jerusalem. The idea of the altar, Isa. xix. 19, more clearly
transcends the ordinary views, just so Mai. i. 11.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (dlALD. PERIOD) : ZEPH., HAB., JER. 319
ing something that points beyond this figure. But this expres-
sive figure was suited to the existing power of apprehension, and
the defect inherent in it is only gradually remedied by such com-
plementary revelations. After the exile the great thought,
dawning in the present passage as in Isaiah, is still more definitely
expressed, MaL i. 11 ; but it is only to be read in perfect clear-
ness in John iv. 23, and that from the lips of Him who most
emphatically declared that salvation is of the Jews (iv. 22), thus
fully acknowledging the necessity for all nations to journey to
Zion, where alone salvation is to be found. This salva-
tion, indeed, will not remain bound to the place, but to the person
of Him in whom every promise belonging to Zion is verified.
Through Him it was revealed that the kingdom of God on
earth will be universal, while retaining a historical, personal
centre.
Zeph. iii. explains more fully how through the general judg-
ment the world will become God's kingdom, and Jerusalem God's
city. The accusation in iii. 1 ff. is specially directed against
Jerusalem, whose princes and judges are ravenous beasts, its
prophets windbags and buffoons, its priests guilty of sacrilege ;
whereas the Lord is clearly and truly revealed in its midst
by His word, and mightily revealed among the heathen nations
around by His judgments. Because Jerusalem refuses chastening,
the judgment long threatened and hitherto held back by God's
long-suffering must actually come, ver. 7. Since it is no better
than the heathen, it will not be spared from the universal judg-
ment (ver. 8). But that judgment will turn all the nations into
the Church of God ; it is only a means to a blessed end.
iii. 8. " Therefore wait ye for me, saith the Lord, on the day
when I rise up to testify. 1 For my decree is to gather
nations, to sweep together kingdoms, to pour out on them
my wrath, all my fierce anger ; for in the fire of my zeal the
9 whole earth shall be consumed. For then will I turn on the
nations purified lips, that they may all call on the name of
10 Yahveh, serve Him with one neck. From beyond the rivers
1 ~\yb, the reading according to the LXX., Syr. According to the llasora, followed
by Keil, Kleinert, the reading is *}j^5, which would have to be rendered : to the spoil.
But according to the following words the matter in hand is a judicial act, in which
Yah vth is both witness and judge, and His " sentence " also intimates the mode of
execution.
320 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
of Ethiopia my worshippers, the Church of my scattered ones,
bring my offerings."
The judgment of the nations has here a direct missionary aim :
to purify the language (properly the lip) of the nations, hitherto
defiled by the names of strange gods. Henceforth they shall all
invoke the name of the true God and serve Him together. Their
yoke being the same, it is said, they will bear it with one
shoulder ; an intimate brotherhood of the nations is the natural
consequence of their serving one Lord and God. The prophet
here turns his gaze to the farthest south. Even in the mysterious
land of the sources of the Nile, south of Ethiopia, Yahveh will
have His worshippers, a diaspora of worshippers, who, to testify
that they belong to Him, bring gifts to Jerusalem, for this is the
goal of their homage. The passage alludes to Isa. xviii. 7 (p. 296),
and speaks like that passage of the worshipping of Yahveh by
the heathen, who in these remotest zones will form a daughter
of scattered ones, i.e. a widely scattered Church.
Vers. 11-13 turn to the mother-Church at Jerusalem, which
has also undergone a purifying.
iii. 11. " On that day thou shalt no longer need to be ashamed
for all the transgressions thou hast sinned against me, for then
will I sweep away from thy midst thy arrogant revellers,
and thou shalt no longer be haughty on my holy mountain,
12 And I leave in thee a people humble and little, and they
13 hide themselves in the name of Yahveh. Those left of Israel
shall do no wickedness and speak no lies, and in their mouth
no tongue of deceit is found. For they shall graze and lie
down, none making them afraid."
In the happy state of those preserved from the judgment the
sense of guilt, that brings shame and pain, ceases (Isa. xxxiii. 24).
Accumulated sin is forgiven ; and by removing the proud the
Lord has taken care that His Church shall not sin again, and
especially shall not again draw down His judgment upon them
by their haughtiness and arrogance. Only one Church is left, in
the world's eyes mean and poor, which puts its confidence not
in fleshly power and earthly greatness or worldly wealth, but in
God's great revealed name, and therefore has peace with God
and man. They lead a peaceful, harmless shepherd-life, really
the flock of the Good Shepherd, which no foe dare touch. As
it was said of these poor and humble ones in Isa. xxix. 19
PKOPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPH., HAB., JER. 321
(p. 291), that their joy and exulting is in God, so the prophet
continues :
iii. 1 4. " Exult, Daughter of Zion, shout, Israel ! Rejoice
and be glad with all thy heart, Daughter of Jerusalem !
15 Yahveh has removed thy judgments, cleared away thy foe.
As King of Israel Yahveh is in thy midst : fear no more
1 6 evil ! On that day they call Jerusalem : ' Fear not,'
1 7 Zion : ' Let not thy hands be slack.' l F Yahveh, thy God,
is in thy midst, a Hero who is a Saviour. He rejoices in
thee with delight, is silent in His love, He exults over
thee with shouting ! "
The holy joy of the city of God is for the grace bestowed on
it, because its sins are cancelled, and consequently its foes have
no cause of revenge ; while its God, the true King of Israel, can
and will dwell in it without offence. 2 Then will the Church be
fearless and full of energy (ver. 16). But its bliss culminates
in the fact that God is able to feel unalloyed pleasure in His
people, nay, an unshared joy, peculiar to Himself. 3 This relation
of cordial goodwill formed between the mighty, holy God and His
poor Church of the last days recalls Hosea. The Lord also has
His heart's delight in it, He is silent in His love, the latter a
deep touch, not merely meaning that God does not chide, as He
had hitherto been compelled to do, although it were a great thing
for God's accusing voice to be no longer heard, but pointing to
the most intimate fellowship of spirit, such as cannot be put into
words and needs none. As the moments of most loving inter-
course between human spirits are passed in silence, so when man
is joined most closely to God he hears only the gentle breathing
that indicates His presence. But this silence passes involuntarily
into loud jubilee : " The Lord exults rapturously over His
Church " one of the boldest, most wondrous sayings of the Old
Testament, which is not presumptuous only because the seer was
vouchsafed a glimpse into the unfathomable decree of love
revealed in the New Testament.
Finally, like the earlier prophets, Zephaniah inserts in his
picture of the future Church the return of the scattered, captive
1 f> "1E54 in the same sense as in Hos. ii. 1 : The name expresses the state. In
the second member, instead of the dative, an apostrophe seems to be used.
2 Cf. Num. xxiii. 21, p. 138.
3 Isa. Ixv. 19. Deutero-Isaiah often alludes to Zephaniah.
ORELLL X
322 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Israelites, iii. 18-20, where it is intimated that these very exiles
will cause Yahveh to be acknowledged in the lands of their
sojourn, a peaceful reversal of the martial outlook of Obad. ver.
1 9 ff., whose limits withal have of necessity given place to a far
more comprehensive view of God's kingdom.
If Zephaniah has not spoken of the human mediator of the
days of redemption, who was to spring out of David's stem, he
bears witness all the more powerfully to the divine aim, which
even the Messiah must serve, viz. the future blessed rule of
God, which according to him also will have its centre on
Zion, while dispensing life and blessing throughout the world.
God Himself in the midst of the purified Church as its King,
its Hero, its Saviour, joined to it in blessed fellowship of
love, this, in fact, is the climajc of the consummation, the
goal of the divine ways. The range of the divine plan, the
universality of the judgment which must subserve that plan,
the universality of the redemption aimed at, are dwelt on by
Zephaniah with special emphasis ; and the necessity of an
inward purifying, sanctifying, and in particular humbling of the
Church by the fall of the outward city of God is here declared
with a definiteness that shows progressive insight into the
deep corruption of the nation. Zephaniah has not the origin-
ality and wealth of an Isaiah ; but his visions move around
the summits of Isaiah's prophecy, illumining them from fuller
consciousness of the range they command.
NOTE A. This indication of time is certainly elastic, since
Josiah reigned thirty-one years. The main question is, whether
God's word came to Zephaniah before or alter the king's reforma-
tion of the worship of God, which, according to 2 Kings xxii. 3 ff.,
took place in his eighteenth year, on the basis of the newly-
found Book of the Law. But 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3 shows that Josiah
was engaged in restoring the pure worship of Yahveh before, and
indeed from the twelfth year of his reign, although not with such
thoroughness and severity. Now Zephaniah's oracle was scarcely
spoken after the king's eighteenth year (Delitzsch, Kleinert),
since the sentence of rejection on Jerusalem and its priests is
universal, and nothing is heard of a salutary crisis and a praise-
worthy effort of the leaders of the people. It fell, more probably,
between the twelfth and eighteenth year (Hitzig, et a/.), and most
probably of all in the early part of Josiah's reign, when the king,
beginning to reicpn at eight years of age, had not as yet time and
strength to carry out his good intentions (so also Ewald, Schrader).
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD) : ZEPH., HAB., JER. 323
We do not take " the remnant of Baal " (i. 4) as implying that
Baal-worship was already reduced, but probably, as in Amos i. 8,
ix. 12, the phrase =" Up to the last remnant." Just so, in the
same verse, DB> is used in the sense : " Even the name of the
priests I will destroy along with them " (Ewald).
35. Habakkuk (note A).
Habakkuk, like Zephaniah, speaks of the coming judgment,
which must first smite Judah, but will next reach the victorious
world-power also, and gives direction to the true servants of the
Lord as to how they may outlive this judgment. If Zephaniah
preached lowliness of spirit, humility, as the chief condition of
experiencing divine grace, Habakkuk demands stedfast faith,
which, as Isaiah insisted before, is likewise indispensable if
the Lord is to save. But the two are intimately connected.
Habakkuk also denounces judgment on the pride that springs
from inner untruth, and contrasts with it the sincere faith that
sustains in life.
Habakkuk's book gives in most beautiful style a dialogue
between God and the prophet, the lyrical expression of the sub-
jective disposition of the latter alternating with the objective
divine revelation imparted to him. So in chap. i. the prophet
complains of the flagrant unrighteousness prevalent in, Judah
(vers. 2-4), and receives the answer of God : " I bring up the
Chaldsean!" (vers. 5-11). He then laments over the desolation
which in spirit he sees the arrogant destroyer perpetrating (vers.
12-17). In the second chapter the answer to this comes in a
iivefold woe on the powerful criminal (vers. 2-20). The con-
clusion is the choral echo of chap, iii., as an anthem of praise to
the God who comes to judge and save. The soul of the whole
is found in the middle. After the prophet has betaken himself
to his watch-tower to see what reply the Lord will give to his
complaining protest against the triumph of a foe still more
unjust than the people he is to punish by God's will, he receives
the answer:
ii. 2. "Write down the vision and engrave it on tables, that
one may read it running ; for the vision continues until the
3 set time, 1 and it pants 2 for the end and deceives not. If
1 Properly : " Continuance (remaining) of the vision until the end."
2 ina> hiph., properly: to pit/, pant; here : to hasten.
324 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
it delays, wait for it; for it certainly comes, it fails not. 1
4 Behold, puffed up, his soul is not honest in him. Yet the
righteous man, through his fidelity of faith he shall live ! "
The importance of the following oracle is indicated by the
direction to write it down, nay, engrave it on stone tables, so
that it may not only stand plainly before all eyes at present, but
that its very words may be preserved, and bear testimony in
future days to divine revelation, after the oracle has been ful-
filled. 2 But, contrary to expectation, the oracle that follows does
not show us the Chaldaean's fate, but lays bare his inner
character, because thereby his fate is already sealed. In i. 11,
at the close of the description of the Chaldrean's unbroken
triumphant march, it is said : " Yet he is guilty, whose strength
is his god." In this carnal, self-glorifying disposition of the
world-power that puts itself in God's place, its destruction is
already wrapped up. Just so the central oracle (ii. 4) gives
a glimpse into the inner nature of the antithesis between the
overweening foe and the righteous servant of God, which forms
the ground of their different destiny. The Behold ! calls attention
to the hidden matter that turns the scale in God's eyes, and in
which, therefore, the fate of men is to be read. Ver. 4a says
of the world-conqueror : " Puffed up, 3 his soul is not straight in
him." Inflatedness stands here in opposition to honesty. For
arrogance, in which man makes himself God, always involves an
untruth, deceit 4 towards God and one's self, the soul puffing
itself out to a magnitude not belonging to it. Such hollow self-
exaltation has been from the time of Gen. iii. a mark of a world
estranged from God, and has its root in ethical impurity ; it is
therefore obnoxious to punishment. Whilst the first half of
the verse implies this punishment, without expressing it, the
second, on the contrary, promises life to the righteous man.
1 The LXX., who are followed by Heb. x. 37, inexactly make God or the
Messiah the subject : lv ienffaf, fcr^Mmn auret, Sn lp%op.ttas %%u *< el p.*
Xponffri. Rather the vision is meant, whose import certainly is a manifestation of
God, as chap. iii. shows.
8 Cf. Isa. viii. 1, xxx. 8 ; Job xix. 24.
8 Cf. ^ay, swelling, hill. The pual accordingly signifies : to be swollen, here
with arrogance and conceit.
4 Cf. ver. 5, where wine in this sense is called a deceiver, seducing men into
such arrogance ; and i. 13, where the foes themselves are so called as to their dis-
position.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD) : ZEPH., HAD., JER. 325
Those meant are the righteous in the nation, for whom the
prophet made intercession, and in whose name he said, with
divine confidence, in i. 12 : "We shall not die !" The righteous
shall abide in life despite the terribleness of the judgment, there-
fore escaping the latter (cf. Num. xxiv. 23).
But the chief emphasis of this central oracle lies on in:RDN3.
The word, indeed, is not to be joined with P^V, but with
nvv.i Substantially, however, the difference is unimportant.
For when it is said through 2 what quality the righteous man
receives the reward of righteousness (life), it is also declared in
what element of his character the essence of his righteousness
lies in God's view. The word n^OK signifies properly firm-
ness? and is used of physical (e.g. Ex. xvii. 12), but mostly of
moral firmness, on which one may build, therefore trustivorthi-
ness, especially in reference to promises and pledges ; thus in
daily trade and commerce : conscientiousness, honesty, fidelity (Prov.
xii. 1 7) ; but especially of the fidelity of God, the Eock (Deut.
xxxii. 4), whose word may be trusted without reserve. In the
present passage it cannot refer to civic integrity, the antithesis
requiring a disposition towards God. As a counterpart to the
false inflatedness of the heathen, humble fidelity and uprightness
is to be thought of. As the heathen are characterized in their
inner nature as deceivers, so the righteous are characterized as
upright and faithful. But prophetic usage and the connection
of thought give the expression here a still more definite stamp.
According to Gen. xv. 6, believing trust (P*?fc*^) was the condi-
tion of Abraham's righteousness ( n i^*|y). Here we have plainly
the same correlates, the ruios, corresponding to the hiphil, as
elsewhere to the kal and niplial? This is abundantly con-
1 On the lipkcha, which is not opposed to this conjunction, see Delitzsch, Comm.
p. 50.
2 "2 introduces the efficient medium of the preservation of life, as in Ezek.
xviii. 22.
3 From jK, to be firm, make firm. Cf. p. 288, and Gesenius, Thesaurus.
* The hiph. properly expresses more than "to deem true," namely : to show or
/ "/
attribute firmness, hence to hold firmly by something. Cf. the Arabic form (^j^^,
which as to meaning =^ c , I, only stronger, but is to be explained in the hiphil
sense. See Fleischer, Allgemeine Hall. Literaturzeitung, Erganzungsblatter, 1838,
p. 152. The ri31JON, therefore, inheres in the pOKO, not merely in the thing in
which he believes. Hence Abraham is called |DN3, Neh. ix. 8.
326 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
firmed by Isaiah, who, as we saw p. 288, unceasingly preaches
confident faith, sincere trust in God's miraculous help, as the
condition of salvation and protection from divine judgment, Isa,
vii. 9, xxviii. 16, xxx. 15. Consequently human n:io as the
correlate of the divine is meant ; to the faithfulness of God
that verifies His word corresponds that of man, which trusts
God's word unwaveringly, despite all appearance to the contrary.
This constancy of faith will, in a miraculous way, ensure safety
in the fearful world -judgment.
Consequently the LXX. rendered the word by irians with entire
fitness. Only they wrongly read T 1 ? 110 .^ as if it referred to the
divine fidelity : 6 Se SIKCUOS CK TritrTeax; pov fyjo-erai, against which
the necessity of antithesis 1 and again Ezek. xviii. 22 are decisive.
From this reading the one found in Heb. x. 38 has come. On
the other hand, Paul renders the passage correctly in Rom. i. 1 7 ;
Gal. iii. 11. Moreover, his use of the passage corresponds to its
meaning. The antithesis to the works of the law established by
the passage in the Galatian Epistle is certainly not the prominent
one in the prophet. But it may be obtained from his words,
for plainly Habakkuk describes disposition, stedfast, undivided
surrender to God, trust in His grace, as the soul of the righteous-
ness on which at last everything turns. The vital qiiestion for
the righteous man is, whether he has immovable confidence in
God ; for his righteousness itself is measured by this. The
condition of salvation laid down by the prophet is thus essentially
the same as is announced in the New Covenant : a faith that
reveals the inmost character of the heart ; a childlike, humble
and sincere trust in the credibility of the divine message of
salvation, the contents of which were certainly elementary and
therefore mysteriously indefinite in the Old Covenant.
Thus Habakkuk joins hand with Zephaniah in teaching the
docile and well-disposed among his people what was necessary
in the time of crisis. If the latter intimated (Zeph. ii. 3) that
even they who had done right must still zealously seek, in order
to find, the Lord, true righteousness and right lowliness, and so be
safely hidden on the day of judgment, Habakkuk names in one
word 2 the condition of salvation that constitutes true righteous-
1 This certainly does not apply to the LXX., who already were plainly mistaken
in the first half of the verse.
2 Even the formalistic synagogue felt the central truth lying in this utterance.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD) : ZEPH., HAB., JER. 327
ness and is inconceivable without sincere humility. It is faith
in the deep Biblical sense of the word, unreserved trust in the
Lord's salvation.
On the mashal-like principle, Hab. ii. 4 is followed by an
exposition of the threatening contained in it in the form of a
fivefold woe on Babylon. The gigantic exertions of this world-
power labour only for the fire ; for another power will possess
the earth, ii. 1 3 f., where Isa. ix. 1 1 is taken up, but applied more
generally. The whole earth will be filled with the glory of the
Lord (cf. Num. xvi. 21), must therefore do homage to Him and
no other. Everything men have built for their own fame or
for the honour of false gods must vanish. Therefore let all the
world be reverently silent before Him that reigns in heaven.
Like Zeph. i. 7, this " Be silent ! " announces His approach.
Chap, iii., the "prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, in dithy-
rambic style," forms the lyrical answer, not to what was seen in
chap, i., but to what was seen in chap, ii., to the announcement
of the approach of the Lord, who will cause Hi glory to be seen
throughout the world. It is a prayer uttered in the name of the
nation, as ver. 14 shows; but as the suppliant broods on the
decree of God which he heard before, that decree grows more
vivid and real to his soul, and so he becomes the prophet who
depicts the parousia of God. God comes in power to take
possession of the earth, casting down the foes of His people and
of His Anointed.
iii. 2. " Yahveh, I have heard Thy tidings, I am terrified
Yahveh, Thy work in the midst of the years call to life, in the
midst of the years make it plain. In wrath Thou wilt remember
mercy."
The " tidings " is that the Lord will come to execute the world-
judgment which falls, indeed, on the heathen world-power first of
all, but fills every citizen of earth with trembling. For who can
bear the approach of the holy God and see His glory unscathed ?
Yet the seer calmly utters the wish : " Thy will be done, Thy
kingdom come ! " Only, as a genuine priest he stipulates that
In the Gemara (Makkot, f. 24a) it is said : " David condensed the 613 Sinaiti
commands into 11 (Ps. xv.) ; Isaiah into 6 (xxxiii. 15) ; Micah into 3 (vi. 8) ;
Amos (v. 4), or rather Habakkuk, into one: " The just man shall live by his faith."
It is also worthy of notice, that later Judaism takes njltDK altogether in the
sense above stated. See Delitzsch, ut ante, p. 53.
328 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
in the midst of wrath God will not forget mercy, i.e. towards
those who are free from pride and faithfully wait for Him. The
grand picture of the appearance of the Lord, ver. 3 ff., borrows
its features mostly from the theophany on Sinai which formed
the basis of the entire Old Covenant. As He then showed
Himself to His people, so He will now show Himself to all the
world, in which manifestation certainly His fearful majesty brings
destruction on the "house of the transgressor," by which the
world-empire is meant ; whereas to the covenant-people that has
previously passed through the fire of judgment (chap, i.), and to
His Anointed One, this manifestation brings redemption and
victory. 1 The Anointed of the Lord is not Jehoiakim, who was
unworthy of such distinction, but had to be swept away by the
judgment (Jer. xxii. 18 f.), and just as little the nation itself
(Hitzig, Ewald, Kleinert, according to a reading of the LXX.), but
the more worthy king who, as Isaiah and Micah sufficiently
show, will outlive the judgment. Of his character Habakkuk
does not speak more in detail, being quite absorbed in contem-
plating the divine glory of Yahveh. Therefore, despite all the
terrors and all the devastation that God's judgments must bring,
the nation in whose name the prophet speaks is able to exclaim
confidently at the close :
18 " But I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God
19 of my salvation. Yahveh, the Lord of all, is my strength,
and makes my feet like the hinds, and upon my high places
He makes me to walk."
NOTE A. The date of Habakkuk's prophetic oracle is not
indicated. At all events he foretells the invasion of the Chaldceans
as taking place immediately, " in your days," i. 5. But in the same
verse this event is described as scarcely credible. This certainly
does not preclude the appearance of the oracle a few years pre-
viously under the reign of Jchoiakim? who soon witnessed the
judgment ; for we see from Jer. xxxvi. 29, that in the first years of
this king up to the battle at Carchemish this prediction of the
prophet was still regarded as absurd. To go back to Manasseh's
days, when according to 2 Kings xxi. 10 ff. certain prophets
threatened the land with like suffering, is forbidden by
1 Cf. Judg. v., Ps. Ixviii., where also an appearance of God, in some degree
analogous to the one on Sinai, is celebrated.
3 So the majority : Knobel, Ewald, Hitzig, Schrader, Kuenen, Kleinert, Kamp-
hausen, et al,
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PEEIOD) : ZEPH., HAB., JER. 329
which has in Hebrew a limited meaning of twenty to thirty years
at most. Nor can the oracle be placed (with Delitzsch 1 ) under
Jehoiakim's predecessor Josiah, in whose days Zephaniah spoke.
In all probability the reform in worship had been carried out long
before the appearance of the oracle ; Habakkuk has not, like
Zephaniah, to complain of idolatry. And according to 2 Kings
xxii. 20, the prophetess Hulda promised King Josiah that the land
should be spared during his life. Consequently we must place
Habakkuk's sayings, in accordance with the current view, under
King Jehoiakim (609-599 B.C.), and in any case before the year
605, the year of the battle of Carchemish ; for after that battle it
was almost self-evident that the Chaldsean on his victorious march
against Egypt would also visit Judah, which was in a state of com-
plete dependence on the latter kingdom. Habakkuk accordingly
is later than Zephaniah. The order in the canon furnishes no
trustworthy chronological sign. The dependence of Zeph. i. 7 on
Hab. ii. 20, insisted on by Delitzsch, cannot be proved. The
relation may be the reverse, although Zephaniah borrows more
than the more original Habakkuk. Nor can priority be inferred
from the more compressed and forceful style of the latter; they
are so nearly contemporaneous, that this difference must rather
have its reason in subjective character.
36. Jeremiah's Prophecies of the New Covenant.
Jeremiah lived in the same period as the prophets last dis-
cussed. He laboured a much longer time amid continued attacks
and outrages, his period of activity extending from the thirteenth
year of Josiah to beyond the overthrow of Jerusalem. Thus in
this sad time of decline Jeremiah was the chief representative of
prophecy before prince and people. Superficially regarded, the
reformation of Josiah seemed to promise a future of divine bless-
ing to the land. But the true prophet could not be deceived by a
superficial improvement that made no change in the inward
disposition of the people ; and under the Kings Jehoiakim,
Jehoiakin, Zedekiah, he repeated with increasing definiteness his
testimony to the impending destruction of the whole commonweath.
All vain hopes, especially excited and fed by false prophets, he
inexorably denounced. Since the nation would not forsake its
sin (unrighteousness, immorality, idolatry), nor the princes their
treacherous policy, it was settled in God's decree that Judah-
1 Fr. Delitzsch, Der Prophet Habakuk, 1843. On the other hand, this scholar
has recently put him in the time of Manasseh (Messianic Prophecies, p. 77).
330 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Jerusalem should drink the cup of suffering to the dregs, and of
the theocracy hitherto existing not one stone should be left on
another.
While Jeremiah's office was predominantly one of rebuke,
while he was forced to complain, accuse, pull down continually,
he still directed his gaze to the future completion of God's
Church. Although his call to repent like Hosea's dies away
unheeded, yet in the end God's mercy breaks through as in Hosea.
The divine plan in the election of this nation must yet be
accomplished, Jacob's seed must dwell as God's people in the
land of Canaan under a just ruler of David's house. 1 Moreover,
this prophet, who leans in a striking degree on his predecessors,
is not lacking in new, original features, partly arising out of his
special charism, partly occasioned by the circumstances of the age.
Salvation in him still more than in Isaiah bears the character of
redemption, the penal state having meantime begun or at least
seeming to the prophet palpably near. But redemption as
deliverance from judgment, and the consequent establishment
of the true divine rule, while not seen by Jeremiah in the same
brilliant grandeur as by Isaiah, are seen in deeper inwardness.
This spiritualization is a fruit of the prophetic spirit that has
been ripened in the glow of judgment. The inner disintegration,
which Jeremiah had to feel in Judah still more vividly than his
predecessors, raised to certainty in his mind, not merely the
imminence of external dissolution, but also the necessity of a
more spiritual foundation for the future building. He was forced
constantly to fight against the carnal overvaluing of the outward
theocratic form, in which a corresponding disposition was
wanting. He saw his contemporaries trusting with perilous
infatuation in the outwardly accepted covenant with Yahveh,
in the outward covenant-sign of circumcision in the flesh ; 2 in
the outward temple, as if after the preservation of Zion in
Isaiah's days no calamity could again befall it, although the
temple looked more like a murderer's den, 8 in the outward
sacrificial service, which yet, as former prophets had already
insisted, could only be offensive apart from holiness and inward
surrender to God ; 4 in the outward possession of the divine Torah,
1 Cf. iv. 27, xi. 5, xxxi. 35, 36, xxxiii. 17, 26, xlvi. 28.
2 Jer. iv. 4, ix. 24 f. * Jer. vii., especially vers. 4, 10, 11, 14.
4 Jer. vi. 20, vii. 21 ff., xiv. 12. Cf. Isa. i. 11 ff.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD) : ZEPH., HAB., JER. 331
which, however, was falsified by the pen of false erudition and
not observed in its true meaning ; l finally, in outward prophecy,
that apparently promised good things under divine inspiration
and in reality merely aped God's genuine messengers and clothed
the thoughts of its own heart in the garb of solemn oracles, in
order with such welcome preaching to deceive a credulous
nation. 2
In opposition to all unholy confidence in the outward form of
the theocracy and its means of grace, Jeremiah proclaims that
man can only attain salvation through a complete change of mind
(/jLerdvoia), and that only in virtue of His forgiving mercy, by a
complete remoulding of His relation to His people, can the Lord
realize the true purpose that He has always had in view for
them. Already in the days of Josiah, when the prophet is still
uttering unceasingly the call to repent, 3 the notable passage is
found (iii. 12 ff.), in which it is urged as a motive to repentance,
that on sincere repentance God will receive His people again into
a child's place, and acknowledge it as His bride, while He will
so glorify Jerusalem, as His seat before all the world, by His
presence, that the Old Covenant shall no longer be remembered.
The oracle is addressed primarily to the Israelites of the northern
kingdom already in exile, whom the Lord will bring back, so that
no tribe or city may be lost ; if ever so few of them obey the
call, they will multiply in the land in the days of grace,
iii. 16. "And it shall come to pass, when you shall be multiplied
and fruitful in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they
shall no longer say : ' The ark of the covenant of Yahveh,'
and it shall no longer come into mind, nor shall they remem-
17 ber it or ask after it, nor shall they prepare it. At that
time they shall call Jerusalem : ' Throne of Yahveh,' and all
nations shall assemble to it, for the name of Yahveh, for Jeru-
salem, and shall no longer follow the hardness of their evil
heart."
When, therefore, after the judgment the original blessing of
creation (Gen. i. 28) anew displays its energy amid a rejuvenated
people, the temple also will be remade, and shine in unimagined
glory. No longer will the Lord's covenant be attached to the
1 Jer. viii. 8.
2 Jer. v. 31, xiv. 31 ff., xxiii. 9 ff., xxviii. 1 ff., xxix. 8'ff., 15 ff.
3 Cf. especially Jer. iv. 1 ff.
332 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
wooden ark, which has meantime vanished, 1 hitherto the sign and
pledge of the covenant, often enough indeed abused by the self-
deceit of a superficial mind ; but God's living presence will be
so plainly discernible, that what the symbolical ark with the
cherubim had hitherto been, viz. God's mercy-seat, 2 that Jeru-
salem will be to the whole world. And this immediate presence
of God in His Church will be so much more glorious than the
presence of which that symbol was the medium, that the latter
shall no longer be even remembered, to say nothing of its being
missed or again set up.
In this brief statement about the most holy palladium of the
Mosaic covenant, sentence is passed on the entire concrete out-
wardness of the latter. It is seen to be something that only
imperfectly hints and mediates God's gracious relation to His
people, hence only appointed for a limited time, namely, until the
Lord's full revelation becomes matter of experience. " We have
before us here the announcement of a complete destruction of the
earlier form of God's kingdom, but of such a destruction of its
form as is also the supreme consummation of its essence, a decay
like that of the seed-corn which only perishes to bear much fruit, of
the body that is sown in corruption to rise again in incorruption "
(Hengstenberg). In contrast with the Church of his own age,
possessing only the empty sign of God's presence, the prophet
here sees the Church Of the last HaysTin which the Lord will be
so vividly revealed, that the sign will no longer be needed. The
full realization of what is here promised is found first in Rev.
xxi. (cf. ver. 22). But the inwardness and immediateness of
God's self-revelation and self-communication postulated by the
prophet has only come into force since there has been a Church
of the Lord which no longer misses the covenant ark, and
knows of a revelation far more glorious than that of Sinai.
According to iii. 17, even the Jieathen, drawn by the glory of
God's revelation, will gather to Jerusalem, in the sense of Isa.
ii. 2 ff. ; Micah iv. 1 ff. " They walk thither for the name of
Yahveh, for Jerusalem," i.e. to partake in the glory of the Lord
1 This feature shows that judgment will have gone forth upon Judah also, sweep-
\l ing away even its holy things. That the covenant ark was destroyed by Manasseh
' (Ewald. History) is neither to be inferred from 2 Chron. xxxiii. 16 nor the present
passage, and is altogether improbable in view of the silence of the historians on
the point.
1 Ex. xxv. 22 ; Num. vii. 89 ; Ps. Ixxx. 1, xcix. 1.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPIL, HAB., JER. 333
there manifested. The name of Yahveh in such passages is
His revelation, Yahveh Himself, so far as He has made Himself
nameable, and therefore knowable. Meanwhile, over the heathen
impends a similar judgment to that which Israel-Judah has passed
through ; but afterwards in like manner they will experience
the grace of the Lord, 1 becoming then receptive to His
revelation.
Just in the later saddest time, when the judgment, as he/
knew, was going on its way unhindered, and he himself had to
undergo the most painful martyrdom, under the reign of Zedekiahj,
Jeremiah was often raised to the ideal height of the glorious
future, of which formerly he was permitted to speak but seldom.
An oracle of this kind is found in xxiii. 1 ff., where even the
specifically Messianic outlook that of the Lord's perfect Anointed
One is disclosed. Here a rebuke of the bad shepherds* (i.e.
kings), who destroy and scatter the flock, turns into the pro-
mise, that the Lord Himself will collect His scattered flock and
appoint it shepherds after His own mind. But on this more
general promise (xxiii. 4, as already in iii. 15) there follows a
new commencement, in which the climax is reached,
xxiii. 5. " Behold, days come, saith Yahveh, when I raise up to
David a righteous Sprout, and he shall rule as king and act
6 wisely and do right and righteousness in the land. In his days
Judah shall experience deliverance and Israel dwell securely.
And this is the name with which he shall be named : Yahveh,
our righteousness."
In "both these verses unquestionably a single, unique David ite
is spoken of, who rises to power, and rules as king by divine
arrangement; in his days, and by means of his wise and just
government, the once divided, but then again united kingdom, will
reach inner as well as outer perfection. The relation of the good
shepherds (iii. 15, xxiii. 4) to the king is not, that his posterity are
combined with him in this plural designation, although in xxxiii.
17, 22, the indestructibleness of the Davidic rule is expressed by
saying that David's posterity will be numberless, and one of them
will always possess the throne. Eather the plurality (iii. 15,
xxiii. 4) stands generally in contrast with the bad shepherds who
at present oppress the people, popular leaders at work contempo-
1 Cf. Jer. xii. 15 ff., xlviii. 47, xlix. 6, xlvii. 39.
2 Cf. Zec-h. xi., xiii. 7 ; Micah v. 3.
334 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
raneously being referred to. 1 But One towers incomparably above
1 1 them, who, springing from David's stem, is perfectly righteous,
I (and does justice and righteousness faultlessly, so that in his days
the united kingdom of Israel-Judah has peace and rest. The
oracle is so brief, because it seeks in a single word to awaken the
remembrances of the promises about the glorious Davidite given
long before. The mysterious npy springs from Isa. iv. 2, but is
now defined personally like the similar names in Isa. xi. 1 ; it
recalls all the glorious things uttered by that prophet (Isa.
vii., ix., xi.), as well as Micah, respecting the Sprout. Jeremiah
describes him in his main inner attribute by the word P^X, thereby
recalling what had been said since Solomon's days respecting the
true bearer of this kingly virtue, and in particular the prophecies
since Hosea's time ; cf. Zech. ix. 9. This ruler will proceed wisely,
implying subjective wisdom as well as objective success, and
finally, in a way pleasing to God, will convert long-missing justice
into fact. 2 And in consequence of his sound government the
united 3 kingdom will enjoy rest and peace at home and abroad.
Moreover, in this oracle there is not wanting a word designed
to deepen and spiritualize the existing Messianic hope. It is the
brief but pregnant ^i?"!V ^VT, " the Lord our Righteousness," a
characterizing proper name and the watchword of the Messianic age.
To whom the name is given, may be open to dispute. Ewald,
Graf, Nagelsbach refer the suffix in iN~)ip>i to Israel, appealing to
the similar language in xxxiii. 16, where the same name is
given to the city of Jerusalem of the last days. But considering
Jeremiah's fondness for variations, the latter passage is not
absolutely decisive here ; and since the chief stress in the present
oracle lies on the righteous Sprout, 4 the majority rightly refer the
sentence to it. As the Messiah is called in Isa. vii. 14 " God
with us," so here " Yahveh our Righteousness." Whether this
view be accepted or not, the gravity of the word remains the
same. Its significance does not lie, as the interpretation of
the early Church thought, in the fact that the Messiah would
1 The relation of the one righteous twig that perfects the kingdom to the good
shepherd is not expressly indicated. These are different prophetic glimpses, which
are not placed in outward relation to each other. See below on xxxiii. 14 ff.
3 Cf. Hos. ii. 19, p. 233. 3 Cf. Hos. ii. 2 ; Zech. ix. 10, 13, xi. 7, 14.
4 Cf. also ver. 6 : "in his day*," whereas in xxxiii. 16 it is said " in those days."
The allusion also to the name Zedekiah (2 Kings xxiv. 17), undoubtedly intended,
favours the reference to a personal ruler.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD) : ZEPH., HAB., JER. 335
be called Yahveh, who is our Kighteousness. The two words
are not to be joined appositionally, but the name consists of a
sentence expressing, like Immanuel, the relation of God to the
Church. Its great wondrous import, however, is that the righteous
character, the moral life of the Church, has its ground not in any
outward institution or law, or in an outward action, but in
Yahveh, the merciful God Himself, on which Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ff.
especially gives a commentary, piv is not equivalent to salva-
tion (Graf), 1 but " righteousness ofcharacter, good conduct." As,
then, this normal stateTwherr~arnrmed of God, carries with it
goodness and favour towards men, 2 so when promised to men it
brings with it salvation and wellbeing. But, our oracle teaches,
it does not lie in man's power to put himself into the righteous
man's relation to God, and to keep himself permanently therein.
The need of redemption felt by the most pious is met by Jeremiah
with the comforting assurance, that hereafter the Lord Himself
will establish and preserve the righteousness of His people, a
promise involving as well grace to forgive and justify as to
sanctify and help in holy living. 3 When, then, in xxxiii. 16
Jerusalem is called " Yahveh our Eighteousness," this plainly
means that the Church 4 there will be acknowledged as one whose
righteousness has its ground and permanence in the Lord ; and
when in xxiii. 6 the Church calls the Sprout of David by this
name, it is implied (in a sense analogous to that in Isa. vii. 14)
that the Church sees in him the one through whom a divinely-
wrought righteous relation is brought about. He is the personal
centre and head of the Church, in whom divine righteousness is
presented most directly, and from whom it proceeds into every
member.
Perhaps one may say that this name, with which the prophet
salutes the period of the great Son of David, contains the N. T.
evangel in nuce : The New Covenant will be a state of righteous-
ness in the Church, its salvation a fruit of its right relation to
God, and this relation will have its root in the Lord Himself,
1 Kautzsch rightly remarks (Ueber die Derivate des Stammes, p"TC, p. 39), that to
put the consequence in the place of the causa efficiens is perverse.
2 So Isa. xli. 2. In the name Zedekiah also the p*l is perhaps so meant, i.e. to
express the favour of Yahveh. Jeremiah points to a profounder idea.
3 On the former, cf. 1. 20, xxxi. 34, Dan. ix. 24, where pltf is to be observed ;
on the latter, Jer. xxxi. 33 ; on the two, Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ff.
4 Cf. Jer. xxxi. 23.
336 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
being constituted and guaranteed by Him. The Lord Himself is
this state, conveys it to the Church, and that through the in-
comparably wise and righteous king of Israel's house of whom
the prophets spoke long ago.
The promises of coining redemption and of a New Covenant
between God and His people are found in special abundance in
the " consolation-book " of Jeremiah, chaps, xxx. xxxiii., which
unless chaps, xxx. and xxxi. are of earlier origin, 1 which cannot
be proved, likewise fall within the few years of Zedekiah's
government, and therefore within the time of the greatest afflic-
tion of Jerusalem and the grossest attacks on the prophet. That
Jerusalem indeed must fall, and the people of Judah, like that of
Ephraim, go into exile, is so certain to the prophet, that he
assumes it as a completed punishment ; and it has even been
supposed that these sections have been interpolated by an exilian
prophet (Deutero-Isaiah). 2 But Jeremiah here raises the song of
redemption in all the more comforting tones in days of foreign
domination and exile.
This we find to be the case immediately in xxx. 1 ff, where
deliverance from foreign yoke is proclaimed as an act of God,
by which He will conduct His people to its true destiny :
Ver. 9. " And they shall serve Yahveh their God, and David
their king, whom I will raise up for them."
As in Ps. ii., the Lord's Anointed appears here in immediate
conjunction with the invisible king ; it is one and the same
government they carry on. Yahveh rules through His Anointed,
who is called David, 3 because he not only springs from David's
seed, but also perfectly executes David's mission. He is the
true David, in whom will be seen in perfect form what the Lord
had in mind in David's election, namely, perfect mediatorship
between God and His people. Of course this " King David "
is identical with the "righteous Sprout" of xxiii. 5, xxxiii.
1 5 ; so that no return of the dead David is to be thought of in
the sense in which the Germans expected the return of their
Barbarossa, the Portuguese their Sebastian. 4 How this David is
1 So Ewald, Nagelsbach : under Josiah ; Stahelin, Graf : Jehoiakim.
s So Movers, de Wette, Hitzig.
3 Hos. iii. 5 was the first to give this name to the king of the last days. But
afterwards the idea became more concentrated and individual through, what Zech.
ix., Isaiah, Micah said.
4 So von Ammon, D. Strauss, and in the analogous passages in Ezek. xxxiv. 23 f.,
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD) : 7EPH., HAB., JER. 337
to be raised to unique familiarity of intercourse with the Lord,
chap. xxx. 2 1 says in a few weighty words :
" And his (the people's) governor shall come from him, and his
ruler proceed from his midst ; and I make him approach and he
draws near to me. For who is he that would pledge his heart l
to draw near to me ? saith Yahveh ! "
It is not a slight thing that then a mighty and honoured ruler
of the stem of this now enslaved people again bears the sceptre
(of. Micah v. 1 f.) ; but the most glorious feature in his kingship
is his high privilege to come before God in priestly dignity, nay,
to draw nigh to God as none else could do. 2 The close of the
verse dwells on the greatness of this distinction. To pledge his
heart to approach God means : " To draw near to God of his
own impulse," supported by a good conscience. Thus it stands
in contrast with ~t!ie~~clivme "calT: " / make him come near to
me." But the oracle affirms still more than that the prince will
share the privilege of the priests in not coming before God
uncalled. The emphasis of the words as well as the spirit of
Jeremiah's prophecy compels us to think of a more intimate
approach even than that of the high priest, who was admitted into
the Holy of Holies, namely, of a drawing near to God, for which
no man can have confidence enough, but which is reserved for
Him who sits at God's right hand and as true High Priest
represents the people before the Lord in accordance with Ps. ex.
If the Head is so closely joined to God, the Church also will
belong to its heavenly Lord, and He to it. " Ye shall be my
people, and I will be your God." This destiny, 3 already stated in
the days of Moses, will then be first really fulfilled, as Hosea
foretold and Jeremiah again and again repeats. 4 But to this
end nothing less is necessary than a reshaping of the basis of
the holy nation, the making of a new covenant, as is revealed in
chap. xxxi. The prophet first gives us a glimpse into the
xxxvii. 24, Hitzig also. The D^pH, so frequently used in Jeremiah, nowhere means
in such a connection : to raise from the dead, but : to raise to power, as already
in 2 Sam. vii. 12.
1 yy) is to be explained after Neh. v. 3 : to pledge, stake.
3 2*1 pil is taken intentionally from the priestly language, in which kal and hlph.
are used of drawing near to God with sacrificial gifts. ''j3 affirms still more : an
approaching. so as to touch. It is used, e.g., of Moses, Ex. xxiv. 2.
Ex.vi. 7. Seep. 128.
