BIBLICAL MANUALS EDITED BY J. ESTLIN CARPENTER, M.A. i l .i* THE BOOKS OLD TESTAMENT a Sbort SntroDuctton J. H. WEATHERALL, M.A. Professor of Hebrew and Hellenistic Greek in the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen. lonfton THE SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION ESSEX HALL, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1902 PRINTED BY ELSOM AND CO. MARKET-PLACE, HULL. PREFACE. The following pages are designed for those readers who are interested in the Old Testament, not only as a storehouse of devo- tion and doctrine, but also as a collection of ancient writings pre- senting many literary and historical problems. In the space at the writer's disposal, it will be obvious that only the more important of these problems could be discussed. For convenience of reference, the order of books in the English Version has been followed. How little this is a guide to the origin of the books may' be illustrated by the fact that the account of Creation on the first page of the Old Testament arid the prophecy of ' Malachi ' on the last were published at practically the same time. The chronological tables will assist the reader to fix the succession of the different writings. The writer may be allowed to suggest here that the critical analyses of the historical books, on which so much of their interpretation depends, can be appreciated only if some means be taken to represent them to the eye. For the Hexateuch, the works mentioned in the text do this by means of variations of type, and so far as issued the parts of the Polychrome Bible by the more expensive but clearer method of colours. In the following pages, however, sufficiently detailed notes of analysis have been included to enable the student to construct a Polychrome Bible for himself, if he takes the trouble to wash- in the text of the various sources by means of water-colours. The thanks of the author are due and are hereby offered to the Rev. J. Estlin Carpenter for many helpful suggestions and criticisms. J. H. W. Carmarthen, December^ 1901. 2094067 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. OT . AV . EV . RV . RVM cp ct fg.,ffg. - ib c c Driver, LOT . W. R. Smith. OTJC Kautzsch, Outlines . Hastings, DB . Cheyne, Ency. Bi CBS . ET . LXX Old Testament. Authorised Version. English Version (Authorised and Revised). Revised Version. Revised Version Margin. compare. contrast. and following. ibidem, in the same place. scilicet, to wit. circa, about. S. R. Driver, ' Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament' : 7th edition. W. Robertson Smith, ' The Old Testament in the Jewish Church ' : and edition. E. Kautzsch, ' An Outline of the History of the Literature of the Old Testament.' English Translation by Dr. John Taylor. 1 A Dictionary of the Bible,' edited by J. Hastings. V01S. I, 2, 3. ' Encyclopaedia Biblica,' edited by T. K. Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black : vols. I and 2. The Cambridge Bible for Schools. English Translation. Septuagint. Other abbreviations are explained in the text, or are self-explanatory. Chapters of the biblical books are referred to by arabic numerals on the line ; verses by similar numerals above the line. Thus : Gen. 2 1 means the first verse of the second chapter of Genesis. CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE . . . . . . . . iii LIST or ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . iv CONTENTS ........ v CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES ...... viii INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER . . . . . .1 I. What the Old Testament is. 2. The Canon of the Old Testament. 3. The Canon of the Synagogue. 4. The Canon of the Alexandrians. 5. The Language of the Old Testament. 6. The MSS. 7. The Versions. 8. The Divisions into Chapters and Verses. 9. The Chief Periods of Old Testament History. IO. The Monarchy to the Fall of Samaria, 1030-722 B.C. n. The Fall ot Samaria to the Destruction of Jerusalem, 722-586. 12. The Exile to the Maccabean War, 586-165. 13. The Transmission and Editing of the Text. CHAPTER I. THE HEXATEUCH . . . . . .24 I. The Sixfold Book. 2. Some Literary Features. 3. Two Specimen Narratives (a) Creation (b) The Deluge. 4. Development of Critical Opinion. 5- Analysis. 6. Dates of the Documents (a) D. (b) J and E. ( JeroboamI, , Rehoboam Foundation Nadab Abijah Narratives of Baasha Asa Judges. Elah Jerusalem and Zimri Jehoshaphat David Omri Sources in Sam. Saul Stories in Samuel. c. 854 Ahab Prophetic Activity of Beginnings of Elijah the J series of Ahaziah Jehoram and narratives in Jehoram Ahaziah Elisha. Gen.onwards. 841-815 Jehu 841-36 Pr. Source in Athaliah Kings. (Queen) 835-796 Jehoash 814-798 Jehoahaz E Source in 797-783 Jehoash 795-790 Kings. Amaziah 782-743 Jeroboam 789-740 745 Tiglath Pileser III. Amos. II Azariah King of Assyria. Secondary Pr. (-Uzziah) source inKgs. Zechariah 740 Arpad captured by Hosea 1-3. Shall um Assyria. E series in Gen. 742-737 Menahem 739-34 738 Menahem tributary onwards. Jotham to Assyria. SSsource inSam. Hosea 4-14. 736 Pekahiah The Syro-Ephramitish Is. 2-5, I7 M1 , 6. War. Is. 7-9 6 , II 1 ' 9 . 735-o Pekah 733-721 734 Ahaz buys assist- Micah 1-5. 729-721 Hoshea Ahaz. ance from Assyria. Isaiah I4 a4 *- Reduction of Samaria Isaiah 28 1 - 6 . 722 by Shalmaneser IV. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES 3. The Fall of Samaria to the Fall of Jerusalem, 722-586. NOTES. LITERATURE. 720-693 Hezekiah Rebellion of Hezekiah ; alliance with Isaiah 28-32, 692-639 Manasseh Egypt. Invasion by Sennacherib of Assyria. Siege of Jerusalem. Retreat of Sennacherib, 701. IO 5-34 i4-32 I7 12 - 14 ,i8,etc. Micah 6-7. Nahum. 638 Amon 637-608 Josiah Incursions of Scythians. Zephaniah. Jeremiah 2-6. 621 Josiah purifies the cultus on the Deuteronomy, basis of the law-book found in the Temple. Josiah slain in battle of Megiddo in Habakkuk. opposing Egypt. 608 Jehoahaz Fall of Assyria, 608-6. 607-597 Jehoiakim 604 Nebuchadrezzar defeats Egypt Jer. 7-20. at Carchemish ; Jehoiakim be- 26. comes his vassal. ,, 25. 597 602 Revolt of Jehoiakim ; siege of Jerusalem. Jehoiachin 597 Capture of Jerus ; first deporta- (3 months) tion of inhabitants ; Zedekiah vassal of Nebuchadrezzar. 35- 596-86 Zedekiah Deut. redac- tion of Jud.- Kgs. ; Jer. 22 20 '*, 23 ,24, etc. He leagues with Egypt. Siege of Jer. 2 1, 27-34, Jerusalem, and capture. 37-3$ (in the main). CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES XI The Exile to the Maccabean War. EVENTS. 538 519-16 Ezekiel in captivity in Babylon. Victories of Cyrus, King of Per- sia ; fall of Babylon, 538. Some of the Jews return to Palestine. The Second Temple built. 485-465 Xerxes King of Persia. 465-424 Artaxerxes Kg.of Persia. c. 458-32 Ezra and Nehemiah reorganise the community. Re-building of the walls of Jerusalem. Publication of P. c. 400 Canonisation of the Law. 332 End of the Persian Period. Alexander the Great ; the Greek Period. 300-200 Beginning of LXX. translation. Canonisation of the ' Prophets.' I 75" I ^4 Antiochus Epiphanes. 1 68 Profanation of the Temple. The Maccabean revolt, vic- tories, and purification of the Temple. LITERATURE. Obadiah. 573 Ezekiel, except 291^- Revisions of J, E (or JE), and D ; Formation of JED. Revisions of Jud., Sam., Kgs. H in Leviticus. Lamentations. Additions to Jeremiah. Isaiah 40-48. Isaiah 34-5. Some Psalms and Proverbs. Isaiah 49-55. Haggai and Zechariah 1-8. ' Malachi.' P (in Babylonia). Collection of Book I. of Ps. Ruth. Isaiah 56-66 (in the main). Fusion of JED with HP. Memoirs of Ezra. Memoirs of Nehemiah. Joel. Jonah. Further Psalms. Collection of Books II. & III. Further Proverbs. Song of Songs, Isaiah 24-27. Zechariah gfg ?, 12-14. Chron.-Ezra-Nehemiah. Completion of Proverbs. Esther. Ecclesiastes. 165 Daniel. Completion of the Psalter. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, I. What the Old Testament is. 2. The Canon of the Old Testament. 3. The Canon of the Synagogue. 4. The Canon of the Alexan- drians. 5. The Language of the Old Testament. 6. The MSS. 7. The Versions. 8. The Divisions into Chapters and Verses. 9. The chief Periods of Old Testament History. 10. The Monarchy to the Fall of Samaria, 1030-722 B.C. II. The Fall of Samaria to the Destruction of Jerusalem 722-586. 12. The Exile to the Maccabean War, 586-165. 13. The Transmission and Editing of the Text. i. What the Old Testament is. THE Old Testament is a collection of the sacred writings of the Jewish people. These writings are of different kinds and various dates. One considerable portion of them deals with the external fortunes of the nation, its laws and institutions. Another considerable part consists of discourses of public men called prophets. There are collections of hymns and proverbs, treatises dealing with what we should call philosophy; and there are also secular songs and edifying tales. Of these diverse writings some portions were not yet two hundred years old when Jesus was born, while some fragments go back to at least a thousand years before the beginnings of Christianity. Some parts had their origin in Palestine, some in Babylonia. The Jewish nation is, however, the common theme that unites all these varieties; and on its literary side we might describe the Old Testament as a collection B of documents which illustrate the history and religion of Israel. The name ' Old Testament ' has a theological rather than a literary significance. Christianity was originally a new Judaism, and at first the Jewish sacred writings formed the only Bible of the Christians. When however a literature grew up connected with the origins of Christianity, and when this literature came to be regarded as of divine authority, then the names ' Old Covenant ' ' New Covenant ' were employed as titles of the two collections. The immediate source of the names was 2 Cor. 3 and Heb. 9 15 ~ 17 , passages which rest upon Jer. 3i 31 . In the Latin Church the word which finally prevailed as the translation of the title was ' Testamentum.' From this our word is drawn. 2. The Canon of the Old Testament. The idea of a collection of sacred writings was already familiar to the Jews at the beginning of the Christian era. Such a collection is called a Canon. This is a Greek word meaning 'rod' or 'rule,' Gal. 6 16 ; applied to books it came to mean a list or catalogue. In the early Christian Church ' canonical ' and ' inspired ' were convertible terms ; to allow the ' canonicity ' of a book meant to grant its inspired charac- ter ; to admit a book into the ' Canon ' meant to accept it into the list of inspired writings. In the synagogue the phrase for sacred writings was ' books which defile the hands.' i.e. which are so especially holy that the hands must be ceremonially washed after touching them, before engaging in any profane occupation. 1 The Old Testament as e.g. printed in the Revised Version is divided into 39 books. Jewish Bibles contain the same books, but the order is not exactly the same ; and they are divided there into three large groups, of which the names are 1 Budde, Encyclopaedia Biblica, col. 649. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 3 the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. As the Jewish classi- fication and order are important they are here given : 1. THE LAW. Gen., Ex., Lev., Num., Deut. 5 2. THE PROPHETS. The Former Prophets l : Josh., Jud., Sam., Kgs. 4 The Latter Prophets : Is., Jer., Ezkl. ; the Twelve 4 = 8 3. THE WRITINGS. Psalms, Job, Proverbs; the Five Rolls, (i.e. Song of Songs, Ruth, Lam., Eccl., Esther); Daniel, Ez.-Neh., Chron. n 24 Our total of 39 may be reached by reckoning the minor Prophets separately, and Samuel, Kings, Ezra-Neh., Chron. as two books each. On the other hand, the Old Testament in the Greek Version known as the Septuagint z contains not only the books of the Jewish Bible but certain others. These are roughly represented by the Apocrypha of the Old Testament, which cover i and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Maccabees, Additions to Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch with the Epistle of Jeremiah, the Song of the Three Holy Children, the History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasses. 3 The list of books contained in Jewish Bibles is generally known as the Canon of the Synagogue or the Canon 1 ' Former ' and ' latter ' in place-order. *Cp. infra 7. 3 MSS. of LXX vary with regard to the number of apocrypha. The Prayer of Manasses i* in only a few MSS. ; 2 Esdras in none. Maccabees is reckoned as four Books. B 2 4 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT of the Palestinian Jews ; while the Septuagint Canon is described as the Canon of the Alexandrians. 3. The Canon of the Synagogue. The division of the Jewish Bible into three groups corres- ponds to three stages in the growth of the collections. A Jewish tradition ascribes the close of the Canon to Ezra. With him it was supposed that the period ended in which God revealed himself directly to men. The sacred writings are the memorials of direct revelation, and, when revelation has ceased, the substitutes for it. The public adoption of the Deuteronomic Law Book in 621 B.C. 1 may be regarded as the first step towards the formation of a Canon. The second step was the publication of a large portion of the Pentateuch by Ezra in 444, the people formally accepting it (Neh. S lf &). Within fifty years of this date the Canon of the Law, consisting of Gen.-Deut., was practically closed. The Samaritans, who broke off from Judaism about 400 B.C., carried with them a copy of the Pentateuch, which must therefore have been divided off by that time from the rest of the national literature. The Law was regarded as pre-eminently the revelation of God; in John ic 24 , i5 25 , i Cor. i4 21 the 'Law' is equivalent to ' the Scriptures,' for the passages quoted are outside of the first Canon. Yet, as will be shown hereafter, the literary origins of the Pentateuch were bound up with those of the succeeding books; and the way was open for the canonising of the remaining histories, and of those prophetic writings which gave the impulse to the Deuteronomic revision of the histories. Between 400 and 200 B.C. the Canon of the Prophets was formed. About 200 B.C. Jesus son of Sirach wrote a Praise of Famous Men (Ecclus. 44-50) which enables us to infer that the 1 Cp. on Deut. 40 fg. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 5 second Canon was then complete. There is no trace of any public formal act establishing it. It grew up apparently in accordance with the view that prophecy was concerned solely in enforcing and illustrating the revelation contained within the Law. A relic of the time of the double canon lies in the phrase The Law and the Prophets ' (Matt, s 17 , 7 12 J Luke i6 16 > 29 > 31 ; Acts 28 23 ). Gradually other writings came to be placed alongside of the Law and the Prophets. The prologue to Ecclesiasticus, dating from 132 B.C., refers to the 'Law and the Prophets and the other books.' All the books of the third canon are contained (with others) in the Septuagint, which must have been com- pleted not much later. When the (Jewish) Synod of Jamnia was held, between 90 and 100 A.D., the limits of the Palestinian Canon were practically fixed ; the question to be decided there was whether Ecclesiastes and Canticles ought to stand among those books which ' defiled the hands.' There are traces also of dispute with regard to Ezekiel, Proverbs, and Esther ; but by this time the canon of the synagogue was really closed. In this case again there is no record of any official act excluding what we call the Apocrypha, or other books, from the sacred collection. The practice of the synagogues consecrated the decisions of the Rabbis, who appear to have admitted into the third canon only such books as did originate or were believed to have originated within the period of revelation. Thus Eccle- siastes, Daniel, and Esther all found a place because their claims to such origin were granted ; but the intrinsically more valuable Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, and i Maccabees were excluded. 4. The Canon of the Alexandrians. The Jews of the Dispersion, especially the Alexandrian Jews, recognised in addition to those of the Palestinian Canon 6 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT the other books of which a list has been already given. In the MSS. of the Septuagint these additional books stand among the Hagiographa, or sacred writings, without any indication that they were different in rank from the rest of the scriptures. Some portions of the Apocrypha are indeed quoted as scrip- ture in the early church ; the extant MSS. of the LXX which contain the Apocrypha were written for the use of Christian churches, and the additional books were translated into Latin, and obtained a place in the Vulgate. The influence of the Canon of the Synagogue, however, reacted on Christianity, and the ' Apocrypha ' received a subordinate place. Their inspiration was asserted in 1546 by a decree of the Council of Trent, but Protestantism adopted the smaller canon. The Apocrypha is often to be found in Bibles printed up to the end of the eighteenth century. The British and Foreign Bible Society, however, decided in 1813 not to include the Apocrypha in any Bibles circulated by them ; and their example was followed by other printers and societies. A Re- vised Version of the Apocrypha was issued in 1895, following the Revised Versions of the Old and New Testaments. 5. The Language of the Old Testament. The Old Testament, with the exception of certain parts of Daniel and Ezra, is written in Hebrew. As languages are con- stantly changing, we might expect that a literature like the Old Testament, composed at various periods through a thousand years, would exhibit variations of form and idiom. This is precisely the case. In spite of the fact that in the copying of MSS. the tendency of scribes is to smooth away peculiarities of diction, variations in the language of the Old Testament have nevertheless survived which are valuable data for the decision of problems of date and origin. The most signifi- cant influences on the language of the Old Testament show INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 7 themselves after the exile. Before that time some words had flowed into the language from the speech of the neigh- bouring Aramaeans (RV, mostly, Syrians). But after the exile this Aramaean influence extended, and by the beginning of the Christian era Hebrew had disappeared as a spoken language. Parts of Ezra and Daniel are actually written in Aramaic ; other portions of the Old Testament Esther, Eccle- siastes, and some of the Psalms are deeply marked by its influence ; and Aramaic tendencies are observable in other books which we have independent reasons for supposing to be late. 6. The Manuscripts. Whereas in the case of the New Testament only two or three centuries lie between the writer's autographs and our earliest MSS., in the Old Testament many hundreds of years separate the age of the MSS. from the actual production of the text. The earliest Hebrew MS. of certain date is a roll of the ' Latter Prophets ' at St. Petersburg, from 916 A.D. ; and the oldest MS. of the complete Old Testament is at least a century later. A comparison of the MSS. reveals very few variations in the text they contain. We have, however, a line of evidence to show that this uniformity has been brought about by the sup- pression of all divergences from an accepted traditional text. This evidence lies in the versions. 7. The Versions. The dearth of really ancient MSS. is partly atoned for by the existence of translations made directly or indirectly from the Hebrew at a comparatively early date. The use of these Versions is not free from difficulty, for, like the Hebrew MSS., they have undergone more or less corruption in transmission. 8 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Under due precautions, however, they are very valuable helps in the search after what the Old Testament authors actually wrote. The most important of the versions are the Greek, the Latin, and the Syriac. The chief Greek version is known as the ' Septuagint ' (LXX), and dates from the third to the first century B.C. Other Greek translations of importance in places are those of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion ; l and an edition or recension of the LXX by Lucian often preserves valuable readings. The earliest Latin version was made from the Greek, not the Hebrew, and it dates from the second century A.D. This was revised by Jerome in the fourth century, in the light of MSS. of the original. Jerome's version came to be known as the Vulgate ; it was for centuries the Bible of Western Christendom. The Syriac version known as the Peshitta was made in the third century A.D., and used in the East. The LXX deserves a fuller mention. Many legends as to its origin are extant, of which the most famous says it was the work of seventy (or seventy-two) scholars sent down from Jerusalem to Alexandria in the reign of Ptolemy Philadel- phus (283-247 B.C.), at the request of Demetrius Phalereus, his librarian. According to the tale, each of these scholars, work- ing in seclusion, translated the whole of the Old Testament ; and when compared on completion, the translations were found to agree word for word. A comparison of the various parts of the LXX with each other shows, however, that it was not all translated at once, nor by the same men. The legend, perhaps, gives the correct date for the beginning of the undertaking. The Law was completed fiist, and the remainder of the work was carried out in intervals in the next century and a half. The LXX accordingly gives us evidence about the contents and text of the Old Testament many centuries before our 1 Of these, however, only fragments survive. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER g earliest Hebrew MS. The merits of the translation are a very subordinate point ; in fact the deficiencies of the LXX as a translation are often serviceable in revealing exactly the Hebrew words before the translators, where an idiomatic rendering might have hidden them. Not infrequently also it simply transcribes in Greek letters words of which the meanings were unknown to the translators. For some instances where the Greek version gives a better sense than any surviving Hebrew MS., see the marginal notes in the RV on Jud. io 12 , i Sam. I4 18 , 2 Sam. 4 2 , i Kings n 15 , etc. Some other illustrations of the importance of the LXX will be found below. ( 13 on the Transmission of the Text.) 8. The Divisions into Chapters and Verses. Our familiar method of referring to chapters and verses is quite a modern convenience. Chapters were invented in the thirteenth century A.D. When St. Paul (Rom. n 3 RVM) wants to quote i Kings ig 18 , he does so by naming the portion of the book of Kings 'In Elijah,' i.e. the portion of the book dealing with the history of Elijah; and to indicate the exact point he names two passages from the context. And when Jesus, according to Mark i2 26 , would quote Ex. 3 6 he does so by indicating the section of the Pentateuch in which the words are found, that, namely, known as ' the Bush.' Hebrew Bibles mark out the Law into various sections or Parashas l for con- venience of reading in public worship ; larger sections, corre- sponding to chapters, and smaller, corresponding to paragraphs. For the same purpose also, 'passages were marked in the prophets ; these were known as Haphtaras? but seem not to have had the authority or the fixity of the corresponding divi- sions of the Law. 1 Lit. sections. 2 Lit. dismissals : because the Haphtara closed the service. 10 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The invention of chapters is ascribed both to Hugo de St. Cher f 1263, and to Stephen Langton f 1227. Divisions of the text into verses are ancient, as we know by the poems written in alphabetical verse-order ; in the books of the Law and the Prophets they were not inserted till later times. The practice of using verse-numbers for reference is quite modern, and began with the printed Hebrew Bible of Joseph Athias in 1661. 9. The Chief Periods of the Old Testament History. The literature of the Old Testament requires to be studied with constant reference to the history of the Hebrew people. Notes of the circumstances out of which the several books arose are given in the chapters which follow ; and the chrono- logical tables furnished at the beginning will serve to fix the succession of the literature. Here, however, a brief outline of the chief periods in the national development may be useful. A convenient division of the Old Testament field is : 1. From the establishment of the monarchy to the fall of Samaria, c. 1030-722. 2. The fall of Samaria to the destruction of Jerusalem, 722-586. 3. The destruction of Jerusalem to the Maccabean War, 586-165. 10. The Establishment of the Monarchy to the Fall of Samaria. c. 1030-722 B.C. With the establishment of the monarchy (c. 1030 B.C.), Israel may be said to have attained for the first time the dignity of a nation. The military successes of Saul and David gave them not only a feeling of security in the land they had adopted, but also a pride in it, and a self-consciousness which made history inevitable. Already there were extant INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER n poetical fragments from an earlier time. These include the Song of the Well, now preserved in Num. 2i 17 ~ 18 ; a Triumph over Moab in the same chapter, 27 ~ 30 ; and an obscure piece quoted from a lost Book of the Wars of Yahweh,^ Num. 2i 14 ~ 15 . To these should be added, possibly, Jud. 9 7 ~ 15 , Jotham's Parable of the Bramble-king, and, certainly, the Deborah-Song of Jud. 5. David himself produced the Eulogy of Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam. i 19 " 27 , and the shorter Lament over Abner ib. 333-34^ b o th o f w hich pieces exhibit him in a favourable light as a magnanimous warrior. The split in the newly-formed kingdom might have been disastrous to the feeling of nationality, but there were compen- sations on each side. The northern had the majority of the tribes and retained the name Israel ; Judah had Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Davidic tradition. Both kingdoms retained their allegiance to Yahweh as the national god, and Jeroboam had the sanctuaries at Dan and Bethel as offsets against Jeru- salem. In neither kingdom was the worship of Yahweh free from mixture with Canaanite Baal-worship. By the middle of the ninth century we may suppose that some of the recent history of the nation was being written down. Certain of the narratives of Judges, and memorials of Saul and David, must have been composed in and about that time. Perhaps as part of the same interest in the past, anecdotes connected with the tribe-fathers and the sacred places were being collected to form the important strata of the Pentateuch distinguished as J and E ; 2 of which the former probably originated in the Southern Kingdom in the middle to the end of the ninth century, and E in the Northern Kingdom a little later. 1 i.e. ' Jehovah ' of the English Bible. But Yahweh is a more correct form, and is employed throughout this book as the proper name of the God of the Hebrew people. 2 On the meaning of J and E, see 36. 12 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The most significant internal influence on Israel and its literature in this period and the next was that of the prophets. It was they who showed their nation how vastly Yahweh differed from the gods of the neighbouring peoples, and who insisted that Israel should reach the moral standard which the holiness and righteousness of Yahweh demanded. The first notable appearance of a prophet in the affairs of the country was in the reign of Ahab, when Elijah l protested against that king's toleration of Jezebel's worship of the Tyrian Baal. Elijah and his successor Elisha changed the dynasty of Israel. Elijah's condemnation of the murder of Naboth is characteristic of the attitude of the prophets of Israel : their zeal is always as strong against any kind of unrighteous conduct as against any erroneous theology. Elijah wrote nothing; but both he and his successor became the centres of a group of narratives now contained in Kings. Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah on the contrary all committed (directly, or through disciples) the subject of their discourses to writing. The geographical position of Ephraim brought it frequently into collision with the neighbouring tribes, especially with the Syrians of Damascus. The Syrians lay between Ephraim and Assyria, and in the middle of the eighth century Damascus, Hamath, and Tyre had all become tributary to the Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom could not long escape ; but the final disaster was precipitated by an alliance formed between Damascus and Israel, into which they sought to force Judah. Ahaz leagued himself with Assyria, and Israel was overthrown by the foreign troops, while numbers of the population were deported. Ten years later a further punishment of Israel was necessary ; Hoshea had entered into treasonable negotiations with Egypt. Samaria the capital was besieged and captured 1 Unless we except Ahijah the Shilonite. The tradition which makes Samuel a prophet is secondary. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 13 in 722, when the Northern Kingdom finally disappeared from the stage of history. These incidents are fully illustrated in Amos, Hosea, and the earlier portions of Isaiah and Micah. These prophets re- garded the victories of Assyria as signs of Yahweh's anger with his people for their idolatry and unrighteousness. Only through suffering could Ephraim be taught to practise the righteousness which Yahweh requires from him. The chief literary products of this period are, then, the oldest parts of the Hexateuch, and the earlier forms of por- tions of Jud., Sam., and Kings, with public discourses of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah. n. The Fall of Samaria to the Destruction of Jerusalem. 722-586 B.C. When Samaria fell in 722 it seemed as if the end of Judah could not be far off. The statesmen at Jerusalem were all for alliance with Egypt. Isaiah stood aloof ; protested against alliances with anyone but Yahweh, and declared that, whatever else happened, Jerusalem should remain inviolate. The event justified him ; Sennacherib was compelled to abandon the siege of Jerusalem in 701, and with his retreat the Assyrian peril passed away. The Assyrian empire came to an end in 608 ; when next Judah was in danger from a foreign foe, it is the Chaldeans who are the dominant military power. This is the period of the prophetic ideas in action. Heze- kiah appears to have made some attempt to purify the cultus ; but his successor Manasseh was utterly opposed to Yahwism, and persecuted its supporters. In the darkness of this reign appeared Mic. 6-7 6 , containing that characteristic expression of the prophetic spirit, ' What doth Yahweh require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?' In these years the ideas were maturing which, in the hands of I 4 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Hilkiah the priest and others, led to the production of the code of laws contained in Deuteronomy. This code was promulgated in 621 B.C., in the eighteenth year of Josiah. Its policy was to render illegal the popular worship at sanctuaries throughout the country ; Jerusalem was to be the one sanctuary of the nation. This idea of the centralisation of the cultus is developed in connection with a reinforcement, from the side of sacred custom and practice, of the prophetic demand for purity of conduct. Josiah was favourable to the law book, and it was solemnly accepted by the people. It succeeded in centralising the wor- ship of the nation at Jerusalem ; and it produced a school of writers who retold the histories lying at their hand, not so much with regard to objective accuracy as to the illustration of the Deuteronomic principle. The book of Judges is a favourable example of the method ; the incidents contained in the narratives are set forth as proving that faithfulness to Yahweh produces national prosperity, while idolatry brings disaster. The effect of the acceptance of D on the national life seems not to have been lasting ; for Jeremiah, whose activity covers the years 626-586, makes as severe an indictment against the nation as any of the pre-Deuteronomic prophets. He sees no hope of escape from the threatening power of the Chaldeans ; Jerusalem must fall before the people will ' return to Yahweh with their whole heart.' Jeremiah's calculation was correct; Jerusalem could not withstand the Chaldeans. It fell in 597, when the aristocracy of the city was deported to Babylonia, including Ezekiel. A nominee king was set up by Nebuchadrezzar ; in a few years he rebelled, and in 586 Jerusalem saw the last of its last king. In this period, then, the chief literary products are portions of the Book of Isaiah, and of Jeremiah, and the Book of Deuteronomy. Nahum, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk also lie INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 15 within these years. The Deuteronomic school of historians redacted portions of the Hexateuch and the books Judges- Kings. 12. The Destruction of Jerusalem to the Maccabean War. 586-165 B.C. Many of the exiles settled down comfortably in the places allotted to them. The majority of the people, in fact, never understood the teaching of the prophets, and were not oppressed by any feeling of guilt. The popular explanation of the exile was that it was the sins of the fathers being visited on the children : 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' On the other hand, there was a patriotic minority among the nation which believed that the chastisement was deserved, and would be effective. Of such was Ezekiel, who would not accept the doctrine of vicarious suffering. His heart was set on Jerusalem, and he comforted his exile by com- posing a Utopia. He drew out a sketch of the way in which law and ritual might preserve holiness in the nation, when it should be restored to its own land. In him prophecy became directly literary ; his book is no collection of occasional dis- courses, but a carefully designed and executed composition. The victories of Cyrus over the Median and Lydian empires were crowned by his capture of Babylon in 538. Its fall was hailed with exultation by some of the exiles. The anonymous writer of Is. 40-55 foresaw it, and interpreted its meaning to his hearers ; it was another proof of the power of Yahweh ; Cyrus was his Messiah, and the fall of Babylon would be the signal for a triumphant return of the exiles to Jerusalem, where a blissful future awaited them. The brilliant anticipations of the patriotic exiles were not ful- filled. Few of them returned, and the reality was very dreary. In 520, so vital a necessity of the community as the re-building of the temple had not yet been met. Haggai and Zechariah have 1 6 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT to plead with the people to restore it, and to console them when they are disappointed at its mean appearance. When Nehemiah visits Jerusalem, towards the end of the fifth century, the city lies almost in ruins; and Ezra finds the community con- taminated by intermarriage with the local half-breed population. Under the joint efforts of Ezra and Nehemiah, however, a new start was made ; the walls were rebuilt, the foreign wives were divorced, and a new priestly law-book was issued by Ezra and accepted by the people. This was the portion of the Hexateuch known as P. It was brought from Babylonia, where it had been constructed largely on the basis of Ezekiel's Utopia. Within the next few years this document was united with JED. The portion dealing with Joshua was removed and the re- mainder formed, with the name of The Law, the first Bible of the Jewish people. For the restored Temple worship, psalms were selected from a number which had been gathered together, perhaps partly before, but also in, the exile ; these formed the first book of the Psalter. By way of protest against Ezra's drastic rejec- tion of the alien wives, the story of Ruth was written, perhaps based on a tradition that David was partly of Moabite descent. From about this time also springs the book of Jonah ; and from a date when already the ritual of the temple had grown familiar, the discourse of Joel. The temple also is the dominating influence in the mind of the writer who compiled Chron.-Ez.-Neh. Between this work and Daniel, the final book of the Old Testament in the order of production, lies the dreary pessimism of Ecclesiastes, the final edition of the book of Proverbs, and the additions to the Psalter which brought up the number of Psalms to 1 50. 13. The Transmission and Editing of the Text. It has been already said that the extant MSS. of the Old Testament differ from each other very little in regard to the INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 17 text they contain. This uniformity does not, however, imply that the Old Testament literature has been transmitted un- changed from the hands of the original authors. The MSS. simply represent the type of text which alone was accepted and circulated in the Jewish schools. This type of text is known as the Massoretic, from a late Hebrew word massorah or massoreth meaning tradition ; in this connection, tradition respecting the text of the Old Testament. The scribes who copied the Massoretic text regarded it with extreme veneration ; in their copies they even imitated casual features such as the size and position of letters. Even errors were consciously reproduced ; and if any alteration at all was made, it was by means of marginal notes. In addition to copy- ing the text, the Massoretes spent also much labour in counting the number of letters in the several books, indicating the central verses, and tabulating unusual forms of words and expression. They also invented vowel and other signs to fix the traditional pronunciation, interpretation, and recitation of the text. These labours of the Massoretes extended over several centuries. In a few cases only eighteen altogether did the Mas- soretes permit themselves to make some alterations in the text. The object was to remove expressions that were con- sidered derogatory to the divine dignity. For example, the phrase in Job y 20 , which says that Job has become a burden to God, is altered to read, ' so that I am become a burden to myself.' In the same book, 32 3 , the words 'condemned God' have been made to read ' condemned Job.' In Hab. i 12 the expression applied to God ' Thou diest not ' has been changed into ' we die not.' The work of the Massoretes began probably in the second Christian century. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. led to a concentration of the national life upon the teaching of the schools. The close of the canon must have been c l8 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT soon followed by the selection of a definite text of the sacred literature. The teaching of R. Akiba in the first third of the second century (A.D.) contributed to the formation of a school of scribes which believed that there was a divine significance even in the very characters in which the scriptures were written. Under the influence of this school the Greek version of Aquila was made about the middle of the second century. His version shows that the Massoretic text was then substantially in existence. The Massoretic text was not, so far as we know, formed from any comparison of MSS. Apparently some one MS. was selected, and all variants were thenceforth suppressed. This one MS., the archetype of the Massoretic text, already con- tained a great number of corrupt readings. Some specimens of these are here given for the light they throw on the trans- mission of the text. Psalm 1 8 occurs also in 2 Sam. 22. The variations be- tween the two texts affect on the average every fourth word. The following is a selection of cases where the variations can be shown in the English : 2 Samuel 22. Psalm 18. 11 ' He was seen upon the 10 ' He flew swiftly on the wings of the wind.' wings of the wind.' 12 ' gathering of waters.' n ' darkness of waters.' 28 ' But thine eyes are upon 27 ' But the haughty eyes thou the haughty that thou wilt bring down.' mayst bring them down.' 38 ' God is my strong fortress, * ' The God that girdeth me and he guideth the per- with strength, and maketh feet in his way' (see also my way perfect.' RVM). 48 ' Then did I beat them small 42 'Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth, as the dust before the wind, INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 19 And did stamp them as the And did cast (margin ' empty ') mire of the streets, them out as the mire of And did spread them abroad.' the streets.' 46 RVM. ' And gird them- 45 ' And come trembling.' selves.' There are also other parallel passages in the Hebrew Bible where comparison of the texts is equally instructive, e.g. 2 Kings i8 13 -2O and Is. 36-38; Ps. 14 and Ps. 70 ; Is. 2 2 ~ 5 and Mic. 4 1 "" 4 ; and others. If we pass outside the Massoretic text and compare it with the LXX a greater number of variations appears. In some cases the superiority no doubt lies with the Massoretic text, but in many the LXX bears evidence to what is obviously a better reading. The following two instances are taken from W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, 82-83. The first is a passage from 2 Samuel 4 5 ~ 7 : Hebrew. Septuagint. (The assassins) came to the They came to the house of house of Ishbosheth in the Ishbosheth in the hottest part hottest part of the day, when of the day, while he was taking he was taking his mid-day his mid-day siesta. And lo, siesta. 6 And hither they the woman who kept the door came into the midst of the of the house was cleaning house fetching wheat, and wheat, and she slumbered and smote him in the flank, and slept, and the brothers Rechab Rechab and Baanah his brother and Baanah passed in unob- escaped. 7 And they came served and came into the house into the house as he lay on his as Ishbosheth lay on his bed, bed. . . and smote"him and slew etc. him, etc. The second instance is from the iyih chapter of the same book 3 : C2 20 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Hebrew. Septuagint. I will bring back all the I will make all the people people to thee. Like the turn to thee as a bride turneth return of the whole is the to her husband. Thou seek- man whom thou seekest. All est the life of but one man, the people shall have peace. and all the people shall have peace. The variations which we have so far noted are all due to the accidents of transcription. We turn now to another class of variations which are instructive because they show intentional alteration and revision. It is highly important to realise that between the writing of the autographs and the stereotyping of the Massoretic text there was a period when there was no doctrine of the sacred fixity of the text of the scripture, and when in fact that text was handled with considerable freedom. One proof of this may be drawn from a number of changes made in the Massoretic text. In old Israel, the word Baal (literally ' Lord ') was used of Yahweh without offence, and names compounded with Baal occur in the families of loyal servants of the God of Israel. In later times, from its association with the Phoenician deity, the word Baal became repugnant to the Jews, and the word Bosheth (meaning Shame) was substituted in those proper names. The substitution was not carried out everywhere, and so we have Ishbaalin i Chron. 8 33 for the Ishbosheth of 2 Sam. 2 8 ; Merib- baal in i Chron. 8 34 for the Mephibosheth of 2 Sam. 4*. The Jerubbesheth of Jud. n 21 appears in its original form as Jerub- baal in Jud. 6 32 . Another proof may be found in the variations of order in LXX as compared with the Hebrew. There are some curious differences in the arrangement of the section Ex. 35-40 ; see the table in Driver, LOT 40-41. In the latter part of the book, INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 21 of Proverbs there are some transpositions in either the LXX or the Hebrew, bearing witness to a stage when the form of the book had not been finally settled by its editors. The LXX order is, after 24^, 3O 1 " 4 2 4 23 - 24 3O 15 -3i 9 25-29 3i 1 -i. The most striking differences are, however, in the case of the book of Jeremiah. The text of that book in the LXX differs from the Hebrew, not simply as to order, but also as to contents ; ' the number of words in the Hebrew text not represented in the LXX has been calculated at 2,700, or one- eighth of the entire book.' l An instructive specimen of addi- tions made by scribes to the Hebrew text of Jer. 27 is supplied in the work of Robertson Smith already cited, 104 ; it is too long for quotation here. An instance of a similar kind which will serve our purpose may be found in the additions made to the text of i Kings 8. We will place the passage as it appears in the English (representing the Massoretic text) and in the LXX side by side, so that the extent of the insertions may be clearly seen : Hebrew. Septuagint. 1 Then Solomon assembled And King Solomon as- all the elders of Israel and all the sembled all the elders of heads of the tribes, the princes Israel in Sion to bring up of the fathers' houses of the the ark of the covenant of children of Israel, unto King the Lord out of the city of Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring David, which is Sion, up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assem- bled themselves unto King 1 Driver, LOT 269. 22 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. 8 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the tent, even these did the priests and the Levites bring up. 5 And King Solo- mon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. in the month Ethanim, and the priests took up the ark, and the tent of meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the tent of meeting, and the king and all Israel were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen without number. On the treatment of the narratives of Samuel and Kings by the compilers of Chronicles see the introduction to the latter book. These instances will suffice to show that the materials of the Old Testament have been very freely handled. If from the documentary evidence of the Massoretic text and the LXX so many specimens can be drawn and those enumerated in this section are but a very small selection it is evident that the total number of changes introduced into the autographs of the Old Testament is considerable. As Robertson Smith re- marks : ' After all, the Hebrew text only represents one manu- script and the Septuagint another. . . But two copies are not enough to give us a full knowledge of all the variations that were still found in MSS. at the time when the LXX version was made; much less are they enough to enable us to determine all the vicissitudes through which each book INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 23 has passed in earlier ages.' l These vicissitudes can only be inferred from the internal evidence supplied by each part of the literature. That internal evidence continually suggests what the external history of the text shows, namely that the text of the Old Testament writings has reached us only after a lengthy process of editorial revision and of transcriptional corruption. 1 OTJC 126. CHAPTER I. THE HEXATEUCH. I. The Sixfold Book. 2. Some Literary features : (a) Disproportions in the Narratives ; (b) Duplicates ; (c) Passages of Late Origin. 3. Two Specimen Narratives : (a) Creation ; (b) Deluge. 4. De- velopment of Critical Opinion. 5- Analysis. 6. Date of the Documents : (a) D ; (b) J and E ; (c) P. 7. The Combination ot the Documents. 