4 Cf. Hos. ii. ; Jer. xxiv. 7, xxx. 22, xxxi. 1, 33. Cf. Zech. xiii. 9.
ORELLI. Y
338 OLD TESTAMENT 1'ROPHECY.
" goodness of the Lord," l prepared in His imperishable /<//:
(xxxi. 3, 20) for the nation after its return into the Promised
Land. In this picture, painted con a more, chap. xxxi. 226 forms
a peculiarly mysterious feature. There the exhortation to the
rebellious, stiffuecked daughters of Israel to return to their
salvation is based on the prospect of some new thing, something
hitherto unheard on earth which the Lord will do. This new
state or new divine work is described by a laconic mashal,
incapable of reproduction with the same indefiniteness. So much
is certain, that the Hebrew expressions make the emphasis fall on
the distinction of sex, and accordingly a reversal of the ordinary
relation is to take place ; whether generally, or in a specific case,
the oracle leaves formally open. We shall not translate ^aion :
A woman shall be changed" 2 into a man, but after Deut. xxxii. 10,
Ps. xxxii. 10 : shall surround by way of guarding. Ordinarily it is
the man's business to protect the woman, as the bird nutters round
its nest in which its mate is brooding. The Lord will make the
contrary obtain : The weak, little-esteemed woman shall be the
man's guardian. This we understand not of a particular couple, as
the Messiah and His mother, but of the antithesis of the humanly
strong and weak, the highly and little esteemed within the people
and nation. Strength and honour will hereafter lie, not in that in
which the people has hitherto sought it, in manly force and will, but
in feminine humility and lowliness, which is also receptiveness to
the divine. Isaiah and Micah saw the Church as a woman con-
ceiving in weakness and bringing forth in suffering and sorrow
the Church that receives into its heart the word of the Lord ;
whereas the rulers grounded their confidence on earthly might.
Hence Jeremiah designates the defenceless and therefore despised
Church of the quiet in the land as he does here. The miracle
will be seen, that this Church will form the guard of proud man,
who can never find safety in his self-confidence and strength.
Here also Jeremiah does not renounce his inward, spiritual aim,
which runs counter to the usual order of sense. He foresees in
what the world-conquering might lies ; he knows the invisible
and therefore scarcely noticed power that guards even those who
think they ought to guard the weak. 3
1 Cf. xxxi. 12, mrV 3itD, with Hos. iii. 5.
* Ewald, Ausf. Lelirb. der hebr. Sprache, 2986.
* Cf. Luther's saying, lie intends to guard his Elector better than the latter docs him.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPH., IIAB., JER. 330
That time of salvation will contain the opposite both inwardly
and outwardly of the present time, xxxi. 2 7 ff. " Behold, days
come" (such is Jeremiah's favourite introduction, when he has
something to tell in strongest contradiction to the present) " when
1 sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with seed of
men and seed of cattle." This implies the abundant degree
in which God sows new life, of man and beast, for the well-
being of His people. And just as earnestly as God has hitherto
studied to diminish and destroy this life will He now proceed to
multiply and guard it. Hitherto God was the most dangerous
foe, a power of terrible cunning, intent on plucking up the life
planted, pulling down what was built, shattering, razing to the
ground, destroying. 1 What promised to succeed He overthrew.
No one had felt this terrible curse so keenly as Jeremiah.
" Behold ! the Lord will now display the like energy," according
to ver. 28, "for the salvation of His people." In those days the
heritage of woe burdening the people will be removed (ver. 29).
Then the proverb, now so sadly true, will no longer apply : " The
fathers ate sour grapes, and the teeth of the sons are set on edge,"
i.e. the acts of the fathers are revenged on the children. This
proverb, mentioned also Ezek. xviii. 2 f., has a certain warrant, so
far as it is based on Ex. xx. 5, Deut. v. 9, according to which
God visits the misdeeds of the fathers to the third and fourth
member. But it is an abuse to make the solidarity of generations //
weaken the moral responsibility of the individual ; in opposition
to this current view, not in opposition to the Torah, Ezekiel
insists that the Lord will reckon with each individual according
to his moral conduct. Still less is a polemic against the Mosaic
law to be found in Jeremiah's promise that a time will come
when the curse, 2 now so palpably lying on all, will be cancelled,
so that every one will only be punished for his personal sins done
spontaneously. In this sentence we find a high truth uttered in
relation to God's perfect revelation. 3 Giving it a more general
form, we may say : The curse burdening entire humanity as an
inheritance from Adam is cancelled in the New Covenant in such
1 xxxi. 28, lpt>, properly : to watch over something ; cf. i. 12.
2 Lam. v. 7. Cf. Herzog, Realencykl. (2nd ed.) vi. 529.
3 That which is the divine norm for the exercise of human justice (Deut. xxiv. 16 ; *
2 Kings xiv. 6) must at last appear in the exercise of divine justice, although for a
time it is not to be seen everywhere.
340 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
a way that the decision for and against salvation is put into the
hand of each individual, and he only is liable to condemnation
who continues under the curse by free choice. Hence there
are good inner reasons for the prophet now to go on to
describe a New Covenant that is to take the place of the one
at Sinai :
xxxi. 31. " Behold, days come, saith Yahveh, when I make a
NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel and the house of
32 Judah, not after the manner of the covenant which I made
with their fathers on the day when I took their hand to lead
them out of Egypt, which covenant of mine they have broken,
33 and I am weary of them, 1 saith Yahveh ; for this is the
covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after
these days, saith Yahveh : I will put my law into their MIND
and write it in their HEART, and will be to them a God and
34 they shall become to me a people. And they shall no longer
instruct every one his companion and every one his brother
in this form : ' Know Yahveh ; ' for they shall all know me,
from the little among them unto the great, saith Yahveh ;
for I will forgive their guilt and no longer remember their
sin."
Jeremiah's prophecy, everywhere, as we saw, aiming at a
I spiritualizing and deepening of the Church's relation to God, here
reaches its climax, where in one word the termination of the entire
economy of the Old Covenant is announced. The prophet foresees
a " Neiu Covenant" by which the one resting on the fundamental
fact of the exodus from Egypt 2 and announced in the lawgiving
on Sinai is made old ! Thus the kingdom of God is built anew
1 1 from the very ground. And the basis on which this is done
stands in notable contrast with that of the Mosaic covenant.
The position of the latter is given in ver. 32Z> : On the part of
men a breach of the covenant had intervened, on the part of God
weariness with this covenant-breaking people. Thus a dangerous
severance had ensued instead of union. That such a dissolution
1 ^JDi like the Arabic Uj, to fed satiety, disgust in something, so in the present
passage, LXX. Heb. viii. 9 ; Syr., Abulw., Jos. Kimchi, Sclmltens, Gesenius
(Thesaurus, i. 223). Jer. iii. 14 also is to be so taken (against the LXX.). Modern
writers have wrongly returned to the usual signification: whilst I had appropriated,
mnrried them, which does not suit the train of thought.
1 Cf. Jer. xvi. 14 f., xxiii. 7 f.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PEEIOD) : ZEPH.. HAB., JEE. 341
of the holy covenant may be impossible henceforth, its nature
will be altogether changed. It is true, a Torah, a revelation of
God's will, will form the bond joining God and the people how
could it be otherwise, if the Lord is to rule over them ? but
the expression of His will will be written by God's finger directly
on the heart, not on stone tables, from which God's will scarcely ,
found access to the heart. It is a glimpse of astounding depth |
that is here granted to the prophet. The efforts and struggles of
man to conform to the divine law will never satisfy that law, if
the corruption of the human heart be taken into account (xxxii. 30),
so long as man's inner nature is not so re-created by a divine act
as to make its desires and aims harmonize fully with the divine
will. So long as the law stands over against man as something
foreign and outward, he will never keep it as he ought. For
this reason in the days when the divine covenant is perfected,
that covenant cannot be heteronomous ; but the human will must
be brought into such unison with the divine that it does what is
well-pleasing to God of its own native impulse. Then first that
relation is really brought about after which the Old Covenant
strove with inadequate means : God is theirs, and they are His.
This covenanting, which transforms the heart itself, is an act of
God's miraculous grace, as Ezekiel also emphasizes in analogous
oracles, xi. 19, xxxvi. 26 f.
When in this manner God's will has become immanent in
every member of the Church, the Church's tull~~maturity lias
come, which we found illustrated in Joel under a somewhat
different aspect. 1 Then it will no longer be necessary for one
member to teach and exhort another to know the Lord, for all will
know Him from the least to the greatest, i.e. stand in living
spiritual fellowship with Him; cf. Isa. liv. 13; John vi. 45;
1 John ii. 20,27.
What forms the indispensable condition for this whole blessed
transformation, and therefore comes first in Ezek. xxxvi 25, here i
follows at the close : " For I will forgive their guilt, and remember (|
their sin no more." Even without this statement we must
have seen that such a covenant can only be the work of a grace
that does away all sin and obliterates all the guilt that has
accumulated under the present covenant, xxxiii. 8.
Here also we see everywhere the germs of New Testament
1 Joel ii. 28 f. See p. 205.
342 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
truth. Before the seer stands the covenant of grace, in which
God changes sinners into His children, so that they are able to
serve Him from holy love to Him and blessed fellowship of spirit
with Him.
In xxxii. 39 also the prophet speaks of this work of grace,
dwelling especially on the union which must be the fruit of such
an implanting of a godly mind and the blessing that must result
therefrom, since the Lord will then have unqualified joy 1 in His
people and load it ever with benefits.
xxxii. 39. "And I give them ONE heart and ONE way to fear
me always for their good and their children's good after them.
40 And I make with them an ETERNAL covenant, so that I turn
not away from doing good to them, and will put my fear in
41 their heart, that they depart not from me. And I have
my delight in them, to do them good and plant them
in this land faithfully with my whole heart and whole
soul."
To this statement xxxiii. 9 adds the significant feature that the
benefits with which the Lord then gladdens His redeemed Church
will make an overpowering impression on all nations, with which
iii. 17 (p. 332) is to be compared. Of the city of Jerusalem, at
present given up to the destroyers, it is said :
xxxiii. 9. " And it shall be to me a name of delight, a praise
and pride to all nations of the earth that shall hear all the good
that I do to them, and they shall tremble and be disquieted for
all the good and all the peace that I show to it."
Thus not only the world-judgment has a mission to perform in
the heathen world ; also the unexampled goodness shown by the
Lord to Jerusalem will shake the nations out of their self-con fident
complacency. Jerusalem will be to the Lord a name of delight
in the eyes of the heathen, will be a sign of the delight He feels,
hence a subject of His praise (bringing praise to Him) and pride
before the whole world. The unrest and discomfort, nay, terror 2 of
the nations, arises from their learning Yahveh's absolute superiority
over them and their gods. But the perception of their own
nothingness and of the Lord's uniqueness will lead to their praising
Him, blessing themselves in Him, and bestirring themselves to
obtain His salvation.
Finally, chap, xxxiii. ff. repeats with slight deviation (see p. 334)
1 Cf. Zeph. iii. 17, p. 321. * Cf. PS. ii. 11.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPII., HAB., JER. 343
the oracle of the righteous Sprout of David's stem, xxiii. 5 f. 1
But peculiar here is not merely the transference of the name
" The Lord our Eighteousness " to Jerusalem, which perhaps may
be so named as the Church of the divinely righteous, but espe-
cially the confirmatory exposition, ver. 1 7 ff. The emphatic
assertion that the seed of David shall never lack one to sit on
Israel's throne is based on Nathan's saying, 2 and is to be under-
stood in accordance with it thus : " The kingship of this house can
never depart from it, despite any temporary interruption in its
rule." ? And as the Davidic royal house does not expire, neither
does the Levitical priesthood, whose functions are established once
for all. 4 Despite all appearance to the contrary (xxxiii. 24), these
two pillars of the theocracy, a divinely-chosen (the Israelitish)
monarchy and priesthood, continue ; nay, a greater future lies
before them. According to ver. 22, these two orders, the kingly
and priestly, will be numberless as the stars of heaven or the
sand of the sea. What does this mean ? Considering the pre-
vious circumstances of the theocracy, national and geographical, a
monarchy so strong or a priesthood so immense would not be
even conceivable. Prophecy thus contemplates an extraordinary
enlargement of the theocracy, transferring the promise 5 made to
the entire seed of Jacob to its two most important orders in a
moral sense. It is also intimated that the future of Israel rests
with these two. Only it is too definite an explication of the
assurance here given to make it say, with Hengstenberg and
Nagelsbach, that the whole of Israel will attain kingly and priestly
1 The whole section (xxxiii. 14-26) is wanting in the LXX., and is denied by
many to belong to Jeremiah, to whom yet the entire style of these oracles points, as
even Ewald maintains.
*2 Sam. vii. 15f. In the wording Jeremiah follows the form in which David
(1 Kings ii. 4), and afterwards Solomon (1 Kings viii. 25), repeated the prophetic
testament.
3 Here also (as in xxiii. 4f., see p. 333) the temporal relation of the one perfect
Son of David to the rest is not more exactly denned. That the Daviuic glory will
culminate in the One, is confirmed by the statement that eternal dominion is assured
to the entirety of David's seed, ver. 17. But ver. 21 f. no longer rises to that one
culminating point, but speaks of a measureless, multiple development, which the
relation of the people to God begun in David awaits.
4 With respect also to the Levitical priesthood, it is not stated (xxxiii. 18) how its
ministry will assume a new shape through the downfall of the existing temple now
in prospect (iii. 16). Only its continuance and growth (ver. 21 f.) are taken into
account.
5 Gen. xxii. 17.
344 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
dignity, and that even the heathen will find admittance into this
royal priesthood. 1 Later prophetic sayings, like Isa. Ixi. 6 f.,
Ixvi. 20 1, certainly indicate this mode of aggrandizement ; but
here merely the future of the orders, which will survive the judg-
ment and grow to an unexampled extent, is contemplated. In
Jeremiah above all an oracle like this, stretching beyond the con-
ceivable from the first, must not be understood in a mere material
sense ; he insists on a more spiritual sense, taking as its starting-
point and goal the inner significance of the Davidic and Levitical
order more than its physical state. Like the relation of divine
sonship founded in the Davidic monarchy, the priesthood attached
to Levi's tribe also will have a vast number of representatives,
so that its future will be related to its former state as tree to
shoot, harvest to seed - corn, as the nation of Israel to its
patriarchs.
Jeremiah foretold the judgment on Jerusalem and Judah as
immediately impending, and that in the form of the overthrow
of the city and the deportation of the people to Babylon. There
the bondage is to continue seventy years according to his
oracle;* then the judgment on Babylon 3 and the return of the
captives occur, of which he says so much, and following thereon
the rebuilding of the city. 4 He sees the inward in combination
with the outward redemption, like Deutero-Isaiah again. 5 The
nation, after its return, enjoys in untroubled peace its fellow-
ship with the Lord, and the blessing accruing to it therefrom,
chap. xxxi. No more precise relation of the one true David
to the Davidic house generally, that is to rule for ever, is
stated. But it is very significant that the same Jeremiah who
pronounces an inexorable judgment on the outward and inward
form of the national theocracy, and even puts the exodus from
Egypt into the shade by a new act of mercy, while superseding
the law of Moses with its ethical as well as ritual enactments by
a higher kind of revelation and a more spiritual worship,
1 The latter is maintained by Keil only, according to Isa. Ixvi. 20 f.
J xxv. 12, xxix. 10. To suppose a later interpolation on account of the predic-
tion is without warrant.
3 Cf. also Jer. 1. and li., which at least are Jeremiah's in the main.
4 Cf. Jer. xvi. 14 f., xxiv. 6, xxix. 14, xxx. 3, 10 f., 18, xxxi. 23 ff., 38 ff., xxxii.
36 ff., xxxiii. 7, xlvi. 27 f., 1. 4, 34.
4 Cf. what was said on p. 33 respecting the one indivisible framework of the
prophetic visions.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPH., HAB., JER. 345
declares the promises given to the fathers of Israel as well as
those to David and his house to be as irreversible as the order
of nature, in virtue of which the earth exists. 1 The contents of
those divine testaments will only find a far purer and more
glorious expression in the life of his people than has hitherto
been the case. The new character of the Church, which is the
product of God's creative, redeeming act, will, above all, perfectly
harmonize with God's holy will, and thus even the outward
form of God's covenant will be according to truth, and the life of
God's people pure and undisturbed.
37. Zechariah xiL-xiv.
The following remarks may serve to justify the insertion of
these oracles in this place. As the author of Zech. ix.-xi.
appears to be a contemporary of Hosea, so the author of xii.-xiv.
appears to be a prophet of the last period before the Babylonian
exile. The northern kingdom is here no longer noticed ; it
has plainly fallen into ruin. The prophecy revolves round
Judah-Jerusalem, especially round the siege of the city, which
will be invested and taken by the heathen, but yet at last will
come out conqueror through the Lord's intervention. On it
the hostile efforts of the whole world will be wrecked. Chap,
xii. 11 takes us more definitely into the years after Josiah's
death at Megiddo, after 610 B.C. Against the post-exilian com-
position (to say nothing of the style of language and presentation,
so widely different from that of the post -exilian Zechariah)
tells the prevalence of idolatry and false prophets in the land,
xii. 2 ff. The post-exilian messengers of the Lord have no longer
to rebuke these two sins, whereas Jeremiah particularly has so
much to do with uncalled prophets, chap, xxiii. As to contents,
the announcement of a conquest of Jerusalem by the heathen
finds no analogy in the field of post-exilian prophecy (leaving
Daniel out of sight). Ezekiel, indeed (xxxviii. f.), depicts a
final attack of the nations on the newly-built Jerusalem, but it
is repelled by the Lord Himself. What Zechariah (xii. xiv.)
combines is there separated, viz. the future conquest (in Ezekiel's
eyes belonging to the past), having the exile for its conse-
quence, and the last ineffectual storming of the city of God by
1 Jer. xxxi. 35 ff., xxxiii. 20 ff., 25 f.
346 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
the heathen. We therefore hold this massa to be an oracle
coming from the last years of the old temple. 1 The simi-
larity of Zech. xiii. 7 to xi. 17 has led, as we believe, to the
union of the section with ix.-xi., as ix. 9 (cf. ii 10) brought
about its connection with the post-exilian Zechariah (cf. also
viii. 20 ff. with xiv. 16 ff.). The name Zechariah is one of the
most frequent in the Bible, so that the identity of name may
also have had to do with the matter.
Thus even in the days when Jerusalem was in rapid decline,
a seer took up Isaiah's assertion of the indestructibleness of the
heaven-chosen Zion, and set in clear light its central significance
in reference to the world-judgment as seen already by Joel.
Nob that the author of Zech. xii.-xiv. held the city to be im-
pregnable, in glaring contradiction to the prophecies of the
other genuine prophets, especially of his contemporary Jeremiah.
On the contrary, he foretells, in the most definite manner, Jeru-
salem's fall, chap. xiv. "What he sees in chap. xii. relates, as the
indications of time show (vers. 3, 8, 9), to the more distant
future. Then a more general movement of the nations will take
place against the city of God, whose cause the Lord espouses.
Then according to xii. 2 f, Jerusalem becomes a cup full of
drunkenness and reeling, from which all nations will greedily
drink 2 stupefying wine. It becomes a burdensome stone, from
which they will suffer hurt, trying their strength on it in vain: 1
For the foundation-stone laid by God in Zion (Isa. xxviii. 16)
cannot be thrust aside by the united strength of the whole
world. The multitude of well-armed, assailant nations, who
have all made God's city the aim of their destroying work, are
smitten by God with blindness and reeling (xii. 4 ff.), like
Pharaoh's armament, Ex. xiv. 24 f . ; on the other hand, the
Lord's eye remains open over Judah, so that Jerusalem abides
unmoved in its place, and Judah grows so skilled in war, that
it expands and burns on every side like a firebrand in corn-
1 So even Ewald. Reuss puts this section in the time of Manasseh ; Bleek puts
xiii. 7-xiv. 21 under Josiah or Jehoiakiin, xii. 1-xiii. 6 (by the same prophet) in
the last days of Jehoiakim or under Jehoiakin, Zedekiah.
2 The figure occurs in Otmd. ver. 16, where it expresses the nemesis on the drunken
revelling of the plunderers of Jerusalem. Jeremiah uses it more freely, xxv. 15,
li. 7.
s Jerome rightly reminds of the gymnastic exercises of this kind engaged in by
the youth of his day in Palestine, as is the case still in Syria.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPH., HAB., JEB. 347
sheaves. But while Jerusalem is God's proper seat, He is not
bound to castle and temple of stone, or to precedence of race.
He proves this by granting deliverance first to the country
inhabitants of Judah who are also in distress l (xii. 7), that the
house of David and citizens of Jerusalem may not be lifted up
in carnal conceit. How their martial strength is divinely enhanced
is shown in
xii. 8. "On that day Yahveh will defend the dwellers of
Jerusalem, and the stumbler among them on that day shall
be like David, and the house of David like divine beings, like
the angel of Yahveh before them."
The coming of the divine rule, which is also a dwelling
of the Lord in the midst of His Church, is made known in
the bestowal of special gifts and powers. In the above passage
the citizens of the future Jerusalem, who are without exception
living members of the Church, 2 enjoy divine protection from all
evil, and divinely-given strength fitting them for every heroic act
of faith. The stumbler, i.e. the feeblest, who is weak of foot,
will be a hero like David, the conqueror of the giant, who leaped
every wall in the name of his God (Ps. xviii. 29, 33 If.). But
David's house, that was chosen to guide his people, will be like
superhuman beings, super-terrestrial Gibborim (Ps. ciii. 20), im-
mortal and unconquerable, far superior to all earthly powers.
This is further enhanced by the addition : " Like the angel of
Yahveh before them," i.e. the angel personating God Himself,
who once under Moses and Joshua inarched before them a
guide to victory. Now David's house, as God's immediate
representative, will be able to assume this guiding function.
Then the Messianic idea has attained full reality, God's gracious
presence is embodied in the king of the nation ; for self-
evidently this king is presupposed as the one head of the
Davidic house, and is compared to the guarding, guiding angel.
The Lord, therefore, has a wondrous exaltation of this race and
people in mind, little as any prospect of so great a future
appears at present. But certainly the nation in its present state
1 That because of such sympathy with the fate of the country people the
prophet cannot have been an inhabitant of the town, is an inference characteristic
of modern science. Was the author of Isa. viii. 23 a Galilsean ? Hitzig also is
wrong in supposing that the Juda?ans are here thought of as encamped against
Jerusalem, which ought not to be imported from xiv. 14. See below.
* Cf. Isa. iv. 3, p. 262.
348 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
is neither capable nor worthy of such exaltation. The way
thither, as the prophet says in a noteworthy manner, lies through
deepest humiliation, not merely outward, but chiefly inward.
xii 911. "And it shall come to pass on that day, I will
seek to destroy all the heathen who come against Jerusalem.
And I will pour out on the house of David, and on the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplica-
tion, and they shall look on me, whom they pierced, and mourn
for him, like the mourning for the first-born, and be distressed
for him, as one is distressed for the first-born. On that day,
great will be the mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of
Hadadrimmon in the vale of Megiddo."
As what precedes reminds us of Joel who described Jerusalem as
the target of the hostility of all nations, and placed the judgment
in the vale of Jehoshaphat in the immediate vicinity of Zion,
so what ver. 10 says of the esoteric salvation of Jerusalem is
allied to Joel ii. 28. As there, 1 an "outpouring of the Spirit"
takes place, a rich universal dispensing of the Divine Spirit of
mercy and grace. But the effect ascribed to this Spirit is
strange. The E'wnn ; precationes, supplicationes, introduces this
effect. The new relation of the Church to God is based on
grace on God's side, and penitent prayer for grace on the
people's side. The Spirit who brings grace will work repent-
ance as the necessary condition of its reception. The evil they
have done they will feel in its entire extent and full weight.
Their gaze will be fastened on Him on whom they have inflicted
an unmerited fate, and who is no other than the holy God
Himself.
Many schemes have been tried to get rid of or render
intelligible the monstrous thing here affirmed by the prophet.
Apart from unauthorized changes in the reading, 2 liTJ has been
weakened into maledicere, 3 which has no warrant in usage and
i See p. 206.
8 A number of codices read V?X instead of ^x '< the former is a decidedly later
reading. The old versions read "jjx (LXX., Vulg., Targ., Syr.), and even John
xix. 37, Rev. i. 7 prove nothing for V^K, which Ewald and Bunsen prefer. The
reading ^>tf ( = f>x), desired by Bleek after Michaelis, would be intolerably fiat,
and on linguistic grounds scarcely comprehensible.
1 So already Theodore of Mopsuestia. And Calvin : Metaphonce hie accipitur
conftxio pro continua irritatione. Similarly Grotius, Rosenmiiller, Gcsenius.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPIL, HAB., JEU. 349
does not suit the mourning for the dead that follows. Rather
the speaker, the Lord Himself, describes Himself as the One
whom they pierced with deadly steel. 1 But how is this con-
ceivable in reference to the living God ? The key is found, as
even Hitzig confesses, in chap, xi., where we saw that the Lord
regards the treatment of His representative as done to Himself.
As the Lord in chap. xi. 13 regards the contemptuous dismissal
of His servant as befalling Himself, so here He regards the still
worse outrage, nay, murder ! But the prophet has in view not
simply some past murder of a prophet, 2 but, as xiii. 7 especially
shows, the future fate of the man of God. He sees that God's
most trusty servant, the true Shepherd, who feeds the flock in
God's stead, will fall victim to the hate of the house of David
and the dwellers in Jerusalem. So hostile in disposition are
they now to God. Before the Lord exalts them, they will com-
plete their guilt, and the commencement of a turning to good will
be their feeling keenly the crimes which they have committed in
incomprehensible blindness.
The sorrow of repentance will express itself in a national
mourning like that occasioned by the death of the beloved King
Josiah, who in the plain of Megiddo 3 found a hero's death in
conflict with Pharaoh Necho. The mourning of Hadadrimmon
in the valley of Megiddo cannot well refer to anything else than
the country's mourning for that king. 4 This gave the finest
example of a universal and yet sincere mourning. Thus distress
for the murdered man of God will fill the whole people, and withal
be felt as deeply as if every house had lost its best, nay, only son.
1 "They shall look on me as one whom they pierced." For the construction
Kohler rightly refers to Jer. xxxviii. 9.
2 The traditional martyrdom of Isaiah under Manasseh has been thought of, or
that of Uriah under Jehoiakim, Jer. xxvi. 20 ff.
3 2 Kings xxiii. 29 f. ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-24 ; Herodotus, ii. 159. The place called
here Hadadrimmon, whose site Jerome (ad loc.) fixes near Jezreel (under the modern
name Maximianopolis), is consequently a more exact designation of the spot where
Josiah fell and the mourning ceremony was afterwards presumably celebrated
(according to 2 Chron. xxxv. 25), although according to the more precise account of
Chronicles the king was brought mortally wounded to Jerusalem before he died.
4 The ingenious interpretation of Hitzig, that the prophet means the mourning for
the god Adonis (= Hadadrimmon), is to be unreservedly rejected. See against this
comparison Baudissin's Studien zur Semit. Rdiylonsgesch. i. 295 ff. How could a
prophet of Yahveh name a feast of this kind, of whose observance in the vale of
Me"iddo no trace is found, as a type of the profoundest contrite sorrow ? Just as
little can we think, with Pressel, of the mourning for Sisera (Judg. v. 28 ff.).
350 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Every race will mourn as if it had been specially concerned in
that death and had lost its head, first David's royal house and
the priestly one of Levi, those two bearers of the promise, who also
stand side by side as "races" in Jer. xxxiii. 24 j 1 moreover, the
other races all follow their example. The participation of the
women is expressly noted, not only because they had much to
do with mourning for the dead, but also because like the men
they had special reason for this penitent sorrow, being no less
concerned in the guilt (cf. Jer. xliv. 9, 15).
This oracle of the seer foretells a wonderful change in the
nation, which will first complete its evil-doing in terrible fashion
and then be made conscious of it through the influence of the
Divine Spirit The description of its evil-doing as a piercing of
the Lord is not a mere metaphor or to be referred to the future
in a typical sense only, as if the matter in hand were the murder
of a prophet already past ; but it is a prophetic announcement of
what lies before the nation's true Shepherd. But by the one
thus shamefully murdered in the future does the prophet under-
stand the Son of David promised by Isaiah and Micah, as well
as in Zech. ix. 9 ? This might be inferred from the comparison
with the mourning for King Josiah, as well as from the fact that
this man of God is afterwards described as Shepherd (xiii. 7),
which generally points more to a king than a prophet. On the
other hand, the house of David here stands not on the side of
God, but on that of the people, and is in great need of repentance
(cf. also xiii. 1), and the parallel prophecy Zech. xi. shows that a
prophet also may fill the shepherd's office. In accordance with
this parallel it seems more probable to us that the experiences of
the prophet as such gave him a view of the true Shepherd of the
people, and he pictured Him to himself in simple prophetic
activity, yet still as leading the better portion of the nation,
until the enmity of the great inflicted on Him a still worse lot
than the one depicted in chap. xi.
The fulfilment first put it beyond doubt that the Shepherd
1 It is impossible to state with certainty why the house of Nathan is placed
specially beside David's house, and the race of Shimei alongside Levi's, really
farming as they do secondary lines belonging thereto. For the Nathan mentioned is
not the prophet, since a family in an improper sense (body of prophets) would here
be out of place, but the son of David (2 Sam. v. 14 ; Luke iii. 21), and the race of
Shimei placed beside Levi's is scarcely A Benjamite one (2 Sam. xvi. 5), but a
branch of Levi according to Num. iii. 17 ff., 21.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PEE10D): ZEPH., HAB., JER. 351
dying in God's stead is no other than He who in Micah v. 3
feeds the flock in divine majesty. What seems in the prophecy
a monstrous anthropomorphism was literally fulfilled in Him who
was able to say : " He that sees me sees the Father." And even
what is said here of Judah's conversion has through the Spirit of
God found its realization, at least initially. When the Spirit of
God was poured out on Jerusalem at Pentecost, the eyes of many
were opened. Peter cried to the inhabitants of that city : rovrov
Bta %et/3o<? dv6fj,(av TrpoaTrrjgavTes aveL\are ! And it is said,
" they were struck to the heart " by this accusation : Karevvjrja-av
rrjv KapBtav, Acts ii. 23, 27. What was it they saw when the
covering fell from their eyes 1 That they had pierced the Lord
Himself, the Son of God, who is one with the Father. When
once all Israel shall learn the truth about this incomparably
faithful and loving One who was designed to be its Shepherd and
whom in fearful blindness it has put to death, its first gaze on
Him will cause it unspeakable terror, its first feeling will be the
heart-piercing sorrow of self-accusation. But this terror is health-
giving, this sorrow brings salvation ; for it is the work of the
Spirit of grace. That the heathen also will join in slaying the
.^reat Shepherd of the tribe of Judah, and hence will join in the
mourning, when they see Him (John xix. 37; Ptev. i. 7), is not
said in this prophecy.
Chap. xiii. 16 is to be joined closely to xii. 9 ff. The work
of grace on Jerusalem is further described. It consists, as in
Jer. xxxi. 33 f., Ezek. xxxvi. 25 f., in justification and sancti-
fication. The former is promised as the effect of a fountain
opened by God and flowing in Jerusalem :
xiii. 1. "On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house
of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and unclean-
ness."
On the penitent cry of the princely house and the people of
the city, covered as they are with blood-guiltiness, a fountain of
cleansing will be opened at the instance of the same merciful
God who by His Spirit produced the repentance. Their penitence
itself can only be the subjective precondition of salvation ; the
objective medium of justifying or cleansing must be provided by
God. Whilst Isa. liii. represents the very suffering and death of
the Servant of God, which according to Zech. xii. is the sin of
the people and forms the subject of its repentance, as the means
352 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
of expiation, chap. xiii. 1 stops at the wondrous fountain, which
according to Joel iii. 18 also will adorn the future Jerusalem,
and is content with indicating its effect, which is also mentioned
in Joel iii. 21, but not put in express connection with the
fertilizing water. 1 It will be a fountain for the use of the house
of David and the dwellers in Jerusalem, to wash away sin and
uncleanness. The latter word (TIJ) applies elsewhere to Levitical
defilement, which is to be washed away with pure water, the former
(nxtan) to sin proper ; but according to the Mosaic law the two
stand in intimate connection. Uncleanness is called DKDn (Num.
xix. 9), having an ethical background, while sin proper or guilt
falls under the idea of defilement, 2 on which account the prophet
here mentions it by both names, and promises that it shall be
removed by pure water. What the manifold and burdensome
Levitical usages of expiation and purifying fail really to accom-
plish, the Lord will then effect simply and perfectly : the cleans-
ing of His Church from everything that renders it displeasing
in His eyes. The divine fountain, flowing abundantly and
unceasingly, makes superfluous artificial means of expiation which
of necessity are constantly renewed. When, therefore, Jerusalem
is cleansed from the sins cleaving to it and made a priestly
Church (Num. viii. 7), the Lord will preserve it also from new
guilt, sanctify it, which is especially affirmed in reference to
two sources of continual sin, idolatry and false prophets.
xiii. 2. " And it shall come to pass on that day, saith Yahveh
of hosts, I will root out the names of the idols from the land, and
they shall not be remembered henceforth, and also the prophets
and the spirit of uncleanness I will sweep away from the land."
That at the time when the prophet speaks idolatry was
practised in Jerusalem, is clear from the fact of his describing
first of all the radical destruction of this abominable wickedness
as God's sanctifying act. This is quite in keeping with the days
of Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The Lord will destroy these
fictitious gods to the last vestige to every defilement of the lips
1 In Zech. xiv. 8 the fertilizing effect of this fountain conies out more strongly, in
the train of Joel iii. 21. Finally, in the wake of Zechariah comes Ezekiel, who
expands into a picture (xlvii. 1 ff.) these outlines, here sketched briefly in the style
of the early prophets. No proof is forthcoming that this order of dependence is to
be reversed (despite Stade, Zeitschr. f. altt. Wft. 1881, p. 81 f.).
1 Cf. "water of expiation," Num. viii. 7, which expression plainly alludes to the
ethical side of uncleanness.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPIL, HAB., JER. 353
and the heart. 1 The second thing from which He will thoroughly
purge the land is the class of vagrant prophets, controlled by an
impure spirit and partaking of a heathen character, so that ft
pollutes the nation in God's sight as a hateful stain, a con-
demnation again which is quite in place on the lips of a
contemporary of Jeremiah. So thoroughly will the Lord wean
the people that now assumes, without being called, the prophet's
mantle and boasts of divine revelations, from this abuse, that to
follow this practice will then be the greatest disgrace, nay, expose
to death, and no one will wish to have it said that he
belongs to this impure fraternity. Their own parents will
accuse the lying prophets, nay, put them to a violent death,
as is now done to the true prophets, 2 so alive will the Church
then be to all the misery brought upon it by the arts of
these fanatics and deceivers. That by the prophets to be
swept away (xiii. 2) only the false ones are meant (so rightly
LXX., Targ., Syr.), should not have been questioned. How could
a prophet describe true prophets as a pollution to the land, to be
abolished along with idolatry, and bringing the land into intimate
association with the impure spirit ? 3 The expression is used in the
same sense as in Jeremiah, 4 from whose discourses we see that in
his time false prophets were the rule, true prophets a vanishing
exception. These prophets are also seen to be thoroughly heathen
by their self-inflicted wounds, which are made out to be scars
received in conflict, such physical maceration ministering to
exaltation of spirit, 1 Kings xviii. 28. But it is a wrong supple-
ment to the prophet's thought to make him prophesy, as many
do, 5 that prophecy will cease in the last days, because in the
general divine illumination it will no longer be necessary, so that
any one claiming to be a prophet would prove himself a deceiver
by assuming such a peculiar attitude. What Jer. xxi. 34 says
of the maturity of the Church only comes into view here in so far
as the gift of trying the spirits, now altogether absent, will then
1 So in the train of Hos. ii. 19, p. 232.
8 Cf. xiii. 3, -|j;n, with xii. 10.
3 nXJDtsn nf\, n t unclean mind and spirit generally, but in antithesis to the
Spirit of God : Spirit of impurity, proceeding from unclean powers.
* Cf. Jer. xxiii. 13 ff. ; Lam. ii. 14, iv. 13, etc.
4 Hitzig, Kohler, Stade, and others. That our Zechariah himself does not profess
to be a prophet (Hitzig, Stade), is only to be conceded in the sense that he does not
wish to belong to the " wicked caste " (Hitzig) that gives itself this name.
ORELLI. Z
354 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
be so general, that a lying prophet will find no favour even with
his parents. Thus we have here only the negative side, to which
Joel ii. 28 f. gives the positive complement.
But the present unhappy condition, in which God's noblest
gifts are forced to serve the ungodly spirit, will lead to a most
terrible judgment, the Lord renouncing His chosen instrument
and so giving up to destruction the good who still adhere to it.
xiii. 7. " Sword, arise 1 over my shepherd and against the man
of my fellowship, 2 saith Yahveh of hosts. Smite the shepherd
that the sheep may be scattered, and I will turn my hand against
the little ones."
To wish to join this oracle (xiii. 7-9) directly to chap, xi., as
if it stood here in the wrong place (Ewald, Stade), was only
possible through an entire mistaking of its sense. It is true, the
Shepherd meant here must take an attitude to God just like that
of the prophet there, xi. 1 ff. ; but xiii. 7 does not suit the close
of that chapter, because there the good Shepherd has meantime
been dismissed, and the flock is no longer under him. But it is
incomprehensible how any one could confound one whom the
Lord so emphatically calls His shepherd and man of His intimate
fellowship, and who is the protection of the little, defenceless
sheep, with the bad, vicious shepherd in xi. 15-17.* On the
contrary, it is one whose guidance is the last refuge of the poor,
faithful Church, a guardian of the Church who stands in intimate
relationship to God, certainly none else than He of whose violent
death chap. xii. 10 speaks as if in him the Lord Himself were
murdered. If chap, xii 10 traces his death to the violence of
the people, and xiii. 7 to divine infliction, this cannot mislead
us. Both accounts are correct. His murder is just as much the
people's grossest sin as God's heaviest judgment, since the most
terrible punishment is for the nation to be violently deprived of
the Head, in whom fellowship with God is incarnate.
1 Properly =" Awake ! " i-fly is milra, contrary to rule, as in Judg. v. 12, Zech.
ix. 9, because the iambic tone-fall is more appropriate to such a summons. Observe
also the rhythm with ^jn and TVCJ?-
* JVpV occurs elsewhere in the concrete meaning "companion" ( = jn) ; h ere
in the more original meaning : companionship, fellowship. Very unhappily Ewald :
"my Lord-nephew ; " so God is said to address the bad monarch, who yet as king
stands near Him !
* Even Hitzig understands by him a bad although legitimate king.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPH., HAB., JER. 355
Thus the difficult question, considering the mystic character
of the vision, which the prophet has in view in this heaven-
favoured Shepherd, is answered here as in xii. 10. It is to
be noted that by his murder, according to xiii. 8 f., the judg-
ment bursting on Judah is completed, since after his removal
the nation is two-thirds annihilated, whilst the last third
(cf. Ezek. v. 2 f.) is put into the crucible, from which it emerges
pure metal, moulded into God's true people (xiii. 9, like Hos.
ii. 25). The power of the judgment is consequently released by
the fall of the God-chosen shepherd ; the seer beholds his fall
in conjunction with the dissolution of the theocracy. Whether,
then, a pious prince of David's house stands before him, or,
which seems more probable to us in accordance with the
related chap, xi., a prophetic Head of the Church, in whom
God once more directly assumes its guidance, the main element
in this prophecy is, that God's true representative in Judah must
suffer and die through the guilt of the nation, and that the worst
catastrophe will be when this divine shepherd succumbs to
the hate of his people, hate really directed against God Him-
self, the nation thus filling up the measure of its enmity
against the Lord. Here we have a profound glance into God's
plan, which is further unfolded and materially enlarged by
Deutero-Isaiah.
If, then, this fearful event presented itself to the prophet in
direct connection with the fall of Jerusalem imminent in his own
days, still his prophecy was not exhausted either in what befell
Judah's God-estranged king, or in what Jeremiah had to suffer
as a genuine shepherd of the people. The martyrdom of God's
faithful servants could here only be typical, as its use in the
second book of Isaiah shows. Only when Judah crucified the
prophet of David's house who was entirely one with God, was its
destiny completed : it was left without a shepherd, and fell into
the hands of thieves and murderers. Therefore did Jesus, who
called Himself " the good Shepherd " (John x. 1 1 ff.) with refer-
ence to such prophecies, on the last night expressly refer His
disciples to Zech. xiii. 7, 1 which saying must now be fulfilled in
Him and them. If He alone, in virtue of His unique relation to
God, could fully claim for Himself this title at once regal and
indicative of love to the people, only His death had all the
1 Matt. xxvi. 31 ; Mark xiv. 27 ; cf. John xvi. 32.
356 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
terrible significance for the people, which the seer attributes to
the violent end of the true Shepherd. That this image of the
suffering and dying friend of God, like the one sketched in Isa.
liii., tended strongly towards union with the image of the Davidic
Prince of peace formed by the prophets, even the Synagogue
felt (of which later) ; but Jesus Christ first exhibited the union
of the two figures which appear to be in irreconcilable con-
tradiction, thus proving the possibility and fact of this union
having been intended by the Spirit of prophecy. Springing
from David's house, He yet appeared before His people with
no other legal title than that of the Good Shepherd sent by
God, and submitted without resistance to dismissal, nay, to a
martyr's death, without His kingdom of salvation and peace
being on this account hindered in its victorious march.
Chap. xiv. of the same prophet presents a new eschatological
discourse. The Day of the Lord is here illustrated from a
different side than the one in chap. xii. First of all, on it Jeru-
salem is attacked and taken by all the heathen, half of the people
being left in the city (xiv. 1, 2). Then the Lord marches forth
against the enemies of His city (ver. 3), to smite them down
before it by a miraculous pestilence (ver. 12), at the same time
making them attack each other in hand-to-hand conflict (ver. 1 3).
These two different acts (xiv. 1 f. and 3 ff.) are combined under
the idea of the " Day of Yahveh," ver. 1, which therefore does
not represent a strict temporal unity , but, on the other hand, that
it may be concentrated in closer unity, is shown in ver. 6 1, where
stress is laid on such unity. Here also the seer is marked by the
transcendental character, that we found e.g. in Isa. xxiv. xxvii.,
where the prophet's gaze is less confined within the bounds of the
historical present than is the case elsewhere ; on the contrary,
looking from a lofty perspective, he sees earthly things very con-
cretely indeed, but in spiritual absoluteness, the intermediate
points of transition disappearing entirely. Thus in ver. 2 it is
all nations, not the Chaldaans alone, who conquer Jerusalem, and
the divine judgment upon them is linked immediately to their
victory, ver. 3. The image of the new kingdom of God arising
out of the judgment thrusts itself into its very midst (vers. 8-11),
and the worship of the heathen in Jerusalem follows at once on
their destruction (ver. 16 ff.). The description is of a strongly
visionary character, so that, while everything takes sensuous
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD) : ZEPH., HAB., JER. 357
forms, these can nowhere be understood in a merely sensuous
meaning, the outer framework being merely the veil of the
mysterious divine working. Thus in form and contents the
seer most closely follows Joel. What has just been said
applies equally to the picture of the judgment of the nations,
ver. 3 ff.
xiv. 3. " And Yahveh shall march forth and fight against the
heathen as on the day when He fought, on the day of hand-
4 to-hand conflict. And His feet shall stand on that day upon
Mount Olivet, that lies before Jerusalem eastward. And
Mount Olivet shall split from the middle eastward and west-
ward into a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall
5 move northward and half southward. And ye shall flee into
the valley of my mountains ; for the valley of the mountains
shall reach to Azel. And ye shall flee as ye fled before the
earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. And
6 YAHVEH SHALL COME, my God, all the saints with thee. And
it shall come to pass on that day no light shall be, the stars
7 of splendour shall be veiled. And it shall be a definite DAY
known to the Lord, not day and not night, but at eventide
it shall be LIGHT."