8. Characteristics : (a) J ; (b) E ; (c) D ; (d) P. i. The Sixfold Book. OF the three divisions of the Jewish Canon, the ' Law ' occupied the chief place in the affection of the Jewish people. It contained the record of the dealings of God with their fathers ; it was the depository of the promises made to their people ; it was at once the code of public and private duty and the charter of their national aspirations. At the beginning of the Christian era the tradition that Moses had written it had been held for some generations. Christianity accepted both the Jewish sacred books and the Jewish traditions about their authorship. It was a Christian scholar who at the beginning of the third century invented the name ' Pentateuch,' i.e. ' fivefold,' (sc. book) for the ' Law.' Before the invention of the name the Law had been already divided into five books : Josephus (A.D. 37 c. 103) knows such a division, and it probably formed the basis of the separation of the Psalter into five sections. THE HEXATEUCH 25 It appears, however, that so far from the books of the ' Law' being in themselves a unity, entitled to rank in a separate class, they once formed a part of a larger work dealing with the origins of the Hebrew people. This work extended to at least the occupation of Canaan. The book of Joshua presents similar problems with the preceding books, and it is demon- strable that the same writers are represented there as in the Pentateuch. For this reason the word ' Pentateuch ' has given place to ' Hexateuch,' i.e. ' sixfold ' : and it is usual in books of introduction to treat Joshua along with the books of the ' Law.' 2. Some Literary Features. (a) Disproportions in the Narratives. The events in the story of Israel are told in a chrono- logical order. In this chronology there are, however, some con- siderable gaps. The genealogies in Gen. 5 are the only clue to the events of the period of two thousand years between the creation and the deluge. In Ex. i 6 " 8 , at least 280 years of the sojourn in Egypt are silently passed over; and while the wanderings after the exodus are represented as continuing for forty years, the dates provided in the course of the Hex. leave thirty-eight of these years entirely blank, and crowd all the occurrences and legislation (nearly the whole of Ex. Deut.) into the other two. On the other hand, some of the narratives are very minute and full. Of such a kind are : Gen. 24, the journey of Eliezer to find a wife for Isaak ; the histories of Jacob and Joseph, occu- pying nearly one-third of Gen. ; the negotiations between Moses and Pharaoh, Ex. 5 12 ; the directions for the building and service of the Sanctuary, Ex. 25 30, 35 40; and the Balak and Balaam episode, Num. 22 24. 26 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (b) Repetitions and Duplicate Narratives. Along with this disproportion in the separate parts of the narratives, a number of duplicates are found. The following is a brief selection of instances : Accounts of Creation : Gen. I-2 4 * 1 and 2 4b ~ 25 . Abraham passes off his wife as his sister : Gen. i2 10 ~ 20 , and 20 (cp. also 26 6 ~ n , of Isaac.) Origin of names: Beersheba, Gen. 2i 33 ~ 23 , and 26 26 ~ 33 ; Bethel, 28 19 , and 35 15 (the name has been already used in i2 8 ); Isaac, iy 17 , i8 12 , and 2O 16 ~ 17 ; Israel, 22 28 , and 35 10 . Expulsion of Hagar, Gen. ib 4 " 14 , and 2i 9 ~ 21 . Revelation of the name ' Yahweh,' Ex. 3 13 ~ 15 , and 6 2 ~ 9 . Miracle of manna and quails : Ex. i6 13 , and Num. 1 i 4 " 34 . Miracle of water from the rock : Ex. 16, and Num. 2O 1 " 13 . Death of Aaron : Num. 2O 22 , 33 38 (Mount Hor), and Deut. io 6 (Mosera). Territory of the E. Jordan tribes : Josh. I2 1 " 6 , and i3 8 ~ 12 , 15-31_ Caleb: Num. 13 (a Judahite), and Josh. i 4 6 ~ 15 (a Keniz- zite). The Lot of Joseph's sons : Josh. I6 1 " 3 , and 4 ~ 9 . Laws : Sabbath: Ex. 23 14 " 19 , 3i 12 , 3 4 21 , 35 1 - 3 , Lev. i9 3 > 30 , 23 3 , 26 2 . Feasts: Ex. 23 14 ~ 19 , 3 4 18 ~ 26 , Lev. 23. Slavery: Ex. 2i 2 ~6, Lev. 25 39 - 43 . First-born: Ex. 22 29 - 30 , is 11 " 13 , 34 19 - 20 . First-fruits : Ex. 23 19 , 3 4 26 , Num. i8 12 - 13 . Injury: Ex. 2i 23 - 26 , Lev. 2 4 19 - 20 . Strangers: Ex. 22 21 , 23 9 , Lev. i 4 33 - 34 , Ex. i 2 48 - 49 , Num. 9 14 . 1 a, b, or c affixed to the number of a verse indicates first, second or third clause. THE HEXATEUCH 27 (f) Passages of late origin. The Hexateuch contains a great number of statements which are incompatible with the theory that it is contemporary with the events it describes. The most important of these will be dealt with at a later stage of our inquiry ; T in this place we propose to call the reader's attention to some passages which obviously betray an origin in Palestine, and are long subse- quent to the age of Moses. (i.) According to Ex. 6 26 > 27 , Moses and Aaron are figures of the dim past : (' these are that Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said,' etc.). Similarly the references to Moses in Ex. ii 3 ('the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt,' etc.); Num. i2 3 ('Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were on the face of the earth ') ; Num. 1 5 22 > 23 (' All that the Lord hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the Lord gave commandment and onwards throughout your generations. . . .'); Deut. 33 1 (' Moses the man of God,' or, the 'divine man ') these all reveal an age later than that of Moses himself. (ii.) The phrase 'unto this day' occurs in connections which point to a long interval after the event recorded, and which imply that the narrator is already in the land of Canaan. Cp. Gen. i9 38 (the father of the Moabites unto this day), 26 33 (Beer- sheeba), 32 82 ('they eat not the sinew of the hip unto this day '), 35 20 ('the pillar of Rachel's grave'), Deut. ii 22 (the Edomites in the place of the Horites), 3 (Havvoth-Jair), io 8 (Separation of the tribe of Levi). (iii.) 'The Canaanite was then in the land,' Gen. I2 6 (cp. also i3 7 ) implies an age when the Canaanites had been destroyed or absorbed into the Israelite nation. Similarly Deut. ii 12 and Num. 2i 3 are later than the Conquest. In Gen. 4O 15 , the phrase ' land of the Hebrews ' could not have 1 cf. on date of D and P infra. 6. 28 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT been used before Canaan had come into the possession of the Israelites. (iv.) The expression ' beyond Jordan ' is used of places on the East of the river, whereas a writer not yet in Canaan would have used it in the opposite sense. Cp. Gen. 5O 10 , Num. 2O 1 , Deut. i 1 . (v.) The existence of the monarchy is assumed in Gen. 36 81 (' These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel '). (vi.) Num. 2 1 14 quotes 'the book of the Wars of Yahweh ' as an authority. This book is not now extant, but its existence in the fifteenth century B.C. would be remarkable. On the other hand, another lost book, the ' Book of Yashar', contained the Elegy of David over Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam. i 18 ), and is, therefore, later than the monarchy. 1 But in Josh. io 12 , it is quoted for Joshua's praise song over the defeat of the Amorites. Cp. also Num. 2i 37 , where ' the speakers in proverbs' are quoted. (vii.) Abraham is called a 'prophet' in Gen. 2O 7 . We learn from i Sam. 9 9 , that in the time of Samuel the word 'prophet ' had not yet come into use. (viii.) Gen. i4 14 employs the name 'Dan' as though the city bore that name in the days of Abraham. Josh, ig 47 and Jud. i8 29 show that it did not obtain this name till a period long after the time of both Abraham and Moses. Similarly, Josh. i4 14 ~ 15 state that Kirjath-Arba received the name of Hebron when it fell to the lot of Caleb. The name Hebron is, however, freely used in the narrative of the Hexateuch (Gen. 1 3 18, 232,19, 3527, 37 H Num . , 3 22). 1 Unless, indeed, we suppose that the Elegy was inserted in a collec- tion already existing. THE HEXATEUCH 3. Two Specimen Narratives. 29 We have noted above the existence within the Hexateuch of some duplications of narrative. As these have an important bearing on the problem of the origin of the work, we offer here a more detailed examination of two characteristic examples : (a) The Creation Narratives. Two accounts of the Creation are given at the beginning of Genesis, one extending from i 1 to 2 4a , which we shall here distinguish by the letter P ; the other extending from 2 4b to 25 , which we shall denote by the letter J. P. In P the successive acts of creation are : (i) Light, (2) Firmament, (3) Earth, Seas, Vegetation, (4) Sun, Moon, Stars, (5) Birds, Fishes, (6) Animals, Human Beings. In the conception of P the world exists before the first creative act as a fluid mass involved in darkness. The vital energy of God broods over it and starts a cosmos into life. In P the creation of male and female is the final act. Not till the scene is prepared for them are the human beings made. J- In J a man is first created ; for him Yahweh plants a garden and provides living creatures, bringing them to him to be named; finally a woman is created. In J the existence of the world is assumed, watered by a primeval mist. In J a man is first made ; then the other things to pro- vide for his needs. THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT In J Yahweh is regarded not so much as an omni- potent Creator as a benevolent friend to the man. J's account is vigorous and skilful, but simple and direct in style. In P God is portrayed as the omnipotent Creator, bring- ing into existence an ordered world by the might of his spoken word. P's account is arranged with conscious artistic skill. Observe the rhythmical effect of such recurring phrases as 'And God said, Let there be . . . . and it was so ; and God called . . . and God saw that it was good .... and there was morning and there was evening, a ... day. P consistently uses 'Elohim' in referring to God. (b) The Deluge Narrative. Although on the surface we seem to have in Gen. 6 8 -9 17 a single narrative, a closer inspection will show that there are two accounts which have been fused together. They are here separated and summarized : J. P. 66-a 71-5, 7-10. Yahweh sees the wickedness of men, and resolves to destroy them ; J uses ' Yahweh-Elohim.' but Noah finds favour in his eyes. Noah is commanded to enter into the ark, and to take with him seven pairs of all clean animals, and one pair of all unclean, because after seven days there will be a forty days' rain. Noah obeys. 69-22 t The ancestry of Noah. Elohim resolves to destroy all flesh; but Noah is to be saved by the ark, for the build- ing of which minute direc- tions are given. Noah is com- manded to take with him 'into the ark pairs of every sort of animal and bird. THE HEXATEUCH ~16 ><>. 13, 17, 22, 23^ 8 2b ' 3a . Yahweh shuts Noah in : the rain falls for forty days and nights; the waters rise and float the ark ; all living things outside die. The rain is re- strained, and the waters sink. 76, 11, 13-16 (except end), 18-21 The flood comes on the seven- teenth day of the second month of Noah's six hundredth year. Noah enters the ark with his family and the pairs of living creatures. The waters prevail fifteen cubits in height, covering the mountains, and all flesh dies. 724 gl, 2a, 3b-5, 13a^ The waters prevail one hundred and fifty days, when they are assuaged ; on the seventeenth of the seventh month, the ark rests on Mount Ararat; the waters decrease till on the first day of the tenth month the mountain tops are visible; and on the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year the waters are dried up, and on the twenty- seventh day of the second month Noah and his company leave the ark. 86-12, is end. A raven and a dove are sent forth to test whether the earth is dry. Noah takes off the covering of the ark, and finds the ground is dried. 32 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 8 20 ~ 22 . Noah builds an altar g l ~ 1 ^ Elohim blesses Noah, and offers sacrifice, receiving lays down ordinances for him, from Yahweh the promise that and establishes with him a the earth will not again be covenant that there shall not cursed for man's sake. again be a flood to destroy the earth. The difficulties and confusions of the narrative vanish at a stroke, when the two strands are thus disentangled. The course of the story is similar in each case ; probably J's account of the building of the ark has been omitted in favour of P's. J alone gives the incidents of the dove and the raven. The chief material differences between the two accounts are as to (i) the duration of the Flood forty days in J, one hundred and fifty in P. In J seven plus forty plus seven plus seven days elapse from the beginning to the end of the narrative ; in P a full year passes. (2) In J pairs of unclean but sevens of clean beasts enter the ark ; in P there is no reference to clean and unclean, and pairs of all living things are preserved with Noah. 4. The Development of Critical Opinion. The phenomena that we have noticed point to the conclu- sion that in the Hexateuch a variety of hands is represented. It is now the common opinion of Biblical critics that the Hexateuch is the result of the fusion of four chief documents, each of * which can be marked out from the others with approximate certainty. A brief outline of the growth of critical opinion will, perhaps, serve as the best introduction to the modern theory. Modern criticism of the Hexateuch really begins with Jean Astruc in 1753. There were, indeed, before this date some notable criticisms of the traditional theory of Mosaic author- ship, of which those of Andrew du Maes, Hobbes, Isaac de la Peyrere, Spinoza, Simon, and le Clerc deserve honourable THE HEXATEUCH 33 mention. Du Maes (1570) made the suggestion that Genesis- Kings represents the revision and re-writing of a series of ancient records carried out subsequently to the Exile. Hobbes (1651) pointed out how little evidence there is to connect the name of Moses with the Pentateuch as a whole, and marked some passages which are obviously of a later date. De la Peyrere (1654) explained a number of inconsistencies of state- ments and conceptions by the conjecture that various docu- ments had been employed in its composition. The observation of anachronisms and conflicting statements might have remained unfruitful had not Astruc made a dis- covery which at once placed the literary criticism of these books on a scientific foundation. He observed that certain portions of Genesis are marked by a consistent use of the name ' Yahweh ' for the divine being, while other portions as con- sistently employ ' Elohim.' From this fact he argued that Moses made use of two chief sources in the composition of Genesis (with which book Astruc's inquiry was concerned). He traced these two sources throughout Genesis, and assigned passages which seemed to belong to neither of them to ten other fragmentary documents. The clue thus furnished by Astruc was followed out by other scholars and extended to the whole of the Hexateuch. Many mistakes were inevitably made in an investigation so complicated ; but it may be said that even the mistakes served a useful purpose, for they compelled an ever minuter examina- tion into the conditions of the problem, and helped to collect those individualities of language, style and conception for which an adequate theory must account. The course of subsequent criticism falls into four stages, in each of which a particular theory of the method of composi- tion was dominant. At first, following Astruc, the method employed was to discriminate a number of documents regarded as originally independent of each other. This stage may be D 34 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT conveniently distinguished as THE HYPOTHESIS OF OLDER DOCUMENTS. In this period the most important names are those of J. G. Eichhorn and K. D. Ilgen. Eichhorn's results (1780 and 1787) were much the same as Astruc's : he recog- nised in Genesis the Yahwistic and Elohistic sources, and fragments springing from neither, and made an attempt to carry the same kind of investigation into the rest of the Pentateuch. Ilgen (1798) made an important discovery, which, however, for the time fell dead. He found that the Elohist document is itself composite ; or rather, that there are two documents each of which employs the name Elohim. The next stage was the period of THE HYPOTHESIS OF FRAGMENTS. It was introduced by A. Geddes (1792). Its characteristic view is that the Pentateuch is the result of the collection and editorial re-arrangement of various fragmentary narratives and laws. Geddes inclined to believe that the reign of Solomon was the date of the com- pletion of this process. The employment of the names Yahweh and Elohim he regarded as characteristic of two schools among which the fragments incorporated in the Pentateuch originated. The work of Geddes was continued by J. S. Vater (1802 and 1805), who went further in separating the narratives into fragments supposed to have been originally detached; while he suggested a date nearer to the Exile for the completion of the process of fusion. The name of De Wette is also to be mentioned in this connection ; for though his work was rather with the historical problems presented by the Hexateuch (in which work he anticipated many of the conclusions of a later time l ) than with the literary criticism, he followed the lead of Vater in accepting the theory of fragments (1806). Subsequently De Wette acquiesced in the theory to be next mentioned (1849). The theory of independent fragments fell to the ground 1 He assigned Deuteronomy to the 7th century B.C. THE HEXATEUCH 35 before the increasing conviction that there was a unity per- vading the Pentateuch in spite of occasional interchanges of style. To its abandonment the investigations of H. Ewald into the composition of Genesis contributed (1823), and paved the way for the THEORY OF SUPPLEMENTS, or ENLARGEMENTS. In this hypothesis the Elohistic document is postulated as the groundwork of the Pentateuch : into this it is supposed that a number of detached pieces have been worked supplementing or enlarging its narrative. Associated with this theory the most noteworthy names are those of von Bohlen (1835), F. Bleek (1836), and F. Tuch (1838). Subsequent investigation proved, however, that this theory also failed to do justice to the whole of the phenomena, and a return was made to the line originally marked out by Astruc and Eichhorn. It is their theory in a developed form which has succeeded, in the hands of recent critics, in solving the literary problems of the Hexateuch, and accordingly the modern contributions to the inquiry may be grouped to- gether as the NEWER DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS. The pioneers of the return were C. P. W. Gramberg (1828) and J. J. Stahelin (1830), who distributed the contents of Genesis among the Elohist, the Yahwist, and an editor. Following these came the important contributions of H. Ewald (1843, 1851, 1864). In its final form his arrangement of the sources is as follows : (i) Mosaic fragments and a Book of Covenants ; (2) The Book of Origins ; (3) Third (Prophetic) Narrator, Fourth (Prophetic) Narrator, Fifth (Prophetic) Narrator; (4) The Deuteronomist. Of these sources the Book of Origins was assigned to a priest writing in the reign of Solomon : it is the document now designated by the symbol P. The prophetic Narrators were assigned to the period of Elijah onwards. The Deuteronomist was placed in the seventh century. It will thus be seen that the results of Ewald roughly correspond, except with regard to the age of the Book of Origins, to the present D 2 36 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT distribution of the sources, while his distinction between the priestly and the prophetic elements is the expression of a highly important fact. In assigning the Deuteronomist to the seventh century, Ewald confirmed the sagacious discovery of De Wette. Ilgen's argument that two writers were to be distinguished in the Elohist Document was fortified by the independent re- searches of Hupfeld. In 1853 this writer put forward his divi- sion of Genesis into three parts : the Primitive document or First Elohist, the Yahwist, and the Younger Elohist. On similar lines was the work of Knobel (1852-1861) dealing with the whole of the Pentateuch. At this stage a theory was put forward which was destined to revolutionise the criticism of the Pentateuch. It may be said that the order of documents generally accepted was i . P (the ' Book of Origins,' 'foundation document/ 'the older Elohist.') 2. J, i.e., the Yahwistic source (or E). 3. E, i.e., the Elohistic source (or J). 4. The Deuteronomist. The work of analysing these sources did not cease, but the chief problem of workers in this field now became Is P the earliest or the latest of the documents of which the Pentateuch is composed ? The question was brought into prominence by K. H. Graf (1866). His main position had indeed already been put for- ward by E. Reuss (1833), W. Vatke (1835), and J. F. L. George (1835), but it was brought into prominence by Graf, and is therefore often alluded to as the GRAFIAN (or, from the labours of Julius Wellhausen in its defence, the ' GRAF-WELLHAUSEN ') Hypothesis. Graf's argument was that there is no trace in the history of Israel before the Exile of the institutions and legisla- tion peculiar to the Priests' Code, which therefore is to be assigned to the period of the Exile. The evidence for the Grafian position will be offered in the subsequent pages. Here it will suffice to notice that the works of A. Kuenen (1869-70 and onwards), J. Wellhausen (1871, 1876-78, etc.), A. Kayser (1874), were the chief means in giving this hypothesis the pro- THE HEXATEUCH 37 minence it now holds. In this country it owes much to the labours of J. W. Colenso (1862 onwards) and the more recent works of W. Robertson Smith, S. R. Driver, T. K. Cheyne, and W. E. Addis ; while the edition of the Hexateuch prepared for the Oxford Society of Historical Theology by J. E. Car- penter and G. Harford-Battersby (1900) will stand as the classical justification of this hypothesis if, indeed, that need any longer be called a hypothesis which is now accepted on almost every hand as an adequate and convincing explanation of the phenomena. 5. Analysis of the Hexateuch. The reader will not be able to appreciate the force of the argument for the composite origin of the Hexateuch unless he can study the documents separately. For this purpose the work of Carpenter-Battersby above mentioned is the most con- venient, as it exhibits the constituent elements side by side. The documents are printed separately in W. E. Addis' The Documents of the Hexateuch, 2 vols. For Genesis only, E. I. Fripp's The Composition of Genesis will serve. Those who are unable to make use of any of these works may, with the help of the following lists, an ordinary Bible, and either marginal notes or colour-washes, easily make an analytical Hexateuch for themselves. [Note. In the following list of passages, only the broad lines of analysis are given : editorial additions or revisions in the spirit of J E D or P are for the most part included under J E D or P. With this exception the following analyses agree with those of the Oxford Hexateuch,] GENESIS i n. From the Creation to Abraham. In this division, only J and P are represented. To P be- long I 1 " 31 , 2 1-4a , 5 1H28 > 30 ~ 32 , 6 9 ~ 22 , 7 6 > n > 13 ~ 16a > !7, 18-21, 84- gl-Sa, 3b-5, 13a, 14-19 gl-17, 28-29 Io la, 2-7, 20, 22-23, 31-32 . jj 10-27, 31-32 j Tfog rest |g J 38 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT GENESIS 12 26. Abraham and Isaac. In this division J E and P are represented. To P belong i2 41 '~ 5 ; i3 6a > Hb-i2a. I4 1 - 24 (? a P supplement); i6 la - 3 - 15 - 16 ; i7 l ~" 7 , i9 29 , 2i lb . 2 ~ 5 ; 231-20, 257-u a - 12-17, 19-20, 26i) . 2 6 34 - 35 . To E belong 2O 1 - 1 ?, 21 6, 8-27, 31-32, 34 22 1~14, l9 ' 2S 6 > 25h ' 27 > 29-34 ' 26 31) ~ 5 ' 15-18. The rest is J, except that the influence of E is present in parts of 15. GENESIS 27 36. Jacob and Esau. J E and P. To P belong 2 7 46 281~ 9 2Q 24 > 28b ~ 39 3O 21 > 22a ' lI lSb , s^lSb -}^l-2a, 3b, 4,6,8-10,12-18,20-25, 27~29a . ,,-6, 6a, 9-13, 15, 22b-29 36 (in the main, except 32 ~ 39 J). To E belong 27^- ** 5a , 7b-i4, le-isa, 21- 33, 28, 29b, 30b, 31a, 35-41a, 43a, 44, 45b . 2 8 n -l 2 > 17-18, 20-21a, 22. 2 gl, 15-23, 25, 27~28a, 30- 5 nl- 3a 17-20, 22b, 23b, 26, 28, 31b-33, 88b, 40b . 3T 2, > O u JO 1 4-9, ll-12a, 13-16, 19-24, 26, 28-30, 32-42, 45, 47, 49, 51-55 . ^l"" 3 ' 7b-13a, 22b, 23a c, 30 33^, 18c-20 j 35!-*. ^b-S^ The rest is J. GENESIS 37 50. Joseph. J E and P. To P belong 571-2^0^ 4I 45b-46a j ^66-27^ 476-68, 7-11, 27b-28 ^g 3 " 7 , 4Q la ' 18 ' 28-33a, 33c } col 2 "! 3 . To E belong 37 5 ~ n> I 3b - 148 > lB-18a, 19-20, 22-25a, 28a, 28c-31, 32b-33a, 34, 36^ 5g4b, 6a,c, 7a ? ^o 1 " 23 , 4I1" 30 ' 32-33, 35a,c, 36a, 37-40, 47-48, 50-55, 56b 42 !> 3 ' 6 > 7b, 8, 9-26, 28b-37 > 4^14^ 4 rlb-2a, 3, 5b, cl-8, 12, 15-18, 21b-27 ? 46 lb ~ 5 , 48 1-2a ' 8 ~ 9a > 10b-12, 20-22^ 4Q24b-26 r O 15-17, 19-20, 22-23, 25-26. The rest is J. EXODUS i ir. Death of Joseph to Beginning of Exodus. J E and P. To P belong ii~ 5 . , i*b f 2 3Sb-86 f . gs-so^ 71-13, 19-soa, 2ib-22 } g5-7, isb-i^ n9-io. To E belong i7, is-20a, 2i } 2 i-io ) 3 i, 4b, 6, 9b-18, 15, 19-22^ 4!?, 18, 20b, 27-28^ cl.2,4^ 715, 17b, 20b, 23^ Q8-12, 19-23a, 24a, 25a, 31-32, 35^ Io 12-18a, 14a, 15b, 20-23 ? x x l-3 The TCSt is T- EXODUS 12 1 8. The Exodus to Sinai. J E and P. To P belong I21- 30 ' ^ 28 > 40 ~ 51 , I3 1 " 2 ' 30 , \~^> 8 ~ 9b > i 51 '- 18 . 21a - 210-23, 3-27a, 28a, 29 ? ^i^ r 6 all but verse 4, 171*. To E belong | 2 35-36 j^Sb, 9, 14-16, 17-19 ^7, 9a, lOb, 15a, 16a, 19a, 20a, 24b, 31^ jc2-18, 20, 21, 25b-26 j g4 } ^Ib^a, 4-6, 7b, 8-^ jgl, 5-6, 8, 12-27. The rest isj. EXODUS 19 40. At Sinai. J E and P. To P belong 19!' 2s , 22, 24i 5b -i 8a , 25-3I 18 *, 32 15b , 35-40. To E belong i9 2b ~ 3 . THE HEXATEUCH 39 7-lla, 14-17, 19, 23 > 2 I 3 ~ 4a > 7a > 8 > 12a > 13 -!7 a > 18-26^ 2 1 1 " 36 , 22 1 ~ 21a > 23, 25-31 23 1 ~ 12 > 14 ~ 15a > 16, 18, 20-22, 25b-26, 28-Sla^ 2 4 3 ~ 8 ' 12-15a, ISb^ 3i 18b , 32i~ 6 > 15a > 16 ~ 24 ' 3 - 35 , 33 2 > 5 - n , 34 24 > 29H55 . The rest is J. LEVITICUS. At Sinai. The whole belongs to P. i-io 9 at Sinai; io 10 -2i in the wilderness; 22-26 in the Plains of Moab. NUMBERS. J E and P. To P belong i^o 28 . *, 131-17*. 21b, 25-26a, 32 I4 la, 2, 5-7, 9a-10, 26-30, 32-39a jcl-41 j gl, 2b-ll, 16-24, 26a, 27a, 32b, 33c, 35-50 i7-2O la > 2, 3b-4, 6~8a c-13 22b-29 21**. 10 22 l 2 5 8-i8 j 26^3 6 13 . To E belong ii 1 " 3 - 14 - 16 > w, 24b-30 > I2 i-i5. j5l7c-18ac, 20, 21a, 23-24, 26b, 27b, 29, 33 ? j^lb, 4, 25, S91)-4Q } l frlc, 2a, 13, 14b, 25, 26b, 27b, 32a, 33b, 34 2 Q lb ' 14 ~ 18 , 21a, 22a 2 I 4b ~ 9 > Hb-15, 21-248, 26-31, 33-35 ? 2 2 2 ~ 3a ' 5b > 8 ~ 10 ' 12-16, 19-21, 36b-37a, 38, 40-41^ 23 1-21 > 24-26, 27, 29 ; 2 cl a . 3a . 5 . DEUTERONOMY. In the Plains of Moab. All D (or D 2 , cf. below) except i 3 P, io 6 ~7 E, 27 5 -7 a E, 311*-", 23 %, 32*8-52 p ? 33 1 - 29 E, 34!* P, ib E, lc p, Id J ? 2-3 Ej 4 J ? 5a E> 5b P> 6 , 7-9 p 10-12 E> JOSHUA. J E D 2 P 2 (cf. infra). 1-12 : The Conquest of Canaan. 13-24 : The Division of the Territory. To D 2 belong j3-9, llb-18^ 2 9b ~H. ^ 3 4b > 7, 10b, 17b^ ^la, 9-10a, 12, 14, 21-24 } rl, 4-8^ glS, 27 j gl b -2, 8b, 27-28, 30-35 } g9b-10, 24-25 ? IO 7b-8, 15, 25, 28-43 } ! I 2-3, 1~ 23 , I2 1 " 24 ' I3 2 ~ 6 ' 8 ~1 2 ' 14 , I4 6 ~ 15 , 2 1 43 " 45 ' 22l~ 2 , 23 1 -! 6 , 24 13 ' 31 . To J belong 2 2 ~ 3a ' 3c - 4 b ~ 5a . 6, 8-9a, 12, 13b-14, 17, 18ac, 19-21^ /.lac, 5, 9-lOa^ 11, 13, 17a } ^Sb, 6~7a, 8b, 10b-ll, 18 ? -2, 3, 9, 13-15 } 52, 7a, 10-12a, 14, 16, 16b-17, 20ac, 21, 25-26 7 2-26 81a, 2b-8a, 9-11, 14-17, 19-23, 25-29 rA, > I > > y 5, 6b-7, llb-14, 15b, 16bd, 22b-23, 26-27 !ol ac 2-3, 5b-6ac, 7a, 9, lOb, 12-14, 16-24, 26-27 > j !l, 4-9, Z ol, 7, 13 } : r 14-19, 63 ? jgl-3, 10 } jyll-^ JQ47. To E belong I 1 " 2 ' 10-lla } 2 \, 3b, 4a, 5b, 7, 13a, 15-16, 18b, 22-24^ jib, 2-3, 6, 12, 14 ? 4 lb-3a, 4-5, 20 ? gl, 4-6, 7b-9, 12b-13, 16a, 20b, 22-24^ g 13 > 18 > 18, 24, 26 } Q3, 6a, 8-9, lla, 15a, 16ac, 22a^ Io lb, 4-5a, 6bd, lOa-11^ I g2-6, 22l- 8 , 2 4 1-1 2 ' I 4 " 3 ". 32-33. The TCSt is P 2 . 40 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 6. The Date of the Documents. (a) The Date of D, It is for several reasons most convenient to begin with D, of which the date can be fixed approximately with ease. According to the narrative of 2 Kings 22-24, King Josiah carried out a religious reformation in consequence of the dis- covery in the temple of a Book of Law. This book contained at least the chief part of Deuteronomy. This appears from the fact that the reforms inaugurated by Josiah were such as to bring the organisation of worship into the condition required by D. For example : Before this reformation the ' high places/ i.e., local shrines, were the legitimate and usual places of worship. The eighth century prophets condemn impurities connected with the high places, but never the principle of worship there. Such worship was in fact the normal feature of Israelite religious life up to this time. Cp. i Sam. 7 9 (Mizpah), 7" (Ramah), i6*~ 29 (Bethlehem), n 15 (Gilgal), 2 Sam. 15? (Hebron), i Kings 3* (Gibeon), and elsewhere. D however declares that worship only in the ' place which Yahweh your God shall choose there to set his name' is lawful, i.e. Jeru- salem, i2 5 - 13-u, is, anc j throughout. Accordingly, Josiah abolishes the high places, and centralises the national worship at Jerusalem, 2 Kings 23 8 > 13 > 15 > 21 > 23 . Again, Josiah destroyed 'the vessels made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven,' 2 Kings 23*, cp. Deut. 1 7 3 - He suppressed the idolatrous priests, 23 5 , cp. Deut. i7 3 , and abolished the 'pillars,' 'obelisks,' and the temple Asherah, 236- 14ff s , cp. Deut. i2 2ff s-, i6 21 . The reference to the Passover is also significant, 23 21 , ' surely there was not such a passover from the days of the judges.' See Deut. 16, where the directions for keeping the passover are given. Finally, the title of the book on which Josiah is said to have THE HEXATEUCH 41 acted is the ' Book of the Covenant,' 232. The code of laws in Ex. 2o 23ff s- is known by that name; but that code cannot be intended in this place, for it permits worship at the local sanctuaries. The reference is to Deut., cp. 5 2 ~ 3 , 29!, 26 16 ~ 19 . The book of Deut. bears many traces of composition at or about the time of its being found in the temple, (i) In the writings of the eighth century prophets there is no trace of the doctrine of the single sanctuary. If at the time of these pro- phets there were any laws, written or unwritten, against the local shrines, Israel's best teachers must surely have known them. (2) Jeremiah (626-586) and Deut. have so much in common, that this prophet has been suggested as the author of the law book. The suggestion, though it has not been accepted, may serve to show how numerous are the points of contact in lan- guage and religious idea. (3) The star worship which is specially condemned in Deut. i7 3 was most probably intro- duced from Assyria in the eighth century. See 2 Kings 23 12 , 2i 3 - 5 , 23 5 ; cp. Zeph. i 5 , Jer. 7 18 , 8 3 , iQ 13 . The practice of sacri- ficing children to ' Moloch ' is a rite of the seventh century. The date of composition, therefore, must lie somewhere close to the date of publication. The answer to the question, ' How close ? ' depends on the view taken of the passage which records the discovery of the book in the temple. It is to be remembered that Josiah was only eight years old when he began to reign. In the minority of the king a reform on the lines of Deut. could no doubt have been carried out success- fully, if a party sufficiently powerful were then in existence. But the efforts of such a party might be completely nullified, if at a later time the king himself should prove indifferent or hostile to the reform. It would be prudent to wait until the king gave some indication of his character and sympathies. In 621, Josiah was in his twenty-sixth year. It had become clear that he was not a Manasseh or an Amon. The timeliness of the appearance of the law book suggests that it was composed 42 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT with a view to the very effect which followed its production, i.e. the reformation under the authority of the king. If this view be correct, Deut. was composed in the months immediately pre- ceding its ' discovery.' l It does not by any means follow that the material of Deut. was all invented at this date. On the contrary, a great deal of the legislation is a repetition of ancient custom and ritual, re-formulated for the special object of its compilers (cf. 8c.). The Book of Deuteronomy falls into the following divisions : % i 4 40 . Introductory speech of Moses. 4 41 " 43 . Moses appoints three cities of refuge east of Jordan. 4 44 ~ 49 . Introduction to the legislation following. 5 n. Exhortations to observe the law. 12 26. The Deuteronomic Legislation. 27. Directions for the ratification of the law. 28. Discourse on obedience and disobedience. 29 30. Discourse enforcing obedience to the Covenant. 31. The Farewell of Moses. 32. The Song of Moses. 33. The Blessing of Moses. 34. Narrative of the Death of Moses. An examination of these divisions will show that they are not all from the same pen. The law-book found in the Temple 1 The dates given by critics vary between 720 and 621. The fol- lowing remark of Kuenen (Hex. E. T. 219-220) is weighty on the side of the later date: 'A book of law that was some decades old in 621 B.C., however it happened that it strayed into the temple and was discovered there, may have been regarded as really Mosaic, and may have been pre- sented as such to Josiah. But this is open to the great, and, in my opinion, fatal objection, that it makes the actual reformation the work of those who had not planned it, but were blind tools in the hands of unknown projectors. . . . And the r6le assigned to D is almost equally impos- sible, for he is made to commit his aspirations to writing, urge their reali- sation with intensest fervour, and leave the rest to chance.' THE HEXATEUCH 43 certainly included a large part of 12 26, for these contain the directions on which the reformation of Josiah proceeded ; 5 u are not legislation proper, but a series of discourses exhorting obedience to laws about to be promulgated. It might be supposed that the law-book, compiled with the object already described, would not be any longer than was necessary, and that it would confine itself to the bare enunciation of its re- quirements. That it was not a long book we know from the fact that it was read through twice in one day. It has, therefore, been supposed that 12 26 alone were contained in the law-book originally issued ; and these chapters are in consequence some- times referred to as the ' kernel ' of D. Nevertheless, the reasons for separating the kernel from 5 n are not decisive in view of the close agreement in style and language, and in the analysis already given 5 26 has been treated as a whole. To these chapters 28 also belongs ; with which 27 9 ~ 10 forms the connecting link. The first four chapters and the last six contain material from different hands ; i 4 40 , which is itself composite (4 9 " 40 has no apparent connection with i 3 : 2 10 ~ 13 > 20 ~ 23 are marginal notes which have found their way into the text), was composed while as yet D was an independent document (i.e. not united with JE, 1 cp. below 7) by a writer of the Deuter- onomic school, who felt that some such outline of the history of the law-giving was necessary. 4*1-43 are three verses which have got into their present place by some error : they have nothing to do with the context. 4*4-49 are a superscription to ' the law which Moses set before Israel ' : these verses may well have formed the beginning of the original edition of D, which we conclude to have contained 4** to the end of 26, and 278-10, 28. 27 is made up from two or three sources. Of 1-8 , at least 1 The symbol JE without a space, indicates J and E after combination into a single document. 44 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 6 ~ 7a are from a period previous to D, for they reveal no knowledge of the principle of the central sanctuary ; 1-8 also interrupt the connection between 26 and 27 9 ~ 10 . For 12 and 13 , cp. 1 1 26 " 30 to which these verses are a kind of sequel; u ~ 26 curses against certain sins, not specially against offences for- bidden by D; their closest parallels are to be found in Lev. 1 8 20. 29 30. In the style of D, but of later origin ; at least 1-10 are exilic. 31. 1-8 are apparently by the same hand as i 4 (cp. 3 23f s). 9 ~ 13 . The law committed to writing : these verses pos- sibly belong to the end of 28, where they would be appropriate. 14 ~ 15 and 23 are perhaps from E. 1( 5- 22 and ^~, two intro- ductions to the Song of Moses. 32. The Song of Moses. A poem commemorating the faithfulness of Yahweh, who blessed his people with prosperity and has now delivered them over to the enemy on account of their idolatries. He will, however, again restore them. The enemy referred to may be Assyria, but more probably is Babylon. The theological standpoint of the poem and its affinities with Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Deutero-Isaiah are in favour of a date after 586 for its composition ; probably towards the close of the Exile. 33. The ' blessing of Moses.' Earlier than the Song, and yet subsequent to the age of Moses (cp. 5 > 27 > 28 ). It is a poem of praises of the Tribes, similar to the Blessing of Jacob (Gen. 49), evidently composed in a time of general prosperity and national satisfaction. The reign of Jeroboam II. (B.C. 780-743) is probable ; in which case it is a few years earlier than Amos or Hosea, or contemporary with them. 7 is, how- ever, sometimes quoted in favour of a date soon after the division of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. 34. Highly composite : see analysis. THE HEXATEUCH 45 (b} The Date of J and E. Both J and E are earlier than D, which knows and makes use of them, (i) In historical details, the historical retrospects in particular are founded on the narratives of J or E cp. especially Deut. i 6 , 3 29 , l every circumstance of which is based on the accounts of JE in Ex. and Num.; Deut. 9 8 , i o 11 , based on Ex. 32 34. (2) 'The laws of JE form the foundation of the Deuteronomic legislation ; this is evident as well from the numerous verbal coincidences as from the fact that nearly the whole ground covered by Ex. 2O 22 23 33 , is in- cluded in it.' (Driver, Commentary on Deut., Introduction viii., which see for a detailed comparison.) (3) Whereas the literary parallels with D are especially seventh century writers, Jeremiah and Zephaniah, J and E on the other hand show frequent points of contact with the eighth century. For the more exact dating of J and E there is little definite evidence. In any case, not more than half a century separates the two writings. According to some scholars E is of earlier origin than J ; but the more general verdict is in favour of the priority of the latter. We shall not be far wrong if we assign J to the years between 850 and 800 B.C., and E to about fifty years later. E certainly originated in the Northern Kingdom, as is clear from the interest it displays in Northern affairs and especially in the Northern shrines, e.g. Bethel. From the fact that J makes particular mention of Abraham's sojourn in Hebron, a Southern origin has been presumed for this document ; but the evidence is scarcely sufficient to war- rant a positive conclusion. The questions of date and place of origin are complicated by the presence in both documents of secondary elements. It is probable that at least two writers are represented both in J and E ; and a full analysis ought to dis- 1 The argument is not affected if these passages are denied to D their date in any case is not far away from that of D. 46 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT tinguish both J 1 and J 2 and E 1 and E 2 . For fuller informa- tion on these points the reader must consult the larger works on the Hexateuch. (c) The Date of P. According to Neh. 8 10, Ezra the scribe published a law- book which was accepted by the people in the year 444. 1 This law-book contained those parts of the Hexateuch which in the analysis are assigned to P. The publication was celebrated by a Feast of Tabernacles ' according to what was written in the Law ' (Neh. 8 13 ~ 18 ). It is so written in Lev. 2^^. The same feast is indeed appointed in D (Deut. i6 13 ~ 17 ). Nevertheless, the authority for the celebration on this occasion was not D, for D ordains that the feast shall continue for seven days. P assigns eight days to the same feast, and it was an eight days' feast which was held in 444 l (Lev. 23 86 ). A comparison of the following passages will confirm the identification of Ezra's law-book with P : Neh. IO 30 . Against alien marriages. Num. 33 51 ~ 56 , P; Gen. 281-9, p . Gen. 26 s4 - 35 , P. 81 . Observance of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year. Cp. Gen. 2 3 , P; Ex. i6-, P; si 12 ' 1 ?, P; Lev. 2 5 2-7, H. 32 . Contribution of one-third of a Shekel to the Temple. Cp. Ex. 3 1 13 , P; where, however, the amount is half a shekel. 33 . Shewbread, Meal-offering, Burnt-offering, Sabbaths, New Moons, Set Feasts, and Holy Things. Num. 28 29. 35 - 39 . First Fruits and Tithes. Num. jS 21 - 24 , P. (Contrast Deut. i4 23 .) The specific legislation of the Priestly Code is therefore formally accepted in 444 (or 432), as contained in Ezra's law- book. And the narrative of Neh. is sufficient to show that the 1 Or 432. See Ez.-Neh., end. THE HEXATEUCH 47 law-book of Ezra, while it contained P, did not contain either J, E, or D. The celebrations are especially said to be in ful- filment of the terms of the law-book; and they were not in accordance with any other part of the Hexateuch than P. If at this time the whole Hexateuch were published, some refer- ence to narrative or to legislation outside of P would almost certainly have occurred. On the other hand there is no trace of the existence of P at an earlier date than 444 (or 432). The Day of Atonement and the Jubilee year important points in P's legislation are never referred to in literature that is certainly pre-exilic. The centralisation of worship at Jerusalem is in P taken for granted ; the instances already quoted of sacrifice offered at local shrines l are all in flagrant contradiction to the provisions of P. And whereas the mainly pre-exilic books of Sam. and Kings reveal no traces of acquaintance with the specific pro- visions of P, the post-exilic book of Chronicles colours its narrative of the past throughout with material drawn from that Code. These considerations fix the date of P in the fifth century B.C. A strong confirmation of this date is furnished by the law of the priesthood. In D priest and Levite are convertible terms : the phrase is ' the priests the Levites,' i.e. the priests, namely the Levites. In P the priesthood is confined to the descendants of Aaron, and the Levites are entrusted with only menial work in the temple (Num. 3 5 ~ 10 ). The transition from the position of D to that of P is furnished by Ez. 44 6 ~ 31 . Ezekiel, in drawing up in the year 573 B.C. an ideal sketch of the restored community, withholds the privilege of the priesthood from the Levites ( 13 ) on the ground that they have been guilty of idolatry ( 10 ). He degrades them to be keepers of the charge of the house ( 14 ),. while the sons of Zadok, who have not been guilty of idolatry, are to retain the priestly privi- 48 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT leges ( 15 ). The law book of Ezra turned this ideal provision into formal legislation, and we are justified in concluding that the book in which this Levitical degradation is a fundamental point was based on the writing of Ezekiel of 573. The law book of Ezra was accordingly composed some time between 573 and 458. Ezra brought it with him from Babylon in 458 (Ez. 7 6 ~ 14 ) on his first viait to Jerusalem; but the publication was held back till the governorship of Nehemiah. 1 The law book of Ezra already contained the ' Holiness legislation,' H (Lev. 17 26), for the Feast of Tabernacles was observed in accordance with the terms of that document. H is marked out as an independent stratum of P mainly on account of its continual use of the idea of holiness as the aim and motive of its ordinances, and of a special phraseology. It is earlier than the bulk of P, and displays many affinities with Ezekiel. Its author was no doubt a disciple of that prophet, writing about B.C. 560. 7. The Combination of the Documents. According to the results so far reached, the Hexateuch is a combination of the following chief documents : J composed (in the Southern Kingdom) c. 850 800 B.C. E Northern c. 800 750 D Jerusalem c. 621 H Babylonia c. 560 P c. 500458 (a) JE. The first stage in the combination of these docu- ments was the union of J with E, accomplished by an editor or editors who are distinguished by the symbol R 3e , i.e. the redactor(s) of JE. The method of R ie varied according to the contents of the documents with which he was dealing. Some- 1 But for a rearrangement of these dates, cp. on Ez.-Neh. as above. THE HEXATEUCH 49 times he placed parallel narratives side by side in his combined text (cp. Gen. 3O 30 " 43 J, 3i 4f s E); sometimes he interwove them (cp. Gen. 28 10 ~ 23 ) ; sometimes he followed one of his sources in the main, introducing only a few passages from the other doc- ument by way of supplement. (See the analysis in Gen. 12 on- wards : J is the chief source employed for the histories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; E for the history of Joseph and his brethren.) In the course of his work R ]e not infrequently supplied connecting verses, and occasionally had to alter or to add so as to bring his two sources into a surface agreement. The question of the date of the union of J with E depends upon the use by D of these documents. Were they employed by him separately or in combination ? The evidence is not so decisive as to shut out either view ; and here it must suffice to state that on the whole the probability seems rather to be in favour of the conclusion that D employed these documents after they had been amalgamated. (See the Oxford Hexateuch Introduction 173 4.) If so, the date of R 3e is in the years immediately before the publication of D (621). (3) JED. The next stage was the amalgamation of the combined documents JE with the law book found in the temple. This was the work of an editor (or editors) indicated by ' R d ' i.e. the Deuteronomic redactor(s). This combina- tion, which did not involve any considerable change in the material up to the end of Numbers, took place not earlier than the beginning of the Exile. (c) JEDP. As we have seen above, H was united to P directly ; and this union had already taken place before its publication by Ezra. The final stage in the composition of the Hexateuch was the addition of P, including H, to JED, accom- plished by an editor or editors known as R p . In the two specimen narratives already given, samples of the method of R p may be seen ; similar methods were employed over the whole field of the Hexateuch. The date of R p is not long after E 50 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT the publication of Ezra's law book, probably about 400 B.C. Small additions, however, were made at an even later date. 8. The Characteristics of the Sources. It remains to add some remarks on the characteristics of the sources whose history and extent we have been discussing. (a) J. J is a collection of the traditions of the Israelites, beginning from the creation of the first man and extending to at least the beginnings of the occupation of Canaan. 1 It incor- porates pieces of ancieni poetry (the Sword Song of Lamech, Gen. 4.23-24 the Curse of Canaan, g25-27 j the Blessing of Jacob, 49) ; and of legislation (the ' Little Book of the Covenant,' Ex. 34 11 " 16 ). The writer of J is possessed of an imaginative power which enables him to conceive and to reproduce his characters and events with great vividness ; this is shown by, among other things, his use of dialogue (cp. Gen. 18, 24, 43), and his ascription of human form and emotions to Yahweh (Gen. 2 7f s, 38.21, 66, 7 ie, 321, nB,?; X 8; Ex. 4 s4 H 24 ; Num. u 13 , etc.) He displays an interest in the sacred shrines and connects them with incidents in the patriarchal history (Shechem, Gen. i2 6 ; Bethel, I2 8 ; 28 13 ~ 16 ; Hebron, i3 18 ; Beersheba, 2i 83 , 26 23 , etc.) () E. In its present form E begins with Abraham. From the analogy of J and P we may, however, presume that it also originally contained an account of Creation. From Abraham onwards the narrative is in the main parallel to that of J. It incorporates lyrical fragments (the Song of Moses, Ex. 1 5 ; the Song of the Well, Num. 2i 17 ~ 18 ; the Triumph Song over Hesh- bon, ib. 27 ~ 30 ) ; and legislation (the ' Greater Book of the Coven- ant,' Ex. 20 22 -23) ; and quotes the 'Book of the Wars of Yah- weh' (Num. 2 1 14 ) and the 'Book of Yashar' (Josh. io 13 , cp. 1 See Judges, 3. i. THE HEXATEUCH 51 2 Sam. i 18 ). Like J, E is interested in the sacred sites (Moriah, Gen. 22 1 - 9 ; Bethel, 28 18 , 351. 