Here, as in Joel iii., the judgment takes place in the immediate
neighbourhood of Jerusalem, the heathen having streamed together
against the city, and especially swarming in the Kidron valley.
Over this valley the Lord, who marches forth as His people's
champion, takes His stand on the Mount of Olives commanding
the city (cf. Ezek. xi. 23). But the mountain miraculously divides,
a broad valley girt by a mountain-wall appearing. Thither, into
the " valley of my mountains " (i.e. into the valley enclosed by
the mountains built by the Lord), the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
terrified by the shaking of the earth, spontaneously flee, 1 so that
the mountain on which God, the world-judge, stands becomes a
fastness for His Church. Thus in the last decisive conflict He
brings it unexpected help. Then He comes, and on His appear-
ance the words of the seer pass into prayer : " All the saints with
Thee ! " The angels accompanying the Judge and executing His
sentence are meant, as in Joel iii. 11. Ver. 6 f. also adopts
1 That they can pass at once from the city into the valley, is affirmed in the clause
by the obscure word ?K, which, according to Micah i. 11, is to be understood of a
locality in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
358 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
the conception of the Day of the Lord usual since Joel's days ;
mysterious darkness will veil in gloom this baleful day. It is
without the dear light of heaven. 1 That one day, known to the
Lord and fixed by Him, will lack the light of day. But after
light and darkness have struggled together the whole day, at
eventide it shall be light, as after heavy storm. Post tenebras lux
is the motto of the whole of prophecy. Even the terrible cata-
strophe of the final judgment, which is here, as in Joel, at first
veiled in impenetrable gloom, leads to light and life. Out of it
comes the rejuvenated Jerusalem, from which perennial living
waters stream through the land, xiv. 8.
xiv. 9. " And on that day YAHVEH SHALL BE KING OVER THE
WHOLE EARTH. On that day YAHVEH SHALL BE ALONE, AND His
NAME ALONE."
The result of the final judgment is the unlimited rule of the
true God revealed in Israel, who is already Lord of the whole
earth in a certain sense (Micah iv. 13), but is then acknowledged as
king universally, after all the heathen have felt His power. The
victory over the whole world of nations necessarily brings with
it this universal rule of God, on which account pKrr?3 is not to
be limited, with Kohler, to the land of Judah, as in the next
verse, where the residence of this universal ruler is described.
Yahveh will be One, i.e. acknowledged by all the world as the
only God, in which character the law had long ago revealed Him
to Israel, and so in very deed He will have no other God beside
Him. 2 Even the dangerous manifoldness of His name, which
had the effect of multiplying God Himself, the diverse concep-
tion of His nature giving rise to an alter Deus, will cease among
Israel and the nations. His true name, guarded against all mis-
understanding, will, in consequence of His perfect revelation, be
in every mouth.
In ver. 10 f. the "holy mountain," on which God then takes
up His abode, is described with geographical distinctness, but not
without ideal transfiguration. It is Jerusalem restored to its full
compass and raised to public distinction, encircled by a fertile
country, secure against the ban, i.e. the extreme judgment of the
1 Cf. Joel ii. 31, iii. 15. In Zech. xiv. 6 the kethib pXS^ Hilp\ the splendid
ones (stars, cf. Job xxxi. 26) shall withdraw themselves, is to be retained, in accord-
ance with Joel iii. 15 ; the Keri reads less suitably : jiNBpi rCPp, cold and frost.
* Deut. vi. 4, cf. iv. 35, 39, v. 7 ; Ex. xx. 3.
PROPHETS OF THE DECLINE (CHALD. PERIOD): ZEPH., HAB., JER. 359
Lord, because its deadly sins have ceased. But the prophet's gaze
falls back once more (xiv. 12 ff.) on the judgment-act of the
Lord ; now its mode is more precisely indicated for the first time,
and in ghastly colours. In consequence of the plague with which
the Lord smites the enemy, they will rot away during life, and
also slaughter each other, two forms of national judgment such
as history furnishes on a smaller scale, 1 and as are constantly
recurring among the enemies of God. Thus all that will be left
for the defenders of Jerusalem will be the pursuit, in which
Judah also takes part, 2 and the division of the spoil.
But all the heathen who escape destruction at the judgment
will come up yearly to the residence of King Yahveh to offer
worship, and so will form with Israel one great festive Church,
celebrating the feast of Tabernacles, xiv. 16 ff., and in keeping
with the meaning of the feast will offer thanks for the bounties
of nature, and pray for further blessings on the earth. Whoever
does not journey thither is excluded from rain, and therefore
from blessing, not excepting even Egypt, watered in other ways
(p. 215). The prosperity of every land, the welfare of every
people, consequently depends on whether they worship the King
of the divine kingdom, Yahveh of hosts, or not..
xiv. 2 f. " On that day ' holiness of Yahveh * will stand on
the bells of the horses, and the pots in the house of Yahveh will
be like the sacrificial bowls before the altar. And every pot in
Jerusalem and Judah will be holiness of Yahveh of hosts, and all
who sacrifice come and take of them, and cook therein, and there
shall no more be any Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts
in that day."
To the universal extension of God's kingdom over the earth
corresponds the extraordinary increase in the holiness of Jeru-
salem, where what is most profane and worldly in itself will
bear the stamp of the holy God. By way of example the bells
of the horses are mentioned, which hitherto served merely
worldly ends as a resource and luxury of vain princes (ix. 10).
On their bells will one day stand the sacred inscription found on
the high priest's diadem. There is nothing so earthly and worldly
1 Cf. for the first Isa. xxxvii. 36 ; for the second, Judg. vii. 22 ; 2 Chron. xx. 23.
See p. 213.
2 The context shows that ver. 14 cannot, as the 'majority think, refer to a conflict
of Judah against Jerusalem. See Kb'hler here.
360 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
that it will not then be consecrated by nearness to God to the
service of the Most High. And what hitherto had possessed the
lowest degree of holiness, such as the vessels used in cooking the
sacrificial flesh, will then be so holy that it may be brought before
the Lord, like the sacrificial bowls filled with blood, and borne to
the altar. Nay, every vessel in Judah-Jerusalem will have the
character of holiness, so that the masses of strangers may use
them without hesitation for purposes of worship. In consequence
of this the unworthy traffic in new vessels and animals for sacri-
fice that draws traders l there will cease in the temple, i.e. in its
precincts. This traffic, so repugnant to the prophet, which our
Lord significantly opposed with ardent zeal as a desecration of the
temple, 2 will then be needless and impossible, everything in the
land being holy. We see that as the temple enlarges, so that all
nations appear in its forecourts, so the holiness of the God dwelling
therein gains such intensity that it penetrates everything in the
land. All this did a prophet see and say at a time when, as he
clearly knew, the temple and the holy city were doomed to
destruction !
is perhaps here to be taken with Hitzig, not in the national, but in the
ethical sense. Cf. Prov. xxxi. 24 ; Job xl. 30 ; Isa. xxiii. 8.
2 Matt. xxi. 12 f.; Mark xi. 15 ff.; Luke xix. 45 f.; John ii. 14 ff.
FIFTH SECTION.
THE PEOPHETS OF THE EXILE : EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI.
38. Ezekiel's Oracles and Visions.
/COMPARED with previous prophetic discourse, the prophecy
\J of the period of the exile shows a notable difference. If
hitherto the menace of destroying judgment everywhere stood in
the foreground, now when judgment has run its course the pro-
mise of the redemption and new birth of God's people forms the
main subject of prophetic announcement. The transition is repre-
sented by JEzekiel, 1 a younger contemporary of Jeremiah, who had
been deported with King Jehoiakin even before Jerusalem's fall,
and called in his banishment to the prophetic office. In the first
part of his book (i. xxiv.), spoken before 588 B.C., the announce-
ment of judgment still predominates. The rebellious house of
Israel (Judah), the city of Jerusalem with its temple defiled by
heathen abominations, are doomed to destruction ; Judah, like
Israel, must go into exile. But after all this is done, in the
second part (xxxiiL-xlviii.), the oracle of promise, which pre-
viously only appeared here and there amid words of condemna-
tion, speaks in clear, full tones.
We have first of all to call attention to these beams of light in
the book (i.-xxiv.) full of mourning, lamentation, and woe. The
exile inflicted on the nation is to last only a fixed number of years
(iv. 5 f.), like the Egyptian bondage ; of the nation abandoned
in great measure to judgment a small remnant is preserved for
the future (v. 3) ; this remnant will be gathered from all lands,
whither it has been dispersed (xi. 17). Just where the departure
of the divine Shekinah from the temple is spoken of, a future
spiritualizing of the Church's relation to God is foretold, analogous
to the one promised by Jeremiah (xxxi. 31 ff.), Ezek. xi. 19 f.,
an oracle repeated in more complete form in the section of pro-
mise, xxxvi. 25 ff.
1 Cf. art. " Ezekiel," in Herzog, 2nd ed. iv. 462 ff.
361
362 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Also the symbolic description of the history of Jerusalem ends
with the promise of unexampled experience of grace after the
judgment. The representation is symbolic in a twofold respect,
the city being characterized in its course of development, while
the Church is typified therein ; and just because of this religious,
moral character of Jerusalem it is presented in personal form as
a woman. It was a helpless foundling, to which Yahveh, out of
mere pity, showed tender care, thus securing its life and growth.
But it was an ill-starred, graceless foster-child, which, instead of
remaining true to its legal lord, gave itself up to whoredom, and
therefore must bear its shame. Its history, however, will not
end at this point, but at the divine favour shown to the faithless
one, with whom the Lord establishes His covenant anew and for
ever. Jerusalem certainly behaved worse than Samaria and even
Sodom, her sisters (xvi. 49-51). But the Lord will also restore
these, in order to be able again to have mercy on Jerusalem
(xvi. 53). This linking of the mercy to Jerusalem with that shown
to Sodom, which stands, of course, typically or representatively
for heathendom lost and far from God, 1 is extraordinarily signi-
ficant in every aspect. It implies that God does not exercise
judgment and grace according to party caprice, but that the same
mercy which is shown to the covenant people involved in sin
and suffering, must also at last be shown to the heathen world
condemned for like sins, but more excusable. When Smend
asserts (pointing to ver. 47) that Ezekiel does not follow up the
thought of a restoration of Sodom, the only inference, certainly a
weighty one, to be drawn from the absence in the visions
xl.-xlviii. of any account of a converted heathendom outside
Canaan is, that the picture does not give the entire image of
God's rule upon earth floating before the mind of Ezekiel. That,
on the other hand, the oracle does speak in perfect seriousness
of the restoration of the condemned heathen cities, cannot reason-
ably be disputed, 2 when one reads (xvi. 61) in what relation
they stand to Jerusalem, and that the highest distinction and
also the deepest humiliation of Jerusalem will lie in its being
raised to the position of mother-city.
1 So also Hos. xi. 8 ; Matt. x. 15; Markvi. 11. In contrast with the first passage
(p. 239), the present shows a material advance. The mercy of the Lord, unable to
forsake His people, will have mercy on all, in order to save it.
2 Smend would derive this prospect from a "momentary polemical interest."
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE : EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 363
xvi. 60. "But I will remember my covenant with thee in the
days of thy youth, and establish with thee an eternal cove-
61 uant. And thou shalt remember thy ways, and feel shame
when thou takest (to thee) thy sisters, who are greater than
thou, to those who are smaller than thou, and I give them
to thee for daughters, and that not in virtue of thy covenant.
6 2 And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt
63 learn that I am Yahveh, that thou mayest remember this
and be ashamed and open the mouth no more l for thy feeling
of disgrace, when I provide thee with expiation for everything
thou hast done, saith Yahveh, Lord of all."
The whole of the expressive picture, given in this chapter of
God's ways and those of His Church, is well calculated to set in
clear light His unfathomable love and the Church's unworthiness.
If the beginning of the history of Jerusalem was a divine
election of grace, the end will be pure mercy. The sins which
deprived it of the covenant blessing will then stand before it
in vivid remembrance. It will see that God's love, which
encompasses it continually, has turned again to it only because
it is infinite mercy and puts grace in the place of justice.
The divine benefits will close its niouth, because it keenly
feels how little it has deserved such distinction. Thus the
fruit of beneficent grace is the deepest humbling and inward
repentance, such as the severest judgment is powerless to produce.
But this unmerited divine favour culminates in the fact that this
city, which by nature had no privilege above its sisters, and after
its traitorous conduct was condemned to the lowest place, acquires
the other cities as her own, becoming the mother of the rest,
as well of those that surpass her in age and magnitude as of
the minor ones. This follows not by covenant right, for this she
has lost by breaking the covenant, but by the Lord's free grace. 2
It ought not to be necessary to observe that, by these cities, great
1 " Opening of the mouth" (so again only in Ezek. xxi. 29) is not arrogance, but
rafftiria, the utterance of exulting self-confidence.
2 Ver. 61: *]rVl3D 8& Not by a covenant that is thine, in virtue of which thou
mightest demand something. Such an attitude, indeed, on the part of Israel is the
natural effect of the covenant with Abraham ; but that covenant, belonging'to the
days of its youth (ver. 60), is broken, and therefore no longer belongs to it with its
rights. For this reason there is a new covenant, a free dispensation of the grace of
God. Schrader erroneously, after John x. 16 : " Such as were without law, such as
did not belong to thy covenant. "
364 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
and small, all of which, without regard to the rank they previ-
ously held in the world, must be inferior to Jerusalem as the
city where God dwells, and through which He gives His revelation,
cannot be meant specifically Samaria and Sodom with their
surrounding " daughters ; " but that here what is affirmed in
Ps. Ixxxvii. of nations, viz. that they would become the spiritual
children of Jerusalem, is affirmed of cities generally, so that the
fountain of life there issuing from the living God will stream over
them. That Samaria and Sodom are included those two models
representing estrangement from God raised to its highest degree
is undeniable; nowhere in the Old Testament is the Lord's
all-pitying grace revealed more gloriously than here.
To obtain a true picture of Ezekiel's prophecy, we must not
ignore or unduly weaken such pregnant features. So far from
putting the ground of salvation, and consequently the essence
of religion, in legal performances, this prophet emphasized most
strongly the grace of God as the sole and sufficient ground
of salvation. Like Jeremiah, he unmercifully exposes the in-
sufficiency of the common theocratic righteousness, with which
the carnal mind of the Jews satisfied itself, shattering the claims
built on their ancestral covenant and citizenship in Jerusalem.
According to him, the covenant of the law was made void through
sin ; the new eternal covenant, established by God, will have His
sovereign grace for its sole ground. And the worst sinner,
Jerusalem, will be the channel of such superaboundiug grace to
the cities of the earth, and thus to her own deep humiliation
become their spiritual mother.
Ezek. xvii., the allegory of the cedar of Lebanon, i.e. the house
of David, contains the judgment on the faithless vassal Zedekiah,
who relied on Egypt, instead of remaining true to his liege lord,
the Babylonian king. But the history of this cedar concludes
with honourable exaltation, as vers. 2224 testify:
xvii. 22. "Thus saith Yahveh, Lord of all: And I will take
from the leafy crown of the high cedar and set from its
highest shoots I break off a tender one, and I plant it on
23 a high and exalted mountain. On the lofty mountain of
Israel I will plant it, and it shall bear leaves and form
fruit, and become a splendid cedar, and all birds shall
nestle under it, every winged thing shall dwell under the
24 shadow of its branches. And all the trees of the field
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 365
shall learn that I am Yahveh, and lower the high tree
and exalt the low tree, I make the sappy tree dry and
the dry tree shoot forth. I, Yahveh, have said and perform
it."
The Chaldsean eagle has carried away the crown of the cedar
into the land and city of merchants (Babylon). But exaltation to
universal rule awaits this exiled kingly house in the future.
What God does stands in plain antithesis to what the Chal-
dfean eagle did. God exalts the humbled. From the lofty cedar
transplanted to the lower country, still lofty in the dignity
belonging to it in God's sight, the Lord breaks off one of the top-
most twigs, the highest in dignity which that house has borne, the
production of which was its destiny ; and this sappy green twig,
still tender, but full of divine vital energy, He plants carefully
on a high towering mountain, on the mountain heights of Israel,
to which it belongs. The prophet is here thinking chiefly of the
high-lying abode of Israel (xxxiv. 14), whose country towers
above Babylon as Israel above the nations. But this does not
preclude the supposition that in the " high exalted " mountain the
future Zion more specifically floated before him (xl. 2 ; cf. Isa.
ii. 2 ; Micah iv. 1), since even within the land of Israel the cedar
takes a commanding position. There the twig, diminutive at first,
will grow into a powerful tree, under which all the birds of heaven
seek shelter, a figure of universal rule well known to the Oriental,
because the tree rules what it shelters, and everything resorts to
the shadow of this tree. 1 Ver. 24 states still more definitely that
all kingdoms (trees) will acknowledge the superiority of this ruler,
and of his God who humbles the high and exalts the low king-
dom. The high sappy tree, the humbling of which is the Lord's
work, refers here chiefly not to the future state of Israel, but to
the world-empire, at present powerful, whose humiliation is
imminent.
Consequently Ezekiel also foretells a new birth of the Davidic
house, which will again rise through one twig from the very ground
and attain universal dominion, as in Isa. vii. 14 ff., ix. 5 ff., xi. 1 ff. ;
Micah iv. 1 ff. The low condition, out of which this dominion
rises, to his vision is the Babylonian exile. That Zerubbabel,
the twig transplanted back from Babylon to Zion, did not
exhaust the meaning of this prophecy, is clear ; for the univer-
1 Cf. Ezek. xxxi. 6 ; Dan. iv. 7 ff.; Matt. xiii. 31 f.; Mark iv. 31 ; Luke xiii. 19.
366 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
sally acknowledged authority here ascribed to him never belonged
to him.
Before Ezekiel's prophecy could unfold the coming redemption
without hindrance, God's judgment had to take effect on Jerusalem.
During the long investment of the city the prophet was dumb.
In the gap in his book thus arising he has intercalated (chaps,
xxv. xxxii.) the oracles on foreign nations belonging in part to a
later time, and foretelling judgment on these nations, the exalta-
tion of Israel being at the same time brought into conjunction
with their humiliation, xxix. 21. The shattered horn of Israel
(Lam. ii. 3) will again sprout, a reference to power in general,
not to the Messiah specifically ; l and the harassings of the foe on
every side will cease, Ezek. xxviiL 24.
With the fall of Jerusalem, announced in chap, xxxiii., the
second chief part of the book begins. As Ezekiel traces every-
thing to the Lord's grace as its ultimate ground, and to the divine
honour as its supreme end, so in particular he insists that the
happy change now commencing is grounded not in any superiority
of Israel, but solely in the holy name of the Lord, which will
again be honoured (xxxvi. 22), and in His mercy, in virtue of
which He wills not the death of the sinner, but that he repent
and live (xxxiii. 11). In chap, xxxiv. the Lord sets Himself to
gather anew His smitten, scattered people. This discourse moves
in a circle of thoughts of the future already sufficiently known to
us from earlier prophets. The wicked prophets, already charac-
terized in Zeeh. xi. and Jer. xxiii. 1 ff., are rebuked, because they
have neglected and mercilessly plundered the flock. The Lord
Himself, so He declares, will now gather and feed His sheep
(xxxiv. 11 ff.). In a closer specification of His government a
human shepherd next appears in His place, who will be a worthy
representative of God, namely, David, in the sense of Jer. xxx. 9.
xxxiv. 23 f. " And I raise up over them one shepherd to feed
them, MY SERVANT DAVID, who will feed them and be their shep-
herd. And I, Yahveh, will be their God, and my servant David
a prince in their midst. I, Yahveh, have said it."
That it is altogether contrary to the prophetic style of thought
and speech to find here a reappearance of the dead David has
already been observed (p. 336). But they do too little justice
1 So, on the other hand, Ps. cxxxii. 17. The primary passage is 1 Sam. ii. 1. Yet
the T]^, Ezek. xxix. 21, refers, according to xxiv. 27, to the prophet.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE : EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 367
to the definite personal stamp of the prophecy who would see a
collective in it and in Jeremiah's righteous Sprout. 1 The one
Shepherd, whom the Lord calls with delight His righteous Servant,
is he in whom David's virtue will be perfected to the salvation of
His Church. This perfecter of the Messianic idea stands before
the seer's gaze in personal unity, and the ideal image must be
left thus, otherwise it loses in grandeur. Already, in xxi. 32,
Ezekiel tore the falsely assumed Davidic crown from the head of
the reprobate Zedekiah, which crown perishes until He come to
whom it belongs by divine right. 2 This will be One, who is not
merely of David's blood, but has his God-fearing, God-trusting
mind ; according to this passage the true David, whom the Lord
acknowledges without reserve, and under whose rule the over-
flowing abundance of the land, promised long ago by the prophets,
will appear and be enjoyed in undisturbed peace (xxxiv. 25-31).
Ezek. xxxvi. 2 5 ff., where the oracle of xi. 1 9 f. recurs in
enriched form, gives us a most profound glance into this state of
untroubled peace with God. To the shepherd whom God
approves, a cleansed and sanctified Church will correspond ; for
when the Lord delivers His people from bondage, He will also
redeem it internally :
xxxvi. 25. "And I sprinkle upon you pure water, for you shall
be PURE from all your pollutions ; and from all your idols 3 I
26 will cleanse you. And I give you a NEW HEART, and a NEW
SPIRIT I put within you, and take away the stony heart out
27 of your body and give you a fleshy heart. And my SPIRIT I
put within you and make you to walk in my statutes and
28 keep and do my laws. And you shall dwell in the land that
1 So, e.g., Schrader in Schenkel's Bibellexikon, ii. 253 f., according to whom the
hope of a personal Messiah cherished by Isaiah and Micah was extended by Jeremiah
and Ezekiel to the whole Davidic dynasty, these two prophets thus forming the
transition to the exilian Anonymous one, Isa. xl.-lxvi., where this expectation gives
place to a still more general one, namely, that the ideal people of God itself
as ' ' Servant of Yahveh " will partly introduce the Messianic salvation, partly itself
share it.
2 " Until he comes to whom the government (J3B5^!9, as in Hos. v. 1) is due. and
to whom I give it." On the allusion to Gen. xlix. 10, see p. 120. Cf. also Delitzsch,
Messianic Prophecies, p. 83.
3 D^l^S) verv often in Ezekiel as a contemptuous designation of idols ; cf. Baudis-
sin, Studien, i. 95 f. This passage favours the interpretation ' ' dung-heaps, " ' ' dung-
gods," rather than the one which makes it mean " blocks." Cf. the closely-related
passage, Zech. xiii. 2.
368 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
I gave to your fathers, and you shall be to me a people, and
I will be to you a God."
This announcement of what the Lord will do to His people is
parallel to that of Jer. xxxi. 31 ff. If there a new covenant
was spoken of, here a complete remoulding of God's relation to
His people is promised, which is carried out in such a way that
the Church's inmost nature is transformed by a miraculous act of
God. More plainly than in Jeremiah two things may be here
distinguished: cleansing or justifying (ver. 25), and positive new-
birth through the Spirit of God (ver. 26 f.), in consequence of which
the people will henceforth be both able and willing to keep the
divine commands. In the former respect the Lord will sprinkle
His Church with pure water, i.e., as in Zech. xiii. 1, provide it
with effective means of expiation, 1 to set it free from the defile-
ments cleaving to it. No Levitical ceremony can do this in
adequate manner, no human asceticism atone for these offences.
The Lord Himself must sprinkle this impure people. But with
one such cleansing His work would only be half done. He will
also create an entirely new and holy life in His Church. The
human heart, the source of all volition and inclination (Deut.
xxx. 6), of all desire and effort, is unfit for God's service (Gen.
viii. 21), as Israel's whole history shows. It is just as unrecep-
tive to the divine as inclined to all evil. The spirit that rules
men is impure, sinful. God will give His accepted people a new
heart, related to the former one as flesh to stone, i.e. instead of a
heart hard, stubborn, unreceptive, one sensitive to God's word and
will, receptive to all good, or as Jeremiah says, like a soft table
on which God can write His holy law. And the new Spirit that
is to fill these receptive hearts will be God's Spirit, who impels
to the keeping of the divine commands. Here Jeremiah, who
speaks of a transforming of the divine law, and Ezekiel, who
speaks of a new creating of the human organs, beautifully supple-
ment each other. That the Lord may be able to write His law
in men's hearts, the hearts themselves must be radically changed.
In order to this end a fresh, creative act of divine grace is
essential.
Here the prophet, who has been accused of superficial Levitical
externalism, displays insight of extraordinary depth, insight
putting him on a level with Jeremiah as a true evangelist in the
1 Cf. p. 351 on this metaphor.
THE PKOPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 369
Old Covenant. He shows us the sole-sufficiency and all-sufficiency
of divine grace in that work of God, from which the new Church
will proceed. Every individual member of it is born again of
water and spirit; else he is unable to stand before the holy God
and render the required obedience. The ^EIV n ^ of Jeremiah
here undergoes a wonderful expansion. Although the outward
bliss, which is the fruit of this inner work of grace, is presented
under 0. T. limitation (xxxvi. 28 ff.), the act of grace itself, from
which peace with God springs, is seen with divine clearness and
also in grand divine unity, a clearness and unity which it has
not always been easy even for evangelical Christendom to hold
fast. That " the Lord our righteousness " does not mean merely
" the Lord our justification," but also " our right-doing, our sancti-
fication," that the latter also is not our work, to which "gratitude"
is enough to impel us, but the fruit of God's wonder-working
grace this N". T. truth, revealed already to Ezekiel, has not
everywhere received its due in Church doctrine, and, moreover,
has been far too much overlooked in the Protestant Church.
The restoration of God's people is further pictured to us in
Ezek. xxxvii. That people has now entered the state of death
already foretold by Hosea; 1 only by a resurrection of the dead
can it be recalled to life. But the Lord is a God with the power
and will to do this. This is shown to the seer in a splendid
vision, xxxvii. 1 ff., where he sees a plain sown far and wide with
mouldering bones. The Church of the Lord is not even to be
compared to a corpse, but consists merely of disjecta membra, of
scattered, mouldering bones, an which representation chap, xxxvii.
gives a commentary. According to this explanation, the purpose
of the whole lies not so much in announcing the bodily resurrection
of buried members of the Church, as in promising in the most
definite terms the raising of the Church out of its present state
of outward dispersion and inner estrangement from God, a work
to human appearance utterly impossible. Its present state
cannot be described in too hopeless terms. It is one of utter
corruption. But from the buried relics of His people, the Lord
will again raise up to Himself a countless Church. Thus it is
certainly declared that He can call even the dead to life. If
the prophet had not attributed such power to God, he could not
have believed in the revivifying of the holy nation. This is
1 Hos. vi. 2, xiii. 14 f. ; cf. pp. 238-240.
OEELLI. 2 A
370 OLD TESTAMENT FKOPHECY.
implied in the form of vision deliberately chosen. The vision
refers prophet and people to the God who is able to raise the
dead, and consequently to reanimate the people, now mouldering
in all lands, by His creative Spirit in all its members, and bring
them together again. Only here the emphasis does not fall, as in
Isa. xxvi. 19 (p. 303), upon the idea that the true members of the
Church, dead in a physical sense, rise again to life on earth, though
this is certainly not excluded, and is suggested by the description
of the rising again of the individual " slain." The chief thing
here is, that God's people, forsaken of the spirit of life, is revivified
by God's higher Spirit (xxxvii. 14), and again occupies its land.
Chap, xxxvii. 1 5 ff. then combines what has been foretold of
God's " Servant " David with what is said of the Church,
xxxvi. 25 if. The kingdom of Israel- Judah, again united under
one prince, will, after its redemption from captivity, represent in
every respect what has ever been God's will in respect to it : a
nation richly blessed, among whom God has taken up His abode
for ever, ruled by His righteous Servant David who has taken
possession of it permanently, and, in virtue of the divine cleansing
and sanctifying, well-pleasing and absolutely obedient to the Lord.
Of peculiar importance also is the picture of the attack, which
Gog of the land of Magog makes at last on faithful Israel that has
long returned from captivity, and of the judgment smiting him
and expanding into the general judgment, Ezek. xxxviii. f. The
description of this Gog shows plainly that the Scythians are in the
prophet's mind, those northern barbarians, distinguished by their
rage for plunder, whose enormous hordes of horse, especially
skilful at the bow, had not failed by their attacks to make a deep
impression on the Israelites (from about the year 630). 1 With
this agrees the fact that Magog is thought of as found on the
northern horizon (xxxviii. 15, xxxix. 2), and Gog, a name occur-
ring only in Ezekiel as the name of the king of Magog, is called
prince of Eosh, 2 Meshech, and Tubal, by which are meant northern
populations on the Pontus Euxinus. These ideas are not sharply
defined either in a geographical or ethnological respect. The
1 See particulars in Herzog, Real-Encycl. v. 263 ff.
* xxxviii. 3. t^fcO is scarcely an appellative, along with WVI : chiff prince (Chald.,
Syr., Aqu., Jer. ; Ewald, Smend), but likewise the name of a people on the northern
Taurus, Gescnius, Thesaurus, p. 1253. Meshech and Tubal are the ancient Moschi
and Tibareni.
THE PKOPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 371
conception of Magog, viewed in the passages cited as extending to
the farthest north, was as elastic among the Israelites as the idea
of the " Scythians " among the ancient Greeks. But this is note-
worthy, that from the barbarians of the north, hitherto scarcely
visible on the world's stage, a world-convulsing movement will
proceed, when the empires now figuring in history have succumbed
to their doom.
Moreover, Gog, who comes rolling on like a thunder-cloud,
not merely carries along with him, in his . fury, the entire north
(the Persians, Gomarites, and the house of Togarmah, with all
their satellites following in his train), but also sweeps away the
peoples of the extreme south Cush and Put, Ethiopia and
Libya l in his terrible violence, which is finally directed against
the harmless people of God in Canaan. We have here, then, a
final rising of the whole world against Yahveh and His people, in
which the nations hitherto veiled in obscurity, whose power
is not yet broken at the end of the days (xxxviii. 16), will step
into the foreground. Then the general judgment announced
long before by the prophets is carried out on them, the Lord
unloosing all the powers of destruction upon the nations
who invade His inheritance. Earthquake, sword, pestilence,
hail, fire, and brimstone slay the invaders in masses, and also
devastate their home (xxxix. 6). So vast is the host slain on
Israel's mountains that its weapons furnish wood for seven
years' burning, as the drastic account of ver. 9 f. says. By this
destruction of the foe Yahveh gains honour ,in the eyes of all
the heathen, and proves that Israel's fall and banishment were a
punishment imposed on it by its God, whereas now He preserves
His sanctuary inviolate.
Thus what Zech. xiv. saw in conjunction the judgment on
Jerusalem, and that on the world of heathen nations are
separated in Ezekiel. The judgment on the city belongs already,
in his view, to the past ; on the other hand, what the prophets
had long before said about an ineffectual storming of Jerusalem
by the heathen is still to come. To it the " Day of the Lord "
will join on. In the allusion to those prophecies (xxxviii. 17,
xxxix. 8), Ezekiel is certainly thinking chiefly of Joel (iii. 2,
9 ff.), and this reference supports the earlier date of Joel's
1 These stand, of course, by way of example. Cf. xxxix. 6, where the "islands"
are mentioned as the corresponding western region.
372 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
prophecy. Joel had mainly in view the nations engaged in
conflict with Israel ; Ezekiel sees the nations of the farthest
zones drawn into the conflict between God's kingdom and the
world-power, and fighting it out. Meantime Joel's vision lias
been taken up by other prophets, Micah iv. 1 1 ff. ; Zech. xii.
2 ff., xiv. 3 ff. In Ezekiel, this general tempest has reached its
widest geographical extension. The Revelation of John (xx. 7 ff.)
also gives to what he saw a range going far beyond the Old
Covenant. The Church of Christ has yet to endure that last
assault of the heathen. After the thousand years' reign of
Christ and His Church on earth, Satan, bound so long, is once
more unloosed, and leads the nations from all the four ends of
the earth, to a final assault on the holy city. This threatening
power of the last days is there called " Gog and Magog ; " it is
destroyed by fire from heaven, after which follows the new-
creating of heaven and earth, and the new Jerusalem descends
from heaven to earth.
Ezekiel closes his book (chap, xl.-xlviii.) with a picture of the
purified city of God, of the temple principally, where God's
majesty now dwells permanently, and whence the fountain of
blessing pours life and salvation upon all the country round.
What renders this passage unique in 0. T. prophecy, and makes
it difficult for our theological consciousness to enter into
it, is the detailed completeness of Ezekiel's style. Whereas
the other prophets sketched the Church of the last days, the
glorified temple, Jerusalem, Canaan, by characteristic touches on
the bright fringe of their circle of vision, in which the filling
up could be conceived according to the hearers' or readers'
standpoint in 0. T. concreteness or N. T. spirituality, Ezekiel
here unfolds before their eyes a thoroughly finished picture of
quite uncommon breadth, a rigid architectural plan, defining the
future temple with special distinctness, and ordaining its forms of
worship with the precision of a lawgiver. What picture is
this ? Is it the Jerusalem of the time of restoration that here
presented itself to his prophetic vision with historic fidelity ?
For this the form is too ideal ; the relations described by him
are too perfect to allow us to see in his picture a representation
beforehand of the redeemed Church of Zerubbabel and Joshua,
or of Ezra and Nehemiah, that was afterwards realized his-
torically. Or is it the perfected Jerusalem, the eternal city of
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 373
God ? For this, again, the relations are too limited, too speci-
fically Jewish. We must say, however, that in the prophecy
hitherto considered, even in the oracles of Ezekiel, there are
elements which do not find expression to their full extent in
this architectural plan framed after the Mosaic pattern.
The twofold character of the picture, by which on the one hand
it exhibits the hitherto existing in unattained purity and per-
fection, and on the other hand is able to exhibit the future only
as a purified and improved form of the previous commonwealth,
is to be understood from Ezekiel's calling and position. The
temple was fallen, the theocracy overthrown, Yahveh's wondrous
institutions of law and grace in His temple on Zion had ceased.
This was a heavy blow to the theocratic consciousness animating
every better Israelite. Was the rule of God among His people,
and on earth, at an end ? Ezekiel beheld the opposite on
the day of the overthrow of Jerusalem, fourteen years after the
fall of the temple (xl. 1). Then he discerned in spirit the new
temple standing on a very high mountain. This feature, and
especially the temple-fountain swelling into a river, shows that
the whole is more than a new architectonic plan for the building
of God's house, or a new revision of the law on the restoration
of the State. It is a prophetic vision in which the temple and
Church of the future are presented in glorified form. But, on
the other hand, these detailed descriptions of the temple-walls,
doors, chambers, etc., are of such a kind that they yield a real
architectonic whole, of which a complete plan may be drawn at
least as well as of the Solomonic or Herodian temple. 1
In the same way the encampment of the twelve tribes, who
are all quartered on this side Jordan, and the organization of
national worship, while influenced by ideal conceptions, are also
practically arranged and deliberately framed in every point.
The reasons are evident why the old Mosaic Torah is partly
departed from, whilst the old demands of the law are still
asserted against abuses that have crept in (cf. xliv. 7 f.).
It is Ezekiel's peculiarity, not to picture the days to come
in general outlines, but thoroughly to enter into and appro-
priate such anticipations of the future, both in inward and
1 This has been shown by Thenius, J. F. Bottcher (Proben A. T. Schrifter-
klarung, 1833, p. 218 ff.), J. J. Balmer-Rinck, Des Propheten Ezechid Gesicht vom
Tempel, 1858 ; R. Smend, Commentar zu Ezechiel, 1880.
374 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
outward respects. Hence he does not simply foretell the re-
erection of the temple and holy nation, in whose midst God will
take up His abode for ever; but this perfect restoration of
God's house, in which nothing that ever belonged to it will
be lost, is carried out before his eyes to the least minutire.
In this process, indeed, the 0. T. limitation asserts itself
more strongly than in the prophets elsewhere ; while often
transcended in spirit, it cannot permanently be overcome by
the existing power of conception. In great measure the picture
is only a prophecy of the true consummation of God's kingdom,
in so far as the Mosaic cultus is so also. Here, where prophecy
sketches the concrete shape of. the future Church, it falls back
into the typical. It is a description of God's perfect residence
in the imperfect, figurative language of the Old Covenant. Cer-
tainly attempts have been made by artificial means to crane up
this picture and its separate features to the height of the
N. T. revelation, by putting a spiritual meaning into every-
thing ; l or the outward fulfilment has been claimed for the
future, on which view even, the institution of bloody sacrifices
must again be logically ascribed to converted Israel. Eeally
neither the one nor the other view corresponds to the teaching of
the New Testament, which, while adopting the essential features
of Ezekiel's picture (Rev. xxii. 1 f.) in describing the perfected
city of God, omits all limitations of a national and local cha-
racter. Thus the form which Ezekiel's vision assumes is only
explained by the circumstances of his age, which, as the prophet
was informed, had to expect a new establishment of the Mosaic
temple-service ; and this blended, to the eye of the seer, with
the introduction of God's perfected presence among His people.
As Moses once saw the pattern of the tabernacle, so here the
prophet sees the model of the new temple altogether in the
sacred, expressive style of the old one, but in still greater sim-
plicity, purity, and perfection of form. Just so the admini-
stration of the temple, the distribution of space among the
tribes, and of privileges among the orders, are seen by him in
Mosaic fashion, only with a more complete carrying out of prin-
ciples. The essential distinction of this temple is that the
ylury of the Lord takes up its abode in it for ever. 2 The
1 So Hengstenberg and Kliefoth, Das Tempelgesickt Ezechid's, 1865.
2 Ezek. xliii. 1 if., 9, xlviii. 35.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 375
secular power comes little into notice ; it lies in the hand of a
prince (^^), of course of David's house (xvii. 22, xxxiv. 24);
but the Anointed of the Lord does not appear in personal pro-
minence ; only domestic authority and law is exercised, having
nothing of a priestly character (xlvi. 1 ff.).
The inwardness which still constitutes the soul of this
picture so outward in character, comes out most strongly in the
description of the temple-fowtitain that waters the whole land,
giving it fertility and health, chap, xlvii. It is an extended
description of the fertilizing, cleansing fountain that springs on
Zion, already known to us from Joel iii. 18; Zech. xiii. 1.
According to Ezekiel, it bursts forth from the threshold of God's
house at the eastern entrance, turns aside south of the altar of burnt-
offering in the forecourt, and so finds its way to the wall, under
which it flows. A thousand ells' distance from the wall its water
is still not a foot high, a thousand ells farther it reaches to
the knees, a like distance again to the loins> to become finally
a powerful river, too deep to wade through, a glorious image of
the way in which this salvation becomes ever mightier and
richer the farther it penetrates into the world. On the two
banks of the living stream grow shady trees, bearing fresh fruit
every month, and leaves that cure every sickness. The Dead
Sea also is healed by the flood of life pouring into it, so that
fishers find large catches on its shores. Certain marshes only
are left to remind of the former barrenness. But clearly as
this transformed physiognomy points to a new spiritual creation,
we ought not to adopt this interpretation forthwith, and
least of all allegorize the particular traits, e.g. understand the
fishers of the fishers of men, Matt. iv. 18 f. (Hengstenberg), or
of the angels (Kliefoth), the trees of righteous men (Kliefoth),
etc. Eather the image stands before the eyes of the seer in
concrete reality, apart from all interpretation. A land endowed
by the Lord with altogether new forces of blessing, a paradisaic
garden of God, in place of former sterility such is the fit
surrounding of the temple. It will be a delight to live in the
Lord's land ; even the heathen will be made welcome there, and
permitted to acquire landed possessions (xlvii. 22 f.).
What of the fulfilment of this whole vision, Ezek. xl.- xlviii. ?
Delitzsch calls it a prophecy that remained unfulfilled, because
the two kingdoms of Israel did not turn to God in true penitence,
376 OLD TESTAMENT PKOPHECY.
and did on returning from exile greet Him with their first love ;
and certainly in this case the nation would have witnessed a far
more glorious renewal of the theocracy and of prosperity in its
land. At all events, the reason why the prophecy could not be
fulfilled in its literal terms lies in its peculiar character, in the
interweaving of eternal ideas and temporal, passing forms that
distinguishes it. The final form of the divine presence could not
be of this kind. According to the prophet's own words, a new,
more perfect covenant of grace must come, no longer needing the
mediation of salvation by priestly, Levitical apparatus and the
former means of divine revelation. 1 So far as the description of
God's dwelling in the midst of His people given by Ezekiel
belongs to the shadows of the old legal covenant, it is abolished
with that covenant. Hence this book is a standing exhortation
to Christian theology not to regard the letter of prophecy, apart
from its spiritual import, as the essential and eternal part ; while
it should be a proof to the Jews of the changeableness of the
letter of the Torah, since Ezekiel puts himself to a certain extent
in contradiction to the latter. 2 So far, on the other hand, as the
Lord's dwelling on earth has not yet been perfected in visible
reality, this vision points to the future, even as it was taken up
again by N. T. prophecy in essential points. What features in
'Ezekiel's picture will be found in the city of God that is to be
seen hereafter on earth (Kev. xxi.), what on the other hand belong
only to the perishing image, can only be perfectly and incontest-
ably made clear when God's perfect kingdom is revealed.
39. The Prophecies of the Servant of Yahveh, Isa. xl.-lxvi.
The promise of Ezekiel, speaking to us out of the time of
exile, receives an exceedingly rich supplement from a prophetic
book, likewise originating in the seven decades of captivity, and
indeed in their closing period the time between the opening of
the victorious career of Cyrus and the fall of Babylon, although
it is now joined to the Book of Isaiah (note A).
1 Cf. with Ezekiel's description of the temple, Jer. iii. 17 ; Rev. xxi. 22.
* The differences between Moses and Ezekiel have caused the Rabbins great
distress, and led them in some degree to attack the canonical dignity of the latter.
Cf. Mishna, Schabb. f. 13, col. 2 (ed. Surenhus. ii. p. 5) ; J. G. Carpzov, Inlrod. ad
}'. T., iii. 214 ff.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 377
The prophet appears towards the end of the exile. The
incredible has happened. The apparently unconquerable world-
power, Babylon, sustains one defeat after another from a stronger
One who rises up against it. Then Israel is summoned joyously
to observe what is transpiring, For God, who is now showing
Himself so much greater in power than the idols, will redeem all
His promises. Redemption draws nigh. The new spring of life
and love, already foretold by Hosea, is at hand. A sacred year
of grace, bringing universal freedom, dawns (Ixi. 2). Not for
the merits or excellence of His people (xliii. 22 ff.), but, as
former prophets have already insisted (Ezek. xxxvi. 22), for His
own sake, for His name's sake (xliii. 25, xlviii. 9), the Lord will
succour His own. He comes Himself to lead His people (xl. 1)
from captivity through the desert to desolated Zion. Already
one hears in the desert the voice of His heralds, who prepare the
way for His glory. He comes, bringing to the city of Zion as a
precious gift the reward of His work a redeemed people, whom
He leads homeward with the loving care of a true shepherd.
These features of the coming redemption, appearing already in
chap, xl., run through the entire book. 1 Eemembrance of the
deliverance from the first captivity in Egypt, whence the way
lay through the desert to Canaan, gives the keynote. As there
the Lord revealed Himself most gloriously in the desert, so now
also His glory, which had departed from Zion, will appear there
and return thence : " And the glory of Yahveh is unveiled, and
all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahveh has
spoken it " (xl. 5). The barren, pathless desert will not merely
be levelled, the road becoming easy, 2 but will be changed into
well- watered garden-land, 3 as Isa. xxxv. already foretold ; which
vision, now nearer fulfilment, expands before the eyes of our
prophet into rich variety of detail.
Plainly as the account reveals the fatherly care of the Lord,
who leads His people on a level, easy road through pleasant
pastures, still the metamorphosis does not refer merely to a
momentary, physical easing of the march of the home-going
pilgrims ; but the prophet everywhere with plastic symbolism
makes his picture utter spiritual truth. The levelling of the
1 Isa. xl. 3 ff., 10 ff., xliii. 1 ff., lii. 9 ff., Iv. 12 ff.; cf. Ix. 4, 8 ff.
2 Isa. xl. 4, xlii. 16, xlix. 11, Ivii. 14.
3 xli. 17 ff., xliii. 19 f., xlviii. 21, xlix. 9 f., Iv. 13.
378 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
country through which the Lord's host marches, the lowering of
the hills and filling up of the valleys, like the drying up of
impassable rivers, 1 presents the thought first, that all hindrances
opposing the Lord's coming are easily swept aside by Him. All
the powers of the world 2 cannot hinder His advent. He so
transforms the earth that His glory can be displayed on it. At
the same time the Elijah-voice, xl. 3 ff. (cf. Mai. iii. 1), is an
exhortation to a moral and spiritual preparation for His coming ;
proud minds and spirits are to humble themselves deeply before
the revelation of the Most High, whilst bowed and oppressed
hearts will revive (Ivii. 15).
A deeper intention is j,ust as evident in the descriptions of the
change of the desert into the garden of God, into paradise. In
Iv. 13 it is expressly said that this blessed metamorphosis of the
landscape is not a transitory but an abiding one, as an eternal
monument of divine grace. Thus God's present revelation will
leave in the word a miraculous track along the whole of the
way it has taken, a track of fertility and blessing such as springs
from God's gracious presence. The desert will enpy this blessing
in the fullest degree. But this is true also in another sense.
Not only are Zion and its neighbourhood at present like the
desert, not only therefore do they need a transformation which
they will experience in glorious form (li. 3- ; cf. Ixi. 4) ; but in
the plastic freedom and spiritual animation of these prophetic
conceptions the state of the nation itself, above all its spiritual
state, is compared to a desert watered by the Lord with blessing
from above and turned into a scene of joyful growth, xliv. 3 ff.,
Iviii. 11 f. Such life-giving bounty (cf. Iv. 1 f.) as is promised
to the holy land and people, certainly cannot point to material
prosperity only ; but as this revival is out and out of higher
origin, so the life resulting therefrom is one permeated by powers
of divine grace and hallowed by the Divine Spirit. This is most
beautifully shown in xlv. 8 :
" Drop, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds trickle with
well-doing. 8 Let the earth open and salvation blossom and make
righteousness shoot forth at once I, Yahveh, have created it."
1 xliii. 16, xliv. 27 ; cf. li. 10. * Cf. the heights, xli. 15, xlv. 2.
3 P"1V passes in this prophet from the fundamental meaning of normal conduct
to that of divine favour and grace (pp. 243, 335), cf. xli. 2, xlii. 6. The heavens rain
divine goodwill, and thus educe from the earth a healthful harvest of human well-
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE : EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 379
Thus the conception of faithful guidance through the desert, 1
and that of the redeeming of the desert-Church from its abject
condition, constantly interchange. The latter idea ensures a
deeper meaning to the former one. Even the captivity, from
which the Lord will deliver His people (li. 14), is not the mere
outward bondage in which Babylon holds it. It is bound in a
darker prison by its own guilt, benighted by its own blindness,
enslaved by its own ill-conduct. These captives are in fact kept
in bondage by the guilt they have heaped up by sinning against
their God (xlii. 22, 24). They pine away in darkness, because
with eyes to see, in their unreceptiveness to the divine they are
blind where they ought to behold the wonderful ways of the
Lord. 2 What hinders them walking with firm step is their moral
bondage, their sins being their chains. 3 Hence the Lord must
needs speak a redeeming word to set them free in every aspect. 4
Who is God's instrument in effecting this deliverance ? This
question takes us to the main idea of the book. The outward
deliverance, indeed, Cyrus will accomplish ; 5 but the incomparably
greater and more difficult work of spiritual redemption another
must perform, the Servant of Yahvek, whose form here emerges
more and more out of obscurity in new and mysterious dignity.
The nation of Israel had been designed by the Mosaic covenant
to serve God (Ex. iv. 23 ; cf. p. 128), to be His peculiar people,
obediently rendering Him the service He desired on earth.
Hence the greatest distinction is for God to call Israel " His
Servant," as in Jer. xxx. 10, where it is said that it shall belong
to no master but its rightful lord. On this broad national basis
stands the Deutero-Isaianic idea of the Servant of the Lord, as
xli. 8 ff. (cf. xliv. 1) proves. There the Lord with tender good-
will addresses Israel-Jacob, the seed of His friend Abraham, as
His chosen servant, and assures it of His assistance in all weak-
ness (xli. 14). By this means it will rise victorious above its
foes and crush to pieces the proud mountains and hills of the
world, after God has redeemed and refreshed His poor, despond-
doing. npTV must not, on account of the parallel yjj>\ be weakened into "pro-
sperity " and the like, but is the ethical fruit of that bestowal of grace ; cf. Ps.
Ixxxv. 11 ff.
1 That the desert also is not to be confined to a mere literal meaning, is shown
by xlix. 9, where the people itself is the flock feeding.
" 2 xlii. 7, 16, 18-20, xliii. 8, xlix. 9. 3 Cf. lix. 9, 10.
4 xliii. 8, xlix. 9, lii. 2 f., Ixi. 1 ff. 5 xliv. 26, 28, xlv. 13.
380 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
ing people. Chap. xliv. 1 ff., xlviii. 20, return to the same breadth
of conception. " Servant of the Lord " is Israel's official name,
stamped on it by God's love as a cJiaractcr indelebUis. Hence it
not only bears the name where in the light of God's grace it
appears as His actual instrument, but even where its unfitness
for such an office comes out most strikingly, xlii. 19.
But just as little ought it to be overlooked that in 0. T. usage
this title of honour is usually assigned to individuals, namely, to
the greatest instruments selected by God for His service. 1 And
indeed Moses, the deliverer of the nation from Egyptian bondage
and mediator of the Sinaitic covenant, is called nirv nay far the
oftenest, and in the prophetic promises the Lord calls David with
special preference I^V, "My Servant." 2 This idea, like that of
Son of God originally given to the whole nation, and first fully
developed in the Lord's Anointed, tends toward personal con-
summation. Such is the case in Deutero-Isaiah in a striking
manner. Although he starts from the vocation of the entire nation
to be God's servant and recurs to it as an inalienable office of
Jacob-Israel, yet in his view, as soon as he begins to speak more
precisely of the work of redemption and the instrument chosen
for it, the bearer of this office assumes personal definiteness :
xlii. 1. " Behold MY SERVANT, whom I uphold, mine elect one, in
whom my soul delights ! I have laid my Spirit upon him,
2 that he may bring out right to the nations. He cries not,
and makes no noise, 3 and causes not his voice to be heard in
3 the street. A bruised reed he breaks not, and a glimmering
wick 4 he quenches not : assuredly 5 he will bring out the
4 right. He will not faint and break down 6 until he establish
right on the earth, and the isles wait for his instruction.
5 Thus saith God Yahveh, who created the heavens and
extended them, who spread the earth with its products, who
gave breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that
1 Compare the way in which in the New Testament the apostles assume the title
3a?x 'I*TOU Xftfnu as the highest distinction, Jas. i. 1 ; Jude ver. 1 ; Rom. i. 1 ;
Phil. i. 1, etc.
* Isa. xxxvii. 35 ; Jer. xxxiii. 21 f., 26 ; Ezek. xxiv. 23, xxxvii. 25.
3 That {<b*3 is meant of ostentatious noise, is plain from the context without
reference to the following i?ip.
4 The dull, slow -burning flax-wick, in which the oil is failing.
5 Properly, according to the rule of fidelity, truly and infallibly.
6 p-p from pyi, as in ver - 3.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 381
6 walk on it. I, Yahveh, have called thee in righteousness 1
and grasp thine hand, and guard thee and make thee a
7 covenant of the people, a light of the nations, to open
blind eyes, to bring captives out of prison, out of the house
of bondage them that sit in darkness."
The figure here presented to the gaze of the seer is the instru-
ment which the Lord uses to accomplish His great redeeming
work ; and in the description of the medium we learn more
definitely in what the work consists and how broad its range.
Now not a ruler in God's name is needed, but a Servant of the
Lord ; for the work cannot be accomplished without the deepest
condescension, while he to whom it is entrusted must be a
Servant of the Lord absolutely, One in whom the Lord can feel
an unqualified delight, and whom He has endowed with His
Spirit in full measure. Thus he is enabled with perfect spon-
taneity and divine illumination to carry out His mission, which is
to impart divine light to the far-off heathen. At the same time
He will not shout His doctrine in the market-place of the
world, nor force it on any one with violence. Conscious of its
mighty truth, He lets His word operate quietly and secretly in
those who are not among the eminent of the earth, the lights of
the world, or its professed saints. He addresses Himself to the
obscure, dull, and desponding, whom He does not overwhelm
with strong words and rob of the last spark of courage, but con-
firms by rekindling their glimmering light of faith. And whilst
He breathes strength into the feeble and faint, He Himself is not
exhausted by His wearing labour ; and His Holy Spirit fails not
until He has finished His blessed, world-embracing toil.
The method of His working is the Word, which He preaches. 2
The content of this word is on one hand the making known of
God's will, the divine law (B> : p and rnin, cf. Isa. ii. 3), which the
heathen here need not come to Jerusalem to obtain (as in Isa. ii. ;
Micah iv.), but which is brought to them by the true Servant of
the Lord to enlighten them. But at the same time this divine
word is in particular a word of grace, in which the Lord's
gracious will toward all nations, and pre-eminently toward His
people, is revealed. Hence the unostentatious Servant, so kind
1 p"l again in the sense of Deutero-Isaiah : in good disposition, i.e. divine
goodwill.
2 Cf. Isa. xlix. 2, 1. 4 f.
382 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
to the feeblest, is its chosen bearer. It was God's favour (ver. G)
that called Him to His work and destined Him to be " a cove-
nant with the people, a light to the heathen." Alongside trta,
oy could only apply to Israel, 1 even if xlix. 6, 8, did not
imperatively require this reference. And in this case the sense
can only be that God uses His Servant as a means for restoring
the covenant with His people. In Him the divine covenant
with the latter will be concluded, even as the enlightening of the
heathen is His work, who also obtain a part in God's revealed
grace. According to xlix. 6, 8, the Servant of Yahveh will be
the instrument for again establishing, like Moses and Joshua, the
holy nation and settling it in its land. This passage shows most
clearly that the people and the Servant of God are here
distinguished ; the latter is the subject, the former the first and
principal object of the redeeming work. And this is also clear
from the whole discourse respecting the God-accepted Servant of
the Lord, xlii. 1 ff., compared with the description of the people,
xlii. 18-22. The latter is the blindest of all peoples, most
deeply involved in darkness. Hence more than all it needs
healing by the -Servant, which is also emphatically promised to
it, xlii. 7, xlix. 9. At all events ihis Servant of Yahveh appears
here as a single personal figure in contrast with the people 2
whether the figure represents a 'plurality, may be left open at
present. He is one who in His being and action really fulfils
Israel's vocation, which is now set forth in unprecedented grandeur.
The nation, to which the vocation properly pertains, is so little
adequate to it, that instead of being able to bring salvation to the
heathen world, it must itself first receive salvation. The first and
greatest work of the true Servant of God will be done on Israel-
Judah, now far from God and -sunk in spiritual wretchedness.
At the beginning of the second main part of 'the book, xlix. 1 ff.,
this Servant of Yahveh, ideal and yet contemplated in historical
and personal concreteness, Himself begins to speak without any
preface. His testimony to Himself, like that in Ixi. 1 ff., forms
to some extent a more detailed parallel to the testimony about
Him in xlii. 1 ff. As there He was in a sense introduced and
1 It makes no material difference if we translate : "to be a covenant of a (whole)
people." In this case also Israel is meant.!
2 The apostrophe : " Israel " (my chosen one), interpolated, xlii. 16, in the LXX.,
is therefore out of keeping ; it would have to be understood as in xlix. 3.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 383
described by God, so here He presents Himself addressing His
words directly to the heathen, for which we are already prepared
by what was said there :
xlix. 1. "Listen to me, ye isles, 1 and hearken, ye nations from
afar. Yahveh called me from the womb, from my mother's
2 lap he mentioned my name. And He made my mouth like
a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He hid me, and
3 made me a polished arrow, in His quiver He hid me. And
he said to me : My Servant art thou, Israel in whom I will
4 gain glory. But I said : ' In vain have I wearied myself, for
nothing and again nothing consumed my strength.' But my
5 right is with Yahveh, and my reward with my God. And
now saith Yahveh, who formed me from the womb to be His
Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel may be
gathered and I have been honoured in Yahveh's eyes and
6 my God was my strength and said to me : ' It is too little
that thou art my Servant to establish the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel, and so I have set
thee for a light of the heathen, to be my salvation 2 to the
7 end of the earth.' Thus saith Yahveh, the Eedeemer of
Israel, His Holy One, to him whose soul is despicable, the
abhorred of the people, to the slave of rulers : ' Kings shall
see and arise, princes, and fall down for Yahveh's sake,
because He is faithful, and because the Holy One of Israel
8 has chosen thee.' Thus saith Yahveh : ' In a time of com-
placency I hear thee, and on the day of salvation I help thee,
and I defend thee and make thee the covenant of the people,
9 to establish the land, to distribute desolate heritages, to say
to the captives : Go forth, to those who are in darkness :
Come to the light ! ' "
Here, too, the first impression is that of individual personality.
As Cyrus, before he knew, was chosen by God to be an instru-
ment in carrying out a higher plan (xlv. 3-5), so has the Lord
called by name (i.e. in a personal capacity) and specially equipped
His true Servant from the womb for a far more glorious and
1 On this designation of the distant heathen-world, a favourite one with Deutero-
Isaiah, see p. 318.
- Such is the most natural sense of the words, viz. that the great Servant of God
is called the salvation as well as the light of the world (Delitzsch, Nagelsbach).
Gesenius, Hitzig, Knobel, Ewald otherwise : "that my salvation may be," etc.
384 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
spiritual work. And this organon, with which God intends to
glorify Himself, despite the martial images used concerning him,
is not like Cyrus a military leader, but a depositary of spiritual
force, as is evident from His mouth being called an elect weapon.
His word therefore is the sharp, world-conquering sword, 1 the
smooth, heart-piercing arrow, with which he will accomplish
great things in God's service.
Thus his work will be that of a prophet, and of course will
infinitely transcend the limits of what any prophet before had
done. Because of this passage it has been thought that the
prophet is here speaking of himself, somewhat like Jer. i. 5, and
consequently claims to be himself the " Servant of the Lord." 2
But even in this section (apart from chap. liiL) this supposition
is untenable. As little as the author can say of himself what is
said in xlii. 1 ff., and boast that the isles wait for his instruction,
so little can he there and here assume the monstrous position that
not only will Israel receive its covenant from him, but also the
heathen their light, while princes will do him homage. More-
over, the name Israel so contradicts this view, that Gesenius is
forced to expunge it in xlix. 3.
This name compels us to recognise in the person addressed
Israel's ideal representative, i.e. him in whom the relation into
which God desires to enter with Israel is perfectly realized, and
through whom the world-wide vocation assigned to that people is
fully carried out. Once more, that the Servant is not identical
with Israel, is confirmed to us here by exactly the same circum-
stance that we observed in chap, xlii., but which comes out, if
possible, still more strongly here, namely, that the Church of
Israel to be converted is, on the contrary, the object of the
Servant's toilsome labour, as ver. 5 f. shows unmistakably. It
needs to be delivered and led faithfully home by the Servant of
the Lord not only in an outward but in an inward sense. When
through God's strength He has happily discharged this task, a far
greater and more glorious one is reserved for Him, namely, to
establish the kingdom of God over the whole heathen world.
And as in chap. xlii. the faithful, Spirit-filled Messenger
appeared in obscurity and without reputation in this world, so
that He was only sustained on His difficult course through the
world by a secret miracle of divine strength, so we see Him now
1 Cf. Heb. iv. 12. * So Gesenius in the wake of Kimchi and Ibn Ezra.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 385
doing His work in contempt and shame, apparently without
success. According to His human judgment, He sees no fruit at
all of His toil ; yet in the Lord He is certain of His reward and
draws from Him new strength. And as certainly as God is faith-
ful, and will not leave His chosen one to defeat, so certainly will
the path of this His true representative lead through deepest
dishonour to glory. Now He is personally despised, mocked by
the common people, treated with sovereign caprice by the holders
of power. One day they will stand, nay, fall down, before Him
with reverence, when they see whose ambassador He is. We see
plainly that, much as His prophetic calling stands in the fore-
ground, the significance of the Servant of Yahveh is not
exhausted in it, but that He is the heir of the entire mission of
Israel.
And as the path of all Israel lies through bondage to freedom,
through shame to glory, as in particular the Lord's faithful
servants a David, for example have taken this path, so must
he who completely fulfils Israel's vocation, taste pain and shame in
fullest measure. None of the true prophets have been without
suffering as the badge of the genuineness of their mission ; by
their martyrdom they stamped the seal of attestation on their
word. Thus Jeremiah's whole course was one long martyrdom :
and in the exile it was the most faithful on whom hate and
persecution fell most heavily. 1 So, according to the view of the
great prophet, who now speaks of redemption, this aspect could
not be wanting in the image of the true Eedeemer. He is quite
absorbed in this image of the genuine witness of God in servant-
form, speaking again in 1. 4 ff., and once more in Ixi. 1 ff. from
his very soul, of his life of testimony and suffering.
1. 4. " Yahveh, Lord of all, has given me a disciple's tongue, 2
that I may know how to comfort the weary with words ; he
awakens every morning, awakens my ear to hear after the
5 manner of disciples. Yahveh, Lord of all, has opened my ear,
6 and I have not resisted, not drawn back. My back I offered
to the smiters, my cheeks to the pluckers (of hair), my face
7 I have not veiled from revilings and spittle. And Yahveh,
Lord of all, helps me, therefore I am not affronted, on this
1 Cf. Isa. li. 7, Ivii. 1.
2 "Tongue of the experienced, instructed, able to speak well," as the ear of a
disciple is accustomed to pay good attention, ver. 4.
ORELLI. 2 B
386 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
account I made my face like flint and know I shall not be
put to shame."
As little as the personal description here suits the indocile
people (xlii. 18 ff.), so easily may one recognise in it a faithful
prophet such as Jeremiah. Only it would be improbable in
itself that such a prophet would so praise his own fidelity.
.Rather here, also, the prophet gives a description of his ideal,
whom he would fain imperfectly imitate. He weaves into the
image the greatest features of his prophetic models, but is far
from confounding it with himself. 1
The Servant of God, here again the perfect prophet, possesses
in highest measure the two attributes which are the most
important requisites in every true prophet (p. 4). He is trained
to speak according to the Lord's will, and indeed his mission is in
particular the comforting of the despairing and helpless that
'most humble yet most blessed duty of a messenger of God. And,
again, he is willing to hear when God speaks ; without resistance
he receives the divine word, which he will appropriate, enjoying
every day the intercourse of a true disciple with God. From this
second attribute follows of itself the third, willingness to accept
in the service of the divine word the shame and abuse always
falling on the preachers of divine truth and on this Servant of
the Lord in special degree. He does not shun the grossest
assaults and reproaches, conscious that enduring them is part of
his office, and that neither his strength, which is spiritual and of
divine origin, will be weakened, nor his honour, which is internal
and acknowledged by the Lord, will be sullied thereby. Thus he
whose heart is so full of feeling for the need and suffering of men
is altogether passive under the assaults showered upon himself.
He knows that he has to bear them for God's sake.
If in chaps, xlix. and 1., in comparison with chap, xlii., the low-
liness of the faithful Servant appears in more intense form, the
1 Also in Ixi. 1 ff, where the decision respecting the person of the speaker depends
in our opinion on the explanation of xlviii. 16, we cannot, with Targ. , Calvin,
Grotius, and most moderns, regard the prophet as speaking of himself, although
there can be no doubt that the vocation of the author and that of the Ebed Yahveh
stand in close connection. The former is quite absorbed in his ideal pattern, which,
of course, must take quite another form, as he knows, than is the case with himself.
Perhaps the key to the anonymous character of the book lies in this absorption on
the author's part in some higher ono. The speaker wishes, not himself, but the
Servant of Yahveh to be heard, the voice of the approaching Redeemer.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 387
contradiction between divine greatness and deepest human
humiliation found there reaches its climax in the next section, in
which his image is presented to us, lii. 13 liii. 12. A new dis-
course begins in lii. 13. It is not indeed unconnected with the
foregoing ones. Chaps, li. and lii. 1-12 spoke of the transition
of God's Church from the shame of captivity to honourable
freedom. But now the Servant of the Lord also is called to take
this path through shame to glory, and He in the highest potency.
And as we saw above, that in assuming Israel's office he
exercises it first on his own people, so here it appears that just
by the heavy suffering which he undergoes he brings them
deliverance from suffering. But for this very reason it is a
notably different stage at which the seer now stands, lii. 13.
What he said of Zion's redemption- morn after the night of
suffering is seen by him now in glorified form in a higher sphere,
where the imperfect gives place to its true archetype. In the
place of that many-headed, self-willed servant of God enters the
one true, pure Servant of the Lord, whom we have seen as the
instrument of divine grace to the whole world, absolutely and
perfectly obedient, entirely given up to the will of God. If the
Church of God has to traverse its course per crucem ad lucem,
now before Him who is the perfect representative of divine
fellowship in servant-form there opens a whole abyss of suffering,
from which He will emerge all the more gloriously. And the
imperfection of God's suffering Church, whose sufferings are not
unmerited, becomes a high-priestly diadem on the head of Him
who without sin must drink the bitterest cup of suffering and
death, since He bore it all merely for the sin of the Church. The
suffering of the Just One for the salvation of the guilty is the
deepest humiliation laid upon Him by God, and at the same time
the most glorious distinction that God will reveal in Him.
Chap. lii. 13-15 forms the prelude of the section. It contains
in general terms the main thought of the wondrous exaltation of
one who was humbled beyond precedent.
lii. 13. "Behold, MY SERVANT will act wisely, 1 will ascend and
14 arise and be very high. Like as many 'were startled at
thee so disfigured from man was his look and his appear-
1 Wise dealing is implied as well as good success. 7>3JJ7I is often used like
H vi'H In any case praise is implied, cf. p. 333.
388 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
15 ance so unhurnan, 1 so will he make many nations start up ;' J
kings shall shut their mouth at him, for what was not told them
they have seen, and what they never heard they have learnt."
It is the Lord who here speaks, foretelling the destiny of His
Servant. Despite all appearance to the contrary he will have a
good end, the good issue which he deserves, and of which he
was confident in his God. If he was unspeakably humbled, his
position at last will be all the higher. In the same degree in
which he was the object of speechless horror, nay, unconquerable
aversion on account of the unhuman fate he endured, in the same
degree will he attract astonishment and reverence in his exalta-
tion. Men will be unable to contain themselves at the divine
honour falling to him. And not only his countrymen, but the
nations outside will start up in admiration to behold the glory
revealed in him ; kings will testify their homage to him by
reverential, adoring silence (cf. xlix. 7). For it is a deep,
marvellous, incomparable mystery, whose unravelling by the Lord
surprises them, when the Servant of Yahveh stands before them
at the end of his way and work. What is then unveiled to their
gaze is something unheard of, the like of which is not found in
the whole world's history.
The connection with liii. 1 is close, inasmuch as the discourse
liii. 16 also refers to that future, in which the heathen admire
the exalted Servant of the Lord. Only it is not these who
speak, 3 but the Jews who will then have learnt the truth. They
heard indeed of the Lord's plan, and beheld His work long ago,
but with deaf ears and blind eyes. Hence now that the veil has
at last been taken from their eyes they accuse themselves, saying
(to the heathen world ?) what follows in vers. 1-6 :
liii 1. " Who has given credence to our report ? And the arm
1 }3, 146, is only subordinate, referring to VDO{J>'. Ver. 15 first gives what cor-
responds to IK'KD- " Disfiguring from man was his look," means : " He was so
disfigured by ill-usage that he could no longer be recognised as human."
* rrjn is not here to be taken as a Levitical expression : to sprinkle, in which case
we should expect $>y as well as miss the parallelism and sympathy with the close of
ver. 15 ; but it is to be referred with most moderns to flfj : < spring, lead bad;
therefore hiph. : to make spring up.
* So indeed D. Kimchi, who makes the heathen say: "He has borne our sick-
nesses," and in this way seeks to make the identification of the Sen-ant with Israel
possible. The ^y, liii. 8, among other things, is decisive against this view.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 389
2 of Yahveh, to whom was it revealed ? He grew up before
him like a tender shoot, and like a root-sprout out of dry
ground. No form had he and no grace, that we should look
3 on him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 1 Despised
and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
sickness, and like one before whom one veils his face, 2
4 despised, that we should not esteem him. Nevertheless OUR
sicknesses he bore, and OUR sorrows he took them on himself.
5 But we regarded him as one judged, 3 smitten of God and
tormented. But he was pierced for our sins, bruised on account
of our misdeeds ; the penalty of our welfare lay upon him,
6 and by his wound healing came to us. 4 We all, like sheep
we strayed, we walked every one in his own way, but
Yahveh made to fall on HIM the guilt of us all."
Coming nearer to the mystery, the prophet makes Israel speak
and tell what it has witnessed and now learned for the first time
at the end of God's ways. It has to confess that the news of the
Lord's wondrous intention to reveal Himself most gloriously
through the most lowly of men, came to its ears through His
prophets, but found no credence at its hands, that it witnessed
God's dealings in its midst, the aim of which was salvation, but
did not understand them. The questions, ver. 1, require the
answer : No one gave credence to the marvellous tidings of God's
patient servant, no one recognised the arm of the Lord working
mysteriously in that instrument !
He, in whom the highest, most blessed revelation to Israel and
the heathen world lay wrapped up, appeared in obscure and
lowly form. He made no show, like a tree overshadowing the
land (cf. Ezek. xvii. 23), as one might expect, but was rather to
be compared to a bare lowly shoot which, springing out of the
1 In ver. 2 the chief distinctive athnach should stand under V"1X"U1> which is
nsed in the sense of 3 n&O : to gaze with pleasure at something, as also ntf"lO
means " pleasing appearance."
2 "IPlDE. not part. (="one who veils his face before us in sorrow, shame, on
account of impurity "), but nomen verbah : " veiling of the face before him," is One
before whom one veils his face.
3 Jft33> smitten by God's scourge or plague. yjj especially means the leprosy,
which, as is well known, was regarded as God's judgment, a sign of the divine dis-
pleasure in a special degree.
properly bandage, then wound, cf. i. 6. The niph. stands in the
" healing came to us by means of his wound, accrued to us therefrom."
390 OLD TESTAMENT PKOl'HECY.
root, rises but a little above sandy soil, and so lives a wretched
existence a description challenging comparison with Isa. xi. I, 1
and the oracles of the "< nos. Thus the elect " Servant of the
Lord " had nothing attractive externally, nothing to indicate his
unique pre-eminence and the preciousness of the blessings he
brought. Therefore the people of his country and age in their
superficiality were completely deceived as to his nature and
worth by outward seeming, they regarded him as of no account.
Nay, they despised and abhorred him, for he not only looked
uninviting to the ordinary mind, but even offensive and terri-
fying, as ver. 3 affirms; not indeed through harshness of nature
or unfriendliness of disposition, we heard the opposite in chap,
xlii., but on account of the harsh fate with which God and men
visited him. He was a martyr-figure, whose extremity of pain
and suffering estranged the people from him, not merely because
no one could see a deliverer and helper in a Son of man afflicted
with evil beyond all others, but also because the plagues heaped
upon him awakened the suspicion that he was an evil-doer
chastened and branded by God's scourge, one of those unhappy
ones from whom we avert our gaze as if the mere sight of them
were defiling.
Vers. 4-6 reveal the deep mystery surrounding the sufferer.
His suffering has a unique character. It turns not to his shame,
but to his people's salvation. He bore the punishment belonging
to the people, i.e. due to it, so that in sheer blindness it quite
mistook him and condemned him. Observe the emphatic
antithesis marked everywhere here by the pronouns (separata and
suffixa). What belonged to us lie bore, and we imputed it to
him. The speakers, who knew him, of course did not recognise
him, thought him so heavily visited by the hand of the Most
High on account of his demerit and misdeeds. 2 But his terrible
visitation was only punitive in so far as he endured the punish-
ment due to them the foolish judges.
The penalty of our welfare (B^), i.e. here : of our impunity,
lay upon him. This affirms most definitely, that he endured t/ic
chastisement, through whose endurance by him they themselves
go unpunished, an explanation again confirmed to superfluity
1 There also the figure was chosen to set forth the Imclines* of the Messiah, p. 278.
* Observe in ver. 5a the strongly passive participles expressing the violent character
of the judgment.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 391
by the addition : " By Ms wound healing was effected for us!'
That there was a burden of guilt lying on the whole people, and
every member of it, needing to be cancelled, is shown in the
confession, ver. 6, in which plainly the entire Church says, that
it had forfeited salvation by its sins. As little as sheep, left to
themselves, remain in the straight road, so little have they kept the
divine path of righteousness. Without exception they have
gone, every one at his own will, their self-chosen ways of error,
and thus destruction must have overtaken them, unless the Lord
had made the guilt of all fall as a penal infliction on the alone
Just One.
Thus has the righteous Servant of the Lord, as the Church of
the Lord which he saved saw and confessed at last, suffered for
its sake. It ought never to have been denied, that here vicarious
expiatory suffering on the part of the Just One for the unjust is
the subject. No exegesis can ever get rid of this thought,
expressed here as plainly as human language can put it, and
repeated from ver. 4 to the end of the chapter in the most
emphatic way. The solution, then, of the dark riddle presented
by the form of the devout Sufferer is this, that he bears the
sufferings of others, viz. the sufferings which they have incurred
by their sins, but which they are to be spared according to God's
decree, because the Just One has taken their place. This is the
extraordinary tidings, the wondrous secret, which they whose
welfare was at stake did not see and believe, so that they
wickedly mistook and harshly condemned the Holy One who
suffered for them, as they afterwards sorrowfully confess.
With ver. 6 this confession, put into the mouth of the con-
verted Church of Israel, comes to an end, as Ewald rightly
saw. The prophet himself now recounts, ver. 7 ff., the wondrous
story.
liii. 7. " He was ill treated, whilst yet he humbled himself
willingly, and opened not his mouth. Like the sheep that is
dragged to the slaughter and the lamb that is dumb before
8 its shearers, so he opened not his mouth. From prison and
judgment he was taken away, 1 and among his generation
who is concerned ? 2 For he was cut off out of the land of
1 rip? has here a sinister meaning as in Prov. xxiv. 11. Like our "leading
away " (to death), it is used almost euphemistically of fetching for execution.
2 "in, not to be confounded with yti, posterity, is rather=&oc?y of contemporaries.
392 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
9 the living, for the sin of my people he was afflicted. 1 And
so they gave him his grave with the evil-doers, and with the
rich his hill of the dead, although he committed no violence
1 and no deceit was in his mouth. But Yahveh was pleased
to bruise him by loading (him) with sickness : 2 when thou
shalt have made his soul a guilt-offering, he will see posterity,
live many days, and what pleases God will prosper by his
1 1 hand. Out of the travail of his soul he will see, be satisfied,
by his knowledge will my righteous Servant justify many,
12 and their transgressions he will take on himself. On this
account I will give him a portion among the great, and
with the strong he shall divide spoil, in lieu of his having
poured out his soul unto death and let himself be reckoned
among sinners, whilst he yet bore the sin of the multitude
and made intercession for sinners."
It is now seen more definitely, that the despised Sufferer does
not sink under the burden of affliction laid on him by God,
but that the rejection and condemnation of his generation
grew into gross ill-treatment (cf. 1. G) of the condemned one,
which he accepted with lamb-like patience without complaint
or reply. This willingness which, without cursing the unjust
tormentor, surrenders itself to the penalty of unmerited
suffering and death, discerning its higher necessity, is an
essential element in the sacrifice offered by the Servant to the
Lord.
But such gross injustice, perpetrated on the defenceless one,
was not all. Ver. 8 shows that he was taken through every
form of trial and declared guilty of death. By a flagrant mis-
carriage of human justice he was " led away " to the place of
execution, without any one remonstrating or reflecting on the
DS we take as preposition, as in vers. 9, 12 (Knobel, Delitzsch differently) : " Who
in the company of his contemporaries considers it ? " Answer : "No one troubles
himself about it." Usually it is joined to the following ifjj 13: "Who considers
that he was cut off ? " but the rhythm in brief measures does not allow this.
1 1D^>, *' tn d- = ^>, as in xliv. 15. See p. 99, note.
* "6nn, not a determined noun (Hitzig), nor yet a Syriasm for r6nn (the majority),
1'iit according to Klosteimann, Delitzsch, hiph. N^Hn (cf. 2 Chron. xvi. 12), where
the last letter is not written on account of the tf with which the next word begins,
as in 2 Kings xiii. 6. The inf. is more precisely defined by this jinititm. "What
goes before shows that no ordinary sickness is spoken of. The sufferings which
men cause him appear in God's plan as sickness inflicted on him.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 393
frightful injustice thereby perpetrated. 1 The prophet repeats
more plainly what can scarcely be uttered : " He is violently
hurried out of the world," like a criminal defiling or dangerous
to mankind, whereupon the prophet is constrained once
more to disclose the true cause of this shameful death :
" for the sin of my people this divine penalty was executed
on him." The prophet is certainly the speaker, and under-
stands by ^y those who in ver. 5 said WWBi?, his people
Israel.
Thus it came to pass that he was treated as a gross sinner
up to the grave, as ver. 9 adds : " His grave was assigned him
in the company of evil-doers," an insult which the Hebrew
feels keenly (cf. Jer. xxvi. 23). But the second clause is obscure.
In accordance with its pointing the Masoretes understand vnfoa :
in his death. We should then have to understand the certainly
rare plural of rno (only found again in Ezek. xxviii. 10), not of
different cases of death, but of death struggles, dying agonies, which
the rich noble, who parts from his mammon with difficulty, must
feel keenly. 2 But serious doubts present themselves against this
reading. The pains of death come in strangely after the burial,
and the second member lacks syntactical compactness. We
must therefore read Wtea after some codices, in the sense of
" sepulchral hill." 3 The plural is the main argument of those
who would understand the Servant in a plural sense. But it
would be strange in the highest degree for the prophet, who
preserves the strict unity of the person both before and after,
here suddenly to split it up and to speak of one grave but many
sepulchral hills. Rather the plural seems here to denote burial-
places more generally. A second difficulty consists in the
synonymous use of "WV alongside B"W"]. It is not allowable to
assign the former word a signification quite different from the
1 In Isa. Ivii. 1 there is a similar reference to the indifference of the people to the
death of the just man, but there his end is described as a removal from judgment.
Wisd. iv. 10 alludes to this passage, the early death of the just man there also
conducing to his preservation. The descriptions of Wisd. iii.-v. generally refer to
Deutero-Isaiah, without comprehending its deepest import.
2 It is untenable to suppose an antithesis between the first member and the second :
" but with the rich man (he was) in his death," as many current expositions do.
Nor does this view supply a direct reference to the history of Jesus, since He, on
the contrary, died with evil-doers and was buried with the rich man.
3 Ezek. xliii. 7 ; cf. also Job xxi. 32, where certainly another phrase is used.
394 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
usual one (Hitzig). Still through the juxtaposition and the close
of the verse it easily obtains an evil qualification, which, more-
over, is not very remote from it according to Hebrew modes
of conception ; it is one who has become rich through oppression
and fraud, whose hill of sepulchre is cursed by the poor who have
suffered from him. Thus also the grave of the Just One is
regarded after his innocent death. His burial-place is not
passed without cursing ! And yet no trace of the sins justly
visited with such punishment was to be found in him, as is
again testified.
Thus before his death, nay, during the whole of his earthly
existence (the rest of the grave included), he received no recom-
pense for the grievous injustice done him. And yet such
recompense will be given him in ample degree by God's decree,
which is to the effect, that the life of this noblest and poorest
One will furnish a sacrifice for sin ; and afterwards he will
live many days and rejoice in a numerous posterity. The
discourse here passes altogether from the prophetic vocation
of the "' 13$, described previously, to the priestly office he
administers in giving himself to a sacrificial death for the salva-
tion of his people. This is the deepest ground and most glorious
design of his suffering. The Lord Himself 1 designed His life
to be an offering for sin, plainly for the offences of the people, in
compensation for the obedience which the people had failed to
render. For the character of the BK'N is that of a compensatory
sacrifice (note B). Only the thing in question here is not, as in
the Levitical law, a particular omission easily atoned for, or
occasional, unintentional offences against God. Eather here a
compensatory sacrifice of the highest kind will be seen, in which
all the guilt of the Church will be outweighed by one peerless
act the willing surrender of the Just One to death. Since
he does not give the compensatory sacrifice, which is ever a
satisfactio, for himself, a satisfactio vicaria is here implied, which
again ought never to have been denied.
This path of heaven-appointed self-sacrifice even to death
1 &VF\ is best taken as 2 sing. masc. an address to God. If it is taken as 3 sing.
T
fern., "when his soul shall lay down an offering for sin," the object (himself) is
wanting. Reuss and Scholten would take QX as a negative particle of asseveration :
" thou verily wilt not," quite perversely and in contravention of everything tho
prophet has insisted on from ver. 4.
THE PUOPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZKK1EL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 395
conducts the obedient Servant to life and bliss. 1 Although he
died unvindicated, and apparently without hope, this cannot be
the end. In this very path he will obtain posterity, plainly
the spiritual Israel, that owes its life to him, is meant, and see
it with his own eyes, rejoicing just as much in prolonged life as
iu numerous descendants. How it can be possible for one who
was hurried off by a violent death in the midst of his days to live
surrounded by many children, the prophet himself can scarcely
explain. Enough that an inner necessity, such as we found in
Job xix. 25ff. (p. 184), shows this to be God's plan ; and the
prophet is confident that the counsel of the Lord will prosper in
His (God's) hand, will come to a happy result.
Ver. 11. The fruit of his sufferings will be for his own good
and the good of many. He himself will see delight in it. 2
Here and in ver. 1 emphasis is laid on " seeing " in the sense of
Job xix. 26 f. His best recompense is that he is the living,
actually present witness of the work of salvation which he has
accomplished. Thus his coming to life again is certainly pre-
supposed. The fruit accruing to others is this, that through his
knowledge, his wise surrender to God's will, he is to many the
medium of righteousness, such as he himself enjoys and they
have hitherto lacked. He brought about this right relation
between them and God by taking their offences on himself, and
bearing them in their stead.
Ver. 12. After this heroic act, the most blessed ever accom-
plished, divine victory and honour justly await him. Although
apparently defeated, he receives a lofty place among conquerors,
and rich spoil like theirs as a reward for voluntarily emptying
himself unto death, and letting himself be reckoned among the
worst and meanest. This only happened, because like a sacri-
ficial lamb he assumed the burden of others' sin, and interceded
for them as a priest before God. Thus he receives at last the
splendid vindication that is his due.
This whole passional moves in a mysterious twilight. Even
the language is in part mysteriously obscure, in keeping with the
profound contents. And apart from disputable details, the entire
OK implies that the path of suffering will be the condition of a unique
experience of salvation.
* JOK* 11 nX'V must be joined closely together ; po has not a privative sense, but
means "out of the travail of his soul, " i.e. as its fruit he will see what will delight him.
396 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
picture, in which yet many weighty features are sketched with
thorough distinctness, fits with difficulty into a frame yet to be
discussed. Is it past or present that the prophet depicts ? Or
is he painting a future tragedy ? Is he describing realities at all,
or are they ideal abstractions that occupy him and pass before him
in such vivid figures? All these questions unite in the one, before
which the chamberlain from Ethiopia stood without being able to
decide it a question among those oftenest discussed, and the
answer to which is most critical : Who is this Servant of Yahveh ?
And how came the seer to behold him in the form he did ?
In entering, after our review of the passages involved, on the
former of these questions, we quote some views which, while
containing an element of truth, are incorrect, because they fail to
do justice to the entire greatness and the full details of this figure.
The most comprehensive theory is the one which identifies the
" M nay with the nation of Israel. 1 We saw (p. 379) that there
is a certain warrant for this view, since in fact the nation is called
Ebed Yahveh, and the Servant is the true fulfiller of Israel's entire
mission. But it is just as certain that this identification does
not explain the chief point in question. Not only in the most
important sections is the faithful Servant ever spoken of in strict
personal unity, so that a collective can never be seen there ; not
merely does this image of the obedient, receptive, devoted Servant
stand in striking contrast to the useless Servant which the Lord has
in His people ; but we even saw that the Church is first enlightened
and enfranchised by the prophetic Servant of God, who is easily
distinguished from it (xlii.), and that the Church needs to be first
reconciled to God by him, who intercedes for it as priest (liii.). 2
Some of these fatal objections apply to a second view, 3 to the
effect that only pious Israel, the better portion of the exiled
1 So Hitzig and Reuss in the wake of most of the Jewish expositors, Ibn Ezra,
Jarchi, Kimchi, Abarbanel, the last, however, deciding afterwards in favour of the
reference to King Josiah. But even Origen (against Celsus, True Word, L i. 55,
Paris 1733) tells of Jews who quoted to him this exposition of Isa. lii., liii. : "It
applies to the nation scattered, despised, and ill-used in the world, and yet showing
itself superior to the nations and converting many." Origen referred them to liii. 6,
and especially liii. 8.
2 Cf. especially liii. 8. How can this be said of the contemporaries of Israel, or
how can the VSi? be understood otherwise than of Israel ? This proof of Origen
remains impregnable. We seek in vain in Hitzig and Eeuss (Getch. <l. heil. 8chr.
Alien Testament*, 1881, ii. 434 ff. ) for any feasible mode of evading it.
3 Maintained by v. Colin, Knobel, Thenius, Anger, and others.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 397
nation, that had to suffer innocently with the rest, nay, was
specially exposed to attacks and persecutions by reason of its
stedfastness, is presented in this synthesis. To this worthy class
belong, according to Knobel, heads of tribes and elders, priests
and Levites, as well as the prophets. We cannot, indeed, doubt
that the sad experiences of many pious servants of Yahveh, of
course not merely exilian, supplied motives and separate features
in the origination and working out of this image, as we have
already insisted (p. 385) ; but that a whole class of the prophet's
contemporaries as such was characterized by him in such personal
terms, is quite untenable. Rather the Servant of Yahveh, indi-
vidual and unique, is put in contrast with the whole body (cf.
especially liii. 6). The best portion of the nation is not without
guilt. On the contrary, it is a flock thirsting for salvation, and
its longing will be satisfied by the faithful Messenger of grace,
who will also certainly die to expiate its guilt. 1
A third opinion 2 that would see the prophetic order in this
docile, patient disciple of God must be rejected, although in
chaps, xlii., xlix., and again also Ixi. 1 ff., his prophetic activity and
mission come out so strongly. 3 There the " genuine " Israel is
seen already to be made up of many different elements ; and,
moreover, to take the priestly sacrificial lamb of chap. liii. as a
portraiture of the prophetic order is all the more incongruous, as
there was no such order in the proper sense.