3 > 7 ; Beersheba, zi 1 '); but he preserves many concrete details not given in J. A peculiarity of E is his method of representing communications between God and man as taking place by means of angels (Gen. 2I 1 ?, 22 11 , 28 13 ) or of dreams (Gen. 2O 6 , 2I 1 ?, 22 11 , 28 11 - 13 , si^s; 6 )- The traditions embodied in J and E were collected and written down, as we have already seen, by about the middle of the eighth century B.C., a date just before the prophetic work of Amos and Hosea, Isaiah and Micah. Those great teachers of Israel were not inventors altogether of a new message ; they took up and developed elements that were already existing in the national life and consciousness. Something both of the spirit which moved them and of the story of the past which inspired them is present in these two great documents of the history of Israel. For this reason, the name frequently given to the combined J and E 'THE PROPHETIC HISTORY BOOK ' is a good one to remember. The title has, however, a further significance. It emphasizes the difference between the ancient history of Israel as understood in the eighth century and as understood and exhibited in the Priestly Code in the fifth. It is also useful as illustrating some of the features of the national life and religion for which the prophets stand. J's account of the beginnings of the world has within it the germs of the idea of monotheism. The prophetic doctrine of the divine election of Israel runs throughout the whole of JE, and is provided with historical illustrations in the Covenant with Abraham (Gen. i5 9 ~ 18 ) and with Moses (Ex. 24 3 ~ 7 , 34 10 ~ 27 ). The obligations of the covenant relation forbid the worship of other gods (Ex. 34 14 ~ 16 ), and require a belief in Yahweh's faithfulness (Gen. i5 6 ), and the performance of judgement and righteousness (Gen. i8 19 ). (c) D. ' Deuteronomy may be described as the prophetic re- E2 52 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT formulation, and adaptation to new needs, of an older legislation.' Driver, LOT, 91. D was prepared as the programme of a movement which had for its aim the purification of the national worship. The movement owed its origin to the protests of the eighth century prophets against the unfaithfulness of Israel to Yahweh. The introduction of star-worship and of human sacrifices, the perse- cutions of the reign of Manasseh and the continuance of social corruption, showed that something more than verbal protest was necessary. The Deuteronomic party adopted the plan of striking at idolatry by abolishing the ' high places/ and so bringing the threads of religious life into the hands of the priesthood at Jerusalem. For to the Deuteronomists, idolatry lay at the root of the national sins. D teaches explicitly that there is only one God : ' Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God is one Yahweh ' (6 4 ) ; he is the Supreme God and Lord (io 17 ); the owner of the earth and heavens (io 14 ). He has chosen Israel, not of its merit but of his love (7 7 , 9 4 ~ 5 , io 15 ), in order that it might be ' holy' (7 6 ). This holiness involves separation from worship addressed to any other than Yahweh, from worship of Yahweh in material form, and from every sort of idolatrous symbol (y 5 - 25 , i2 2 > 3 , i6 21 > 33 , 5 8 , etc.). These principles are embodied in a series of laws, many of which belong to a period long before the reform of 621. ' Many are repeated from the Book of the Covenant ; the exist- ence of others is independently attested by the " Law of Holiness"; others upon intrinsic grounds are clearly ancient.' (Driver, LOT, 90-91). But the whole code is so suffused by affection, that it conveys no impression of hard legalism. Following especially Hosea, D teaches that Yahweh has loved Israel, and asks for Israel's love : ' Yahweh had a delight in thy fathers to love them ' (io 15 ) ; ' Thou shah love Yahweh thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy THE HEXATEUCH 53 might ' (6 5 ) ; ' And now Israel, what doth Yahweh thy God re- quire of thee but to fear Yahweh thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him' (io 12 ). Parallel with this is the humani- tarianism of D. The authors are conscious of the great mercy bestowed upon the nation in the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. 'Remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt ' is the continual plea for the merciful discharge of the obligations of life. 'Humanity is the author's leading motive, wherever considerations of religion or morality do not force him to repress it. Accordingly, great emphasis is laid upon the exercise of philanthropy, promptitude, and liberality towards those in difficulty or want, as the indigent in need of a loan (i5 7 ~~ n , 23 30f s-), a slave at the time of his manumission (i5 13 ~ 15 ), a neighbour who has lost any of his property (22 1 " 4 ), a poor man obliged to borrow on pledge (24 6 > 12fg -), a fugitive slave (23 15 ), a hired servant (24 14f & ), and in the law for the disposition of the triennial tithe (i4 28f s-): the landless Levite (i2 12 > 18f -, 1427, 89, 16". i*, 26". 12f s-), and the "stranger," i.e. the unpro- tected foreigner settled in Israel, the fatherless and the widow are repeatedly commended to the Israelite's charity or regard (i 4 2 , i6 u 14 , 2 4 !7, i9~ 2 i, 2 6 12f s-, 27 19 . . ) . .'Driver, Com. on Dcut. xxiv., which see for other examples. The most drastic change introduced by D was the dis- franchisement of the local sanctuaries, and the centralising of all sacrifice in Jerusalem. In its immediate effect, it does not appear to have been conspicuously successful. The reforma- tion carried out with such enthusiasm by Josiah had only a temporary result (cp. Jer. 1 1). Only the experience of the Exile, and that hardly, could alienate Israel from its idolatries. But the principle of the single sanctuary, invented by the Deu- teronomists, was adopted by the legislators who prepared P. (d) P. The aim of D was to secure through legislation and exhortation the moral ideal of the prophets, and it may, there- fore, be described as the prophetic law book. The aim of P is 54 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT so to regulate the sacred institutions and the organisation of wor- ship as to secure and maintain ceremonial purity. In this aim the priesthood is the indispensable agency, and the provisions of P are drawn out from that point of view. It is, therefore, appropriately named the Priestly Code. P includes within itself material of various dates, of which one clearly defined stratum is the Law of Holiness (Lev. 17-26, with fragments in n, 13-15, and elsewhere). This portion betrays many affinities with Ezekiel, and may be regarded with confidence as the earliest of the constituent documents of P. Its name is based on the recurrence within it of the idea of the holiness of Yahweh. P follows the method of a history, and begins with the Creation. In the main, however, his interest in the past is based upon the institutions, and when he deserts the principle of bald genealogy, it is usually for the purpose of explaining the origin of some sacred custom or ordinance. Even the account of the Creation was probably intended as an explana- tion of the the origin of the Sabbath. The history of the past does not add anything of value to what we already know from JP1 P's method is dry and annalistic ; he is ready on every possible occasion with statistics, which give an illusive appear- ance of precision to his details. He represents the name Yahweh as having been revealed to Moses (Ex. 6). Con- sistently with this theory, he never uses the name earlier than the narrative of that revelation. P is the least anthropomorphic of the series JED. P follows the precedent of D in placing his directions in the mouth of Moses, and the legislation which was in fact designed for the post-exilic community, is described as pro- jected in the period before the occupation of Canaan. The aim of the legislation is to preserve the community in the rela- tion of holiness to Yahweh. Though a monotheist, P repre- sents Yahweh as dwelling in the midst of his people in the THE HEXATEUCH 55 sanctuary. His presence makes the nation holy; but this holiness must be carefully safeguarded. Innumerable oppor- tunities of defilement arise, for the removal of which provision must be made. Yahweh is, therefore, represented as protected by a circle of specially-ordained priests ; outside of this circle is another composed of Levites; outside this circle the members of the community. Among the priests, one holds the chief position ; he alone is permitted once a year to enter the Holiest Place. The priests are all to be descendants of Aaron, through either Eleazar or Ithamar. The Levites are a secondary order, attending the priests as servants in lieu of the services of the community (Num. 8 15 ~ 19 ). P represents the presence of Yahweh as confined to the Dwelling, of which an elaborate description is given (Ex. 2$ig., ssfg.)- The doctrines of holy persons and holy places are comple- mented by a theory of holy times. P adopted the feast days already known, altering their details in accordance with the new conditions under which they were to be observed. 1 In addition two new feasts were introduced by P, the New Year's Day (Trumpets) (Lev. 23 23 ~ 25 ), and the Day of Atonement (esp. Lev. 1 6). 1 Eg. they ate to take place on fixed days of the month. CHAPTER II. JUDGES ESTHER. 1. JUDGES. I. Name and Divisions. 2. Contents. 3. Sources. 4. Historical Value. i. Name and Divisions. The book received its name from the title given to certain leaders whose exploits are recorded within it. These leaders are said to deliver the nation and to ' judge' it for a number of years, where the word 'judge' apparently denotes ruling rather than the administration of justice. The authors of the book use the word for a ruler whose office is not hereditary. The following divisions may be marked : i l -2 6 . A Summary History of the Conquest. 2 6 -i6. The History of the Judges. 17-21. Appendix, containing Two Episodes, (a) The Migration of the Danites. (V) The Holy War against Benjamin. 2. Contents. i . The conquests by Judah and Simeon, Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, Zebulon, Asher, Napthali, and Dan. 2 1 " 6 . The Angel of Yahweh announces that the Israelites JUDGES 57 will suffer because they have failed to exterminate the Canaanites. 2 6 -3 6 . Introduction explaining the general theory of the age of the Judges. Joshua's generation served Yahweh faithfully. After his death the Israelites forsook Yahweh, and served the baals. Yahweh, therefore, delivered them over to the spoilers ; then he raised up judges to save them ; on the death of the judge, the people again relapsed into idolatry. Yahweh has, therefore, announced that he will leave in the land such of the enemies of Israel as have not been conquered by Joshua ; they will dwell side by side with Israel to ' prove' it. A list of the nations so left. The Israelites intermarry with them. 3 7 ~ n . Othniel delivers Israel from the hand of ' Cushan- rishathaim,' king of Mesopotamia. is-30 t Ehud saves Israel by assassinating Eglon, the Moabite king, and defeating his army, 31 . Shamgar saves Israel from the Philistines. 4. Barak and the prophetess Deborah deliver Israel from Jabin, king of Canaan, and his general Sisera. Sisera, taking refuge in the tent of Jael, is murdered by her in his sleep. 5. The ' Deborah-Song,' celebrating the victory of Israel over a confederacy headed by Sisera. 6-8. The Israelites are delivered out of the hand of Moab by Gideon (Jerubbaal). By means of a stratagem, he defeats with 300 men the army of Midian. He refuses the kingship, but makes of his spoil a golden image, which is worshipped by all Israel. On the death of Gideon, the Israelites again relapse into idolatry. 9. Abimelech, son of Gideon, murders all his seventy brothers except Jotham, and becomes king of Shechem. Jotham narrates the parable of the Bramble King. Shechem rebels against Abimelech, but is reduced by him. While be- sieging a neighbouring town, he is fatally injured by a millstone cast by a woman from the walls, and to escape the reproach 58 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT of being killed by a woman causes his armour-bearer to kill him. 10. Tola of Issachar and Jair of Gilead judge Israel. Introduction to the history of Jephthah. The Ammonites gather against Israel. i i-i2 7 . Jephthah, a Gileadite, who has been a robber chief, is invited to lead the Israelite forces against Ammon. Jephthah vows to Yahweh, in the event of victory, whatsoever shall first cross his threshold to meet him on his return. He conquers the Ammonites. On his return he is met by his daughter, whom he sacrfices. Her death inaugurates a festival. 128-15. The judgeships of Ibzan of Bethlehem, Elon of Zebulon, Abdon of Pirathon. 13. Samson is born, in fulfilment of a Divine promise, and exhibits great strength. 14-15. On his marriage to a Philistine woman, he pro- pounds a riddle which the Philistines cannot guess. They entice his wife to obtain the answer, and Samson kills thirty men of Ashkelon to pay the forfeit. His wife being stolen from him, he revenges himself by burning the corn of the Philistines. They kill his wife ; he retaliates, but is delivered up by the Judeans. He bursts his bonds, and slays one thousand Philis- tines with the jawbone of an ass. 1 6. He avoids capture at Gaza by carrying off a city gate, with its furniture. By the treachery of Delilah, the secret of his strength becomes known to his enemies, who capture and blind him. Being diplayed at a feast in the temple of Dagon, he pulls down the pillars and perishes with all the company. 17-18. A party of the Danites who are searching for a suitable place of settlement, come upon the sanctuary of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim, and consult his oracle. They select Laish, and send for their main body, which steals Micah's oracle and its ministering Levite. Laish is conquered, and becomes the city of Dan. Micah's image is set up, and becomes a centre of worship. JUDGES 59 19-21. The Benjaminites refusing to deliver up the men of Gibeah who have been guilty of an outrage, are attacked by the rest of the Israelites. The Israelites are twice defeated, but finally destroy all Benjamin except 600 men. These are inter- dicted from marriage with the rest of the tribes ; but, lest Ben- jamin utterly disappear, wives are found for them by raids on Shiloh and Jabesh-Gilead. 3. Sources. In its present form, the Book of Judges is a collection of narratives set in a framework designed to teach a moral lesson, and furnished with introduction and appendices. At least four stages may be distinguished in the literary history of the book. i. FOUNDATION NARRATIVES. The basis of the book was supplied by stories of certain heroes, such as Ehud, Barak, Abimelech, Jephthah, and Samson. These stories circulated in more than one form. Notice e.g. the prose and the poetical versions of the victory over Sisera, 4, 5 ; the presence of at least two strands in the narrative of Gideon, 6 2 -8 3 , 8*~ 21 . In these foundation narratives the judges were not repre- sented as national judges, but as tribal leaders. The case of Samson stands by itself ; his exploits are purely personal. These foundation narratives are identified by some critics with the documents J and E. These documents possibly did extend to the period of the Judges. In fact, the account of the conquest in ch. i is from J. The resemblances, however, of these narratives to those sources are not so striking as to compel the conclusion that we have J or E before us. The foremost defender of the theory that these documents are continued in our Judges, uses in his analysis the symbols J and E to repre- sent ' not individual authors, but a succession of writers, the historiography of a certain period and school.' (Moore, Judges xxvi.). But while this use would be valid to explain minor varia- 60 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT tions in a group of phenomena generally recognised, and while it is as a matter of fact so employed in the differentiation of J 1 , J 2 , etc., in the Hexateuch, its validity is doubtful as a plea for the admission of the symbols into the treatment of Judges, where the group of phenomena is not established. 2. The PRKDKUTERONOMIC BOOK OF JUDGES. The narra- tives above mentioned were arranged into a Book of Judges some time before the Deuteronomic reformation. This edition promoted the local chiefs to the rank of national saviours and rulers. It contained the earliest editions of the passages which we have marked as appendices (i7fg.), and probably included the judgeships of Eli and Samuel (cp. i Sam. 4 18 , 7 16 ~ 1 7). On the minor judges cp. below, 4. 3. On the basis of 2 was formed THE DEUTERONOMIC EDITION. The Deuteronomist redactor (R d , one or several as the case may be) placed the narratives in a setting which made them illustrate the doctrine that Yahweh had to punish the Israelites frequently for their idolatry. The punishment took the form of foreign oppression : and when the people repented of their idolatry, the oppression was removed by means of a judge under whom the land had rest for a term of years. On the death of a judge the same round is again pursued. This theory will be found repeated in almost identical phraseology in 37-11, Othniel; 12 ~2o, Ehud; 4 1 , s 31 , Barak; 6i~7, S 2 ", Gideon; io 6 ~ 10 , 12^, Jephthah; 13!, I5 20 , Samson. 4. FINAL EDITION. As it stands before us the book has been supplied with introductory notices and glosses. It will be noticed that the Deuteronomic formulae do not occur in the notices of the minor judges (Shamgar), Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. This fact suggests that they were not present in the Deut. edition, for there is no obvious reason why these also if known to R d should not have been supplied with his pragmatic setting. From the fact that some of these minor judges bear the names of tribes, and that they serve to bring JUDGES 61 the number up to 12, it is a reasonable conjecture that they were an addition to the latest form of the book. On the other hand, it may be noted that the same formula which appears in the case of the minor judges is present also in the case of Jephthah 1 2 7 , and it is arguable that they formed originally part of (2), were omitted by R d from his edition, and were finally restored by the editor of 4. It is, however, not easy to see why the Deut. editor rejected these minor judges if he had them before him. 4. Historical Value. As it stands, the book of Judges makes its chief impression by means of its Deuteronomic colouring. That sense of the intimate connection between faithfulness to Yahweh and national prosperity which in D expressed itself in legislation and exhortation, found another means of activity in the collect- ing of the national traditions, and the over-working of them so as to teach the characteristic lesson of the prophets that physical events had moral causes ; that faithfulness to Yahweh was rewarded by national prosperity, national apostasy punished by disaster, repentance followed by divine favour. The Deuteronomists were so sure that the external fortunes of the nation were the faithful reflex of its moral state that they did not hesitate to impose the doctrine on material which did not show any obvious fitness for it. In general, it may be said that R d 's contributions to the book of Judges do not contribute any- thing to our knowlege of the period. Their value is simply as a witness to the great strength of the prophetic influence as ex- pressed in this school of the ' philosophy of history.' After the Deuteronomic accretions have been removed, it appears that we have only a few stories of tribal leaders to bridge over the period between Joshua and Samuel. The traditions of locality alone are clearly marked. Deborah and 62 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Barak stand at the head of a confederacy of Northern tribes ; Gideon is connected with Ophrah and Shechem, Jephthah with Gilead, Samson with the Philistine neighbourhood. In these limits these men took the lead in moments of tribal danger, and earned a place among the traditions of the period when the tribes were slowly feeling after that sense of nationality which issued in the establishment of the monarchy. The case of Gideon shows that some kind of tribal kingship was at one time established in Shechem, but it did not survive the second generation. Among these traditions Samson occupies a special place. His exploits are personal; the Judeans, instead of assisting him, deliver him over to the Philistines. His quarrels with the Philistines are purely individual. The resemblances between the account of Samson and the story of Heracles are numerous, and perhaps the interpretation of the Samson stories should follow the same line. Of the two appendices the first (17 18) probably owes its place in the book to the fact that it gives an account of the origin of the sanctuary at Dan. In the light it throws upon the religious and social ideas of the period it is a valuable fragment. The second appendix is a late revision of an old account of an outrage at Gibeah ; so late, in fact, as the time of the Chronicler, 1 whose spirit is indicated in the exaggerations of the numbers. Ch. i 2 5 contain J's account of the Conquest, with additions from the final editor in la > 4 - 8 > 9f s-> 18 > 2 1 " 5 - The ' Deborah-Song ' is one of the oldest pieces of Israelite literature, and probably belongs to the eleventh century B.C It is a triumphal song on the occasion of the victory of the Northern tribes over Sisera, and was probably composed very soon after the conflict. It appears to be not by Deborah, but addressed to her (cp. 5 12 ; in 5^, ' until thou, Deborah, didst arise' is a legitimate translation). The text is 1 Cp. Moore, Judges, 4058. JUDGES 63 somewhat corrupt, and the meaning not always clear ; but it is conceived in a bold and spirited style. After an address of praise and an invocation ( 2 ~ 3 ) the poet describes how Yahweh marched forth to succour his people (*~ 5 ) in a time of national distress, when the roads had become unsafe for travellers, and the forces of Israel mustered only 40,00x3 unarmed men ( 6 ~ 8 ). . . . The tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh (' Machir '), Zebulun, and Issachar are praised for their readiness to take the field (is-ife) . Reuben, Gilead, Dan, and Asher are scorn- fully reproached for their inaction (iBb-is^ The battle is described; it takes place at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; the allied kings are defeated ( 19 ~ 22 ). A curse on Meroz for not participating in the conflict ( 23 ). How Jael mur- dered Sisera when he had applied to her for refreshment during his flight ( 34 ~ 36 ). Picture of the mother of Sisera waiting in her home for the return of her son ; her anxiety on account of the delay in his coming ; the confidence of the attendants that he is delayed only by the greatness of his booty (28-30) j prayer that all the enemies of Yahweh may perish as Sisera has perished ( 31 ). It is a poem of an age which exults in the defeat of enemies, and which has no shame for the treacherous murder of the fugitive chief ; but it is wonderfully skilful in drawing a vivid picture of the circumstances of the time, and in the manner in which it heightens the triumph by the dramatic description of the waiting queen-mother. 6 4 2. RUTH. I. Contents. 2. Date and Object. I. Contents. i . Elimelech of Bethlehem with his wife Naomi and his two sons removes to Moab on account of a famine. There he and his sons die, the sons having married Moabite wives, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi returns to Bethlehem and Ruth accom- panies her. 2. Ruth gleans wheat in the fields of her relative Boaz and is favourably noticed by him. 3, 4. A near kinsman, upon whom by ancient custom the duty of marriage with her devolved, sells his rights to Boaz, who marries Ruth. She gives birth to Obed, ancestor of King David. 2. Date and Object. The incidents of the book are represented as occurring in the times of the Judges, (i 1 ) : and there is in it an air of naturalness and verisimilitude which is in favour of its composi- tion at a date not long after the occurrence of the events it describes. On the other hand there are some late features ; (i) the custom of old Israel which has become obsolete is explained for the benefit of the readers (4 7 ) ; yet this custom is known in the seventh century (Deut. 25 9 ). (2) The genealogy of 418-22 is in the style of P, and uses expressions characteristic of that document. (3) In the Hebrew canon it is placed not among the histories but in the ' Rolls ' i.e. along with the Song of Songs, Lam., Eccles., Esther, all of which belong to a dale later than 586. (4) There are some idioms and word- forms which if Ruth is pre-exilic can be explained only as dialect, but which are most naturally regarded as post-exilic. The force of (i) and (2) is removed if the suggestions be accepted that 4 7 is a gloss and 418-22 a i ater addition. If RUTH 65 these passages be regarded as not original, it is possible that the book had a pre-exilic origin ; its object being to narrate some particulars about the ancestry of David which showed that he was of Moabite extraction ; indirectly also ' to inculcate the duty of marriage on the part of the next of kin with a widow left childless.' (Driver LOT, 454.) In favour of this view it is urged that some connection of David with Moab is implied by i Sam. 22 s . It is however open to doubt whether the king of Moab would guard David's parents merely because David's great grandmother was a Moabite woman; and the indirect object is not plausible in view of the fact that the next of kin successfully avoids the duty, transferring it to Boaz. The following account of the origin of the book seems more probable. When Ezra returned from Babylon J he found that the Jews in Jerusalem and Judah had intermarried with non- Jewish families. To Ezra, keenly anxious to keep the com- munity pure, this seemed a pollution. He was able to induce the people to dissolve these mixed marriages (cp. Ezra 9, 10, Neh. io 80 , Mai. 2 n ~ 16 ). Perhaps as a matter of practical policy the step was necessary, but this violent interruption of the domestic life of Jerusalem must have caused great distress. It is suggested that our book of Ruth is a protest against the exclusive spirit of Ezra's policy. Possibly basing his work on a true tradition, an unknown writer produced, shortly after Ezra's reform, a narrative in which he showed how David the glory of the nation was himself the descendant of such a marriage as Ezra condemned. 2 The evidence is too slight to allow a certain conclusion ; probably the latter view has found most adherents among recent writers. Whatever be the exact origin and date of the book its readers universally acquiesce in the judgement of it expressed by Goethe, ' the loveliest little epic and idyllic whole which has come down to us.' 3 1 See on Ezra-Nehemiah,96-97. 2 Inexplicitly it also makes against Deut.23 s . 3 Quoted in E. Kautzsch, Outlines, E.T. 129. F 66 3- SAMUEL. I. Name and Divisions. 2. Composition. 3. Sources. 4. Combination of the Sources. 5. Contents and Analysis. 6. Historical value. I. Name and Divisions. In the Greek Bible the books of Samuel are reckoned along with the books of Kings, of which they form in that version the first and second. In the Hebrew Canon, Samuel is not divided into two books. A good deal may be said in favour of the LXX reckoning of Samuel and Kings together ; but as the literary problems of Samuel are different from those presented by the books of Kings, it will be well to treat the books separately. The name Samuel has been given to this book from the prophet who is, according to one document (cp. below), the originator of the monarchy. The chief divisions are as follows : / Samuel i 7. The early activity of Samuel. 8 14. The establishment of the monarchy. 15 31. Saul and David. a I 8. Accession of David : his rule in Hebron. 9 20. David's rule in Jerusalem. 21 24. Appendix of illustrative material. 2. Composition. One or two examples may be here adduced to show that the books are partly composite. Here, as in the case of the Hexa- teuch, the recognition of strata in the narratives goes far to remove difficulties caused by the presence of inharmonious details. The following instances are all taken from i Sam. : SAMUEL (a) The accession of Saul. The people demand a king because the sons of Saul rule unjustly : Samuel delivers a speech on the evils of a monarchy, but at length yields to the popular demand. The continuation of this narrative is Samuel protesting against the rejection of God implied in the request for a king, arranges a lot, by which Saul is elected. 91 ID". Saul, son of Kish, consult- ing Samuel the professional seer, is chosen by him and privately anointed to be a leader against the Philistines. The continuation of this narrative is 1 1 1-15. Nahash the Ammonite attacks Israel : Saul collects and leads a force against him and defeats him. The people thereupon make him king in Gilgal. In these sections the mon- In this account there is no archy is regarded as treachery hint thai the demand for a against Yahweh ; there is no monarchy is wrong : the ap- mention of any foreign danger, pointment is on account of a Samuel is Israel's judge. national victory ; Samuel is seer and prophet. (6) The rejection of Saul. I3 8 ~ u . Because he sacrifices at Gil- gal without waiting for Samuel. Because he disobeys the command to exterminate the Amalekites. F 2 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (c) The beginnings of David's career. 17. David, a mighty man of David, a shepherd boy, valour, and skilful in business, visiting his brothers in the is recommended to Saul as a camp, hears of the challenge good player on the harp : of Goliath ; he obtains from David is brought therefore Saul permission to fight, and from Bethlehem, and is so overcomes the Philistine. Saul successful in diverting Saul does not know who David is. that he is retained at court. ( 16> S 13. Wars with the Philistines. Saul's sacri- S except fices without waiting for Samuel, who *> T^" 16 *. therefore announces his rejection. 19 ~ 22 R 14. Wars with the Philistines continued. The prowess of Jonathan. His life becomes forfeit on account of a vow S except of Saul ; but he is saved by the will 47 ~ 61 Dt of the people. and 5S R 15. Saul preserves the life of the Ammonite king, thus disobeying the command to exterminate that nation. Samuel himself kills Agag, and announces Saul's rejection. ? SS I6 1 " 13 . Samuel anoints David at Bethlehem. R 14-27. David cures Saul's evil spirit, and is made armour-bearer. Da 17. David's victory over Goliath. 1 SS iS 1 " 5 . Covenant of brotherly love between David and Jonathan. 2 SS 6 ~ 80 . Saul in jealousy tries to kill David. Da 19. David flees for his life. Saul among SS ex- the prophets. cept 8 , 18-24, R 20. Jonathan and David separate. ? *~ 10 , ? 12-1 7) 40-43^ Rest Da 2 1 . David at Nob obtains the shewbread ; l ~ l SS at Gath he feigns madness. ? n ~~ 16 1 Revised by R. The LXX omits IM \ \ b. w. ; which verses are probably late insertions into the Heb. text. 1 Omitted in LXX, best MSS. 72 THE BOOKS OP THE OLD TESTAMENT 22. David as freebooter. Saul's vengeance on Nob. SS 23. David escapes from Saul in Ziph. Da ex- cept 6 15-18 R 24. David spares Saul's life. Da 25. Death of Samuel. David restrained from raiding Nabal by the prudence Da of Abigail. ex. l R 26. David spares Saul's life. SS 27 28 2 . David obtains a settlement among the Philistines ; he secretly smites their friends. Da 28 3 . Death of Samuel. R 4 ~ 85 . Saul consults the witch of Endor. Da ex. 17-18 Dt. 29 30. David leaves the Philistines; he smites the Amalekites. Da 31. Israel defeated by the Philistines ; Saul is killed. Da 2 Sam. i. David hears of the death of Saul and 1-4 - n ~ 12 Jonathan ; his Lament. 17 ~ 27 Da 6-10, 18-16 SS, 5 R 2 4. Fall of Saul's dynasty. Abner deserts the cause of Ishbosheth ; both Mainly are assassinated. Da 5. David captures Jebus = Jerusalem. l ~ z Da 4-5, 7b, R Restje 6. The ark brought up from Kirjathjearim. Je 7. David not allowed to build a temple. Dt except 13 R SAMUEL 73 8. Summary of his military exploits. Unknown origin, with R additions 9. His kindness to Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan. Je 10. Defeat of the Ammonites and Syrians. Je n. David's treachery to obtain Bathsheba. Je 12. Nathan's reproof and David's re- Je except pentance. 10 ~ 12 R 13. Absalom murders his half-brother Ammon, and flees from Jerusalem. Je 14. Joab compels his restoration by means of a parable. The reconciliation between David and Absalom. Je 1 5 20. Absalom conspires against David, who flees from Jerusalem. Shimei, an adherent of the house of Saul, curses him. Ahithophel, Absalom's adviser, recommends him to make David prisoner. Hushai, friend to David, advises a general attack. Hushai 's advice is followed ; Absa- lom's army is defeated, and himself killed by Joab. David's grief ; his return to Jerusalem; a conspiracy Je except headed by Sheba is crushed. 2O 23 ~ 26 R 21. The Gibeonites hang seven of Saul's' sons. Exploits of David's heroes. 22. = Psalm 1 8. 23. ' The last words of David.' Further exploits of David's heroes. 24. David holds a census, in punishment for which a severe plague visits the country. Mainly Unknown Sources 2 1 15-23, and 8-39 23 from Da 74 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 6. Historical Value. Compared with Judges and Kings, Sam. has suffered com- paratively little from Deuteronomic overworking, and it embodies some excellent sources. Of these the most valuable is Je. ' It is/ says Kautzsch, ' one of the most complete, truth- ful and finished products of historical writing which have come down to us from the Hebrews, and indeed from the whole ancient world. It shows no trace of tendency or adjustment, the succession of events flows from an inner necessity ; every- thing lies before our eyes clear and comprehensible. Especi- ally marvellous is the characterisation of the King ; he is a man, and not beyond the reach of human weakness, nay of criminal passion.' l Je covers, with only slight interruptions, 2 Sam. 5-20; it deals entirely with David's monarchy as centred in Jerusalem. Next in value is the David-source, which concerns chiefly the early life of David, from his first introduction to Saul down to his establishment on the throne. The completion of this narrative is in i Kings i and 2, carrying on the history to the accession of Solomon. It is particularly well informed with regard to the relations of David with Saul. How far it unduly exalts David at the expense of Saul is an open question ; in suggesting that Da and S may possibly be by the same writer Kautzsch rejects the conjecture that the accounts of Saul's mad- ness, his attempted murders of David, his visit to the witch of Endor, his defeat and suicide are all intended to throw dis- credit on the character of Saul. 2 The Saul-source provides us with little more than an account of Saul's accession. It represents the monarchy as a national blessing, and Samuel as a professional wise man, receiving hire for information about lost property. The .S^S" source betrays in many ways its relatively late 1 Outlines, 25. J Ib. 27-8. SAMUEL 75 authorship. It is chiefly a biography of Samuel, especially in his relations with Saul ; but covers also notices of David's adventures before the death of Saul gave him the kingdom. The writer of SS is convinced that the establishment of the monarchy was a treason against the divine government of Israel. Samuel as the earthly representative of that govern- ment is described as born in answer to prayer, as ministering to Yahweh from childhood, as jealous always of his privileges as leader of the theocratic nation. Saul is accordingly an inter- loper; and Samuel announces his rejection with satisfaction (i Sam. i5 26f s-). Nevertheless, the writer's prejudice does not extend to David ; who by the time of this author has become the hero of popular romance. 1 Of the poetical pieces incorporated in Sam. the Elegy of David (2 Sam. i 1 ^- 2 ?) and the Fragment on the death of Abner (2 Sam. 3 83b ~ 4 ) may be ascribed with some assurance to David himself. The Song of Hannah (i Sam. 2 1 " 10 ) has no relevancy to the person or the occasion to which it is referred ; 10 shows that it was not composed till after the monarchy. 2 Sam. 22 is also found as Ps. 18; it is not certainly pre-exilic and cannot be Davidic. The 'last words of David ' (2 Sam. 23 1 " 7 ) are obscure; but are probably a very late insertion in the book. 1 Cp. especially the Goliath story, I Sam. 17. According to 2 Sam. 2 1 11 (RV), it was not David but Elhanan who slew the giant. 7 6 4. KINGS. I. Name and Divisions. 2. The Compilers R d and R da . 3. Sources. 4. Contents and Analysis. 5. Historical Value. i. Name and Divisions. The books of Kings were originally a portion of the historical work covering the period from Judges to the Exile ; and in the LXX they are reckoned as continuing the history of the kingdoms begun in i Sam. i. They contain a record of the Hebrew monarchy from the death of David to the Baby- lonian Exile, a period of nearly 400 years (c. 970 586 B.C.). There are three chief divisions : 1 Kings i-n. Reign of Solomon. 12-2 Kings 17. Parallel histories of the divided kingdoms to the fall of Samaria, 722 B.C. 2 Kings 18-25. Judah, 722-586. 2. The Compilers. (a) R d . These books, also, are woven together out of older material, by an author who may be described as Deuteronomist (R d ) from his characteristic standpoint. He is the author of the notices introductory to each reign and of the judgements passed on each monarch. Inasmuch as these judgements give the prevailing complexion to the narratives as a whole, we may describe the books of Kings as the Deuteronomic history of the monarchy. The date of R d must be later than the publi- cation of D, but earlier than 586. Several things point to the conclusion that R d wrote before the Exile. He tells us that the staves of the ark in Solomon's Temple are still to be seen (I. 8 8 ) ; that the descendants of the original inhabitants of the KINGS 77 land are still bondsmen there (I. 9 21 ) ; he places in the mouth of Solomon a prayer which implies that the Temple is yet standing (I. 8) ; reports the prophecy of Ahijah in a form which presupposes that a Davidic prince is still reigning in Jerusalem (I. n 36 J, and describes the Exile of Israel in a way which shows that Judah is as yet safe (II. i7 18 ~ 23 ). About 600 B.C. will therefore be a satisfactory date for R d . () R 43 . The notice of the release of Jehoiachin from prison and of his death (II. 2<^~^~} requires a date as late as at least 560. There is good reason for separating not only these verses, but from 23 31 onwards, from R d and referring them to a secondary Deuteronomic compiler (R 32 ). To him may be ascribed a number of passages throughout the book which point to a Babylonian origin (e.g. I. 4 24 RVM, S 44 ^-, ii 39 , II. I7 19 ' 20 , 23 26 ~ 27 > 31f s-) In the main section of his book the practice of R d is to fol- low a chronological order of reigns, dating each ruler by a reference to the contemporaneous monarch of the sister kingdom. His general style is illustrated in the following example : ' And Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, King of Israel. Jehosha- phat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in all the way of Asa his father : he turned not aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of Yahweh : howbeit the high places were not taken awav : the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places' i Kings 22 41f &. In the case of kings of the Northern Kingdom the age of the king on his accession is not given ; T nor is the name of the queen-mother supplied. The judgement on the Northern Kings is uniformly unfavourable ; they are described as doing 1 Always, except three times, supplied in the case of S. Kingdom. 78 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, walking in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. In the conclusion of each reign a similar regularity of phrase is employed : ' And the rest of the acts of . . . . and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of (Judah, or Israel) ; and .... slept with his fathers^- and was buried with his fathers? And . . . his son reigned in his stead.' 3. Sources. The parts of Kings contributed by R d and R d3 are easily separable from the remainder. The remainder we might suppose to be derived from written sources ; and as a matter of fact such sources are mentioned in the text. They are quoted as supplying details not furnished in our books. They are 1. The Book of the Acts of Solomon, I. n 41 . 2. The Book of the Chronicles 3 of the Kings of Judah, I I4 29 and often. 3. The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, I. i4 19 and often. As to the nature of these sources it is to be noted that 1 . They are quoted for additional information ; presump- tively they were fuller than our narratives. 2. They are quoted for information about the kings in their official capacity ; probably they did not contain general (literary or prophetic) history. 3. They are quoted regularly for every King, except Jehoram and Hoshea in the North and Ahaziah and Jehoahaz in the South. 4 1 Never in the case of murdered kings. 3 Never in the case of Israelite Kings. * Literally ' Acts of Days ' 'Annals.' 4 Including Jehoiakim : perhaps imitatively by R d * II. 24*. KINGS 79 From the fact that a 'mazkir' ('Recorder,' RV, 'Chronicler,' RVM) is mentioned among the court officials of David, Solomon and Hezekiah, 1 it is sometimes conjectured that the other kings also had a similar official ; that his duty was to keep a record of the chief public events of the reign, and that the ' Annals ' of Solomon, Judah and Israel are collections of these records, or a consecutive history based upon them. On the other hand, the word does not necessarily imply writing at all ; and the case of the unsettled governments of the northern kingdom is strongly against any theory of a succession of official historians. Though only the above are referred to by name, R d em- ployed other sources also. Of these the chief are : (1) Da as in Sam : represented in i Kings i and 2. (2) Certain narratives which appear from i Kings 27 onwards to 2 Kings, io 27 , and again 2 Kings I3 14 ~ 21 . They deal entirely with the Northern Kingdom, where evidently they originated. They are histories of the prophetic work and influence of Elijah and Elisha, and consist of three main groups : (a) i Kings, 17-19, 21 (Elijah) : distinguished below as Pr. () 2 Kings 2, 4 1 - 6 , 23 , 8 1 - 15 , 1 3 14 ~ 21 (Elisha): distinguished as Pr2. (c) i Kings 20, 22, 2 Kings 3, parts, 6 24 -7 17a , 9-10 (in the main) : distinguished as E. A few passages still remain over, which show no affinity with the sources above mentioned. 4. Contents and Analysis. The following notes of analysis are based on the preceding enumeration of sources, and reproduce the broader features of the results of Kamphausen. 1 According to Chron. Josiah also. 8a THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT i Kgs. 1-2. The Death of David : the intrigue Da with additions which gave the kingdom to by R a in 2 1 "*- Solomon instead of Adonijah. and 27 3-5. Solomon chooses wisdom before Acts of Solomon wealth and honour. His wis- except 3 1 " 4 ' 14 , dom illustrated. The great- 4^-34^1,16-28^ ness of his kingdom. Hiram 26 > = R d supplies timber for theTemple. 6-7. The building of the Temple and Acts of Sol.,except Solomon's Palaces. 6?> , n-u, I-M. 28-30, 32, 35, 38 _ Rd > lx 8. The Dedication of the Temple. Chiefly R d 44-51 Rd2 9-10. The wealth, honour, and wisdom 9 1 " 9 R d2 , ub-w, of Solomon illustrated. Sol. : rest of 9, R d 10, Sol. with R d additions in 2 - 2 7. 11. Solomon's idolatries: the rift Sol. w ~ 28 - ^: rest between the kingdoms. = R d 12. Divisions of the kingdoms: K in the main : 1B> Jeroboam's sacred bulls. 26 ~ 31 = R d - 13. A prophet condemns Jeroboam's 1 ~ 83a special worship at Bethel. source : 38b-34 _ Rd 14-16. Ahijah announces the ruin of K basis of 14, Israel on account of the sin of 1-18 ' 25 ~ 28 > 1 5 16 ~ 22 > Jeroboam. Jeroboam's death. i6 21 ~ 22 . Rest = R d Reigns of Rehoboam, Abijam except i6 12 ~ 13 and Asa over Judah, Nadab, =R d2 Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri and Ahab over Israel. 17-19. Elijah's prophecy against Ahab: Pr his victory over the prophets of Baal. Elijah in Horeb. KINGS 20. E with small fragments from unknown source. l-20a, 27-29 p n 20b-22 24 Rd. 28, 25-26 unknown. 22 l ~ 40 The Syrians are defeated by Ahab ; a prophet threatens him with death for sparingtheir king. 21. Jezebel and Ahab procure the murder of Naboth, for which Elijah threatens them with judgement. Ahab is slain in battle with the Syrians, as announced by Micaiah, son of Imlah. 41-54. Reign of Jehoshaphat over Judah, Ahaziah over Israel. 2 Kgs. i. Elijah threatens Ahaziah for idol- Unknown. l > 18 R d atry. 2-7. Elijah passes : Elisha's miracle. Reign of Joram ben Ahab over Israel : Elisha sanctifies war against the Moabites, who are defeated. Miracles of Elisha : his healing of Naaman the leper. The Syrians besiege Samaria, but flee in panic and the people are saved from famine. 8 1 " 15 . Elisha and the Shunamite : Hazael becomes king of Syria. Joram-ben-Jehoshaphat and Aha- 20 ~ 22 K : rest ziah reign over Judah ; 9. Elisha appoints Jehu king over Israel. Jehu kills Joram-ben- Ahab, Ahaziah and Jezebel. 10. Jehu kills off the house of Ahab E except 28 ~ 31 and and reigns over Israel. 34r ~ 36 R u , and 82 ~ s K G E. R d based on K Pr. 2 except 3 1 " 3 R d 3 4 ~ 2 ? ? E 524-33 E 71-17* E 71^-20 unknown. Pr. 2 R d E except "- 10a 29 - 361) - 3 7> R d 82 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 11. Athaliah is slain, and Jehoash becomes king of Judah. 12. Jehoash reigns over Judah: he buys off Hazael. 13-17. Reign of Jehoahaz and Jehoash over Israel ; of Amaziah over Judah; of Jeroboam II. over Israel : of Azariah over Judah ; of Zechariah, Shallum, Mena- hem, Pekahiah, and Pekah over Israel; of Jotham and Ahaz over Judah. Invasion of Judah by Pekah and Rezin : Ahaz at Damascus. Reign of Hoshea over Israel; invasion of Shal- maneser. Fall of Samaria and end of Northern Kingdom. 1 8. Hezekiah : Sennacherib's in- vasion. 19. Isaiah comforts Hezekiah: retreat of Assyrians, death of Senna- cherib. 20. Hezekiah's sickness healed : Isaiah announces the doom of Babylon. 21. The reigns of Manasseh and Amos. 22. The reign of Josiah: Discovery of D. 23. His reformation ; death at Megiddo. Reign of Jehoa- haz : tribute to Egypt. Reign of Jehoiakim. K : 10 and 13 ~ 18 doubtful. K, except 1-4 and 20-22Rd. All R d except I3 H-21,p r .2. and I -16, 19-20 ! 65-18 K; and 7-20, 29-34a _ Rd3 1-13 Rd . ? 14-16. 17-37 K. 1-9 K; 10-20 and? 32-35 secondary K; 21-31 ? R d on basis of K 3-6 ?; 7-15, Rd2. rest, R d R d with unknown fragments. 15-20a, Rd3 Mainly R d but 26-27 = Rd2 KINGS 83 24. Nebuchadrezzar makes Jehoia- Mainly R 43 kim tributary : his rebellion : Jehoiachin king : siege of Jeru- salem : Jehoiachin carried away. Zedekiah's reign. 25. Fall of Jerusalem : murder of R* 12 Gedaliah: release of Jehoiachin. 5. Historical value. Here as in Jud. it is the Deuteronomic setting of the narra- tives which is likely to make the chief impression on the reader. The Deuteronomic editors have produced a work which embodies some valuable historical sources, but which is less concerned with the events than with their moral causes. They make the history teach the prophetic lesson of faithful- ness to Yahweh ; but this faithfulness is tested by the Deuteronomic principle of worship at the central sanctuary. They are conscious of no anachronism in thus judging the circumstances of the ninth to the sixth centuries by the rule which was not formulated till 621. In conformity with this standard, the picture of the Northern Kingdom is always dark. In setting up the bulls at Dan and Bethel, Jeroboam is said to have made Israel to sin ; and every king of the Northern King- dom is described as doing what is evil in the sight of Yahweh ; while its fall in 722 is explained as a consequence of this evil. In the case of the Southern Kingdom those kings who are guilty of idolatries are condemned ; all the others are approved in general, but it is charged against them that they did not remove the high places. Hezekiah with his tentative reform however, and Josiah, meet the full approval of the editor. The futility of this Deuteronomic interpretation of the history of the nation is evident from the facts adduced elsewhere with re- gard to the reformation of 621 and the condition of worship in the country before that date. G 2 84 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The dates, which lend an appearance of precision to the narratives, are due to the latest editors of the book. They may in cases preserve correct details ; but in general they are artificial. One proof of this appears in the fact that whereas 241 years odd are assigned to the Northern Kingdom between the death of Solomon and the fall of Samaria, the same limits in the case of Judah cover 260 years. 