Apart from prejudice it is impossible to escape the impression
that a description so definitely personal cannot be explained as a
collective. 4 But while it is undeniable that a personal unity
appears, at least in the prophetic vision, there is still a question
whether the person is historic, ideal, or belongs to future history.
In point of fact, a martyr already dead has been thought of as the
object of panegyric here, e.g. an Isaiah or Jeremiah. 5 But
1 See also the confessions of Ixi v. 5 ff. (lix. 10 ff.), where the prophet confesses
himself impure and guilty with the entire Church.
2 Defended by Gesenius, de Wette, Winer, et al.
3 Chap. xliv. 26 might be best appealed to in favour of this view, where the
Servant (sing.) is put in line with God's messengers. But even here the perfect
prophet is distinguished from the chorus of divine messengers.
4 Cf. H. Schultz, A. T. Theolofjle (2nd ed.), p. 753 f.
5 Ewald thought the "Oratorio," xlii. 13-liii., was composed on the solemn leading
to martyrdom of a great prophet, perhaps of Isaiah. The author of Isa. xl.-lxvi., he
thinks, found it ready to hand, and incorporated it without material alteration in his
book. But the piece so obviously grows out of the whole organism of the book (cf. eg.
398 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
chap. xliL 1 ff. is unsuitable as a panegyric of a dead martyr,
xlix. 1 ff. absolutely so, while lii. 13-liii. would be very strange. 1
Such a glorifying of the dead is altogether foreign and contrary
to the sober Hebrew mind, and especially to the unselfish spirit of
prophecy.
The past nowhere furnished the prophet with this perfect
image, nor yet the present, although past and present contributed
to originate and shape it. Nor again is it an empty ideal, for
sucli things are not at all in the style of the prophets. Rather
the prophet definitely expected what he saw : a perfect instrument
of the Most High, who, uniting all excellences of the past and
passing through its perplexing experiences in full measure, would
accomplish the work of internal and external redemption. This
work is the new element announced by the prophet "before it
springs up." For the rest, in mystic devotion he is absorbed in
this wondrous figure of whose intrinsic necessity he is certain,
without the time and place of its appearance being indicated.
The advance in knowledge here confronting us is extraordinary.
The sufferings and privations of the period of exile have
co-operated to this end. They brought clearly out to view the
noblest and most powerful elements wrapped up in Israel's life.
Not the outward power of the Davidic kingdom and its prosperous
development, not the local existence of the ritual was the surest
pledge of divine life, but that Divine Spirit, who can inspire the
most unlikely instrument, and who by His mighty word achieves
the greatest triumphs in the face of outward weakness and resist-
ance, nay, amid apparent defeat and abandonment by heaven.
Precisely in its tribulation the true Church of Israel felt itself
nearest to God, and suffering is seen in it to be the true path to
glory. David and many psalmists early had experience of this
truth and deposited votive songs in the temple, proving that the
righteous man does not, nay, cannot escape suffering, because
otherwise he will not learn all the greatness of a delivering God
to his own profit and others' salvation. 2 But in the suffering
of the Isaianic Servant of God, in distinction from all the
xlix. 7) that a borrowing of the section in which it culminates is inconceivable, and
till less a casual insertion by some one else than the author, as Ritschl supposes
(Rechtfertigung, ii. 62). Bunsen has revived the hypothesis of Saadya Gaon, that
Jeremiah is the "Servant of the Lord" extolled, and conjectures that Baruch his
disciple was the composer.
1 Cf. e.g. lii. 15, liii. 10 f., etc. 3 Cf. Ps. Ixix. 32, xxii. 26 ff., p. 176 f.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 399
Passion - psalms, we find an essentially new element. This
is the expiatory effect of the Righteous One's suffering, the
vicarious satisfaction made by his submission and death for the
guilty. Not that this idea was entirely new. The ministry of
sacrifice pointed to it from the first. The slain-offering, in which
an animal life was given up, often with the declared intention of
thereby procuring respite for human life, 1 rests on the same idea,
that a vicarious surrender is possible ; but after the insufficiency
of animal blood to make expiation had long been felt by pro-
founder spirits, now when that ministry was altogether suspended,
Deutero-Isaiah spoke of a far higher expiatory sacrifice. That he
expressly represents the suffering of the Servant as a vicarious
sacrifice, we have seen. Though it may be open to question whether
the prophet in liii. 7 was thinking specifically of a sacrificial lamb,
at all events he emphasizes that which made the Servant, like the
animal, a suitable sacrifice : his unresisting surrender; 2 and the
entire section testifies, that the effect of his suffering is that of a
perfect sacrifice, efficacious for the whole people. More precisely
in liii. 10 it is characterized as a sin-offering -which he has to
render in accordance with God's will. What the animal sacrifices
signified only symbolically, i.e. in inadequate representation, the
innocent suffering of a messenger of God does in reality ; not
only does it make an overwhelming, saving impression on
sinners, but God accepts it instead of the punishment of sinners,
when the Just One intercedes for them, as Job, the innocent
sufferer and victim of wrong, interceded for his culpable friends.
While the intercession of the Eighteous One avails much, his
innocent suffering avails infinitely more in God's sight. It shields
the wrong-doers from punishment.
That sin requires expiation, a restoration of the disturbed rela-
tion between God and man, by which above all the divine justice
will be satisfied, is proclaimed by the whole sacrificial cultus ;
and what constitutes the really atoning, justifying sacrifice, Isa. liii.
declares : The alone pure, absolutely obedient Servant of the
Lord is designed to redeem His people by unspeakable pain and
1 See Lev. xvii. 11. The expiatory effect of the blood arises from its being the
substratum of the soul or life. Of course the essential element is not the death-
agony suffered by the animal, but the surrender of its life, which is also the most
painful privation. Through the animal enduring this loss man escapes it.
2 In John i. 29, 36, at all events, the Baptist connects the lamb, Isa. liii. 7, with
an expiatory function, thus viewing it as a sacrificial lamb.
400 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
shame. His dying passion has full atoning power, and His
honourable exaltation will bring all peoples to know the true God
and His salvation. Thus Ps. xxii., with its prophetic conclusion
(p. 176), finds here a marvellous climax.
Without doubt it is the true Redeemer, the Saviour of His
people, whom the prophet meant to depict under this humble yet
honourable name. But another question is, how in his view thi.s
figure is related to that of the Messiah, who, springing from
David's stem and sitting on his throne, appeared in former prophets
as Saviour and Mediator of God's salvation. Nowhere is the
Ebed Yahveh expressly set in relation to that king. He is not
called Son of David, or Son of Yahveh, or " Sprout of the Lord,"
like him. A superficial glance might conceive the two images of
the reigning Son of David and the prophetic Martyr to be quite
distinct, having nothing to do with each other. And the gulf
between the two is the main reason why Israel has rejected the
crucified Messiah as a <rK(iv8a\ov to this day.
Nevertheless a deeper look into the prophetic writings should
have taught that the Christ must needs suffer (Acts iii. 1 8). And
it is significant that the intrinsic connection between the kingly
image and the martyr-form forced itself strongly enough on the
older Synagogue, so long as the synagogue was not yet involved in
opposition to Christianity. 1 The older Messianic interpretation is
confirmed even by the Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages, who
themselves would understand the Ebed Yahveh to refer to their
nation.
Thus Ibn Ezra remarks on Isa. liii. : " Many refer this section
to the Messiah, because our forefathers of blessed memory said,
that on the same day on which the temple was destroyed, the
Messiah was born, and that he is bound in chains " (therefore of
a Messiah already come). And Abarbanel on the same section :
" The first question is, of whom this prophecy treats. For, behold,
the wise of the Nazarenes refer it to the man who was executed
in Jerusalem about the end of the second temple, in their opinion
the Son of God, who took shape in the virgin's womb, as they
explain in their doctrine ; and in fact Jonathan, son of Uzziel
1 See the instances in the excellent collection of Aug. Wiinsche :
The Sufferings of the Mzxsiah, 1870, and in the lengthy catena published by
Neubauer under Pusey's guidance : The Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah according to
the Jewish Interpreters, vol. i. 1876, Texts ; vol. ii. 1877, Translations.
THE PKOPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 401
expounded it of the Messiah who is to come hereafter, and this is
also the opinion of the wise of blessed memory in many of their
Midrashim." In the same sense R. Mosheh al SJiech, who lived
about the middle of the 16th century in Palestine : " Behold, our
masters of blessed memory have unanimously decided and pre-
served the tradition, that here King Messiah is spoken of," etc.
Of older expositions of the chapter, which take it Messianically,
the Targum Jonathan and Midrash Tanchuma may be mentioned. 1
In the Haggada also the suffering Messiah is an accepted idea,
a fact which is' to be put to the account chiefly of Deutero-Isaiah,
and consequently bears witness to the universal Messianic inter-
pretation of this section. 2 Only later, as it seems, attempts were
made to place a subordinate Messiah, Son of Joseph, side by side
with the Son of David, assigning to the former the role of suffer-
ing and dying (note C), in order to explain the two images of the
Messiah, which were difficult of reconciliation.
But how did it come to pass, that despite the strong contrast
between the two prophetic portraits, which at the first glance
refuse to combine, the Messiah was involuntarily thought of when
Isa. lii. 13-liii. was read, and that even when opposition to Chris-
tianity required the identity to be denied, it was given up with
difficulty ? It is not merely the inner logic of the case, that
compels the acceptance of the oneness of the Servant of Yahveh
with His beneficent King, both appearing as mediators of salvation.
Nor is it merely the circumstance, that the designation " Servant
of Yahveh," David's title of honour, was entirely appropriate to
the Messiah's dignity, and was applied to Him by the prophet.
Even the lowliness joined with this title in Deutero-Isaiah was
not altogether new in the Messianic image. The Psalms of
David, like his history, already testify, as we have seen, not only
to the divine greatness reflected in his person and kingdom, but
also to deep humiliation and trial of the Eighteous One at the
hand of God and men, 3 especially trial on men's part out of
hostility to God. David took the royal path of the Ebed Yahveh,
1 See Wiinsche, p. 40, 42 ; Pusey-Neubauer, i. 4 f., 9. Cf. F. Weber, System der
altsynagogalen Theologie, p. 344 ff.
9 See Wiinsche, p. 55 ff.
3 Here also we may refer to the psalms of sickness, which show that this affliction
also, which, although scarcely to be understood physically, pressed on the Ebed
Yahveh so heavily, did not spare the old saints, David especially. Job is the
classical example of this.
ORELLI. 2 C
402 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
leading through suffering to glory. Again in the prophetic picture
of the greater Son of David sketched by the prophets of the
Assyrian period, alongside the brightest radiance, shadows are not
wanting. The King of peace entering into Jerusalem (Zech. ix. 9)
is differenced from other rulers by his mysterious lowliness and
poverty. And in Isaiah as in Micah his beginning is marvellously
humble. Nay, Isa. liii. 2 characterizes the lowliness of its hero
almost in the same words, at any rate by the same figure, as
Isa. xi. 1, 10 does. From that passage the name "Sprout of
Yahveh " became a standing designation of the Messiah, and in
this phrase His marvellous lowliness is chiefly expressed. Besides
Zech. xii. 10 (cf. xi. 4 ff.), xiii. 7 ff. forms a bridge between the
two ideas, inasmuch as here at any rate a national shepherd clad
with divine dignity is spoken of (if not a Davidite expressly),
who is at the same time Yahveh's Servant and is shamefully
misjudged, nay, slain by his people, an act the guilt of which is
only recognised afterwards by the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
On the other hand, the Eled Yahveh of Deutero-Isaiah is not
without greatness. After completing his work he will receive
more than princely honours. He will be a father of the people
he has delivered, a ruler who again establishes the holy nation
in the beloved land, a conqueror rich in spoil, to whom kings
and peoples do reverence. Of course the reference here is ever
first of all to purely spiritual greatness and display of intrinsic
power ; the Ebed Yahveh grows not merely altogether from below
upwards, but also altogether from within outwards. And the
prophet did not further develop the existing Messiah-image, but
his peculiar image of a Saviour is entirely new. It tends,
however, unmistakably to unite with the one already existing.
The glory of the exalted Servant must be that of a king even
outwardly, nay, such as distinguishes him from all princes,
converting the old Messiah-image into reality. The proof that
the prophet did not consider that image obsolete or superfluous,
but the goal of God's ways, is contained in Iv. 3 f. :
" I will make with you an eternal covenant : the MERCIES OF
DAVID, which are inviolable : behold, for a witness of the nations
I have set him, for a prince and commander of the nations."
After the work of redemption has been accomplished, what
was solemnly promised to David by divine grace will be fulfilled
(note D) ; namely, that he, David, will rule over the world in
THE PEOPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 403
his God's name as a witness, namely of God his Lord. Here
also, where the ruling Servant of the Lord is spoken of, we see the
spiritual character and function belonging to the Servant come
out. Were not the two to be one and the same person ? Cf.
also Isa. xlii. 1 with xi. 2 (p. 280).
If our prophet did not see fit to carry out the synthesis in so
many words, he at least suggested it plainly enough. And the fulfil-
ment, which in other things also unites what was divergent in
prophecy, has supplied the synthesis. It exhibited a King,
claiming to be such, but in a servant's form, the true Son of
David, but without empire in this world. The agreement of his
person and fate with what is prophesied of the Ebed Yakveh is so
marvellous that it has already opened the eyes of many in Israel.
When the majority of that nation on the appearance of Jesus
Christ refused Him the acknowledgment due to Him according
to this prophecy, when after His death it saw only an offence in
His cross, by this very means it converted the prophetic picture
into reality. It proved itself the blind and deaf people that under-
stood not the words of its God, and knew not the wonders done
in its midst. By misjudging and condemning the Righteous One,
it filled up His cup of suffering, such as our prophet pictured.
The Son of God came in servant form, not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Because He was so willing to fulfil all the good pleasure of His
Father (cf. John viii. 29), He received as none else did the testi-
mony of the divine approval, Isa. xlii. I. 1 His work was the
redemption of Israel, whose covenant He established more glori-
ously than Moses, and the communication to the heathen of the
saving 2 revelation and laws of God's kingdom. But compared
with the divine greatness and world-wide range of His work,
His appearance was strangely humble and free from ostentation.
He built His Church up into a kingdom of God altogether from
within outwards, from below upwards. His power depended purely
on inspired speech, exercising redeeming influence on soul and
body. 3 And the most lowly, they who most needed healing, expe-
1 Cf. the divine voice at the baptism of Jesus, where the Spirit of God appeared
descending upon Him, Matt. iii. 17 ; Mark i. 11 ; Luke iii. 22. Just so Matt,
xvii. 5 ; Mark ix. 7 ; Luke ix. 35 ; 2 Pet. i. 17.
2 The name-giving in Luke i. 31 alludes to passages like Isa. xlix. 6 : TlJftEJ'' 1 (cf.
li. 5).
3 Cf. what was said on xlii. 3, 7 (p. 290) respecting the cures of Jesus.
404 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
rienced most richly His self-denying help, and showed themselves
most open to and capable of enlightenment by His divine word. 1
Thus His appearance in divine strength and humble servant-form
gave the impression in overpowering degree, that He was no
other than the Ebed Yahveh described by the prophet, as Matthew
declares in the citation xii. 17-21, after telling how the Lord
indignantly opposed the public glorifying of His work and per-
son. In presence of the Saviour, who assumed all the sickness
and infirmities of men. because His calling was to save all,
the same evangelist alludes to Tsa. liii. 4, not as if he did not
know the connection of this chapter with Christ's own bodily
sufferings, but because he was aware of a connection between
Christ's mediatorial suffering on the cross and the work of healing
by which He also delivered men from sickness proper.
For, of course, the violent suffering and death that befell our
Lord Himself furnishes the most striking fulfilment of what our
prophet says of the Lord's elect Servant. The coincidence is here
so unmistakable that no express reference of the evangelist to it
was necessary. Who can be meant in Isa. 1. 6, lii. 4, but the
Ecce Homo of John xix. 5 ? Who can be meant by the Lamb
dragged without resistance to slaughter (Isa. liii. 7), but He who
is spoken of in 1 Pet. ii. 21 ff. ? What history would illustrate
to us, as the passion-history of the Gospels does, the words of
unspeakable sadness (Isa. liii. 8) respecting the penal judgment,
from which the Just One is led to death after the fashion and
in the company of common criminals, 2 while princes and people
vent on Him their brutal caprice and malice ? 3
Moreover, there can be no doubt that among the testimonies
which our Lord found in Scripture to the necessity of His suffer-
ing and death, 4 this prophecy of the second part of Isaiah stood
in the foremost line ; nor that the apostolic Church, primarily
the apostles themselves, judged of the inner ground and saving
effect of His death, according to His own direction, principally
in the light of these oracles, which directly reveal the saving
character of the innocent suffering of the Just One for the guilty
as the most wondrous of mysteries. Both positions, again, are
1 Matt, xi. 25 ; Luke x. 21. 2 Luke xxii. 37, xxiii. 32.
3 Cf. Acts iv. 27, spoken in reference to this prophecy.
4 Cf. Matt. xvi. 21 ; Mark viii. 31 ; Luke ix. 22 ; Matt xx. 18 f., etc., and espe-
cially Mark x. 33 f.; Luke xviii. 31 ff. with Isa. 1. 6.
THE PKOPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 405
confirmed by definite allusions in the words of Jesus and His
apostles to the ground and purpose of His guiltless suffering, as
stated by Deutero-Isaiah. The passage usually taken in modern
days as the classical declaration from Christ's own lips respecting
the saving value of His death (Matt. xx. 28; Mark x. 45) has
its roots entirely in the revelation of the lowliness of the God-
accepted " Servant " found in Isa. liii., and refers specifically to his
lowly yet blessed ministry expressed in the words i^?3 D'f X Wwn,
ver. 10. 1 In the same way the testimony of the apostles, nay,
even of John the Baptist, 2 respecting the significance of Christ's
death is steeped in the idea of expiatory suffering expressed with
dogmatic defmiteness in Isa. liii. 3 But at the same time the
prophecy involved the necessity of the exaltation and glorifica-
tion of the martyred One, by which he was to receive honour and
glory before all the world in the same degree in which previously
he had voluntarily descended to shame and death. 4
Although, then, in the prophet himself the personal union
between Son and Servant, King and sacrificial Lamb was not
expressly formulated, the apostolic Church, with a unanimity
that included all tendencies, discerned in the true Son of David
the true Servant of Yahveh, and gave no hesitating or half answer
to the question, Who is it that is described in Isa. liii.? 5 And it
must be conceded that even if the prophet did not get so far as
to concentrate his genuine Israel in one historic personality, the
character he drew of the appearance and mission of the true
Servant of Yahveh only found its historical realization in one
person, and in him found an antitype complete in every point.
Thus doubt is impossible respecting the fulfilment of this prophecy.
Having spoken of the Mediator of redemption, we have still to
1 That XvV/> used here corresponds to the Hebrew "133, not Qx, is correct. But
T T
that the DK'K P a id to God for sinners has the effect of a Xi/V/sor, that it ransoms from
T T
punishment, is taught positively and repeatedly in Isa. liii. Thus the sacrifice offered
by the Servant is both. In face of this undeniable connection it is incredible that
a scholar like A. Ritschl should write ( Die ckr. Lehre von d. JRechtfertigung, ii. 69) :
" In any case, the utterances of Jesus respecting the saving value of His death
have no relation to the type of the innocently suffering Servant of God." Credat
Judaus Apella !
2 John i. 29, 36.
3 Cf. especially 1 Pet. ii. 24 f. ; 1 John iii. 6 ; Heb. ix. 28 ; Rev. v. 6, 9.
4 Cf. Acts iii. 13, 26, where, as in iv. 27, 30, Jesus is called the *<"> of God, not
Son, but Servant, according to Isaiah's prophecy, Phil. ii. 5 ff.
5 Cf. Acts viii. 35.
406 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
glance at the goal of redemption, as Deutero-Isaiah conceived it.
In what form did the prophet conceive the divine rule, in which
it is self-evident history is consummated in his view ? With
him, also, the future kingdom of God does not lose its national
shape. After Israel has been redeemed from bondage and fitted
for its high calling by the Servant of Yahveh, after it has reached
a happy condition through the return of its captives and a blessed
increase, it remains the Lord's favoured people. Zion-Jerusalem
remains the centre of the kingdom, after its God has become King
of the world (Hi. 7). Then first the city really comes to splendour
and honour. Its restoration is dwelt on throughout the book
with special love and delight. 1
Compared with the image of Zion in Ezekiel, the one in
Deutero-Isaiah stands on a higher level of spiritual glory. It is
not, indeed, exempted from the limits of earthly life ; death is not
yet abolished ; still life is normal, long (far beyond the century !),
blessed, free from pain and plague. 2 The neighbourhood of
Jerusalem is a true garden of God, where only anthems of praise
and psalms of joy are heard (li. 3) ; the truce of nature promised
Isa, xl. 6 ff., has there begun (Ixv. 25) ; the city itself is founded
on and adorned with precious stones. Its inhabitants are pure,
genuine disciples of the Lord. And this happy state never ends ;
it rests on a divine dispensation valid for ever. In liv. 9 this
dispensation is described as inviolable, like the promise made to
Noah in reference to the earth's continuance (p. 94).
liv. 1 0. " For the mountains shall depart and the hills totter,
but my favour shall not depart from thee, nor my covenant
1 1 of peace totter, saith He that pities thee, Yahveh. Thou
afflicted one, storm-tossed, uncomforted, behold, I place thy
12 stones in stibium, 3 and lay thy foundation in sapphires, and
make rubies thy wall-pinnacles, and thy doors carbuncles,
13 and thy whole surrounding jewels. And all thy sons shall
be Yahveh's disciples, and great shall be the welfare of thy
14 sons. By righteousness thou shalt be established. Be far
1 Isa. xl. 2, xliv. 26, xlix. 16 ff., li. 3, Hi. 1 ff., liv. 1 ff., 9 ff., lix. 20, Ix. 1 ff.,
Ixi. 3 ff., Ixii. 1 ff., Ixv. 18 ff, Ixvi. 10, etc.
a Ixv. 19 ff., with which cf. xxxiii. 24 and xxxv. 10.
3 T^B. stibium, denotes the bright black colouring with which Oriental women
paint their eyelids to enhance the beauty of their eyes. This powder forming the
mortar, the several precious stones shine forth from it like eyes. One is thereby
reminded of the architectural bordering common in ancient Palestine.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE : EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVL 407
from anxiety, for thou hast nothing to fear, and from terror,
15 for it cannot come nigh thee. Behold, they assemble in
crowds it proceeds not from me. Who assembles against
thee ? he shall join himself to thee." l
Thus Yahveh's grace and favour to His city are firm as the
foundation of the earth. Nay, should even the " eternal " moun-
tains and hills begin to totter, His counsel of peace and salvation
concerning Zion will not be shaken. The Church, hitherto so
terribly tempest-tossed, will form a strong city, built of most
costly stone. Isa. xxviii. 16 (p. 286) is here figuratively
developed further. The stones of the city being all jewels, it
will acquire immense worth. But these precious stones, which
reflect God's light in diverse pure, glowing colours, imply
something deeper. The whole city is transfigured in light,
etherealized by the glory of the Lord. The precious stones,
already employed significantly in the Mosaic cultus, express
the penetration of the densest mass by the most spiritual
element, by ethereal light. Henceforth this feature, transcend-
ing empirical reality, is used frequently in depicting the perfect
city of God. 2
But what is said of the glorifying of the walls and gates by
the Lord animating and illumining everything, applies also to
the persons in God's city. All its dwellers without exception 3
are what their holy calling requires them to be disciples of
Yahveh, docile to divine revelation and well trained in
obedience. Thus not merely will One by way of exception
bear the character which God's true Servant attributed to him-
self in distinction from Israel; nor will even a number of
prophets be thus distinguished ; but the whole Church, now
God's willing organ of revelation, will be mature, as former prophets
already foretold in reference to the last days. 4 Just so in
Ix. 21 the whole Church is characterized as without blame:
" Thy people are wholly righteous, they possess the land for ever."
This illumination of mind and heart, rendering the people
1 ns has here a hostile sense : " Whoever assembles in thy vicinity with hostile
intent is overcome by thy wondrous force of attraction and must yield to thee. "
by ?33 we take, according to 1 Chron. xii. 9 ff., in the sense of : to fall to one, join
him (so also Gesenius, Knobel, et al.), not: to be ruined by thee.
2 Tob. xiii. 16 f. ; Rev. xxi. 18 ff. 3 Cf. Isa. iv. 3, p. 262.
* Joel iii. 1 f. ; Jer. xxxi. 34.
408 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
obedient, secures also enduring prosperity, peace without and
within, on the part of God and men, in one word Evt? (liv.
10-13), which reminds us of liii. 5, as the n iHV, ver - 14, does
of liii. 11. Both are originally procured for the people by the
suffering Servant, and become its abiding inner possession.
Such a Church cannot be harmed by any power of the world ;
it is impregnable, and may live in the joyous confidence that
everything which the world may undertake against it will turn
to its advantage. What Joel and others 1 said of the future
inviolability of Zion is true of the new city of God ; cf. also
Isa. lii. 1.
In reference to the more spiritual conception of the Church
and its vocation in its final state, chap. lix. 21 is especially
to be consulted, where it is said, not of the entire nation as
it now exists, but " of those converted from sin in Jacob,"
ver. 2 :
lix. 21. " And I, this is my covenant with them,saith Yahveh :
My SPIRIT, which is upon thee, and my WORDS, which I laid
in thy mouth, shall not depart from thy mouth nor from the
mouth of thy seed, nor from the mouth of thy seed's seed,
saith Yahveh, henceforth for ever."
As far as I am concerned, the Lord here declares, 2 " this is
the agreement by which I put myself in a relation of grace
with , them : the irrevocable bestowal of my Spirit and words
upon thee and thy posterity." By the latter phrases we are to
understand, not the prophet, but the Church now directly
addressed. It is no longer, as in previous covenants, an external
promise, or the requirement of outward legal observance, which
the Lord lays down ; but Israel's divine privilege as well as its
vocation becomes altogether spiritual. It is designed to be the
depositary of God's Spirit and word to all time.
Here, also, we learn more clearly than in Ezekiel's diagram of
the future temple why the fulfilment of these prophecies was not
seen on the restoration of Judah after the exile. The Church
lacked altogether the spiritual preconditions for taking such an
attitude to God before the whole world, and for discharging so
high a vocation towards the whole world. The internal work of
1 Obad. ver. 17 ; Joel iii. 20 ; Jer. xxxi. 40; Zech. xiv. 11, etc.
* In exact accordance with the form of the covenant made with Abraham, Gen.
xvii. 4. QniN for DfiK as above, liv. 15.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 409
redemption, which, according to our prophet's view, must precede
the state of favour, was not yet accomplished.
Yet the attitude and vocation of God's exalted Church towards
the world appear in his prophecy as the crown of the whole.
Wherever he pictures the glory of the future Zion, there also the
nations of the world come into the limits of his vision ; and by
no means merely as a dark foil in judgment being executed upon
them. Certainly judgment falls on them all, even as Babylon is at
present involved in it. Upon Edom the day of merited vengeance
comes in terrible form (Ixiii. 1 ff.), and upon all adversaries of the
Lord (lix. 18), upon all peoples and tongues, who gather in crowds
against Jerusalem, in accordance with Joel iii. 1 ff. (Ixvi. 18).
But far more frequently he speaks of the salvation coming to the
heathen world also. The judgment upon it is not merely external,
but spiritual. It is conquered internally by proofs of the Lord's
power, before which the authority of idols sinks into hopeless
ruin. Yahveh proves Himself the First and the Last, the sole
God. 1 Even the final judgment will bring new members to God's
kingdom and contribute to its completion (Ixvi. 1 9 ff.). But even
now the heathen world is not inaccessible to the knowledge of
the true God. It is ripe to receive the divine light and right,
and awaits the messenger who is to bring it these. And this
was just the mission of Israel, the nation engaged in Yahveh's
service, to communicate to the nations the light given it by
divine revelation. Only, the messenger whom the Lord would
send to them is utterly unfit for the work ; he himself hears and
sees nothing (xlii. 1 9 f.). But the Lord finds an instrument for
His purpose ; it is the one set forth in xlii. 1 ff., the true Servant
of God, in whom his Lord has unqualified delight. He is chosen
for this work, as we saw xlii. 4, 6 ; and, insignificant as his
outward strength and appearance may be, will accomplish the
incredible, carrying God's right and light to the ends of the earth.
Nay, according to xlix. 6 f., the highest distinction coming to
him consists in this work being laid upon him by God, a work
far grander and more glorious than the new establishment of the
Israelitish nation in its own land.
Here everywhere there is a sense of the need of mission-toil, a
consciousness of a mission to be accomplished among the heathen,
such as never expressed itself with equal force and breadth in
1 Isa. xl. 25, xli. 1 ff. , xlii. 8, xlv. 21, xlvi. 9.
410 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
former prophecies. What hitherto had been Israel's sacredly-
guarded privilege, the divine Torahand judgment, 1 go forth to the
heathen. No doubt Isaiah and Micah have already foretold in
similar words the diffusion of the divine light from Zion over the
whole world, and the going forth of the Torah from Jerusalem to
all nations. 2 But it is not altogether without importance, that
there the nations must first take the trouble to go to Jerusalem
to obtain their light there, whereas here the enlightening word is
first carried forth to them, and so, no doubt, they also learn the
way to Jerusalem ; for even in our prophet's thoughts Jerusalem
remains the centre of God's kingdom. It is a distinction in
which the contrast of ruling and serving is reflected. In Isaiah
and Micah the Messianic Jerusalem calls the heathen to it by its
glory and greatness ; while this is also the case in Deutero-Isaiah,
he sees also in the lowliness of the Servant of Yahveh a means,
and that the mightiest, for winning the heathen to God. In his
self-sacrificing ministry this Servant brings the light to them,
thus fulfilling the mission entrusted to him by God.
We shall not go wrong in supposing that this insight into
God's saving purposes in reference to the heathen, and into His
use of the true Israel for their salvation, was a fruit of the
sojourn in exile. As Israel there learnt through its conquerors
the impotence of idols and consequently of heathenism, so it
became aware of a certain hunger after God in the nobler heathen
which constitutes the greatness of the human race. And so
perhaps the feeling grew deeper in Israel, that despite its in-
significance it was called as the people of the true God to give
the supreme law to its tyrants, thus by an act of self-denial
winning its finest triumph over them. The prophet declares this
with divine confidence; but, of course, he regards not the empirical
nation, but its ideal representative, as entrusted with this mission.
The thought, intimated already in Obad. ver. 20 f. (p. 322), that a
connection exists in God's intention between Israel's bondage
and dispersion among the nations, and the conversion of the
heathen to God, now takes this energetic shape. The captives
dragged to the farthest zones become the occasion of bringing
the most unknown nations to worship at Jerusalem. They come
with their treasures, bringing the children of Zion for their most
1 min and CDC'O, Isa. xlii. 4, li. 4.
1 Isa. ii. 3 ; Micah iv. 2.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 411
precious offering, as described so gloriously in chap. lx., where the
city slumbering in impotence is addressed :
lx. 1. " Arise, grow light, for thy light comes, and the glory of
2 Yahveh rises brightly upon thee ! For, behold, darkness
covers the earth, and obscurity the nations ; but upon thee
Yahveh beams forth, and His glory will appear upon thee !
3 And nations walk to thy light, and kings to the rising of thy
4 rays. Lift up thine eyes round about and behold, they all
assemble, they come to thee ! thy sons shall come from far,
5 and thy daughters be borne on thy side. 1 Then shalt thou
behold and shine, and thy heart trembles and enlarges ; for the
wealth of the sea rolls to thee, the strength of the heathen
comes to thee."
What a sight for the orphaned, widowed mother, when she
opens her eyes and sees her children being brought from every
side ! The foreign heathen, who bring the noblest products of
their land and themselves 2 as tribute, at the same time bring
with reverent care the children of Jerusalem pining in exile in
their land, to whom, according to xlix. 22 f., the foremost among
them do not disdain to render a nurse's office. This, according to
Ixvi. 20, is the most acceptable offering they can present to the
Lord. Moreover, they themselves the heathen experience the
full power of divine grace. It is true, they must minister to
Zion (lx. 1 2). According to Ixi. 5 f., they have to look after the
profane work in the sacred land, the feeding of the herds as well
as tillage and vintage, that Israel may be given wholly to the
priesthood, the service of God. They have also to endow the holy
people and land with their riches, lx. 7. And for this end they
become members of the holy nation. They subscribe, not without
reason, to Yahveh, and name themselves after Jacob's name
(xliv. 5) ; in fact, they are incorporated with the holy nation.
Ivi. 3. " Let not the foreigner, who has joined himself to
Yahveh, speak thus : ' Verily Yahveh will sever me from His
people.' And let not the eunuch say : ' Behold, I am a dry
tree.' "
Not in " a very pardonable proselytizing spirit," as Gesenius
1 Properly : supported on thy side. Little children in the East are often carried
astride on the shoulder, and also, which is meant here and Ixvi. 12, on the hip-joint,
so that the child's face is turned to the bearer.
2 So TTlj ver. 5, is perhaps meant : the strength, i.e. the elite, of heathen nations.
412 OLD TESTAMENT PKOPIIECY.
supposes, but in the large-hearted spirit that breaks not a bruised
reed, access to the Church is thrown open to all, who by
observing merely the fundamental commands of the law prove
their subjection to the God of Israel. Let no one deem himself
too mean to be an accepted member of the Church, not even one
labouring under the dishonouring infirmity which according to
Dent, xxiii. 2 excluded from the Church. The Lord will know
how to richly make up such defects to His faithful ones, giving
them an eternal name better than that of fair children. And
to all the foreigners, who prove faithful to the covenant, He
promises :
IVL 7. " I bring them to my holy mountain and make them joy-
ful in my house of prayer ; their burnt-offerings and slain-
offerings are well-pleasing on mine altar, for my house shall
8 be called a HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL NATIONS. Thus saith
Yahveh, Lord of all, who gathers the scattered ones of
Israel : ' Still further will I gather beyond it to its gathered
.ones.'"
This destination of the temple, to receive all nations, is significant
enough. Solomon indeed in his consecration-prayer thought of
the stranger coming there to worship, 1 Kings viii. 41. But
there individuals only are referred to, here a union of nations
(Ixvi. 23, all flesh] to worship in this temple, thus almost doing
away with the local limit of the conception, which is felt to be
too narrow. The chief point is that the God who dwells on Zion
will be acknowledged and invoked by all mankind. As ver. 8
indicates, His flock will be too small for the Lord, even after He
has broiight together all the scattered sheep of His people ; He
will yet bring others with like care. The thought is the same as
in John x. 16, which even the form of the conception closely
resembles.
Chap. IxvL 2 Of. goes a step farther, where that which the
heathen offer, namely, the returning Israelites, whom they conduct
with respectful mien, is made parallel with the valid Levitical
offerings ; and then, the heathen having shown themselves compe-
tent to offer acceptable gifts to God, entrance into the priestly
and Levitical order is thrown open to them. " From them also I
will take for priests and Levites, saith Yahveh." Certainly this
" from them " is referred not only by Jewish expositors, but also
by Knobel, Hitzig, Duhin, and others, to the returning exiles, in
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 413
favour of which they appeal to ver. 2 2 l with more right than to
Ixi. 5 f. But this explanation we hold to be untenable. That
the Levitical priesthood will be formed out of the captives, among
whom at that time the kernel of the order is found, is taken for
granted ; but here a new election of grace is in question, by
which the Lord completes His priesthood from those who did not
previously belong to it according to the connection with ver. 20,
undeniably from the heathen to whom therefore will be assigned,
not merely profane labour for God's kingdom and the position of
laymen in the Church, but also a fitting representation in the
priesthood. This is the new thought meant to be expressed in
the sentence complementary to Ixi. 5 f. 2 That it is quite in the
spirit of our large-hearted prophet, with his kindliness to the
heathen, no one will contest.
Thus it is not a mere restoration of ancient Jerusalem that he
foretells, but a real rebuilding of the holy city, a new birth of the
whole theocracy. The conception, perhaps, still rests on the
venerable and significant forms of the past, but the spirit every-
where soars higher. The prophet gives himself no time to linger
amid these forms, like Ezekiel. He hastens without pause to
the supreme goal. That goal is a genuine Israel, born again
inwardly, emancipated and sanctified by God's wonder-working
grace, serving Him not only in the outward forms of life, but in
spirit and in truth, and in accordance with its high destiny
summoning all nations to this service. True, he sees the com-
munity of nations, enlarged immeasurably, still performing a
locally limited worship on Zion, where the old temple stood. But
the new temple of the Lord is no longer specifically Israelitish,
but a house of prayer for all nations ; for now every knee shall
bow before the true God (xlv. 23). Animal sacrifices are still
mentioned in the old style, but the prophet is aware of a more
1 Ver. 22 declares the eternal duration of the memory and priesthood of Israel.
But according to our explanation, this agrees quite well with ver. 21 ; for the incor-
poration of the heathen into God's people, and of its representatives into God's
priesthood, is a security for their ever-enduring continuance after the analogy of
xliv. 3-5.
2 The relation to this passage shows that the prophet here is not giving laws, but
his great ideas of redemption shape and mould themselves spontaneously. Were
Ixi. 5 f. taken as legal paragraphs, even the reference of Ixvi. 21 to the Jews would
be impossible, since there all the Jews are advanced to the priesthood, consequently
a selection from them for this dignity could no longer be thought of.
414 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
perfect and effectual sacrifice, quite putting in the shade the
Levitical ritual which, performed without the true God-pleasing
disposition, is, by reason of its common externalism, only a gross
offence to the Lord. 1
Thus everywhere the old gives place to the new, even the
previous form of God's kingdom to a living energy that will give
it a shape incomparably broader, more true and spiritual The
Lord makes everything new, even nature, heaven and earth.
If, according to Isa. Ix. 19 f., the new Jerusalem no longer
needs light of sun and moon, the Lord illumining it by His glory
day and night, this, of course, does not mean that neither sun nor
moon will any longer exist. But that a new creating of the uni-
verse will actually take place, is proved by Ixv. 17 (cf. Ixvi. 22) :
" Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth" The kingdom
of God is consummated, when not merely Zion, not merely Israel,
not merely the world of nations, humanity, but also the world,
hitherto the arena of history and judgment, is completely
transfigured into a temple of the Lord, resplendent with His
glory. 2
Thus the light of prophetic promise dawned the brightest in the
darkest days. The oppressed and humbled nation might con-
template such days without anxiety. Yet even this " Evangelist "
among the prophets 3 does not omit the earnest warning, that the
salvation which grace offers must not be wickedly scorned and
trifled with. Nay, this warning is the ceterum censeo, which he
repeats 4 after each of the three main parts of his book, and
which he strengthens the third time by an alarming picture of
the condemned, whose worm dies not and whose fire is not
quenched (Ixvi. 24). There is no peace, no prosperity for the
wicked, who meet the Lord with obstinate resistance.
1 Isa. Ixvi. 3. This passage, indeed, does not contain a rejection of every animal
sacrifice, which would contradict Ivi. 7, Ix. 7, but is directed against the overvaluing
of the unholy opus operatum. But, of course, it declares strongly enough how merely
relative the value of sacrifice is, the insufficiency of which is already emphasized in
xl. 16. And xliii. 2 ft", proved the dispensability of such ceremonial. God makes
His grace independent of it. On the other hand, He deemed the sin-offering of the
Righteous Servant necessary and adequate for the salvation of others !
1 Cf. Rev. xxi. 23 and xxi. 1.
* Cf. Augustine, De civitate Dei, xviii. 29.
4 Isa. xlviii. 22, Ivii. 20, Ixvi. 24 ; cf. Ixv. 11 ff. The appearance of those under
divine judgment, which will be a powerful memento to the Church, reminds us
of Ezek. xxxix. 11, 15. Cf. with Dan. xii. 2.
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE: EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXYI. 415
NOTE A. That Isa. xl.-lxvi. was not composed, as tradition says
and many moderns still maintain, 1 by the prophet Isaiah previously
considered, who was already well advanced in life towards the end
of Hezekiah's reign, is made certain to us by the historical environ-
ment which the book everywhere 2 presupposes. The exile in
Babylon, as well as the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple,
are nowhere foretold, but presupposed throughout. In the same way
the prophet speaks of the victorious course of Cyrus as a history
of the time familiar to his contemporaries, to which allusion only
need be made to be understood. The case certainly is different if,
as Nagelsbach still asserts, the prophet (xlv. 3 f.) meant to describe
the mention of the name Cyrus found in his book as a divine
miracle. 3 But this " I called thee by thy name " is to be under-
stood, according to xliii. 1, xlix. 1, of the personal call whose object
Cyrus was, as the elect instrument of the God of whom he knew
nothing. Just so 133X, " I have surnamed thee, given thee thy
title," xlv. 5 (cf. " my shepherd," xliv. 28 ; " my anointed," xlv. 1),
therefore " determined thy honour as well as thy person." Thus
the mention of the name Cyrus does not at all bear the character
of a mysterious disclosure or prediction. In xlii. 2 ff., 25, this con-
queror is spoken of as if his name need not be mentioned, since it
is in every mouth. In xliv. 28, where he is first named incident-
ally, no kind of emphasis is laid on it. In xlv. 1 the discourse
turns to him as one who has already appeared. And when in
these prophecies it is very often insisted that what was announced
long ago by Yahveh is being now fulfilled, 4 this, of course, does not
mean what is contained in the book itself, but what former prophets
predicted. 5 The reference is to their oracles against the powerful
empire of Babylon which now, when the exile foretold by Jeremiah
was nearing its end, suffered blow on blow, by which means
the Lord was preparing for the long-promised deliverance of
His people. The prophet supplies this verification of former
prophecies, and also announces new things which will just as
certainly happen.
1 Hengstenberg, Havernick, Stier, Keil, Delitzsch, A. Rutgers (De Echtheid van
liet Tweede Gedeelte van Jesaja, 1866), Niigelsbach, Lohr (Die Frage iiber die Ach-
theit von Jes. xl.-lxvi., 1878), Himpel (Tubinger Quartalschrift, 1878), et al.
2 The question whether Ivi. 9-lvii. 11 is pre-exilian, does not here concern us.
3 So already Josephus, Ant. xi. 1. 2, who makes Cyrus proclaim publicly that he
found his name in the prophetical writings of the Jews whereas in Ezra i. If. the
piety of the king towards the God of the Jews, which, of course, may have been fostered
by the prophecies to be discussed immediately, appears without this addition.
4 Isa. xli. 26 f., xlii. 9, xliv. 7, xlviii. 3.
5 This shows that very definite prophecies of the overthrow of Babylon were extant,
such as Jer. xxv. 12, xxix. 10, 1. Moreover, Isaiah's oracles, xiii. f., xxxiv., xxxv.
(p. 295), receive hereby critical support, and without doubt were present to the mind
of the seer, along with those of Habakkuk and Jeremiah.