1 The aim of the authors was not to supply a full history of the period with which they dealt ; authorities, in fact, are fre- quently quoted for fuller information. The amount of space devoted to the respective reigns is therefore no test of their importance for the national history. Examples of deficient in- formation are the reigns of Omri and Jeroboam II., both of whom were vigorous rulers. Of the sources admitted those which deal with the work of the prophets have suffered little in the process of editing ; especially noteworthy are the narratives about Elijah and Elisha, which throw a light on the process by which Yahwism was saved from absorption into the Canaanite Baal-worships. From 854 onwards we are enabled to test a great deal of the history from contemporary Assyrian monu- ments. In that year an inscription z shows that Ahab was de- feated by Shalmaneser II. at Karkar ; to the same monarch Jehu paid tribute in 842? Inscriptions are wanting from that date till 738, when we learn that Menahem paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III. 4 From this period onwards the chief details of the history of the nation rest on a comparatively secure basis. 1 For further examples, see the articles Chronology in Hastings, DB, or Cheyne, Ency. Bi. The most striking is the fact that the year of the foundation of the Temple (i Kings 6 1 ) is placed midway between the exodus and the return from the exile in 536, twelve generations of forty years each being supposed to fall on each side. This scheme requires a date after 536 for the final redactor of Kings. 2 Given in Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, 96. * See Sayce, as above, 99. 4 Do., 103. 5- CHRONICLES. I. Name and Divisions. 2. Date. 3. Sources. 4. Objects, Methods, Historical value. I. Name and Divisions. Originally Chronicles formed with Ezra-Nehemiah a single work : the end of the fragment of the final verse of 2 Chron. is supplied by the opening words of Ezra. The separation of Chronicles from the succeeding narratives had been already made when the LXX was translated. It is on the whole most convenient to treat Chronicles separately. The Hebrew name for Chronicles is ' Words of the Days,' or ' Annals of the Times/ i.e. of the kings included in its scope. The LXX translators called it ' Things Omitted ' ; Jerome, ' Chronicon,' whence our title. It may be conveniently divided : / Chron. i g Genealogies covering the premonarchic period. .10 2 Chron. 1 1 The Monarchy to the Fall of Samaria, a Chron. 12 36. The Monarchy in Judah, 7 2 2 586 B.C. 2. The Chronicler's Date. ' The Chronicler ' is a convenient title for the final author of the book. His date may be fixed approximately from the fol- lowing evidence : (a) i Chron. 29?. The reckoning of value in 'darics' (a Persian coin) brings us to at least the Persian period. (6) 2 Chron. 3 6 23 . The phrase ' king of Persia' carries us to a time when the kingdom of Persia had passed away. While it existed he was the king, and he is alluded to as simply * the king ' or by some honorific title. 86 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (c) i Chron. 319-20. Here the descendants of Zerubbabel are reckoned to either six (Hebrew text) or eleven (LXX) generations. If the smaller number be accepted, that fixes the earliest date of Chron. c. 300 B.C. If the larger be followed, a date nearer 200 is necessary. (d) Neh. i2 22 mentions a high priest Jaddua, who we know from Josephus was contemporary with Alexander the Great. Not to press the doubtful ' eleven ' in i Chron. 3 19 ~ 90 , we may select 300 B.C. as the most probable date of the book. With this conclusion agrees the character of the language, which bears many marks of later style. 3. Sources. The Chronicler makes frequent appeal to certain authorities for fuller information on the subjects of his history, and as in the case of Kings, it is presumable that these authorities were the chief bases of his narratives. These sources are : (a) The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel (2 Ch. i6 n , 25 26 , 28 26 ); evidently the same as The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah (2 Ch. 27?, 35 27 , $6 8 ); and as The Book of the Kings of Israel (i Ch. g l RV) ; and as The Acts of the Kings of Israel (2 Ch. 33 18 ). Also in 2 Ch. 24 27 there is quoted ' The Midrash of the Book of Kings ' (RV, wrongly, ' commentary '). () The words of Samuel the Seer, i Ch. 29 29 . The words of Nathan the Prophet, i Ch. 29 29 and 2 Ch.Q 29 . The words of Gad the Seer, i Ch. 29 29 . The prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, 2 Ch. 9 29 . The vision of Iddo the Seer, 2 Ch. 9 29 . The Midrash of Iddo, 2 Ch. i3 22 . The words of ' Hozai,' or ' The Seers,' 2 Ch. 33 19 . Perhaps there should be added the words of Jehu, son of CHRONICLES 87 Hanani, 2 Ch. 2O 84 , and the Vision of Isaiah the Prophet, 2 Ch. 32 33 ; both of these are, however, expressly referred to the History of the Kings above cited (a). In 2 Ch. 26 22 it is stated that Isaiah wrote the history of Uzziah ; but the history is not actually quoted. It is probable that the Chronicler's main source was the work named in (a) above. This history cannot be the same as our Book of Kings, for it is cited for facts which our canonical Kings does not contain. 1 It must, however, have been a work of similar scope. Probably the full title of the work is given in 2 Ch. 24 27 , the ' Midrash ' on the Book of Kings. Midrash means a free treatment of a narrative with a view to edification, and a Midrash on the Books of Kings would certainly contain more than the one reign for which it is expressly quoted. The small works referred to under (3) are probably not a number of detached pieces, but portions of the larger work (a). This suggestion is confirmed by the fact that a monograph and the large history are never quoted for the same reign, while the history of Jehu, 2 Ch. 2O 34 , and the Vision of Isaiah, 32 32 , are expressly said to be from the large history. The names Gad, Nathan, etc., are merely methods of referring to special sections of the book. See Rom. 1 1 2 (RVM), ' in Elijah.' The Chronicler also knows the Hexateuch, on which his genealogical tables are chiefly based, and some kind of collec- tion of Psalms. He refers also to a ' genealogical enrolment,' i Ch. 5 i7. In addition to these sources, the Chronicler employs our canonical Samuel and Kings ; but it is not clear whether he employed them in the form in which they now exist. The fact that he does not refer to these books by name may imply that he did not use them directly. Possibly the Midrash already quoted contained very full citations from Samuel-Kings, and the Chronicler thence obtained such material as he has in common with them. 1 Cp. 2 Ch. 33 18 " 19 with 2 Kings 2i 17 , the repentance of Manasseh. 88 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 4. Objects, Methods, and Historical Value. Chronicles may be described as a revision of the national history in the interests of the religious ideas and institutions of the Chronicler's own age. Inasmuch as many of these are of exilic or later origin, the effect produced is quite different from that furnished by the more nearly contemporary books of Samuel-Kings. The Chronicler's object is to represent the in- stitutions of his own day as existing in the best days of the monarchy. At the same time, he conceives that the past story of his nation teaches many valuable moral lessons, and these he duly exhibits. His chief interest is in the Davidic monarchy, and its relation to the temple and to Jerusalem. The northern kingdom appears in his narrative only when the story of Judah compels some re- ference to it. The reigns of David and Solomon occupy nearly a third of his work ; but facts not calculated to throw glory on these rulers are omitted. Thus, there is no allusion to David's career as a robber chief, to the case of Bathsheba and Uriah, the rebellion of Absalom, the intrigue by which the suc- cession was secured to Solomon. 1 Solomon himself is por- trayed as a monogamous saint. The standpoint of the Chronicler is best seen in the charac- ter of the additions he makes to the history as we know it from the older books. Of such sort are his copious references to the guild of temple singers (i Ch. 6 81 " 48 , 25; 2 Ch. 5 13 , etc.). From these it has been plausibly conjectured that he was him- self a member of one of these organisations. His interest in the Levitical ritual is evident from the way in which he envelopes almost the whole of his work in a Levitical atmosphere. The method may be illustrated by the following example : 1 The census is, however, included ; without it the choice of the site ot the temple would not have been explained. CHRONICLES 2 Sam. 6. David and the people fetch up the ark to Jerusalem ; on the way Uzzah is killed on account of an excess of zeal ; David thereupon in anger abandons the ark to a Philis- tine, with whom it remains three months. Hearing that the Philistine is being blessed by its presence, David brings it to Jerusalem, sacrificing on the way. It is set up in a lent, and David offers burnt-offer- ings and peace-offerings. i Ch. 13. The narrative of this chapter is parallel ; the alterations are not important. (Notice, how- ever, the allusion to the priests and Levites in 2 .) i Ch. 15. David ascribes the death of Uzzah and the consequent abandonment of the ark to the breach of the law that none but Levites should carry the ark. A great gathering of Levites is accordingly made, and the ark is brought up from the house of the Philis- tine with full ritual observan- ces ; the Levites offer the sacrifices. Similar perversions of the history will be found in 2 Chron. 23 as against 2 Kings n; the Chronicler puts the Levites in the place of the foreign soldiers, who, according to Kings, held posts within the Temple beside the altar; 2 Ch. 5 4 , the Levites bear the ark, whereas i Kings 8 3 has simply ' priests.' l A somewhat different principle is illus- trated in 2 Ch. i4 5a , where the statement of i Kings is 14 that Asa did not remove the high places is turned into the exact opposite; so also of Jehoshaphat, 2 Ch. iy 6 , i Kings 2 a 48 . Both of these kings being represented as virtuous, the Chronicler will not permit them to tolerate the to him iniquitous high places. 1 Cp. W. R. Smith, OTJC, 140 fg. 90 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT The Chronicler also appears as a moral teacher. He freely composes speeches and remarks for his characters, and so gives the authority of a notable person to some lesson which he is anxious to enforce. Thus David is grieved at the breach of the Levitical law (above on i Ch. 15) ; and ordains a psalm of praise to Yahweh, i Chron. i6 7f s. Solomon will not permit his wife to dwell in the proximity of the ark, 2 Ch. 8 11 ; Abijah adduces the faithful performance of the ritual in Judah as a reproof of Jeroboam, 2 Ch. i3 10 ~ 12 ; and numerous other instances. Throughout his narrative it is his habit to connect good and evil fortune with moral causes. Thus Saul loses his life on account of his transgressions (I. io 13 ) ; Shishak invades Judah because it has rebelled against Yahweh (II. i2 2 ); Asa has a disease in his feet as a punishment for his alliance with Syria, which alliance is supposed to imply lack of confidence in Yahweh (II. i6 7 ~ 12 ); Ahaz is reduced by the Syrians because of his idolatries (II. 28 5 - 22 > 23 ) ; Manasseh is restored from Babylon because he repents (II. 33 11 " 13 ) ; Amon has a short reign because he does not humble himself (II. 33 21 " 24 ) ; Josiah is killed for his refusal to recognise a divine warning on the lips of the Egyptian king (II. 35 21 ~ 22 ). The numbers given by the Chronicler are incredibly large. The 50 silver shekels of 2 Sam. 24?* are changed in i Ch. 2 1 25 into 600 shekels of gold. In other cases where there is no parallel passage in the historical books to serve as a test, it is nevertheless plain that the Chronicler's num- bers are grossly exaggerated. Thus, 339,000 men wait on David in Hebron to make him king; 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver are provided for the Temple building (equal to ^1,000,000,000). The armies are of huge size : Abijah has 400,000 ; Jeroboam has 800,000, of whom 500,000 are killed in one day ; Zerah the Ethiopian has 1,000,000; Jehoshaphat has 1,160,000. CHRONICLES gi It thus appears that the Chronicles are practically worthless as evidence for the condition of pre-exilic Israel. What value they possess is derived from the witness they unconsciously bear to the ideas of the author and the organisation of the national life in the third century B.C. 'The peculiarities of the historical representation which prevails in Chronicles are to be ascribed, no doubt, to the influences under which the author lived and wrote. The compiler lived in an age when the theocratic institutions, which had been placed on a new basis after the return from Babylon, had long been in full operation, and when new religious interests and a new type of piety had been developed, and asserted themselves strongly. The Chronicler reflects faithfully the spirit of his age.' See Driver, LOT, 533. 92 6. EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. I. Name and Divisions. 2. Contents. 3. Sources. 4. Author and Date. 5. Historical Value. i. Name and Divisions. As has been already shown (cp. Chron. r), Ezra and Nehemiah were at one time a part of the Book of Chronicles. It is convenient to treat Ez.-Neh. together. As at present ar- ranged, the following are the chief divisions : Ez. i 6. From the edict of Cyrus to the completion of the Temple. 7 10. Return of Ezra, B.C. 458, and repudiation of the mixed marriages. Nek. i 7. Nehemiah 's rebuilding of the walls of Jeru- salem, 444 B.C. 8 10. Ezra's publication of the Law. ii /j 3 . Miscellaneous matter. / j4-3i > Nehemiah' s return to Jerusalem, 432 B.C. 2. Contents. Ez. i. The Decree of Cyrus permits the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. He restores the sacred vessels. 2. Lists of the returned exiles. 3. An altar is built for present use ; in the second year the foundations of the Temple are laid. 4. The ' adversaries of Judah and Benjamin ' being refused the privilege of assisting in the rebuilding accuse the Jews by letter to the Persian king, ^ho forbids the work. It ceases till the second year of Darius. EZRANEHEM1AH 93 5. Haggai and Zechariah stir up the people to build the Temple. 6. Darius authorises the work. Completion of the Temple and dedication. 7 1 " 26 . Ezra comes from Babylon to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes (=Longimanus), under a firman authorising supplies. 7 27 -9. Ezra gives a list of his companions, and an account of the journey ; describes his grief on learning that the Jews had intermarried with the surrounding peoples ; his prayer on the subject. 10. A conference is held in Jerusalem ; the offenders pro- mise to put away the foreign wives. A list of the offenders who promise reformation. Neh. i-2 8 . Nehemiah, cupbearer of Artaxerxes, hears in Shushan of the broken walls of Jerusalem ; the king permits him to go to rebuild them. 2 9 -4. In spite of the opposition of Sanballat and his allies, Nehemiah stirs up his countrymen to build. List of the workers. Nehemiah's precautions against his opponents. 5. Nehemiah's protest against the money-lenders. 6 7 4 . The plots of his opponents are defeated ; he finishes the wall, and gives orders for its defence. 7 5 ~ 78 . Nehemiah reproduces a list he has found of those who came up at the first. (= Ez. 2, with small differences.) 8-10. Ezra promulgates the law; a Feast of Tabernacles is kept, and a covenant to walk in the law is made. List of the signatories. 11. List of the population of Jerusalem. I2 i-26 < Miscellaneous lists of priests. 1 2 27 ~ 4S . Nehemiah describes the dedication of the walls. ! 244-47. Appointment of officers to collect Temple dues. 13. Nehemiah tells how, on his second visit to Jerusalem, he expelled Tobiah from the chamber in the courts of the 94 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Temple; re-appointed officers to collect the Levitical dues; in- sisted on Sabbath observance, and protested against the foreign marriages. 3. Sources. The Chronicler's two chief sources in these books are two documents which may be called the Memoirs of Ezra and the Memoirs of Nehemiah. Each of these sources narrates the fortunes of its author in the first person. The remainder is also derived from sources, which we may distinguish as second- ary Ezra or Nehemiah material. The MEMOIRS OF EZRA are contained in Ez. 7~9 15 . They begin with a doxology to God for moving Artaxerxes to beautify the Temple ; give a description of his visit to Jerusalem, and of his grief on learning of the foreign marriages. The MEMOIRS OF NEHEMIAH are contained in Neh. 1-7. These introduce Nehemiah as cupbearer to Artaxerxes, describe how he was permitted to go to Jerusalem ; how when there he succeeded in getting the walls built. To the Memoirs of Ezra have been prefixed as introduc- tions : (a) 7 1 " 10 . A brief account of Ezra and his journey to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. This is probably derived from a secondary form of the Memoirs. It omits three or four generations in Ezra's imme- diate ancestry, and describes briefly the visit given at length in 8. (6) 7 11 - 36 . n is an introductory note. 12 ~ 26 is a copy of the firman of Artaxerxes approving the mission of Ezra. This fir- man is in Aramaic, and may be quoted from a source in that language. The narrative of the Memoir is continued (in the third per- son) in 10. This chapter also is probably from the secondary Memoirs. In the Memoirs of Nehemiah, 7 6 ~ 69 is expressly stated to EZRANEHEMIAH 95 be derived from a source. The Memoirs themselves are con- tinued by : it. This is the immediate sequel of 7 5 , but it is in the third person. It is from the secondary Nehemiah Memoirs. 1 2 is, in the main, the work of the Chronicler ; 22 brings the list down to the time of Alexander the Great ; 47 shows that the days of Nehemiah belong to the past. I3 1 " 31 resume the original Memoirs, and refer to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, i.e. 432 B.C. There still remain Neh. S-io and Ezra 1-6. Neh. 8-10 have no connection with the preceding Memoirs of Nehemiah. Ezra is the chief actor ; he is referred to in the third person. These chapters likewise maybe assigned to the secondary Ezra Memoirs. In Ez. i the edict if genuine is quoted ; but the rest of the chapter is due to the Chronicler. 2 = Neh. 7, whence it has been drawn. 3 1 -4 5> 24 are the work of the Chronicler. 4 6 ~ 23 , a frag- ment mainly (8-23) j n Aramaic, and probably from an Aramaic source. It is inserted here to explain why the building of the Temple was delayed from 536 till 520. The reason given is that certain men wrote a letter of complaint to Artaxerxes, who therefore stopped the building. That the compiler here has made a serious error appears from the date ; the accusations are referred to the reigns of Ahasuerus (Xerxes) 485 465, and Artaxerxes (Artaxerxes) 465 425. Both dates are irrelevant for an incident in 536. Further, the accusations have no reference to the building of the Temple ; they concern the city walls. Probably the account has been taken from the Aramaic source already quoted, and roughly adapted to its present pur- pose. 5-6 18 , also in Aramaic, and probably from the same source. Within it two accounts of the Temple building have been fused ; in 4 2t -5 2 the building is undertaken in the second year of Darius by Zerubbabel ; in 5 14 ~ 1 7 Cyrus commissions the rebuilding through Sheshbazzar. 6 19 ~ 22 is due to the Chronicler. 96 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 4. Author and Date. The Chronicler compiled Ezra-Nehemiah at the same time as, and as part of, his history of Israel. 1 The separation of the Ez.-Neh. portion of this history from the Chron. part took place during the formation of the canon. As supplying the history of the re-organisation of the community after the exile, the Ez.-Neh. sections received admission at a time when the claims of the remainder were not yet granted. The Hebrew bible, in placing Chron. after Ez.-Neh., bears witness to the later recognition of the Chron. portion. 5. Historical Value. The latter part of the Chronicler's work cannot be checked so completely as the earlier, but it is demonstrable that he does not suddenly become accurate when he enters on the period of the return. The present arrangement of the book leaves a gap of nearly sixty years between Ezra 6 and 7; Nehemiah 1-12 ostensibly refer to the year 444 ; 13 passes abruptly to 432. The Chronicler is almost certainly in error in stating that the foundations of the Temple were laid in the year next after the return. This appears from the narratives of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, which show that no attempt was made to build the Temple till the second year of Darius (520 B.C.). Having recorded a return in 536, the Chronicler could not imagine that pious Jews would remain without a temple. He accordingly states that an attempt was made to rebuild ; and then, to reconcile this statement with the account elsewhere in his sources that the Temple was built in 520-516, he inter- poses a theory of delay, based on a document referring to a later time and a different subject. A more important point is whether there was any return 1 Cp. Chron. 1-2. EZRANEHEMIAH 97 from the exile in the year 536. Latterly the view has been put forward that there was either no return at all till 444, or if any, it was on nothing like the scale represented in Ezra 1-6. The chief points are as follows : a. The edict of Cyrus permitting the return is suspicious because it represents Cyrus as ascribing his victories to the God of the Jews. The edict may be an invention of the Midrashic sort on the basis of Is. 44 28 , 45 1 " 4 . On the other hand, it is arguable that the edict was actually issued, but that its contents are here given in Jewish phraseology. b. Haggai and Zechariah imply that the exile is still con- tinuing ; their exhortations to rebuild the Temple are addressed not to any returned exiles but to the people of the land, the descendants of those who had been left behind. Cp. esp. Zech. i 12 , 2~7, 6 15 , 87-8. c. The apparently circumstantial list of the returned in Neh. 7 = Ez. 2 is suspicious, (i) because the number is unduly large (42360 + 7337 + 245; cp. 2 Kings 24 14f s, 10000 + 7000 + 1000; Jer. 52 28 ~ 30 , 4897); (2) because Ez. 2 68 connecting the list with the rebuilding of the Temple is an interpolation ; it is not in Neh. 7, where the allusion to the ' work ' is general, and means the maintenance of the Temple ; (3) it is highly improbable that the representatives of those who were carried away fifty years before should be able to reoccupy their ancestral seats. A further problem is the succession of events c. 444 B.C. The present order of the narratives leaves much to be desired. If Ezra in 458 insisted on the repudiation of the foreign wives (Ez. io 3 - n > 19 J, it is strange that the question again arose in 432, and that then Nehemiah should accept such a mild settlement of it, if he had the precedent of Ezra before him (Neh. I3 23 "" 31 ). Again, if the present order be correct, Eliashib, who is high priest in 433 (Neh. i3 7 ), had a son who was a prominent person fifteen years earlier (Ez. io 6 ). It is also strange that the 98 THE BOOKS OP THE OLD TESTAMENT Memoirs of Neh. (1-7) contain no hint that Ezra had returned fifteen years before. These difficulties suggest that the Chronicler has made a mistake in placing the Memoirs of Ezra before the Memoirs of Nehemiah. A rearrangement of the material on these lines removes every difficulty, and pre- sents an order of events that is intrinsically preferable to the traditional one. The following is an outline of the recon- struction : Rebuilding of the Temple 520-516 (Ez. 5 1 -6 16 ). Nehemiah visits Jerusalem 444 B.C. and rebuilds the walls, Neh. i-7 6 . List of the population of the city, Neh. ii 3 " 36 . Jerusalem repopulated from the country, Neh. ii 1 " 2 . The walls consecrated, Neh. I2 27 " 43 . Twelve years' interval. Nehemiah revisits Jerusalem and carries out certain reforms, including an attempt against the mixed marriages, Neh. i$*~ &l . (Soon after) Arrival of Ezra; his repudiation of mixed marriages, Ezra 7-10. Formation of the holy congregation, Neh. 9-10. Promulgation of P, Neh. 8. 99 7. ESTHER. I. Contents. 2. Date and Characteristics. x. Contents. i. Ahasuerus, King of Persia (= Xerxes 485-465 B.C.) pats away his wife Vashti because she declines to appear at a feast given in Shushan to his nobles. 2. He chooses the Jewish maiden Esther to be his queen. Her uncle Mordecai discovers and reveals a plot against the king's life; for which he is rewarded. 3. Mordecai incurs the jealousy of Haman the king's favourite; who to avenge himself obtains a decree from the king, ordaining the destruction of all Jews in the provinces ' both young and old, little children and women ' on the 1 3th of Adar a day determined by casting ' purim ' or lots ( 7 ). 4. Mordecai entreats Esther to intercede with the king on behalf of the people. 5. Accordingly Esther entertains Haman at two banquets. Haman, who is ignorant of the relationship between Esther and Mordecai, is greatly flattered ; his only grief is that Mordecai still lives, and he prepares a gallows fifty cubits high in readiness for him. 6. Haman, supposing himself to be intended, names a great reward for ' the man whom the king delighteth to honour.' The reward goes to Mordecai, for his services with regard to the plot. 7. On the petition of Esther, Haman is hanged. 8. The decree is revoked, 9, and on the day when it was to be executed the enemies of the Jews are destroyed in great numbers, Esther obtaining leave for a second day's massacre in Shushan. In token of the deliverance of the Jews the nth and isth of Adar are appointed as feast days. 10. Further advancement of Mordecai. H 2 100 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 2. Date and Characteristics. The object of the book is to supply a historical occasion for the feast of Purim. This feast is not mentioned in the Bible except in this book l its actual origin is unknown, but it was first observed in the Eastern Dispersion, and thence became a popular feast among the Jews. 2 The book of Esther states that the feast arose in consequence of the deliverance of the Jews in the reign of Xerxes from a massacre the date of which had been fixed by ' lots ' : and the writer implies that the Persian word for ' lots ' is Purim. There is however no Persian word Purim with this meaning : and it is utterly im- probable that a feast would obtain its name from the method of selecting a date. The book is in fact not historical. Mordecai is represented as one of the exiles of 597 (2) and yet he is, still alive in the reign of Xerxes 485-465. In the period covered by the book the queen of Xerxes was not Vashti nor Esther, but Amestris. The publication of an edict of massacre eleven months before the event is inconceivable : no steps to prevent the escape of the Jews, and no efforts to escape (except Mordecai's appeals to Esther) are mentioned. The book abounds in similar impro- babilities. The occurrence of certain names of Babylonian mythology make it possible that the ultimate source of the story was a Babylonian myth. Mordecai and Esther obviously correspond to Marduk and Ishtar ; Haman is said to be connected with an Elamite god Humman, Vashti also with an Elamite goddess. The glorification of the Jews in the book, as well as the connection with the festival of Purim, made it popular, but it gained a place in the Canon only with difficulty. The secular 1 Supposed sometimes to be the feast of John 5* : but without probability. * It has been connected with the Persian Spring and New Year Festival Furdigan ; but there is no etymological connection. ESTHER 101 character of the narrative may account for this to some extent, but it is probable that the book had not long been written when the Canon was being closed, and so had not gained the approval of antiquity. There is no certain clue to its date except the non-mention of Esther in the list of Jewish worthies, Ecclus. 44- 50 (B.C. 200); and the language, which requires a date not earlier than the Chronicles. It is suggested that the intense hostility between the Jews and the other nations revealed in the book is a result of the persecutions which culminated in the revolt of the Maccabees. If this be so the date of Esther is a few years after the Maccabean revolt : about 140 B.C. CHAPTER III. JOB TO THE SONG OF SONGS. x. JOB. I. Wisdom Literature. 2. Subject and Treatment. 3. Contents. 4. Original Form. 5. Date. 6. Characteristics. i. ' The Wisdom Literature.' The Book of Job belongs to a small group of writings to which this name has been given from the prominence of this conception in them. 'Wisdom' in the Hebrew sense is the nearest approach to what we call philosophy. It is, however, only one side of philosophy; namely, that which concerns itself with the study of human conduct. Besides Job, the Wisdom Literature includes also Proverbs and Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha. 2. Subject and Treatment. The particular problem with which the Book of Job is engaged is this : How is the fact that innocent men suffer afflic- tion compatible with the rule of a righteous God ? The book is not, however, a formal argument of an abstract question. The subject is presented in the character of Job. Job is an JOB 103 innocent man, and yet meets with severe misfortunes. Through- out his afflictions, he maintains that they are not a punishment of his sinfulness. His arguments are developed in answer to the speeches of three visitors, who try to prove that, since he suffers, he must have sinned. A fourth visitor puts the same argument in a somewhat different form ; and the whole con- troversy is ended, rather than settled, by the intervention of Yahweh, who reduces Job to silence by enlarging on the Divine omnipotence. The treatment is accordingly appropriately described as dramatic. 3. Contents. 1,2. Prologue. The problem is indicated by means of a discussion between God and 'the Satan.' (Cp. below.) Job's integrity is alleged by the Satan to be due simply to his pros- perity ; when, however, the Satan is permitted to test Job by afflicting him, Job does not change. The test is then allowed to proceed further : Job is smitten with itching boils. Being joined by Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, the four engage in argument on the causes of his sufferings. 3. The Lament of Job. 4-5. First argument of Eliphaz. 6-7. Reply of Job. 8. First argument of Bildad. 9-10. Reply of Job. n. First argument of Zophar. 12-14. Reply of Job. Job's visitors, being convinced that because he is suffering he must have sinned, try to reconcile him to his sufferings on the ground that he has deserved them. Job's lament (3) calls forth the discourse of Eliphaz (4-5), of which the chief argu- ment is that God is good ; if Job will remember this, and accept his afflictions in a right spirit, he will profit by them in days to come. Job's reply (6-7) is directed against the assumption that he has sinned ; he emphasises the greatness of the suffering imposed on him ; it is so great that he seems to 104 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT be the object, not of God's goodness, but of his cruel sport. In this answer, Job implicitly charges God with injustice ; and this point is taken up by Bildad (8), who repeats the assertion of Eliphaz with regard to the goodness of God, but dwells especially on the righteousness of his rule over men, as shown in the experience of the ages. Job's answer (9-10) reiterates that his sufferings are a sufficient proof that there is discrimination in God's dealings with him now. Zophar con- tinues the attack from the same standpoint (n), attempting to awaken Job's conscience by dwelling on the marvellous insight of God into human conduct ; is not Job's assertion ot inno- cence mistaken, in view of the Divine omniscience which can detect sin in the unwitting sinner? Job declares (13-14) that he has not overlooked this argument : but he remembers also many things which Zophar has not mentioned events which, though they reveal God's power, do not show that it is used according to the rights and wrongs of human nature. Once more Job states his case, complaining sadly of his life, and the hopelessness of the future for him. 15. Second argument of Eliphaz. 16-17. Reply of Job. 1 8. Second argument of Bildad. 19. Reply of Job. 20. Second argument of Zophar. 21. Reply of yob. The friends now try afresh to awaken the conscience of Job to the sins of which they believe him guilty. They argue still from the character of God, but this time they dwell on the manifestations of his character in the divine rule of the world, particularly in the punishment which inevitably falls on the ungodly. Eliphaz (15) contradicts the argument of Job that God permits wickedness to flourish ; he shows how the wicked man is unhappy and how finally calamity overtakes him. This argument impresses Job afresh with the inability of his friends to understand his case (16-17); he feels himself deserted by God and man, and bitter death is his only prospect. Bildad (18) nevertheless reiterates more fully the argument of Eliphaz JOB 105 that the sinner is miserable and unfortunate ; he implies that Job's sin is measurable by the greatness of the calamity which has fallen upon him. Job turns the implication aside (19) and once more describes his sufferings. Despairing of help from his friends' advice or from God's present mercy, his conviction of innocence breaks out in an assertion that nevertheless his avenger liveth whom he himself shall see though he die of his sufferings, and who will vindicate him. Zophar is angry (20) that Job shuts his eyes against the familiar truth which Eliphaz and Bildad have illustrated, viz., that the wicked man perishes. He draws a picture of the ungodly rich man overtaken by disaster sent by the judgement of God. Job's answer (21), is a strong denial of what the three friends have asserted; he declares, on the contrary, that the wicked have good fortune both in their lives and in their deaths. 22. Third argument of Eliphaz. 23-24. Job's reply. 25. Third argument of Bildad. 26. Job's reply 1 27-28. Dis- courses of Job ; with reference to some points of the discussion (27) and in praise of wisdom (28). Eliphaz (22) proceeds now to a direct accusation. He charges Job with unrighteousness, specifying robbery and want of charity. It is on account of these that his sufferings have been imposed ; if he repents he may yet be restored. Job does not at this point answer these charges (cp. 31) but continues his exclamations on the mystery of God's ways. If only he knew where he might find Him I Neither in his own lot nor in the outer world can he discover the signs of His righteousness ; and he gives instance upon instance where it seems that He permits the wicked to be happy. Bildad follows with a few words (25) repeating that before power so great as belongs to God, a being so feeble as man cannot be just. Job replies 1 The symmetry of the composition is here broken. We expect a third speech from Zophar. Presumably the arguments of the friends are exhausted. Cp. infra, 109, note. 106 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT that he himself well knows the greatness of God's power (26), and he alludes to some of his greatest operations ; implying that it is not God's power but his justice which he is compelled to dispute. Zophar failing to reply, Job re-asserts his righteousness (27 1 ~ 6 ). After these verses follow two passages which do not seem to belong to their present context ; their claims to a place in their original form of the book are discussed below. 27^- describes the unhappiness of the wicked and the disaster which God brings upon them. 28 is a magnificent poem in praise of wisdom. Men know whence the precious things of the earth are drawn ; but ' Wisdom,' which is much more precious, has no earthly origin ; it dwells with God, who employed it in mak- ing the world ; while to man he has given as the beginning of it the precept : Behold the fear of the Lord that is Wisdom, And to depart from evil is Understanding. Discourse of Job, 29-31. Now follows a discourse of Job's, which may be called a final statement of his position ; he describes his former prosperity (29) and his present humilia- tion (30), and protests that he has maintained his innocence in spite of opportunities of transgression (31). The next six chapters (32-37) are an argument assigned to Elihu, who is introduced in a note 32 1 " 5 . On this section, see below. The intervention of Yahweh ; first answer to yob 38-4O 2 ; yob's acknowledgment 4O 3 ~ 5 ; second answer of Yahweh 4O 6 -4i; j^ob's acknowledgment, ending the controversy, 42 1 " 6 . The poet now places in the mouth of Yahweh a number of instances of his creative might. The design is to overwhelm Job with a sense of his comparative insignificance ; which, in a few words, he confesses. Yahweh's second answer follows a similar line ; could Job, who has been so ready to criticise the JOB 107 divine rule, even so much as tame the hippopotamus (Behe- moth) and the crocodile (Leviathan), which are but two of Yahweh's creations ? Job now confesses his folly in ' uttering that which he understood not.' Epilogue 42 7 ~ 17 . A few words in prose follow, describing the restoration of Job to a prosperity greater than he had before enjoyed. 4. The Original Form of the Book of Job. It has been thought that the descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan, 4O 6 -4i 34 , are later additions to the book ; partly because they are not altogether suitable to the dignity of Yahweh; partly also because they might more appropriately have been introduced in the previous discourse on the marvels of creation, 38-40. The prologue 1-2 and the epilogue 42 7 ~ 17 have likewise been regarded as the work of later hands ; they are in prose, while the rest of the book is in poetical form; the body of the book does not represent Job's sufferings as a test of his faithfulness, nor does it explicitly depend upon the prologue ; and the epilogue, by representing Job as re- stored to great prosperity, gives sanction to the idea which the poem controverts that righteousness leads to wealth and long life. It is, however, doubtful whether the book would have been intelligible without the prologue. The epilogue, on the other hand, is precisely the sort of conclusion that might be constructed by an editor who was concerned with the form rather than with the argument of the book. More serious doubts attach to (a) 32-37, (b) 27 7 ~ 2S , (c) 28. (a) 32-37. The speeches of Elihu. Elihu is introduced in a few words of prose (32 1 " 6 ). He has been a hearer of the con- troversy, and has been satisfied neither with Job nor his friends ; deterred, however, by his youth, he has not hitherto spoken. After explaining the ground s of his interruption, he addresses io8 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT himself to what he conceives to be the fault in Job's position. Firstly, Job is not Just in his complaint; for God does speak to men continually (33). Secondly, a charge of injustice against God is utterly futile, since in his very nature God is just (34). Thirdly, Job is wrong in saying that righteousness is unprofit- able (35). Elihu proceeds to discourse on the character of God, with the object of correcting the errors in Job's theology. In the exercise of his power, God permits men ;to be afflicted in order to test them. Job has failed under the trial. Let him consider the wondrous works of God, whom men, though they cannot understand, must fear, because he does not punish except for reasons of justice (36-7). Against the genuineness of these chapters are the follow- ing considerations : (1) They seriously interrupt the progress of the con- troversy. After Job's speech, 29-31, the situation calls for the climax, which is furnished by the intervention of Yahweh (38fg.). Elsewhere the author shows much skill in the arrange- ment of his matter ; these chapters, if genuine, are an artistic fault. (2) The arguments of Elihu, where they do not repeat points already urged, forestall the answer of Yahweh, 38fg. (3) Elihu is not mentioned before 32 2 ; nor is he referred to in the epilogue, where he ought to have been condemned with the others (42 8 > 9 ). It seems clear that the writer of the epilogue did not know of these chapters. (4) The reasons given for his non-intervention at an earlier stage are artificial: The youth and modesty alleged as the cause are not apparent in his discourse: These facts go to prove that these chapters did not form part of the original poem. Most probably they were composed and inserted by a reader who thought that the author had not done full justice to the case against Job's pessimism. (b) 27 7 ~ 23 : Job always maintains that God does not hear JOB 109 his complaint. 9 declares that it is the wicked whom God refuses to hear ; this verse would in Job's mouth be an ad- mission of his guilt. n ~ 38 are also quite unsuitable to the argument of Job ; they prove what he has been denying and the friends asserting, that the wicked always suffer an evil fate: The passage may still be accepted as original if it be regarded as a sarcastic retort of their own arguments on his would-be consolers ; but it has been plausibly conjectured that it is part of the missing third speech of Zophar: 1 (c) 28. This chapter forms by itself one of the most beau- tiful poems in the Old Testament, but it has no connection with its present context. Its subject is : Where is wisdom to be found? 12 ; and the answer is that only God knows where she dwells, 23 (cp. Prov. 8 22 ~ 31 ) ; but as a substitute He has granted to men reverence and right-doing. Job, however, has not acquiesced in the position that God's ways are un- searchable and his rulings to be accepted without question; and if this chapter 28 be regarded as an indication that Job has become submissive, this is contradicted by 3O 20 ~ 23 . Most probably 28 is a stray poem on Wisdom possibly by the author of the book of Job, for the style is similar which in the fortunes of copying has been inserted here. We conclude that the original form of the book of Job did not contain the Elihu speeches, nor Chapter 28, nor the Epilogue; possibly that the text has been dislocated in 25-27. The commentaries also show cases where single verses here and there seem to have been interpolated or altered. 1 On this view the shortness of Bildad's third speech is unnatural. Cheyne rearranges as follows : 25, 26 s ' 14 Third Speech of Bildad ; 26 M , 27 1 -? Reply of Job : 27 8 - 10 , 13 - 23 Third Speech of Zophar ; 27 11 ' 12 , 28 Reply of Job, Job and Solomon 38: lio THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 5. Date. Job is mentioned in Ezekiel i4 14 > 2 along with Noah and Daniel as a type of righteousness. The poem may have been founded on a tradition about this Job ; but we have no inde- pendent knowledge of him. The book is not a literal history, as is shown by the artistic form of the dialogue, the symbolical numbers of Job's family and possessions, and the celestial council of the prologue. The fact that Job is represented in the poem as a patriarch led some of the earliest commentators to believe that it was written soon after the patriarchal period ; according to some Moses himself was the writer. The book however belongs to a time much more recent. The dates most commonly assigned range between a period shortly before the exile, and the beginning of the Greek period, or even so late as 250 B.C. The evidence of language is not decisive except for a date at least towards the exile ; the connection between Job 7 17 and Psalm 8 4 , Job 3 and Jer. 2O U ~ 18 , gives no clue as to relative priority. The most decisive indication of date is in fact the reflective and speculative character of the problem propounded by the book ; and the estimation of this feature will vary according to the view taken of the conditions of Jewish thought from the exile onwards. Two points may be mentioned which favour a date in the Persian period, (i) While no doubt the book may have been founded on a tradition about an individual named Job, the con- cern of the author may have been not with the sufferings of an individual, but of the nation ; that is, Job is perhaps a type of suffering Israel. If this be so the poem can spring only from the period after the resettlement in Judea, when the afflictions of the exile are still remembered, but when, in the restoration of the cultus under Ezra the community attained a sense of national innocence in the light of which their past sufferings seemed undeserved. JOB 1 1 1 (2) ' The Satan.' The word as a proper name occurs in the Old Testament only in the late passage i Chronicles 2I 1 . With the article, ' the Satan/ i.e. ' opponent,' ' adversary,' perhaps ' calumniator,' it occurs in the post exilic Zech. 3 1 , and in this book. The conception of ' the Satan ' in Job seems to stand midway between that of Zech. and Chron. 6. Characteristics. The Old Testament contains many passages which assert that righteousness is followed by material prosperity, while sin is visited by misfortune. This belief was deeply ingrained in the Hebrew and Jewish mind ; so deeply that inferences were drawn from a man's fortune to his morals. 1 Job's friends conclude that he is a sinner because he is a sufferer. To some extent Job himself shares the popular belief ; his lamentations spring not from cowardice but from the mental anguish caused by the conflict between the conviction of his innocence and the fact that he is suffering such affliction as usually falls upon guilt. The intention of the book however is to traverse the popular belief ; and yet the author is more successful in de- scribing Job's anguish than in giving a logical answer to his difficulties. Job is in fact not answered ; he is overwhelmed by the examples offered of the immense power of God ; which power however he has not denied. The most important point in the teaching of the author seems to be that suffering should be borne without complaint. The book of Job has not owed its place in the estimation of mankind to its solution of the problem of suffering, but to the skill and sympathy with which it has drawn a type of the sufferer. 112 2. THE BOOK OF PSALMS. I. Characteristics of Hebrew Poetry. 2: Divisions. 3. Growth of the Psalter. 4. Dates of the Collections. 5. Authorship. 6. The Hymn Book of the Second Temple. I. Characteristics of Hebrew Poetry. The form of poetry developed among the ancient Jews is not based on rhyme, and only to a limited extent on metre ; its characteristic is in general an arrangement of ideas in clauses which repeat, echo, contrast, or complete each other. This arrangement is known as parallelism ; its nature and chief kinds will appear from the following examples : (1) Synonymous Parallelism : in which a second clause corresponds to the sense of the first : Ps. 2 s . Let us break their bands asunder; Let us cast away their cords from us. Ps. 78 52 . He led forth his own people like sheep ; And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. (2) Antithetic Parallelism : in which a second clause strengthens the idea of the first by means of a contrasted thought : Ps. i 6 . Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked shall perish. Prov. 1 5 1 . A soft answer turneth away wrath, But grievous words stir up anger. (3) Completing or Synthetic Parallelism : Two clauses united. (a) As in a comparison : Prov. I7 1 . Better is a dry morsel with quietness, Than a house full of feasting and strife. PSALMS 113 () As complementary : Prov. i5 8 . The eyes of Yahweh are in every place, Keeping watch upon the evil and the good. Ps. 2 6 . Yet have I set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion. (f) To express a climax (the ' ascending ' rhythm) : Ps. 29 1 . Give unto Yahweh, O ye sons of the mighty Give unto Yahweh GLORY AND STRENGTH. Ps. 29 5 . The voice of Yahweh breaketh the cedars, Yea, Yahweh breaketh in pieces the cedars OF LEBANON. ( j 2 9. The book belongs to the Wisdom literature ; Solo- mon is the proverbial type of wisdom. Although many of the sentiments of the book are unsuitable to the historic Solomon, an ancient writer would not feel that there was anything inap- propriate in placing a general discourse of this kind in the mouth of the typical source of ' Wisdom,' and by the use of the word Qoheleth some such writer represented Solomon as ad- dressing to a circle of hearers a series of reflections on human life. 2. Contents. There is no logical connection between the various parts of the book, and the following is merely a selection of some of the prominent themes: i. The staleness and vanity of things; even wisdom, which is valuable for the study of life, is a cause of increased sorrow. 2. Laughter and mirth, the pleasure of ECCLES1ASTBS 137 eye and of brain, are all alike profitless ; wise and fool come to the same end. Even wise effort is useless, for the fool may spoil it ; and in any case labour is painful. However, let a man eat and drink and try to get good out of his work. 3. Every- thing obtains its season ; things follow each other in a stale succession, and God permits it. Since men are as beasts in their destiny, there is nothing to do except to rejoice in the work one is performing. 4 1 " 3 . Happier the dead than the oppressed living ; happiest of all, the unborn ! 4 ~ 6 . Skilful labour only excites jealousy. 7 ~ 13 . A friend is useful. 13 ~ 16 . The popular joy which lately hailed the accession of a poor wise youth as king, after an old and foolish monarch, was likewise vanity ; such joy is short-lived. 5 1 " 7 . When you make vows to God, see that you pay them. 8 ~ 9 . Oppression must not sur- prise you; the officers of oppression are themselves under oppression. 10-20. Wealth without labour does not satisfy. Joy in work is good, because it does not allow time for melan- choly remembrance. 6. The appearance of prosperity is often without the reality ; the wise has no advantage over the fool ; what profit is a man's life to him since he knows not his destiny and cannot struggle against it ? 7 1 " 20 . Death is better than life, sorrow than laughter, the end than the beginning ; wisdom is useful as a defence, in that it can preserve life ; but everything in life is preordained, and too much wisdom is a sorrow. Yet wisdom is really a strength to the wise. 721-29. Qj ve no ear to gossip. In his search for wisdom the Preacher found woman a snare. 8 1 " 14 . Let the wise man be obedient to the king. Though the wicked flourish, it shall not be well with them, because they fear not God. 8 15 -9 10 . To eat, drink, and be merry is the best thing under the sun ; for the ignorance of men cannot search out the ways of God ; all is under a common fate which links good and bad, living and dead ; the living is superior to the dead only by the little bit of knowledge which death takes away. Therefore enjoy life and wotk hard ; for in 128 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT the grave there is nothing at all. 9 11 -io 20 . Time and chance rule all things ; and when wisdom performs a service to the world it is not remembered ; nevertheless it is wisdom which leads to prudent conduct. U 1 -i2 8 . Be charitable ; be not too circumspect. Let a man rejoice in the years given to him, yet remember that the days of darkness shall be many; let the young man rejoice in his youth, but let him remember judg- ment before the evil days come when pleasure shall fail and death bring sadness and mourning. is 9 " 14 . Epilogue. The Preacher continued to teach knowledge and to seek pleasant and true words ; he sums up the whole duty of man in the precept to fear God and keep his commandments; for God judges everything. 3. Authorship and Date. It is only a literary device which places the contents of the book in the mouth of Solomon. It is indeed sometimes said that Ecclesiastes represents the thoughts of Solomon in an old age in which he repented of his idolatries and his vices. But ' from beginning to end there is no confession of wrong-doing, no reference to idolatry, no hint of repentance. It dwells on the unsatisfactory nature of life, but penitent confession is quite alien to the whole spirit and purpose. The author is certainly not a satisfactory or edifying penitent.' l Further, the language shows that the book belongs to the most recent parts of the Old Testament. The writer indirectly reveals that he is not the living Solomon. He writes ' I was king ' ; he places in Solomon's mouth complaints of oppression and injustice which never troubled that characteristically Oriental king ; and in general, the allusions to monarchs and rulers are, as in Prov., not from the point of view of a governor, but of the governed. A. S. Peake in Hastings, DB l, 638. ECCLESIASTES 129 The political and social pre-suppositions of the book, while they absolutely preclude a pre-exilic date, point in the same direction as the language, i.e. to a period about 200 B.C. The passages 4 13 ~ 16 , 9 13 ~ 16 , no doubt allude to actual occurrences ; but we are unable to identify them. The book has been sup- posed to show an acquaintance with, if not to spring from, principles of Greek philosophy current at the end of the third century B.C. On the whole, while the origin of the book may possibly be as early as the beginning of the Greek period (c. 332), the weight of the evidence seems to lie towards a date 200 B.C., if not later. 4. The Original Form of the Book. There are some difficulties towards the end which have been thought to be due to additions to the text. Of these the most important is the epilogue i2 g ~ u . 13 ~ u are by no means a natural conclusion to the book ; reverence towards God and keeping his commandments are not at all the sum of the pre- vious reflections. Further, in 9 ~ 12 the role of Qoheleth is dropped. Qoheleth ends his discourses ( 8 ) with the text from which he started, ' Vanity of vanities ' ; but 9 ~ 10 are a commendation of him in the third person ; and n ~ 12 are in the manner of a subscription by a copyist. Such subscriptions are not uncommon in Oriental MSS. 14 brings in the idea of a judgement as a reason for godli- ness. The same conception is found also in 3 17 , 8 12 ~ 13 , n 9 , la 1 . 1 The general standpoint of the book, however, is that a man ought to eat and drink while life is present ; there is no doctrine of future judgement. Therefore, if these passages imply a future judgement, they are probably additions to the book ; but they may all be adequately explained by the doctrine 1 This verse is suspicious on an independent ground ; i.e. the refer- ence to the Creator. X 130 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT common elsewhere in the Wisdom literature, that vice and virtue are followed by temporal punishment and reward. We conclude accordingly that 9 ~ u are an appendix to the book, which otherwise has come down to us in its original form. 13 ~ 14 were no doubt added as a corrective of its irreligious tendency ; probably it was through them and the supposed Solomonic authorship that the book gained a place in the canon. 5. THE SONG OF SONGS. i. Title. 2. Subject and Character. 3. Date. i. Title. In the Hebrew Canon the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamenta- tions, Ecclesiastes, and Esther form a subdivision of 'The Writings ' known as the ' The Five Rolls ' (Megilloth). The title ' Song of Songs ' means, by a common Hebrew idiom, the great or pre-eminent Song. Its other name, ' Canticles,' comes to us from the Vulgate. 2. Subject and Character. The presence of the Song of Songs among the sacred writings of the Jews is partly due to the name of Solomon, i 1 , 811-is partly also to the fact that it was interpreted allegorically, of the love of Yahweh for Israel. Christian commentators adopted the allegorical interpretation, and connected it with Christ's love for his Church. (See the chapter-headings in AV.) In modern times the allegorical theory has been almost entirely abandoned. When the book is interpreted literally it is not at once clear whether it is a collection of detached love- songs, or a drama for which we have to supply a list of persona and divisions into acts and scenes. Several schemes have been proposed on the theory that the Song is really a play. According to one such scheme (Delitzsch) the characters are King Solomon, a Shulamitc maiden, brothers of the Shulamite, ladies of the Court K 2 132 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ( = ' the daughters of Jerusalem '), and citizens of Jerusalem. On this interpretation the greater part of the matter consists of a dialogue between the king and the Shulamite. The scene is laid firstly at Jerusalem, where their marriage takes place, and at Shulem whither the king takes his wife. Among other difficulties this view labours under the im- probability that the play would close in a rustic cottage instead of in the capital. This is avoided in another scheme (Ewald), which distributes the material between three chief actors Solomon, the Shulamite, and the Shulamite's shepherd-lover. According to this arrangement the Shulamite is wooed by Solomon, but remains faithful to her lover, to whom Solomon permits her to return. The reader who wishes to see how the speeches are divided will find particulars of both of these schemes in Driver's LOT, 438fg. There is the less need for giving them here, because it is probable that the book is to be interpreted in a different way. 1 This interpretation is based upon the interesting observa- tions of the marriage customs of the Syrian peasantry, made and recorded by J. G. Wetzstein. Among these people it is the custom to continue the wedding festivities for seven days, which period is called the ' king's week.' During this time the newly wedded pair play at king and queen, and receive, seated upon a throne set up on the threshing-floor, the congratulatory homage of their friends. An important part of the festivities is the singing of marriage songs by the bridegroom and bride and guests. The ' stationary East ' is tenacious of ancient customs, and it is not at all improbable that the ' king's week ' was an institution among the Jewish peasantry over two thousand years ago, and that the Song of Songs is a collec- 1 It does not follow even if the poem were really a drama that it was intended for representation. The scenes are too short for an acting play, and drama had no place in ancient Oriental life. SONG OF SONGS 133 tion of the songs sung at such festivals. On this view ' Solomon ' and ' Shulamite ' are to be interpreted as names given to sup- port the fiction of king and queen : Solomon as the fortunate rich king; Shulamite, i.e. Shunemite, in reference to that Abishag of Shunem who was preferred for her beauty above all the maidens of Israel 1 (I Kings i 8 ). 3. Date. For the date there is no criterion more satisfactory than the linguistic features of the songs. The presence of some foreign, possibly of one or two Greek, words makes a date after the beginning of the Greek period most probable. 1 See Driver, LOT, 452-3 ; Kautzsch, Outlines, 150. CHAPTER IV. ISAIAH. (A) 1-35. I. Life of Isaiah. 2. Structure of the Book. 3. The Circumstances of Isaiah's Time. 4. The prophecies chrono- logically arranged. 5. Analysis. 6. Characteristics. (E) 36-39. The Historical Appendix. (C) 40-66. I. Anonymity of this division. 2. Contents. 3. Unity and Date : (a). The Servant Passages. (b). 40-55 (apart from the Servant Passages), (c, ) 56-66. 4. Charac- teristics. (A) CHAPTERS 1-35. i. Life of Isaiah. Isaiah was the son of Amoz, and was probably born in Jerusalem, which city was his place of residence and the chief scene of his labours. He dates his consecration to the prophe- tic office in ' the year that king Uzziah died,' i.e. 740 B.C., and the earliest writings that we have from him belong to the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz. His work extended down to at least the year 701. There is a tradition that he lived on into the reign of Manasseh and was killed in the persecutions which that king carried out ; but there is no support earlier than the second century A.D. for this belief. He was already married and the father of two sons in the year 736 (7-8) ; and at this time had gathered together a circle of disciples, 8 16 . He seems to have had free access to the court and to have been on familiar terms with courtiers and priests. It is conjectured that he was of ISAIAH 135 noble birth ; but in any case it is clear that he occupied an important place in the social and political life of Jerusalem. 2. Structure of the Book. The book which in our English Bibles bears the name of the prophet Isaiah is a collection of writings of which only a portion was written by Isaiah. The chief evidence for this statement is found in the style and contents of the various parts ; but some support for it is presented by the structure of the book. It will be noticed that the last twenty-seven chapters are separated from what goes before by a historical narrative which is quoted, with some small alterations, from the book of Kings. (Is. 36-39, see 2 Kings i8fg). The character of these altera- tions shows that the chapters in question have been copied into the book of Isaiah and not vice versa. The obvious explanation of their presence in this place is that they were added as an illustrative appendix to a collection of prophecies of which Sennacherib's invasion was one of the subjects. They serve to mark off Isaiah 1-35 from 40-66. Other evidence also exists to show that 40 onwards springs from a time and surroundings different from those of Isaiah of Jerusalem (cp. [C] i.) Within 1-35 there are also several marked groups : (a) 1-12. Discourses concerning Judah and Ephraim, and the Syro-Ephraimitish war. (3) 13-23. Oracles against the nations. (c) 24-27. Apocalyptic Discourse. (d) 28-33. The distress and deliverance of Jerusalem. 00 34-35- The doom of Edom. What portions of these divisions are to be properly assigned to Isaiah will be discussed below. At present the existence of these groups may suggest that the book has grown out of smaller groups or books ; of which in some cases the superscrip- tions have been preserved; (e.g. i 1 , 2 1 , I3 1 ). It is noteworthy 136 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT that outside of 1-12, 13*, 20, and the historical appendix 36-39 the name of Isaiah does not appear once throughout the book ; so that for the greater part of the book attributed to Isaiah we have nothing to show its authorship except tradition and criticism. 3. The Circumstances of Isaiah's Time. The life of Isaiah coincides with a period of great import- ance in the destinies of Israel and Judah. Of the two sister kingdoms, the ability of her kings and her military ardour had given the pre-eminence to the northern ; but in the reign of Uzziah, the southern received a material impetus which went tar to increase the advantages which she enjoyed in the Davidic tradition. The reign of Jeroboam II had added to the wealth and luxury of Israel, and awakened the warning voice of Amos. Uzziah's conquest of Edom, and the capture of the port of Elath, contributed to a similar increase in the material prosperity of Judah, and to the same kind of social corruption which the prophets always associate with forgetfulness of Yahweh. Shortly after the death of Uzziah, political circum- stances arose which had great consequences in the national and religious history of the two kingdoms. The dangers which Amos anticipated (cp. Amos, 5) from the military activity of Assyria received a striking illustration in 740, in the capture of Arpad ; and two years later Menahem, king of Israel, purchased the friendship of Assyria by the pay- ment of a heavy tribute. Menahem was succeeded by Pekahiah, whom Pekah slew. Pekah repudiated the Assyrian over-lordship, and to strengthen his hands engaged in an enterprise which inti- mately concerns the work of Isaiah. Rezin, king of Damascus, whose territories were threatened by Assyria, entered into a league with Pekah against the common foe ; and still further to streng- then their resistance, they sought to force Ahaz into the coalition. ISAIAH 137 Our knowledge of the subsequent events is derived from Is. 7, 2 Kings i6 5 ~ 6 , 2 Chron. 28 5 ~ 15 . The two allied kings made an incursion into Judah, ravaging the territory and proposing to set up one Tabeel in place of Ahaz. And ' the king's heart shook, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest shake before the wind ' (Is. 7 2 ). The weakness of Ahaz was shown by his action ; he placed himself under the protection of Assyria, in spite of the assurances of Isaiah that the kings before whom he trembled were as mere 'fag-ends of torches.' Tiglath- Pileser set in motion his forces against Damascus, and captured it (734-732). Rezin was slain; Zebulon, Galilee, and Naphtali were overrun, and their inhabitants were deported to Assyria. Hoshea was set upon the throne of Pekah. For the deliverance which Judah thus obtained, Ahaz did homage to Tiglath- Pileser at Damascus in 732. The ultimate goal of Assyria was Egypt, and the way was open after the fall of Damascus and the submission of Ahaz. The advance was not, however, made until after the death of Tiglath-Pileser in 727. His successor, Shalmaneser IV, found it necessary to reduce Hoshea, who relying on the assistance of Sabako (the ' So ' of 2 Kings 1 7 4 , properly ' Seve ') had revolted. The siege of Samaria, begun in 724, was carried to a successful issue by Sargon in 722 ; the inhabitants were carried into Assyria, and the Northern Kingdom ceased to exist. Sabako had failed to help Hoshea; but he supported Hanno, king of Gaza, when Sargon, after a successful campaign in which he destroyed Hamath, turned his arms against him. Hanno and the Egyptian supporters were defeated at Raphia (720 719). Sabako and Egypt escaped any immediate punishment, for Sargon was busy elsewhere; but in 711 a revolt at Ashdod, incited by Egypt, called his forces to Philistia ; his commander-in-chief (the ' Tartan,' Is. 2O 1 ), besieged and captured the city. Ahaz was succeeded in 727 by Hezekiah, whose kingdom 138 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT escaped for a time from the Assyrian danger. In spite of the failure of Egypt to support Hoshea, Hanno, and Ashdod, an influential party in Jerusalem was disposed to turn to Egypt for help against the Assyrian over-lordship. It was not, however, till after the death of Sargon in 705, that occasion favourable for rebellion arose. Sargon had defeated Merodach-Baladan and captured Babylon in 710. On the accession of Sennach- erib, Babylon again revolted, and in 703 was again reduced. The tide of revolt spread along the coast cities of Palestine. Judah, relying on the help of Egypt, followed the example of Sidon, Ekron, and Ashkelon, and revolted. Sennacherib im- mediately proceeded to put down the rebellion, and in a vic- torious campaign successively reduced Sidon, Ashkelon, and Ekron. At Ekron, the Egyptian force which had come to the assistance of the rebels was also defeated. Hezekiah himself was now shut up in his own city ' as a bird in a cage.' Judah was overrun, its cities occupied, and a great number of its in- habitants carried into captivity. Sennacherib, busy himself at Lachish, despatched the ' Rab-Shakeh ' with an army against Jerusalem; but Hezekiah decided to stand a siege. Senna- cherib sent a second summons ; he himself was preparing to meet the Egyptian forces which were gathering against him ; but again Hezekiah returned a defiant answer. And now at a time when it seemed that no human aid could save Jerusalem, the Assyrian army was suddenly attacked by either pestilence or panic. The campaign was hastily abandoned ; the vast army melted away, and Jerusalem was saved. Sennacherib, though he lived twenty years after the retreat, did not again attempt a campaign against Judah. 4. The Prophecies chronologically arranged. In spite of the evidences of editorial arrangement of the Book of Isaiah to which allusion has already been made, the ISAIAH 139 prophecies are nevertheless not in a chronological order. Inas- much as his work was almost entirely concerned with the social and political conditions around him, Isaiah's writings usually afford sufficient internal evidence to allow us to re-arrange them according to date and subject. Such an arrangement makes the study of Isaiah's work easier, and the following table will assist by showing the result in a summary form : A. Before the Syro-Ephraimitish war. 6 (written later); 2-5 (except 2 8 "*, 4 3 ~ 6 ), 9 8 -io 4 . B. The Syro-Ephraimitish War. i 7 i-n 7 ,8- 9 7, i ii-9 ?,!?.' C. The Fall of Samaria. 231-18, 281-6. D. From c. 720 to c. 708. , 9 i-iB ? 5 16-25 p ?) 20 i- 6) 2 r 13-17 ?. New edition of the oracle in 15-16, with appendix (i6 18 ~i 4 ). E. 701. 28-32, I0 6 -27, 28-34, I4 34-27, 38-32^ jylS-H 18, 2I-W?, 221-1* 22l 5 - 25 , I ?. F. Not Isaianic. 24-27, 33 34-35> 2 2 -*(seeA.), 4 S ~ 6 (see A.), nio-w 12, I3-I4 23 , i5-i6i 2 (see D.) 1916-26 ( see D.j, 2i 1-10, 11-12_ 5. Analysis of the Prophecies, according to Chronological Arrangement. A. From 740 to 735. 6. In the Temple Isaiah sees a vision of Yahweh, and is commissioned to speak to the people a message of judgement and disaster. 1 Passages with query mark are of doubtful date. 140 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Refers to 740, but was written down later. For the prophet would not write the account of his call until he had shown his obedience to it in actual public ministry, and the account reveals a knowledge of the difficulties which did in fact attend his work. 1S , last clause, is usually regarded as a later addition. Its effect is to lighten the picture of doom by the thought of the preservation of a remnant of the people. But since the belief in the salvation of a part of the nation is symbolised in the name of Isaiah's son Shear- Yashub (i.e., ' a remnant shall return '), who in 736-5 is old enough to accompany his father in the inter- view with Ahaz, it is probable that Isaiah held this redeeming hope from the outset of his ministry. 2-5. The judgement of Judah and Jerusalem. Because the people are proud, idolatrous, luxurious and self- confident, and the rulers are weak oppressors, Yahweh will surely bring punishment upon them. These chapters are the substance of discourses delivered in the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz. The threat of national disaster is already clear and definite ; it is put forward as the inevitable consequence of the national sinfulness. The lyrical parable of the Vineyard (5 1 " 7 ) sums up Isaiah's view of the posi- tion ; Yahweh is the husbandman, Judah is the vineyard which has brought forth only wild grapes in answer to Yahweh's affectionate care ; therefore Yahweh will leave the vineyard to become wild and desolate. 2 2-4 This section occurs also in Micah 4 1 " 3 where it is in better relation to its context than here. In Micah it is part of a prophecy of later date than this section of Isaiah. Either Micah and Isaiah have both quoted a fragment of earlier date, or the passage is an insertion into both places. It presents a noble dream of the religious greatness of Jerusalem, to which the nations are described as streaming to learn about Yahweh. ISAIAH 141 When we compare it with the general attitude of the eighth century prophets with regard to the nations out- side Israel it is hard to think of this passage as original either in Isaiah or Micah, and the suggestion that it is an insertion of post-exilic date seems intrinsically more probable. 4 2 " 6 . A prophecy of restoration, too definite to be an original part of the indefinite picture of disaster which Isaiah draws in these chapters. It is parallel to a number of passages which by their loose connections with their contexts and their common feature of drawing brilliant pictures of the future reveal their origin in a time when the disaster had already taken place. It is therefore to be regarded as an exilic insertion. 9 8 -io 4 with 526-30^ A poem in five paragraphs (' strophes ') marked by the recurring refrain ' For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.' The subject is the doom of Ephraim. Surrounded by foes, weakened by pride, evil counsellors, corrupt rulers and widespread wicked- ness, its fall is inevitable. The date of this section is clearly shown by g ll ~ lz ; it is before the alliance of Rezin and Pekah in 735. B. The Syro-Ephraimitish War. I7 1 " 11 . Damascus is about to fall, and Ephraim shall share the same fate. Shortly before 734. (i. See under E., 701.) 7 1 " 25 . Account (in the third person) of an interview between the prophet and king Ahaz. The league between Pekah and Rezin has just been made ; Ahaz is in terror, but Isaiah is bold and confident. The prophet declares that there is nothing to fear from the league ; Pekah and Rezin are only weaklings. On the other hand the appeal which Ahaz is meditating to Assyria will be fatal ; it will precipitate the con- 142 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT flict between Egypt and Assyria in which Judah will be deso- lated. In the course of the interview Isaiah declares a ' sign ' from Yahweh. The sign is apparently introduced to indicate a point of time; before a child then about to be born shall have attained years of discretion (y 15 , ' know how to reject the evil and to choose the good '), Syria and Israel will have been desolated, and Judah delivered from the fear of Pekah and Rezin. Inasmuch as Yahweh will be the agent of deliverance, Isaiah elaborates the sign by giving to the child mentioned a symbolical name Immanuel ' God is with us.' For fuller and different interpretations of this difficult section the commen- taries must be consulted. "8-9 7 . Ahaz did not share the confidence of Isaiah and threw himself on the protection of the Assyrians. The present section deals with the period of the war. 8 1 " 4 : Isaiah gives to his second son a name typical of the Assyrian conquests, Maher-shalal, hash-baz ; ' Booty is hasting, spoil is speeding.' *~ 15 : The sign given to Ahaz is again produced and elaborated, That name ' Immanuel ' can be applied to the land which is threatened by the tide of invasion sweeping on from the north, but which shall nevertheless escape because ' God is with us.' ie-18 : The truths indicated in the symbolical name shall be realised. 19 -9 7 : An obscure section. He begins with a warning against certain forms of soothsaying and recalls those who are misled by them to the teaching and the admonition he has given. The districts which have suffered at the hands of Tiglath-Pileser (9 1 cp. 2 Kings I5 29 ) experience a deliverance and prosperity which shall extend to the whole nation. The symbol of the ' Immanuel ' child is again developed ; upon the ideal sign-child new names are now bestowed indicating the loftiest honour and the widest power. The links between Q 3 " 7 and 7-8 are so numerous that the view that 9 2 ~ 7 is a post-exilic addition is full of difficulty. The text at the beginning of 9 has been imperfectly preserved. ISAIAH 143 1 1 1 " 9 . A sketch of the ideal future in which a prince of the Davidic line shall govern the land righteously, and in the reign of peace inaugurated by him even the wild animals shall lose their fierceness and dwell harmoniously together. Perhaps written in 734 ; but possibly in 722 or 701. C. The Fall of Samaria. The events which led to the fall of Samaria in 722 must have excited the dwellers at Jerusalem highly, and the fall of the city would confirm the terror with which the Assyrian was regarded, while to Isaiah it would come as another reason for his distrust of Egypt. Several discourses which used to be assigned to this period more probably belong to a later date. (See E.) To the eve of the siege however 28 1 " 6 is to be assigned. 28 1 " 6 . Proclamation of woe upon Ephraim, which is shortly to perish. The point of the prophecy as it stands is against Jerusalem, which city is admonished to note the fate of Samaria. The address to Jerusalem belongs to the year 701. We may sup- pose therefore that 28 1 " 6 is a fragment from 722 utilised by Isaiah afresh in 701. 23 1 " 18 . The doom of Tyre may be placed in this section. The city was besieged by Shalmaneser 727-723. This date requires an emendation of l3 . 1 If read as in RV the reference must be some grave disaster upon Chaldea, such as happened in the Assyrian victories of 709 or 703 ; in which case the prophecy is to be referred to one or other of those years. The mitigation of the disaster promised in 15 ~ 18 is probably a later insertion. D. 720-708. 19. The Burden on Egypt. i-i5 f Yahweh is about to bring national and material adver- sity upon Egypt, delivering the people over to a 'hard lord/ and drying up the Nile. i^- 26 . The land of Judah shall become a terror 1 Canaanites ' for 'Chaldeans' cp. Driver LO T, 218-219. 144 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT to Egypt, which shall turn to Yahweh, speaking the language of Canaan, erecting an altar and ' pillar ' to Yahweh ; free inter- course shall lake place between Assyria, Egypt, and Israel, and these three nations shall equally belong to Yahweh ' Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hand, and Israel mine inheritance.' The origin of this prophecy is frequently assigned to the defeat of Egypt by Sargon at Raphia (720 B.C.), when it seemed probable that Egypt would pass over into the hands of Assyria. On this view the ' hard lord ' is Sargon, who at that date might easily be regarded as the future ruler of Egypt. On similar lines the prophecy is also referred to 711 (Sargon), 701 (Sennacherib), or even 672 1 (Esarhaddon). On the other hand, there is nothing in the prophecy which compels us to fix its date by reference to any Assyrian victory. Civil disturbances satisfy the allusions which are supposed to imply foreign invasion, and the ' hard lord ' may merely be some native prince if indeed any particular person is intended. 16-25 arC) however, a remarkable prophecy for any period in the life of Isaiah. Neither in 735 nor in 701 are his views with regard to Egypt and Assyria in agreement with this splendid picture of the conversion of those hostile powers to Yahwism and their mutual reconciliation. If it was really written by Isaiah, it is easiest to refer it to the period after the retreat of Sennacherib, when it might be expected that he would return to complete the work so strangely inter- rupted. In that case we should have here probably the last words of Isaiah, ' and indeed we can hardly imagine a more " swan-like end " for a dying prophet ' (Cheyne in i88o). 2 The contrast between 1-15 and 16 ~ 25 suggests, however, that we have in this chapter two prophecies of which Egypt is the common subject. ' In the former section we have the sternest 1 If 672, then not by Isaiah. 1 Prophecies of Isaiah, 5th edition, I. 115. ISAIAH 145 threatenings mingled with sarcastic references to the impotence of Egypt's religion and of its boasted wisdom, but in the latter the tone is more sympathetic towards Egypt than any- where else in the Old Testament.' l 1-15 may without difficulty be referred to Isaiah, and if the occasion was an Assyrian victory, then 720, 711, or 701 are possible dates. The remaining section is very difficult to date even approximately. The reference to the ' pillar,' 19 , seems to require a date before the publication of D (621), after which a consistent Yahwist, if he used the term at all, would employ it in only a symbolical sense. Such a symbolical sense is in fact claimed for it in this place by some recent critics who follow Duhm in ascribing the section to so late as i 50 B.C. A symbolical sense is then also required for the name 'Assyria/ which in this case must denote Syria. The reference to the ' city of the Sun,' and to the ' five cities speaking the lan- guage of Canaan,' are easily explained on the supposition of the origin of the section about this date. 2 20. Against Egypt and Ethiopia. Isaiah walks the streets of Jerusalem dressed as a captive, as a sign of the captivity which is to fall on Egypt and Ethiopia at the hands of Assyria. The sign continues for three years. The date given for the beginning of the sign in 1 is 711. The symbol is intended for the people of Jerusalem, of whom many were inclined to rely upon Egypt rather than on Assyria. 2 1 13 " 17 . Against the Arabian tribes the Dedanites and the Kedarenes. During one of the Assyrian expeditions, 720, 71 1, or 701. 15-16. The Burden of Moab. A prophecy on Moab which is also employed with variations in Jer. 48. It is 1 Cheyne, Introduction to Isaiah, 100, J Cp. Zechariah 9-11, where a similar problem arises. 146 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT here quoted as a ' word of Yahweh in times past/ along with an intimation that the ruin announced in the prophecy is to take place within three years. The original prophecy was perhaps written with reference to a conquest of Moab by Jeroboam II., who, according to 2 Kings i4 25 , 'restored the border of Israel from the entering in of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah.' This prophecy Isaiah utilised probably in 711, when, accord- ing to an Assyrian inscription, Moab was in treasonable correspondence with Egypt. Isaiah added verses 13 ~ 14 of 1 6. E. The Invasion of Sennacherib. We come now to the stirring period of the campaign of Sennacherib. The policy of Isaiah at this time is dictated by his opposition to the aims of the Egyptian party, and by his unshaken confidence in the safety of Jerusalem. 28-32. 28 1 " 6 . The text of the following discourse; see above (C). 7 ~ 29 . In Jerusalem also there is a scorn for the instruction of the prophet ; therefore Yahweh will speak by other agents ' by men of strange lips and with another tongue,' i.e. the Assyrians to reprove the politicians who have turned from the Assyrian to the Egyptian alliance 29 1 " 8 . Jerusalem is addressed under the symbolical title ' Ariel.' Within a year siege works will surround the city, but suddenly the multitude of her foes will vanish away. 9 ~ 14 . Isaiah turns to the people who are unable to follow his meaning ; he declares that they are spiritually blind, their service is only lip service ; Yahweh will soon teach them by a marvellous work which he is about to perform upon them. 15-24 The leaguers with Egypt also shall find that they have reckoned without Yahweh ; for it is only a little while before the Assyrians will be destroyed. 30. An embassy has been sent to Egypt; Isaiah denounces it, declaring that Egypt cannot profit Judah, whose real strength lies in ' quietness and confidence,' not in Egyptian alliances, which will only lead to disaster. Nevertheless, Yahweh will ISAIAH 147 not allow the disaster to be without some mitigation ; he will intervene in a blessed future wherein all nature will be trans- formed in sympathy with the reformation which the people shall undergo. 31-32. On the same lines as the last, reiter- ating the ideas of the uselessness of Egyptian help, the destruc- tion of the Assyrians, the succeeding regeneration of society; concluding with a warning addressed to the women, who shall look in vain for next year's harvest. These chapters belong as a whole to the eve of Sennacherib's invasion. 29 16 " 24 and 32 are sometimes regarded as of later date and non-Tsaianic. IO 5-27, 28-34_ T ne Assyrian bent on his career of conquest, and boastfully enumerating the cities he has destroyed, is in reality only an instrument in the hands of Yahweh, the ' rod of his anger.' Judah shall be afflicted, but Assyria's hosts shall also fall. Dramatic description of the advance of the Assyrian army on Jerusalem ; the terror caused by its approach ; Yahweh intervenes to save Jerusalem. The route given in this picture was not the one actually adopted by Sennacherib, who advanced by the coast, not directly on Jerusalem. i4 24 ~ 27 . Yahweh has sworn 'to break the Assyrian' in Judah. Perhaps written during the siege. I4 28-32 Burden on Philistia. Ascribed in the superscrip- tion ( 28 ) to ' the year that Ahaz died,' no doubt on the ground that Ahaz is ' the rod that smote thee ' (2 Chron. 28 18 ). The superscription is an editorial guess ; and it seems more probable that the 'rod' is an Assyrian king (cp. io 5 ), either Shalmaneser IV., who died in 722 ; or Sargon, who was murdered in 705. The latter is the more likely. The Philis- tines are warned that the ' snake ' i.e. Sargon will be followed by the ' flying serpent ' i.e. Sennacherib. The date is therefore after 705, and perhaps close to 701. jyia-u The f ate O f t h e Assyrians, who shall vanish away like dust before a storm. L 3 148 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 1 8. The Ethiopians, collecting their forces in fear of the Assyrians, are assured that their anxiety is groundless, for Yahweh has doomed the Assyrians. 2 ! 13-17. Perhaps belongs to this time (see D). 22 1 " 14 . The city is filled with a merriment born of despair. Instead of weeping and mourning, people said ' Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' Isaiah declares that the iniquity of this impiety shall not pass away except by death. Probably refers to some incident in the siege which had driven the citizens into an intoxication of grief. The tone of the prophecy is in striking contrast to the other utterances of Isaiah during the siege ; elsewhere he is consolatory. For this reason the prophecy has has been referred to 711, the time when Judah was ' speaking treason ' against the King of Assyria ; but the origin in 701 is more probable. 22 15 ~ 25 . Shebna, governor of the palace, is to be removed from his office, which is to be occupied by Eliakim. According to 36 3 , 37 2 , Eliakim held that office in 701. i. A review of the sins of Judah and Jerusalem, made at a time when the land is being desolated. ' Your cities are burned with fire ; your land, strangers devour it in your presence.' Sacrifices are freely offered, but Yahweh does not care for them when the hands of the worshippers are ' full of blood.' ' Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgement, set right the oppressor, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.' Jerusalem must be purified to earn the name of ' The City of Righteousness.' Probably a summary of Isaiah's charges against Judah and Jerusalem. It is assigned to either 735 or 701. The references to the in- vaders, 7 , seem best satisfied by the Assyrians, and the tone of the chapter suits 701. In favour of 735 is its position at the beginning of the book in immediate connection with prophecies of that date ; but this is sufficiently explained by ISAIAH 149 the general character of the chapter, which well fits it to stand as an introduction to Isaiah's prophecies. F. Non-Isaianic passages in 1-35. 24-27. 24. A comprehensive judgement is announced which will embrace the whole earth, and in which Yahweh will punish both ' the high ones on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth.' 25. Two hymns celebrating Yahweh's greatness : he has made 'of a city an heap. . . . a palace of strangers to be no city ' : ' this mountain ' is to be the scene of the victory, and in it Yahweh shall abide, treading down Moab in its place. 26. Further hymn (or hymns) of thanksgiving. Yahweh has reduced the ' lofty city,' the ' poor and the needy ' shall tread it down. A note invites the people to hide for a moment till the ' indignation be over-past.' 27. Further assurances of the punishment which Yahweh is about to carry out, with a promise of restoration. These chapters are not without resemblances to the pro- phecies of Isaiah, but the differences outweigh them. Not to mention points of style, the way in which the enemy are here referred to is quite unlike the manner of Isaiah. He did, indeed, anticipate the overthrow of the Assyrians ; but in these chapters the overthrow of the enemy is represented on a most stupendous scale, involving not a nation merely, but earth and sky in the catastrophe. The tone of the prophecy is peculiar. At first sight it might appear that the allusions to ' the great city ' are satisfied by Babylon, and that the vision found its occasion in the victories of Cyrus which led to its fall in 538. But the refer- ences to the city are really so vague and shadowy as to suggest that it is used only in a symbolical and typical sense. A comparison with such passages as Ezk. 38-9, Joel 3, Zech. 12-14, shows that we have here examples of a type of discourse which originated in the exile, and which afterwards became popular. In such literature encouragement is offered to the people in 150 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT affliction by the development of the idea of a world catastrophe and judgement, out of which proceeds punishment on the oppressor and deliverance for the oppressed. Historic names are often employed in such compositions in a cryptic sense; and such appears to be the case here in regard to Assyria and Moab. While a date shortly after the close of the exile is possible, it seems more in accord with its pronounced apocalyptic character, its affinities with certain psalms pre- sumably late, and its allusion to a belief in a resurrection of the dead, to refer it to the close of the Persian period, c. 350. 33. Woe upon the spoiler; he shall himself be spoiled. The distress of the land. Yahweh will arise, and the terror will pass away; Jerusalem will be firmly established; there Yahweh will dwell for ever. The allusion to the ambassadors of peace and the broken covenant in 7 ~ 8 is sometimes explained of the year 701, and an incident in the siege when Sennacherib, after he had fixed a fine upon Hezekiah (2 Kings i8 14 ), demanded the surrender of Jerusalem, and so broke the ' covenant.' But these verses are not definite, and the rest of the chapter presents many points of contact with post-exilic thought, e.g. the apocalyptic character of 3 ~ 5 , the reference 30 to Jerusalem as the city of ' solemnities ' (RVM, ' feasts '), and the portraiture of the (Messianic) king. 34-35. 34. In the day on which Yahweh delivers over the nations to slaughter, Edom shall find its doom. 35. A way is made in the desert for the ' ransomed of Yahweh.' If these two chapters are by the same hand, the writer has power- fully emphasised by the contrast he employs both his hate and his sympathy. In the former he is savagely cruel; in the latter he pictures the very desert as sharing in the joy of the returning exiles. The date is evidently later than 586 ; see on Obadiah and Jer. 497-22, Ezk. 25 18 -", Is. 63. The following passages are also non-Isaianic, and have not been dealt with above : ISAIAH 131 II io-i6 > Yahweh will gather together the exiles both of Israel and Judah, and will restore them. Evidently later than 586. 12. A Hymn of Praise to Yahweh. In the manner of the post-exilic psalmody. ij-14 23 . An oracle against Babylon. Yahweh is described as gathering together the hosts from afar to serve as weapons of his indignation ; in i3 17 the Medes are named as the enemy which shall overthrow the city. After its destruction, Jacob and Israel will be restored to their own land. i4 4 ~ 20 consists of a song of exultation over the fall of the king of Babylon. Written in Babylon, towards 538. 2 1 1 " 10 . Another oracle against Babylon, dating from the same period as 13-14. 2I ii-i3 > A fragment upon ' Dumah,' i.e. Edom. The pro- phet declares that, though some affliction (the ' night ') is passing away, another will take its place. The meaning is not certain, and there is no real indication of date. It may be an appendix to the verses which precede it. 6. Characteristics. The criticism which compels us to deny Isaiah's authorship of a great deal which has been traditionally assigned to him, saves us from the violent effort of conceiving a man of at least two widely separated periods of interest. The excluded sections do not become less valuable, because anonymous, in illustrating a different time ; and there is sufficient left to reveal a consistent picture of the statesman, social reformer, and religious teacher who played so impressive a part in a critical period of his country's history. Isaiah stands in the succession of Moses and Elijah, as well as of Amos and Hosea ; but it is with the latter two that he naturally exhibits most points of contact. He contributed an 152 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT important share to the Yahwist revival of the eighth century. The people whom these prophets addressed are all worshippers of Yahweh, although that worship is tainted with the service of foreign deities ; but the chief point that these prophets have to make is that Israel is ignorant of the greatness of its God. It was the idea of the holiness of Yahweh which impressed Isaiah at the moment of his call ; and the holiness and majesty of Yahweh are the frequent themes of his utterances. But greater than these is his conception of Yahweh as the God of righteousness. He protests against the popular view which made Yahweh merely the patron deity of the Israelites ; declares that he is able to employ the nations of the earth to work out his will, and that his will with Israel has pre-eminently a moral aim. The conduct of the nation, on the contrary, is utterly hostile to the righteousness which Yahweh requires. He has loved them and tended them ; but they have brought forth only 'wild grapes.' The rich oppress the poor, and spend the proceeds on drunkenness and luxury ; the judge takes bribes ; prophet and priest share the prevailing corruption; the women care only for dress and ornament. The external observances of worship are, indeed, performed with diligence ; but this serves only to make the contrast greater between practice and profession, and Isaiah in words that illustrate his attitude throughout his ministry declares that Yahweh has no pleasure in such service, unless it be accompanied by a moral amendment. 'And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear ; your hands are full of blood ! Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil, learn to do well ; seek judgement, righten the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.' The iniquities of the people are, in fact, so flagrant in the judgement of Isaiah, filled as he was with the thought of Yahweh's ISAIAH 153 righteousness, that there can be no remedy except the destruc- tion of the greater part of the nation. He announces, therefore, a ' victory day ' of Yahweh ' upon all that is proud and haughty and upon all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low.' In the earlier prophecies, the form which the ' victory day ' will assume is indefinite. It is to be an occasion of great terror, in which men shall go ' into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the earth from before the terror of Yahweh, and the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to terrify the territories of the earth.' But Isaiah soon began to connect the day of Yahweh with the afflictions that should fall on the nation through foreign invasion. In 9 11 " 12 Syria and Philistia appear as the enemies which should ' devour Israel ; ' in 7 18 , he hesi- tates between Egypt and Assyria ; but it finally became clear that it was Assyria which was to be ' the rod of Yahweh's anger.' As the power and the designs of Assyria became more manifest, Isaiah saw there Yahweh in action. Ephraim should fall and Judah be devastated under the invader, Jerusalem herself should be in mortal peril, and be saved only in the furtherance of Yahweh's design of preserving a remnant of his nation. Isaiah's political activity falls into line with this conception. His ruling idea is that nothing can interfere with Yahweh's plans, and that it is, therefore, the height of impiety and folly for the nation to trouble about foreign alliances ; to make them is to show distrust of Yahweh. On these grounds, he endea- voured to dissuade Ahaz from calling in the assistance of Assyria against Syria and Ephraim. The appeal once made, however, Isaiah protested no more ; but when there was again a national crisis, he was equally opposed to any alliance with Egypt. What might have happened, if Ahaz had followed the advice of Isaiah in 735, it is impossible to say; the alliance, at least, staved off the evil day for a time. In regard to the Egyptian alliance, however, there is no doubt that Isaiah's judgement was sound ; the event justified him. In another l$4 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT respect, also, the event justified him, the deliverance of Jeru- salem in the extremity of its peril. Only once does he seem to admit the idea of the fall of the city (22 1 " 14 ) ; otherwise his con- fidence in its inviolability never wavers. When the army of Sennacherib was at its very gates, such confidence must have seemed madness or folly. But Jerusalem remained intact for more than a century. The sequel to the threat of punishment is the promise of restoration. Out of the chastened nation would proceed a purified remnant which should realise all that which the actual Israel had failed to accomplish. The state would be reorga- nised on the foundations of righteousness, and the spirit of righteousness would govern all the relations of life. In his visions of the future Isaiah is the dreamer and the poet ; he pictures a transformation of nature in sympathy with the moral reformation of the people ; the moon and the sun are to put on a new brilliancy, the soil is to become more fertile, the wild beasts are to be tamed and the enmities of nature are to cease. In the same poetic vein he draws the picture of the ruler who is to preside over the purified community. He is to be of the stock of David ; filled with wisdom and understanding ; ad- ministering justice not by favour but with righteousness ; smiting the earth with the breath of his lips : he is the ideal type in power, dignity, and moral character of the man who Isaiah hoped might worthily stand at the head of the nation that Yahweh had chosen, and was purifying by means of national suffering. (B) CHAPTERS 36-39. The Historical Appendix. 