416 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
The purpose of the book also, like its historical situation,
corresponds to the exile alone. Those found in captivity and
in the misery of those days are urged to take comfort, and, in
view of the great events in which God's prophecies were just
then beginning to be fulfilled, to revive their confidence in the
Lord, since now the time of the fulfilment of all those great
promises is coming. This is the practical aim and end of the
book, whose tone, almost throughout comforting and cheerful,
would not at all suit Isaiah's age and mission.
This twofold character of the book, its uniform presupposal of a
state of punishment that has already existed long, and its effort to
comfort and encourage the people found among the heathen by the
hope of the approach of a glorious future, admits but two explana-
tions. One is, that the former Isaiah belonging to the Assyrian period
was so transported by the Spirit into the far future of the Baby-
lonian exile, that he not merely addressed one oracle, like chap, xxxv.,
to that future generation, but completely identified himself with that
age, and thus in the long series of discourses contained in chaps.
xl.-lxvi. everywhere had before his eyes, not his contemporaries, but
that posterity and their circumstances. He must have written this
book as a sealed book (neither intelligible nor useful to his age)
for the after-age, which alone could decipher it. The other more
intelligent supposition is, that the author was not Isaiah at all, but
lived in the age for which he spoke and wrote. In distinction
from the first part Isaiah's personality nowhere appears, nor does
any heading claim the book for him.
In confirmation of the view that we have to do with another
author of unknown name, the difference in style, phraseology, and
strain of thought may be adduced as a reason of the second rank.
In respect of form it is important that certain expressions character-
istic of Isaiah frequently recur even in the second part, and that in
him we have an extraordinary diversity of style. But this is not
at all the style of the second part. Here the language is calm,
uniform, broad, and transparent. There a hundred springs gush
forth, here a clear, majestic stream pours along with equable move-
ment ; there the prophecy follows the most diverse melodies, here
one ground-strain rules the whole composition. As to contents,
the second part, altogether of a piece, is pervaded by the same
ever-recurring conceptions, which are little seen in i.-xxxix. (oppo-
sition to the idolatry of the Babylonians, return of the exiles,
transforming of the desert, etc.), and is governed by one main idea,
that of the Servant of Yahveh, which is foreign to the first part,
but here forms the uniting soul of the whole just as much as that
of Immanuel in Isa. vii.-xiL
Further, Deutero- Isaiah is strongly dependent on Jeremiah, just
as much as on Isaiah. His minute descriptions of idol-manufac-
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE : EZEKIEL, ISAIAH XL.-LXVI. 417
taring l stand to Jer. x. 1 ff. as exposition to text. In the same
way his conception of the Servant of Yahveh has its starting-point in
Jeremiah (xxx. 8-11), even as the personal experiences of the latter
prophet contributed not a little to the individual shaping of that
idea. We cannot help putting Isa. xl.-lxvi. after Jeremiah in the
development of prophecy.
Certainly the connection of the book with Isaiah remains an
enigma. The enigma finds some explanation in the circumstance
that Isaiah's book was collected late, and arranged without fixed
principle. The old Talmudic order of the books may be connected
with its late conclusion : Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, the Twelve.
(Baba Bathra, f. 14, col. 2.) So grand a prophecy might naturally
be regarded as the work of the great prophet, to whose greatness
certainly this second part contributed not a little in the eyes of
after ages. Of. already Ecclus. xlviii. 22 ff., which plainly has
this book of consolation chiefly in view, ver. 24. Add to this, that
among the prophecies of Isaiah some are found to which our
prophet refers, or which (like chap, xxxv.) had first struck the airs
which he again took up. Still, after all, the enigma lying in the
anonymity of this " great Unknown " (Ewald), to whom no pro-
phetic book of approximate extent furnishes an analogy, is not
solved satisfactorily. Elsewhere we see the prophets assuming
responsibility for their prophecies by giving their name, and this is
done most carefully of all after the exile. That this prophet should
wish and be compelled to conceal his name at Babylon, is little in
harmony with his triumphant bearing. And what hindered him
coming forward after the victory of the Persians ? Further, how
could the home-coming exiles, in whose hearts his words must
have stood uppermost of all prophecies, forget his name ?
However this may be, the divine greatness of this prophetic
book by no means depends on the answer given to the critical
question as to its human author. Its marvellous import lies, not
in what it describes as fulfilled, but in what it announces " before
it springs up." In significance it leaves the days of Cyrus far
behind, moving amid incomparably loftier scenes than the great
events of that age.
NOTE B. DB>K (cf. the verb) is shortcoming, debt (in a moral, not
merely pecuniary sense), then making amends for it, the reparation
or satisfaction symbolically rendered to God ; cf. 1 Sam. vi. 3, 8, 17.
Not only is the injury done to men to be repaid them, but a recom-
pense is also to be paid to the Lord, whose justice is likewise violated
by such illegal action, Lev. v. 1-26, vii. 1-10. That " no sacrifice of
the Old Testament has the force of a legal satisfaction to God," is
a preconceived opinion of Kitsch! (Reclitf. u. Versohn. ii. 64), which
is refuted by the use of DPS in the Torah and by history. The
1 Isa. xl. 19 ff., xli. 6f., xliv. 9 ff.
OBBLLI. 2 D
418 OLD TESTAMENT PKOPHECY.
fact that the prophet describes the significance of the supreme
sacrifice he has in view by the special expression, in which the
element of satisfaction comes out most strongly, ought to be
carefully observed.
NOTE C. J. Hamburger (EncyUopddie fur Bilel und Talmud
ii. 5, p. 765 ; 1880) would derive the entire notion of a suffering
Messiah among the Jews (and the Messianic exposition of Isa.
liii.) from the death of Bar Cochba, whose Messiahship was after-
wards sought to be proved by that exposition, just as Christians
sought to prove that of Jesus of Nazareth ; but even if particular
features in the description of the Messiah ben Joseph originate in
the Roman conflicts of that age, the pragmatical connection just
stated is opposed by the fact that the Messiah-faith did not remain
attached to the person of Bar Cochba ; on the contrary, the oldest
and most numerous testimonies to the suffering Messiah utterly
exclude any reference to him. In the same way we must deny
that the two figures of the ruling and suffering Messiah were
sharply separated among the Jews from the first, which fact,
according to Hamburger, was simply unknown to Christian scholars.
The opposite again is proved by the oldest testimonies. For
example, in Tract. Sanhedr. f. 93, col. 2, the Messiah's suffering is
attached to Isa. xi. 2. See Wiinsche, ut ante, p. 56 ff.
NOTE D. The exposition that understands the words of a
transfer of David's rights of grace to the people founders on the
strongly emphatic D^OKsn, Iv. 3. The moment would be ill chosen
to emphasize their unchangeableness, when they were to be severed
from David's house. On the other hand, the fulfilment of the
mercies assured to David includes rich promise for the people (cf.
ver. 5). By David is meant the son of Jesse, who received such
assurances of divine favour as Ps. ex. or Ps. ii., in which, as is
specially recalled, the position of a true witness for God before all
the world was assigned to him, since he had to represent God and
so to convey the knowledge of God to it. That this divine
testament is inviolable is here confirmed ; it will form the contents
of the New Covenant that God makes with His people, will
therefore redound to the salvation and glory of the latter, which
hitherto had been very imperfectly the case ; cf. Ps. Ixxxix. 28.
SIXTH SECTION.
THE POST-EXILIAN PKOPHETS : HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI
(PERIOD OF THE PERSIAN RULE), DANIEL.
40. Haggai and ZechariaJi.
SPEAKING generally, the substance and purpose of the pro-
phecies uttered after the Exile are the ratification of the
promise after a preliminary fulfilment. The predictions of the
former prophets were accomplished in so far as the Jewish nation
had undergone a restoration unique in history. A considerable
portion at least of the banished people, its spiritual dliie, had by
the permission of the Persian king, Cyrus, returned out of exile to
Jerusalem, with Zerubbabel, a representative of the Davidic royal
house, and Joshua the high priest, at their head. But just now
more than ever the fulfilment of the prophetic word was relegated
to the future. How differently the new life in the home-land looked
from what might have been expected according to Ezekiel and
Isa. xl. ff. ! All that could be seen by human eye was a paltry
restoration which gave no promise of raising the theocracy to its
former grandeur. The means, and consequently even the inclina-
tion, were wanting to rebuild the temple itself, so soon as the
attempt met with opposition. Moreover, the political circum-
stances were of such a kind that no hope could be cherished that
the people of the Lord could ever, in face of the world-power
now tyrannizing over all, regain an independent, to say nothing
of a dominant position. 1
In these circumstances the mission of Haggai and Zechariah, who
spoke to the nation in part contemporaneously, in part alternately, 2
was to encourage it, to revive its confidence in the divine promises,
and exhort it not to neglect doing its part, through want of faith
1 Cf. Ezra iii. 12 f. ; Hag. ii. 3 ; Zech. iv. 10.
2 Ezra v. 1, vi. 14. Cf. the dates of their prophecies.
419
420 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
and selfish worldliness, toward restoring the divine rule. In
particular, by re-erecting the temple it was to fulfil the outward
condition of God's dwelling in its midst. It is true that accord-
ing to Ezra iii. 8 ff., a beginning had been made in the second year
after the return (534 B.C.) in rebuilding the temple. But the
work came to a standstill at once, and remained so until the
second year of the reign of Darius (519). 1
First of all, Haggai pleads with glowing zeal for the resumption
of the work neglected far too long, reminding his people, who
were only too moderate and thought more of their own advantage
than of God's honour, that they would gain nothing by their
parsimony toward the temple. In these years of indifference, he
says, they had experienced nothing but misfortune, and indeed
they had deserved nothing else, seeing that while declaring the
building of the house of God " inopportune," they had held the
comfortable, nay, luxuriant, furnishing of their own dwellings
opportune. The great moment of deliverance had found a puny
race.
By the plea (i. 2) that the time to build the Lord's house
was not yet come, the worldly wise are supposed not merely to
allege that the time was not favourable for so great an under-
taking, but with an indolence that wears the look of piety they
direct attention to the hour of God : " Wait till the Lord sets on
foot the building He promised ! " In opposition to this Haggai
declares that God's help and blessing will not be wanting when
they are willing to set to work. In particular, to the two high-
hearted leaders of the colony, the worthy representatives of the
holy kingdom and priesthood, who have clearly waited long for
the moment when they could continue the building, he proclaims
the divine promise : 2 " / am vrith you ! Be of good comfort,
my Spirit will be with you, fear not ! Set to work with all the
people, and the Lord's miraculous, abundant help will not be
wanting."
1 Eb. Schrader (Stud, und Krit. 1867, p. 460 ff.) tries to prove that this account
of the Book of Ezra is incorrect, and that the temple-building was first begun under
Darius at the instance of Haggai and Zechariah (cf. Hag. ii. 18 ; Zech. viii. 9). So
Steiner in Hitzig's Comm., 4th ed. p. 321 f. See against this, F. W. Schultz, Die
Biicher Ezra, Nehemia und Esther, p. 10 ff. Observe especially Hag. ii. 3 (cf.
Ezra iii. 12), from which it appears that the outlines of the temple must have been
already settled before the foundation -day mentioned in Hag. ii. 18.
2 Hag. i. 13, ii. 4, 5.
THE POST-EXILIAN PKOPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 421
ii. 5. " The word that I established with you, when you marched
out of Egypt, and my Spirit abides in your midst ; * fear ye
6 not ! For thus saith Yahveh of hosts : Yet one period it lasts,
a brief one, when I will shake the heavens and the earth and
7 the sea and the dry land, and set in commotion all heathen
nations, and the preciousness of all the heathen shall come,
and I will fill THIS HOUSE with glory, saith Yahveh of hosts.
8 Mine is the silver and mine the gold, saith Yahveh of hosts.
9 Greater shall be the after glory of this house than the former,
saith Yahveh of hosts. And in this place I will dispense
PEACE, saith Yahveh of hosts."
Little as the present state of the people of Israel seems to
answer to these words, the ancient covenant of Sinai, according
to which it was the elect nation in which God dwells, 2 remains
in force ; and in proof of this He makes His Spirit dwell still as
formerly and for ever in its midst, i.e. in the chosen organs of
the people, 3 a treasure infinitely more precious than all the out-
ward honours and riches wanting to the impoverished people of
God. Moreover, a mighty revolution will soon take place in the
whole state of the world, the effect of which will be to transfer
the centre of the world's power and glory to the temple on Zion.
Thus a new evolution in the world's history approaches. After
the passage of a single and brief section of time, 4 the Lord will
bring to an end the dead calm now pressing with leaden weight
on His people in its despised position in the eyes of the nations.
God sets in motion heaven and earth to make His kingdom
acknowledged in the world. The chief result of this movement
will be to give quite a new direction to the aspirations of the
nations. In accordance with Isaiah's numerous oracles, they will
1 Permanent validity is assured to the Word settled in covenant-form at the
exodus from Egypt, as well as permanent abode to the Divine Spirit in the midst of
the Church. Hence by an easy zeugma the prophet could join HQJJ with both word
and Spirit, only he had at first a transitive construction in mind, as flX proves.
* Ex. xix. 5, see p. 128.
3 Cf. the similar combination of Spirit and word in the same connection, Isa. lix.
21. Of course here the general life-spirit is not meant, but the specifically Divine
Spirit ; cf. Zech. iv. 1 ff. The work of the Spirit is not to be limited to assistance in
building the temple, since His permanent abode in the nation is emphasized.
4 The LXX. translate ii. 6 incorrectly : " Yet once I will shake the heavens"
(followed by Heb. xii. 26). There is no reference to former shakings. Cf. Isa. x. 25 ;
Ex. xvii. 5 ; Hab. ii. 3. The words are accordingly to be explained : Yet continue*
it one (neuter=a section of time), and that a brief one then will I, etc.
422 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
deem only their best possessions good enough to adorn Yahveh's
temple, which will then be filled with glory. As in Isa. Ix. 5
(p. 411) one may be doubtful whether in Hag. ii. 7 by the orna-
ment, the delicice of the nations, are meant mere wares, or the
noblest of the heathen themselves. At any rate, what they are
and have of greatest value they bring to enrich " this house,"
all the riches of the earth belonging ft priori to the Lord.
Thus the former splendour of the temple under Solomon will
be excelled by that of the future. Let it be observed that
two temples are not distinguished here. The house of Yahveh
on Zion is always one and the same, its appointments only
differing in the course of ages. But, little favourable as circum-
stances seem, these appointments will soon attain an unexampled
splendour through the universal acknowledgment accorded to the
temple of Yahveh in the world. And not in vain do the nations
stream together there, bringing their most costly gifts ; there
they too obtain the best of gifts from God, one they possess not,
true peace, the divine salvation that includes also earthly well-
being (p. 3 1 0). The bestowal of this most precious gift, compre-
hending in itself all others, the Lord has bound to that spot, the
scene of His revelation and worship. The glory ptas), with
which the Lord fills His temple, ver. 7, is, of course, as the context
shows, meant concretely of the presents which men bring thither.
All this presupposes that He first fills the house with its former
glory, 1 and hence reveals Himself to the world, so that all nations
learn that peace and well-being stream to them from here, as
promised in so many prophetic oracles.
The oracle of Haggai speaks of the completion of God's house
on earth. It is evident that scant justice is done to his language,
which points to a world -wide convulsion, turning all eyes to
Jerusalem and bringing the homage of all the heathen thither,
by a reference to the acknowledgment, which followed soon, of the
temple by single non-Israelitish princes, like Darius (Ezra vi.
6-10), Artaxerxes (ibid. vii. 15 ff.), and later ones (2 Mace. iii.
2), Herod who finished the temple in more splendid style than
Solomon (Joseph. Ant. xv. 11), or to the presents of non-Israelites,
who came into the temple in great numbers (Joseph. Bell. Jud. ii.
17. 3). These acts of homage were merely isolated, encouraging
tokens, pointing to a complete realization of Haggai's utterances.
1 Cf. 1 Kings viii. 11 ; Zech. ii. 9.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS: HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 423
The shaking of the world foretold by him, comprehensive as
creation, followed shortly, taking its start from " this house."
We would assign less weight, indeed, than older expositors to the
outward relations of Jesus to this temple, e.g. His teaching in the
structure of which Zerubbabel laid the foundation, though it is
significant that God here published the message of peace and
salvation designed for all nations through the elect organ of His
Spirit. But the temple comes into view, as in Isa. ii. (Micah
iii.), as the dwelling of the true God and the seat of His
revelation. Israel's great prerogative is that it has God dwelling
in its midst. And the greatness of this distinction was to be
shown in days to come in a way quite different from what
was the case in the past. From His dwelling in Israel God's
supreme, world-embracing revelation has gone forth; and to
that place (i.e. to the revelation of His nature there, appearing in
historical realization) all nations learn to direct their gaze and
worship. With the appearance of this divine glory certainly
the outward temple structure must fall into ruin, or rather
undergo a transformation that it may correspond to the grandeur
of its purpose and the heathen may be able to enter it. The
greatest events of the world's history must subserve the building
of this temple, the abode of Yahveh, and men's noblest gifts and
possessions are only just good enough to form its adornment.
The local and historical limitation of the prophecy explains why
Haggai still sees this perfected temple in the form of the stone
one about to be built. 1 The stone one was still in his days what
the immovable, spiritual one was to be in the New Covenant :
" The dwelling of the true God upon earth." Before the glori-
fying of the temple foretold by him but one period had still
to run, and that a short one. Of course, where the existence of
a temple is in question, no scanty measure of time is to be
laid down. But, measured by the religious development of
Israel, the last period of the holy nation before the revealing
of the New Covenant had in fact dawned. No really new
epoch followed before the great one, that brought to completion
the history of God's people, and threw open its temple to all
the world. Moreover, the world-convulsions, that ushered in
this great crisis of time, presented themselves soon enough.
1 In Zechariah we already find the perfect temple-building separated from the
present work, p. 440.
424 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
The prophet's exhortations to build the dwelling of the Lord
fell on receptive soil, not only in the case of the two leaders, but
also at last among the people. On the twenty-fourth day of the
ninth month of the second year of Darius a new start in building
was made. 1 From this day, as the prophet was empowered to pro-
mise, the people's state of impurity in God's sight would cease,
and the misfortune hitherto experienced turn into blessing
(ii. 10 fif.). But Haggai had a still more important promise to
address on this same day to the heir of the. regal dignity,
Zerubbabel. To him the word of the Lord came :
ii. 21. "Speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, thus: I
22 will shake the heavens and the earth, and will overthrow the
throne of the empires, 2 and destroy the strength of the
kingdoms of the heathen, and will overthrow the war-chariots
and them that ride thereon, and the steeds and their riders
shall perish, every one by the sword of his companion.
23 On that day, saith Yahveh of hosts, I will make thee,
Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, my servant, saith Yahveh, and
make thee as a signet ring, for I have chosen thee, saith
Yahveh of hosts."
The world-shaking described in ver. 6 is now considered on
its political side, in its significance for the Davidic royal house,
as in ver. 6 in its reflex influence on the position of the temple.
For this reason the promise is given in altogether personal form
to Zerubbabel, on whose person the Messianic dignity rests, and
who, a worthy descendant of David, like another Solomon, takes
in hand the building of the temple. 3 The divinely-caused con-
vulsion appears here as a judgment on all kingdoms of the earth,
1 It is strange that in Hag. i. 15 this beginning is already announced three
months earlier. We explain the matter thus : i. 15 is a gloss, attached in loose
grammatical form, which a reader rightly borrowed from ii. 1, 10. But after-
wards some one changed the ninth into the sixth month, because all the rest of the
first chapter falls into the sixth, and in ii. 1 the seventh follows. Consequently
between Haggai's first exhortation and energetic action, not three weeks, but
somewhat over three months intervened, in which, of course, various preparations
had to be considered.
! Xot one throne is meant, by which the world-power would be set collec-
tively over against God's people (Kbbler), but KD3 stands just as generally as
pm-
3 Quite unwarranted is Hitzig's distinction, that Zerubbabel received this mes-
sage, not as David's descendant, but as the then leader of the Jews !
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS: HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 425
in which their martial power, their war-chariots, in which they
trust, perish, one destroying the other. 1
Whilst in this way the Lord involves the heathen kingdoms in
turmoil and conflict, so that they destroy each other, just at the
time when He brings every crown and throne to the dust He will
display His loving care for the Davidite, and crown him with the
highest honour. The promise to Zerubbabel is limited to a single
figure, but a significant one, a figure susceptible not unintentionally
of various interpretations. The signet-ring, to which God compares
David's heir, 2 expresses in any case the value at which he is
estimated by God. Also the element of inseparableness lies in
it ; 3 only not this exclusively, as some expositors think. For the
meaning is not merely that when God destroys the other empires
He will not reject this prince, but keep him inseparably with
Himself ; but that catastrophe will raise this princedom to an
exceptionally glorious position ; its relation to what is promised
is causal, not merely antithetical. Zerubbabel will thus be made
a jewel, on which God's eye rests with pleasure, which He reckons
His most precious ornament, and therefore takes great care of.
Moreover, a signet-ring has not merely a real, but also an ideal
value ; it is more intimately associated with the person of the
possessor than any other ornament ; it bears his initial, and is
the token attesting the genuineness of his utterances. Hence the
thought is suggested, that the Davidite will be to the world
the sign of God's acts and utterances. What the world sees of
divine action will come through his means ; in his person the
finger of God and the law of God will be everywhere acknow-
ledged ; so inseparable on earth is God's rule from His people. 4
clearly enough recall David, Ps. Ixxviii. 70. Here also the point in
question is the kingdom in opposition to the heathen empires, not the position of
the Jews generally ; hence the quite personal address to the representative of the
kingly race.
1 Cf. Judg. vii. 22 ; Ezek. xxxviii. 21 ; Zech. xiv. 13.
2 DIES used absolutely, is not to put on, lay on, but : to set for something, make.
3 The signet-ring is so used in Cant. viii. 6 ; Jer. xxii. 24 ; Ecclus. xvii. 17.
4 Von Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 2, p. 600 : "Thereby it is not merely said, that
He will hold him true or in honour like a signet-ring, but that He will give him the
position of a signet-ring, and use him like one ... in the sense, that only that and
all that has force and validity in God's sight, which bears the seal of His acknow-
ledgment and the stamp of His gracious approval through being put by Him under
Zerubbabel. " Here the figure is worked out more definitely than its general terms
require.
426 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Thus the "unchangeable mercies of David" (Isa. Iv. 3) are
not forgotten. The Anointed of the Lord towers in personal
individuality above the nation, exhibiting to view the nation's
intimate union with its God. The aim of the approaching world-
crisis is just as much the exalting of the Davidic ruler above all
princedoms as the enrichment of the temple by the homage of
all nations. Zerubbabel here receives such a promise because he
is David's Son, permitted to hear the title " my Servant " from
God's lips. He is reserved for a glorious future. How the
Lord will honour him, is of set purpose not specified more
distinctly. We know that he was only the mediator of the
promise : as representative of the race chosen to be the salvation
of mankind 1 he was also permitted to be the representative of the
promise, i.e. to receive the great promises referring to the future
of this house, which would be fulfilled in after days in a scion of
his house. The conscious, typical, representative use of this
Davidite by the prophet is confirmed by the analogous signi-
ficance attributed to him and the high priest Joshua by his
contemporary Zechariah. In the history of the fulfilment, which
shows, in fact, how the Lord makes all movements among the
nations subserve the kingdom of David's Son, and all sceptres
and thrones sink down before him, the wonderful figure of the
signet-ring attains a realization complete under every aspect.
The true Messiah shares the unique honour of a most intimate
relation to God, and is to the world the confirming sign of every-
thing divine made known to it, for God's initial is engraven on
Him in unique fashion.
41. The Visions of ZecJiariak.
Hand in hand with Haggai, Zecluiriah, belonging to a priestly
race, 2 in those days cheered the resuscitated Church in Jerusalem
by prophetic confirmation of former divine promises, heartening
it for its work of faith. At the same time he described in novel,
original style the growth of God's kingdom out of obscure
1 Both the genealogies of Jesus, Matt. i. 12 f. and Luke iii. 27, contain Zerubbabel's
name. Cf. Delitzsch, Die zweifache Oenealogie des Messias, Luth, Zeit-sch. 1860,
p. 460 ff.
* Ezra v. 1, vi. 14 ; Neh. xii. 16. In these passages he is called son of Iddo ;
on the other hand, in Zech. i. 1, son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. Cf. Bleek,
Einkitung tn' A. T., p. 448, 4th ed.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 427
beginnings. This was done chiefly in a series of night-visions}
received by the prophet in the time when the building of the temple
was vigorously going on. These eight visions were seen in one
night, and, mutually complementary, form a finished whole. In
the first introductory vision (i. 8 ff.) Zechariah sees a land of
horsemen, led by a rider on a red horse, halting between the
myrtle trees in the deep ground, by which is meant a well-
known locality at the foot of the temple-hill. The leader is
called " the angel of Yahveh " simply, meaning the angel in
whom Yahveh revealed Himself from of old pre-eminently and
in particular assumed the guidance of His people Israel. 2 After
the horsemen have delivered their report before the Lord's dwell-
ing : " We have gone through the earth, and behold the whole
earth is quiet and still," the leader begins : " Lord of hosts,
how long wilt Thou not have pity on Jerusalem and the cities
of Judah, with which Thou hast been wroth seventy years ? "
Hereupon the prophet receives from the Lord through His angel
joyous, comforting assurances, which testify the awaking of the
divine love for His people. On the heathen in their security
He will bring retribution for the wrongs done to His people, and
cause Jerusalem-Judah to experience His mercy : " Its cities
shall again be built and overflow with plenty, Jerusalem shall
again appear the chosen city of the Lord."
Here as in Haggai we see that the easy careless calm of the
world, that is unconcerned about Israel's God, pressed like an
Alpine burden on the Church of the faithful in these days.
Was the present wretched state of the sacred cause to last for
ever ? Were not the prophecies, promising to Zion a central
position in the world, soon to be fulfilled ? What the seer
beholds is an answer to this eager question of the good. Already
has the great Covenant- Angel, who in old days showed himself
1 These visions, although received in the night, are no dreams (cf. p. 15) ; nor
are they the clothing of previously conceived ideas, as Jesus clothed His teachings
in parables ; for they are presented to the prophet quite objectively ; he has to
inquire and search after their significance, as the disciples of Jesus after the meaning
of the parables.
2 Cf. Ex. xiv. 19, xxiii. 20 f., xxxiii. 15 ; Josh. v. 14 ; Judg. v. 23 ; Isa. Ixiii. 9,
etc. This angel, who sets forth God's objective revelation to His people and the
world, is to be distinguished from the angelus interpres, who is the medium of the
subjective revelation to the prophets, i.e. makes them see visions and hear God's
words (against Hitzig). On the other hand, he is identical with the man on the red
horse, the leader of the horsemen (Hofmann, Kohler, Keil differently).
428 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
the victorious leader of the heavenly as well as earthly hosts,
mounted his blood-red steed, already has his motley martial
train swept through the earth, reconnoitring the scene of their
future activity. 1 And Israel has an eloquent advocate before
God in His angel, who reminds Him of the promises given,
whose fulfilment can be delayed no longer, since according to
the word spoken to Jeremiah 2 the time of the bondage was to
last seventy years, and this space has now elapsed (reckoning
from 588 B.C., the year of the overthrow).
The twofold purport of the assurance given in Zech. i. 14 ff.
then divides, in keeping with the symmetry ruling in the cycle,
into two special visions, the first of which (i. 1 8 fif.) sets forth the
judgment on the world-powers, the second (ii. 1 ff.) the divine
benefits to Israel. The prophet sees four Jwrns rise up. Accord-
ing to the explanation given, these are the world-powers who
attacked the people, tribe, and city of God, and scattered them.
The horn is a common symbol of power. 3 The number four,
taken from the quarters of heaven, denotes the Cosmos in its
many-sidedness. Thus the world-power in its entire extent is
meant, and to the seer geographical juxtaposition is more
important than historical succession. We have not therefore to
seek four historical kingdoms (as in Daniel), which attained
universal rule in succession. This does not preclude our connect-
ing with the several quarters of heaven the great power found
there. Zechariah now sees four smiths 4 come forward fully
equipped, and strike off the four threatening horns which pre-
vented any one breathing freely. Here also no historic persons
come into view. 5 The importance of the smiths lies simply in
what they do, and the great teaching of this vision is that to
every arrogant power of the world, setting itself up as a tyrant
over God's people, a smith is already appointed to humble and
1 Cf. with this Tj^nnn, Job. i. 7, ii. 2. That these mounted martial hosts of the
Lord are copied from the Persian post-riders (Herod, viii. 98, iii. 126 ; Xen. Cyr.
viii. 6. 17), as now generally maintained, is more misleading than helpful iu
explanation, apart from the doubtful poetry of the conception.
2 Jer. xxv. 11, xxix. 10.
3 Cf. Amos vi. 13 ; Jer. xlviii. 25 ; Ezek. xxix. 21, and often.
4 Blacksmiths are meant (more fully $TU tHH, Isa. xliv. 12), not carpenters,
(LXX. ), since the horns are conceived of as iron (cf. Micah iv. 13).
s Many Jewish expositors interpret the four of Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra,
Kehemiah !
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS: HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 429
break it. Although this or that power may seem invincible for
a long time, it falls ; the Church alone, defenceless, sorely tried,
severely attacked, endures ; whereas all the secular and temporal
powers, that try their hostile horn on the Church, are smitten
to the ground.
Alongside this thorough humbling of the world-powers the
third vision puts the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the enlarging and
exalting of the city and people of God (ii. 1 ff.). In graphic,
dramatic style the prophet is shown that they are in error who
conceive the city of God, which is to be newly erected, according
to former standards. In i. 16 it was promised that the measuring-
line should be stretched over Jerusalem, i.e. its rebuilding should
take place. But the youth who goes forth full of eagerness to
measure must be taught that in the new city of God measure-
ment is superfluous, nay, impossible. The crowd of men and
cattle dwelling in it will be so vast that the city cannot be
enclosed by walls. But its open position will be no harm to it:
" I will be to it, saith Yahveh, a wall of fire round about, and I
will be the glory in its midst " (ii. 5). As no respectable city
was conceivable in antiquity without walls and gates, we see here
again, as in Isa. xxxiii. 23 (p. 293), the city of God lifted above
the sphere of experience. 1 It assumes a magnitude incapable
of comparison with an ordinary earthly city, and has a defence
in God, whose glory inhabits it in a way unheard of hitherto.
The prophetic idea of the city of God reaches beyond the
geographical, historical Jerusalem, as beyond the temple of stone
on Zion.
To this exalted perspective is joined a twofold exhortation :
To flee from the heathen country (Babylon), where judgment is
beginning (ii. 6 ff.), and to rejoice in Jerusalem, where the Lord
enters (ii. 10 ff.).
ii. 1 0. " Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for behold I come
11 and take up my abode in thy midst, saith Yahveh. And
many heathen nations shall join themselves to Yahveh on
that day, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in
thy midst, and thou shalt learn that Yahveh of hosts has sent
me to thee."
Almost in the same words, in which in Zech. ix. 9 Zion is
summoned to receive with joy the Son of David appearing in
1 Cf. Zech. ix. 8 ; Isa. iv. 5 f., xxx. 25 ; Micah v. 10 ; Ezek. xxxviii. 11.
430 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
lowly form, Yahveh here invites Himself, when about to enter his
city, to take up His abode there for ever. In this twofold
advent-message we have a striking parallel between the coming
of the Messiah and the Parousia of the Lord (p. 58). More
precisely, it is not the Lord as absolute God who comes into His
dwelling on Zion. It is His angel, His manifestation in finite
form (p. 105). But so perfectly is the Most High Himself
revealed in this " ambassador " of God, that in a sense He is one
person with the latter in contrast to men ; hence the alternating
of identity and self-distinction, vers. 13, 15. The same angel
who, according to ii. 8 f., received the mandate to smite the
heathen in God's stead, and give rich spoil to his poor people
(the rider on the red horse, chap, i.), will take up his abode in
Jerusalem, his presence being regarded as that of the Lord
Himself. Thus here, also, the Lord's dwelling among His people
does not take place apart from finite, creaturely mediation,
although no human mediator and representative is spoken of. 1
In any case this entry of the Lord into His city denotes such a
union of God with it as had not existed before. His presence in
the Church will be enhanced in a wonderful way ; and in con-
sequence of this enhancement His revelation will exert an
overwhelming attraction on the nations remote from Him, so that
they will voluntarily unite themselves in subject dependence with
the God who has His residence and makes His nearness graciously
felt there. Here, also, an internal conquest of the heathen, dis-
posing them to the service of the true God, is not wanting. Still,
after as before, .Tudah remains the Lord's heritage, the " holy
ground" (v. 12), Jerusalem His elect dwelling-place, whose glory
He is. Listening for the approaching Parousia, the prophet cries
at the close : " Let all flesh be still before Yahveh, for He has
risen up from His holy dwelling." 2
But this outward establishment of the city of God, however
glorious and broad in design, is not all. The two next visions
show us the inner life-springs of the newly sanctified Church,
the fourth chiefly its priesthood by divine grace. The seer
1 Observe that in the course of the visions the Messiah comes more and more into
the foreground. We cannot therefore infer from single oracles, in which he does not
appear, that a prophet did not share this hope, or laid less stress upon it.
* This alludes to Zeph. i. 7 ; Hab. ii. 20. Not only in the former, but also in
the latter passage (p. 327), the warning cry also prepares for the Parousia.
THE POST- EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 431
beholds the high priest Joshua accused before the angel of the
Lord (iii. 1 ff.), who here again is one with, and yet distinguished
from, Yahveh Himself. The high priest is wearing filthy clothes.
This symbolizes something more than the condition of an accused
person, as was the case among the Eomans. 1 The uncleanness of
the clothes is a sign of actual guilt, cleaving to the high priest
before the Lord, in whose sight His ministering angels are not
pure (Job iv. 18). 2 The accusation of Satan, who certainly does
not appear as a conscientious advocate, but as a malignant,
envious accuser, was therefore not without ground. Yet the Lord
(or His angel) gives it no hearing, but orders the " adversary " to
be silent, reminding him of the grace which the Lord, who chooses
Jerusalem, has shown the high priest, who is like a brand plucked
from the fire. It cannot be God's will to accuse at law and
persecute the Aaronite who had been so wonderfully delivered.
As a sign that his guilt is removed, the angel makes him take off
the filthy garments and put on honourable clothing. It is a high-
priestly investiture, in which the linen mitre cannot be wanting
(Lev. xvi. 4).
Ver. 7 says without metaphor, that the high priest will be quali-
fied to assume this high office and enjoy its highest privilege ; while,
of course, the keeping of God's prescribed will is made the condi-
tion, and the obligation of that will is in a sense assumed afresh.
The last clause : " and I grant thee walks 3 among them that stand
here," promises him the greatest and most weighty privilege
belonging to the high priest : " He may come before God's throne,
go in and out among the ministering angels standing there ! "
In these words the high priest is fully installed in his honours
and rights.
The correct appreciation of this act depends on the question,
what kind of guilt it is that is represented as lying on Joshua
1 Livy, ii. 54, vi. 20. Also among the Romans the vestls nordida was merely of
dark colour, not filthy, and that as a sign of sorrow, perhaps also of fault that
needed to be cleared away. Just so the Israelites, when under accusation, at most
wore black clothing, Joseph. Ant. xiv. 9. 4.
2 Cf. Isa. iv. 4 ; Prov. xxx. 12 ; llev. iii. 4, yii. 14.
3 D^HD issubst., not part, (companions, leaders, guides, Gesenius, Hengsten-
berg, Neumann ; or intransitively : walkers, LXX., Syr., Vulg., Baumgarten,
Hofmann), with which, apart from the form, the pa would not agree. From
T^TTOi walk, way, one would certainly expect a plural D^/TO ; so Hitzig would
read ; whilst others (Ewald, Kohler) assume a form forco i n the same signification.
432 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
and removed from him. That no offence of extraordinary weight
on the part of this priest is meant, is clear, because no personal
fault is said to attach to him. 1 Nor is the trespass of his sons
in marrying strange women (Ezra x. 18 ; Neh. xiii. 28) to be
thought of, as the Targum, Jerome, Eashi, Kimchi think, because
those incidents fall much later in time. Far better is the view
of Hitzig and Kohler, who see in the guilt resting on the high
priest that of the whole people, which it was his office to bear,
with special reference to the long interruption in building the
temple, which according to Hag. ii. 11 made the whole people
unclean. Still even this does not satisfy the meaning of the vision.
Here the question does not concern the making of expiation for the
people, which is done by the continuance of the high-priesthood
of itself, but the rehabilitation of the latter, which Satan tries to
hinder in order to rob the people of the office of atonement, and
thus of atonement itself. The accusation, indeed, does not apply
to Joshua personally, but as the bearer of this sacred office. After
the long interruption of the priestly service by the exile the
question easily suggested itself, whether this sacred office could
continue despite the many sins with which its bearers had stained
their robes, whether its present representative, human and imper-
fect, did not with the dignity inherit the guilt of his predecessors.
A new divine institution of the office was therefore necessary at
the beginning of the new temple, and brought great comfort to
the Church.
With this agrees also the continuation of the Lord's discourse,
iii 8 ff., according to which a future consummation awaits the
priesthood established in imperfection, of which consummation
the office is a typical pledge.
iii 8. " Hear then, Joshua, high priest, thou and thy comrades,
who sit before thee ; for men of a miraculous sign are they,
9 for behold, I will bring forth MY SERVANT, SPROUT. For
behold, the stone which I have placed before Joshua on the
one stone seven eyes are directed behold, I will carve its
inscriptions, saith Yahveh of hosts, and I blot out the
1 Quite perversely Ewald thinks that a slandering of the high priest at the Persian
court is meant, and explains the close of ver. 7 : "He may again go freely about his
business among his servants, without being further accused." As if a calumny
before the Persian court would inculpate him in God's sight and put bis dignity in
question !
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAX. 433
10 guilt of this land in one day. On that day, saith Yahveh of
hosts, ye shall invite one another under the vine and the
fig-tree."
That the section iii. 1 ff. treats of the preserving or restoring of
the priestly office, is confirmed by this concluding passage, in which
the high priest is united with his official comrades, who sit before
him in priestly assemblies. They are men who are a miraculous
sign. 1 Even the fact that the priesthood, which culminates in the
high priest, still exists, after the fire of judgment that has fallen
on the people, must be regarded as a miracle. 2 But the miracle is
also a sign ; it has its significance and aim in the future, as the
close of ver. 8 indicates. It refers to the advent of the true,
adequate representative of God, the Messiah; for according to
Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15, none else can be meant by "my Servant,
Sprout." 3 The title Sprout has become here, as in vi. 1 2, a
proper name of the great Davidite rising up out of obscurity in
mysterious stillness. And the fact of his appearance just here,
where the importance of the priesthood is in question, nay, that
the whole priesthood is called a miraculous sign and pledge of
him, the Lord's true Servant, is specially noteworthy. It is here
declared unmistakably that he will be Joshua's perfect successor
in the high-priestly dignity. In his days, when the bearer of the
office is seen to be perfect, the work also of priestly expiation
will be consummated according to ver. 9.
The stone lying before Joshua, to which the seer is pointed, has
given interpreters no slight difficulty. Some have erroneously
seen in it the foundation - stone of the temple, by the laying
of which the land became pure, 4 or its top - stone (Ewald),
which is here just as little intimated (otherwise in iv. 7).
The fact also of the stone lying before Joshua, and indeed
1 D21D is usually the miracle itself as an inversion of the ordinary state of things ;
and then also miraculous sign, 1 Kings xiii. 3, 5, in which, at all events, the miracu-
lous character which the sign has in itself comes out more strongly than in niN-
In the present passage also we cannot pass this by.
2 See Zech. iii. 2 ; Ps. Ixxi. 7 ; cf. also Isa. viii. 18.
3 Cf. on Isa. iv. 2, p. 262.
4 So Rosenmiiller, Hitzig, Neumann. But the present vision falls two months
later than the blessed foundation-day, Hag. ii. 18, and yet the Lord speaks still of
a future day of expiation. What the beautifying of the foundation-stone now lying
before Joshua would signify, it is hard to see ; the stone would need, at all events,
to be understood in a more spiritual sense.
ORELLI. 2 E
434 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
being placed before him by God, does not accord with either of
these views. The reference of the stone to Israel (Kohler), as
well as that to the kingdom of God (Keil), have too little
support from the context ; the ancient reference to the Messiah
is too abrupt.
What kind of a stone is meant, in the absence of a more specific
description, must be learnt from its position before Joshua (note A).
What is laid by divine appointment before the high priest in his
official robes must be something standing in close connection with
his official function, something essential to it. An altar cannot
be thought of; before it the high priest does not exclusively
officiate. Yet the object in question must stand in close con-
junction with the expiation of the guilt of the land effected by
the high priest, since with its completion the expiation will be
finally accomplished. By this divinely-laid stone, before which
the high priest stands, we can only understand a substitute for
the covenant-ark, throned on which God was wont to receive the
high priest in the act of atonement. It was the vehicle of the
divine presence in the temple, the medium of union between God
and the people represented by the high priest. Here, where the
continuance in uncurtailed form of the priesthood, and thus of inter-
course between God and Israel, is ratified, we necessarily expect
some explanation in regard to the absent ark of the covenant.
It is very possible that such a stone not merely lay in vision
before Joshua, but once actually had its place in the Holy of
Holies somewhat after the manner of the rock that rises up in the
Sakra mosque, 1 which fact would make the statement generally
intelligible. 2 At all events two points are essential : First, this
stone is placed by God, and is shaped by Him alone, in contrast
with stones wrought by men's hands (iv. 7, 9). It is that which
God Himself lays and contributes to the completion of the temple,
and which accordingly constitutes the Holiest of all. 3 Secondly,
the fact that a mere stone takes this place before Joshua whether
1 The mosque of Omar at Jerusalem.
* Thus in fact Mishna Yoma, v. 2, relates, that in the Most Holy Place of the
second temple a stone was found from the time of the early prophets, called founda-
tion-stone, rising a height of three fingers above the ground, on which the high
priest used to set down the censer.
1 That the Holiest of all itself will undergo a re-creation, the Lord testifying His
presence in the time of consummation far more gloriously than by the ancient ark,
we found foretold already, Jer. iii. 16 f. (p. 332).
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 435
in vision or reality implies the imperfect, provisional nature of
the apparatus that symbolized the presence of the Most High,
and was indispensable for expiating the guilt of His people ; the
Lord reserves to Himself a glorious transforming of this most
holy object in His dwelling.
Let no one on this account think lightly of this imperfect
temple. Already over the stone laid before the priest there
watch seven eyes; i.e. (as in iv. 10) the Spirit of God in His full
energy, which assumes a sevenfold form (the number of divine
completeness), concentrates His loving, watchful care on this one
stone, which He intends gloriously to transfigure. He will put
on it inscriptions, carvings, 1 such as were engraved on the high-
priestly diadem (Ex. xxviii. 36). There will be a divine sign on
it, like the initial on a signet-ring. This sign will give the
stone its sacred character in a manner universally cognizable.
Eemaining a mystery for a time, this character contains a saving
revelation of God. As the Lord once wrote with His own finger
the tables of the law deposited in the ark (Ex. xxxii. 16), so with
His own hand He will engrave on the stone the sign of His
gracious presence, at the same time wiping out at a stroke all the
guilt of the land. Not by oft-repeated sacrifices, such as must
now be offered, but by one divine act the land and people shall
be completely set free from guilt and punishment (Heb. vii. 27).