36-37. The attack of Sennacherib on Jerusalem. Isaiah's prophecy of deliverance and its fulfilment. 38. The sick- ISAIAH ISS ness and recovery of King Hezekiah ; his song of thanks- giving. 39. The messengers of Merodach-Baladan come from Babylon to Hezekiah, who exhibits to them his treasures ; Isaiah declares that the treasures will be carried off to Babylon, where Hezekiah's descendants will be captives. These chapters are extracted from 2 Kings i8 13 -2O 19 , with the omission of i8 14 ~ 16 , and the addition of the Song of Heze- kiah, Isaiah 38 10 ~ 20 . They are not by a hand contemporary with the events recorded, and they contain mingled traditions not entirely consistent with each other. The Song of Hezekiah attributed to that king shows itself to be a post-exilic production by its parallels to the literature of that period, and by the liturgical references in 9 and 20 (for ' writing ' in 9 read 'Miktam,' and cp. Ps. 16 title). If the prophecy placed in the mouth of Isaiah in 3721-35 ^ e ce rtainly his, it is the more interesting as being his last recorded utterance. While several reasons have been adduced against the Isaianic authorship, the only really weighty one is the fact that the oracle is partly in an artificial poetical form, without parallel elsewhere in Isaiah, and not natural in a moment of crisis. This is however scarcely a decisive reason for denying the verses to Isaiah. (C) CHAPTERS 40-66. I. Anonymity of this Division. The strongest reasons for separating these chapters from those assigned to Isaiah son of Amoz are those supplied by the synopsis of the contents. Here however it will be con- venient to give some of the most obvious grounds for attribu- ting them to another author. (a) They nowhere make a claim to be by Isaiah ; and they are separated from the writings of that prophet by the historical section already discussed. 156 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (b} The historical background is quite different. There the time is the latter half of the eighth century ; here it is the sixth, (or later). There the chief interests are Judah, Ephraim, Egypt, Assyria; here, Babylon and the exiles. There disaster is imminent ; here it has fallen. (V) The theological presuppositions are different. To name only two points : There Yahweh is the majestic Holy One of Israel ; here he is the omnipotent Creator of the earth. There idolatry is censured because it is treachery to the God of Israel ; here it is condemned as intellectual stupidity. (d) The style and language are very different. To some degree this can be seen even in a translation. Consider such phrases as ' I am Yahweh and there is none else ' 45 5 > 6 > 18 > 21 > 22 ; ' I am the first and the last ' 446, 48 12 ; the building up of epithets, as ' The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth,'. 4O 28 ; ' But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend, thou whom I have taken hold of, etc. ' 4i 8 - 9 . Such have no parallel in the undisputed work of Isaiah. For these and other reasons it is now generally agreed that 40-66 are not by Isaiah son of Amoz. Their author is often referred to as ' Second Isaiah ' or ' Deutero-Isaiah,' or ' Isaiah of Babylon.' There is however no evidence that there was another Isaiah ; the name is simply a convenient method of reference, and is still employed, though it is practically certain that more than one author is represented in these chapters. 1 1 A plausible explanation of the presence of these chapters at the end of Isaiah is as follows : The order of the prophets in the Hebrew canon according to some MSS. was Jer., Ezek., Is., and the 'minor' prophets. This order is based on relative length ; which same consideration would place Second Is. after Is. 1-39 and before Hosea. Being without a title it easily became associated with the preceding work, and was transferred with it when, on chronological grounds, Isaiah was placed before Jeremiah. ISAIAH 157 2. Contents. A convenient division is as follows : (a) 40-48. (fr) 49-55. (c) 56-62. (d] 63-66. () 40. The prophet is commissioned to speak words of comfort to the people of God. The guilt of Jerusalem is now paid off. Yahweh is represented as about to lead his people back to Zion as a shepherd his flock. The infinite power of Yahweh is contrasted with the nothingness of idols. 41. A tribunal of the nations is summoned to decide between Yahweh and the gods. Yahweh's supremacy demonstrated by the fact that it is he who has raised up Cyrus. The consternation among the peoples of the earth on account of the victories of Cyrus; but Israel has no reason to be afraid. The idols had no foreknowledge of Cyrus ; therefore they are vain. 42. Yahweh has appointed his servant to cause the teach- ing to go forth to the nations. Let Yahweh be praised, who is about to lead his people back to their ancient home. The blind and deaf servant. 43. Yahweh is the only deliverer and he will save Israel, for whose sake he is about to destroy Babylon. Though Israel has been undeserving nevertheless he will restore it to prosperity. 44. For he is a real God and not like the manufactured idols ; and he has appointed Jeru- salem to be rebuilt and Cyrus to be the means of deliverance. 45. Yahweh's commission to Cyrus his Messiah. Rebuke of the complaining captives the clay against the potter. Renewed promise of salvation. 46. Picture of the downfall of the Babylonian gods. Not such is Yahweh. Let the obdurate ones observe how faithful he is to his word. 47. Song of triumph over the downfall of the proud queen Babylon. 48. A summary of the points so far mentioned, together with an invocation to the captives to leave Babylon. 158 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (*J 49. The servant of Yahweh declares his mission to be the light not only of Jacob but of the whole world. The certainty of his success. Let Zion be comforted ; in multitudes her children are returning. 50. The nation, not Yahweh, to blame for the captivity. The servant describes the persecutions he has endured and his steadfastness under them. Let his message be heard, for he is Yahweh's appointed one. 51. And let the people listen to Yahweh, who in Abraham called them, and whose righteousness never fails. O that he would now again exhibit his strength as in the days of old ! There is no reason for the people to be afraid, for Yahweh is their comforter. Let Jerusalem rouse herself from her misery, for the desolation shall not come again. 52 1 " 12 . Let Zion rejoice, because no more will the foreigner be therein. The redemption that Yahweh has wrought for her. 5* 13 -53- The Servant of Yahweh will be exalted. The report of him has excited no attention : for he grew up quietly : he was without comeliness, and so distressed with pain and sickness that men turned away from him. Not for himself did he suffer, but for the nation : himself innocent he was treated evilly, but endured patiently even unto death. It was Yahweh's pleasure that he should suffer : that through him the nation should be redeemed : and nevertheless he shall be recompensed. 54. The afflicted Jeru- salem shall be glorified, and her splendour greater than ever before. 55. Let therefore the people return to him who will revive for them the ancient glories. w 56 1 " 8 . The non-exclusiveness of Yahwism : eunuchs and proselytes to be admitted to the full privileges. 56 9 -5y. The rulers and teachers are immoral and corrupt : the righteous are persecuted : the land is full of barbarous and wicked idola- tries. Yahweh has been long silent, but now he declares a salvation for the trustful ones. 58. The fasts and the sabbaths ISAIAH 159 are kept, and yet Yahweh seems to take no notice. The true fasts and the true sabbaths. Yahweh has turned away from the wickedness of his people. 59. A confession of transgression. Yahweh shows himself as an armed warrior, and interposes on behalf of his people. 60. How Zion shall be glorified. 61-62. The prophet announces good tidings: liberty for the captives and comfort for ' them that mourn in Zion ' : the wasted cities to be repaired, menial work to be performed by aliens while the Jews devote themselves to the service of Yahweh. The prosperity of the nation and the splendour of the Jerusalem which is to be. w 5^1-6 Yahweh pictured dramatically as a warrior returning bloodstained from the slaughter of 'Edom.' 6^-64. Hymn of praise to Yahweh for his mercies in the past : prayer that he will now again look upon his people, for Jerusalem and the holy cities are desolate, and the temple has been burned with fire. 65. Yahweh has suffered a rebellious and idolatrous people : but they must be punished, while his faithful ones will be blessed. 66. Yahweh needs no earthly temple : he regards those of a humble and contrite spirit, that tremble at his word. Assurance of the glorification of Jerusalem and of the nation, and of the punishment of transgressors. 3. Unity and Date. The only evidence for the date of these chapters is that which is derived from the subject matter and style, and this evidence is not so definite as to exclude more than one 5 ntep re- lation. There is an acknowledged break at the end of the first third of the prophecy, which concludes with the refrain ' There is no peace, saith Yahweh, to the wicked ' US 22 ). This phrase is repeated with the variant ' My God ' for ' Yahweh ' at the end of the second third (57 21 ), and the idea but not the actual 160 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT phrase concludes the third third (66 24 ). It might seem from this fact that we have a single work in three evenly balanced divisions ; and the date which is so clearly revealed in the earlier chapters the eve of the fall of Babylon may be sup- posed to govern the whole. On this basis these twenty-seven chapters are sometimes expounded. On the other hand, the last three chapters are regarded as of certainly later date than the preceding, by scholars who accept the remainder as all the work of one hand. Certain difficulties in 40-62 are explained by the suggestion that they are written in two instalments, the first (40-48) in Babylon before, the rest in Palestine after, the return. Yet again, the ' Servant of Yahweh ' passages, 42 1 " 4 , 49 1 " 6 , 5O 4 ~ 9 , 52 13 -53 12 are sometimes held to be insertions into a work which consisted of 40-55, the composer of the Servant passages being either the same as, or different from, the author of those chapters, while 63-66 are additions of various later dates. Into the reasons for all these theories it is impossible to enter here ; it must here suffice to put forward one which seems to explain most of the difficulties : (a) The ' Servant ' passages were not originally written for their present contexts ; probably they are by another writer. () With the exception of these passages, 40-55 are the work of one hand, of which 40-48 were written in Babylon on the eve of its fall ; the rest in Palestine after 538. (c) 56-66 consist of pieces of various dates and authorship. These points will be discussed in order : (a) The Servant of Yahweh. The title ' Servant ' is used outside of the passages which are distinguished specially as the ' Servant ' passages (cp. above), but not in a way to cause any difficulty. It is merely a title for the Israel of experience, the historic Israel : see e.g. 4i 8 , ' But thou, Israel my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham,' etc. ; 44^ 21 , etc. ; marked out by ISAIAH 161' Yahweh from the very beginning (44 s ) to stand to him in the relation of submission and obedience, and endowed with the privileges belonging to Yahweh's choice and protection. To these privileges the contemporaries of the prophet are so indifferent that he describes the Servant, i.e. the nation, as blind and deaf (42-^. In the Servant passages, however, the Servant is not the Israel of experience. He is to teach religion to the nations (42 1 ), nor is he to be discouraged till he shall have set the law in the earth (42 4 ). He is not only to ' raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel,' but to be a ' light to the nations ' and Yahweh's ' salvation to the ends of the earth ' (49 6 ). In these passages the Servant denotes Israel, indeed, but it is an Israel which has a mission to the actual Israel of experience (49 5 , ' to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be again gathered to him '). So far the interpretation is not difficult ; the servant is not the literal but an ideal Israel ; an Israel which is not blind and deaf, but ready for the work of teaching religion to Israel and to the nations. But this ideal Israel is to possess some very definite functions. He is to 'raise up the land, to make them to inherit the desolate heritages ' (49 8 ), of which the natural interpretation is 'to restore the exiles to their own country and to distribute the territory of Judah amongst them.' Such a work of practical statesmanship seems to imply some definite person known to the prophet, and in his view marked out by the divine choice as the agent in the details of a con- temporary Zionist movement. So also the terms of 52 13 -53 12 seem to apply to an individual. Here the servant is described as without personal attractiveness, as sick and despised, perse- cuted, put to death, and even in death insulted; himself innocent, but under Yahweh's pleasure suffering for the trans- gressions of others. Nevertheless, in the midst of the expres- sions which seem most strongly to call for a personal M 162 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT interpretation, there is a sign that the prophet is not describ- ing the fortunes of any single individual. In spite of the obscurity of 53 10 ~ 12 , it seems clear that the servant's work continues and increases, receiving its fruition and recom- pence, though the servant himself is dead. The individual and the general characteristics are recon- ciled in the interpretation which makes the servant to be the ideal Israel represented among the contemporaries of the prophet by the pious and faithful Israelites who have under- stood the divine teaching and have borne witness to it by suffering and death. The work and functions of the Servant continue, though individual servants perish, though the con- stituents of the group change. The individuality of the Servant is so clearly marked especially in 52 13 -53 12 that interpreters have often regarded him as a portrait of some teacher of Israel, either past or future. On the one hand, it is suggested that the sufferings of Jeremiah are the basis of the description (see especially Jer. 1 1 19 ). On the other hand, the description of the servant has been frequently applied to Jesus of Nazareth. That something of the portraiture was suggested by the personal history of Jeremiah or some bygone saint and martyr is more than probable. That something of the work of the Servant remained over for a future teacher to realise is proved by the subsequent history of Judaism. In the time and place, however, in which the conception of the servant was thrown out, it seems to have been an aspiration of the writer already partly realised in the best of his contemporaries, but to be more completely realised as the providence of Yahweh should give occasion. The important question remains whether these Servant pas- sages could have been composed by an author who elsewhere uses the title only for the literal Israel. It is extremely diffi- cult to think that it is possible. Yet if the agreement in style be pronounced so close that difference of authorship is im- ISAIAH 163 probable, then some interval of time must be assumed be- tween these passages and the rest of 40-55. This assump- tion is often made, and it is suggested that the Servant passages are an independent poem by the same author, incorporated by him in a larger and later work. On the other hand, the difficulty raised by their imperfect connection with their con- text is just as great if we assume that they are an original part of the whole work, or an addition by the same author, or an addition by an entirely different hand. And on the whole, it seems the simplest to refer them to another writer of the same period, and to assume that they owe their present place to an editor who failed to perceive the different aspect in which the servant is regarded in these passages from that presented elsewhere in 40 fg. (b) Date of 40-55 (apart from the Servant passages). (i) 40-48. Throughout the exile is assumed. The people whom the prophet addresses are promised a speedy return to their own country. The expected release is due to Cyrus, whom Yahweh has appointed for the purpose. The fall of Babylon is imminent ; on its accomplishment the return to Palestine will take place, and Jerusalem and the temple will be rebuilt. These indications fix the date of the prophecy in the years immediately before the fall of Babylon, which occurred in 538. The references to Cyrus are indeed satisfied by any date between 555 and 538; but the way in which he is alluded to as having 'subdued nations/ the possibility that 4i 25 is a reference to the union of Medes and Persians which took place in 549, and the fact that the fall of Babylon is anticipated with such assurance, all point to a time very close to 538. The absorption of the author in the fate of the exiles, the way in which Jerusalem is mentioned (4O 9 , 4i 27 , 44 26 > 28 , 4 6 13 only), the arguments against idolatry, all suggest that the writer himself is in Babylonia among the exiles. I 1 64 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (2) 49-55. Here it might seem that the general situation is the same as in the last section, for 49 23 ~ 26 , 52 n , 55 12 all seem to refer to the return as still to be accomplished. Yet, on the other hand, the centre of interest is quite different from the previous section. There is no mention of Cyrus or Babylon ; Jerusalem takes the prominent place. And instead of the strain of exaltation and encouragement, we have the tone of sadness and threatening. The easiest solution of this change of tone is that the writer has seen the fall of Babylon, and has himself returned to Palestine. It is not necessary to suppose that any return on the scale reported in Ezra took place ; but it is probable that some at least among whom the writer of 40-48 would surely be found availed themselves of the liberty which the fall of Babylon would bestow. 1 This pamphlet illustrates the author's disappointment with the smallness of the result compared with the largeness of his anticipations. The land is still desolate, though some have returned. The passages which imply that the return is still in the future are to be understood as ad- dressed to those who had not yet availed themselves of the opportunity which the victory of Cyrus gave them. (0 56-66. ^1-8 s implies that some exiles have already returned, while others are to follow. The interest in the temple services and the sabbath bring us to the age of Nehemiah. S6 9 -57- On the ground that this oracle refers to the iniquities of Jewish rulers, and to immoral worship evidently in Palestine, it used to be regarded as originally composed before the exile. The age of Manasseh was suggested as most likely; and it was supposed that it was reworked by Second Isaiah in Babylon. The motives of such a reproduction are not clear ; and affinities of language are in favour of a post-exilic date. There is evi- 1 Cp. Cheyne, Introduction to the Book of Isaiah, 37~9 and on Ez.-Neh. 5. ISAIAH 165 dence that the practices condemned survived the exile ; in par- ticular the Samaritan Yahwism was not free from heathen practices. The period just before Nehemiah's reform provides a satisfactory background. 57^ }$ an addition of later date. 58. Possibly to be connected with 56 1 " 8 ; if not from the same hand, it is from the same period ; there is no complaint of idolatry ; the people are punctilious in external observance. 59 1 ~ 15a . The verses from 3 onwards have also been inter- preted as a pre-exilic oracle in the manner of Isaiah, reworked by Second Isaiah. As much as 56 9f e, they are suited by a date in the post-exilic period, which is recommended by a com- parison with Neh. i 5 -iO } 983-34 59 15b ~ 21 . 20 shows that Zion is again inhabited by Jews ; they are in distress and without any human helper. Probably reflects the situation on the eve of Nehemiah's visit. 60. From 15 it would appear that Jerusalem has been unin- habited but is no longer so ; from 7 that the temple has been built but still requires embellishment; from 10 ~ n that the gates and walls of the city are yet to be rebuilt. These indica- tions point to a time between 516 and 444. 61-62. The background is the same as in the last chapter; the temple is in existence (62 9 ~ 10 ), but the cities of the land need rebuilding (6i 4 ). In 62 6 'watchmen' is probably to be under- stood as ' prophets,' and the reference to ' walls ' is to be taken generally. 63 1 " 6 . The picture of Yahweh intervening as an armed warrior is parallel to 5 9 16 ~ 21 ; cp. also 34. Probably the section is not an echo of a victory over Edom. Except for the first verse it reads like a piece of dramatic eschatology ; and it is easiest to understand ' Edom ' and ' Bozrah ' in a symbolical sense. If this be the correct view, the date is perhaps the same as for 24-27. 637-64. From 64 10 ~ n , it appears that the cities of Judah have been desolated, and the temple burnt. This seems to be 1 66 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT a clear allusion to the disaster of 586; yet 63 18 , which is cer- tainly a part of this same prophecy, says that the Jews have possessed the land or temple only a 'little while.' If this statement is to be accepted literally, we must suppose that the temple, re-built in 519-516, was destroyed after no long in- terval ; but for such destruction we have no historical evidence. It has, however, been suggested that the temple may have been burnt in the invasion of Artaxerxes Ochus, c. 347 B.C. That date is not unsuitable to the ideas of the passage. On the other hand, parallels with Haggai and Zachariah render their period not impossible, if 18 be not pressed. 65-66. These chapters are made up of probably three frag- ments : 65, 66 1 " 5 , and 6 ~ 84 . 66 1 " 5 seem to be a protest against the building of a temple, and so might be referred to 519-516 or, if this temple was burnt in c. 347, to the re-building after that date. Yet it may be simply a discourse against formal worship and over-dependence upon a visible sanctuary. The remainder of the chapters points to a time later than the Second Isaiah, and, on the whole, a date nearer to 400 than 500 is most probable. 4. Characteristics. (a) The fall of Jerusalem made a great change in the spirit of prophecy. Before that event the prophetic emphasis was upon the judgement; where the idea of restoration is present, it is by way of after-thought. Ezekiel, standing between the two periods, does indeed develop a constitution for the restored community ; but the judgement is as yet too close, the signs of restoration too remote, to make his visions otherwise than sombre. But Second Isaiah began to write when the causes of the judgement were already in part forgotten, when the continued exile had begotten a sense of undeserved affliction, when the logic of the situation was demanding the restoration which the victories of Cyrus were making probable. And so at the very ISAIAH 167 beginning he strikes his keynote with the words, ' Comfort ye comfort ye my people, saith your God.' The prophet's theme is developed with so much fervour, that it is often supposed that his work is a report of public utterances. But though there is not any close or clear arrange- ment of his subjects, it is more probable that the author com- posed his prophecy in writing. His manner is argumentative* and he is the most philosophic of the prophets of Israel. This is clearly visible in the development of his main subject, which is the restoration of the Jews. He does not merely pro- test that it will happen : he proves that it is a necessary conse- quence of the nature of Yahweh. The same manner is equally visible in his polemic against idolatry. In Second Isaiah monotheism is explicit. The unique nature of Yahweh is reiterated throughout the prophecy. One proof adduced is that it is Yahweh who has created the world and its inhabitants, and controls all its powers. Another proof is that it is Yahweh who is the author of human history. Both of these 'proofs' are employed in the refutations of idolatry. Frequently sarcasm is the weapon which Second Isaiah employs when referring to the idols. It is so stupid to expect any help from a piece of wood whose neighbour piece is used for firewood. But also he argues against idolatry on philosophical grounds. Since Yahweh is the Creator and Controller of the universe, whatever happens happens by his will. He permitted the exile ; he announced that it would take place : he has raised up Cyrus to destroy Babylon. The events occur precisely as they were announced ; Yahweh is vindicated by history. The idols have no such vindication ; therefore, they are vain. The loftiness of Second Isaiah's conception of Yahweh is well seen in his attitude towards the nations. Even towards Babylon, he is scarcely vindictive ; its fall is regarded rather as a necessity of destiny. For the nations in general ' by myself have I sworn .... that unto me every knee shall bow ' (45 38 ). l68 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT And in accordance with this, the Gentile Cyrus is not merely an accidental agent of a restoration of Yahweh' s own people, but a Messiah of Yahweh chosen and made into a conqueror, ' that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me ; I am Yahweh and there is none else ' (45 1 " 6 ). Nevertheless, Second Isaiah follows his predecessors in supposing that Israel is the special concern of Yahweh. He has chosen it from the beginning, and he will defend it against its enemies (4i 8f s-); other nations he gives in ransom for it (43 3 > 4 , 45 14 ); the victories of Cyrus are primarily for its salvation. The restoration is the centre of the prophet's interest ; but he offers no scheme of the conditions under which the restored exiles are to dwell, no hint of the restitution of the monarchy? no suggestion of the reorganisation of the temple ritual, or of the social life of the people. In general terms he promises the rebuilding of the ruined cities, of Jerusalem, and of the temple. For the rest, he is content with assurances of the pro- sperity and happiness which the return shall inaugurate. Yahweh accompanies them back, and remains among them ; even the Gentiles will confess ' Surely God is in thee ' (45 14 ). (ft) The above sketch is based on 40-48. The view already put forward that 49-55 were written in Palestine after the fall of Babylon implies that the author was one of those who availed themselves of the opportunity of return opened out by Cyrus' victory. If this view is correct, we are to understand that the author finds the reality for the present far below what he has anticipated, and he is still waiting for a comprehensive return of all the scattered ones of Israel not merely the Babylonian exiles upon whose coming the promises will be fulfilled. In the meantime, he addresses the Jerusalem of the early return, and repeats the message of comfort he had uttered in Babylon. ISAIAH 169 (f) If the Servant passages be ascribed to the same author as these chapters, some addition to the foregoing is necessary. The Servant passages reveal a deeper ethical sense than is present in the surrounding material. This is apparent in the clear distinction between the loyal and disloyal among the Israelites; which provides in 53 an explanation of the pre- sent deliverance of the nation. It is not on account of the people's merit. Yahweh allows the sufferings of the faithful to mitigate the punishment. It is apparent also in the missionary functions assigned to the Servant. He has a mission to Israel, i.e. the faithful are entrusted with the task of revealing Yahweh's judgement and instruction to the unfaithful Israelites. He has also a mission to the Gentiles. To some extent this idea is present in the rest of 40-55, but in the Servant passages it it very definite (42 1 ' 4 , 496). (d) The remaining chapters, if rightly dated, illustrate the problems and the spirit of the early post-exilic period, say from c. 520 to 400 B.C. The legalist temper is apparent in the allu- sions to the Sabbath, fasting, sacrifices, right of membership in the congregation. Occasionally the note of the older prophecy is heard again, as in 56 9 ~57 ; and an echo of the Servant pas- sages appears in 6i 1-3 . The beauty and glory of Jerusalem are a frequent theme. CHAPTER V. JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS. I. JEREMIAH. I. Life and Times. 2. Composition of the Book. 3. Contents. 4. Characteristics. i. Life and Times. Jeremiah was born at Anathoth, a little town distant about an hour's journey to the N.E. of Jerusalem. He was of priestly family. His father was Hilkiah, who is probably not the Hil- kiah famous for his share in the issue of D. Though not a native of the capital, the chief scene of the ministry of Jeremiah was Jerusalem. He received his call in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, i.e. 626 B.C., and his work continued some while after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. Some idea of the religious circumstances of the reign of Josiah can be formed from the section on Deut. (see 40 fg)- Jeremiah was a young man at the time of his call, and there is no evidence to show that he was personally concerned in the pro- duction of the Deuteronomic code, though the same spirit is manifest both in D and Jeremiah. As with so many other of Israel's prophets, it seems to have been political events which first gave him an impulse to utterance. His first messages seem to have been inspired by the incursions of the barbarian Scythians who became a terror to Western Asia about JEREMIAH 171 634 B.C. They are probably the ' foe from the North ' al- luded to in i 14 written down in its present form at a later date, but perhaps referring in the first instance to about the year 626. The Scythian danger however passed away, and although we learn that Jeremiah prophesied continuously from the time of his call (25 3 ) only 3 6f & of the extant prophecies is expressly assigned to the reign of Josiah. His stormy years begin with the rise of the Chaldean power. In 609 Josiah fell in the battle of Megiddo in opposing the march of Pharaoh- Necho of Egypt, who was on his way to dispute the rising supremacy of Babylon. Josiah was succeeded by Jehoahaz, whom the victorious Pharaoh deposed after a three months' reign, and replaced by Jehoiakim son of Josiah. Pharaoh- Necho was however defeated in the significant battle of Car- chemish (604) and Judah passed over into the vassalage of Babylon. Jehoiakim nevertheless pursued a pro-Egyptian policy, and only escaped the inevitable punishment therefor by his death, which occurred in 597. The punishment fell upon his successor Jehoiachin when he had reigned only three months: Jerusalem was sacked, the king himself and the aris- tocracy of the nation (including Ezekiel the prophet) were carried off to Babylon. Nebuchadrezzar made Zedekiah king in Jerusalem, who, no wiser than his predecessors, followed their policy of reliance upon Egypt and precipitated the final fall of the kingdom of Judah. This took place at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar in 586; in spite of an attempt on the part of Egypt to avert the disaster Jerusalem yielded after an eighteen months' siege. Zedekiah fled to Jericho, but was captured, blinded and led away to Babylon. Jeremiah's attitude throughout these years was determined by his distrust of Egypt, and his conviction, confirmed by the result of Carchemish, that the power of Babylon was irresistible. To his contemporaries on the contrary, Egypt seemed to be Judah's natural ally ; in any case they could not conceive that 172 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT the fall of their state and city was possible. Jeremiah was accordingly regarded as a traitor, and not even the respect which was paid to the prophetic office could save him from imprisonment. On one occasion he was thrown into the stocks ; during the second siege he was cast into prison and was saved from starvation only by the intervention of Ebed Melech, an Ethiopian. On the fall of Jerusalem he was spared by the Chaldeans and remained with the remnant left in Judah until they fled to Egypt to escape the consequences of the murder of Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadrezzar had appointed governor over them. They forced Jeremiah to accompany them, and the last accounts of him show him still busy in the work of protest, and still with an incredulous and unrepentant audience. According to a not improbable tradition, Jeremiah was stoned to death in Egypt by his fellow-countrymen. He must have been about seventy years of age at the fall of Jerusalem, and cannot long have survived it. 2. Composition of the Book. The prophecies of Jeremiah have reached us in a form more confused than those of Isaiah, but in the case of Jeremiah we have some evidence which helps to account for the confusion. According to Jer. 36 Jeremiah was moved in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (605) to commit to writing the words he had spoken from the days of Josiah to that time. He accordingly dictated the prophecies to a scribe named Baruch, who com- pleted the roll and read it a year later publicly at a fast in the temple. When Jehoiakim the king heard the words he destroyed the roll in a fit of anger occasioned by the prophecy that the king of Babylon should destroy Judah. A new roll was afterwards prepared, in which Baruch wrote ' from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim had burned in the fire ; and there were added besides many like words.' JEREMIAH 173 From this instructive episode we learn that Jeremiah did not himself write down his prophecies immediately on their delivery ; he did not in fact take any pains to preserve them until 23 years of his ministry had elapsed. Possibly the victory at Carchemish had given him a momentary reputation as a sagacious reader of the signs of his time, and the occasion seemed favourable for a repetition of the substance of his teaching. In our present book of Jeremiah we may accordingly look for the second edition of the prophecies of Jeremiah as repro- duced from the memory of the prophet, and for additions made by Baruch. We find also prophecies dealing with dates later than 603, but we have no direct evidence as to when they were written down. And we have also a number of narrative pieces describing the fortunes of Jeremiah in and after the siege, without any sign that they were written either by Jeremiah him- self or at his dictation. It is accordingly a difficult matter to decide how much of the present book ought to be assigned to Jeremiah. The ques- tion is further complicated by the fact that the Hebrew text (represented of course in our English versions) differs in many places from the text in the Greek version. Both versions have in different places a number of small additions and omissions. In the LXX the matter is less extensive, being about one-eighth less than in the Hebrew. There is a curious difference in the position of the Oracles against the nations, which in the Hebrew follow 46, while in the LXX they follow 25 13 , and appear in a different order. (Cp. Introductory Chapter, 21.) Into the difficult problems raised by these differences, it is not possible here to enter. The assumption that the variations are due to deliberate corruption of either the Hebrew or the Greek text is not permissible ; and these variations are in fact further evidence, besides that already quoted from 36, to 174 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT show that the book of Jeremiah has passed through several ' redactions.' The following reconstruction of the stages through which the book reached its present form rests only on critical conjecture, but may serve to explain some of the con- fusions in the present order of the prophecies : l First edition. Dictated to Baruch 605 ; destroyed by Jehoia- kim. Contained probably the basis of our present chapters i, 2- 20, 2i n -22 19 , 25 1 " 14 , and some part of the Oracles against foreign nations. Second edition. Dictated to Baruch, reproducing the first edition with expansions. Third edition. Carrying down the record of Jeremiah's ministry to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, i.e. to the fall of the city. The evidence for this redaction is found in i 3 , which brings down the prophecies to that year. It was carried out probably either by Jeremiah himself or by Baruch soon after the fall of the city. Fourth edition. Including passages relating to events which followed close upon the siege, chiefly 40-44. These additions are to be ascribed to an editor working in the early part of the exile. Fifth and final edition. Including a number of additions, many of which plainly reveal an exilic or post-exilic origin. Among these are 3^-18, ic i-i, 1719-2?, 29 ie-20 ( 33 u-i6) > i7-a ; 50-si 58 , 52. 3. Contents. In view of the facts just quoted we shall not in this case follow the chronological order as in Isaiah, but take the chapters as they appear in the present text, affixing a few notes as occasion may require. Cp. Kautzsch, Outlines, 84-5. JEREMIAH 175 1 1-3. Title. *~ 19 . Call of Jeremiah. He is to be a prophet to Judah : and is com- missioned to announce that evil is to break out from the North against her to punish her idolatry and wickedness. 2-6. A series of prophecies deal- ing with the wickedness of the people of Judah and the certainty of the punishment which will fall upon them. Their present idolatry is a declension from the innocence of the nation when it was young. Now idolatry has taken a firm hold upon it : the prophet and the priest are alike involved in the guilt. Judah has not been warned by the fate of Israel. Punishment will accordingly be inflicted by a foe which is draw- ing near from the North. 7-10. A discourse concerning the Temple. Even as the Sanctuary at Shiloh was destroyed, so will the Jerusalem temple perish unless the people amend their ways, and turn from their idolatrous practices. The very graves of the idolaters will be violated. The prophet's lamentation over the sinfulness of the nation and its fall. 1-8 and the first clause of 3 probably stood in editions i and 2. Written in 605 : refers to 626. The Scythians are the ' foe from the North.' Written in 604 : refers to 626 and the threatened attacks of the Scyth- ians, but the prophecy is probably repointed to suit 604, when the victory of Nebuchad- rezzar would be in the minds of the hearers. The section 3 6 ~ 18 is a misplaced fragment, unrelated to its present context. 3 17 ~ 18 were perhaps added in the fifth edition. The scene of this dis- course is the gate of the Temple. The date is either the same as above, or the beginning of the reign of Jehoia- kim. io l ~ u is an in- sertion of the fifth edition : it can be un- derstood only as from the standpoint of the 176 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ii 1 " 8 . Jeremiah commanded to preach obedience to the Covenant in Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. 9 ~ 17 . Because the people have turned back to the iniquities of their fathers, Yahvveh will bring evil upon them. n 18 -i2 6 . The men of Anathoth have plotted against Jeremiah, for which he pronounces judgement upon them, and entreats Yahweh to perform it. i2 7 ~ 17 . Judah has been desolated by her ' evil neighbours,' who are threatened with punishment, which, however, they may avert if they turn to Yahweh. I 3 1 ~ n - Jeremiah and the spoiled girdle : symbolising the spoiling of Judah. 12-14. The same lesson shown by the parable of the full bottles. 15-27. The prophet's lament over the carelessness and disobedience of the people. exiles in Babylon. The agreement with 2 Isaiah is further confirmation. The Covenant is D, and the date of the section is shortly after 621. Probably with reference to the preceding verses : in protest against the refusal of the people to abide by the terms of D. Early years of Jehoiakim. Judah was raided by the neighbour peoples, Syria, Moab, and Am- mon, c. 602, after the revolt of Jehoiakim from Nebuchadrezzar (2 Kings 2 4 2f g-). To that date this passage belongs. The date of this chapter is fixed by the refer- ence in 18 to the 'king and the queen-mother,' i.e., Jehoiachin and Ne- hushta. Cp. 2 Kings JEREMIAH I4-I7 18 . On the occasion of a drought Jeremiah appeals to Yahweh to mitigate his wrath ; but his plead- ing is in vain. He complains of the obloquy into which he has fallen because of his prophesying : Yahweh promises to vindicate him. The prophet protests against the festive disposition of the people: let there be no rejoicing, for Yahweh must bring evil upon them for their iniquities. 1 719-27. An exhortation to ob- serve the Sabbath. 177 Towards the end of the reign of Jehoiakim. i8-i9 13 . Even as the potter re- models the clay when necessary, so Yahweh might re-shape the destiny of Judah should the people reform. Since, however, they will not change, Jeremiah declares that Yahweh will pursue his plan towards them. Jeremiah prays that the people may therefore suffer, but hopes that him- self may escape. The broken pot : symbolising the unavoidableness of the disaster. i9 14 -2O 6 . Pashhur, chief officer of the Temple, places Jeremiah in the stocks because of his utterances against the Temple : on his release he announces the forthcoming exile to Babylon. Added in the fifth edition. Imitated in the style of Jeremiah, but probably not composed before the age of Nehemiah. > Reign of Jehoiakim. 178 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 2O 7 ~ 18 . Jeremiah laments his suf- ferings, and looks for a triumph over his persecutors. 2 1 1 " 10 . Zedekiah, consulting Jere- miah as to the issue of the siege, is informed that the city must fall : only those who yield to the Chaldeans will be safe. 2i n -22 9 . Exhortations to the royal house of Judah to rule in righteousness. 2 2 10 ~ 12 . Judgement on ' Shallum," i.e., Jehoahaz. 13-19. Judgement on Jehoiakim. S - 80 . Judgement on ' Coniah,' i.e., Jehoiachin. 23 1 " 8 . The unworthy kings to be replaced by a righteous scion of the Davidic house,underwhom restoration shall take place. 9 ~ 40 . Against those prophets who have misled the nation. 24. Parable of the two baskets of figs : the good symbolising the exiles carried away under Jehoiachin, 597 ; the bad indicating those who were left behind, and who are doomed to perish. 25. The iniquities of Judah to DC punished in the victories of Nebuchadrezzar, who shall enslave the nation for seventy years, after which Babylon itself shall perish. 26. Jeremiah prophesies that Solomon's Temple shall follow the Reign of Jehoiakim. During the second siege, 588-586. Ditto. 2 1 11 - 12 are pro- bably fifth edition in- sertions. Between 597 and 588. Shortly after 597. 604 B.C. Interpolated at 11-14 and at 26b . Beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. JEREMIAH doom of the Shiloh sanctuary, and that the city itself shall fall; he is arrested, and saved from death only by the intervention of Ahikam. 27. Jeremiah denounces the pro- phets who imagine that Babylon can be opposed successfully, declaring that Yahweh will punish those who refuse to serve Nebuchadrezzar, and that therefore the efforts of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon to bring Zedekiah into their defensive league against Babylon must be resisted. 28. Hananiah, the prophet, breaks the yoke which Jeremiah had worn as a token of the captivity of his people: Hananiah thus indicating that Judah will escape the threatened disaster. Jeremiah declares that the event will prove that Hananiah is wrong. 29 1 " 23 . A letter of Jeremiah to the exiles, exhorting them to settle com- fortably in their new homes, and denouncing the prophets who pro- mise a speedy return. 24-32. Jeremiah pronounces sen- tence against Shemaiah, one of the opposition prophets. 30-33. Prophecies of restoration. 30. Though now the nation is distressed and forsaken, Yahweh will bring deliverance, restoring the 179 The name Jehoiakim in 27 1 is an obvious mis- take for Zedekiah, to the early years of whose reign chapters 27-29 belong. Possibly 10 ~ 15 and pro- bably 16 ~ 20 are due to the editor of the fifth edition. According to 32 1 , tenth yearof Zedekiah^which date probably applies to this section (30-33) N 2 i8o THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT captives, rebuilding Jerusalem, and re-establishing a king of the house of David. 3 1 . Not only Judah, but Ephraim also shall share in the promised good fortune ; and for the restored and re-united nation Yahweh will make a new covenant, not external like the old covenant of the wanderings, but internal, written on the hearts of all. 32. On the eve of the fall of the city Jeremiah purchases a field at Anathoth and carefully secures the title deeds, in token that though exile is inevitable, the re-occupation of their country by the exiles is a certainty. 33. Reassurances of restoration; promise of a righteous king of the Davidic house. 34 1 " 7 . Jeremiah assures Zedeki ah >j that Jerusalem must fall, but Zede- kiah himself will not perish in the fighting. 8-22, Jeremiah rebukes the people of Jerusalem for violating a compact which they had made to release their slaves, and announces punishment at the hands of the army of Nebuchad- rezzar. 35. The Rechabites refuse to break their pledge against drinking wine, which refusal Jeremiah employs as a whole (except ^ ol7~~26^ 33 )' i7-26 > w hich are not in the LXX are due to the fifth edition ; pro- bably also at least l *~ u . During the siege, 588-6. Towards the end ofjjthe reign of Jehoiakim. JEREMIAH 181 Fifth year of Jehoiakim, 605 B.C. c. 587. as a text for a discourse on the dis- obedience of Israel. 36. The prophecies of Jeremiah dictated to Baruch, destroyed by Jehoiakim, rewritten with additions. 37. Jeremiah is cast into prison in the house of Jonathan, the scribe ; he is consulted by Zedekiah, and obtains from him a transfer to the 'court of the guard.' 38. The enemies of the prophet During the siege, cause him to be thrown into a muddy dungeon, whence he is rescued by Ebed Melech, an Ethiopian. He is again consulted by the king, who is promised life if he yields himself to the Chaldeans. 39. Jerusalem is captured. Zede- " kiah escapes to Jericho, but is there captured and blinded. He is carried off to Babylon. Jeremiah is spared by the Chaldeans, and placed in charge of Gedaliah. 40. Gedaliah, the governor ap- pointed by Nebuchadrezzar over the remnant of the Judeans on the soil, becomes the object of a conspiracy. 41. He is murdered ; the remnant, in fear of punishment, make for Egypt. 42. Jeremiah opposes the flight to Egypt. 43. They nevertheless flee and settle at Tahpanhes. Jeremiah an- j Due to the editor of the fourth edition. 1 82 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT nounces that Egypt will be conquered by Nebuchadrezzar. 44. The refugees lapse into idolatry, and defend themselves against Jeremiah's rebukes. He prophesies that only a few of them will return to Judah, the rest will perish by famine and the sword. 45. A postscript to 36 1 " 8 , assur- ing Baruch that at least his life will be spared in the dangers that are imminent. 46-51. Oracles against the nations. 46. Egypt. 8 ~ 12 . Triumph song over the defeat of Pharaoh-Necho at Carchemish. is-28. Nebuchadrezzar will smite the land of Egypt. 47. Philistia. Its ruin announced. 48. Moab. A song of woe over the desolation of Moab. ' The calamity of Moab is near to come and his affliction hasteth fast.' Captivity will follow, but Yahweh will at length restore the people. 49 1 " 6 . Ammon. Threat of cap- tivity. 7 ~ 83 . Edom. To be overthrown as completely as Sodom and Go- morrah. Due to the editor of the fourth edition. See 36. After 604. from 3o lof &- ' Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza/ a doubt- ful indication of date ; perhaps on the eve of Carchemish. Based upon same oracle which appears in Is. 15-16. Perhaps c. 604. Cp. on Obadiah. JEREMIAH 183 3S ~ 27 . Damascus. Threatened with disaster. 28-83 > Kedar. To be destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar. 34 ~ 39 . Elam. To be consumed. 50-5 1 58 . Babylon. She is about to fall ; an assembly of great nations from the north is coming up to punish her for plundering the heri- tage of Yahweh. In 5O 41 the foe of Babylon issues from the north. In 5 1 11 it is the kings of the Medes whom Yahweh has moved against her. 5 1 6-M. Jeremiah writes in a book his words against Babylon, and bids Seraiah cast the book into the Euphrates as a symbol of the fall of the city. 52. An account of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. If Jeremiah's, perhaps c. 604. According to **, ' begin- ning of the reign of Zedekiah.' Assigned to Jeremiah in the title (so 1 ), but evidently not by him, for it is later than the destruction of Jeru- salem by some years, and the restoration of the exiles is regarded as imminent. The point of view with regard to the divine commission of Chal- dea to chastise Israel is different from Jere- miah's. Probably refers to words of Jeremiah against Baby- lon, with which the pre- ceding oracle has been wrongly identified. Extracted from the Book of Kings, with slight alterations. See 2 Kings 24 18 -25 80 . 184 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 4. Characteristics. The life of Jeremiah is full of strange paradox. He did not become a prophet willingly, and more than once he breaks out into protest against the austere conditions of his service : yet his prophetic activity extended over forty years. He was not of the stuff of which prophets are made ; he was emotional and tender-hearted : yet he was commissioned to appear ' as a for- tified city, an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the priests thereof, and against the people' (i 18 ). He had a human yearning for success ; but not even the vindication which the result of Carchemish, and the patronage of Zedekiah afforded, turned the ears of the people to his utterances. And by a curious and pathetic irony, he who was himself passionately patriotic was compelled to appear before his contemporaries as the most flagrant of traitors. It was natural that he should seem in a later day a type of the suffering ' servant of Yahweh.' l A still later age bestowed upon him a recognition that his own denied; for he came to be regarded as pre-eminentiy ' the ' prophet (2 Chron. s6 21 , Dan. 9*, Mt. i6 14 ). Not less than the pioneer prophets of the century before had Jeremiah seized the sense of the greatness of Yahweh. ' Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgement, and righteousness in the earth ; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.' If not by nature, then by grace, Jeremiah was com- pelled to bear witness for this Yahweh to a people careless of him. They must be chastened into knowledge, and so in his first utterances Jeremiah declared that the foe approaching from the north was the agent divinely appointed for the chastisement. Jeremiah's appearance as a prophet coincides with that 1 Cp. 162. JEREMIAH 185 important epoch when D was on the eve of publication. Among those who shared the hopes enshrined in that document, Jeremiah must have been foremost. He appears to have taken an active part in the attempt to popularise its provisions in the cities of Judah (n). But if the fragmentary hints that are left are correctly read, Deuteronomy disappointed the hopes of its originators and its royal sponsor. Probably the political situa- tion was too difficult for a religious reform to succeed at that time; Megiddo and Carchemish might seem to prove that the new code was useless to avert national disaster. Idolatry revived, and the last state of Judah seemed to Jeremiah worse than the first. It is hard to resist the conclusion that he is referring to D when he rebukes those who say ' The law of God is with us/ in the words, ' But behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely ' (8).i In any case, Jeremiah sees no other way of salvation than through national suffering. Shrewder than the other prophets of his day, he saw that the power of Nebuchadrezzar would prove irresistible. That splendid irrational confidence in the in- violability of Jerusalem which sustained Isaiah in the crisis of Sennacherib's invasion was impossible to Jeremiah. He de- clared that the city must fall, and sword and exile teach the people the manner of their God. After the catastrophe, restoration would follow. Israel and Judah reunited are again to dwell in their own land ; a worthier ruler will be placed over them, whose name ' Yahweh (is) our Righteousness,' symbolical of the new source of the national life, should be answered with a new name for the restored Jerusalem (23 6 , 33 16 ). But no longer shall external code or custom be the guide of religion ; a personal relation between the soul and God shall take its place : 1 Mr. Carpenter, however, writes : ' In face of 1 1, 1 find it impossible to accept this view. I prefer, with Giesebrecht, to think of unauthorised practices as in 7 31 , ig 5 .' 1 86 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 1 This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after many days, saith Yahweh. I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it : and I will be their God and they shall be my people : and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying " Know Yahweh ; " for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Yahweh ' (3I 33-34). i8 7 2. LAMENTATIONS. i. Contents. 2. The Qinah Measure. 3. Authorship and Date. i. Contents. Five Elegies on the destruction of Jerusalem. ji-22. The deserted city. 31-22. Yahweh's anger against her. 3 1 " 66 . The mourning of the nation ; prayer for vengeance. 4 1 " 22 . Zion's ancient glory and present shame. 5 1 " 22 . Prayer for Yahweh's compassion. 2. The Qinah Measure. The first four elegies are acrostic poems; in i, 2, 4 each verse begins with a fresh letter of the Hebrew alphabet ; in 3, each fourth verse so begins. The four chapters are written in a rhythm characteristic of Hebrew elegy ; it is a short couplet of which the second limb is briefer than the first, e.g. i 1 . Alas how dwelleth lonely the city Full of people she was. 2 1 . Alas now Yahweh in his wrath has clouded Zion's Daughter. He has cast down from heaven to earth Israel's glory. 5, although containing 22 verses, is not acrostic but in synonymous parallelism (cp. on Psalms i). 3. Authorship and Date. The poems are assigned to Jeremiah by a tradition as early as the LXX translation, which is, however, possibly based on a mis- understanding of 2 Chron.35 25 . It is difficult to imagine Jeremiah i88 THE BOOKS OP THE OLD TESTAMENT arranging his thoughts in the succession of alphabet letters. Other points against the authorship by Jeremiah are 4 20 the complimentary allusion to King Zedekiah (ct. Jer. 24 8 ~ 10 ) ; i 21 " 22 , 3 64 ~ 66 , prayer for vengeance on the destroyers, whereas to Jeremiah the Chaldeans are the agents of Yahweh's will ; 4 1 ?" 18 the expectation of help from Egypt (ct. Jer. 37 5 ~ 7 ). Inasmuch as each chapter is in itself a complete poem it has been sometimes supposed that more than one author is repre- sented. In i a different order of the alphabet is followed from that in 2-4; while 5 is not alphabetical. Certain agreements connect 2 with 4 and i with 5. 3 presents special features such as the use of the first person, and a more elaborate Qinah measure, which separate it from the rest. The date of the whole must be after 586, and probably before 538, the date of the victory of Cyrus. By those who recognise three hands 2 and 4 are dated about 570, i and 5 about 530 and 3 a little later than 1,5. CHAPTER VI. EZEKIEL. I. Life. 2. Contents. 3. Characteristics. i. Life of Ezekiel. Ezekiel son of Buzi was one of the exiles carried away in 597, after the first siege of Jerusalem. He had been priest in Jerusalem, ( i 3 ) ; from his close acquaintance with the temple and its ritual, it is to be inferred that his priesthood had already continued for some years at the date of his captivity. Probably therefore he was acquainted with Jeremiah ; of whose influence his book bears many traces. Ezekiel lived in Babylonia among the colony of exiles at Tel-Abib (i.e. ' Cornhill '), by the river Chebar; the exact locality of the place is unknown. Many of his prophecies are dated ; the first point of time given fixes the year 592 for the beginning of his ministry (i 2 ) ; the last date mentioned is 570 (29 17 ). The book is so filled with symbolical and allegorical details that it is difficult to be sure when he is referring to matters of fact. It is however probable that he is narrating fact when he represents himself as carrying on some kind of public ministry, as being consulted by the elders of the people, as obtaining only a small amount of public recognition until the fall of Jerusalem vindicated his prophetic character (cp. s 22 " 87 , 24 25 ~ 27 ). According to 24 his wife died on the day when Jerusalem was invested. igo THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 2. Contents. The first half of the book, 1-24, covers the period down to the fall of Jerusalem and contains Ezekiel's indictment of the nation. The second half, 25-48, contains his scheme of restora- tion. A. 1-24. 1-3. The Prophet's Call. i. Vision of the Four Cherubim and Four-wheeled Chariot supporting a firmament on which a human form is seated ; symbolising the majesty of Yahweh. 2-3 3 . The prophetic commission, illustrated by a symboli- cal eating of a book-roll. 3 4 ~ 15 . Encouragement against the unwillingness of his audience ; !6~ 21 , the prophet as watchman of the house of Israel ; 22 ~ 27 , his work to be private. 4-7. Three symbolical actions and three discourses. 4 1 " 3 . A picture of a siege is drawn; implying the siege of Jerusalem : 4 ~ 17 , a trance in which no food is eaten ; implying the sufferings of the siege : 5 1 " 4 , hair cut off and scattered ; implying the scattering of the people after the siege : 5 ~ 17 , dis- course on the sins of Jerusalem and their punishment ; 6, on the land of Judah and the desolations which will fall upon it ; 7, on the people, and the certainty of their fate. 8- 1 1. Vision, seen in a trance, of the punishment of Jerusalem . 8, Ezekiel is carried to Jerusalem and sees the idolatries of the temple ; 9, the armed men, representing the destruction of the unfaithful ; 10, fire from the Chariot (cp. i) cast over the city; representing the burning of Jerusalem; n, twenty-five men representatives of the party which counselled rebellion against Nebuchadrezzar, of whom one is smitten down; indicat- ing the inevitable failure of the defenders. 12-19. Discourses and allegories on the theme of sin and punishment. EZEKIEL 191 I2 1 " 16 , symbolical removal of property; indicating the exile of Zedekiah : i7-ao } eating of food with quaking ; indicating the sufferings of the siege: I2 21 -i4 n , the false and flattering prophecies which have misled the people are no proof of the failure of vision ; the false prophets and prophetesses will be destroyed : 1 4 12 ~ 23 , a special favour will be shown to Jerusalem in that a remnant will escape destruction : 15, Israel as a half burnt vine-branch, soon to be entirely destroyed : 16, Jerusalem as guilty as Sodom or Samaria, and deserving their fate ; yet Yahweh will remember and renew the old covenant: I7 1 " 21 , riddle of the eagle and the vine ; its interpretation in Zedekiah's disloyalty : 22-24, a promise of restoration : 1 8, refutation of those who allege that the nation is suffering for the sins of the fathers ; the individual to be judged according to his own con- duct: 19, Qinah-song over the princes of Israel, covering the allegory of the lioness (Israel) and her whelps (Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin), and of the vine (Israel) the broken branches (the two kings above) and the fire (Zedekiah's disloyalty). 20-24. Further discourses on jfudah's sin and Us punish- ment. 2O 1 " 44 , review of the history of the nation showing how it has been always idolatrous ; only punishment will change its heart : 45 - 49 , parable of the destroying fire: 21, Yahweh's sword of vengeance directed against Jerusalem and the Ammonites : 22, the moral crimes of which the princes, prophets and people of Jerusalem have been guilty ; 23, the faithlessness of Samaria and Judah represented by the allegory of two women, Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Judah) ; Samaria in spite of its alliances has already perished ; the doom of Judah in spite of its appeals to Egypt is already imminent: 24 1 " 14 , allegory (on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year the day on which the Chaldeans invested Jerusalem; see 2 Kings 25 1 ) of the caldron, indicating the all-devouring siege and the purifica- tion it will accomplish : 15 ~ 2 7, death of the prophet's wife ; he 192 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT keeps his grief secret ; so shall the exiles have occasion for deep grief, as they will soon discover (i.e, in the news of the fall of Jerusalem). B. 25-48. 25-32. The doom of the Foreign Nations. 25. Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Philistines to be punished for exulting in the humiliation of Jerusalem; 26-28 19 , (B.C. 586) Tyre about to fall to the army of Nebuchadrezzar; her commercial greatness shown in a simile of a ship ; threat against her king ; 20 ~ 26 , against Zidon ; 29-32, (586 and 584, with a postscript dated 570), Egypt to be conquered, depopu- lated and restored as a kingdom too small to be a menace to Israel. 33-39. The restoration of Israel. 33, reaffirmation of prophetic responsibility; the prophet as sentinel : 34, Yahweh is against the evil shepherds (i.e., rulers) ; he will gather the sheep they have scattered and restore them, setting up David his servant to be a ' prince ' over them : 35-36, the Edomites shall be expelled from the territories of Judah, and Yahweh will vindicate his reputation injured by the fall of Jerusalem, in the restoration of the Israelites. 37, vision of the dry bones revivified ; symbolising the restoration of the dead nation and the reunion of the two king- doms : 38-39, Yahweh brings together the hordes of heathen- ism under Gog, prince of Magog, to invade Canaan ; the invaders are utterly destroyed and it takes seven months to bury their dead bodies. By this huge slaughter the power of Yah- weh will be demonstrated to those who think he could not prevent the fall of Jerusalem. 40-48. The constitution of the restored community. 40-42, the new temple with its courts and chambers ; 43, the glory of Yahweh takes formal possession of the house. Measurements of the altar of burnt offering, ordinances of sacrifice ; 44, regulations concerning the Zadokite priests and EZEKIEL 193 other Levitical priests ; 45-46, portions of land to be reserved for the priests and the ' prince ' ; provision for the sacrifices ; 47-48, a stream of water issues out of the temple fertilising the country ; the territory of the community ; redistribution of the West-Jordan land among the tribes ; reservation of a central piece for the temple and holy city. 3. Characteristics. The text of Ezekiel has been badly preserved ; but other- wise the book is free from the critical difficulties which exist in the case of most of the prophets. It is generally allowed that it springs as a whole from the author whose name it bears. Though it no doubt contains some matter that was delivered orally to the exiles in Tel-Abib, the book is in its present form a carefully-balanced literary composition. The fall of Jeru- salem is the pivot on which it turns ; the first half contains prophecies dealing with the period before, the second part after, that event. It was written between 586 and 572, and the postcript 29 17 ~ 21 was added in 570. In the book itself the dates provided cover from 593 to 570; a period of thirteen years separates 39 and 40. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel also was priest as well as prophet, but in Ezekiel the priestly element is much more conspicuous. It does not absorb the prophetic ; for though he is often re- garded as a great formalist ' father of the scribes ' the first half of his book at least is entirely in the prophetic manner and spirit. His prophetic character has been obscured by the fact that his nature is cold and unemotional ; l by the dominance 1 I venture again to transcribe a note by Mr. Carpenter : ' I know that this is often said ; but I never can read 24 ls-a7 , or 34" fg., or 36 28-S7 ( or 37 11 " 14 , without a thrill ; they seem to me (and one could quote many more) full of condensed passion. But of course the Gentiles are killed off remorselessly.' O 194 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT of the pictorial and symbolical method of conveying his teach- ing, and by the legislative sketch in the last nine chapters. It is not always remembered that the scene of his work was remote from the exciting national events which give so much point to the utterances of Isaiah and Jeremiah. To the hopeless exiles in Babylonia even the fall of Jerusalem would have only a kind of obituary interest. The thought most characteristic of Ezekiel is the ' honour ' of Yahweh. Holding the prophetic doctrine of the divine election of Israel, he regards the whole of the past history of the nation as utterly unworthy of its God ; the people have been idolaters from the beginning. Yahweh, therefore, to vindicate his honour has destroyed Samaria and is destroying Judah. The same motive requires the restoration ; for neither Israel nor the nations can believe that he is God if his people are dissociated from the sacred soil. The same consider- tion explains also the need for a new constitution ; the future of the nation must be guarded by institutions which should pre- serve the proper relations between Israel and Yahweh, so that there would not again be a violation of the divine honour such as Yahweh has been compelled to chastise. In such a doctrine there is much to justify the assertion that the God of Ezekiel is 'the prototype of the Allah of Islam ' ; and especially in its bearings on the relations of the nation of Yahweh to the other peoples of the earth, the consequences are not pleasant (cp. 38 and 39). To the contemporaries of the prophet it might seem that there was nothing for them to do but to wait passively until Yahweh should bestow the ' new heart and spirit ' which were the necessary antecedents of the next step in vindication of his honour. Such a bestowal is, in fact, promised (36 26 ~ 27 ). But there is another side of Ezekiel's teaching which redeems it from this fatalistic character. He develops it as against those of the exiles who explained their afflictions as the punishment EZEKIEL 195 of the sins of their ancestors, quoting the proverb, ' the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' He denies this doctrine in the most emphatic manner, asserting that the individual is responsible for his own sins, and for his own righteousness; and either state may succeed the other in one and the same life. And so, in this sense, each individual is called upon to make for himself a ' new heart and spirit' (see especially 18). This doctrine of individual responsibility 'was a step of enormous value in the direction of personal religion, and towards a better theory of the relation of man to God. For though it is true that the son does bear the iniquity of his father, it is not true that he so bears it as a direct punishment from God. Ezekiel broke for ever with the false notion of divine vengeance transmitted from generation to generation, and from the equally false and despairing idea that repentance is beyond human power. There was no need, as Ezekiel told his fellow-exiles, that they should " pine away in their iniquities." " Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and spirit ; for why will ye die, O house of Israel ? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord Yahweh ; wherefore turn yourselves and live " ' l (i8 31 ~ 33 ). Ezekiel's Utopia of the Theocracy had, as elsewhere shown, a great influence upon the legislation of the Priestly Code. What most needs saying here is that it is unfair to judge Ezekiel in the light of the censures which Jesus passed upon the formalisms and hypocrisies of some among the scribes and Pharisees of his day. To prevent the idolatries which Ezekiel correctly recognized as the greatest obstacle to a pure worship of God, he formulated an ideal scheme which had as its aim the preservation of a sense of the divine presence in the midst of the national worship, and, therefore, 1 Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, 253-4. 02 196 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT in the midst of the national life. His ideal as it happened was to some extent embodied in the legislation of Judaism. It proved practical and successful, as Jewish history attests, in guarding the religious life of the Community, when, so far as we can see, the unformulated prophetic spirit might have been too fugitive and occasional to meet the crises through which that unfortunate-fortunate people were continually passing. CHAPTER VII. DANIEL. I . Character. 2. Daniel. 3. Contents and Notes of Interpretation, 4. Date. 5. Characteristics. I. Character. The book of Daniel belongs to a class of literature known as Apocalypse (Revelation), of which it is the chief Old Testament example. Several other specimens are extant; e.g. the books of Enoch and Jubilees, the Assumption of Moses, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Apocalypse of Baruch. Apocalypse was the successor of prophecy, with which it agrees in inter- preting the destiny of the nation from a religious point of view, but from which it differs in its estimate of the local con- ditions of the national fate. Prophecy even when most despondent has faith in the purification and ultimate pros- perity of the national life ; national disaster is the agent of purification, and the ideal future is always the logical issue of the conditions by which the nation is surrounded. The fall of Jerusalem and the long period of dependence on Persia, and afterwards on Greece, changed the prophetic spirit. It induced a pessimism as to any restoration of the nation on normal lines, while it intensified the belief in an abrupt super- natural termination of the existing conditions and the speedj beginning of the blessed Messianic age. Is. 24-27, Joel, 198 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Zech. 12-14 mark the transition to the more pronounced Apocalypse of Daniel. A period of peculiar distress, such as the persecutions of Antiochus IV. inaugurated, provided just the kind of crisis which the apocalyptist might regard as the birth-throes of the new era. Among other features, the apocalyptic literature is distin- guished by its use of historical retrospect, in which it regards the times and seasons of the past as arranged to lead up to the climax of the author's date ; and by the habit of ascribing its revelations to some great historical figure of old time Enoch, the Patriarchs, Moses, Isaiah, Baruch, Daniel. 2. Daniel. In Ezekiel i4 14 * 20 (see also z8 3 ), Daniel is mentioned as a type of wisdom, along with Noah and Job therefore as a famous person of remote antiquity. In the book of Daniel he is represented as one of the Babylonian exiles. 3. Contents and Notes of Interpretation. 1. Daniel and his friends, captives in Babylon, prove their faithfulness to the Jewish religion by refusing to eat heathen food, but on account of their wisdom find favour with king Nebuchadrezzar. 2. When the court-magicians have all failed, Daniel suc- ceeds in recovering the forgotten dream of Nebuchadrezzar and in interpreting it. The dream is about a great image, of which the head is gold, the breast and arms silver, the body brass, the legs iron, the feet iron and clay. A stone cut out of the mountains with- out hands breaks the image to pieces. The interpretation declares that the head is the kingdom of Nebuchadrezzar, and the other parts the kingdoms which are to follow his empire, while the stone is the ideal kingdom which is to succeed all DANIEL 199 the world-empires. The ' dream ' is an oblique reference to the succession of kingdoms, (i) Chaldean, (2) Median, (3) Persian, (4) Macedonian, separated after the death of Alexan- der the Great into two chief divisions, under the government of the Seleucid and the Ptolemaic dynasties. 3. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego emerge unharmed from the fire into which they have been cast for refusing to worship an image set up by Nebuchadrezzar. 4. Nebuchadrezzar's second dream is interpreted by Daniel, and is fulfilled. The King thereupon issues a decree celebrating the God of Israel to all the world. This dream is about a great tree which is cut down to the stump. The tree is Nebuchadrezzar : the cutting down signi- fies a madness which is to fall upon him for seven years : the stump remaining in the ground shows that he will not lose his kingdom. 5. Belshazzar, son and successor of Nebuchadrezzar, is interrupted in his feast by a hand writing the words Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin on the wall. Daniel interprets the sign to mean the fall of the kingdom. The sign is fulfilled : Darius the Mede becomes King. 6. Daniel is exposed to the lions in consequence of his faithfulness to the Jewish religion : he is miraculously saved. 7. Vision of the Four Great Beasts, in the first year of Belshazzar. The beasts resemble (i) a lion, (2) a bear, (3) a leopard : the fourth has ten horns among which a little horn comes up destroying three of them. Judgement scene before one that is ' ancient of days ' and his myriads : destruction of the horned beast. One ' like unto a son of man ' appears and everlasting dominion is given to him. The beasts signify empires as in 2, viz., Chaldean, Median, Persian, Macedonian. The ten horns are the successors of Alexander the Great : the little horn is Antiochus IV. Epi- phanes who robbed and desecrated the Temple (especially by 200 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT building an altar to Zeus on the Altar of Burnt Offering), massacred many of the Jews and plunged the whole people into mourning by his attempts to stamp out the Jewish religion (cp. i Mac. i). The power of Antiochus IV. is to continue ' until a time, times and half-a-time ' which means three and a half years : and its end is to come with the judgement before God (the Aged One ; lit. ' old in days ') when the Ideal Kingdom is to begin (' one like unto a son of man/ i.e. re- sembling a human being in contradistinction to the beasts of the vision). 8. Vision of the Ram and He-goat, in the third year of Belshazzar : interpreted to Daniel by Gabriel. The Ram has two horns of which one is higher than the other. The He- goat with a ' notable ' horn destroys the Ram, and ' magni- fies himself exceedingly ' : the horn being broken is succeeded by four others, from one of which proceeds a little horn waxing big towards the south and east : it magnifies itself against ' the host of heaven and their prince,' and takes away the burnt- offering. Its offences are to continue unto 2300 evenings and mornings. The Ram is the Medo-Persian Kingdom, the He-goat the Macedonian. The notable horn is Alexander the Great, and the four horns are the four Kingdoms into which Alexander's empire was divided those of Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander. The little horn is Antiochus IV. : his offence is, as in 7, the desecration of the Temple ; his end is to come in 2300 days. 9. Concerning the Seventy Weeks, in the first year of Darius. Insertions into the prophecies of Jeremiah had named seventy years as the time of 'the desolations of Jerusalem.' l Daniel seeks a revelation on the subject, which Gabriel furnishes. He declares that the seventy weeks decreed on the holy city are made up of (i) seven weeks from the ^er. 29', 25". DANIEL *OI commandment to restore and build Jerusalem to ' a prince/ (2) sixty-two weeks to its rebuilding in troublous times. At the end of this sixty-two weeks ' the anointed one shall be cut off ' ; city and sanctuary shall be destroyed by the people of a prince that shall come : who for (3) one week shall make a covenant with many ; during half of the week he will cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease ; after which the consummation will come. The general sense of the vision is clear, but the chronology does not work out exactly. The weeks are ' year-weeks ' i.e. each week is equivalent to seven years. 1 The seven weeks cover the period from the exile to the alleged decree of Cyrus permit- ting the return ; the sixty-two weeks bring down the date to the beginning of a seven years assigned to the persecutions of Antiochus : and the one week covers the time of persecution and the deliverance. The first period of forty-nine years agrees with the traditional length of the exile (586-536) : and the last period of seven years dates evidently from the beginning of the severities of Antiochus (B.C. 172, murder of the high priest Onias III.). Between 536 and 172 there are only 364 years instead of the 434 required for the 62 year-weeks. 10. In the third year of Cyrus Daniel is prepared by fast- ing to receive a revelation. 11. Vision of the Kings. There shall be four Persian kings, of whom the last is to oppose Greece. A mighty king (of Greece) arises, whose kingdom is divided between north and south. The fortunes of the divided kingdoms are de- scribed. At length one who obtains the kingdom by flatteries appears ( 21 ), whose power and wickedness are enormous, but who ' shall come to his end and none shall help him ' ( 4B ). 12. At that time there shall be a period of trouble out of which Israel shall be delivered 'after a time, times and an half ' 1 Cp. Lev. 25". 202 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ( 7 ) : ' from the setting up of the abomination that maketh desolate there shall be 1 290 days ' : ' Blessed is he that cometh to the 1335 days.' The Vision of the Kings is a veiled history of the period from 536 down to Antiochus. The three Persian kings are those of Ezra 4 5 ~ 7 . The king whose empire is divided is Alexander the Great. The kings of north and south are those of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties. The relations between these powers are described with great abundance of detail (n 5 ~ 20 ). The king of 1 1 21 " 45 is again Antiochus. The end is promised in about three-and-a-half years from the setting up of the heathen altar in the Temple (168 B.C.). 4. Date. The period in which the writer is most concerned is that of Antiochus Epiphanes. The knowledge of the history of the Macedonian empire down to the time of Antiochus, and the acquaintance with the persecutions which he carried out, shows that the book was not written before the year 168, when Antiochus set up the ' abomination ' in the Temple. He died B.C. 165-4, by which time the revolt headed by the Maccabees, had come to a successful issue. The indefiniteness as to the end of the dominion of Antiochus (7 25 , 8 14 , i2 7 > u > 12 ) indicates that the book was written at a time when that dominion was threatened, but had not yet been thrown off. Accordingly the book dates about 167-6 B.C. 1 This date is confirmed by several other features : i. The writer has no exact knowledge of the period in which he places his hero. There was no siege of Jerusalem in the reign of Jehoiakim, i 1 . The last king of Babylon was not Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadrezzar (5 2 > ^ 31 ), but 1 The allusion to the cleansing of the sanctuary in 8 14 has been urged in favour of the date 165, when the Temple was re-dedicated. DANIEL 203 Nabonidus, who was not related to Nebuchadrezzar. Naboni- dus had a son named Belsharuzur, but he did not become king. The successor of Nabonidus was not ' Darius the Mede,' but Cyrus. The existence of such a person as Darius the Mede is doubtful, and it is probable the author meant Darius Hystapis (the Darius of Haggai and Zech. 1-8). The madness of Nebu- chadrezzar and his adoration of the God of the Jews are also features not supported by historical probability. 2. The book is written partly in Aramaic, 2* to the end of 7 being in that language. The presence of words derived from the Persian and from the Greek also implies a period at least after the conquests of Alexander (332 B.C.). 3. In the canon of the Jews the book of Daniel is not reckoned among the ' Prophets,' where it naturally belongs ; instead, it is placed in the ' writings,' the latest of the three divisions. 1 Further, Daniel is not mentioned in a place where the omission is inexplicable if the book existed in 200 B.C., viz., in the list of Jewish prophets in Ecclesiasticus 48-49. 4. The specifically apocalyptic literature began in the second century B.C. (parts of the book of Enoch, of the Sibylline Oracles, of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs). 5. The doctrine of ' angels ' in the book (8 16 Gabriel, io 13 Michael, io 20 > 21 prince = guardian angel) is a late development of biblical Jewish thought). 5. Characteristics. The employment of the personality of Daniel is in fact the literary device of an author who in the midst of persecutions sought to comfort his contemporaries with a promise of de- liverance. This promise is based upon a philosophy of history, according to which all the distresses of Jerusalem have occurred with the prevision of God. The cruelties and blasphemies of 1 See Introductory Chapter, 4-5. 204 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Antiochus are the final stage, the prelude to the new age. The visions 7-12, in which this theory is developed, are preceded by haggadistic 1 stories, of which the lesson is that God preserves those who are faithful to Him in the midst of heathen surroundings. Whether the first readers of the book supposed it to be a product of the exile we cannot tell. The victories of the Maccabees, though they freed the nation from the horrors of the time of Antiochus, resulted in no such redemption as this writer hoped for ; and expectations of the ideal age, which were to be realized with the fall of Antiochus, passed over into that body of Messianic belief which so profoundly influenced Judaism at the beginning of the Christian era. 1 Cp. on Jonah, 4. CHAPTER VIII. THE MINOR PROPHETS. x. HOSEA. I. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. Date. 4. Characteristics. I. The Prophet Hosea is not mentioned in the Old Testament outside of the prophecy that bears his name. He is described in i 1 as son of Beeri, and as prophesying in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and Jeroboam II., king of Israel. On the date as shown by the evidence of his discourses, see 3 below. His prophecies are all concerned with the northern kingdom, to which apparently he himself belonged. 2. Contents. 1-3. A narrative telling how Hosea married an unworthy woman named Gomer, daughter of Diblaim. He has three children, to whom he gives symbolical names : Jezreel, from the scene of the destruction of the house of Omii by Jehu ; Lo-ruhamah, the ' Unpitied ' ; Lo-ammi, ' Not my people.' Hosea traces in the circumstances of his marriage a parallel to the relations between Yahweh and Israel. 4-14. A series 206 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT of discourses, or perhaps a single discourse, of which the parts cannot be satisfactorily separated in any scheme of contents. They are all united by the common theme of Israel's un- faithfulness to Yahweh. 4-8 dwell on offences which the prophet finds in the nation, chiefly immorality and idolatry; 9-11 deal with the necessity of punishment; 12 reaffirms the guilt ; 13 the certainty of punishment; while 14 promises a restora- tion of the people, after purification, to the place in Yahweh's love which they held in the days of old. But these divisions are artificial : the chief ideas of Hosea are interwoven with every chapter. 3. Date. In 1-3 the dynasty of Jehu is referred to as still existing. It came to an end with the death of Zechariah, son of Jeroboam II., in 743. The prophecy reveals an acquaintance with the rapid succession of kings which followed the death of Jero- boam ; and the references to Assyria are based on Menahem's tribute to Tiglath Pileser. Inasmuch, however, as Gilead and Galilee are mentioned in a way impossible after 734, when Tiglath Pileser conquered and depopulated those districts, Hosea's activity must have terminated before that date. There is, further, no trace of the Syro-Ephraimitish war of 736-5 (cp. on Is. 7fg.) Hosea may accordingly be dated between 745 and 736. The statement in the superscription is an edi- torial addition on the analogy of Is. i 1 and Mic. i 1 . 4. Characteristics. Hosea therefore began his ministry not long after Amos ; he is acquainted, however, with the period of anarchy which followed the death of the strong ruler Jeroboam II. Zechariah, after a six months' reign, was murdered by Shallum. Shallum had occupied the throne which he usurped only a month HOSEA 207 when he also met the same fate. He was followed by Menahem, who succeeded in retaining the kingdom for some years. He in turn was succeeded by Pekahiah, who two years later was murdered by Pekah. The instability of national life caused by these quick and violent changes was increased by the possibilities of foreign intervention. In the reign of Zechariah, Tiglath Pileser had made Damascus and Tyre tributary ; and the Assyrian power began to press directly upon Northern Israel. Menahem, to secure his doubtful throne, purchased by the payment of a heavy tribute l the help of his powerful neigh- bour. At the same time Egypt was a flourishing empire ; and the intriguing parties around the insecure throne of Israel were drawn now by the hope of Egyptian and now of Assyrian protection. Hosea is not so directly concerned with politics as Isaiah and Jeremiah afterwards were; but in the public events moving and threatening the nation he finds a proof of his main thesis that Israel is unfaithful to Yahweh. The bond between Yahweh and Israel is expressed in 1 1 1 as between father and son; but more usually as between husband and wife. The violation of this bond on Israel's part is manifest chiefly in a deep-seated idolatry and a worship of Yahweh accompanied by immoralities borrowed from the Canaanite Baal-service, 2 is-i6, 17 ; 4 U 510, 84-e, lo i f I3 2. The effect of this neglect of Yahweh is apparent in the corruption of the national life (4 1-2 ) ; and the priests who should teach the people lead them further astray (4 6 ~ u ). Only punishment can bring back Israel to a sense of its sin and faithlessness. Neither Assyrian nor Egyptian alliances can avert the doom (5 13 , 7 11 , 8 9 , 1 2 1 ) ; these countries shall be the places of exile (8 13 , 9 3 , n 6 ); and in its affliction Israel will acknowledge its offence and turn again to Yahweh (5 15 ), who will call him back from captivity (n 11 ) and restore him to his love (i4 4 ). 1 Cp. 84 and the reference there. 208 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT Hosea sustains throughout his book the thought of the love and the tenderness of Yahweh. He is acquainted with the history of his people perhaps from tradition, perhaps from JE and interprets it in the light of Yahweh's love ; ' when Israel was a child then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt ' in 1 : cp. n 3 " 4 ). Moved with this sense of the divine tender- ness he is filled with a passionate sadness over the nation's forgetfulness ; l and he pours out his ' high-tragic grief ' in language which ' continually alternates between fear and hope, reproach and consolation, with no strict consecution of thoughts, frequently a sob rather than a speech.' 2 For this reason the text of Hosea is always difficult, sometimes obscure. A few passages have been marked by critics as interpolations of a later date; 3 but the grounds are less secure in the case of Hosea than elsewhere. 1 The observance of the ritual is to him no proof of faithfulness. ' I desire mercy, and not sacrifice ; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings' (6 6 ). 8 E. Kautzsch, Outlines, E.T. 53. 3 Chiefly references to Judah : e.g. !? ", 3 s , 4 15 , 5*. , ", 6, ", 8", 10", II B , 12 s , and promises of restoration 2 16 - 13 and 14. 209 2. JOEL. I. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. The Locusts. 4. Date. 5. Characteristics. I. The Prophet. According to i 1 Joel was son of Pethuel (LXX, Bethuel). He is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, but from his prophecy we may infer that he was a native of Judah and possibly of Jerusalem. 2. Contents. i-2 17 . A visitation of locusts has devoured the food supply of Judah; even the meat offerings and drink offerings in the Temple service have to be suspended. In the distress which follows the plague the prophet sees a token of the near approach of ' the victory-day of Yahweh ' ; but if the people repent Yah- weh, who is 'gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and of great kindness ' may turn the evil aside. 2 18 . Yahweh has pity on his people. 2 19 -3 21 . He promises to restore the prosperity of agriculture. Upon the removal of the scourge there will be a great out-pouring of Yahweh's spirit ; and portents will announce the coming of his ' victory-day.' The terrors of that day however are now to fall not upon Judah but upon the nations, who are to be collected in the valley of Jehoshaphat (= ' Yahweh judges ') for punishment on account of their ill-treatment of the Jews. For Judah a period of peace and prosperity is then to begin. 3. The Locusts By some of the Fathers and a few modern writers the locusts are understood allegorically, and referred to the invad- p 210 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ing hosts of a foreign army. If this view were correct it would have a bearing upon the date of the book : but it is almost certain that the locusts are to be taken literally. The expres- sions urged in favour of the allegorical interpretation (e.g. ' a nation' i 6 , ' he hath done great things' 2 30 ; nations 2 17 cp. RVM, which is probably right) are explainable as poetical descriptions : the comparison of the locusts to an army (2 4 ~ 7 ) shows that the locusts, and not the soldiers, are in the prophet's thought. The one point in favour of the allegorical view is that the plague is referred to as the ' northern one.' Israel's enemies usually did come from the north : * while locusts usually enter Palestine from the S.E. On occasion however they may have been brought down by a northern wind : in any case this one phrase weighs little against the many indications that real locusts are intended. 2 4. Date. According to 3 2 ' Israel ' has been scattered among the nations, 3 17 ' strangers ' have occupied Jerusalem. These allusions are satisfied only by a date after 586. Further, the temple-services are in full course, and the popular esteem for them is so great that their interruption is regarded as one of the greatest afflictions caused by the visitation. There is no controversy against idolatry and no allusion to a foreign enemy: instead of a king, the elders (i 2 > 8 > 14 , 2 16 ) and priests are prominent, and in 3 6 there is a reference to slave traffic with Greece. These facts are in favour of a date well on in the Persian period, after the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah had taken firm root in the national life. Cp. *.-. Jer. i 14 - 15 . J On locusts, cp. Driver, Joel (CBS), Excursus 82-91. JOEL 211 5. Characteristics. Joel's prophecy connects the plague from which his country has suffered with the prophetic and popular doctrine of the 'victory-day of Yahweh.' Amos (5 18 ) rebuked those who longed for the interposition of Yahweh in the course of history in order to bestow on them good fortune, and declared that when Yahweh did interpose the occasion would be disastrous. Other prophecs employ the idea : usually in the sense of a victory-day over Israel's enemies, the object of the intervention being the vindication of Yahweh's righteousness. Joel, however, arguing from the affliction of his land to its possible cause, sees in the devastations caused by the locusts a sign of Yahweh's appearance to punish the people for their sins. The repent- ance of the people averts the calamity ; and the occasion for the divine intervention is then found in the sins of the nations who have oppressed Judah : Yahweh's righteousness is to be demonstrated in the great world-judgement in which the nations will be condemned. The imagery with which Joel clothes the idea of the victory-day is utilised in the New Testament : l his doctrine of ' the last things ' prepared the way for the apoca- lypse of Daniel. 1 Acts 2 1 ?- 11 . P 2 212 3. AMOS. I. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. Date. 4. Later additions. 5. Characteristics. i. The Prophet. Amos belonged to Tekoa, a Judean village twelve miles south of Jerusalem. He was a keeper of a kind of sheep pro- ducing a fine quality of wool (i 1 , herdsman, keeper of naqad sheep) and also tended sycomore trees (7 14 , RV, properly, a 'dresser of sycomores ' : see the note in Driver, Amos (CBS.) 2O7-8). 1 He disclaims any connection with the recognized prophetic guilds (7 14 ) ; obeying the divine injunction he left his southern home and prophesied in Bethel the chief sanctuary of the Northern Kingdom, where he was charged by Amaziah the priest with conspiring against the king (7 10 ~ 17 ). There is no reference to him in the Old Testament outside of the book which bears his name. 2. Contents. 1-2. Oracles against Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab and Judah : framed on the same model, and announcing punishment for transgressions. 3-4. Three dis- courses against Israel, each beginning with the apostrophe ' Hear ye this word.' 3. Amos refutes the idea that because Yahweh has chosen the Israelites he will therefore be indulgent towards them : on the contrary, just because Yahweh has chosen them he will punish them, announcing however his 1 The etymology of the word perhaps permits the meaning ' a dealer in sycomore fruit.' AMOS 213 intention by means of the prophets. 4. The women of Samaria are rebuked for their self-indulgence and luxury. Condemnation of impurities connected with the local sanc- tuaries. The warnings of Yahweh have been despised ; there- fore ' Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.' 5-6. Lamentation over Israel, viewed as already fallen : the crimes which have deserved the impending punishment : refutation of the popular belief that Yahweh would intervene on behalf of the people in a great victory-day : condemnation of the offerings which are without 'judgement and righteousness': accusations of the chiefs of the nations. Throughout these charges the threat of disaster recurs (5 16 17 > 37 , 6 14 ). 7-9 10 . Five visions showing the certainty of the judgement on Israel, with a biographical episode. 7 1 " 3 . The locusts : suggesting the loss of food supplies. 4 ~ 6 . The ordeal by fire : suggesting the ravaging of the land. 7 ~ 9 . The plummet : suggesting the destruction of whatever is not ' straight/ i.e. of all transgressors. 10-17. Ama- ziah and Amos. 8. The basket of ' summer fruit ' (qaitz) : suggesting the ' end ' {qetz} of the nation, i.e. its speedy punish- ment. 9 1-1 . The shaken pillars of the sanctuary : suggest- ing the total destruction of the people. 9 n ~ 15 . Promise of restoration of the Davidic house : renewed prosperity of the people. 