Then the long-promised state of untroubled peace will set in,
such as is presented in a lovely figure at the close. Men will
invite each other to enjoy in undisturbed quiet the abundance
which the Lord has lavishly given (cf. Micah iv. 4).
Although we may not say with the older expositors that the
precious stone before Joshua is the Messiah directly, there is still
an undeniably close connection between vers. 8 and 9, between the
coming of the Divine Sprout and the perfecting of the priestly
expiation, of which the divine transfiguring of that most sacred
object is the presupposal. When the Lord sends the high-
priestly Prince, He will also so constitute the Most Holy Place in
His temple, that the true reconciliation of the whole land with
Him may be accomplished therein. All guilt being thus abolished,
the state of Messianic peace with God begins.
1 DTTIflS a re usually engraved inscriptions, such as are put on precious stones,
signet-rings, etc. (Ex. xxviii. 11, 21, 36, xxxix. 14, etc.), also figures, the outlines
of which are cut out (as in 1 Kings vi. 21).
436 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
A companion picture to this fourth vision is given in the
fifth (iv. 1 ff.), which likewise affords us a glimpse into the
Church's innermost life. Alongside the newly sanctified priest
appears here the Prince, likewise filled with God's Spirit and
mediating Him to the Church, whose sacred work of temple-
building will come to happy completion through the Spirit of the
Lord. It is the most calm and solemn vision, the seven-branched
lamp, which can never want oil, because two olive-trees, standing
on the two sides, feed all its lights. Noiselessly the pure, golden
oil, the symbol of the Divine Spirit, flows through all the pipes of
the lamp, that old Mosaic symbol of the Church, to ascend again to
God in sevenfold flame of pure adoration. For the perfecting of
God's ministering Church is here meant to be set forth ; and its
Head is to be taught, that in this work no worldly weapons of
defence or human energy can effect anything, but the quiet, sacred
operation of God's Spirit alone (iv. 6). As he is the soul of
everything in his temple, so must he also be the all-effective
energy in its erection. But in him is a power that overcomes the
whole world. The mountain that towers up before Zerubbabel
will be levelled by God's word, i.e. all the hindrances put by the
world's hostile power in the way of his heaven-approved under-
taking must give way before the Divine Spirit vouchsafed to him,
and thus he will bring forth the top-stone * of the temple amid
the jubilant cries of the multitude : " Grace, grace unto it ! "
This cry of blessing applies to the top-stone, the preservation of
which implies that of the whole building. 2
The symmetry of the passage should not be overlooked. As a
dangerous foe stood opposed to Joshua, so to Zerubbabel. Before
the former lay a stone with which the priest seems able to effect
little ; before Zerubbabel towers up a whole mountain to hinder
his work. But in both cases the Lord Himself rebukes the hostile
power and avows Himself on His Servant's side, for God's loving
watchful eye is set with sevenfold intensity on Zembbabel's
plummet as on the yet ungraven stone before Joshua. In iv. 8 f.
the assurance is given to the prince in plain words that, as he
began the building, so his hands will finish it. Since Zerubbabel
1 Since the reference is to the future, the "headstone" cannot be the foundation-
stone, but will be the final stone forming the head of the building.
* Ps. cxviii., sung at the consecration of the new temple, gives the fulfilment.
Cf. the Hosanna, cxviii. 26, with the above : "Grace unto it 1 "
THE POST-EXILIAN PKOPIIETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAX. 437
cannot be the yet future Servant of the Lord (iii. 8), whose name
is Sprout, while the innermost sanctuary is only completed by the
latter, a distinction is here made between a nearer and more
distant completion. Zerubbabel himself will set the top-stone
on the outer building ; but the appointments of the Most Holy
Place the Lord reserves to Himself in the age of the Messiah
soon to begin. But meanwhile He bestows on the Church His
Spirit in double measure, through the two sons of oil (iv. 14), i.e.
the two anointed ones of God (Messiahs), who like the heavenly
angels have their station before God's throne. Self-evidently, the
Prince and the Priest are meant. 1 More exactly, since the two
separate bushes, from which the golden sap flows into the lamp,
are distinguished from the olive trees, we have to understand by
the trees the regal race and priestly order, by the bushes the
actual representatives of the two. The entire vision exhibits in
finished beauty the secret life - force that makes Israel God's
Church and qualifies it for God's service, which is this people's
glory and life-work, and encourages confidence in the attainment
of this ideal by the thought of the Divine Spirit, who works in the
Church purely and holily, wisely and strongly, calmly and con-
stantly, and whose unfailing presence is secured by the two offices,
by which the mediation between God and His people is carried
on. Thus, like all the visions, this fifth one is promissory and
comforting in high degree.
Xevertheless the land cannot enjoy its blessed future without
being purified from sin and guilt. This is taught in the next pair
of visions (chap, v.), of which the first exhibits a curse-roll flying
over the land and causing the extirpation of hardened sinners
along with their dwellings (especially thieves and perjurers, of
whom a great number now defile the people of God). Still the
removal of the worst sinners is not all. Sin itself, of which all
are more or less guilty, 2 must be abolished from the land. Sin,
personified as a woman, is shut up in a corn-measure, the mouth
of which is closed with a leaden weight, 3 and is borne through
1 On the anointing of the king and the high priest, see p. 148 ; with the form "son
of oil " = "richly blessed therewith," cf. Isa. v. 1.
- In v. 6 D]iy must be read, after LXX., Syr., instead of D^J?-
3 The imprisonment of sin in a corn-measure, which is closed by a weight,
reminds us of the form in which it filled the land. It is especially dishonesty, which
uses false measure and weight. So rightly Pressel, who in other respects entirely
distorts the plain figure.
438 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
the air by two female figures furnished with wings of storks l to
Shinar-Babylon. There in the heathen metropolis let sin have
its abode henceforth, in the Lord's land no place is granted it!
The point in hand is primarily the re-establishment of a God-
consecrated people on hallowed soil, and the reference of PJKfTTB,
v. 3, 6, to the whole earth is quite inadmissible. 2 But that the
Lord will make the world also feel His sway by executing there,
not single judgments as in Israel, but national judgments, is
taught in the last vision, vi. 1 ff., which forms a closing counter-
part to the prefatory first vision. Whereas at the fall of night
the divine rider - hosts presented themselves before the Lord's
residence to give account of the state of the earth, which they
have traversed, now towards daybreak these hosts again go
forth into the world to execute God's commands. Two mountains
of brass, well known (with article) but not named, are mentioned
as their starting-place. The chariots drive out between these
mountains, thus coming from "the depth," without doubt the
deep ground mentioned in i. 8, where the horsemen arrived. The
two mountains are the temple-hill and the Mount of Olives ;
they are of brass, because in a sense they form the entrance to
the dwelling of God. The place from which He sets the whole
world in commotion is itself immovable.
The chariots which drive out, freighted with divine judgment
and wrath, like the horses in chap, i., bear a martial character ;
they are war-chariots. In the issuing forth, not merely of
horsemen who are frequently used as a reconnoitring vanguard,
but of the most formidable instrument of war, there is an inten-
tional climax. The seer sees four such teams hurry forth. The
number four, as we saw previously, denotes the world with its
four regions of space. This is still more evident in vi. 5, where
the angel exchanges the figure of the four chariots for that of the
four winds, in order to characterize the action of God's power in
all four quarters of the earth, while, of course, it may be directed
with special intensity to one side. Thus here, in free employ -
1 The wings are those of a migratory bird. Sin must emigrate, and is carried away
by these two genii in their secure flight. For the rest, we must not embellish the
simple vision with its great leading thoughts by all sorts of additions, as Neumann
especially does.
2 So Hofmann, Kliefoth, Bredenkamp. Chap. v. 4, where abuse of Yahveh's name
is in question, and v. 11, according to which sin will really settle in Babylon only,
are decisive against this view.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 439
ment of the resources of war at God's disposal, two chariots are
sent to the same quarter of the earth, vi. 6, namely, to the
north, where the world-empire then strongest had its seat. On
the black team, hurrying in that direction, follows another with
white, triumphal steeds, since God will there triumph most
gloriously. The dappled steeds- draw the third chariot to the
south, where diverse, although not such dangerous, enemies are
to be encountered, such as Edom, Egypt (Dan. xi. 5), Gush.
Finally, the fourth team (vi. 7), which is impatient to start forth,
but has no definite goal assigned it, is commissioned to wander
for a time up and down the earth, plainly until a world-power
appears for it to act against. In the west and east, meantime,
there are no hostile kingdoms of importance ; the north has a
double share, the south quite enough.. So inexhaustible are
God's resources of judgment, that after subduing every world-
power He still has at command a full complement for enemies
springing up in the future. And scarcely have they departed
when the angel shows the seer the result of the chief mission.
Those sent to the north have quieted the Spirit of God, i.e.
according to Ezek. v. 13, satisfied His spirit of revenge. This
general statement of God's resources of judgment, unfolding on
every side and subjugating the world, must not, as in Daniel, be
divided historically into four empires appearing on after another. 1
The point of view is rather geographical, which does not pre-
clude a reference to the dominant world-power in the north, and
the chief one in the south, as well as to one on the point of
appearing.
The whole cycle of these night-visions has revealed under
different aspects how the Lord will show Himself gracious to His
cleansed and purified people, whereas the hostile world-power
must soon feel God's displeasure operating from Zion. But
the inner sanctuary of this revelation is what is said of the
relation of the Lord, brought about by His two organs, to His
Church. And the most sacred mystery, to which these visions
point, is the consummation of this relation, which will be effected
by the one Servant of the Lord of David's house, who unites the
priestly with the regal dignity. As the outcome in a sense of these
1 So e.g. Delitzsch in Herzog, iii. 475. The "strong" horses, Zech. vi. 7,
certainly recall the strong beast of Dan. vii. 7. But in the former passage the word
is probably a copyist's error.
440 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
night - revelations, a symbolic action is next added to them
(vi. 9 ff.), which shows how these two offices now standing side
by side are united in their perfect possessor.
The action which God's voice enjoins on the prophet is this,
to put on the high priest a crown of gold and silver. 1 This
altogether unusual adornment of the high priest, who as such
wore a linen mitre (iii. 5), is explained by an accompanying
statement :
vi. 1 2. " And thou shalt say to him as follows : Thus saith
Yahveh of hosts : ' Behold a man, whose name is SPROUT, and
he shall sprout from beneath and build the temple of Yahveh.
13 Nay, HE shall finish the Lord's temple, and HE shall wear
ornaments of honour, and sit and rule on his throne, and
shall be priest on his throne, and a counsel of peace shall
be between them both.' "
As in iii. 8, so here, where the glorious consummation of the
high-priesthood is again referred to, the mysterious " Sprout "
appears, who is far from being identical with Joshua or Zerub-
babel. On the contrary, in iii. 8, vi. 12, he is announced as still
to come, and, indeed, in the latter passage as one who, in keeping
with his name, will spring up wondrously out of lowliness as a
gift of the Lord's pure grace. 2 One will come to build the
temple of the Lord, who, although named so indefinitely, is yet
well known from prophecy. In ver. 13 this work is emphati-
cally ascribed to one who is to come, in distinction from one
now living and engaged on it. This seems to contradict iv. 7, 9,
where Zerubbabel is assured that his hands will finish the work
begun. But Zechariah separates what was still combined in
Haggai's vision, viz. the completion of the present work now near
at hand, occurring in the sixth year of Darius, and the glorious
1 vi. 11. nilDJJ (cf- ver. 14) refers not to two or several crowns (Jerome, Eosen-
T -*
miiller, Hitzig, Ewald, Bredenkamp, et al. ), but the plural refers to the silver and
golden hoops of the crown ; cf. Job xxxi. 36. That two crowns are to be put on
Joshua's and Zerubbabel's heads respectively, is an assertion only possible on a com-
plete mistaking of the sense and a violent alteration of the text. Ewald inserts in
ver. 11 the words : "and on the head of Zerubbabel " (without warrant), after which
licence we should next logically change the vi?K, ver - 12 into DH^X.
s TOV^ VnnnO 1 ! can only be explained according to Ex. x. 23 properly : from that
which lies under him, thus/rom beneath. It is an expansion of what is wrapped up
in the name riDV. Incorrectly Hitzig, after LXX., Luther : it will xprout under him
everything will be green !
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 441
finishing of the temple, in which those afar off (i.e., according to
ii. 15, viii. 20-23, Hag. ii. 7, the heathen) are to help, that
God's dwelling may be adorned with the glory befitting it a
distinction pointing to an impending spiritualizing of the temple, 1
since in its empirical limitation it is as little adequate to its
destiny as the present faint image of the city of God to its
ideal (ii. 8).
In the same way Zechariah's prophecy no longer stops, like that
of Haggai, at the actual representative of the Davidic house, pro-
mising him princely dignity and honour, but first definitely indicates
the coming One as the true wearer of the dignity, 2 to whom it is
granted to sit and rule on David's throne. As the building of
the perfect temple in which God will dwell is incumbent on the
true Son of David, so lordship in God's new and perfect kingdom
belongs to him (Micah v. 3). But the principal point in the
oracle, and what the symbolic action chiefly sets forth, follows at
the close : " And he shall be priest on his throne." Hitherto
the priest's place was not a throne, just as little as a crown
adorned him. But the wondrous Sprout, to whom the Lord has
reserved the near completion of His kingdom, will unite the
priestly with his royal dignity, although sitting on the throne as
Lord of the land, nay, of the earth, he will humbly serve the
God in whose name he rules (note B).
The last words are certainly difficult : " And counsel of peace
shall be between them both." Considering the equality implied
in the Qi Tr!^, a reference to God and the Messiah is impracticable.
Nor can we suppose that the former is a ruler side by side with
the latter. We rather believe that the prophet had in mind the
two offices which regularly stood side by side in his days, or the
dignitaries, the ruler and the priest. Cf. especially iv. 1214,
where not merely Joshua and Zerubbabel, but also the two life-
powers representing them are contrasted with each other in the
form of olive-trees. Only then will the true counsel of peace
bind together the two powers, the worldly and spiritual, to the
salvation of the whole nation, when both dignities are combined
in one person, which will be done in the Zemach. The unique
1 Like the temple, so the building, spiritually understood, has found in the New
Testament rich application.
2 "lin, the royal majesty upon one (Num. xxvii. 20 ; Dan. xi. 21 ; 1 Chron. xxix.
25), which is therefore worn like a crown.
442 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
importance attributed by Zechariah to the true Servant of the
Lord, makes it improbable that (despite Ps. ex. 4 and Jer. xxx.
21, cf. p. 337) he would have ascribed to him but one of the two
equally warranted powers, and thought of their dualism as con-
tinuing in the period of consummation. Moreover, the union is
indicated already in iii. 8 by the fact that the regal Zernach,
undeniably Davidic in origin, appears in order to consummate the
high-priesthood. The most probable interpretation is, that the
present priest is regarded as the imperfect type of the Zemach.
The latter, therefore, will stand before God a high priest without
spot and, being perfectly acceptable to the Lord, will perfect the
work of expiation. This personal union is brought into view
still more strongly in vi. 9 ff. Here, indeed, there is less
reference to the leading priestly function assigned to the Messiah
in iii. 8. According to that passage, the reconciliation will be
accomplished at a stroke. But the priestly dignity continues, nay,
only then obtains its glorification. Regal dignity also pertains
henceforth to the true high priest.
If the question is asked, with Hitzig, why Zerabbabel rather
was not crowned as a type of Messiah, the answer simply is :
Because his crowning would express nothing new, and especially
would not express what is the gist of the whole section, namely,
that the priesthood will be raised to regal honour. The " Sprout "
of royal stock will with his rule inherit also this office, as was
promised already in Ps. ex. 4 (p. 154). When this climax of
development in the history of redemption is reached, the harmony
of the two heads of the nation, previously so often wanting, will
leave nothing to be desired. There will be a king who lives
entirely for the temple, a priest who has the welfare of the king-
dom purely in view. This royal priest, as Micah v. 4 says, will
himself be the peace, and will think of nothing but his people's
peace and welfare.
The remaining words of this prophet also are intended to
hearten and comfort Israel by retouching and unfolding the pro-
mised redemption. A future of divine splendour is not, indeed,
promised to Judah - Jerusalem unconditionally. At the very
beginning, i. 2 ff., Zechariah requires thorough repentance as an
indispensable condition, and at the close of his visions, i. 7-vi. 15,
he makes the fulfilment of the glorious promises given here
dependent on the nation's obedience to its God. And in chap.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 443
vii. he explains that the obedience consists, not in outward fast-
ing and the like, but in the observance of righteousness and love
of one's neighbour long since enjoined on the Church, vii. 9 ff,
as he declared plainly in chap, v., and repeats in viii. 16 ff. If
they are not careless as their fathers were, they will be a bless-
ing, as the latter were a curse, among the nations, viii. 13 (cf.
Hos. ii. 1). Then will the Lord again take up His abode per-
manently and openly in Jerusalem ; and it will be called the city
of the faithful and the mountain of Yahveh (Zion), the holy
mountain (viii. 3), in which two things are implied, the upright
disposition and holiness of the inhabitants, as well as the fidelity
and protection they will enjoy from the Lord, who will keep His
sanctuary inviolate. 1 The idyllic picture of the city (viii. 4 f.),
distinguished by the long peaceful life of its inhabitants and its
teeming aftergrowth of young life, while not soaring to the eleva-
tion of Isa. xxv. 6 ff., perhaps reaches that of Isa. xxxiii. 24 or
Ixv. 20 ff. (p. 406). Finally, this sacred prosperity of Israel
will allure the nations around to come to seek the favour of the
God who dispenses salvation.
viii. 20. "Thus saith Yahveh of hosts: It still comes to pass
that (whole) nations come, and the inhabitants of numerous
21 (populous) cities. And the inhabitants of one city journey
to another, saying : We will go to pacify the face of Yahveh,
22 and to seek Yahveh of hosts. 'I also will go.' 2 And
numerous peoples shall come, and strong nations, to seek
Yahveh of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pacify the face of
23 Yahveh. Thus saith Yahveh of hosts: In that day it comes
to pass that TEN men of all tongues of the heathen take hold
of ONE Jewish man by the skirt, saying : We will go with
you, for we have heard that God is with you." a
The heathen world, conscious of the vanity of its worship and
the impotence of its gods, needs but an impulse in order to turn
its back on these gods and ally itself with the God of Israel.
The news of the salvation prepared by the Lord for His city and
people will turn their yearning desire for a true gracious God in
1 Cf. Isa. i. 21, and on Isa. iv. 3, p. 263.
2 "" "^S !"lbn> properly: to smooth the face of the Lord, hence : to seek His favour,
is used where one comes before the Lord with gifts (1 Sam. xiii. 12). It implies, like
> the importunity, urgency of their desire for God.
3 On the numerical relation, cf. Lev. xxvi. 26.
444 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
the direction of Jerusalem. 1 One city shouts to another the
signal already heard in Isa. ii. 3, and everywhere the reply is
heard : " I also will go ! " 2 Nay, ten heathen will throw them-
selves with vehemence on one Jew, of whom they catch sight,
and cling to him, that he may take and lead them to his God,
whose presence is the salvation of every nation. If vers. 2022
recall the oft - promised national pilgrimage, which may be
periodical, 3 in ver. 23 the personal longing of individuals finds
expression to enter into abiding communion with the God dwell-
ing on Zion, and to become united with His people. This desire
is met already in ii. 15 with encouraging promises, according to
which whole peoples will be incorporated with the Lord's people.
One Israelite will be a guide to ten heathen, and so the people
will be a blessing to the nations in mightily increasing ratio.
Thus the discourse concludes, and with it the book of this prophet,
who in spirit does not belong to the " minor " ones, his book
replacing the antithesis between God's people and heathen peoples,
which has hitherto governed everything, by universal harmony
and reconciliation with God. How grandly his last saying has
been fulfilled since Pentecost, when people of every tongue hung
on the apostles with the question: "What shall we do?" i.e. with
inquiry after the way to God, we scarcely need to recall. The
yearning of heathenism after God's salvation, as well as its media-
tion by the men of Israel to all the world, belong to the facts
that have confirmed the truthfulness of the prophetic word in the
most striking manner.
The outward success of the discourses of Haggai and Zechariah
was seen in the building and completion of the temple. The
spiritual fruit of their discourses and prophecies is shown us in
many Psalms, which celebrate the return from exile and the
rising again of Jerusalem, while at the same time they joyously
welcome these divine acts as a beginning and pledge of the future
completion of God's kingdom. That the Lord has redeemed His
pledged word is thankfully and boldly confessed. He has done
great things for His people (Ps. cxxvi. 3, cxviii. 23). This is
the ground-tone of these songs, especially of Ps. cxviii., which
seems to date from the consecration of Zerubbabel's temple. 4 Not
1 Cf. Jer. xxxiii. 9, p. 342.
* In the text this is the answer of the city addressed to the summons.
3 Zech. xiv. 16 ff.; Isa. Ixvi. 23. 4 Cf. Delitzsch on Ps. cxviii.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS: HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 445
without reason he strikes the air of the old song of the Red Sea, 1
for in its deliverance from heathen captivity the nation has experi-
enced a wondrous redemption, like that from Pharaoh's power. The
day when it is again permitted to enter the door of His temple,
is especially a visible proof of the faithfulness of its God.
cxviii. 20. "This is the gate of Yahveh, the righteous may enter
21 therein. I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me, and art
22 become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected
23 has become the head corner-stone. By Yahveh is this done;
24 it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which Yahveh
made ; let us exult and rejoice in it ! "
This rejoicing is for the newly-risen temple, into whose fore-
courts, as the corresponding Ps. xxiv. (p. 186 f.) has already
mentioned, the righteous alone may enter. The stone, according
to ver. 22 despised by the builders, but now put in the place of
honour belonging to it, must stand in close relation to the temple.
It cannot be interpreted of Israel, so that the heathen would be
meant by the builders, but must be understood from Isa.
xxviii. 16 (p. 286), to which the thanksgiving refers as to a
promise now fulfilled. It is the God-laid foundation, on which
through His prophets He commanded men to build, the
Messianic salvation, consisting in God's dwelling by His
Anointed One on Zion, and forming in its previous shape the
mere beginning of God's rule on earth, a foundation-stone, which
the nation's leaders, like the majority of the nation itself, despised,
trusting rather in their own policy and in foreign power, which only
brought shame and ruin. Now by the people's redemption from
bondage and the new erection of the temple, both accomplished
in accordance with the word of the Lord, that divine stone has
proved the only true foundation and corner-stone. It is a day of
honour to the Lord ; He triumphs to-day, having proved the
power of His word by putting to shame all unbelief and littleness
of faith.
The Messianic salvation was symbolized by the stone of
Isaiah with a vagueness appropriate to a first sketch, but not
without the prospect of a future completion effected by the
person of the Messiah. From sad experience the psalm con-
fesses that God's initial work of founding, by which He sought
to assure His people of His protecting presence, was abandoned
1 Cf. Ex. xv. 2 with Ps. cxviii. 14, 21, 28.
44 G OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
and rejected by those who were called to carry on His work.
This did not take place by chance. Even the Messiah Himself,
the elect fouiidatioii-stone, on which the new and true theocracy,
the perfect temple, was to be built, must experience similar contra-
diction of sinners, similar scornful rejection. In Him also God has
celebrated a triumph, one far more glorious than in the erection
of the temple, and will celebrate it further in the world, the more
it becomes clear that He is made the foundation-stone on which
the building rests, which alone outlasts time, and further, the
corner-stone on which every hostile power is broken to pieces. 1
If Ps. cxviii. is based on an old saying of Isaiah, others sound
like a jubilant echo of the promises of Isa. xl.-lxvi. After
redemption experienced they sing a new song (Isa. xlii. 10) to the
Lord, who has shown Himself the true King, and will now assume
dominion over the whole earth, which He comes to judge. So
especially Ps. xcvi., xcvii., xcviii., which greet the God of
Israel, revealed to all nations by His glorious deeds, as Euler
of the world. So also Ps. Ixxxv., which is not, like those just
named, a purely triumphal song, but along with experienced
redemption from captivity gives expression to the inadequacy of
the present fulfilment, a failure certainly to be put to the account
of men, whose unworthiness prevents the Lord displaying the
fulness of His grace in their midst. Still the singer is sure that
the salvation promised by Deutero-Isaiah will come, soon come
to them that fear God, ver. 10 ff. He anticipates with exulta-
tion the time when love and faithfulness meet together, righteous-
ness and peace kiss each other, faithfulness springs out of the
ear tli and gracious goodwill looks down from heaven. Then will
the Lord no longer keep back the fulness of heavenly blessings,
and the produce of the earth will be richly blessed. 2
NOTE A. Bredenkamp (Der Prophet Sacharja, 1879) avoids the
objections to the above interpretation by taking the stone as an
1 The Fulfiller is shown in Matt. xxL 42-46 ; Mark xii. 10 f. ; Acts iv. 11. ;
1 Pet. ii. 7. Moreover, the crowd that greeted Jesus with the " Hosanna (to the Son
of David), Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord !" (Matt. xxi. 9 ; Mark
xi. 9 f. ; Luke xix. 38 ; John xiL 13), which is taken from this psalm, welcomed Him
as the Messiah. These passages show that in the days of Jesus the whole psalm was
taken Messianically under the influence of the Messianic stone, ver. 22 ; especially the
nirv Dt?3 fcOn ":]V"I3 was understood of the coming Messiah, whereas originally it
was a general greeting of those entering the temple, Matt, xxiii. 39.
* Cf. Isa. xlv. 8, xxxii. 15 ff.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECII., MAL., DAN. 447
ornament of the high priest's breastplate. But decisive against
this view is *3sb tni. which can neither mean that God put this
.... ' - T'
precious stone on his breast, nor that He simply handed it over
to Joshua, which latter meaning this expositor cannot support by
passages like Ezek. xxiii. 24, or even Josh. x. 12 and the like.
The phrase always means : to place or hand over something so
that it lies or stands before one, but does not at all suit the
handing over of a precious stone worn on the person. On the
other hand, Bredenkamp rightly objects to the ordinary interpreta-
tion of nria, that the word (noun and verb) is never used of hewing
stones for building purposes, but always of carving, engraving
precious stones (also wood).
NOTE B. Hitzig's translation (cf. LXX.) : " and there shall be
a priest on His throne," as if here all at once a co-ruler of the
Zemach were spoken of, having a throne of his own alongside,
besides its formal and intrinsic improbability, has no support from
the following words. How strangely the second dignitary would
be introduced here ; and how well, on the other hand, the sentence
agrees with the description of the royal Sprout ! Ewald again
resorts to an arbitrary interpolation of the name Joshua, in which
case the emphasis would lie awkwardly on the consideration that
Joshua will be a priest, whilst his throne would be assumed to be
well known ! Just as impossible is Riehm's interpretation, which
at least concedes the identity of the throne, but makes two persons
sit thereon, as if the words could mean : And there shall also be a
priest on His (the Messiah's) throne !
42. MalacMs Sayings respecting the Herald of the Lord.
That the devout enthusiasm, kindled at the time of the
temple-building by the prophets of God, was unable to raise the
nation permanently to the height of its mission, is shown by the
further unworthy development of the colony in Jerusalem and
the reformation which an Ezra and Nehemiah had afterwards to
undertake in the Church that had apostatized in many ways
from the law. Also the discourses of the prophet Malachi, who
appeared about a hundred years after Zechariah in the days of
Nehemiah, complain of the evident decline in the theocratic
spirit and the perilous degeneracy of the whole commonwealth
(note A). The temple, indeed, has long been completed, but the
Lord can take no pleasure in sacrifices offered half unwillingly
and in sordid avarice. Better no worship at all than careless
and negligent worship. Moreover, the Lord needs no such forced
448 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
reverence, He to whom the heathen everywhere joyfully render
service and sacrifice :
i. 11. "For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name
is great among the heathen, and in every place incense is offered
to my name and pure offerings ; for great is my name among the
heathen, saith Yahveh of hosts."
This oracle, in which the Lord glories in being worshipped in
the whole earth and honoured with acceptable offerings, is of the
highest significance, 1 as already cursorily intimated (p. 3 1 8). For
in any case it declares, in opposition to the Jewish particularism,
which imagined God could not dispense with His people and
temple, that the world is capable of being sanctified by God's
revelation and is fit to worship God. This also is the pith of the
saying just quoted, which neither expressly refers to the future
nor finds its satisfaction in the present. The hearers or readers
might think only of the future. A very intelligible threat lay in
the saying. For the first time the thought finds utterance, that
God might take away His kingdom from the chosen people and
cause the heathen to offer more acceptable service. But at the
same time the statement discloses a greatness and large-heartedness
on God's part far beyond the thoughts of a narrow-hearted race.
God declares that He despises not the offerings of the heathen,
nay, He calls them pure in opposition to those brought by the
Jews. As His name is known to the heathen, so their incense
reaches Him in His heavenly temple.
If the state of the Church, and especially of the priesthood,
according to chap, ii., chiefly to blame for the prevailing religious
and moral declension, is so bad, the day of the Lord cannot enter
without one being compelled to think with horror of Israel's fate.
That day is really coming, and judgment with it ; only, the Lord
in His mercy will not let it burst without preparation.
iii. 1. " Behold, I send my messenger and he shall cleanse the way
before me, and the Lord whom ye desire will suddenly come
to His temple, and the covenant-angel, whom ye long for.
2 Behold, He comes, saith the Lord of hosts. And who is he
that can endure the day of His coming, and who is he that
can stand when He appears ? For He is like the smelter's
fire and like the washers' lye."
1 Of course its use in the Romish Church, as a main support for the doctrine of the
Sacrifice of the Mass (Trident. Sess. xxii.), is quite unwarranted.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECIL, MAL., DAN. 449
Here the prophecy of the Day of the Lord receives new
enrichment. A preparatory messenger (note B) will precede, and
prepare the way for, the coming God or His covenant-angel, who
will suddenly enter His temple to fill it with the Shekinah.
"Whereas in Isa. xl. 3 the forerunner, who cries nirp qni 133, seemed
merely a means of prophetic presentation, here he attains inde-
pendent significance, he has to fill an office of essential
importance in historical reality. And whereas the preparation
of the way had more in view the removal of the hindrances
that opposed the Lord's advent on the part of the outer world,
which, of course, includes the creating of the necessary ethical
preconditions (p. 378), here the principal aim is the putting away
of the offences among God's people which violate the holiness of
the coming ruler, and provoke His wrath against them.
Only too quickly will the Lord, whose advent they cannot
endure, appear. This " commander " is God Himself ; in the
parallel clause stands instead the angel of the covenant, who, in
virtue of the covenant existing between God and Israel, sets forth
the divine presence amid His people. 1 This angel is distinguished
from the first-mentioned messenger, who merely warns of God's
advent. It is the Mediator through whom the Lord Himself
takes up His abode in the temple, since such a revelation of the
Godhead is inconceivable without angelic mediation. Before the
judgment the Shekinah forsook the temple (Ezek. xi. 23) ;
according to the exilian prophets, it will return thither ; but,
although according to (Haggai and) Zechariah God's gracious
presence hovers over His house, the promises that announce a
coming of the Lord with perfect manifestation of His glory are
not yet fulfilled.
Since the sacred majesty of the Most High will take up its
abode among His people in intensity never witnessed before, the
approaching revelation contains a fearful danger for all sinners
(cf. Ex. xxxiii. 3). Hence this generation is greatly mistaken in
longing for the day of judgment and desiring impatiently the
Lord's appearing. The persons addressed here are not unbeliev-
ing mockers, 2 who ironically desire that the day threatened
may come at once, but, as in Amos v. 18, 20, those weary of
life and filled with theocratic ambition, who fancy in their blind-
1 Cf. on Zech. ii. 11, p. 430.
2 Such, illuminati were not wanting, according to Mai. iii. 13 ff.
ORELLI. 2 F
450 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
ness that the Lord's Parousia will bring them and their people
glory in the eyes of the world. In their illusion they do not
reflect that they, hardened sinners, cannot endure the presence
of the holy God, which acts like a consuming fire on everything
impure and unholy. This judgment will not pass a single
individual without causing him pain and bitter woe. There will
be a sifting as in a furnace, a searching of men's hearts as with lye.
Thus in the best case by terrible heat and all-corroding severity
the metal would be severed from the dross, the filth from the
garments. According to ver. 3, the judgment would fall specially
on the priests, whom the Lord would first purify by cleansing
fire before receiving them into His service. Since they are
principally attacked throughout the writing of this prophet, we
must suppose that they were chiefly to blame for the inner
corruption of the people, little suspecting in their self-righteous-
ness the nature of the Lord's judgment upon them. Probably
they encouraged themselves with vain hopes of approaching
exaltation through the judgment on the nations.
As Malachi has emphatically declared, in opposition to this,
that the present generation, estranged from God and His law
(iii 22), has nothing to hope and everything to fear from the
Day of the Lord, so he sets his hope on the forerunner, whom
God in His grace will send before His face, in order that his
advent, with which of necessity judgment will be connected, may
not prove entirely destructive to the covenant people. Then at
the close Malachi recurs to this salutary monitor :
iv. 5. " Behold, I send you the PROPHET ELIAS, before the day of
6 Yahveh comes, great and terrible. And he shall turn again
the heart of the fathers to their sons, and the heart of the
sons to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with
outlawry." l
In the sending of the prophet Elijah we are not to think of a
return of the Tishbite, 2 as the people generally understood and
the Jews in the time of Jesus really expected, 3 an expecta-
tion which may have been fostered by the fact that Elijah
was removed from the earth without dying, 2 Kings. The
1 Cf. Zech. xiv. 11, p. 358.
3 So still Ewald, Hitzig, et al., after many ancients.
3 Cf. Matt. xvii. 10 ; John i. 21. See the detailed notions in Weber, Altyna-
Tkeoloyie, p. 337 f.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS: HAG., ZEUH., MAL., DAN. 451
passage is rather to be understood after the analogy of the
one concerning David, Jer. xxx. 9 (p. 336). A prophet in the
style of the ancient Elijah is necessary to accomplish such
a work as the conversion of Judah, at present sunk in sin.
A man in the spirit and power of Elijah the Lord must and
will send, to bring back this people from the abyss, just as
Elijah with holy violence, so to speak, led back Ephraim, when
entangled in idolatry and hastening to ruin, to the service of the
true God.
The work to be done hereafter by this Elijah in Judah is
described in ver. 24 in peculiar terms. We should expect to
hear that he will convert the people to God. Instead of this, a
reconciling of fathers and sons is spoken of. But, of course, this
must be one that includes such conversion. Fathers and children,
old and young are separated, not merely by domestic quarrels,
but also by a deep gulf of a religious nature. The young
generation has broken with the faith of the fathers and despised
the law held in high esteem by the latter. To this apostasy, it
is true, the fathers have contributed not a little, their piety being
in many respects merely external and apparent. Thus fathers
and sons are at variance with each other. The former will no
longer bless the latter, the latter no longer honour the former.
When Elijah comes, and with new spiritual power brings
home the old law of Moses to the people's hearts, the gulf
will be closed. By teaching the sons again to fear God he
will again incline the fathers to them, and by inspiring the
fathers with a right mind he will again win for them the
hearts of the young. 1 It is thus intelligible how the work of
conversion done by God's herald is presented as a union of
fathers and sons. The supposition that no more is meant than
a restoration of childlike reverence and thus of domestic peace,
is plainly insufficient. Moreover, it is out of place to understand
1 The translation of y$r\ by "convert" is misleading. Since y plainly in-
dicates the direction, and is not = Qy, as some suppose, the awkwardness would
arise, that the parents would be first converted to the children, then the latter to
the parents. The meaning of ZPtJTI is obtained from the correct apprehension of
3^>, which according to Judg. xix. 3, Hos. ii. 15, is to be understood as the seat of
love and confidence. In bringing back all the nation to God that true mentor will
again turn the inclination of the parents, paternal favour, to the sons, and the
childlike confidence of the sons to the fathers.
452 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
by the fathers, pious ancestors ; for the prophet has living
persons in view. These, however, represent, although with little
credit, the great sacred past of Israel, to which the young genera-
tion, now estranged from it, will learn to look back with reverent
love. This will take place when Elijah's fiery zeal and spiri-
tual power shall again hold up before its eyes the now despised
Torah of Moses (iv. 4) in its true greatness.
This prophecy of Malachi of the forerunner of the divine
Parousia was made specially notable by its fulfilment. Our Lord
Himself, as is well known, pointed to John the Baptist, who was
that Elias, if men would think so. 1 There is implied in this,
as well as in the reference of Isa. xl. 3 to the same John, 2
a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ to His own Deity. For
He thereby designates Himself the manifested Yahveh, or the
covenant-angel, in whom God reveals Himself directly. 3 And
John, the conscious forerunner of the Messiah, has already
assented to this claim of equality, professing to be the voice
heard, Isa. xl. 3, that prepared a way for the Lord in the desert. 4
There also he made himself known as the preparer of the
way announced by Malachi. When in John i. 21 he denies
that he is Elijah, he only renounces the title in the personal
sense embodied in the prevailing expectation of an actual return
of Elijah.
And, in fact, not merely did John's outward appearance, his
hairy prophet's mantle, recall the Tishbite, but his mission most
closely resembled the one ascribed in our text to Elijah. A last
representative of the entire Old Covenant, he preached repent-
ance, return to the commands of Moses, in order to pave the
way for a greater One, in whom God would reveal Himself most
perfectly. This Greater One certainly came in human form and
gentle loving condescension, but judgment, sifting was connected
with His coming (cf. John ix. 39). This John the Baptist
knew. It is observable that in the Messiah he principally
emphasizes the work of judging and sifting. He has the winnow-
ing-fan in His hand, and baptizes with fire. 6 And indeed the
1 Matt. xi. 14, xvii. 11 ; cf. Luke i. 17.
Matt. xi. 10 ; Luke vii. 27.
1 The covenant-angel forms a natural middle term between the manifestation of
the Lord Himself and His revelation in a human Messiah ; cf. Zech. xii. 8.
4 John i. 23 ; cf. Mark i. 2 f. ; Luke iii. 4 f.
* Matt. iii. 11 f. ; Luke iii. 16f.
THE POST-EXILIAN PKOPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 453
Messiah's advent, finding the people unprepared, became a judg-
ment to them. On that Day of the Lord, only they were able
to stand who had been converted by the testimony of His
messenger.
Thus the last prophet of the Old Covenant joins hand with the
forerunner of the New. The latter once more summed up in his
person the whole testimony of the Old : the law of Moses, which
is a trainer for Christ, the prophetic allusion to the Day of the
Lord, when Yahveh will appear for judgment and salvation, the
saying about the Messiah as the Greater One coming from of old,
whose shoe-latchet he is not worthy to unloose, and finally the
mystery of the God-chosen Lamb which takes away sin (John i.).
Thus did he lead back to the true understanding of the Old
Covenant those who were estranged from its spirit and letter, and
vindicate the truth of the glorious revelations of the past as a
preparation for the approaching most glorious one, in which all
will be consummated.
NOTE A. The prediction of this prophet, without date, is most
probably to be placed (with Nagelsbach, Kohler, Schrader) in the
time between the first and second presence of Nehemiah in Judea
(between 433 and 424 B.C., the year of Artaxerxes' death). Like
the latter, he combats the marrying of foreign women (cf. Neh.
xiii. 23 ff. ; Mai. ii. 11) as a cancer threatening to eat up all family
and public life, in Mai. ii. 14 also the thoughtless putting away
of Israelitish wives ; further, the latter rebukes the offering of
imperfect sacrifices, i. 6 ff., with which the obligation assumed in
Neh. x. 32 ff. and the rebuke of Neh. xiii. may be compared. On
the other hand, it is far from probable that Malachi would have
spoken of the governor as he does, i. 8, if Nehemiah were then in
this office, since the latter could boast that he had demanded no
taxes from his people, Neh. v. 14 ff. These discourses, therefore,
probably fall within the time before Nehemiah's return, after
which he reformed these and other abuses.
NOTE B. The prophet perhaps uses this "2x70 with a play on his
own name. He is himself a messenger, whose mission is to warn of
the Lord's approach. Yet in ver. 23 it appears that he sees a still
stronger One coming after him, whose preaching will bear more
fruit. The prophet may have viewed his own mission in relation
to that of God's messenger, as the author of Isa. xl.-lxvi. viewed
his in relation to that of God's Servant (p. 386). That our
prophet also wrote anonymously, or prefixed the merely assumed
name Malachi to his oracles (Hengstenberg, Ewald, d al.), is not
454 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
probable after the simple Ta, i. 1. See Caspari, Micha der Moras
th'te, p. 27 ff. ; Niigelsbach in Herzog, ix. 177 ff.
43. The Apocalypse of Daniel.
The Book of Daniel occupies quite a peculiar position among
or alongside the prophetic books of the Old Testament. Its
isolated character is indicated by its outward separation from the
rest of the books in the Hebrew canon, whether this separation
be due to the intrinsic peculiarity of Daniel's official work, or, as
the criticism of our day supposes, to the late origin of the book,
which is alleged to have been written after the close of the
prophetic canon (acknowledged as the standard in Ecclus. xlix.).
In the former respect it cannot be denied that Daniel's visions
are essentially different in form and contents from those of the
other biblical prophets, a feature harmonizing with his position
as a statesman at the court of various heathen rulers. His
prophecy on the whole is more exoteric, directed more to the
development of the world-power and the conflict of God's king-
dom with it. With a glance that takes in universal history, the
seer gives a vast panorama of the world's history, in which one
power displaces another, a definite period being assigned to each
(vii. 12). This development of grand politics takes place accord-
ing to a fixed divine programme, and advances systematically
in well-defined periods to the goal fixed by God, which will be
inevitably reached, although after severe and ever severer crises.
iThis goal is the rule of God on earth, which is brought about by
His chosen people and its elect Head. Thus Daniel, like Balaam's
oracles, standing of course on higher vantage-ground at an advanced
paint of time, supplements the prophets who see things from the
standpoint of the temple on Zion and are chiefly occupied with
the internal events of their own nation. From the centre of the
world of nations, he follows the course of the two kingdoms the
world-kingdom and God's up to the end, and discloses the
movement of the entire world-development toward the triumph
of the divine rule.
If this universal tendency, giving the Book of Daniel a final
character in several respects, is perhaps enough in itself to justify
its being placed at the close of the chain of 0. T. prophecy,
there is a second element which directly assigns this position to
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAX. 455
it. Even if the seer's standpoint be the exile, the goal of the
book is a far later period, for which alone it is written (xii. 4),
and the illustration of which is so much part of its plan, that it
can only be understood from this period, in which all the rays of
the book converge as in their focus. It is the period of the
oppression of God's people by the Syrian ruler Antioclms
Epiphanes (reigned 175-164 B.C.). As Isa. xl.-lxvi. was written
for the exiles, the Book of Daniel was written for those persecuted
by the ruler mentioned. Certainly there is a noteworthy differ-
ence. Whereas the former unnamed prophet professes to be
nothing but a comforter sent to that generation, and speaks to it
as to contemporaries, in the Book of Daniel an exilian prophet
may be heard beyond the age of the Seleucids.
Modern criticism would regard this difference as nothing more
than a form artificially assumed, the exilian standpoint of the seer
in " Daniel's " visions being as truly fictitious as the history given
of him in the first part of the book (i. vi.). The author, it is
said, invented the former like the latter, about the year 167 B.C.,
to encourage his people to stedfastness under the harsh tyranny
of the world-power ; in the pious, faithful Daniel, they were to
find an example, and learn how the Lord will not disappoint
them that confess Him ; under the name of the wise Daniel
(since the gift of prophecy had now vanished, and there would be
no slight danger to a patriot uttering such truths without dis-
guise) they were to use words of confident hope in regard to the
speedy end of the world-power that now ruled with unexampled
violence and hostility to God.