3. Date. The title (i 1 ) refers the activity of Amos to the reigns of Uzziah, of Judah, and of Jeroboam, son of Joash of Israel, ' two years before the earthquake,' evidently a notable earth- quake, for it is referred to some centuries later, Zech. i4 5 . It is, however, not mentioned elsewhere, and we cannot discover the year in which it occurred. A date between 760 and 750 agrees both with the statement in the title and with the contents of the book. Accordingly, Amos is the earliest of Israel's 214 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT literary prophets, preceding Hosea by a few years, and Isaiah and Micah by about a quarter of a century. 4. Possible additions to the Book of Amos. A few passages in this book have been marked as later addi- tions, of which the following are the most important : 4 13 , 5 8 ~ 9 , 9 B ~ 6 , 9 8 ~ 15 . (a) The first three stand or fall together : they are all passages which describe the creative might of Yahweh in a manner without exact parallel in pre-exilic literature, and in no case is the context disturbed by the omission of them. It is true that Amos conceives Yahweh as possessed of power over the other nations and over the forces of nature 1-2, 4 7 ~ n , 8 9 ; but this conception is not so wide as the passages against which exception is taken. 5 8 ~ 9 is palpably unsuited to its present position ; and a comparison of the thought and style of these three passages with Is. 4O 22 , 42 5 , etc., Job 9 8 ~ 9 , strongly sup- ports their exilic origin, (b) 9 8 ~ 15 . The chief ground for the excision of this passage is the utter contrast it offers to the fundamental position of Amos. The doom which he has pro- nounced is, indeed, not absolute (cp. 3 12 , 5 15 ) ; but it is difficult to suppose that he would change his position so completely as these verses imply. And their standpoint, while not perhaps absolutely impossible to Amos, is yet easiest understood if we assume that they were added when the captivity, not only of Israel but of Judah had become an accomplished fact, and when the exiles, without country and without king, longed for the restoration of the Davidic territories and dynasty. 5. Characteristics. Under the vigorous rule of Jeroboam II. Israel increased its territories, 1 its commerce, and its wealth. The separation 1 2 Kings H 25 - AMOS 215 between the rich and poor grew more pronounced in conse- quence ; devoting themselves to luxury and self-indulgence, the wealthy class grew indifferent to the claims of justice and righteousness : they pressed heavily upon the poor (2 6 ~ 8 RV, 4 1 , 5 2 ) ; the creditor was merciless in exacting his debt, the judge was bribed to pervert justice ; trade was full of corrupt prac- tices (8 5 ). The external observances of religion were, however, carried out with diligence and zeal ; but they were accompanied by impurities and idolatries (2 7 ~ 8 , 5 26 , 8 14 ). Against these things, Amos has a message concerning the righteousness of Yahweh, who selected Israel out of all the nations of the earth (3 2 ), and declared to him his will by means of the prophets (3 7 ). But Israel has been unfaithful, in spite of its zeal for the ritual ; therefore, Yahweh will not accept the offerings : ' let judgement roll on as waters, and righteousness as a perennial stream ' (5 21 ~ 25 ). Only punish- ment can restore Israel to its proper relation with Yahweh. The nation has flattered itself that it is Yahweh's chosen people. Precisely for that reason will Yahweh punish its iniquities (3 2 , 5 i-3, 7 - 9 io). This threat of punishment recurs throughout the Book of Amos, and is especially prominent in the visions 7-9. With considerable shrewdness he detected the danger which might fall upon Israel through the distant movements of the Assyrians. While the people were blindly trusting in the protection of Yahweh, expecting his intervention for their glory (5 18 ), Amos already foresaw the inevitable captivity of his nation to the formidable northern hosts (5 16 ~ 17 , S 27 , 6 8 ~ 14 ). The event justified his forecast exactly ; with the fall of Samaria before Sargon in 722, Israel as a nation ceased to exist. Amos is a hard man. He conceives of Yahweh as Right- eousness, while Israel is utterly righteous ; aiid in Yahweh's name he pronounces the deserved judgement without mercy and without passion. Two things help to relieve the picture of 216 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT his severity. The first is the doctrine of the salvation of a purified part of the people ; a thought involved in 3 12 , 5 15 . The other is the strength of his passion for righteousness, implicit throughout his prophecy, explicit in his appeal to seek ' Yahweh, so shall ye have life ' (5 6 , cp. 4 ), and ' Seek good and not evil, that ye may have life, and so Yahweh, God of Hosts, shall be with you. . . . Hate the evil and love the good, and set up judgement in the gate : it may be that Yahweh, God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph ' (5 14 ~ 15 ). 217 4. OBADIAH. I. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. Date. 4. Relation to Jer. 49. 5. Edom and Judah. I. The Prophet. We know nothing of the personality or date of Obadiah, except what can be gathered from this short oracle. 2. Contents. l ~ 9 . Edom is threatened with destruction; 10 ~ 14 because in the day when Jerusalem was captured, Edom acted with the enemy and exulted in her fall ; 15 ~ 31 , therefore in the ' victory- day of Yahweh ' Edom shall be blotted out, while Judah and Benjamin receive an extension of their territories. 3. Date. The terms of 10 ~ n can refer only to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 ; it is pictured as a past event, and the prophecy is therefore later than 586. The extension of terri- tory promised is not on the lines of anything which followed on the restoration, and is probably simply due to the desire to encourage the downcast exiles. Probably the oracle of Obadiah was composed soon after the destruction of 586; but it may have received additions from a later hand. 4. Relation to Jer. 49 7 ~ 22 . The whole of Obadiah 1 ~ 9 , except 7 , occurs in Jer. 49 in a passage which belongs to c. 604 B.C. It appears from a com- parison of the two versions that Jeremiah's is an expanded 3i8 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT form of Ob. 1-9 , where the piece is superior in logical connection and in vigour. Since Obadiah as a whole is at least twenty years later than Jer. 49, we must therefore conclude that both prophets adopted an independent oracle as the basis of their utterances. Obadiah has preserved the more original form. 5. Edom and Judah. For the hostility existing between these two nations, cp. also Is. 34-35, Ezkl. 35, Lam. 4 21 ~ 22 . Except as illustrating this hostility, and as another witness for the intense belief in the victory-day of Yahweh, this short prophecy has no special value. 219 5. JONAH. I. 'Jonah.' 2. Contents. 3. Date. 4. Aim and Characteristics. I. Jonah. Jonah, son of Amittai of Gath-hepher (on the border of Zebulun and Naphtali), is mentioned in 2 Kings I4 25 as having prophesied an extension of Israelite territory in the reign of Jeroboam II. He was accordingly a contemporary of Amos. The book of Jonah cannot have been composed by the prophet Jonah, for it clearly belongs to a date some centuries later. The author of it has taken the historical person Jonah for his hero. 2. Contents. i. Jonah, being divinely commanded to preach to the Ninevites, endeavours to evade the commission and sails for Tarshish (Tartessus, S.E. coast of Spain). A storm arises, of which the lot declares him to be the cause. He is therefore cast overboard, and is swallowed by a great fish. 2. Jonah prays to God ; the fish ejects him on to the shore. 3. Re- newal of the divine command. Jonah proceeds to Nineveh and threatens its destruction, whereon the inhabitants repent. God thereupon changes his purpose of punishing the city. 4. Jonah is displeased that thereby the threat he uttered has been stultified, and he declares that it was the fear of such a change of intention which caused his previous disobedience. A gourd shelters him as he waits in the fierce heat, making him glad of the protection ; next day it withers, and he grows sorrowful. God employs this as an illustration. As Jonah 220 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT changed his mood towards the gourd, so God changed his mood towards the Ninevites. 3. Date. Nineveh was destroyed about 606 B.C. To the writer of this prophecy it is a great city of the past (3 3 ). He uses the unique, if not impossible, title (3 6 ) ' king of Nineveh.' l He does not tell us the king's name. The language of the book is that of the post-exilic period. The prayer of 2 is made up of quotations from psalms, some of which are post-exilic ; 2 and the narrative is reminiscent of other Old Testament passages. (Cp. 4 with i Kings 19.) These indications are decisive for an origin after the exile, but do not assure an exact date. The evidence of the language suggests a time not earlier than Ezra-Nehemiah, but not so late as Esther and Chronicles. About 400 B.C. is a probable suggestion. 4. Aim and Characteristics. The book appears to belong to a class of literature to which the Scribes gave the name Haggada, or stories, parables, legends aiming at instruction and admonition. 3 Such litera- ture was composed and employed as a help in the teaching of the Synagogue. It has been suggested that the book of Jonah is, in fact, an extract from the Haggadistic commentary or Midrash on the book of Kings, such as is referred to by the Chronicler (2 Chron. 24 27 ). 4 Two ideas are specially illus- trated by the tale of Jonah, both of which were necessary to the Jews in the post-exilic period. 1 For ' Assyria.' Cp. Jon. 2 s = Ps. iS 5 " 8 , I20 1 ; 3b = 42? ; * = 31** (Lam. 3 Mb ); * = i8 4 , 6g\ n63; 7 - 1423*; a = 50"- z, 3 8 ( Il6 i 7> 1 Cp. W. R. Smith, OTJC, 44 and 154. 4 Cp. Chron. $ 3. JONAH 221 1. It is shown by the ideal case of Nineveh's repentance that God may change his intentions when He so wills. This lesson had indeed already appeared in the national literature (cp. Amos 7 s , Ex. 32 n ~ 14 , Jer. i8 8 , Joel 2 13 ), but it would appear that there was special need for reinforcing it after the re-settlement of the Jews in Judah, when the condition of the community proved to be so much less attractive than the glowing prophecies of the return had pictured it. 2. More especially, by the mission of Jonah to Nineveh and Nineveh's conversion, the Jews are taught that God is in- terested in other nations, and that their own nation has a missionary duty outside the limits of their own race. The older doctrine, that Yahweh was the God of Israel, did not immediately disappear before the newer monotheism which identified the God of Israel with the God of the universe ; the national selfishness (' particularism ') of the Jews looked with indifference, if not with exultation, upon the exclusion of the Gentiles from the privileges of Judaism. The teaching of the book of Jonah is entirely against such national selfishness. 222 6. MICAH. I. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. Later Additions. 4. Date. 5. Characteristics. I. The Prophet. Micah was a native of Moresheth, a small town in the neighbourhood of Gath. A verse from Mic. 3 12 is quoted in Jer. 26 18 , in which place he is called Micaiah, 1 and cited as prophesying in the reign of Hezekiah. The title (Mic. i 1 ) ascribes his activity to the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Heze- kiah ; there is, however, nothing in the book which belongs to the period of either Jotham or Ahaz. 2. Contents. i 2 " 5 . Yahweh pictured as appearing to punish Israel ; *~ 7 the doom of Samaria pronounced ; 8 ~ 16 the prophet's lamen- tation over the fate of Samaria; a similar fate threatens Judah also. 2 1 "" 5 . Woe unto the spoilers and oppressors; 6 ~ n condem- nation of the servile prophets ; 12 ~ 13 promise of protection to the remnant of Israel. 3 1 " 4 . The cruelty of the chiefs and princes ; 5-8 fate of the misleading prophets ; 9 ~ 12 Jerusalem shall fall for the nation's sins. 4 1 " 5 . In days to come the nations shall come to Jerusalem to learn of Yahweh, and there will be universal peace and toleration ; 6 ~ 7 at which time Yahweh will restore the nation which has been cast off ; 8 ~~ 10 picture of the sufferings of Jerusalem when the calamity falls, and promise of deliverance ; n-13 t ne nations that are waiting to see the fall of Jerusalem shall themselves be destroyed. 5 1 " 9 . The Davidic house and 1 The Micaiah of I Kings 22*8- is a different person, belonging to the time of Ahab. MIC AH 223 city shall bring forth a ruler who will set up a wide empire supplanting the Assyrian power ; 10 ~ 15 and the instruments of warfare and all the signs of idolatry will be cut off. 6 1 " 5 . The prophet reminds the people of Yahweh's kind- ness to them ; 6 ~ 7 the people ask whether sacrifices will be acceptable to him : 8 the prophet replies that Yahweh only re- quires them ' to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly ' with God ; 9 ~ 16 Yahweh's denunciation against the fraudulent traders and the socially corrupt, whose gains will be lost in the coming invasion. 7 1 " 6 Lament of the community over the injustice and evil with which it is surrounded ; 7 ~ 10 yet, though overcome by the enemy, it trusts in Yahweh, and will be patient in its deserved affliction ; n ~ 13 prophetic announce- ment that, after punishment, the people will return, walls be rebuilt and boundaries (EV ' decree ') extended ; 14 the prophet enueats renewed good fortune for the people; 15 Yahweh's favourable answer ; 16-1 7 humiliation of the other nations and Israel's deliverance ; 18 ~ 2 hymn commemorating Yahweh's goodness and faithfulness. 3. Additions to the Prophecy of Micah. ' The abrupt transitions with which the book abounds prove that the Book of Micah, like most of the other pro- phetic writings, was mainly founded on discourses, or notes of discourses, composed on various occasions.' 1 Even when we have allowed for this fact, we can explain certain passages only as additions to Micah's original text. 1-3 form a complete discourse, self-consistent with the exception of 2 12 ~ 13 . These two verses are a promise of restora- tion following directly upon a condemnation of the servile prophets, and preceding a condemnation of the cruelties of the national leaders. They are quite out of harmony with either Cheyne, Micah, CBS, IO. 224 THE. BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT passage. In itself the idea of restoration is not opposed to Micah's teaching ; and if the verses belong to Micah they may be supposed to have strayed from another place in his dis- courses. 1 Viewed in the light of similar phenomena elsewhere, they should perhaps be regarded as an exilic addition. 4 1 ' 5 . Cp. on Is. 2 2 ~ 4 . 4 10 . ' And thou (Jerusalem) shalt come even to Babylon.' To Micah the enemy of Israel is Assyria ; the power of Babylon is as yet in the far future. The context also is against the originality of the passage ; for the promised deliverance is to take place at Jerusalem, is-is. This clause accordingly is to be regarded as an insertion subsequent to the Babylonian captivity. 6-7. These two chapters are different in style and subject from anything in the preceding discourses, (a) 6-7 6 . The background is a condition of despondency and sadness in which the idolatries of Omri and Ahab are renewed and the pious man is persecuted. The reign of Manasseh provided exactly such a background ; to which period this section is generally referred. This date does not exclude the possi- bility that Micah wrote it, but there is no direct point of contact between it and 1-5. (b) 7 7 ~~ 20 . Here the exile is an accomplished fact ; the nation confesses that its punishment is deserved, but consoles itself with the hope of restoration. The general style is similar to that of Is. 4ofg. 4. Date. The pronouncement against Samaria belongs to the time immediately before the fall in 722 B.C., and the date given in Jeremiah 26 18 , i.e., the reign of Hezekiah, is to be accepted for Micah. Against the view that he prophesied also in the reign of Manasseh, are the fact that 6-7 6 are not in the same style as Mic. 1-5, and the absence of any prophecy of his 1 They would follow appropriately after 4 7 . MIC AH 22$ for the stirring year 701. If he were alive at the latter time, it is not to be supposed that he would be silent ; and if he spoke, since other prophecies of his were circulated we should expect to have some utterances of that date. 5. Characteristics. Perhaps the Book of Micah is oftenest quoted for the passage 6 6 ~ 8 , which shows the high-water mark of the prophetic protest against formalism in religion. It is not less noble because it is anonymous ; and the chapters which certainly belong to Micah are not unworthy to appear in connection with it. If Micah's message is in the main an impetuous summons to judgement, his severity springs out of an intensely ethical nature moved by the spectacle of the national disregard of the claims of righteousness ; he feels that nothing less than drastic punishment can awaken his countrymen from their blind con- fidence in the divine protection (3 11 ) united with conduct which Yahweh hates (2 2 ~ 10 , 3 1 " 7 ). Amid such evils, Micah selects for especial condemnation the smooth-speaking prophets (2 11 , 3 5 ~ 7 ), believing that though his own message is a harsh one, he is ' full of power by Yahweh's spirit, and of judgement and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his hin ' (38). 226 7- NAHUM. I. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. Date. 4. Characteristics. I. The Prophet. Of Nahum we know nothing except what may be gathered from his book. According to the superscription (i 1 ), he is called an Elkoshite. It is not certain that this must mean ' a native of Elkosh,' but probably that is the sense of the word. Three identifications of ' Elkosh ' have been offered, (i) Alcush, a village a few miles from Nineveh, where a tomb is shown called ' Nahum's grave.' It is, however, clear that Nahum wrote in Palestine (i*> 15 ). (2) Elkosh, in Judah. (3) Helkesei, a village in Galilee. This last is the most likely. It is probably no more than a coincidence that the name of Nahum forms part of ' Capernaum,' i.e. Capharnahum (' village of Nahum '). 2. Contents. The subject is the doom of Nineveh, i declares the irre- sistible might of Yahweh, at whose appearance the powers of nature tremble. He is faithful to them that trust in him, and will punish their enemies. He is about to cut off Nineveh, thereby to bring peace to faithful Judah. 2 contains a vivid poetical description of an attack upon Nineveh, resulting in her ruin and desertion. After 2 6 , verses 2 and 3 of 3 should be inserted ; they have apparently been misplaced. 3. Threaten- ings against Nineveh; the certainty of the doom which has been already pictured ; the helplessness of her captains and her forti- fications to avert disaster; the exultation with which the news of her downfall will be received by those who have suffered from her oppression. NAHUM 237 3. Date. 3 8 alludes to the fall of No-amon, i.e. Thebes, which occurred about 663 B.C. Nineveh was destroyed by the com- bined armies of Nabopolassar of Babylon and Cyaxares of Media in 607. Between these two dates Nahum uttered his prophecy ; which is evidently occasioned by a prospect of the immediate fall of the city. In 607 however Judah was relying not on Assyria but on Pharaoh-Necho of Egypt and therefore was not in such fear of Assyria as the prophecy of Nahum implies. Nineveh was besieged also by Phraortes in 640, but the siege was ineffective; and again c. 623 by Cyaxares, which siege was almost successful. It was most probably during the progress of this siege that Nahum expected the early destruction of the Assyrian capital, and spoke the messages preserved in our book. 4. Characteristics. Nahum is a bold and vigorous writer; but it is hatred against Nineveh which inspires him. It is true that he men- tions the wickedness of the city as a reason for her punishment (i 2 , 3 1 ' 4 > 19 ); but he exults in the doom which she is about to meet. The theory of Amos and Isaiah that Assyria is simply an instrument in the hands of Yahweh to punish and purify Israel, has no place in the mind of Nahum : he is filled with the thought of the sufferings which his country has experienced and of the vengeance which the oppressing city must now endure. Q2 228 8. HABAKKUK. I. The Author. 2. Contents. 3. Interpretation of I and 2. 4. Date. 5. Chapter 3. 6. Characteristics. I. The Author. Of Habakkuk we know nothing apart from his prophecy. 2. Contents. i. 2 ~ 4 . Complaint of the prophet: spoiling and violence are before him ; the ' wicked ' oppresses the ' righteous ' ; yet Yahweh gives no sign. 5 ~ n . Yahweh s answer. He is raising up the terrible and irresistible Chaldeans for a career of con- quest. 18-17. Renewed complaint of the prophet. Why does Yahweh permit the cruelties of the Chaldeans, and hold his peace, when the ' wicked ' (Chaldean) oppresses the more 'righteous' Jew. The prophet takes his stand on the watch tower to hear Yahweh answer. 2. 2 ~ 4 . Yahweh's answer. The Chaldean's soul is puffed up, and his pride shall perish : while the just Israelite shall preserve his life by his faithfulness. 5 . Text corrupt : apparently illustrations of the Chaldean's pride. 6 . The nations shall take up a taunt-song against the Chaldeans in which they pronounce five separate ' woes ' on them : (i.) 6 ~ 8 . Against their rapacity. (2.) 9 ~ 11 . Against their extirpation of conquered peoples with the object of avoiding reprisals. (3.) 12-14. Against the cruelty and bloodshed involved in their methods of establishing new cities. (4.) 16-17. Against their barbarous treatment of captives. (5.) 18-20. Against their stupid idolatry. HABAKKUK 229 3. The prayer of Habakkuk. z . The prayer asks that Yahweh will again declare himself for his people, as he did in days of old. 8 ~ 15 . Ode on Yahweh's manifestation (theophany) at the time of the Exodus. 1 Description of Yahweh's ap- pearance from Edom ; all nature trembled before him ; and yet it was not for this he showed himself, but for the salvation of the nation from those who would have scattered it. 16-19. Th e poet confesses himself in fear and distress because [here the text is again uncertain] he can do nothing but wait in patience for the ' day of trouble.' Yet though the trouble be so great as to cut off the fruits of the earth and flocks and herds, he will rejoice in Yahweh. 3. Interpretation of i and 2. The date of the prophecy depends upon the interpretation ; and the interpretation is difficult, (i). In i 2 " 4 does the pro- phet complain of the injustice which exists among his own people, the ' wicked ' Jew oppressing the ' righteous ' Jew ? In that case the Chaldeans whose rise is announced in 5 ~ n are to punish the wicked Jews ; and the language of the prophet in i- 3 is puzzling, for he seems to call the Chaldeans ' wicked,' while the Jews to be punished are called ' righteous.' Another difficulty on this interpretation arises from the fact that whereas in 5 ~ n the rise of the Chaldeans is prospective, in 12-1? (as also in 2 6 ~ 20 ) they are spoken of as though their cruelties are notorious. Moreover the Chaldeans are apparently to be pun- ished for doing the very work which Yahweh requires. (2). To avoid these difficulties it has been suggested that the text of Habakkuk has been dislocated. The section i 5 " 11 may be placed either before i 2 , or be regarded as a later addition. In either 1 It is uncertain whether the poet is here simply uttering a song of praise for an old time mercy, or whether he is outlining a new theophany, conceived as following the pattern of the familiar one of history. 230 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT case, on this suggestion, the prophet's complaint in i 2 " 4 is not of Jew as against Jew, but of the Chaldean (the wicked), op- pressing the Jews (the righteous). (3). Another possibility is that i 5 " 11 ought to follow 2*. In this case the 'wicked' oppressor in i 8 may be either the Assyrian or the Egyptian ; it is of their cruelty that the prophet complains in 12 ~ 17 ; and when deliverance is promised in 2 3 ~ 4 , it is to be by means of the Chaldeans. The non-mention of Assyrian or Egyptian by name is perhaps an insuperable obstacle to this theory. (4.) The necessity for any of these suggestions is perhaps done away with if we regard the prophecy as a retrospective dialogue, in which the writer, smarting still with the sense of the cruelties of the Chaldeans, recalls their connection with his people. The complaint i 2 " 4 is then an explanation of the need of a punishment of Judah ; ' wicked ' = the wicked Jew; and 'righteous " = the righteous Jew. The rise of the Chaldeans is then announced as imminent, and the writer describes their activity, vividly from experience of their methods. But, com- plains the prophet, the Chaldeans' cruelty proves to be more than the occasion demanded : true they came to punish the wicked Jews, but even the wicked Jews are not so wicked as the Chaldeans show themselves. To this Yahweh gives answer that the Chaldean shall perish for his pride ; in the meantime the just ones among the Jews shall preserve their lives by their faithfulness. 4. Date. The date assigned to the prophecy depends upon the inter- pretation adopted. The Chaldeans began to be an important independent power about the year 626 ; under Nebuchadrezzar they defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish in 604 and shortly before this Nineveh had fallen. In 597 vengeance fell upon Jehoiachin, and the flower of the nation was carried into HABAKKUK 331 captivity, although Jerusalem itself escaped for another eleven years. If the theory (i) or (2) above be accepted the prophecy will date from about 600 B.C. ; the section i 6 "" 11 being perhaps of earlier origin, say about 625. On the theory (3), the date will be about the period of the fall of Assyria, or of the battle of Carchemish 606-4. C* n tne ^ ast interpretation (4), the date is subsequent to the captivity of Jehoiachin ; but before 586. 5. Chapter 3. Chapter 3 at first view seems to be extracted from a liturgical collection: cp. the headings and musical directions in the book of Psalms. The contents also do not reveal any special points of contact with i and 2 : the enemy against whom Yahweh is entreated to manifest himself may be the Chaldean, but the phrase ' their rejoicing was to devour the poor in a secret place ' 14b , seems more applicable to something less public than foreign enemies ; in fact to the sort of afflictions the restored community faced after the return. The poem appears to be only a fragment ; 17 ~ 19 seem to be not its original conclusion. The reasons for considering it post-exilic however are not absolutely decisive; and we may, with hesitation, accept it as a part of Habakkuk's work. 6. Characteristics. The object of Habakkuk is to comfort his people who are suffering from the fear, if not from the actual cruelty of the Chaldeans, by dwelling on the certainty that in their turn the Chaldeans will perish. It is an anxious time for the nation, especially because the punishment seems both excessive and indiscriminate. The message of Habakkuk is that the exulta- tion of the Chaldean will be short-lived ; and in the meantime 232 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT the righteous is to rely upon his own steadfastness, or moral earnestness, which will prove adequate to preserve his life. The text of 2 5 is certainly corrupt : and possibly something has here been lost which might expand the thought referred to. The language of 2 2 ~ 3 is introductory to an impressive declaration ; and though the announcement that the righteous man shall preserve his life by his steadfastness is intelligible, some further words may have dropped out developing the idea for the comfort of the righteous, with whose sufferings the prophet is chiefly concerned. 233 9. ZEPHANIAH. i. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. Date. 4. Characteristics. i. The Prophet. Of Zephaniah we know nothing except what his book tells us. If the superscription (i 1 ) is reliable, he prophesied in the reign of Josiah (see below) and was a great grandson of Heze- kiah, i.e. probably, the king of that name. 2. Contents. i Yahweh threatens ' to cut off man from off the face of the ground ' ; especially the idolatrous Judaeans. This destruction is to take place on the ' victory-day of Yahweh,' which is near at hand ; and in it the evil-doers of the land will perish. The terrors of the victory-day, and its far-reaching scope. 2. Let therefore the people repent and peradventure they will escape when the judgement falls, as it assuredly will, on the Philistine cities, on Moab and Ammon, on the Ethiopians and Assyrians. 3 1 " 7 . Woe unto Jerusalem, whose princes, judges, prophets, priests are all evil-doers ; for she has neglected the warnings given to her. 8 ~ 13 . When Yahweh gathers the nations for punishment on his victory-day, then will he remove from Jerusalem her proud ones, leaving however a remnant that shall not do iniquity nor speak deceit. i*-20 Yahweh will ' make them a praise and a name whose shame hath been in all the earth ' ; therefore let the nation rejoice. 3. Date. The reign of Josiah, mentioned in i 1 suits the contents of the book : and the references to the idolatries i*~ 6 and social 334 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT corruptions of the nation imply the earlier part of that reign, i.e. 639-621, before the Deuteronomic reformation was effected. Nineveh has not yet fallen (2 13 ), and the Chaldeans are not mentioned : these facts also agree with the date suggested. Furthermore the Scythians were a menace to the peace of Asia during the earlier part of Josiah's reign ; and it is plausibly conjectured that the terror caused by their inroads supplied Zephaniah both with a starting point for his prophecy and with imagery for his conception of the victory-day of Yahweh. Difficulties caused by the references to foreign nations in 2 have been sometimes met by suggestions of interpolation or overworking. It is practically certain also that ji*-20 is a post- exilic addition. Had this glorious restoration been in the mind of the writer of the rest of the book, it must have modified his presentment of the terrors of the judgement on Judah. The passage implies a knowledge of the exile, and must date from that period. 4. Characteristics. The fundamental idea in Zephaniah is the victory-day of Yahweh ; like Amos he presents it as a day of darkness and trouble. And though the ground of the punishment threatened against the foreign nations is the wrong they have done to Israel, the main point of the prophecy is Judah and Jerusalem ; punishment is to be inflicted upon them in order that idolatry and corruption may be purged away. The temper of the book, along with the indications of date given above, allows us to suppose that Zephaniah was among those who helped to prepare the nation for the reformation which Josiah carried out. 235 zo. HAGGAI. I. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. Date. 4. Characteristics. i. The Prophet. Haggai is mentioned along with Zechariah, son of Iddo, in Ezra 5 1 , 6 14 , as prophesying in Jerusalem and inciting the people to rebuild the Temple. Otherwise he is not named in the Old Testament outside of his own book. 2. Contents. Four Prophecies on the Rebuilding of the Temple. First prophecy, delivered on first day of sixth month of second year of Darius, i.e. September 520, addressed to Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest. i 3 " 11 . The people have deferred the rebuilding of the Temple, yet have made for themselves luxurious houses. The recent drought and consequent famine are Yahweh's signs of displeasure. 12-15_ The people are moved by this appeal, and begin the work of rebuilding on the twenty-fourth of the same month. Second prophecy, twenty-first of seventh month, i.e. October 520. 2 1 " 9 The ardour of the people diminishes because the new building promises to be inferior in splendour to the old Temple. Haggai encourages them with the assurance that this sanctuary shall be filled with the desirable gifts of all the nations, and its glory exceed that of Solomon's. Third prophecy, twenty-fourth of ninth month, i.e. December 520. 210-19. Haggai again encourages the builders, who are downcast because the harvests are still bad, in spite of the fact that they are now doing a holy work which ought to 236 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT secure the divine favour. By leading questions Haggai draws from the priests a justification from the law, according to which the taint of uncleanness is transmitted easily, while purity is more limited in its influence; similarly the nation must needs show for a little while some evidences of the impurity caused by the long cessation of sacrifice. Let them, however, be of good heart, for their diligence will obtain Yahweh's blessing. Fourth prophecy : same date as third. 2 20 ~ 28 . Zerubbabel is assured that in an upheaval of the kingdoms shortly to take place, he, chosen by Yahweh, will be exalted (become a ' signet ' : cp. Jer. 22 s4 ). 3. Date. 520-519. The book was probably written soon after the discourses were delivered. 4. Characteristics. The people whom Haggai addresses are in a condition of religious apathy, and blame Yahweh for the poverty and dis- tress which they suffer. Haggai finds the cause of the distress in the failure to rebuild the Temple, and consequently to main- tain regular sacrifices ; x he succeeds in rousing the people up to the work of rebuilding, and in inducing them to com- plete the undertaking when they grow dissatisfied, firstly, because the new Temple seemed so mean compared with the old ; and secondly, because material prosperity did not begin forthwith. Incidentally the book shows that Ezra is incorrect in stating that a beginning of rebuilding the Temple had been made c. 535 ; and it contains no certain evidence that there had been any return in 536.2 i Cp. Joel, 2. * Cp. Ez.-Neh., 5. 237 n. ZECHARIAH. (A) 1-8. I. The Prophet. 2. Contents. 3. Date and Characteristics. (B) 9-11, I3 7 ' 9 . I. Anonymous. 2. Contents. 3. Date. (C) 12, I3 1 " 6 , 14. I. Anonymous. 2. Contents. 3. Date. (A) CHAPTERS 1-8. i. The Prophet. Zechariah is mentioned in Ezra 5 1 , 6 14 along with Haggai. He is there described as son of Iddo, but he is undoubtedly the same Zechariah whose prophecies are here preserved, and in the superscription of which he is called Zechariah, son of Berachiah, son of Iddo. 1 2. Contents. i 1 " 6 . Eighth month of second year of Darius (Novem- ber 520). An exhortation to the Jews to prove themselves faithful. i 7 -6 8 . A series of Eight Visions, seen on the twenty-fourth day of eleventh month of second year of Darius (February, 519). (i.) i 7 "" 17 . Vision of the Four Horses, They symbolize Yahweh's messengers, who report that the earth is still and quiet. The angel of Yahweh inquires how long the divine displeasure, already of seventy years' duration (roughly, for the reference covers from 586 to 519), is to continue. Yahweh promises the rebuilding of the Temple, and national prosperity. (2.) i 18 " 21 . Vision of the Four Horns and Four Smiths, symbolizing the break up of the nations which have oppressed Judah. (3.) 2. Vision of the Surveyor, symbolizing 1 Perhaps as the result of a confusion with the Zechariah of Is. 8-. 238 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT the glories of the city (Jerusalem), which is about to be rebuilt ; it is to be unwalled, so that there will be room for its great population. Its inhabitants will include ' the nations,' who are to be converted and to dwell with the Jews. (4.) 3. Vision of the High Priest Joshua, accused by ' the Satan ' and acquitted ; symbolizing the forgiveness of the sins of the nation in his person, and promising the ' Branch,' i.e. Messiah. (5.) 4. Vision of the Golden Lamp, surmounted by the oil vessel, and attended by two olive trees ; symbolising the community (the lamp) re- ceiving the divine protection (the oil) by means of the civil (Zerubbabel) and religious (Joshua) chiefs (the two olive trees). Zerubbabel is assured that his difficulties will disappear, and the Temple be completed. (6.) 5 1 " 4 . Vision of the Flying Manu- script, symbolising the curse which shall fall upon thieves and perjurers. (7.) 5 5 ~ n . Vision of the Woman shut down in the Ephah Measure, and carried away to Babylon, there to remain ; symbolising the complete removal of the sins of the nation. (8.) 6 1 " 8 . Vision of the Four Chariots, the messengers of Yahweh to the four quarters of the earth ; symbolising Yahweh's activity over all the earth, and his vengeance on Babylon (represented by the messenger to the north). 6 9 ~ 15 . Appendix to the Visions. The prophet is commanded to make crowns (cp. note below), and to set them on the head of Joshua. Pro- mise of the ' Branch,' who shall build the Temple of Yahweh. 7-8. Fourth day of ninth month of Darius' fourth year (i.e. December, 518). 7 1 " 14 . A deputation waits on the prophet to learn whether the fast kept in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem is to be continued. Zechariah declares that mere fasting does not necessarily prove the presence of the religious spirit; in days gone by, the prophets proclaimed judgement, love, and mercy ; and because they were not listened to, Yahweh punished the nation. 8 1 " 8 . But a better time shall now begin ; 9 ~ 17 , peace and prosperity shall bless the land, if the people be courageous, righteous, and merciful ; 18 ~ 28 , their fast days ZECHAR1AH 239 shall become feast days of joy, and foreign nations shall come to seek Yahweh, eagerly desiring instruction about him from the Jews. 3. Date and Characteristics. The prophecies were written out near to the occasions on which they were delivered, for they betray no knowledge of the completion of the Temple, B.C. 516. In his employment of the vision for his medium, Zechariah has the precedents of Amos 7-9, Is. 6, and especially of Ezekiel. His messages are all consolatory to the distressed people; he holds out the brightest hopes to the Jews in the despondency in which fifteen years' experience of restoration, so different from the glowing promises made to them, had resulted. In his pic- ture of the good fortune which is to come, Zechariah gives especial prominence to Zerubbabel and Joshua. Haggai also had spoken encouragement to these leaders of the nation. Zechariah went further, and declared that Zerubbabel would complete the Temple, and then become king, with Joshua the high priest as his supporter. ' In his prophecy of a time when many nations shall " join themselves to God and be to him for a people," as well as in his noble contrast between fasting and goodness, Zechariah combines the spirit both of the Babylonian Isaiah and of the old prophets of the two kingdoms.' l The text of 6 11 " 13 is obviously corrupt as it stands. The name of Zerubbabel has evidently been removed, perhaps because he did not become king, or perhaps because the Messianic doctrine of a later age found the limitation to Zerubbabel a difficulty. As;emended, the text reads, ' Take silver and gold and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Zerubbabel and of Joshua the high priest, and speak unto them, saying 1 Montefiore, Bible for Home Reading, 513. 240 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ' Thus saith Yahweh of Hosts. Behold a man whose name is the Branch, and there shall be a branching out under him, and he shall build the Temple of Yahweh: he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and Joshua shall be priest at his right hand, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.' On Zechariah and the Return, cp. Ez.-Neh. 5. (B) CHAPTERS 9-11, iy- g . I. An anonymous piece. This is an anonymous prophecy, marked out from the pre- ceding by the heading, ' The burden of the word of Yahweh upon the land of Hadrach,' 9 1 . The absence of an author's name here and at 1 2 1 has facilitated the incorporation of these two fragments into the book of Zechariah. 2. Contents. 9. Judgement announced on Hadrach (capital of a region of Syria, only here mentioned in OT.), Damascus, Hamath, Tyre, Zidon, and the Philistine cities. Jerusalem, however, may rejoice because her king is coming, who shall bring peace and dominion : the sons of Zion shall prevail against the sons of Greece, and Yahweh shall save his people, both Ephraim and Judah. 10. The helplessness of teraphim and diviners. Yahweh will punish the ' shepherds ' (rulers) : Judah and Joseph shall be as though they had not been scattered : though Ephraim be spread abroad among the nations, they shall be gathered from Egypt and Assyria into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, u. Against 'the shepherds,' who prey on the sheep, instead of protecting them. The prophet takes two staves, Graciousness, representing the covenant between Yahweh and ZECHARIAH 341 Israel, and Union, representing the union between Judah and Ephraim; and assumes charge over the flock : he cuts off three shepherds in one month. The people, however, will not accept him ; whereupon he breaks the staff Graciousness, implying that God breaks the covenant with them. The prophet, to test them further, now asks for a wage : the people offer him only thirty pieces of silver : whereon he breaks the other staff, implying that the union between Judah and Israel is dissolved. Yahweh promises that the next shepherd will treat them evilly. i3 7 ~ 9 . He shall be destroyed along with two-thirds of the people : the remainder shall be purified. 3. Date. The date of this fragment is most difficult to fix. On the one hand, a number of indications connect it with the eighth century B.C. Damascus and Hamath are apparently still in existence: Ephraim is referred to as though the disaster of 722 has not yet occurred ; Assyria and Egypt are mentioned together as the enemies of Israel exactly as in Is. 7 18 , i i n > 16 , etc. On the basis of these indications, the passage describing the cutting off of three shepherds in one month (n 8 ) is supposed to be an allusion to the death of Zechariah, son of Jeroboam II., Shallum, 1 and a third unknown usurper ; and the foolish shepherd (n 15 ) in that case is Pekah. Unfortunately for this interpretation, we know of no such ' third usurper.' On the other hand, the allusion to Greece in 9 13 as a great world-power is regarded as a decisive indication of a date sub- sequent to 333. In confirmation of this date for the prophecy as a whole it is urged that the names Assyria and Egypt are used figuratively or archaically for the Greek kingdom of Syria and the Egyptian dynasty of the Ptolemies (cp. on Daniel) ; that 9 1 " 7 is based on Alexander's career of conquest ; 1 2 Kings IS 8 " 14 . R 242 THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT that the references to Ephraim imply that it has already fallen (io 6 " 9 ), its restoration being an object of pious hope. The date in this case is c. 280 B.C. The crucial point is the reference to Greece in 9 13 , which cannot be satisfactorily explained as a gloss or a corruption. Some of the difficulties raised by both theories are avoided by the suggestion that 9-11 is an oracle of the eighth century revised and edited for a situation arising in the third. The whole section is, however, so obscure that no theory of origin as yet proposed is completely satisfactory. (Q CHAPTERS 12-14 (^ept 13?-*). i. Anonymous. i. This fragment also is anonymous; I2 la is its title. 2. Contents. 12-13. Jerusalem is besieged by Judah and the peoples round about. Yahweh intervenes, throws the allies into con- fusion. Judah deserts the alliance, and with her help Jeru- salem is delivered and the nations are destroyed. A spiritual re-awakening is to follow. Jerusalem will mourn bitterly for ' him whom they have pierced, a mourning as of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon.' l The sins of Jerusalem are to be cleansed away. Idolatries will cease, and the pro- phets and unclean spirits pass out of the land. 14. Another picture of siege. Half of the inhabitants of Jerusalem are led captive ; the other half remain in the city. Yahweh again intervenes and smites the nations, including Judah, that have warred against the city (12-16 should follow 8 ). Promise of the glory which shall thereupon come to Jerusalem. iRVM. ZECHARIAH 243 Transformation of the country, rebuilding of the city, con- version of the remnant of her enemies. Those of the nations who do not keep the Feast of the Tabernacles at Jerusalem shall be punished. 3. Date. On account of the references to ' the house of David ' (12?, 10 12 , 13!), the monarchy is supposed by some critics to be still existing when this prophecy was composed. Inasmuch as Ephraim is not mentioned, the date is after 722. The mourning of Hadadrimmon I2 11 is explained as the mourning over the death of Josiah slain at Megiddo in 609. On these grounds the prophecy is sometimes assigned to the eve of the fall of Jerusalem (608-597). The allusions to the house of David do not, however, imply more than that David's descend- ants still survive. If the mourning of Hadadrimmon refers to the lamentations on the death of Josiah, these lamentations were still maintained in 300 B.C. (2 Chron. 35 25 ). More probably the reference is to the mourning for Adonis. 1 The way is there- fore open for a post-exilic date, which is demanded by the Levitical indications in i2 13 , i4 16 ~ 20 (cp. Ex. 39 30 P), implying at least the time of Ezra. 1 W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 411. 244 12. MALACHI. I. The name ' Malachi.' 2. Contents. 3. Date. 4. Characteristics. i. The Name. ' Malachi ' means ' ray messenger.' It is, however, some- times taken as a contracted form for ' Malachijah,' ' messenger of Yahweh.' In fact, however, Malachi is not a proper name, but a word taken out of 3 1 to serve as a title. It would appear that the Book of the Twelve Prophets concluded with three anonymous pieces : Zech. 9-11, 12-14, and 'Malachi'; for each of these is supplied with the same title, ' Oracle of the Word of Yahweh,' which title occurs nowhere else in that form. 2. Contents. i 2 -2 9 . Yahweh who rejected Esau (i.e. Edom) has loved Jacob (i.e. Israel) ; but Israel is indifferent. The indifference is shown by the negligence with which the Temple ritual is performed, and by the corruption of the priesthood; 2 10 ~ 16 , condemnation of those Jews who have married alien women ; 2 17 -3 6 , Yahweh will manifest himself in the person of his ' messenger,' who will purify the ritual and judge the wrong- doers ; 3 7 ~ 12 , let those who rob Yahweh by offering insufficient gifts increase their tribute, then will he bless the land ; 3 13 -4 3 , those who have argued that there is no profit in serving Yahweh are warned that a day is coming when his real servants will be distinguished and all others punished ; 4 4 ~ 6 , exhortation to re- member the law of Moses ; Yahweh's victory-day is about to come, but previously Elijah will reappear to move the people to repentance. MA LAC HI 245 3- Date. The references to the Temple and its services, to the governor and the mixed marriages, show that this prophecy springs from the period of Nehemiah and Ezra. Inasmuch as the ' law ' referred to in Malachi is not P but D and H (cp. 4*, ' the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded in Horeb . . . even statutes and judgements '), a date before the publication of P is to be preferred, in favour of which are the references to the indifference with which the Temple services are regarded. The date will accordingly be in the interval between 458 and 444 on the ordinary chronology, or between 444 and 432 if the reconstruction of the sources of Ez.-Neh. be accepted. 1 4. Characteristics. The rebuilding of the Temple, from which Haggai and Zechariah hoped so much, has led to no decisive change in the national life. ' Malachi ' is a literary attempt to re-awaken the people to a sense of their privileges as people of Yahweh. The national individuality must be recovered ; to which end the Temple services are to be purified, the offerings made fuller, the mixed marriages to be dissolved. These proposals were no doubt formalistic and exclusive ; but it is to be noted that the writer's aim is the purification of the people, which he con- nected with the due observance of the ritual. Not until the offerings are presented in righteousness will they be ' pleasant unto Yahweh as in the days of old and as in the ancient years' (3*). 1 Cp. Ez.-Neh. 5. THE END.