Although the design of the book is here rightly indicated, we
hold this account of its origin to be impossible. Neither of the
narratives of Dan. i.-vi., nor of the visions vii. xii., can we allow
that they owe their origin to the Maccabsean age. As to the
former, which we do not here examine, we are of opinion that
they contain history handed down from the time of the exile and
were merely compiled by a late author, who to all appearance,
especially according to linguistic indications, belonged to the
Maccaba3an age (note A). We come to a similar conclusion in
respect to the apocalyptic visions. That these also did not
originate at one stroke, is easily seen. How the several visions
are to be combined together, is not everywhere evident. The
order of the world-empires, chaps, ii., vii., does not seem adapted
456 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
to the Maccabsean period; the reference of the 70 weeks to it
encounters unsolved difficulties. On the other hand, it is certain
that the most elaborate delineations refer to Antiochus Epiphanes
and his age, the political circumstances of which are unfolded
with a detail to which nothing at all analogous can be shown in
the whole field of biblical prophecy elsewhere. We think that even
here traditional visions of the ancient Daniel, renowned for his
prophetic keenness of sight (Ezek. xxviii. 3), form the real kernel,
but that these visions were not merely collected and redacted by
lan author living under Antiochus, but also set by illustrative
' explanations in intimate relation to the oppression of that age. It
is no doubt impossible to discriminate in detail what belonged to the
ancient Daniel. Yet the attitude of the reviser is evidently such
that, in an age forsaken by the spirit of prophecy, 1 he does not dare
to predict, but, taking his stand entirely on existing revelations,
seeks to make them intelligible and useful to his contemporaries.
The fundamental ideas undoubtedly go back to Daniel ; it is so
with the development of the world-kingdom in four figures and
the triumph of God's kingdom following thereupon ; so again
with the climax of the resistance of the world-power in its last
representative, and the period of the 70 weeks running on to the
setting up of the divine rule. Let us consider these main
ideas.
The antitJiesis of world-kingdom and God's kingdom meets us
in the dream of the world-ruler, ii. 31 ff., which the seer inter-
prets to him, ii. 36 ff., as well as in the latter's vision in a different
way, vii 1 ff. In both cases, in distinction from the prophecies
found elsewhere, 2 the world-power is contemplated in its course of
historical development, and that in four phases, which it run
through in succession. Four stands here as the number of the
Cosmos, as in Zech. ii 1 ff., vi. 1 ff. 3 Therefore the power of the
world in its entire development is meant. But this development
is plainly viewed, in distinction from Zechariah, as a series of
world-rulers appearing one after another. That in reality it is
one and the same power, of which the several great powers are
merely different manifestations, is shown in chap, ii., where they
are simply members of one colossal image. It is observable that
1 Cf. 1 Mace. iv. 46, ix. 27, xiv. 41.
Xum. xxiv. 20 ff. supplies an attempt at such a delineation.
3 Cf. tLe four winds, Dan. vii. 2, with Zech. vi. 5.
THE POST- EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAX. 457
the material degenerates continuously (gold, silver, brass, iron),
while at the same time growing stronger and more dangerous,
until at last in the case of the most dangerous power its strength
is coupled with the greatest weakness (iron and clay).
There the colossus is struck in the most sensitive part by
another power, and collapses in consequence. The fourth world-
power, the harshest and strongest, succumbs to the kingdom of
God, which by this victory triumphs over the whole world-power.
It is prefigured by a stone, which, detached by invisible hand,
falls on the feet of the statue, crushing it to pieces ; whereupon
the stone becomes a great mountain filling the whole earth. The
stone, which recalls Isa. xxviii. 16, exhibits the divine kingdom
in its unpromising, incomplete beginning, in which, however, it
proves itself superior to all the power and glory of this world ;
the mountain exhibits the perfected, world-ruling kingdom of God
in accordance with the interpretation :
ii. 44. "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven
will set up an eternal kingdom, which shall never be destroyed,
and its dominion shall not be delivered to another people. It
will crush and destroy all these kingdoms, but it shall last for
ever."
This kingdom, set up at last by God's hand to conquer the
whole world, and, in distinction from the previous alternation of
supremacy, to maintain its position for ever, can only be God's
kingdom, in which the Lord Himself is king. In Obad. ver. 21
(cf. Ps. xxii. 28) it was said already that the nrwp pertains to
Him, and the setting up of His kingly rule was often enough
described as the goal of His plans and ways. 1 In point of fact this
kingdom was founded by the " God of heaven ; " it springs from
above in contrast to the world-colossus towering up on the earth,
which it grinds to pieces by invisible, spiritual, divine authority.
We have here the 0. T. basis of the expression (Bacri\eia TWV
ovpavwv, found, so frequently in Matthew on the lips of Jesus.
But it is to' be observed that this rule of God is thought of as
brought about by human means. Over against the " other peoples"
ruling hitherto stands the people of the Lord now ruling by the
favour of God. From it the authority shall not again be taken
away. In this 0. T. national form the truth is expressed, that the
1 Cf. Isa. xxiv. 23, Hi. 7 ; Ps. xlvii. 9, xcvi. 10, xcvii. 1, xcix. 1, and similar
passages.
458 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
Lord will rule for ever on earth by means of men, and indeed of
His elect Church.
The same triumph of God's kingdom over the world-power is
exhibited in Dan. vii. 2 ff. with new and significant traits. In
this dream-vision the same four world-kingdoms unmistakably
appear, this time as four beasts ascending in succession out of the
storm-tossed sea (the unquiet element of the world of nations), to
exercise their authority and dominion up to the limit of time
assigned them. After their time has rim out and a horn (ruler)
belonging to the fourth beast has filled up its measure of heaven-
defying arrogance, the " Ancient of days " holds the world-judg-
ment, by which all earthly power is abolished and the
heaven-defying one condemned. Then He who is destined to
indestructible dominion appears :
vii. 13. "I beheld in visions of the night, and behold, one came
like a SON OF MAN with the clouds of heaven, and came to
14 the Ancient of days, 1 and was brought before him. And
authority was given him, and glory and kingship, and all
peoples and nations and tongues shall serve him. His
authority is an everlasting authority, which passes not away,
and his kingship one that is not destroyed."
The distinction between the human mediator of the divine rule
and God, the Most High, comes out here more strongly than in
chap. ii. After God, who has always determined the fate of
nations and men, has held the final judgment on the powers, in
which they lose all their dominion, which is of perishable nature,
the true ruler approaches, for whom the kingdom is designed. In
J d opposition to the beasts (not to the angels, cf. Ezek. i. 26 ; Dan.
x. 16". 1 XV HP. gfrpparft jp human forrnjhuman in aspect. This
implies his spiritual and ethical elevation above those world-
monarchs. Whereas the world-power is animal, i.e. governed by
1 savage, sensuous, impure and sinful impulses and passions, 2 the
future "belongs to a power not threatening in aspect, like the
world-powers grim with horns and teeth, but uniting true dignity
and greatness with superior spiritual energy, a ruler who, as true
Son of man, thoroughly and truly fulfils man's proper and highest
1 Even this appellation of God, vii. 9, 13, 22, with which the description vii. 9
ngrees, corresponds to the more exoteric and historical standpoint of Daniel. It is
God in the aspect in which He is presented in common human history.
3 Cf. p. 282.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS: HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 459
destiny of ruling in God's name on earth as God's image. 1 Here
at the end prophecy acquires the vast range it had at the begin-
ning. The Messiah, the God-chosen ruler, will not only he the
true David, exhibiting the God-anointed One in His consumma-
tion, not merely the true Israel (Isa. xl.-lxvi.), realizing fully and
finally the vocation of this people, but the true Son of man,
verifying in full both the high vocation of humanity and the
position assigned it by God.
Or was this person, moving along in human form, not meant,
in accordance with the interpretation of vii. 18, 22, 27, to be taken
personally, but to be understood of the nation of the saints
= Israel ? This is contradicted by the " coming with the clouds
of heaven," in which the heavenly origin of the ruler of the future
is expressed (more strongly than in the falling stone, ii. 34) ; he
is of supramundane extraction. 2 In any case, we should have to
conceive the " nation of the saints of the Most High " in a
glorified spiritual form, going far beyond the national reality. It
would be the Church made wholly the Lord's and forming in a
manner His heavenly host. 3 But there is no intimation of such
an exaltation of God's people to heaven before the end, and it is
even excluded by vii. 21, 22. Moreover, the personal portraiture,
vii. 13, is opposed to every collective interpretation. Also the
antithesis to the earthly powers requires that this divine kingdom,
now entering into visibility, should have its visible Head. And
this can be no other than the long-expected Messiah appearing at
the right time. 4 So the passage has been unanimously understood
by Judaism. 5 Certainly this ruler must also have a people exer-
cising dominion in conjunction with him. In the application of
the vision to present historical circumstances (vii. 18, 22, 27)
only the people is spoken of, i.e. the saints who have remained
faithful will receive dominion ; for the approaching ruler is their
1 Cf. on Gen. i. 26, p. 83, on Gen. iii. 15, p. 87, 91.
2 The scene of judgment, vii. 9 ff., is not in heaven (Ewald), but the Ancient of days
comes to the earth, vii. 22 ; there the judgment-thrones are set, vii. 9. But the
Son of man descends on the clouds of heaven.
3 This expression is used of the heavenly retinue of the Judge, Zech. xiv. 5 ; cf.
Dan. iv. 10, 20. But throughout Dan. vii. the faithful Church on earth is under-
stood thereby, vii. 18, 21 f., 25, 27.
4 See Ewald, Jungste Propheten, 1868, p. 404 ff. ; Riehm, Messianic Prophecy,
p. 132.
3 Buck Henoch, 46 ff., 69 ; Tract. Sanfiedr. f. 9Sa; Jarchi, Saadia, etc.
4CO OLD TESTAMENT PKOPHECY.
own, the Head given them by heaven, in whom they are concen-
trated, and to whom they stand in reciprocal relation, as in
Deutero-Isaiah the people to the true Servant of God.
That this chapter is the proper source of a certain N. T.
phrase, i.e. of the name, which Jesus was fond of applying to
Himself according to the four Gospels, scarcely needs remark.
That He chose the appellation " Son of man " in allusion to
Dan. vii. 13, follows from the sayings of Jesus in which He
expressly refers to this passage, like Matt. xvi. 27, xxiv. 30 j 1
Mark xiv. 62 ; Matt. xxvi. 64, with which also John i. 52,
iii. 13, should be compared, which also put the Son of man in
relation to heaven. At the same time it ought certainly to be
said, that in the teaching of Jesus this idea, in comparison with
the one in Daniel, is just as much deepened and enriched as that
of the kingdom of heaven. Also in the time of Christ this " Son
of man" was not one of the current names of the Messiah. 2
This simple appellation was therefore pre-eminently adapted, in
accordance with the intention of Jesus, to conceal His eminence
and yet to reveal to instructed eyes the divine greatness of His
person. To the receptive disciples it implied that He was the
Messiah, while claiming to be more than the national Messiah
whom the Jews expected in those days.
An essential feature in Daniel's prophecy, which is also again
taken up by the New Testament, is the knowledge that before
the appearance of God's kingdom the resistance of the heaven-
opposing world-power will burst forth in all its magnitude and
force ; and this not merely in the form of an attack of heathen
nations on Jerusalem, as in Joel iii. 9 ff., Ezek. xxxviii. f., but
concentrated in a person who will reign a long time as a tyrant
over the people of God and persecute them for their religious
fidelity. This ruler, exhibited in viii. 9 ff. as a horn, there issues
directly from one of the four kingdoms of the Diadochi. It is
the same in chap, xi., where Alexander's victory over the Persians
is referred to, while next the conflicts between the Seleucids
(kings of the north) and the Ptolemies (kings of the south) are
described, and from the former arises a ruler, who in his cam-
paigns against Egypt shall also ill-treat the land of " ornament "
1 The combination of Dan. iii. 17 with Zech. xii. 10 here is observable.
1 The Book of Henoch so uses it exceptionally in the section xxxvii.-lxxi., whose
pre-Christian character is certainly contested.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAX. 4C1
(ver. 41), i.e. Canaan, his fierce hatred turning more and more
against the Most High God and His people. All this is described
with such historical plainness, that the corresponding parts of the
Maccabsean books, especially 1 Mace, i., almost form a parallel
account to it. 1
If, then, in these chapters without doubt none but Antiochus
Epiphanes is meant, we cannot help also understanding the horn,
described in Dan. vii. 8, 11, 20 f., of him, the description of whom
agrees with the description in chap. viii. ff. just as exactly as
with historic reality. It is a horn having eyes, a human mouth,
speaking presumptuous things and bold enough to war against
the saints of God, setting itself in the place of the Most High.
In fact it acquires authority over the Holy Land for a brief period
(3| years according to xii. 25, exactly as in Dan. vii. 7), and
abuses it to lay waste the temple of the Lord, to abolish the daily
sacrifice and alter the sacred seasons and ordinances. 2 No doubt
this portrait has peculiar features. The eyes of the horn, its
human aspect, its insolent words, are meant to intimate that here
we have to do, not with savage, brutal violence, such as belongs
to the brutish world-kingdoms, but with a more rational enemy
of God, who undertakes the war against His kingdom with full
consciousness, and with equal cunning and violence tries to
uproot it.
Such a diabolical personality was Antiochus, the pre-Christian '
Nero, a tyrant in whom coarseness blended with lofty ideals in a
wonderful way. 8 He was the first heathen ruler who sought not
merely the conquest of Canaan and the political annihilation of
the Israelitish nation, but quite deliberately and in the first place
the destruction of that which constituted Israel's distinction above
all nations, its worship. Keil rightly observes on 1 Mace. i. 10,
that in reference to such an energetic and consistent policy as
Antiochus pursued in order to accomplish this end, we have no
1 Of. with Dan. xi. 25, 1 Mace. i. 17 ff. ; with Dan. xi. 28, 1 Mace. i. 20 ff. ; with
Dan. xi. 29-35, 1 Mace. i. 29 ff. ; with Dan. viii. 9 ft, 1 Mace. i. 22 ff. With
reference to Dan. xi. 31, xii. 11, in 1 Mace. i. 54 (see Grimm and Keil) the small
idol-altar set on the altar of burnt-offering is called "abomination of desolation."
Of. also Schiirer, N. T. Zeitgeschichte, p. 71 ff.
2 Cf. with the blaspheming mouth, 1 Mace. i. 24 ; with the conflict about the
sacred seasons (Sabbaths, feasts) and ordinances (circumcision, laws as to food, etc.),
1 Mace. i. 41 f., 51, ii. 21 ; 2 Mace. iv. 11, vi. 1, etc.
3 See his character in Diodorus, xxxi. 16 ; Polybius, xxvi. 10.
462 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
right to refer the hostility of this prince against the Lord of hosts
to a mere despot's caprice, having no deeper ground. The daring
pride of the human heart, that fills the world with enmity to the
Most High, found in him a conspicuous representative.
If, then, we take this horn, which connects the four kingdoms
(chaps, ii., vii.) with the visions (chap. viii. ff.), as a guide, the
kingdoms would have to be fixed as the Babylonian, the Median,
the Persian, the Greek, (a) Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold
(ii. 32, 38), the lion with eagle's wings (vii. 4). (&) Darius the
Mede would be meant by the weaker follower (ii. 39), represented
in the colossus by breast and arms of silver, in the animal-group
by the bear with three ribs (three satrapies ?) in its mouth,
established in a one-sided manner, (c) The Persian kingdom
would be presented (ii. 32) as a belly and loins of brass, according
to ii. 39 ruling over the whole earth, in vii. 6 as a leopard with
four wings and four heads (cf. the four Persian kings, xi. 2). In
viii. 3 b and c would be combined in the Medo- Persian ram.
Finally (d) Alexander's kingdom, established from the west and
issuing in the reigns of the Diadochi, would correspond to the legs
of iron, ii. 33, terminating in feet of iron and clay. Cf. ii. 40 ff.,
according to which it is made up of strong and weak elements,
and is dismembered. In vii. 7 ff. it appears as a specially terrible
beast with ten horns, in viii. 5 as a he-goat with one horn, in the
place of which four grow up, out of one of which the little bad
horn proceeds.
This division, according to which the Greece-Macedonian king-
dom with its offshoots would form the horizon of the book, is in
opposition to the traditional one, which found the fourth king-
dom in Rome, and which is generally accepted in modern days.
Taking the book in its present form as a single whole, one cannot
escape the above division. In a theological aspect also there
is no objection to this limit of the circle of vision. This limit
was afterwards left behind, the last oppression by the enemy of
God being pushed into the future, when one should come, of
whom Antiochus was only a type. But in comparing the
visions themselves doubts arise as to the correctness of the
former interpretation of chaps, ii. and vii., which we cannot pass
over. 1 Incontestably as the visions of chap. viii. ff. point to the
1 Cf. also Hofmann, Weitsagung und Erfiillung, i. 278 ff., 283 ff. H. EwalJ,
Jiingste Propheten, 1868, p. 314 f. ; F. Godet, Bibelsludien, i. 257 ff.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 463
reign of Antioclms, those of chaps, ii. and vii. seem just as
little adapted thereto. In chap. ii. the ominous horn is entirely
wanting, in chap. vii. it springs out of a number ten, not
ascertainable historically, instead of a number four. An un-
prejudiced comparison, moreover, suggests as far more probable
the reference of the second empire to the Medo-Persian rule.
To this points the dualism in breast and arms, ii. 32, as well as
in the bear more strongly established on one side, vii. 5. Both
symbols have their counterpart in the rani with two unequal
horns, viii. 3. The swift leopard with four wings and four heads
excellently suits Alexander typified by the active he-goat (viii. 5),
who subjugated the west as well as the east (ii. 39). The form
and description of the fourth beast without name, crushing
everything with iron force, more terrible than any that had pre-
ceded, will not square with the fleet-footed Alexander ; nor can
it be referred to his successors in distinction from himself
(Zockler). On the other hand, it agrees excellently with the
iron rule of Rome.
We are therefore of opinion that the traditional conception of
the four world-kingdoms, viz., (a) Babylon, (6) Medo-Persia, (c)
Macedonia, (d) Ptome, corresponds at least to the original plan of
Daniel's visions ; that, on the other hand, their editor, from whose
hand we receive them in a redacted form, referred their aim
everywhere to his own age, and sought to make this reference
evident to his contemporaries by the explanations given in chap, xi. 1
Considering the epoch-making significance of the Seleucid struggle,
this application of the prophetic word was not unwarranted ; but
the range of Daniel's prophecy was not exhausted therein.
The same, in our opinion, holds good of the seventy weeks
and their calculation, Dan. ix. In allusion to the seventy years
of Babylonian captivity predicted by Jeremiah, 2 it is made known
to the seer Daniel, that not seventy years, but seventy weeks will
elapse before the consummation of God's glorious kingdom seen
by the prophet in conjunction with the return from exile.
ix. 24. "Seventy weeks are settled respecting thy people and
1 The God-resisting horn, in which at last the hostility of the world to the God
of heaven culminates, must be acknowledged as belonging to the ancient Daniel ; on
the other hand, it cannot be certainly indicated where it had its place originally, the
redactor having made some adjustment just here.
2 Dan. ix. 2. Cf. Jer. xxv. 11 f., xxix. 10.
4G4 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
thy holy city, to abolish sin and seal 1 transgressions and expiate
guilt and bring in eternal righteousness, and seal vision and
prophet and anoint the most holy (place)."
The penal time of seventy weeks must be endured before full
redemption comes, such as the prophets beheld in immediate
connection with the return from exile, entire deliverance from
sin and guilt, the first being made an end of, the latter expiated,
the fulfilment of all the glory predicted by them, the perfecting
of the innermost sanctuary on Zion (Zech. iii. 9, p. 433). These
" weeks " are spaces of seven years, as is seen by comparing
ix. 27 with vii. 25, xii. 7. But the period of seventy weeks = 490
years, is again divided into 7 + 62 + 1, the year of the summons to
return being named as the starting-point, therefore 536 B.C. The
meaning, however, is that the seven weeks first mentioned had
already elapsed, since the years of exile are certainty included in
the time of punishment. 2 With this also agrees the historical
duration, these seven weeks counting from c. 588 to c. 536 B.C.
On the seven weeks of exile, which as already well known are
not specially noticed, follows the paltry restoration and the
undisturbed continuance of Jerusalem in limited circumstances
during many years (sixty-two weeks). At the close of this
period the " Anointed One " appears, or rather is violently put
to death in that moment, ix. 26. Then the last week of
heaviest tribulation begins. In this n'ttfo a Christian reader
can only see the Messiah, especially when in ix. 25 He is
called TJ3 ^T9 princely, kingly, Anointed One. Thus He is the
same as the one in vii. 13, where He is to return in triumph
after having suffered death on earth. Here the combination
with Zech. xiii. 7, xii. 10, suggests itself, such as we find carried
out in Matt. xxiv. 30. The historical fulfilment certainly would
not fit exactly in a chronological point of view, since 536-434
(sixty-two weeks) would only bring us down to c. 100 B.C., which
is little improved by dating the seven weeks also from 536.
Hengstenberg does better in referring the saying about the
rebuilding of Jerusalem to Artaxerxes. But these typical weeks
1 So at least the Kethib in the sense of to complete, finish. In the same sense the
Keri reads Dn!"6- See Geseuius, Thesaurus, i. p. 533. Isa. xl. 2 should be com-
pared as to the idea.
2 Otherwise Hofrnann, Wieseler, Delitzsch (Herzog, iii. 477), who make the seven
weeks follow the 62 + 1, which would have needed to be expressly said.
THE POST-EXILIAN PEOPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 465
in prophecy are not to be taken at all as mere mathematical
quantities.
However, it can scarcely be denied that the editor and
redactor of the Book of Daniel has identified the last week, follow-
ing the 6 2 and beginning with the killing of the " Messiah," with
his own time, and the second half of the same with the desecra-
tion of the temple by Antiochus (ix. 27). How he reckoned in
order to obtain 62 (52 instead) weeks from c. 536 to c. 170,
has not been satisfactorily shown. On the other hand, in the
murder of the high priest Onias III., in whom the guardian spirit
of the nation seemed taken away, he thought he saw the fateful
murder of the " Anointed One " (note B). This, in connection
with his reckoning of the 70 weeks and the fearful events of his
days, inspired him with confidence that the last week had already
begun, and only half of it had yet to be endured before full
redemption came. Nor in this brief period of 3^- years was he
deceived, thereby proving that something of the spirit of pro-
phecy lived in him also. But what he was permitted to learn
from prophecy respecting those days of heroic struggle for freedom
did not exhaust its meaning. The last week really began when the
true Anointed One was put to a violent death. Then the powers
of desolation were let loose upon Judah and its temple, 1 while at
the same time the kingdom of the Son of man, in which all guilt
is cancelled and the Most Holy Place is perfected, began its
course. But its outward, complete and final triumph over the
world-kingdoms, which Daniel so triumphantly foretold, will only
take place on the return of the Crucified in -the clouds of heaven.
Then also will be realized the great things which Daniel said
(xii. 2) respecting the consummation of the Church :
xii. 1&. " And there shall be a time of tribulation, such as has
not occurred since there has been a people up to this time.
And at the same time thy people shall be delivered, every
2 one written in the book. And many of those who sleep in
the dust of the ground shall awake, these to eternal life, and
3 those to shame, to everlasting abhorrence. And they who
have made (others) wise 2 shall shine like the glory of the
heavenly vault, and they who have pointed many to righteous-
ness, like the stars for ever and ever."
1 Matt. xxiv. 15 ; Mark xiii. 14.
2 ^271 stands here in the transitive sense : *o teach, instruct, as in ix. 22.
OKELLI. 2 G
466 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
As already in Isa. xxvi. 19 (p. 303) we heard that to a full
restoration of the Church the bodily resurrection of its members
sleeping in God is necessary, so here a twofold resurrection of
the dead is foretold as the end of the world. The one class,
those entered in God's book of life, awake to eternal life in
God ; and in particular, they who were not merely themselves
righteous and pleasing to God, but also by word and example
led others to fear God and work righteousness, like Daniel him-
self (xii. 13), shall be made partakers of heavenly glory ; while
others rise from the dead to receive their doom, which is a
further expansion of what is said in Isa. Ixvii. 24 (cf. xxiv. 22).
A universal resurrection of the dead is not indeed taught in
this passage ; for " many of them that sleep " (despite Hofnmnn,
Oehler) is different from " all that sleep ; " but the emphasis
lies not on the partial character inherent in the expression,
but on the multitude of those who shall arise, some because
they are found in God's book of life and therefore cannot
remain for ever in the power of death, others because God's
retributive justice must yet overtake them.
This prophecy also was taken up again by Christ and the
apostles, and its fulfilment is still to come, like what is said in
this book of the establishment of a word-ruling kingdom of God.
\ Still the world's histoiy goes on its course, still the colossus
I stands, still the beasts ascend from the sea of nations. Still also
I the greatest tribulation of the Christian Church is to come. For
as under the Old Covenant hostility to God embodied itself at
last in one all-powerful ruler, so according to apostolic prophecy
resistance to Christ culminates finally in an " Antichrist," who
tries to strike a deadly blow at the kingdom of the Lord. But
when the need is greatest and the cause of the " saints " is
apparently lost, then the Exalted One will appear and gather
His Church from among the living and the dead. To the Church
the kingdom will fall at the final judgment.
The Book of Daniel, whatever the conjectures respecting its
origin, puts the crown on Old Testament prophecy, giving
utterance with unequalled grandeur to ideas of the divine
kingdom, which entered into the basis of the revelation of the Xew
Covenant.
NOTE A. On the one side these visions, considering their
loosely-connected state, give the impression of having arisen out
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS: HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 467
of oral tradition, by which many inaccuracies may be explained ;
while the highly-coloured style of narrative, approximating some-
what to the apocryphal, and markedly different from the Biblical
style generally, is made intelligible. On the other hand, both
generally and in detail these visions, as modern investigation has
proved, bear so much the stamp of the age and the reigns from
which they profess to come, that their critical rejection is unsatis-
factory on scientific grounds. See R Lenormant, Magie der Chal-
dcicr, 1878, p. 525 ff. As concerns the Maccabsean age, it, of
course, perfectly explains the interest felt in bringing forward
these traditional histories. The abstinence from unclean meats
(Dan. i. 8 ff.) was a chief point in the creed of that age, 1 Mace.
i. 62 (Fritzsche's ed. 1871), 2 Mace. vi. 18 ff., vii. 1 ff. ; just so the
refusal to worship idols at the command of tyrants, 1 Mace. i. 47,
51, with which Dan. iii. 1 ff. should be compared. In the time of
the Seleucids the Jews witnessed (1 Mace. i. 23 ; 2 Mace. v. 16)
something analogous to the desecration of the temple-vessels, Dan.
v. 2 ff. But why should the narrator, to whom the gift of inven-
tion could not be denied, omit to illustrate and commend other
chief acts of his creed by means of " Daniel's " narratives, such as
the observance of the Sabbath (1 Mace. i. 39, 43, 45, ii. 32 ff. ;
2 Mace. vi. 6), and of circumcision (1 Mace. i. 15, 48, 60 f. ;
2 Mace. vi. 10), which would have been all the more easy since
both customs were observed in the exile ?
NOTE B. See 2 Mace. iii. 1, iv. 1 ff. Were Dan. ix. 25 f.
written originally of Onias, the way in which he is spoken of
would be hard to understand. How is it that of all the high
priests of the whole period he only is called TJ3 rVK^ Dan. ix.
25 ? Also, to pass by the statement of Josephus, Ant. xii. 5,
according to which on his (natural) death he was simply succeeded
in office by his brother, he was according to 2 Mace. iv. (vers. 7,
23 f., 29, 34), at the time of his murder no longer high priest, of
which there is no intimation in Daniel. But considering the
reverence felt for him, a Messianic oracle already existing in that
age might well be referred to him.
CONCLUSION.
Thus we find in the Old Testament an abundance of life-
germs striving after union and mutual completion. These
prophecies, while still of an isolated character (1 Cor. xiii. 9),
yet tend to become a whole. They are not free from limitation
468 OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY.
of form and indistinctness of colour, due to the circumstances of
the age, on which Delitzsch aptly remarks, 1 that the human
short-sightedness of the prophets is made to subserve the divine
plan just as much as their far-sightedness which was the gift of the
Spirit. Their conception of the kingdom of God in general is
still bound to the people of Israel, the land of Canaan, the House
of God on Zion, the Mosaic ceremonial. As a rule they are only
able to set forth the perfecting of God's future kingdom as a
perfecting of these forms, an enhancement of the blessings
already experienced in nature and national life. But every-
where the Spirit seeks to burst through this veil, which fails
to satisfy Him ; in many passages the veil falls aside, at least
for a moment.
Still Old Testament prophecy first received its unity and
completion in the New Covenant. Eemove the latter, and what
is left of the former ? A harvest withering on the eve of
maturity, a struggle of the holiest saints continued for centuries
without result ; travail painful enough, but no new-birth !
The fate of prophetic Israel would be a tragedy, powerless to
give comfort to any people. The noblest hopes would have
proved the vainest. We should despair of the Divinity of the
Spirit who inspired them.
But the fulfilment has taken place in unanticipated glory.
We saw that in the beginning prophecy had the establishment
of God's kingdom for its chief subject, afterwards the redemption
of the nation. The fulfilment conversely first brought illumina-
tion and redemption by the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah of
David's stock in a state of lowliness, the insignificant Son of
man. Although everything spoken by the prophets of the glory
of God's people and kingdom was wrapped up in His person, His
immediate work was the ministry of redemption, carried out in
deepest lowliness and privacy. The effect of this work of His
was that He did not remain alone, but became the foundation-
stone of a whole temple, the king of a whole people, the
type of a whole new - born humanity. True, this work was
begun and was meant to be carried on primarily in a spiritual
form, whilst at the same time a more radical judgment than the
Babylonian was executed on the existing theocracy, receptive
hearts being thus impelled to a refinement, a freedom and spiri-
1 Messianic Propficcles, p. 94.
THE POST-EXILIAN PROPHETS : HAG., ZECH., MAL., DAN. 469
tuality of view altogether different from what was the case in the
time of Jeremiah. To-day the building still continues, the Spirit
produces His life quietly, where He wills. But one day His work
will be revealed to all the world.
As certainly as redemption came the hour of consummation
also will strike. Our Lord, who spoke to men as God's Mes-
senger and made Himself known to His own as High Priest,
will one day reveal Himself to the world as King. In Him,
by whom every yearning of man's heart is stilled and all its
woe healed, all the world's contradictions will find their solution,
all divine ideas their consummation.
Thus the prophecies speak, not merely of the most glorious
and precious contents of the history of mankind in the past, but
also of the highest bliss which the future carries in its bosom,
bearing witness as they do to Him (John v. 39) "who is, and
who was, and who is to come ! "
INDEX.
PRINCIPAL PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE DISCUSSED OR REFERRED TO.
GENESIS. EXODUS. JUI:GES.
CHAP.
PAGE
CHAP. PAGE
CHAP. PAGE
i. 1-ii. 3,
80, 82
iii. 14, . . . 127
LI,.
119
i. 26, .
78, 83
iv. 6, . 7
v. 11, .
273
iii.,
80, 87
iv. 22, . 128, 229, 236
v. 24, .
92
iii. 15, .
78
iv. 23, . . . 379
xiii. 18,
274
iv. 7, . .
89
vi. 3, . . 109, 127
iv. 26, .
126, 209
vi. 7, ... 128
1 SAMUEL.
viii. 21,
94
vii. 1, ... 7
ix. 9, ...
5
ix. 8, .
ix. 25-27, .
93
79, 96, 126
xiv. 19, . . 263
xix. 6, . . . 263
xiii. 14,
xv. 22, .
149
178
xii. 1, 3, 7, .
106, 113
xx. 5, ... 339
xvi. 14, '. '.
9
xii. 8, .
xiii. 14-17, .
. 209
. 108
xxxii. 32, . . 262
xxxiv. 15, . . 229
xviii. 26,
xix. 24,
16
17
XV.,
xv. 5, .
109
. 236
LEVITICUS.
xxviii., . . 18
,25
xv. 6, .
. 288
xxvi. 5, . . 227
2 SAMUEL.
xvi. 10,
112
xvi. 11,
. 265
NUMBERS.
vi. 12, .
186
xvii. 1,
. 109
xiv. 14, . . 263
vii. 1, .
150
xvii. 7, 8,
110
xxi. 18, . . 118
vii. 3, 4, . 10,
156
xvii. 18,
. 112
xxiii. 7-10, . . 135
vii. 11-16, .
150
xvii. 19, 21, .
xviii. 18,
. 110
. 108
xxiii. 18-24, . 136, 140 f.
xxiv. 3-9, . 138, 141
xxii.,
xxiii. 1-7,
155
164
xx. 7, . .
. 107
xxiv. 3, 17
xxiii. 5,
151
xxi. 12,
xxii. 17, 18, .
. 112
108, 111,
xxiv. 15-24, . 140, 318
xxv. 1, . . . 215
1 KINGS.
114, 237
xxxv. 34, . . 100
v. 9, . . .
280
XXV. 1, .
. 110
xir. 25,
215
xxv. 29,
. 112
DEUTERONOMY.
xxi. 29,
52
xxvi. 3-6,
108, 112
v. 9, . . . 339
xxvi. 26,
. 114
xiii. 1-3, . . 26
2 KINGS.
xxvii. 27-29,
113, 117,
xiii. 16, . . 273
xiii. 23,
124
122
xvii. 14, . . 179
xiv. 25,
226
xxvii. 33,
. 114
xviii. 15, 18, . 132
xx viii. 13, 14,
108, 112
xviii. 22, . . 50
1 CHRONICLES.
xxxv. 9, 11, .
110, 112
xxxi. 16, . . 229
v. 1, .
116
xxxvi. 31,
. 110
xxxii. 4, . . 325
xvii. 1,
150
xlvi. 1-4,
. 112
xxxii. 6, . .128
xlviii., .
. 116
xxxiii. 7, . . 122
2 CHRONICLES.
xlviii. 20,
. 108
xx. 16,
210
xlix. 1,
. 115
JOSHUA.
xlix. 8-12, .
117, 138
ix. 23, . . . 99
JOB.
xlix. 24, 25, .
. 122
xviii. 1, . . 119
ix. 17, .
92
470
INDEX.
471
JOB continued.
ISAIAH continued.
HOSEA.
CHAP. PAGE
CHAP. PAGE
CHAP. PAGE
xix. 25-27, . . 184
xxxiii. 21, . . 429
i. 10, . . . 236
xxxviii. 4, . 80
xxxiii. 24, . . 443
ii. 1, ... 236
xxxiv. 4, . . 294
ii. 18, . . . 232
PSALMS.
xxxv. 10, . . 294
ii. 19, . . . 233
ii., . 158, 163, 309
viii. 3, . . . 85
xli. 8, . . 379
xlii. 1-7, . 380, 403
ii. 20, . . . 282
ii. 21, . . . 235
xvi. 8-11, . . 181
xlv. 21, . . 245
iii. 5, . . 161, 262
xviii., . . 155, 162
xlix. 1-9, . . 383
vi. 1, ... 237
xxii., . . 174, 180
1. 4-7, . . .385
vi. 2, . r . 303
xxiv., . . .186
lii. 13-15, . . 387
xi. 1, ... 236
xxvii. 12, . . 160
liii. 1-6, . . 388
xi. 8, ... 239
xl., . . 177, 180
liii. 7-22, . . 391
xi. 10, . . . 161
xli., . . .174
liv. 10-15, . .406
xii. 13, . . . 126
xlv. 6, . . .169
lv. 3, . . 151, 402
xiii. 12, . . 239
li. 17, . . . 178
lix. 21, . . . 408
xiii. 13, . 269, 309
lv., . . .174
Ix. 1-5, . .411
xiii. 14, . . 240
Ixviii., . . .170
Ixiii. 1, . . 213
Ixix 179
Ixv. 20, . . 443
JOEL.
Ixxii., . 170, 246 f., 281
Ixxxv 446
Ixv. 25, . . 88, 92
Ixvi. 3, 7, 8, . . 411 f.
ii. 28, . 205, 348, 354
ii. 30, . . . 208
Ixxxvii. 3, . . 304
Ixvii. 24, . . 466
ii. 32, . . . 209
Ixxxix., . . 151
xcvi.-xcviii., . 446
JEREMIAH.
iii. 1, . . 210, 409
iii. 9, . . 211, 460
ex., . 153, 156, 187,
iii. 16, 17, . . 331
iii. 11, . . .357
226, 442
xvi. 60-63, . . 363
iii. 16, . . . 187
cxviii., . . 444 ff.
xvii. 22-24, . . 364
iii. 18, . . 352, 375
xxiii. 5, 333, 336, 433
PROVERBS.
xxvi. 18 f., . . 52
AMOS.
vi. 23, . . . 129
xxx. 9, . . 336, 451
i. 2, . . . 187
xi. 25, . . . 107
xxx. 15, . . 66
iii. 8, ... 6
xii. 17, . . .325
xxx. 21, . 337, 442
ix. 11, . . 123, 225
xxviii. 4, . .129
xxxi. 22, . . 338
ix. 13-15, . 215, 225
xxxi. 27, . . 339
CANTICLES, 172
xxxi. 31-34, . 340, 368
OBADIAH.
ISAIAH.
i. 8, . . . 225
ii. 2, . 256, 318
ii. 3, ... 444
xxxii. 39-41, . 342
xxxiii. 9, , . 342
xxxiii. 15, , 336, 433
xxxiii. 16, , . 335
xxxiii. 17, . . 343
xxxiv. 23, . . 367
ver. 15-21, . .197
ver. 17, . 187, 226
ver. 18-21, . .213
JONAH, 253
iv. 2, ... 334
xxxvi. 25-28, . 367
iv. 2, . . . 52
vii. 9, . . . 326
vii. 14, 265, 279, 309, 334
xlix. 12, . . 198
MlCAH.
viii. 8, 9, . 160, 268
ix. 1 2, . . 271
EZEKIEL.
iii. 12, . . 52, 257
ix! 3,' '. . . 246
xi. 19, . . . 341
iv. 1, . . 261, 318
xviii. 2 339
iv. 2-6, . . . 260
ix. 5, . . 268, 279
xi. 1-10, . 278, 284
xix. 16-24, . . 296
xxiv. 5, . .317
xxi. 32, . . 120
xxxiv. 23, . . 123
xxxvi. 25, . . 335
iv. 4, ... 123
iv. 6-8, . . .305
iv. 11, . . 212, 372
xxiv. 21, . . 300
xxv. 6, . . 301, 443
xxxvi. 26, , . 341
xxxvii., . 303, 369 f.
iv. 13, . . . 310
v. 2-5, . . .307
xxvi. 19, 303, 370, 466
xxviii. 16, 286, 326, 407
xxxviii., . 370, 460
xlvii. 1, . .215
v. 7, 8, . . . 311
v. 9, . . . 246
xxix. 14, . . 274
xxix. 17-19, . . 290
DANIEL.
NAHUM, 311
xxx. 7, . . . 304
xxx. 18-26, . . 291
ii. 44, . . . 457
vii. 13, 14, . . 458
HABAKKFK.
xxxii. Iff., . . 292
ix. 24, . . . 463
ii. 2-4, . . .323
xxxiii. 5, 17, . . 293
xii. 1, ... 465
ii. 16, . . . 198
472
INDEX.
H ABAKKUK contin uetl.
MATTHEW continued.
ROMANS continued.
CHAP. PAOK
CHAP.
PAGE
CHAP.
PAGE
iii. 2, ... 327
xvi. 27,
. 460
viii. 19, . 91
, 284
iii. 18, 19, . . 328
xx. 28, .
. 405
x. 13, .
219
xxi. 4, 5,
248
xi 12, .
65
7i-.rnANi.vir.
xxL 9, .
. 446
i. 2, . . 315
xxi. 42-46, .
446
1 CORINTHIANS.
i. 7, ... 316
ii. 1, 11, . . 317
ii. 3, . . 826
xxi. 30,
xxiv., .
xxvi. 31,
. 460
. 208
59
x. 4, .
xv. 54, .
63
302
iil 8-10, . .319
iii. 11-13, . . 820
xxvii. 9,
xxvii. 35, 43,
250
. 176
GALATIANS.
iii. 14-17, . . 821
xxvii. 46,
xxviii. 18,
175
. 163
iii. 7, .
iii. 11, .
65
326
HAGGAI.
ii. 5-9, . . .421
MARK.
x. 45, .
. 405
iv. 21, .
iv. 24-26,
v. 22, .
63
187
283
ii. 7, ... 441
xiv. 61, .
58
ii. 21-23, . . 424
xv. 24, 29, .
. 176
EPHESIANS.
xv. 34, .
175
ZECHARIAH.
ii. 14, .
310
ii. 10 f., . . 429
iiL 8 ff., . . 432
LUKE.
vi. 20, .
. 291
HEBREWS.
vi. 12, 13, . . 440
xix. 14,
. 163
i. 5, . .
163
viii. 20-23, . .443
xix. 41,
53
i. 13, .
157
ix. 8, 10, . .311
xxiii. 35,
. 176
ii. 6, ...
85
ix. 9, . 123, 245, 350
xxiv. 44-46, .
. 186
v. 6, .
157
ix. 13, . . . 247
vii. 7, .
103
xi., . . 248, 354
JOHN.
vii. 17, 21, .
157
xi. 7, ... 246
i. 21, .
. 132
vii. 27, .
435
xii. 2, . . 372
i. 52, .
460
viii. 1, .
157
xii. 8, ... 347
iii. 13, .
460
x. 5, . . .
179
xiL 9-11, 348, 354, 402
iiL 18, .
55
x. 12, . . .
157
xiii. 1, . . .215
iv. 23, .
319
x. 37, .
324
xiii. 2, . . . 352
v. 45-47,
. 132 f.
x. 38, .
326
xiii. 1-6, . 351, 375
vii. 40, .
132
xiii. 7, . 59, 354, 402
x. 11, .
. 355
JAMES.
xiv., . . . 356 f.
xiv. 9, . . . 358
xii. 14-16, .
xii. 48, .
248
55, 132
i. 17,
303
xiv. 20, . . . 359
xiv. 7, 9,
163
xix. 24, 28, .
. 176
1 PKTER.
MALACHI.
xix. 37, .
. 351
ii. 21, .
404
i. 3, . . 200
iv. 17, .
192
i. 11, . . 319, 448
ACTS.
iii. 1, ... 448
ii. 16, .
. 217
2 PETER.
iv. 5, 6, . . 449
ii. 23, 27, .
351
ii. 25, .
182
i. 19, .
65
MATTHEW.
iii. 22, .
. 132 f.
ii. 2, . . 141
iv. 25, .
. 163
REVELATION.
ii. 18, . . . 66
vii. 37, .
. 132 f.
L 7,
351
iv. 13, . . . 271
xiii. 33,
. 163
L 16, .
281
iv. 18, . . . 375
xiii. 34,
182
v. 5, .
123
v. 3-5, . . .291
vi. 12, .
208
v. 17, . . . 57
ROMANS.
xiv. 15, .
213
xiii. 47, . . 32
i. 17, .
326 xxi.
332
xvi. 16, . . 163
ii. 14, .
299 xxii. 1, .
374
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